Best New Horror 4 (Mammoth Book of Best New Horror)
One of the anticipated events in the horror-publishing year is the annual appearance of the Carroll & GrafNew Horroranthology. The current installment contains 26 articles and stories. Putting Jones and Campbell at the helm as editors has proved to be a successful formula, merging the perceptions and skills of a master editor (Jones) and a master storyteller (Campbell). Any collection-development librarian wanting to stay informed as to what's going on in the horror genre needs to read the 15-page introduction carefully. It's the most concise and current overview of the field anywhere in print and a highly useful road map for getting one's bearings within one of the most fragmented genres in fiction. The anthology has examples of or discourse on horror subspecialties that include psychological horror (now in vogue), splatterpunk, gothic tales, Lovecraftian stories, and, of course, vampire stories. The book's necrology remains a valuable resource for noting the passing of writers, artists, and filmmakers who have helped define the field.Elliott Swanson