Urban Short Stories

This collection of stories by science-fiction and mystery author Gary Alan Ruse explores fantasy realms and the dark side of human - and nonhuman - nature with thrills and chills, and, in some cases, a touch of humor.

Welcome to the horrific and poetic world of Sam Stone, where angels are stalking the undead and a vampire becomes obsessed with a centuries-old werewolf. Terror and lust go hand in hand in the disturbing world of the Toymaker, and the haunting Siren's call draws the hapless further into a waking nightmare. Here are 14 chilling short stories from the Queen of Vampire fiction. This collection includes a bonus story, "Walking the Dead", which does not appear in the printed edition.

These twenty two tales of horror will transport you into the world of darkness and fear, a dim, shadowy netherworld just beyond the veil, just past the threshold, just after midnight.

Karlie Houston hasn't seen a raise in forever, but the payday loan office she manages is raking in the cash. So why not get what she's rightfully owed by masterminding a heist? Once her lover Sidney's boys hit all the company's locations at one time, there's a fortune to split. But suddenly bodies start dropping - and Karlie better devise the perfect plan to survive.

Visit a world where a wild-land firefighter must use his mysterious powers to save his crew from a roaring inferno. Follow an eco-tourist's frantic efforts to escape an African quarantine zone ravaged by a deadly virus. Meet a gumshoe journalist as she tracks down a figure that'sable to predict the future with terrifying accuracy. And tune into Texas station KRAP (don't touch that dial, there's KRAP on it!) as a pair of down-home country deejays try their damnedest to stop a murder...while they're still on the air.

This special edition of The Vampire Hunter's Daughter contains parts 1-6, the complete collection. Fourteen-year-old Chloe witnesses her mother' murder at the hands of a vampire. Before the vampire can kidnap her, there is an unexpected rescue by a group of vampire hunters.

Released one year after the publication of The King in Yellow - a milestone of supernaturalfiction - Robert W. Chambers’ title story of this short-story collection isconsidered one of his finest weird tales. It is followed by a series ofromantic art nouveau stories. Chambers’ love of natural scenery, symbolicanimal figures, and ghostly imagery are on full display as he weaves hischaracters through these otherworldly tales.

Kate and Michael, twenty-something housemates working at the same Trader Joe’s supermarket, are thoroughly screwed when people start turning into zombies at their house party in the Oakland hills. The zombie plague is a sexually transmitted disease, turning its victims into shambling, horny, voracious killers.

Carl Weber brings the best of urban street lit authors together, all telling their own dramatic tales of life in the streets in known cities across the USA. The second installment continues with Treasure Hernandez telling the tale of the Dirty South.

From alien invaders to journeys to distant worlds to Earth the day after tomorrow, science fiction stories have been the inspiration for some of the best and the worst movies and television shows. Sometimes the films have offered extremely accurate depictions of classic and award-winning science fiction stories, sometimes they've departed radically from the works on which they are based.

From the savage steppes of Nagali to the heart of intrigue in Quing Tzu, this anthology is packed with tales of the supernatural, of action and adventure. Set in the same world as the epic fantasy Convent series, beginning with A Dead Wizard’s Dream, this collection of 11 original fantastical short stories explores lands heretofore unseen in the series.

This novel collects the five novellas in the Succubus Schemes series into an episodic novel. Helen and Amy, the heroines from The Succubus Apprentice, have now graduated from apprentices and are pursuing their new careers of mage and succubus respectively. They start off trying to steal an egg from a pterodactyl's nest, and from there go on to serve as bodyguards for a dark elf, try to fix a couple of other supernatural relationships for their friends, and then run a scam on the most powerful corporation in the world with the help of some very unreliable allies.

"Nine Lives" by Kiki Swinson: Wild-card Aiden. Dead-shot Ava. Killing nine targets in 10 days will be this brother-sister hit team's biggest score yet. But as Ava sets up their final target, she falls hard for him and a chance at a normal life. "The Crushed Ice Clique" by Noire: At first all ghetto princesses Honore and Cucci want is quick cash-flow. But after sexing jewelry distributor Slimy Sam and learning his illegal tricks of the trade, they assemble a crack team of thieves for one dazzling scam.

Imagine… Ghosts, gods, and devils - heavens and hells - cities in the sky and cities beneath the sea. Time machines, spaceships - certainly you can imagine Martians, but what about interplanetary vampires? Or a mouse that isn't a mouse? Honeymoon in Hell proves that Fredric Brown has a special vision, a sight beyond our wildest nightmares, a perception of things we couldn't even begin to imagine.

Who has not been thrilled and not a little frightened by tales of ghosts, spirits, hauntings, and monsters? Some of the most fascinating accounts come from the dark hollows of the Ozark Mountains. For generations, these scary, mystifying legends have been told around campfires and family gatherings and handed down through the generations. Now, for the first time, the best of these tales have been gathered together and presented in this volume.

Satirical stories exploring modern themes of technology and relationships. Internet lawlessness, smartphone love triangles, zombie video gamers, gender role ambivalence and the demise of television - these changes infuse our existence. Borrowing from science fiction, fantasy and magic realism, the collected stories of Not from Concentrate take these contemporary quandaries head-on!

The Fixer-Upper Cathy’s new home is handsomely furnished - by an amorous male ghost. If only she had something she could…touch. Paradise Bossed While traveling in the Cayman Islands, Nikki loses her life in a tragic accident, but has no intention of cutting her vacation short. Driftwood A Cape Cod werewolf agonizes over the death of a woman by his own paw. Well, to be fair, he never really killed her. She’s a vampire. Witch Way For centuries their families have been embroiled in a violent, irreversible feud. Today, can a witch and a witch-hunter find common ground?

Satori in the Slipstream is a collection of dark flash fiction and short stories. Many of the stories are set in Japan and deal with challenges young adults face. There are also several stories about soldiers dealing with the aftermath of war. Homeless and the brutality of living on the streets is also a major theme in this collection.

Over 40 best-selling short stories by USA Today best-selling author J.R. Rain.

A superb collection of 15 stories by an American master, E. L. Doctorow - the author of Ragtime, The March, The Book of Daniel, and Billy Bathgate. He has been called "a national treasure" by George Saunders. Doctorow's great topic, said Don DeLillo, is "the reach of American possibility, in which plain lives take on the cadences of history".