Dark Occult

East St. Louis deputy Patrick O’Shea is tired of living in the line of fire. So when he gets a chance to transfer to his wife’s small hometown, he doesn’t hesitate to load up the moving van. But his family’s bags are barely unpacked before their newfound peace and quiet shatters in a surge of demonic voices. The deputy has faced his fair share of evil, but nothing quite like this. Normally the first into the fray, he worries they’ve unearthed a force not even his special training and inner-city experience can combat.

It’s been four weeks since Ava López cursed her coven, extinguishing any chance they had of restoring their magic. But as Ava and her vampire nestmates try to rebound from the chaos she caused, she discovers the war hasn’t ended. The humans of Darkhaven are suspicious of recent events, and a mysterious note etched in the ashes of tragedy shakes Ava to her core. On top of everything, she is forced to rely on information provided by a newcomer - a fire witch hot on the trail of a particularly malicious rogue vampire.

After joining a gang of street kids, he rose to be their leader. Peter became a callous criminal, preying on the weak and defenseless, dreaming of bloodshed.

A small-town psychic’s trailer burns, leaving little in the wreckage but her lovely green couch. A great find for a couple who make their living scavenging and selling secondhand items. Yet, Madame Cruller’s couch is imbedded with something unpleasant, and we’re not talking fleas.

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.

The Coffin Maker, your host and guide, presents 12 ghastly tales from two of the most gifted voices in modern horror.

After discovering an army of rogue vampires hiding in a network of secretive caves beneath Darkhaven, Ava López finds herself trapped by the sun with an enemy who bears a striking resemblance to someone she believed was lost forever. The longer Ava is imprisoned with the mysterious newcomer and his legion of undead, the more she questions everything the hunters have taught her. She fears the worst - that they too have lied to her. Out of allies and losing hope, Ava is forced to turn to a very unlikely source for help. A human.

Daniel Haley has a lot on his mind. His life isn’t exactly what he hoped it would be. His relationship with his girlfriend Jess has seen better days Things only get worse when he encounters a supernatural presence trapped in his attic. Daniel is vulnerable to attack, and it’s hungry for a soul to take. A harmless prank meant to breath life into a stale relationship unleashes an ancient evil, hell-bent on devouring everyone and everything Daniel has every loved.

A small mountain town hides a dark secret.... When his father's death brings Grant Shipman to the Appalachian town of Wallen's Gap, he believes his biggest problem will be dealing with the slow pace and odd townsfolk. But something sinister is at work. A dark power rises, an echo of the town's bloody past. A book of blood magic offers an unspeakable horror a gateway into the world of the living, and only Grant stands in the way of their "Dark Rite."

Life isn’t all that easy when you’re a paranormal private investigator involved with a police chief who’s convinced the paranormal world doesn’t exist. When he sees it up close and first hand, Jack knows that Miranda hasn’t been entirely truthful about her profession. Not that great for a relationship in its early stages.

In this new collection, Patrick Barb explores themes of family found and lost, media consumption and the dangers of runaway nostalgia, the supernatural in our lives, and the impact of violence in both the long- and short-term. From rural backwoods to Park Slope brownstones, Barb's characters face impossible, awful situations, testing their inner strength and understanding of reality. Covering quiet horror, weird fiction, supernatural horror, slasher horror, topical dark fiction, and more, these stories spotlight supposedly familiar terrors and fears in new and unexpected ways.

Through detailed first-person accounts, collected evidence, extensive historical research, and in-depth scientific analysis, After Dark Paranormal Investigations takes you on a firsthand guided tour through the world of paranormal investigation with the NTPI research team. Discover the scientific principles, evidence, and theories behind each investigation in seven of the most popular cases from the NTPI portfolio. Find for yourself why paranormal activity could not only be plausible but quite probable.

What happens when exquisitely beautiful elves start getting all the roles in Hollywood? Human actors sue, that's what. In a desperate attempt to keep the squabbling inside the Screen Actors Guild from going public, the president of SAG forces the two sides into arbitration. Enter Linnet Ellery, a human lawyer working for a vampire law firm, to serve as arbitrator. Linnet discovers that there are sinister forces at work in Tinsel Town, determined to shatter the fragile peace between elves, vampires, werewolves, and humans.

The life of deadly Russian slayer, Trace, has always revolved around death and preventing humankind from learning about the legendary creatures of the night. But now his position as a Watcher has become a prison, and dealing death for the Nation isn't as prestigious as he once believed it to be. College dropout Bessina Darrow has witnessed things she isn't permitted to see, a simple case of wrong place at the wrong time puts her life in danger. When Bessina becomes his mark, Trace is prepared to eliminate her.

Christmastide. A time of feasting and good cheer. Gifts, cards, and blazing holly logs. Snow falls while family and friends trim the tree and kiss under the mistletoe. But it isn’t always joyful. It’s the coldest time of year. The days are short, the nights long. Chilling myths lie concealed behind the raucous revelry...The ghoulish events in the frozen workhouse...The undead presence at the costumed ball...The pantomime that became a massacre...The winter goddess with the heart of ice...The thieves who woke the dark side of the festive spirit...

From astronauts in deep space to the ghosts of the Civil War, New York Times best-selling author Alethea Kontis creates worlds of wonder and delight, of weirdness and despair, of whimsy and darkness. Here are 20 stories and poems that will transport you to the magical dangerous worlds you've always known should exist, but have never quite been able to find.

When actress Cassidy May lands the lead in the story of Hellen Grimaldi’s life, she believes it could be the boost her career needs. However, the more she looks into the past of Hellen and the shocking events that led to her death, the more fearful Cassidy becomes about taking the role. Did Hellen truly summon demons during that fateful performance? Was Cassidy about to unleash the same hell that Hellen had? What dark forces were really at play behind the curtain?

It's a nice house on a country road. Jack and Erika Harris expect to be happy there. It doesn't matter that they're living in a deserted suburb where, years ago, murders and mutilations destroyed the residents. It doesn't matter...until those that caused the deaths come back - those that sprang from the earth. Those that need. Those that are not human. The Harris's nice house stands between them and what they must have. Nothing has ever mattered more.

A young orphan seeks vengeance against the Yakuza man who killed her parents…. A jaded Ronin seeks out an old colleague before enacting a last ritual…. And an ancient demon taunts a former Knight of a holy order from the blade of her ancient samurai sword.

Seraphina Ramon will stop at nothing to find out the truth about why her sister Eff is in a coma after a very suspicious "accident." Even if it means infiltrating the last place Seraphina knows Eff was alive: a once-abandoned amusement park now populated by a community of cultists. Follow Seraphina through the mouth of the Goblin: To the left, a wolf-themed roller coaster rests on the blackened earth, curled up like a dead snake. To the right, an animatronic Humpty Dumpty falls off a concrete castle and shatters on the ground, only to reform itself moments later.