Introduction by Ellen Datlow
Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror
Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror could be considered a sequel to Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, an anthology that covers the years 1985 to 2005. 2005-2015 has been a great period for short horror fiction, as new writers have entered the field, established writers have either dipped their feet into horror or jumped in wholeheartedly, and those who have been writing in the field for decades have continued to create great new stories. As I said in the last volume, I'm not a horror critic or expert. I'm an enthusiast who has dipped into horror fiction my whole life and who became totally immersed in the short-story form of it during the mid-1980s.
My intention for this anthology was to choose stories that I love. Stories that have had a lasting impact on me (that might or might not be well known within or outside the field). I've selected some of these stories for annual and themed anthologies, and commissioned several stories as original publications, including Garth Nix's Shirley Jackson Award nominee, "Shay Corsham Worsted." I've mostly included writers who were not in Darkness. Although several important new writers have emerged during the past decade, their foci are quite varied. Some write what might be referred to as "psychological" horror or "terror tales," some have embraced cosmic horror, creating a boomlet of Lovecraftian fiction. And there are still monsters: vampires, zombies, ghosts and other haunts, madmen.
As with Darkness, the stories herein are organized by year of publication. It seems the most natural way. Because the period is half that covered in Darkness, there is often more than one story chosen per year. So in those years, I've ordered the stories with intent.
By necessity, I've not been able to include every writer or every story that continues to make an impression on me. Juggling any anthology's contents is challenging, but in one like this, it's even more difficult than usual. Space is always a consideration. There were some excellent horror novellas (stories between 17,500 and 39,999 words) published during the period I've covered, but there's not enough space for them. I've also tried to avoid publishing stories that are readily available, but if a story seems to be the one by a writer that has made the most impression on me, it's difficult to not include it.
I'm often asked to name my favorite horror story. I always respond that I have no one favorite, but you can ascertain some of my favorites by checking out my Best of the Year anthologies. And you can narrow that down even further by reading Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror and Nightmares: A New Decade of Modern Horror. These two volumes will point you to some of my favorites published since 1985. Consider them a guide to some of the best short-story writers currently working in the field of horror fiction. And in this volume specifically, a good representation of the excellent horror that was published between 2005 and 2015.
