No matter your expectations, the dark is full of the unknown: grim futures, distorted pasts, invasions of the uncanny, paranormal fancies, weird dreams, unnerving nightmares, baffling enigmas, revelatory excursions, desperate adventures, spectral journeys, mundane terrors and supernatural visions. You may stumble into obsession or find redemption. Often disturbing, occasionally delightful, let The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror be your annual guide through the mysteries and wonders of dark fiction.

Contents (in alphabetical order by author’s last name):

• “Postcards from Abroad,” Peter Atkins (Rolling Darkness Revue 2013, Earthling Publications)
• “The Creature Recants,” Dale Bailey (Clarkesworld, Issue 85, October 2013)
• “The Good Husband,” Nathan Ballingrud (North American Lake Monsters, Small Beer Press)
• “Termination Dust,” Laird Barron (Tales of Jack the Ripper, ed. Ross Lockhart, Word Horde)
• “The Ghost Makers,” Elizabeth Bear (Fearsome Journeys, ed. Jonathan Strahan, Solaris)
• “The Marginals,” Steve Duffy (The Moment of Panic, PSPublishing)
• “A Collapse of Horses,” Brian Evenson (The American Reader, Feb/Mar 2013)
• “A Lunar Labyrinth,” Neil Gaiman (Shadows of the New Sun: Stories in Honor of Gene Wolfe, eds. J. E. Mooney & Bill Fawcett, Tor)
• “Pride,” Glen Hirshberg (Rolling Darkness Revue 2013, Earthling Publications)
• “Let My Smile Be Your Umbrella,” Brian Hodge (Psycho-Mania!, ed. Stephen Jones, Robinson)
• “The Soul in the Bell Jar,” K. J. Kabza (The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, Nov/Dec 2013)
• “The Prayer of Ninety Cats,” Caitlín R. Kiernan (Subterranean Online, Spring 2013)
• “Dark Gardens,” Greg Kurzawa (Interzone # 248)
• “A Little of the Night,” Tanith Lee (Clockwork Phoenix 4, ed. Mike Allen, Mythic Delirium)
• “The Gruesome Affair of the Electric Blue Lightning,” Joe R. Lansdale (Beyond Rue Morgue: Further Tales of Edgar Allan Poe’s First Detective, ed. Paul Kane & Charles Prepole, Titan)
• “Iseul’s Lexicon,” Yoon Ha Lee (Conservation of Shadows, Prime Books)
• “The Plague” Ken Liu (Nature, 16 May 2013)
• “The Slipway Gray,” Helen Marshall (Chilling Tales 2, ed. Michael Kelly, Edge Publications)
• “To Die for Moonlight,” Sarah Monette (Apex Magazine, Issue #50)
• “Event Horizon,” Sunny Moraine (Strange Horizons, 21 Oct 2013)
• “The Legend of Troop 13,” Kit Reed (Asimov’s Science Fiction, Jan 2013 / The Story Until Now: A Great Big Book of Stories, Wesleyan)
• “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell,” Brandon Sanderson (Dangerous Women, eds. George R. R. Martin & Gardner Dozois, Tor)
• “Phosphorous,” Veronica Schanoes, (Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells: An Anthology of Gaslamp Fantasy, eds. Ellen Datlow & Terri Windling, Tor)
• “Blue Amber,” David J. Schow (Impossible Monsters, ed. Kasey Lansdale, Subterranean Press)
• “Rag and Bone,” Priya Sharma (Tor.com, 10 April 2013)
• “Our Lady of Ruins”, Sarah Singleton (The Dark 2, Dec 2013)
• “Cuckoo,” Angela Slatter (A Killer Among Demons, ed. Craig Bezant, Dark Prints Press)
• “Wheatfield with Crows,” Steve Rasnic Tem (Dark World: Ghost Stories, ed. Timothy Parker Russell, Tartarus Press)
• “Moonstruck,” Karin Tidbeck (Shadows and Tall Trees, Vol. 5, ed. Mike Kelly, Undertow)
• “The Dream Detective,” Lisa Tuttle (Lightspeed, Mar 2013)
• “Fishwife,” Carrie Vaughn (Nightmare, Jun 2013
• “Air, Water and the Grove,” Kaaron Warren (The Lowest Heaven, eds Anne C. Perry & Jared Shurin, Jurassic London)

Catch up with Prime’s Masque Books imprint! Its first print release ASCENSION: A TANGLED AXON NOVEL by Jacqueline Koyanagi is now available. The informational page now includes an excerpt from the books as well as a round-up of book reviews.

Gary Wolfe in Chicago Tribune:

In her first collection of short fiction, she draws on the same combination of resources that have given her a unique voice — African trickster tales, post-apocalyptic scenarios, distant planets with societies influenced by Nigerian mythology, tales of young Americanized Nigerians confronting their ancestral culture in visits to Africa… There is playfulness and wonder in these tales, but also some sobering realities.

Brit Mandelo on Tor.com:

I found the stories in Kabu Kabu occasionally provocative and always engaging. Their explorations of gender, culture, politics and community are sometimes fraught, but always stretch toward an understanding of personal and global contexts. It’s a collection that I’m glad to see published, and one that contributes to the field in a real and exciting way.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews:

Nnedi Okorafor swept me away with the amazing Who Fears Death and, while very different from that novel, the short stories in Kabu-Kabu have cemented my appreciation for her as a writer… Okorafor shows the good and the bad, both exploitation and hope, strength and evil of the people. And she adds a healthy dose of magic to the mix.

Violin in a Void:

Fans who are serious about broadening their sff horizons or who are always looking for something fresh and thought-provoking should undoubtedly be reading this.

Kabu Kabu author Nnedi Okorafor takes The Pop Quiz at the End of the Universe at Tor. com! And yes, she reveals something about herself never mentioned in print or online!