Beyond the Veil (Flame Tree Press, October 26, 2021). Cover by Flame Tree Studio

Mark Morris has a good thing going with his new series of annual, non-themed horror anthologies from Flame Tree Press. The first, After Sundown, which we covered at the end of 2020, was nominated for both the Shirley Jackson and British Fantasy Awards, and the second, Beyond the Veil, arrived right on time last October.

It’s packed with 20 original stories by some of the biggest names in modern horror, including Nathan Ballingrud, Gemma Files, Aliya Whitely, Christopher Golden, Lisa Tuttle, Peter Harness, Lynda E Rucker, John Everson, and many others. Most interesting to me, according to the publisher description only 16 stories were commissioned, while four were “selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window.” A curated mix of modern horror masters and talented newcomers? Yes please.

BG contributor Mario Guslandi has a full review at Ginger Nuts of Horror. Here’s the highlights.

The deeply disquieting “Caker’s Man” by Matthew Holness [is] about a nasty, dangerous man whose cakes are indigestible and whose malign influence persists after his death, and ”A Mystery for Julie Chu” by Stephen Gallagher, a splendid, dark tale revolving around an old, bizarre radio set found in a second-hand market, with the uncanny property of catching the voices of the dead.

In the quite unusual “The Dark Bit” by Toby Litt, a married couple is affected by a strange “disease” continuously spreading every time they move through a dark area of their house, while in the well told “ For All the Dead” by Angeline B Adams & Remco van Straten we learn about the sad fate of fishermen lost at sea and their desire to get back home alive or dead.

“Provenance Pond” by Josh Malerman is yet another offbeat tale depicting a young girl’s imaginary friend living in a pond by her house, and “The Girl in the Pool” by Bracken MacLeod describes how a projected burglary in an empty villa gets sour when one of the thieves discovers a dead girl in the pool and things start to get weird…

And here’s the complete table of contents.

Introduction by Mark Morris
“The God Bag” by Christopher Golden
“Caker’s Man” by Matthew Holness
“The Beechfield Miracles” by Priya Sharma
“Clockwork” by Dan Coxon
“Soapstone” by Aliya Whiteley
“The Dark Bit” by Toby Litt
“Provenance Pond” by Josh Malerman
“For All The Dead” by Angeline B. Adams And Remco Van Straten
“The Girl In The Pool” by Bracken Macleod
“Nurse Varden” by Jeremy Dyson
“If, Then” by Lisa L. Hannett
“Aquarium Ward” by Karter Mycroft
“A Mystery For Julie Chu” by Stephen Gallagher
“Away Day” by Lisa Tuttle
“Polaroid And Seaweed” by Peter Harness
“Der Geisterbahnhof” by Lynda E. Rucker
“Arnie’s Ashes” by John Everson
“A Brief Tour Of The Night” by Nathan Ballingrud
“The Care And Feeding Of Household Gods” by Frank J. Oreto
“Yellowback” by Gemma Files

Beyond the Veil was edited by Mark Morris and published by Flame Tree Press. It is 312 pages, priced at $14.95 in trade paperback and $6.99 in digital formats. The cover is by Shuterstock, Nik Keevil, and Flame Tree Studio.

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