I received a digital ARC of this book from Netgalley. Story by story reviews are the only way I'll finish a book this long, so let's.

I Remember Nothing by Anne Billson: A woman wakes up in a room she doesn't recognize, wracked with pain and covered in blood. Then things really start to go badly. This isn't bad. It's got some great atmosphere and building dread, but the ending is maybe too clever? 3 stars

Monkeys on the Beach by Ralph Robert Moore: A family goes on vacation on a Caribbean island where a bunch of surreally terrible stuff happens to them. There's a very strange sense of unreality in this one. It's not obviously supernatural, but the things people do and the way they react don't seem like how humans would behave. Ok, new head cannon, the characters are in hell and they don't know it. There's a very upsetting scene of a child being maimed, but I otherwise would struggle to label this horror. 2 stars

Painted wolves by Ray Cluley: A reality star and 3 crewmen are in Africa filming a nature show. Two of the crew are dicks, and our narrator Tom seems unable to stand up for himself. They witness the rare site of African wild dogs taking down a zebra and film it, which everyone is sure will make the series a hit. The evening after the encounter with the dogs, the two asshole crew members rape the reality star, and I think Tom tapes it and then hides in a cave. I think, but it's a little hard to tell what happens since it's in second person and Tom maybe has a breakdown? I think this story is trying to say something about the moral implications of watching instead of intervening, which seems a little obvious. Some very visceral descriptions of the animal attack, but this one feels a little muddled. 3 stars

Shit Happens by Michael Marshall Smith: Rick, the employee of a big tech company, goes to a work retreat on a big fancy boat anchored off the coast of California. He gets very drunk and ends up trapped in a men's room with a guy experiencing severe intestinal distress when the apocalypse comes. This story doesn't go for the heavier themes some of the others in this book do. Instead it's just a well done bit of horror comedy. Feels a bit like Zombieland, which is maybe why I like it so much. 5 stars

You Know How the Story Goes by Thomas Olde Heuvelt: Our narrator blows off his ride home in the hopes of going home with a woman. The object of his desire bails on him, leaving him to hitchhike. This is a fantastic, terrifying inversion of the "phantom hitchhiker" story. Instead of the hitchhiker being a ghost, the woman who picks up the hitchhiker is a creepy, unnaturally tall women. The details in this are visceral, gross, and haunting. 5 stars

Back Along the Old Tracks by Sam Hicks: Our narrator is a staying in a cottage in the rural English countryside for a bit of rest and relaxation. One evening in the local pub, a family comes in for the wake of their patriarch. These are the Sleators, and they're your basic folk horror rural family. Turns out they live pretty close to where the narrator is staying, and he unfortunately ends up on their radar. There's some nice, creepy details in this story, but it ends rather abruptly. 3 stars

Masks by Peter Sutton: A group of castaways have created a brutal little society to survive in their unforgiving environment. There's shades of Shirley Jackson and Lord of the Flies in this, and the harsh realities of trying to live on a deserted island are very well drawn. 4 stars

The Donner Party by Dale Bailey: This is the standout story so far. My only quibble is that the title is distracting, making the reader expect a much different story than what we get. Mrs. Breen is a proper Victorian lady, who married just well enough to be constantly anxious and afraid of doing the wrong thing in society. This story is about survival in a society that's rotten to the core, and how people who might otherwise be decent and kind become complicit in atrocity. It gets its hooks into you. 5 stars

Milkteeth by Kristi Demeester: A man and his daughter walk through a wasteland. The daughter does her best to hide her newly sharp teeth and her growing bloodlust. Post apocalypse with werewolves, with bonus shitty dads. 3 stars

Haak by John Langan: John Langan somehow writes horror stories that are also lectures on English Literature, and it's a mark of his skill that they are quite good. "Technicolor" is better than this, but this has cannibalism and Peter Pan, so. I think it's a little overstuffed, but I like it anyway. 4 stars

Thin Cold Hands by Gemma Files: A woman remembers the tiny skeleton she found under her house, and the terrible things that happened afterward that led to the birth of her daughter. I really like Gemma Files and her horrific fae. My only complaint is that the woman talks about how cruel and evil the fairies, and by extension her daughter, are. But we never really see the daughter do anything evil. She's strange and scary, but we never see her hurt anyone. Still, this has some very creepy details. 4 stars

A Tiny Mirror by Eloise C.C. Shepherd: This very short story is relayed by a man who heard it from a woman who sat next to him on a plane. When the woman was young, her father died and his sister came to live with them to help her mother. Her brother, who was a toddler, began to act very strangely, talking to people who weren't there and trying to hurt his family. The girl thinks something in the house is causing this, and one day she sees an inhuman eye looking back from a keyhole. This story captures a feeling of claustrophobic dread very well, but it ends really abruptly. 3 stars

I Love You Mary-Grace by Amelia Mangan: Frankie is a deputy in a small town. He works for sheriff Ned, a crooked cop who regularly shakes down Mary-Grace for cash. One day Ned and Frankie pull a huge ancient dog's head out of a pond, and Frankie finds it awakening something inside of him. I knew where this was going pretty quickly, but it's an enjoyable tale of revenge and belonging. 4 stars

The Jaws of Ouroboros by Steve Toase: This has a fantastically bonkers premise. All of the standing stones in the world are actually teeth, and they continuously grind and crush the landscape and anything else that comes too close. Our narrator harvests a substance called white ambergris that accumulates on the stones, made of smashed bodies and everything else that the stones pulverize. For some reason this substance is a powerful drug, and dangerous people buy it. When his partner tries to rip off a psychopathic drug lord, the narrator has to find him. Very weird but also very disturbing. 4 stars

A Brief Moment of Rage by Bill Davidson: This is basically James Tiptree Jr.'s "The Screwfly Solution," (if you haven't read this story, you absolutely must) except everyone goes crazy murderous, not just men. It's very bleak, and brings home that other humans are often the scariest thing around. 5 stars

Golden Sun by Kristi Demeester, Richard Thomas, Damien Angelica Walters, and Michael Wehunt: This is a melancholy story of a family that go on vacation and somehow lose their middle child. The thing is, every member of the family remembers events a bit differently, and they can't figure out exactly when their daughter went missing. Did she leave the hotel with them? Did she get out of the car at a rest stop and wander off? Does the man she and her siblings met by the dunes have anything to do with her disappearance? 3 stars

White Mare by Thana Niveau: A widower and his teenage daughter temporarily move to a small British town to sell the farm they've inherited. While they're there, they meet some very unfriendly locals and are tormented by an old tradition of the "White Mare." This is obviously based on the Welsh tradition of the "Mari Lwyd," which is pretty creepy. But Mari Lwyd, despite being a horse skull on a stick, is actually a Christmas tradition where people go around asking their neighbors for food and drink. It's not tied to Halloween. This story has a pretty good vengeance scene at the end, but it fell a little short for me. 3 stars

Girls Without Their Faces On by Laird Barron: Laird Barron is Lovecraft without the racism, plus the unforgiving landscape of, usually, Alaska. Delia has a strange conversation with the man she's been dating after they leave a party. It unnerves her enough to get out of the car and hide after her boyfriend leaves. When Delia is confronted with bloody eldritch horror, she discovers some new things about herself. Quite scary, but maybe a little thin. 3 stars

Thumbsucker by Robert Shearman: I don't know what the hell this is supposed to be. A man's close relationship with his father becomes strained when he learns his father sucks his thumb. This is treated as something between smoking and masturbating. To try and be more accepting of his father's "lifestyle," he accompanies him to a... thumbsucker orgy? A bunch of people hang around and dip their fingers in sauces and stuff and suck it off each other's thumbs. It's very gross. If "it made me very uncomfortable" is a good measure for horror, than this qualifies, but mostly I was just icked, not scared. 2 stars

You Are Released by Joe Hill: Another standout in this collection, this is a rare horror story with no supernatural elements. Instead we get little character sketches of the crew and passengers on a plane when atomic strikes are exchanged. It's very somber and haunting. 5 stars

Red Rain by Adam-Troy Castro: Here we have a second person story told only in questions. One day, for no apparent reason, people just start falling out of the sky. The story really lingers on the body horror aspects of bodies just raining down on a city, and it's very visceral and bloody and scary. 4 stars

Split Chain Stitch by Steve Toase: Since this anthology already has another story by Steve Toase, this one is unnecessary. It's neither as weird or as disturbing as "The Jaws of Ouroboros," so why include it? A woman insinuates herself into a small town knitting circle. We discover that she's a detective with suspicions that the knitting circle is murdering people. Of course she's right, and of course she gets caught. It's not a bad story, but it's not good enough for its author to get 2 entries in the table of contents. 2 stars

No Exit by Orrin Grey: This is a quite good story of a young woman dealing with her older sister's murder by a cult years ago. She's studied the case from every angle, and the last thing to do is visit the murder site. Once there, she has a pretty terrifying experience, but she also gets a little closure. 4 stars

Haunt by Siobhan Carroll: Swift is a sailor on the Minerva when a storm damages the ship beyond repair. The boat floats, partially flooded in the Indian Ocean, and the passengers and crew begin to see a ghostly ship approaching. The crew believe that they are being punished for the sins of one of the crew, several of whom have served aboard slave ships and seen and participated in atrocities. Alternately brutal and haunting, this is another stand out story. 5 stars

Sleep by Carly Holmes: A woman and her young son hastily move into a new home. The woman is trying to protect her son, but she is clearly terrified of him. She doesn't let him attend school, and keeps him very isolated, sometimes even drugging him so she doesn't have to constantly watch him. As the story continues, we watch her struggle with how isolated her life has become, and her growing resentment of her son who, at five, cannot understand the restrictions on him. We never learn exactly what her son does or why, but her hopelessness is very unsettling. 4 stars.

So, there are a few really great stories here, and several quite good ones. But there are a few that have no business in a best of the year collection, and unless I'm mistaken, none of the contributors are poc, which is a remarkable oversight.

So many good writers to look out for and new voices to follow. A very well presented anthology. I'd read more from many of these authors.

Got this as an ARC from NetGalley way back last year 2019. Unfortunately, this took me the longest time to finish and eventually I stopped halfway in search of greener pastures. Wanted to continue today (yes after a year of hiatus), but found our that I’ve listed the soft copy.

Still, I dug out the reviews I have done for the titles that I’ve read before and I’m pasting it here:

I Remember Nothing
What the hell did I just read? I get that this is a short story, but can the author at least tell us what kind of world is this story set in? It makes no kick. It’s not horror if all the characters involved are horrific and there are no normal characters to compare to

Monkeys on the Beach
Though more engaging than the first one, the narration felt very rigid and unnatural to me. I’m surprised this even made the list.

Painted Wolves
Eagerly waiting for the scene whereby the wolves ravaged the film crew. Still waiting.

Shit Happens
Fancy title for a fancy story. The only one I’ve enjoyed up till this point. Engaging till the end, nice dose of gore and great built up of suspense. Would have loved to read this as a novel.

You Know How The Story Goes
This story is supposedly about a man experiencing a close shave with death after finding himself right smack in a creepy setting of an old wive’s tale

Back Along The Old Track
I really don’t know what I just read

Masks
An uninteresting story about shipwrecked survivors turned cannibals residing in an island. When you want to spin a horror story out of cannibals, it has to be more than a short story, or if not at least contain some form of extreme gore or mentally/emotionally disturbing scenes.

The Donner Party
The best piece so far. Also about cannibalism, this piece exudes grandeur. It makes “Masks” looks like child’s play. I wonder if it was on purpose that they were arranged back to back!
Dale Bailey completely won me over and I’d be sure to get his books! I appreciated the interesting debate scene on cannibalism over dinner. It was nicely executed. The ending was sweetly done, leaving you wondering who was actually served as dinner at the First Feast.
I’m impressed.


Sorry, I really wanted to like this book better and to complete it.

I absolutely love it when I stumble upon new favorite authors in these types of anthologies, because not only do some of them specialize in writing in a particular genre, others have stories in other genres that are just as good as what they're known for.

Edited by Ellen Datlow (I haven't yet read anything by her but I'm quite keen on getting started ASAP), there are stories that range from the obscure to weird and wonderful to, at first glance, anti-climatic until you're reading that last page and a cold shiver runs down your spine.

Joe Hill is perhaps the biggest name in this anthology, but many impressive horror authors contributed short horror fiction. This collection, like most, is a mixed bag, and horror is such a broad category with subgenres that sometimes have nothing to do with one another, so if you only like a few types of horror/have issues with others, you’re going to come across a few stories you just don’t like.

Personally, I like paranormal and psychological horror. Body horror, rape revenge, and gratuitous gore aren’t my scene. They are all valid horror subgenres, but even when well-written, I don’t enjoy them. So, of course, I liked some of these stories more than others.

I enjoyed “I Remember Nothing” by Anne Billson. It’s zombie horror but be warned it’s body horror, too. That part really turned me off but I give it points for a creative twist on a sometimes tired troupe. “White Mare” by Thana Niveau was also really good. It’s got both occult and paranormal elements. There’s some gore, but it’s necessary to the story without being the entire story. Joe Hill always brings the entertainment, too, and “You Are Released” is intriguing. While he’s the most recognizable author to me in this collection, I liked that he is mentioned among everyone else, not as like the top billed writer. Props for equally highlighting all stories.

All in all, this is a decent horror collection if you’re looking for a wide range of subgenres collected together in short, succinct tales. It’s been out for a while, so you shouldn’t have any trouble finding it. It’s even available as an audiobook if you’re all caught up on NoSleep and need a fix.

A particularly good entry in this annual series that is always a treat. My fave story is probably "Thumbsucker" by Robert Shearman. "Favorite" in the sense that I find it most unsettling.

This collection of horror-themed tales is spooky, scary, evocative, and massive. There should be something for everyone-my favorite was Joe Hill's short story.

Great collection of horror stories. Ellen Datlow does it again! Would recommend to anyone who likes the genre.

Fall is my favorite season and Halloween is my favorite holiday. Every year as summer turns to autumn, I start reading all the horror novels and short stories I can get my hands on. I sit out on my porch on cool fall evenings reading whatever chilling, spooky bit of fiction (or even non-fiction) has come to hand. This year, my horror season started early as I discovered story anthologies edited by Ellen Datlow. OMG....how did I miss these?? Datlow has been editing fantasy, sci-fi and horror anthologies for 25 years. I am SO glad that I received a review copy of this book because my TBR pile has grown exponentially in my three favorite genres!

The Best Horror of the Year Volume 11 gathers 25 stories Some of the authors were familar favorites (like Joe Hill for example) and others were new to me (Carly Holmes, Laird Barron). This is a varied, outstanding collection of horror fiction! There wasn't a single story I didn't like. Some were more to my taste than others....but the joy of a story anthology is that it's a collection of differing writing styles and flavors. I read this story collection slowly, giving myself time to enjoy it. One or two stories a night...took time to read up on the authors....and smiled as my TBR list got a lot larger. I added several books and stories by the featured authors to my must-read list, as well as every anthology edited by Ellen Datlow. :) I will be kept in horror, fantasy and sci-fi bliss for the foreseeable future!

At the back of the book there is also an "honorable mention'' list for stories that almost made the cut for this anthology....I'm going to find those stories or other works by those authors and read those as well!

My library has several of the back volumes of this series as audio books! I'm so excited! I can have some outstanding horror read to me! Woot! :)

Great book! Full stars from me!

**I voluntarily read a review copy of this book from Skyhorse Publishing. All opinions expressed are entirely my own.**

The stories in the first half of the book bored me. The stories in the second half of the book held my interest. Was this done intentionally? It’s quite noticeable to me.

I felt no suspense while reading this horror anthology. I wasn’t drawn into the stories or gripped by anticipation. None of the stories scared me, freaked me out, or horrified me.

Putting together a ‘Best of’ collection must be a real challenge. To consolidate a year’s worth of horror fiction into 20 plus stories must be nothing short of a Herculean task.
It’s a good thing we have Ellen Datlow. She’s one of the most esteemed editors in the horror field, and she’s been doing these particular collections for ten years. Ten years of selections, each plucked from the darkest depths of the genre. After all this time, it might be fair to ask if she’s lost her touch. After all, a good run must someday end. Has this particular series lost its touch?
Spoiler alert: not even close. It’s as great as ever. The books (of course) starts with a deep dive (a summation) into the year. It’s a curated list built for horror/thriller fans, going over novels, collections and other anthologies. If your TBR pile wasn’t already massive, it will be after this summation. If you were concerned that Ellen hasn’t done her homework, you will be glad to know that every effort has been made to see every spooky corner.
Now for the stories. An eclectic bunch, most of them from some of the greatest names in the genre. While not every story worked for me perfectly, it wasn’t because they weren’t well written and interesting. The nature of an anthology of like this is that every creation is has its own orbit. And that’s why a well curated ‘Best Of’ anthology is so important. We need room for all kinds. So that begs the question. Which stories do I think stand above the rest?
Let’s start with the opener. ‘I Remember Nothing’ by Anne Billson. It’s one heck of a way to start. It’s a grisly piece and very startling. A little further ahead is the very disturbing ‘Painted by Wolves’ by Ray Cluley. It is the most effective story of human evil in the anthology, and may be the most disturbing within it’s page count.
‘You Know How the Story Goes’ from novelist Thomas Olde Heuvelt takes an urban legend to chilling heights. It’s my favorite story in the book, and a reminder of why you shouldn’t pick up hitchhikers. From there, I enjoyed the formal terror of ‘The Donner Party’ (Dale Bailey) and the familiar-but not-quite tale of John Langan’s ‘Haak’. In the final half of the book, I enjoyed stories from Thana Niveau (White Mare), Laird Barron (Girls Without Their Faces On), and several others.
As I stated earlier, Ellen Datlow doesn’t put out bad anthologies. With her annual anthology, you are guaranteed to get a buffet of horrors both loud and quiet. If you have the cash for one horror anthology, this is a worthy purchase.

This huge compendium of horror stories from the last year or so is also huge in its scope which was impressive.
From cannibalism to ghost ships via zombies and creepy children, this collection offers some high standard writing that any horror fan will enjoy. It has definitely brought to my attention many authors whose work I want to investigate further.

3.75 stars.

Ellen Datlow is the queen of horror anthologies, and she proves why yet again with The Best Horror of the Year Volume Eleven. As usual, this collection showcases a mixture of well-known authors and relative newcomers. Also, as usual, her selections for best short stories of the year include some knockout hits, a few duds, and a lot of entertaining stories somewhere in the middle. Of course, the fact that every story isn't a knockout isn't necessarily Daltow's fault. After all, to be included in this anthology, a horror story must have been published elsewhere during the designated time period.

Overall, this volume is a worthy addition to the Best Horror of the Year series.

This was honestly one of the best short story collections that I’ve read in awhile! Each story was creepy and evoked some sort of emotion from me, whether it was fear, revulsion, disgust, unease, or just downright anxiety! Almost all of these stories felt like perfect little jewels of horror to me.

I’ve been a long time fan of Ellen Datlow and the collections she curates are always winners in my opinion, and this one was no exception! I will definitely be picking up more Best Horror of the Year volumes in years to come.

A few of my favorite stories from this collection were:

“You Know How the Story Goes”- Thomas Olde Heuvelt- a variation of the classic “lady in white” trope, except in this story the hitchhiker gets picked up by a spooky lady rather than the lady being the hitchhiker herself.

“I Remember Nothing”- Anne Bille- This creepy, gory tale is about two people waking up in a room with no idea what is going on or why they are there and slowly realizing that they are the monsters themselves.

“Shit Happens”- Michael Marshall Smith- If you like body gore, and especially zombie body gore, this story will definitely entertain you. I was simultaneously disgusted and laughing throughout the whole story.

“Haak”- John Lanagan- I’m a sucker for anything Peter Pan related, and this is essentially a Peter Pan retelling. But this is a much gorier, terrifying version of the classic story, where Peter Pan is actually the god Pan and he is not all fun and games.

I really thoroughly enjoyed all the stories in this collection, but hands down the one that I have to give the most credit to by far was, “You Are Released,” by Joe Hill. This story really messed me up. It is one of the most heartbreaking and terrifying horror stories I’ve ever read. This is mostly due to the fact that, unlike most of the other stories in this collection, Hill’s story is so horrifically close to being a possibility in our world today. I don’t want to go into details, but definitely be prepared for this story to haunt you when you read it. Especially American readers.

I loved this collection and a lot of the stories I read have introduced me to horror authors I want to read more of, or cemented other authors in my favorites list. If you are a fan of horror and a fan of short stories, definitely check out this collection!

This is a decent collection of horror from various authors. The stories are various lengths, some really short, some longer. As usual with anthologies, some will be really good to you, some you may not like as much. It’s a good way to get a feel for each author’s writing though.

Setting aside the schlockier stories that frontload this volume, this is a solid collection of unsettling fiction. More spooky than outright horrifying, the most notable inclusions are closer to weird fiction and dark fantasy, while not relying too heavily on the authors you'd expect to headline such an anthology. (Although John Langan, Laird Barron, and Gemma Files do make an appearances.)

There's a genuine flow to the arrangement of stories as well, moving from juvenilia and twist endings to classed-up folk horror and creepypasta, shifting into literary weird fiction and experimental narratives, and wrapping up with exquisitely crafted dark fantasy. This makes it a surprisingly satisfying full read for an anthology with such a non-descript title, even if, like me, you have no patience for "shocking" sexual violence, fiction set within the framework of reality TV shows, experimental points of view, or Joe Hill's flights of whimsy.

Notable weird stories included: "The Jaws Of Ouroboros" by Steve Toase, "Thumbsucker" by Robert Shearman

Notable dark fantasy stories included: "The Donner Party" by Dale Bailey, "Haunt" by Siobhan Carroll, "Sleep" by Carly Holmes

I always am amazed at any book edited by Ellen Datlow. I know that I will find myself enjoying the stories she has found as I did with this anthology. Some of the stories surprised me as what happen in them was the last thing I ever expected. I am happy to meet some new authors of horror that I have not read before. I always enjoy reading the authors I do know. If you haven’t read any or little of horror stories. I think this is a good example of different types of horror to read. My list of authors to read who write horror has gotten longer! Don’t miss this book! It’s excellent!

The Best Horror of The Year: Volume Eleven
Edited by Ellen Datlow
due 9-1-2019
Night Shade Books
5.0 / 5.0

#netgalley. #TheBestHorrorOfTheYear

This is one of the best horror collections I've read. Features some of the most terrifying short stories and novellas by a wide variety of authors, from different horror genres. Every single story was good, the 2 most creepy to me were 'Thumbsucker' by Robert Shearman and 'The Donner Party' by Dale Bailey.
Others I also really liked were:
'I Remember Nothing' by Anne Billson
'You Know How The Story Goes' by Thomas Olde Heuvelt
'Girl Without Their Faces On' by Laird Barron
'You Are Released' by Joe Hill

I highly recommend this....just in time for Halloween!
Thanks to #netgalley and the publisher for sending this requested e-book ARC for review.

Datlow opens the title with an overview of the horror genre in 2018, listing awarded publications, notable novels of the year, etc. This summation is actually one of the best things about the book, and it is more than just a list; it gives a decent amount of overview and gives curious readers plenty of opportunity to explore the genre in other places. Datlow is clearly an expert in this area.

However, if this is the "best horror of the year," then 2018 must have been a rough year for the genre. A good deal of the stories are not what I would consider "horror" at all; they lack any tension or suspense at all. That said, there were a few standouts for me.

"Painted Wolves" by Ray Cluley kept me from putting the book down after the first two stories. "Masks" by Peter Sutton was also a great read, and something I would consider examining in my classroom. "Haunt" by Siobhan Carroll, and "Sleep," by Carly Holmes, were both among my favorites and deserve better placement in this collection; having them in the back may keep some readers from discovering them. I think I would have missed them if I hadn't committed myself to reading the entire collection in order to give honest feedback. "A Brief Moment of Rage" by Bill Davidson was also a nice surprise, even though I wouldn't consider it "horror."

The main issue I had with the book was the poor editing. These stories were all originally published elsewhere, so I was surprised to see so many typos and grammatical errors present. I hope these are fixed before publication. The errors range from those that simply make the writer look amateur (commas where there should be semicolons and things like that) to typos of such a nature that I truly do not know what the author intended to say.

Were this issues resolved, I would rate this book 4/5. However, as the errors really bring my attention away from the story, I can only rate this book a 3/5.

The high points are the summation by the editor and a small handful of stories, but the collection as a whole is brought down by poor editing and a swath of mediocre stories.

I received a copy of this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love anthologies. There’s always something for everyone. Even if you don’t like all the stories, you’re bound to like some of them. And it gives you a taste of some author’s writings, some you may not have heard of before.

My favourite stories in the collection were Haunt, Shit Happens, The Donner Party, You Are Released, and Red Rain.

Highly recommend. I will definitely be checking out the other anthologies from this editor.