Glass Soup by Jonathan Carroll (Tor) is a follow-up to White Apples, and continues to explore life after death as God--a Polar Bear named Bob--and Chaos--in the person of an evil sexual predator named John Flannery--battle over Anjo, the unborn child of Vincent Ettrich and Isabelle Neukor. Dark and imaginative as is all of Carroll's work (NOTE: I am Carroll's editor at Tor).

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling (Bloomsbury) is darker than the earlier books as the teenage Potter outgrows his whininess and he and his friends fall in love, Professor Dumbledore takes on Harry's advanced education, and bad things happen to good people.

Bangkok Tattoo by John Burdett (Alfred A. Knopf) is the follow-up to Bangkok 8, and again takes place mostly in the seedy districts of Bangkok. A devout Buddhist Thai policeman investigates the gruesome mutilation murder of a CIA agent. The book is described as "giddy" by the NY Times and it is. Manic, ironic, with entertaining side trips into Thai culture and everyday life.

Beyond Black by Hilary Mantel (Henry Holt) is a very British novel about a genuine psychic who takes on a newly divorced woman as her assistant and their increasingly abrasive relationship. The psychic's "spiritual guide" is a drunken vulgar sot who plays nasty tricks on her and her psychic friends. The book is leisurely and witty and its matter-of -fact treatment of what lies beyond the veil is absorbing.

The Colorado Kid by Stephen King (Hard Case Crime) is a short novel that is as much about the nature of mysteries as it is about a specific mystery. It's also about the growing camaraderie between a young aspiring journalist interning on a small island off Maine and the pair of old newspapermen who tell her about a twenty-five year old unsolved mystery. Some readers will find the book exasperating with its drawing out of the tale, but I enjoyed it.

The Spirit Box by Stephen Gallagher (Subterranean Press) is an excellent thriller about a scientist's pursuit of a young woman who has swallowed an experimental drug that seems to break down the boundary between the natural and supernatural realms.

Cold Skin by Albert Sánchez Piñol translated from the Catalan by Cheryl Leah Morgan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is a short novel about a young man assigned as weatherman on a supposedly uninhabited island. He encounters a dour and hostile German inhabiting the lighthouse and fighting off a scourge of indigenous humanoids. The relationship between the two men, a female native, and the rest of the "monsters" shifts over time and the book interestingly explores ideas of the alien and sexuality. However, the ending does not satisfy.

The Girl in the Glass by Jeffrey Ford (HarperCollins/ Dark Alley) is a dark mystery about a group of fake spiritualists who ply their dubious wares among the rich of New York during the Great Depression. The master scammer Thomas Schell finds his rationalism challenged when he sees the image of a young girl pleading for help during one of his seances. The colorful cast of characters, the impeccable historical detail, and the fast-moving plot makes for an excellent ride. The book won the Edgar Award.

Valley of Bones by Michael Gruber (William Morrow), the absorbing follow-up to Tropic of Night, is about the murder of a Sudanese oilman. The prime suspect is a possibly delusional woman who claims to commune with saints. The novel switches between Afro-Cuban Miami Detective Jimmy Paz's investigation into the murder, his budding romance with a hypochondriac psychologist, a brief history of the Society of Nursing Sisters of the Blood of Christ, and the suspect's "confessions"-how she developed from an abused child, drug dealer, and hooker into a soldier in a religious order dedicated to serving the wounded in war torn countries.

Anthologies

Don't Turn Out the Light edited by Stephen Jones (PS Publishing, UK) has more originals in it than earlier volumes in this non-theme series and they are all quite impressive, particularly those by Roberta Lannes, Mark Samuels, and Jay Russell (the latter two reprinted in YBFH #19). Highly recommended

Acquainted With the Night edited by Christopher Roden (Ash-Tree Press, Canada) is the publisher's first simultaneous hardcover and trade paperback edition and is an excellent all original, non-theme anthology. The mix is a good one, and all the stories were quite readable but if I'm forced to choose favorites they would be those by Barbara Roden, Joel Lane, and Steve Duffy. Roden's is reprinted in YBFH #19. The excellent jacket art is by Jason Van Hollander.

Weird Shadows Over Innsmouth edited by Stephen Jones (Fedogan & Bremer) is an excellent, mostly original anthology of stories inspired by Lovecraft's mythos of a degraded race of deep sea creatures. The variety of stories is noteworthy and my favorites among the originals are those by Michael Marshall Smith, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Paul McAuley, Kim Newman, Richard A. Lupoff, and a novella by Brian Lumley. The book is wonderfully illustrated in black and white by Randy Broecker, Les Edwards, Alan Servoss, and Bob Eggleton, who also painted the cover art.

Bernie Herrmann's Manic Sextet edited by Gary Fry (Gray Friar Press, UK) is a strong original non-theme anthology of six novelettes. Adam L.G. Nevill, Gary McMahon, Paul Finch, Simon Strantzas, Rhys Hughes, and Donald Pulker all contribute well-told and varied pieces of dark fiction. The cover art on this trade paperback is by Ben Baldwin, and Mike O'Driscoll provides a brief Preface.

Poe's Progeny edited by Gary Fry (Gray Friar Press, UK) is a solid, all original anthology of stories inspired by classic dark fiction and has a number of notable stories, including those by Richard Gavin, Joel Lane, Tim Lebbon, Mike O'Driscoll, Nicholas Royle, Stephen Volk, Conrad Williams, Adam L.G. Nevill, Greg Beatty, Chico Kidd, John Llewellyn Probert, Ramsey Campbell, Donald R. Burleson, and Simon Clark. Michael Marshall Smith provides an Introduction. Adam L.G. Nevill's story is reprinted in YBFH #19.

Dark Notes From NJ edited by Harrison Howe (GSHW) features fourteen new stories by members of Garden State Horror Writers. The theme is "dark tales inspired by songs of New Jersey musicians." There is a Foreword by Brian Keene, and notes by each author about his or her inspiration. Also, profiles of each of the musicians whose songs provided inspiration. The most striking stories were by William Mingin, Mary SanGiovanni, and Neil Morris.

Night Voices, Night Journeys: Lairs of the Hidden Gods volume 1 and Inverted Kingdom: Lairs of the Hidden Gods volume 2, both edited by Asamatsu Ken (Kurodahan Press, Japan) are oddities. A Japanese anthology, translated into English, of Lovecraftian horror stories. The translations are smooth and very much in the vernacular, and the stories are literate, well-crafted, and quite enjoyable. Included in volume one is a Cthulhu Mythos Manga list and a bibliography of works related to H.P. Lovecraft and the Cthulhu Mythos by Japanese authors. In volume 2 there's an essay on the Cthulhu Mythos in gaming. Robert M. Price provides Introductions to both volumes and the editor provides Forewords. The cover art on each book is an accurate reflection of the Lovecraftian and Japanese sensibilities of the anthologies.

Dark Delicacies edited by Del Howison and Jeff Gelb (Carroll & Graf Publishers) is a non-theme anthology of twenty new stories, most by authors who have signed at the Dark Delicacies bookstore owned by Del and Sue Howison. Some of the more notable stories are by Nancy Holder, Clive Barker, Steve Niles, Lisa Morton, and David J. Schow.

Outsiders edited by Nancy Holder and Nancy Kilpatrick (Roc) is a mix of twenty-two all-original horror, and fantasy stories concerning the theme of the outsider/misfit. Overall, the book isn't as disturbing as I would like, but there are good stories by Elizabeth Massie, David J. Schow, Steve Rasnic Tem, Joe R. Lansdale, Léa Silhol, and Melanie Tem.

Phantoms at the Phil edited by John Smith (Side Real Press/ Northern Gothic, UK) is a slim volume of three ghost stories originally told for Christmas at the Literary & Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne. The stories are by Sean O'Brien, Gail-Nina Anderson and Chaz Brenchley. This limited edition is the second from the small press.

Darkness Rising: The Rolling Darkness Review 2005 (Earthling Publications) is an entertaining anthology featuring several west coast writers who organized a mini tour for themselves. The limited edition chapbook was sold during the tour, and has original stories by Peter Atkins, Glen Hirshberg, Michael Blumlein, Robert Morrish, and Robert Masello, plus a reprint by Nancy Holder. Hirshberg's "American Morons" is reprinted in YBFH #19.

Shadow Box edited by Shane Jiraiya Cummings and Angela Challis (Brimstone Press) is a CD-Rom of flash horror fiction by Australian, American, and Canadian writers. It's an attractive package with appropriate sound effects and art by co-editor Cummings. All profits were donated to Mission Australia and the Australian Horror Writers Association. The best pieces of fiction are by Shei Tanner and Shane Jiraiya Cummings.

The Best of Borderlands compiled by Elizabeth Monteleone (Borderlands Press) culls fifty stories from the five volumes of the non-theme Borderlands anthologies.

The Mammoth Book of New Horror 16 edited by Stephen Jones (Robinson, UK/ Carroll & Graf) with twenty-one stories, only overlaps with two stories from YBFH #18. Jones writes an extensive summary of the year in horror and with Kim Newman writes a Necrology.

Single Author Collections

Hotel Midnight by Simon Clark (Robert Hale, UK) is the author's third collection of stories and contains ten reprints (one is the British Fantasy Award-winning "Goblin City Lights") and two effective, original novellas.

Never Seen by Waking Eyes by Stephen Dedman (infrapress) is this talented Australian storyteller's second collection, and it includes twenty-four horror stories, plus one new one.

Twentieth Century Ghosts by Joe Hill (PS Publishing, UK) is one of the best collections of the year. Hill is a relative newcomer who consistently creates creepy, very disturbing stories. His is the most important horror debut I short fiction since Glen Hirshberg. The book won the William L. Crawford Award for best first fantasy book, the first time a collection has ever won the award. "My Father's Mask" is reprinted in YBFH #19.

Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk (Doubleday) has a subtitle calling it "a novel of stories) and what it is, is a collection with some wraparound and interstitial material, presumably to make the book more palatable to those readers who eschew the short story. The stories are dark, mordant, some are very funny, and they're always entertaining. One of them, "Hot Potting" is reprinted in YBFH #19. "Guts," also included, was in YBFH #18.

Home Before Dark: The Collected Cedar Hill Stories, Volume 2 (Earthling Publications) is the excellent follow up to Braunbeck's 2003 collection, situated in the fictional town of Cedar Hill, Ohio, the setting of much of the authors short fiction. There is some short additional material but only one new piece of fiction, a novella, which is quite good. Jacket and interior art is by Deena Holland. Available in two limited editions.

The Silence Between the Screams by Lucy Taylor (Overlook Connection) has four original stories and a reprint of the novella "Spree" by a writer whose fiction has often been raunchy and powerful but mostly seems to have dropped out of the horror field. Unfortunately, for some reason her new collection (delayed from 2004) barely made a blip on the radar.

The Complete Symphonies of Adolf Hitler & Other Strange Stories by Reggie Oliver (The Haunted River, UK) is the author's second collection and has sixteen stories, most published for the first time. Oliver continues to produce excellent traditional supernatural tales, as he successfully did with his first collection, The Dreams of Cardinal Vittorini & Other Strange Stories. "Among the Tombs" is reprinted in YBFH #19.

The Shadow at the Bottom of the World by Thomas Ligotti (S&S/Cold Spring Press) includes sixteen reprints culled by Ligotti and Douglas A. Anderson from previous collections, and are meant to be an introductory sampler of the author's work. With a Foreword by Anderson.

Terrors by Richard A. Lupoff (Elder Signs Press) contains sixteen entertaining pastiches of pulp's classic writers. Three of the stories were first published in 2005. With an Introduction by Fred Chappell and an Afterword by the author, describing the inspiration for each story.

The Night People by Michael Reaves (Babbage Press) is the author's first collection, with twelve stories and novellas written over the past thirty years (while not focusing on novels and television scripts). He's a talented storyteller whose short fiction is always entertaining. Marc Scott Zicree provides a Foreword and Steve Perry provides an Afterword. And there are introductions to each story, explaining its inspiration.

The Tales of Inspector Legrasse by H.P. Lovecraft and C.J. Henderson (Mythos Books) reprints Lovecraft's the "Call of Cthulhu," the story that introduced Inspector Legrasse, and showcases six new stories by Henderson featuring the inspector. A good bet for anyone looking for well-crafted Lovecraftian horror.

Lovecraft Tales by H. P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft finally gets some respect in this handsome volume of twenty-two stories from the Library of America series. The stories are arranged in approximate chronological order of composition and all but one are taken from the S.T. Joshi edited texts. Peter Straub provides notes and there is a chronology of Lovecraft's life and writings.

Conference With the Dead by Terry Lamsley (Night Shade Books) reprints this modern classic originally published (and long out of print) by Ash-Tree Press. This new edition has ten stories. The limited edition has one previously unpublished bonus story. Introduction by Ramsey Campbell.

Ghost Dance by Tony Richards (Sarob Press) has eight haunting stories and novellas, two original to the collection. Graham Joyce has written an Introduction to the first novella (one of the originals). The cover art is by Paul Lowe.

Black Dust & Other Tales of Interrupted Childhood by Graham Joyce (Beccon Publications, UK) reprints three stories, with an Introduction by Mark Chadbourn and commentary about the stories by Jeff VanderMeer, Zoran Zivkovic, Jeffrey Ford, and Joyce. The cover illustration is by Tony Baker. The book was conceived of and put together by Bob Wardzinski and his students at Westwood St. Thomas's School, UK in order to benefit the students at the Nqabakazulu Secondary School near Durban in South Africa.

Richard Matheson: Collected Stories, Volume Three edited by Stanley Wiater (Edge/Gauntlet Press) is an expanded trade paperback version of the 1989 Dream/Press hardcover limited edition. It has eighty-six stories with tributes to Matheson by Stephen King, the late Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, and other admirers. There's also an Introduction by the author.

The Occult Detective by Robert Weinberg (Twilight Tales) has seven entertaining stories about hard-boiled psychic detective Sidney Taine. The one original is about Sidney's sister Sydney-- first female detective in 1930s New York City. Introduction by Stefan Dziemianowicz.

To Charles Fort, With Love by Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean) is the author's third collection of short fiction and contains twelve of her more recent stories, including the marvelous "Onion," published in an earlier volume of YBFH. The book has one original, haunting story. Each story has an afterword by the Kiernan, and there's an Afterword by Ramsey Campbell. The beautiful, disturbing cover art is by Ryan Obermeyer.

Mr. Fox and Other Feral Tales by Norman Partridge (Subterranean) includes the seven stories from the Bram Stoker Award-winning collection plus eleven early tales, an excerpt from an unpublished zombie novel, an Introduction, Afterword, and extensive story notes by the author covering the business as well as the creative side of writing.

Zombie Jam by David J. Schow (Subterranean) showcases four of the author's zombie stories. Included is Schow's classic "Jerry's Kids Meet Wormboy" in a longer version than was originally published. Schow's Introduction discusses how most contemporary zombie literature has been inspired by movies, particularly the ground-breaking George Romero zombie series. There's also an Afterword about how the Romero zombies have even infiltrated popular culture. The book as terrific illustrations by Bernie Wrightson.