Occult Horror Fiction

Karyn and her husband Roy had come to the peaceful California village of Drago to escape the savagery of the city. On the surface, Drago appeared to be like most small rural towns. But it was not. The village had a most unsavory history. Unexplained disappearances, sudden deaths. People just vanished, never to be found.

The details of the crime scene are no coincidence. The body — a promising starlet — has been battered, bloodied and then discarded between two of Manhattan’s oldest graveyards. One look and Detective Jude Crosby recognizes the tableau: a re-creation of Jack the Ripper’s gruesome work. But he also sees something beyond the actions of a mere copycat. Something more dangerous...and unexplainable.

Connie's mother asks her to sell an abandoned house once owned by her grandmother in Salem, Mass. Relunctantly, Connie moves to the small town and inhabits the crumbling, ancient house, trying to restore it to a semblance of order. Curious things start to happen when Connie finds the name "Deliverance Dane" on a yellowed scrap of paper and begins to have visions of a long ago woman condemned for practicing "physick," or herbal healing, on her neighbors in 1690s Salem.

The powerful sense of evil – darkness, creepy hairy presences, cloaks, hoods, talons and tentacles – pervades these classic ghost stories by M.R. James. A Cambridge scholar himself, James explored what happens when academics dabble in things they don’t understand and unleash forces of which they know nothing.

In this collection of classic ghost stories from Japan, beautiful princesses turn out to be frogs, paintings come alive, deadly spectral brides haunt the living and a samurai delivers the baby of a Shinto goddess with mystical help. Here are all the phantoms and ghouls of Japanese folklore: 'rokuro-kubi', whose heads separate from their bodies at night; 'jikininki', or flesh-eating goblins; and terrifying faceless 'mujina' who haunt lonely neighbourhoods.

Going to Cabin Green alone after the death of his fiancee was Ben's first mistake. His second mistake was tempting fate by saying, "There's no such thing as an evil building." Now he's caught in a nightmare of his own making deep in the woods of Northern Michigan. Even worse, a family history of mental illness makes it impossible for him to know if the ghosts haunting the cabin are real or all in his head.

After Cora Glass’s life was stolen by Harrow Faire, things just keep going from bad to worse. Unable to run, unable to escape, there seems to be no way to avoid what she’s become - the Contortionist. But a girl can only take so much. Haunted by an abandoned and seemingly sentient circus? Fine. The life of her best friend threatened unless she sacrificed herself? Fine. Tormented and stalked by a grinning madman who wanted to kill her, and now wants to do worse? That’s where Cora has to draw the line.

For 17 years Declan O'Carroll has lived quietly in the upstate Vermont town of Castlebury, waiting impatiently for a chance to get out and meet the great wide world. When an odd new girl appears in town, Declan finds out that the world might be coming to meet him. But the big question remains...who is in more danger? Declan or the world?

Detlef Sierck, the self-proclaimed greatest playwright in the world, has declared that his next production will be a recreation of the end of the Great Enchanter Drachenfels - to be staged at the very site of his death, the Fortress of Drachenfels itself. But the castle's dark walls still hide a terrible secret which may make the opening night an evening to remember!

Harper Curtis is a killer who stepped out of the past. Kirby Mazrachi is the girl who was never meant to have a future. Kirby is the last shining girl, one of the bright young women, burning with potential, whose lives Harper is destined to snuff out after he stumbles on a House in Depression-era Chicago that opens on to other times.

Ruby is the most violently disturbed patient ever admitted to Drummersgate Asylum, high on the bleak moors of northern England. With no improvement after two years, Dr. Jack McGowan finally decides to take a risk and hypnotizes her - with terrifying consequences. A horrific dark force is now unleashed on the entire medical team, as each in turn attempts to unlock Ruby's shocking and sinister past. Who is this girl? And how did she manage to survive such unimaginable evil?

I never asked for these powers. I never asked to be yanked away from my perfectly good life and forced to come here. But the gods have gifted me with magic, and now I have no choice. If I was smart, I’d keep my head down and play it safe until I can graduate. And I definitely wouldn’t go up against the three gorgeous, infuriating men who rule the school - Trace, Merrick, and Lachlan. But when we’re all chosen to compete in the Gods’ challenge, a deadly competition for the honor of meeting the gods themselves, teaming up with my bullies may be my only chance at survival.

The employees of the Freshway grocery store aren’t too happy about having to do an overnight shift, but they’re about to be even unhappier. Their rival store, Devil’s Food, is about to lay siege upon them with extreme prejudice. This is no ordinary grocery chain. Devil’s Food is run by a cult of murderous Satanists committed to killing the competition - literally.

Grief has settled in at Hart House. For nine months, Alfie has been caring for his twin seven-year-old daughters after the sudden death of their mother, Pippa. One night, Alfie wakes to find Sylvie and Cassia at the foot of his bed, claiming there’s a man in their room. Alfie finds no sign of a man, but it isn’t long before the girls start talking about an imaginary friend. What seemingly begins as a harmless coping mechanism for the two grieving girls quickly develops into something more insidious.

Leadership is a mantle I never wanted, but when the responsibility is foisted upon me, I have no choice but to take the reins at least until I can find a worthy replacement. Even with newly found alliances that alter my very existence, I have every intention of returning to the shadows when my job is done. Until secrets surface that make it nearly impossible to ignore what’s been taken from me. Our rules may be few, but the repercussions are swift and brutal when broken.

Carlotta Moran, a young single mother with three children, suddenly has her life turned upside down when she begins to be attacked in her bed each night, violated by a spectral rapist. This brutal unseen force makes attempts on her life and terrorizes her children, but the worst part is that no one believes her. Among the skeptics is psychiatrist Dr. Sneidermann, who believes Carlotta is psychotic, a danger to herself and her children who should be committed. But two graduate students in parapsychology have a different theory.

Machen's novella The Great God Pan is often cited as one of Lovecraft's most notable influences. In it, Dr. Raymond's ultimate goal is to devise a way to open the mind of man so that he may experience all the world has to offer. He calls this "seeing the great god Pan". After much study of the human mind, he devises an experiment that involves minor brain surgery. He performs this experiment on a young woman named Mary, but when she awakens she is terrified and mentally crippled.

In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds...and remembers.

Naomi Queen swore to herself she’d never get involved with criminals. She didn’t want any part of the world that raised her because she knew the trouble the malicious underground could bring. But all that changes when she witnesses a murder between a gang of mermen shifters. Swept into the maelstrom of the paranormal criminal underbelly wasn’t exactly high on her to-do list. Neither was being hunted by the murderous gang that called themselves the Rogue Waves.

My ex joined the anti-magick alliance. He branded me with their crest. Turns out, he’s played with the wrong witch. I grew up believing I was human. My entire town hated supers, but I’ve always been drawn to them. Especially mages.