Book picks similar to
Sow by Tim Curran


horror
novellas
darkfuse
witches

Come Closer


Sara Gran - 2003
    A memo to her boss that's replaced by obscene insults. Amanda—a successful architect in a happy marriage—finds her life going off kilter by degrees. She starts smoking again, and one night for no reason, without even the knowledge that she's doing it, she burns her husband with a cigarette. At night she dreams of a beautiful woman with pointed teeth on the shore of a blood-red sea.The new voice in Amanda's head, the one that tells her to steal things and talk to strange men in bars, is strange and frightening, and Amanda struggles to wrest back control of her life. Is she possessed by a demon, or is she simply insane? Described as “a new kind of psychological thriller” by George Pelecanos and “this year's scariest novel” by Time Out New York, Come Closer has become a modern classic “with a kick that will stay with the reader for days afterward” (The Dallas Morning News).

Still Bleeding


Stephen Leather - 2012
    A young girl is bleeding from her hands and feet and claims to be talking to the Virgin Mary. But Nightingale soon realises that all is not as it seems - and the girl is in mortal danger. Still Bleeding is about 14,000 words, about forty pages, perfect if you have half an hour to spare. Stephen Leather is one of the UK's most successful thriller writers, an ebook and Sunday Times bestseller and author of the critically acclaimed Dan “Spider’ Shepherd series and the Jack Nightingale supernatural detective novels. Before becoming a novelist he was a journalist for more than ten years on newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Mirror, the Glasgow Herald, the Daily Mail and the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong. He is one of the country’s most successful ebook authors and his ebooks have topped the Amazon Kindle charts in the UK and the US. In 2011 alone he sold more than 500,000 eBooks and was voted by The Bookseller magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the UK publishing world. Born in Manchester, he began writing full time in 1992. His bestsellers have been translated into fifteen languages. He has also written for television shows such as London's Burning, The Knock and the BBC's Murder in Mind series and two of his books, The Stretch and The Bombmaker, were filmed for TV. You can find out more from his website www.stephenleather.com and you can follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/stephenleather

Nightmare Man


Alan Ryker - 2013
    He spends his days working a job he hates. He spends his nights tormented by night terrors.He once had goals and dreams. Now he's just trying to get by.Unfortunately for Jessie and his family, while he's given up on his dreams, his nightmares haven't given up on him. And right now one is crossing over into the waking world.

From Twisted Roots


S.H. Cooper - 2018
    My sister was not most little girls.Inside you'll experience intimate first hand accounts of modern day murders, kidnappings, and violent revenge. Other stories are heart-warming with whimsical mysteries, gothic fairy tales, and supernatural monstrosities.

The Painted Darkness


Brian James Freeman - 2010
    Eventually Henry's mind blocked out the bad memories, but he continued to draw, often at night by the light of the moon.Twenty years later, Henry makes his living by painting his disturbing works of art. He loves his wife and his son and life couldn't be better... except there's something not quite right about the old stone farmhouse his family now calls home. There's something strange living in the cramped cellar, in the maze of pipes that feed the ancient steam boiler. A winter storm is brewing and soon Henry will learn the true nature of the monster waiting for him down in the darkness. He will battle this demon and, in the process, he may discover what really happened when he was a child and why, in times of trouble, he thinks: I paint against the darkness. But will Henry learn the truth in time to avoid the terrible fate awaiting him... or will the thing in the cellar get him and his family first? Written as both a meditation on the art of creation and as an examination of the secret fears we all share, The Painted Darkness is a terrifying look at the true cost we pay when we run from our grief--and what happens when we're finally forced to confront the monsters we know all too well.

Beyond the Door


Jeffrey Thomas - 2011
    The headless undead, a gruesome flea circus, flesh-eating insects, and a menacing house that won’t stay put. These are just some of the tales that will reveal as much about the teller as they do the mysteries behind that frayed curtain we call reality.BEYOND THE DOOR is a story about how we connect with one another through storytelling—and tantalize ourselves with the unknown.

Lilith


Toby Tate - 2012
    Navy’s newest state-of-the-art super carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, something supernatural and as ancient as time itself. And it’s taking over the crew one by one.Reporter Hunter Singleton and his wife Lisa, guests invited aboard to witness a routine training mission off the coast of North Carolina, soon learn that the CIA is onboard as well, and that some of the ship’s crew are acting irrationally, even violently. When an unexpected monster hurricane slams New York, the ship rushes to assist in the aftermath, and Hunter, Lisa and the crew are faced with the terrifying realization that whatever has come aboard the Ford must be stopped before it is set free on the streets of Manhattan.But how do they fight something beyond human comprehension? How do they kill something that may not even be alive?The clock is ticking…and Time itself is running out.

Goddess of Filth


V. Castro - 2021
    But we weren’t witches. We were five Chicanas living in San Antonio, Texas, one year out of high school.” One hot summer night, best friends Lourdes, Fernanda, Ana, Perla, and Pauline hold a séance. It’s all fun and games at first, but their tipsy laughter turns to terror when the flames burn straight through their prayer candles and Fernanda starts crawling toward her friends and chanting in Nahuatl, the language of their Aztec ancestors. Over the next few weeks, shy, modest Fernanda starts acting strangely—smearing herself in black makeup, shredding her hands on rose thorns, sucking sin out of the mouths of the guilty. The local priest is convinced it's a demon, but Lourdes begins to suspect it’s something else—something far more ancient and powerful. As Father Moreno's obsession with Fernanda grows, Lourdes enlists the help of her “bruja Craft crew” and a professor, Dr. Camacho, to understand what is happening to her friend in this unholy tale of possession-gone-right.

In Absentia


Ambrose Ibsen - 2015
    It's a peculiar home, rather large and in need of some renovations. The price is right however, and after a tour, they snap the house up without hesitation.The man who sells them the house has one last detail to share before they sign on the dotted line. The previous owners of the home disappeared under mysterious circumstances nearly eight years ago and have recently been declared dead in absentia. Unperturbed by this fact, Kim and Julian set about making the home their own.It quickly becomes clear that the two of them are not alone there, however.

Woom


Duncan Ralston - 2016
     "I believe pain lingers," Angel said. "Do I believe in spirits? In the supernatural? Probably not."The Lonely Motel holds many dark secrets... and Room 6 just might possess the worst of them all.Angel knows all about pain. His mother died in this room. He's researched its history. Today he's come back to end it, no matter the cost, once and for all.Shyla, a plus-sized prostitute, thinks the stories Angel tells her can't be true. Secrets so vile, you won't want to let them inside you.But the Lonely Motel doesn't forget. It doesn't forgive. And it always claims its victim.

Loss


Glen R. Krisch - 2012
    Though her soul mate is gone, her memories of Paul linger as she tries to recover at their secluded wooded estate. Ostracized from Paul's family--the only family she has really known--Angie's life spirals down a dark path of alcohol and pills. In the blur of constant self-medication, Angie is in no position to know what is happening to her. Is Paul haunting her? Has she gone mad? Or is there another possibility, something far worse?

Final Girls


Mira Grant - 2017
    Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they’ve been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But…can real change come so easily?Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She’s determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther’s not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other’s only hope of survival.

Corrosion


Jon Bassoff - 2013
    Amidst a firestorm of violence, betrayal and horror, their three worlds will eventually collide in an old mining shack buried deep in the mountains. CORROSION, the shattering debut novel by Jon Bassoff, is equal parts Jim Thompson, Flannery O'Connor and William Faulkner, and an unforgettable journey into the underbelly of crime and passion. Drawn from the darkest corners of the human experience, it is sure to haunt readers for years to come.

The Cellar


Richard Laymon - 1980
    Armed with video camcorders, these poor souls enter the forbidden house, never to return. The deeper they go into the house, the darker their nightmares become. Don't even think about going into the cellar.

Purity


Douglas Clegg - 2000
    The Dark Coming of Age series books do not need to be read in any specific order -- they are stand-alones built around a theme of "dark coming of age."Owen Crites has grown up in the shadow of the Montgomery summer estate and has always been in love with beautiful Jenna Montgomery, who arrives each summer to her family's summer home on Outerbridge Island, just off the New England coast. Now, both of them teenagers, Owen -- the gardener's son -- begins to understand that Jenna is meant for a different life in adulthood than he's destined for -- and he knows that he must somehow keep her with him on the island until she no longer wants to leave.Enter handsome and wealthy Jimmy McTeague, the young tennis star from Manhattan, heir to a sporting goods fortune. Jimmy's also come to spend the summer with the Montgomery family. To Owen, this intruder is a rival for Jenna's love, but he soon discovers that Jimmy holds in a deep secret that could destroy him. Soon, a triangle of love, hate, and the darkest of human impulses emerges.