Body Horror

Leo Bates knows what's behind every corner in her hometown, where she's lived her whole life. Some disjointed memories and grief for her late parents, sure, but nothing dangerous. Nothing unexplainable. But the familiar becomes strange the longer you look at it. When Tate Mulder goes missing and Leo is pinned as the prime suspect, she can only watch as the town she thought she knew deteriorates around her.

Violet thought she had made peace with her unique ability to sense the echoes of the dead and the imprints that cling to their killers . . . until she acquired an imprint of her own. Forced to carry a reminder of the horrible events of her kidnapping, Violet is more determined than ever to lead a normal life. However, the people who run the special investigative team she works for have no intention of letting her go. Violet will do whatever it takes to keep her loved ones safe - even if it means lying to her boyfriend, Jay.

In the end, all that's left is an Echo. Before, Violet's morbid ability to sense the dead led her to uncover dark murders and long-buried secrets in her small town. Now that she's workingwith a special investigative team, Violet hopes she can help even more people - whether by saving a life or catching a killer. Although she's relieved to finally be honest about what she can do, her instant connection with her mysterious partner, Rafe, is both confusing and unsettling, and their unique bond creates tension with her boyfriend, Jay. When she discovers the body of a college student murdered by "the collector," Violet refuses to give upon the case.

A well-known and often told tale of murder and grave robbing in Victorian Edinburgh, supposedly in the interests of science. With the desecration of the bodies, a worthy comeuppance follows. 'The Body Snatcher' is taken from the second volume of the Victorian Anthologies Horror series, featuring short stories by classic writers of the spooky, the scary and the supernatural. Guaranteed to give you the shivers, each collection includes familiar and loved creepy tales as well as those less well-known. With music by Benedict Edwards.

In the Scottish canon, to be placed alongside Robert Burns is high praise indeed, but it’s a rightful place for one of Scotland’s finest novelists. Born in 1850, he managed to cram much into his 44 years, traveling widely to France, the United States, Samoa and the South Seas. Of course, he is widely feted for his classics: Dr Jeckyll & Mr Hyde, Treasure Island, and poetry volumes such as A Child’s Garden of Verses.

This follow-up volume to the bestselling Ghosts from the Library resurrects forgotten tales of the supernatural by some of the most accomplished mystery authors of all time. Close the windows. Draw the curtains. Just don’t let the lights go out…

From imagination to materialism, the provocative stories in Body Parts cover the bases. Can brains survive without bodies? Will the love modem result in romance or homicide? Should a loose tongue reveal its secrets? Would a guru who brings bliss be killed by the government?

After his first Holy Communion, a boy secretly builds his own Jesus out of communion wafers and the flesh of his dad. On Halloween night, his Jesus shall rise. After a tragic death, a girl tends to the Cemetery of the Innocents, a memorial to the holocaust of abortion and children killed before their time. On Halloween night, the children shall live, and they need to be fed.

Two student anatomists purchase the remains of humanity in the small hours of the morning. The shadowy men who bring the bodies seldom speak, and the suspicions of the students are never spoken aloud. Until one morning when the drapery is lifted from the face of a new acquisition, and one student recognizes it as the face of a dear friend, alive and well only yesterday.

The human form is familiar to all of us. We like limbs connected to bodies. Writers of the dark and macabre are not too concerned if that remains the case. Indeed limbs, or rather pieces of the body, sometimes are best written about when not connected. It’s one of our greatest fears. It quite rightly riddles us with a very unsettling feeling. So why then do we turn the page? We’re about to find out.

This is a story from the The Body Snatcher and Other Stories collection.

Jeremy Gunn was a young child when he first used his gift. He touched his father's cheek as he peered into his casket and cried. That's when he saw it, his father's darkest secret. Tormented, he seeks to act on the secrets of the dead. To right the wrongs of people passed, to find the missing, and to avenge the fallen. Jeremy comes for you when you die, but that's not his gift. His gift is stealing your secret, the one you died with and never told a soul. But It's what he does with your secret; that is the epic story!

I grew up in a world of magic. By the time I was ten I understood nature, talked to the trees, and listened to the wind. When the kingdom of men conquered my town, I was murdered by one of my own - the betrayer of my kind. But I didn't stay dead. I woke to find myself in a strange new world called Los Angeles. The only keys to the life I remembered were my father's ring, my unique abilities, and the onslaught of demons that seemed hell-bent on finding me. Now I must learn who I really am, protect my friends, get the girl, and find my way back to my beloved hometown of Orenda.

It’s Halloween, and Ruby is looking forward to a party at China Bayles’ house and a busy holiday weekend at her New Age shop, the Crystal Cave. But her holiday plans are interrupted when Jessica Nelson, a crime reporter at the Pecan Springs Enterprise, shows up with a hard-to-believe story about a serial killer who is targeting the terminally ill. Jessica claims that the killer’s calling card - a card picturing Azrael, the Angel of Death - comes from a deck Ruby once carried in her shop.

A pair of casual paranormal researchers are experimenting with the idea of astral projection. One night, one of them inadvertently succeeds in projecting his spirit from his body, which is then taken possession of by a malevolent entity in his absence.

"The Stolen Body." Howard Phillips Lovecraft (1890-1937) is a novelist famous for his horror stories, fantasy and science fiction. Although he was not famous during his lifetime, his work is now considered a classic of literature. Lovecraft's work has influenced many authors, including Stephen King, who considers him "the greatest craftsman of the classic horror story of the 20th century."

The time is the American Civil War. The place is Louisville, Kentucky, where a notable physician and professor at a medical school becomes in need of cadavers for student studies. Offering high wages for acceptable corpses, Doctor Theodore Finch hires an old ignorant and destitute man, Johnathan Brooks, and his young Christian wife, Theda, to remove the enemy dead from local battle fields. Upon the 31st of October, and during a full moon, the body snatchers, the doctor, and his students learn that the dead are not always at peace.

Bill and Karen Stevens were so excited to get to spend a weekend away from their children. Bill was the top salesman of his company that year and was awarded a weekend trip to any four-star hotel of his choice, compliments of the company he works for. Bill and Karen packed their belongings and said goodbye to their children and headed to the airport, to their destination. The plane finally landed and they were ready for a fun-filled weekend without their kids. Bill and Karen held hands as they approached the front desk of the beautiful four-star hotel....

England, 1990. Reed has travelled his whole life in search of someone who understands him. So he’s thrilled when his journey brings him to free-spirited Zoya, who shares his rare ability to dream-walk. But after his gift leads him to a hidden corpse, he becomes the prime suspect in the murder. Despite the setback, Reed resolves to use his power to help crack the case. When the real perpetrator delivers a violent threat, he’s tempted to give up, slip into his camper van, and hit the road again. After all, who would miss him?

After Ryan makes a horrifying discovery near the Red River, he is confronted by an unexpected guest. Was he followed? Unfortunately, the horrors only escalate from there. Perhaps little Tony Peterson's claim about the existence of an "ape-man" wasn't so farfetched after all.