Strange Horror

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; online posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution . . .

In this sequel to Hallowed Oblivion, Hank is haunted by his experiences atop the ridge on Halloween night. Watching a group of teens be killed by something monstrous has left him with both physical and mental scars and a lingering desire to know what really happened in those woods. When his best friend, Gerard, disappears into the forest in search of the ghost of his son, Hank knows he needs to act fast and find his friend before whatever killed those kids returns to finish them both off.

The Strange Visitation at Wolffe Hall: The year is 1841 and Grayson Sherbrooke, a popular author of gothic paranormal mysteries, lives on the coast of Northern England with his 4-year-old-son, Pip. The Resident Evil at Blackthorn Manor: In Grayson Sherbrooke’s second Otherworldly Adventure, he goes to Scotland to Vere Castle, the home of his aunt and uncle. The Ancient Spirits of Sedgwick House: When Grayson Sherbrooke takes his son Pip to the home of Lord Lyle for a month of fun and relaxation, little does he know what awaits him.

A London lawyer named Gabriel John Utterson who investigates strange occurrences between his old friend, Dr. Henry Jekyll, and the evil Edward Hyde. The work is commonly associated with the rare mental condition often called "split personality", referred to in psychiatry as dissociative identity disorder, where within the same body there exists more than one distinct personality. In this case, there are two personalities within Dr. Jekyll, one apparently good and the other evil.

Dr. Henry Jekyll, fascinated by the dichotomy of good and evil, no longer wants to inhibit his dark side. He concocts a potion to create the alter ego of Mr. Edward Hyde. With the burden of evil placed on Hyde, Jekyll can now take pleasure in his immoral, nefarious fantasies - free of conscience and guilt. It's when Hyde turns to murder that Jekyll realizes how monstrous his impulses are and how hard they are to suppress.

Ghosts. Soul-eating wolves. World-consuming woods. A friendship that defies death. Elizabeth "Liz" Raleigh has lost everything: her job as a police detective, her partner, her fiancé, and her peace of mind. After a month of solitude at a cabin in the woods, she finally feels as though she’s ready to move on.

Staff who disappear after sunset. Footsteps that echo in the halls. Alswell Manor is at once a place of life and death, love and tragedy. When the manor passes to Georgina after her mother's death, she is unprepared for how much the old house would feel like home. Haunted by the mysteries in her past, Georgina is determined to unravel the truth of what happened to her mother, and their twisted connection to the house drawing her in.

It's a nice house on a country road. Jack and Erika Harris expect to be happy there. It doesn't matter that they're living in a deserted suburb where, years ago, murders and mutilations destroyed the residents. It doesn't matter...until those that caused the deaths come back - those that sprang from the earth. Those that need. Those that are not human. The Harris's nice house stands between them and what they must have. Nothing has ever mattered more.

Stories have always held a sort of magic. From the earliest times to the modern day, stories have had the power to entertain and entrance us, each tale a journey to another world, waiting to happen. Some of these travels are humorous, light affairs, while others are more dramatic. They can be romantic, or wondrous, fantastic or mysterious, and everything in between. And some... are just a little bit different. Some stories are a bit strange, some are perhaps even a little twisted.

Once upon a time, a woman thought she made peace with her grief. As she tended the dying land, she befriended a fox: a symbol that reminded her of her beloved father who died at the hands of a selfish doctor. But grief is perennial and after she loses her new friend, she discovers hope was just an illusion, too. Magic meanders back into her life and with it, a hunger for retribution unlike any felt before.

Seven years after the death of Edward Hyde, a stylish gentleman shows up in foggy London claiming to be Dr. Henry Jekyll. Only Mr. Utterson, Jekyll’s faithful lawyer and confidant, knows that he must be an impostor - because Jekyll was Hyde. But as the man goes about charming Jekyll’s friends and reclaiming the estate, and as the bodies of potential challengers start piling up, Utterson is left fearing for his life, and questioning his own sanity.

Down here in the dark lies a vast and twisted landscape where the wicked, wistful, and profane coalesce. This is where the lonely and lost face their demons, where anxious paranoias are made manifest, and where mundane evil wears a human face. For listeners, the sixteen stories found within Cold, Black, & Infinite serve as a harrowing glimpse into the nightmarish imagination of Todd Keisling, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Devil’s Creek and Scanlines.

In a certain portion of a certain Australian Colony, two miners, when out prospecting in what was then, as now, one of the dreariest parts of the Island Continent, chanced upon a rich find. But before they could enjoy their riches, the field was declared abandoned, and the dead were left to take their last long sleep, undisturbed by the clank of windlass or the blow of pick.

Chicago, 1957. Two sisters, the Haines sisters, have gone missing and the entire city is in an uproar. As word of their disappearance spreads across the country, two police detectives are assigned the arduous tasks of finding them alive or bringing their bodies home. However, as the two hardened cops begin to investigate, they soon find that things are not as cut and dry as they thought. This is not a simple kidnapping.

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.

A World War One fighter pilot tortured by guilt, a New York mobster desperately counting the hours until his execution, an elderly man losing his mind in a decrepit nursing home…. All must face their regrets and the notion that we build our own Hell, brick by brick.

Before she knows it, Turquoise finds herself in strange and perilous worlds populated by the likes of human oddities, shape-shifters, serial killers in flying saucers, flesh-eating hippies, man-eating house cats, and sleazy televangelists who produce snuff films for Christ.

Dorian has it all: good-looks, money, and a prominent social status. But when he agrees to sit for a portrait, he is introduced to a man who unwittingly plants a dangerous idea inside Dorian’s head. As Dorian becomes more and more obsessed with the painting, he seeks out supernatural means of retaining his youth and beauty.

Vier literarische Juwelen, die unseren ständigen Krieg zwischen Gut und Böse ins Extreme treiben. SCHNAPPSCHUSS ist die verstörende Geschichte eines Jungen, der von einem brutalen Schläger bedroht wird. Dieser besitzt eine Sofortbildkamera, die Erinnerungen löscht, Schnappschuss für Schnappschuss... In GELADEN stoppt der Sicherheitsbeamte eines Einkaufszentrums mutig eine Amokläuferin und wird zum Helden der modernen Waffenrechtsbewegung. Doch als eine Reporterin die wahren Hintergründe der Geschichte aufdeckt, dreht der Beamte durch.

From atop the choppy waves to the choking darkness of the abyss, the seas are full of mystery and rife with tales of inexplicable events and encounters with the unknown. In this anthology we see a thrilling spread of narratives: sailors are pitched against a nightmare from the depths, invisible to the naked eye, a German U-boat commander is tormented by an impossible transmission via Morse Code, a ship ensnares itself in the kelp of the Sargasso Sea and dooms a crew of mutineers, seemingly out of revenge for her lost captain.