The Century's Best Horror Fiction Volume One

Publishers Weekly

The 20th century was the first to yield a steady stream of horror fiction from its turn to its end. Pelan (Darkside) takes advantage of this bountiful legacy by reprinting one outstanding horror tale from each year of the century. This first volume is an embarrassment of riches whose selections include W.W. Jacobs's classic wish-fulfillment chiller "The Monkey's Paw"; Richard Matheson's science fictional horror tale "Born of Man and Woman"; M.R. James's antiquarian terror tale "Casting the Runes"; H.P. Lovecraft's Poe-esque "The Outsider"; Robert E. Howard's Southern gothic "Pigeons from Hell"; and Shirley Jackson's suburban horror masterpiece "The Lottery." Though not all readers will agree that these are the "best" horror stories of their respective years, the high quality of the selections is indisputable. (July)