Book picks similar to
Stillborn Gallery by Axl Barnes
horror
short-stories
extreme-horror
supernatural
The Lady on the Road: An Urban Legend Short Story
Nick Herntier - 2019
After leaving her friend's house, she decides she's going to prove to her brother that "The Lady on the Road " urban legend is just that...
The Jealousy of Jalice
Jesse Nolan Bailey - 2020
The Sachem, chief of the Unified Tribes, is to blame.It is this conviction that drives Annilasia and Delilee to risk their lives. Afraid of the aether magic he wields, they enact a subtler scheme: kidnap his wife. In her place, Delilee will pretend to be the chieftess and spy on the Sachem.Unaware of this plot against her husband, Jalice is whisked away by Annilasia. Pleading with her captor proves futile, and she rejects Annilasia’s delusional accusations against the chief. After all, the Sachem has brought peace to the land. Yet a dangerous truth hides in Jalice’s past. As she and Annilasia flee through a forest of insidious threats, they must confront the evil plaguing the tribes and the events that unleashed it.What Reviewers are saying:"A slick, modern sword-and-sorcery tale!" - Christopher Ruocchio, Author of The Sun Eater series"A suspenseful, intriguing, and highly original fantasy tale from a promising new author." - Kirkus Reviews"With slick original plotting and high octane action, there's much to keep the most ardent of fantasy fans on tenterhooks with Bailey's The Jealousy Of Jalice." - Book Viral Review"A riveting and brilliantly penned novel...This is an electric debut, and newborn fans of Jesse Nolan Bailey will eagerly await the sequel, as The Jealousy of Jalice is an imaginative and impressive start to a new fantasy series." Self-Publishing Review, ★★★★½
The Catalain Book of Secrets
Jessica Lourey - 2014
In a concealed room beneath the twisting stairs of the Queen Anne lies the Catalain Book of Secrets, the repository of the wisdom the Catalain women have gathered since the beginning of time.Ursula Catalain, current keeper of the Book of Secrets, is content to concoct spells in her garden cottage until the ghost of the man she murdered appears at her door in a new form. His return pulls Jasmine, Ursula's daughter, back into the fold. Once the most powerful of the Catalains, Jasmine foreswore her gift to bury a shameful secret.The ghost of the murdered man also calls home Katrine, Jasmine's sister, who's been banished for fourteen years. Finally able to return to Faith Falls and the beloved Queen Anne, Katrine must claim the Catalain power she's spent her whole life running from if she is to save her mother and sister from the murdered man's curse.Told in a majestic mosaic of strong women's voices, The Catalain Book of Secrets weaves together alchemy, hope, tragedy, and true love to spin a tale in the style of Garden Spells, Eva Luna, and Practical Magic.
red velvet villainy
Molly Maple - 2022
The beloved Gus wouldn't hurt a fly, so when he ends up in the hospital after being attacked, no one quite knows where to point the finger.With the restaurant hanging on by a thread and a criminal on the loose, Charlotte knows she will have to solve this crime with a soup ladle in one hand and a cupcake pan in the other. When it becomes clear that there is more to the coveted soup recipes than meets the eye, Charlotte is certain that the person who attacked Gus won't stop until Gus is silenced once and for all."Red Velvet Villainy" is filled with layered clues and cozy moments, written by Molly Maple, which is a pen name for a USA Today bestselling author.
Criterium
Tyler Jones - 2020
The prose is perfect, the story beautifully balanced, and the atmosphere is so strong it feels like you could cut it with a knife. Haunting, uncanny and profound: the strongest and most compelling new voice that I've read in a very long time."- Michael Marshall Smith, author of Only Forward and The Straw Men“A haunting masterclass in storytelling.”– Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke"Criterium is a haunting, visceral, gripping story filled with symbolism and allegory. Buckle up for a wild ride that will leave you bruised, shaken, and filled with dread. Tyler Jones is an author to keep an eye on."- Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and Spontaneous Human Combustion"Jones’ prose in Criterium is like a shot of adrenaline to the heart. Once you turn that first page, you give over any control you once had, and this book will steamroll you into the ride of your life…you can almost feel the wind in your face and the heat on your flesh…he writes this story to within an inch of its life… there are moments of frenzied paranoia and then subtle and melancholic moments of sadness, grief and aloneness. It’s intoxicating.- Ross Jeffery, Bram Stoker nominated author of Juniper and Tome“Criterium is a high-octane ride in every way imaginable. A magnificent example of the type of storytelling that can be achieved through the novella form…mixes relatable real-life grief with metaphor that embodies what addiction horror can be.– Brennan LaFaro, author of Slattery Falls“Criterium is a gut-wrenching emotional rollercoaster into the real-life horrors of addiction and sorrow. Tyler Jones knows how to hit you where it'll hurt. I highly recommend this story to readers of the supernatural horror genre that are looking for a story that will leave you numb and breathless.– Andrew Fowlow, The Horror Oasis“Jones managed to write one of my favorite books of the year and I don’t say that lightly. His prose is flawless, the ambiance is stunning, and the story has a beautiful darkness…it consumed me in a big way. It will eat you up and spit you out. Criterium is intelligent, haunting, and emotional with a compelling plot that combines the hell of addiction with horror seamlessly. I couldn’t put it down if I wanted.– Janelle Janson, SheReadsWithCats“Tyler Jones’ first novella is an unflinching and compassionate view into the black hole of addiction and grief. An intriguing and novel premise that drags real life horror into the depths of the supernatural—compulsively readable.”– Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Whispers in the Dark“What a ride. Criterium is unpredictable, fast-paced, and bleeds with heart. Tyler Jones is one to watch.– Scott J. Moses, author of Hunger Pangs"This book spoke to me on an emotional and spiritual level. I was moved. Haunted. An arresting story from start to finish...such a powerful piece. I'm adding Zach Ayers to my list of fictional characters who live in my soul forever. His story is achingly beautiful."- Sadie Hartmann, Cemetery Dance
Last Christmas
Heide Goody - 2018
A short story in the Oddjobs universe that tries to answer the age-old question: what Christmas present do you get for the demon who has everything?
Blood Lies: Book One of The Redwing Saga
Sharon K. Gilbert - 2017
When detectives arrive, they find not only the broken body of the victim, but a child who remembers nothing of who she is or how she came to be at the scene. Because the little girl has no known home, a gentle-hearted detective inspector named Charles St. Clair takes her to his home, and from that point on, his life will never be the same. Over the course of the next ten years, he’ll learn not only all about the girl but also about himself. And St. Clair will learn the truth about a supernatural battle that has been raging across England for four hundred years.
The Redwing Saga
presents an alternative telling of history, pulling back the veil of secrecy put into place by those who would deceive and destroy. Geopolitics, criminal investigation, and science merge with secret societies, angelic warfare, and human free will. Book One of the series,
Blood Lies
, introduces the characters—both human and non-human—as well as their backstories, and it starts us on a journey that will eventually lead from Whitechapel to World War.
A Lullaby for Witches
Hester Fox - 2022
A history of witchcraft. And a deep-rooted female power that sings across the centuries.
Once there was a young woman from a well-to-do New England family who never quite fit with the drawing rooms and parlors of her kin. Called instead to the tangled woods and wild cliffs surrounding her family’s estate, Margaret Harlowe grew both stranger and more beautiful as she cultivated her uncanny power. Soon, whispers of “witch” dogged her footsteps, and Margaret’s power began to wind itself with the tendrils of something darker. One hundred and fifty years later, Augusta Podos takes a dream job at Harlowe House, the historic home of a wealthy New England family that has been turned into a small museum in Tynemouth, Massachusetts. When Augusta stumbles across an oblique reference to a daughter of the Harlowes who has nearly been expunged from the historical record, the mystery is too intriguing to ignore. But as she digs deeper, something sinister unfurls from its sleep, a dark power that binds one woman to the other across lines of blood and time. If Augusta can’t resist its allure, everything she knows and loves—including her very life—could be lost forever.
A Haunting in Rose Grove
Rockwell Scott - 2018
A violent haunting. A house with a bloody history. Jake Nolan left it all behind, but now he must return. Jake has it all — a new home, an amazing girlfriend, and nearing a promotion at work. Best of all, he feels he’s finally moved on from the horrors of his traumatic past. But when he learns that his estranged brother, Trevor, has moved back into their haunted childhood home, Jake knows his past is not quite finished with him yet. Jake rushes to the old house in Rose Grove — a small town with a tragic history — to pull his brother from that dangerous place. But it’s too late. There, he finds Trevor trying to make contact with the spirit that tormented them years ago. And Trevor refuses to leave. He is determined to cleanse the house and remove the entity. But the supernatural activity becomes too much to handle, and Jake knows they are both unprepared for the fight. Worse, the entity targets Daniel, Jake’s young nephew, and wants to bring him harm. And when the intelligent haunting shows signs of demonic infestation, Jake realizes they aren’t dealing with a mere ghost. Jake attributes the evil spirit for driving his parents to an early grave. Now it wants to claim the rest of the family, and the only way Jake and Trevor will survive is to send the entity back to hell. A Haunting in Rose Grove is a supernatural horror novel for readers who love stories about haunted houses and battles with the demonic — the truest form of evil that exists in our world. You are only one click away from enjoying this scary tale. Start reading today!
Ghosts of Manor House
Matt Powers - 2017
But the death of their young son, Tommy, has shattered their family. Edmund is determined to bring them back together, drawing on the only bit of strength he has left—his love for Mary and their daughter, Stephanie. But Mary sinks deeper into depression while little Stephanie’s anger grows. Edmund flounders in his attempts to rescue his family from the brink of collapse and doesn’t know where to turn. Then Mary receives an invitation for the family to become guests at Manor House, a seemingly quaint Bed and Breakfast. This, she assures her husband, is the answer to all their troubles.Edmund arrives ahead of his family to spend a couple days working on his long-delayed novel. But his growing curiosity about the old house leads Edmund to an encounter that will change him forever. What will you sacrifice for love?An old fashioned psychological thriller with a nod to Stephen King, Manor House will keep you guessing and compel you to turn the page to the very end. A mother will sacrifice anything for her children. A husband will risk everything to save his wife. Manor House will take them all.
The Patient
Jasper DeWitt - 2020
In a series of online posts, Parker H., a young psychiatrist, chronicles the harrowing account of his time working at a dreary mental hospital in New England. Through this internet message board, Parker hopes to communicate with the world his effort to cure one bewildering patient. We learn, as Parker did on his first day at the hospital, of the facility’s most difficult, profoundly dangerous case—a forty-year-old man who was originally admitted to the hospital at age six. This patient has no known diagnosis. His symptoms seem to evolve over time. Every person who has attempted to treat him has been driven to madness or suicide. Desperate and fearful, the hospital’s directors keep him strictly confined and allow minimal contact with staff for their own safety, convinced that releasing him would unleash catastrophe on the outside world. Parker, brilliant and overconfident, takes it upon himself to discover what ails this mystery patient and finally cure him. But from his first encounter with the mystery patient, things spiral out of control, and, facing a possibility beyond his wildest imaginings, Parker is forced to question everything he thought he knew. Fans of Sarah Pinborough’s Behind Her Eyes and Paul Tremblay’s The Cabin at the End of the World will be riveted by Jasper DeWitt’s astonishing debut.
Whitesands
Johann Thorsson - 2021
In his frantic and unfruitful search for her two years ago, John Dark overreached and was reprimanded and demoted.Now suddenly back into the homicide department, Dark is put on a chilling case – a man who killed his wife in their locked house and then dressed the body up to resemble a deer, but claims to remember none of it. A few days later an impossibly similar case crops up connecting the suspects to a prep school and a thirty year old missing persons’ case. Just as he is getting back into his old groove, a new lead in his daughter’s disappearance pops up and threatens to derail his career again.Time is running out and John Dark needs to solve the case before more people are killed, and while there is still hope to find his daughter.In the style of True Detective and Silence of the Lambs, WHITESANDS is a thrilling supernatural crime novel.“Tense, breakneck storytelling. WHITESANDS is a dash of Thomas Harris swirled with supernatural elements that leave you speeding through the pages.” - Kristi DeMeester, author of SUCH A PRETTY SMILE and BENEATH"Johann Thorsson's fast-moving debut WHITESANDS, packs enough incident for a novel twice its size, until it's impossible to turn the pages fast enough." - John Langan, author of Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies"... certainly one of the best thrillers I have read this year." - Khasif Hussain, The Best Thriller Books
Dark Thoughts
Kevin J. Kennedy - 2019
Kennedy has put together some of the horror worlds best selling horror anthologies. Now, for the first time, he has collected together some of his own short stories in the one place. Features a brand new, eight thousand work, tribute story to Richard Laymon's Dark Mountain.
Count Your Hexes
Wendy Meadows - 2019
Was Daniel George an unfortunate victim of some dark magic, or some invisible revenge? In the sleepy tourist town of Wickrock Bay, Maine, Mimi’s artifact and antique shop is a hit with customers far and wide, especially crotchety next-door cafe owner Daniel George, who likes to duck into the shop often to spot what Mimi has in her collections. But, after three Wickrock Bay citizens rub Daniel the wrong way, in one form or another, the man moves to take action against them.Only for him to turn up mysteriously dead.Wickrock Bay Police Chief Robert Thompson, and soon along with his crush Mimi, are immediately on the case. But Mimi also has to be cautious, because the object used to murder poor Daniel had come from her shop. Wickrock Bay may be a small, cozy seaside town, but tongues could wag if enough people find this out.This cozy mystery is a clean read: no graphic violence, sex, or strong language.