All are sure to provide thrills and chills but are best read with the lights on.

    DO NOT RESEARCH THESE EVENTS! Think of it as fiction, and nothing more.The Smith has returned, leaving a new trail of gruesome serial murders across Manhattan--all blonde, beautiful, beaten to death with a blacksmith's hammer. Gavin Gregory, an FBI agent who profiles serial killers for the Behavioral Analysis Unit, couldn't capture The Smith the first time around and wants a second stab at catching the killer. The case takes a bizarre turn when Debra Esteves, a psychiatrist from a New York mental hospital, says she knows The Smith's identity.Esteves spins a tale of disturbing horror from her past, claiming The Smith controlled one of her patients through his psychic influence. But Gavin considers himself a rational man. He believes in science over superstition and rejects her version of events.When his wife is kidnapped, Gavin has no choice but to turn to Esteves for help. Can she keep him safe from the devil hunting him long enough to free his wife from the clutches of the killer or will The Smith make him a pawn in future murders?

    Together these stories form The Weird, and its practitioners include some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature.Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities. You won't find any elves or wizards here... but you will find the biggest, boldest, and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled. The Weird features 110 stories by an all-star cast, from literary legends to international bestsellers to Booker Prize winners: including William Gibson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Franz Kafka, China Miéville, Clive Barker, Haruki Murakami, M. R. James, Neil Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, and Michael Chabon.

    The afterword explains where the ideas for the stories came from.

     Ruby Laurel is a ghost hunter. She locates ghosts who are haunting places – or people. In this first story, Ruby is called upon to investigate a haunting in a supermarket. She soon discovers the ghost of a young woman called Mary Jackson. How is Mary connected to the supermarket? And why is she haunting it? Ruby’s investigation is made more difficult by the arrival of her troublesome younger sister, Nessa. Will Nessa help, or hinder, the investigation?

    American Supernatural Tales celebrates the richness of this tradition with chilling contributions from some of the nation’s brightest literary lights, including Poe himself, H. P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Ray Bradbury, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and—of course— Stephen King. By turns phantasmagoric, spectral, and demonic, this is a frighteningly good addition to Penguin Classics.

    A free short story taken straight from the pages of THE MONSTER’S CORNER, an all original anthology from some of today’s hottest supernatural writers, featuring stories from the monster’s point of view.In THE LAKE, Abbie LeFleur, a lifetime Bostonian, has relocated to Graceville to start her life anew when she sets her eyes on a young student in her English class.

    "Nightmare at 20,000 Feet" is just one of many classic horror stories by Richard Matheson that have insinuated themselves into our collective imagination.Here are more than twenty of Matheson's most memorable tales of fear and paranoia, including:"Duel," the nail-biting tale of man versus machines that inspired Steven Spielberg's first film;"Prey," in which a terrified woman is stalked by a malevolent Tiki doll, as chillingly captured in yet another legendary TV moment;"Blood Son," a disturbing portrait of a strange little boy who dreams of being a vampire;"Dress of White Silk," a seductively sinister tale of evil and innocence.Personally selected by Richard Matheson, the bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come, these and many other stories, more than demonstrate why he is rightfully regarded as one of the finest and most influential horror writers of our generation.

    But with the master storyteller Josh Malerman as your tour guide, you'll discover the secrets that hide behind its closed doors. These six novellas tell the story of a place where the rain is always falling, nighttime is always near, and your darkest fears and desires await. Welcome to Goblin. . . .A Man in Slices: A man proves his "legendary love" to his girlfriend with a sacrifice even more daring than Vincent van Gogh's--and sends her more than his heart.Kamp: Walter Kamp is afraid of everything, but most afraid of being scared to death. As he sets traps around his home to catch the ghosts that haunt him, he learns that nothing is more terrifying than fear itself.Happy Birthday, Hunter!: A famed big-game hunter is determined to capture--and kill--the ultimate prey: the mythic Great Owl who lives in Goblin's dark forests. But this mysterious creature is not the only secret the woods are keeping.Presto: All Peter wants is to be like his hero, Roman Emperor, the greatest magician in the world. When the famous magician comes to Goblin, Peter discovers that not all magic is just an illusion.A Mix-Up at the Zoo: The new zookeeper feels a mysterious kinship with the animals in his care . . . and finds that his work is freeing dark forces inside him.The Hedges: When his wife dies, a man builds a hedge maze so elaborate no one ever solves it--until a little girl resolves to be the first to find the mysteries that wait at its heart.

    The story Pages from a Young Girl's Journal won Aickman the World Fantasy Award in 1975. It was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction in 1973 before appearing in this collection.Cold Hand in Mine stands as one of Aickman's best collections and contains eight stories that show off his powers as a 'strange story' writer to the full, being more ambiguous than standard ghost stories. Throughout the stories the reader is introduced to a variety of characters, from a man who spends the night in a Hospice to a German aristocrat and a woman who sees an image of her own soul. There is also a nod to the conventional vampire story (Pages from a Young Girl's Journal) but all the stories remain unconventional and inconclusive, which perhaps makes them all the more startling and intriguing.• The Swords • The Real Road to the Church • Niemandswasser • Pages from a Young Girl's Journal• The Hospice • The Same Dog • Meeting Mr. Millar • The Clock Watcher

    This collection goes back to the roots of the occult detective story. The earliest story in this collection—Fitz-James O'Brien's "The Pot of Tulips"—originally appeared in 1855. Rare stories by Mary Fortune and Bayard Taylor, famous tales from the end of the 19th century by E. and H. Heron, plus 20th Century stories by Robert E. Howard, Edmond Hamilton, Manly Wade Wellman, Seabury Quinn, and many more round out the book...29 classic tales in all!Included are:THE POT OF TULIPS, by Fitz-James O'BrienWHAT WAS IT? by Fitz-James O'BrienTHE HAUNTED SHANTY, by Bayard TaylorDr. Martin Hesselius in "GREEN TEA," by Joseph Sheridan Le FanuMR JUSTICE HARBOTTLE, by J. Sheridan Le FanuTHE UNINHABITED HOUSE, by Mrs. J. H. RiddellTHE PHANTOM HEARSE, by Mary FortuneAYLMER VANCE AND THE VAMPIRE, by Alice and Claude AskewTHE DOOR INTO INFINITY, by Edmond HamiltonCarnacki in "THE GATEWAY OF THE MONSTER," by William Hope HodgsonCarnacki in "THE HOUSE AMONG THE LAURELS," by William Hope HodgsonCarnacki in "THE WHISTLING ROOM," by William Hope HodgsonCarnacki in "THE HORSE OF THE INVISIBLE," by William Hope HodgsonCarnacki in "THE SEARCHER OF THE END HOUSE," by William Hope HodgsonCarnacki in "THE THING INVISIBLE," by William Hope HodgsonFlaxman Low in "THE STORY OF SADDLER'S CROFT," by E. and H. HeronFlaxman Low in "THE STORY OF BAELBROW," by E. and H. HeronFlaxman Low in "THE STORY OF YAND MANOR HOUSE," by E. and H. HeronFlaxman Low in "THE STORY OF KONNOR OLD HOUSE," by E. and H. HeronFlaxman Low in "THE STORY OF THE SPANIARDS, HAMMERSMITH," by E. and H. HeronFlaxman Low in "THE STORY OF SEVENS HALL," by E. and H. HeronSteve Harrison in "FANGS OF GOLD," by Robert E. HowardSteve Harrison in "THE TOMB'S SECRET," by Robert E. HowardSteve Harrison in "NAMES IN THE BLACK BOOK," by Robert E. HowardSteve Harrison in "GRAVEYARD RATS," by Robert E. HowardTHE HALF-HAUNTED, by Manly Wade WellmanJules de Grandin in "THE JEST OF WARBURG TANTAVUL," by Seabury QuinnJules de Grandin in "PLEDGED TO THE DEAD," by Seabury QuinnJules de Grandin in "INCENSE OF ABOMINATION," by Seabury QuinnAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Megapack" to see more great entries in this great series, covering mysteries, ghost stories, westerns, science fiction, historical, and much, much more!

    Comments and new ‘friends’ were acquired … all with the same goal … writing!This is not one person’s achievement, but a collective of people from around the block and around the world.~*~“Hal L. O’ween” is the pen-name of a group of writers from around the world that have joined together to ‘scare your pants off!’Many thanks go to the following writers—without their involvement, this collection wouldn’t have been possible:Devin Berglund, Brian Bigelow, Melissa Blume, Carol Bond, Michelle Patricia Browne, Jaleta Clegg, Richard Cotton, Russell Cruse, J. A. Cunningham, Toy Davis, Bella Doerres, Debra Elliott, Jiva Fang, Paul Freeman, Joseph Alan Gharagheer, Pamela Griffiths, Erik Gustafson, Rylee Hales, Denise Hemphill, Bruce Hesselbach, Rob Holliday, Katrina Jack, Gerald D. Johnston, Mel L. Kinder, Merita King, Pamela K. Kinney, Neil Leckman, Tracy Lesch, Rosemary Lynch, Ellen McKinney, Wolfen Lee McKoy, Shannon Marie Mead, Jason Mueller and C. L. Foster, Matthew Christopher Nelson, Sharon Van Orman, Patrick Ottuso, Cheryl C. Ramirez, Martin Reaves, Katherine Rochholz, Kincaid Savoie, Adam Sifre and Splinker, Gretchen Steen, Michael L. Turner, Rahima Warren, Richard A. Wentworth, Lisa Williamson, Sherill Willis, Stephen L. Wilson, Kay D. Ziegler.Enjoy these spooky bits, for they are what makes Halloween special!

    You gotta meet with him and do what he says, or else."A woman agrees to take part in a creature's sick game to save the child she loves. A girl and her mother move into a nightmare house. Two brothers embark on a high-seas treasure hunt.In this haunting collection, Briana Morgan shares stories of love, loss, and horrors both real and imagined.

    Nineteen authors, both respected and new to the genre, team up to deliver a collection of terrifying, eclectic stories guaranteed to unsettle its readers. In Lost Films, a deranged group of lunatics hold an annual film festival, the lost series finale of The Simpsons corrupts a young boy’s sanity, and a VCR threatens to destroy reality. All of that and much more, with fiction from Brian Evenson, Gemma Files, Kelby Losack, Bob Pastorella, Brian Asman, Leigh Harlen, Dustin Katz, Andrew Novak, Betty Rocksteady, John C. Foster, Ashlee Scheuerman, Eugenia M. Triantafyllou, Kev Harrison, Thomas Joyce, Jessica McHugh, Kristi DeMeester, Izzy Lee, Chad Stroup, and David James Keaton.

    He abandoned his rural Arkansas hometown vowing never to return, until his seven-year-old son died in an accident, plunging Aaron into a nightmare of addiction and grief. Desperate to reclaim a piece of himself, he returns to the hills of his childhood, to Holbrook House, where he hopes to find peace among the memories of his youth. But solace doesn’t come easy. Someone—or something—has other plans. Like Aaron, Holbrook House is but a shell of what it once was, a target for vandals and ghost hunters who have nicknamed it “the devil’s den.” Aaron doesn’t believe in the paranormal—at least, not until a strange boy begins following him wherever he goes. Plagued by violent dreams and disturbing visions, Aaron begins to wonder if he’s losing his mind. But a festering darkness lurks at the heart of Holbrook House… a darkness that grins from within the shadows, delighting in Aaron’s sorrow, biding its time.