Horror Fiction Short Stories

In her second collection from Trepidatio Publishing, award-winning author Gemma Files takes her listeners on journeys out beyond safe borders—from the trackless depths of the sea, to the empty desert frontiers of the Weird West, even to the edges of cracks between worlds. Here, in these narrow spaces between the known and the unknown, behind the paper-thin curtains of reality, lurk monsters both human and ancient: selkies and avenging revenants, voodoo priestesses and pirate sorcerers, ghosts and vampires, and the most famous murderer of all time.

Horror movies hold a complicated space in the queer community: historically misogynist, and often homo- and transphobic, the genre has also been inadvertently feminist and open to subversive readings. It Came from the Closet features twenty-five original essays by writers speaking to this relationship, through connections both empowering and oppressive. From Carmen Maria Machado on Jennifer’s Body, Jude Ellison S. Doyle on In My Skin, Addie Tsai on Dead Ringers, and many more, these conversations convey the rich reciprocity between queerness and horror.

Have you ever tried to build a haunted house? Best-selling author Travis Brown returns with a new collection taking listeners on a journey into dark rooms filled with the creepy, weird, and unexplained. The sundown is tinted green, a wind blows in from the west, and the walls between our world and all others grow thin enough to slip through. Invisible nightmares walk among us, some more dangerous than others. Make sure when that happens, you’re somewhere secret and safe.

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; online posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution . . .

A lush and elegant collection of tales—many having appeared in various “Best Of” anthologies—teeming with frightful and tragic events, yet profoundly and intimately human. These chilling tales will engross and enthrall. For listeners of Kelly Link, Carmen Maria Machado, and Angela Carter, this is a must have collection of ghostly tales set to deliver a frisson of terror and glee.

A death row cell that recounts the dark stories of its inmates. An informant who consumes shards of crystallized skulls to see the past. A world where to speak of the dead is a violation of an unjust society's rules. Heists, drugs, cults, detectives, murder, monsters, revenge.

Robert Rahula delivers a dazzling collection of contemporary “portilla” short stories—that writing style that interweaves graphic sexual detail, existential philosophy, wry political commentary, and intricate dream-like plots. A large talking bear waxes philosophical on the nature of evil while eating pancakes. Scientists work together mapping the Higgs Boson particle while secretly plotting the seduction of each others’ wives. A man joins the Bad Luck Club and learns the ultimate method for changing his luck. Forbidden pleasures in a crematorium. A duck walks into a bar.

Seventeen authors reimagine the biblical apocalypse and all the hell that follows in 16 horrifying tales. What if the prophecies of Revelation hit today? What sort of craziness and evil would ensue? With this list of excellent authors contributing, it’s sure to be a hell of a listen!

This collection of 18 short tales, a novelette, and a short novel takes the listener inside the dark imagination of Elizabeth Engstrom, author of acclaimed horror classics like When Darkness Loves Us. In these stories, you will hear about a woman asked to be complicit in her own mother’s death, a grandmother with a macabre hobby, a bizarre, phallic-shaped flower that portends evil for a married couple, a father whose son is caught up in a sinister government experiment. These are weird and unsettling tales that will linger with the listener.

Jack Brown is an unhappy painter whose glass is always half-empty. He lives on the top floor of an apartment complex next to a perky, optimistic witch named Cassie and her troublesome cat. This Halloween, beneath a full moon, Jack stumbles onto a magic spell that brings him far more than he bargained for. Will his pride allow him to ask Cassie for help? And if so...will he manage to do it before he is doomed?

The Victorians were obsessed with Egyptology and mummies. It was during the second half of the 19th century that many of the most significant archeological finds were made in Egypt, and stories of the revenge of the mummies on anyone raiding their tombs, stealing their treasures or unwrapping their corpses abounded. This collection brings together the best and scariest short stories of the period, featuring vengeance-seeking mummies, bandaged zombies, pharaonic ghosts and ancient curses.

Medusa's Ankles celebrates the very best of A. S. Byatt's short fiction, carefully selected from a lifetime of writing. Peopled by artists, poets, and fabulous creatures, the stories blaze with creativity and color. From ancient myth to a British candy factory, from a Chinese restaurant to a Mediterranean swimming pool, from a Turkish bazaar to a fairy-tale palace, Byatt transports her listeners beyond the veneer of the ordinary - even beyond the gloss of the fantastical - to places rich and strange and wholly unforgettable.

An alien intelligence controls the minds of a doomsday cult. Dark gods manipulate a serial killer. A jungle cult sacrifices tourists to a giant snake god. A shadow creature feeds on a hapless woman. Be forewarned: as you step into The Temple of Battered Bones, these and other unique and spine-chilling tales will pull you deeper into its cryptic halls. Be prepared, for some who enter never truly leave…

A secret organization ruthlessly seeks power over supernatural terrors in this globe-trotting anthology of arcane mystery and adventure, from the bestselling world of Arkham Horror.

It's not really about the boots … or is it? Boot Points is a set of short tales about Violet Parker's purple boots. It is set in the story time between the third and fourth books in the Deadwood Mystery series. Each tale not only explains more of Violet's history, but also shows the role each character plays in Violet's life. In addition to this short story, there is a deleted scene from Nearly Departed in Deadwood, the first book in the Deadwood Mystery Series.

Ghost Stories of Shimla Hills is a chilling compilation of the supernatural events and the activities of spirits in the hills of Shimla. The book presents ghost stories as narrated by the residents of Shimla.

En los doce soberbios cuentos que componen este volumen Mariana Enriquez despliega todo un repertorio de recursos del relato clásico de terror: apariciones espectrales, brujas, sesiones de espiritismo, grutas, visiones, muertos que vuelven a la vida... Pero, lejos de proponer una mera revisitación arqueológica del género, reelabora ese material con una voz propia y radicalmente moderna. Tirando del hilo de la mejor tradición, la lleva un paso más allá, con historias que indagan en lo siniestro que se agazapa en lo cotidiano.

"Dancers in the Dark" is set in the Sookieverse and features Sean and Layla. Dancer Layla Rue Le May's childhood prepared her to handle just about anything, including her aloof partner, Sean McClendon, a 300-year-old, redheaded vampire. Even so, when she somehow acquires a stalker, Layla Rue is surprised to find that Sean is the only one she can trust.

A cemetery full of the restless dead. A town so wicked it has already burned twice, with the breath of the third fire looming. A rural, isolated bridge with a terrifying monster waiting for the completion of its summoning ritual. A lake that allows the drowned to return, though they have been changed by the claws of death. These are the shadowed, liminal spaces where the curses and monsters lurk, refusing to be forgotten.

Addiction starts like a sweet lullaby sung by a trusted loved one. It washes away the pains of the day and wraps you in the warmness of the womb where nothing hurts and every dream is possible. Yet soon enough, this warm state of bliss becomes a cold shiver, the ecstasy and dreams become nightmares, yet we can't stop listening to the lullaby. We crave to hear the siren song as it rips us apart.