The Spot and Smudge series explores the love of a unique family, the loyalty of their very special dogs, and the perils of underestimating them. These smart, imaginative stories weave together elements of horror, thriller, mystery, espionage, crime, medical drama, and genetic engineering. Note: This series contains some colorful language and mature themes. "Shove over brother, let me show you the proper bloody way to strangle someone." The Hogans weren’t looking to start a war. They just wanted to leave their troubles behind, move closer to grandma, and let their kids adopt some damn puppies. But their quaint new town is harboring some gruesome secrets… …and their strange new pups are not what they appear to be. There’s a dark connection between these mysterious orphaned canines and the town’s twisted criminals…and that connection is dragging the Hogans into a ruthless fight they aren’t prepared to win. But the grit of a devoted family, like the loyalty of a faithful pair of dogs, shouldn't be underestimated… …Especially when those cunning dogs are the most significant leap forward in the forty million years of canine evolution.

     Days after losing her child while giving birth, Rachel, and her husband, David, are haunted by the incessant cries of a baby. It is their stillborn, Adam, and he wants something from Rachel... something deadly.

    They've become obsessed with Viator to the point that the world beyond seems of consequence only as it relates to the ship. When their putative leader, Thomas Willander, is afflicted by a series of disturbing dreams, he concludes that something on board may be responsible for their erraticism. He seeks the help of a woman in the nearby village of Kaliaska and together they initiate an investigation into the history of Viator, hoping to learn, among other things, why the ship was run aground and who was the mysterious man who hired the four. But their efforts may be too late. The men, whose eccentrities are now verging on the insane, show no sign of intending to abandon their new home, compelled by Viator's eerie allure. To make matters worse, winter will soon be setting in, ominous incidences of sound and light are issuing from the forest surrounding the ship, and Willander's dreams may be coming true...Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

    There doesn't seem to be a connection, until some of the bodies yield a puzzling clue: strips of paper, each one inscribed with angular, indecipherable heiroglyphics.To his horror, advertising executive Harry Buckingham is linked with several of the victims. His father, his secretary, even the thief who steals his car -- all die in grisly circumstances. Soon Harry is avoiding the police and following his own investigation. And what he uncovers is more frightening than anyone can imagine. . . .

    The small coal-mining community of Karlgarin has branded them criminals and sociopaths, and the case against them seems open and shut.Something terrifying though led Bobby and Emily to leave their two young children with a sitter while they embarked on a crazy fire-bug spree. That something was an incredible secret they'd promised to protect.When Emily impulsively breaks her promise while under cross-examination, a bizarre tale unfolds of the night she followed her husband and discovered the truth of his clandestine activities. These two are the last people anyone would expect to save the world. Yet, that’s what they claim. Are they criminals, heroes or completely insane?Inspired by true-life headlines, revealed in Susan May's fascinating postscript From the Imagination Vault, Behind the Fire is an engrossing novelette of the random appearances of frightening black things, and one couple's battle to protect their town from these dangerous and hellish creatures.Fans of Stranger Things will delight in this horror thriller-with-a-twist, which is inspired by true events. From the international best selling author readers call the new Stephen King, comes a tale of horror, love and incredible bravery.

    A secret Nazi experiment in the Wieliczka salt mine of Breslau goes wrong, annihilating the entire research team.Decades later, at the foothills of Dhauladhar ranges, the immortal warrior Kripacharya is brutally attacked by a mysterious beast and goes missing. His peer Vyasa, the old sage, tasks Parashuram to find and bring their fellow immortal back.As Parashuram adjusts himself to this new world and uncovers the plot, he crosses path with an old nemesis, one who not only matches him in power and intellect, but also in ferocity.Ashwatthama.Parashuram has to race against time, and Ashwatthama, to unravel the conspiracy behind Kripacharya’s disappearance to protect not just their identities, but also something much larger at stake, something which has the potential to change history forever.

    In its search for food, it finds a new hunting ground off the shores of an island resort. Stuck in a dead-end animal caretaker job for the resort, Marine Biologist Julie Forster begins to notice strange events plaguing the island. Whales are turning up dead in the local waters, and fishermen are disappearing. After setting out for a task on the water, Dr. Forster discovers an enormous shark lurking off the island coast. With a thick exoskeleton, the creature is unlike anything she has ever seen. With an insatiable appetite, the creature attacks anything that moves. As events unfold, she discovers the truth about the creature’s origin, and the imminent threat from its very existence.

    The Buffalo Hunter chronicles the fixations of a 35-year-old who numbs his fear of women in some very unusual ways...

    Unfortunately, the way home isn't as clear-cut as he'd hoped and he's forced to turn to Aria, his GPS, for an alternate route. However, Aria has something far more sinister in mind...

    During the reign of King Stephen laws were lax, and landowners exacted high tithes from peasants forced to hand over their produce or face torture. One sector in society however, did not have to pay, and those were the monks. A fact which enraged local tyrant, Baron John Rivers. Today, nearly 900 years later, the forest village of Monkspike sits brooding. There is a sickness here passed down through ancient lines, one which is noted and deeply felt by Sybil Massey, the new psychologist. What is wrong with nurse, Belinda Sully's, son? Why did her husband take his own life? Why are the old people in Temple Lake Nursing Home so terrified? And what are the lawless inhabitants of nearby Wolfs Cross hiding? It is a dark village indeed, but one which has kept its secrets well. That is until local girl, Kezia Elwyn, returns home as a practising Satanist, and resurrects a hellish wrath no longer containable. Burdo, the white monk, will infect your dreams....This is pure occult horror and definitely not for the faint of heart...

     A young couple from the city move to a small town, looking for a fresh start. They soon find their dream house in an old Victorian mansion and everything seems perfect, that is, until they experience strange supernatural occurrences linked to an unsolved mass murder from forty years ago. Unearthing the secrets buried within the mansion won't be easy. Can they solve the mystery in time, or will they face the same doomed fate as the tenants who came before them? Take a terrifying journey into the new supernatural mystery thriller by best-selling author Roger Hayden, "The Haunting of Bechdel Mansion," where anything can happen, no one can be trusted, and doom awaits around every corner.

    In an instant, his heart and his redemption have been blown away by a postmodern witch and her sadistic goth-giant companion on their gor-soaked joyride to immortality.But even as one life ends in pain and anguish for Dan Cody, another begins . He is about to join those chosen to walk beneath the shadow of the Crow's wing. Revenge will be the sole reason for his return; revenge on tow who are speeding into the night in a '49 lamb's-blood Mercury on the fast track to Hell..or Nevada. And thought Kyra Damon and Johnny Church have embraced evil with a zealor's fervor, they underestimate the power of what's pursuing them from beyond the grave-the rough beast that's now slouching toward Vegas with murderous rage in its dead eyes.

     A violent attack that happened nearly a decade ago has left twenty-seven-year-old Avery Tullinger barely able to walk outside. Following her estranged father’s death, she inherits Whickering Place, a historic mansion in Asheville, North Carolina, currently occupied by two tenants: Colin Gallagher, a young doctor, and his mysterious brother, Pearse. Soon after moving in, Avery learns that her father’s life in the house was consumed by the supernatural … and the activity appears to be starting again. As paranormal events within the house escalate, so does Avery’s attraction for Pearse, even though Colin warns her that his younger brother is involved in a dangerous cult called The Colony. Faced with losing Whickering Place, her heart, and even her life, Avery is forced to make unimaginable choices. And as Whickering Place becomes the focal point for The Colony’s bloody rituals, the house’s dark history threatens to repeat itself. At turns a novel of terror and a story of love, Whickering Place is a paranormal thriller of nonstop suspense about the risks of living and loving outside safe boundaries and the relationships that change, motivate, and sustain us.

    On the surface Drago appeared to be like most small rural towns.But it was not.The village had a most unsavory history. Unexplained disappearances, sudden deaths.People just vanished, never to be found.THE HOWLING II:For Karyn it was the howling.The howling that had heralded the nightmare in Drago… the nightmare that had joined her husband Roy to the she-wolf Marcia and should have ended forever with the fire.But it hadn’t.Roy and Marcia were still alive, and deadly…And thirsty for the most horrifying vengeance imaginable…THE HOWLING III:They are man. And they are beast.Once again they stalk the night, eyes aflame, teeth flashing in vengeance.Malcolm is the young one. He must choose between the familiar way of the human and the seductive howling of the wolf. Those who share his blood want to make him one of them.Those who fear him want him dead.Only one woman and one man want to help him.Even though they can't believe their ears. Or their eyes.* * *Includes:Preview: James Roy Daley’s - Terror TownPreview: Matt Hults’ - HuskPreview: James Roy Daley’s - Into HellPreview: Paul Kane’s - Pain Cages

    Her neighbour, David Price, was blamed by the village elders for her disappearance and swiftly dealt with.A hundred years later, Promised Land Lane is steeped in mystery. The ghost of Maisie Whitmore, now an urban legend, is said to haunt the grounds of her former home.Twenty years prior, Sandra Miller's sister mysteriously disappeared. Now a prominent reporter, she is assigned to investigate the murder of a twelve-year-old boy and returns to the last place on Earth she wants to be...the last house on the lane.