The story Pages from a Young Girl's Journal won Aickman the World Fantasy Award in 1975. It was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1973 before appearing in this collection.Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full, being more ambiguous than standard ghost stories. Throughout the stories the reader is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story (Pages from a Young Girl's Journal) but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.• The Swords • The Real Road to the Church • Niemandswasser • Pages from a Young Girl's Journal• The Hospice • The Same Dog • Meeting Mr. Millar • The Clock Watcher

    The Glorious Nosebleed, an alphabet created with Edward Gorey’s inimitable sense of the weird and the macabre, trips from A to Z with illustrations that are both strikingly funny and a bit weird, all the way from “She wandered among the trees Aimlessly” to “He wrote it all down Zealously.” A classic of Gorey’s imaginative and darkly humorous mind.

    Jo's task is to evaluate the house's contents for a sale, but she soon finds herself drawn into the complex lives of Thirlbeck's inhabitants, each with their own secrets and desires.Jo is absorbed by the tragic story of The Spanish Lady, whose young life was cut short at Thirlbeck many centuries before. She also encounters La Española, the brilliant diamond which, according to legend, brings disaster to all who try to possess it. And she is shocked to learn of her own mother's connection to Thirlbeck.Meet the residents of ThirlbeckRobert Birkett, the Earl of Askew: returning to Thirlbeck after many years abroad, a decorated war hero who also spent time in prison after a fatal car accident for which he was blamed.Carlota, the Spanish Condesa: the Earl's sophisticated companion, who yearns to leave the cold of Cumberland for the warmth of the Mediterranean sun.Nat Birkett: the local farmer, and single father of two young boys, who is the reluctant heir to Thirlbeck. His passion is for the land rather than titles and possessions.Gerald Stanton: Jo's wise mentor and friend, who is like a father to her.George Tolson: the brooding keeper of Thirlbeck, who jealously guards it from unwelcome strangers.Jessica Tolson: George's intelligent but fragile granddaughter, who must be protected from herself.Jo will struggle with difficult discoveries as she unlocks the puzzles which link Thirlbeck's past and present residents.About Catherine GaskinBorn in Ireland and raised in Australia, Catherine Gaskin studied music at the conservatorium in Sydney, before becoming a bestselling author at the age of just seventeen. After moving to London she met her future husband, a US TV executive, on a blind date. The couple lived in Manhattan for ten years, before moving to the Virgin Islands, followed by Ireland, and then the Isle of Man. After her husband's death, Catherine returned to Australia where she spent the rest of her life.During her lifetime Catherine Gaskin's books sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and she was known as “The Queen of Storytellers” and “The Girl with the Golden Pen.”

    When a mysterious carriage brings a visitor to the house, Lucas hopes he’s found a friend at last. But the newcomer, Anna Marie, is unfriendly and spoiled—and French. Just when Lucas thinks things can’t get any worse, disastrous circumstances force him and Anna Marie, parentless and penniless, into the dark and unfriendly streets of Blastburn.

    The doctors tell her the strange and disturbing hallucinations she's been experiencing ever since her accident are all in her head, and that, with a little rest, the haunting visions will vanish. But accepting an invitation to stay with her cousin in the country may be the worst decision Meg has ever made. Here, in a remote old house miles from anywhere, the terrible sights and sounds have gotten even worse. Suddenly eerie black shapes dance in the shadows—mocking Meg, haunting her . . . threatening her. And the presence of kind, considerate Andy Brenner, the caretaker, both reassures her and terrifies her—because Andy also sees these dark specters . . .

    Magic Child, a fifteen-year-old Indian girl, wanders into the wrong whorehouse looking for the right men to kill the monster that lives in the ice caves under the basement of Miss Hawkline's yellow house. What follows is a series of wild, witty, and bizarre encounters. The book was originally published in 1974.

    Here, she meets charming Quinn Griffin, and also three strangers in the ruins of an ancient keep. Soon Grania is embroiled in danger and romance. Whom can she trust?

    She had grown up a servant's child on the Grant family's estate, and had savored the memory of its elegance as well as her love for young Lennox Grant for long years after she'd been abandoned by her parents and forced to leave.Now, unexpectedly an heiress, Helen found she could go back to Gallowmerry. She could fulfill her desire to live among the Grants as an equal... .But the Gallowmerry to which she returned was not the fond home of her childhood. It had become a house of dark secrets and unspoken hatreds whose poisons had infected the entire Grant family. It had become a house of horror luring Helen herself to the brink of madness.

    That had been my last perfect summer until this one."With this prelude Seafair Bell begins her summer idyll. Invited by Miranda Muir, 19 and one of her music students, to be her guest on Drummond's Island, Seafair goes off with a song in her heart. In theory, Seafair is to give her pupil and friend some intensive piano coaching. In fact, Miranda's three older male cousins, plus an assortment of islanders who are old friends, provide more interesting diversions than the pianoforte from the moment the girls land. There are "digs" with Miranda's youngest cousin, Patrick Drummond, who is trying to find evidence of Norse occupation of the island; sailing, picnics; watching fishermen's nets being tarred in a great kettle which bubbles over a fire on the rocks; clam-digging, swimming, lobster feasts, dancing, and music with Seafair at the piano. But as summer heightens, the island fog begins to close around the Drummonds and the Finlays and to bring a darkness which the sun of the following morning does not lighten. It is apparent that Miranda is flirting with an island man only to keep Patrick from finding out who her real love is. Seafair, hopelessly in love with Patrick, realizes that his heart is set on Miranda. Neither the guest nor anyone else on Drummond's realizes that there is a man who is psychopathically jealous among them and that the golden summer will end in murder and madness.

    

    Virginia Sanderson realizes she is being followed when she arrives on the Greek isle of Mykonos in search of her twin sister and is soon caught up in a plot involving an international smuggling ring and murder.

    Pregnant with her dead husband's child, she desperately needed her new home to be perfect. Everyone in the old house by the sea tried to make Lally feel at home. Even the mysterious Gregory, the handsome estate manager she somehow inherited along with the house, wanted to make her feel welcome. But all Lally felt was the strange chill of death that hung over Cool-na-Grena.

    I need you here at Goathlands. Because of the nature of my present research I can only go to a person in whom I have complete and absolute trust. Details I cannot give you until I know for certain that you will accept. It will require the greatest trust--and the greatest temptations. You would arrive in York in time to catch the four p.m. train. A carriage will be waiting for you. I shall be waiting, too.There was something else waiting for Emma Waldron. Terror. From the moment young Emma received the mysterious message from her Uncle Josh, her life took a swift and horrifying turn. The comfort she had once found at Goathlands was gone. In its place were shadows and darkness. Goathlands had become her enemy... her mortal enemy.

    She arrives at the grand Louisiana plantation of Ellen Marie's late husband, wearing traditional black widow's weeds and carrying the baby -- determined that the boy will reach maturity and inherit his rightful fortune... The family at Oak Shade doesn't suspect they're harboring an imposter; still, they treat her with only frosty politeness. More disturbing are the unusual accidents that seem to be following in her wake, as if planned for her. And now, the dark Creole, Bernard Delacroix, seems to be seeing through her assumed persona, right into her soul -- where passion and desire war with her "widow's" dark masquerade.

    But then her widowed brother calls, asking her to take care of his children while he’s away at a science conference. He’s even booked her a first-class train ticket. En route to her brother’s house, Jane is accosted by one stranger only to be rescued by another. One of these handsome men is destined to come back into her life, because peaceful, centuries-old Abbotstown has been rocked by a string of bizarre burglaries—and a murder. There are no leads or suspects, but Jane’s precocious niece Rebecca insists she knows things the police aren’t aware of. After someone tries to break in to the house, Jane finds herself surrounded by too many men who say they want to protect her and the children. Suddenly she fears she is a pawn in a sinister intrigue in which she will not be able to distinguish hero from villain.

    But the mystery surrounding her death has enveloped everyone in a shadow of suspicion, as Fern Hurst discovers when she accepts the position of governess to Garth Tremayne’s two young children. Even the children are suspect! Did Garth kill his own wife when he learned she was having an affair with another man? What role did the dead woman’s father play in this nightmare? Fern is determined to free Garth and the children from the shadow that is wrecking their lives. But as she slowly pieces together the horrible truth, her own life becomes endangered. Who killed Tremayne’s Wife?

    Since the release of movies such as 'Rosemary's Baby' and 'The Exorcist', more people are wondering, Is Satan really dead? Is there such a phenomenon as obsession or possession? In 'The Devil, Demonology, and Witchcraft', Henry Ansgar Kelly postulates his belief that the existence of evil spirits is not probable and suggests that Christians would be better off acting on the assumption that they do not exist. To prove his claim, the author sets forth a history and analysis of the impact of demonological traditions developed within Judaism and Christianity over the centuries. He then considers the incorporation of these notions into early Christian teaching with the resulting demonological dotrines of witchcraft, possession, and temptation. Kelly's conclusion is that Satan is dead, and demonology should be eliminated from Christian dogma since, according to his thesis, these manifestations in the Bible reflect the beliefs of local cultures and not divine revelation. The present edition has been substantially revised and updated by the author to include an evaluation and critique of 'The Exorcist', wherein Kelly challenges William Peter Blatty's facts of the alleged possession in 1949 on which 'The Exorcist' is based.

    Yet her post as a lady clerk in a London banking house keeps the wolf from the door, and the admiration of her colleague, the worthy Michael, assures her if not of passion, then at least of affection.Then the Jelains erupt into her humdrum routine, relatives she did not know she had, and whisk her away to the isle of Guernsey. At first she is enchanted by the exotic beauty of the island, by a life of balls and lavish entertainments where the officers of visiting regiments vie for her attention.But Sarnia cannot quite feel at ease within this moneyed social hierarchy – especially in the unsettling presence of her cousin Edmund. And before long it becomes apparent that, beneath the glittering surface, lurk dark and menacing forces …Her mother had scorned those of her sex who tamely submitted to male domination but, as the mystery of her heritage unfolds, Sarnia becomes all too painfully aware that the freedom she took for granted is slipping from her grasp.

    Ranson Daventry, a famed neurologist who is just returning to his practice after a mysterious absence. Initially, the position could not be more enchanting - the splendid fortress-like mansion, the wild natural splendor of the Pacific river valley, the amiable company of Dr. Daventry and his family. But, unexpectedly and mercilessly, the sunlight ebbs and gives way to darkness. There is an angel of death presiding over the premises, and it is none other than the doctor's beautiful but belated bride!

    Inez came to Stark Island to catalog the library in Stark House, a rambling old mansion of field-stone and brick. Thus began her ordeal of terror, and her encounter with a madman's curse. She was taking a moonlight swim in Deepdene Pool, when she saw the creature watching her. As a wave of terror paralyzed her, she was saved by a young painter who lived at Stark House. From him she learned the legend behind the sinister creature, and the curse that followed the Stark family down through the centuries. Then came a moment of jolting horror in the family mausoleum, as a macabre vision arose before Inez's fear-struck eyes!

     But their plans are shattered when David is suddenly run over and killed by an out-of-control taxi. Now a widow, Carolyn struggles to come to terms with her husband’s unexpected death. And as the police investigation unfolds, Carolyn begins to suspect that David’s death may not have been an accident after all… What’s more, David seems to have hidden the truth of his business dealings from his wife. Soon, Carolyn is caught up in a murky web of deceit and greed which could cost her her own life. Was David’s death truly an accident? Or will Carolyn be the next victim of a twisted tale of money and murder? The Swiss Legacy is a gripping thriller filled with twists and turns until the very last page.

    

    "In the famous Fifth Avenue salon, beauty became a mask for murder."