Reality Horror

Ghost stories for the digital age by the Booker Prize-longlisted author of The Wall. A mysterious, tall man haunts a country house in search of a cell signal; a family discovers their dependence on the latest technological gadget goes to the very foundations of human relations; and the merry contestants in a reality TV show may actually be...somewhere very hellish, indeed. Reality and Other Stories is a book of disquiet that captures the severe disconnection and distraction of our time.

Have you ever considered why sometimes we hear things that we believe are not there or feel spectral sensations? I used to question my memories of those events and, at times, speculated on my mental stability. However, such a volume of interactive experiences has assailed me during my journey, and after that, in applying basic laws of scientific inquiry, I must conclude their validity.

Penny, an artist, has lived in the same apartment for decades, surrounded by the artifacts and keepsakes of her long life. She is resigned to the mundane rituals of old age, until things start to slip. Before her longtime partner passed away years earlier, provisions were made, unbeknownst to her, for a room in a unique long-term care residence, where Penny finds herself after one too many “incidents.”

When aimless twenty-something Mara lands a job as the night-shift production assistant on her cousin’s ghost hunting/home makeover reality TV show Haunt Sweet Home, she quickly determines her new role will require a healthy attitude toward duplicity. But as she hides fog machines in the woods and improvises scares to spook new homeowners, a series of unnerving incidents on set and a creepy new coworker force Mara to confront whether the person she's truly been deceiving and hiding from all along—is herself.

Five bachelors left. Four mystical families to meet and territories to explore. Four chances to avoid a supernatural war. Kimmie-Jayne thought discovering the bachelors were supernatural was tough, until she finds out she has to spend the week with their families. Now she's whisked off to meet four of the most powerful families of Azar. If she can survive dragon lords, daunting angels, the intrigue of Fae court, and the Underworld, she'll end up with the man of her dreams. Or so she hopes. But nothing is as it seems in each of these households.

Once there were hundreds of members of the Oversight, the brave souls who guard the borders between the mundane and the magic. Now there are only five. When a vagabond brings a screaming girl to the Oversight's London headquarters, she could answer their hopes for new recruit, or she could be the instrument of their downfall.

This book is a short compendium of short stories in the genre of reality beneath. It includes the following stories: "El Caja", "Fudicia", "The Gift", "The Object", "Man of the Mansion".

He skins his victims alive, taking pleasure from their pain. In the cold, dark nights of Alaska, a hunter is stalking his prey. Once found, he takes them into the woods and skins them alive, prolonging the experience as much as he can, but the satisfaction always wanes. Aislinn Cain and the Serial Crimes Tracking Unit have just finished up another case when they get the call. Now they are packing their bags and heading for Alaska in March. The team must overcome the hostile locals and harsh climate to catch a killer before he steals the life of another woman.

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....

The Oversight of London has been sworn for millennia to prevent the natural and the supernatural worlds from preying on each other. Now, at its lowest ebb, with its headquarters destroyed and its last members scattered far and wide, this secret society will battle for survival and face the harshest foe it has ever met: itself.

Despite the high number of programs and their evident popularity, paranormal reality television has to date received little critical attention. Ghost Channels provides an overview of the paranormal reality television genre, its development, and its place in television history. Conducting in-depth analyses of over thirty paranormal television series, author Amy Lawrence suggests these programs reveal much about Americans' contemporary fears.

The Last Hand of the Oversight still patrols the border between the natural and supranatural, holding a candle to the darkness. But this new Hand is unproven, its fresh members untrained, its veterans weary and battle-scarred. Their vulnerability brings new enemies into the city and surprising new allies from across the sea.

Aislinn Cain and the Serial Crimes Tracking Unit are being sent to the hottest place in North America to investigate mummified remains that were found in Death Valley. When Xavier Reece uncovers elemental mercury in the heart of one of the mummies, they discover there is more than Mother Nature at work. The victims have matching injuries, but only one of the bodies reveals the liquid metal, raising questions about how many killers are using the valley as a dumping ground.

Aislinn Cain's life is a horror story. When the US Marshals Serial Crimes Tracking Unit comes knocking at Aislinn Cain's door, she is given a chance to use her past to save other people's futures. She has survived attacks by two different serial killers and devoted her life to studying the darker side of human history. A new killer is using medieval torture methods to slay his victims. She can give them a glimpse into his twisted world, but not without a cost.

There's a new reality TV game show that pays contestants to hurt themselves. How much pain would you endure to make some quick cash? Would you shoot yourself with a nail gun for $10,000? There are plenty of contestants willing to go on live TV to make a quick buck. Would you watch the show? The ratings are looking good. Easy Money becomes the most talked about show on television.

Humanity's greatest minds have been gathering in small groups and vanishing. Special Agent Shaman Esker and his team are investigating the New England site of this latest mass disappearance littered, as they always are, with impossibly advanced but quickly-dissolving technology. This time, though, he discovers a clue that sends him to the National Institutes of Mental Health where he meets a very peculiar doctor and her special patient.

A Year in the Borderlands writer Kevin Candela's wild second excursion into alternate realities includes 17 tales, twelve of which have appeared in previously released anthologies and are collected here for the first time. These short stories combine with five never before released works, including the novella It's Only Funny if You Laugh, to produce a wide-ranging panoramic view of the worlds and realities that exist beyond our own. Playing With Reality is another vividly detailed page in the Atlas of the Unknown.

Following the publication of his popular Bigfoot Horror Stories series, author Steven Armstrong is approached by someone on the internet claiming they can take him to see Sasquatch in the wild. Initially, the idea sounds crazy, but things get serious when the email is followed up with a devastating photograph.

15th February Morning: I have been looking forward to being here so much and now it hardly seems real. The view from my bedroom window is of fields and sheep and a hill that is almost a mountain.

The story follows the life of Damon Dahmer. After his reality pain game show Easy Money was cancelled, he returns to work and finds out that there's another producer trying to take his job. There's a new reality pain game show called Pain for Gain, and Damon must either learn to work with this new producer, or find a way to get rid of him.