Horror Fiction Short Stories

Montague Rhodes James is cited as perhaps the greatest English writer of ghost stories, an opinion few would disagree with. Many of his elegant yet terrifying tales were created by discarding the prevailing gothic clichés and placing his characters and narrative in a realistic setting. Thereby the stories gained atmosphere and menace on a grand scale and he was famed as the originator of the antiquarian ghost story. Although story-telling and writing these 30 or so tales was a hobby, when published their effect transformed the genre and still chill the bones in our more modern times.

A young woman’s night-time escapade goes eerily wrong. A man is forced to relive the horrible accident that tore his family apart over and over again. An underground thrill through ancient catacombs proves disastrously horrific. A young boy is haunted by the scarecrow in the fields behind his home. And a woman is revisited by the ghost of a psychotic killer in the most dreadful of ways. Scare Street brings you some of the best short horror stories by authors Ron Ripley, David Longhorn, Eric Whittle, Sara Clancy, and A. I. Nasser, all in one book.

Assemble Artifacts: A short story magazine that assembles a thrilling new mix of stories from genres including horror, science-fiction, comedy, and suspense. Buried at the heart of every story in the magazine is a unique artifact, an object that has inspired our storytellers to create a big idea, an irresistible question, a new immersive world, or a sense of wonder. Includes “Nothing Was Already Here” by April Wolfe, “Labyrinth Loop” by Isabel J. Kim, “Divine” by Michael Griffo, “Dismantle” by Joshua Sky, “The Twelve Gates Barber Shop” by K.T. Jayne, and “Refrain” by Gretchen McNeil.

Beth was a homely little misfit girl who lived at the Maudlin Mary Magdeline Orphanage. She claimed her mother, who had passed away a year before, was constantly with her. A wealthy widow named Mrs. Stone decided to adopt her. Does Mrs. Stone get more than she bargained for? Is Beth and her mother a package deal? This is a short story with 3600 words. This is a story of the paranormal, but it is very sweet!

LIMBUS, INC. is a shadowy employment agency that operates at the edge of the normal world. LIMBUS's employees are just as suspicious and ephemeral as the motives of the company, if indeed it could be called a company in the ordinary sense of the word. In this shared-world anthology, five heavy hitters from the dark worlds of horror, fantasy, and sci-fi pool their warped takes on the shadow organization that offers employment of the most unusual kind to those on the fringes of society.

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.

Kenji Sanada has always been more comfortable with classic fictional monsters than with other people, even his family—Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, the mummy—all safely immortalized on his wall of fame. But what will he do when the all-too-real horrors of modern reality threaten to break right through those selfsame walls?

Clayton James Felding is a post adolescent teen. New to suburbia, he is concerned about societal deterioration, the implications upon society, and his psyche. Follow him into a home between worlds, and the nightmares in its shadow. Your understanding of reality will be tested…from the top of the stairs.

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.

Imagine Monty Python writes horror...Welcome to the wonderfully horrific world of Bizarro - that dark, forbidding corner of the horror genre where absolutely anything goes and one may delve into the farthest recesses of the authors' warped imaginations. Prepare yourself, dear listener, for a journey into the unknown reaches of terror, from which you can only hope you will return with your sanity intact...

The Conjure Woman is a collection of short stories by noted African American author Charles Waddell Chesnutt. It is considered to be one the seminal collections of African American literature.

Imagine a future in which human boxing has been replaced by heavyweight bouts between massive robots. Richard Matheson’s classic short story, “Steel", is the inspiration for Real Steel, a new movie starring Hugh Jackman.

Eve has a fake ID, a .38, and a violent lover receding in the rearview mirror. He’ll never find her at the isolated motel, and its kindly manager is happy to ease her fears. But if Eve is the only guest, whom does she keep hearing on the other side of the wall? Eve won’t get a good night’s rest until she finds out.

Many say that a composer's tenth symphony is cursed. Few have made it to their tenth, and Ludwig Van Beethoven, Spencer Evans' idol, was not one of them. Spencer Evans, professor of music at a prestigious university, is one of the most well-respected pianists in the world. He is a legend in music, and is obsessed with the work of Beethoven. He has collected rare artifacts and items that belonged to Beethoven himself. To Spencer Evans' amazement, a new treasure arrives under mysterious circumstances. An original copy of Beethoven's tenth symphony.

A couple is stuck in a small town, unable to leave due to a violent storm that seems to have come out of nowhere. The residents seem overly prepared for what, at first, seems like an ordinary thunderstorm. People are fleeing into their homes and shutting them up as if protecting themselves from something far deadlier than thunder and lightning. There's just something about those clouds....

When Crag Minyac is released from prison, his demons return, begging for blood. As deranged as he is, Crag doesn't put up much of a fight. When he's forced to move into a halfway house as part of his probation, he immediately begins looking for his next victim - a tasty treat to satisfy his wicked cravings. But things get complicated when a ghost that haunts the old Astora Hotel discovers his plot. As it turns out, Crag's blood lust may cost him a higher price than he expected to pay.

The events of the story occupy a single June day in post-World War I Central London, as wealthy and fashionable society hostess Clarissa Dalloway is preparing for a party she is to give that evening. Through her thoughts and memories, the voices of others who have touched on her life and will attend her party, Virginia Woolf shows her genius as a writer who is both accessible and popular.

A man determined to kill a clown. A child's eleventh birthday heralds the arrival of a bizarre new entourage. A suicidal performer just can't seem to die. All of these weird marvels and more can be found at the Nightmare Carnival!

An excellent collection of creepy ghost stories from some of the most notable names of early horror fiction, including: “The Willows” by Algernon Blackwood, “The Shadows On The Wall” by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, “The Messenger” by Robert W.Chambers, “Lazarus” by Leonid Andreyev, “The Beast With Five Fingers” by W.F. Harvey, “The Mass Of Shadows” by Anatole France, “What Was It” by Fitz-James O’brien, “The Middle Toe Of The Right Foot” by Ambrose Bierce, “The Shell Of Sense” by Olivia Howard Dunbar, and more!

Yog-Sothoth, known as the Key and the Gate and a host of other names, is H.P. Lovecraft's most enduring creation after the Necromnomicon and Great Cthulhu itself. An eldritch god that occupies all time and space, Yog-Sothoth is most known for his role as the antagonist in The Dunwich Horror but has played a role in many other Cthulhu Mythos stories. Tales of Yog-Sothoth features several stories centered around the creepy deity and its monstrous intelligence.