Here are thirteen memorable stories by renowned science fiction writers, telling what things might be like if... Elvis Presley weren't the "King" but the President of the United States ("Ike at the Mike" by Howard Waldrop)... The Black Death had killed the entire population of Europe in the fourteenth century ("Lion Time in Timbuctoo" by Robert Silverberg)... John F. Kennedy had survived the 1963 shooting in Dallas ("The Winterberry" by Nicholas A. DiChario). Included, too, is fascinating short fiction by Mike Resnick, Susan Shwartz, Larry Niven, Pamela Sargent, Fritz Leiber, Greg Bear, Barry N. Malzberg, Harry Turtledove, Gregory Benford and Kim Stanley Robinson. After reading these stories - some of the most compelling examples of alternate history anywhere - your mind will keep spinning the question "What If...?"

    Over 40 tales of visitation by the undead--from vengeful and violent spirits, set on causing harm to innocent people tucked up in their homes, to rarer and more kindly ghosts, returning from the grave to reach out across the other side. Yet others entertain desires of a more sinister bent, including the erotic. This new edition includes a selection of favorite haunted house tales chosen by famous screen stars such as Boris Karloff, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. In addition, a top ranking list of contributors includes Stephen King, Bram Stoker, Ruth Rendell, and James Herbert--all brought together by an anthologist who himself lives in a haunted house.Contents1 • The Haunted House • (2000) • short fiction by Elizabeth Albright and Ray Bradbury3 • Foreword: I Live In A Haunted House • (2000) • essay by Peter Haining9 • The Haunted and the Haunters • (1919) • novelette by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (variant of The Haunted and the Haunters; or, The House and the Brain 1859)39 • Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House • (2000) • short story by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (variant of An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House 1862)53 • A Case of Eavesdropping • [Jim Shorthouse] • (1900) • short story by Algernon Blackwood69 • A Haunted House • (1921) • short story by Virginia Woolf73 • Ghost Hunt • (1948) • short story by H. Russell Wakefield81 • Dark Winner • (1976) • short story by William F. Nolan89 • The Old House in Vauxhall Walk • (1882) • novelette by Mrs. J. H. Riddell [as by Charlotte Riddell]109 • No. 252 Rue M. Le Prince • (1895) • short story by Ralph Adams Cram125 • The Southwest Chamber • (1903) • novelette by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman [as by Mary Eleanor Freeman]145 • The Toll-House • (1907) • short story by W. W. Jacobs157 • Feet Foremost • (1932) • novelette by L. P. Hartley191 • Happy Hour • (1990) • novelette by Ian Watson217 • The Ankardyne Pew • (1979) • short story by William Fryer Harvey [as by W. F. Harvey]231 • The Real and the Counterfeit • (1988) • short story by Mrs. Alfred Baldwin [as by Louisa Baldwin]249 • A Night at a Cottage ... • (1926) • short story by Richard Hughes253 • The Considerate Hosts • (1939) • short story by Thorp McClusky265 • The Grey House • (1967) • short story by Basil Copper309 • Watching Me, Watching You • (1981) • short story by Fay Weldon329 • A Spirit Elopement • (1915) • short story by Richard Dehan339 • The House of Dust • (1920) • short story by Herbert de Hamel357 • The Kisstruck Bogie • (1946) • short story by A. E. Coppard367 • Mr Edward • (2000) • short story by Norah Lofts (variant of Mr. Edward 1947)385 • House of the Hatchet • (1941) • short story by Robert Bloch403 • Napier Court • (1971) • short story by Ramsey Campbell423 • Lost Hearts • (1895) • short story by M. R. James435 • The Shadowy Third • (1916) • novelette by Ellen Glasgow461 • A Little Ghost • (1922) • short story by Hugh Walpole477 • The Patter of Tiny Feet • (1950) • short story by Nigel Kneale489 • Uninvited Ghosts • (1981) • short story by Penelope Lively497 • Playing with Fire • (1900) • short story by Arthur Conan Doyle [as by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle]513 • The Whistling Room • [Carnacki (Hodgson)] • (1910) • short story by William Hope Hodgson533 • Bagnell Terrace • (1925) • short story by E. F. Benson547 • The Companion • (1978) • short story by Joan Aiken557 • The Ghost Hunter • (2000) • short fiction by James Herbert563 • Computer Séance • (1997) • short story by Ruth Rendell573 • In Letters of Fire • [L'homme qui a vu le diable] • (1908) • novelette by Gaston Leroux (trans. of L'homme qui a vu le diable)593 • The Judge's House • (1891) • short story by Bram Stoker613 • The Storm • (1944) • short story by McKnight Malmar627 • The Waxwork • (1931) • short story by A. M. Burrage [as by Ex-Private X]641 • The Inexperienced Ghost • (1902) • short story by H. G. Wells655 • Sophy Mason Comes Back • (1930) • short story by E. M. Delafield669 • The Boogeyman • (1973) • short story by Stephen King683 • Appendix: Haunted House Novels: A Listing • (2000) • essay by Peter Haining

    Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling continue their critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magical realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, new Year's Best sections on comics, by Charles Vess, and on anime and manga, by Joan D. Vinge, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.The critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition continues with another stunning collection, including stories by Kelly Link, Kim Newman, Corey Marks, Eric Schaller, M. Shayne Bell, Helga M. Novak, Terry Dowling, Michael Libling, Zoran Zivkovic, Bentley Little, Carlton Mellick III, Brian Hodge, Conrad Williams, Tom Disch, Melissa Hardy, Joel Lane, Nicholas Royle, Tracina Jackson-Adams, Karen Joy Fowler, Jackie Bartley, Peter Dickerman, Ramsey Campbell, Adam Roberts, Robert Phillips, Jay Russell, Luis Alberto Urrea, Margaret Lloyd, Stephen Gallagher, Robin McKinley, Haruki Murakami, Theodora Goss, Kathy Koja, Lucy Taylor, Elizabeth Hand, Kevin Brickmeier, Sharon McCartney, Susan Power, Don Tumasonis, Nan Fry.Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, Year's Best sections on comics, by Charles Vess, and on anime and manga, by Joan D. Vinge, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.

    This third installment in the DOA series offers thirty stories from the originators of splatterpunk as well as the newest voices in extreme horror. You'll laugh...you'll cry...you'll vomit Don't say we didn't warn you.

    Visit places where one might expect to find the dark — in a house where love was shared and lost, a milky-white pool in an Australian cave, the trenches of World War I, the deep woods. You would not be surprised to find the dark in a cheap apartment on the wrong side of town, down mean streets, under a gallows-tree, along dank passageways, trapped underground, in the near future, or among the mysteries of old New Orleans. Dunes, lakes, isolated cabins, old books, and Old West saloons — well, the darkness might easily be there. But we've also found locales you thought were safe from shadows — a rib joint with good blues playing, inside an old wardrobe, on a baseball diamond, the Beverly Wilshire Hotel...Travel into the best dark fantasy and horror from 2011 with more than five-hundred pages of tales from some of today's best-known writers of the fantastique as well as new talents — stories that will take you to a diverse assortment of dark placesContents Hair • (2011) • shortstory by Joan AikenRakshasi • (2011) • shortfiction by Kelley ArmstrongWalls of Paper, Soft as Skin • (2011) • shortstory by Adam CallawayThe Lake • (2011) • shortfiction by Tananarive DueTell Me I'll See You Again • (2011) • shortstory by Dennis EtchisonKing Death • (2011) • shortfiction by Paul FinchThe Last Triangle • (2011) • shortfiction by Jeffrey FordNear Zennor • (2011) • novella by Elizabeth HandCrossroads • (2011) • shortstory by Laura Anne GilmanAfter-Words • (2011) • novelette by Glen HirshbergRocket Man • (2011) • shortfiction by Stephen Graham JonesThe Maltese Unicorn • (2011) • shortfiction by Caitlín R. KiernanThe Dune • (2011) • shortfiction by Stephen KingCatastrophic Disruption of the Head • (2011) • shortfiction by Margo LanaganThe Bleeding Shadow • (2011) • shortfiction by Joe R. LansdaleWhy Light? • (2011) • novelette by Tanith LeeConservation of Shadows • (2011) • shortstory by Yoon Ha LeeA Tangle of Green Men • [Chronicles of the Borderlands] • (2011) • novella by Charles de LintAfter the Apocalypse • (2012) • shortfiction by Maureen F. McHugh [as by Maureen McHugh ]Why Do You Linger? • (2011) • shortfiction by Sarah MonetteLord Dunsany's Teapot • (2011) • shortstory by Naomi NovikMysteries of the Old Quarter • (2011) • novelette by Paul ParkVampire Lake • (2011) • shortfiction by Norman PartridgeA Journey of Only Two Paces • (2011) • shortstory by Tim PowersFour Legs in the Morning • (2011) • shortfiction by Norman PrentissThe Fox Maiden • (2011) • shortfiction by Priya SharmaTime and Tide • (2011) • shortstory by Alan Ryan [as by Alan Peter Ryan ]Sun Falls • (2011) • shortstory by Angela SlatterStill • (2011) • shortfiction by Tia V. TravisObjects in Dreams May Be Closer Than They Appear • (2011) • shortstory by Lisa TuttleThe Bread We Eat in Dreams • (2011) • shortstory by Catherynne M. ValenteAll You Can Do Is Breathe • (2011) • shortstory by Kaaron WarrenJosh • (2011) • shortfiction by Gene Wolfe

    The experience of this collection may be likened to getting run over by a 666-car locomotive engineered by Lucifer. This is the cream of grotesquerie's crop, a Whitman's Sampler of the heinous, and an absolutely gut-wrenching celebration of the furthest extremities of the scatological, the taboo, the unconscionable, and the blasphemous." -Edward Lee, author of THE HAUNTER OF THE THRESHOLD and THE DUNWICH ROMANCE If you thought Volume One was intense, you ain't seen nothing yet! Twenty-eight masters of the extreme contribute their most hardcore tales to the anthology that only Blood Bound Books could publish: D.O.A. II. Wrath James White, Jack Ketchum, Robert Devereaux, J.F. Gonzalez, David Quinn, Shane McKenzie, John McNee and many more. Pull back the coroner's sheet, hold your breath, and enjoy the ride. THIS IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH.

    On this anniversary, the editors have increased the size of the collection to 300,000 words of fiction and poetry, including works by Billy Collins, Ted Chiang, Karen Joy Fowler, Elizabeth Hand, Glen Hirshberg, Joyce Carol Oates, and new World Fantasy Award winner M. Rickert. With impeccably researched summations of the field by the editors, Honorable Mentions, and articles by Edward Bryant, Charles de Lint and Jeff VanderMeer on media, music and graphic novels, this is a heady brew topped off by an unparalleled list of sources of fabulous works both light and dark.

    We can find darkness anywhere: in a strange green stone etched with mysterious symbols; at a small town's annual picnic; in a ghostly house that is easy to enter but not so easy to leave; behind the dumpster in the alley where a harpy lives; in The Nowhere, a place where car keys, toys, people disappear to; among Polar explorers; and, most definitely, within ourselves. Darkness flies from mysterious crates; surrounds children whose nightlights have vanished; and flickers between us at the movie theater. Darkness crawls from the past and is waiting in our future; and there's always a chance that Halloween really is a door opening directly into endless shadow. Welcome to the dark. You may never want to leave. This inaugural volume of the year's best dark fantasy and horror features more than 500 pages of dark tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique. Chosen from a variety of sources, these stories are as eclectic and varied as the genre itself.Contents 9 • What the Hell Do You Mean By "Dark Fantasy and Horror?" • essay by Paula Guran13 • The Horrid Glory of Its Wings • (2009) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear23 • Lowland Sea • (2009) • novelette by Suzy McKee Charnas41 • Copping Squid • (2009) • novelette by Michael Shea56 • Monsters • (2009) • novelette by Stewart O'Nan73 • The Brink of Eternity • (2009) • shortstory by Barbara Roden85 • Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre • (2009) • shortstory by Seth Fried95 • Sea-Hearts • (2009) • novella by Margo Lanagan138 • A Haunted House of Her Own • (2009) • shortfiction by Kelley Armstrong153 • Headstone in Your Pocket • (2009) • shortstory by Paul G. Tremblay [as by Paul Tremblay ]166 • The Coldest Girl in Coldtown • (2009) • novelette by Holly Black182 • Strange Scenes from an Unfinished Film • (2009) • shortstory by Gary McMahon190 • A Delicate Architecture • (2009) • shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente196 • The Mystery • (2009) • shortfiction by Peter Atkins205 • Variations on a Theme from Seinfeld • (2009) • shortstory by Peter Straub211 • The Wide, Carnivorous Sky • (2009) • shortfiction by John Langan251 • Certain Death for a Known Person • (2009) • novelette by Steve Duffy267 • The Ones Who Got Away • (2009) • shortfiction by Stephen Graham Jones274 • Leng • (2009) • shortfiction by Marc Laidlaw292 • Torn Away • (2009) • shortfiction by Joe R. Lansdale301 • The Nowhere Man • (2009) • shortfiction by Sarah Pinborough314 • The Bone's Prayer • (2009) • shortstory by Caitlín R. Kiernan327 • The Water Tower • (2009) • shortstory by John Mantooth337 • In the Porches of My Ears • (2009) • shortstory by Norman Prentiss348 • The Cinderella Game • (2009) • shortstory by Kelly Link355 • The Jacaranda Smile • (2009) • shortstory by Gemma Files366 • The Other Box • (2009) • shortfiction by Gerard Houarner388 • White Charles • [Kyle Murchison Booth] • (2009) • novelette by Sarah Monette406 • Everything Dies, Baby • (2009) • shortstory by Nadia Bulkin414 • Bruise for Bruise • (2009) • shortstory by Robert Davies422 • Respects • (2009) • shortstory by Ramsey Campbell433 • Diamond Shell • (2009) • shortstory by Deborah Biancotti446 • Nub Hut • (2009) • shortstory by Kurt Dinan452 • The Cabinet Child • (2009) • shortfiction by Steve Rasnic Tem458 • Cherrystone & Shards of Ice • (2009) • shortstory by Ekaterina Sedia469 • The Crevasse • (2009) • shortstory by Nathan Ballingrud and Dale Bailey482 • Vic • (2009) • shortfiction by Maura McHugh490 • Halloween Town • (2009) • novella by Lucius Shepard543 • The Long, Cold Goodbye • (2009) • novelette by Holly Phillips562 • What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night • (2009) • shortstory by Michael Marshall Smith

    Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling continue their critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magical realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.ContentsSummation 1999: Fantasy, Terri WindlingSummation 1999: Horror, Ellen DatlowHorror and Fantasy in the Media: 1999, Edward BryantComics: 1999, Seth JohnsonObituaries: 1999, James FrenkelDarkrose and Diamond, Ursula K. Le GuinThe Chop Girl, Ian R. MacLeodThe Girl Detective, Kelly LinkThe Transformation, N. Scott MomadayCarabosse, Delia ShermanHarlequin Valentine, Neil GaimanToad, Patricia A. McKillipThe Dinner Party, Robert GirardiHeat, Steve Rasnic TemThe Wedding at Esperanza, Linnet TaylorRedescending, Ursula K. Le GuinYou Don't Have to be Mad . . .Kim NewmanThe Paper-Thin Garden, Thomas WhartonThe Anatomy of a Mermaid, Mary SharrattThe Grammarian's Five Daughters, Eleanor ArnasonThe Tree Is My Hat, Gene WolfeWelcome, Michael Marshall SmithThe Pathos of Genre, Douglas E. WinterShatsi, Peter CrowtherKeepsakes and Treasures: A Love Story, Neil GaimanWhat You Make It, Michael Marshall SmithThe Parwat Ruby, Delia ShermanOdysseus Old, Geoffrey BrockThe Smell of the Deer, Kent MeyersChorion and the Pleiades, Sarah Van ArsdaleCrosley, Elizabeth Engstromn0 Naming the Dead, Paul J. McAuleyThe Stork-Men, Juan GoytisoloThe Disappearance of Elaine Coleman, Steven MillhauserWhite, Tim LebbonDear Floods of Her Hair, James SallisMrs. Santa Decides to Move to Florida, April SelleyTanuki, Jan HodgmanAt Reparata, Jeffrey FordSkin So Green and Fine, Wendy WheelerOld Merlin Dancing on the Sands of Time, Jane YolenSailing the Painted Ocean, Denise LeeGrandmother, Laurence SnydalSmall Song, Gary A. BraunbeckThe Emperor's Old Bones, Gemma FilesThe Duke of Wellington Misplaces His Horse, Susanna ClarkeHalloween Street, Steve Rasnic TemThe Kiss, Tia V. TravisThe Beast/The Hedge, Bill LewisPixel Pixies, Charles de LintFalling Away, Elizabeth BirminghamHonorable Mentions: 1999

    Containing many "lost" pieces, it is a compendium of suspense from the pulp magazines of the '20s to his last efforts in the '70s. Fine.

    Vollmann's growing reputation as the American writer whose books tower over the work of his contemporaries by virtue of their enormous range, huge ambition, stylistic daring, wide learning, audacious innovation, and sardonic wit (Washington Post Book World). All these qualities are in evidence in this collection in which the character of the writer and that of some of his intimates - both real and imaginary - surface and resurface in a series of extraordinary situations and encounters. Two astonishing stories frame this collection. The first, The Ghost of Magnetism, tells about a young man leaving San Francisco to become a sort of literary hobo living on his freeze-dried memories. The last, The Grave of Lost Stories, describes the death of Poe in a fungus-encrusted tomb somewhere deep in the earth. Here is the colorful and disreputable group of people familiar to us from Vollmann's earlier fiction - pimps, tramps, pornographers, witch doctors and massage-parlor girls. Within these stories, Vollmann gives us one of the most searching, bizarre, and subversive views of America today.

    David J. Schow ... Thomas Tessier... F. Paul Wilson... Richard Christian Matheson ... Nancy A. Collins... Graham Masterton ... Pay Garton ... Rex Miller ... and ten other stars of today's shock fiction know what metalheads and moralists, punksters and preachers have known all along. Rock and roll. With its hot licks and raw glitter, has a dark side too - where the party stops and the terror begins.Put on your headphones. Open this electrifying book. Rock to the world of horror where martyred musical super-legends return from the dead at 120 decibels... where radio stations sponsor ghastly giveaways that no living soul could want ... where other-earthly pirates bootleg not records, but human souls... where people are strange ... and the devil rocks all night.THE NEW SOUND OF HORRORCONTENTSStephen King - You Know They've Got a Hell Of A BandF. Paul Wilson - Bob Dylan, Troy Jonson, and The Speed QueenDavid J. Schow - OdeedNancy A. Collins - Vargr RuleRonald Kelly - Blood Suede ShoesDon D'Ammassa - The Dead Beat SocietyGraham Masterton - Voodoo ChildPaul Dale Anderson - Rites Of SpringMichael E. Garrett - Dedicated To The One I LoatheBrian J. Hodge - RequiemR. Patrick Gates - Heavy MetalRex Miller - BunkyBill Mumy & Peter David - The Black '59Richard Christian Matheson - GroupiesMichael Newton - ReunionMark Verheiden - BootlegRay Garton - Weird GigJohn L. Byrne - Hide In Plain SightThomas Tessier - Addicted To loveJohn Shirley - Flaming Telepaths

    Michael X in Trinidad, Peronism in Argentina, the cult of Kingship in Mobutu's Zaire - the author brings his novelist's questioning to bear upon the "half-made" societies, those still suffering from the profound deprivations of colonialism and prey to corruption.

    In these stories and essays Wolfe meets the question head-on -- even providing the label "The Me Decade".

    Morlan, Robert Silverberg, Michael Swanwick, Jane Yolen, and many others. Supplementing the stories are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantastic fiction, Edward Bryant's witty roundup of the year's fantasy films, and a long list of Honorable Mentions-all of which adds up to an invaluable reference source, and a font of fabulous reading.