Dark Forces (book)
Encyclopedia
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. Dark Forces won the World Fantasy award
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
.
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 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
, Allen Koszowski, Alex McVey
, Keith Minnion, Chad Savage, and Erik Wilson.
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in his aim to get new and established writers to submit previously unpublished stories without any editorial demands or narrow theme.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."
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
about a favorite in his own body of work, Gene Wolfe answered: "My topmost story would be 'The Detective of Dreams' in Dark Forces."
Anthology
An anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler. It may be a collection of poems, short stories, plays, songs, or excerpts...
of 23 original horror
Horror fiction
Horror fiction also Horror fantasy is a philosophy of literature, which is intended to, or has the capacity to frighten its readers, inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie atmosphere. Horror can be either supernatural or non-supernatural...
stories, first published by The Viking Press in 1980 and as a paperback by Bantam Books
Bantam Books
Bantam Books is an American publishing house owned entirely by Random House, the German media corporation subsidiary of Bertelsmann; it is an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group. It was formed in 1945 by Walter B. Pitkin, Jr., Sidney B. Kramer, and Ian and Betty Ballantine...
in 1981. It was edited by New York City literary agent
Literary agent
A literary agent is an agent who represents writers and their written works to publishers, theatrical producers and film producers and assists in the sale and deal negotiation of the same. Literary agents most often represent novelists, screenwriters and major non-fiction writers...
Kirby McCauley. Dark Forces won the World Fantasy award
World Fantasy Award
The World Fantasy Awards are annual, international awards given to authors and artists who have demonstrated outstanding achievement in the field of fantasy...
for best anthology/collection in 1981 and is celebrated in an essay by Christopher Golden
Christopher Golden
Christopher Golden is an American author of horror, fantasy, and suspense novels for adults, teens, and young readers.Golden was born and raised in Massachusetts, where he still lives with his family. He is a graduate of Tufts University...
in Horror: Another 100 Best Books, edited by Stephen Jones
Stephen Jones (author)
Stephen Jones is an editor of horror anthologies, and the author of several book-length studies of horror and fantasy films as well as an account of Lovecraft's early British publications....
and Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Kim Newman 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 the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
.
In 2006, Dark Forces: The 25th Anniversary Edition was announced by Lonely Road Books
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...
, 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
Kealan Patrick Burke
Kealan Patrick Burke was born and raised in Dungarvan, Ireland. He is best known as an award-winning author described as "a newcomer worth watching" by Publishers Weekly...
, a new cover by Bernie Wrightson
Bernie Wrightson
Bernie "Berni" Wrightson is an American artist known for his horror illustrations and comic books.-Biography:...
, and over twenty-four new color and black and white inner illustrations by Jill Bauman
Jill Bauman
Jill Bauman is best known as an 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 League of New York, the NY Illustrators Society &...
, Glenn Chadbourne
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, Subterranean Press, and Earthling Publications. Mr...
, Alan M. Clark
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 .He has won the World Fantasy Award for his illustrations ,...
, Allen Koszowski, Alex McVey
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...
, 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 DerlethAugust Derleth
August William Derleth was an American writer and anthologist. Though best remembered as the first publisher of the writings of H. P...
in his search for top-quality horror fiction, and partly by Harlan Ellison
Harlan Ellison
Harlan Jay Ellison is an American writer. His principal genre is speculative fiction.His published works include over 1,700 short stories, novellas, screenplays, teleplays, essays, a wide range of criticism covering literature, film, television, and print media...
's Dangerous Visions
Dangerous Visions
Dangerous Visions is a science fiction short story anthology edited by Harlan Ellison, published in 1967.A path-breaking collection, Dangerous Visions helped define the New Wave science fiction movement, particularly in its depiction of sex in science fiction...
in his aim to get new and established writers to submit previously unpublished stories without any editorial demands 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 MistThe MistThe Mist is a horror novella by the American author Stephen King, in which the small town of Bridgton, Maine is suddenly enveloped in an unnatural mist that conceals otherworldly monsters. It was first published as the first and longest story of the 1980 horror anthology Dark Forces. A slightly...
" by Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books... - "The Late Shift" by Dennis EtchisonDennis EtchisonDennis William Etchison , is an American writer and editor of fantasy and horror fiction. Etchison refers to his own work as “rather dark, depressing, almost pathologically inward fiction about the individual in relation to the world.”Stephen King has called Dennis Etchison “one hell of a fiction...
- "The Enemy" by Isaac Bashevis SingerIsaac Bashevis SingerIsaac Bashevis Singer – July 24, 1991) was a Polish Jewish American author noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978...
- "Dark Angel" by Edward BryantEdward BryantEdward Winslow Bryant Jr. is a science fiction and horror writer sometimes associated with the Dangerous Visions series of anthologies that bolstered The New Wave....
- "The Crest of Thirty-six" by Davis GrubbDavis GrubbDavis Grubb was an American novelist and short story writer.-Biography:Born in Moundsville, West Virginia, Grubb wanted to combine his creative skills as a painter with writing and as such attended the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
- "Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale" by Robert AickmanRobert AickmanRobert Fordyce Aickman was an English conservationist and writer of fiction and nonfiction. As a writer, he is best known for his supernatural fiction, which he described as "strange stories".-Life:...
- "Where the Summer Ends" by Karl Edward WagnerKarl Edward WagnerKarl Edward Wagner was an American writer, editor and publisher of horror, science fiction, and heroic fantasy, who was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and originally trained as a psychiatrist. His disillusionment with the medical profession can be seen in the stories "The Fourth Seal" and "Into...
- "The Bingo Master" by Joyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
- "Children of the Kingdom" by T. E. D. KleinT. E. D. KleinTheodore "Eibon" Donald Klein is an American horror writer and editor.Klein has published very few works, but they have all achieved positive notice for their meticulous construction and subtle use of horror: critic S. T...
- "The Detective of Dreams" by Gene WolfeGene WolfeGene Wolfe is an American science fiction and fantasy writer. He is noted for his dense, allusive prose as well as the strong influence of his Catholic faith, to which he converted after marrying into the religion. He is a prolific short story writer and a novelist, and has won many awards in the...
- "Vengeance Is." by Theodore SturgeonTheodore SturgeonTheodore Sturgeon was an American science fiction author.His most famous novel is More Than Human .-Biography:...
- "The Brood" by Ramsey CampbellRamsey CampbellJohn Ramsey Campbell is an English horror fiction author.Since he first came to prominence in the mid-1960s, critics have cited Campbell as one of the leading writers in his field: T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today", while S. T...
- "The Whistling Well" by Clifford D. SimakClifford D. SimakClifford Donald Simak was an American science fiction writer. He was honored by fans with three Hugo awards and by colleagues with one Nebula award and was named the third Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1977.-Biography:Clifford Donald Simak was born in...
- "The Peculiar Demesne" by Russell KirkRussell KirkRussell Kirk was an American political theorist, moralist, historian, social critic, literary critic, and fiction author known for his influence on 20th century American conservatism. His 1953 book, The Conservative Mind, gave shape to the amorphous post–World War II conservative movement...
- "Where the Stones Grow" by Lisa TuttleLisa TuttleLisa Tuttle is an American-born science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. She has published over a dozen novels, five short story collections, and several non-fiction titles, including a reference book on feminism. She has also edited several anthologies and reviewed books for various...
- "The Night Before Christmas" by Robert BlochRobert BlochRobert Albert Bloch was a prolific American writer, primarily of crime, horror and science fiction. He is best known as the writer of Psycho, the basis for the film of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock...
- "The Stupid Joke" by Edward GoreyEdward GoreyEdward St. John Gorey was an American writer and artist noted for his macabre illustrated books.-Early life:...
- "A Touch of Petulance" by Ray BradburyRay BradburyRay Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
- "Lindsay and the Red City Blues" by Joe HaldemanJoe HaldemanJoe William Haldeman is an American science fiction author.-Life :Haldeman was born June 9, 1943 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda, Maryland and Anchorage, Alaska as a child. Haldeman married Mary Gay Potter, known...
- "A Garden of Blackred Roses" by Charles L. GrantCharles L. GrantCharles Lewis Grant was a 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 Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection...
- "Owls Hoot in the Daytime" by Manly Wade WellmanManly Wade WellmanManly Wade Wellman was an American writer. He is best known for his fantasy and horror stories set in the Appalachian Mountains and for drawing on the native folklore of that region, but he wrote in a wide variety of genres, including science fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, detective...
- "Where There's a Will" by Richard MathesonRichard MathesonRichard Burton Matheson is an American author and screenwriter, primarily in the fantasy, horror, and science fiction genres. He is perhaps best known as the author of What Dreams May Come, Bid Time Return, A Stir of Echoes, The Incredible Shrinking Man, and I Am Legend, all of which have been...
and Richard Christian MathesonRichard Christian MathesonRichard Christian Matheson is an American writer of horror fiction and screenplays. He is the author of the short story collections Scars and Other Distinguishing Marks and Dystopia; the novel Created By; and the screenplay for the Showtime Masters of Horror installments Dance of the Dead and... - "Traps" by Gahan WilsonGahan WilsonGahan Wilson is an American author, cartoonist and illustrator known for his cartoons depicting horror-fantasy situations...
Influence
Clive BarkerClive Barker
Clive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
has stated in Faces of Fear
Faces of Fear (interview book)
Faces of Fear is a World Fantasy award-winning book where writer, critic and lawyer Douglas E. Winter interviews seventeen contemporary British and American horror writers about their life and art. The writers are V. C. Andrews, Clive Barker, William Peter Blatty, Robert Bloch, Ramsey Campbell,...
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
Amazing Stories was 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...
about a favorite in his own body of work, Gene Wolfe answered: "My topmost story would be 'The Detective of Dreams' in Dark Forces."