num_pages: 568
description: Darkness surrounds us. We can find darkness anywhere: in a strange green stone etched with mysterious symbols; at a small town's annual picnic; in a ghostly house that is easy to enter but not so easy to leave; behind the dumpster in the alley where a harpy lives; in The Nowhere a place where car keys toys people disappear to; among Polar explorers; and most definitely within ourselves. Darkness flies from mysterious crates; surrounds children whose nightlights have vanished; and flickers between us at the movie theater. Darkness crawls from the past and is waiting in our future; and there's always a chance that Halloween really is a door opening directly into endless shadow. Welcome to the dark. You may never want to leave. This inaugural volume of the year's best dark fantasy and horror features more than 500 pages of dark tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique. Chosen from a variety of sources these stories are as eclectic and varied as the genre itself.Contents 9  What the Hell Do You Mean By Dark Fantasy and Horror?  essay by Paula Guran13  The Horrid Glory of Its Wings  (2009)  shortstory by Elizabeth Bear23  Lowland Sea  (2009)  novelette by Suzy McKee Charnas41  Copping Squid  (2009)  novelette by Michael Shea56  Monsters  (2009)  novelette by Stewart O'Nan73  The Brink of Eternity  (2009)  shortstory by Barbara Roden85  Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre  (2009)  shortstory by Seth Fried95  Sea-Hearts  (2009)  novella by Margo Lanagan138  A Haunted House of Her Own  (2009)  shortfiction by Kelley Armstrong153  Headstone in Your Pocket  (2009)  shortstory by Paul G. Tremblay [as by Paul Tremblay ]166  The Coldest Girl in Coldtown  (2009)  novelette by Holly Black182  Strange Scenes from an Unfinished Film  (2009)  shortstory by Gary McMahon190  A Delicate Architecture  (2009)  shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente196  The Mystery  (2009)  shortfiction by Peter Atkins205  Variations on a Theme from Seinfeld  (2009)  shortstory by Peter Straub211  The Wide Carnivorous Sky  (2009)  shortfiction by John Langan251  Certain Death for a Known Person  (2009)  novelette by Steve Duffy267  The Ones Who Got Away  (2009)  shortfiction by Stephen Graham Jones274  Leng  (2009)  shortfiction by Marc Laidlaw292  Torn Away  (2009)  shortfiction by Joe R. Lansdale301  The Nowhere Man  (2009)  shortfiction by Sarah Pinborough314  The Bone's Prayer  (2009)  shortstory by Caitln R. Kiernan327  The Water Tower  (2009)  shortstory by John Mantooth337  In the Porches of My Ears  (2009)  shortstory by Norman Prentiss348  The Cinderella Game  (2009)  shortstory by Kelly Link355  The Jacaranda Smile  (2009)  shortstory by Gemma Files366  The Other Box  (2009)  shortfiction by Gerard Houarner388  White Charles  [Kyle Murchison Booth]  (2009)  novelette by Sarah Monette406  Everything Dies Baby  (2009)  shortstory by Nadia Bulkin414  Bruise for Bruise  (2009)  shortstory by Robert Davies422  Respects  (2009)  shortstory by Ramsey Campbell433  Diamond Shell  (2009)  shortstory by Deborah Biancotti446  Nub Hut  (2009)  shortstory by Kurt Dinan452  The Cabinet Child  (2009)  shortfiction by Steve Rasnic Tem458  Cherrystone &amp; Shards of Ice  (2009)  shortstory by Ekaterina Sedia469  The Crevasse  (2009)  shortstory by Nathan Ballingrud and Dale Bailey482  Vic  (2009)  shortfiction by Maura McHugh490  Halloween Town  (2009)  novella by Lucius Shepard543  The Long Cold Goodbye  (2009)  novelette by Holly Phillips562  What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night  (2009)  shortstory by Michael Marshall Smith
language: English
title: The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010
publisher: Prime Books