~Violent~ College sophomore Evan Grant doesn’t realize what he’s getting into when he asks the beautiful redhead, Karina Walsh out on a simple date. The date ends well but the night does not. A frightening encounter with an otherworldly creature leaves him nowhere to go but to Karina and her family for help. But will they help him… or destroy him for knowing too much of a world he never should have seen? ~The Blood Pool~ When vicious killings of humans begin to show up in a small town, Alec Kilton – Chief Enforcer of the Nave, the ruling authority of vampires, is sent to investigate it and stop it. During the course of his investigation, he comes across a deadly game enacted by four young – and untrained – vampires. They call their game, the Blood Pool. In this game, they select a female human’s name from a hat, and then each of the four have an opportunity to woo her. Whoever wins, gets to enjoy her before the other three come and destroy her. While out on his mission, Alec meets a stunning redhead, Molly O’Connell, who he finds irresistible on so many levels. During the course of their game, Molly’s name is deposited into the hat and selected to become their next target in the Blood Pool. Will Alec be able to understand their game in time to save his lovely redhead? Or will those who invented the game destroy her first? Some stories contain adult language and adult situations. Appropriate for readers 17 and older.

    Sent to a parish in England, he makes a decision which has consequences as momentous as his initial mistake. A poignant story of how yielding to impulse can be as devastating as leaving things alone…

    True Stories. The woods can be tranquil and enchanting, yet there are moments when everything goes quiet and time seems to stop, and the hairs on the back of your neck start to stand up, and you could swear there’s something out there in the trees, just watching you. Suddenly everything goes quiet and that’s when the fear sets in as a strange buzzing seems to fill your ears, and your eyes are searching everywhere for a hidden predator. A powerful, menacing and sinister force is nearby and you can sense the imminent danger. Then it shows itself. And that’s when the panic sets in.... Contents include; The Predator Effect; The Stick Men; Shifters; Something on two legs; Things with Wings; A new Sentient Intelligence. Excerpts; 'Somehow 'something' had got past me without being seen. Then suddenly the quiet was filled with a blood-curdling shriek; it was the most primal of cries I'd ever heard. It seemed human, animal, and spirit; and completely evil. It was hard to pin down; it was ethereal. I tried to shrink to invisibility...' 'She sent a text saying, "Something is wrong here. The woods just went dead silent...its odd." She thought it was possible a panther or coyote was approaching. As her eyes roamed the area, she suddenly noticed a strange visual effect that seemed to be moving...' 'The film showed a mysterious black mass of no definite shape. It was moving. It was crawling fast. It moved with speed, faster than any animal.' 'The entity was blurry and any features could not be clearly seen, as though it were masking its true form.' "At first it was jet black. He said that it was walking in a peculiar way; that it made long exaggerated strides..." 'They said that it seemed to be moving and that it was in one spot one moment and then instantaneously it would appear in a different spot.' "Terrible sounds were coming out of the forest. I couldn't compare them to anything I've heard before." "It took off running, but not like any human or any animal. It ran with its whole body bending and contorting, extremely fast." 'The moon lit up the figure and she could see that it had the shape of a man, at least seven feet tall, but..." PREDATORS IN THE WOODS...True Stories. Stephenyoungauthor@hotmail.com facebook: Steph Young (Author)

    Return to the ruined pier at the farthest, darkest edge of the Internet and accompany Mike Bennett back into the Hall of Mirrors.This time around we have hell and damnation in 'Salvation'; a petty criminal in a tight spot in 'Give Me a Hundred'; something in the woods in 'The Green Man'; a revolting comedy featuring two men and a dog in 'Dessert'; a cockroach problem in 'The Exterminators; humiliation and horror in 'Wet Velvet'; and a ship bound for bloodshed in 'Night Crossing'.So, dust off your ticket stub and roll up once again for Hall of Mirrors Volume 2 – More Tales of Horror and the Grotesque.

    King. Do not let the lack of light stop you from discovering more adventures and stories that will keep you up at night and ignite the imagination. There is no place to hide in, THE DARKNESS!

    Edward McNally: Captain Wil has command of his own ship, the respect of his crew, and his wife is expecting their first child. But at sea, the winds always become calm just before the storm breaks.The Smell of Death by Tara West: Maggie's unusual powers bring new threats to her already troubled childhood.Safe by Emma Jameson: In Victorian London, a grave robber makes a nice living off the dead, until he opens the wrong crypt.Soulfully Sweet by Shéa MacLeod: As if helping the living isn’t enough of a pain in her divine hindquarters, Branwen (former goddess of love and beauty) is stuck helping the dead on All Hallow’s Eve.May I Go Play? by Heather Marie Adkins: Micah inherits a southern mansion where ancestors long dead relive their violent deaths. And now, they want company...Blehdward, the Vampire who Couldn't Sparkle by Pj Jones: Blehdward desperately wants to fit in with the cool vamps. If only he could learn how to sparkle.Franscesca by Alan Nayes: Break a promise to a feiticeira and you will live to regret it.Soul Eaters by R.G. Porter: Kaitlyn never believed in the existence of other worlds. Now she's in the middle of one where humans aren't the hunters but the hunted.The Eclective is a group of authors dedicated to the premise that The Story is The Thing, and classifications of genre are mostly a matter for bookshelves. While the following stories share a "Haunting" theme, they might variously be filed as Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy, YA, etc., or anything else. Our idea is that the story itself is more important than whatever label somebody feels like giving it, and by bringing our work together in collections like this one, we hope readers may find a story they might like. Even if it is not in "their" genre.

    in a fancy wagon provided by a wealthy father. Then one of them was adopted by a kyree, and then a town asked for help with a problem that seemed to be either demons or ghosts. This story first appeared in Moving Targets and Other Tales of Valdemar in 2008.

    Think of what you’ve just read.” Lovecraftian stories are the bread and butter of the true horror fan. During his lifetime, Lovecraft himself encouraged other writers to develop stories in the vein we now call Lovecraftian: horror, based around the idea that Earth had been colonized by malign aliens in the remote past, long before mankind arose and became civilized, who eventually became worshipped and feared as evil Gods by their human servitors. Eventually these aliens had been “banished” to another dimensional limbo by a benign Elder Race, but might one day return to reclaim the Earth “when the stars are right.” That deep seated unease threads through this collection of Richard. A Lupoff's short stories that seem to share a common universe. Praise for Richard A. Lupoff: "Lupoff writes with intelligence, humour, wisdom, and a zest for life." - Joe Gorges, author of Hammett. Richard A. Lupoff began his writing career as a print and broadcast journalist while attending university. After earning his degree he served twice in the United States Army, first as an enlisted man, then as an officer. Following military service he worked for twelve years in the computer industry, while also serving as a guest lecturer at universities including the University of California (Berkeley) and Stanford University. As author and editor he has written more than fifty volumes, ranging from science fiction, mystery, fantasy, horror, and mainstream fiction to the evolution of cartooning and comics. He is a past winner of the Hugo Award, and a finalist for the Nebula and Oscar Awards. He has achieved the rare distinction of being represented in “Best of the Year” anthologies in three fields: science fiction, mystery, and horror.

    This book is Rated R: Adults Only. Some may find the themes addressed disturbing. Content includes child abuse, rape, suicide, murder and violence.This dark fiction collection contains 12 short stories:Skeleton in the Closet and Childlike Bride - What happens to the vulnerable when they are taken advantage of then abandoned?A Friend – A lonely ghost bears witness to a Halloween prank that ends in tragedy.Frozen and Frozen in Reverse – Parallel stories detailing an attack in the words of the victim and then the rapist.Ready or Not – What’s your idea of hell?Justice – The lengths the heartbroken will go to for justice... or revenge.Forever Young – Sometimes regrets come too late.Peace, Deals, A Great Day, A Little Girl in my Room – Four offerings of the supernatural kind.

    The night of January 5th begins; the air seems heavier, the real and the imaginary is blurred. However, what is really happening?Five teenagers head for a summer vacation to Cabo Rojo and they will be confronted with a presence more terrifying than death itself...a hideously and powerful luminescence that terrorizes and kills everything in its way.These five friends will face a storm of epic proportions, an old legend, a mysterious red light, and as if that were not enough, they must do it in a wood cabin away from any connection with civilization.A threat that looms over reality in a terrifying nightmare.All condiments for an exciting novel of horror and mystery that you will cannot stop reading.

    WALPUSKI’S TYPEWRITER by Frank Darabont They say that genius is ten percent inspiration and ninety percent perspiration. For Howard Walpuski, it’s an IBM Selectric II typewriter, a nefarious secret, and a whole lot of blood. THE BOY by Bentley Little Christine has found the perfect neighborhood to raise her family: a quaint, quiet, friendly place where everyone gets along. Everyone, that is, except for the boy. TUMOR by Benjamin Percy He dodged death in the nick of time when the golf ball-sized tumor was surgically removed from his head. But the tumor isn’t done with him. TWISTED AND GNARLED by Billie Sue Mosiman He’s smart. Smarter than anyone knows. No one has linked him to the string of bodies he’s left up and down the California coast. Only one woman has ever come close—and she’s no match for his intellect. THE PALAVER by Kealan Patrick Burke It’s time for Oscar Dennihy to close his failing barber shop and retire—until a mysterious customer tells him a truly hair-raising tale . . . and gives Oscar a wonderful and terrible new purpose. INDIA BLUE by Glen Hirshberg Like most Americans, Enrico never gave much thought to the sport of cricket. Not until America’s Rockin’ Professional Cricket game—a spectacle that will live forever in his most horrible nightmares. Praise for the Dark Screams series “A wicked treat [featuring] . . . some of the genre’s best.”—Hellnotes, on Volume One “Five fun-to-read stories by top-notch horror scribes. How can you lose? The answer: you can’t.”—Atomic Fangirl, on Volume Two “If you have not tried the series yet, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of any (or all) of the books for yourself.”—Examiner.com, on Volume Three “Fans of horror of every variety will find something to love in these pages.”—LitReactor, on Volume Four “[Volume Five] runs the gamut from throwback horror to lyrical and heartbreaking tales.”—Publishers Weekly

    But when a charred man in a lab coat shows up, the monthly HOA meeting takes a much darker turn.Because the night outside their tiny community center is suddenly full of creatures from the depths of a nightmare. Deformed monsters that seem to come from strange shimmering lights in the woods.Mitch and his band of feuding neighbors must face down this horde if they want to survive...that is, if they can keep from killing one another first.

    

    Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi,” William Faulkner’s “A Rose for Emily,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and James Thurber’s “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,” have been long regarded as literary classics, while others, such as Frank Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger?” and Ellis Parker Butler’s “Pigs Is Pigs,” are lesser known but well worth discovering.The carefully selected stories, each preceded by an illuminating headnote, powerfully illustrate the varied richness of our national literature and history. This beautifully packaged volume, containing the unforgettable classic short stories that evoke our shared American tradition and national identity, makes the perfect gift for the short story aficionado and novice alike.

    This collection runs the gamut of styles, including everything from literary horror to creepypasta. Ania Ahlborn, Kealan Patrick Burke, Michael Wehunt, Mercedes Yardley, and Gemma Files are widely considered some of the best authors working in dark fiction right now. Also included are stories from NoSleep Podcast legends: Gemma Amor, JD McGregor, and Michael Whitehouse. OTHER VOICES, OTHER TOMBS is a must-read for the Summer and Fall of 2019!