Occult Horror

Zach Adams is one of the best detectives in the country. Nicknamed Cowboy, he serves on a federal task force that has a single mission: to hunt down Dominic Abend, a European gangster.

You wouldn’t think events happening years apart, at points in the solar system hundreds of millions of miles distant, would have anything to do with each other. When she was six, Daphne was taken into a neighbor’s tool shed and came within seconds of never coming out alive. Most of the scars healed. Except for the one that went all the way through. You wouldn’t think that the serial murders of children and the one who got away would have any connection with the strange fate of one of Jupiter’s moons.

When you first enter The Halloween Store, things seem normal. Fun and frightful decorations, ghastly costumes and masks of the season, and bags of candy galore. Then, as you travel farther into its shadowy depths, things begin to change. The air smells of damp autumn leaves and candle-scorched pumpkin. The shelves of All Hallows’ Eve fare grow darker and more disturbing. Strange and unsettling things of Halloweens past and present lurk amid the cobwebs and dust....

On a seemingly ordinary day, 17-year-old Lia Haddock hears news that will change her life forever: 300 men, women, and children living at a research facility in Limetown, Tennessee, have disappeared without a trace. Among the missing is Emile Haddock, Lia’s uncle. What happened to the people of Limetown? It’s all anyone can talk about. Except Lia’s parents, who refuse to discuss what might have happened there. They refuse, even, to discuss anything to do with Emile.

John Talon and his son have survived the Upheaval, the event that saw the dead rising to feed on the living. After two years of fighting off the worst the infection had to throw at them, a new danger emerges that threatens to take apart their small hold on humanity and the one chance they have to rebuild the country.

More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder. But now Mira is back to attend Celine's wedding at the plantation.

In Ghost of a Smile, the Ghost Finders answer a desperate call for help from one of the world’s biggest drug companies. A team of police enforcement agents has already disappeared, and the Ghost Finders have no idea how to proceed. But they’d better figure something out fast, because time is running out—and failure means an entire building full of innocent victims will cease to exist.

Juniper should have known better after her last foray into the otherworld. But when she’s asked to look into a mysterious box full of poltergeists she ends up making a promise to seven teenage ghosts that puts here directly in the crosshairs of a blood witch’s deadly ire.

Born a witch, I went into forensics so that I could use my talents to close cases. This worked great in the morgue, but I’ve just been transferred to active duty at the 9th Precinct, and doing magic in front of normals is strictly forbidden. It’s the sort of thing the Arcane Council will kill you for. Unfortunately, bodies are turning up fast, and with each passing day, I have to face the deadly truth. There is a serial killer working the streets of New York, and I don’t think he’s human.

Five complete strangers from across America are about to come together and open the door to a place of evil that they all call home. Inexplicably, four men and one woman are having heart-stopping nightmares revolving around the dark and forbidding houses where each of them were born. When recent terrifying events occur, they are each drawn to their identical childhood homes, only to confront a sinister supernatural presence which has pursued them all their lives and is now closer than ever to capturing their souls....

Named Author of the Year at the 2003 British BookAwards, Sarah Waters is the author of Tipping the Velvet, a New York Times Notable Book. Once inside the concrete walls of Millbank Prison, Margaret Prior, hired to speak with the female inmates, becomes all too aware that what she perceives to be reality may not be so. Bringing new ideas to her mind is the beautiful, but dangerous criminal Selina Dawes.

What do a Vampire, a Fae, and a hunk of a Wolf have in common? Me. They all have me. Remember that whole "don’t sleep with other students rule" that I blew out of the water? Turns out it wasn’t the only thing I blew. Finn, Howl, and Saxon are officially mine, and after facing a kidnapping, crashing an underground blood party and going toe to toe with the Alpha Wolf my boys are stuck to me like flypaper on an untrimmed bush. Too bad things for us are about to go upside down.

Recently divorced Anna Fox decides to cheer herself up by retracing a journey her great grandmother Louisa made in the mid-19th century—a Nile cruise from Luxor to Aswan. Anna carries with her two of Louisa’s possessions: an ancient Egyptian scent bottle and an illustrated diary of the original cruise that has lain unread for over a hundred years. As she follows in Louisa’s footsteps, Anna discovers in the diary a wonderful Victorian love story—and the chilling secret of the little glass bottle.

Weird Tales magazine is known for launching a number of sub-genres of fiction—cosmic horror, swords & sorcery, dark fantasy, and others. It has also greatly added to existing genres like science fiction, horror, and—a personal favorite of editor Jonathan Maberry—weird mystery stories. Or, as they became known—occult detective tales.

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.

In this collection of three stories, after the brutal murder of his wife, Victor Daniels is thrust into a supernatural world he struggles to comprehend. Seeking answers, he teams up with paranormal expert Jeremy Rhinehart. They race against time to stop a man who’s spreading chaos and violence by way of deadly, haunted objects.

Chuck Dutton built Music City Salvage with patience and expertise, stripping historic properties and reselling their bones. Inventory is running low, so he's thrilled when Augusta Withrow appears in his office offering salvage rights to her entire property. This could be a gold mine, so he assigns his daughter, Dahlia, to personally oversee the project. The crew finds a handful of surprises right away. Firstly, the place is in unexpectedly good shape. And then there's the cemetery, about 30 fallen and overgrown graves dating to the early 1900s.

It's official. I must be cursed. After my hellish first year at The Academy of the Devil, I thought I was prepared for anything. But things never work the way they should at this damn school, and as my second year begins, it becomes obvious that my troubles have just begun. My relationship with Callum, Stefan, and Mikael is still as confusing as ever. I have no idea where I stand with them, and they're not doing any better.

Wild Invitation is an exciting collection of Psy/Changeling stories from New York Times best-selling author Nalini Singh. In "Beat of Temptation", innocent Tamsyn has always had a place in her heart for Nathan, a blooded DarkRiver sentinel. But is she ready for the fierce demands of the mating bond? In "Stroke of Enticement", a wary young teacher, skeptical about love, arouses the man - and the animal - in an aggressive leopard changeling who must prove his affections are true.

The dead speak, and one man hears their harrowing cries.... Dan Tate survived a heartbreaking tragedy and is plagued by nightmares of his terrifying ordeal. Withdrawing into an emotionless shell, he has driven away everyone who cared about him. Dan is lost, and utterly alone. Until he hears the voices.... In Coffin Cemetery, the anguished spirits cry out, seeking a way to move on. But Dan isn’t the only one who speaks with the dead. Janet Ladd, a greedy and corrupt medium, also hears their call. She intends to use these tormented souls to fulfill her own petty desires.