The Best Horror Short Story Collections and Anthologies of 2021
Another year has come and gone, and it’s still an absolutely titanic time for horror. Not just in the sense of longer fiction like My Heart is a Chainsaw, Red X, and Nothing But Blackened Teeth, but also in the absolute embarrassment of riches found in anthologies and short story collections. 2021 saw tributes to classic authors, mosaic collections, anthologies on a variety of bizarre themes, new offerings from body-horror greats, and a couple of amazing modern-day gothic anthologies to keep a chill in your bones. And so, naturally, it comes time to pick some of our favorites from the list, a kaleidoscopic array of weirdness from across the spectrum, everywhere from psychedelic metafictional high strangeness to queer monstrous-feminine bizarro and all stops in between. Naturally, we couldn’t pack all our favorites on one list, but hopefully these eleven dark volumes will give you a good push out from shore into the deeper, darker, and stranger waters. Hope you enjoy.
Fantastic little list here. I’ve read some, have some on my physical shelf, and a couple others I still need to pursue.
Interesting and helpful list! One collection I was surprised did not meet the cut: Among the Lilies by Daniel Mills. A great collection from a unique and visionary writer.
I love Daniel Mills and he’s a great guy, but I couldn’t manage to get a copy of the book to read in time for the article (financial and time constraints, kind of chained to them), and I don’t request galleys for books that I’m only going to put into a list post, even if it’s the year-end list. I also don’t put books on that I haven’t read during the year. As a result, a couple books fell through the cracks because either I heard of them too late, or wasn’t able to obtain a copy through my various methods before I had to file an article. There’s always going to be books that slip through my fingers, and there’s always going to be gaps in my knowledge, but I swear most snubs are unintentional.