Urban Short Stories

Everything they knew had been a lie. They didn’t belong here, and someone wanted them gone. Freya preferred to be alone serving lattes and trying not to fail calculus. It had been just her and the nerdy boy next door best friend Jamie. All of that changed when the dark and gorgeous stranger walked into the coffee shop. Dathen thought he had been okay with helping run his family’s local business, but the dreams were haunting him and drawing him to the girl surrounded in pink light. Seeking out his dream girl could get them all killed, but that kiss...

Chloe has never run away from a battle in her life, and she's not about to start. As an apocalyptic nightmare unfolds before her, the enigmatic Bram Tice joins her quest as they try to undo the damage the unseen powers unleashed on their world. Chloe races to unlock her murdered professor's secrets, the key to it all. But she discovers her reluctant companion has even darker, more dangerous secrets of his own. Feeling every ounce of her mortal being, Chloe enters a new world of high- and low-caste fae, vampiric scabs, and still, somehow, finds a strength within herself to fight back.

Let Tom Cardamone lead you into his wicked universe of changelings and mysterious creatures, where a boy transforms into lightning and illuminates his emerging sexuality. Where a man accidentally receives a package meant for his neighbor, a situation complicated by the fact that he lives next door to a Sphinx. A nurse finds herself working in a retirement home for vampires, while in the future a man questions his decision to live life as a manatee.

Whether it's kitsune running rampant in the museum, were-gorillas rampaging at the zoo, or a cupid wreaking havoc on her daughter's birthday party, Jess Friedman can handle any monster the supernatural community of Cleveland can throw at her. Except maybe the disapproving stares from the women at her daughter's day care. Or the awkward conversations with her rabbi about her working for the Catholic Church as a New Templar, hunting down the things that go bump in the night.

"Take these paths to the place where lost things go, karma vs. a promise, a ghost stepping out of a poster, a deal with the Devil over a football game and more: Nine adventures of contemporary magic and spirits, including triple award finalist/Twilight Zone episode “Wong’s Lost and Found Emporium.” (PG excerpt). “What’s wrong with you?” she demanded. “I want to know! Why are you so callous”? She snatched up the metal container from the floor in front of me and held it wrapped in her shawl. “Tell me now!” she screamed, right in front of me.

Quinlan used to have dreams about Queen Fand. She watched, unable to help as the goddess of the fairies was defeated, imprisoned, and finally enslaved to the Veilman. Now, those dreams don't just come to her at night. She's starting to believe that what she sees is real. She needs to learn the truth, and Shane Murphy might be the only one who can help her figure it out. Her boyfriend, Eli, refuses to believe, even though he sees the same things Quinlan sees. But there's so much more to it. Eli knows it's true, but he's not ready to admit it—yet.

Un'oscura genia di umanoidi che minaccia la sopravvivenza di tutti gli uomini. Una folle fuga nel microcosmo psichedelico della metropolitana di Londra. Un cagnolino in grado di diventare lo strumento più forte del male assoluto. Il lato in ombra della mente può oltrepassare i limiti della ragione, confondendosi con la realtà e sostituirsi a essa? I racconti di "È solo nella tua mente ed è reale" si muovono in queste atmosfere stranianti e bizzarre, inquietanti e surreali, cercando di rispondere al segreto della psiche con uno sguardo attento e brillante.

Gui is a professional cleaner at A Fresh Start, scrubbing away the unpleasant layers of memory that build up on the personal objects of his customers. Memory-blind himself, he can’t feel those wounds. Clara can, and she prefers them irretrievable. Until her sister, Beatrice, ultrasensitive to memory, raises one that could change Clara’s mind. For Gui, the past is gone. For Clara and Beatrice, deciding what to remember reaches to the heart of their shared history.

Take a trip into theheart of passion as seductive samba rhythms pulse in the warm evening breezes. Escape and savor these three scintillating stories set against the beautifulbackdrop of Brazil.... Two weeks in Rio - surely that's enough time for marketing VP Sydni Lawson to forge a lucrative merger. But instead of sweet-talking real estate mogul Gabriel St. James, she's being swept away by their sizzling and unexpected attraction.

It’s that time of year again. In the shadows, otherworldly creatures lurk, under the gravestones, the dead begin to rise, and in that old house down the lane, ghosts rattle their chains. For once more, Trick or Treat Thrillers brings you our pick of the best Indie-paranormal short stories for 2020! Before you begin listening to our selection of 13 stories, however, we recommend you first check under your bed, in your closet, and outside of your window. You never know what may be coming your way.

Utah can be a weird place, but do you really know just how weird it can be? Find out with this collection of strange tales set in the Beehive State. We're not going to say they're true...but they're true.

A race of tiny magical beings lives on Earth today. But humans are totally unaware of their hidden civilization. They are kirins. While a group of daring explorers battles to save the kirin race, a disgruntled magician interrupts a worldwide spell, making kirins everywhere suddenly visible. Taking advantage of this breach, Jeremy Bailey, an Alaskan fishing boat captain, captures a kirin named Till and, under threat of torture and violence, exploits his gifts for Bailey's own benefit.

Magic and madness don't always run hand in hand, but there's a reason they call it the Touch. Delaney Green is one of them that don't burn, not that no one ain't never tried. After her mama tried and failed to murder her for pulling on the future like it was a piece of string, Del has spent her whole life in a mental institution for her own safety. And everyone else's. No one wants to see what might happen if she goes cracked. When a dozen young women turn up burned to a crisp, local folks are quick to point the FBI straight at Del.

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.

In this collection of 19 short stories, Craig Nybo invites you to visit the lives of mostly unfortunate souls as they face the most terrifying moments of their existences. With everything from vampire hunting to zombie bashing, from steampunk death devices to shifty soul brokers, Nybo brings his own sense of perspective and, of course, his sense of humor to this collection of departures from reality. Terrifying Lies contains Nybo's acclaimed story, "The Mechanic", along with 18 other tales of the macabre.

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.

Dalio, der Maler hat ein Problem: Eine wahrhaft faszinierende Frau hat es auf ihn abgesehen. Er wird sie nicht mehr los. Schließlich verschwindet er...

Small Press newcomer, Paper Golem, debuts the first in a annual series of single author collections by brilliant new authors. Eyes Like Sky And Coal And Moonlight brings together twenty stories from the extraordinary talent of fantasy author Cat Rambo. Here are tales from seaport city of Tabat, both before and after the sorcerous wars that destroyed the Old Continent. Here are alchemical explanations for failed blind dates. Here you'll find a dryad, the last great elephant, and an uneasy blur of humanity.