Book picks similar to
Mister Glow-Bones and Other Halloween Tales by Ronald Kelly
horror
halloween
short-stories
supernatural
Come Along With Me
Shirley Jackson - 1968
In her gothic visions of small-town America, Jackson, the author of such masterworks as The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle, turns an ordinary world into a supernatural nightmare. This eclectic collection goes beyond her horror writing, revealing the full spectrum of her literary genius. In addition to Come Along with Me, Jackson's unfinished novel about the quirky inner life of a lonely widow, it features sixteen short stories and three lectures she delivered during her last years.
The Doll Collection
Ellen DatlowJeffrey Ford - 2015
The collection is illustrated with photographs of dolls taken by Datlow and other devoted doll collectors from the science fiction and fantasy field. The result is a star-studded collection exploring one of the most primal fears of readers of dark fiction everywhere.
Criterium
Tyler Jones - 2020
The prose is perfect, the story beautifully balanced, and the atmosphere is so strong it feels like you could cut it with a knife. Haunting, uncanny and profound: the strongest and most compelling new voice that I've read in a very long time."- Michael Marshall Smith, author of Only Forward and The Straw Men“A haunting masterclass in storytelling.”– Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke"Criterium is a haunting, visceral, gripping story filled with symbolism and allegory. Buckle up for a wild ride that will leave you bruised, shaken, and filled with dread. Tyler Jones is an author to keep an eye on."- Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and Spontaneous Human Combustion"Jones’ prose in Criterium is like a shot of adrenaline to the heart. Once you turn that first page, you give over any control you once had, and this book will steamroll you into the ride of your life…you can almost feel the wind in your face and the heat on your flesh…he writes this story to within an inch of its life… there are moments of frenzied paranoia and then subtle and melancholic moments of sadness, grief and aloneness. It’s intoxicating.- Ross Jeffery, Bram Stoker nominated author of Juniper and Tome“Criterium is a high-octane ride in every way imaginable. A magnificent example of the type of storytelling that can be achieved through the novella form…mixes relatable real-life grief with metaphor that embodies what addiction horror can be.– Brennan LaFaro, author of Slattery Falls“Criterium is a gut-wrenching emotional rollercoaster into the real-life horrors of addiction and sorrow. Tyler Jones knows how to hit you where it'll hurt. I highly recommend this story to readers of the supernatural horror genre that are looking for a story that will leave you numb and breathless.– Andrew Fowlow, The Horror Oasis“Jones managed to write one of my favorite books of the year and I don’t say that lightly. His prose is flawless, the ambiance is stunning, and the story has a beautiful darkness…it consumed me in a big way. It will eat you up and spit you out. Criterium is intelligent, haunting, and emotional with a compelling plot that combines the hell of addiction with horror seamlessly. I couldn’t put it down if I wanted.– Janelle Janson, SheReadsWithCats“Tyler Jones’ first novella is an unflinching and compassionate view into the black hole of addiction and grief. An intriguing and novel premise that drags real life horror into the depths of the supernatural—compulsively readable.”– Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Whispers in the Dark“What a ride. Criterium is unpredictable, fast-paced, and bleeds with heart. Tyler Jones is one to watch.– Scott J. Moses, author of Hunger Pangs"This book spoke to me on an emotional and spiritual level. I was moved. Haunted. An arresting story from start to finish...such a powerful piece. I'm adding Zach Ayers to my list of fictional characters who live in my soul forever. His story is achingly beautiful."- Sadie Hartmann, Cemetery Dance
Collected Stories
Frank O'Connor - 1981
From “Guests of the Nation” to “The Mad Lomasneys” to “First Confession” to “My Oedipus Complex,” these tales of Ireland have touched generations of readers the world over and placed O'Connor alongside W. B. Yeats and James Joyce as the greatest of Irish authors.Analyzing a Robert Browning poem, O'Connor once wrote: “Since a whole lifetime must be crowded into a few minutes, those minutes must be carefully chosen indeed and lit by an unearthly glow.” Each of the sixty-seven stories gathered here achieves the same incredible feat of the imagination, laying bare entire lives and histories within the space of a few pages. Dublin schoolteacher Ned Keating waves good-bye to a charming girl and to any thoughts of returning to his village home in the lyrical and melancholy “Uprooted.” A boy on an important mission is waylaid by a green-eyed temptress and seeks forgiveness in his mother’s loving arms in “The Man of the House,” a tale that draws on O'Connor’s own difficult childhood. A series of awkward encounters and humorous misunderstandings perfectly encapsulates the complicated legacy of Irish immigration in “Ghosts,” the bittersweet account of an American family’s pilgrimage to the land of their forefathers.As a writer, critic, and teacher, O'Connor elevated the short story to astonishing new heights. This career-spanning anthology, epic in scope yet brimming with the small moments and intimate details that earned him a reputation as Ireland’s Chekhov, is a testament to Frank O’Connor's magnificent storytelling and a true pleasure to read from first page to last.
Hag: Forgotten Folktales Retold
Daisy JohnsonImogen Hermes Gowar - 2019
A panther runs through the forests of England and pixies prey upon violent men.From the islands of Scotland to the coast of Cornwall, the mountains of Galway to the depths of the Fens, these forgotten folktales howl, cackle and sing their way into the 21st century, wildly reimagined by some of the most exciting women writing in Britain and Ireland today.
The Long List Anthology Volume 3: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List (The Long List Anthology Series)
David SteffenSarah Pinsker - 2017
Every year, supporting members of WorldCon nominate their favorite stories first published during the previous year to determine the top five in each category for the final Hugo Award ballot. This is an anthology collecting more of the stories from that nomination list to get them to more readers The Long List Anthology Volume 3 collects 20 science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories from that nomination list, totaling over 500 pages of fiction by writers from all corners of the world. From intelligent appliances gone feral to Lovecraftian detective noir, from tech-enhanced wilderness races to Egyptian science fantasy steampunk, from hard science fiction to fairy tale to humor and more. There is a wide variety of styles and types of stories here, and something for everyone. The stories included are: "Red in Tooth and Cog" by Cat Rambo "A Salvaging of Ghosts" by Aliette de Bodard "Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0" by Caroline M. Yoachim "Razorback" by Ursula Vernon "We Have a Cultural Difference, Can I Taste You?" by Rebecca Ann Jordan "Lullaby for a Lost World" by Aliette de Bodard "Terminal" by Lavie Tidhar "Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands" by Seanan McGuire "Things With Beards" by Sam J. Miller "The Venus Effect" by Joseph Allen Hill "The Visitor From Taured" by Ian R. MacLeod "Blood Grains Speak Through Memories" by Jason Sanford "Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea" by Sarah Pinsker "A Dead Djinn in Cairo" by P. Djèlí Clark "Red as Blood and White as Bone" by Theodora Goss "Foxfire, Foxfire" by Yoon Ha Lee "Forest of Memory" by Mary Robinette Kowal "Chimera" by Gu Shi, translated by S. Qiouyi Lu and Ken Liu "Hammers on Bone" by Cassandra Khaw "Runtime" by S.B. Divya
The Anything Box
Zenna Henderson - 1956
The Grunder, a thing of horror which, if defeated, restores love... The Noise-Eater, created by a child out of his fevered imagination, gobbles up anything--or anyone--that makes a sound... The Coveti, residents of an alien world poisoned by the intrusion of the stranger from Earth... The Beast Hill, an ordinary mound of earth, except that its grass resembles fur, and--doesn't it move?
Welcome to the Show
Doug MuranoJeff Strand - 2018
One legendary music venue. We all know the old cliché: Sex, drugs and rock and roll. Now, add demons, other dimensions, monsters, revenge, human sacrifice, and a dash of the truly inexplicable. This is the story of the (fictional) San Francisco music venue, The Shantyman.In Welcome to the Show, seventeen of today's hottest writers of horror and dark fiction come together in devilish harmony to trace The Shantyman's history from its disturbing birth through its apocalyptic encore.Featuring stories by Brian Keene, John Skipp, Mary SanGiovanni, Robert Ford, Max Booth III, Glenn Rolfe, Matt Hayward, Bryan Smith, Matt Serafini, Kelli Owen, Jonathan Janz, Patrick Lacey, Adam Cesare, Alan M Clark, Somer Canon, Rachel Autumn Deering and Jeff Strand.Compiled by Matt Hayward. Edited by Doug Murano.Bring your curiosity, but leave your inhibitions at the door. The show is about to begin…TOC:
Alan M Clark – What Sort of Rube
Jonathan Janz – Night and Day and in Between
John Skipp – In the Winter of No Love
Patrick Lacey – Wolf with Diamond Eyes
Bryan Smith – Pilgrimage
Rachel Autumn Deering – A Tongue like Fire
Glenn Rolfe – Master of Beyond
Matt Hayward – Dark Stage
Kelli Owen – Open Mic Night
Matt Serafini – Beat on the Past
Max Booth III – True Starmen
Somer Canon – Just to be Seen
Jeff Strand – Parody
Robert Ford – Ascending
Adam Cesare – The Southern Thing
Brian Keene – Running Free
Mary SanGiovanni – We Sang in Darkness
Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.
The Box Under The Bed
Dan AlatorreHeather Hackett - 2017
And that’s just a quarter of the thrills. Edited and compiled by Amazon bestselling author Dan Alatorre, this anthology of scary tales brings together the minds and pens of twenty authors, including bestseller Allison Maruska (The Fourth Descendant), bestselling author Jenifer Ruff (Everett), Lucy Brazier (PorterGirl), J. A. Allen, Juliet Nubel, TA Henry, Ann Marie Andrus, Heather Hackett, Barbara Anne Helberg, Scott Skipper, Joanne R. Larner, Christine Valentor, Adele Marie Park, Curtis Bausse, Annette Robinson, Frank Parker, Eric Daniel Clarke, and Maribel C. Pagan. Perfect for Halloween or any time, these stories will make you think twice before walking alone on the beach at night, reading a diary, or innocently watching a train from your car. Consider yourselves warned. NOTE: Warning! American and British spelling ahead. A few stories words are olde English, too. The story The Death Of Mrs. Billen by Mr. Alatorre is from his novel An Angel On Her Shoulder, used with permission.
Through a Mirror, Darkly
Kevin Lucia - 2015
With elements of mystery, suspense, and otherworldly horror, Through a Mirror, Darkly successfully delves into the worlds of Lovecraft, Grant, and the mysterious Carcosa. “Arcane Delights. Clifton Heights' premier rare and used bookstore. In it, new owner Kevin Ellison has inherited far more than a family legacy, for inside are tales that will amaze, astound, thrill...and terrify.An ancient evil thirsty for lost souls. A very different kind of taxi service with destinations not on any known map. Three coins that grant the bearer's fondest wish, and a father whose crippling grief gives birth to something dark and hungry.Every town harbors secrets. Kevin Ellison is about to discover those that lurk in the shadows of Clifton Heights.”Through a Mirror, Darkly is a Supernatural Thriller collection masked as a novel. With elements of mystery, suspense, and otherworldly horror, Through a Mirror, Darkly successfully delves into the worlds of Lovecraft, Grant, and the mysterious Carcosa. “Kevin Lucia writes my favorite kind of horror, the kind not enough folks are writing anymore.” – Kealan Patrick Burke, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The Turtle Boy and Kin."Through a Mirror, Darkly serves as Kevin Lucia's early-warning system to the horror field - Brace yourselves, folks." - Gary Braunbeck, Bram Stoker Award-winner of To Each Their Darkness, Destinations Unknown, and the forthcoming A Cracked and Broken Path “Literate and stylish, yet fast-paced and accessible, Through a Mirror, Darkly is a thoroughly engrossing read. Kevin Lucia is a major new voice in the horror genre.” – Jonathan Janz , author of The Nightmare Girl" Through a Mirror, Darkly earns Kevin Lucia a literary place alongside these enduring philosophical horror crafters.” – Mort Castle"He is a skillful guide through Clifton Heights, telling tales of mystery and horror in a town where dark secrets and ancient evils lurk to prey upon those who read Through a Mirror, Darkly." – Rena Mason, Bram Stoker Award® winning author of The Evolutionist.“With Through a Mirror, Darkly, Kevin Lucia proves once again that it’s only a matter of time before he’s one of the genre’s biggest names." – James Newman, author of The Wicked and Animosity Through a Mirror, Darkly follows on the success of Lucia's Things Slip Through collection.
Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce - 1964
Morbid, cynical, eerie, they take you to a twilight region of flesh and spirit — and into the darkest recesses of the human mind. These are unusual constructions of terror and grim irony, reminiscent of Poe, the Gothic novel, and the Romantic short story, but having the unmistakable individual stamp of a man who knew first-hand something of the fears and specters which haunt men.In this volume you will come across a number of old favorites: "An Inhabitant of Carcosa," "The Eyes of the Panther," "The Death of Halpin Frayser," "An Adventure at Brownville," and such classics as "The Middle Toe of the Right Foot," "The Damned Thing," and "Moonlit Road," a minor masterpiece in which events of the story are told from three different points of view, including that of the victim as spoken through a medium. You will also find some less familiar, but equally fascinating stories and pieces not available elsewhere, including "Visions of the Night," in which Bierce gives us a rationale for his "reverse holiness" and the surrealistic morality that permeates these writings. Bierce's characters — possessed poets, shabby aristocrats, grimy professional men, revived corpses, haunted malefactors — live in a spare, perverse world. Patricide, the revenge of the dead, inexplicable disappearances, dreadful ironies, hypnotism and second sight, and the like, form much of the substance of these unsettling tales.
Dark Companions
Ramsey Campbell - 1982
Not all companions are friendly. There are many that you most definitely do not want to see. When Elaine was working late at the office, she thought she was all alone. But something sinister was in the elevator shaft…working its way to her floor. Miles, too, thought he was alone in his new house, the house of a murderer, but he, too, had an unwanted companion. And Knox will never forget what was waiting for him in the dense fog. Come and meet all of these companions and more in this chilling collection of horror tales by award-winning master of terror Ramsey Campbell. That clawing sound you hear, the haunting singing, the moving shadow—they all mean that something is waiting to make your acquaintance. Contains “The Companion”, the story Stephen King called “one of the three finest horror stories I have ever read”. [cover art by Jill Bauman]
Nocturnes
John Connolly - 2004
In "The New Daughter," a father comes to suspect that a burial mound on his land hides something very ancient, and very much alive; in "The Underbury Witches," two London detectives find themselves battling a particularly female evil in a town culled of its menfolk. And finally, private detective Charlie Parker returns in the long novella "The Reflecting Eye," in which the photograph of an unknown girl turns up in the mailbox of an abandoned house once occupied by an infamous killer. This discovery forces Parker to confront the possibility that the house is not as empty as it appears, and that something has been waiting in the darkness for its chance to kill again.
Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories
Doug MuranoPaul Tremblay - 2016
Awe meets ache. Terror becomes transcendence. Regret gives way to rebirth. Fifteen short stories and one poem span nearly every twisted corner of the horror and dark fiction genres:A woman experiences an emotional reckoning inside a haunted house. A father sees his daughter rescued after a cold case is solved, only to learn the tragic limits of his love. A man awakens a vengeful spirit and learns the terrible price of settling scores. A boy comes of age into awareness of a secret universe of Lovecraftian scale. A young woman confronts the deathly price of existence inside a German concentration camp during the Holocaust. And much, much more…Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories features the most celebrated voices in dark fiction, as well as a number of exciting, new talents, including: Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, Ramsey Campbell, Paul Tremblay, John F.D. Taff, Lisa Mannetti, Damien Angelica Walters, Josh Malerman, Christopher Coake, Mercedes M. Yardley, Brian Kirk, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Amanda Gowin, Richard Thomas, Maria Alexander and Kevin Lucia. With a foreword from Cemetery Dance magazine founder Richard Chizmar.
Howls From Hell
Grady HendrixB.O.B. Jenkin - 2021
An enchanted object curses a grieving widow. A haunted reel torments a film student. A murder trial hinges on a chilling testimony.In Howls From Hell, sixteen emerging horror writers pave the way for the future of the genre. Fans of dark and macabre fiction will savor this exhibition of all-original tales born from one of the fastest-growing horror communities in the world: HOWL Society.With a foreword by Grady Hendrix, this anthology unveils the horror writers of tomorrow with spine-tingling stories from P.L. McMillan, J.W. Donley, Shane Hawk, Christopher O'Halloran, Alex Wolfgang, Amanda Nevada DeMel, Lindsey Ragsdale, Solomon Forse, Justin Faull, M. David Clarkson, B.O.B. Jenkin, S.E. Denton, Thea Maeve, Joseph Andre Thomas, Joe Radkins, and Quinn Fern.