The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010

Darkness surrounds us. 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 Guran
13 • The Horrid Glory of Its Wings • (2009) • shortstory by Elizabeth Bear
23 • Lowland Sea • (2009) • novelette by Suzy McKee Charnas
41 • Copping Squid • (2009) • novelette by Michael Shea
56 • Monsters • (2009) • novelette by Stewart O'Nan
73 • The Brink of Eternity • (2009) • shortstory by Barbara Roden
85 • Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre • (2009) • shortstory by Seth Fried
95 • Sea-Hearts • (2009) • novella by Margo Lanagan
138 • A Haunted House of Her Own • (2009) • shortfiction by Kelley Armstrong
153 • Headstone in Your Pocket • (2009) • shortstory by Paul G. Tremblay [as by Paul Tremblay ]
166 • The Coldest Girl in Coldtown • (2009) • novelette by Holly Black
182 • Strange Scenes from an Unfinished Film • (2009) • shortstory by Gary McMahon
190 • A Delicate Architecture • (2009) • shortstory by Catherynne M. Valente
196 • The Mystery • (2009) • shortfiction by Peter Atkins
205 • Variations on a Theme from Seinfeld • (2009) • shortstory by Peter Straub
211 • The Wide, Carnivorous Sky • (2009) • shortfiction by John Langan
251 • Certain Death for a Known Person • (2009) • novelette by Steve Duffy
267 • The Ones Who Got Away • (2009) • shortfiction by Stephen Graham Jones
274 • Leng • (2009) • shortfiction by Marc Laidlaw
292 • Torn Away • (2009) • shortfiction by Joe R. Lansdale
301 • The Nowhere Man • (2009) • shortfiction by Sarah Pinborough
314 • The Bone's Prayer • (2009) • shortstory by Caitlín R. Kiernan
327 • The Water Tower • (2009) • shortstory by John Mantooth
337 • In the Porches of My Ears • (2009) • shortstory by Norman Prentiss
348 • The Cinderella Game • (2009) • shortstory by Kelly Link
355 • The Jacaranda Smile • (2009) • shortstory by Gemma Files
366 • The Other Box • (2009) • shortfiction by Gerard Houarner
388 • White Charles • [Kyle Murchison Booth] • (2009) • novelette by Sarah Monette
406 • Everything Dies, Baby • (2009) • shortstory by Nadia Bulkin
414 • Bruise for Bruise • (2009) • shortstory by Robert Davies
422 • Respects • (2009) • shortstory by Ramsey Campbell
433 • Diamond Shell • (2009) • shortstory by Deborah Biancotti
446 • Nub Hut • (2009) • shortstory by Kurt Dinan
452 • The Cabinet Child • (2009) • shortfiction by Steve Rasnic Tem
458 • Cherrystone & Shards of Ice • (2009) • shortstory by Ekaterina Sedia
469 • The Crevasse • (2009) • shortstory by Nathan Ballingrud and Dale Bailey
482 • Vic • (2009) • shortfiction by Maura McHugh
490 • Halloween Town • (2009) • novella by Lucius Shepard
543 • The Long, Cold Goodbye • (2009) • novelette by Holly Phillips
562 • What Happens When You Wake Up in the Night • (2009) • shortstory by Michael Marshall Smith