Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 3 - Randy Chandler, Cheryl Mullenax, Scott Smith, Tim Curran, Matt Shaw, Ryan Harding & Brian Hodge
By Randy Chandler, Cheryl Mullenax, Scott Smith, Tim Curran, Matt Shaw, Ryan Harding & Brian Hodge
Release Date: 2018-06-01
Genre: Horror
Red Room Press is extremely proud to present its third annual anthology featuring this year's hardcore corps of authors with the best extreme horror fiction of 2017 that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos.
It was a killer year for horror fiction of the harder kind. Authors, editors and publishers presented readers with some startling works of horrific imagination, stories graphic in the extreme yet with subtleties suggesting larger meanings, tales that explore humanity by plumbing depths of soulless inhumanity and, in some cases, outright depravity. The stories here represent the best of them, disturbing tales that dig deep and take you into the dark heart of horror itself, unrelenting and unapologetic.
âSo Sings The Sirenâ by Annie Neugebauer takes us onto a Dark Fantasy stage for a one-night-only performance of mythological torture. Then Ryan Hardingâs âJunkâ gets right to the hardcore stuff with the ultimate dick-pic horror tale. Robert Levyâs âThe Cenacleâ is a literary cemetery feast you may have a hard time stomaching (Tums wonât save you).
Nathan Ballingrudâs âThe Mawâ treads surefootedly on Sci-Fi ground, right up to the edge of the Maw itself in a tale of stunning originality. Luciano Marano made his first pro sell when he sold âBurntâ to DOA III, certainly one of the yearâs best anthologies, and the tale has it own fiery fetishistic twist.
âThe Better Part of Drowningâ by Octavia Cade treads waters of both science fiction and fantasy but itâs pure horror at its biting depths. Tim Waggonerâs âTil Deathâ is Lovecraftian Post-Apocalypse horror at its absolute best.
âLetter From Hellâ comes with that special delivery you only get from Matt Shaw. Dani Brown gets down and very dirty in her âTheatrum Mortuum,â which may be the most extreme thing you read all year.
Glenn Grayâs âBreakâ is a hard-to-take anatomy lesson given to a man weary of doing hard time. In âBernadetteâ Ramiro Perez de Pereda gets medieval in his tale of a djinn summoned by a desperate priest.
Brian Hodge takes you on a trip to Mexico you will never forget in âWest of Matamoros, North of Hell.â This story is a masterpiece of suspense, a grueling experience that may well leave you exhausted by the end. You might even feel like a vacation afterward, but weâre betting it wonât be to Matamoros.
Bracken MacLeodâs âReprising Her Roleâ takes us behind the scenes of a porno snuff film for a gut-wrenching reprisal and unexpected bonus footage.
A real-life death threat inspired Doug Fordâs âThe Watcherâ and we think it shows. âScratching From The Outer Darknessâ showcases Tim Curranâs descriptive prowess and gives you a tale of hardcore Cthulhu Mythos.
Brace yourself when Adam Howeâs âForeign Bodiesâ takes you deep into the bowels of a nasty abyssâwhich might make a good echo chamber for the laughter Adamâs patented black humor is likely to elicit.
Sean Patrick Hazlett introduces us to âAdramelech,â an ancient demon with a taste for broiled children. Daniel Marc Chantâs âULTRAâ jacks into a popular VR game called Slut Slayer. But what if itâs more than a game?
Nathan Robinson takes us into the trees with a group of militant environmentalists who will discover a tree hugger of the deadly sort, entirely alien to their experience.
Scott Smith (A Simple Plan and The Ruins) wraps up this yearâs fat package of the hard stuff in a big bloody bow with âThe Dogs.â The canines in this tale are not Manâs Best Friend variety, nor are they Womanâs Besties, as you will see.
Thanks for coming along into this yearâs heart of hardcore darkness. We hope to see you on the other side.
Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 3 - Randy Chandler, Cheryl Mullenax, Scott Smith, Tim Curran, Matt Shaw, Ryan Harding & Brian Hodge
By Randy Chandler, Cheryl Mullenax, Scott Smith, Tim Curran, Matt Shaw, Ryan Harding & Brian Hodge
Release Date: 2018-06-01
Genre: Horror