An ambulance is sent for, and the two survivors are taken to All Hallows, the imposing asylum, hidden deep on Dartmoor. The woman remains in a coma, but the little girl, who the staff name Harriet, awakens and is taken to an attic room, far away from the noise of the asylum, and is put in the care of Nurse Emma Everdeen.Two motherless boys banished to boarding school…In 1993, All Hallows is now a boarding school. Following his mother’s death and his father’s hasty remarriage, Lewis Tyler is banished to Dartmoor, stripped of his fashionable clothes, shorn of his long hair, and left feeling more alone than ever. There he meets Isak, another lost soul, and whilst refurbishment of the dormitories is taking place, the boys are marooned up in the attic, in an old wing of the school. Cries and calls from the past that can no longer be ignored…All Hallows is a building full of memories, whispers, cries from the past. As Lewis and Isak learn more about the fate of Harriet, and Nurse Emma’s desperate fight to keep the little girl safe, it soon becomes clear there are ghosts who are still restless. Are they ghosts the boys hear at night in the room above, are they the unquiet souls from the asylum still caught between the walls? And can Lewis and Isak bring peace to All Hallows before the past breaks them first…

    Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things. Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.

    I had only to look for the signs. Well, I’ve spent my whole life investigating the inexplicable, and all I've found are the unsettling vestiges of iniquity - the evidence of another world shrouded by the obscure. Purgatory to some, where depravity hides in shadows, and girls like me are little more than delicious bites of temptation. Others call it Nightshade. This peculiar place is where I first met the cold and callous recluse living in a decaying cliffside cathedral. Jericho Van Croix is the epitome of everything I’ve been told to fear. A raven-winged harbinger who wears intrigue like a warm black cloak. An enigma that I’m determined to unravel – even if it means getting closer than I should. One touch is forbidden. Even so much as a kiss would be my demise. But the sin on his lips burns me up like a wild flame, and his growing infatuation weakens my resolve. Giving him what he wants, though, will mean no chance for redemption, or escape. What's worse is, the signs I’ve followed yet failed to see all these years begin to unmask a terrifying reality: That falling may be my only saving grace.

    Interwoven with his narrative are the tumultuous lives of the family who raised and then lost him: a famed hunting guide and his wife, who runs an animal orphanage (a conflict that in time upends their marriage); their son and daughter; and the young Kikuyu who finds the orphaned elephant and becomes part of the Hathaway family. This timeless story is alternately heartwarming and heartbreaking, spanning east Africa, Great Britain and New York from 1962 to 2015.

    An enigmatic man. An ancient castle. What could go wrong?An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an olden, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit, and death.An enigma his entire life, Vad Deverell likes being a closed book but knowing exactly everything that happens in the university. A part-time professor working on his thesis, Vad has been around long enough to know the dangers the castle possesses. And he knows the moment his paths cross with Corvina, she's dangerous to everything that he is.They shouldn't have caught each other's eye. They cannot be. But a chill-inducing century-old mystery forces them to collide. People have disappeared every five years for over a hundred years, and Corvina is getting clues to unraveling it all, and Vad needs to keep an eye on her.And so begins a tale of the mystique, the morbid, the macabre, and a deep love that blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.

    But the past intrudes upon her again, and Mr Darcy returns to her, handsome, wealthy, and widowed, and hiding many secrets beneath his solemn exterior. BUT IF TIME HAD ALTERED THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES, one thing remains: Mr Darcy still wishes to marry her, and this time, Elizabeth consents. At nearly twenty-nine it is inarguably a good prospect for her and indeed, not until they arrive at his vast estate does she realise how large a shadow his late wife will cast over their growing love. But the new Mrs Darcy’s courage will continue to rise despite the many attempts to intimidate her; and she vows to use whatever power she holds over the master of Pemberley to keep him.Nameless is a tale of the triumph of good over evil, of passion over prejudice, of loyalty over lies…and most of all, of enduring, unfailing love.

    But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there's something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby is forced to confront her own demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there's no such thing as the perfect family - and she should know.Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric landscape of West Yorkshire, Stacey Halls' third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.

    But as she adapts to life at the isolated Hardcastle House, it becomes clear there's something not quite right about the beautiful, mysterious Mrs England. Ostracised by the servants and feeling increasingly uneasy, Ruby is forced to confront her own demons in order to prevent history from repeating itself. After all, there's no such thing as the perfect family - and she should know.Simmering with slow-burning menace, Mrs England is a portrait of an Edwardian marriage, weaving an enthralling story of men and women, power and control, courage, truth and the very darkest deception. Set against the atmospheric landscape of West Yorkshire, Stacey Halls' third novel proves her one of the most exciting and compelling new storytellers of our times.

    Its arteries run throughout the country. Its lifeblood flows into Westminster, into Scotland Yard, into every village and every city. It flows into you, and into your mother. It keeps you alive. It makes you feel safe. Those same arteries tangle you up and night and make it hard for you to breathe. But come morning, you thank it for what it has done for you, and you sip from its golden cup, and kiss its perfect feet, and you know that all will be right in this godforsaken world as long as it is there to watch over you.Three years ago, Alice spent one night in an abandoned house with her friends Ila and Hannah. Since then, things have not been going well. Alice is living a haunted existence, selling videos of herself cleaning for money, going to parties she hates, drinking herself to sleep. She hasn’t spoken to Ila since they went into the House. She hasn’t seen Hannah either. Memories of that night torment her mind and her flesh, but when Ila asks her to return to the House, past the KEEP OUT sign, over the sick earth where teenagers dare each other to venture, she knows she must go. Together Alice and Ila must face the horrifying occurrences that happened there, must pull themselves apart from the inside out, put their differences aside, and try to rescue Hannah, who the House has chosen to make its own. Cutting, disruptive, and darkly funny, Tell Me I’m Worthless is a vital work of trans fiction that confronts both supernatural and real-world horrors as it examines the devastating effects of trauma and the way fascism makes us destroy ourselves and each other.

    A friend calls to offer an unusual deal—a cottage above the crashing surf of Big Sur on the estate of his employer, Evan Rochester. In return, Jane will tutor his teenage daughter. She accepts.But nothing is quite as it seems at the Rochester estate. Though he’s been accused of murdering his glamorous and troubled wife, Evan Rochester insists she drowned herself. Jane is skeptical, but she still finds herself falling for the brilliant and secretive entrepreneur and growing close to his daughter.And yet her deepening feelings for Evan can’t disguise dark suspicions aroused when a ghostly presence repeatedly appears in the night’s mist and fog. Jane embarks on an intense search for answers and uncovers evidence that soon puts Evan’s innocence into question. She’s determined to discover what really happened that fateful night, but what will the truth cost her?

    But for many years the family have been unable to keep their side of the bargain and have fallen into decline. Miren's grandmother is determined to restore their glory, even at the price of Miren's freedom.A spellbinding tale of dark family secrets, magic and witches, and creatures of myth and the sea; of strong women and the men who seek to control them.

    Twenty years later, one is found--but she's still the same age as when she disappeared. The secrets of witches have reached across the centuries in this chilling Gothic thriller from the author of the acclaimed The Nesting. When single mother Liv is commissioned to paint a mural in a 100-year-old lighthouse on a remote Scottish island, it's an opportunity to start over with her three daughters--Luna, Sapphire, and Clover. When two of her daughters go missing, she's frantic. She learns that the cave beneath the lighthouse was once a prison for women accused of witchcraft. The locals warn her about wildlings, supernatural beings who mimic human children, created by witches for revenge. Liv is told wildlings are dangerous and must be killed.Twenty-two years later, Luna has been searching for her missing sisters and mother. When she receives a call about her youngest sister, Clover, she's initially ecstatic. Clover is the sister she remembers--except she's still seven years old, the age she was when she vanished. Luna is worried Clover is a wildling. Luna has few memories of her time on the island, but she'll have to return to find the truth of what happened to her family. But she doesn't realize just how much the truth will change her.

    Among her fond memories, what Anni remembers most vividly is her grandmother’s eerie yet enchanting storytelling. By firelight she spun tall tales of spirits in the nearby forest and waters who could heal—or harm—on a whim. But of course those were only stories…The reading of the will now occasions a family reunion. Anni and her twin brother, their almost otherworldly mother, and relatives Anni hasn’t seen in forever—some with good reason—are all brought back together under one roof that strains to hold all their tension. But it’s not just Annie’s family who is unsettled. Whispers wind through the woods. Laughter bursts from bubbling streams. Raps from unseen hands rupture on the walls. Fireflies swarm and nightmares stir. With each odd occurrence, Anni fears that her return has invited less a welcoming and more a warning.When another tragedy strikes near home, Anni must dive headfirst into the mysterious happenings to discover the truth about her home, her family, and the wooded island’s ancient lore. Plunging into the past may be the only way to save her family from whatever bedevils Metsan Valo.

    However, she soon discovers that Helme House harbors dark secrets including people who have vanished from the house and never been found.As Rowan digs into the history of Helme House a series of troubling experiences soon become deadly.Helme House is the second stand-alone novel in the Troubled Spirits Series-where paranormal fiction meets true crime.Do you believe in ghosts?

    Darkness abounds, punctuated by odd bumps in the night, strange creatures on the moor, and a sinister silver mist that never seems to dissipate. And at the center of it all, John’s new employer—a widow as alluring as she is mysterious.Sixteen months earlier, heiress Bertha Mason embarked on the journey of a lifetime. Marriage wasn’t on her itinerary, but on meeting the enigmatic Edward Rochester, she’s powerless to resist his preternatural charm. In letters and journal entries, she records the story of their rapidly-disintegrating life together, and of her gradual realization that Mr. Rochester isn’t quite the man he appears to be. In fact, he may not be a man at all.From a cliff-top fortress on the Black Sea coast to an isolated estate in rural England, John and Bertha contend with secrets, danger, and the eternal struggle between light and darkness. Can they help each other vanquish the demons of the past? Or are some evils simply too powerful to conquer?

    A sinister character lurks in an abandoned tunnel just beneath, manipulating Chris as he struggles to walk a fine line between his love for the dark and the macabre and a collapsing marriage.Todd Adams, a manic depressive financial advisor, awakens from a coma along with 53 others, fighting to understand unexplained phantom memories that plague them. As each work to unravel their meaning, they begin to disappear into a labyrinth beneath the hotel at the torment of a bizarre captor. Discovering mutual commonality in an unresolved past, Todd works to lead them out.Will they find the key to freedom?

    She is not sure how she came to be there and knows nothing beyond its four walls. She is hysterical, distressed, untrustworthy. Badly unstable and prone to violence. Or so she has been told.When a new doctor arrives, keen to experiment with the revolutionary practice of medical hypnosis, Maud's lack of history makes her the perfect case study. But as Doctor Dimmond delves deeper into the past, it becomes clear that confinement and high doses are there to keep her silent.When Maud finally remembers what has been done to her, and by whom, her mind turns to her past and to revenge.

    All she needs is good conversation with her old friend and an opportunity to find a governess position, and she can leave the fear and guilt behind. But the family who agrees to her yearlong visit turns out to be a far cry from the one she thought she knew, particularly when her friend disappears and the one man she made certain would not be at the house is forced to return. How can she possibly heal and claim her independence when day in, day out she must face the only gentleman who ever held a piece of her heart?Piers Cavanagh was branded a coward when he failed to show up for a duel he arranged. He had his reasons, of course, but disclosing them would hurt far more than continuing life as an outcast. And worse, with the mysterious departure of his sister, the strange nightly occurrences in the ruins of an old abbey, and the uncomfortable whispers of a secret organization, Piers must overcome his aversion to society and work with the last person he ever thought he would get the chance to speak to again—the girl whose heart he had no choice but to break.

    This could change everything, and it does. . .in the worst possible way.   Surgeon Graham Lambert has suspicions about the doctor he’s gone into practice with, but he can’t stop him from operating on Amelia’s brother. Will he be too late to prevent the man’s death? Or to reveal his true feelings for Amelia before she sails to Cairo?

    When the glamour protecting her unusual family from the human world is torn and an orphaned brother and sister stumble upon Rookhaven, Mirabelle soon discovers that friendship can be found in the outside world.But as something far more sinister comes to threaten them all, it quickly becomes clear that the true monsters aren't necessarily the ones you can see.A thought-provoking, chilling and beautifully written novel, Pádraig Kenny's The Monsters of Rookhhaven, stunningly illustrated by Edward Bettison, explores difference and empathy through the eyes of characters you won't want to let go.'Kenny is a thrilling writer and knows how to chill his readers' Telegraph

    These remote hills of the Smoky Mountains are home to dangerous secrets, and soon after she arrives, Stella wanders into a dark cavern where she encounters the family's personal god, an entity known as the Ghostdaddy.Years later, after a tragic incident that caused her to flee, Stella--now a professional bootlegger--returns for Motty's funeral, and to check on the mysterious ten-year-old girl named Sunny that Motty adopted. Sunny appears innocent enough, but she is more powerful than Stella could imagine--and she's a direct link to Stella's buried past and her family's destructive faith.Haunting and wholly engrossing, summoning mesmerizing voices and giving shape to the dark, Revelator is a southern gothic tale for the ages.

    Since her greatest passion is Gothic romance novels, she knows her moment has come. But when Haley leaps into the water to rescue the stranger, she awakens in Willowweep. It certainly looks like the setting of one of her favorite books: A stately manor. A sinister housekeeper. Three brooding brothers. There’s even a ghost.Except Willowweep is not what it seems. Its romantic exterior hides the workings of a pocket universe—the only protection our world has against a great force of penultimate evil, and its defenses are crumbling. Could cruel fate make Haley the heroine that Willowweep needs?

    Everyone said the gators must have got her when she strayed too near the bayou. No foul play, just a terrible accident. But Eugene can't shake the conviction that Mary Beth's death had something to do with the man who used to haunt her—the man no one else could see.Now, nearly two decades later, there are more dangerous things than gators in Chanlarivyè. People are disappearing again, and this time, no one can find the bodies. As the town's unease grows, charismatic fugitive Johnny Walker arrives on the scene, shedding bullet casings and stolen bank notes in his wake.He tangles himself up in Eugene's life and awakens memories Eugene thought he had laid to rest years ago. Memories of the mysterious man who followed Eugene into his dreams, and memories of the bayou—And of the horrifying entity that lurks beneath the water's surface, slowly seeping into the town like a stain.

    But few people in late-Victorian England will entrust their legal affairs to a woman, and Vaughan is desperate to prove herself.Once at Morton, Vaughan discovers that someone is determined to drive her away. An intruder tries to enter her bedroom at night, gunshots are fired outside her window, and an eerie crying echoes from the uninhabited second floor. Even Netherton, the nearest village, seems odd: the picturesque houses and perfect-looking families are haunted by dark secrets connected to Morton Abbey itself.To complete her work and solve the mystery at the heart of Morton, Vaughan needs the help of Joe Dixon, the handsome gardener, and Nicholas Spencer, her employer’s irascible invalid brother. But with her questions diverted, her progress thwarted, and her sleep disrupted by the crying, will Vaughan escape Morton Abbey with her sanity intact or be cursed by the secrets within?

    It was originally sent out in in S.T. Gibson's newsletter as a subscriber bonus, and can be read for free on Substack. Content guidance: This is a story about long-distance relationships and ethical nonmonogamy. It features tender sadomasochism, vampire bloodplay, breathplay, consensual sex between three adults, and a happy ending.

    Haunted by scandal, she’ll stop at nothing to gain what she needs, even if it means deceiving the enigmatic, yet fascinating Mallon de Wolfe.After more than twenty years in exile, Mallon de Wolfe—formidable, handsome, and with a shard of ice where his heart should be—returns to his ancestral home to confront his past.The windswept heathlands of Dartmoor are vast, barren and perilous.A place of superstition, where no man walks without the moon to guide him.As Mallon and Geneviève become entangled, do the moors hold their destruction or salvation?Master of the Moor is a gothic historical romance, featuring passionate love scenes.

    Is the house haunted or is something far more sinister living within the walls?As secrets and lies begin to unravel, Lucy starts to question what is real. But one thing seems certain, if scars cannot heal, people will never forgive…

    Her charge, Mary, is a troubled child. Distracted and secretive, she hasn't uttered a word since the sudden death of her twin, William—just days after their former nanny disappeared.With Mary defiantly silent, Elspeth turns to the islanders. But no one will speak of what happened to William. Just as no one can explain the hypnotic lullabies sung in empty corridors. Nor the strange dolls that appear in abandoned rooms.Nor the faint whistling that comes in the night...As winter draws in and passage to the mainland becomes impossible, Elspeth finds herself trapped.But is this house haunted by the ghosts of the past?OR THE SECRETS OF THE LIVING..?Chilling, twisty and emotionally gripping, The Whistling is an atmospheric page-turner with shades of the classics, yet a unique character of its own. Perfect for fans of Susan Hill and Laura Purcell.

    Eliza arrives at her new home and finds herself falling for the mysterious lord of Havenwood, Malcolm Winfield. Despite the sinister rumors that surround him, Eliza is drawn to his melancholy charm and his crumbling, once-beautiful mansion. With enough love, she thinks, both man and manor could be repaired.Not long into their marriage, Eliza fears that she should have listened to the locals. There’s something terribly wrong at Havenwood Manor: Forbidden rooms. Ghostly whispers in the shadows. Strangely guarded servants. And Malcolm’s threatening moods, as changeable as night and day.As Eliza delves deeper into Malcolm’s troubling history, the dark secrets she unearths gain a frightening power. Has she married a man or a monster? For Eliza, uncovering the truth will either save her or destroy her.

    These tales will give you a chill, a thrill, and have you reading them over and over. From the moors of Devon to the ballrooms of Regency London, and far north into the Scottish Highlands, these stories will bring you wistful dreams of legendary and haunting romance. You’ve never before experienced a collection like this by some of the very best authors in Historical Romance.Authors in this anthology include:Kathryn Le VequeChasity BowlinHildie McQueenMaggie AndersenMary LancasterMeara PlattVioletta RandAlexa AstonAnna MarklandAubrey WynneElizabeth Ellen CarterElizabeth JohnsElizabeth KeysianEmily E K MurdochEmily RoyalHeather McCollumAnna St. ClaireLynne ConnollyMaeve GreysonWhitney BlakeLight your candle, lock your doors, and settle down to this smashing collection of darkly-tinged romantic stories with unforgettable heroes and magnificent ladies. Romance has never been so daring... or so haunting!And if you hear a knock on your door… don’t answer it unless you are prepared to welcome a wandering wraith in a tattered wedding gown...

    That’s La Llorona’s doing. She roams the waterways looking for the next generation of girls to baptize, filling them with more tears than any woman should have to hold. And there’s not much they can do about the Weeping Woman except to avoid walking along the riverbank at night and to try to keep their sadness in check. That’s what attracts her to them: the pain and heartache that gets passed down from one generation of women to the next.Mercy knows this, probably better than anyone. She lost her best friend to La Llorona and almost found a watery grave herself. But she survived. Only she didn’t come back quite right and she knows La Llorona won’t be satisfied until she drags the one soul that got away back to the bottom of the river.In a battle for her life, Mercy fights to break the chains of generational trauma and reclaim her soul free from ancestral hauntings by turning to the only things that she knows can save her: plant medicine, pulp books, and the promise of a love so strong not even La Llorona can stop it from happening. What unfolds is a stunning tale of one woman’s journey into magic, healing, and rebirth.CW: assault, domestic violence, racism, colorism

    Still recovering from a serious illness herself, making enough money to support her elderly mother and her orphaned nephew Cedric has never been easy, but then one of her clients is murdered shortly after sitting for Agnes, and then another, and another... Why is the killer seemingly targeting her business?Desperately seeking an answer, Agnes approaches Pearl, a child spirit medium lodging in Bath with her older half-sister and her ailing father, hoping that if Pearl can make contact with those who died, they might reveal who killed them.But Agnes and Pearl quickly discover that instead they may have opened the door to something that they can never put back...

    Pretending she's still a wealthy catch, she sets out to ensnare the Duke of Studborne. The only spanner in the works? Her growing attraction to the duke's very proper, very honourable and very penniless nephew, Benedict.The duke seems enchanted, but his motives for courting her are not what they seem, and Rosamund is caught in a trap. She must uncover the truth, and only one person in the abbey can help her. The annoyingly principled Benedict! The Lady's Guide to Scandal Before archaeologist Ethan Burnell can return to his exploration of the Mexican jungle, his sister insists he attend her Christmas houseparty, filled with eager debutantes. A fake engagement for the duration of the festivities sounds like the perfect plan.With her name mired in scandal, Cornelia Mortmain's marriage prospects are nil. Wild adventurer Burnell is exactly the sort of 'dangerous man' she's sworn off, and posing as his fiancée can only spell trouble. Or, make her so notorious she'll become irresistible.But convincing everyone they're madly in love isn't the only challenge facing the ill-matched pair. Exploring the Abbey's hidden passageways, they discover its crypt, and the secret of its chilling past.Heat level : PassionateDiscover more in 'The Lady's Guide' series: historical romance brimming with adventure, mystery and intrigue. Available now The Lady’s Guide to a Highlander's HeartThe Lady's Guide to Mistletoe and MayhemThe Lady’s Guide to Escaping CannibalsThe Lady’s Guide to Deception and Desire Releasing through 2022 and beyond The Lady’s Guide to Havoc in a HaremThe Lady’s Guide to Tempting a Transylvanian CountThe Lady's Guide to Egyptian CursesEach can be read as a 'stand alone' and in any order.

    What awaits, however, is a dark legacy shrouded in half a century of secrets, and it doesn't take long before Eudora realizes she's not the only one to call High Hearth home.

    Mercy was pregnant - both her and the baby are said to be dead of cholera, but the workhouse hasn't had an outbreak for years.Hester discovers a strange trend in the workhouse of children going missing. One woman tells her about the Pale Lady, a ghostly figure that steals babies in the night. Is this lady a myth or is something more sinister afoot at the Southwell poorhouse?As Hester investigates, she uncovers a conspiracy, one that someone is determined to keep a secret, no matter the cost...

    When journalist Ava Brent decides to investigate the dark mystery of Overtoun Estate—a ‘thin place’, steeped in myth—she has no idea how dangerous this story will be for her.Overtoun looms over the town, watching, waiting: the locals fearful of the strange building and the secrets it keeps. When Ava starts to ask questions, the warm welcome she first receives turns to a cold shoulder. And before she knows it, Ava is caught in the house’s grasp too.After she discovers the history of a sick young girl who lived there, she starts to understand the sadness that shrouds it. But when she finds an ominous old message etched into a windowsill, she is forced to wonder—what horrors is the house protecting? And what will it cost her to find out?With her own first child on the way, Ava knows she should stay away. But even as her life starts to unravel, and she receives chilling threats, the house and the bridge keep pulling her back…

    But they won’t be enough to protect Sadie now that she’s become the Liar, the keeper of the town’s many secrets. Friendships are hard-won here, and it isn’t safe to make enemies.And though the Liar has power — power to remake the world, with just a little blood—what Sadie really needs is answers: Why is the town’s sheriff after her? What does the King want from her? And what is the real purpose of the Liar of Red Valley?

    Kind of like that shadow that seems to loom around me at all times probably means I've gone completely crazy. It would also explain how I managed to catch feelings for not one, but three different men.Alexander Despot, a big shot detective from the city, seems to be everywhere I go as of late. He says he's keeping an eye on me for my safety, but the way his eyes travel down my body says another story.Daniel Baccarin, my new boss, is treading the line between professional and personal. I wish he'd just cross it already.I thought I had made Jess Caldwell up, because I would only see him in my dreams. But a chance discovery leads me to find photos of me and him together. Except I would remember my first boyfriend, right?Author's note: Cursed by Darkness, Marked by Darkness and Consumed by Darkness are all romance books where the heroine does not have to choose between love interests. They are supposed to be read in the order just listed.Embraced by Darkness, the prequel novella, is MF and its action takes place centuries before the events in Cursed by Darkness. However, it could spoil it, so it is best read after Cursed by Darkness. The series is in the same universe as the Black Widows Academy series and A Harem of Supernatural Hunters series. There is no set reading order for these trilogies, they simply offer the bigger picture for a fictional world I have created and some characters pop up in different books, across series. Post Scriptum:The series contains gothic and horror elements. If you are very easily spooked or creeped out, do not read.If you are a fan of The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, you’re in for a special treat!

    . .As a child, Grace Cooper suffered from bouts of sleepwalking. Now, after the unexpected death of her husband, she’s moved back to Woodburn Cottage, her childhood home—and the sleepwalking returns. It’s all stirring up dark memories—memories that involve the disappearance of her brother Simon, who vanished one night when he was a child, and the death of her father, who fell from an upstairs window.With her mother in a care home with dementia and her sister living in a nearby village, Grace tries to settle in—but with the passage of time, the sleepwalking only becomes more regular and the blurred memories of the past only become more disturbing. Spurred on by these hazy dreamlike recollections, Grace becomes determined to find out what happened to Simon that fateful night. But digging up the past isn’t always a good idea, because you never know what skeletons you might unearth . . .

    Two years after the sinking of the Titanic, high society has become obsessed with spiritualism in the form of seances that attempt to contact the spirits of loved ones lost at sea.William is a man of science and a sceptic, but one night with everyone sat around the circle something happens that places doubt in his heart and a seed of obsession in his mind. Could the spirits truly be communicating with him or is this one of Kathleen’s parlour tricks gone too far?This early 20th century gothic set in Northern Ireland contains all the mystery and intrigue one might expect from a Sarah Waters novel. Deftly plotted with echoes of The Woman in Black, readers will be thrilled to discover West’s chilling prose.Based on the true story of William Jackson Crawford and famed medium Kathleen Goligher, and with a cast of characters that include Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini, The Spirit Engineer conjures a haunting tale that will keep readers guessing until the very end.

    Their beloved grandmother tries to protect them, but the future seems bleak.When the Full Moon Fayre makes a rare visit to Hollow-in-the-Marsh, the girls slip out to see the famous Shadow Man, an enigmatic puppeteer. Afterwards, the oldest sister Grace is missing.Can twelve-year-old Willa save her sister from one fate and yet outrun her own?The thrilling new novel from acclaimed author Lucy Strange, author of The Secret of Nightingale Wood, The Ghost of Gosswater and the Waterstones Prize-shortlisted Our Castle by the Sea.

    Dare to take a nibble and depart from the mundane.Join bestselling and award-winning authors as they cross the threshold into worlds filled with mouth-watering creatures of the night. Packed with desire and passion, these drool-worthy vampires are determined to capture the hearts of their fated mates.Give in to your cravings with Immortal Legacies. One bite could change your life.

    Stripped of her reputation and haunted by a spirit she failed to protect, the young governess Grace Meadows finds herself out of time and growing more and more desperate. But when she’s offered a strange job from an eccentric medium, she never could have imagined what she was signing up for.Tasked with caring for a troubled young girl who has lost the ability to speak, Grace must unravel the dangerous secrets at the heart of a run-down country mansion and find the source of the horrors which now threaten both of their lives.As she’s forced to confront her own demons and reconcile the ghosts of past and present, can Grace protect the child from the living and dead? And what is waiting for her beyond the mysterious silk and bells which protect them from forces unseen?Jane Eyre meets the Woman in Black in this gothic supernatural mystery. Perfect for fans of Susan Hill, Sarah Waters, Laura Purcell, and novels packed with thrilling suspense which will keep you on the edge of your seat, A House of Bells is a tale you won’t want to miss.

    But Valentina feels a different pull--an affinity with nature, tarot cards, and the occult. After ditching her church retreat, she knows it's time to go off on her own. Visiting Macy--a half-sister she's never met until now--in a little rotting town five hours from the big city where she was raised, Valentina discovers the abandoned, oppressive Sunlake Springs Resort. There she meets the "clairs," young psychics drawn to the hotel's haunted history who've been waiting for her to open a magical entryway to the spirit world. But Valentina's sensitive hands tell a different story--of anguished spirits, menacing cracks, and hooded ghosts of Florida's unsavory past. Even a local legend, the beautiful "Lady of the Lake," hints to the hotel's sinister history. To protect the clairs from the horrors awaiting them on the other side, Valentina must use her growing powers and decide, once and for all, if she's the witch she was meant to be.

    A new town filled with old secrets. One woman is determined to uncover the truth about her past, but Everwine Manor won’t easily give up the truth.Runa Brandon is naïve and uncertain, and she has been taken advantage of more than once. After disentangling herself from an abusive relationship, Runa begins a new life in Departure Cove, Oregon. Her mother, Asta, believes Departure Cove holds too many secrets that are better left buried, including the identity of Runa’s father.When Runa arrives in Departure Cove, strange things begin to happen. She experiences frightening visions, disturbing dreams, and unexplained physical changes. Then Runa meets Chase Everwine, a wealthy, mysterious man who pursues Runa with a passion that sweeps her off her feet.Runa falls hard for Chase, in spite of Asta’s warnings that his family cannot be trusted. Secrets and puzzles follow in Chase’s wake, and when Runa sees his family’s estate, Everwine Manor, she feels drawn to it. She doesn’t understand why the house calls to her but is compelled to find out.What Runa doesn’t know is that she is part of a long line of women who are blessed with inexplicable gifts and drawn to the power of the sea. As Runa uncovers the astounding secrets of her family tree, she also comes to realize there is more to her husband than meets the eye.

    Wagner is a sawmill gothic that begins with June Vogel’s return to Storm Break, her family’s estate. Things in the great house aren’t what they used to be. Doors slam in the night. Faucets turn on, untouched. Something is always watching, whatever June does. And when her brother returns with his new bride, deceit and betrayal threaten to destroy everything she loves.

    Until she ended up there.When she finds herself in Valcara, a dystopian purgatory where souls are bought and sold, she is focused on only one thing—reuniting with her deceased younger sister. But Rose quickly learns her premature arrival violates Fate’s design.After a Valcaran company recruits Rose as their secret weapon, she becomes entangled in an industry that straddles the realms of the living and the dead. At the mercy of a divine corporation she doesn’t fully trust, Rose is sent back to Earth to meddle in mortal affairs.As she uncovers corruption on a cosmic scale, she realizes greed and deception extend beyond the grave. She wishes to free herself from the job, but her Valcaran employers hold the ultimate bargaining chip—if Rose refuses to cooperate, they will send her sister’s soul to Hell.

    A decadent world of dark temptation.A woman addicted to danger.A man who never believed he'd fall in love.Step into a realm of rich gothic allure,But beware.These beguiling passions will sweep you away,Before plunging you to the very depths of desire.This collection comprises all three enthralling historical romances from the 'Dangerous Desire' dark Victorian trilogy, laced with scandal, mystery and intrigue.Forbidden DesireForbidden TemptationForbidden SeductionThese three titles were originally published as the following, within the 'Noire' trilogy:‘The Gentlemen’s Club’ (first published in 2014)‘Italian Sonata’ (2017) and‘Murder on the SS Leviathan’ (2021)Heat level: deliciously wicked

    Through their films and series they introduced India to churails that floated across the screen, ghouls that woke up from eerie graveyards, and houses that buzzed with ghosts.But few knew that behind the production drama, elaborate sets, and haunting showtunes, there was a more sinister story. For the Ramsays, the supernatural wasn't just stuck to the screens and camera - it creeped into their lives, too.Alisha Kirpalani, the granddaughter of FU Ramsay, has grown up on stories that question reality and bring a chill to the bone. In time, she, too, followed her family's footsteps and saw through the veil that separates this world and the Other.From the woman on the highway that Shyam Ramsay met to an eerie and persistent knocking that came from every house that Tanuja Ramsay lived in to Amit Ramsay's unwelcome dead visitor at Lamington House, the original home of the Ramsays, this book has the improbable, bizarre and spine-chilling all parading through its chapters.

    When he gets there, he discovers he’d bought more than he realized: town lore says his house is haunted. Soon enough, he understands why.Savannah Keane is a town native, the last in a long matrilineal line of women known, and celebrated, as the town witches. She stopped believing in magic long ago, but she can’t shake the family legacy. When the handsome newcomer seeks out her witchy services, it’s curiosity, not belief, that compels her to help him.A stranger unfamiliar with the history of his newly adopted town and his house. A witch who’s lost her belief in magic. Neither is prepared for what they discover in that house, and only together can they overcome it.Love is powerful magic.

    Lighthouse dwellers, Boy Scouts, queer church camp leaders, love-sick and sick-sick writers, nine-year-old hunters, art-eaters—each must navigate the swamp of their own morality while living on land that is always slowly (and sometimes very quickly) killing them.“The Pump is populated with the kind of tough, awkward, dark, and tender characters you often find trapped in small town, no-place Canada. You’ll also find beavers, salt domes, a lighthouse, marshes, more beavers, a Mercury Villager, mosquitoes, and the rest of the beavers. Brooman has woven an inescapable, ferocious dream of a book. Good luck getting out.”—John Elizabeth Stintzi, author of Vanishing Monuments“Bristling with magic, horror, and romance, Sydney Warner Brooman’s The Pump transforms small-town Southern Ontario into a place of violence and sacrifice — or maybe presents it as it truly is. Like nothing I’ve ever read before, these killer beavers, strange diseases, and infectious waters wouldn’t leave my head and drew me back to their world again and again. If only I blurbed delightfully weird books like this for the rest of my life, I’d be happy.”—Jess Taylor, Author of Pauls and Just Pervs“This is the Southern Ontario that we don’t openly acknowledge but that scrapes at the back of our memories. The Pump shows us the surreal violence of living in the 401’s sprawl and the staggering beauty of the nature that surrounds it. Don’t be fooled by the nightmarish quality of these stories: they are as real as the Mercury Villager that Sydney Warner Brooman drives us in on. This is horror in broad daylight. These are the living ghosts that haunt so many of us who grew up here.”— Jia Qing Wilson-Yang, Lambda Award-winning author of Small Beauty“This is what small-town Ontario looks like when David Attenborough is a distant memory, when social structures are as polluted as the water, when myth has returned—big time—in mounting waves, sweeping our smaller stories out to sea. I don’t what is more terrifying: that The Pump exists, or that here, in this wretched, sinking place, you can find something that you desperately love, something that you want to survive. The Pump is an astonishing debut collection from a writer who is just warming up.”—Tom Cull, author of Bad Animals

    He takes on his skill upon a journey of life and gets a job as a sculptor in a peculiar castle near Barcelona. There, he lives among irregularities and starts to discover secrets that lurk behind the doors of his gothic home.Jacobo is a coin with two sides, unsure of the differences between vice and virtue. But when he meets Don Vicenç, the master of the castle, Jacobo gets entangled in the web of his master’s manipulation. But little does he know, the world that he gets caught in is so much more sinister than he could ever imagine. And what is worse, Jacobo’s ability to embed part of his soul will threaten all the peace around him.Will Jacobo be able to cheat the game of fate? The stakes are high when it is not only the lives of the people that he loves that are in danger but also his own life . . . and his soul.

    When he is sent to live with his grandad, a retired author and total stranger, Sean suddenly finds himself living an affluent life, nothing like the estate he grew up in, where gangs run the streets and violence is around every corner. Sean embraces a new world of drawing, sculpting and reading his grandad’s stories. But his grandad has secrets in his past. As his grandad retreats to the shed, buried at the end of his treasured garden, The Baku emerges.The Baku is ancient, a creature that feeds on our fears, and it corrupts everything it touches. Plagued by nightmares, with darkness spreading through the house, Sean must confront his fears to free himself and his grandad from the grip of the Baku.

    Europe is on the verge of World War II. Frightened citizens are fleeing the continent in droves. One ocean liner, the Ruth, is desperately trying to get to safety in America. No one aboard knows about the predator who has stowed away.Her name is Narama. Thousands of years ago, she was human.Now she is…something very different. All she wants is solitude, and she’d hoped to find it in America.Then a German battlecruiser gets the Ruth in its sights and commands the ship to return to Europe. For the desperate passengers, all hope is lost. Narama hasn’t been in danger for a long time. It isn’t despair she feels but the cold savagery of a beast who refuses to become prey.A ship full of innocents. Hundreds of German soldiers.One predator stands between them…Meet the Huntress of Men.

    He makes ends meet for himself and his emotional support Chihuahua by working sleazy bars and nightclubs, doing what it takes to get by. Cash Leroy is a monster hunter from East Texas with a golden voice and an unrivaled devotion to Stevie Nicks. Hunting does not leave time for friends, let alone love.When their paths cross during a bloody run-in with the vampire mob, Cash upends Dorian’s life—and takes Dorian under his wing to teach how to hunt monsters.The unlikely pair become partners, and soon, best friends. However, their deepening bond grows complicated when Dorian falls in love with Cash. Their friendship is too important to throw away over an interspecies attraction, especially in a career that is already nasty, brutish, and short.And things become even more complicated when Cash finds himself returning the vampire’s affections.When an unusually deadly case lands in the hunters’ laps, their ill-fated affair takes a backseat. A pair of man-eating weredeer are on the loose taking victims’ hearts. With the pressure on to end the killing spree, Dorian and Cash must set aside their feelings and hunt down the blood-thirsty deer.Can Dorian and Cash’s friendship survive this monstrous romance, or will they lose their hearts in the process?Originally seen in the Eisner-nominated TWISTED ROMANCE anthology from IMAGE COMICS, this is the full-length adaptation of the critically acclaimed short story.

    Howard’s newest lush adult vampire fantasy fraught with passion, horror, and mystery.In 1832 England, to fall from the peerage is the kiss of death. Yet penniless Mordecai Dureance still has a life worth living: an honest vocation and a humble cottage where he, his new bride, Lynora, and his little brother, Isaac, can be a family. But Mordecai knows he’s meant for more than gardening, if only society wouldn’t shun the unholy byproducts of his horticultural experiments. When an ancient sect of vampires lures him into their hidden city, Nocturnus—an ornate labyrinth of tunnels deep beneath Tatabury’s substratum—they promise wealth and acceptance beyond his imaginings. Discarding his human trappings, Mordecai embraces the darkness and its foundation of sins and blood. Yet he can’t forget his light: the woman who loved him, poverty notwithstanding. To contact Lynora on topside is forbidden, but to live an eternity without her is unthinkable. So, Mordecai will break any laws—natural and unnatural alike—to bring her down into his monstrous world. Lynora Dureance’s life has crumbled under her blue-stockinged feet. Her wealthy family turned away when she married beneath their class. And now, mere weeks after abandoning Lynora and his young brother, her groom returns to claim her. When Lynora awakens, a victim of Mordecai’s bite, she finds herself cloistered in a castle outside of Tatabury. Her rescuers, a clandestine group of women who raise bats, share her gruesome fate—not yet full vampire but starving for blood. By isolating themselves and holding galas to entrance men, the Sisterhood survives without resorting to murder. In contrast, the vampires’ lethal feedings mark them as monsters. Each sister learns to defend herself, honing combative skills that will help Lynora reclaim her humanness and retrieve Isaac from the local orphan house. The one caveat: she must kill the seductive creature who tainted her blood—if she can see past his face and forget the brilliant gardener she once loved. Lynora’s and Mordecai’s conflicting paths converge on one explosive night as they discover a strange blood-related illness infecting the children at the orphanage. Only by violating the laws that separate them, and bridging the broken trust between their worlds, can Lynora and Mordecai uncover the real monster and stop the evil force behind the plague—before it claims Isaac as its final victim.

    All the while, The Thing—an unspeakable beast not of this world—waits and watches.Enter Seth Barton, a man with a very special ability. An ability that lets him see a different side of Orson, a side he calls The Blue, only reachable by plunging himself into the deep waters of the Mississippi. He finds an unlikely partner in Detective Carolina Waterson, and together they race to defeat The Thing and rescue Mary-Lee before the town comes crumbling down around them.

    Six months later, only days before Andrew was to join him in Nashville, Eddie dies of an apparent suicide. He leaves Andrew a horrible inheritance: a roommate he doesn’t know, friends he never asked for, and a gruesome phantom with bleeding wrists that mutters of revenge.As Andrew searches for the truth of Eddie’s death, he uncovers the lies and secrets left behind by the person he trusted most, discovering a family history soaked in blood and death. Whirling between the backstabbing academic world where Eddie spent his days and the circle of hot boys, fast cars, and hard drugs that ruled Eddie’s nights, the walls Andrew has built against the world begin to crumble, letting in the phantom that hungers for him.

    

    When Jack falls and loses his eye on a thorn bush, the accident sets off a series of events that will bind the boys together for the rest of their lives. When the best friends meet albino twins Clara and Blanca, a shared fate unfolds. With Gareth and Jack’s help, the twins are able to reclaim their lives and leave their nightmarish past behind them. From the shores of Lake Ontario to the hustle of Berlin, from the art of oculary to punk opera, this is a story of dark secrets, suppressed desires, forgiveness, and love.

    Everyone talks about the virgin sacrifices, blood oaths, and even summoning Lucifer... but there are many kinds of demons.Some of us are good. And some of us are very, very bad.We could be your best friend, and you'd never even know it. Or we could be your worst nightmares come true.If you want to hear our stories, sit back, but be ready for one hell of a ride.This is a multi-author anthology stories may come with a trigger warning and end on a cliffhanger please beware before reading.

    

    Can’t hear. Can’t feel. Yet, it’s feeding him information about the world. And about the future.He is using this thing, this undetectable entity, to advance at school. And to help Kate gamble. Despite her addiction.But, for every morsel of knowledge, his friend demands a favor in return. And those favors are growing increasingly cruel and depraved.It is only a matter of time until people start to die.But how can Kate defeat an entity that knows her plans before she thinks of them?How does she rid her son of a buddy who helps him more than she can?And what if her son doesn’t want to say goodbye?Best Buddies is a phenomenal debut horror novel in the supernatural suspense tradition of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and the late, great James Herbert.For a paranormal mystery with a psychic entity that may tear apart a single mother and her young son, grab your copy of Best Buddies today.

    When French Inspector, Maurice Leroux, arrives at Alexandra Hall to investigate two grisly murders, he finds superstition and fear rife among the servants and the new master of the house. And what of the mysterious man who once owned this isolated Berkshire mansion? A decade ago, Aaron Nightingale returned from the Greek islands with his bride-to-be — the gifted village girl, Calista. Now husband and wife lie dead and two other occupants of the house have since been murdered. Faced with a series of chilling and unexplained events, Maurice becomes convinced that a supernatural presence, perhaps Calista’s vengeful spirit, haunts Alexandra Hall.But the Nightingales harboured dark secrets and Alexandra Hall has witnessed more horror than Maurice Leroux can imagine. As the French Inspector methodically unearths an inhuman evil, it will edge him closer to the terrors of his past and lead to an unforgettable discovery.A Victorian gothic mystery at the frontier of the fantastique, CALISTA is a novel for lovers of the unknown.

    They linger in doorways, whisper with the howling wind when lightning strikes. They are the dark phantoms of my youth. My mind buried my memories for good reason, and I spent forty years believing I could escape them.Until with one phone call, I found myself in my childhood home: Hardacre Priory. I knew from the first step through the door that it was all over. The forgotten events of 1979 leapt to the surface and screamed their truths. Everything I thought to be true was a lie.Entering those halls was an open invitation…Not for me, but for every ill wish, vengeful thought, and dark deed that ever existed.

    A home that held more than strange traditions and bizarre superstitions.Twenty-four years later, she returned to Weeping Hollow, a town she’d only heard about in stories during restless nights under a marble moon, to take care of her last living relative. They called the nosy mortician a freakshow–a ghastly thing.They said I couldn’t go near her.Still, there was this aching pull to Fallon Grimaldi that I couldn’t escape.A nostalgic pull as if we’d been here before.Once upon a time, there lived a mysterious boy named Julian with a curse as old as centuries wrapped around his soul. He was one of the four Hollow Heathens, the very dark creatures who caused the town’s people to live in fear. And the Blackwell name was stained with darkness and death.They called him a monster. Cold and hollow.They said I shouldn’t go near him.Still, there was this aching pull to Julian Blackwell that I couldn’t escape.A nostalgic pull as if we’d been here before.**This is the Young Adult Edition of Hollow Heathens: Book of Blackwell. This is an interconnected collection and can be read as a standalone. This book contains mild adult language and self-harm. Self-harm used in this fantasy world is for the purpose of magic. Please know self-harm, under any circumstance, is never okay.**

    After months on the ocean, her crew ravaged by disease and starvation, the ship drifts towards Australian shores, pursued by the highly trained guarda-costras, minions of Cardinal Henrique, who has seized the throne. Together with the beautiful Nicolá Massane, of Lisbon University, Australian archaeologist Francis da Costa follows a trail of relics and mythology to a valley surrounded by cliffs of red stone. Yet, the Kimberley landscape and its people have memories of their own. The past, written in blood on the soil, is deeply malevolent. The medieval and modern threads build towards a shattering and simultaneous climax that will thrill the reader and resonate long after the book is closed.The Last Days of Dom Sebastian is a story of adventure and conflict: a rumination on the darker side of the psyche, and on the unseen marks each of us leaves on the landscape when our time on earth is done.REVIEW FROM PUBLISHER'S WEEKLY:Barron’s century-spanning epic will thrill readers who love history, archaeology, and a mystical twist. His prose and storytelling shine as he carefully balances two narrative modes that are widely different in content and form. Romance fans are sure to enjoy the sparks that fly between da Costa and Massane, while history lovers will appreciate how Barron delivers well-researched facts with flair.The Last Days of Dom Sebastian combines the best elements of The Count of Monte Cristo with The Da Vinci Code, resulting in an adventure sure to grip readers from start to finish. This archaeological adventure twining past and present is a must-read for fans of thoughtful epic thrillers

    In Gothic, Roger Luckhurst offers readers an unprecedented look at the ways this uncanny style has manifested itself through architecture, literature, film, art, video games, and more. From the works of Victor Hugo and E. T. A. Hoffmann to Southern Gothic, ancient folklore, and classic horror movies, Luckhurst explores how an aesthetic that began in the margins has been reinvented through the centuries to become part of mainstream global culture.Organizing his wide-ranging history by theme, Luckhurst begins with Gothic architecture and form, including such elements as the arch, the house, and ruins. He considers how the Gothic is depicted in rural and urban settings, as well as in the wilderness and borderlands. And he delves into Gothic traditions and settings around the world, from the sublime Alps and Australian outback to the Arctic wasteland, from the dark folkloric realm of the forest to the postindustrial landscapes of abandoned hospitals and asylums, and then beyond the bounds of the planet to unknowable cosmic horror. Luckhurst investigates the monsters that mirror ourselves and society, and demonstrates that as the Gothic has traveled across the globe and through time, it has morphed according to the shape of our changing fears and anxieties.Filled with a wealth of color illustrations, Gothic will enthrall anyone yearning to lift the veil on our fascination with the eerie, morbid, and supernatural.

    They can also be devious and vengeful. A woman is not just a ball of emotion. Women can fight, they can protect, and they can win.These eight stories of women kicking ass, standing tall, and refusing to be victims are Tiffany’s opposition to the tropes of true crime. With stories from five genres including Paranormal, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Romance, and Crime Fiction, you are sure to find a story you love.

    Edward Wallingford, an artist, is on a solitary walking tour of the West Country. To recuperate from pneumonia, he wants to walk, paint and enjoy the countryside. When he stops at Claeg, a village in Dorset, he visits Marston Castle on the outskirts of the town. He becomes fascinated by Rose Marston who, with her two sisters, owns and lives in their family’s castle.England Present Day. William Wallingford has always heard tales of his great-great uncle Edward who disappeared on his walking tour in 1935. When Will’s mother discovers a letter written in Edward’s hand telling his family that he was in Claeg and intended staying at the castle, both Will and his mother are intrigued.William, a professional photographer, has some free time between assignments, and determines to discover what happened to Uncle Edward. Why, when he went missing, could no one find any trace of him?Will travels to Claeg and stays at the Clay Cutters Arms where he meets the owners, Natalie Pickering and her father. Will soon hears local rumours that young men visiting Claeg disappear from time to time.With Natalie’s help, Will meets a local witch, uncovers an unbelievable truth and nearly dies for love.

    She is desperate and wild, and as she falls into the river below, Ira follows, determined to save her against all odds. But when she awakens, he finds nearly drowning is the least of her worries. A far darker entity is haunting her. Can he save her before the time runs out?

    

    A man obsessed with the obscene. A vampire consumed by love. Ravens & Roses is a unique collection of Gothic stories penned by a diverse group of women authors. Pulling inspiration from some of the greatest Gothic works of our time, these writers have created eleven poignantly beautiful tales of love, tragedy, and the woman's experience. Featuring stories written by Kristin Cleaveland, Judith Crow, Carla Eliot, A.L. Garcia, Tara Jazdzewski, Rebecca Jones-Howe, Liz M. Kamp, Catherine McCarthy, Olivia Claire Louise Newman, Alexa Rose, and Helen Whistberry. Also featuring poetry by The Dark Poet Society of Quill & Crow Publishing House. Edited by Cassandra L. Thompson.

    Craven. A psychopath takes Trick or Treating a step too far. And a woman's dream of a quiet life is shattered by a knock on the door.Afraid Of The Shadows is a collection of gripping- sometimes funny, always spooky- short stories from some of the biggest names in crime fiction.From possessed sweaters to creepy wardrobes and disco shape shifters, there’s something for everyone in this Halloween bucket of short story goodies making it the perfect companion to snuggle up with as the nights draw in. Though be warned, you might want to leave the lights on...****************************************************************CONTRIBUTORSAfraid Of The Shadows is brought to you by twenty bestselling crime and thriller writers who between them have topped the Sunday Times and Amazon charts, won the Crime Writers’ Association Diamond Dagger Award, Gold Dagger Award and New Blood Dagger Award, the Bath Novel Award, the UK National Book Awards and the WHSmith Best Crime Author of All Time Award.Special guests:M.W. CravenPeter JamesT.M. LoganMatt WesolowskiTrevor WoodRachael BlokElle Croft (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Heather CritchlowJames Delargy (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Clare EmpsonJo FurnissT.E. KinseyN.J. MackayS.R. MastersPhoebe MorganDominic Nolan (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Robert Scragg (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Victoria Selman (Shortlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)Kate SimantsAdam Southward (Longlisted for the 2021 CWA Short Story Dagger Award)****************************************************************Profits from the sale of Afraid Of The Shadows will be donated to the Barnardo's Children in Crisis Covid AppealThis delivers practical and emotional support to vulnerable children caught in a downward spiral of deprivation as a result of the coronavirus crisis.Children and families across the UK are increasingly in or on the brink of poverty as a result of coronavirus.The impact of the second wave is pushing a generation of the most vulnerable children into a downward spiral of deprivation. With your support Barnardo’s can deliver the practical and emotional support families in crisis need.

    Her Nana filled her childhood with stories about Byrne House: tales of missing children, of lovers gone mad. The mansion loomed every night in her dreams. Even now, at seventeen, Evelyn watches the sprawling Victorian from her second-floor bedroom, unable to explain her obsession with a house she's never been inside.Then one of the boys in Evelyn's senior class disappears. Evelyn is the last person to see him--just a pale face in Byrne House's tower window.The police don't believe her. Even her friends think she just imagined the face in the window. Only Alex--a handsome newcomer with his own ties to Byrne House--shares her suspicions. Alex believes that this latest disappearance is tied to the mansion's long-buried past. But there's more that Alex isn't telling her. Evelyn has no idea how far she'll have to go to find the answers. Or what she'll have to remember.

    . . that might just kill her.People say the house is cursed.It preys on the weakest, and young women are its favorite victims.In Louth, they're called the Dead Girls.All Bram wanted was to disappear—from her old life, her family's past, and from the scandal that continues to haunt her. The only place left to go is Louth, the tiny town on the Hudson River where her uncle, James, has been renovating an old mansion.But James is haunted by his own ghosts. Months earlier, his beloved wife died in a fire that people say was set by her daughter. The tragedy left James a shell of the man Bram knew—and destroyed half the house he'd so lovingly restored.The manor is creepy, and so are the locals. The people of Louth don't want outsiders like Bram in their town, and with each passing day she's discovering that the rumors they spread are just as disturbing as the secrets they hide. Most frightening of all are the legends they tell about the Dead Girls. Girls whose lives were cut short in the very house Bram now calls home.The terrifying reality is that the Dead Girls may have never left the manor. And if Bram looks too hard into the town's haunted past, she might not either.

    Who was her mother, why did her father never speak of the past, and why can’t she remember anything before the age of seven?AN ISLAND CUT OFFBut when she receives an anonymous letter containing a photograph of a refurbished gothic guesthouse surrounded by water, and an invitation to stay, old memories fight to resurface.Alice has visited before. She is certain of it.WHO WILL SURVIVE?Convinced the clues to her past lie at the hotel, she checks in. But once on the island, a wild storm rages, waves crash violently into the rocks, and the house is cut off by the roaring sea.Then two guests are found dead. And the hotel owner is missing. Will Alice ever uncover her secret past?And will anyone leave the island alive?An utterly gripping thriller that will leave you reading long into the night! Fans of The Guest List and The Sanatorium will love this nail-biting read.

    And for Natasha, a woman reeling from the pain of losing a loved one, evil is all the more tempting. Luck or misfortune spirits Natasha away to the foreign Court of Velaris in a quest for a suitor but instead secures her a place among Velarian royalty. Craving revenge, Natasha makes use of this opportunity to enact her plans as she navigates the lush court where aristocracy is a double-edged blade. But when she befriends her soon-to-be husband Mikhail, the Beloved Prince, Natasha makes a deadly mistake. She captures the attention of the debonair Darkling Prince; a villainous man meant to ascend the Velarian throne.Enamored, the Darkling Prince charms Natasha, and soon the two feel a forbidden emotion captivate their stoic, scabrous hearts. But with the existence of a violent rebel group capable of cataclysmic damage, there is little time for love. With war brewing amidst the enigmatic kingdom, the royals must become all the more cunning and devious if they wish to triumph over their adversaries. What draws the insidious line between right and wrong when it comes to a battle of survival? For Natasha, nothing is too far, too light, too bloody, too evil.Soon, the only reflection Natasha sees in her mirror's beveled glass is that of an Evil Queen. Often, the cost of survival is more frightening than the beasts of death. But that's what gives the Queen of Shadow's beauty an edge: she wears her darkness adorned about her throat like the grandest of all diamonds, ebony, and bloodred in shade.

    The Dowlings, married just a year, are struggling to repair their broken marriage. It was to be the perfect place, away from it all, to heal their relationship. Jenny would write and Kyle would tend to minor renovations. The rent was cheap.The realtor warned them, however, against staying beyond the final days of fall.“No, it isn’t recommended you stay through the winter. Winter is a difficult time at The Farmhouse.”But it was only summer and winter was a long way off.

    Lady Helena Winters hasn’t seen her husband in over a year—not since he disappeared without a trace. Torn between seeking a new purpose for her life and longing for her husband to return, Helena travels with her father to Dunmoor House for a fundraising ball. Although the estate was once her husband’s ancestral home, it has recently been purchased by Luke Lennox, a gentleman planning to establish a foundling hospital.Helena quickly finds herself battling memories of life with her husband and searching for answers to what might have happened to him. Even so, she is drawn to Luke Lennox and his dream of saving and educating children—a passion she shares.But within Dunmoor’s decaying walls lies a long and sordid history, a legacy of evildoers perpetrating unspeakable acts of wickedness. Now, the corridors echo with voices. Vines grow inside the house, and shadowy figures plague the children at night.And in the dark forest on the edge of the property, a terrible secret awaits, and what Luke and Helena uncover there will endanger both their lives.

    Mindless work provides no escape from this nightmare, as alienation can turn you into rotted produce or a blubbering mass of boneless flesh.Stillborn Gallery collects nine nihilistic tales centered around the theme of mortality. Axl Barnes mercilessly uncovers the nest of maggots infesting the core of life. Each story comes with its own illustration by visionary artist Thomas Stetson, fitting together for a uniquely bleak and dazzling experience.**Reader discretion advised. This is intended for adult readers only. It contains extremely graphic descriptions, situations, and illustrations that may be unsuitable for some readers.

    

    

    Becket was one of the most powerful figures of his time, serving as royal Chancellor and later as Archbishop of Canterbury. Initially a close friend of King Henry II, the two men became engaged in a bitter dispute that culminated in Becket's shocking murder by knights with close ties to the king. Becket was quickly canonized a saint by the Pope and his shrine at Canterbury became a major center of European pilgrimage. Becket's international popularity endured for centuries until Henry VIII attempted to eradicate his cult as part of his reforms of the Church in England.Featuring an incredible array of objects associated with Becket, including medieval stained glass, manuscripts, jewellery and sacred reliquaries, Thomas Becket: murder and the making of a saint explores his dramatic life, death and legacy. This unique and fascinating story reveals the political and religious landscape of medieval Europe, demonstrating the formation and endurance of his cult.In death, Becket remained a figure of opposition to power and came to be seen as a defender of rights of the Church. An extraordinary number of miracles were recorded in the immediate aftermath of his death, leading to his rapid canonization and the development of his cult. Images of Becket are found across Latin Christendom, from Germany and Spain, to Italy and Norway and Becket's shrine at Canterbury Cathedral became one of the most significant pilgrimage sites in Europe.A dedicated section will delve deeper into the Miracle Window of stained glass from Canterbury Cathedral. Here, new research from Professor Rachel Koopmans (York University, Toronto) examines the creative complexity of the windows, shedding light on the recent discoveries that led to the re-evaluation of some of the panels which were previously thought to be modern replacements.

    A woman plagued by the lasting effects of a disturbing premonition. A man seeking redemption after two decades of street gang affiliation. A priest gifting religious counsel to a community in moral decline. Six neglected youths making their get-a-way in an infamous Dodge van. How does it all come together in the unceasing chaos of poverty?

    A new home. A new life. Things seem perfect ... for a while. A pregnant Anahita moves in to an apartment in Malabar Hill with her husband, eager to begin a new phase in her life. Unfortunately, nothing goes as expected and Anahita witnesses things she cannot explain.. After sunset, a presence makes itself known in a manner that leaves Anahita terrified–but determined to find answers. Her search leads to Parizaad: a woman who haunted by phenomena she believed to be linked to a tower of silence, or Dakhma, that is deeply affected by environmental changes. As Anahita wades further into the mystery around the life and death of Parizaad, she uncovers a devastating secret that threatens many lives.A spine-chilling psychological thriller that takes horror from the isolated haunted mansion in the woods to the heart of a big city!

    

    Comforted by the songs and story of his kin, Élan’s magick and music continues to unfold, casting dark shadow of fate over his childhood.Everything changes when he is visited by his famous grandfather, borne of legend in magick and mystery. Lured by his faeling curiosity, he is tricked into fae slavery, thrust far south into the dark world of the vampire court. Faced by new creatures of different magick and sensations, Élan is surrounded by predators. To survive, he is to uncover the lies of his past, in order to save his future.

    Now, Smith has assembled his second story collection, and it features all the virtues of his first book while adding new touches that will broaden his readership.The Skeleton Melodies features such stories as “Lisa’s Pieces,” a grisly tale of cruelty and murder; “Fiending Apophenia,” in which a schoolteacher reflects poignantly on his past derelictions; “The Fall of Tomlinson Hall,” wherein Smith draws upon his own expertise in the culinary arts to fashion a story of cannibalistic terror; and “The Rive,” a highly timely post-apocalyptic account of the horrors that inequities in health care can foster.Other stories treat of domestic strife leading to supernatural or psychological horror, such as “Animalhouse” or “The Undertow, and They That Dwell Therein.” The volume culminates in the richly textured novella “Haunt Me Still,” one of the most subtle and powerful ghost stories in recent years.

    The one at the end of the road down the long driveway that seems to have a permanent shadow hanging over its head. One that sends shivers up the spines of people who pass as they quicken their pace and bow their head in the hopes nothing will happen to them. The one that is the gossip of the water-cooler, yet no one really knows why.In Death House, several talented authors take us on a journey through the houses they see in their nightmares. Ones that contain all manner of haunts, horror, death and destructions. Houses that may not simply be plucked from the imagination, but may in fact exist in reality. Be wary of the house whose door you step through. You can never be sure what is on the other side.

    

    Yet King Henry has other plans for her, which include Bertran FitzRolf, a decisive lord who puts Alicia over his knee for discipline in front of the assembled court in order to teach her a lesson in humility.Not even the powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine can save Alicia from a marriage to the stern lord who delivered the punishment. Forced to wed a man she resents, but whose hazel eyes and large hands stir strange sensations within her, Alicia will come to discover Bertran FitzRolf might not be such an unsuitable husband for her as she’d first thought.This is book one in the Her Stern Husband series and can be enjoyed independently.Publisher’s Note: This historical romance contains elements of an arranged marriage, sensual scenes, and power exchange. If any of these offend you, please do not purchase.

    Join these brave heroes as they take on creatures, not of this world and send them back to hell where they belong.This is a multi-author anthology some stories may come with a trigger warning or end on a cliffhanger. Please beware before reading. This is not a Supernatural TV show Fan Fiction. All stories are about a Hunter that hunts supernatural creatures.

    Never before has an anthology brought tales of science fiction and suspense together in such a terrifying way, showcasing the nightmarish imagination of authors who know how to play on the reader’s fears and who share those fears of uncontrollable machines, or perhaps even more frightening, of fellow humans mastering technology for their own evil purposes. A word of advice before you start. By all means, settle down in your living room and let this anthology of technological terror and mechanical madness enthral you, but first, you might want to lock your doors and switch the power off at the mains. Best keep it low-tech tonight. Trust me. I hope you have candles?★ Crime ★ Sci-fi / Steampunk ★ Horror ★ Suspense ★ HistoricalThe Secret Zeppelin - Duncan Richardson#Selfie - Linda Brucesmith Fargan’s Termination - Paul WilliamsA Little Kindness Goes a Long Way - Chisto Healy The Box - Sarah Jane Justice The Wheel - Michael Picco The Wedge - Kurt NewtonTenterhooks - Cameron TrostLeonora - Danielle BirchVanitas - James DorrDon - Steve DuBoisFoul Beasts - Karen BaylyA Whole New World - KG McAbeeSuicide Blonde - Paulene TurnerDriverless - Robert BagnallThe Screen in the Sky - Kerilee S. Nickles

    There's even a day dedicated to fooling friends and loved ones. But what happens when a seemingly innocent prank goes wrong? And what about those that aren't quite so innocent? In April Horrors an abundance of writers explore the terrifying side of pulling pranks as we delve into their twisted minds and discover the pranks they really want to concoct come April 1st.

    Two years later the survivors are being brutally murdered. MI5 begin searching for a terrorist mastermind. While Matt Ross, a detective with PTSD and a guilty secret, believes that it is linked to the drug case he is investigating.Neither realise that they are actually in the middle of a vampire vendetta.Only Edward Jago understands that London could soon be overrun by new vampires. Nobody wants that – least of all its old vampires. And as the line between mortal and immortal becomes increasingly blurred, will Ross find the truth or will he pay for his curiosity with his own blood?

    With D.I. Russell pulling the strings, you’re the marionette that’s walked through the overgrown pathways and shown the terrors that cut right to humanity’s core. Take his hand, but beware. When he writes horror, he’s not playing around...” Zachary Ashford, author of When the Cicadas Stop Singing."They're just dolls, dear. Little girls made of wood and fabric and porcelain. That can't hurt you."Charlotte Hayes has it all: a beautiful daughter, a successful husband, an idyllic home in the English countryside. A tragic event forces Charlotte to find her place in a new life thrust cruelly upon her, caught between her overbearing mother and alcoholic younger sister. Struggling with her grief, Charlotte is forced to face her past: a childhood condition long repressed, distorted memories, and secrets buried by her family.Yet her sudden misfortunes centre around her husband's latest acquisition, an antique clown doll; a simple toy with its own dark past.How can you know what's real...when even your memories lie?Playthings. Time to make believe.

    Desperate to find a way to pay the creditors, Alice performs a séance to contact the spirit of the last man to have seen the jewels rumored to be hidden within her home.Sir Nicholas, a two-hundred-year-old roguish ghost, strikes a bargain with Alice. Find his earthly remains and bury them in consecrated ground. Only then will he reveal the location of the hidden jewels. Alice agrees not knowing when the time comes, she must decide between saving her home or saving the soul of the charming ghost who haunts Morley Manor.

    With suspicions of ghosts and hauntings arising, Hartwell’s owner, Vincent, does the only thing he can think of to salvage his family-inherited business before the guests are scared away for good: enlist the help of a paranormal investigator.However, his daughter, Felicity, has no reason to believe in the supernatural and can’t stand the thought of throwing well-earned money away on an obvious con-woman like Blair Nelson, who claims to have been able to feel the presence of the dearly departed all her life. A stubborn, money-minded sceptic and barmy ghost-hunter in the same room is hardly a good idea, then, and the only thing worse is them being forced to work together to explain Hartwell’s peculiar occurrences. But when Felicity faces something she can’t explain or dismiss in the middle of a storm-induced blackout, only Blair can help her uncover the truth about the mysteries of her centuries-old home and the shadow lurking around it. Can Felicity trust Blair enough to unravel her family’s secrets and open her heart to a new and unexpected love, or will Hartwell Hall always remain haunted and destined to run itself into the ground, Felicity along with it?

    Along with his friends and associates—Violet Asquith, a telekinetic with a mysterious past, and Christopher X, a monster of dubious origins—Henry must work against the clock to solve the agency’s most terrifying case, one that threatens to destroy all he holds dear and perhaps even the very fabric of reality itself.Strongly influenced by the weird horror of Algernon Blackwood, M.R. James, and William Hope Hodgson, The Ghost Finders explores the darkest corners of London’s occult realities.