Book picks similar to
The Free School by Cody Goodfellow


dim-shores
weird-fiction
set-in-san-diego
urban-fantasy

The Dark Rites of Cthulhu


Brian M. SammonsGlynn Owen Barrass - 2014
    Hapless mortals have invoked monstrous entities from beyond through foul magicks, incantations and rituals. When will they learn that here can be no profit nor joy to be gained through relations with the insidious old ones? These sixteen tales of depravity, sorcery and madness may offer some illumination, but ultimately there can be no salvation for those who dabble in The Dark Rites of Cthulhu.

Tales Out of Innsmouth: New Stories of the Children of Dagon


Robert M. PriceScott David Aniolowski - 2008
    An air of mystery and fear looms...waiting. Now you can return to Innsmouth in this second collection of short stories about the children of Dagon. Visit the undersea city of Y'ha-nthlei and discover the secrets of Father Dagon in this collection of stories. This anthology includes ten new tales and three classic reprints concerning the shunned town of Innsmouth.Contents:The One That Got Away by Robert M. PriceThe Weird Shadow Over Innsmouth by H.P. Lovecraft and John GlasbyUnderstudy by Gary MyersThe Doom That Came to Innsmouth by Brian McNaughtonReturn to Y'ha-nthlei by John GlasbyThe Old Ones' Signs by Pierre ComtoisFleas of the Dragon by C.J. HendersonMail Order Bride by Ann K. SchwaderThe Idol by Scott David AniolowskiThe Guardian of the Pit by Franklyn SearightTrust Me by Stanley C. SargentJust a Tad Beyond Innsmouth by Stanley C. SargentThe Deep End by Gregory LuceIt Was the Day of the Deep One by Peter Cannon

Click


Kristopher Young - 2006
    Click is urban grit of the highest order - a first person romp through the unreality of an unnamed metropolis in which the protagonist is stalked by his inner demons while half-heartedly trying to save the world. Fun and excitement for the whole dysfuntional family, Click is not to be missed. Plot Summary - Click's hero is experiencing glitches in the universe. He may have tapped into a strange ability which gives him control over the world around him. Or, there's the disturbing possiblity that he's a case study in paranoid schizophrenia. After all, -they- might be after him. He's falling apart -- and to make matters worse, his girlfriend may just be crazier than he is. Forced to face his fears and come to terms with his own flawed nature, he must discover what it means to truly evolve.

Veniss Underground


Jeff VanderMeer - 2003
    First, Nicholas, a would-be Living Artist, seeks to escape his demons in the shadowy underground–but in doing so makes a deal with the devil himself. In her fevered search for him, his twin sister, Nicola, spins her own unusual and hypnotic tale as she discovers the hidden secrets of the city. And finally, haunted by Nicola’s sudden, mysterious disappearance and gripped by despair, Shadrach, Nicola’s lover, embarks on a mythic journey to the nightmarish levels deep beneath the surface of the city to bring his love back to light. There he will find wonders beyond imagining…and horrors greater than the heart can bear. By turns beautiful, horrifying, delicate, and powerful, Veniss Underground explores the limits of love, memory, and obsession in a landscape that defies the boundaries of the imagination. This special edition includes the short stories “The Sea, Mendeho, and Moonlight”; “Detectives and Cadavers”; and “A Heart for Lucretia” and the novella Balzac’s War, offering a complete tour of the fantastic world of Veniss.

Squid Pulp Blues


Jordan Krall - 2008
     On the surface, Thompson looks like any other blue collar New Jersey town. But beneath the working class exterior lies a bizarro world of fetishistic crime, sleazy motels, and squid. In these three bizarro-noir novellas, the reader is thrown into a world of murderers, drugs made from squid parts, deformed war veterans, and a mischievous apocalyptic donkey... THE HABERDASHER Red Henry Hooper just got out on parole. He meets his friends, fellow small-time criminals Dix Hayden and Grant Minissi, in a cheap motel to drink a couple beers and perhaps plan another job. Things go sour when Grant takes some bad drugs. Meanwhile, in the next room, strange things are happening that will make Henry's day even worse: a woman is missing her feet and a notorious local gangster Robert Hapertas (aka The Haberdasher) is on his way. And he's not pleased... THE LONGHEADS Tommy Pingpong knew it was a mistake sending his partner Jake into the meeting with their boss. Now they were on the run from Peachy, a diaper-wearing gangster who would like nothing better than to kill the both of them. On top of that, the deformed war veterans called the longheads are buying up all the guns in town, planning something big that'll have severe implications for the town of Thompson. THE APOCALYPSE DONKEY When Simon Palmer took the black envelope from the tall man in the parking lot, he didn't know that this case of mistaken identity would make his day take such a weird turn for the worst. When the man finally realizes that he gave the envelope to the wrong guy, Simon is thrown into a dangerous cat-and-mouse game that finally leads to a sleazy carnival of squid violence...

Godwalker


Greg Stolze - 2005
    Ignorance is no excuse for the cops and creeps and exterminators whose desires shaped the world. Knowledge is a little power, a dangerous thing, to the cross-dressers and risk-takers who understand enough to damage the world more to their liking. They all collude and collide on a driverless ride, each trying to be the one to break the secret heart of the world. But only one can claim the prize of being the cosmos' corrupt ward boss. Only one can be the Godwalker.

You Shall Never Know Security


J.R. Hamantaschen - 2011
    For the first time, these surviving stories have been collected in one anthology. These are stories that challenge expectations and reject the staid conventions of the genre. These are stories that don't compromise.Above all, what readers understood and appreciated was that these stories were about something. These are stories that, in the finest tradition of H.P. Lovecraft, Thomas Ligotti, Dennis Etchinson, and T.E.D. Klein, articulate what you'be always suspected: that life is a losing proposition.

Perfect Storm


E.A. Copen - 2017
    In the water lurks a new predator, a giant, venomous snake shifter with origins in Native American myth. When one of her own is bitten, Judah Black must find a way to hunt down the monster and a cure before the venom kills her friend and more people get hurt. But nothing's ever simple. To find and catch her prey, she'll have to work with a bounty hunter named Logan Creed whose decades long hunt for the mythical snake borders on obsession. He'll sacrifice everything to complete his hunt, including her family and friends.

Delta Green: Through a Glass, Darkly


Dennis Detwiller - 2011
    government's 1928 raid on the degenerate coastal town of Innsmouth, Massachusetts, the covert agency known as Delta Green spent four decades opposing the forces of darkness with honor, but without glory. Stripped of sanction after a disastrous 1969 operation in Cambodia, Delta Green's leaders made a secret pact: to continue their work without authority, without support, and without fear. Delta Green agents slip through the system, manipulating the federal bureaucracy while pushing the darkness back for another day; but often at a shattering personal cost. "Ten years ago, everything changed. It's time you found out how. It's January 2001.The Delta Green agents code-named Cyrus and Charlie get the call: A young boy dead and buried for years has reappeared, healthy and happy, as if no time at all had passed and the disease that killed him had never been. The family thinks it's a miracle, but Delta Green has seen too many miracles turn to madness. Cyrus and Charlie must discover what horrors lurk behind this one. The mission brings them to the brink of apocalypse -- to the edge of the revelation and destruction of Delta Green -- to secrets and terrors at the heart of reality itself.

American Elsewhere


Robert Jackson Bennett - 2013
    Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different ...From one of our most talented and original new literary voices comes the next great American supernatural novel: a work that explores the dark dimensions of the hometowns and the neighbors we thought we knew.

Angel Trouble (24/7 Demon Mart #3)


D.M. Guay - 2021
    Or not. No, definitely not, because the grim reaper's lost his job. He's been stripped of his scythe and banned from reaping. The angel of death has officially fallen, and he's crash-landed at 24/7 Demon Mart.It doesn't take long for DeeDee, Lloyd, and Kevin to figure out that living with the angel of death isn't easy. Lost souls. Angry exes. Ancient curses. Will the grim reaper ever get his afterlife together? The outlook is not so good.The reaper isn't the only angel who's out of sorts. Lloyd's devilish boss Faust hasn't been the same since a tentacle monster spit him out of an alternate dimension, and his ex-girlfriend tried to start the zombie apocalypse. And Angel eight ball? He's having a hell of a time juggling a terrible new boss and saving Lloyd from eternal damnation.As unreaped souls stack up and the specter of death looms larger, what's the Demon Mart crew to do? Find out in this grim reaper comedy.

Topher Nightshade vs. The Camp of The Undead Apocalypse


Drew Hayes - 2014
    That was, of course, because they didn’t know that Camp Tekonichia was home to boundless spirit energy, three very bored ghosts, and a powerful magic spell on the verge of completion. Now, these three will have to race against time and an ancient evil trying to stop the whole world from turning into a haven for restless spirits. Aided only by a mysterious medium and the camp’s resident ghosts, none of them have a clue how they’re supposed to save the world. Especially since they only have until sunrise to do it.

Thanks For Ruining My Life


C.V. Hunt - 2013
    The following list is a compilation of suggested actions you can execute to ruin your life. This is not a guarantee for complete destruction of your current social status, family affairs, and or friendships. Reader discretion is advised.1. Live your life exactly how you want.2. Disregard any advice or concern from family or friends.3. Move far away from everyone you know.4. Meet a mysterious stranger and let them into your home.5. Chase after the stranger and enter a microcosm of your own making.6. Revisit all the people you have wronged.And remember: This book is not about you.

The Dead of Night: The Ghost Stories of Oliver Onions


Oliver Onions - 2010
    His stories are powerfully charged explorations of psychical violence, their effects heightened by detailed character studies graced with a powerful poetic elegance. In simple terms Oliver Onions goes for the cerebral rather than the jugular. However, make no mistake, his ghost stories achieve the desired effect. They draw you in, enmeshing you in their unnerving and disturbing narratives.This collection contains such masterpieces as The Rosewood Door, The Ascending Dream, The Painted Face and The Beckoning Fair One, a story which both Algernon Blackwood and H. P. Lovecraft regarded as one of the most effective and subtle ghost stories in all literature. Long out of print, these classic tales are a treasure trove of nightmarish gems.

Threshold


Caitlín R. Kiernan - 2001
    But it did. And still does.