The John Connolly Collection #2: The White Road, The Black Angel, and The Unquiet


John Connolly - 2012
    It's a case that nobody wants to touch, deeply rooted in old evil—and old evil is Charlie Parker's specialty. He's about to enter a living nightmare, a dreamscape of sorrow haunted by the murderous specter of a hooded woman, by a black car waiting for a passenger that never comes, and by the sinister complicity of both friends and enemies in Larousse's brutal death. Soon, all will face a final reckoning in an unearthly realm where the paths of the living and the dead converge. A place known only as the White Road. THE BLACK ANGELWhen a young woman disappears from the streets of New York City, ties of friendship and blood inevitably draw ingenious, tortured detective Charlie Parker into the search. Soon he discovers links to a church of bones in Eastern Europe, a 1944 slaughter at a French monastery, and to the myth of an object known as the Black Angel—considered by evil men to be beyond priceless. But the Black Angel is not a legend. It is real. It lives. It dreams. And the mystery of its existence may contain the secret of Parker's own origins. THE UNQUIETDaniel Clay, a once-respected psychiatrist, has gone missing. His daughter insists that he killed himself after allegations surfaced surrounding the harm done to patients in his care. Now, a killer obsessed with finding the truth about his own daughter’s disappearance is seeking revenge—and private investigator Charlie Parker finds himself trapped between those who want the truth about Clay’s disappearance to be revealed, and those who will go to any length—no matter the cost—to keep a deep, dark secret about a local town hidden.

It Came From Anomaly Flats


Clayton Smith - 2016
    P. Lovecraft and Edgar Allan Poe." Ghosts, murderers, monsters, and more lurk within the pages of It Came from Anomaly Flats!"Scary as hell!""Creepy and brilliant.""A true resurrection of classic American horror writing!""Another triumph!"The oddest little town in the Midwest has a thousand demented stories to tell...some of them are horrifying enough to send shivers down the strongest of spines. There’s the tale of a man whose utter fear of germs sends him plummeting to the depths of depravity, and the victims he takes with him; the story of a couple escaping Missouri to fulfill their California dreams who take an innocent detour and find themselves trapped in the most unexpected of nightmares instead; the legend of a demonic creature who thrives on human flesh, which may be more reality than fiction. In this first collected volume of chill-inducing stories from everyone’s favorite transdimensional town, you’ll find reason enough to question your own sanity, even as you try to reassure yourself that things like this only happen in stories.Don’t they? Welcome to Anomaly Flats.How loud can you scream?

Free Five: Flash Fiction


Paul D. Dail - 2011
    

The Killing Code


Craig Hurren - 2013
    Follow detective Alan Beach as he discovers a tenuous connection between the apparent suicide of a prominent scientist in Columbus, Ohio, and the assassination of a US Congressman in Washington. As he struggles to uncover the truth, a team of mercenaries is sent to permanently silence detective Beach, but a mysterious and deadly protector intervenes. Beach and his newfound ally discover a dark and dangerous conspiracy that would crumble the very foundations of the nation, and they find themselves in a race to stop one of the world’s most powerful business moguls from carrying out his cunning plan.

Hypocrites' Isle


Ken McClure - 2009
    One of his PhD students, brilliant loner Gavin, announces his intention to find a cure for cancer and actually makes a major breakthrough. Oddly, no one seems to be interested and a picture emerges of a cancer research industry caught in a desperate paradox: it can only justify its existence by not curing cancer. Disinterest soon turns to open warfare as pressure is put on Simmons and Gavin’s work is sabotaged. A truly compelling story with superb dialogue and thought-provoking ideas.

Shot of Tequila


J.A. Konrath - 2009
    And he likes those odds.SHOT OF TEQUILA by JA KonrathRevenge served straight up...

Dahmer's Not Dead


Edward Lee - 1999
    Jeffrey Dahmer is dead. Or is he?Two weeks after the madman's body is buried, another cannibalistic murder spree begins. Fingerprints, DNA, and modus operandi all link Dahmer to the hideous crimes.Homicide cop Helen Closs is certain it's all a hoax or a clever copycat...until the night her own phone rings, and Jeffrey Dahmer himself begins to speak...Dahmer's Not Dead is the latest collaborative effort by acclaimed horror novelist Edward Lee and serial-killer expert Elizabeth Steffen. Don't expect the same explicit hardcore horror that Edward Lee is so well-known for. Instead, Dahmer's Not Dead is a brilliant and technically accurate police-procedural thriller on par with the best crime novelists working today.The Cemetery Dance Publications edition of Dahmer's Not Dead includes a full-color dust jacket and illustrated endpapers by Erik Wilson.

Embryo


J.A. Schneider - 2012
    It came suddenly, a rushing whoosh of something that made her gag, and when she reached to wipe her mouth, her hand came away smeared with blood." So begins this thriller about a young intern, Jill Raney, determined to investigate tragedies and terror at a famous fertility and genetic engineering hospital. When two pregnant women die and a fetus is delivered with severe chromosomal abnormalities, Jill's superiors - including handsome, smitten-with-her resident David Levine - insist there's no common link. But her suspicions deepen with the grotesque murder near the hospital of another pregnant woman - her belly drained of amniotic fluid. And when a woman miscarries in the hospital and then disappears, Jill frantically searches for her - following a terrifying path that seems to link all the victims: Is someone playing with life...and the structures of human life itself? An unforgettable tale of suspense with a shocking denouement, Embryo takes you deep into the mind of malignant genius..    .    .    .    .    .    .The heart-stopping ending of Embryo creates a new crisis in its sequel, Embryo 2: Crosshairs

The Man from Primrose Lane


James Renner - 2012
    He had no friends and no family; all over town, he was known only as the Man from Primrose Lane. And on a summer day in 2008, someone murdered him.Four years later, David Neff is a broken man. The bestselling author of a true-crime book about an Ohio serial killer, Neff went into exile after his wife’s inexplicable suicide. That is, until an unexpected visit from an old friend introduces him to the strange mystery of “the man with a thousand mittens.” Soon Neff finds himself drawn back into a world he thought he had left behind forever. But the closer he gets to uncovering the true identity of the Man from Primrose Lane, the more he begins to understand the dangerous power of his own obsessions and how they may be connected to the deaths of both his beloved wife and the old hermit.With a deft and singular blend of suspense, literature, and horror, The Man from Primrose Lane boasts as many twists and turns as a roller coaster. It’s a spellbinding journey of redemption and a reflection on the roles of fate, destiny, and obsession when it comes to matters of the heart.

Starfish Girl


Athena Villaverde - 2010
    Her name is Ohime. She is the starfish girl. Alone in this world, Ohime must fight for her life against lecherous crabmen, piranha people, and a yellow algae that is causing humans to mutate into fish. Until she meets Timbre, a woman with deadly sea anemone hair. Ohime thinks she is safe with her new protector and friend, but Timbre is on the run from a violent past. Now they must escape Timbre's former master, the evil Dr. Ichii, who is determined to conquer the underwater dome . . . and destroy the starfish girl and her friend in the process.

Angel Dust Apocalypse


Jeremy Robert Johnson - 2005
    Blissed out club kids dying at the speed of sound. The un-dead and the very soon-to-be-dead. They're all here, trying to claw their way free. From the radioactive streets of a war-scarred future, where the nuclear bombs have become self-aware, to the fallow fields of Nebraska where the kids are mainlining lightning bugs, this is a world both alien and intensely human. This is a place where self-discovery involves scalpels and horse tranquilizers; where the doctors are more doped-up than the patients; where obsessive-compulsive acid-freaks have unlocked the gateway to God and can't close the door. This is not a safe place. You can turn back now, or you can head straight into the heart of. the Angel Dust Apocalypse

One Buck Horror: Volume One


Christopher Hawkins - 2011
    Here's what you'll find in this issue:"Jenny's House" is a great place to play, but an unexpected playmate makes for a dark session of show-and-tell.Three kids seek to steal from a traveling carnival and get more than they bargained for in "A Lullaby for Caliban"In "The Last Nephew", Nephew yearns to be free of Uncle's depredations, but when Uncle leaves his pocket watch behind one night, it gives him the key to his escape.Crossing "The Cornfield" is harrowing on the best of winter nights, but this night, Jack turns to see eyes in the darkness, and knows that something is following him...In "The Ginger Men", mother is baking a special ingredient into a treat for father, an ingredient that gives her pie dough a life of its own. Featuring stories by Ada Hoffmann, Julie Jansen, Mark Onspaugh, Mike Trier, and Elizabeth Twist.Be sure to check out the other volumes in this ongoing anthology series, and watch for new volumes coming soon!

The Grownup


Gillian Flynn - 2014
    On a rainy April morning, she is reading auras at Spiritual Palms when Susan Burke walks in. A keen observer of human behavior, our unnamed narrator immediately diagnoses beautiful, rich Susan as an unhappy woman eager to give her lovely life a drama injection. However, when the "psychic" visits the eerie Victorian home that has been the source of Susan's terror and grief, she realizes she may not have to pretend to believe in ghosts anymore. Miles, Susan's teenage stepson, doesn't help matters with his disturbing manner and grisly imagination. The three are soon locked in a chilling battle to discover where the evil truly lurks and what, if anything, can be done to escape it.“The Grownup,” originally appeared as “What Do You Do?” in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology.

Counterspy


Matthew Dunn - 2014
    when a dangerous terrorist, codenamed Trapper, escapes from a top secret CIA military base. Trapper comes after Will—saying he is the one who killed his leader—but Will knows there has to be more to this story. Will gets close enough to shut the man down, but when he does, that act opens the door to yet another, much more dangerous surprise . . .

Madhouse


Miguel Estrada - 2017
     Faced with his parents’s divorce, eleven-year-old Lucas runs away from his house with the hope that his family will get back together to find him. On his way walking through the empty streets, he is picked up by a mysterious woman who offers to take care of him and provide him with a loving family. The boy then wakes up in shackles, confined to a bed in a decrepit house in the middle of nowhere and will have to face his deepest fears in order to survive in his new home. Join Lucas in a desperate attempt to get back to his family in Madhouse, the first published book from horror-thriller author Miguel Estrada.