The world is weird. If any proof was needed, the first few months of 2020 provided it. But did we need proof? Didn't we already know that you only have to scratch the surface to see the weirdness beneath? Sometimes it oozes out, suppurates, infects; sometimes it leaps out, takes root and blossoms.We get used to it, carry on as if it wasn't there. But we have it inside us - we are weird. What you see as normal is just the mosaic of abnormality that you experienced last week...

How do you like your weirdness? A subtle nudge towards the untoward? A quick zap of zany? Or a full-on assault of aberration? Whatever your taste, you'll find it here, and many more strains of strange that you didn't suspect existed. From magic rain to a talking (severed) head, extraordinary eggs to belligerent birds, the stories in this collection enter the rabbit hole to explore its hidden corners and winding ways. Through all the variety, what they have in common is originality, creativ...

Harlan Ellison, Richard Christian Matheson, Connie Willis, and many more contribute to a compelling psychological exploration of the many shades of love.World Fantasy Award–Winning EditorAn incubus disguised as a high school girl puts a disturbing spin on the teacher/student fantasy. An engineer creates a robot with unexpected consequences during the end of the world. A man becomes the pet of alien invaders. From stories of aliens in other ...

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; a...

The depth and breadth of what science fiction and fantasy fiction is changes with every passing year. The two dozen stories chosen for this book by award-winning anthologist Jonathan Strahan carefully maps this evolution, giving readers a captivating and always-entertaining look at the very best the genre has to offer.

This collection of thirty-eight terrifying tales of serial killers at large, written by the great masters of the genre, plumbs the horrifying depths of a deranged mind and the forces of evil that compel a human being to murder, gruesomely and methodically, over and over again.From Hannibal Lecter ( The Silence of the Lambs) to Patrick Bateman ( American Psycho), stories of serial killers and psychos loom large and menacing in our collective psyche....

A mutant baby goes on a rampage through Central Park. An immigrant reveals secrets in the folds of a perfect gift. Lucky Cats extend their virtual paws to salute a generous revolution. The Internet invades a third-world village.The premier speculative-fiction magazine Fantasy & Science Fiction continues to discover and showcase many of the most inventive authors writing in any genre. Now drawing even more deeply upon F&SF's impressive history, this extraordinary c...

This darkly humorous follow-up to the national bestselling anthology from the Horror Writers Association is a heart-pounding collection of stories from acclaimed authors like Heather Graham, Allison Brennan, Kelley Armstrong, Kevin J. Anderson, and many more.Horror fiction is known for testing the limits—diving into visceral violence, graphic imagery, and the darkest sides of human nature. But some of the most successful examples of modern horror also include a lib...

Macabre meetings, sinister excursions, and deadly relationships; uncanny encounters; a classic ghost story featuring an American god; a historical murderer revived in a frightening new iteration; innovative Lovecraftian turns; shadowy fairy tales and weird myths; strange children, the unexpected, the supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while invent...

A treasure trove of all-new stories exploring the dark side of dolls, puppets, mannequins and more—featuring Joyce Carol Oates, Jeffrey Ford and others.The seventeen original stories in this anthology feature everything from life-sized clockwork dolls to all-too-human Betsy Wetsy-type baby dolls. Moving past the cliches of the doll trope, each one delves into the uncanny creepiness of these bizarrely lifelike objects.Master anthologist Ellen Datlow has assemb...

The darkness creeps upon us and we shudder, or it suddenly startles and we scream. There need be no monsters for us to be terrified in the dark, but if there are, they are just as often human and as supernatural. Join us in this outstanding annual exploration of the year's best dark fiction that includes stories of quiet fear, the utterly fantastic, the weirdly surreal, atmospheric noir, mysterious hauntings, seductive nightmares, and frighteningly plausible futures. Featuring tales from m...

**One of Barack Obama’s Favorite Books of 20242025 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection“A bright new voice in fiction…A genuine young talent, one who deftly palpates the dark areas of human psyches…Like Gabriel García Márquez and Stephen King…we might be staring before long at [the] 'Selected Stories of Zach Williams.'”—Dwight Garner, The New York Times Book Review“One of the year’s best debuts…this writer’s got talent to burn...