Classic Literature Dark

不读水浒，不知天下之奇。《水浒传》是中国几千年历史的一个缩影，深藏着社会的冷暖、人性的明暗，重重玄机中展现农民阶层和统治者之间的较量……不讀水滸，不知天下之奇。《水滸傳》是中國幾千年歷史的一個縮影，深藏著社會的冷暖、人性的明暗，重重玄機中展現農民階層和統治者之間的較量……

During her lifetime Violet Paget, who wrote as Vernon Lee, was referred to as 'the greatest of modern exponents of the supernatural in fiction', and yet today she remains on the periphery of the genre. This collection of her uniquely weird short stories and dark fantasies proves why she was once considered among the best of the genre, and why she deserves to return to those ranks today.

Layla and the other survivors now find themselves caught in a war for our world, the unwitting victims of a grudge seething for eons. Surviving the zombie apocalypse has become the least of their worries as they come up against vampires, shapeshifters, and fae. When she uncovers an unspeakable horror, whom can Layla trust? The carnie girl? The doctor searching for a cure? The tarot reader? The stranger with alluring gold eyes? Or the man she loves?

Transported through time to the dank streets of Victorian London, Alex Locke seeks to unravel the mysteries of the Obsidian Heart, the enigmatic object to which his fate is inextricably bound. When a string of grisly murders takes place across the capital, Alex follows a trail that will lead him through the opium dens of Limehouse, into the dark and twisted world of the Society of Blood and ever closer to unlocking the secret of the Heart.

When Kara Magari uncovers a secret door in the middle of the forest, she discovers (and trips through) a portal to a hidden world full of terrifying things: Ourea. She just wants to go home, but the natives have other plans for her. She clashes with immortal shapeshifters, is carried off by a dragon, nearly dies on several occasions, and somehow becomes the master of an ancient book of magic called the Grimoire. Every time she thinks she's safe, her new "friends" show their true colors.

Eight years ago, Emmie Silvey was born on Halloween during a full moon. Raised in Providence by her widower father, she's a strange, yellow-eyed girl, plagued with visions of impossible worlds and fabulous beings. Inextricably linked with a violent young woman named Soldier, together they must face the monsters and unearthly forces that have shaped their lives and threaten their futures.

For two years, Cinderella has searched for her long-lost enemy, the Silver Fox, in a desperate attempt to convince him to help her find her daughter and defeat Napoleon. With time running out as only Russia remains strong against Napoleon's grand army, Cinderella will sacrifice all she knows to find her daughter, but will she lose herself or be found?

For Manannán mac Lir, a musician and Celtic demigod, life had become a blur of post-gig parties, expensive whisky, and cheap sex. And then the baby almost died--a baby he had sworn to protect. On the hunt for the would-be killer, Mac finds Artemis Black, a stunningly dangerous woman who's inexplicably able to intertwine life magic with death magic. For the safety of his people, he should destroy her. But the aching vulnerability in her eyes calls to him.

Alexandra Yorke, witch and clairvoyant, is in a lot of trouble. Together with her friends, she has managed to track down the man killing people in her county, but when Douglas tries to capture him, things go wrong and Alex finds herself forced through the rune gate. Marooned on the magical world of Othala with Douglas and their friends, Alex journeys toward the capital of Inari to warn the queen of treachery, but the goddess has her own plans for Alex, and sends one of her chosen to intercept her.

With the Summit on barely unified tenterhooks and hellkin bubbling into Earth with no sun to stop them, Ayala Storme has her hard-won family, an uncertain new love, and a team of allies - half of who have betrayed her in the past. When the cities of North America begin to fall to demon hordes, Ayala has to fight her way back into Nashville in a desperate hope to save her city.

Welcome to Archers Beach in the Changing Land, the last and least of the Six Worlds, where magic works, sometimes, and the Guardian husbands the vitality of the land and everyone on it - earth spirit and plain human alike. Kate Archer, Guardian and carousel-keeper, has been busy making some changes of her own, notably beginning a romantic relationship with Borgan, the Guardian of the Gulf of Maine, Kate's opposite number, and, some would say, her natural mate.

The secret of having an adventure is getting lost. Who ever visited an enchanted kingdom or fell into a fairy tale without wandering into the woods first? Well, Mary is lost. Mary is lost in the story of Little Red Riding Hood, and that is a cruel and murderous story. She's put on the red hood and met the wolf. When she gives in to her wolf's temptations, she will die.

After 10 years of being told she can't tell the difference between real life and a fairy tale, Alice finally stops believing in Wonderland. So when the White Rabbit shows up at her house, Alice thinks she's going crazy. Only when the White Rabbit kicks her down the rabbit hole does Alice realize that the magical land she visited as a child is real. But all is not well in Wonderland. The Ace of Spades has taken over Wonderland and is systematically dismantling all that makes it wonderful.

Two men, a bitter rivalry, and a quarter-century of unspeakable horrors. Herbert West’s crimes against nature are well-known to those familiar with the darkest secrets of science and resurrection. Obsessed with finding a cure for mankind’s oldest malady, death itself, he has experimented upon the living and dead, leaving behind a trail of monsters, mayhem, and madness. But the story of his greatest rival has never been told until now.

After months of training a budding army of human/demon hybrids, Ayala and Carrick have worked out most of their differences. Who gets to use the bathroom first in the morning. Who'll feed the bunny before they go out to make mayhem. Who gets to keep the jeeling claw they found in Forest Hills. You know, the important stuff.

Heritage is the third book in the Amazon best-selling Grimoire Saga.

Mediator Ayala Storme kills demons by night and handles PR by day. She avoids Mediator luncheons and a fellow Mediator who’s been trying to get in her pants for years. She does her job. She keeps her sword clean and her body count high. But when a rash of disappearances leads her to discover that Nashville’s hellkin are spawning a new race of monster on human hosts, Ayala will be the first line of defense against these day-walking killers. That is until one of them saves her life.

Phthor is the sequel to Chthon, less intricately structured and less complicated in plot, but still quite dark and ugly in theme and detail. Rather than flashbacks and flash-forwards, it has a Y outline, with the stem the initial story and the ends alternate futures, neither of which is acceptable to Aton's son Arlo. Arlo has his own encounter with a Minionette, and naturally, destruction is upon him and all with whom he associates.

Baxter has been packed off to Hexpoort, a magical training school for MK6 agents. It sucks, but Baxter slowly learns to control his fledgling abilities and takes his first steps to becoming a dreamwalker. Lessons with Jackie Ronin lead them to suspect that the Obayifo may be involved with a doorway that Baxter inadvertently opened when operating the Mantis. Baxter and Jackie are plunged into the most dangerous place they've encountered yet: Cape Town Fashion Week.

Stripped of her Silver Scale, made a pariah by the Summit, and with a price tag the size of Kentucky on her head, Ayala is on her own. Gregor Gaskin is still missing, and when Ayala discovers he’s far outside the Mediator territory line, she'll have to unravel one of the Summit's most closely kept secrets to track him. Finding Gregor will take her far from home, but catching him might hit her right where she lives - and Gregor’s plans may just release hell on Earth before she can stop him.