Occult Anthology

Roland Butler's life is falling apart. He has been fired from his job only to come home to a furious wife. To make matters worse, he discovers his wife's infidelity. Defeated and hopeless, Roland loses all direction in his despair. In his time of need, Roland meets a mysterious man who vows to change Roland's life.

TouchPoint Press presents Nightmares of Strangers, an anthology of 13 eerie stories that will spark feelings of unease and paranoia with just the right helping of fear to last beyond the night - a devilish deal, the return of the murderous H.H. Holmes, a ghost that isn’t what it seems, and other spine-tingling tales that will make you double-check the locks, look under the bed, and wonder what really made that loud “thump” in the attic.

A cab ride to an infamous cemetery takes a sinister turn when the passengers discover they may be the graveyard’s next residents. Fun and games unleash evil beyond imagination when a young couple rolls the dice of a board game from hell. And a treasure hunt turns deadly when a pair of explorers discover what’s really hiding deep in the woods....

Evil is unleashed in Scare Street’s latest bone-chilling collection of supernatural horror. Fourteen tales of terror lurk within this new volume - more than enough to give even the bravest soul a reason to fear the night. As your eyes flutter open, you can still see dark images in your mind.... Horrifying monsters, demons, and ghouls with a hunger for human flesh.

To make, to break, to transform. These three lessons are at the heart of each of the stories in Nikki R. Leigh’s Lessons in Demoralization. Framed loosely by the notion that we learn what to do and especially what not to do by the stories told around us, this collection presents 22 horror stories that run the gamut of dark, emotional horror and lighthearted--sometimes comedic--horror.

When a brothel madame is murdered, it looks as if a centuries old witch’s curse on the land has claimed another victim. But as DCI Mike Saxby and his team investigate the background history of the building, other, more sinister, motives emerge. Then a local journalist who had been investigating that same unhappy history is the next to meet a grisly end, and a further discovery by police results in a race against time to prevent a national disaster.

A newlywed couple purchase a much desired haunted house with disastrous results, a young woman may lose her job and mind on the way to Alaska, and a group of high school girls attempt immortality in a last resort to save a friend. Connell takes on patriarchy and culture with a singular voice that will make you think, laugh, and shiver long after you finish listening.

Lucy is finally back with Daniel, but for how long? When she has a dream about Caleb being seriously hurt, she knows that she must do what she can to help him. She gets Caleb back to the motel where she and Daniel are staying, but something isn’t right. When Caleb pushes Lucy for answers, she finds herself in an impossible position, with far too much to lose.

It’s the beginning of the end. The war is impending, and there seems to be nothing that can be done to stop it. Daniel is offered a choice that he seems unable to avoid making, but he’s got other plans that Gabriel could never have foreseen. When the fight breaks out, someone is hurt in the crossfire. That person is then given a choice. A choice between getting to do it all over again or being with the person she loves. Can there be a happily ever after for Daniel and Lucy, or will they always be torn apart?

Lucy knows that she's in trouble. She knows that once Gabriel has the information that he needs, he is going to kill her. She knows that holding on to the information is the only thing keeping her alive. But as Gabriel ramps up the torture is being alive really such a great thing anymore? Gabriel doesn't know who he can trust. He knows that Caleb is probably the only one of his brothers who can help him break into Lucy's mind, but he has his doubts about Caleb. When desperation kicks in, he agrees to let Caleb help. But what will be the cost?

Lucy remembers everything. She remembers the moment she was born. She remembers how she was born, and she remembers what that makes her. Gabriel has managed to unlock her memories, and now she can’t escape them as they play out inside her eyes. She’s finally getting some answers to the questions that have plagued her life, but will they be what she wanted them to be? Daniel wasn’t always called Daniel. In fact, he didn’t take that name until he made a decision that he knew he would regret for eternity. What forced him to change his name, and what was the choice that led him to it?

Lucy knows there is something wrong with the psychiatric home she’s been taken to. She’s noticed that she seems to be the only patient there. She’s noticed all of the empty rooms and the fact that every door to the outside world is locked. She’s also noticed how strangely her doctor is acting. It’s as if he’s pushing her for information — but information about what? Gabriel knows that all the answers are in Lucy’s head, but she’s refusing to find them for him. He’s trying to keep calm. He’s trying to give her time, so that she can discover her memories on her own. But when she starts to cause trouble, he knows that there’s only one thing he can do. Will Lucy survive Gabriel’s desperate attempt to get the answers?

Lucy has always known that she was different from the other kids in her home. Of course, it doesn't help that she suffers from a recurring nightmare that wakes her up with a scream on her lips and sweat pouring down her back. The nightmare is driving her crazy. She's too scared to sleep, she's too tired to live and she feels as though it's never going to get better...until Daniel shows up, that is.

“Mr. Tony Abbot”? It was my time. I had been waiting for this moment and now it had arrived. It was like going to school or starting a new job for the first time, a feeling of apprehension. I was looking forward to it with dread, I was going down.

In these two "inspired by actual accounts" but still entirely fictional tales, a pair of challengers of the unknown go one on one with two of the world's most famous mysterious legends. In "Beneath Still Waters", a lake-dwelling giant creature draws a devoted paranormal investigator into a staggering encounter that goes far beyond a blurry photo of something with a long neck and humps passing by a Loch Ness excursion boat.

"Azathoth" is the beginning of a never-completed novel written by American horror fiction writer H. P. Lovecraft. It was written in June 1922 and published as a fragment in the journal Leaves in 1938, after Lovecraft's death. It is the first piece of fiction to mention the fictional being Azathoth, one of the major entities in Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos, though the entity only appears in the title.

Christmastide. A time of feasting and good cheer. Gifts, cards, and blazing holly logs. Snow falls while family and friends trim the tree and kiss under the mistletoe. But it isn’t always joyful. It’s the coldest time of year. The days are short, the nights long. Chilling myths lie concealed behind the raucous revelry...The ghoulish events in the frozen workhouse...The undead presence at the costumed ball...The pantomime that became a massacre...The winter goddess with the heart of ice...The thieves who woke the dark side of the festive spirit...

A husband, trying to rekindle his marriage in a lonely seaside village, meets a strange young woman from his forgotten past; a man taking a garden gnome to a museum gets an unexpected surprise; a lonely widow encounters an enigmatic character from an embryonic pop group; a group of scientists make an horrific discovery at a big cat conservation centre; and a baby hare comes of age with a momentous idea.

You feed your fish daily. You love them, one and all, and met most first as eggs. You provide dutifully for their care, minding the water temperature, the pH, the pump. Some fish are destined to remain small, whereas others grow naturally larger. These larger ones need their own space - more room to swim, spawn, grow - because their pond is small and thick with other, comparatively diminutive fish.

"The Playground": Jack Francis has lost his zest for life. Retirement has left him feeling old, and divorce has left him feeling useless, until one day, he witnesses something extraordinary. "The Crack in the Wall": The old stone wall that runs the length of Hendersonville Road in Milner's Hollow has a strange crack in it. On a beautiful summer's day, two little girls discover the terrifying truth about that crack. "Bossman": Disenchanted with his dead-end job, Eric Pendergrass discovers a strange way to make his boss pay.