by Tim Lebbon
First published 2011
Cemetery Dance Publications presents the second volume of their ambitious century-spanning project. Editor John Pelan has chosen one exceptional horror story from each year between 1951 and 2000, creating a comprehensive survey of the genre's evolution across five decades. The collection spans fifty authors, with each writer represented only once. Stories range from Robert Aickman's unsettling "Ringing the Changes" to Stephen King's "The Reach," capturing the shifting landscape of horror fiction through the latter half of the twentieth century. Contributors include established masters like Ray Russell, Robert Bloch, and Fritz Leiber alongside newer voices such as Poppy Z. Brite and Glen Hirshberg. Each tale represents what Pelan considers the standout horror story of its respective year. The anthology offers readers a guided tour through fifty years of fear, showcasing how horror fiction transformed from its pulp magazine roots into the diverse literary form it became by the millennium's end.
Genres: short-stories, anthologies, 20th-century, horror
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful
Tropes: anthology, literary-survey
Period: 1951-2000
866 pages · Hardcover · Cemetery Dance Publications