Santa Womble - The First Stocking Suggestion - Anthologies and Story Collections

Ho Ho Hoooooo

Well Yuletide is upon us -  a time for not knowing what day it is; hiding indoors from the weather and relaxing.  This means you need to consider your book choices. So if you want to let people know what is good as a gift for you or treating yourself too; then join me in my grotto and let’s talk some book ideas.  My favourites of the year come later this month but these listed are all worthy of your consideration.

Stocking Number 1 - Anthologies

I love short story collections. Bite sized tales that can create a whole world.  A good anthology exposes you to different authors and show you how a central theme can inspire so many more types of story.  An anthology or story collection also makes sense when you may be digesting heavy meals and levels of awakeness are low.

Let’s break these down by their genres

Horror

If you’re ready for a trip down a dark path in winter why not try

If you fancy some tales as dark as a bleak midwinter I can certainly recommend Tales from the Shadow Booth Vo4 edited by Dan Coxon for some truly delicious darkness.

If your tastes run towards the Gothic then I think Unfinished Business - Tales of the Dark Fantastic by Catherine Lundoff would be a great edition with some modern spins on classic tales

And while this contains some noir and other styles I loved how this anthology used the graveyard theme in so many different ways Tales From The Graveyard - edited by Peter Sutton and Eric Nash

In a similar vein and with a stellar cast of authors the subject of witches and witchcraft gets many great takes on it in Hex Life - edited by Christopher Golden and Rachel Autumn Deering

Celebrating the 200th anniversary of our favourite reanimated corpse this collection offers a great set of novellas exploring what may or may not have happened next  as we look inside the pages of Creatures: The Legacy of Frankenstein edited by David Thomas Moore

One of the finest running series is Fox Spirit’s Monsters exploring monster myths of each continent and they reach the New World in American Monsters Part 1 edited by Margret Helgadottir

Folk Horror is now firmly a key part of modern UK horror and this tale examining our relationship with the coast, countryside and towns is excellently delivered within This Dreaming Isle edited by Dan Coxon

I thought we had reached peak end of the world but Wastelands the New Apocalypse edited by Jon Joseph Adams proved to be a progressive and refreshing take on the genre with some brilliant stories and approaches.

And in firm spine chilling unsettling horror you cannot forget the stunning  Growing Things and other stories by Paul Tremblay

Fantasy

Perhaps the magic of Christmas is not enough and you need a dose of the mystical, weird and wondrous?

For pure inventiveness I cannot fault Wonderland edited by Marie O'Regan and Paul Kane giving us myriad interpretations of Alice from westerns to cyberpunk!

Step outside of the daylight and The Outcast Hours edited by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin explore the magic, horror and mystery of the darker side of the planet

And a welcome return to one my favourite characters -  Captain Marta Ramos in the steampunk world of Wireless and More Steam Powered Adventured by Alex Acks

Science Fiction

Staying with relatives can be soon boring so why not take a trip to the future or another world?

A wonderful intelligent and though provoking series is found within Exhalation by Ted Chiang

An set of various SF takes from a number of UK authors was very well handled in the delightful Distaff edited by Rosie Oliver

A welcome return to the Machines of Empire universe and my favourite sociopath took place in Hexarchate Stories edited by Yoon Ha Lee

A brilliant indie press release you should pick up is Girls & Aliens by Anne Michaud

Crime

To prevent those homicidal thoughts getting too strong after one too many bad family jokes then use these books to help you channel your feelings

Another well crafted themed anthology but this time with the theme of wounds is Exit Wounds edited by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan – what a line up!

And equally a brilliant set of great crime authors are assembled to entertain us in  Invisible Blood edited by Maxim Jakubowski