annoyedThe Best Horror Of The Year Volume Ten edited by Ellen Datlow, part 2
Whatever Comes after Calcutta
A dull tale of an emotionally broken psycho and people not unreasonably fearful of a witch.
A Human Stain
I’ve no idea what this over-long sub-performing tale was about.
Best Line:
“The logs turned to look at her.”
The Stories We Tell About Ghosts
Children play a ghost hunting game on their phones. It goes badly for one of them. This was excellent and creepy.
Endoskeletal
A Palaeolithic tomb is found. Cue continuing dread and long-term consequences. This starts well but turns into cliché.
West Of Matamoros, North Of Hell
By Brian Hodge. A band visit Mexico for a publicity stunt and are abducted. There are unsavoury practices, personal drama, jawdropping misdeeds, bitter acrimony and horror unfolds in this deeply disturbing story.
Best Lines:
“Graves no one would ever discover.”
“Never guessing who might be paying the wrong kind of attention,”
“Between the notes, looking back out.”
Alligator Point
This dull tale isn’t horror.
Best Line:
“She couldn’t answer anything they might ask.”
Dark Warm Heart
A vindictive shrew wife nags her husband who has undergone a change. I didn’t like it.
There And Back Again
A monster faces the angry relative of one of her victims. This was okay.
Shepherd’s Business
A new doctor on a remote island finds routine medical business taking a horrific turn. This was good.
Best Lines:
“Not to do so was to be perverse and most likely attention-seeking.”
“The whole island knows it isn’t yours.”
You Can Stay All Day
By Mira Grant. A zoo worker deals with a zombie outbreak. This was excellent.
Best Line:
“He died, and kept on walking.”
Harvest Song, Gathering Son
Soldiers go looking for something and find it. This was unendingly intriguing.
The Granfalloon
Students of the paranormal explore a long closed cinema. This was good and it is told with Wagnerian relish and something has been rendered eternal.
Best Line:
“It’s clothes are those of a Vincent Price villain.”