Dark Horror

"Stranger's Thing" by Robert Bevan: Four friends get more than they bargained for when they break into a seemingly abandoned research lab. "The Shingling" by Steve Wetherell: Johnny Terry, a recovering meth addict, is excited to start his new life as the caretaker at the Underpass Motel. Unfortunately, the Underpass is haunted by the ghosts of dead porn stars. "The Haunting of Whore House" by Robert Bevan: Lucy and her brother, Junkie, find out that moving was only the beginning of their troubles when they encounter the ghost of a little boy in the woods. Plus three more!

I wasn’t supposed to be at Olympus that night. And I definitely wasn’t supposed to witness a murder - or be caught by the killers. Hades, Apollo, and Ares run the mysterious masked fight club, and they wield more power in this town than I could dream of holding. They destroy my life with one decree: Kora Sinclair doesn’t exist. Sterling Falls was my chance to start over, but one night derails everything. My scholarship, my job - gone. I could run home, but giving up my dreams isn’t an option. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

My "true love" conspired with my stepmother to have me killed and stole my throne. But they failed. I've been in hiding and refining my vengeance. I'm no longer the damsel they mistook me for once upon a time. I'm coming for them. And my kingdom, too. Who needs dwarves when you have wolves? Who needs blades when you have arrows? My name used to be Snow. Now they call me the Winter's Arrow. Because I'm here to destroy them all.

Today the names of H. P. Lovecraft, Robert E. Howard, August Derleth, and Clark Ashton Smith, all regular contributors to the pulp magazine Weird Tales during the first half of the twentieth century, are recognizable even to casual readers and listeners of the bizarre and fantastic. And yet despite being more popular than them all during the golden era of genre pulp fiction, there is another author whose name and work have fallen into obscurity: Seabury Quinn. Quinn's short stories were featured in well more than half of Weird Tales's original publication run.

The Saturnalia carnival marks three years since Nina walked away from Philadelphia's elite Saturn Club--with its genteel debauchery, arcane pecking order, and winking interest in alchemy and the occult. In doing so, she abandoned her closest friends and her chance to climb the social ladder. Since then, she's eked out a living by telling fortunes with her Saturn Club tarot deck, a solemn initiation gift that Nina always considered a gag but has turned out to be more useful than she could have ever imagined.

This anthology story depicts every corner of hell possible in order to make you feel that chill running down your spine. Whether it’s ghosts, killers, monsters, or whatnot, we’ve got you covered. These stories are also for all ages, although we will say that we’re not afraid to get into the gory details either.

To many thousands of listeners world-wide, Titus Crow is the psychic sleuth - the cosmic voyager and investigator - of Brian Lumley's Cthulhu Mythos novels, from The Burrowers Beneath to Elysia. But before The Burrowers and Crow's transition, his exploits were chronicled in a series of short stories and novellas uncollected in the USA, except in limited editions.

Nobody likes getting bullied, and Donny has had enough. Deciding to take matters into his own hands, he solicits the help of the old Asian man at the end of his street to teach him Karate. During a grueling two days of training, Donny earns belt after belt, until he finally becomes a Karate Master.

Three neighboring villages on the Ukrainian/Romanian border are the final refuge for the last of the mythical creatures of Eastern Europe. Now, on the eve of the war that may eradicate their kind - and with the ruthless Night Police descending upon their sanctuary - they tell their stories and confront their destinies.

In the second Peter Octavian novel, the Shadows have been exposed as living amongst us and the ancient vampiric race now finds itself threatened by the most powerful demon of all: human prejudice.

Nadya doesn’t trust her magic anymore. Serefin is fighting off a voice in his head that doesn’t belong to him. Malachiasz is at war with who - and what - he’s become. As their group is continually torn apart, the girl, the prince, and the monster find their fates irrevocably intertwined. They’re pieces on a board, being orchestrated by someone...or something. The voices that Serefin hears in the darkness, the ones that Nadya believes are her gods, the ones that Malachiasz is desperate to meet - those voices want a stake in the world, and they refuse to stay quiet any longer.

In a future uncomfortably close to the present day, the apocalypse has surpassed all expectations. Hideous demons roam the streets in an orgy of terror, drawing pleasure from torturing humans as sadistically as possible. Ira, a young San Francisco artist, becomes involved with a strange group of scientists and philosophers desperately trying to end the bloody siege. But the most shocking revelation is yet to come.

A sudden burst of radiation is detected beneath the desert in Iran. Alex Hunter – code name Arcadian – and his highly trained incursion team are dropped into the ruins of Persepolis. All they find is an empty underground facility – nothing to explain the gamma spike. It is as if a black hole has swept everything away.... Israel is threatening nuclear war. And someone, or something, is draining the fluids from the bodies of Iranian soldiers in the desert.

Something is wrong with Valerie Darkmore. She may have made it through her initiation into the Marionettes, but she’s quickly learning that was only the beginning. Everything she used to know has changed, including maybe herself. She can’t count on her partnership with a dangerous vampire prince to be enough to save her.

Take a seat in the darkest corner of the library and devour these short haunting tales. Welcome to the Dark Corner Universe. Here, there are tales of ghosts, serial killers, demons, wraiths, pirates and more. There is also a twist or two for the keenest listener amongst you.

Phantom of the Opera meets Beauty and the Beast in this gothic-inspired dark fantasy romance. A haunted tower, a mysterious instructor, and the lure of the music of the night...After the death of her father, Aria is left penniless and destitute. To avoid working the streets, she becomes the ward of a Count and moves to a remote town called High Tower. High Tower is a gloomy place with one vivid attraction: The theater. Lords and ladies come from afar to be seduced by a night of unforgettable entertainment.

Thirty-four years ago, on October 31, poor Hannah Talbott took part in a scavenger hunt gone violently wrong. The mean girls made sure of it. To this day, for a haunted local mother, the most unsettling Halloween costume of all is an urban legend they call Hannah-Beast. It’s a reminder of the past she can’t forget. Especially tonight when it’s come back, so close to home.

Jacob and his merry band of beautiful succubi face a new threat when several demonic assassins come to kill them. The battles will be fierce, and nothing can prepare the gang for the identity of their new enemy.

Feeling the weight of sustained injuries, Halm decides upon his future with the Ten, prompting a crippled Pig Knot to contemplate his own remaining days. And an act of vengeance drives Borchus into hiding. Within the underbelly of the Pit, arrangements are made to introduce Sunja’s most despised and dangerous criminals into the games, including a captured group of Nordish Jackals. Meanwhile, the House of Ten prepares for a day of blood matches—when the gladiator known as Junger is sure to become a legend.

A great imagination makes for terrific ghost stories - stories that go beyond the tapping on the doors in the middle of a night or a whistling thrush or even a squeaky swing in the wind. This is a collection of some such horror stories selected and compiled by Ruskin Bond that will send shivers down your spine.