18 Wheels of Horror: A Trailer Full of Trucking Terrors


Eric MillerMichael Paul Gonzalez - 2015
     Hit the road with this anthology of trucking horror fiction!

Nox Pareidolia


Robert S. WilsonKristi DeMeester - 2019
    Nox Pareidolia includes tales by Laird Barron, S.P. Miskowski, Brian Evenson, Gwendolyn Kiste, Micheal Wehunt, Kristi DeMeester, Christopher Ropes, Zin E. Rocklyn, Paul Jessup, Doungjai Gam, Don Webb and Duane Pesice, K.H. Vaughan, Alvaro Zinos-Amaro, and more yet to be announced!

Dark Screams: Volume Three


Brian James Freeman - 2015
      THE COLLECTED SHORT STORIES OF FREDDIE PROTHERO by Peter Straub A mere child yet a precocious writer, young Freddie records a series of terrifying encounters with an inhuman being that haunts his life . . . and seems to predict his death.   GROUP OF THIRTY by Jack Ketchum When an award-winning horror writer on the downward slope of a long career receives an invitation to address the Essex County Science Fiction Group, he figures he’s got nothing to lose. He couldn’t be more wrong.   NANCY by Darynda Jones Though she’s adopted by the cool kids, the new girl at Renfield High School is most drawn to Nancy Wilhoit, who claims to be haunted. But it soon becomes apparent that poltergeists—and people—are seldom what they seem.   I LOVE YOU, CHARLIE PEARSON by Jacquelyn Frank Charlie Pearson has a crush on Stacey Wheeler. She has no idea. Charlie will make Stacey see that he loves her, and that she loves him—even if he has to kill her to make her say it.   THE LONE AND LEVEL SANDS STRETCH FAR AWAY by Brian Hodge When Marni moves in next door, the stale marriage of Tara and Aidan gets a jolt of adrenaline. Whether it’s tonic or toxic is another matter.Praise for Dark Screams: Volume Three   “Well worth picking up and reading . . . If you have not tried the series yet, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of any (or all) of the books for yourself.”—Examiner.com   “Freeman and Chizmar have brought their A-game to Dark Screams: Volume Three. If you pick just one installment in this series to read, pick this one.”—LitReactor   “Another winner.”—HorrorTalk   “A gathering of perfect little bites of fiction . . . As you finish one story you’ll definitely be ready to move on to the next one.”—Sweet Southern Home   “Every story has something to offer for horror fans. They’re creepy, thought-provoking, scary and quick reads.”—The Reader’s Hollow   “[Horror] needs to hit you in the sweet spot where the amygdala and the cerebrum whisper to each other, where intellect and emotion intertwine, and all of these stories do that, and they do it well.”—Bibliotica   “A fun, frightful read . . . If the editors keep raising the bar, I’ll be back again and again.”—Atomic Fangirl

Extremities


Kathe Koja - 1998
    In "Bird Superior," for example, a plane-crash survivor trades his memory of the crash for the ability to fly. "Angels in Love" is the story of Lurleen, a washed-out woman trapped in a meaningless cycle of dead-end work, singles bars, and solitude. She lives vicariously by eavesdropping on Anne, a neighbor who seems to have found the passion and sexual satisfaction that eludes Lurleen. Upon meeting Anne, however, she discovers an even more meaningless life: Anne has made the ultimate trade, exchanging her soul for physical fulfillment. In "The Ballad of the Spanish Civil Guard," an imprisoned poet who writes on behalf of the dispossessed shares the last moments of his life with the reader. Although the location of the prison is unclear, the scene recalls the Franco regime. The poet chooses to die rather than face a life without his writing, but, in his final seconds, he takes solace that his remains may one day form the body of a new poet. Contents:Angels in Love (1991)Arrangement for Invisible Voices (1993)Ballad of the Spanish Civil Guard (1993)Bird Superior (1991)Bondage (1998)Illusions in Relief (1990)Jubilee (1995)Lady Lazarus (1996)Pas de Deux (1995)Queen of Angels (1994)Reckoning (1990)Teratisms (1991)The Company of Storms (1992)The Disquieting Muse (1994)The Neglected Garden (1991)Waking the Prince (1995)

The Secret of Ventriloquism


Jon Padgett - 2016
    With themes reminiscent of Shirley Jackson, Thomas Ligotti, and Bruno Schulz, but with a strikingly unique vision, Padgett's work explores the mystery of human suffering, the agony of personal existence, and the ghastly means by which someone might achieve salvation from both. A bullied child seeks vengeance within a bed's hollow box spring. A lucid dreamer is haunted by an impossible house. A dummy reveals its own anatomy in 20 simple steps. A stuttering librarian holds the key to a mill town's unspeakable secrets. A commuter's worldview is shattered by two words printed on a cardboard sign. An aspiring ventriloquist spends a little too much time looking at himself in a mirror. And a presence speaks through them all. Contents: Introduction by Matt Cardin The Mindfulness of Horror Practice Murmurs of a Voice Foreknown The Indoor Swamp Origami Dreams 20 Simple Steps to Ventriloquism Infusorium Organ Void The Secret of VentriloquismEscape to Thin Mountain

The Thing in the Woods


Matthew W. Quinn - 2017
    Now James has to work at the Edington Best Buy to help pay the mortgage they're underwater on. He can't wait until he turns eighteen and can leave Edington behind forever. But when a local boy challenges him to an ATV race near a tree farm most people avoid, things get much worse. James' rival is slaughtered by a tentacled horror emerging from a nearby pond.The monstrosity has been worshiped by a secretive coven since before the Civil War, and its devotees don't take kindly to their secrets being threatened.Now with the aid of Amber Webb, a local girl he doesn't like liking, and a renegade cult member, James must fight to avoid ending up bound to a picnic table and offered up to a monster. He must do battle with both the local cultists and their predatory master, THE THING IN THE WOODS.★★★★★ Quinn writes effectively and convincingly in recreating a new take on H.P. Lovecraft and the genre. I am not much of a fan of horror, but this work kept the right mix of tempo, detail, suspense, interesting characters, and plot development to keep me engaged. The creepiest horror stories are the ones that take place in setting just like where you live... - John Allred★★★★★ This is Not Mayberry - This tale of a Lovecraftian cult in the backwoods of a rural Georgia town is both suspenseful and frightening. The creature being worshiped by the cult is an ancient, multi-tentacled monster that lives in a lake in the middle of an isolated tree farm. When high school student James Daly stumbles upon the cult and watches the monster devour a rival classmate, things go downhill fast. Matthew W. Quinn blends together small-town politics, Civil War legends, and more profanity than Lovecraft himself would be comfortable with. This is not Mayberry. Highly recommended for fans of eldritch horror in a realistic, modern-day setting. - Darrell Grizzle★★★★★ Good Read - A fast-paced horror novel with a likeable hero, a monster with a backstory, and a hidden commentary on social issues in southern small towns. - Alex S.Grab your copy today! Free with Kindle Unlimited.Thank you for your interest in our book. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we have enjoyed presenting it. - Digital FictionWebsite: DigitalFictionPub.comFacebook: Facebook.com/digitalfictionpubTwitter: @DigitalFicPubBookfinder Tags:cosmicmonsterLovecraftCthulhucoming of agecultsmall townSouthernthrillerguns

Sucker's Portfolio


Kurt Vonnegut Jr. - 2012
    Short, sardonic, and dark, these six brief fiction stories and one non-fiction piece are consummate Vonnegut with piercing satire and an eye for life’s obscene inanity. Also available for the first time is an unfinished science-fiction short story, included in the appendix. These stories trace trivial human lives and mundane desires, which is precisely where Vonnegut’s inimitable perspective as a humanist shines, illuminating his alternating hopeful and dismal outlook, although undoubtedly focusing on the latter. Here as in his greatest novels, Vonnegut’s writing takes us to the darkest corners of the human soul and with wit and humor, manages to remind us of our potential to be something greater.

Haunted Legends


Ellen DatlowM.K. Hobson - 2010
    Lansdale, Caitlin Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente, Kit Reed, Ekaterina Sedia, and thirteen other fine writers to create stories unlike any they've written before. Tales to make readers shiver with fear, jump at noises in the night, keep the lights on. These twenty nightmares, brought together by two renowned editors of the dark fantastic, are delightful visions sure to send shivers down the spines of horror readers.

Deathbird Stories


Harlan Ellison - 1975
    The collection contains some of Ellison's best stories from earlier collections and is judged by some to be his most consistently high quality collection of short fiction. The theme of the collection can be loosely defined as God, or Gods. Sometimes they're dead or dying, some of them are as brand-new as today's technology. Unlike some of Ellison's collections, the introductory notes to each story can be as short as a phrase and rarely run more than a sentence or two. One story took a Locus Poll Award, the two final ones both garnered Hugo Awards and Locus Poll awards, and the final one also received a Jupiter Award from the Instructors of Science Fiction in Higher Education (discontinued in 1979). When the collection was published in Britain, it won the 1979 British Science Fiction Award for Short Fiction.His stories will rivet you to the floor and change your heartbeat...as unforgettable a chamber of horror, fantasy and reality as you'll ever experience.-Gallery "Brutally and flamboyantly shocking, frequently brilliant, and always irresistibly mesmerizing."-Richmond Times-Dispatch

Gateways to Abomination: Collected Short Fiction


Matthew M. Bartlett - 2014
    Sinister old men in topcoats gathered at corners and in playgrounds. A long-dead sorcerer returning to obscene life in the form of an old buck goat. Welcome to Leeds, Massachusetts, where the drowned walk, where winged leeches blast angry static, where black magic casts a shadow over a cringing populace. You've tuned in to WXXT. The fracture in the stanchion. The drop of blood in your morning milk. The viper in the veins of the Pioneer Valley.

At Fear's Altar


Richard Gavin - 2012
    His sequel to H. P. Lovecraft's 'The Hound' is especially delicious. This is a wonderful book, highly recommended!” —W. H. Pugmire “Richard Gavin is one of the bright new stars in contemporary weird fiction. His richly textured style, deft character portrayal, and powerful horrific conceptions make every one of his tales a pleasure to read.” —S. T. Joshi “If you hear some in Kadath saying, ‘Numinous,’ ‘Terrifying,’ or ‘Beautiful,’ they are either talking about the Northern Lights or the work of Richard Gavin. Canada? They’re calling it Canada now? Whatever.” —Don Webb Canadian author Richard Gavin has established himself as a leading contemporary writer of weird fiction. His richly nuanced prose style, his imaginative range, and his shrewdness in the portrayal of character and domestic conflict make his tales far more than mere shudder-coining. In this fourth collection of short stories and novelettes, Gavin again casts a wide imaginative net, from haunted Canadian woodlands to the carnivorous mesas of the American frontier, from Lovecraft’s New England to the spirit traditions of Japan. Of the dozen stories included in this book, eight are previously unpublished—a rich new feast of terror for devotees of a writer who works in the tradition of Poe, Machen, Blackwood, and Ligotti. Richard Gavin is the author of three previous short story collections, Charnel Wine (2004), Omens (2007), and The Darkly Splendid Realm (2009). Gavin lives in Ontario, Canada, with his beloved wife and their brood.

Carnacki, the Ghost Finder


William Hope Hodgson - 1913
    Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder is a collection of supernatural detective short stories by author William Hope Hodgson.

Pretty Monsters: Stories


Kelly Link - 2008
    Through the lens of Link's vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look. From the multiple award-winning The Faery Handbag, in which a teenager's grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of The Surfer, whose narrator (a soccer-playing skeptic) waits with a planeload of refugees for the aliens to arrive, Link's stories are funny and full of unexpected insights and skewed perspectives on the world. Her fans range from Michael Chabon to Peter Buck of R.E.M. to Holly Black of Spiderwick Chronicles fame. Now teens can have their world rocked, too!

Dying with Her Cheer Pants On


Seanan McGuire - 2020
    Cheerleaders are seriously injured and even killed at a higher rate than other high school sports. Their stunts are performed in skimpy uniforms without the benefit of proper safety equipment…and yet they love them, glittery eyeshadow, spirit bows, and all.And then there are the Fighting Pumpkins, who take that injury rate as a challenge. Students of Johnson’s Crossing High School, they answer to a higher calling than the pyramid and the basket toss, pursuing the pep rally that is rising up against mysteries and monsters, kicking gods with the pointed toes of professional athletes chasing a collegiate career.Meet Jude, half-vampire squad leader; Laurie, who can compel anyone to do as she asks; Heather, occasionally recreationally dead; Marti, strong enough to provide a foundation for any stunt; Colleen, who knows the rule book so well she may as well have written it; and Steph, who may or may not be the goddess of the harvest. The rest of the squad is ready to support them, and braced for the chaos of the big game, which may have a big body count. Prepare to jump high, yell loud, and look pretty with the Fighting Pumpkins, those glorious girls in the orange and green, whose high kicks could still be enough to save the world.And if they’re not, it isn’t going to be for lack of trying.Dying with Her Cheer Pants On includes three stories appearing for the first time anywhere: "Tryouts," "Trial by Fire," and "Compete Me."

A Nest of Nightmares


Lisa Tuttle - 1986
    Sylvia would take long walks in the country; Pam would have tea ready by the fire for when she returned. Nice fantasies...The house had that kind of effect on people. It felt cosy, lived-in, though it had been empty for many years. Oddly, there was rubbish everywhere, but there was no other sign of a squatter's brief inhabitation.And though the windows were unbroken. the doors securely locked, Pam could never entirely rid herself of the thought that she and her sister might not be alone in the house...One of 13 terrifying tales of terror...