The Year’s Best Horror Stories was a series of annual anthologies published by DAW Books

DAW Books

DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company therefore claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was...

 from 1971 to 1994 under the successive editorships of Richard Davis

Richard Davis

Richard Davis is an American jazz bassist who has been a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison since 1977. Originally from Chicago, he first became known in that city before establishing himself in New York City for twenty-three years. He teaches bass, jazz history, and...

 from 1971 to 1973, and, after a two year hiatus, Gerald W. Page

Gerald W. Page

Gerald W. Page is an American writer of fantasy, science fiction, mystery and horror. He was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee on August 12, 1939. He sold his first story to the magazine Analog where it appeared in 1963....

 from 1976 to 1979, and Karl Edward Wagner

Karl Edward Wagner

Karl 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...

 from 1980 to 1994. The series was discontinued after Wagner's death. It was a companion to DAW’s The Annual World’s Best SF

The Annual World’s Best SF

The Annual World's Best SF was a series of annual paperback anthologies published by DAW Books from 1972 to 1990 under the editorship of publisher Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha from 1972 to 1990. Some volumes were also issued in hardcover through the Science Fiction Book Club...

and The Year's Best Fantasy Stories

The Year's Best Fantasy Stories (series)

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories was a series of annual anthologies published by DAW Books from 1975 to 1988 under the successive editorships of Lin Carter from 1975 to 1980 and Arthur W. Saha from 1981 to 1988. The series was a companion to DAW’s The Annual World’s Best SF, issued from 1972 to 1990...

, which performed a similar office for the science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 and fantasy

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...

 genres.

Each annual volume reprinted what in the opinion of the editor was the best 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...

 short fiction appearing in the previous year. The series also aimed to discover and nurture new talent. It featured both occasionally recurring authors and writers new to the horror genre. Veterans among the contributing authors included Brian Lumley

Brian Lumley

Brian Lumley is an English horror fiction writer.Born in County Durham, he joined the British Army's Royal Military Police and wrote stories in his spare time before retiring with the rank of Warrant Officer Class 1 in 1980 and becoming a professional writer.He added to H. P...

, David Drake

David Drake

David Drake is an American author of science fiction and fantasy literature. A Vietnam War veteran who has worked as a lawyer, he is now one of the premier authors of the military science fiction subgenre.-Biography:...

, Eddy C. Bertin

Eddy C. Bertin

Eddy C. Bertin is a Belgian-German author of adult and children's fiction, best known in the United States for his science fiction. He has also written under the pseudonyms Edith Brendall, Doriac Greysun and others.-Life:...

, Kit Reed

Kit Reed

Kit Reed is an American author of both speculative fiction and literary fiction, as well as psychological thrillers under the pseudonym Kit Craig. Her first short story was published by Anthony Boucher. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and recipient of a five-year grant literary from the Abraham...

, Lisa Tuttle

Lisa Tuttle

Lisa 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...

, R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Ramsey Campbell

Ramsey Campbell

John 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...

, Richard Matheson

Richard Matheson

Richard 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...

, Robert Bloch

Robert Bloch

Robert 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...

, Stephen King

Stephen King

Stephen 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...

, and Tanith Lee

Tanith Lee

Tanith Lee is a British writer of science fiction, horror and fantasy. She is the author of over 70 novels and 250 short stories, a children's picture book and many poems. She also wrote two episodes of BBC science fiction series Blake's 7...

; some of the then-newcomers to the field featured were Al Sarrantonio

Al Sarrantonio

Al Sarrantonio is an American horror and science fiction author who has published, over the past thirty-five years, more than forty-five books and eighty short stories...

, Dennis Etchison

Dennis Etchison

Dennis 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...

, Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Jessica Amanda Salmonson

Jessica Amanda Salmonson, born January 6, 1950, is an author, editor and writer of fantasy and horror fiction.-Author:Salmonson is the author of the Tomoe Gozen trilogy, a fantasy version of the tale of the historical female samurai Tomoe Gozen...

, Juleen Brantingham, and Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Nina Kiriki Hoffman is an American fantasy, science fiction and horror writer.-Profile:Hoffman started publishing short stories in 1975. Her first nationally published short story appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine in 1983...

.

Volumes edited by Richard Davis

1. The Year’s Best Horror Stories, editor Richard Davis, 1971.

Contents:

• Prey (1969), by Richard Matheson
• Double Whammy (1970), by Robert Bloch
• After Nightfall (1972), by David Riley
• Scar, the (1972), by Ramsey Campbell
• Winter (1972), by Kit Reed
• Death's Door (1972), by Robert McNear
• Warp (1972), by Ralph Norton
• Lucifer (1972), by E. C. Tubb
• Hate, the (1972), by Terri E. Pinckard
• I Wonder What He Wanted (1972), by Eddy C. Bertin
• Sister City, the (1972), by Brian Lumley
• Quiet Game, a (1972), by Celia Fremlin
• Problem Child (1972), by Peter Oldale
• When Morning Comes (1972), by Elizabeth Fancett*

2. The Year’s Best Horror Stories II, editor Richard Davis, 1972.

3. The Year’s Best Horror Stories III, editor Richard Davis, 1973.

Volumes edited by Gerald W. Page

4. The Year’s Best Horror Stories IV, editor Gerald W. Page, 1976.

5. The Year’s Best Horror Stories V, editor Gerald W. Page, 1977.

6. The Year’s Best Horror Stories VI, editor Gerald W. Page, 1978.

7. The Year’s Best Horror Stories VII, editor Gerald W. Page, 1979.

Volumes edited by Karl Edward Wagner

8. The Year’s Best Horror Stories VIII, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1980.

9. The Year’s Best Horror Stories IX, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1981.

10. The Year’s Best Horror Stories X, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1982

11. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XI, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1983.

12. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XII, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1984.

• Names (1983), by Jane Yolen
• After-Images (1983), by Malcolm Edwards
• Out of Africa (1983), by David Drake
• The Flash! Kid, by Scott Bradfield
• Uncle Otto's Truck (1983), by Stephen King
• Just Waiting (1983), by Ramsey Campbell
• Ventriloquist's Daughter, the (1983), by Juleen Brantingham
• Wall-Painting, the (1983), by Roger Johnson
• Man With Legs, the (1983), Al Sarrantonio
• Attic, the (1983), by Billy Wolfenbarger
• One for the Horrors (1983), by David J. Schow
• Come to the Party (1983), by Frances Garfield
• Keepsake (1983), by Vincent McHardy
• 3:47 AM (1983), David Langford
• Elle Est Trois, (La Mort) (1983), by Tanith Lee
• Chair, the (1983), by Dennis Etchison
• Echoes (1983), by Lawrence C. Connolly
• Mistral (1983), by Jon Wynne-Tyson
• Spring-Fingered Jack (1983), by Susan Casper

13. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XIII, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1985.

14. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XIV, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1986.

15. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XV, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1987.

• The Yougoslaves, by Robert Bloch
• Tight Little Stitches in a Dead Man’s Back, by Joe R. Lansdale
• Apples, by Ramsey Campbell
• Dead White Women, by William F. Wu
• Crystal, by Charles L. Grant
• Retirement [“Even Death Gets Tired”], by Ron Leming
• The Man Who Did Tricks with Glass, by Ron Wolfe
• Bird in a Wrought Iron Cage, by John Alfred Taylor
• The Olympic Runner, by Dennis Etchison
• Take the “A” Train [Dennis Cassady], by Wayne Allen Sallee
• The Foggy, Foggy Dew, by Joel Lane
• The Godmother, by Tina Rath
• Pale, Trembling Youth, by W. H. Pugmire & Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• Red Light, by David J. Show
• In the Hour Before Dawn, by Brad Strickland
• Necros, by Brian Lumley
• Tattoos, by Jack M. Dann
• Acquiring a Family, by R. Chetwynd-Hayes

16. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XVI, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1988.

• Popsy, by Stephen King
• Neighbourhood Watch, by Greg Egan
• Wolf/Child, by Jane Yolen
• Everything to Live For, by Charles L. Grant
• Repossession, by David Campton
• Merry May, by Ramsey Campbell
• The Touch, by Wayne Allen Sallee
• Moving Day, by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
• La Nuit des Chiens, by Leslie Halliwell
• Echoes from the Abbey, by Sheila Hodgson
• Visitors, by Jack M. Dann
• The Bellfounder’s Wife, by A. F. Kidd
• The Scar, by Dennis Etchison
• Martyr Without Canon, by T. Winter-Damon
• The Thin People, by Brian Lumley
• Fat Face, by Michael Shea

17. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XVII, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1989.

• Fruiting Bodies, by Brian Lumley
• Works of Art, by Nina Kiriki, Hoffman
• She’s a Young Thing and Cannot Leave Her Mother, by Harlan Ellison
• The Resurrection Man, by Ian Watson
• Now and Again in Summer, by Charles L. Grant
• Call 666, by Dennis Etchison
• The Great God Pan, by M. John Harrison
• What Dreams may Come, by Brad Strickland
• Regression, by R. Chetwynd-Hayes
• Souvenirs from a Damnation, by Don Webb
• Bleeding Between the Lines [Dennis Cassady], by Wayne Allen Sallee
• Playing the Game, by Ramsey Campbell
• Lost Bodies, by Ian Watson
• Ours Now, by Nicholas Royle
• Prince of Flowers, by Elizabeth Hand
• The Daily Chernobyl, by Robert Frazier
• Snowman, by Charles L. Grant
• Nobody’s Perfect, by Thomas F. Monteleone
• Dead Air, by Gregory Nicoll
• Recrudescence, by Leonard P. Carpenter

18. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XVIII, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1990.

19. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XIX, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1991.

20. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XX, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1992.

21. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXI, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1993.

22. The Year’s Best Horror Stories XXII, editor Karl Edward Wagner, 1994.

• The Ripper’s Tune, by Gregory Nicoll
• One Size Eats All, by T.E.D. Klein
• Resurrection, by Adam Meyer
• I Live To Wash Her, by Joey Froehlich
• A Little-Known Side of Elvis, by Dennis Etchison
• Perfect Days, by Chet Williamson
• See How They Run, by Ramsey Campbell
• Shots Downed, Officer Fired, by Wayne Allen Sallee
• David, by Sean Doolittle
• Portrait of a Pulp Writer, by F. A. McMahan
• Fish Harbor, by Paul Pinn
• Adroitly Wrapped, by Mark McLaughlin
• Thicker Than Water, by Joel Lane
• Memento Mori, by Scott Thomas
• The Blitz Spirit, by Kim Newman
• Companions, by Del Stone, Jr.
• Masquerade, by Lillian Csernica
• Price of the Flames, by Deidra Cox
• The Bone Garden, by Conrad Williams
• Ice Cream and Tombstones, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• Salt Snake, by Simon Clark
• Lady’s Portrait, Executed in Archaic Colors, by Charles M. Saplak
• Lost Alleys, by Jeffrey Thomas
• Salustrade, by D.F. Lewis
• The Power of One, by Nancy Kilpatrick
• The Lions in the Desert, by David Langford
• Turning Thirty, by Lisa Tuttle
• Bloodletting, by Kim Antieau
• Flying Into Naples, by Nicholas Royle
• Under the Crust, by Terry Lamsley