Today Dark Scribe Magazine announced the winners of the annual Black Quill Awards–readers and editors picking the best horror books of 2010.
Below, we’ve created a special literary sampler (one of our special “mixtapes”) linking to free samples of all the Black Quill Award winners. Winners are listed alphabetically, with the award noted after the title.
If you want more books, we made similar mixtapes linking to free samples of 2011 Edgar Awards finalists, the 2011 ALA Youth Media Awards winners, the 2011 Book Critics Circle Awards finalists, the Best Translated Books Longlist and the Best Books of 2010.
The Best Horror Books of 2010
Occultation by Laird Barron (Night Shade Books) WINNER – EDITORS’ CHOICE BEST DARK GENRE FICTION COLLECTION
Blood and Gristle by Michael Louis Calvillo (Bad Moon Books) WINNER – READERS’ CHOICE BEST DARK GENRE FICTION COLLECTION
Horror Library IV Edited by RJ Cavender and Boyd E. Harris (Cutting Block Press) WINNER – READERS’ CHOICE BEST DARK GENRE ANTHOLOGY
Neverland by Douglas Clegg (Book trailer produced by Circle of Seven Productions) WINNER – EDITORS’ and READERS’ CHOICE BEST DARK GENRE BOOK TRAILER
Haunted Legends Edited by Ellen Datlow and Nick Mamatas (Tor) WINNER – EDITORS’ CHOICE BEST DARK GENRE ANTHOLOGY
A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files (ChiZine Publications) WINNER – EDITORS’ and READERS’ CHOICE BEST SMALL PRESS CHILL
Sparrow Rock by Nate Kenyon (Leisure / Bad Moon Books) WINNER – READERS’ CHOICE DARK GENRE NOVEL OF THE YEAR
The Conspiracy Against the Human Race by Thomas Ligotti (Hippocampus Press) WINNER – EDITORS’ CHOICE BEST DARK GENRE BOOK OF NON-FICTION
“We” by Bentley Little (Cemetery Dance #64) WINNER – READERS’ CHOICE BEST DARK SCRIBBLE
Thrillers: 100 Must Reads Edited by David Morrell and Hank Wagner (Oceanview Publishing) WINNER – READERS’ CHOICE BEST DARK GENRE BOOK OF NON-FICTION
A Dark Matter by Peter Straub (Doubleday) WINNER – EDITORS’ CHOICE DARK GENRE NOVEL OF THE YEAR
“The Things” by Peter Watts (Clarkesworld, January 2010) WINNER – EDITORS’ CHOICE BEST DARK SCRIBBLE
Excellent cassette tape photo via Kumar McMillan.