Dark Fantasy Short Stories

Wounds is a confounding, strange, and utterly entrancing collection of six stories, including one new novella from Shirley Jackson Award-winning author Nathan Ballingrud. From the eerie dread descending upon a New Orleans dive bartender after a cell phone is left behind in a rollicking bar fight in The Visible Filth to the search for the map of hell in “The Butcher’s Table”, Ballingrud’s beautifully crafted stories are riveting in their quietly terrifying depictions of the murky line between the known and the unknown.

In the depths of the Underworld, a prominent shift shakes the realm to its core. After a millennia-long absence, the omnipotent King Dorian returns, sending throwing the Underworld into a tornado of emotions. Among whispers of his return, Maxus, a powerful demon in Hell, finds himself faced with unexpected introgue. During the 71st council of the Hellfire Heralds, a group of the Nether Realm's most formidable demons, news of the king's return sends waves a shock throughout the eight demons.

Moon, Jade, and other favorites from the Indigo Cloud Court return with two new novellas from Martha Wells, who continues to enthusiastically ignore genre conventions in her exploration of the fascinating world of the Raksura. Her novellas and short stories contain all the elements fans have come to love from the Raksura books: courtly intrigue and politics, unfolding mysteries that reveal an increasingly strange wider world, and threats both mundane and magical.

A group of mountain climbers, caught in the dark, fight to survive their descent; in the British countryside, hundreds of magpies ascend into the sky, higher and higher, until they seem to vanish into the heavens; a professor and his student track a zombie horde in order to research zombie behavior; an all-girl riding school has sinister secrets; a town rails in vain against a curse inflicted upon it by its founders; and much more.

At the heart of these stories, as with all the best of Lovecraft’s work, is the belief that the Earth was once inhabited by powerful and evil gods, just waiting for the chance to recolonise their planet. Cthulhu is one such god, lurking deep beneath the sea until called into being by cult followers who – like all humans – know not what they do.

What William Gibson did for science fiction, China Miéville has done for fantasy, shattering old paradigms with fiercely imaginative works of startling, often shocking, intensity. Now from this brilliant writer comes a groundbreaking collection of stories, many of them previously unavailable in the United States, and including four never-before-published tales - one set in Miéville’s signature fantasy world of New Crobuzon.

Take a trip to a terrifying carnival and uncover the secrets within, solve a mysterious puzzle box and await your reward, join a travelling circus and witness the strangest ventriloquist act you've ever seen. In this follow-up to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology, you'll unearth curses old and new. From a very different take on Snow White, to a new interpretation of The Red Shoes, the best in fantasy spin straw into gold, and invite you into the labyrinth.

Imagine entering your first relationship with a powerful, wealthy, dominant man. He is smooth, charismatic, and intelligent, yet there are rules to be part of his dynamic life. Can you pass all the tests and follow the rules to be a part of something great?

Fortune hunter Billy Newman is not a man of great strength or physical courage. Like a young Johnny Depp, he gets by on his wit, wiles and good looks. And he’s had quite a good run—striking gold in the Philippines and buying his very own island in the South Seas. . . . But there’s trouble in paradise, and Billy’s in the thick of it. The island’s crops are failing. The island’s people are dying. And the island’s owner—Billy—is taking the heat. Why? Because he’s angered the 75-foot-tall big-boss god of the island.

In Dreams Made Flesh, discover the origin of the mystical Jewels, and experience the forbidden passion between Lucivar and a simple hearth witch. Witness the clash between Saetan and a Priestess that may forever change reality. And learn whether the sacrifice of Jaenelle's magic has destroyed any hope of happiness between her and Daemon.

As Caden and Brighton's attraction grows despite the odds stacked against a happily ever after, they must work together to stop an Ancient fae from releasing the Queen, who wants nothing more than to see Caden become the evil Prince once feared by fae and mortals alike.

Don't miss this breathtaking collection of stories set in the world of the best-selling Darkest Minds trilogy: “IN TIME”, “SPARKS RISE”, and “BEYOND THE NIGHT”.

Revisit the famous and fantastic realms conjured up by the world's most celebrated authors of fantasy in Legends - the greatest collection of original fantasy short novels ever published, where the best of the best tell all-new original tales set in the lands they created. Each audiobook presents the novels complete and unabridged, and will be sensational listening for the millions of fans of these writers and worlds.

One of the best ways to turn an average camping trip or sleepover with friends into an all-out adventure is to spark your kid’s curiosity with a nail-biting and edge-of-your-seat tale of terror. Whatever the case may be, these captivating and mind-bending stories are sure to capture their attention and leave them begging for more. On top of that, all of the characters are easily relatable and will even empower your children toward a deeper understanding of some powerful moral life lessons.

A secret society of immortals lives within the human world. Kane is one of them, a Sensor who experiences emotional energy through touch. But despite his good looks and easygoing personality, Kane lives a solitary life. Unlike other Sensors, he is unnaturally hypersensitive. Fate throws a curveball when a woman's life is placed in Kane's hands. He is suddenly faced with making a choice, and each comes with a consequence that will wreck him forever. Time is not on his side.

In four new novellas, Christina Henry returns to the world of Alice and Red Queen, where magic runs as freely as secrets and blood.

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows. This volume of The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror offers tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique. Sure to delight as well as disturb!

Before Miss Peregrine gave them a home, the story of peculiars was written in the Tales. Wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars. A fork-tongued princess. These are but a few of the truly brilliant stories in Tales of the Peculiar - the collection of fairy tales known to hide information about the peculiar world, including clues to the locations of time loops - first introduced by Ransom Riggs in his number-one best-selling Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series.

An attack in the dark. The loss of a love. Waking up hung over in a ditch. These are the things that make a hero, especially if that hero is Quincy Harker, immortal wizard, snarky bastard, and general badass. Histories collects two short stories and one short novella giving a peek behind the curtain at the man, the myth, the legend that is Quincy Harker, as well as the origin story of one of his most popular cohorts, Jo Henry.

This short story collection will keep you on the edge of your seat to the last sentence. Misha Burnett has been published in a wide variety of modern fiction magazines, and here we've collected some of his best fantasy work.