BEST NEW HORROR 4

``The undeniable strength of horror fiction,'' say editors Jones and Campbell, ``is the very diversity the field has to offer''—a claim borne out in this rewarding fourth entry in their estimable series. The range here is impressive—authors young (Poppy Z. Brite, Kim Newman) and older (John Brunner, Karl Edward Wagner), little- known (Scott Edelman, Sarah Ash) and world-famous (Clive Barker, Peter Straub); stories inspired by sentiment (Barker's ``The Departed,'' a Hallmark card to love from beyond the grave) and idea (Douglas E. Winter's ``Bright Lights, Big Zombie,'' about the mediating power of art—even splatter-art), and powered by shock (Scott Edelman's ``the Suicide Artist,'' a measured pandering to the reader's voyeurism) and disquiet (Thomas Ligotti's ``the Glamour''). Readers interested in the evolution of literary conceits will savor Peter Straub's ``The Ghost Village,'' which (like the other two tales here) first appeared in Dennis Etchison's paperback anthology, MetaHorror, and which, in altered form, surfaced in Straub's The Throat; Poppy Z. Brite's ``How to Get Ahead in New York,'' recycling two characters from her debut novel, Lost Souls; and Kim Newman's ``Red Reign,'' the novella that inspired his Anno Dracula. On the downside, British sensibilities are overemphasized (more than half the contributors, as well as the editors, hail from the UK); but that does allow Americans to relish some fresh overseas talent. And, as always, Jones and Campbell's outspoken summary of the year's horror highlights—and their annual necrology (among the dead in 1992: Pierre Culliford, creator of the Smurfs—``originally the Schtroumpfs'')—are must-reads for horror fans. Again, despite the too-vigorous waving of the Union Jack: the most authoritative and representative volume of what's happening in horror today.