Synopses & Reviews
Hugo Award winning editor, and horror legend, Ellen Datlow presents a terrifying and chilling horror anthology of original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu and many more.
Even though many celebrate the winter solstice as a time of joy, a darker tradition of ghost tales and horror stories resides in the long winter nights. This anthology of all new stories will scour the world for the unholy, the dark, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together — for better and worse.
Alongside Christmas celebrations, around the world are Makara Sankranti in the Hindu calendar in India, Yalda Night in Iran, Chanukah, the Roman Saturnalia, the Krampus, Dongzhi (solar term) in East Asia where sunlight passes through the 17 arches of Seventeen Arch Bridge, Summer Palace, Beijing, the pagan festival of Yule, St. Lucia's Day in Scandinavia, the Druidic tradition of Alban Arthan, Soyal for Hopi Indians, Peruvian solstice festivals, and even Christmas in Antarctica at the research stations.
Because the weather outside is frightful, but the fire inside is hungry...
Featuring stories from Tananarive Due, Terry Dowling, Glen Hirshberg, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, Nick Mamatas, Benjamin Percy, M. Rickert, Kaaron Warren, and more.
Review
"Certifiably creepy...undeniably diverse spanning oceans and continents...[to] make the connection between the so-called happiest time of the year and all manner of sinister goings-on seem as natural as gingerbread and eggnog." — Rue Morgue
Review
"Datlow, award-winning editor in speculative fiction, comes through once again...the gut punch of Tananarive Due and Stephen Graham Jones' stories...cannot be missed." — Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"A sterling collection... Ellen Datlow has — yet again — pulled in many of the very best writers in the field. I'm sure this is henceforth going to be the default stocking filler for any horror fan in your life." — HorrorTree
About the Author
Ellen Datlow has been editing science fiction, fantasy, and horror short fiction for forty years as fiction editor of OMNI Magazine and SCIFICTION. She currently acquires short stories and novellas for Tor.com. In addition, she has edited about one hundred science fiction, fantasy, and horror anthologies, including the annual The Best Horror of the Year series, The Doll Collection, Mad Hatters and March Hares, Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, and Final Cuts: New Tales of Hollywood Horror and Other Spectacles.
She's won multiple World Fantasy Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, Bram Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Awards, Shirley Jackson Awards. Datlow was recipient of the 2007 Karl Edward Wagner Award, given at the British Fantasy Convention for "outstanding contribution to the genre," was honored with the Life Achievement Award by the Horror Writers Association, in acknowledgment of superior achievement over an entire career, and honored with the World Fantasy Life Achievement Award at the 2014 World Fantasy Convention.
She lives in New York.