{"id":12222,"date":"2018-11-23T07:00:38","date_gmt":"2018-11-23T12:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?p=12222"},"modified":"2018-11-18T22:20:28","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T03:20:28","slug":"revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

My previous two columns focused on contemporary authors who have impacted me both as a writer and reader; Mary SanGiovanni<\/a> and Ronald Malfi<\/a>, respectively. We’re going to jump back in time, now… <\/span><\/p>\n

(but not really, because I \u201cdiscovered\u201d these collections shortly after I started reading Mary and Ron’s work, so that’s where they belong in the chronology of my development)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

…and for the next two columns, look at the classic speculative and horror fiction anthologies <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i>, edited by Stuart David Schiff, and Karl Edward Wagner’s run as editor of <\/span>The Year’s Best Horror Stories; <\/span><\/i>and then <\/span>Shadows<\/span><\/i>, edited by Charles L. Grant, and<\/span> Borderlands, <\/span><\/i>edited by Thomas F. Monteleone. First, before I get to <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>The Year’s Best Horror Stories,<\/span><\/i> I’ll say a few words about how these books impacted me as a writer, at a very specific time in my development.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was in Brian Keene’s keynote address at the first AnthoCon — \u201cRoots\u201d \u00a0— which confronted me with a fact I’d never really considered before. As they said, often and endlessly on <\/span>Battlestar Galactica: <\/span><\/i>\u201cAll of this has happened before, and all of this will happen again.\u201d As a young writer, I was trying to craft stories which I thought no one had ever written before, utilizing horror tropes so well trodden they already bore a generation’s worth of footprints, but because I hadn’t read widely enough, I didn’t realize how many times said trope had already been used. <\/span><\/p>\n

And, crazily enough, even if I suspected my stories weren’t all that original, I figured surely folks had never read <\/span>this<\/span><\/i> story about a vampire hunter wearing a black trenchcoat and crossing the country in his souped up black Mustang, hunting vampires with his trusty Glocks and samurai swords, seeking to avenge the death of his FBI partner (and possible lover), oh, and by the way, he’s part vampire himself, because they attacked him after killing his FBI partner\/possible lover and partially turned him, and now he’s connected to them psychically, and even while he hunts them, he battles against the growing thirst inside, making him loathe himself as much as the insidious vampires he hunts.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I may or may not have written that story. And may or may not have called it \u201cBlood Diner.\u201d (Because our hero stops at an all-night, deserted diner alongside the highway to fight said vampires.) And it may or may not have once been posted online. (It isn’t any longer; I just dashed to Google to check.) Regardless, it was a pretty good indication of where I’d started my career: solidly stuck in tropes not only written about many times before, but beaten to death by both Hollywood and television.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Even when I was trying to use tropes I thought were sort of original (simply because I’d never used them myself), I didn’t realize they’d already been used several times before. I remember thinking myself pretty clever in writing a short story called \u201cLonely Places,\u201d about a guy who gets cursed by the Wendigo spirit, and, predictably, embraces his new Wendigoness by the end of the story (originally published in the third edition of <\/span>The Midnight Diner<\/span><\/i>, and rewritten with some tweaks for my first short story collection, <\/span>Things Slip Through<\/span><\/i>). Imagine my moderate chagrin when I encountered a <\/span>much<\/span><\/i> better and far more subtle story about the Wendigo spirit and Native American burial mounds in one of the <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i> anthologies. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is only just <\/span>one<\/span><\/i> of the ways these anthologies impacted me: the sheer diversity in the kinds of stories I encountered, which had a curious effect on me. On the one hand, it opened my eyes to the fact that, even if we think we’ve come up with a truly unique short story idea, or we believe we’ve hit on a rarely used trope, the reality is this: in the breadth and scope of not only horror fiction, but in speculative\/fantasy fiction as a whole…all those ideas we think are so original have already been done, many times, in countless different ways, by writers probably far more skilled than us. That story I’m planning about a ghost girl tempting unfaithful men along a back-country road, luring them to their death? Probably done. Same thing with that story about Wendigos. Or water demons. Or evil doctors. Or haunted houses, or a woman driving forever on a night highway which turns out to be purgatory. You name it, someone has probably already written about it, many different times, in many different ways.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, here’s the curious effect this awakening had on me: coming across so many different iterations of tropes didn’t necessarily push me to try and invent a <\/span>new <\/span><\/i>trope, necessarily, or spark a desire to write something wildly original. I’ll be honest, I still don’t think my ideas are all that original, and I’ve come to accept that. Some folks have called referred to my work as \u201cold school,\u201d \u201ctraditional,\u201d \u201cclassic\u201d and \u201cthrow-back\u201d horror, (of course, the question is always <\/span>throw back to what?) <\/span><\/i>and I’m fine with that. Also, after years of reviewing, I came to discover that, in my opinion, blurbs stating a book was \u201cwildly imaginative and innovative\u201d was code for \u201cpractically unreadable in its attempts to be original.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Seeing these broad tapestries of different kinds of stories about ghosts, vampires, demons, monsters, spirits, and other supernatural occurrences didn’t encourage me to try and make up something completely new (which, I believe, is impossible). It gave me a sense of freedom. I was going to write this story about whatever, adding it to the tapestry which already existed, and any originality I crafted into the story would come from <\/span>inside me. <\/span><\/i>That’s how I would make it original. I would make it personal, to my experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, let’s get down to brass tacks and talk a bit about why I think every beginning horror writer should seek out these collections, posthaste.<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"The first one of these I tracked down was the <\/span>Whispers <\/span><\/i>anthologies, edited by Stuart David Schiff. This was a no-brainer, especially after meeting Dr. Schiff himself (he’s a dentist, by the way), in that wonderful evening I spent with him, Tom Monteleone, and F. Paul Wilson<\/a>, in which I received several hours worth of genre fiction education, straight from the horses’ mouths, as it where. In any case, that very <\/span>night<\/span><\/i> \u00a0(much to my wife’s chagrin), I jumped on Amazon and tracked down several copes of these anthologies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whispers<\/span><\/i> was an unthemed anthology of simply great speculative fiction stories. Throughout my reading of the series, I encountered \u00a0a classic, spiritual ghost story by Russell Kirk; a more standard ghost story by J. N. Williamson, an intrigue story about the conspiracy to kill the kings of rock and roll, by F. Paul Wilson; a subtle speculative fiction story rooted in folklore, by Alan Peter Ryan; a Halloween tale about the origin of fear, by Al Sarrantonio; a tale of magic and folklore, by Manley Wade Wellman; a disturbing bit of psychological horror from Dennis Etchison, and much more.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Also, <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i> was the first collection which sent me on rabbit trails searching out these authors and <\/span>their<\/span><\/i> careers. <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i> lead me to <\/span>Who Fears the Devil?, <\/span><\/i>a wonderful collection of Manley Wade Wellman’s “<\/span>John the Balladeer”<\/span> stories, which, in turn, led me to the “Silver John” novels. <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i> also led me to Russell Kirk’s through-provoking collection of very Catholic ghost stories, <\/span>Ancestral Shadows<\/span><\/i>. It was a short leap from <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i> to Dennis Etchison’s collection <\/span>The Death Artist<\/span><\/i>, and Al Sarrantonio’s collection <\/span>The Toybox<\/span><\/i>. In addition to these authors, for the first time I encountered short stories by \u00a0Steve Ransic Tem, Tanith Lee, Hugh B. Cave, Fritz Leiber, and many others.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>Whispers<\/span><\/i> anthology was the first classic horror anthology I started exploring, and it will always hold a dear place in my thoughts when I think back on my growth as a writer, especially with the personal connection of meeting Stuart David Schiff himself, and spending an evening listening to his wisdom and experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

*<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"Ever heard of Neil Olonoff? Read his wonderfully disturbing revenge tale \u201cThe Cats of Pere Lachaise?\u201d How about \u201cThe Catacomb,\u201d by Peter Shilston, which is on par with the best M. R. James and Russell Kirk has to offer? If you run an Amazon search on either of these authors, you won’t find an extensive bibliography. In fact, you probably won’t find anything at all. Yet both of these stories are excellent works of thoughtful, well-written horror. Where were they originally published?<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Cats of Pere Lachaise\u201d was published in 1980, in a publication titled <\/span>A Touch of Paris. \u201c<\/span><\/i>The Catacomb\u201d was published in a publication titled <\/span>More Ghosts and Scholars. <\/span><\/i>And they were found and selected for <\/span>The Year’s Best Horror Stores IX <\/span><\/i>by legendary writer and editor, Karl Edward Wagner. That’s only <\/span>one<\/span><\/i> of the reasons for younger horror writers to search out copies of Wagner’s run as editor of <\/span>Best Horror<\/span><\/i> on Amazon (they’re so cheap, it’s almost criminal). Not only did Wagner select stories from well-known horror periodicals, he selected them from obscure chapbooks, and off-genre magazines horror fans wouldn’t even <\/span>think<\/span><\/i> of pursuing, like <\/span>Running Times<\/span><\/i>, where he found \u201cCompetition\u201d by David Clayton Carrad, a thrilling running story about a man trying to outrun death on a lonely road.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"I have this image (and horror veterans will have to correct me if I’m wrong) of Karl Edward Wagner sitting in an over-stuffed, cluttered, Bradbury-esque office. He’s probably enjoying a tumbler or two of fine whiskey, maybe a cigar, and he’s surrounded by piles of magazines, anthologies, digests, short story collections, chapbooks, and periodicals of all kinds (even convention programs). He’s whiling away the hours, dutifully searching not only the well-trodden paths for what he considers to be the \u201cbest horror stories of the year,\u201d but also all the out of the way places he can think of, places most readers wouldn’t even look.<\/span><\/p>\n

A romantic image, to be sure. Maybe the reality is closer to the image portrayed in Joe Hill’s riff on the subject, about a burned-out editor bored to death by the same old stories, in \u201cBest in Horror,\u201d featured in his first short story collection, <\/span>20<\/span><\/i>th<\/span><\/i> Century Ghosts<\/span><\/i>. In any case, being a romantic, I’ll stand on the former image. It’s the kind that makes <\/span>me<\/span><\/i> want to be an editor.<\/span><\/p>\n

Almost.<\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, I stumbled on Wagner’s run as editor of <\/span>Best Horror Stories<\/span><\/i> when I visited one of the best used book stories in Pennsylvania, <\/span>The York Emporium<\/span><\/a>, on the way to one of the last Horrorfind conventions. I dropped a considerable amount of cash at the <\/span>Emporium<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>and one of my purchases was <\/span>Horror Story: Volume Four<\/span><\/i>, edited by Karl Edward Wagner. It’s a doorstop hardcover tome collecting <\/span>Best Horror Stories X, XI, XII. <\/span><\/i>It sounds corny, but wherever my career ends up, I will always have fond memories of that \"\"summer, because reading the stories in that collection (which is begging for a re-read, soon), served as the cornerstone of a summer that saw me also discover <\/span>Shadows, Whispers<\/span><\/i>, <\/span>Borderlands<\/span><\/i>, and Jack Finney’s <\/span>The Third Level<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

This hardcover collection, more than <\/span>any<\/span><\/i> short story collection (at that time), cracked my mind wide open. I’ve heard some folks comment that Wagner’s collections didn’t have enough diversity in regards to race and gender, and honestly, I can’t speak to that. In a three year period, I consumed those collections so quickly, I really wasn’t keeping track. I can say that one thing which amazed me about this series was at least the diversity in the kinds of stories. In one collection, you could encounter a gross-out story by Richard Layman, an intellectual, surreal tale by Ramsey Campbell, a whispering breath of quiet horror from Charles L. Grant, sci\/fi horror from David Drake, complex psychological horror from Dennis Etchison, and some of Stephen King’s best work, like \u201cMrs. Todd’s Shortcut\u201d and \u201cUncle Otto’s Truck.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

And then, of course, there were the stories — really, really good stories — by writers no one has ever heard of. Writers who, even after achieving such a milestone, didn’t go on to establish a career in horror like the rest. This was thrilling, and, at the same time, humbling. Maybe a little scary to a young writer with stars in his eyes. It was a stark reminder that, no matter \"\"our time in the sun, it is temporary, and someday, you’ll just be a name on a TOC in a book on sale for $0.01 (plus $3.99 shipping) on Amazon.<\/span><\/p>\n

A final strength of these <\/span>Best in Horror <\/span><\/i>collections is, quite simply, the forwards by Karl Edward Wagner himself. Insightful comments about the state of the genre at the time (as he saw it); if there were some way of collecting all these forwards and publishing them in one collection, you’d come up with a fine book of essays about horror covering an important time in its history. (Somebody get on that, okay?)<\/span><\/p>\n

In any case, search Amazon for \u201cKarl Edward Wagner\u201d or <\/span>Best Horror Stories, <\/span><\/i>edited by Karl Edward Wagner, and <\/span>Whispers,<\/span><\/i> edited by Stuart David Schiff, and while you’re at it, in preparation for our next column, find copies of <\/span>Shadows<\/span><\/i> by Charles L. Grant, and used paperback copies of <\/span>Borderlands<\/span><\/i> — or the newly minted e-books — edited by Thomas F. Monteleone.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kevin Lucia\u00a0is the Reviews Editor for\u00a0Cemetery Dance.\u00a0His short fiction has appeared in several anthologies. His first short story collection,\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>Things Slip Through<\/strong>,\u00a0was published November 2013, and his most recent short story collection,\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/em>Things You Need<\/strong>,\u00a0was released September, 2018<\/i>. He\u2019s currently working on his first novel. For free monthly fiction, book reviews, YouTube commentaries, and three free ebooks, visit\u00a0www.kevinlucia.blogspot.com<\/a>\u00a0and sign up for his monthly email newsletter.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My previous two columns focused on contemporary authors who have impacted me both as a writer and reader; Mary SanGiovanni and Ronald Malfi, respectively. We’re going to jump back in time, now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[948],"tags":[294,1578,783,949,1581,1580,1579],"class_list":["post-12222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-revelations","tag-columns","tag-karl-edward-wagner","tag-kevin-lucia","tag-revelations","tag-stuart-david-schiff","tag-the-years-best-horror-stories","tag-whispers"],"yoast_head":"\nRevelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories - Cemetery Dance Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In his exclusive Cemetery Dance column Revelations, Kevin Lucia discusse Stuart David Schiff's Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cemetery Dance Online\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"headline\":\"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-23T12:00:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":2389,\"commentCount\":3,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Revelations_Banner.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Columns\",\"Karl Edward Wagner\",\"Kevin Lucia\",\"Revelations\",\"Stuart David Schiff\",\"The Year's Best Horror Stories\",\"Whispers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Revelations\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/\",\"name\":\"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories - Cemetery Dance Online\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Revelations_Banner.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-11-23T12:00:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\"},\"description\":\"In his exclusive Cemetery Dance column Revelations, Kevin Lucia discusse Stuart David Schiff's Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Revelations_Banner.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2016\\\/11\\\/Revelations_Banner.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Blog\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Revelations\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/revelations\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"description\":\"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61\",\"name\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Cemetery Dance Online\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.cemeterydance.com\\\/extras\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories - Cemetery Dance Online","description":"In his exclusive Cemetery Dance column Revelations, Kevin Lucia discusse Stuart David Schiff's Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cemetery Dance Online","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/"},"author":{"name":"Cemetery Dance Online","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"headline":"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories","datePublished":"2018-11-23T12:00:38+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/"},"wordCount":2389,"commentCount":3,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Revelations_Banner.jpg","keywords":["Columns","Karl Edward Wagner","Kevin Lucia","Revelations","Stuart David Schiff","The Year's Best Horror Stories","Whispers"],"articleSection":["Revelations"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/","name":"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories - Cemetery Dance Online","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Revelations_Banner.jpg","datePublished":"2018-11-23T12:00:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61"},"description":"In his exclusive Cemetery Dance column Revelations, Kevin Lucia discusse Stuart David Schiff's Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner's The Year's Best Horror Stories.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Revelations_Banner.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Revelations_Banner.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations-whispers-karl-edward-wagner-years-best-horror-stories\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Blog","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Revelations","item":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/revelations\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Revelations: Whispers and Karl Edward Wagner’s The Year’s Best Horror Stories"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","description":"Free Horror Reads, News, Interviews, Comics, and More!","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/#\/schema\/person\/30439c850dbb0e44ac4d2ddd09fb2d61","name":"Cemetery Dance Online","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/18103e6727693901d2722149c60f9ba733e3aed66126d844f9b43b26a6496345?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"Cemetery Dance Online"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/"]}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p81cXa-3b8","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12222"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12478,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12222\/revisions\/12478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cemeterydance.com\/extras\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}