Horror Fiction Short Stories

Our greatest fears are of the unknown. Usually we think those fears are in front of us...or behind us. But perhaps the human body itself holds the greatest horror. What happens after death? Do our bodies have a new existence either in whole...or part? Will others seek to claim them and do unspeakable things? We don’t know. But our authors do. And they have the talents and wits to make these diabolical stories vehicles for horror, for terror, for the unimaginable....

An anthology of short stories based upon/inspired by, and in loving homage to all of those great gore-fest movies and books of the 1980s (not necessarily based in that era, although some do ride that wave of nostalgia), the golden age when horror well and truly came kicking, screaming, and spraying blood, gore, and body parts out from the shadows.

Josh Malerman is a master weaver of stories—and in this spine-chilling collection he spins five twisted tales from the shadows of the human soul.

Linx Maxwell is on the verge of greatness. She's finally graduated from street fairs and hopping chain link to making art that pays the bills. Her family life is...not dull. And it looks like her van might just be able to exist on hope and duct tape. If only she could get rid of the ghost who's plagued her since the eighth grade.

Welcome to Leeds, Massachusetts, where the drowned walk, where winged leeches blast angry static, where black magic casts a shadow over a cringing populace. You've tuned in to WXXT. The fracture in the stanchion. The drop of blood in your morning milk. The viper in the veins of the Pioneer Valley.

In these tense, macabre stories, bodies fall from the sky, perfect nails conceal grisly secrets and violence pulses behind gleaming façades. From hellish visions to obsessive relationships, acclaimed author Agustina Bazterrica takes us to the dark heart of human desires and fears. Shocking, brutal, yet glinting with sharp humour, "Nineteen Claws and a Black Bird" is a breathtaking dive into human monstrousness from a master of contemporary horror.

A woman metamorphoses into a giant slug; another quite literally eats her heart out; a wasp falls in love with an orchid; and hair starts sprouting from the walls. These stories slip and slide between genres - from video games to fan fiction, body horror to choose-your-own-adventure - as characters cycle through giddying changes in gender, physiology, species, and identity. Collapsing boundaries between bodies and forms, these fictions interrogate the visceral, gross, and absurd.

CONTENTS: 01. The Nameless City 02. The Festival 03-04. The Colour Out of Space 05-07. The Call of Cthulhu 08-17. The Dunwich Horror 18-25. The Whisperer in Darkness 26 . A Reminiscence of Dr. Samuel Johnson 27-28.The Haunter of the Dark 29-33. The Shadow Over Innsmouth 34. Discarded Draft of "The Shadow Over Innsmouth" 35-42. The Shadow Out of Time 43-54. At the Mountains of Madness 55-79.The Case of Charles Dexter Ward 80. Azathoth 81. Beyond the Wall of Sleep 82. Celephaïs 83. Cool Air 84. Dagon 85. Ex Oblivione.

Imagine exposing what no one has the courage to expose, or say you are poetizing what happens anytime and anywhere.

In these five tales of bizarre, bloody - and often erotic - horror, you will learn about the most innovative sex toy on the market, how to reach the peak of sexual pleasure, how jelly is made, if the dead are really dead, and what happens in a pawn shop when the world ends. Prepare yourself to be frightened, offended, revolted, and even aroused! Prepare yourself for 5 Tales that Will Land You in Hell!

Twenty short horror stories, one nightmarish collection. Includes all the stories from Karma, The Place Between Worlds, and Home. A collection terrifying stories, with tales of vengeance, the occult, a deadly competition, a weekend trip that turns violent, witchcraft, and things that go bump in the night. These short stories pack a punch, with endings that will haunt your dreams. Supernatural powers, possession, vicious serial killers, creature features, and more come together in this varied collection of disturbing and strange tales.

From the incomparable master of horror and suspense comes an electrifying collection of contemporary literary horror, with stories from 25 writers representing today’s most talented voices in the genre. Horror writing is usually associated with formulaic gore, but New Wave horror writers have more in common with the wildly inventive, evocative spookiness of Edgar Allan Poe than with the sometimes-predictable hallmarks of their peers. Showcasing this cutting-edge talent, Poe’s Children now brings the best of the genre’s stories to a wider audience.

Raven Man and Other Tales of Terror and Suspense is a collection of six disturbing stories, ranging from classic gothic horror to contemporary crime with a wicked twist.

Created as an homage to the 1980 classic horror anthology, Dark Forces, edited by Kirby McCauley, this collection contains 12 original novelettes showcasing today’s top horror talent. Dark Stars features all-new stories from award-winning authors and up-and-coming voices like Stephen Graham Jones, Priya Sharma, Usman T. Malik, Caroline Kepnes, and Alma Katsu, with seasoned author John F.D. Taff at the helm. An afterword from original Dark Forces contributor Ramsey Campbell is a poignant finale to this bone-chilling collection.

An aspiring writer moves into a new apartment and discovers that her landlady has murdered her husband. Elsewhere, an accomplished surgeon is approached by a cabaret singer, whose beautiful appearance belies the grotesque condition of her heart. And while the surgeon's jealous lover vows to kill him, a violent envy also stirs in the soul of a lonely craftsman. Desire meets with impulse and erupts, attracting the attention of the surgeon's neighbor - who is drawn to a decaying residence that is now home to instruments of human torture.

From New York Times best seller Mira Grant comes Countdown, a novella prequel set in the thrilling and treacherous world of Feed. The year is 2014, the year everything changed. We cured cancer. We cured the common cold. We died. This is the story of how we rose. When will you rise?

Revenge is one of the great themes in literature, from Shakespeare to Poe. This collection contains 18 original stories commissioned for this volume plus a reprint of a classic Ruth Rendell mystery.

The King in Yellow is a collection of 10 short stories on supernatural subjects first published 1895. The title refers to a mysterious play which causes derangement in the minds of those who read or see it, and which is mentioned in the first four stories.

Rock-a-Bye Baby: Lisa Rasmussen just had a baby, and everything in her life seems perfect. Only she wishes that everyone else around her would stop getting in her way. Eenie, Meenie: Johnny is a criminal. He has been locked up before—but never in a place quite like this. Nibble, Nibble, Crunch: In the beginning, she thought it was sweet, this snowman who emerged as if from nowhere, but soon, the six-year-old Emma realizes that this snowman is different. Humpty Dumpty: Four boys from a nearby boarding school planned on attacking and killing a family—just for the fun of it.

The story of Paxton, an antiquarian and archaeologist who holidays in "Seaburgh" and inadvertently stumbles across one of the lost crowns of Anglia, which legendarily protect the country from invasion. Montague Rhodes James was a noted British mediaeval scholar and provost of King's College, Cambridge (1905–1918) and of Eton College (1918–1936). He is best remembered for his ghost stories which are widely regarded as among the finest in English literature.