Paula Guran is the grey eminence behind the world of horror. She is the secret mistress of the genre. Listen to her.
-Neil, "Lick this shit off my dick" Gaiman
When reading a short story collection, the first, and most important sign of its quality is the editor's introduction. As it is they who choose what to include or dismiss from any given work, their introductions often offer good insight into their personality and tastes.
Which was how I knew that The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and horror: 2017 was absolute and utter trash.
For, lo and behold, in the second paragraph of the very first page, Paula Guran, editor of a dark fantasy and horror collection, confesses she has no set definition of what dark fantasy or horror even is.
"I gave up trying to define what the terms 'dark fantasy' or 'horror' meant a long time ago." She says, as though admitting you have no idea what you're talking about is a cool thing to do.
While she does attempt to actually explain herself not long after, it only further emphasizes her hilariously weak grasp of the very subject she's been paid to handle. Guran describes horror simply as "an emotion", and dark fantasy as "A world in which Supernatural Powers and Bad Things exist with plausibility."
Her second description is slightly better than the first, I suppose, if only because she appears to have spent more than half a brain cell in thinking it out. But that definition of horror, that's just insulting.
To reduce such an old and illustrious genre to a ~~~Feeling~~~ is reductive to the point of absurdity. I wouldn't accept such an answer from a high school student, and to see a professional editor pop out with it is nothing short of embarrassing.
If you were to ask me, an internet person, what horror was, I'd probably say something like this:
Horror is a means of exploring the unnatural, the fearful, and the profane. It is defined by the displacement or loss of safety within the narrative's world, and shaped by the protagonist's need to confront that loss.
As a genre, horror often serves as a place to grapple with what scares us most, giving us the tools and means to overcome horror in real life, and an example to live up to when facing the unknown.
To diminish such an old and illustrious genre to "an emotion", just whatever willies you happen to get when reading about "monsters or science" shows such a profound lack of intellectual depth and care it's a wonder this woman has the brainpower required to read at all.
As for dark fantasy, I'd argue that's more subgenre than genre, essentially sharing the same definition of it's progenitor, fantasy.
Where horror teaches us what to guard against, fantasy shows us what to reach for. It is the sky without limits, where magic rules over the mundane, a place where the only logic it need confirm to is that which it introduces within the work itself.
While horror's roots lie in cautionary tales and ghost stories, fantasy is something derived from the human impulse to dream of more, and to embody those dreams in the form of heros, villains, and powers beyond the norm.
It is also, by far, one of the broadest of all possible literary genres, which is the unquestionable culprit behind the modern publishing house's near compulsive need to sort it into catagories ever smaller and more niche.
Fantasy combined with clear, explicit rules becomes "hard fantasy." Fantasy combined with a futeristic and tech-heavy setting becomes "science-fantasy," fantasy that puts heavy focus on romantic elements becomes "romantasy" and fantasy that combines dark, grim enviroments where protagonists often struggle against an unfeeling or even actively cruel world, well, that's dark fantasy.
Unsurprisingly, Dark fantasy often incorporates elements of horror, and vice versa, making it difficult to draw a perfect line between the two, but that's no excuse to simply throw up one's hands and not bother to even try.
If I could do so, then so should our so-called "grey eminence", too. That she doesn't speaks to what I suspect is the true interest of her, and those like her, in being in charge of this kind of collection.
Not enthusiasm, nor love, but power. The power to determine who gets published and who does not, the power to be treated as powerful, especially by those they see as beneath them.
Pathetic.
These kinds of people do not love horror, nor do they love fantasy. But damned if they aren't invested in using both to show off just how special they think they are.
One complement I can give Guran: Her flippant, blogger-esque style is the perfect introduction to the book, and the casual ignorance with which she approaches the subject matter absolutely sets the tone for the vast majority of the works.
Rather than reviewing each and every story, I've decided to tackle those Paula Guran specifically calls out in her introduction:
Plus whichever other stories I personally want to talk about.
Well, without further ado, lets get to it.