Year's Best Hardcore Horror Series by Randy Chandler, Jeff Strand, Adam Cesare, Monica J. O'Rourke, David James Keaton, Adam Howe, Robert Essig, Jason Parent, Clare de Lune, Michael Paul Gonzalez, The Behrg, Kristopher Triana, Lilith Morgan, Charles Austin Muir, George Palacious, M.P. Johnson, Tony Knighton, Jack Bantry, Pete Kahle, George Cotronis, Scott Emerson, Clare Castleberry, Marvin Brown, Annie Neugebauer, Ed Kurtz, Tim Waggoner, Jeremy Thompson, Deborah Sheldon, Alicia Hilton

Excerpt from the Introduction: Editors Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax put the call out to horror writers and editors of extreme stories, the hardcore stuff that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos, the transgressive tales you can't "unread" (as Chuck Palahniuk says). We staked out our territory and nailed this to the wall to guide us: YEAR'S BEST HARDEST HORROR Not your mama's best-of horror annual... moreExcerpt from the Introduction: Editors Randy Chandler and Cheryl Mullenax put the call out to horror writers and editors of extreme stories, the hardcore stuff that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos, the transgressive tales you can't "unread" (as Chuck Palahniuk says). We staked out our territory and nailed this to the wall to guide us: YEAR'S BEST HARDEST HORROR Not your mama's best-of horror annual. This stuff comes from the edge of the abyss, stories you read at your own risk because you feel the abyss looking right back into you through the tainted lens of each twisted tale. Some of the stories you'll find here are loaded with very graphic descriptions of violence, sex and depravities, while others may contain only one shocking moment of brutality. In others, the hardcore aspect may be less graphic and subtler than you might expect. Some of these quieter tales offer the reader some time to recover from the more disturbing ones preceding. Most of the stories collected here are from small and specialty press anthologies, with a few from periodicals, like the prestigious Splatterpunk Zine in the UK and Thuglit here in the US. Bizarro is also represented with a couple of tales from the unlikely anthology Blood For You: A Literary Tribute To GG Allin from Weirdpunk Books. (If you're not familiar with the late GG Allin, you can find snippets from some of his outrageous and obscene punk shows online, which will increase your appreciation of those two tales.) So for now, forget about that neighbor you suspect is a serial killer, don't worry about the drunk driver that could take you out on your next trip to the store, push those troubling news stories to the back of your mind and immerse yourself in the imaginary horrors at hand. But don't be surprised if you sense something dark staring back at you from between the lines. That is to be expected when you enter these forbidding realms. With any luck, you may find something useful to help you survive the approaching Apocalypse. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction: The Year That Was "Worth the Having" by Michael Paul Gonzalez "Awakening" by Jeff Strand "Readings Off The Charts" by Adam Cesare "Reborn" by The Behrg "What's Worst" by David James Keaton "Dead End" by Kristopher Triana "What You Wish For" by Lilith Morgan "King Shits" by Charles Austin Muir "Cleanup On Aisle 3" by Adam Howe "Bath Salt Fetus" by George Palacious "Bored With Brutality" by MP Johnson "Exposed" by Monica J. O'Rourke "Eleanor" by Jason Parent "The Scavengers" by Tony Knighton "The Most Important Miracle" by Scott Emerson "Hungry For Control" by Clare de Lune "Clarissa" by Robert Essig & Jack Bantry "Where The Sun Don't Shine" by Pete Kahle "Blackbird Lullaby" by George Cotronis less

YEAR'S BEST HARDCORE HORROR VOLUME 2.Comet Press is extremely proud to present its second annual anthology featuring this year's hardcore corps of authors with the best extreme horror fiction of 2016 that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos.Selected from indie publishers and magazines such as Weirdpunk Books, Necro Publications, Splatterpunk Zine, Corner Bar Magazine, Carrion Blue and Raw Dog Screaming Press, these stories represent the state of the art of extreme horror fiction... moreYEAR'S BEST HARDCORE HORROR VOLUME 2.Comet Press is extremely proud to present its second annual anthology featuring this year's hardcore corps of authors with the best extreme horror fiction of 2016 that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos.Selected from indie publishers and magazines such as Weirdpunk Books, Necro Publications, Splatterpunk Zine, Corner Bar Magazine, Carrion Blue and Raw Dog Screaming Press, these stories represent the state of the art of extreme horror fiction. Whether extreme in theme or with gore galore, these disturbing tales will be hard to forget even though you may wish you could.Yes, there will be blood. Lots of it. Gore galore and plenty of the gushy stuff. But you'll also find tales less graphic but with hardcore attitudes, transgressive stories you're not sure you should be reading, stories showing you things you shouldn't see. Visceral fiction.Read at your own risk.TABLE OF CONTENTSMichael A. Arnzen "55 Ways I'd Prefer Not to Die" Jasper Bark "Bed of Crimson Joy" Christa Carmen "The Girl Who Loved Bruce Campbell" Marvin Brown "The Field" Adam Cesare "Please Subscribe" Matthew Chabin "Father of Dread" Jose Cruz "American Gods, American Monsters" Andrew Darlington "Coming of the Darkula" Paolo Di Orazio "The Contract" Stefanie Elrick "Mother's Nature" William Grabowski "Out Hunting for Teeth" Sarah L. Johnson "Little Sister, Little Brother" Eric LaRocca "Miss_Vertebrae" Alessandro Manzetti "Kozmic Blues" Tim Miller "Backne" Alexandra Renwick "Redux" Bryan Smith "Implant" Jeremy Thompson "The Hallowfiend Remembers" Tim Waggoner "A Face in the Crowd" Wrath James White "Ownership" Stephanie M. Wytovich "On This Side of Bloodletting" & selected poems from Brothel less

Red Room Press is extremely proud to present its fourth annual anthology featuring this year's hardcore corps of authors with the best extreme horror fiction of 2018 that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos.First up is "Vigil" by Chad Lutzke. Chad takes us into a neighborhood where a steady stream of decayed corpses are exhumed from a neighbor's cellar. Extreme olfactory horror at its best... moreRed Room Press is extremely proud to present its fourth annual anthology featuring this year's hardcore corps of authors with the best extreme horror fiction of 2018 that breaks boundaries and trashes taboos.First up is "Vigil" by Chad Lutzke. Chad takes us into a neighborhood where a steady stream of decayed corpses are exhumed from a neighbor's cellar. Extreme olfactory horror at its best.Deborah Sheldon went under the knife for the inspiration of "Hair And Teeth," and the result is a tale of gynaecological body horror likely to terrify women and make most men squeamish.With "Rut Seasons" Brian Hodge makes a return to Year's-Best pages in a tale as chilling as it is heart-wrenching, inspired by a thousand-mile drive littered with roadkill and some personal tragedies."Control" by Jeff Parsons introduces us to a meth addict stalking potential victims in Central Park to get money for the next score.Annie Neugebauer is back with "Cilantro," a Neugebauerian yarn of culinary chaos sure to turn stomachs and cause nightmares.Tim Waggoner likewise returns this year with "Voices Like Barbwire," an exploratory dig into old wounds and painful memories.Rebecca Rowland's "Bent" wins the Most Cringe-worthy Story honor with her twisted tale of extreme body horror. Her well-drawn characters seem to come off the page but God forbid they do.Scath Beorh takes Lovecraftian cosmic horror to its next level with "Lord of the Mesa."Sean Patrick Hazlett's story "The Godhead Grimoire" possesses dangerous religious overtones and a forbidden bloodthirsty book."Carnal Bodies" by R.E. Hellinger is a shocking story of baroque horror and demonic necrophiliaIn "Crossroads of Opportunity" Ed Kurtz and doungjai gam take you on a-deal-with-the-devil-at-the-crossroads trip with a son driving his dead mother to an uncertain destination.Seras Nikita's "Dad's Famous Preserves" won't do much for your appetite but it will show you a recipe for disaster when a jungle missionary's foot infection blossoms into a stomach-churning nightmare."The Bearded Woman," brought all the way from Rome, Italy, by the inimitable Alessandro Manzetti. His dystopian future tale takes us for a ride in the Bearded Woman's circus trailer as she and her dwarf husband bring their marriage to a bloody end.Sara Tantlinger's "The Devil's Dreamland" takes us inside the Murder Castle of the infamous H.H. Holmes with her brilliant narrative poem of macabre beauty.Frank Oreto's "All God's Creatures Got Reasons" reveals that there are real monsters walking among us, monsters with a savage appetite for young flesh./p>"The Ugly" by J.R. Park introduces us to a couple of sweet little kids who may have a good reason for torturing and eating cats. It's a way to keep the Ugly at bay. Or is it?Doug Ford's "I Have a Confession" takes a coldblooded plunge into sex with a ghost. But what if it's not a ghost?In "When the Owls Call" Lyman Graves takes us "stealth camping" in a Texas park after hours, where a strange and dangerous gathering is taking place.Jeremy Thompson is back this year with his nefarious pal the Hallowfiend in "Bloodletting and Intrigue On All Hallows' Eve'." With a stylistic nod to Ray Bradbury, Jeremy delivers on our promise that something twisted this way comes.Capping it all off, Alicia Hilton serves up "Monkey See, Monkey Do" as a tasty little nightcap (for those with hardcore tastes).Salud! Sleep well. If you can. -Randy Chandler & Cheryl Mullenax less

GOING GLOBAL 2019. The year certainly made its mark on the world—and more than its share of scars. It also made for a bounty of good horror stories of the extreme kind, the best of which the tales herein serve to illustrate. 2019 was the year Year's Best Hardcore Horror went global. Not by design but because the stories inside just happened to have been written by authors hailing from various parts of the globe... moreGOING GLOBAL 2019. The year certainly made its mark on the world—and more than its share of scars. It also made for a bounty of good horror stories of the extreme kind, the best of which the tales herein serve to illustrate. 2019 was the year Year's Best Hardcore Horror went global. Not by design but because the stories inside just happened to have been written by authors hailing from various parts of the globe. From Australia by way of South Africa, to Italy, Scotland, Norway, Taiwan, North America and India--the common denominator being that their tales come from darkest regions of imagination. TABLE OF CONTENTS GOING GLOBAL: INTRODUCTION by Randy Chandler & Cheryl Mullenax FEAST FOR SMALL PIECES by Hailey Piper GODDESS OF GALLOWS by Kristopher Triana LATE NIGHT INCIDENT AT THE WHITE TRASH MOTEL by Duane Bradley A NEW MOTHER’S GUIDE TO RAISING AN ABOMINATION by Gwendolyn Kiste UPPER CRUST by Michael Paul Gonzalez REDLESS by Annie Neugebauer A TOUCH OF MADNESS by Tim Waggoner PARADISUM VOLUPTATIS by Joanna Koch RADIX MALORUM by Sean Patrick Hazlett LACKERS by Leo X. Roberson WHY DO BIRDS SUDDENLY APPEAR? by Rajiv Moté DARJEELING by Syon Das MRSA ME by Alicia Hilton WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE CHILDREN? by David L Tamarin HAVE A HEART by Matthew V. Brockmeyer SWINGS AND SUSPENSIONS by D.A. Xiaolin Spires KIRTI by Alessandro Manzetti THE TEA AND SUGAR TRAIN by DEBORAH SHELDON SCREAMS FOR STARGIRL by Ben Pienaar QUEER WEATHER by Scáth Beorh less