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    Major authors like Stephen King, Peter Straub, and F. Paul Wilson were asked to choose and introduce the 15 classic stories that frightened and inspired them. The results, of course, are chilling.Stories chosen and introduced by:Stephen King Peter StraubF. Paul WilsonJoyce Carol OatesDennis Etchison Rick HautalaRichard Christian MathesonHarlan EllisonStories written by:Robert BlochRichard MathesonM.R. JamesNathaniel HawthorneH.P. LovecraftEdgar Allan PoeContents:ix · Introduction · Mike Baker & Martin H. Greenberg · in 1 · Introduction to “Sweets to the Sweet” by Robert Bloch · Stephen King · is 1 · Sweets to the Sweet · Robert Bloch · ss Weird Tales Mar ’47 11 · Introduction to “The Father-Thing” by Philip K. Dick · Ed Gorman · is 11 · The Father-Thing · Philip K. Dick · ss F&SF Dec ’54 26 · Introduction to “The Distributor” by Richard Matheson · F. Paul Wilson · is 27 · The Distributor · Richard Matheson · ss Playboy Mar ’58 47 · Introduction to “A Warning to the Curious” by M. R. James · Ramsey Campbell · is 48 · A Warning to the Curious · M. R. James · ss The London Mercury Aug ’25 68 · Introduction to “Opening the Door” by Arthur Machen · Peter Atkins · is 70 · Opening the Door · Arthur Machen · ss When Churchyards Yawn, ed. Cynthia Asquith, London: Hutchinson, 1931 85 · Introduction to “The Colour Out of Space” by H. P. Lovecraft · Richard Laymon · is 89 · The Colour Out of Space · H. P. Lovecraft · nv Amazing Sep ’27 124 · Introduction to “The Inner Room” by Robert Aickman · Peter Straub · is 125 · The Inner Room · Robert Aickman · nv The Second Fontana Book of Great Ghost Stories, ed. Robert Aickman, Fontana, 1966 162 · Introduction to “Young Goodman Brown” by Nathaniel Hawthorne · Rick Hautala · is 163 · Young Goodman Brown · Nathaniel Hawthorne · ss New England Magazine Apr, 1835 179 · Introduction to “The Rats in the Walls” by H. P. Lovecraft · Michael Slade · is 180 · The Rats in the Walls · H. P. Lovecraft · ss Weird Tales Mar ’24 204 · Introduction to “The Dog Park” by Dennis Etchison · Richard Christian Matheson · is 205 · The Dog Park · Dennis Etchison · ss Dark Voices 5, ed. David Sutton & Stephen Jones, London: Pan, 1993 219 · Introduction to “The Animal Fair” by Robert Bloch · Joe R. Lansdale · is 219 · The Animal Fair · Robert Bloch · ss Playboy May ’71 236 · Introduction to “The Pattern” by Ramsey Campbell · Poppy Z. Brite · is 236 · The Pattern · Ramsey Campbell · nv Superhorror, ed. Ramsey Campbell, W.H. Allen, 1976 258 · Introduction to “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe · Joyce Carol Oates · is 259 · The Tell-Tale Heart · Edgar Allan Poe · ss The Pioneer Jan, 1843 266 · Introduction to “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce · Dennis Etchison · is 267 · An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge · Ambrose Bierce · ss San Francisco Examiner Jul 13, 1890 279 · Introduction to “The Human Chair” by Edogawa Rampo · Harlan Ellison · is 281 · The Human Chair [1925] · Edogawa Rampo · ss Japanese Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Tuttle, 1956 299 · About the Authors · Misc. Material · bg

    A debate over Young Elvis versus Vegas Elvis turns existential. Detoxing junkies use a live lobster to spice up their love life. Students on summer break struggle to escape the orbit of a seemingly utopic communal house.And in the title story, selected for The Best American Short Stories, two film school buddies working on a doomed project are left sizing up their own talent, hoping to come out on top—but fearing they won't.In What's Important Is Feeling, Adam Wilson follows the through-line of contemporary coming-of-age from the ravings of teenage lust to the staggering loneliness of proto-adulthood. He navigates the tough terrain of American life with a delicate balance of comedy and compassion, lyricism and unsparing straightforwardness. Wilson's characters wander through a purgatory of yearning, hope, and grief. No one emerges unscathed.

    There is no writer more capable of picking out those seeds and exposing all their secret tastes and poisons than Oates herself―as brilliantly demonstrated in these six stories.The book opens with a woman, naked except for her high-heeled shoes, seated in front of the window in an apartment she cannot, on her own, afford. In this exquisitely tense narrative reimagining of Edward Hopper’s Eleven A.M., 1926, the reader enters the minds of both the woman and her married lover, each consumed by alternating thoughts of disgust and arousal, as he rushes, amorously, murderously, to her door. In “The Long-Legged Girl,” an aging, jealous wife crafts an unusual game of Russian roulette involving a pair of Wedgewood teacups, a strong Bengal brew, and a lethal concoction of medicine. Who will drink from the wrong cup, the wife or the dance student she believes to be her husband’s latest conquest? In “The Sign of the Beast,” when a former Sunday school teacher’s corpse turns up, the blighted adolescent she had by turns petted and ridiculed confesses to her murder―but is he really responsible? Another young outsider, Horace Phineas Love, Jr., is haunted by apparitions at the very edge of the spectrum of visibility after the death of his tortured father in “Night-Gaunts,” a fantastic ode to H.P. Lovecraft.Reveling in the uncanny and richly in conversation with other creative minds, Night-Gaunts and Other Tales of Suspense stands at the crossroads of sex, violence, and longing―and asks us to interrogate the intersection of these impulses within ourselves.The woman in the window --The long-legged girl --Sign of the beast --The experimental subject --Walking wounded --Night-gaunts

     One of them put them there. For every hour they do not figure out who, another person will die. They are all going to have to ask themselves: who does not belong?

    A wave of sinkholes appears on the anniversary of a rural tragedy, and local residents begin to hear the voices of the dead. A woman encounters a predator from her youth—and a chance to turn the tables. A child’s inner beast takes on a sinister life of its own. An undetectable serial killer raises tensions on a college campus. Experimental physics reveals another world, and it might mean the end of ours. Shrouded in darkness, lurking in the shadows, NIGHT TERRORS III awaits you. The third installment of the chilling Night Terrors anthology series includes stories from Jack Ketchum, Steve Rasnic Tem, Dennis Etchison, Taylor Grant, Eric J. Guignard, Aric Sundquist, Jennifer Brozek, John McNee, Simon McCaffery, Patty Templeton, and many more!

    One day, walking home from school, he meets a woman who introduces him to the magical power of the Universe and soon his whole life changes. This is a heartwarming, funny story that carries an important message about how to live. One reader said: 'It has brought a tear to my eye; made me laugh out loud; taken me back to some bad memories of many, many years ago; and resonated with my life now. Inspired, truly inspired.' Some have hailed it 'food for the soul', while others believe it 'reveals the simplicity and magic of life.' This is a book for everyone, adults and children alike. It may just change your life. To find out more about the book, you can follow the author's blog here: https://faithisyoursafeplace.wordpres... or follow him on Twitter @JimsDMGreen

    P. Lovecraft, published his first story, the monstrosities that crawled out of his brain have become legend: the massive, tentacled Cthulhu, who lurks beneath the sea waiting for his moment to rise; the demon Sultan Azathoth, who lies babbling at the center of the universe, mad beyond imagining; the Deep Ones, who come to shore to breed with mortal men; and the unspeakably-evil Hastur, whose very name brings death. These creatures have been the nightmarish fuel for generations of horror writers, and the inspiration for some of their greatest works.This impressive anthology celebrates Lovecraft's most famous beasts in all their grotesque glory, with each story a gripping new take on a classic mythos creature and affectionately accompanied by an illuminating illustration. Within these accursed pages something unnatural slouches from the sea into an all-night diner to meet the foolish young woman waiting for him, while the Hounds of Tindalos struggle to survive trapped in human bodies, haunting pool halls for men they can lure into the dark. Strange, haunting, and undeniably monstrous, this is Lovecraft as you have never seen him before.Contents"Only the End of the World Again" by Neil Gaiman"The Bleeding Shadow" by Joe R. Lansdale"Love is Forbidden, We Croak & Howl" by Caitlín R. Kiernan"Bulldozer" by Laird Barron"A Quarter to Three" by Kim Newman"Inelastic Collisions" by Elizabeth Bear"That of Which We Speak When We Speak of the Unspeakable" by Nick Mamatas"Red Goat Black Goat" by Nadia Bulkin"Jar of Salts" and "Haruspicy" by Gemma Files"Black is the Pit From Pole to Pole" by Howard Waldrop and Steven Utley"I've Come to Speak with You Again" by Karl Edward Wagner"The Sect of the Idiot" by Thomas Ligotti"The Dappled Things" by William Browning Spencer"The Same Deep Waters as You" by Brian Hodge"Remnants" by Fred Chappell"Waiting at the Cross Roads" by Steve Rasnic Tem"Children of the Fang" by John Langan

    Having walked the beat in the early eighties in some of London’s most fractious communities, he worked on a variety of specialist teams dealing with murder, fraud, witness protection and surveillance before becoming a Detective Inspector responsible for investigating the most serious cases of police corruption.

    Twenty curses, old and new. ALL THE BETTER TO READ YOU WITH. It's a prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can happen to anyone, not just those of us with unpopular stepparents... Here you'll find unique twists on curses, from fairy tale classics to brand-new hexes of the modern world...expect new monsters and mythologies as well as twists on well-loved fables. Stories to shock and stories of warning, stories of monsters and stories of magic. Some might shock you, some might make you laugh, but they will all impress you with their originality. TWENTY TIMELESS FOLKTALES, NEW AND OLD.Contents: *Introduction (Cursed) • essay by Paul Kane and Marie O'Regan *Castle Cursed (2020) / short fiction by Jane Yolen *As Red As Blood, As White As Snow (2020) / short fiction by Christina Henry *Troll Bridge (1993) / short story by Neil Gaiman (variant of Troll-Bridge) *At That Age / short fiction by Catriona Ward *Listen / short fiction by Jen Williams *Henry and the Snakewood Box / short fiction by M. R. Carey *Skin / short fiction by James Brogden *Faith & Fred / short fiction by Maura Mchugh *The Black Fairy's Curse (1997) / short story by Karen Joy Fowler *Wendy, Darling (2014) / short fiction by Christopher Golden * Fairy Werewolf vs. Vampire Zombie (2011) / short story by Charlie Jane Anders *Look Inside Me (2013) / short fiction by Michael Marshall Smith *Little Red (2009) / short story by Adam Stemple and Jane Yolen *New Wine / short fiction by Angela Slatter *Haza and Ghani / short fiction by Lilith Saintcrow *Hated / short fiction by Christopher Fowler *Merrie Dancers / short fiction by Allison Littlewood *Again / short fiction by Tim Lebbon *The Girl from the Hell / short fiction by Margo Lanagan *Castle Waking / short fiction by Jane Yolen *About the Authors *About the Editors *Acknowledgements.

    Tired of pushing. Tired of being pushed. Tired of feeling alone. Tired of so much.So she gathered together a pack of wolves, a band of mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, partners, friends, lovers, survivors, victors and brilliant, shining things, and she told them to sing.And sing they did.The result is We Are Wolves, a chorus of of terrifying, moving and heart-breaking stories from some of horror’s finest contemporary writers including Gemma Amor, Laurel Hightower, Cina Pelayo, Sarah Read, Hailey Piper, V Castro, Sara Tantlinger, Sonora Taylor and many more.All proceeds from the sale of this charity anthology will go towards helping the survivors of abuse and assault.

    In addition to stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick or treating in the future, Haunted Nights also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls' Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Devil's Night. -With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds- by Seanan McGuire -Dirtmouth- by Stephen Graham Jones--A Small Taste of the Old Countr- by Jonathan Maberry-Wick's End- by Joanna Parypinski -The Seventeen Year Itch- by Garth Nix-A Flicker of Light on Devil's Night- by Kate Jonez-Witch-Hazel- by Jeffrey Ford-Nos Galen Gaeaf- by Kelley Armstrong -We're Never Inviting Amber Again- by S. P. Miskowski-Sisters- by Brian Evenson-All Through the Night- by Elise Forier Edie -A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds- by Eric J. Guignard-The Turn- by Paul Kane-Jack- by Pat Cadigan-Lost in the Dark- by John Langan-The First Lunar Halloween- by John R. Little

    When the remains of Jack the Ripper’s first five victims are discovered in present day Louisiana, an English detective and a local sheriff form an unlikely alliance to unravel the mystery…and find themselves caught up in a modern-day conspiracy.

    It's been thirteen years since siblings Jennifer and Jackie Nailer nearly lost their very souls to the enchantments of Eleanor Grimm. The Victorian mansion where Eleanor once conjured her wicked schemes now belongs to Jen and her husband. The couple is converting the former mortuary into a bed and breakfast and artist colony to create a nurturing environment for the baby they're expecting--and hopefully to purge the house of its evil. But although Eleanor's body has been laid to rest, her spirit still lingers in the mind of the youngest Nailer sibling, Steve. A mere infant when Eleanor was thwarted in her attempt to possess his body, Steve has now come of age--ripe for plucking and easily manipulated. With Eleanor guiding his every move, Steve is compelled to help her gather victims and perform the rituals that will place her soul into Jennifer's unborn child. Only Jackie, tormented for years by nightmares of the horrors Eleanor inflicted upon him, is aware of his brother's possession. And only he knows what must be sacrificed if anyone in his family is to survive... Grimm Reapings

    The pale and secretive Lavinia wanders through the woods, Asenath is a precocious teenager with an attitude, and the Ancient Egyptian pharaoh Nitocris has found a new body in distant America. And do you have time to hear a word from our beloved mother Shub-Niggurath?Defiant, destructive, terrifying, and harrowing, the women in She Walks in Shadows are monsters and mothers, heroes and devourers. Observe them in all their glory. Iä! Iä!TABLE OF CONTENTS“Bitter Perfume” Laura Blackwell“Violet is the Color of Your Energy” Nadia Bulkin“Body to Body to Body” Selena Chambers“Magna Mater” Arinn Dembo“De Deabus Minoribus Exterioris Theomagicae” Jilly Dreadful“Hairwork” Gemma Files“The Head of T’la-yub” Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas (translated by Silvia Moreno-Garcia)“Bring the Moon to Me” Amelia Gorman“Chosen” Lyndsey Holder“Eight Seconds” Pandora Hope“Cthulhu of the Dead Sea” Inkeri Kontro“Turn out the Lights” Penelope Love“The Adventurer’s Wife” Premee Mohamed“Notes Found in a Decommissioned Asylum, December 1961″ Sharon Mock“The Eye of Juno” Eugenie Mora“Ammutseba Rising” Ann K. Schwader“Cypress God” Rodopi Sisamis“Lavinia’s Wood” Angela Slatter“The Opera Singer” Priya Sridhar“Provenance” Benjanun Sriduangkaew“The Thing in The Cheerleading Squad” Molly Tanzer“Lockbox” E. Catherine Tobler“When She Quickens” Mary Turzillo“Shub-Niggurath’s Witnesses” Valerie Valdes“Queen of a New America” Wendy N. Wagner