A review by ravenbait
The Best Horror of the Year Volume Four, by Ellen Datlow
3.0
Datlow is something of a doyenne when it comes to horror anthologies, and I felt this would be just the pick-me-up I needed to counter-act an affliction of genre apathy. It certainly did the trick, but more as a result of a couple of real stand-out stories than an overall trend of excellence.
The anthology opens with a Stephen King story about a man possessed by a pain demon, and the sceptical nurse who doesn't believe such things exist. It's tempting to ascribe this story to King's own experiences, and therefore might be interesting from an auto-biographical point of view, but trod no new ground for me.
By contrast, Leah Bobet's "Stay" was an effective take on the Wendigo myth, weaving North American and European magic together into something delightfully human.
Simon Bestwick's "The Moraine" was another story I thought was excellent. While it could be described as a Cumbrian take on "Tremors", the central concept was genuinely chilling and the setting beautifully wrought. Bestwick's other story in the anthology was also notable.
I also enjoyed Margo Lanagan's "Mulberry Boys", Livia Llewellyn's "Omphalos" and, to a lesser extent, Glen Hirshberg's "You Become the Neighbourhood" and John Langan's "In Paris, In the Mouth of Kronos".
Overall I found this to be a good selection of stories dealing with primarily with what King calls "ordinary people in extraordinary situations". This is one for lovers of monsters and myths, not science and gore.
The anthology opens with a Stephen King story about a man possessed by a pain demon, and the sceptical nurse who doesn't believe such things exist. It's tempting to ascribe this story to King's own experiences, and therefore might be interesting from an auto-biographical point of view, but trod no new ground for me.
By contrast, Leah Bobet's "Stay" was an effective take on the Wendigo myth, weaving North American and European magic together into something delightfully human.
Simon Bestwick's "The Moraine" was another story I thought was excellent. While it could be described as a Cumbrian take on "Tremors", the central concept was genuinely chilling and the setting beautifully wrought. Bestwick's other story in the anthology was also notable.
I also enjoyed Margo Lanagan's "Mulberry Boys", Livia Llewellyn's "Omphalos" and, to a lesser extent, Glen Hirshberg's "You Become the Neighbourhood" and John Langan's "In Paris, In the Mouth of Kronos".
Overall I found this to be a good selection of stories dealing with primarily with what King calls "ordinary people in extraordinary situations". This is one for lovers of monsters and myths, not science and gore.