It was a killer year for horror fiction of the harder kind. Authors, editors, and publishers presented readers with some startling works of horrific imagination, stories graphic in the extreme yet with subtleties suggesting larger meanings, tales that explore humanity by plumbing depths of soulless inhumanity and, in some cases, outright depravity. The stories here represent the best of them, disturbing tales that dig deep and take you into the dark heart of horror itself, unrelenting and unapologetic.

• “So Sings the Siren”, by Annie Neugebauer, takes us onto a dark fantasy stage for a one-night-only performance of mythological torture.
• Ryan Harding’s “Junk” gets right to the hardcore stuff with the ultimate dick-pic horror tale.
• Robert Levy’s “The Cenacle” is a literary cemetery feast you may have a hard time stomaching (Tums won’t save you).
• Luciano Marano made his first pro sell when he sold “Burnt” to DOA III, and the tale has its own fiery fetishistic twist.
• Tim Waggoner’s “Til Death” is Lovecraftian post-apocalypse horror at its absolute best.
• “Letter from Hell” comes with that special delivery you only get from Matt Shaw.
• Dani Brown gets down and very dirty in her “Theatrum Mortuum”, which may be the most extreme thing you hear all year.
• In “Bernadette”, Ramiro Perez de Pereda gets medieval in his tale of a djinn summoned by a desperate priest.
• Brian Hodge takes you on a trip to Mexico you will never forget in “West of Matamoros, North of Hell”.
• Bracken MacLeod’s “Reprising Her Role” takes us behind the scenes of a porno snuff film for a gut-wrenching reprisal and unexpected bonus footage.
• A real-life death threat inspired Doug Ford’s “The Watcher”, and we think it shows.
• “Scratching from the Outer Darkness” showcases Tim Curran’s descriptive prowess and gives you a tale of hardcore Cthulhu mythos.
• Brace yourself when Adam Howe’s “Foreign Bodies” takes you deep into the bowels of a nasty abyss.
• Sean Patrick Hazlett introduces us to “Adramelech”, an ancient demon with a taste for broiled children.
• Scott Smith (A Simple Plan and The Ruins) wraps up this year’s fat package of the hard stuff in a big bloody bow with “The Dogs”. The canines in this tale are not "man’s best friend" variety, nor are they woman’s besties, as you will see.
• And many more!

Thanks for coming along into this year’s heart of hardcore darkness. We hope to see you on the other side.