Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror [Paperback]

Ellen Datlow (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2010

Compiling the finest in frightening tales, this unique anthology offers a diverse selection of horror culled from the last 25 years. Hand selected from cutting-edge authors, each work blends subtle psychology and mischievousness with disturbingly visceral imagery. In the classic “Chattery Teeth,” Stephen King provides a tautly drawn account of a traveling salesman who unwisely picks up yet another hitchhiker, while in Peter Straub’s eerie “The Juniper Tree,” a man whose nostalgia for the movies of his childhood leads to his stolen innocence. Renowned fantasy author George R. R. Martin weaves a sinister yarn about a young woman encountering a neighbor who is overly enamored with her in “The Pear-Shaped Man.” Combining acclaimed masters of the macabre, such as Clive Barker, Poppy Z. Brite, and Thomas Ligotti, with bold new talents to the genre, including Kelly Link, Neil Gaiman, and Stephen King’s son, Joe Hill, this distinctive collection of stories will delight and terrify.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. This diverse 25-story anthology is a superb sampling of some of the most significant short horror works published between 1985 and 2005. Editor extraordinaire Datlow (Poe) includes classic stories from horror icons Clive Barker, Peter Straub, and Stephen King as well as SF and fantasy luminaries Gene Wolfe, Dan Simmons, Neil Gaiman, and Lucius Shepard. The full diversity of horror is on display: George R.R. Martin's The Pear-Shaped Man, about a creepy downstairs neighbor, and Straub's The Juniper Tree, which chronicles a drifter's sexual molestation of a young boy, exemplify horror's sublime psychological power, while Barker's Jacqueline Ess: Her Will and Testament and Poppy Z. Brite's Calcutta, Lord of Nerves are audaciously gory masterworks. This is an anthology to be cherished and an invaluable reference for horror aficionados. (Apr.)
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Review

"An anthology to be cherished and an invaluable reference for horror aficionados."  —Publishers Weekly, starred review

"Datlow is a high-calibre anthologist"  —Innsmouth Free Press

"About as close to horror perfection as any fan could ask for in an anthology."  —choateroad.com

"Promises to please both longtime fans and readers who have no clue what 'splatterpunk' was supposed to mean."  —San Francisco Chronicle

"Make sure you are in a safe place before you open it up."  —New York Journal of Books

"I can't recommend this book high enough and no, that's not just the rabid fanboy inside me talking."  —Hellnotes Horror Blog

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 424 pages
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications; 1 edition (March 15, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1892391953
• ISBN-13: 978-1892391957
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #580,763 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I've been an editor for over thirty years, first in book publishing, but mostly editing short stories for OMNI Magazine and webzine, EVENT HORIZON, a webzine, and SCIFICTION, the fiction area of SCIFI.COM. I now edit original and reprint anthologies. Born and bred New Yorker, although I travel a lot.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How can you go wrong?, June 3, 2010

By 

Funky Werepig - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (Paperback)

FROM THE FUNKY WEREPIG

This is one of the easiest reviews to write. Datlow has assembled 25 stories from the best in the biz spanning back two decades. And there isn't a slacker in the bunch. Each and every story is a spot-on example of what made these talents the ones we all aspire to be. The list of names is almost ridiculous to put into one book: Stephen King, Joe Lansdale, Clive Barker, Ramsey Campbell, Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Peter Straub. It goes on and on.

One of the things I truly enjoyed about this anthology was that Datlow didn't go for the easy story choices. Quite often she chose a tale that showed the author stretching in a different direction from what we are used to seeing. In doing so, it put a stamp on the book that made it seem more personal. You can tell these are Datlow's favorites and with her expertise, that makes a huge difference.

Another factor I enjoyed is getting to read established and decorated writers I haven't had a chance to dive into yet. In some instances, their stories were the ones I enjoyed the most. Steve Rasnic Tem hit me hard with his story `Heat'. I loved Terry Dowling's `Stitch'. I am sad to admit I haven't read as much Dan Simmons or Poppy Z Brite as I should have. But after being sucked in by their stories here, I'm going to change that.

In a recent interview, Datlow said that these shouldn't be considered The Best of Twenty Years of Horror because she didn't get to include all the great writers she wanted to. And there was difficulty in choosing some of the stories. Seriously, how do you pick the `one' King or Lansdale or Campbell short story?

But the truth is Datlow is also being respectful and professional. DARKNESS is about as close to horror perfection as any fan could ask for in an anthology.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never going to let you go . . ., May 3, 2010

By 

Danel P. Olson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (Paperback)

If your lovely task for the last twenty years was to read stories--hundreds and hundreds of scary, inexplicable, sordid and taboo stories each year--which would stay in your mind at the end of two decades? That is the question asked by America's premier anthologist of the uncanny, Ellen Datlow, and that's what's between these covers.

Astonished by their strange power, she admits that this book's stories "still thrill me and chill me when I read them. I remember the characters . . . " (10). Certainly the stories in DARKNESS: TWO DECADES OF MODERN HORROR have an untraceable power that, like some mystic perfume, surrenders us again and again. The elements, structure, pace, revelations, and voice react together, and we forget time. Something in them lives and shocks and seduces. Such true moments of dark awe in art are rare. I have had a chance to teach some of these shadowy tales before from their earlier appearances and have seen how they obsess readers. (I'm thinking now of King's "Chattery Teeth," Barker's "Jacqueline Ess ...," Wolfe's "The Tree is My Hat," and Dowling's "Stitch"). I am now eager to teach the rest that Ms. Datlow summoned.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Had Wondered Where The Great Short Fiction Was Hiding..., January 4, 2011

By 

letters2mary (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror (Paperback)

...and I found it here. I must admit that I am not a horror/science fiction/mystery/fantasy fan, and I picked this book up on a whim, hoping it would be an improvement over the noir-city related anthologies that I have found disappointing. This is a stellar collection which has (mercifully!) opened up new doors for exploration. I eagerly look forward to reading more of almost every writer represented here. Thank you, Ms. Datlow, for your fine critical eye and your hard work in putting this together. (By the way, I enjoyed the introductory comments on the authors, but I was somewhat fearful of spoilers. As with some of the stories, I learned to squint and peek.)