Well, we’re nearly halfway through 2025, but I’ve just finished reading Ellen Datlow’s 2024 collection of the best horror short stories published in 2023, or in other words: The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen. Ellen Datlow is one of the most celebrated editors and anthologists in the horror genre, and I have particularly enjoyed her themed horror anthologies like Haunted Nights and The Devil and the Deep. Short story anthologies are a wonderful way to discover new writers and plumb the diversity of a given subject or genre. But “best of the year” anthologies have the added benefit of highlighting particular trends or preoccupations that emerge in any particular year. The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen, is the perfect example of this. Continue reading Review of The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen