Dark Fantasy Short Stories

What happens when a man starts life as a corpse? Two hundred years ago, Frank Victorsson awoke as a semi-dead, monstrous abomination reanimated by his hubris-ridden father, Victor Frankenstein. But Frank refused to become the infernal hate his father spewed at the world. He walked away from his origins - and into a small, Minnesota town overflowing with magic. 

Sometimes the world is a very dark place. You know the magic is still out there, but it feels distant or displaced. Voices in the Darkness is an attempt to create a link, to bring some of those voices together in a single work of art. Six award-winning authors lent their talent to this work. The stories are unique and dark, filled with wonder and emotion. 

O.J. Simpson in an alternate reality and blind ninjas ushering in the apocalypse are just two of the beautifully written tales in this seminal work of art, from the mind of a human being the likes of which God and the devil wholeheartedly agree upon. While drenched in comedy, Laughter's Cold Shadow takes on the darkest of subject matter: murder, rape, racism, the nuclear family, ninjas, Nazis, zombies, police brutality, drug cartels, hedonism, psychopathy, and more.

From master anthologist Ellen Datlow comes an all-original of weird tales inspired by the strangeness of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Between the hallucinogenic, weird, imaginative wordplay and the brilliant mathematical puzzles and social satire, Alice has been enjoyed and savored by every generation since its publication. Datlow asked 18 of the most brilliant and acclaimed writers working today to dream up stories inspired by all the strange events and surreal characters found in Wonderland.

Jamie MacKinnion neem die moeilikste besluit van sy baie lang lewe en die hele Feërie voel die toorn en hartseer van die Feëkoningin. Kan Feërie en die inwoners daarvan ‘n magtige heerser se pyn uitgedruk in natuurrampe oorleef? Selfs al kan hulle dit doen, beraam die Donker Koning planne van sy eie en daar kan nie vertrou word dat Alleenloper Feë in vrede kan leef nie. Namate Feërie verder in skerwe spat en die lewens van sterflinge en feë nog meer verweef word, word die lyne tussen wat reg is en wat maklik is, vaag vir selfs die beste van hulle. En niks is soos dit lyk nie.

The town of Pine Ridge has an eerie past, with tales of witchcraft and ritual murders, but when a local man is savagely killed, all hell threatens to break loose. Supernatural detective Jack Nightingale is called in to investigate the brutal slaying - a murder that seems to have been carried out by children - children with dead black eyes....

Prometheus - one of the keenest Titans to ever walk the earth. Until, that is, his weakness for the human race resulted in his imprisonment. For thousands of years, Prometheus's only certainty was his daily torture at Zeus's hand. Now, unchained by the Eternal Guardians, he spends his days in solitude, trying to forget the past. He's vowed no allegiance in the war between mortal and immortal, but when a beautiful maiden seeks him out and begs for his help, he's once again powerless to say no.

Since the dawn of modern man, Erebus was Hades' secret weapon in the war between the immortal realms. Until Hades lost the minor god in a bet to his older brother Zeus. For the last 100 years, Erebus has trained Zeus's Siren warriors in warfare and the sexual arts. But he's never stopped longing for freedom. For a life filled with choice. And lately, he also longs for one Siren who entranced him during their steamy seduction sessions. A nymph he quickly became obsessed with and who was ripped from his grasp when her seduction training was complete.

The problem with the dark is you don’t really know what’s lurking in there. Something hiding? Something menacing? Or just an inky dome for the stars to twinkle on? Writers rarely let us dwell on the latter. No, they would much rather they put our nerves on edge, that our skin would begin to crawl and that the cold sweat of fear propels our pulse and heartbeat to nightmare-inducing trauma. I think they’re ready.

A dark plot by the Dark Wizard is afoot, and only the greatest of detectives in the kingdom will be able to foil it. Join the Dark Knight and his sidekick, Squire Ted, as they investigate the case of the mysterious goblin horde, followed immediately by the case of the mysterious disappearing goblin corpses. Who know what darkness will be revealed. 

From urban hotel rooms with interdimensional portals to far-future robotic societies, to far-flung galaxies, to the near future, to the present day with a twist. Eric Fomley's first full collection brings a variety of dark futures for your consumption and enjoyment. Flash Futures contains three very short stories and 21 sci-fi flash fictions guaranteed to take you to the future in 10 minutes or less.

In number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris’s "Dahlia Underground,” venerable vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers survives an attack by an anti-vampire terrorist group, only to show them they tried to blow up the wrong bloodsucker. Bailey Ruth Raeburn, a ghost assigned to assist humans in trouble, steps into the middle of a marital dispute with surprising twists in Carolyn Hart’s “Riding High”....

A dark faerie tale anthology featuring eight short stories by well-received and upcoming authors, delivering new faerie tales and dark twists on inspired tales. Follow a young soldier trying to rescue his parents from the clutches of city enforcers, a talented young artist who is given a quill with magical properties, a princess who joins a team destined to rid the world of its hidden evils, and more.

Food. We use it to celebrate, to provide both comfort and energy, and to show our love. There’s something about mixing a pinch of this and a dash of that to create something new. And when you pair it with the perfect drink...'chef’s kiss'. Stories can do the same thing. They can be a celebration, bring us comfort and energy, and help us express our love. And when the perfect character is paired with the perfect plot...well, then you have something worth devouring. So take a place at the table, and let’s see what’s on the menu.

An old king with nothing left to lose is lured to the site of his greatest victory by a long-forgotten enemy seeking revenge. The last dragon-slayer and the last dragon, brought together with just one anticipated outcome, but what if they have more to ask of each other? A brave knight cursed to know love as no other, but to never have that love returned in kind. The wild west as you've never seen it before. Two ancient warriors body-stealing through time. These are just some of the stories in this collection from award-winning author Brian A. Hopkins.

A beer run becomes an interdimensional excursion. Two men settle their differences after discovering an extraordinary secret in the wilderness. A woman faces the bureaucracy of a digital afterlife. A grieving man seeks to know where his wife was reincarnated. Strange lights in the sky transform the lives of a small town. God and the devil play billiards for people's souls. A teenage deity's science project sprouts a startling discovery. These and more dream-like detours into the surreal, interstitial, and inexplicable await within. Chock full of gooey, mind-bending goodness. 

Twisty scares with heart. Ghosts, sea monsters, and a rest home for troublesome witches all feature in this collection of paranormal stories set in Wellington, New Zealand. By turns spooky and laugh-out-loud funny, these tales stew with malevolence and mischief. Climb aboard the ghost bus for a wild ride of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and humor, and hop off a little more in love with Aotearoa's capital city.

In a dystopian not so distant future, society had collapsed. A mysterious group known only as the Architects, however, were able to rescue civilization from the brink. In doing so, all works of art from the previous age were banned. Most are fine with this, but a few are not. When dissidents acquire an ancient Wonder Woman comic, they all begin to question the reasons for the purge, as well as the nature of reality itself. Is everything as it seems, or did the Architects have other motivations?

In this, the final volume of the Fables and Fantasies collections, we have a number of dark tales: a twisted version of an old fairy tale, a fantastic ride that does not end where the rider thought, horrible creatures from a legendary world of monstrosity, a terrifying clown in a macabre fantasy setting, and a hunt where the tables are turned by a creature of myth. These fantasies remind us that evil things can lurk in the dark, and our choices should keep us on lighted paths.