Dispossessed farmer Pearl Jewett ekes out a hardscrabble existence with his three young sons: Cane (the eldest; handsome; intelligent); Cob (short; heavy set; a bit slow); and Chimney (the youngest; thin; ill-tempered). Several hundred miles away in southern Ohio, a farmer by the name of Ellsworth Fiddler lives with his son, Eddie, and his wife, Eula. After Ellsworth is swindled out of his family’s entire fortune, his life is put on a surprising, unforgettable, and violent trajectory that will directly lead him to cross paths with the Jewetts. No good can come of it. Or can it?In the gothic tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Cormac McCarthy with a healthy dose of cinematic violence reminiscent of Sam Peckinpah, Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers, the Jewetts and the Fiddlers will find their lives colliding in increasingly dark and horrific ways, placing Donald Ray Pollock firmly in the company of the genre’s literary masters.

    Not yet thirty, and she’s been hired as curator at Tullybrae House. A three-hundred year old manor in the Scottish Highlands, Tullybrae has more antique and historically significant artefacts than a museum. It will fall to Emmie to inspect, research and catalogue every last one. Of the work itself, she is more than capable. But what Emmie doesn’t know is that she and Lamb, Tullybrae’s loyal butler, are not the only ones inhabiting the rambling, three-story mansion. She will soon realize that Tullybrae is also home to the ghosts of a little girl, a former countess, and even Lamb’s own long-deceased mother. And there is another ghost: an unknown Highlander. Nothing survives of his name, his clan, even his death. Yet he is the one whose presence Emmie senses most strongly, and she becomes determined to solve his mystery. It is here that she is in over her head, for in uncovering his story, she may be uncovering the path to her own destiny.

    Her aunt's mind is crumbling, and the old woman refuses to let Rebecca stay overnight. And just as she thinks she's starting to understand the truth, Rebecca makes a horrifying discovery in one of the house's many spare rooms. A dead body. A woman. Old and rotten. And her aunt insists she has no idea where it came from. The truth lies buried in the past. For generations, the occupants of Auercliff have been tormented by the repercussions of a horrific secret. And somehow everything seems to be centered upon the mausoleum in the house's ground, where every member of the family is entombed once they die. Whose body was left to rot in one of the house's rooms? Why have successive generations of the family been plagued by a persistent scratching sound? And what really happened to Rebecca many years ago, when she found herself locked inside the Auercliff mausoleum? The Body at Auercliff is a horror story about a family and a house, and about the refusal of the past to stay buried.

    This collection of classic and newly reprinted stories provides readers with more of her unsettling, dark tales, including the "The Possibility of Evil" and "The Summer People." In these deliciously dark stories, the daily commute turns into a nightmarish game of hide and seek, the loving wife hides homicidal thoughts and the concerned citizen might just be an infamous serial killer. In the haunting world of Shirley Jackson, nothing is as it seems and nowhere is safe, from the city streets to the crumbling country pile, and from the small-town apartment to the dark, dark woods. There's something sinister in suburbia.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

     The ancient building has been the subject of rumours for close to a century. Its owner, Edith, refused to let guests inside and rarely visited the nearby town. Following Edith's death, her sole surviving relative, Adrienne, inherits the property. Adrienne's only possessions are a suitcase of luggage, twenty dollars, and her pet cat. Ashburn House is a lifeline she can't afford to refuse. Adrienne doesn't believe in ghosts, but it's hard to ignore the unease that grows as she explores her new home. Strange messages have been etched into the wallpaper, an old grave is hidden in the forest behind the house, and eerie portraits in the upstairs hall seem to watch her every movement. As she uncovers more of the house's secrets, Adrienne begins to believe the whispered rumours about Ashburn may hold more truth than she ever suspected. The building has a bleak and grisly past, and as she chases the threads of a decades-old mystery, Adrienne realises she's become the prey to something deeply unnatural and intensely resentful. Only one thing is certain: Ashburn's dead are not at rest.

    Now, she’s at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a twenty-seven-year-old mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name “Hawk” on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton. To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton’s secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches … or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton’s interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it’s too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever.

    Centred on 15 collections, with extensive interviews with each collector and specially shot imagery detailing their objects, this is a fascinating showcase of bizarre and intriguing objects.Included are collections of skulls, mummified body parts, occultic objects, and various carnival, side-show and criminal ephemera. Detailed captions tell the curious stories behind each object, many of which are being shown outside the private world of their collections for the first time.

    Her bleak future is avoided when the merciful actions of her solicitor results in a stroke of luck, finding a house forgotten and left in probate by previous generations. The desolate moors of Yorkshire is to be her home as she tries to revive an abandoned house where the wind whispers around the window sills. Before long, Anne discovers that the warnings given to her by the people in the area may be more than the superstitious nonsense. As the brutal history of the house and its founder, Richard Hawke, reveals itself, Anne discovers that there may be more entities in the house than just herself and her maid.

    When it first appeared in the New York Evening Mirror in 1845, the poem made Poe an overnight sensation. Master paper engineer David Pelham amazes us once again with his pop-up design interpreting this haunting love story.

    For the first time ever, Darkness There showcases some of his most famous tales with stunning digital illustrations. Each story explores a different twist of madness, murder, and melancholy, from the horror of being buried alive in “The Fall of the House of Usher” to the desperate case of two gruesome killings in “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” The heartbeat of paranoia in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the razor-sharp claustrophobia in “The Pit and the Pendulum,” and a mourner’s torment in “The Raven” reveal—and revel in—life’s creepiest and craziest. These tales are not for the faint of heart or the thin of skin.

    And like Jane Eyre, they call her wicked - but in her case, she fears the accusation is true. When she flees, she leaves behind the corpses of her tormentors.A fugitive navigating London's underbelly, Jane rights wrongs on behalf of the have-nots whilst avoiding the noose. Until an advertisement catches her eye. Her aunt has died and the new master at Highgate House, Mr Thornfield, seeks a governess. Anxious to know if she is Highgate's true heir, Jane takes the position and is soon caught up in the household's strange spell. When she falls in love with the mysterious Charles Thornfield, she faces a terrible dilemma: can she possess him - body, soul and secrets - and what if he discovers her murderous past?

    Until a serious threat brings her perfect world to a shattering stop. When Avery emerges from the darkness she finds she has a new ability--a supernatural one. Avery returns to Belle Fontaine, Alabama, to claim an inheritance: an old plantation called Sugar Hill. Little does she know that the danger has just begun.Described as "Gone With the Wind but with ghosts," Wife of the Left Hand, is Book One of the Sugar Hill series--a Southern ghost story that sprawls across centuries.This supernatural suspense novel is a blend of genres including mystery and the paranormal. Sugar Hill Series Wife of the Left Hand Fire on the Ramparts Blood by Candlelight The Starlight Ball ˃˃˃ Read more supernatural suspense from M. L. Bullock... Seven Sisters SeriesSeven SisterMoonlight Falls on Seven SistersShadows Stir at Seven SistersThe Stars that FellThe Stars We Walked UponThe Sun Rises Over Seven Sisters ˃˃˃ Visit Idlewood--a Haunted House in Mobile, Alabama! Idlewood SeriesThe Ghosts of IdlewoodDreams of IdlewoodThe Whispering SaintThe Haunted Child ˃˃˃ Get Lost in Ancient Egypt The Desert Queen SeriesThe Tale of NefretThe Falcon RisesThe Kingdom of NefertitiThe Song of the Bee Eater Unveil all the secrets of Sugar Hill. Grab your copy now!

    The Ombra are a vampire-like race, living in the shadows. Instead of feasting on blood, they survive by feeding on the souls of the dead. The Ombra exist alongside the living without fear of detection. Having thrived for centuries, they are powerful, wealthy, fear no one and ruthlessly destroy those who stand in their way. Maggie Forbes has come to Venice to see if she can discover what happened to her husband, Martin, who disappeared on a research trip to the island of Poveglia, the most haunted place on earth. Soon after her arrival in Venice, Maggie makes the acquaintance of two very different men. Torn between friendship and lust, Maggie must follow in Martin's footsteps to unlock the secrets of Poveglia. But time is running out. The Ombra lord is seeking a bride and the wedding day is looming.

    That she would have to travel all the way to Hungary sent nerves twisting inside her gut, as would meeting the mysterious count who would now be her employer. Unable to speak the language or with much to guide her, she found her new home nestled in remote mountains where hungry wolves prowled outside a dark and drafty castle scared by a long history and recent tragedies.

    

    'A tale to freeze the blood,' was the only rule. Switzerland, 1816. On a stormy summer night, Lord Byron and his guests are gathered round the fire.Felix, their serving boy, can't wait to hear their creepy tales.Yet real life is about to take a chilling turn - more chilling than any tale.Frantic pounding at the front door reveals a stranger, a girl covered in the most unusual scars.She claims to be looking for her sister, supposedly snatched from England by a woman called Mary Shelley.Someone else has followed her here too, she says. And the girl is terrified. This breathtaking new book from Emma Carroll, the critically-acclaimed author of Frost Hollow Hall, The Girl Who Walked On Air, In Darkling Wood and The Snow Sister, is a deliciously creepy story inspired by the creation of Frankenstein, and is brought to life by a leading talent in children's literature.

    

    Makes it hurt true. Hell of a crash.”—Jedidiah Ayres, author of Peckerwood“I’ve written that a way to judge the health of a genre is to gauge the number of emerging young, good writers. Kristopher Triana is one of the newest bumper crop of good ones. I read a couple of his short stories after meeting him at the recent StokerCon. His prose is excellent, his plots compelling. The Ruin Season has these same qualities. Kris has the Write Stuff. Check out a rising star.”—Gene O’Neill, author of The Cal Wild Chronicles and Entangled Soul with Chris Marrs“The Ruin Season is like the literary equivalent of Springsteen’s classic Nebraska. It’s a book with a stripped back feel, brooding with raw emotion and atmosphere where Triana allows his characters to bare their souls and bleed onto every page.”—Adrian Shotbolt, BeavistheBookheadJake Leonard has more than his share of trouble.He’s close to forty now and still suffers from bipolar disorder and the painful memories of the psychotic episodes that derailed his life and sent him behind bars as a youth. He lives in the rural south where he spends his days breaking horses and his nights training dogs in solitude. His nineteen-year-old girlfriend, Nikki, is the daughter of the sheriff, and she’s just getting worse with drugs, alcohol and satanic metal, eventually leading into heroin and low-budget porn. When Jake reconnects with his ex-wife, things get even more complicated, and the limits of love and sanity get pushed to the breaking point.The Ruin Season is a haunting, violent tale of a mentally ill man struggling in a violent and heartless world. It is the story of unrequited love, mad rage, and bloody revenge. It moves forward in the dark style of gritty southern gothic novels, in the tradition of Larry Brown, Harry Crews, Daniel Woodrell, Cormac McCarthy and Flannery O’Conner. It shows both the tender and horrible sides of insanity as well as the seedy underbelly of the American, backwoods suburbs.

    1790), a perfect object whose luxuriously bizarre existence challenges belief. It - or, better, she - was conceived of as a means to teach human anatomy without need for constant dissection, which was messy, ethically fraught and subject to quick decay. This life-sized wax woman is adorned with glass eyes and human hair and can be dismembered into dozens of parts revealing, at the final remove, a beatific foetus curled in her womb. Sister models soon appeared throughout Europe, where they not only instructed the specialist students, but also delighted the general public. Deftly crafted dissectable female wax models and slashed beauties of the world's anatomy museums and fairgrounds of the 18th and 19th centuries take centre stage in this disquieting volume. Since their creation in late 18th-century Florence, these wax women have seduced, intrigued and amazed. Today, they also confound, troubling the edges of our neat categorical divides: life and death, science and art, body and soul, effigy and pedagogy, spectacle and education, kitsch and art. Incisive commentary and captivating imagery reveal the evolution of these enigmatic sculptures from wax effigy to fetish figure and the embodiment of the uncanny.

    Ethan must then take a journey, emotionally and literally, back to the town of his youth and decide between love and faith when he once again meets The Vampire's Daughter.

    Alternating between one-off (often cruelly tragic) fairy tales and ongoing romps starring her eclectic cast of characters, including Effluvia the Mermaid, the roguish roué Wax Wolf, Igpay the Pig-Latin pig, Stregapez (a women who speaks by dispensing Pez-like tablets through a bloody hole in her throat), the mischievous Siamese twins Hindrance and Perfidia, Scampi the Selfish Shellfish, the stalwart Friend the Girl, and the blonde bombshell Richard Dirt, all delineated in her inimitable luxurious scrawl, Meat Cake is like a peek into the most creative, deranged dollhouse you ever saw. The Meat Cake Bible is the definitive collection of the series, collecting every story from all 17 issues (1993-2008) — including “Hungry Is the Heart,” Darcy’s legendary collaboration with Alan Moore — as well as new stories from the unpublished 18th issue.

    The stories in this collection don’t fall into the conventional ‘haunted house’ bracket, but explore the psychological horror that occurs when home is subverted as a place of safety, when it becomes surreal, changes, and even disappears…In these stories, a coma patient awakes to find herself replaced by a doppelganger, a ghost estate reflects doubles of both houses and inhabitants, a woman looks for the site of a Gothic atrocity, a suburban enclave takes control of its trespassers, and a beaten woman exacts revenge.Just as the Heimlich Manoeuvre restores order, health and well-being, the Unheimlich Manoeuvre does quite the opposite.

    She left behind a shattered family, an unsolvable mystery, and me; the only witness to the crime. I told them the truth and they told me I was in shock. They told me I was seeing things.They told me I was crazy.Now I'm an outcast just trying to make it through high school, to make it out of this town, but there are ties that won't be undone. Secrets I have to share if I ever want to be free.Will they be the end of this nightmare?Or are they only the beginning?

    But he doesn't investigate those either. After the Earl of Wolston reads the translation of a sinister and ancient text published on his daughter's blog, in the days leading up to her disappearance, he reaches out to Mr D'Angelo, convinced that evil forces are at work: something beyond the ordinary, something not of this world, something unholy.Fortunately for Michael, Paranormal Investigations are his specialty. But as Michael unravels Emma's last days, and the secrets inscribed on her blog, strange new entities reveal themselves, and he begins to question whether such knowledge is too dangerous to pursue.The Rise of the Dark Ones Trilogy is perfect for fans of vampire and paranormal mysteries, psychic investigator thrillers, occult suspense, angels, demons, and lovers of a good twist.

    That same day, her aunt, the house's owner, dies. For three years, Maggie has been fleeing her childhood demons: the deaths of her parents, estrangement from her terminally-ill aunt, and a betrayal by her best friend. But now her career following natural disasters in temporary insurance claims offices ends abruptly, as Maggie returns home to face her past. But why does the house hold a mysterious spell over her? Why does she have the persistent feeling that her aunt is haunting her? Why did her aunt lie to her about the circumstances of her parents' deaths? Who is the ghost child that may be hanging around the house? And what's with the guy next door who seems so hostile toward her? FOLLOWING DISASTERS is a tightly-woven ghost story that raises questions about legacies and their influence on our choices.

    "Because, you bring my soul peace." Joey Morris has spent her young life moving around the country with her constantly absent mother until finally ending up in the small college town of Portstown, Pennsylvania. Here history is thick in the air and Joey discovers that her family has long reaching roots in the town, dating back to the very first settlement. Because of her heritage she is welcomed into the group of the other founding families, and quickly becomes one of the popular girls in school. After over a year of the good life and Homecoming just days away, Joey is thrown into a terrifying new reality. Happening across a violent black dog with glowing red eyes, and a handsome stranger that puts his life on the line to save her only to stick a gun in her chest moments later. Now people are dying in Portstown, people close to Joey and she doesn't understand why. Will Joey have anyone left after she discovers the truth about her past? Cameron Davis is a man from another life, for years he has been focused on his mission. The drive that keeps his soul locked inside a physical body, staving off the reaper. That all changes when he is given the task of protecting Joey and stopping the attacks. This girl makes him weak and brings up memories of a past he left behind nearly a century ago. What secrets lie beyond his contract with the elusive Warner family, and why does this girl need protecting? Lineage is a young adult novel but is recommender for readers 16+ due to violence.

    She soon learns the disposal of her legacy will be a more complicated process than she expected. And nothing could complicate matters more than the return into Thomasina's life of a forbidden love from the past. The further she delves into the secrets of that past, the more she is made aware of something sinister and hidden, never to be spoken of even in whispers. She begins to suspect this secret is connected to the silent forms she has seen moving in the old house, from the corner of her eye or in the distorted reflection of a mirror. Then, as her investigations bear fruit, the shadows in the mirrors become more threatening.

    Get a behind-the-screams look at the design details that go into each of the dolls and discover the all of the most iconic Monster High dolls, including the Power Ghouls, Freak du Chic, and Gloom and Bloom.The Monster High Character Encyclopedia offers something new to even the most die-hard Monster High fans!

    Possession of the heart is another matter. After vicar's widow and natural medium Barbara Darke loses her respectable teaching position, she reluctantly agrees to become companion to her former pupil Emily, now the bride of young Sir Arthur Haggard. Once settled at Haggard Hall, Barbara finds her friend is beset by ghostly voices and unexplained deaths. In a maelstrom of dark spirits and wicked emotions, Barbara battles to lay Emily's ghosts to rest-both hampered and helped by Arthur's skeptical cousin Patrick, who provokes and attracts her in equal measure. It would be a mistake to trust a secretive, guilt-ridden man suspected of driving his wife to suicide, if not outright murdering her. And it could well be lethal to give in to her own desires, confused as they often are with the lusts of the dead. But Arthur and Emily are in genuine physical danger, and suspicion is falling closer and closer to Patrick-the man who haunts Barbara's sensual dreams. The man who stands to inherit Haggard Hall. Warning: Contains a medium whose body is open season for spirit possession, and a scandal-ridden journalist who only believes what he can see-and touch.

    Since the death of her mother and brother, Ella Winterton's life has been consumed by keeping her drunkard father out of trouble and the roof of their crumbling cottage over their heads. But even isolated deep in the Norfolk broads, Ella has never been afraid of the marshes surrounding her home, despite their being riddled with treacherous bogs and local smugglers. Until one night a man masquerading as a Lantern Man—a frightening figure of local legend—waylays her in the marshes near her home, and her world suddenly begins to spiral out of control.Ella can tell her friends and the local villagers are all hiding something terrible, something they refuse to share, and she can’t help but wonder if it has to do with the Lantern Man and his secret activities in the shadows of the seemingly quiet broads. But when Ella’s father is caught with smuggled brandy by the authorities and levied a crippling fine, she is forced to turn to the stranger for help, despite her distrust and his alarming ability to kiss her senseless.Now she must unravel a twisted trail of deception and secrets, and uncover once and for all whether the Lantern Man is friend or foe. Or else risk being dragged down into the marshes, like the victims from the myth, and buried in a watery grave.

    Stanley Brigham and his family have moved to London, and his parents have decided to finally hire a governess for their unusual son. But as they settle into their new life, Stanley realizes the house may already be occupied.

    Withdrawn and sullen, he is mistrusted by everyone, including Mary, the woman he secretly loves.A Promise Made...Mary will never break the promise she made to her dying mother, but she never imagined that promise would leave her with a dark secret. A secret that will deliver her straight to the gallows if discovered.Secrets And Betrayals Laid Bare...When Mary's life is altered forever, Benjamin finds the courage to offer her the protection she needs, but how far will she go to keep her secrets safe? Benjamin must prove his worth to win her love but someone from his past is intent on seeing him fail.Set in 1816 against the untamed splendour of the Cornish coast, is a passionate story of love, loss and dark secrets.

    Three years after her husband, Alex, disappeared, shot down over Germany, Jo Manders still mourns his loss. Working as a paid companion to Alex's wealthy, condescending aunt, Dottie Forsyth, Jo travels to the family’s estate in the Sussex countryside. But there is much she never knew about her husband’s origins…and the revelation of a mysterious death in the Forsyths’ past is just the beginning… All is not well at Wych Elm House. Dottie's husband is distant, and her son was grievously injured in the war. Footsteps follow Jo down empty halls, and items in her bedroom are eerily rearranged. The locals say the family is cursed, and that a ghost in the woods has never rested. And when Jo discovers her husband’s darkest secrets, she wonders if she ever really knew him. Isolated in a place of deception and grief, she must find the truth or lose herself forever. And then a familiar stranger arrives at Wych Elm House…

    

    Clark Ashton Smith’s unparalleled imagination is complimented by the artwork of David Ho, who has created 12 double-page, full color artworks, one for each story, plus an assortment of small devices. Combined with the stunning illustrations, we have an oversize format, over 11 inches tall, with four color printing throughout on silky Italian paper. With printed endsheets, ribbon marker, signature page, and cloth binding in Italian Cialux cloth, all wrapped in a stunning dustjacket, this is probably the finest book ever created for Clark Ashton Smith’s works. Above everything else, Averoigne is beautiful and magical. Clark Ashton Smith was a poet of vast talent and his powers seem particularly evident when he sets them to evoking this strange, medieval land and its wonders. All of his stories resonate and haunt — you are far from finished with them when you’ve read them and put them down — but the spells woven by these tales seem to have a particular persistence. All the legends make it quite clear that anyone rash enough to visit a real fairyland will never quite manage to leave it again entirely, and, in that fairy sense, Averoigne is real. Once you’ve read this book you’ll find you’ve been authentically enchanted by a master sorcerer and for the rest of your life you must expect to be periodically wafted willy-nilly far away from ordinary things. One moment you’ll be on a crowded bus, and the next you’ll be wandering down a flowery pathway by the River Isoile; another time when you’ve almost gotten yourself to sleep in some lonely hotel room, you’ll suddenly be lost amid tall, grey trees perilously close to the tomb of Malinbois; and staring fixedly into space with your mind on nothing in particular, will almost certainly cause you to revisit that interesting Inn near Sylaire. The edition is limited to 200 signed and numbered copies.

    Dublin dies in the wake of a disease, dragging its victims back from the grave, mindless and very hungry. The people of Ireland flee in fear of plague, but Stanley knows better, and this is no plague; this is a curse.Stanley Brigham only wants peace. Born a Chime Child, his second sight connecting him to England’s magical and supernatural, and long giving him grief as a secret world he shares with seldom few. The introverted British youth has only come to Ireland to introduce himself to his newly betrothed fiancée, but an outbreak of death and decay ruins the social call, unleashing a massacre on Dublin. Only Stanley hears the undead voices calling from the other side, and suspects something more magical is afoot. His suspicions are confirmed by Maggie MacNamara, an eccentric-but-powerful spiritualist keen on saving her home. Though returned to England, a reluctant Stanley finds himself involved once more when Maggie approaches both himself and his inventive companion, Vincent Cammish. She proposes that he can use his ability against the curse. Someone is behind these undead, and she wants them found. Armed with little save for a folklore guide, Stanley ventures back to Dublin in search of the curse’s mastermind. He is soon drawn across The Veil, into another Ireland: one full with Druids, good folk, and all manner of magical kin. He finds an ally in a faerie named Willow, as charming as she is suspicious. An erratic practitioner comes on her heels, deeply involved in the curse and aiming to take the faerie away, but to what end? Stanley, Vincent, and Willow must work together to find out and unearth to cause of Dublin’s undead, soon unleashing a world of ancient magic and dark creatures the British Isles had long forgotten. And perhaps with good reason.

    There she encounters a ghostly being, which she dismisses as a figment of her imagination. But as the apparition becomes too persistent to deny, Camille realizes the woman’s ghost is quite real—and that her demise was not accidental. Declan Rush—the inhospitable, reclusive owner of the inn where Camille is staying—is linked to the deceased woman, but he is less than forthcoming. Despite his unfriendliness, Camille is oddly drawn to him, even though she suspects his connection to the spirit might be that of killer to victim. When another suspicious death occurs, Camille intensifies her investigation. She has precious little time to ferret out the truth. Not only is her book deadline looming—she's desperate to discover if the man she’s falling for is a murderer. *** A World of Gothic is a Gothic Mystery Romance Series by authors from all over the world. For information on other titles and for interesting tidbits on mysteries and the authors, check out A World of Gothic Facebook page.

    He woke up drunk and on the wrong end of a nightstick. He lost his job, and had to see his shrink. Now the cops are after him, he’s falling apart, and his only friend is a volatile drug lord. How could it get any worse?As smoke envelopes the city, he finds himself on the run, and out of time. He’s either losing his mind, or becoming a monster. Or maybe it’s both. Jimmy Finn has one last hope. A long-buried family secret, lost above a mysterious town in the mountains, full of bizarre shadows and a strange girl that haunts his memories.“Populated by a collection of characters you definitely want to have a drink with, but then hide in your basement while you count your fingers and toes afterward, this tale does not disappoint.” – Robert Bose, nEvermore, AB Negative“Axel Howerton pens a slick stylish werewolf tale that digs in its teeth and tears at your heart. Furr has a voice that speaks to the animal in us all.”– Sarah L. Johnson, author of Suicide Stitch: Eleven Stories4505 KB

    Haunted by her FutureTainted. Degraded. Doomed. Doctors told Ella Arlington that her epilepsy would prevent her from living a normal life. When her cousin tries to put her in an institution, she flees to London, determined to control her own destiny. But while at a séance, Ella’s epileptic fit is mistaken for spiritual possession. Loath to reveal her scandalous condition, she goes along with the misperception, and soon finds herself attracting the attention of a devilishly handsome viscount determined to keep the past buried. Tortured by his PastViscount Isidore Blackwood’s fiancée died with secrets he’s vowed to keep, but nothing could have prepared him for the arrival of a mysterious woman who’s rumored to have contacted her ghost. He doesn’t believe for a moment that Ella possesses supernatural powers. Her presence, however, shakes him to his core and when he accuses Ella of being a con artist, sparks unexpectedly ignite between them. When some surprising truths come to light about Phillipa’s death, Isidore concocts a plan to stage a spectacle of a séance for the ton with Ella’s help. Their devil’s pact might just flush out a killer, but will Isidore let his fury and guilt consume his own soul in the process? And can Ella trust him enough to gamble on a future she never thought she could have?

    Lurid lust! Vicious violence! Creepy kisses! The zombie-fied Haunted Love #1 is just the first of 3 throbbing issues that will set your horrid hearts afire. Haunted Love will make your Valentines Day massacre and gory gift giving to your vile Valentine unforgettable and unforgivable.

    Harbingers is a veritable Cabinet of Curiosities for fans of weird tales! A washed-up actress tries to prolong her pact with a Greek goddess in a hotel bathroom, a porcelain woman awaits the return of her maker on a lonely rooftop, and a Resurrection man rethinks his career choices. Harbingers also includes the pulp adventure tale, One Woman Cure, and a Grey O'Donnell ghost story, A Christmas Ghost Story in the West.

    It is 1932, and the City of Dalltop is teeming with corruption. In the dead of night, a woman cries for help, but none turn an ear to her pleas. She scuttles through the lost buildings under their leaky roofs for shelter, but they always come. They dress as dark as the night and hide in the shadows. She pierces her feet in mileage and tears her clothes in desperation, but they always find her.Myriana was a rich young lady with no ambitions, no voice of her own that is until she became the wife of the handsome tycoon, Sorrel Borchardt. She soon learns that nothing is as it superficially appears. The streets that shine during the day actually stand upon the rotten foundations of a mafia organization known as Idon. What hand does Sorrel Borchardt have in Idon? Will Myriana learn to adapt to her new violent lifestyle or will she be consumed by it? Embark on a journey rout in spine-chilling bloodshed as you thread upon the fine line that divides infatuation from insanity....

    Amicus... names synonymous with the terrifyingly gorgeous horror films from the Bray and Shepperton studios that spanned three decades. These full-length films and portmanteaus were stuffed to the gills with shocking and witty stories, stunning production design, imposing monsters and beautiful women. They enthralled a generation, and continue to inspire writers and filmmakers to this day, which is why you now hold in your hand a loving tribute to the films that shaped the April Moon psyche.

     So speaks Thomas Griffith, the sole surviving keeper of the Smalls Lighthouse. Beset by the worst storm in a century, he bears witness to the untimely death of his colleague and love rival, Howell, only to suffer greater horrors than anyone should endure. For something in Howell has survived. Something arcane and eldritch now calls to Griffith across the chasm of life, promising such gifts and treasure if only he will let it in. Holding on to the last shreds of his sanity, Griffith must choose between a power that he fears will consume him, and the love of his ever-faithful wife.

    Here are tales of suspense and the supernatural that will chill, amuse, and exhilarate.

    At least she thought she knew, until Trixie, the new girl came to town. As the rules she once believed fall apart, Amanda soon faces the truth of her town. She isn’t the only one that wants out.Amanda is left with a decision, to fight the town’s monster or join it and finally be free.

    A cursed house. Generations of lives at stake. The third novel in the acclaimed Bliss House series reveals the secret that started it all. There is no bliss to be found in Bliss House.In Old Gate, Virginia, stands a grand house built by Randolph Bliss, a charming New York carpetbagger who, in 1878, shook off dire warnings to build his home elsewhere. For the ground beneath Bliss House is tainted with the kind of tragedy that curses generations, seeping through the foundation and sowing madness in its wake. His first and second wives, and his young Japanese mistress, Kiku, bear witness to Randolph’s growing insanity with stories of his cruel manipulations and their desperate struggles to find happiness for themselves and their children.Their desire to live and love and even take revenge also fills the house, triumphing even over death. Spanning half a century, The Abandoned Heart is the prequel to Charlotte’s Story and Bliss House, forming a trilogy of southern Gothic novels in which one haunted house begets haunted lives that echo over centuries. A haunting so powerful that even Bliss House’s destruction cannot kill it.

    Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there's no such thing as ghosts, I'm just saying they don't haunt living people – because basically they don't know we're here. How do I know that? Because I can see them. I have since I was a little kid. But I didn't have a grandmother who taught me how to help people move on, or Bruce Willis as my ghost shrink. Nope, I just got to stand around like a zombie staring at people nobody else could see, wondering if it was me or the rest of the world who was crazy. Then, just when I'd worked out what my version of 'normal' was, and was content with it, Jake came along - the anomaly - the Grey who didn't play by the rules. What was worse, he couldn't be just any old Grey, could he? Oh no, he had to be the most gorgeous guy I'd ever laid eyes on, living or dead. And he was set on rocking my world, whether I liked it or not.

    Wimbourne Books presents the second in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 2 in the series spans the years 1836 to 1901, contains ghost stories set at or around Christmas, and includes stories from a wide range of authors including Charles Dickens, Amelia B. Edwards and J. S. Le Fanu. Readers new to this genre will discover its pleasures; the Victorian quaintness, the sometimes shocking difference in social norms, the almost comical politeness and structured etiquette, the archaic and precise language, but mostly the Victorians’ skill at stoking our fears and trepidations, our insecurities and doubts. Even if you are already an aficionado of the ghostly tale there is much within these pages to interest you. Wait until the dark of the snowy night (preferably on Christmas Eve), lock the doors, shutter the windows, light the fire, sit with your back to the wall and bury yourself in the Victorian macabre. Try not to let the creaking floorboards, the distant howl of a dog, the chill breeze that caresses the candle, the shadows in the far recesses of your room, disturb your concentration.

    T. Joshi prepared revised editions of H. P. Lovecraft's stories for Arkham House. Basing his work on consultation of manuscripts, early publications, and other sources, Joshi corrected thousands of errors in the existing texts of Lovecraft's fiction, allowing readers to appreciate the stories as Lovecraft originally wrote them. In the thirty years that have followed, Joshi has continued to do research on the textual accuracy of Lovecraft's stories, and this comprehensive new edition is the result. For the first time, students and scholars of Lovecraft can see at a glance all the textual variants in all relevant appearances of a story manuscript, first publication in magazines, and first book publications. The result is an illuminating record of the textual history of the tales, along with how Lovecraft significantly revised his stories after initial publication. Along the way, Joshi has made small but significant revisions to his earlier corrected texts. He has determined, for example, that Lovecraft slightly revised some stories when a reprint of them was scheduled in Weird Tales, and he has altered some readings in light of a better understanding of Lovecraft's customary linguistic usages. The result is the definitive text of Lovecraft's fiction an edition that supersedes all those that preceded it and should endure as the standard text of Lovecraft's stories for many years. In this final volume, the tales of Lovecraft's final years are presented. The Antarctic novella At the Mountains of Madness is perhaps Lovecraft s most finished work, a superb fusion of weirdness and science fiction that he referred to as 'cosmicism.' 'The Shadow over Innsmouth' is a chilling evocation of the terrors inherent in a lonely New England backwater, while 'The Thing on the Doorstep' and 'The Haunter of the Dark' feature physical horrors with cosmic implications. 'The Shadow out of Time' is the culmination of Lovecraft's portrayal of the vast vistas of space and time his signature contribution to literature.

    Angel Hands, by Cait Reynolds, begins at the end of The Phantom of the Opera, revealing, for the first time, the true story behind Leroux’s fantastical tale and the real fate of the Phantom himself. When the Opera de Paris is purchased and renovated, years after a mysterious fire nearly destroyed it, the Phantom finds himself unexpectedly resurrected - in the form of a young boy hired by the manager’s daughter to play pranks on the cast, crew, and audience. After all, the return of the infamous “Opera Ghost” can only be good for ticket sales, and Mireille Dubienne is determined to see her father’s investment become profitable.Plain, shrewd, and proud, Mireille pours the rage of her disappointed hopes and looming spinsterhood into helping her father manage the Opera de Paris and making it a success. What she doesn’t count on is the real “Opera Ghost” deciding he no longer wishes to be an understudy in his own domain, the theater that Mireille believes is hers. The Phantom and Mireille push each other to the limits of their cunning to control and manipulate each other, with no game too low to play. With each passing day, the stakes get higher, until surrender is no longer an option for the Phantom or Mireille.Every trick and betrayal drives them toward a startling truth that will change more than one life forever: you can’t love what you hate…but you can desire it.

    From the Lovecraftian laments of “The Song of Sighs” and “Only the Dead and the Moonstruck” to the uncanny notes of “The October Widow” and the stunning new “The Red Forest”, it’s clear that Slatter is, in the words of Stephen Jones, ‘a powerful and eloquent voice in horror fiction.’ Each tale is a darkly crafted gem.

    After losing yet another large sum of money, he is relieved to discover that he has been left an estate in Scotland. With the ownership of this new estate he decides he will do his best to make it profitable. Upon arrival to the town he notices how unfriendly everyone seems to be. Finally when he reaches his estate he is met with not only a less-than-pleasant manor, but also household staff who refuse to even stay in the estate overnight. They try to explain about the ghostly goings-on in the home but he ignores their warnings completely. However it isn't long before Michael is thoroughly convinced! He learns that there is only one person who might be able to help him rid his new estate of the malevolent spirits that haunt it: Rebecca... Rebecca is the village’s wise woman who is only too willing to help. Ignoring her growing attraction to Michael, she works hard to find out more about the spirits and how she can banish them forever using her magic. Michael is surprised to discover that the wise woman is both young and beautiful, and a desire for her grows the moment he first sets eyes on her. Realising that nothing can happen between them, he tries to put his attraction aside, knowing that he will need to marry well if he is to set the estate to rights. Will they be able to rid the estate of its ghosts and pursue their love for each other, or will Michael’s pursuit for money push her away for good? Content Warning: Explicit love scene. Intended for mature audiences.

     A love so strong it transcends time, but can it survive an evil that’s out to destroy? SHADOWS AND LIES A shadowy figure haunts Turnberry House, and a trail of death follows… When Olivia Lockwood leaves the comfort of her quaint Massachusetts home for an eerie mansion in Louisiana to fulfill her grandfather’s dying wish, she has no idea of the long-buried secrets that await her there. Or whether Jaxon Carter, her grandfather’s right-hand man, might steal her heart or put her life in jeopardy. A Gothic Mystery Romance Series by authors all over the world. For information on other titles, check out A World of Gothic Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?... Praise for Raine English: MISTRESS OF RAGHERY ~ A Gothic Romantic Suspense “The plot and characters were wonderful. I stayed up late at night to finish this gem of a book…” —Netgalley Reviewer “This Gothic mystery and romance set in the 1800s Ireland feels like a tribute to the classic Gothic novels that were so popular in this period of time… The author did a great job of paying homage to the genre and creating her own style at the same time…” —The Book Review “A deliciously creepy Gothic romance in the tone of Victoria Holt. I hope to hear more from Ms. English as this story was outstanding.” —Netgalley Reviewer “If you like dramatic gothic stories of ghosts and love starring an employee and employer with a healthy dose of suspense and drama throughout, then you will enjoy this novel! I’d recommend it to anyone…” —JulieLiterary Other Gothic Romances from Raine English: THE BREAKERS ISLAND SERIES Book 1: Surrender to Love Book 2: Surrender the Night Book 3: Surrender to Desire

    For some strange reason, they don’t want her around, and their rejection is more than unsettling. It’s downright alarming. Jeremiah Mantle is the local forest ranger. His assignment is to watch the girl in the red cloak from a distance--to protect her as well as the forest. Falling in love, however, is definitely not in his job description. But it becomes increasingly harder to deny their mutual attraction.But this Christmas, something wicked waits in the woods, and a dark past seems determined to rip them apart.

    On a remote island a wealthy entrepreneur has secretly created a theme park full of imprisoned ghosts he has collected over time. Before opening the attraction to the public he enlists the help of a small group of people to assist him. One of them being Josh Evans a troubled psychic with a dark past. Whilst he battles his own personal demons Josh is scheduled the task of entering the spirit world & exploring some of the evil minds of the ghosts that lie within the island, but at what cost.

    Thomas was a very private person. One of the few Civil War commanders not to write his memoirs, he also ordered his wife to burn his correspondence and private papers upon his death. This hasn’t stopped historians from reconstructing his life. Thomas was one of the Union’s finest generals and showed great intelligence and courage throughout his military service. With this book, author Jack M. Zackin sheds light on Thomas’s story, creating a historically detailed work, structured as a personal memoir, to honor the life and times of this great man. Growing up in southeast Virginia, Thomas witnessed some of the biggest moments in American history. After his family was forced to flee when Nat Turner’s slave rebellion devastated the countryside, Thomas went on to graduate from West Point and participate in the Second Seminole War, where he battled his adversaries in the dark Florida swamps. As commander of an artillery battery during the Mexican-American War, he saved Zachary Taylor’s army from Santa Anna’s Mexican military. Zackin deftly shows how these experiences influenced Thomas’s personal beliefs, his politics, and his military strategies. During the Civil War Thomas’s bold actions were brilliant, explosive, and unforgettable.

    However, surrounded by local legends and myths, he is soon dragged into an ancient mystery that has haunted the village of Ballymoor for centuries. Set on the background of the tumultuous years preceding the War of Independence, and colored by Irish folklore, the Haunter of the Moor is a ghost story written in the style of Victorian Gothic novels.

    But what of those instances in which we are faced with an event or a phenomenon wholly passing our powers of comprehension?”“I saw in the moonlight some pathetic creature rise up from the sea and clamber over the edge. Then, with grotesque movements, half-walking and half-crawling, it approached the lonely blackhouse. As I watched in horror, I could not but be thankful that it was too dark for me to see any more than the silhouette of the thing. It was the form of a man; that much I could see, yet I knew instinctively as I looked upon that figure that it was not living, and I was at once filled with a dread so profound that my very heart seemed to stand still.”The Lonely Devil is a collection of short stories exploring the grotesque, the tragic and the unexplained. From Scotland during the Middle Ages to New York during the Great Depression, these fifteen stories tell of madness, loss, unquiet souls and benevolent spirits.

    Annabel’s closest friend is Jevan Wenham. The son of the blacksmith, he lives his life on the verge of destruction. His devotion to Annabel is full of twists and turns as brutality melds with deepest desire. But when Jevan is forced to travel to London to receive an education, Annabel is devastated.Then Alex—heir to the Saltonstall legacy and son of Cerberus Saltonstall, the wealthy landowner of the foreboding Gothelstone Manor—comes into her life. Alex is arrogant and self-assured, but he cannot stop thinking about the outspoken girl he encounters on the road to Gothelstone. Not only is he bewitched by Annabel’s beauty, he feels drawn to her by something he can’t explain. Alex and Annabel are socially worlds apart, but that doesn’t stop him from demanding her hand in marriage. When Annabel refuses, she is forced into an impossible situation. Jevan believes she has betrayed him, regardless of the fact that her decision saves him from the hangman’s noose.As a devastating love triangle unfolds, disturbing revelations thrust Annabel into a startling reality, where nothing is as it seems. Now both her life and Jevan’s are in danger, and her fledging powers may not be enough to save them…

    Josie Reynolds' sweet sixteen was unforgettable, but not in the way that she imagined. The night of her birthday, a fire breaks out in her home and the last thing she remembers is the smoke filling her lungs and the cries of her younger brother and sisters for help. Unable to save them and too badly burned in the fire to leave her room, Josie is constantly haunted by her guilt, watching from the window as life goes on without her. It is only after her mother's death that she discovers the terrible truth that has been hidden from her: Josie didn't survive the fire and she has been a ghost for nearly sixty years. Now, her mentor, Calvin, must help Josie find a way to move on from the worst night of her life before she is stuck in this world forever."

    Despised by the wider world, blighted by history, since the beginning of time it has honored one law: the Dead rule, and the Living submit. No one remembers why Ingerval nobles return as ghosts after their deaths. To enjoy a brief life of pleasure and plenty, followed by an eternity of reigning from beyond the grave, is the fate of all Ingerval lords. All but one. As the youngest son of the King's third wife, Syphax never thought he would amount to anything. He is content to live out a contemplative life free from the scourges of power and politics that infatuate his peers. But, after answering a summons to the Palace – a sprawling, ever-expanding repository for Ingerval's ghosts – he finds himself at the heart of a dynastic struggle centuries in the making.Funerals are happy occasions in Ingerval, and the King is planning for his to be the most decadent in the country's long memory. He does not know that, unlike every lord before him, he will not return to rule alongside his ancestors. He will die the true death, sparking a succession crisis that throws the noble families into chaos. Amidst the violence and intrigue, Syphax alone asks, "What really happened to the King?" The deeper Syphax digs, the more he realizes these events are connected to others dating back to the founding of his father's dynasty. Let the games begin.

    To describe Mikey in his own words, he is "the world's only gay, libertarian ghost whisperer." His card says "paranormal tech support" and his rate isn't cheap. But if you're an oil baron and your operation just awoke a dormant Kraken in the Gulf of Mexico or you're an Internet porn tycoon who simply wants to stop receiving dismembered bodies via a fleet of mysterious delivery drones, then Dead Things Mikey is your best bet. From the creepy weirdo behind the "Memoirs of a Cam-Girl" series comes a story that horror author Sean Seebach (Our Monsters Are Real) calls "The demented offspring of H.P. Lovecraft and Chris Carter. [...] At points truly disturbing, and yet an absolute joy to read."

    Yet the owner, Mr. Goosen, is giving you one last chance to explore inside and take one treasure of your choosing! With your friends Jake and Emma, you have one final chance to explore the house and find the best treasure from one of Mr. Goosen's many adventures. But you quickly learn the House on Hollow Hill has a secret. Can you survive the house's ghastly occupants? Or will you fall victim to their tricks?Welcome to Ultimate Ending, where YOU choose the story!That's right - everything that happens in this book is a result of decisions YOU make. So choose wisely! But also be careful. Throughout this book you'll find tricks and traps, trials and tribulations! Most you can avoid with common sense and a logical approach to problem solving. Others will require a little bit of luck. Having a coin handy, or a pair of dice, will make your adventure even more fun. So grab 'em if you got 'em! Along the way you'll also find clues, tips, and even items that can help you in your quest. You'll meet people. Pick stuff up. Taking note of these things is often important, so while you're gathering your courage, you might also want to grab yourself a pencil and a sheet of paper. Keep in mind, there are many ways to end the story. Some conclusions are good... some not so good. Some of them are even great! But remember: there is only ONE Ultimate Ending!

    She rejoices when a soldier, looking identical to Jamie, arrives, but is devastated when he doesn't remember her. Can she break through Jamie's barriers and bring his memory back? And once found, can their love survive living in a different century? THE HAUNTING OF A DUKE by Chasity Bowlin Miss Emmaline Walters is invited to a houseparty for one reason only—her reported ability to commune with the dead. While there, she and the dark and brooding Rhys Brammell, Duke of Briarliegh and rumored murderer of his late wife, find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. As they explore the secrets and spirits of Briarwood together, danger lurks in its shadowy halls... danger from this side of the grave and beyond. SEDUCED by Tarah Scott It’s a Mississippi Deputy Sheriff’s duty to bring a serial killer to justice…even when he’s a three hundred year old Scottish lord. It’s an SAS agent’s duty to save her. With each passing day, Lord Colin Morrison grows more furious...and more desperate. In three hundred years, not one of the women who shared his bed broke the spell that imprisoned him in Castle Morrison. Margot Saulnier is different. She can save him. All she has to do is give in to her desire for him. Then die. Deputy Sheriff Margot Saulnier knows her best friend murdered her husband—Margot’s cousin—but she can’t prove it. Now, four years later, out of the blue, Cat calls Margot from Scotland and invites her to visit. Margot turns in her badge and leaves Mississippi. This time, she’ll do whatever it takes to prove Cat murdered Donny. Margot didn’t plan on falling in love with an SAS Agent—or a three-hundred-year-old Scottish lord. Now she must choose. SAS Agent Charles McNeil is going to keep Margot Saulnier out of trouble—whether she likes it or not. He understands her need for justice, but with no proof and no authority, she’s headed for serious trouble. So is he. Charles didn’t plan on falling in love with Margot. Neither did he plan on saving her from a serial killer. HEATHER HOUSE: WITCH OF THE MOORS by Carmen Caine Scotland, 1589 - As the spare for the heir, Alec Montgomery devoted his time to the pursuit of pleasure. Lighthearted and fiercely loyal, Alec spent his days as his brother's right-hand man while avidly thwarting the matchmaking attempts of the king and his mother's desire that he join the priesthood. But on one stormy night, a mysterious crone and a chance meeting on the moors bring his fate full circle. To escape a Montgomery raid as a wee lass, Sorcha Cunningham and her mother fled into the forest and stumbled upon the refuge of Heather House with its ancient stone circle. The dreams came to Sorcha that night, dreams that would portend the horrors of her future, forcing her to face a destiny written in the stars. As the age-old feud between the Montgomery and Cunningham clans ignite, Alec and Sorcha walk a precipice of desire and danger as King James VI of Scotland ushers in the age of witch-hunting and the North Berwick Witch Trials threaten to rip them apart. NETHERBY HALLS by Claudy Conn Sassy finds a position through her late mother's friend, as a tutor at Netherby Halls. As she makes the journey to Netherby she meets the man who has been making love to her in her dreams...the irresistible Marquis of Dartmour. Things at Netherby are not what they seem. The handsome marquis is not what he seems, and Sassy...

    Three days later she rose from the dead.Now, from the jagged wilderness of the Blue Ridge Mountains to a glittering lair buried deep beneath the Biltmore Estate, a lonely Nightwalker fights her eternal hunger as she strives for salvation amidst temptation and blood.Gea Haff weaves Bronte biography through Book 1 of the Bronte Blood Chronicles.For mysterious reasons Asheville paramedic, Anne Bell, never lays down ties and only works the night shift. Deputy Santos knows she's not normal. The new ER doc watches her look a wolf. And the handsome Professor Hardcastle, a Bronte scholar, is on the verge of discovering her true identity. Then just as love bloom in Anne's bloody world, her long-lost sister Emily suddenly arrives, resurrecting memories and bringing her own feral brand of justice to this snow draped mountain town. It turns out, Anne's going to need all the help she can get. A vicious Alpha predator circles nearby and he wont stop until securing his greatest prize of all: Anne Bronte, Nightwalker.

    So begins the saga of Sarah and Tabitha in The Devil's Trill, the first chapter of The Ladies Bristol Occult Adventures series, a collection of thrilling supernatural adventures from the mind of horror and dark fantasy author Rhoads Brazos. Like a dark version of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson trapped in a world of the macabre, two friends from Bristol open forbidden doorways into the arcane and mystical realm of the occult and awaken the deadly forces that reside within.Fans of the Buffy, the Vampire Slayer horror franchise and the Burton & Swinburne adventure series will find a new world of terrifying fantasy in The Devil's Trill that puts a modern spin on the gothic thriller.

    But when Peter finished buttoning his coat to ward off the chill, he realized he was no longer alone in the lakeside cemetery. Was his past catching up with him? This short (17 pages) tale of a Victorian haunting will delight readers of classic ghost stories.

    Jenny was engaged as Sir Richard’s secretary before their marriage and will be homeless if she is evicted from the estate. But the handsome new master is unmoved by her plight. Zephyr is a career thief who has his eye on one prize: stolen gold from a long-ago heist that was hidden on the property. When his predecessor’s beautiful, strange widow thwarts his plans, Jackson applies pressure to break Jenny’s will and she is forced to reveal a shameful secret. The knowledge gives him power over the young woman until a sinister threat arises that pushes them into a passionate alliance. -------------------------- The Master of Cliff House is the third novel in Catherine Lloyd’s Victorian Villains Saga. Four villainous fathers drowned at sea curse their four sons with greed, murder, lust and pride. Set in Victorian England, this steamy, suspenseful saga is written in the classic gothic romance tradition of Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney. The Master of Cliff House contains scenes, language and themes written for a mature audience.

    Centre stage is would-be opera singer Christine, who, despite being devoted to her art, attracts the attention of both the Phantom, and rich theatre owner Raoul. The resulting mix of love, rage, art and murderous intent, is explosive.

    ~ Formerly a lady-in-waiting, nineteen-year-old Laura Mayhew is the only witness to a sex scandal at Windsor Castle and is committed to Gateshead Insane Asylum to discredit her story. Tanner Caine, a cold, solitary and emotionally damaged ex-naval officer is tasked with silencing the girl permanently. Laura has the gift of second sight and she has been expecting an assassin for months but Tanner insists he’s only there to help. Haunted in her dreams by a baby’s cries, Laura decides to trust the dangerous Mr. Caine to escape the asylum and find the missing royal infant. When she is compelled into marriage to obtain her release, Laura discovers Tanner Caine is the one man whose thoughts she cannot read. And it is possible she has married her assassin. -------------- Mark of Caine: Hidden in the Shadows is the first installment in the second trilogy of Catherine Lloyd’s Victorian Villains Gothic Romance Serials, historical romance in the tradition of Phyllis A. Whitney and Victoria Holt. Set in 1868, England, like the “penny dreadful” of the Age, each novella ends in a cliff-hanger. These are steamy romances containing scenes, language and themes written for a mature audience.

    A twisted accident leaves the family shattered and exposed to attacks from the netherworld. The attacks are the small, but integral pieces of the bigger picture.As the family fights back and Krishna struggles to prove himself as the man of the house, the darkest chapters from his past re-open, unleashing a torrent of pain and desolation. Krishna decides to embark on a spiritual journey to save his family.Does he succeed?How does his journey affect the impending war?Invoked is the first book of the Hymns of War series.- See more at: https://notionpress.com/read/invoked#...

    The 14 chapters in this volume engage with debates about 'Female Gothic' from the 1970s and '80s, through second wave feminism, theorisations of gender and a long interrogation of the 'women' category as well as with the problematics of post-feminism, now itself being interrogated by a younger generation of women. The contributors explore Gothic works - from established classics to recent films and novels - from feminist and post-feminist perspectives. The result is a lively book that combines rigorous close readings with elegant use of theory in order to question some ingrained assumptions about women, the Gothic and identity.Key FeaturesRevitalises the long-running debate about women, the Gothic and identity Engages with the political agendas of feminism and post-feminism Prioritises the concerns of woman as reader, author and critic Offers fresh readings of both classic and recent Gothic works

    But what do Southern and Gothic mean, and how are they related? Traditionally seen as drawing on the tragedy of slavery and loss, Southern Gothic is now a richer, more complex subject. Thirty-five distinguished scholars explore the Southern Gothic, under the categories of Poe and his Legacy; Space and Place; Race; Gender and Sexuality; and Monsters and Voodoo. The essays examine slavery and the laws that supported it, and stories of slaves who rebelled and those who escaped. Also present are the often-neglected issues of the Native American presence in the South, socioeconomic class, the distinctions among the several regions of the South, same-sex relationships, and norms of gendered behaviour. This handbook covers not only iconic figures of Southern literature but also other less well-known writers, and examines gothic imagery in film and in contemporary television programmes such as True Blood and True Detective."

    Now available for the first time on Amazon - the launch issue of OCCULT DETECTIVE QUARTERLY, the finest and most intriguing stories of those who investigate the strange, the supernatural and the occult. Great fiction from new and established names, including Willie Meikle, Adrian Cole, Amanda DeWees and Joshua M Reynolds. Includes the striking and dark novelette 'Monochrome' by Ted E Grau, Tim Prasil's 'How to be a Fictional Victorian Ghost Hunter (In 5 Easy Steps), and interior illustrations by top artists. Plus reviews, and an interview with legendary creator of Dr Spektor, Don F Glut.

    Tragic, dead Ivy. "Sometimes I wished I weren't so lucky. Wished I experienced her the way the rest of the world did: as a cold draught, or a banging door you been gosh darn meaning to get fixed for months now. But to me she wasn't just a flash of light in the corner of your eye. She was a young woman in a torn yellow bustle dress and eyes like storm clouds. A reminder that there were layers between life and death that stretched far beyond our comprehension."Stranded in the middle of the Australian desert, the Golden Plains Hotel is isolated, run down and haunted by murdered Ivy Westerly. Through the barrier between two worlds, Ivy and publican's daughter Alice console each other in their monotonous existence. Alice is ecstatic when she finds a way to leave the Golden Plains. But tragic, dead Ivy won't let go of their friendship quite so easily... Goldfields is a paranormal short story from Australia's past.

    Theoretically informed but accessibly written, this volume relates Frankenstein to various social, literary, scientific and historical contexts, and outlines how critical theories such as ecocriticism, posthumanism, and queer theory generate new and important discussion in illuminating ways. The volume also explores the cultural afterlife of the novel including its adaptations in various media such as drama, film, television, graphic novels, and literature aimed at children and young adults. Written by an international team of leading experts, the essays provide new insights into the novel and the various critical approaches which can be applied to it. The volume is an essential guide to students and academics who are interested in Frankenstein and who wish to know more about its complex literary history.

    Now for the first time thirteen of these tales are collected here, including a wide range of stories from a diverse group of authors, some well-known, others anonymous or forgotten. Readers whose only previous experience with Victorian Christmas ghost stories has been Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol will be surprised and delighted at the astonishing variety of ghostly tales in this volume. “In the sickly light I saw it lying on the bed, with its grim head on the pillow. A man? Or a corpse arisen from its unhallowed grave, and awaiting the demon that animated it?” - John Berwick Harwood, Horror: A True Tale“Suddenly I aroused with a start and as ghostly a thrill of horror as ever I remember to have felt in my life. Something—what, I knew not—seemed near, something nameless, but unutterably awful.” - Ada Buisson, The Ghost’s Summons“There was no longer any question what she was, or any thought of her being a living being. Upon a face which wore the fixed features of a corpse were imprinted the traces of the vilest and most hideous passions which had animated her while she lived.” - Walter Scott, The Tapestried Chamber

    The house agrees… After losing everything—her family, her home, her sense of self—former heiress, Daphne Alesi, has no choice but to start anew. Broke, unwanted, and suffering from a rare condition that makes defining her emotions mind-numbingly difficult, the only thing she has left is a strong will to survive.  Starting over on a remote Greek island, in the dead of winter, just because it was her grandmother’s birthplace might be a foolish plan, but staying in England is not an option. The people of Alonissos are far from welcoming, not least the brooding recluse whose home she literally invades. The infamous House at the Edge is rumored to host a ghost—the soul of the enigmatic owner’s deceased wife. But it will take more than an angry spirit to send Daphne fleeing.  Being emotionally detached has some benefits, after all.

    It inspired Robert Louis Stevenson, Henry James, and E. F. Benson. M. R. James was a worshipful devotee who resurrected his legacy and modeled his ghost stories after his style. Bram Stoker reworked his erotic vampire fiction to write his masterpieces, "Dracula" and "The Judge's House." J. Sheridan Le Fanu was the most influential, original, and inspirational horror writer of his time, and unlike many of his peers, his writing has not become dated or quaint: it still carries his trademark atmosphere of unsettling discomfort and uncanny fear. Le Fanu's psychological ghost stories and weird fiction are remarkable for the way in which they merge elements which should be diametrically opposed: the conscious and unconscious, life and death, heaven and hell, right and wrong, light and darkness, public self and private self. He sets his stories in a world of deep twilight -- a chiaroscuro of deep shadows broken up with faint light and vague definitions. His cosmos is unforgiving, malicious, and misanthropic: unlike Lovecraft who feared a world where mankind didn't matter, Le Fanu depicted a punishing spiritual order where every sin, every misstep, and every crime was closely watched and viciously, mercilessly punished. His murky universe is populated with demon lovers, haunted portraits, seductive ghosts, hanging judges, demonic rats, maddening visions of hell, animated corpses, sensual vampires, evil fairies, shape-shifting goblins, spectral hands, haunted candles, malevolent phantoms, and the ghosts of evil men who cozy up to the living in disturbingly intimate ways.TALES INCLUDED in this ANNOTATED EDITION: The Drunkard's Dream - The Sexton's Adventure - The Familiar - Disturbances in Aungier Street - The Ghost of a Hand - Narrative of a Haunted House - Wicked Captain Walshawe - Squire Toby's Will - Stories of Lough Guir - Madam Crowl's Ghost - Dickon the Devil - Sir Robert Ardagh - Schalken the Painter - Ultor de Lacy - Green Tea - The Child That Went with the Fairies - White Cat of Drumgunniol - Sir Dominick's Bargain - Laura Silver Bell - Carmilla - Mr Justice Harbottl

     Morgana has a secret of her own. She’s on a quest to find the father she never knew. Her only clue to his whereabouts led her to this bleak property on an isolated windswept Irish peninsula, where myths, legends and goddesses still seem to live and breathe. Morgana’s ability to communicate with the dead soon puts her in danger as she learns there have been several suspicious deaths and disappearances in recent years. Threats against her own life force her to decide how to navigate an ever darker reality. Dermott Blackthorn’s ancestral line has been cursed for nine generations, and he is the last one. His death is imminent if things unfold as they have for the previous eight Blackthorns. Morgana is attracted to Blackthorn’s mysterious and moody house guest, Ronan McIver. He is both protective and dismissive of her, sending mixed signals. What is he doing at Blackthorn Manor? As the danger surrounding Morgana intensifies, the setting is ripe for the perfect storm. She must rely on someone, but who can she trust?

    Kate Yorke imagined. Arriving at his remote home in the Scottish Highlands to research some valuable letters - only to discover he’s forgotten their appointment - Kate soaks up the Gothic atmosphere of Invershiel House. But it’s the owner who truly fascinates her.Reclusive and abrupt, Dan is haunted by the deaths of his fellow band members, especially his one time lover Islay Lamont, whose shade seems to flit around the grounds in the rain. But the ghost is not the only mystery Kate encounters. Light bulbs disappear around her – and only Dan knows she’s scared of the dark. Then she trips over a dead body which inexplicably vanishes.It becomes a race against time to find the identity of the body and the killer. And to discover if she and Danny have any kind of future together. Or even at all...A World of Gothic is a Gothic Mystery Romance Series by authors all over the world. For information on other titles, check out A World of Gothic Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...

    A card game gone amiss. An old friendship destroyed. An engagement dissolved. A man murdered--maybe even two.In the wake of a fateful and fatal party, young, sickly aristocrat Julian Bretwynde decides to interrogate all who were in attendance, including the infamous alchemist, immortal, and liar, the Count of Saint Germain. What Julian will uncover about that night, no one could ever have expected, least of all himself. And even worse, he'll be forced to decide what's true among the radically disparate accounts of men and women who stood side by side, watching the same events unfold. As he gets deeper and deeper into his investigation, the killer's identity grows ever more obscure... as does that of the victim.

    Gothic horror appears in many guises including witches, warlocks, demons and vengeful ‘rusalka’. Strange soothsayers and malevolent visitors represent the forces of good and evil. In her foreword Dr Lana Krys describes Somov “as an initiator of an indigenous literary tradition of the Gothic in the Ukrainian literary canon”. Native folk traditions, ghost stories and European Romanticism are twisted together in Somov’s imaginative tales, most of which are published here in English for the first time.

    After two failed attempts, Eve Seymour catches his fancy. She embodies everything he has always wanted in the way of innocence, submissiveness, and physical perfection. Eager to marry his new love, Damon quickly removes every obstacle standing in his way. Eve, starved for attention, is mesmerized by the commanding Baron of Wentworth, twenty years her senior. After agreeing to marry, she becomes a willing pupil, learning the erotic pleasures of the flesh. Her love for Damon tolerates his controlling tendencies. Nevertheless, eternal love is not always heavenly, especially when a marriage is built upon the crumbling foundation of secrets and lies. Even though Damon controls Eve, he is unable to contain his haunting past created out of desperation. The very thing he once sought to possess has possessed him in return. It is only through betrayal, tragedy, and murder that Damon discovers perfection is an illusion. (Approx. 53,000 words)

    It incorporates extracts from a huge range of sources—from Bram Stoker’s detailed research notes for Dracula to penny dreadfuls, to Angela Carter’s The Bloody Chamber (new to this edition) which is analyzed by the author in a broader cultural context.This revised and expanded edition of the 1978 classic brings Vampyres up to date with twenty-first-century vampire literature, including new text extracts, commentary, and a revised introduction. For the first time, Christopher Frayling also explores the development of the vampire in the visual arts in four color-plate sections, with illustrations ranging from eighteenth-century prints to twenty-first-century film stills, demonstrating the enduring appeal of the vampire from popular press to fine art and, finally, to film.

    The story was based upon a real life event that happened to the pair after they unwittingly took barnacles they thought were dead home only to discover later on that they were very much alive. It is a horror inflected fable with surreal horror in the vein of Junji Ito who was and continues to be a massive influence on the pair. Katie opted for a deliberately hand-drawn almost amateurish illustration style with moon-faced characters resembling something of the work of Raymond Briggs to enhance the audiences empathy with the characters once things start to go awry.The comic was published in June 2016 after being funded through a Kickstarter Campaign.

    Wimbourne Books presents the first in a series of rare or out-of-print ghost stories from Victorian authors. With an introduction by author Alastair Gunn, Volume 1 in the series spans the years 1852 to 1899 and includes stories from a wide range of female authors; English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and American. Includes tales by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Charlotte Riddell, Isabella Banks and Gertrude Atherton. Readers new to this genre will discover its pleasures; the Victorian quaintness, the sometimes shocking difference in social norms, the almost comical politeness and structured etiquette, the archaic and precise language, but mostly the Victorians’ skill at stoking our fears and trepidations, our insecurities and doubts. Even if you are already an aficionado of the ghostly tale there is much within these pages to interest you. Wait until the dark of the stormy night arrives, lock the doors, shutter the windows, light the fire, sit with your back to the wall and bury yourself in the Victorian macabre. Try not to let the creaking floorboards, the distant howl of a dog, the chill breeze that caresses the candle, the shadows in the far recesses of your room, disturb your concentration.

    Nearly a year since her brother, Ash, sold his soul to save her. She survived, but that wasn’t the end of their story.Not even close. In the months since, Grace’s life has turned upside down. She can move objects with her mind, teleport in a blink of an eye, see dead people … and that's just the tip of the crazy train. And that would be fine, really … if she had any idea how to control it. Instead, she’s stuck in a body that does things she doesn’t understand. And now, the contract her brother made for her life is drawing to a close. Which means he’s running out of time before the demon comes to collect his soul. Unless Grace can find a way to save him. When an angel named Michael shows up with answers and an offer to help her, she jumps at the chance—and agrees to help him with his own mission as the price. Then she finds out that Michael is working with another demon. That the deal she’s made … is no better than the one from which she’s trying to save Ash. And she’s faced with a choice: turn and walk away, or try to save her brother—by working with the very monsters who have nearly destroyed them both.

    But his plans are forced to change as he uncovers a complex web of intrigue and scandal that reaches from revolutionary France to the very heart of Victorian Society. What is he to make of such an unwelcome discovery? And who is the mysterious woman he encounters again and again when walking by the sea?A testament from the grave that reveals one of the most powerful yet maligned of 19th Century courtesans whose life has been almost erased from history. But it is knowledge that does not please everyone.[image]Video Trailer

    Once inside, you are to dismantle the minute hand and carry it off, where I will be waiting for you at this address..." so begins the fateful career of Shakebags & Co., the most celebrated band of thieves in the history of Belladonna. Granted, most thieves end up in the gallows, or worse, and these thieves were no exception. But some say they lived long enough to rob the very coat-pockets of Moth himself, the Master of the King's Secrets. And what they found there would change the course of thieving forever...

    She has felled her importunate brother-in-law, become a surrogate mother to a foreigner's baby, a keeper of dangerous secrets, and staunch defender of a child someone seems to want gone from this earth. And then she finds herself under attack as well. The person with most motive? The rakish son of a marquess who just happens to have the best reason for doing away with both Lucinda and the babe. Author's Note: Tangled Destinies is the fifth in my series of Regency Gothics in the grand tradition of the Victorian and contemporary Gothics of Victoria Holt and Mary Stewart. I would like to thank my readers for showing so much interest in my books, which are set in the early 19th century period known as the Regency. I truly love creating them.

    After waking one morning with a hangover to find his wife gone, he notices a crow stalking around his yard. As days go by with no word from his wife, more and more crows gather.Frank Hill is sheriff in the seemingly pleasant town of White Creek. Up until recently, his job has been fairly mundane but after a recent spree of murders, bodies are beginning to pile up and Frank has no clue as to who the killer may be.White Creek has kept its secrets hidden well over the years but the sins of its past are coming to light; the town harbors an evil and the bindings that keep it in check are beginning to unravel.As Frank and Carl's friendship is tested and their destinies are revealed, the dead accumulate while the crows watch and The Calling begins!

    Tales of death and destruction from classic authors are cast with previously unpublished stories by exciting contemporary hardcore crime writers.

    A young woman, Catherine Greencliffe, comes from the other end of England to care for a small child who has been abandoned by his mother. On the surface all seems well but she soon becomes prey to mysterious compulsions and visions. She comes to realise that Southwell Hall holds a secret that she is not invited to share and at last makes a dreadful discovery.

    Yet when the owner, Mark Baker, seeks permission from the local crime lord, Gershom Eldritch, to put on his show, the price he must pay is not what he expected. For Gershom is already at war with the local fortune-teller, Old Lady Probert, and their battle is for more than land and power, but for the heart of a nation. Desperate not to repeat the mistakes of his past, Mark must face the consequences of a deal with forces beyond his comprehension and fight to contain arcane powers that threaten to consume not only him and his family but every soul in the state.

    The poems, baroque reflections of an alternate eldritch reality referred to as “the Underlands,” give seductive and haunting dimension to the poet’s undisproven claim that he never murdered but only “transfigured” his victims in locations “not to be found on any map of the world.”Everyone should be aware that there is a strain of poetry that embraces stricken visions, hopelessly so. They should know that there are bibles of verse, Maurice Rollinat’s Les Névroses for instance, that elegantly sing of sick nightmares and thereby critique the wholesome norm. They should be force-fed this knowledge, if only that they might be robbed of some parcel of their contemptible health. Verses from the Underlands excellently contributes to this mission with its revelations of a supernatural malady with neither a cure nor even an earthly diagnosis. – Thomas LigottiSome books should be encased in iron and buried in the deepest, blackest hole, never to be read. This is one of them. – Amy IrelandThis collection is a valuable and timely addition to the serial killer literature that has emerged from the madness and malaise of 1970s America. Excellently contextualized by a criminologist of patent accomplishment, it has, however, less in common with the poetic invectives typical of the genre, and more, it would seem, with the lyrical tradition of a simultaneously burgeoning heavy metal culture. Taken collectively, Subject A’s charnel verses constitute something like a concept album that—meticulously detailing the terrain of an illimitable and unbounded nullity—reaffirms, for a new generation, the mutually complicit, blackening enamor of heavy metal and serial killing. Verses from the Underlands is metallic mythopoeia at its finest. – Edia Connole, co-author of Floating Tomb: Black Metal TheoryOutside the grasp of clinical psychology, exceeding the grip of some penal system, and beyond the pale of civilization altogether, the Real is Subject A’s first victim. These verses traverse vast labyrinthine worlds of doom and slaughtered universes where language is left only two choices: to fall silent or turn into a scream. Lucid and deranged, they allow no hiding place or escape into some system of preservation, for nothing will remain untouched here: and all that stands shall fall “in carnage-fields of blood and flames.” – Cergat, author of Earthmare: The Lost Book of WarsBeing someone who generally hates poetry that attempts to beautify life, there is something instantly likable in a poetry that twists life into a dagger aimed at itself. These verses stitch together a Dunsanian dream world, but one made of mortuary cloth. – Ben Woodard, author of Slime DynamicsWorth buying just for the blurbs. – Nick Land

    This collection of essays looks at what is happening in the children's Gothic now when traditional monsters have become the heroes, when new monsters have come into play, when globalisation brings Harry Potter into China and yaoguai into the children's Gothic, and when childhood itself and children's literature as a genre can no longer be thought of as an uncontested space apart from the debates and power struggles of an adult domain. We look in detail at series such as The Mortal Instruments, Twilight, Chaos Walking, The Power of Five, Skulduggery Pleasant, and Cirque du Freak; at novels about witches and novels about changelings; at the Gothic in China, Japan and Oceania; and at authors including Celia Rees, Frances Hardinge, Alan Garner and Laini Taylor amongst many others. At a time when the energies and anxieties of children's novels can barely be contained anymore within the genre of children's literature, spilling over into YA and adult literature, we need to pay attention. Weird things are happening and they matter.

    Love and Hatred. Life and Death. It's all the same without poetry. In the mid 1800s, at the encouragement of a dear friend, Emily Dickinson began writing poetry. Fewer than twelve of her poems were published while she was alive. The hundreds of poems for which Emily is known for and celebrated today were almost lost at the hands of her sister, who was only fulfilling her dying sibling's wish.Emily feared death. Throughout life, as she witnessed the numerous deaths of her close friends and loved ones, she became a recluse, locking herself in her room and refusing visitors. But did Emily spend all that time in her room writing poetry? No! She was giving life back to the dead! After observing a galvanism experiment in biology class, young Emily tries building a "Second Life" apparatus that will give life back to small dead creatures she finds in her garden. Terrified that her discovery could be used for more dreadful purposes, she cherishes her success and keeps it a secret. But upon discovering that her dearest friend has passed quite suddenly, Emily's battle between science and spirituality begins, threatening to change her life forever!

    Most of them, however, were rooted in the real world. Haunted by the fear of being gunned down during a mass shooting terrorist attack, Liz and her boyfriend, Alan Ranker, attend a late night showing of the smash hit horror film, The Woman in the Room. During her time in the theater, Liz’s fears change from being murdered in a fiery, guns blazing fashion to something far more sinister. Liz soon begins to realize how some horror films haunt the viewer and stick with them the rest of their lives. The Woman in the Room is a relentless jolt of utter horror and terrifying suspense.