Editor Ellen Datlow is a veritable legend in the world of horror, science fiction, and across genre boundaries.
For the last four decades, she has built a truly marvelous and foundational oeuvre of short stories and novellas that demonstrate the best that the darker side of fiction can offer.
In addition, she’s consistently discovered and developed the work of emerging writers and worlds. Truly, Ellen Datlow knows a thing or two (or three) about what makes a story really jump off the page.
Let’s take a look at the wide range of work Ellen Datlow has acquired across many touchstone anthologies. Here is a mere sampling of her extensive work—the best, from the best.
Screams from the Dark: 29 Tales of Monsters and the Monstrous
As the subtitle suggests, Screams from the Dark is an anthology that “goes there” to get a deep thrill and chill from its readers.
Across 29 stories, Datlow comprises a vision of complexities, monsters as once familiar made fresh. The keyword here is “monster” in all its various forms.
The anthology includes stories by authors like Joyce Carol Oates, Stephen Graham Jones, Gemma Files, A.C. Wise, and more.
When Things Get Dark: Stories inspired by Shirley Jackson
An tribute to Shirley Jackson, When Things Get Dark sees Ellen Datlow collecting and curating an excellent range of stories that tackle the unique, complex, and nuanced blend of horror that Shirley Jackson pioneered through her writing.
With stories by authors like Kelly Link, Josh Malerman, Paul Tremblay, and more, When Things Get Dark is an anthology that does so much, including demonstrating the deftness of Datlow’s ability to explore a theme across a single volume.
The Devil and the Deep: Horror Stories of the Sea
Datlow tackles the unknown depths of the sea in The Devil and the Deep.
Be it the creatures that may very well exist in the lightless bottoms of the ocean floor or the human monsters that sail the sea in search of pilfering and pouncing on unsuspecting victims, the anthology paints a picture of just how little we know of the planet’s oceanic realms—and how that unknown quality creates its own blend of horror.
Body Shocks: Extreme Tales of Body Horror
Body horror at its best reminds us that we don’t need to look elsewhere to find horror; it exists within our own skin.
Across dozens of provocative stories by writers like Tananarive Due, Cassandra Khaw, Nathan Ballingrud, and more, Datlow shows readers just how much a body can terrify.
Be it organ harvesting, plastic surgery or worse, Body Shocks is an anthology of extreme body horror that’ll leave more than a few scars.
Alien Sex
The title alone should have many a reader taking pause, only to delve into the back cover for a look.
In Alien Sex, Datlow gathers 19 stories from authors like Geoff Ryman, Lisa Tuttle, Harlan Ellison, and more to explore the dark and surprising worlds that can be created when science fiction and romance (and a whole array of genres) blend to explore the physical side of connection.
It’s an anthology that will surely surprise readers.
Children of Lovecraft
In Children of Lovecraft, Datlow provides a space that explores Lovecraftian territory through how it has inspired generations of writers to create their own cosmic tales of horror.
From Stephen Graham Jones’s “Eternal Troutland” to Brian Evenson’s “Glasses,” the anthology is refreshing yet familiar in exploring why Lovecraft’s influence can be felt across genres.
Haunted Legends
Who doesn’t love a good ghost story, one that really unsettles and leaves a reader in a state of perplexion and wonder?
In Haunted Legends, Datlow joins author and editor Nick Mamatas to offer twenty stories from authors like Joe R. Lansdale, Laird Barron, and more that delve into the world of ghost stories, urban legends, and tales that make what should be a safe place one that makes us question if our own reality.
Fearful Symmetries
In this anthology, we see Datlow’s range right down to the granular level, where the theme of monsters takes on a prismatic effect.
Akin to the concept of the human monster, there is seldom one side to the story, and surely plenty of sides to the characters that occupy the stories included in the anthology.
Nightmare Carnival
Has anyone else always found the carnival to be more like its own form of chaos?
Beyond clowns and cotton candy, the stories in Nightmare Carnival explore the how and why of this odd subgenre of horror. With stores by Priya Sharma, Nathan Ballingrud, Nick Mamatas, and more, Datlow’s anthology is a reader-beware kind of tome—one that offers a tour through a carnival of nightmares.
The Best Horror Of The Year Volume 15
Ellen Datlow has tirelessly curated the Best Horror series for years, which alone is a feat and a must-read morsel for anyone looking for some freshly new frights.
The fifteenth volume, released at the start of 2024, consists of stories by Tananarive Due, Andy Davidson, and so many more. The series is an excellent way to see how the genre shifts, changes, and refracts across time, all the while getting a chance to find a new tale that scares you to the core.
Featured image: Tim Navis / Unsplash
