Weird Tales: 101 Weird, Strange, and Supernatural Stories (Civitas Library Classics)


Various - 2012
    May of these stories are from the pages of Weird Tales and other classic magazines which brought the work of masters like H.P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard, and many others to the public. Includes an active table of contents.

HORRORS OF THE NIGHT: Most scariest stories to puzzle your mind


Tom Coleman - 2021
    Some of the stories are inspired by true events and some are inspired by ideas of my dear readers! Find out which ones inside this scary collection."BABYSITTER"Rachel was just a regular teenager living a normal life, when the new, rich family moved into town. They had 2 children and were looking for a babysitter. She thought it would be a nice way to get some money. What was in store for her, however, was a bloody and shocking night to remember."DARK SIDE"Selene and Damien seemed like a normal couple, but Damien started to act weirdly and spent a lot of time in his price room where he did his job. Damien was an artist and needed his private area. What was Damien actually doing in his private room was more terrifying than Selene could ever have imagined."THE CURSE OF HERNANDEZ"A newly married couple found the perfect home to call their own. While cleaning out the upstairs attic the husband discovers an old suitcase. Upon opening, they find the remains of documents and papers with their last name on them- Hernandez. Strange, but they decided to ignore it and throw the suitcase away. They should have never done this because that is when strange things started to happen.

Press Start to Play


Daniel H. WilsonSeanan McGuire - 2015
    The humble, pixelated games of the ‘70s and ‘80s have evolved into the vivid, realistic, and immersive form of entertainment that now rivals all other forms of media for dominance in the consumer marketplace. For many, video games have become the cultural icons around which pop culture revolves.PRESS START TO PLAY is an anthology of stories inspired by video games: stories that attempt to recreate the feel of a video game in prose form; stories that play with the concepts common (or exclusive) to video games; and stories about the creation of video games and/or about the video games—or the gamers—themselves.These stories will appeal to anyone who has interacted with games, from hardcore teenaged fanatics, to men and women who game after their children have gone to bed, to your well-meaning aunt who won’t stop inviting you to join her farm-based Facebook games.At the helm of this project are Daniel H. Wilson—bestselling novelist and expert in artificial intelligence—and John Joseph Adams—bestselling, Hugo Award-nominated editor of more than a dozen science fiction/fantasy anthologies and series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy (volume one forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2015). Together, they have drawn on their wide-ranging contacts to assemble an incredibly talented group of authors who are eager to attack the topic of video games from startling and fascinating angles.Under the direction of an A.I. specialist and a veteran editor, the anthology will expose readers to a strategically chosen mix of stories that explore novel video game concepts in prose narratives, such as save points, kill screens, gold-farming, respawning, first-person shooters, unlocking achievements, and getting “pwned.” Likewise, each of our authors is an accomplished specialist in areas such as science fiction, fantasy, and techno-thrillers, and many have experience writing for video games professionally.Combining unique viewpoints and exacting realism, this anthology promises to thrill generations of readers, from those who grew up with Atari 2600s to the console and PC gamers of today.

Night Terrors III


Theresa DillonPaul Tremblay - 2014
    A wave of sinkholes appears on the anniversary of a rural tragedy, and local residents begin to hear the voices of the dead. A woman encounters a predator from her youth—and a chance to turn the tables. A child’s inner beast takes on a sinister life of its own. An undetectable serial killer raises tensions on a college campus. Experimental physics reveals another world, and it might mean the end of ours. Shrouded in darkness, lurking in the shadows, NIGHT TERRORS III awaits you. The third installment of the chilling Night Terrors anthology series includes stories from Jack Ketchum, Steve Rasnic Tem, Dennis Etchison, Taylor Grant, Eric J. Guignard, Aric Sundquist, Jennifer Brozek, John McNee, Simon McCaffery, Patty Templeton, and many more!

American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps


Peter StraubRobert Bloch - 2009
    Ghostly narratives of the Edwardian era, lurid classics from the pulp heyday, and modern-day masterpieces are included in these collections.

25 Gates of Hell


Brian KeeneAlex R. Knight III - 2020
    A group of storytellers banded together to chronicle the tsunami of evil that ensued. Their scribblings depicted events so horrific, the manuscript was hidden away.Now, dear reader, you seem to have stumbled upon it.And you have opened it.You must reap what you have sown.Come, step into the pages. See firsthand what hell is capable of.Of course, just know, you won’t last long enough to scream.

Twisted: Volume 1


Christina Palmer RomeroKaren Sheard - 2016
    Reading it is like attending a late night secret banquet where you know each course will serve up something unexpected, forbidden and unforgettably chilling. Take your private seat now for 50 luscious courses of terror, from 50 of the strongest voices in modern horror.

The End of the World: Stories of the Apocalypse


Martin H. GreenbergRobert Silverberg - 2010
    No longer relegated to the fringes of literature, this explosive collection of the world’s best apocalyptic writers brings the inventors of alien invasions, devastating meteors, doomsday scenarios, and all-out nuclear war back to the bookstores with a bang.The best writers of the early 1900s were the first to flood New York with tidal waves, destroy Illinois with alien invaders, paralyze Washington with meteors, and lay waste to the Midwest with nuclear fallout. Now collected for the first time ever in one apocalyptic volume are those early doomsday writers and their contemporaries, including Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, Lucius Shepard, Robert Sheckley, Norman Spinrad, Arthur C. Clarke, William F. Nolan, Poul Anderson, Fredric Brown, Lester del Rey, and more. Relive these childhood classics or discover them here for the first time. Each story details the eerie political, social, and environmental destruction of our world.

The Best of Gene Wolfe: A Definitive Retrospective of His Finest Short Fiction


Gene Wolfe - 2009
    Gene Wolfe, of whom The Washington Post said, “Of all SF writers currently active none is held in higher esteem,” has selected the short fiction he considers his finest into one volume.  There are many award winners and many that have been selected for various Year’s Best anthologies among the thirty-one stories, which include: “Petting Zoo,” “The Tree Is My Hat,” “The Island of Dr. Death and Other Stories,” “The Hero as Werewolf,” “Seven American Nights,” “The Fifth Head of Cerberus,” “The Detective of Dreams,” and “A Cabin on the Coast.” Gene Wolfe has produced possibly the finest and most significant body of short fiction in the SF and fantasy field in the last fifty years, and is certainly among the greatest living writers to emerge from the genres.  This is the first retrospective collection of his entire career.  It is for the ages.Contents11 • The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories • [Archipelago] • (1970) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe23 • Afterword (The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories) • essay by Gene Wolfe25 • The Toy Theater • (1971) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe30 • Afterword (The Toy Theater) • essay by Gene Wolfe31 • The Fifth Head of Cerberus • (1972) • novella by Gene Wolfe76 • Afterword (The Fifth Head of Cerberus) • essay by Gene Wolfe78 • Beech Hill • (1972) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe83 • Afterword (Beech Hill) • essay by Gene Wolfe84 • The Recording • (1972) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe86 • Afterword (The Recording) • essay by Gene Wolfe88 • Hour of Trust • (1973) • novelette by Gene Wolfe112 • Afterword (Hour of Trust) • essay by Gene Wolfe114 • The Death of Dr. Island • [Archipelago] • (1973) • novella by Gene Wolfe158 • Afterword (The Death of Dr. Island) • essay by Gene Wolfe159 • La Befana • (1973) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe162 • Afterword (La Befana) • essay by Gene Wolfe163 • Forlesen • (1974) • novelette by Gene Wolfe201 • Afterword (Forlesen) • essay by Gene Wolfe202 • Westwind • (1973) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe208 • Afterword (Westwind) • essay by Gene Wolfe209 • The Hero as Werwolf • (1975) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe221 • Afterword (The Hero as Werwolf) • essay by Gene Wolfe222 • The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton • (1977) • novelette by Gene Wolfe236 • Afterword (The Marvelous Brass Chessplaying Automaton) • essay by Gene Wolfe237 • Straw • (1975) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe243 • Afterword (Straw) • essay by Gene Wolfe244 • The Eyeflash Miracles • (1976) • novella by Gene Wolfe291 • Afterword (The Eyeflash Miracles) • essay by Gene Wolfe292 • Seven American Nights • (1978) • novella by Gene Wolfe331 • Afterword (Seven American Nights) • essay by Gene Wolfe333 • The Detective of Dreams • (1980) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe346 • Afterword (The Detective of Dreams) • essay by Gene Wolfe347 • Kevin Malone • (1980) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe355 • Afterword (Kevin Malone) • essay by Gene Wolfe356 • The God and His Man • (1980) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe360 • Afterword (The God and His Man) • essay by Gene Wolfe361 • On the Train • [Redwood Coast Roamer] • (1983) • shortfiction by Gene Wolfe362 • Afterword (On the Train) • essay by Gene Wolfe363 • From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton • (1983) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe367 • Afterword (From the Desk of Gilmer C. Merton) • essay by Gene Wolfe368 • Death of the Island Doctor • [Archipelago] • (1983) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe372 • Afterword (Death of the Island Doctor) • essay by Gene Wolfe373 • Redbeard • (1984) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe377 • Afterword (Redbeard) • essay by Gene Wolfe379 • The Boy Who Hooked the Sun • (1985) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe381 • Afterword (The Boy Who Hooked the Sun) • essay by Gene Wolfe382 • Parkroads—A Review • (1987) • shortfiction by Gene Wolfe384 • Afterword (Parkroads—A Review) • essay by Gene Wolfe385 • Game in the Pope's Head • (1988) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe390 • Afterword (Game in the Pope's Head) • essay by Gene Wolfe391 • And When They Appear • (1993) • novelette by Gene Wolfe408 • Afterword (And When They Appear) • essay by Gene Wolfe409 • Bed and Breakfast • (1996) • shortfiction by Gene Wolfe (variant of Bed & Breakfast)426 • Afterword (Bed and Breakfast) • essay by Gene Wolfe427 • Petting Zoo • (1997) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe431 • Afterword (Petting Zoo) • essay by Gene Wolfe433 • The Tree Is My Hat • (1999) • novelette by Gene Wolfe452 • Afterword (The Tree Is My Hat) • essay by Gene Wolfe454 • Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon? • (1999) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe464 • Afterword (Has Anybody Seen Junie Moon?) • essay by Gene Wolfe466 • A Cabin on the Coast • (1984) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe475 • Afterword (A Cabin on the Coast) • essay by Gene Wolfe

Only the Animals


Ceridwen Dovey - 2014
    Each narrator also pays homage to an author who has written imaginatively about animals during much the same time span: Henry Lawson, Colette, Kafka, Virginia Woolf, Tolstoy, Günter Grass, Julian Barnes, and others.These stories are brilliantly plotted, exquisitely written, inevitably poignant but also playful and witty. They ask us to consider profound questions. Why do animals shock us into feeling things we can't seem to feel for other humans? Why do animals allow authors to say the unsayable? Why do we sometimes treat humans as animals, and animals as humans? Can fiction help us find moral meaning in a disillusioned world?Ceridwen Dovey is a prodigiously gifted storyteller, an insightful thinker, and a prose writer of great range. Each of the storylines is an opening to a new way of considering the nature of violence and the relationship between human and animal experiences of the world. Only The Animals will ask you to believe again, just for a moment, in the redemptive power of reading and writing fiction.

The Pushcart Prize XXXV: Best of the Small Presses 2011 Edition


Bill Henderson - 2010
    This is a communal effort by the Pushcart Press staff, contributing editors, and hundreds of small presses. For this edition distinguished poets Julie Sheehan and Tom Sleigh served as poetry editors. The result is an introduction to a literary world that few readers have access to, where much of today's important new writing is published, far from the commercial influence of the conglomerates. In reviewing last year's edition, Donna Seaman of Booklist commented: "A brimming, vibrant anthology-the perfect introduction to new writers and adventurous new work by established writers . . . extraordinary in its range of voices and subjects. Here is literature to have and to hold." The Pushcart Prize has been chosen for the Ivan Sandrof Lifetime Achievement recognition by the National Book Critics Circle and the Writers for Writers award from Poets Writers / Barnes Noble.

The Starlit Wood


Dominik ParisienKarin Tidbeck - 2016
    It’s how so many of our most beloved stories start.Fairy tales have dominated our cultural imagination for centuries. From the Brothers Grimm to the Countess d’Aulnoy, from Charles Perrault to Hans Christian Anderson, storytellers have crafted all sorts of tales that have always found a place in our hearts.Now a new generation of storytellers have taken up the mantle that the masters created and shaped their stories into something startling and electrifying.Packed with award-winning authors, this anthology explores an array of fairy tales in startling and innovative ways, in genres and settings both traditional and unusual, including science fiction, western, and post-apocalyptic as well as traditional fantasy and contemporary horror.From the woods to the stars, The Starlit Wood: New Fairy Tales takes readers on a journey at once unexpected and familiar, as a diverse group of writers explore some of our most beloved tales in new ways across genres and styles.

Ghosts: Recent Hauntings


Paula GuranMargo Lanagan - 2012
    Ghostly visitations, hauntings, unquiet souls seeking the living, vengeful wraiths, the possibility of life beyond the grave that can somehow reach out and touch us…these are some of literature’s most enduring icons. Now, in the twenty-first century, we are no less fascinated with phantoms than our cave-dwelling ancestors or our Victorian-age forebears. Thirty modern masters of fright and fantasy fill this anthology with shivers, chills, and spooky explorations of both sides of the veil. Be prepared to keep a light on all night!Peter Atkins: “Between the Cold Moon and the Earth”Rick Bowes: “There’s a Hole in the City”Laird Barron: “The Lagerstatte”Steve Duffy: “The Rag-and-Bone Men”Jeffrey Ford: “The Trentino Kid”Karen Joy Fowler: “Booth’s Ghost”Neil Gaiman: “October in the Chair”Stephen Gallagher: “The Box”Elizabeth Hand: “Wonderwall”Glen Hirshberg: “The Muldoon”Alaya Dawn Johnson: “The Score”Stephen Graham Jones: “Uncle” (original)Caitlin R. Kiernan: “Apokatastasis”Marc Laidlaw: “Cell Call”Margo Lanagan: “The Proving of Smollett Standforth”John Langan: “The Third Always Beside You”Joe R. Lansdale: “The Case of the Lighthouse Shambler”Maureen F. McHugh: “Ancestor Money”Sarah Monette: “The Watcher in the Corners”Reggie Oliver: “Mrs Midnight”Richard Parks: “The Plum Blossom Lantern”James van Pelt: “Savannah is Six”Tim Powers: “A Soul in a Bottle”Barbara Roden: “The Palace”Ekaterina Sedia: “Tin Cans”Nisi Shawl: “Cruel Sistah”John Shirley: “Faces in Walls”Peter Straub: “Mr Aikman’s Air Rifle”Melanie Tem: “Dhost”Steve Rasnic Tem: “The Ex”

The Outcast Hours


Mahvesh MuradJeffrey Alan Love - 2019
    Our stories take place under the sun: bright, clear, unafraid.This is not a book of those stories.These are the stories of people who live at night; under neon and starlight, and never the light of day.These are the stories of poets and police; writers and waiters; gamers and goddesses; tourists and traders; the hidden and the forbidden; the lonely and the lovers.These are their lives. These are their stories. And this is their time:The Outcast Hours.Including stories by Marina Warner, China Miéville, Frances Hardinge, Will Hill, Sally Partridge, Jesse Bullington, Jeffrey Alan Love, Kuzhali Manickavel, Amira Salah-Ahmed, Cecilia Ekbäck, Celeste Baker, Karen Onojaife, Daniel Polansky, Genevieve Valentine, Indrapramit Das, Leah Moore, Sam Beckbessinger, Sami Shah, Lauren Beukes, Dale Halvorsen, Yukimi Ogawa, Lavie Tidhar, Silvia Moreno Garcia, Genevieve Valentine, Maha Khan Phillips, William Boyle, S.L. Grey, M. Suddain, and Omar Robert Hamilton..

Nevertheless, She Persisted: Flash Fiction Project


Diana M. PhoCatherynne M. Valente - 2020
    She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.Three short lines, fired over social media in response to questions of why Senator Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the floor of the United States Senate, for daring to read aloud the words of Coretta Scott King. As this message was transmitted across the globe, it has become a galvanizing cry for people of all genders in recognition of the struggles that women have faced throughout history.Three short lines, which read as if they are the opening passage to an epic and ageless tale.We have assembled this flash fiction collection featuring several of the best writers in SF/F today, including Seanan McGuire, Charlie Jane Anders, Maria Dahvana Headley, Jo Walton, Amal El-Mohtar, Catherynne M. Valente, Brooke Bolander, Alyssa Wong, Kameron Hurley, Nisi Shawl and Carrie Vaughn. Together these authors share unique visions of women inventing, playing, loving, surviving, and – of course – dreaming of themselves beyond their circumstances.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.