Occult Horror

Gerard Sorme thinks the key to a more meaningful life lies in an expansion of human consciousness, and he believes that one way to expand it is through sexual experiences. He sets out to record in diary form his sexual encounters with various women: the middle-aged Gertrude, her teenage niece Caroline, and Diana, the wife of a mad composer determined to adapt Varney the Vampire into an opera. But Sorme finds his beliefs and ideas challenged when he meets the fascinating and dangerous Caradoc Cunningham.

The first three books in the Randolph Casey Horror Thriller series are now available in a single terrifying volume. Meet Randolph Casey - university professor by day, paranormal investigator by night. When the disembodied whispers, mysterious footsteps upstairs, and the shadowy figures in the corner become too much to bear, he’s the man to call. Includes: The Tenth Ward, The Perfect Possession, and The Black-Eyed Kids.

For best-selling horror novelist Wilson Paventeau, the scariest novel of his career is the one he didn't write. It bears his name on the dust jacket and contains his bio near the end, but this enigmatic tome is not part of his oeuvre. And the most frightening thing about it may not be the tale between the covers, but the reason for its mysterious appearance in Paventeau's life.

Father John has lived his whole life without knowing a woman's touch. Hard at first, his self-denial grew easier over time, as he learned to master his urges with a regimen of prayer, cold showers, and jigsaw puzzles. That changes the day that Debra Rocks enters his confessional. A rough-talking adult film actress, she has come to ask him to pray for a murdered costar.

Every time Benton sleeps, he becomes a trapped passenger within a murderer’s skin: able to hear, see, and feel every part of their kill. When he wakes up, he knows it’s only a matter of time before his dreams become reality. No matter how hard he tries to stop the murders, it always ends the same way - with death.

Once a legendary police inspector, Nicolas Lenoir is now a disillusioned and broken man who spends his days going through the motions and his evenings drinking away the nightmares of his past. Ten years ago, Lenoir barely escaped the grasp of the Darkwalker, a vengeful spirit who demands a terrible toll on those who have offended the dead. But the Darkwalker does not give up on his prey so easily, and Lenoir has always known his debt would come due one day. When Lenoir is assigned to a disturbing new case, he treats the job with his usual apathy- until his best informant, a street savvy orphan, is kidnapped.

Dorian Lake spent years cornering the Baltimore hex-crafting market, using his skills at the hermetic arts to exact karmic justice for those whom the system has failed. He keeps his magic clean and free of soul-corrupting Netherwork, thus avoiding both the karmic blow-back of his practice and the notice of the Presidium, a powerful cabal of practitioners that polices the esoteric arts in America.

For Gray Brooks, death was only the beginning. Once a Marine, his life took a turn for the worst, and he found himself wrapped up in a robbery gone wrong. Shot and left for dead, Gray was revived in the hospital. But he was forever touched by the land of the dead, cursed to see the sinister spirits stalking this realm….

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.

The Zombie Wars have been going on for nearly a year. John Talon and his army have been chasing zombies from one mountain range to the other, but there is another threat that lives in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains. A threat that, if turned loose, will forever change the future of the struggling New United States. John must face this menace head on, or lose everything his army has fought and died for.

Chris Gordon has never had an easy relationship with the White House. Now, after rescuing his goddaughter from a secret base in New Hampshire, it’s reached a new low. You drop one little asteroid onto the continental United States and the entire government goes crazy. On top of that Halloween is fast approaching and demons are popping through into our world every which way.

The 15 stories in After the People Lights Have Gone Off, by Stephen Graham Jones, explore the horrors and fears of the supernatural and the everyday. Included are two original stories, several rarities and out-of-print narratives, as well as a few "best of the year" inclusions.

Some families hand down wealth through generations; some hand down wisdom. Some families, whether they want to or not, hand down the secret burdens they carry and the dangerous debts they owe. Lissa Nevsky's grandmother leaves her a big, empty house and a legacy of magic: folk magic, old magic, brought with Baba when she fled the Gulag. In the wake of her passing, the Russian community of Toronto will depend on Lissa now to give them their remedies and be their koldun'ia.

Students are spooked at the San Francisco School of Fine Arts, and Lily is called in to search for possible paranormal activity. In return she's been promised a trunkful of Victorian-era clothes recently discovered in a school storage closet. But Lily finds something else: the body of a wealthy patron of the school. In between running the store and seeing her new boyfriend, Max - a "mythbuster" who is uncomfortable with her witchcraft - she uses her sleuthing skills to try to solve the murder. Soon Lily senses something from the school's vintage clothes, but it's not the smell of mothballs - it's the unmistakable aura of evil intent.

I'm not who I used to be. Valentine Morningstar, my own father, tried to ruin my life, and instead he made me stronger. But my own power will consume me if I don't learn how to control it, how to channel it to help everyone, not just myself. I have to learn how to be this new person I've become. GC - my handsome false god, Pazuzu - my dark demon, Sariel - my fallen archangel, and Francis - my...I know what he is now, but it hurts to say it. They keep me grounded. They keep me sane, and they keep me good. Without them, I'm afraid I might just turn into a villain.

In France, the brilliant young battle-mage Napoleon Bonaparte has summoned a kraken from the depths, and under his command, the Army of the Dead have all but conquered Europe. Britain fights back, protected by the gulf of the channel and powerful fire-magic, but Wilberforce's own battle to bring about free magic and abolition has met a dead end in the face of an increasingly fearful and repressive government. In Saint Domingue, Fina watches as Toussaint Louverture navigates these opposing forces to liberate the country.

Felix Castor has reluctantly returned to exorcism after a successful case convinces him that he really can do some good with his abilities. His friend Rafi is still possessed, the succubus Ajulutsikael still technically has a contract on him, and he's still dirt poor. Doing some consulting for the local cops helps pay the bills, but Castor needs a big private job to really fill the hole in his bank account. That's what he needs. What he gets is a seemingly insignificant "missing ghost" case that inexorably drags him and his loved ones into the middle of a horrific plot.

In 1861, foreign ships have forced open Japan's doors to the West. Missionaries have come to Japan; they are there to save men's souls, but to the Japanese they are there to spread false religion. The young Lord Genji, who possesses the power of prophecy, flees to the Cloud of Sparrows castle, where he shelters two American missionaries. Together with a legendary swordsman and an enigmatic geisha, they embark on a harrowing journey through a dangerous landscape to prepare for a final battle.

When vampire hunter Laura Caxton is locked up in a maximum-security prison, the cop-turned-con finds herself surrounded by countless murderers and death-row inmates with nothing to lose and plenty of time to kill. Caxton’s always been able to watch her own back—even when it’s against a cell-block wall.

Ancient history lecturer Lucian Brufos has suffered the worst tragedy imaginable; his wife and twin daughters were killed in a car accident leaving him alone and so depressed he attempts to end his life. When he wakes he refuses to speak and is committed to a psychiatric ward for evaluation where he meets The Dark Man who calls himself Jolly.