To be perfectly blunt, if this was a selection of the best horror of the year 2008, either I must have missed something or horror writing was at an ebb that year. Out of 21 stories, there were three that were relatively creepy, and out of those, I'd already read one. To be sure, I know that anthologies are pretty iffy, but in the world of hit or miss, this book takes the prize for most misses. I hate being so negative, but jeez -- there's just no other way to say it.

There are, as mentioned above, 21 stories that make up this anthology (* indicates the ones I actually liked):

Cargo by E. Michael Lewis
If Angels Fight by Richard Bowes
The Clay Party by Steve Duffy
Penguins of the Apocalypse by William Browning Spencer
Esmeralda: The First Book Depository Story by Glen Hirshberg
*The Hodag by Trent Hergenrader
Very Low-Flying Aircraft by Nicholas Royle
When the Gentlemen Go By by Margaret Ronald
*The Lagerstätte by Laird Barron
Harry and the Monkey by Euan Harvey
Dress Circle by Miranda Siemienowicz
The Rising River by Daniel Kaysen
Sweeney Among the Straight Razors by JoSelle Vanderhooft
*Loup-garou by R. B. Russell
Girl in Pieces by Graham Edwards
It Washed Up by Joe R. Lansdale
The Thirteenth Hell by Mike Allen
The Goosle by Margo Lanagan
Beach Head by Daniel LeMoal
The Man from the Peak by Adam Golaski
The Narrows by Simon Bestwick

The tale I liked the best was "The Lagerstätte," by Laird Barron, which I read a couple of months back in his most exquisite horror collection Occultation. Moving on to number two is "The Hodag" by Trent Hergenrader, a creepy little story set in the woods of northern Wisconsin. The third entry is "Loup-garou," by R.B. Russell, about a man whose world changes after viewing a film called Loup-garou. It's not so much a story of hair-raising terror, but it was unsettling enough at the end that I had to read it twice.

I'd also like to mention "Beach Head," by Daniel Le Moal. There is a line at which horror becomes no longer fun for me -- and this story crossed it. In the strictest sense of the word, I was indeed horrified, but this one went well beyond my comfort zone and actually kept me awake all night. Three smugglers wake up one day to find themselves buried up to their heads in sand on a beach somewhere. After thinking over their situation and how they must have ended up there, things proceed to go from very bad to the worst possible scenario ever. I give much credit to the writer: the images his writing conjured were extremely vivid, but downright depressing and I hope to god I never see another story like this one again. I won't deny that the story was very well written, but there are just some things I don't want to see in my head.

There is a bonus in Volume 1: the editor has put together a 33-page "Summation" of the horror writing of the year, including "Notable Novels," "Anthologies," "Mixed-Genre Anthologies," etc., offering the reader a wide selection of stories and books for further perusal. I wanted to like this book more, but I suppose horror, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. ( )

For about 20 years now, one of my great pleasures of the year has been the publication of The Year's Best Horror and Fantasy, co-edited originally by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, and more recently by Datlow and the team of Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant. But last year this long-running anthology series came to an end, to my great dismay. It turns out, though, that Ellen Datlow has continued on in her chosen field as editor of horror anthologies, and The Best Horror of the Year, Volume One, is the first of her new series. As with all such, there are stories I like more than others, stories other readers will like more than I did. I'll just mention a few: "Penguins of the Apocalypse" by William Browning Spencer is as funny as the title suggests, albeit in a gruesome alcoholic way; "The Narrows," by Simon Bestwick is almost as good as his brilliant "A Hazy Shade of Winter" from 2004, and that's saying a lot! And if Graham Edwards doesn't take the world he creates in "Girl in Pieces" (featuring Golems, the mythological Arachne and Pallas Athene Herself) and use it as the setting for a whole series of novels, I'm going to be seriously disappointed in him; I want way more of that world that this one private detective tale! You know your own level of squeamishness in reading, I'm just saying this is a good anthology of horror if you can stomach it. With that caveat, recommended. ( )