November sees the trade paperback release of Best New Horror 31, the latest and, I’m very sorry to say, final edition of Stephen Jones’s long-running annual best of anthologies, featuring the editor’s favourite stories, this one from 2019, which I’m delighted to have included The Children of Medea from my most recent collection Murmured in Dreams published by Luna Press. In a previous post I’ve already talked about my love for this series, and how it’s inspired me to pick up the pen and try writing my own stories, and so it’s especially gratifying that I made the very last edition. Now the full contents have been announced, I’m once again reminded at how grateful I am to Stephen Jones for including me in the company of such great writers.
| CONTENTS Introduction: Horror in 2019 — THE EDITOR Zombie-ish — SCOTT BRADFIELD Wake the Dead — MAURA MCHUGH Mercy Brown — CAITLÍN R. KIERNAN Mama Bruise — JONATHAN CARROLL The Same As the Air — ALISON LITTLEWOOD Getting Through — RAMSEY CAMPBELL The Children of Medea — STEPHEN BACON The Water of Dhu’l Nun — DON WEBB Under the Frenzy of the Fourteenth Moon — RON WEIGHELL The Promise of Saints — ANGELA SLATTER Crawlspace Oracle — RICHARD GAVIN Downriver — MICHAEL CHISLETT Death in All Its Ripeness — MARK SAMUELS Shrapnel — RICHARD CHRISTIAN MATHESON Precipice — DALE BAILEY Antripuu — SIMON STRANTZAS A Crown of Leaves — KRISTI DeMEESTER A Stay at the Shores — STEVE RASNIC TEM The Old Man of the Woods — REGGIE OLIVER Iron City — TANITH LEE Slough — GLEN HIRSHBERG A Species of the Dead — D.P. WATT The Burning Woods — MICHAEL MARSHALL SMITH Necrology: 2019 — STEPHEN JONES & KIM NEWMAN Useful Addresses |
The paperback version will be £15.99 plus P&P from PS Publishing, but if you preorder the hardcover copy for £60 plus P&P (numbered and signed by all contributors and limited to just 100 copies) you will get the trade paperback version at no extra charge. Bargain indeed. The hardcover version will be available in the new year. Here’s the all-important link. Be sure to check out the PS PUBLISHING site to see some other discounted packages on previous editions of this series, which are essential to any fan of horror short fiction.
stephenbacon.co.uk 