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The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Nine  By  cover art

The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Nine

By: Ellen Datlow - editor
Narrated by: Christina Delaine,James Anderson Foster
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Publisher's summary

For more than three decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror fans crave. Now, with the ninth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today's most challenging and exciting writers.

©2017 Ellen Datlow (P)2017 Tantor

What listeners say about The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Nine

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great Collection!

Every anthology is a hit or miss and this one is no exception. I happen to enjoy a large majority of the stories many of which include tales of cosmic horror ala HP Lovecraft. All are well written stories and thankfully the gross out tales are missing.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Chapter 9

Super creepy a little too real! I work in the field that is described in the story and EVERY detail was completely accurate!
CREEEPY CHILLY BRAINF*#^ story!

Read chapter 9 first!

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good stories marred by sub-par male narrator

While the quality of the stories varies - a function of differing levels of ability among the authors themselves - it’s a fairly solid collection.

The narration is a different matter entirely. The female narrator is competent and engaging; her male counterpart is so bad he basically ruins half the book.

He intones the text in a flat, wooden cadence that has the effect of isolating words from one another, such that sentences come across as collections of unrelated sounds rather than cohering parts of a whole.

It is almost as though the words were recorded individually and then strung together using editing software. For all I know, that’s standard practice. But if so, why even bother crediting a human narrator? If I want to listen to a robot, I’ll call my credit card company.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

not horror but good stories

maybe I'm just jaded but none were scary, and all but 2 held my attention and I thought they were good. A couple I wish had been longer or made into a full novel.

overall worth the credit for the stories but not if you want actual horror

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Harder to get through than I anticipated

The stories were very good, but I've been spoiled by the continuity of novels. I occasionally missed the transitions between stories while listening as I was cleaning up at work at the end of the day.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Well worth it.

Some of the stories are a slow burn, but worth every minute. The narration is top notch.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A mix of stories

I liked most of the stories. The story about the mine was creepy and sad.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

somthing for everyone

this has a lot of hit and misses for me but I would say the misses are maybe 3 or 4 total
otherwise all of them are bone chilling and I couldnt recommend it more for seekers of thrills and horror

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Not as good as others

These stories were heavily lovecraft themed but too much so, such that many just didn't make sense. I love lovecraft but his stories at least had some relatable themes. The others were not horror but tragedy disguised as such. Mostly depressing not thrilling. Other years of elen's were better.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Did not enjoy. Interesting at best.

It was a struggle to get through since the performances could but you to snooze. Most at least and the stories were interesting at best. Thought inducing but far from horror or fear inspiring. I'm getting a refund on credit.

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1 person found this helpful