Caitlin Kiernan

Darkness surrounds us. We can find darkness anywhere: in a strange green stone etched with mysterious symbols; at a small town's annual picnic; in a ghostly house that is easy to enter but not so easy to leave; behind the dumpster in the alley where a harpy lives; in The Nowhere, a place where car keys, toys, people disappear to; among Polar explorers; and, most definitely, within ourselves. Darkness flies from mysterious crates; surrounds children whose nightlights have vanished; and flickers between us at the movie theater. Darkness crawls from the past and is waiting in our future; and there's always a chance that Halloween really is a door opening directly into endless shadow. Welcome to the dark. You may never want to leave. This inaugural volume of the year's best dark fantasy and horror features more than 500 pages of dark tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique. Chosen from a variety of sources, these stories are as eclectic and varied as the genre itself.

Written between 700 and 1000AD, the original 3,000 line poem is sometimes called 'England's national epic'. It recounts the story of a Scandinavian warrior, Beowulf, who pledges to save King Hrothgar's people from the monstrous creature Grendel that has been terrorising his kingdom. In the ensuing fight, Beowulf rips off Grendel's arm and the now-mortally wounded monster flees back to his lair beneath a mysterious lake. But Beowulf's work is not yet done: an even greater threat emerges from beneath the waters - Grendel's mother, bent on avenging the death of her son... One of the great works of English literature, this classic tale of heroism and sacrifice has been transformed into a remarkable film. Directed by Robert Zemeckis from a screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary, Warner Bros.' Beowulf boasts a phenomenal cast, including Ray Winstone, John Malkovich, Anthony Hopkins and Angelina Jolie. Employing cutting-edge technologies and dazzling special effects, this ambitious, dark, exciting film reimagines the story for the 21st century and a new generation. Opening in the UK on 16th Nov, the film will do for the story of Beowulf what '300' did for the Battle of Thermopylae. Award-winning dark fantasist Caitlin R. Kiernan's novelisation - with an introduction by Neil Gaiman - is both the perfect companion to the film and a compelling read in its own right.