Book picks similar to
Awake: Tales of Terror by Lou Rera
horror
adult
from-publisher
gore
Found Shadows
P.T. Hylton - 2019
Decades ago, six children from across the United States disappeared on the same afternoon. Now the only one who can stop it from happening again is the boy who managed to escape. Eric Partin doesn’t understand what happened thirty years ago. All he knows is that he was taken by strangers and locked in a small room for weeks before he escaped his captors. Now the other five have been found living seemingly normal adult lives in the small town of Wakefield, Tennessee. But the Wakefield Five aren’t like other people. There’s something wrong with their minds. The only consistency in their wildly conflicting stories is that they all blame one person for what happened: Eric Partin. Eric must return to Wakefield to uncover the truth before the evil infects another generation. From PT Hylton, the author of Regulation 19, comes a tale of a haunting unlike any other.
Sour Candy
Kealan Patrick Burke - 2015
They take walks in the park together, visit county fairs, museums, and zoos, and eat together overlooking the lake. Some might say the father is a little too accommodating given the lack of discipline when the child loses his temper in public. Some might say he spoils his son by allowing him to set his own bedtimes and eat candy whenever he wants. Some might say that such leniency is starting to take its toll on the father, given how his health has declined.What no one knows is that Phil is a prisoner, and that up until a few weeks ago and a chance encounter at a grocery store, he had never seen the child before in his life.
Dead Pulse Rising
K. Michael Gibson - 2014
The remaining survivors hide desperately, for all hope seems lost... until an armored fortress on wheels plows through the ghouls, crushing bones and decayed viscera. The vehicle stops and two men emerge from its doors, armed to the teeth and ready to cancel the apocalypse. This is K. Michael Gibson's "Dead Pulse RISING."The story follows the onset of a mysterious disease that infects the populace of Baltimore, turning many into flesh-eating zombies. Whether it is a manifestation of Mother Nature's wrath or a new form of biological warfare remain unknown. What law enforcement officer and ex-USAF special operator Kyle Walker and his partner Marvin Winters know is that they have to use their fighting skills, their massive armored vehicle, and copious amounts of firepower in order to survive and protect those dear to them. Their struggle is further complicated when spooks from the United States Department of Homeland Security arrive and display an unwanted interest in something Kyle has aboard his vehicle. The Homeland Security agents are also hell bent on keeping the Baltimore situation a secret, and are prepared to use any means to keep the greater public in the dark of what has happened to the city.The author combines social anxieties about doomsday scenarios, threats of bio-terrorism, and unwarranted government intrusion to craft an original take on the zombie apocalypse genre. Cannibalistic monstrosities, special forces operatives, tactical combat action, and the end of the world await readers in the pages of "Dead Pulse RISING."
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.
Five Novellas
Jeff Strand - 2019
Enough room for story and character development, yet short enough to get straight to the bloody point! This book from Bram Stoker Award-nominee Jeff Strand contains five of his macabre tales, collected together for the first time. You'll find nerve-wracking suspense, insane humor, a cute dog, and plenty of weirdness, especially in the last one. STALKING YOU NOW - The reprehensible man in the restaurant doesn’t know that somebody at another table is watching him. Somebody filled with hatred. Somebody waiting for him to be alone. Somebody with duct tape and a gun. It’s a night for vengeance. And a hell of a lot more. AN APOCALYPSE OF OUR OWN – Missy and Kevin are friends. Just friends. But now people are leaking blood from their eyeballs and turning into homicidal oozing mutants. Fortunately, Kevin has access to an underground shelter, but now they’re trapped down there. Can the Friend Zone survive the end of the world? FAINT OF HEART – Rebecca's husband doesn't return from his weekend camping trip. And when somebody shows up at the house, it’s not him. At gunpoint, Rebecca learns what has happened. Two men have kidnapped Gary. He went through a weekend of pure hell. They’ll give him back to her, but first, Rebecca has to relive his entire experience, step by horrific step…and survive… KUTTER - Charlie Stanlon is a serial killer. A ghastly, vicious sociopath who chains women to a table in his basement and tortures them to death. He has no friends. He has no family. He despises his co-workers. His only pleasure in life is to cause pain and terror. Until the day he finds an adorable Boston Terrier and takes it home… FACIAL - Greg has just killed the man he hired to kill one of his wife’s many lovers. He’s now got a dead body in his office. Carlton, Greg’s brother, desperately needs a dead body. It’s kind of related to the lion corpse that he found in his basement. This is the normal part of the story...
The Haunting Season: Ghostly Tales for Long Winter Nights
Bridget Collins - 2021
. .Featuring new and original tales from:Bridget CollinsSunday Times bestselling author of The BindingImogen Hermes GowarSunday Times bestselling author of The Mermaid and Mrs HancockKiran Millwood HargraveSunday Times bestselling author of The MerciesAndrew Michael HurleySunday Times bestselling author of The LoneyJess KiddInternational award-winning author of Things in JarsElizabeth MacnealSunday Times bestselling author of The Doll FactoryNatasha PulleySunday Times bestselling author of The Watchmaker of Filigree StreetLaura PurcellAward-winning author of The Silent Companions
Snare
Dee Garcia - 2019
Until the world we knew went up in sweltering, viral flames. Despite our differences, I couldn’t leave Loren for dead after hearing her petrified screams, and with no one else to turn to, that left us tied to one another as the apocalypse continued to unfold. Fast forward one year later, and there’s only thing I now desire more than our survival... Her. Getting her beneath me has become an obsession, an infection rooted deep within me like the very virus meant to kill us. I’m falling for her at the worst time possible, I know this, but she is, too. It was inevitable, really. Whether we supersede the Z’s or not, one thing’s for certain—in the end, Loren will be mine. *NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Snare is a 20k novella originally part of the Black Hearts anthology. It is SHORT, steamy, and straight to the point.
The Reddening
Adam Nevill - 2019
Nor did it bury the horrors predating civilisation. Ancient rites, old deities and savage ways can reappear in the places you least expect.Lifestyle journalist Katrine escaped past traumas by moving to a coast renowned for seaside holidays and natural beauty. But when a vast hoard of human remains and prehistoric artefacts is discovered in nearby Brickburgh, a hideous shadow engulfs her life.Helene, a disillusioned lone parent, lost her brother, Lincoln, six years ago. Disturbing subterranean noises he recorded prior to vanishing, draw her to Brickburgh's caves. A site where early humans butchered each other across sixty thousand years. Upon the walls, images of their nameless gods remain.Amidst rumours of drug plantations and new sightings of the mythical red folk, it also appears that the inquisitive have been disappearing from this remote part of the world for years. A rural idyll where outsiders are unwelcome and where an infernal power is believed to linger beneath the earth. A timeless supernormal influence that only the desperate would dream of confronting. But to save themselves and those they love, and to thwart a crimson tide of pitiless barbarity, Kat and Helene are given no choice. They were involved and condemned before they knew it.'The Reddening' is an epic story of folk and prehistoric horrors written by Adam Nevill, the author of 'The Ritual', 'Last Days', 'No One Gets Out Alive' and the three times winner of The August Derleth Award for Best Horror Novel.
The Voice of Waterfalls
Natasha A. Salnikova - 2011
She is chased into the woods and runs onto the road, almost falling under the wheels of an approaching car. She thought, it would be better to die that way than to return to her captors. The driver of the car, to her surprise, saves her. He brings her to his house and introduces her to his family: his mother, his father and his younger sister. He gives Inga a key to a separate room and brings her food. She appreciates his help and calls him her knight from the road. All she needs now is a phone to make a call to her mother. Her savior, Alman, says they don't have one in the house. He's also not in a hurry to take her from his house in the woods to the town where she can talk to police. And Inga began to doubt the noble intentions of her savior. After some time she starts to think this house is worse than the one she was imprisoned in before, if that was possible.Supernatural thriller 105 000 words.
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.
Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories
Audrey Niffenegger - 2015
James to Neil Gaiman, H.H. Munro to Audrey Niffenegger herself, Ghostly reveals the evolution of the ghost story genre with tales going back to the eighteenth century and into the modern era, ranging across styles from Gothic Horror to Victorian, stories about haunting--haunted children, animals, houses. Every story is introduced by Audrey Niffenegger, an acclaimed master of the craft, with some words on its background and why she chose to include it. Audrey's own story is "A Secret Life With Cats." Perfect for the classic and contemporary ghost story aficionado, this is a delightful volume, beautifully illustrated by Audrey, who is a graphic artist with great vision. Ghostly showcases the best of the best in the field, including Edith Wharton, P.G. Wodehouse, A.S. Byatt, Ray Bradbury, and so many more.
Beast
Anna Willett - 2020
They supplement their income by selling pics of themselves as stock photos online.The abandoned Red Water Hotel is the perfect location for a shoot. But when they enter the decrepit building, Dursha begins to feel a strange presence. Jackie dismisses her concerns and they head further in.Strange moths have clustered, and the light filtering through has an eerie shimmer. The young women see a telephone number scrawled on the wall.By now Dursha is totally creeped out. But Jackie is already calling it...THE WIDOWDan decides to go to a party held by an old friend. It’s a no-good group, but it might help him put his worries aside. His life is spiralling and he has a serious toothache to add to his woes.At the party he strikes up a conversation with an enigmatic man who has excellent whiskey, and promises him a quick way to make money.In all honesty, Dan just wants enough cash to pay for a dentist, but he journeys with his new friend to a house deep in the country. The hazy plan is to rob it of a known stash of money.It sounded good in theory, but now his friend is nowhere to be seen and Dan is stuck inside the house, face to face with the widow who lives there...
Paper Bag
Brian W. Smith - 2020
While at dinner, catching up on old times, Monty reminds Summer that the reason they broke up was because her mother forbade her from dating anyone whose skin color was darker than a brown paper bag. Much to Monty's chagrin, it's 15 years later and Summer admits that her mom still doesn't want her to date anyone who is darker than a brown paper bag.So, imagine how awkward things get when Summer's twin brother, Langston, is accused of murder and needs the best Defense Attorney in the city...Monty Okafor. Despite his dislike for Summer's "color-struck" family members, Monty agrees to represent Langston. He finds a hole in the DA's case, and is confident he can get Langston acquitted, but a disturbing secret about Summer's creole family comes to light and changes Monty's attitude.Will Monty honor his oath as an attorney, and do all he can to free Langston? Or, will he entertain thoughts of getting revenge on Summer's family by providing Langston with the WORST defense that money can buy?
Ghosts and Magic Boxset
Skylar Finn - 2019
But when she has a vision on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, she decides to track down her long-lost family in the sleepy town of Mount Hazel to discover if she's going insane. To Sam's shock, she discovers the legacy she inherited--a legacy of magic--is more exciting and dangerous than she ever could have imagined.The Haunting of Hadleigh EstateAn unsolved case in a small town that has gone too far. A young couple moves into their dream home only to find a dark presence lurking from within. For Cassie and James, the small town of Playa del Sol seems too good to be true. But they soon experience terrifying supernatural encounters tied to the deadly secrets of an unsolved mass murder. Can they solve the mystery in time? Or will they face the same doomed fate as the tenants who came before them?