A Washington Post Best Book of the Year Peter Straubbestselling author and 8-time Bram Stoker Award winnerhas gathered here 24 bone-chilling, nail-biting, frightfully imaginative stories that represent the best of contemporary horror writing. Dan Chaon ';The Bees' Elizabeth Hand ';Cleopatra Brimstone' Steve Rasnic Tem and Melanie Tem ';The Man on the Ceiling' M. John Harrison ';The Great God Plan' Ramsey Campbell ';The Voice of the Beach' Brian Evenson ';Body' Kelly Link ';Louise's Ghost' Jonathan Carroll ';The Sadness of Detail' M. Rickert ';Leda' Thomas Tessier ';In Praise of Folly'David J. Schow ';Plot Twist' Glen Hirshberg ';The Two Sams' Thomas Ligotti ';Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story' Benjamin Percy ';Unearthed' Bradford Morrow "Gardener of Heart' Peter Straub ';Little Red's Tango' Stephen King ';The Ballad of a Flexible Bullet' Joe Hill ';20th Century Ghost' Ellen Klages ';The Green Glass Sea' Tia V. Travis ';The Kiss' Graham Joyce ';Black Dust' Neil Gaiman ';October in the Chair' John Crowley ';Missolonghi 1824' Rosalind Palermo Stevenson ';Insect Dreams'From the Trade Paperback edition.