American Horror

I was raised a poor girl in the streets of Sinaloa. When my family died during a turf war, I was taken away to Navolato to start over anew. I thought I would be safer here. That the life that had been taken from me in a hail of bullets and rage would stay where I left it. And that’s when he found me. El Señor. In his name, I shed the blood of his enemies and reap whatever rewards he deems fit. My name is Ana Sofia De la Cruz. Everyone knows me as La Carnicera. Either you’re with us or against us. And if you’re against us... corre, pequeño conejo.

Enforcer and drug dealer Fernando has seen better days. On his way home from work, some heavily-tattooed gangsters throw him in the back of a car and take him to an abandoned house, where they saw off his friend's head and feed the kid's fingers to...something. Their message is clear: this is their territory, now. But Fernando isn't put down that easily. Using the assistance of a Santeria priestess, an insane Puerto Rican pop sensation, a very human dog, and a Russian hitman, he'll build the courage (and firepower) he'll need to fight a gangbanger who's a bit more than human....

Eli hoped to do his time and get back to living life outside prison. However, that hope faded when he watched a prisoner rip a guard’s heart out and toss the body over the railing onto a funeral pyre of burning mattresses. The landscape of the prison begins to change as more and more strange characters strive for dominance in the anarchy that follows. Eli and his new friend, Tay, must navigate the chaos as the gods of the Aztec creation story emerge over the next 12 hours on the block.

Land has a price. It's always been that way. When J.S. Stensrud and his wife Dotty buy a piece of land on the Oregon coast known as the Spit, they come to know that price. As Stensrud tries to build a legacy on his island amid the background of the Great Depression, he is visited by a Native American woman who helps him learn the bloody price of land in the most painful way possible.

Deep in the heartland of Indiana, this maximum-security penitentiary held some of the most vicious criminals known to the United States. One of them was Sampson Faith, a psychopathic genius who was master of mind control. Sampson was not only a master of mind control, but he was also a fluent out-of-body traveler. He was only 38, but seven years in prison made him look much older. He had murdered 14 teenagers in numerous ways seven years before in a small Indiana farm town. He was what doctors called a missionary killer.

A Charlie Madigan short story - from the series praised for "intricate world-building and richly complex characters" ( Publishers Weekly) - as it first appeared in the Carniepunk urban fantasy anthology.

When Kiley learns firsthand what evil lurks in the heart of her boyfriend, he’ll learn about the Cold Girl, and her penchant for retribution.

Author of the Amanda Feral series Mark Henry lends his brilliantly twisted imagination to the gripping Carniepunk anthology in this creepy zombie short story. When the zombie apocalypse overtakes New York City, a trip to Coney Island is the most frightening thing of all. A gruesome tale of transformation, Ferris wheels, and transsexuals.

Green Tea is the story of the Reverend Jennings, who consumes copious amounts of green tea while pursuing his esoteric interests late at night. When something goes wrong, he approaches Doctor Hesselius, who sets out the narrative in the form of a series of letters to another physician. He discusses the symptoms of the clergyman’s mysterious affliction, which torments him and interferes with his services. The illness appears to be mental rather than physical.

These three stories come with a breath of cold and a sort of longing, the sort of thing that consumes someone if they let it. "Wendy Won't Go" is the story of a family whose loss threatens to consume them all, "Love like Blood" is a story about the limits one will reach before love is gone, and "Cold Comfort" is about the bitterness that devours us within before it goes on to consume everything around us.

James Hogg was an 19th century Scottish writer. Mary Burnet is a traditional Scottish ghost story which he retold.

The Lifted Veil is a novella by George Eliot, first published in 1859. Quite unlike the realistic fiction for which Eliot is best known, The Lifted Veil explores themes of extrasensory perception, the essence of physical life, possible life after death, and the power of fate. This book has been carefully adapted into modern English to allow for easy listening. Enjoy!

Elizabeth Gaskell, famed author of Cranford, is cherished for her incise social observations and portrayals of the changing nature of English life through the Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era. In Cousin Phillis, Paul Manning has only recently left home to work on the railway line for the dashing Mr Holdsworth. Lodging with an Independent Minister on the outskirts of London, he becomes acquainted with his distant cousins, where he is delighted to meet his genial relations, and not least his cousin Phyllis

Private Ike Lowery, a Union Infantryman from Illinois, wakes up in a strange place, short on memories, weak from hunger and blood loss from a head wound, and with a broken leg. He discovers that he is the "guest" of a Confederate widow in whose dooryard his squad was ambushed. Ike worries about his sanity due to his memory loss and the constant commentary in his head from a fallen comrade who finds Ike's situation amusing.

While Billy Blackhawk makes his escape from prison, Sampson Faith hides himself away in a cheap motel room above the Cantina, drowning his sorrows in cheap liquor and the company of prostitutes. Before the night is over, he will realize with terrifying clarity he is no better than Billy - a bitter, remorseless killer.

In this tragic tale of a summer sea voyage, the narrator’s old friend, Cornelius Wyatt, is onboard the Independence, sailing from South Carolina to New York City, with his wife and two sisters and an oblong pine box. A hurricane near Cape Hatteras leads to tragedy, and the truth is revealed about Wyatt’s family.

A black tipi mysteriously appears in a Native American village. After tribal members begin to disappear, along with their tipis and families, they must find medicine to rid them of their unwanted guest.

Jacob is an old man who has secluded himself in an apartment convinced that something is after him. As he retells strange coincidences throughout his life, maybe he's right.

Olivia Locke, formerly the Greek titan Mnemosyne, has built a nice little life for herself. She's bound her ancient powers, has a steady job performing inspections for an insurance company, and even goes to the dentist. But when Olivia is sent to a traveling carnival, she discovers that the claims she's reviewing aren't accidents at all but rather symptoms of a depraved bargain struck to keep the operation afloat. And, at the heart of the carnival is a force intent on capturing her very soul.

From New York Times best-selling author Seanan McGuire, a haunting urban fantasy short story in the Carniepunk anthology - for fans of all things circus, supernatural, and mysterious.... It's been 17 years since the last time Ada's carnival passed through her father's hometown in Alabama.... and no one is expecting the reception she gets.