Here we go, my favourite post of the year...
This is the ninth time I've done this (you can find links to lists from previous years here) so I won't bore you with too much preamble. Suffice to say, these stories (and the odd poem) really worked for me and I hope you find some which work for you too. (For each, I've linked to the publication where I read the story, which isn't always where they were first published.)
G.V. Anderson: Shuck (The Deadlands #2)
Jen Ashworth: The Note (Out Of The Darkness, Unsung Stories)
Elizabeth Bear: On Safari In R'lyeh & Carcosa With Gun & Camera (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
Gary Budden: Collector Of Games (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Nadia Bulkin: Someday You Will Regret Not Replying (Southwest Review #106)
A.S. Byatt: The July Ghost (Sugar & Other Stories, Penguin)
A.S. Byatt: The Changling (Sugar & Other Stories, Penguin)
Ramsey Campbell: The Page (By The Light Of My Skull, PS Publishing)
Ramsey Campbell: The Watched (By The Light Of My Skull, PS Publishing)
Ramsey Campbell: The Wrong Game (By The Light Of My Skull, PS Publishing)
Eliza Chan: The Making Of Broken Embers (Cooties Shot Required, Broken Eye Books)
Autumn Christian: A Human Rupture (author's website)
Chloe N. Clark: Swingman (Monkeybicycle)
Aislinn Clarke: Skeleton Day (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
Georgia Cook: Ghost Light (The Quiet Ones #1)
Georgia Cook: Haunted (Reflex Action)
M.R. Cosby: The Trains Don't Stop Here (The Trains Don't Stop Here, Dark Lane Books)
Steve Duffy: White Noise In A White Room (Weird Horror #1, Undertow Publications)
Brian Evenson: The Other Floor (Oculus Sinister, Cthonic Matter)
Brian Evenson: The Shimmering Wall (Electric Lit)
Tracy Fahey: I Write Your Name (I Spit Myself Out, Sinister Horror Company)
Tracy Fahey: Ghost In The Machine (I Spit Myself Out, Sinister Horror Company)
Corey Farrenkopf: The Burnt Floor (Florida Review)
Emily Faulkes: Feeling Watched (The Antihumanist 2nd Ed.)
Kurt Fawver: Introduction To The Horror Story, Day 1 (Nightmare #98)
Kathy Fish: Collective Names For Humans In The Wild (Jellyfish Review)
Laur A. Freymiller: The Mothers (Nightmare #111)
Gary Fry: The Careless Companion (Shades Of Nothingness, PS Publishing)
Gary Fry: Abolisher Of Roses (Shades Of Nothingness, PS Publishing)
A.T. Greenblatt: The Family In The Adit (Nightmare #103)
Sarah Hans: Chorus Of Whispers (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
Lucie McKnight Hardy: The Devil Of Timanfaya (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Sean Hogan: To See The Sea (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
Jess Hyslop: Food Of The Gods (New Myths #54)
Jess Hyslop: The Last Scribe Of Tazarhal (Translunar Travelling Lounge #5)
Gabino Iglesias: Bad Green, Quiet Black (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
Michael Kelly: That Which Crawls From Dark Soil (Nightmare #102)
Michael Kelly: In The Blue Hour (The Antihumanist 2nd Ed.)
Chris Kelso & Brian Evenson: Jenny Longlegs (Three-Lobed Burning Eye #34)
John Langan: Where The Hollow Tree Waits (Weird Horror #1, Undertow Publications)
John Langan: Washed In The Blood Of The Sun (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
James Machin: The Tribute (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Laura Mauro & Chris Kelso: The Recidivist (Punk Noir)
J.A.W. McCarthy: With You As My Anchor (Sometimes We're Cruel, Cemetery Gates)
Victoria McCurdy: This Is How You Fail To Ghost Him (Monkeybicycle)
Gary McMahon: On The Walls (At Home In The Shadows, Black Shuck Books)
John McNee: Midnight At The Doom Cabaret (Doom Cabaret, Sinister Horror Company)
Alan Moore: Not Even Legend (Uncertainties V, Swan River Press)
Adam Nevill: On All London Underground Lines (Hasty For The Dark, Ritual Limited)
Aimee Ogden: The Cold Calculations (Clarkesworld #183)
Jon Padgett: Flight 389 (Nightmare #109)
Hailey Piper: Why We Keep Exploding (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
H. Pueyo: Nobody Lives Here (The Dark #66)
Sally Rooney: Mr Salary (Faber Stories)
Iain Rowan: Now, The Weather (101 Words.Org)
Robert Shearman: Shaggy Dog Story (We All Hear Stories In The Dark, PS Publishing)
Phil Sloman: The Interview (Meghan's Holiday House Of Books)
Simon Strantzas: That House (Bourbon Penn #25)
Ashley Stokes: Hardrada (Tales From The Shadow Booth #4)
Sonya Taaffe: Every Night And All (Nightmare #109)
Patty Templeton: Artown Correctional Center (Stitched Lips, Dragon's Roost Press)
Kristina Ten: The Dreadful & Specific Monster Of Starosibirsk (Weird Horror #2, Undertow Publications)
Ali Trotta: When The Wraith Smiles (Nightmare #111)
Stephen Volk: Adventurous (Weird Horror #2, Undertow Publications)
Shaoni C. White: Diamond Cuts (Uncanny #41)
Aliya Whiteley: Luisa Opines (Fearsome Creatures, Black Shuck Books)
Aliya Whiteley: Wrapped (Fearsome Creatures, Black Shuck Books)
John Wiswell: Open House On Haunted Hill (The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2, Pyr)
