[Kyle Murchison Booth 01] • The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010

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 Guran

13 • The Horrid Glory of Its Wings • (2009) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear

23 • Lowland Sea • (2009) • novelette by Suzy McKee Charnas

41 • Copping Squid • (2009) • novelette by Michael Shea

56 • Monsters • (2009) • novelette by Stewart O'Nan

73 • The Brink of Eternity • (2009) • shortstory by Barbara Roden

85 • Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre • (2009) • shortstory by Seth Fried

95 • Sea-Hearts • (2009) • novella by Margo Lanagan

138 • A Haunted House of Her Own • (2009) • shortfiction by Kelley Armstrong

153 • Headstone in Your Pocket • (2009) • shortstory by Paul G. Tremblay [as by Paul Tremblay ]

166 • The Coldest Girl in Coldtown • (2009) • novelette by Holly Black

182 • Strange Scenes from an Unfinished Film • (2009) • shortstory by Gary McMahon

190 • A Delicate Architecture • (2009) • shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente

196 • The Mystery • (2009) • shortfiction by Peter Atkins

205 • Variations on a Theme from Seinfeld • (2009) • shortstory by Peter Straub

211 • The Wide, Carnivorous Sky • (2009) • shortfiction by John Langan

251 • Certain Death for a Known Person • (2009) • novelette by Steve Duffy

267 • The Ones Who Got Away • (2009) • shortfiction by Stephen Graham Jones

274 • Leng • (2009) • shortfiction by Marc Laidlaw

292 • Torn Away • (2009) • shortfiction by Joe R. Lansdale

301 • The Nowhere Man • (2009) • shortfiction by Sarah Pinborough

314 • The Bone's Prayer • (2009) • shortstory by Caitlín R. Kiernan

327 • The Water Tower • (2009) • shortstory by John Mantooth

337 • In the Porches of My Ears • (2009) • shortstory by Norman Prentiss

348 • The Cinderella Game • (2009) • shortstory by Kelly Link

355 • The Jacaranda Smile • (2009) • shortstory by Gemma Files

366 • The Other Box • (2009) • shortfiction by Gerard Houarner

388 • White Charles • [Kyle Murchison Booth] • (2009) • novelette by Sarah Monette

406 • Everything Dies, Baby • (2009) • shortstory by Nadia Bulkin

414 • Bruise for Bruise • (2009) • shortstory by Robert Davies

422 • Respects • (2009) • shortstory by Ramsey Campbell

433 • Diamond Shell • (2009) • shortstory by Deborah Biancotti

446 • Nub Hut • (2009) • shortstory by Kurt Dinan

452 • The Cabinet Child • (2009) • shortfiction by Steve Rasnic Tem

458 • Cherrystone Shards of Ice • (2009) • shortstory by Ekaterina Sedia

469 • The Crevasse • (2009) • shortstory by Nathan Ballingrud and Dale Bailey

482 • Vic • (2009) • shortfiction by Maura McHugh

490 • Halloween Town • (2009) • novella by Lucius Shepard

543 • The Long, Cold Goodbye • (2009) • novelette by Holly Phillips

562 • What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night • (2009) • shortstory by Michael Marshall Smith