Historical Horror Fiction

Amid crusades and inquisitions, a medieval Spanish priest makes a devil's bargain to save his niece's life and unleashes a horror into the world. This short story is just one of 10 tales of extreme horror contained within the forthcoming Shadows And Teeth, Volume Three, a unique collection featuring a range of international talent.

Notre-Dame de París cuenta la historia de la gitana Esmeralda, quien en compañía de su cabra Djali toca la pandereta y baila en las calles de París para subsistir, hasta que se la acusa de haber asesinado al capitán Phoebus, su amado, y se la condena a la horca. Sin embargo, el jorobado Quasimodo, campanero de Notre-Dame, quien tras su deformidad esconde un corazón sensible y sediento de amor, luchará para salvar a la gitana. Recreación del mito de la bella y la bestia y uno de los monumentos de la literatura francesa, Notre-Dame de París es una historia verdaderamente inmortal.

On a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton's husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive seance. Having "married up" into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and vulnerable, she knows that to clear her name she must retrace her husband's last steps. And so, joining forces with her husband's best friend—and the only Manhattan lawyer who will accept her case—Evie dives into the mysterious underworld of the occult. Before long, the trail brings them to a charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain.

WWII. The spring of 1944. War is hell, but Hitler's wolfpack of psychotic madmen are creating monsters. Searching for the invincible soldier, the Nazis are playing God with humanity. And hell, itself is about to crawl itself out of the bloody gates of perdition. Vampire soldiers, wolfmen commandos and the undead are walking through the dark and foreboding forests of Castle Ungeheuer. Death stalks the night searching for warm blood. Human blood.

Amid the chaos of the sinking Titanic, a young Eleanor Annenberg meets the eyes of a stranger and is immediately captivated. As the ship buckles around them, she follows him down into the hold and finds him leaning over an open sarcophagus, surrounded by mutilated bodies. She catches but a glimpse of what lies within. Elle is pulled out of the water, but the stranger is lost. Unintentionally, he leaves her a gift; one so compelling that Elle embarks on a journey that pulls her into a world of ancient evils, vicious hunters, and human prey to find the man who saved her that night.

In 1920s Fredericksburg, Virginia, young country boy Middy Grove sets out on his own, working at a pickle factory and searching for a place for himself in a constantly changing town uncertain of its identity. One day Middy finds himself drawn to a mysterious city girl with bobbed hair and eyes that seem to shine in the darkness from under her brimmed hat. Like she's some angel fallen from Heaven, he never seems to fully draw her attention, though she always leaves him with the strange phrase "You're too good for me."

The position of lady’s companion at the grand, isolated Hemford House was meant to save Estelle Glass from the scandal of her own making. But when she arrived at the mansion and was greeted by the stern, mysterious and intimidating Mrs. Blackwell, Estelle began to see what had been meant as a punishment might possibly become more like a reward…if only she could manage to find her place in the dreary household and the service of Mrs. Virginia Hemford, the childlike beauty Estelle had been sent to serve.

As America enters the Gilded Age, an insidious darkness lurks behind the veneer of golden prosperity. Guided by the cryptic directive of an ancient intelligence, Samuel Sheldon and the Trust insert themselves in the highest levels of the United States government, corrupting even the Executive Office. From their newly established base of power, they engineer a secret war across the expanding western territories, bent on claiming vast undiscovered gold deposits.

Every year on the day of the Ghost Festival, creatures from the underworld roam city streets freely when the gate of hell is opened. The owner of the House of Life set out a lavish banquet to entertain and appease these hungry ghosts. This year, however, foul creatures led by a long-dead Manchurian nobleman came down from the Devil's Peak on horseback and stormed the banquet hall. They harassed the guests and wrecked havoc to the festivity, demanding the House of Life to hand over something it has been safe-keeping for centuries.

After the death of her husband, Simon, in an accident which rendered her unconscious for a time, Katherine Greene inherits Moorwood Manor. She also becomes a prisoner there. Katherine is accused of murdering her husband during the accident. His cousin, Richard Greene, demands that in exchange for his silence about the murder, Katherine marry him and turn over the estate. If she refuses, he will turn her over to the police. Katherine is completely under Richard's power.

Jane Shackle is a young maid haunted by visions who is tapped to protect Queen Victoria by Fayte Guardians, a shadowy group of castle servants that claim a powerful ally from the fae realm. But is she really hunting a killer, as she’s been told? Or is she merely a pawn in their plot? Jane must use her wits and master her abilities—with help from a peculiar dragonfly—to uncover the truth, save the crown, and ultimately confront an otherworldly enemy driven to destroy them all.

In the autumn of 1879, an intelligent, artificially-created being - outwardly a young woman called Maria - arrives in London under the protection of biologist Professor George Hobson. Hobson gathers a few close friends and reveals her existence, explaining that she is the final result of a research program undertaken by a dynasty of unethical scientists, the von Frakkens - all now dead. Unknown to Hobson, one of his friends is linked to an underground scientific organization, the Promethean Society. Set up in the early 1800s, its aim is to conquer death by whatever means possible.

When Francis House enlists in the British Army in 1907, at the tender age of 15 years and three months, he is not thinking about war. But he soon discovers that simply becoming a soldier is not enough and, against the advice of his sergeant, he seeks out a real fight. Wading ashore at Gallipoli seven years later, Francis thinks he might just have found his greatest opportunity. Here, he thinks, he might finally prove himself a man. First, though, he must find his missing friend Berto. He needs to say he's sorry. He cannot yet imagine the ghosts that might stand in his way.

It is December 1888. Jack the Ripper has not killed for over a month and London is beginning to relax as Christmas approaches. When Katherine Kramer cuts herself on a strange book at a dinner party, she quickly falls ill. Her husband Richard is a professor of medicine, but even his efforts are futile as the mysterious illness blazes through her. As Katherine dies, she gives birth to something nightmarish. Something which should not exist. Something which spurs Richard to embark on a terrifying journey of discovery as he chases the answer to one question: who or what killed his wife?

Through heavens intervention everyone is brought forward to face evil of the past. George and Chris have no choice but to discuss conspiracies that occurred in the twentieth century. One of the saddest times in our world’s history was the twentieth century. George compares patriotism with political deviancy from what he knows had happened and why. George will talk about specific times of history that he was involved with.

Bristol, 1896. Used to scraping a living as the young assistant to an ageing con artist, Cecily Marsden's life is turned upside down when her master suddenly dies. Believing herself to blame, could young Cec somehow have powers she little understands? Meanwhile Eadie Carleton, a pioneering early film-maker, struggles for her talent to be taken seriously in a male-dominated world, and a brilliant young magician, George Perris, begins to see the potential in moving pictures.

The Evil ... It was an obscene evil that could not be quenched with blood or sated with the flesh of its defiled victims. The Terror ... It wormed its way into the human brain, devouring the mind, controlling the body and turning its prey into savage creatures lusting for destruction. The Metamorphosis ... Its only outward sign was the grotesque metamorphosis of its victim's hand into a gnarled four-fingered claw -- a claw whose razor-sharp nails dealt death with the precision of a stiletto.

December 1874. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are looking forward to a traditional Christmas with plenty of food, alcohol, and the odd duel. But then Death meets Elizabeth, a young girl with unusual gifts, who needs their protection. When other children start going missing throughout London and the Prime Minister himself asks for their help, they have to put down the brandy and mince pies to solve the mystery while—as usual—saving the world from an unspeakable horror.

When word spreads that three bodies have been found mutilated, Donald offers to help authorities seek the killer. He coaxes Harold into assisting and winds up leading the naive young man and the dutiful Alice into a labyrinth of deceit, madness, and murder. Lingering in the periphery is the shadowy figure of a local legend commonly known as the Slingerman, who some believe is behind the heinous crimes. Harold, who has heard stories of the creature since his cradle days, has his doubts — until the ominous figure begins manifesting itself to him.

Behold the Many is the eerily beautiful story of three young sisters, Anah, Aki, and Leah. In 1913, they are sent away from their family for treatment for tuberculosis to an orphanage in Hawaii's Kalihi Valley. Of the three, two will die there, in spite of the nuns' best efforts to save them, and only Anah, the eldest, will grow to adulthood. But the ghosts of the dead children are afraid to leave the grounds of St. Joseph's, which is the only place they have known as home, and as Anah prepares to begin married life away from the orphanage, these ghost children grow angry.