Occult Horror Fantasy

When you look into the abyss...the abyss looks into you. After dumping the body of a serial killer on my former boss’s desk, I handed in my cop badge, which I’ve replaced with an FBI badge. Yep, I’m a Fed. I work for Special Affairs, a clandestine department tasked with policing the occult underground. In the meantime, my personal life is a disaster zone. There’s a Yakuza boss who wants to kill me, and my crazy Hellicorn is going through an existential crisis. But it’s the evil warlock who is making my life a living nightmare.

Framed for a casino massacre, Harmony and Jessie are on the run - in the real world and in their own. From the seedy casinos of Atlantic City to the steamy bayous of Louisiana and the imposing facades of Washington, DC, there's not a soul on earth they can trust. The only way they can clear their names is to take down the conspiracy from within and uncover the truth behind a secret that both the government and the powers of hell want to keep buried.

From astronauts in deep space to the ghosts of the Civil War, New York Times best-selling author Alethea Kontis creates worlds of wonder and delight, of weirdness and despair, of whimsy and darkness. Here are 20 stories and poems that will transport you to the magical dangerous worlds you've always known should exist, but have never quite been able to find.

In the darkest part of the solar system lies a wormhole. Nether. Astrophysicist Cammie Skoura has joined the first research team traveling to the Nether anomaly, eager to understand the mechanics of the wormhole and to explore its possibilities as a shortcut to Alpha Centauri. But another race of ancient beings has already been here—an impossibly long time ago—leaving remnants of their vast complexes and gigantic temples built for horrific beings beyond comprehension.

Eerily attuned to one another, twins Regina and Renata are so identical that even their mother can’t tell them apart. Then tragedy strikes: A vicious attack leaves one twin dead and the other so traumatized that she turns totally inward, incapable of telling anyone what happened or even who she is. She remains lost to the world, until the day Mark, a family friend, comes to visit - and the young woman utters her first intelligible word. As she recovers, still with no memory of the past, her nightmares grow steadily more frightful, followed by wild fits of hysteria and dark mood swings....

A widowed writer begins to work on a biography of a novelist and artist-and soon uncovers bizarre parallels between her life and her subject's-in this chilling and singularly strange novella by a contemporary master of horror and fantasy.

Patrick Lafcadio Hearn, was an Irish writer known also by the Japanese name Koizumi Yakumo. His book Kwaidan: Stories and Studies of Strange Things, comprises two parts, the first being the "Kwaidan Proper" and the second, "Insect-Studies", which consists of an essay each on ants, butterflies and mosquitos. According to the author, most of the folk tales and ghost stories in the first part were translated from old Japanese texts. The themes encompass resurrection, sacrifice, magic, and the realm of dreams.

Just when I thought it was safe to step onto my porch, the power of the Oracle has sent another person in need to my stairs. He thinks he's searching for his missing husband, but the moment I smell him, I know he's dragging along a curse from a necromancer with a stench strong enough to curl the leg hairs I haven't had time to shave. Which reminds me—I should probably do some grooming before my date. Did I mention I have an arraignment in court? For murder? It's all I can do to put this legal nonsense to bed before the rotten bouquet of necromancy wafts into my world yet again.

I would do anything for my ladies. ANYTHING. And when it turns out their enemies are threatening to end everything I and my new friends care about, I figure it's time to step up. Focusing on my powers and building alliances, we go to take on the hunters, enter the link to our worlds, and kick some major butt. I might just find love along the way.

Rock superstar-composer Dan Merriweather is the world's first true megapsychic. And when he discovers the true extent of his extraordinary powers, and his out-of-body voyages reveal the existence of top-secret US and Russian installations for the development of psychic weapons more frightening than any nuclear or bacteriological hardware, he evolves an astounding plan to transform the world.... Superpsychic author Ingo Swann has drawn on the incredible experience of his own scientifically documented paranormal powers.

Werewolves, vampires, witches, voodoo, Elvis - and weddings An "ordinary" wedding can get crazy enough, so can you imagine what happens when otherworldly creatures are involved? Nine of the hottest authors of paranormal fiction answer that question in this delightful collection of supernatural wedding stories.

"Okay, so cats don't always land on their feet. I know that better than most. Since rejoining the Pride, I've made big decisions and even bigger mistakes: the kind paid for with innocent lives. As the first and only female enforcer, I have plenty to prove to my father, the Pride, and myself."

My name is Ethan Drake, and I’m a police detective. And I got plenty darkness to give. So does my partner, who’s a demon, and frankly, a royal pain in my ass. But occult investigators are in short supply in the PD, so what are you going to do? Anyway, we just caught a bodysnatching case that has the stench of occult workings all over it.

Amanda Walker is not a witch - yet. She's an artist, looking for work - unaware that someone has a desperate need for her, a dark plan that may require Amanda to enter death itself.If she is allowed to live long enough to make the choice.

Daxas' trials continue. He has defeated those with the temerity to face him and claimed the dark elf Dungeon Mistress Jen'Zadeer Shadestar for his own. His guild, the Dark Moon Rising, continues to flourish despite its figurehead Chief Simeon Reedwhistle's reservations.

The Banshee: Is she to be feared, loathed, or is she simply misunderstood? Barry Fitzgerald and Cormac Strain explore some of the history of this very famous entity of myth and legend to reveal things are not possibly what they seem. They speak to people from all over the island of Ireland who have come face to face with this messenger of death and share their encounters. These encounters are not from the dark regions of Irish history but rather happened within the last 50 years.

Abe Fellows is sent to London to investigate a series of bizarre mutations that seem to have been infected by an arcane virus. All creatures great and small flee the waters of the Eastern Atlantic, fleeing panicked and mindless to escape an unknown threat that comes from an unknown place and time, and Fyelrath brooks no assault on her domain. The dragon of water joins Abraham in his hunt for answers as threats emerge from the city as well as the deep. It's only a matter of time before the eldritch threat rises up from its slumber and consumes Earth.

Robin is a YouTube celebrity gone-viral with her intensely-realistic witch hunter series. But even her millions of followers don't know the truth: Her series isn’t fiction. Her ultimate goal is to seek revenge against the coven of witches who wronged her mother long ago. Returning home to the rural town of Blackfield, Robin meets friends new and old on her quest for justice. But then, a mysterious threat known as the Red Lord interferes with her plans....

There are others in the Proving Grounds, like the Silver Lady, Jezebel. She had her own plans, which don't align with Daxas'. Not to mention that the threat from without is undiminished. Timian, and others, are still gunning hard for Daxas. They want what he has, an abundance of soul energy, and the Wolf King must die for them to get their grubby little mitts on it.

A hilarious, shocking, terrifying thrill ride across the American landscape, The Damned Highway combines two great flavors of weird: the gonzo journalism of Hunter S. Thompson and the uncanny terrors of H. P. Lovecraft. Horror legend Brian Keene and cult storytelling master Nick Mamatas dredge up a tale of drug-fueled eldritch madness from the blackest depths of the American nightmare.