With her bright green eyes and short red hair, she looks like an Irish pixie. But she is no soft touch. In this exclusive short story, Ireland's most fearless detective hunts down a priest-killer in county Cork.

    Dick Award winning author of The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides.POWERS OF THE IMAGINATION! Twenty-one pulse-pounding, mind-bending tales of science fiction, twisted metaphysics, and supernatural wonder from the two-time World Fantasy and Philip K. Dick Award-winning author of The Anubis Gates and On Stranger Tides. A complete palette of storytelling colors from Powers, including acclaimed tale “The Bible Repairman,” in which a psychic handyman who supernaturally eliminates troublesome passages of the Bible for paying clients finds the remains of his own broken soul on the line. Time travel takes a savage twist in “Salvage and Demolition,” where the chance discovery of a long-lost manuscript throws a down-and-out book collector back in time to 1950s San Francisco where he must prevent an ancient Sumeric inscription from dooming millions in the future. And obsession and vengeance survive on the other side of death in “Down and Out in Purgatory,” where the soul of a man lusting for revenge attempts to eternally eliminate the killer who murdered the love of his life. Wide-ranging, wonder-inducing, mind-bending—these and other tales make up the complete shorter works of a modern-day master of science fiction and fantasy.  Praise for Down and Out in Purgatory: "Powers creates tales of dark, thought-provoking drama that are just frightening enough to make you keep the lights blazing but not enough to give you nightmares. . . . This is a treat for fans and newbies alike; hand it to readers who enjoy genre-blending authors as varied as Jim Butcher, Dean Koontz and China Mieville."—Booklist “Powers is a writer whose senses and soul are attuned to a cosmic symphony most of us would not hear without his deft channeling of the music.”—Paul di Filippo, Locus About Tim Powers: "Powers writes in a clean, elegant style that illuminates without slowing down the tale. . . . [He] promises marvels and horrors, and delivers them all."—Orson Scott Card ". . .  immensely clever stuff.... Powers' prose is often vivid and arresting . . . All in all, Powers' unique voice in science fiction continues to grow stronger.”—Washington Post Book World “Powers is at heart a storyteller, and ruthlessly shapes his material into narrative form.”—The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction “On Stranger Tides . . . immediately hooks you and drags you along in sympathy with one central character's appalling misfortunes on the Spanish Main, [and] escalates from there to closing mega-thrills so determinedly spiced that your palate is left almost jaded."—David Langford "On Stranger Tides . . . was the inspiration for Monkey Island. If you read this book you can really see where Guybrush and LeChuck were -plagiarized- derived from, plus the heavy influence of voodoo in the game. . . .  [the book] had a lot of what made fantasy interesting . . .”—legendary game designer Ron Gilbert “Powers's strengths [are] his originality, his action-crammed plots, and his ventures into the mysterious, dark, and supernatural.” Los Angeles Times Book Review "[Powers’ work delivers] an intense and intimate sense of period or realization of milieu; taut plotting, with human development and destiny . . . and, looming above all, an awareness of history itself as a merciless turning of supernatural wheels. . . . Powers' descriptions . . . are breathtaking, sublimely precise . . . his status as one of fantasy's major stylists can no longer be in doubt.”—SF Site

    Told from the perspective of a young wife who’s become increasingly frustrated with her mild-mannered husband, “The Trespassers” begins as a quiet domestic drama and quickly escalates into a nightmare. When Evan refuses to confront men who are illegally hunting on the couple’s remote homestead, Chris takes matters into her own hands, with terrifying results. Written in 1958, when Leonard was working at a Detroit advertising agency and writing short stories on the side, “The Trespassers” shows the emerging talent of a man whose spare style and dark wit would redefine a literary genre. Filled with as much sexual menace as Sam Peckinpah’s classic thriller “Straw Dogs,” this timelessly relevant story delivers a sly surprise that could only come from the mind of Elmore Leonard. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Elmore Leonard wrote forty-five novels across his six-decade career, including the bestsellers “Road Dogs,” “Up in Honey’s Room,” “The Hot Kid,” “Mr. Paradise,” “Tishomingo Blues,” and the critically acclaimed collection of short stories “When the Women Come Out to Dance.” Many of his books have been made into movies, including “Get Shorty,” “Out of Sight,” and “Jackie Brown.” “Justified,” the hit series from FX, is based on Leonard’s character Raylan Givens, who appears in “Riding the Rap,” “Pronto,” the short story “Fire in the Hole,” and the novel “Raylan.” Leonard received the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, the Lifetime Achievement Award from PEN USA, and the Grand Master Award of the Mystery Writers of America. He was known to many as the “Dickens of Detroit” and had lived in the Detroit area since 1934. PRAISE FOR ELMORE LEONARD “Elmore Leonard can write circles around almost anybody active in the crime novel today.” —The New York Times Book Review “There is no greater writer of crime fiction than Elmore Leonard, and no one who has more resplendent energy.” —The Guardian (UK) “Elmore ‘Dutch’ Leonard is more than just one of the all-time greats of crime fiction. He’s … an authentic American icon.” —The Seattle Times “People look on writers that they like as an irreplaceable resource. I do. Elmore Leonard, every day I wake up and—not to be morbid or anything, although morbid is my life to a degree—don’t see his obituary in the paper, I think to myself, ‘Great! He’s probably working somewhere. He’s gonna produce another book, and I’ll have another book to read.’ Because when he’s gone, there’s nobody else.” — Stephen King “The King Daddy of crime novelists.” —The Seattle Times “As crime fiction goes, Leonard has few living equals. His characters leap from the page with a few short keystrokes, like a form of bloodstained haiku.” —The Cleveland Plain Dealer “[Leonard’s] finely honed sentences can sound as flinty/poetic as Hemingway or as hard-boiled as Raymond Chandler. His ear for the way people talk—or should—is peerless.” —The Detroit News “A master of narrative … A poet of the vernacular … Leonard paints an intimate, precise, funny, frightening, and irresistible mural of the

    Something that threatens the whole of humanity. Something is going viral. 20 Minutes. 20 People. 20 stories that will make you want to stay inside and never greet another human being again. This is a short novella about a viral outbreak in a small town in the Lake District and shows how quickly disease can spread amongst the population. This isn't the Coronavirus. But it's just as scary. Humans. Viruses. Panic. Fear. There goes the countryside...

    Paul finally has his life back on track. After losing his wife, Helena in a horrific car crash, he has found love with Sally and moves into her country cottage.    As a former high-ranking Naval Officer, Paul now works as Head of Security at MI5.Paul has no memories from before he was ten years old. An accident left him in a coma for 9 months.  But was it really an accident?Soon Paul starts to have flashes of childhood memories, all involving his childhood friend, Owen.Sally introduces him to her friend, Juliet, the owner of a craft shop. Paul is shocked when he meets Juliet’s partner, his old friend Owen.Flashes of memories continue to haunt Paul, particularly the memory of his first wife Helena burning in the car crash. As dark things start to happen, and local people begin dying in horrific accidents, Paul must face his past and will end up fighting for his life.

    

    An elderly woman who knows that death is close, but learns how to cheat it... A child with a dangerous friend who happens to be invisible... A ghost who can't stop reliving his suicide over and over again... People you'll wish you never have to meet, and stories you'll never forget. Skilfully translated into English for the very first time, these chilling tales from master storyteller Ratnakar Matkari are bound to keep readers of all ages up at night. With every page you turn, you'll be looking over your shoulder to make sure no one's there. Look again. Maybe there is!

    Having worked with a tremendous number of authors over the years, I decided to gather some of my favourites together and do an unthemed book. This book is the result of that idea. Inside the cover, you will find an array of styles covering a wealth of sub genres. I present you with, the best of indie horror.Over 100K of new stories by:Shaun HutsonTim CurranMark LukensLee MountfordJohn R. LittleAndrew LennonCalvin DemmerJ.C. MichaelDavid Owain HughesLee MurrayChristina BerglingMark CassellChristopher MotzMike DukeKyle M. ScottSteven StacyLex JonesDouglas HackleNicola Lombardi

    The first, “Weights and Measures,” deals with the tragic loss of a child; the second is a non-fiction letter Picoult wrote to her eldest son as he left for college; and, “Ritz” tells the story of a mother who takes the vacation all mothers need sometime.

    And what happens in between—well, that's Decker's story. This is the story of those eleven minutes, and the six days that follow, from his perspective. Because while it must be terrifying to be trapped under the ice, it's a different kind of terror seeing your best friend trapped... Especially if it's your fault.

    Parties, booze, boys--you name it, she does it. Her parents don't care what she does, and when she is home they ignore her. Their attitude started over a year ago when Megan's older brother was tragically killed in a car accident. Then, when her parents die on the same road that took her brother, Megan decides to start over and move far away. She auctions off her parents' property, a country home in northwestern Minnesota, and heads down to the Twin Cities. Megan knows hitchhiking is dangerous, but lately has become a way of life. And this time is no different. She gets picked up by Bart Simms, an attorney from Minneapolis, who agrees to take her where she needs to go. But only after he conducts a bit of estate planning business. The Engels are a farming family who live not far from Megan's old place. They revel peacefully in their secluded backwoods sanctuary, and have a strong desire to keep as much of the government away from their family's farming legacy. Hence the reason they sought the impecable skills of Bart Simms, who has a deep reputation for saving many family farms from unwanted death and estate taxes. But Megan has a problem with the Engels. She has never heard of them, and she's lived in the area all of her life. When she explores their home, she finds more that is out of sorts. She discovers a picture of a teenage girl. A girl who resembles that of a recent murder victim from Minneapolis. Is there more to this backwoods family than meets the eye? This suspenseful story was inspired by the gruesome real-life tales of Ed Gein and the Master of Horror himself Stephen King. Also included in this are two bonus materials: a serial killer short story titled "Hatchet Harry" and an excerpt of Mark S. R. Peterson's thriller novel (published August 2013) titled BEHOLDER'S EYE.

    Until now, those stories have been unpublished and unavailable for others to read but - due to popular demand - he has compiled them in this collection. Included within this collection: Some Drabbles To Get You Started Under The Safe House (novella) Room To Breathe (novella) The First Cuddle (short story) Santa’s Secret (short story) Smoking Kills (short story) Needles (short story) Cold (short story) Sleeping Dogs (short story) Ugly (short story) About the author: Matt Shaw is the published author, and film director, of over 200 stories including his infamous black cover range of extreme horrors. In those titles he is known for pushing boundaries and has been nominated for multiple awards within the "splatterpunk" genre but do not be fooled - Shaw isn't only capable of writing the extremes. His dark psychological horrors are known for getting under the skin of the readers, causing both sleepless nights and restless dreams... PRAISE FOR THE AUTHOR “There is a ferocity about Matt Shaw's writing that is both welcome and also necessary when it comes to horror.” - Shaun Hutson, author of "Slugs" Categories for "UNDER THE SAFE HOUSE & OTHER STORIES" - Horror - Psychological Fiction - Depression - Grief - Bullying - Suspense horror

    K. Hari Kumar, bestselling author of spine-chilling horror fiction, brings you the terrifying tales of some of India's most haunted places - including Bhangarh Fort, Malabar Hill's Tower of Silence and Jammu and Kashmir's notorious Khooni Nala. Whether you read them at night or in daylight, these stories will remain with you long after you've turned the last page.

    Gary Handler has issues. His boss hates him, his mother hounds him, and his cat thinks he’s an idiot. But that’s okay because Gary’s got the perfect solution to all of life’s troubles: a porn site subscription and his right hand.Sadly, all habits grow old, even the fun ones. Gary soon finds himself at the doorstep of a creepy old pawn shop where he buys a used adult novelty toy to spice up his one-man sex life.Pity for him that it’s cursed by the angry spirits of all the “kids” he’s flushed down the toilet. Needless to say, hairy palms are about to become the least of his worries.----------Jack on, jack off ... with the Jacklight in book 2 of Shingles, the horror comedy series that’s not for those with faint hearts or weak bladders.

    This edition brings together some of the best horror writers from the last few decades. Featuring stories from Ray Garton, Kelley Armstrong, Simon Clark, Gord Rollo, Chad Lutzke, Mike Duke, Christina Bergling, David Owain Hughes, P. Mattern & Kevin J. Kennedy.