Featuring seven reprints, a brand new story "The Toll", an introduction, and rounded out by the author's recommended reading and viewing lists, DEAD LEAVES makes for the perfect autumnal read.

    Enjoy your stay! But first, a few words of warning: Stay out of the forest. Never venture out after dark. And don't stare too long into the shadows... you may not like what you see. Have a pleasant visit. We hope it won't be your last...Author Cameron Chaney presents seven new tales of All Hallows terror, along with his newly revised novella "There Are Monsters Here", in print for the very first time!

    Read them by a bonfire on a chilly autumn night, or under a blanket by candle light. Whatever you do, don't look behind you. Hayride The Schultz family's outing to an apple orchard goes terribly awry on the hayride from Hell. Hat Man Graduate student Bernice is plagued by night terrors. As the horrible visions begin to invade her waking hours, she must fight for her sanity...and her safety. A Good Samaritan Newlyweds Jake and Rita Wechsler take a journey down winding country roads in the Hudson River Valley, where danger lurks at every turn. Into the Abyss A group of young girls decide to play with a Ouija board and discover that it might be more than just a board game. Walking After Midnight When childhood friends Teddy and Joseph decide to revisit one of their old childhood haunts, the old town cemetery, they stumble upon true evil and must rely on each other to survive. Trick & Treat Halloween enthusiast Shelley decorates and buys candy for the big night, hoping for lots of Trick-or-Treaters, but she quickly learns the meaning of the phrase "Be careful what you wish for."

    She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945.... Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town.... Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing....John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead....The past isn't dead. It isn't even past...

    In addition to stories about scheming jack-o'-lanterns, vengeful ghosts, otherworldly changelings, disturbingly realistic haunted attractions, masks that cover terrifying faces, murderous urban legends, parties gone bad, cult Halloween movies, and trick or treating in the future, Haunted Nights also offers terrifying and mind-bending explorations of related holidays like All Souls' Day, Dia de los Muertos, and Devil's Night. -With Graveyard Weeds and Wolfbane Seeds- by Seanan McGuire -Dirtmouth- by Stephen Graham Jones--A Small Taste of the Old Countr- by Jonathan Maberry-Wick's End- by Joanna Parypinski -The Seventeen Year Itch- by Garth Nix-A Flicker of Light on Devil's Night- by Kate Jonez-Witch-Hazel- by Jeffrey Ford-Nos Galen Gaeaf- by Kelley Armstrong -We're Never Inviting Amber Again- by S. P. Miskowski-Sisters- by Brian Evenson-All Through the Night- by Elise Forier Edie -A Kingdom of Sugar Skulls and Marigolds- by Eric J. Guignard-The Turn- by Paul Kane-Jack- by Pat Cadigan-Lost in the Dark- by John Langan-The First Lunar Halloween- by John R. Little

    The holiday gives many children their first taste of terror, the discovery and overcoming of fears. For those who find they love a good scare, that first taste can grow into a voracious appetite.That might be why you’re looking at this book right now. If so, you’ve come to the right place. Doorbells at Dusk is a treasury of brand-new Halloween tales from both modern masters and rising stars of dark fiction, horror and suspense.These are the thrills you crave, packed into a collection of stories that's pure Halloween.Carve your pumpkins and turn on the porch light, Halloween frights begin with the sound of…DOORBELLS AT DUSK.Featuring stories by:• Sean Eads• Amber Fallon• Charles Gramlich• Joanna Koch• Curtis M. Lawson• Lisa Lepovetsky• Adam Light• Evans Light• Chad Lutzke• Josh Malerman• Jason Parent• Thomas Vaughn• Joshua Viola• Ian Welke• Gregor Xane

    They accused the mysterious old woman who lived there of being a witch until the rumors got out of hand and the panicked townspeople burned her house down with her in it one Halloween. She only said one thing before she died: "A curse on all of you!" Now, three years later, the spooky holiday approaches again, and Carmen is left in charge of taking her little brother trick-or-treating. But strange things begin happening around the small town. Children are going missing one by one, and the only clue to their disappearance is a gingerbread man left on their windowsill. Now Carmen has to protect her brother so that he doesn't become the next victim as the townspeople descend into insanity all around them. Riddled with fear, they have no one to pin the kidnappings and strange occurrences on. Because the witch is already dead... ...isn't she?

    the mystical and macabre... our darkest fears and sweetest fantasies... the fun and frivolity of tricks, treats, festivities, and masquerades. Halloween is a holiday filled with both delight and dread, beloved by youngsters and adults alike. Celebrate the most magical season of the year with this sensational treasury of seasonal tales - spooky, suspenseful, terrifying, or teasing - harvested from a multitude of master storytellers.

    . .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

    A Bram Stoker Award winner and World Fantasy nominee, Partridge's rapid-fire tale of a small town trapped by its own shadows welcomed a wholly original creation, the October Boy, earning the author comparisons to Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Shirley Jackson.Now Partridge revisits Halloween with a collection featuring a half-dozen stories celebrating frights both past and present. In “The Jack o' Lantern,” a brand new Dark Harvest novelette, the October Boy races against a remorseless döppelganger bent on carving a deadly path through the town's annual ritual of death and rebirth. “Johnny Halloween” features a sheriff battling both a walking ghost and his own haunted conscience. In “Three Doors,” a scarred war hero hunts his past with the help of a magic prosthetic hand, while “Satan's Army” is a real Partridge rarity previously available only in a long sold-out lettered edition from another press.But there's more to this holiday celebration besides fiction. “The Man Who Killed Halloween” is an extensive essay about growing up during the late sixties in the town where the Zodiac Killer began his murderous spree. In an introduction that explores monsters both fictional and real, Partridge recalls what it was like to live in a community menaced by a serial killer and examines how the Zodiac's reign of terror shaped him as a writer.Halloween night awaits. Join a master storyteller as he explores the layers of darkness that separate all-too-human evil from the supernatural. Let Norman Partridge lead you on seven journeys through the most dangerous night of the year, where no one is safe…and everyone is suspect.

    Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is filled with scenes that are unsettling. Marley untying the bandage that holds his jaws together. The hideous children--Want and Ignorance--beneath the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. The heavy ledgers Marley drags by his chains. In the finest versions of this story, the best parts are the terrifying parts. Bestselling author and editor Christopher Golden shares his love for Christmas horror stories with this anthology of all-new short fiction from some of the most talented and original writers of horror today.Absinthe & angels by Kelley Armstrong --Christmas in Barcelona by Scott Smith --Fresh as the new-fallen snow by Seanan McGuire --Love me by Thomas E. Sniegoski --Not just for Christmas by Sarah Lotz --Tenets by Josh Malerman --Good deeds by Jeff Strand --It's a wonderful knife by Christopher Golden --Mistletoe and holly by James A. Moore --Snake's tail by Sarah Langan --The second floor of the Christmas hotel by Joe R. Lansdale --Farrow Street by Elizabeth Hand --Doctor Velocity: a story of the fire zone by Jonathan Maberry --Yankee swap by John M. McIlveen --Honor thy mother by Angela Slatter --Home by Tim Lebbon --Hiking through by Michael Koryta --The hangman's bride by Sarah Pinborough

    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.

    Kevin Brockmeier's fiction has always explored the space between the fantastical and the everyday with profundity and poignancy. As in his previous books, The Ghost Variations discovers new ways of looking at who we are and what matters to us, exploring how mysterious, sad, strange, and comical it is to be alive--or, as it happens, not to be.

    Fun and frightful decorations, ghastly costumes and masks of the season, and bags of candy galore. Then, as you travel farther into its shadowy depths, things begin to change. The air smells of damp autumn leaves and candle-scorched pumpkin. The shelves of All Hallows’ Eve fare grow darker and more disturbing. Strange and unsettling things of Halloweens past and present lurk amid the cobwebs and dust…Four trick-or-treaters purchase vintage costumes from a strip-mall shop, only to discover that they must sign a mysterious disclaimer for the Halloween celebration to come…After a man’s missing daughter is found–near death and physically altered–he must once again face a horrifying monster from his own childhood…A teenage girl hitches a ride after a Halloween rock & roll concert, only to learn that her favorite singing idol has made a pact with the Devil himself…Three kids receive unusual treats during a Halloween stop at their favorite teacher’s house…During a random visit to his hometown, a businessman treats a young boy to the joy and excitement of a Halloween festival, only to find that things are not what they first appeared to be…A rash of ghoulish jack-o’-lanterns leads a small-town sheriff to the doorstep of one of the most notorious serial killers of all time…An advertisement in the back of an old comic book prompts two friends to place an order that they soon come to regret…Seven horrific tales and two nostalgic essays… hand-picked for your Trick-or-Treat bag. With the arrival of a 2020 Halloween, there is no telling what terrifying treats and petrifying prizes may await you!

    Here is the first time that best-selling fantasy, YA, and crime author Kelley Armstrong has had her stories collected from Otherworld and beyond. With her signature twists and turns, Armstrong gives a fresh spin on city-dwelling vampires, werewolves, and zombies, while also traveling further afield, to a post-apocalyptic fortress, a superstitious village, a supernatural brothel, and even to feudal Japan.With tales that range from humorous to heart-stopping, these are the stories that showcase Kelley Armstrong at her versatile best.- Rakshashi (standalone)- Kat (Darkest Powers universe, non-series narrator)- A Haunted House of Her Own (standalone)- Learning Curve (Otherworld universe, Zoe)- The Screams of Dragons (#0.5 Cainsville universe, non-series narrator)- The Kitsune’s Nine Tales (Age of Legends universe, non-series narrator)- Last Stand (standalone)- Bamboozled (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)- Branded (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)- The List (Otherworld universe, Zoe)- Young Bloods (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)- The Door (standalone, original to this collection)- Dead Flowers by a Roadside (standalone)- Suffer the Children (standalone)- The Collector (standalone)- Gabriel’s Gargoyles (#3.1 Cainsville universe, Gabriel)- Harbinger (standalone)- V Plates (Otherworld universe, Nick)- Life Sentence (Otherworld universe, non-series narrator)- Plan B (standalone)- The Hunt (#4.1 Cainsville universe, non-series narrator)- Dead to Me (standalone)- Devil May Care (#4.2 Cainsville universe, Patrick, original to this collection)