''Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror'' is an anthology of 23 original horror stories, first published by The Viking Press in 1980 and as a paperback by Bantam Books in 1981. It was edited by New York City literary agent

Kirby McCauley Kirby McCauley (September 11, 1941 – August 30, 2014) was a Minnesota-born American fan of the macabre who went on to a career as a major literary agent and editor professionally based in New York City, becoming a prime mover behind the commerci ...

. ''Dark Forces'' won the

World Fantasy award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year at the eponymous ann ...

for best anthology/collection in 1981 and is celebrated in an essay by Christopher Golden in ''Horror: Another 100 Best Books'', edited by Stephen Jones and

Kim Newman Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula'' at ...

. In 2006, ''Dark Forces: The 25th Anniversary Edition'' was announced by Lonely Road Books, 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

conducted by

Kealan Patrick Burke Kealan Patrick Burke (born in Dungarvan, Ireland) is an author. Some of his works include the novels ''Kin'', ''Currency of Souls'', ''Master of the Moors'', and ''The Hides'' (Bram Stoker Award nominee), the novellas ''The Turtle Boy'' (Bram S ...

, a new cover by

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

, and over twenty-four new color and black and white inner illustrations by

Jill Bauman Jill Bauman is an American artist. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy Award five times and nominated for the Chesley Award several times. Her art has been exhibited at the Delaware Art Museum, the Moore College of Art, Art Students Leag ...

Glenn Chadbourne Glenn Chadbourne is an American artist. He lives in Newcastle, Maine. He is best known for his work in the horror and fantasy genres, having created covers and illustrated books and magazines for publishers such as Cemetery Dance Publications, ...

, Alan M. Clark, Allen Koszowski,

Alex McVey Alex McVey is an American fine artist and illustrator from Texas, mostly known for his work on high-end limited edition books and album art. He has illustrated the works of Stephen King, William Peter Blatty, Brian Keene, Joe R. Lansdale, and o ...

, Keith Minnion, Chad Savage, and Erik Wilson.

Background

The idea for an ambitious new collection of horror and supernatural stories was suggested to

by British publisher Anthony Cheetham. As he started planning it, McCauley was partly inspired by the editorial work of

August Derleth August William Derleth (February 24, 1909 – July 4, 1971) was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first book publisher of the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, and for his own contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos and th ...

in his search for top-quality horror fiction, and partly by Harlan Ellison's '' Dangerous Visions'' 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."

* Introduction by

* " The Mist" by Stephen King * "The Late Shift" by

Dennis Etchison Dennis William Etchison (March 30, 1943 – May 29, 2019) was an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction.

* "The Enemy" by

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer ( yi, יצחק באַשעװיס זינגער; November 11, 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Polish-born American Jewish writer who wrote and published first in Yiddish and later translated himself into English with the help ...

* "Dark Angel" by

Edward Bryant Edward Winslow Bryant Jr. (August 27, 1945 – February 10, 2017) was an American science fiction and horror writer sometimes associated with the Dangerous Visions series of anthologies that bolstered The New Wave. At the time of his death, ...

* " The Crest of Thirty-six" by

Davis Grubb Davis Alexander Grubb (July 23, 1919 – July 24, 1980) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for his 1953 novel '' The Night of the Hunter'', which was adapted as a film in 1955 by Charles Laughton. Biography Born in M ...

* " Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale" by

Robert Aickman Robert Fordyce Aickman (27 June 1914 – 26 February 1981) was an English writer and conservationist. As a conservationist, he co-founded the Inland Waterways Association, a group which has preserved from destruction and restored England's inl ...

* "Where the Summer Ends" by

Karl Edward Wagner Karl Edward Wagner (12 December 1945 – 14 October 1994) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. He ...

* "The Bingo Master" by Joyce Carol Oates * "Children of the Kingdom" by T. E. D. Klein * "The Detective of Dreams" by

Gene Wolfe Gene Rodman Wolfe (May 7, 1931 – April 14, 2019) was an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He was noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith. He was a prolific short story writer and nove ...

* "Vengeance Is." by

Theodore Sturgeon Theodore Sturgeon (; born Edward Hamilton Waldo, February 26, 1918 – May 8, 1985) was an American fiction author of primarily fantasy, science fiction and horror, as well as a critic. He wrote approximately 400 reviews and more than 120 sh ...

* "The Brood" by

Ramsey Campbell Ramsey Campbell (born 4 January 1946) is an English horror fiction writer, editor and critic who has been writing for well over fifty years. He is the author of over 30 novels and hundreds of short stories, many of them winners of literary awa ...

* "The Whistling Well" by

Clifford D. Simak Clifford Donald Simak (; August 3, 1904 – April 25, 1988) was an American science fiction writer. He won three Hugo Awards and one Nebula Award. The Science Fiction Writers of America made him its third SFWA Grand Master, and the Horror W ...

* "The Peculiar Demesne" by

Russell Kirk Russell Amos Kirk (October 19, 1918 – April 29, 1994) was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, and literary critic, known for his influence on 20th-century American conservatism. His 1953 book ''The Conservativ ...

* "Where the Stones Grow" by

Lisa Tuttle Lisa Gracia Tuttle (born September 16, 1952) is an American-born science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. She has published more than a dozen novels, seven short story collections, and several non-fiction titles, including a reference book o ...

* "The Night Before Christmas" by Robert Bloch * "The Stupid Joke" by

Edward Gorey Edward St. John Gorey (February 22, 1925 – April 15, 2000) was an American writer, Tony Award-winning costume designer, and artist, noted for his own illustrated books as well as cover art and illustration for books by other writers. Hi ...

* "A Touch of Petulance" by

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

* "Lindsay and the Red City Blues" by

Joe Haldeman Joe William Haldeman (born June 9, 1943) is an American science fiction author. He is best known for his novel '' The Forever War'' (1974). That novel and other works, including '' The Hemingway Hoax'' (1991) and '' Forever Peace'' (1997), hav ...

* "A Garden of Blackred Roses" by Charles L. Grant * "Owls Hoot in the Daytime" by

Manly Wade Wellman Manly Wade Wellman (May 21, 1903 – April 5, 1986) was an American writer. While his science fiction and fantasy stories appeared in such pulps as '' Astounding Stories'', '' Startling Stories'', '' Unknown'' and ''Strange Stories'', Wellman ...

* "Where There's a Will" by

Richard Matheson Richard Burton Matheson (February 20, 1926 – June 23, 2013) was an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is best known as the author of '' I Am Legend'', a 1954 science fictio ...

and

Richard Christian Matheson Richard Christian Matheson (born October 14, 1953) is an American writer of horror fiction and screenplays, the son of fiction writer and screenwriter Richard Matheson. He is the author of over 100 short stories of psychological horror and ma ...

* "Traps" by

Gahan Wilson Gahan Allen Wilson (February 18, 1930 – November 21, 2019) was an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations. Biography Wilson was born in Evanston, Illinois, and was inspired by th ...

Influences and homages

Clive Barker Clive Barker (born 5 October 1952) is an English novelist, playwright, author, film director, and visual artist who came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories, the ''Books of Blood'', which established him as a leading h ...

has stated in '' Faces of Fear'' 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''. 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 ''Amazing Stories'' is an American science fiction magazine launched in April 1926 by Hugo Gernsback's Experimenter Publishing. It was the first magazine devoted solely to science fiction. Science fiction stories had made regular appearances ...

'' 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

Background

Contents

Influences and homages

References