Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror

This is an anthology of outstanding modern horror and weird stories that are in other anthologies, I'm glad to have this feast of stories in one volume. It features some of the best authors in horror. It has somethhing for everyone to enjoy. The stories are chilling, and unsettling. The editor has done an outstanding anthology I think due to the variety and quality of the stories. If you don't read this, you will have truly missed a fantastic read! Disclaimer: I received an arc of this book free from the author/publisher from Netgalley. I was not obliged to write a favorable review, or even any review at all. The opinions expressed are strictly my own.

There was a time when I sought out collections of horror stories. I couldn't get enough. Today, with my literary tastes having expended to include more genres, I don't often read much horror any more. And what I have read hasn't been as thrilling as I remember it from my teens. I've thought that perhaps the writing of horror became a little predictable. The stories often lacked a finesse that I remember with some of the 'masters' of the genre. But I've kept looking. Ellen Datlow often puts together a fantastic anthology and so when I saw her, <em>Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror</em>, I thought that this might be a great way to catch up on some of the 'newer' writers. And I'm glad I took the plunge. Nightmares offers up some of the best horror short fiction I've read in awhile. The opening of any short story or novel often sets the tone for what's to come, and I've come to really value the start of a good horror story. How can you go wrong with beginnings like: <blockquote>If you've been out of college for much longer than a year, nobody has anything to tell you after midnight that you want to hear. <em>And could you bring a shovel? I can't find ours.</em> Things like that.</blockquote> or <blockquote>I have a collection of baby teeth, sent to me by recovered anorexics from the ward. Their children's teeth, proof that their bodies are working.</blockquote> Brian Hodge's "Our Turn Too Will One Day Come" and Kaaron Warren's "Dead Sea Fruit", respectively, are just the two that really stood out to me as capturing me within the first line or paragraph. But of course it takes more than a good opening to tell a good story, and fortunately this anthology is packed full of some pretty strong horror stories. I realize that I've often written that I can't pick a favorite from other anthologies or collections I've read, but in this case, I can. "Mr. Pigsny" by Reggie Oliver really stood out to me. It carried the feel - the tenor - of the classic horror stories I remember from the 1970's and '80's. I'm definitely interested in reading more Reggie Oliver. "Omphalos" by Livia Llewellyn piqued my interest but it was a story told in second person and I've often found that horror has more second person stories than other genres because it's a cheap way to try to get the reader invested. When I see the format (second person) I'm immediately put off because I'm thinking that the author is taking a short-cut to the horror because they can't do it in first or third person (which I realize is probably not a fair generalization). This was a nice collection that showed me that the new wave of horror is generally in good hands and that there are some very good writers to keep an eye on. Looking for a good book? <em>Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror</em>, edited by Ellen Datlow, is a fine collection of modern horror with a few outstanding stories to really make your skin crawl. I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

Editor Ellen Datlow’s collection Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror contains more than 20 horror stories of a wide variety. As usual with an anthology, some stories are better than others, and frankly I doubt any two people would agree on all the stories. This makes it tough to give most anthologies more than a 4. One of the excellent sides of anthos, however, is the opportunity to find new authors to read. There’s one type of story in particular that requires you to think like the writer to really get what happened. There are stories where the ends were ambiguous enough that I was left going, “huh?! What on earth did that mean?” Normally I enjoy ambiguity and such, but I felt it went a bit overboard here. That’s one portion of this that will be heavily dependent on the reader. I tend to think I’m somewhere in the middle when it comes to puzzling out what’s happening, so I’m sure there are those for which it’ll all make sense, while I’m also sure I won’t be the only person to leave a story confused. Some of the stories involve the paranormal, while others concentrate on the human side of horror. One of my favorite stories is “Closet Dreams” by Lisa Tuttle. A child has been kidnapped and assaulted (that deserves a trigger warning). She starts trying to imagine her escape, just to have something to do, some bit of hope to hold onto. But of course it doesn’t end there… Steve Duffy’s “The Clay Party” follows 48 people, seven families, as they try to take a wagon train to California using an unusual route that Mr. Clay (the instigator) insists will get them there faster. The story is fascinating. The group runs into so many troubles, and things take several weird turns. Ultimately, I really liked it. Stephen Graham Jones’s “Lonegan’s Luck,” is one of my favorites out of this book. An obvious snake oil salesman comes into town, with layer upon layer of intention. Without wrecking where this goes, I’ll just say that Jones fits a whole lot into such a small story! Lonegan in particular is a fantastic character. After that you’ll find post-apocalyptic demons, a girl who likes to harm small creatures, a sacrifice to ensure safe passage, a zombie tale (that uses the word ‘zombie’! It’s about time!) in which zombies are largely pests. There are great writers in here–Garth Nix, Richard Kadrey, and more. There are certainly tales in here that I didn’t enjoy for one reason or another, but there’s a great array of wonderful ones as well. I’d absolutely recommend it to my horror-loving friends. NOTE: Free book provided by publisher in return for review

A good read when you are bored and need some time to kill. I keep it in my purse for reading while I am waiting for appointments.