Book picks similar to
Things You Need by Kevin Lucia
horror
short-stories
fantasy
short-story-collections
The October Country
Ray Bradbury - 1955
Both sides of Bradbury's vaunted childhood nostalgia are also on display, in the celebratory "Uncle Einar," and haunting "The Lake," the latter a fine elegy to childhood loss. This edition features a new introduction by Bradbury, an invaluable essay on writing, wherein the author tells of his "Theater of Morning Voices," and, by inference, encourages you to listen to the same murmurings in yourself. And has any writer anywhere ever made such good use of exclamation marks!? (Illustrated by Joe Mugnaini.)Contents:·
The Dwarf
· ss Fantastic Jan/Feb ’54 ·
The Next in Line
· nv Dark Carnival, Arkham House: Sauk City, WI, 1947 ·
The Watchful Poker Chip of H. Matisse
· ss Beyond Fantasy Fiction Mar ’54 · Skeleton · ss Weird Tales Sep ’45 ·
The Jar
· ss Weird Tales Nov ’44 ·
The Lake
· ss Weird Tales May ’44 ·
The Emissary
· ss Dark Carnival, Arkham House: Sauk City, WI, 1947 · Touched with Fire [“Shopping for Death”] · ss Maclean’s Jun 1 ’54 ·
The Small Assassin
· ss Dime Mystery Magazine Nov ’46 ·
The Crowd
· ss Weird Tales May ’43 ·
Jack-in-the-Box
· ss Dark Carnival, Arkham House: Sauk City, WI, 1947 ·
The Scythe
· ss Weird Tales Jul ’43 ·
Uncle Einar
· ss Dark Carnival, Arkham House: Sauk City, WI, 1947 ·
The Wind
· ss Weird Tales Mar ’43 ·
The Man Upstairs
· ss Harper’s Mar ’47 ·
There Was an Old Woman
· ss Weird Tales Jul ’44 ·
The Cistern
· ss Mademoiselle May ’47 · Homecoming · ss Mademoiselle Oct ’46 ·
The Wonderful Death of Dudley Stone
· ss Charm Jul ’54
The Butterfly Tattoo
M.D. Thomas - 2020
Jon, guilt-ridden because he forgot to make sure his son had buckled up, will do anything to save his relationship with his wife. Bartender Elle doesn’t believe in guilt, even as it accelerates her descent into alcoholism. Narcotics officer Harvey has been stealing seized drug money for months to pay off his grandparent’s debt, unaware his superiors are onto him. Their struggles morph from difficult to life-threatening when Lee’s spirit finds each of them.They all think they know what Lee’s spirit is after. They’re all wrong. Drawn ever-closer together, their mistakes and misdeeds accumulate until Lee’s spirit latches onto one of them, and if they can’t figure out the truth in time, everybody they care about might die.
Bitter Chills
Nick HarperMarcus Hawke - 2021
Durrant, Roxie Voorhees, Spencer Hamilton, Carla Eliot, Cass Oakley, Christopher Badcock, Carmilla, Joe Clements, Marcus Hawke and Patrick Whitehurst.In this anthology, you'll find incredible stories from some of the freshest faces in horror: in 'My White Star', a bittersweet love story is told through the lens of a chilling spectral haunting; in 'The Violent Snow', a strange artefact summons more from the blizzard than bargained for; in 'Everyone to the Table', sickening wishes come true...Settle in for a cold one. These stories are hard to swallow...
Stranger Danger (I am Legion)
Michaelbrent Collings - 2020
he knows you’re dying to learn.Legion is a teacher. An avenging angel. A murderer.A madman.Raised in the underground hideout of an insane father, he searches for those who keep secrets and sins. Then he teaches them how to leave those mistakes behind. Even if it means killing them to do it.Because sometimes murder is the cost of a proper education.That's why, when he comes to a neighborhood in the grips of a vicious gang war, he knows the time has come to teach.Soon Legion - and his imaginary brothers, Water and Fire - are caught in the middle of a vicious fight for control of the Downs, the worst part of a city on the verge of anarchy.Legion is facing enemies on all sides. Hundreds of men will stop at nothing to capture or kill him.Legion will teach the lessons. And the students will never forget, no matter how long - or short - their lives may be.The students are ready.And the teacher will never stop.
Wrath Child
Erik Henry Vick - 2020
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?
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
The Lake
Tananarive Due - 2011
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.
Don't Scream 2: 30 More Tales to Terrify
Blair Daniels - 2019
A sequel to a #1 bestselling horror anthology Don't Scream, featuring hideous doppelgangers, terrifying apps, lurking monsters, and more. Read... if you dare.
Every House is Haunted
Ian Rogers - 2012
The landscape of death becomes the new frontier for scientific exploration. With remarkable deftness, Rogers draws together the disturbing and the diverting in twenty-two showcase stories that will guide you through terrain at once familiar and startlingly fresh.
Nightingale House
Steve Frech - 2017
After months of grief, this will be the place where they start their life as a family of two.But something is wrong—Daniel can’t settle. There’s an odd, cold feeling in the master bedroom, and a mysterious dripping noise that seems to move from room to room. Whispers of I can’t sleep echo through the corridors, long into the night.And then Daniel uncovers the chilling story of the family who lived in the house years before, of betrayal, tragedy, and murder. Could the Nightingale House be not the home Daniel dreamed of for his daughter—but a place that will bring their worst nightmares to life?
Rage Against the Night
Shane Jiraiya CummingsStephen King - 2011
These brave men and women stand up to the darkness, stare it right in the eye, and give it the finger. These are the stories of those who rage against the night, stories of triumph, sacrifice, and bravery in the face of overwhelming evil. Rage Against the Night features the megastars of dark fantasy and horror—including Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, Peter Straub, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, F. Paul Wilson, Jonathan Maberry, Scott Nicholson, Nancy Holder, Sarah Langan, and many, many more.
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances
Neil Gaiman - 2015
Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well "Black Dog," a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In "Adventure Story"--a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane--Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience "A Calendar of Tales" are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year--stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother's Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale "The Case of Death and Honey". And "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we're all alone in the darkness.A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.
The Children in the Lake: A Story You Will Never Forget
Mark Edward Hall - 2019
Nearly a century later there are those who still report seeing the children swimming beneath the surface like elusive dolphins. After losing her husband in a violent car crash, Rachel King and her two young sons venture to Arrowhead Lake to heal. When Rachel discovers that Great Woods Timber is planning to clear-cut this beautiful wilderness she enlists the help of Lilly Bowman and her mysterious father, chief and shaman of the Wabanaki nation. But dark events have been set in motion and Arrowhead Lake is under siege by a sinister force of mercenaries. When Chief Neptune vanishes, Rachel and Lilly call on Seth Ferguson, the local deputy sheriff for help. Together they discover an astonishing truth; a shadowy cabal that will stop at nothing to obtain the secret of Arrowhead Lake, a secret that if unearthed could have far-reaching consequences. When one of Rachel’s sons vanishes in the Lake, she and Lilly embark on a harrowing journey to find him. What they discover is a mind boggling truth that will change their lives forever. *
Gilchrist
Christian Galacar - 2017
. . black as it may be.Two years after losing their infant son to a tragic accident, Peter Martell, a novelist with a peculiar knack for finding lost things, and his wife, Sylvia, are devastated to learn they may no longer be able to have children. In need of a fresh start, and compelled by strange dreams, the couple decide to rent a lake house in the idyllic town of Gilchrist, Massachusetts, a place where bad things might just happen for a reason. As bizarre events begin to unfold around them—a chance encounter with a gifted six-year-old boy, a series of violent deaths, and repeated sightings of a strange creature with a terrifying nature—Peter and Sylvia find themselves drawn into the chaos and soon discover that coming to Gilchrist may not have been their decision at all.Set against a small New England town in the summer of 1966, Gilchrist is a sinister tale about the haunting origins of violence, evil, and the undying power of memory.
The Nightmare Room
Chris Sorensen - 2018
New York audiobook narrator Peter Larson and his wife Hannah head to his hometown of Maple City to help Peter's ailing father and to put a recent tragedy behind them. Though the small, Midwestern town seems the idyllic place to start afresh, Peter and Hannah will soon learn that evil currents flow beneath its surface. They move into an old farmhouse on the outskirts of town—a house purchased by Peter's father at auction and kept secret until now—and start to settle into their new life. But as Peter sets up his recording studio in a small basement room, disturbing things begin to occur—mysterious voices haunt audio tracks, malevolent shadows creep about the house. And when an insidious presence emerges from the woodwork, Peter must face old demons in order to save his family and himself.