Best of
New-Weird

2009

Fugue State


Brian Evenson - 2009
    From sadistic bosses with secret fears to a woman trapped in a mime’s imaginary box, and from a post-apocalyptic misidentified Messiah to unwitting portraitists of the dead, the mind-bending world of this modern-day Edgar Allan Poe exposes the horror contained within our daily lives.

Dark Albion


David Brian - 2009
    Now though, Mary is on the verge of breaking a story which could change the world forever. She has uncovered evidence of something that cannot possibly exist. But Mary knows the threat is real. Should she run with the story, or just bury it and get on with her career? And can she stay alive long enough to make a decision either way? Dark Albion is a novelette length slice of Horror, supported in this highly entertaining and innovative collection by seven other tales of Paranormal Mystery, Suspense and Dread. Traci Thornberry has been persuaded into covering the late shift at the Halfway House Hotel. She has never much enjoyed working nights, and after tonight she'll never want to cover a late shift again.Vlad has hunted his prey across the major cities of the world for many years, and after arriving amid the bright lights of London, he is excited at the prospect of this new hunting ground... Sometimes though, things don't go quite as planned. A wonderfully twisted collection of horror short stories, featuring weird and disturbing tales, which make up the strange world of Dark Albion.

Objects of Worship


Claude Lalumière - 2009
    Capricious gods rule a world of women. Zombies breed human cattle. The son of a superhero must decide between his heritage and his religion. Young lovers worship a primordial spider god. The apocalyptic rebirth of the god of the elephants . . .

Ichor Falls: A Visitor's Guide: Short stories from a quiet community


Kris Straub - 2009
    

Peckinpah: An Ultraviolent Romance


D. Harlan Wilson - 2009
    The decidedly estranged yet complacent occupants of this proverbial smalltown go about their business like geriatrics in a casino … until their business is interrupted by a sinister gang of outsiders. Angry, slick-talking, and ultraviolent to the core, Samson Thataway and the Fuming Garcias commit art-for-art’s-sake in the form of hideous, unmotivated serial killings. When an unsuspecting everyman’s wife is murdered by the throng, it is up to Felix Soandso to avenge her death and return Dreamfield to its natural state of absurdity.

The Castle Omnibus


Steph Swainston - 2009
    Their immortality, conferred on them by the emperror can be taken away if they lose a challange to be part of the circle of 50. Jant, the emperor's drug-addicted messanger, the only man who can fly, tells the story of mankinds savage fight for survival in a uniquely imagined, beautiful fantasy world.

Mongoose: Part I


Elizabeth Bear - 2009
    They have been published in a variety of places online and in short story compilations, and are also available as audio plays on Drabblecast.In the future, humanity has established space stations throughout the solar system using a combination of mechanical and organic technology. Life is a constant struggle: danger comes not only from competition over limited resources and the remorseless vacuum of space, but also inter-dimensional predators, brain-stealing aliens, Space Pirates in Living Ships, feuding between various ideological sects and cults, and the warped creations of their own eldritch science turning against them.Each story is stand-alone, featuring a different protagonist and containing only passing reference to the others. There are three stories in the Boojumverse so far:- "Boojum"- "Mongoose"- "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward"

Mongoose: Part II


Elizabeth Bear - 2009
    They have been published in a variety of places online and in short story compilations, and are also available as audio plays on Drabblecast.In the future, humanity has established space stations throughout the solar system using a combination of mechanical and organic technology. Life is a constant struggle: danger comes not only from competition over limited resources and the remorseless vacuum of space, but also inter-dimensional predators, brain-stealing aliens, Space Pirates in Living Ships, feuding between various ideological sects and cults, and the warped creations of their own eldritch science turning against them.Each story is stand-alone, featuring a different protagonist and containing only passing reference to the others. There are three stories in the Boojumverse so far:- "Boojum"- "Mongoose"- "The Wreck of the Charles Dexter Ward"