American Horror

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!

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.

Having just quit Julliard, disillusioned fiddler Melanie St. James finds herself as part of a group of traveling musicians en route to an OtherFolk carnival. Eager to break the chains of a lifetime of conformity, Melanie throws caution to the wind and enters a reckless bargain, plying her musical skills for the chance to win a violin that can open Doors to the CrossRoads. But the competition turns out to be far more than she expected.

Max and Amy Jones wanted a fresh start following the loss their child and an injury ending Max's football career in the UK so they set off to experience the American Dream. As they settled into the Cul-de-sac they now called home, a weekend of pampering was approaching for the ladies of Vernon's Place when they headed off to the Belle Vue Hotel & Spa leaving the men with a brand new barbecue and plenty of beers. The fun soon turns into a nightmare as the mysterious man in black begins killing the men off in a gore driven game of who's next.

His bride is killed. His people are being wiped out by an enemy from the north. Bright Dance chooses to bind with an ancient horror to seek revenge for his love and a future for his people. In order to save them, Bright Dance must attach himself to Night Warrior, an ancient demon with a bloodlust that creates death wherever Bright Dance goes.

A Christmas Carol is a novella by the great Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley, and the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.

As Billy approached the parking lot, he could smell it: a dark scent, musky and wild and tangy on his taste buds as he breathed it in. The smell of wet fur and dried blood were what he identified next and knew he had been here recently. It wasn't hard to track Sampson. He left dead hookers wherever he went. Sampson was much older now, but he was still very strong as an opponent.

Now, Billy did believe in ghosts. Missy, completely whole again, if only for a brief moment in time, moved into the real world so that he could see and hear her singing. She began with the song she chose five years ago, stepping out of the shadows into a convenient patch of moonlight filtering in through the dirty clouds above them, looming over them like big gray ghosts.

Sampson Faith lay in the darkness of the motel room, his hands, arms, and torso smeared with dried blood. As he opened his eyes, his vision tunneled once more. He stared into the abyss and it stared back into him. He felt the hand of God within him for the first time in years...but it wasn't soon enough to save the life of his most recent victim.

Deep in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, this maximum-security penitentiary held some of the most vicious criminals...One of them was Billy Black Hawk, a murderer and rapist...he was not only a master of mind control, but he was also a fluent out-of-body traveler and shape-shifter. Sampson Faith, a cold blooded assassin, wanders the wastelands in search of the man who killed his beloved wife. Little does he know that Billy Blackhawk, the man who killed Missy, will soon escape his musty prison cell and come looking to kill Sampson and claim his soul as well.