Paula Guran’s ‘The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy And Horror’ Book Review

You can’t swing a dead cat around here without hitting a PopHorror writer who loves short stories. We’ll take them in any form—filmed, animated, written or even spoken. Sharp little chunks of emotion, whether dramatic, funny, terrifying, obscure, or creepy, are what some we horror fans love the most. Are you really that surprised that we wanted to review Paula Guran’s The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: Volume 1?

Synopsis:

The darkness creeps upon us and we shudder, or it suddenly startles and we scream. There need be no monsters for us to be terrified in the dark, but if there are, they are just as often human and as supernatural. Join us in this outstanding annual exploration of the year’s best dark fiction that includes stories of quiet fear, the utterly fantastic, the weirdly surreal, atmospheric noir, mysterious hauntings, seductive nightmares, and frighteningly plausible futures. Featuring tales from masterful authors and talented new writers sure to make you reconsider walking in the shadows alone.

There are so many great stories in The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy And Horror: Volume 1. I especially love “His Heart Is The Haunted House” by Aimee Ogden and “Some Kind Of Blood-Soaked Future” by Carlie St. George. Both were infused with humor as well as a good dose of scares. Most of them were fun to read. As with all short story anthologies, there are always some that stand above the rest.

I will mention that these short stories are on the long side. Some of them are 25 pages long or longer. This is not a positive or a negative in my opinion. A story needs to be as long as it is. It was just something I had noticed. Although I will admit that a few of them are slow burns or are a little too ambiguous for my tastes. Again, not a complaint, just an observation.

Author PAULA GURAN

 Freelance editor, anthologist, and reviewer Paula Guran was senior editor for Prime Books for seven years. Previously, she edited the Juno fantasy imprint from its small press inception through its incarnation as an imprint of Pocket Books. In addition to the annual Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror series, she’s edited many other anthologies. In an earlier life she produced weekly email newsletter DarkEcho (winning two Stokers, an IHG award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination), edited Horror Garage (earning another IHG and a second World Fantasy nomination), and has contributed reviews, interviews, and articles to numerous professional publications.