Book picks similar to
The Last Assignment: A Ghost Story by Benedict Ashforth
horror
short-story
audible
gothic
The Haunting of Hill House
Shirley Jackson - 1959
Montague, an occult scholar looking for solid evidence of a "haunting"; Theodora, the lighthearted assistant; Eleanor, a friendless, fragile young woman well acquainted with poltergeists; and Luke, the future heir of Hill House. At first, their stay seems destined to be merely a spooky encounter with inexplicable phenomena. But Hill House is gathering its powers—and soon it will choose one of them to make its own.
Theo: A Novella
Paul Torday - 2012
Having entered the Church more by default than through any great calling, he struggles to inject some life into his ailing parish. His wife Christine longs for them to escape the endless rounds of coffee mornings and cake sales. Then Theo, a child at her school, starts to exhibit strange marks on his hands and feet that vanish almost as soon as they have appeared. What has produced these marks - is it physical violence or something stranger? And why has the previous vicar of St Joseph's ended up in a psychiatric hospital?
The Monkey's Penis (Shingles Book 3)
Steve Wetherell - 2018
Entering a world of mysterious powers and nightmarish consequences, Chris realizes the secret belief of every teenage boy- that his wang has the power to change the world. The Monkey's Penis is the third installment in the terrifying Shingles series, and once again readers with weak hearts or bladders are advised to read on at their own risk...
The Lifted Veil
George Eliot - 1859
Published the same year as her first novel, Adam Bede, this overlooked work displays the gifts for which George Eliot would become famous—gritty realism, psychological insight, and idealistic moralizing. It is unique from all her other writing, however, in that it represents the only time she ever used a first-person narrator, and it is the only time she wrote about the supernatural. The tale of a man who is incapacitated by visions of the future and the cacophony of overheard thoughts, and yet who can’t help trying to subvert his vividly glimpsed destiny, it is easy to read The Lifted Veil as being autobiographically revealing—of Eliot’s sensitivity to public opinion and her awareness that her days concealed behind a pseudonym were doomed to a tragic unveiling (as indeed came to pass soon after this novella’s publication). But it is easier still to read the story as the exciting and genuine precursor of a moody new form, as well as an absorbing early masterpiece of suspense.The Art of The Novella SeriesToo short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.
Mark's Merry Mayhem
Mark Tufo - 2016
But on occasion there are some things I just need to pull from my head and put on paper. I hope you enjoy this small glimpse into the things that keep me up at night.
Click-Clack the Rattlebag
Neil Gaiman - 2012
It's not available anywhere else, and for a limited time, each download from Audible benefits educational charities at DonorsChoose.org.A few words from Neil: "Why tell ghost stories? Why read them or listen to them? Why take such pleasure in tales that have no purpose but, comfortably, to scare?"I don't know. Not really. It goes way back. We have ghost stories from ancient Egypt, after all, ghost stories in the Bible, classical ghost stories from Rome (along with werewolves, cases of demonic possession, and of course, over and over, witches). We have been telling each other tales of otherness, of life beyond the grave, for a long time; stories that prickle the flesh and make the shadows deeper and, most important, remind us that we live, and that there is something special, something unique and remarkable, about the state of being alive. Happy Halloween!""'What kind of story would you like me to tell you?' 'Well,' he said, thoughtfully, 'I don't think it should be too scary, because then when I go up to bed, I will just be thinking about monsters the whole time. But if it isn't just a little bit scary, then I won't be interested. And you make up scary stories, don't you?'"So begins this subtle, witty, deceptive little tale from master storyteller Neil Gaiman. Lock the doors, turn off the lights, and enjoy!Included in the anthology Impossible Monsters, edited by Kasey Lansdale.
The Haunting of Maddy Clare
Simone St. James - 2012
Alistair Gellis—rich, handsome, scarred by World War I, and obsessed with ghosts—has been summoned to investigate the spirit of nineteen-year-old maid Maddy Clare, who is haunting the barn where she committed suicide. Since Maddy hated men in life, it is Sarah's task to confront her in death. Soon Sarah is caught up in a deperate struggle. For Maddy's ghost is real, she's angry, and she has powers that defy all reason. Can Sarah and Alistair's assistant, the rough, unsettling Matthew Ryder, discover who Maddy was, where she came from, and what is driving her desire for vengeance—before she destroys them all?
The Grand Hotel
Scott Kenemore - 2014
While it is not known whether or not the desk clerk is actually the devil reincarnated, it is strange that many of the people who come for a tour of the hotel never leave.As the narrator takes you deeper and deeper into the heart of the hotel, he starts wondering if all the secrets that have been hiding for so long may soon start to show themselves. While he is quite ready for this experience, the real question is if the rest of the world is.Kenemore’s incredible style and originality carry The Grand Hotel to places most people only see in their nightmares. And while we don’t know what secrets lie in the Grand Hotel, all we know is that the person who holds the secret puts fear into the narrator himself—a thought which will terrify everyone.
Dread Uprising
Brian K. Fuller - 2019
By the divine promise of sacrifice, he awakened an Ash Angel with a new body, new powers, and a new war to fight. Cassandra, his temperamental trainer, tries to get him ready to battle Ghostpackers and Dreads, but it might be too little too late: for the first time in history, the Ash Angels are faltering against the fury of an evil more ancient than they are.While he fights to survive run-ins with a Sheid-hunted popstar and a gorgeous but dangerous Dread, Trace realizes his new life cannot erase the trauma of the old. Thrust onto the front lines of a violent war with ancient ambition, Trace finds that the deadliest demons are the ones lurking in his own mind.
The Girl from the Blood Coven
Brian Moreland - 2013
Sheriff Travis Keagan is enjoying a beer at the local roadhouse when a blood-soaked girl enters the bar. Terrified and trembling, Abigail Blackwood claims her entire family was massacred at the nearby hippy commune in the woods. But when Sheriff Keagan and his deputies investigate the Blevins House, they discover there’s more to Abigail’s story than she’s told them. Much more.
Feathers and Fire Series: Books 1 - 3
Shayne Silvers - 2018
UNCHAINED (Book 1)
Callie Penrose is a middle-class, Midwest American girl, and a wizard in training. She works for the Vatican Shepherds – an elite group of twelve warrior priests who travel the world smiting whatever offends them or their Good Lord.One problem. Callie isn’t a huge fan of churches… Not even a minor fan, really.But when a Heavenly spear enters an auction in Kansas City, Callie is forced to step up as an interim Shepherd, and her first night on the job puts her in a bidding war against the infamous Nate Temple – the billionaire wizard from St. Louis. And when demons, shifter bears, vampires, and Nephilim attack the auction for the spear, Nate and Callie are forced to join teams, and one-time foes become hesitant allies.Callie must learn where she stands as a wizard. Will she hide behind a man, or light Kansas City afire with a name of her own? And will she finally come to appreciate God? Or will the demons and monsters in the shadows take her for themselves?Because Callie soon learns she isn’t just a wizard, and it was never just about the spear. Monsters have evidently been hunting Callie her entire life, and now, they’ve finally found her…
RAGE (Book 2)
Ever since Callie – the Vatican’s rookie monster hunter – killed a demon a few weeks ago, Kansas City’s been eerily quiet.But she soon learns it’s just the calm before the storm.Because werewolves begin abducting young women in Kansas City, and a new church opens its doors, pronouncing death to all idols, including these ‘make-believe’ monsters and wizards.But when one of their congregation is disemboweled by a monster on the steps of the church with the phrase God is dead painted in blood, someone in the church decides to take a lesson from the Salem Witch Trials… And the police seem to be helping.Callie must catch the killer before Kansas City erupts in civil war. A civil war she inadvertently started.But she’s being stalked. By something unseen. More than one something… And with so many new faces coming to Missouri – gods, legends, and nightmares – Callie begins to realize it’s all someone’s sick idea of a game.And that Hell never really left Kansas City. Or Callie Penrose.
WHISPERS (Book 3)
The Vatican is broken… And Callie’s hearing Whispers in the dark corners of her mind…One of the Vatican’s most infamous Shepherds has been murdered, and Callie’s friends are the prime suspects. To prove them innocent, Roland and Callie must risk their very souls…Because Callie can’t reveal that she’s hearing strange Whispers when she uses her magic, or that she’s harboring an Angel’s Grace. And if the Shepherds discover the hellish bargain Roland made, the streets of Rome will flow with blood as brother turns against brother.And with the Antipope pressuring the Vatican for change, and Nate Temple arriving unannounced to demand an audience with the Shepherds, things couldn’t get any more chaotic.Until Callie learns of an ancient order of traitors hiding in the Vatican, and they’ll do anything to bring it down – brick by brick.
Slattery Falls
Brennan LaFaro - 2021
Their journey eventually leads them to Slattery Falls, a small Massachusetts town living in the shadow of the Weeks House. The former home of the town’s most sinister and feared resident sits empty. At least that’s what the citizens say. It’s all in good fun. But after navigating the strange home, they find the residents couldn’t be more wrong. And now the roles are reversed. The hunters have become the hunted. Something evil refuses to release its grip, forcing the trio into one last adventure.
The Edge Creek Light
H.P. Bayne - 2020
As private investigators, they come with a unique skill: Sully can see the ghosts of homicide victims.Focused on piecing together the circumstances surrounding Gabe’s disappearance, the brothers quickly find themselves embroiled in a murder case.Unexpected connections between the teenager and the ghost lead Sully and Dez deep into a traumatic incident that shattered lives.Uncovering the secret could cost them theirs.The Braddock & Gray Case Files—a series of standalone ghostly mysteries—follow the events in The Sullivan Gray Series. Enjoyed by fans of Odd Thomas and the brother dynamic of Supernatural.
A Gathering of Ghosts
David Haynes - 2014
Prepare to have your blood chilled by six tales of fear and phantasmagoria…The Silent Bell: A doctor’s invention to prevent people being accidentally buried alive backfires on him with horrific results.The Stonegate Manor Collection: Lord Feltham’s paintings are worth a fortune, but also conceal a gruesome tragedy that has yet more lives to claim.The Haunting of Reverend Carson: The charlatan Musgrave makes a living pretending to talk to the dead, until he discovers his new client’s demons are more than merely spiritual.The Last Waltz: Through that miracle of technology, the Zoopraxiscope, a lonely man’s long-lost love is brought back to life before his very eyes.The Speaking Tube: John Barker is consumed with hatred for his malicious father and torments him with voices from hell, unaware of how close to the abyss he is himself.The Ghost Train: Alone aboard an empty train running along a dead track, Godfrey witnesses the grotesque secret that is entombed beneath Paddington Station.Go deeper into David Haynes’s world of the macabre…