Book picks similar to
The Diabolical Conspiracy by Bryan Smith
horror
bryan-smith
novellas
thunderstorm
They
J.F. Gonzalez - 2011
A year after the auto accident that killed his wife, Vince Walters is finally beginning to move forward with his life. With the support of friends, he's digging back into his career and even beginning to date again. When his estranged mother, Maggie Walters, is murdered, Vince is stunned by the hideous nature of the crime. Maggie lived a quiet life in a small, rural, Pennsylvania town, attending church, reading the Bible, and subscribing to an increasingly paranoid view of the End Times as prophesized in The Book of Revelations. Her brutal killing, which bears all the signs of being related to a sinister satanic cult, is inexplicable given her life of faith. However, a visit from a childhood playmate confirms what Vince is beginning to uncover about his mother's past: that she was involved with a cult during his early childhood, but later defected and went into hiding with him. As hard as Maggie worked to bury her dark past, it seems that they found her. Now they've found Vince. And this time, they are not going to give him up. They have plans for him.Black Voltage Series #10
Voracious
Wrath James White - 2013
His ethics, however, leave a bit to be desired. When the Aphrodite Aesthetic Reconstruction Clinic hires him to create a genetic weight-loss treatment, Doctor Adams uses a synthetic retro virus to transport pygmy shrew DNA into clients willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to be able to eat whatever they want without gaining a pound. Pygmy Shrews have metabolisms so fast they don’t store fat cells and have to eat every two hours, twice their body-weight in food every day, or they will die. When they are hungry, they will attack and consume prey more than twice their size. They have fangs tipped with a red iron ore, saliva that contains a paralyzing neurotoxin, are the size of a quarter, and are considered to be some of the most vicious animals on earth. When Doctor Adams’s clients begin burning more calories than they can possibly consume, he is afraid he has made one terrible mistake.
Entombed
Brian Keene - 2011
Civilization has collapsed and the dead far outnumber the living. The living seek shelter from the roaming zombie hordes, but one-by-one, those shelters are falling.Twenty-five survivors barricade themselves inside a former military bunker buried deep beneath a luxury hotel. They are safe from the zombies...but are they safe from one another? As supplies run low and despair sets in, each of them will find out just how far they're willing to go to survive.Brian Keene's ENTOMBED....in the world of the dead, insanity is the only escape.Also includes the bonus novella "White Fire".
Failure
John Everson - 2008
Cindy just plain doesn't care; she'll get on her knees for anyone beneath the football field bleachers to score a nickel bag hit. And Sal is a frustrated goon with a hook nose and an attitude so sour he can't nail a girl even with the lure of free dope and a getaway car.When these three desperate teens meet Aaron, a failed practitioner of the dark arts who offers them the best high they've ever smoked in exchange for some kinky sex play inside his pentagram, things can only go from bad to worse. Aaron hopes to ensnare and re-birth the spirit of a late witch, to capture her power from beyond the grave for his own.Soon, they'll all learn the darkest, bloodiest, most terrifying definition of Failure.Originally released as a limited edition hardcover chapbook from Delirium Books in 2006, this updated 2013 Dark Arts Books e-book edition of John Everson's novelette Failure features new cover art and an Afterword by the author.
Splatterpunks
Sam West - 2014
You throw a party to end all parties. A party that will last for days. A party where debauchery knows no bounds. A party where the guests are expendable…God help those unwitting souls who wind up on the guest list. In another time, long ago, the multi-millionaire party hosts might have been called Libertines. Or Philanderers, Sensualists, or Scoundrels… ‘Psychotic’ is probably more fitting.Although Sebastian and Richard prefer to be known as Splatterpunks, if you please.Warning from the author: This novel is my most disturbed and twisted offering yet. It is EXTREME horror. I cannot stress this enough, please turn away now if you are of sane mind and do not enjoy vivid descriptions of violent orgies and human cruelty.
Muerte Con Carne
Shane McKenzie - 2013
With the right connections and with the right amount of money you can run drugs, smuggle people, commit murder, and do much worse.Felix and Marta came to Mexico to film a documentary on illegal immigration. When Marta suddenly goes missing, Felix must find his lost love in the small border town. A dangerous place housing corrupt cops, borderline maniacs, and something much more worse than drug gangs, something to do with a strange Mexican food cart…From Shane McKenzie, one of the most imaginative new voices in horror comes a south of the border Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
Spit and Die
Jon Athan - 2017
On that road, abandoned by civilization, they fall prey to a depraved maniac who lives in an isolated house—a mansion of horrors. And, the maniac only wants one thing: the saliva of his female victims to quench his thirst... Jon Athan, the author of Butcher Road and Cannibal Creek, brings you another shockingly violent and disturbing slasher. Don't spit and you might survive... WARNING: This book contains scenes of graphic violence and some disturbing themes. This book is not intended for those easily offended or appalled. Please enjoy at your own discretion.
The Minotauress
Edward Lee - 2007
Seething, slavering, and insane, it cringes, not wanting to slip forth from the noxious, bloated belly of its abyssal mother until the most hideous sexual atrocities beckon it from Hell's hot bowels: the dread monstrosity of unfathomable beauty and the most vile horror--revulsion and desire incarnated into one... ...PREGNANT TO BURSTING WITH ABOMINATIONS UNTOLD... Atop the moon-drenched hillock sits the leaning manse, surrounded by ancient graves rich with the bones of witches, and amid the dense cricket-choruses of these ghastly twilight deeps, it stalks, thrashes and prowls, its nipples gorged with evil, its loins a frenzy of Luciferic lust... RITES OF REDNECK PASSAGE... Behold Balls and Dicky (of THE BIGHEAD fame) as they embark on their first sociopathic epiphany teeming with down and dirty redneck whores, occult science, corpse-sex, and scatological gross-out the likes of which would make the BTK Killer faint. These boys think they're bad...but are they bad enough to face-- THE MINOTAURESS Edward Lee's latest novel of irredeemable harder-than-hardcore horror...This edition also contains the story "The Horn-Cranker".
The Wildman
Rick Hautala - 2008
Jeff Cameron is going back to Camp Tapiola on Lake Onwego to meet several old friends and reminisce about their childhood experiences at camp. But not all of their childhood memories are good. For thirty-five years lingering images of their friend Jimmy Foster’s lifeless body being pulled from the lake has disturbed Jeff’s peace of mind. Was Jimmy Foster's death an accident or murder? The authorities had said Jimmy’s death was an accidental drowning, but Jeff had always believed there was more to the story. Why after all these years did his old friend arrange this reunion? And why can’t Jeff escape the feeling that his friend has a hidden agenda. What is this reunion is really about? And another question remains... who is The Wildman?
Psychoville
Tim Miller - 2015
You won’t find it on any maps, but it is there. Deputy Spurlock is the law in Psychoville. He remains on the lookout for weary travelers unlucky enough to pass through this tiny town. The townsfolk are always on the lookout for new talent for their snuff films, led by the beautiful and deadly Echo, or human sacrifices for an ancient cult. If one is really lucky, they may just end up as a human sex toy for a group of mutant redneck girls. If they manage to escape from any of these groups, something even more sinister awaits them in the woods. There are lots of ways to suffer and die in Psychoville, but there is no way out.
Nightsiders
Gary McMahon - 2013
Robert Mitchell thought he lived there with his wife and children, but he doesn’t. Not anymore. A new family—the Corbeaus—has taken up residence, and they are on a deadly mission for mischief.Soon Robert will understand the true nature of ownership, and he will discover that real life is nothing more than a story…a horror story.We're playing games now. We're just beginning.
The Desert
Bryon Morrigan - 2007
During the opening engagements of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, a platoon of U.S. soldiers disappears. The Army attributes this disappearance to the "fog of war," and the subsequent investigation into the disappearance fails to locate even a single body or destroyed vehicle. Six years later, two soldiers on a routine search for "weapons of mass destruction" locate a cave with the remains of one of the missing soldiers and his journal. Unfortunately, Captain Henderson and Specialist Densler find out all too soon that what happened to the "Lost Platoon" is also happening to them. Trapped, they must confront this unspeakable menace, or risk suffering the same fate as that of the soldier in the cave. "Bryon Morrigan's first novel, THE DESERT, is everything you hope to find in a first novel and then some. An original plot, solid characterization and a refreshing change of pace from the standard chains rattling in the attic. A fine mesh of horror and military drama that I can't recommend enough." -James A. Moore, author of BLOOD RED & HARVEST MOON "The Desert by Bryon Morrigan is a weird and wild novel of men againt monsters. In the grand tradition of James Cameron's Aliens, Bryon Morrigan gives a whipcrack tale of U.S. soldiers pitted against the very forces of Hell. It's fun, fast-paced, and deliciously creepy." -Jonathan Maberry, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of GHOST ROAD BLUES & BAD MOON RISING
Thrall
Mary SanGiovanni - 2011
Tucked away in the wilds of the northwestern corner of the state, Thrall has always been a very strange place to live. The town was a poison that affected people's minds, their souls, their bodies, and their perspectives. So Jesse abandoned his friends and the one woman he loved, and left everything behind.Seven years later, Jesse has found a reason to return — a reason that, in spite of his best attempts otherwise, he can't ignore. His old love, Mia Dalianis, has left him a voicemail message begging him to come back, if not for her, then for the daughter Jesse never knew he had. Jesse needs to go back. He's been running for a long time — from relationships, friendships, everything he is afraid of and feels guilty over. He realizes that the nightmares will never stop until he goes to Thrall. With help from Nadia Richards and some old surviving friends from Thrall, Jesse intends to find his daughter or die trying. He goes looking for redemption, but what he discovers about his old hometown may destroy him and everyone he's ever cared about.Black Voltage Series #7
The Warm Glow of Happy Homes
Andersen Prunty - 2012
The theme: Mexico Frat Funland. There are going to be khaki cargo shorts, red cups, even a pinata. Maybe sombreros. Team Klaus will be there to DJ the event. But it won't be without its challenges. People are canceling left and right. No one seems to be acting the way they should and space birds are ripping the sky apart. What is intended to be the social event of the summer totters on the brink of becoming a violent nightmare.