Horror Fiction Stories

With tales from Laird Barron, Stephen King, John Langan, Peter Straub, and many others, and featuring Datlow’s comprehensive overview of the year in horror, now, more than ever, The Best Horror of the Year provides the petrifying horror fiction readers have come to expect - and enjoy.

Featuring contributions from fabulous horror indie authors, this filthy collection of extreme body horror tales is not for those easily offended. These stories contain common tropes used within the broader horror genre, as well as some characteristics more specific to the body horror subgenre to include; pornography, invasion, contagion, mutation, transformation, disease, mutilation, or other unnatural or violent distortions of the human body.

All Goff wanted was for his essay on witchcraft to be good enough to win a scholarship to a private academy far away from Spraksville, the miserable, spooky little town he is stuck in. But, if he'd known that Spraksville's history of witchcraft was more than just folklore, he never would have experimented with casting a spell in the cemetery at midnight as research to make the essay great.

Alex’s original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping the witch Natacha happy, but soon he’ll run out of pages to read from and be trapped forever. He’s loved scary stories his whole life, and he knows most don’t have a happily ever after. Now that Alex is trapped in a true terrifying tale, he’s desperate for a different ending - and a way out of this twisted place. This modern spin on the Scheherazade story is perfect for fans of Coraline and A Tale Dark and Grimm.

Twelve new horror and ghost stories set in London by Tony Walker, producer of the Classic Ghost Stories Podcast. New horrors in familiar places! Stories include "The Highgate Vampire", "The Shadow of the Ripper", "Bad Times in Little Venice", and "Noises from the Attic". These all new stories will bring shivers to your spine as you walk the fog-bound London streets and wander by the lonely River Thames from Greenwich to Wapping and from Highgate to Soho.

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.

How will you die? Dr. Atwell knows. He knows how everyone will die, even the ones he won't kill himself. He also knows about all your clones. You didn't really think you were the original, did you? He's even traveled back in time to bring his daughter back from the dead. Shadow on the Stairs is a collection of short thriller, horror, mystery, and suspense stories.

The bold investigators of Arkham Horror are humanity's best hope against monstrous terrors from beyond the void in this second collection of extraordinary eldritch novellas.

The day Louisiana teenager Rory Deveaux arrives in London marks a memorable occasion. For Rory, it’s the start of a new life at a London boarding school. But for many, this will be remembered as the day a series of brutal murders broke out across the city - gruesome crimes mimicking the horrific work of Jack the Ripper in the autumn of 1888. Soon “Rippermania” takes hold of modern-day London, and the police are left with few leads and no witnesses. Except one. Rory spotted the man police believe to be the prime suspect.

In this new collection, Richard Thomas has crafted 14 stories that push the boundaries of dark fiction in an intoxicating, piercing blend of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Equally provocative and profound, each story is masterfully woven with transgressive themes that burrow beneath the skin.

From New York Times best-selling author Jonathan Maberry comes a semi-sequel to Dead of Night in which four army reservists are assigned to hold a small rural bridge during the early days of the zombie apocalypse.

It’s another sucky year at Bathory High for Vladimir Tod. The evil vampire D’Ablo is hunting for the ritual that could steal Vlad’s powers. His best friend Henry doesn’t want to be his drudge anymore. And as if all that weren’t enough, it’s getting harder for Vlad to resist feeding on the people around him. When months go by with no word from Uncle Otis and D’Ablo shows up demanding Vlad’s father’s journal, Vlad realizes that having a normal high school year is the least of his concerns.

"Crooken Sands" is a short fantasy/horror tale by the author of Dracula. The story follows a London merchant on a mysterious adventure in Scotland.

The Threads of Fate features a series of vignettes inspired by the universe of the Blackbirds tabletop role-playing game. In a war-ravaged landscape, these foreboding characters' stories are sure to be a spine-tingling delight to fans of the game and anyone who enjoys a well-told horror story.

Kari James, Urban Native, is a fan of heavy metal, ripped jeans, Stephen King novels, and dive bars. She spends most of her time at her favorite spot in Denver, the White Horse. When her cousin Debby finds an old family bracelet that once belonged to Kari’s mother, it inadvertently calls up both her mother’s ghost and a monstrous entity, and her willful ignorance about her past is no longer sustainable. Haunted by visions of her mother and hunted by this mysterious creature, Kari must search for what happened to her mother all those years ago.

This is the tale of a 228 year old man, born in 1690, telling about his interactions with Dr. Samuel Johnson. A large part focuses on their belonging to a literary club and the other men who also participated in the club. It is a simple observance of social interactions, as put forth by a very old man and his dated voice.

Perhaps Blackwood's most celebrated story, The Willows was influenced heavily by his own trips down the Danube River. It tells the story of two campers who pick the wrong place to sleep for the night, a place where another dimension impinges on our own. H.P. Lovecraft considered this the finest supernatural tale in English literature.

Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother—then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.

Imagine a Depression-era town where it hasn't rained for years. A pale rainmaker with other-worldly eyes brings rain to the countryside and mesmerizes the townspeople, but the children begin to disappear one by one. Only young Robert Steelgate is able to resist the rainmaker's spell and begin the struggle to discover what has happened to his missing brother and the other children.

It's a night like any other on board the Icarus. Then, catastrophe strikes: the massive luxury spaceliner is yanked out of hyperspace and plummets into the nearest planet. Lilac LaRoux and Tarver Merendsen survive. And they seem to be alone. Lilac is the daughter of the richest man in the universe. Tarver comes from nothing, a young war hero who learned long ago that girls like Lilac are more trouble than they're worth. But with only each other to rely on, Lilac and Tarver must work together, making a tortuous journey across the eerie, deserted terrain to seek help.