Dark Fantasy Short Stories

A selection of short fiction by Dusty McGowan; blending magic realism and dark comedy.

The Caller of the Black is Brian Lumley's first published collection of stories, with many of them involving the Cthulhu Mythos.

Hidden deep within the sewers of our world roosts a vile creature known only as the Dark Goblin. He holds in his possession the Spellmaster’s Book, a text with the power to make him practically immortal. He fears no one and turns all those who dare cross him into brainless goblins who obey his every command.

This omnibus includes all four books in the The Hunted series by USA Today best-selling author, Ali Winters. With over 40 hours in this epic urban fantasy. Get lost in the slow burn romance, lies, betrayal, and unforgettable characters. The balance of life and death must be protected at all costs. Nivian had never failed to Reap a marked soul. That is, until she meets Kain Evers, a Hunter and the only being on earth with the power to destroy her.

For an imperial assassin, assignment as a courtesan in the Floating World seems like a waste of her talents...until killers target her clan sisters. In the legendary Floating World, wars are waged with wit, the strongest soldier can be bound with threads of silk, and flesh is the currency by which life, death, and freedom can all be purchased. Half-elf Jie bemoans her temporary assignment as a Night Blossom in the most sought-after house, even if it's the perfect cover for her real work as an assassin in the emperor’s service.

Welcome to a mystical age of cruelty, hexes, and treachery, where malicious magic rules, and you are but a single necromancer’s spell away from eternal terror. From malevolent medieval magicians to the Wild West witches, this spellbinding volume by a master of the macabre is packed with frightening fables guaranteed to send a supernatural chill down your spine.

This collection of 22 short stories by the author of Daughter of Hounds and Alabaster firmly established Caitlín R. Kiernan as one of the preeminent voices in dark fantasy today. Through a cycle of interconnected narratives, Kiernan unflinchingly explores a surreal world where the fantastic and the mundane are never separated by more than the insubstantial thickness of a shadow.

In Caitlín R. Kiernan’s The Ammonite Violin & Others, one of contemporary dark fantasy’s most bewitching and distinctive voices is back with another banquet of the weird and unexpected. Within this book, you’ll discover a dazzling suite of stories situated on the borderlands between the unspeakable and the erotic, the grotesque and the sublime.

De acuerdo con el relato, hace más de 10.000 años una raza de pastores colonizó las orillas del río Ai en una tierra llamada Mnar, formando las ciudades de Thraa, Ilarnek y Kadatheron (no confundir con Kadath), las cuales se erigieron como grandes proezas intelectuales y mercantiles. Deseando más tierra, un grupo de estas personas emigró a las orillas de un vasto y solitario lago en el corazón de Mnar, fundando la metrópoli de Sarnath creada a la orilla de un vasto lago, atraídos por un yacimiento de metales preciosos. Pero los colonos no estaban solos.

After surviving an attempt to end his life, Spencer is determined to make it through whatever horrors await him to get what he wants. Lead by a guide he’s not sure he can completely trust, Spencer will have to put his faith in the unknown and hope that he’s strong enough to see the end of his journey. Facing off against things that the human mind can’t possibly comprehend, a man with nothing to lose will learn the true meaning of regret, remorse, and recovery.

Everything Aria tried to do in order to save her brother and help those closest to her has made everything worse. She's now alone with Beru, trying to figure out a way to fix what they've done, to undo what they've started. But Aria still can't get over the fact that Beru is a traitor to Onen Suun, the only man who dared to defy Dag'draath. Beru was the reason Onen Suun was forced to sacrifice his life to save the world.

Audiobook contains: Accession of the Stone Born Death doesn't always ride a pale horse: Gavin Randall hasn’t been home in nearly thirty years. Upon his return, he discovers that he’s one of the rarest beings in the supernatural community - a Stone Born. Dust Walkers: When newly minted vigil Gavin Randall is summoned to a small town in New Mexico, the last thing he’s expecting is to have to fight a cartel of necromancers, and Shades of Fire & Ash: fanatics hellbent on destroying Gavin Randall, his friends, and the Archive itself have surfaced.

War has come to the human kingdoms of Parth! From the capital cities and castles to the most remote mountain villages, the Kingdoms of Man, the Elven Enclaves, and the Dwarven Dynasties are all under attack from the Dread Lord Vargo Duuk and his hordes of barbarians, demons and orcs.

A record of a Zombie’s rant about the trials and tribulations of his life as a dis-respected member of the undead. A Chat Before Dinner is a 2,600 word darkly-humorous short story.

Don't cry. Don't spill a drop. Valda risks her life every day to cross the Waters and bring supplies to her people. The Drubs are slaves, forced to live and work in the middle of the Waters, but they have hope. If they work hard enough, they can buy freedom. At least, that's what they've been told. The waters come for everyone. When Valda is refused freedom she must fight back and free the Drubs, but the Waters are hungry, and they don't take sides.

Shaking rural America to its core in 2016, behold the reenactment of the Their Yard phenomena. The witness-based story in which three dissimilar families, each residing within three various locations, are tied together by one chilling and astonishing connection.

Valerie is an adrenaline junkie with a weakness for surfer boys and long swims at night. As her beach resort honeymoon draws to a close, she sets her sights on three locals for a night of scandal and indulgence.

This 30th issue of Tales from the Canyons of the Damned consists of five sharp, suspenseful, thought provoking short stories - each from a different featured master of speculative fiction. This issue includes the short stories: "Something Bad" by Jeremy Essex, "On a Front Porch on a November Afternoon" by M. Regan, "The End of the World and a Super 88" by Michael Ezell, "Winning in Real Estate" by Lara Frater, and "The Lost Tapes - Shane Starr" by Daniel Arthur Smith.

EPIC award finalist Howard Odentz has penned 26 disturbingly fascinating horror stories about the youngest predators among us. From Andy and Boris to Yuri and Zina, this eclectic anthology is filled, A to Z, with psychopaths, monsters, and murderers.

A dozen tumultuous years after the dramatic events at the Paris Opera House Raoul, Comte de Chagny is still haunted by the mysterious Opera Ghost - the creature of legend who held staff at the Opera House under his thrall, kidnapped Raoul’s lover, and murdered his brother. In Raoul’s troubled imagination the ghosts of the past are everywhere, and a strange and powerful music still calls in his dreams. Madness, obsession, and the legacy of the past weave their spell in this short, tragic tale based on the Phantom of the Opera.