Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One | 2009 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 2 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two | 2010 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 3 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three | 2011 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 4 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Four | 2012 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 5 | The Best Horror of the Year Volume Five | 2013 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 6 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Six | 2014 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 7 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Seven | 2015 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 8 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eight | 2016 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 9 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Nine | 2017 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 10 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Ten | 2018 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 11 | The Best of the Best Horror of the Year: 10 Years of Essential Short Horror Fiction | 2018 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 12 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Eleven | 2019 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 13 | The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Twelve | 2020 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 14 | The Best Horror of the Year Volume Thirteen | 2021 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 15 | The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fourteen | 2022 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 16 | The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Fifteen | 2024 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 17 | The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Sixteen | 2024 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
| 18 | The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Seventeen | 2025 | Richard Christian Matheson | Buy |
The Best Horror of the Year series, edited by Ellen Datlow, is the premier annual showcase for horror short fiction. Richard Christian Matheson’s appearance in all eighteen volumes from the series’ inception in 2009 through 2025 speaks to his status as one of the genre’s most consistent short story writers.
The series collects the best horror stories published each year, drawing from magazines, anthologies, and online publications. Matheson’s regular inclusion — along with his appearance in The Best of the Best Horror of the Year retrospective in 2018 — confirms his position as one of the most reliably excellent practitioners of horror short fiction working today.