The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 23 (Mammoth Books) Read online

  STEPHEN JONES lives in London, England. He is the winner of three World Fantasy Awards, four Horror Writers Association Bram Stoker Awards and three International Horror Guild Awards as well as being a twenty-one time recipient of the British Fantasy Award and a Hugo Award nominee. A former television producer/director and genre movie publicist and consultant (the first three Hellraiser movies, Night Life, Nightbreed, Split Second, Mind Ripper, Last Gasp etc.), he is the co-editor of Horror: 100 Best Books, Horror: Another 100 Best Books, The Best Horror from Fantasy Tales, Gaslight & Ghosts, Now We Are Sick, H. P. Lovecraft’s Book of Horror, The Anthology of Fantasy & the Supernatural, Secret City: Strange Tales of London, Great Ghost Stories, Tales to Freeze the Blood: More Great Ghost Stories and the Dark Terrors, Dark Voices and Fantasy Tales series. He has written Coraline: A Visual Companion, Stardust: The Visual Companion, Creepshows: The Illustrated Stephen King Movie Guide, The Essential Monster Movie Guide, The Illustrated Vampire Movie Guide, The Illustrated Dinosaur Movie Guide, The Illustrated Frankenstein Movie Guide and The Illustrated Werewolf Movie Guide, and compiled the record-breaking The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror series, The Mammoth Book of Terror, The Mammoth Book of Vampires, The Mammoth Book of Zombies, The Mammoth Book of Werewolves, The Mammoth Book of Frankenstein, The Mammoth Book of Dracula, The Mammoth Book of Vampire Stories by Women, The Mammoth Book of New Terror, The Mammoth Book of Monsters, The Very Best of Best New Horror, Shadows Over Innsmouth, Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth, Dark Detectives, Dancing with the Dark, Dark of the Night, White of the Moon, Keep Out the Night, By Moonlight Only, Don’t Turn Out the Light, H. P. Lovecraft’s Book of the Supernatural, Travellers in Darkness, Summer Chills, Brighton Shock!, the Zombie Apocalypse! trilogy, Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels & Heavenly Hosts, Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead and A Book of Horrors, along with books by or about Clive Barker, Leigh Brackett, David Case, R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Basil Copper, Charles L. Grant, James Herbert, Robert E. Howard, Rudyard Kipling, H. P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith and Karl Edward Wagner. A Guest of Honour at the 2002 World Fantasy Convention in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the 2004 World Horror Convention in Phoenix, Arizona, he has been a guest lecturer at UCLA in California and London’s Kingston University and St. Mary’s University College. You can visit his web site at www.stephenjoneseditor.com.

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  Constable & Robinson Ltd

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  First published in the UK by Robinson,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 2012

  Collection and editorial material copyright © Stephen Jones 2012.

  The right of Stephen Jones to be identified as the

  author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance

  with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are

  either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously,

  and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,

  or to actual events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication

  Data is available from the British Library

  UK ISBN 978–1–78033–090–7 (paperback)

  UK ISBN 978–1–78033–091–4 (ebook)

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  First published in the United States in 2012 by Running Press Book Publishers,

  A Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

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  US ISBN: 978-0-7624-4597-4

  US Library of Congress Control Number: 2011939126

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  CONTENTS

  Acknowledgements

  Introduction: Horror in 2011

  Holding the Light

  RAMSEY CAMPBELL

  Lantern Jack

  CHRISTOPHER FOWLER

  Rag and Bone

  PAUL KANE

  Some Kind of Light Shines from Your Face

  GEMMA FILES

  Midnight Flight

  JOEL LANE

  Trick of the Light

  TIM LEBBON

  But None Shall Sing for Me

  GREGORY NICOLL

  About the Dark

  ALISON LITTLEWOOD

  The Photographer’s Tale

  DANIEL MILLS

  The Tower

  MARK SAMUELS

  Dancing Like We’re Dumb

  PETER ATKINS

  An Indelible Stain Upon the Sky

  SIMON STRANTZAS

  Hair

  JOAN AIKEN

  Miri

  STEVE RASNIC TEM

  Corbeaux Bay

  GEETA ROOPNARINE

  Sad, Dark Thing

  MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH

  Smithers
and the Ghosts of the Thar

  ROBERT SILVERBERG

  Quieta Non Movere

  REGGIE OLIVER

  The Crawling Sky

  JOE R. LANSDALE

  Wait

  CONRAD WILLIAMS

  The Ocean Grand, North West Coast

  SIMON KURT UNSWORTH

  They That Have Wings

  EVANGELINE WALTON

  White Roses, Bloody Silk

  THANA NIVEAU

  The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murderer

  JOHN AJVIDE LINDQVIST

  Passing Through Peacehaven

  RAMSEY CAMPBELL

  Holiday Home

  DAVID BUCHAN

  Necrology: 2011

  STEPHEN JONES & KIM NEWMAN

  Useful Addresses

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I would like to thank David Barraclough, Kim Newman, Vincent Chong, Mandy Slater, Amanda Foubister, Rodger Turner and Wayne MacLaurin (sfsite.com), Peter Crowther and Nicky Crowther, Ray Russell and Rosalie Parker, Gordon Van Gelder, Andy Cox, Joe Morey, Ellen Datlow, Charles Black, Debra L. Hammond, Douglas A. Anderson, Gavin Grant, Nicholas Royle, Val and Les Edwards, Sandra Ferguson, Johnny Mains, Brian Mooney, Andrew I. Porter, Philip Harbottle, Conrad Williams and, especially, Duncan Proudfoot, Max Burnell and Dorothy Lumley for all their help and support. Special thanks are also due to Locus, Ansible, Entertainment Weekly and all the other sources that were used for reference in the Introduction and the Necrology.

  INTRODUCTION: HORROR IN 2011 copyright © Stephen Jones 2012.

  HOLDING THE LIGHT copyright © Ramsey Campbell 2011. Originally published in Holding the Light. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  LANTERN JACK copyright © Christopher Fowler 2011. Originally published in Red Gloves: Deviltry: The London Horrors. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  RAG AND BONE copyright © Paul Kane 2011. Originally published in The Butterfly Man and Other Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  SOME KIND OF LIGHT SHINES FROM YOUR FACE copyright © Gemma Files 2011. Originally published in Gutshot: Weird West Stories. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  MIDNIGHT FLIGHT copyright © Joel Lane 2011. Originally published in The Horror Anthology of Horror Anthologies. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  TRICK OF THE LIGHT copyright © Tim Lebbon 2011. Originally published in House of Fear: Nineteen New Stories of Haunted Houses and Spectral Encounters. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  BUT NONE SHALL SING FOR ME copyright © Gregory Nicoll 2011. Originally published in Zombiesque. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  ABOUT THE DARK copyright © Alison Littlewood 2011. Originally published in Black Static, Issue 25, November 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE PHOTOGRAPHER’S TALE copyright © Daniel Mills 2011. Originally published in Theaker’s Quarterly Fiction, Issue 36, Spring 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE TOWER copyright © Mark Samuels 2011. Originally published in The Man Who Collected Machen and Other Weird Tales. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  DANCING LIKE WE’RE DUMB copyright © Peter Atkins 2011. Originally published in Rumours of the Marvellous. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  AN INDELIBLE STAIN UPON THE SKY copyright © Simon Strantzas 2011. Originally published in Nightingale Songs. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  HAIR copyright © Joan Aiken Estate 2011. Originally published in The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction No. 696, July/August 2011. Reprinted by permission of Small Beer Press and the author’s estate.

  MIRI copyright © Steve Rasnic Tem 2011. Originally published in Blood and Other Cravings. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  CORBEAUX BAY copyright © Geeta Roopnarine 2011. Originally published in Murmurations: An Anthology of Uncanny Stories About Birds. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  SAD, DARK THING copyright © Michael Marshall Smith 2011. Originally published in A Book of Horrors. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  SMITHERS AND THE GHOSTS OF THE THAR copyright © Agberg Ltd. 2011. Originally published in Ghosts by Gaslight: Stories of Steampunk and Supernatural Suspense. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  QUIETA NON MOVERE copyright © Reggie Oliver 2011. Originally published in The Eighth Black Book of Horror. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE CRAWLING SKY copyright © Joe R. Lansdale 2011. Originally published on Subterranean, Spring 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  WAIT copyright © Conrad Williams 2011. Originally published in Haunts: Reliquaries of the Dead. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE OCEAN GRAND, NORTH WEST COAST copyright © Simon Kurt Unsworth 2011. Originally published in Quiet Houses. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THEY THAT HAVE WINGS copyright © Debra L. Hammond as literary heir of Evangeline Walton 2011. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction No. 698, November/December 2011. Reprinted by permission of the author’s agent and estate.

  WHITE ROSES, BLOODY SILK copyright © Thana Niveau 2011. Originally published on Delicate Toxins: An Anthology Inspired by Hanns Heinz Ewers. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  THE MUSIC OF BENGT KARLSSON, MURDERER copyright © John Ajvide Lindqvist 2011. English translation copyright © Marlaine Delargy 2011. Originally published in A Book of Horrors. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  PASSING THROUGH PEACEHAVEN copyright © Ramsey Campbell 2011. Originally published in Portents. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  HOLIDAY HOME copyright © David Buchan 2011. Originally published in Daily Frights 2012: 366 Days of Dark Flash Fiction. Reprinted by permission of the author.

  NECROLOGY: 2011 copyright © Stephen Jones and Kim Newman 2012.

  USEFUL ADDRESSES copyright © Stephen Jones 2012.

  In memory of

  RAY BRADBURY

  (1920–2012)

  To the dust returned

  INTRODUCTION

  Horror in 2011

  IN JANUARY, HarperCollins US changed the name of its genre imprint Eos to Harper Voyager, to bring the list in line with the publisher’s UK and Australian sister companies to create a global brand.

  America’s second-largest bookstore chain, Borders, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February with debts totalling $1.29 billion and assets of $1.275 billion. Despite closing more than 200 stores over the following few months, Borders eventually announced it was going into liquidation in July after no bidders for the troubled chain came forward. The remaining stores finally closed their doors in September.

  February also saw the surprise collapse of Canada’s largest book distributor, H. B. Fenn & Company, when the company filed for bankruptcy with liabilities of around $25.6 million. The company’s entire workforce of more than 125 employees was laid off immediately.

  REDgroup Retail, Australia and New Zealand’s largest bookseller with such chains as Angus & Robertson and Borders (no connection to the US bookstore), was also placed into voluntary administration the same month, with debts of around A$51.8 million.

  In better news, the struggling HMV sold British bookshop chain Waterstone’s to Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut for £57 million. Bookseller James Daunt, owner of six independent Daunt Bookshops in London, was named as managing director and announced that he wanted the 296-branch chain “to feel like your local bookstore”.

  A year after putting itself up for sale, America’s biggest bookseller, Barnes & Noble, received an injection of $204 million in August when conglomerate Liberty Media purchased a stake in the company, but declined to buy the company outright.

  In October, Amazon Publishing announced that it would be launching 47North, a new science fiction, fantasy and horror imprint edited by Alex Carr. The new imprint was named after the latitude co-ordinates in Seattle where Amazon is based. Titles would be available in print, audio and, of c
ourse, Kindle formats.

  At the beginning of the year it was revealed that a new American edition of Mark Twain’s classic 1884 novel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn had replaced the use of the racially offensive word “nigger” with “slave”, to make it more acceptable to modern readers. However, some critics complained that the censored version was “cultural vandalism” and was at odds with the anti-racist theme that Twain was writing about. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is reportedly the fourth most-banned book in US schools.

  In May, a survey amongst secondary school English teachers in the UK found that they were ditching classic novels and Shakespeare from their curriculum because boys aged eleven to fourteen said they lost interest if the book they were studying was longer than 200 pages.

  That same month, an investigation by the London Evening Standard newspaper discovered that one in three children in the city did not own a single book, one in four schoolchildren aged eleven could not read or write properly, and one in five school leavers was unable to read confidently.

  Meanwhile, in December the results of a survey conducted by the UK’s National Literacy Trust revealed that around 3.8 million children in the country did not own a book. This meant that almost a third of all British children did not have any reading material, with boys again being the most likely to be missing out.

  In Stephen King’s 11/22/63, a man dying of cancer travelled back through a wormhole in a Maine diner to a specific day in 1958 and attempted to prevent the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by Lee Harvey Oswald five years later. Curiously, the book was retitled 11.22.63 in the UK, but not 22.11.63!

  The paperback edition of King’s Full Dark, No Stars added a new short story, “Under the Weather”, to the original four novellas.

  J. K. Rowling planned to start exclusively selling the e-book versions of all seven of her Harry Potter novels via her new Pottermore.com website, which was supposed to launch in October but suffered from technical delays. Once fully operational, the free site would also offer other Potter-related material, including interactive games.

  Meanwhile, the estate of a man claiming that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was plagiarised from the 1987 book, Willy the Wizard: Number 1: Livid Land, finally had its case dismissed in the UK after seven years when the plaintiff failed to start paying a £1.5 million deposit ordered by the Chancery Division of the High Court to cover costs.