Read a scare … if you dare! Mystery Underground is a collection of scary short stories for kids, middle grade readers, and everyone who likes a good scare. The stories combine the monsters and mystery of Goosebumps with the surprise endings of The Twilight Zone. They are the perfect scary stories to read in the dark, around the campfire, or under the covers at night with a flashlight. States of Emergency includes six short stories from the first three books in the Mystery Underground series. #1: HAPPY HAIRY BIRTHDAY WALLED LAKE, MICHIGAN It’s Cody Wolf’s birthday and a party waits for him. To get there, he takes a dangerous short cut. Halfway along, a snarling werewolf appears in his path. Cody runs but the werewolf pursues. The chase in on! #2: ZOMBIE KING MIDLAND, MICHIGAN Bryce doesn’t want to dress up as something silly for Halloween. He wants to be a zombie. He even calls himself the zombie king. Does he get his wish in the graveyard on a haunted foggy night? #3: DEEP GREEN SEA PENSACOLA, FLORIDA Emma and her family return wearily home after a hurricane. The devastation left behind looks like a zombie apocalypse. But are zombies the scariest things that can rise from the ruin? #4: SECRET OF THE SINKHOLE GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA Brady, Calvin, and Troy discover a sinkhole in a Florida orange grove. There are police cars and flashing lights all around, but no other people. When they climb into the hole, the boys discover the frightening truth about how—and what—causes sinkholes to form. #5: TAR PIT TERROR LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA The fossils of many prehistoric animals—from dire wolves to mastodons—have been found in the La Brea Tar Pits. When Liam and Charlotte discover a saber-toothed cat’s paw, they realize that not all fossils want to be found. #6: NO. 13 PENCIL SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA Jackson is an amazing artist. His drawings of monsters, beasts, and witches are realistic and terrifying. What happens when the creatures come to life? ALSO AVAILABLE #1: MICHIGAN MONSTERS Dive into Terror in the Great Lakes State #2: FRIGHTENING FLORIDA Fear Strikes Florida When the Sunshine State Goes Dark #3: CALIFORNIA CREATURES Beware the Glitter of the Golden State

    In the mist.An apprentice mortician moves his family to the small town of Sotherton to provide them with a better life. Little did he know the dark secret the town and its people harbored. The town sat on the edge of a mist-shrouded forest with a deadly secret. Something lives in the trees, in the mist and it’s jealous. Jealous of all those who have flesh.Disembodied is a preview story from the author’s upcoming collection Creatures and Crypts due out in late 2011. Creatures of the living and the dead gather in a volume of over 70,000 words to stalk their prey…humans. 20 stories set the scene for a cast ranging from the Grim Reaper, shambling zombies and restless spirits, to unimaginable monsters that only inhabit the shapeless darkness and the author’s imagination. Join them as they wreak havoc on their unsuspecting victims and celebrate with a victory dance on hollowed bones.

    In a span of mere hours, the entire adult population is decimated, leaving their children behind to fend for themselves and deal with the horrific aftermath of the freak occurrence. As one of the newly made elders in his small town, Shane finds himself taking on the role of caretaker for a large group of juvenile survivors. One who just happens to be Kelly Douglas—an out-of-his-league classmate—who, on any other day, would have never given Shane a second glance. Together, they begin their quest to find out why all of the adults were slaughtered. What they find is even more horrifying than anything they could have expected—the annihilation of the adults was only the beginning. Shane and his friends are not the unlucky survivors left to inherit this new, messed-up planet. No, they are its next victims. There is an unknown power out there, and it won’t stop until every person in the world is dead. A spine-tingling adventure that will have you gasping for breath all the way until the last page, The Last Orphans is the first book in an all-new apocalyptic series.

    He discusses what brought him into the paranormal research field, describes real life supernatural events witnessed firsthand during his numerous investigations, and also provides an opinion of what all of it might be. Experiencing paranormal phenomena has a way of changing one's perspective. Locations include Waverly Hills Sanatorium, Preston Castle, The Washoe Club, The Stanley Hotel, Old Tooele Hospital (Asylum 49), Farrar Elementary School, and more!

    When her cousin Katy calls looking for help with the resident ghost at Espirt d'Chene, the family mansion near Jefferson, Alice agrees to come to the rescue.Sir Gary Gavin, dead now over two hundred years, insists Alice is the only one who can expose his undeliberate murder to allow him to leave his tortured existence; and he's not above wreaking havoc at Espirt d'Chene until Alice concedes to his demands. Before Alice can even pack, though, Katy discovers a new murder — a headless corpse floating in her swimming pool. This new ghost — Bucky, the black-sheep son of a Texas senator — is dangerous in his newly-dead, confused state as he searches the plantation for his head.Alice must somehow uncover the identity of Bucky's murderer, or else it looks like Katy will be charged with the crime, despite several other suspects who have motives for wanting Bucky dead. To make matters worse, the homicide detective in charge, Alice's ex-husband Jack, doesn't believe in ghosts. That leaves Alice no choice but to depend on her ghost hunting mentor, Twila, and her elderly neighbor, Granny, to assist in the investigation.Katy is arrested, and there's no help for it: Sir Gary's going to have to join the investigation. Much to Jack's dismay — and the delight of the women — he is finally forced to admit that Sir Gary is real. A real ghost, anyway. Together, the unlikely team of sleuths join forces to help send Sir Gary to his deserved reward, track down the real killer, and set Katy free.

    One night in the town of Hell, Ariel's best friend goes missing. Those around her believe Jenna ran away, but when Ariel is tormented by nightmares and paranormal activity, she realizes Jenna's disappearance was part of a bigger mystery. Ariel's obsession with haunted houses and horror movies makes her the perfect detective. But to complicate matters, a handsome newcomer named Henry Rhodes plagues her with unwanted attention. Though he doesn't believe in the supernatural events, she enlists his help and that of quirky nerd Theo. What is making the lights at school flicker? And why did Ariel dream of the old abandoned Dexter orphanage? When Ariel finally discovers the truth, it's much worse than she ever feared.

    A fiery nightmare plagues a pair of brothers searching for a family heirloom. And bad dreams spill over into a terrified girl’s waking life…Scare Street is proud to present the best in bone-chilling supernatural horror. This volume contains three sinister stories for your reading pleasure. Each one brings you a step closer to the shadowy border between life and the underworld. And closer to the darkness that lies beyond…There’s no time to waste. It’s time to turn the page and dive into the next spine-tingling tale of terror. That’s it, come closer. The spirits hunger for the souls of the living.And it’s not polite to keep the dead waiting…

    Not since he was trained to kill creatures that were supposed to exist only in nightmares.Yet the teenage girl on his doorstep not only knows his real name, she claims she's his daughter.Before Lockman can learn how the girl found him, he's attacked by a black-ops team of assassins. But these aren't ordinary killers—they're heavily armed vampires sent by his most hated enemy.Forced on the run, Lockman protects his daughter from an onslaught of horrors while searching for who betrayed him and why. The investigation leads him to Detroit, where he unwittingly sets a plan into motion that could trigger a paranormal apocalypse and cost him his soul.For fans of Jim Butcher, Simon R. Green, and Laurell K. Hamilton… Darker Things is an 82,000-word urban fantasy loaded with double-crosses, thrilling action, and shocking twists.

    He’s also a vampire. He lives alone and avoids the other vampires in L.A., but Pete’s simple life goes haywire when he falls for Angie, the cute bartender at a Sunset Strip dive -- and when sinister vampire lord Carson Fitzgerald returns to claim his children, Pete learns that nothing's ever easy for a creature of the night.

    Drab even. That all that changed after an accident left her in a coma for three days. That's when the spookshow really began, when Billie realized that she could see the dead.And the dead could see her. Now, they won't leave her alone. Accompanying two friends through a haunted house, Billie uncovers a terrible secret that brings, not only the police, but the homicide detective responsible for putting her into the hospital in the first place. He's also the one man she sworn to stay away from.

    In this strange place, only a select few people ever leave the city limits and even then, they leave reluctantly. This is what fifteen and a half year old Benjamin Granault faces as, through a string of amazing events, he finds himself living in a town where he can never talk about modern technology or current events, a place where being an outsider can cost a person his life and being part of the community may very well cost more. Follow the adventures of Benjamin Granault in ‘50sVille, the strangest town Indiana has ever been unaware of.

    As long as her daughter's murderer dies with her, she is ready to go. Why did this man—this stranger—destroy her family? Why has he not been brought to justice? Why is she forced to live a life of anger and grief? Amid a million questions she cannot answer, Evelyn knows one thing for sure: this murderer must be punished for his crime. Perhaps the harder lesson is this: the ultimate truth—of crime and verdict, of life and death—cannot be swayed by a mother's revenge.In this first book of a new, page-turning series, a woman will be brought to her limits before she finally recognizes the movement of the Holy Spirit and reconnects with the source of true peace.

    Then she meets a stranger, Sebastian, who shows her the possibility of a different future. Only Sebastian has a dark secret; he is a vampire. As Serenity’s life takes a terrifying turn, she finds herself drawn into a world she never knew existed; one of murder, love, and immortality. She is forced to confront her own weaknesses to save both her own life and that of the vampire she has come to love. But in the end all that matters is; can she find the strength to be Alone ?

    Once again, local butcher Bob is playing the dame, but the whole production is put under threat when someone sabotages his business. Libby Sarjeant recruits Fran Wolfe to help find the culprit and restore the Steeple Martin pantomime.

    Fearing that he'll lose his job if word gets out, the head of the hospital, Dr. Franklin Grimm desperately attempts to cover up the escape. Meanwhile, there is a Maniac on the Loose.