First published 2015
This anthology opens with Campbell's survey of horror fiction published in 2014, then delivers twenty stories from established and emerging writers. Helen Marshall begins with "Secondhand Magic," followed by Dale Bailey's "The Culvert" and Richard Gavin's "The Patter of Tiny Feet." The collection spans supernatural encounters, psychological terror, and body horror through works by Simon Kurt Unsworth, Angela Slatter, Rebecca Lloyd, and Robert Shearman. Steve Rasnic Tem contributes "The Night Doctor" while Nathan Ballingrud offers "Skullpocket." Ian Tregillis provides a historical maritime horror titled "Testimony of Samuel Frobisher Regarding Events Upon His Majesty's Ship Confidence." Campbell includes his own story "At Lorn Hall" alongside contributions from Lavie Tidhar, Stephen Volk, and Peter Straub. The volume concludes with Simon Strantzas's "Burnt Black Swans" and a necrology documenting notable deaths in the horror field during 2014.
Genres: short-stories, anthologies, horror, supernatural
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: anthology, found-family
Period: 2014
546 pages · Hardcover · PS Publishing
Content warnings: body-horror, graphic-violence