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''Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror'' is an
anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors. In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
of 23 original
horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...
stories, first published by The Viking Press in 1980 and as a paperback by
Bantam Books Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by parent company Random House, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. ...
in 1981. It was edited by New York City
literary agent A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers, film producers, and film studios, and assists in sale and deal negotiation. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwrit ...
Kirby McCauley. ''Dark Forces'' won the World Fantasy award for best anthology/collection in 1981 and is celebrated in an essay by
Christopher Golden Christopher Golden (born July 15, 1967) is an American author of horror, fantasy, and suspense novels for adults and teens. Early life Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. He graduated from Tufts ...
in ''Horror: Another 100 Best Books'', edited by Stephen Jones and Kim Newman. In 2006, ''Dark Forces: The 25th Anniversary Edition'' was announced by
Lonely Road Books Lonely Road Books is a small press publishing company founded in 2007 by Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar and based out of Forest Hill, Maryland. They are a publishing company that specializes in deluxe signed limited edition books. L ...
, and it sold out within days of being announced. It was published in late 2007 as a limited edition of 300 copies and as a lettered edition of 26 copies. It featured the same stories, but it also included signatures from the editor and all of the artists, a new interview of Kirby McCauley conducted by Kealan Patrick Burke, a new cover by Bernie Wrightson, and over twenty-four new color and black and white inner illustrations by Jill Bauman, Glenn Chadbourne,
Alan M. Clark Alan Marshall Clark is an author and an artist who is best known as the illustrator and book cover painter of many pieces of horror fiction. He was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel for his 2005 book ''Siren Promised'' ( ...
, Allen Koszowski, Alex McVey, Keith Minnion, Chad Savage, and Erik Wilson.


Background

The idea for an ambitious new collection of horror and supernatural stories was suggested to Kirby McCauley by British publisher Anthony Cheetham. As he started planning it, McCauley was partly inspired by the editorial work of August Derleth in his search for top-quality horror fiction, and partly by
Harlan Ellison Harlan Jay Ellison (May 27, 1934 – June 28, 2018) was an American writer, known for his prolific and influential work in New Wave speculative fiction and for his outspoken, combative personality. Robert Bloch, the author of '' Psycho'' ...
's ''
Dangerous Visions ''Dangerous Visions'' is a science fiction short story anthology edited by American writer Harlan Ellison and illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon. It was published in 1967. A path-breaking collection, ''Dangerous Visions'' helped define the New ...
'' in his aim to get new and established writers to submit previously unpublished stories without any editorial restrictions or narrow theme. McCauley writes in his original introduction, "I set out to offer as many of the subjects and moods and general directions the fantastic tale has tended traditionally to take as I could, but hopefully in imaginative, fresh ways." About his method of finding material, he writes: "I approached by letter or telephone nearly every writer living who had tried his or her hand at this type of story and whose writing I like personally. Predictably enough, some were able to respond with stories, some were not."


Contents

* Introduction by Kirby McCauley * " The Mist" by
Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...
* "The Late Shift" by Dennis Etchison * "The Enemy" by Isaac Bashevis Singer * "Dark Angel" by Edward Bryant * "
The Crest of Thirty-six ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in En ...
" by Davis Grubb * " Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale" by Robert Aickman * "Where the Summer Ends" by Karl Edward Wagner * "The Bingo Master" by
Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...
* "Children of the Kingdom" by T. E. D. Klein * "The Detective of Dreams" by Gene Wolfe * "Vengeance Is." by Theodore Sturgeon * "The Brood" by Ramsey Campbell * "The Whistling Well" by Clifford D. Simak * "The Peculiar Demesne" by Russell Kirk * "Where the Stones Grow" by Lisa Tuttle * "The Night Before Christmas" by
Robert Bloch Robert Albert Bloch (; April 5, 1917September 23, 1994) was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, psychological horror and fantasy, much of which has been dramatized for radio, cinema and television. He also wrote a relatively small ...
* "The Stupid Joke" by Edward Gorey * "A Touch of Petulance" by Ray Bradbury * "Lindsay and the Red City Blues" by Joe Haldeman * "A Garden of Blackred Roses" by
Charles L. Grant Charles Lewis Grant (September 12, 1942 – September 15, 2006) was an American novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called " dark fantasy" and "quiet horror". He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fe ...
* "Owls Hoot in the Daytime" by Manly Wade Wellman * "Where There's a Will" by Richard Matheson and Richard Christian Matheson * "Traps" by Gahan Wilson


Influences and homages

Clive Barker has stated in ''
Faces of Fear The Faces of Fear was a professional wrestling tag team of The Barbarian and Meng in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that existed between 1996 and 1999. The two were first paired together in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as part of Th ...
'' that reading the great variation of horror stories in ''Dark Forces'' encouraged him to start writing his own stories without taboos or restrictions for ''
The Books of Blood ''Books of Blood'' is a series of six horror fiction anthologies collecting original stories written by British author, playwright, and filmmaker Clive Barker in 1984 and 1985. Known primarily for writing stage plays beforehand, Barker gained a ...
''. Edward Bryant's story "Dark Angel" introduced modern-day witch Angela Black, whose name reflects her moral ambiguity. In 1991, Black returned in Bryant's novel ''Fetish''. When asked by Melissa Mia Hall for an interview in '' Amazing Stories'' about a favorite in his own body of work, Gene Wolfe answered: "My topmost story would be 'The Detective of Dreams' in ''Dark Forces''." Author Christopher Golden has stated that ''Dark Forces'' "approached horror as literature with a sturdy defiance, McCauley recruiting Isaac Bashevis Singer and Joyce Carol Oates, among others, to contribute unsettling tales." He also called the anthology "a bridge, a mission statement, the quintessential collection of horror stories from the 1980s ndone of horror's finest moments."Golden, Christopher: "On ''Dark Forces''" in ''Horror: Another 100 Best Books'', page 284-285, edited by S Jones & K Newman, Carroll & Graf paperback, 2005


References

{{World Fantasy Award Best Collection 1980 anthologies Horror anthologies Viking Press books World Fantasy Award-winning works