The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 14 [Paperback]

Stephen Jones (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Mammoth Books | Publication Date: October 21, 2003

The fourteenth volume in this series is going strong, and with another generous sampling of the past year's best horror fiction, it again earns "merits" from Publishers Weekly. With contributions from such favorites as Ramsey Campbell and Kim Newman, along with the talented likes of Neil Gaiman, China Mieville, Graham Joyce, Paul McCauley, Stephen Gallagher, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Jay Russell, Glen Hirshberg and many more, the hairraising tales in this edition hold nightmares for travelers in alien lands, unveil the mystery and menace lurking in our everyday reality, explore the terrors of the supernatural, and honor horror's classic tradition. As always, editor Stephen Jones provides an illuminating and engaging overview of the past year in horror fiction, as well as an affecting necrology and a guide to contacts among publishers, organizations, booksellers, and magazines in the eerier fields of fiction.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Lovers of bone-crunching visceral horrors and prose that pulses with inventive morbidity, beware: Jones's selection of 20 choice cuts from the previous year's fear fiction is more kindly predisposed to subtle stories informed by the genre's classic tradition. Some are period chillers, such as Paul McAuley's novella, "Dr. Pretorius and the Lost Temple," a well-told Victorian penny dreadful involving psychic detection, Roman remains, subterranean survivals and occult experiments to create life. Jay Russell's "Hides" features Robert Louis Stevenson in a tale of recrudescent horrors that linger in Donner's Pass. In "Ill Met by Daylight," Basil Copper pays tribute to the fiction of turn-of-the-century ghost story master M.R. James. Both China Mieville, in "Details," and Caitlin R. Kiernan, in "Nor the Demons Down Under the Sea," obliquely invoke the Cthulhu Mythos in stories that put a modern spin on Lovecraft's cosmic terrors. Neil Gaiman's "October in the Chair" is a delicate dark fantasy homage to Ray Bradbury's Halloween Gothic. Even stories that don't explicitly reference horror's hallowed icons show the impact of their lessons in tasteful restraint, among them Don Tumasonis's "The Wretched Thicket of Thorn," which conjures an awesome monster that's all the more frightening for never being shown directly. In his indispensable overview of horror in 2002, Jones speaks of "the diversity of taste and erudition that binds our community." This volume, like volumes past, exuberantly celebrates that diversity.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Jones' annual is a yearly treat for fans. Contributors to this edition include Neil Gaiman, David J. Schow, and Ramsey Campbell. Gaiman's "October in the Chair" opens with the months of the year personified and sitting in the woods telling stories. October regales the group with the tale of a boy who runs away from home and finds a ghostly friend. In Stephen Gallagher's "Little Dead Girl Singing," a man takes a young relative to a singing competition and is struck by a talented but seemingly emotionless competitor and her family. Kim Newman's "Egyptian Avenue" involves a group of Egyptologists puzzling over a set of mummies and wondering how they are related to recent supernatural unrest; what they discover is a crime in the past and a very real danger to the present. The collection also includes the usual roundup of horror news and publications from the past year and a tribute to horror greats who have passed on. Kristine Huntley
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 544 pages
• Publisher: Running Press; 1st Carroll & Graf Ed edition (October 21, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786712376
• ISBN-13: 978-0786712373
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,795,905 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars An 'Okay' Anthology, May 24, 2005

By 

K. Henderson (Buffalo, NY) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 14 (Paperback)

If you want this anthology to add to your collection, I recommend finding a used copy rather than paying the full price.

The stories were okay. None seemed to jump out at me nor stay with me.

Some may enjoy the "fillers". I'm not one of them. The first story doesn't start until page 85 of the book. First, you get the year in horror. The last story begins on page 467 and ends on page 524. The rest is filler. Who died in 2002 and then pages of useful addresses.

Just know that the size of the book is not all comprised of stories. It's deceiving.

1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I liked it, February 22, 2006

By 

G. Hoyman "Logar" (Mariposa, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 14 (Paperback)

For horror fans interested in getting their adrenaline rush in short bursts! I liked this book. It had a variety of good stories, and I was able to get many of them read in a short time. Lots of interesting plot twists in many of the storylines, some right in your face "ew!" moments, a few predictable plots, but all-in-all, a satisfying read.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A fine collection, October 5, 2004

By 

Megan Knouff (Cincinnati, US) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror, Vol. 14 (Paperback)

This is, as usual, a well-balanced collection showing off some excellent authors--some newer, some more familiar. I personally was quite pleased to see a reappearance of Paul MacAuley's Mr Carlyle, but there's plenty of quality stories packed into this edition.