Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision—veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?Blake Crouch’s Summer Frost is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

    They find shelter at Motel Ace, located in Middle-of-Nowhere, Nevada. They’re welcomed by a quiet clerk and they meet a cast of interesting travelers. They expect a quiet, romantic night at a dingy motel as they wait for the mechanic. Then they hear the screaming in the other rooms. Then they see the clowns outside. And those violent, deformed clowns want to come into their room to play… In the blink of an eye, a peaceful night transforms into a battle for survival and a motel becomes a bloody battleground. Jon Athan, the author of Cannibal Jungle and The Law of Retaliation, returns to his roots with this gruesome, suspenseful slasher novel inspired by the 2016 clown sightings. A ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign can’t keep these clowns away! WARNING: This novel contains graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

    She’s sixteen years old, and the daughter of a wealthy Hollywood producer. She’s the perfect victim.Now, Katy and her best friend Jill must use their wits and cunning in a desperate battle for survival against four dangerous criminals. As events spiral out of control, will their friendship be enough to survive the ensuing bloodbath?The Perfect Victim is the latest violent thriller from David Sodergren, author of The Forgotten Island and Maggie’s Grave.

    After spending a tense night lost in the woods, the four teenagers stumble into a mysterious water park that appears to be completely empty.At first, they are thrilled to have the rides all to themselves, at least until one of them disappears. Soon they discover that they are trapped in the park, and a dark figure is stalking them from the shadows, picking them off one by one. Once night falls, Cyndi will have to fight to escape the park, a masked maniac, and a living nightmare.Kill River is a wild water park ride filled with blood, gore, and '80s nostalgia. Slasher fans rejoice, old-school horror is back!

    Psyches fractured, each child has survived as best they could—wrapped in fantasy, the comfort of amnesia, or the silence of isolation When those evils intrude on their lives a second time, it sets a chain of events in action that can only end in destruction. But who will be destroyed, the children or the ancient evils that plague the town?Start reading Demon King today and find out!

    But during the past eight years, he's transformed into somebody he no longer knows—a weak, pitiful, and passionless office drone.Barely hanging onto the last thread of his self-respect, he returns home one night to discover Hell has truly crossed its threshold.And Hell has lessons to teach him through what fragments remain.Slivers of dark light.Knowledge in blood.Forgiveness, clarity and redemption in commitment.

    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.

    There's something horrible in that storm over the ocean. What does "feed the pig" mean? What are those ropes in the sky? Why is Dad acting so funny? In these dark tales you will experience every type of horror imaginable. It is so gruesome, frightening, and demented that only the bravest of readers will make it through these pages.

     Every action has a consequence and this is the aftermath. My name is Kara Petersen. I am one of life’s survivors, but my life has not been easy. I am the product of a dysfunctional, broken home and parents who don’t care. Fallen from grace, abandoned and betrayed, I am now alone. Then there was hope. A boy, a saviour. He saved me, empowered me, and gave me the strength and courage to leave. To live. His actions will not be in vain. I will do whatever it takes to survive. My name is Sloan Foster. I am one of life’s failures, but my life has not been fair. I am the product of a loving home, a mother and father who adored each other, until death paved the way for the devil. Trapped inside a world with a gilded façade, I have always felt alone. Then there was hope. A girl, an angel, a beacon of pure light in the dark. She subconsciously called to me, reached deep into my soul, unknowingly claiming a part of myself I had let die years ago. I promised I would do whatever it took to be her protector. My promises were unachievable and futile. I will do whatever it takes to find her again. Please note this is a 36,000 word novella, chronicling the lives of Kara and Sloan and the ‘missing’ eight years. It is not a continuation of the present story, and should be read after Fractured and Tormented.

    A chainsaw-wielding Evil Dead fan defends herself against a trio of undead intruders. A bride-to-be comes to wish that the door between the physical and spiritual worlds had stayed shut on All Hallows' Eve. A lone passenger on a midnight train finds that the engineer has rerouted them toward a past she'd prefer to forget. A mother abandons a life she no longer recognizes as her own to walk up a mysterious staircase in the woods. In her debut collection, Christa Carmen combines horror, charm, humor, and social critique to shape thirteen haunting, harrowing narratives of women struggling with both otherworldly and real-world problems. From grief, substance abuse, and mental health disorders, to a post-apocalyptic exodus, a seemingly sinister babysitter with unusual motivations, and a group of pesky ex-boyfriends who won't stay dead, Something Borrowed, Something Blood-Soaked is a compelling exploration of horrors both supernatural and psychological, and an undeniable affirmation of Carmen's flair for short fiction.

    They call him the October Boy, or Ol' Hacksaw Face, or Sawtooth Jack. Whatever the name, everybody in this small Midwestern town knows who he is. How he rises from the cornfields every Halloween, a butcher knife in his hand, and makes his way toward town, where gangs of teenage boys eagerly await their chance to confront the legendary nightmare. Both the hunter and the hunted, the October Boy is the prize in an annual rite of life and death.Pete McCormick knows that killing the October Boy is his one chance to escape a dead-end future in this one-horse town. He's willing to risk everything, including his life, to be a winner for once. But before the night is over, Pete will look into the saw-toothed face of horror - and discover the terrifying true secret of the October Boy...

    Suddenly the words DON'T LOOK INSIDE scratch furiously into the leather, as if carved by an invisible hand. Lizzie jolts, terrified. She intends to heed the warning. No way in hell is she opening the book now.But her curiosity gets the better of her. She feels compelled to look inside. Her hands move with a will of their own, opening the book. Her heart hammers in her chest as she reads the first line. No. She reels in horror. What have I done? She should have obeyed the warning. She never should have looked inside. But now it's too late, because the book is about to exact a hideous punishment...Spike Black's Don't Look Inside is an unrelenting, fast-paced supernatural horror novel. Written in an arresting and irresistible style, it's a high concept, must-read ghost story that will haunt you long after its uncompromising and spectacular conclusion.

    It's not a place many would choose to live - yet the Governor of Dartmoor Prison did just that. When Herbert Russell retired, he bought All Hallow's Hall - a rambling Tudor mansion on the edge of the moor, and lived there all his life.Now he's dead, and his estranged family are set to inherit his estate. But when the dead man's family come to stay, the atmosphere of the moors seems to drift into every room. Floorboards creak, secret passageways echo, and wind whistles in the house's famous priest hole. And then, on the morning the family decide to leave All Hallow's Hall once and for all, their young son Timmy goes missing.

    P. Lovecraft. It forms part of the Cthulhu Mythos, using its motif of a malign undersea civilization. It references several shared elements of the Mythos, including place-names, mythical creatures and invocations.

    Tragedy has dogged his life, and he sees the small friendly place as a second chance. But buried deep below the friendly smiles and quaint painted houses is an old abandoned mine that holds a legend of an ancient and terrible god.In the mine’s labyrinthine depths, something has been growing, something from a time of myth when ancient gods strode the Earth and mankind hadn’t even stood on two legs.But when the earth shakes and the groundwater rises, it reaches out and those it touches begin to deform and reshape into the image of their god. Their one goal—to feed their ancient master deep below the ground.Mitch Taylor soon finds himself fighting again, this time for the town, the ones he loves, and for his life.The Seed of Evil is a horrifying legend of an ancient god that turned out to be real.