The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: v. 16 [Paperback]

What's the biggest difference between novel-length and short horror fiction? Well, word count, of course, but stylistically, there are differences too. One thing I've noticed is that most horror novels tend to have happier endings: evil is vanquished and the main character has come out of the situation wounded but triumphant. In short stories, it is as likely to be the opposite. The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror bears out my observation, with a good number of downbeat endings; yet such conclusions are not universal.

This particular volume (sixteenth in the series) has stories from the year 2004. The set of stories is sandwiched between a couple of non-fiction sections. A lengthy introduction describes the state of horror in 2004, focusing in particular on genre books. After a while, it does tend to drag on, but it is very thorough. There were a lot of vampire novels published: is this an indication of lack of originality among second-tier authors, an attempt by these writers to put commercial considerations ahead of artistic ones, or maybe this is a legitimate sub-genre?

At the end of the book is a necrology, chronicling the deaths of a number of folks, some only very peripherally connected with horror. At the very end is a list of useful addresses for horror fans. One does not eat a sandwich, however, for the bread, but rather the interior, and the meat of this particular book (the fiction), while substantial, is only intermittently tasty.

There are definitely some good stories, starting right off the bat with a wonderfully funny gothic parody called Forbidden Brides by Neil Gaiman (who also wrote the last story in the anthology). Indeed, the best stories seem to be the earlier ones, including Brian Keene's "The King", In: Yellow and Stephen Gallagher's Restraint. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of mediocre stories: attempts at humor that fall flat and tales that only remotely horrific. It makes one realize why someone like Stephen King is in the horror big leagues, as many of his short stories are superior to the majority of the ones in this so-called "best of the year" anthology.

I guess if there is fault, it has to start with editor Stephen Jones. I don't know how big a variety of stories he had to choose from, but I'd like to believe there were actually better ones out there. He has a clear bias towards British writers, who are overrepresented in this volume; although I have no clear facts to prove it, sheer demographics would point to a greater number (and variety) of U.S. authors than U.K. ones, yet they are far from proportionally represented.

Despite the flaws in this book, there is also some decent entertainment value, enough to merit a high three stars. Going back to my sandwich analogy, expect your bites to alternate between tasty and bland; it's not a great sandwich, but it satisfies the hunger enough so it's also not worth throwing away.

One of the better entries in Jones series of horror stories compilations. I especially enjoyed "Israbel" and "Trick of The Dark" and another excellent Poppy Z. Brite story "Devil of Delery St." "My Death" was also a good story but like "Apocolypse Now, Voyager" I wouldn't really classify either story as horror. Overall a lot more pluses than minuses, definitely worth a read.

If you like horror stories then you need this book! 21 short stories by authors such as Neil Gaiman and Tanith Lee, just to name a few. My 2 favorites are "Stone Animals" and "Growlimb". Enjoy!

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