Introduction: Horror in 2009 -- The woods / Michael Kelly -- Throttle / Joe Hill and Stephen King -- Out and back / Barbara Roden -- Respects / Ramsey Campbell -- Cold to the touch / Simon Strantzas -- The game of bear / M.R. James and Reggie Oliver -- Shem-el-Nessim an inspiration in perfume / Chris Bell -- What happens when you wake up in the night / Michael Marshall Smith -- The reunion / Nicholas Royle -- Mami Wata / Simon Kurt Unsworth -- Venturi / Richard Christian Matheson -- Party talk / John Gaskin -- Two steps along the road / Terry Dowling -- The axholme toll / Mark Valentine -- Granny's grinning / Robert Shearman -- In the garden / Rosalie Parker -- After the ape / Stephen Volk -- The nonesuch / Brian Lumley -- Princess of the night / Michael Kelly -- Necrology: 2009 / Stephen Jones and Kim Newman.