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.

    The first few chapters are available as 'The Chronicles of Engella Rhys (Preview).' Would you sacrifice your future to save your past? Engella Rhys is alone, adrift and on the run. Pursued by a secret agency, known only as the Hunters, she must stay ahead to stay alive. As she travels through space-time using dangerously experimental technology, she only has one wish: to be reunited with her lost parents. After a close shave with a Hunter on the streets of New Shanghai, Engella escapes to find herself on a deserted beach. When she meets a kind stranger, who offers her food and shelter, Engella feels safe and protected for the first time in years. But who is this woman? And why did their paths cross at the most convenient of times? Engella soon discovers their lives are intertwined in more ways than she could ever imagine.

    After being forced into hiding until the trial, Heidi finds Camdon, someone who changes her :Making her new life more than bearable, he makes it perfect.Now she has to decide if it's worth giving up the perfect life she has to testify, if it's worth it to go back to the old life she had before, and if she can keep lying to the only person that she's ever loved.

    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?

    Kennedy brings back together some of the authors that brought you Collected Christmas Horror Shorts, alongside several new authors, from upcoming indie stars to Amazon top sellers. Whether you like Easter or not, you’ll certainly have a different view of it after you read the stories contained within these pages. Grab an Easter egg, dim the lights, get cosy and get ready for some chilling tales by some of the horror world’s finest. C.S.Anderson – He Has Risen Christopher Motz - Magic Awaits Veronica Smith​ - It’s Not All About Bunnies and Chocolates Peter Oliver Wonder​ - Easter Gunny Mark Cassell​ - The Rebirth Andrew Lennon​ - Trying To Write A Horror Story Mark Lukens​ - Mia's Easter Basket Lex Jones​ - SonnesHill JC Michael​ - Lord of The Dance Steven Stacy - Echoes of The Bunny-Man Weston Kincade​ & David Chrisley - An Easter Prayer Christina Bergling​ - Hatch James Matthew Byers​ - Killer Jelly Beans from Outer Space (poem) Jeff Menapace​ - Paying It Forward Jeff Strand​ - Rotten Eggs Lisa Vasquez​ - Bunny and Clyde Mark Fleming​ - Sulphur Suzanne Fox - Last Supper Briana Robertson​ - Baby Blues Latashia Figueroa - Easter Eggs Amy Cross - Lamb to Slaughter Kevin J. Kennedy - A Town Called Easter

     What the Verdugo brothers did not count on is that Lucas Eldridge is a dangerous man that is not to be trifled with. For over two years Lucas is a man driven to exact justice and revenge from the bandit brothers that took everything he ever wanted and everything he ever loved when his wife died at their hands. In a pursuit through the Colorado Rocky Mountain wilderness that cover towns such as Breckenridge, Como, and Silver Plume and across the "Great Divide" Lucas sole purpose for living is to take the life from the Verdugos and condemn them to the depths of Hell. Lucas has become a hard and haunted man until he rescues the beautiful redheaded, green eyed Devon King the sister of a surveyor working for the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad from Jose the youngest of the Verdugo brothers on top of Boreas Pass. Devon King is everything that Lucas departed wife was and his heart knows it, but his hatred for the Verdugos leaves no room for love. Or does it? Follow Lucas Eldridge in his western adventure as he battles the Verdugos and other outlaw's, mountain lions, wolves and the deadly cold and snow of a Colorado winter in the high country of the Rocky Mountains in his quest for justice and finally love.