Of course one can never know the hardships of curating and editing a horror anthology as iconic as Datlow's Best Horror of the Year and there may be reasons beyond our knowledge why some stories don't make it there and why others do. I'm pretty sure that 2022-2023 was an exceptionally good time for horror short stories, but unfortunately I don't see that reflected in this book. In consequence, this year is one of those years in which the Datlow Best of Anthology does not quite strike my fancy. It happens.
It is worth noticing that this year many selected writings are bordering on noir or crime fiction – for instance The Zoo by Gemma Amor which features a medium investigating in an outrageous case where all animals in a zoo have been replaced by human corpses positioned to represent the respective animal or The Collection by Charlie Hughes in which police investigations focus on some tapes and abnormal occurrences taking place in a church. It's interesting to contemplate what scares people in certain times, and a need for solving of mysteries or the tying of loose ends seems to strike a chord nowadays.
Well, as usual, I have favorites and highlights, some of which I had already read in the respective anthologies they were originally published in;
Incident at Bear Creek Lodge by
Tananarive Due is the story of a young boy who is sent to spend a few
days with his grandma who used to work as an actress, but she's very
scary and there's a reason for it.
In my childhood I had one grandma I
adored above all, and one I was frightened of, so the use of the fear
of the grandma is something I can understand to a certain degree but it's
not my favorite trope. I like that here, through the grandma's own
seemingly glamorous past and of course her Blackness, there are many
additional layers of horror laid upon each other combined with a winter
setting which is always claustrophobic for me. Love this story.
The Last Box by Luigi Musolino was already one of my favorite stories in his collection A Different Darkness,
so I can only approve its presence among the best of the year. Who
isn't fascinated by circus life and performances? The unique skill of
Musolino's protagonist coupled with the author's delicate writing style
makes this story all the more fascinating.
New Fox Smell
by Livia Llewellyn is probably one of the strangest things I have ever
read. Following the car ride of a young girl with her friend's mother to
their summer residence pulls you gradually but firmly into a solid
nightmare from which there's no escape, little foxes.
Lifelike
by Gary McMahon is set in a home for older people and that is totally
up my alley as it revolves around lovely older women, who witness
something quite … I don't really have words for what happens, as "weird "
and "strange" aren't sufficient to describe it. Read for
yourself. There's a creepy puppet involved in any case.
My critique for this year's issue probably comes across a little harsh or nitpicky, but I still wouldn't want to miss this anthology. Its publication each year is a new joy for me that I eagerly await. Now, off to another year full of great horror short stories!
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