You have been warned!The stories in this book are scary. Real scary! After reading these horrible tales and staring at the creepy drawings, don’t complain that you couldn’t sleep or they started haunting your dreams—we warned you!If you love ghosts and monsters and enjoy getting goosebumps, this spine-chilling book is for you! Inside, you will find:A creature that lives in the dark and feeds on those who do not pay attentionA monster created by the descendant of Doctor FrankensteinA haunted house at HalloweenA big cat that snacks on schoolteachersA boy who is afraid of what will come down the chimney at ChristmasA school with very strange pupilsA decidedly odd zombie costumeA puzzle set by a ghostAnd more!Compiled by award-winning horror editor Stephen Jones and featuring the authors Ramsey Campbell, R. Chetwynd-Hayes, Neil Gaiman, Charles L. Grant, Stephen King, Lisa Morton, Lynda E. Rucker, Robert Shearman, Michael Marshall Smith, and Manly Wade Wellman, this book is filled with nightmarish illustrations by acclaimed artist Randy Broecker.So, whether you’re reading this book alone or with friends, get ready to be afraid. Very afraid!

    By a stagnant lagoon, as his love lies dying, Arsat tells the story of their meeting and the price he had to pay to be with her.

    A mystery thriller, the tale of a neurotic invalid, whose only contact with the outside world is her phone. Over this, one night, because of a crossed wire, she hears plans for a murder, which turns out to be her own. Her frantic efforts to enlist help through the only means at her disposal, her growing terror and realization of the truth, and the hints about her own life and personality she lets drop, make this a full character portrait not only of herself but of the unseen murderer, whose identity and motivations are surmised but never revealed. A tour de force of acting for the female star, who commands the stage throughout, this play also picks up through the many phone calls, personality vignettes of the outside world, including gangsters, phone operators, a police sergeant, etc., each of which is distinct and of vital importance to the storyline. The play has been adapted by the author for an easy stage presentation, which should be as telling as the original radio version; although both have been made available in the present printing (3 men, 4 women, extras, voices, etc.)THE HITCH-HIKER. A ghost thriller, this story has the quality of drawing as it does on the local color and place-names of the United States. It is the tale of Ronald Adams, an average motorist, who sets out to drive from Brooklyn to California, and early on his journey encounters a strange and inexplicable hitch-hiker. His efforts to explain, then avoid, and finally destroy the constantly appearing figure along the highway carry him through several episodes and many states until the adventure finally culminates in New Mexico. The play, like good ghost stories, hovers between reality and unreality. Its mood of deepening horror makes it a fine display piece for a young male actor, and its dashes of local color, its episodic bits of human reality give opportunities for strong acting among the supporting players, (4 men, 8 women, extras, voices, etc.)

    Not a real, workable device. Except for the way it could work under a man's mental skin....

    Ella Masse oversees the creation and release of RC-714, a gene that unlocks millions of years of adaptation and evolution, allowing crops to use long dormant junk DNA to rapidly adapt to any environment. The world’s food supply grows aggressively, occupying every inch of earth, no matter how inhospitable. World hunger is averted. Humanity flourishes. RC-714 is digested, absorbed and passed on.The Change affects small, fast breeding mammals first. They multiply with the same aggressive speed as the ExoGen plants, but a new, insatiable hunger drives them to violence. War between species breaks out. And then RC-714 reaches humanity, along with every other large creature on the planet. Civilization implodes, as every living thing that consumed the ExoGen crops begins to adapt to a world full of predators, accessing genes dating back to the beginning of life itself.Peter Crane and his son Jakob survive the Change, living in their family farmhouse and eating non-ExoGen food from a biodome, one of many provided by Ella Masse, who discovered the ramifications of her breakthrough too late. The pair ekes out a living in a world full of monsters, surviving until Ella shows up on their doorstep with her daughter, pursued by desperate predators and men alike.As the farmhouse falls under attack, Crane learns that the end of humanity, of life on Earth, can still be averted: if Ella Masse and her daughter survive, and if they make it to the other side of the country without being captured...or consumed.Jeremy Robinson merges the science of Michael Crichton with the horror of Stephen King in this fresh take on the post-apocalypse, creating a true worst-case scenario for GMO crops that will have people reading labels before eating their next pepper, tomato or kernel of corn.

    P. Lovecraft. It was written in 1920 and was first published in The Fantasy Fan in June 1934 (Vol. 1, No. 10).The story is told from the first person perspective of an unnamed narrator and details his experiences with a scientist named Crawford Tillinghast. Tillinghast creates an electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected person’s pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality.

    Carcosa was subsequently borrowed by Robert W. Chambers as the setting of his fictional play, The King in Yellow, and features heavily in many of the stories in the book of the same name. These concepts were further expanded upon by H. P. Lovecraft in his Cthulhu Mythos stories.

    His work is credited with turning the Gothic's focus from the external sources of horror to the inward effects of terror, thus helping to create the psychological basis for supernaturalist literature that continues to this day. Inspired by the Dutch painter Godfried Schalcken, 'Schalken the Painter' is a timeless Gothic tale. Many of the earliest occult stories, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive.

    Army is challenging. But navigating the wild west of Texas in the 1830s is even harder.Jake Duncan is a Ranger in the U.S. Army and a grad student struggling with his history class. He’s a regular guy—a former football player who loves beer, takeout, and is on the brink of proposing to his girlfriend, Jenny. One day, he stumbles on a gravestone with his name and correct birth date on it, and his life is changed forever.Before long, he leaves a suburban neighborhood of Austin in his pickup and finds himself stuck—alone—in the year 1836, when Texas was a deserted war zone and the future was uncertain. Jake bonds with an escaped slave, Nate, and together they make their way across the wild terrain, encountering Mexican pilgrims, American pioneers, and Native Americans along the way—some of them hostile. His modern weapons help a bit, as does his 21st-century medical training. He helps deliver a baby, saves malaria patients, and treats battle wounds. He meets a tough-as-nails widow named Kate, and they begin to fall for each other. After weeks in the past, Jake isn’t sure he wants to return to 2020. Kate has captured his heart.Will he make it back to 2020 without Kate? Or will Jake decide to stay in the 1800s?A thrilling story that mixes compelling characters with historical fiction, The Time Traveling Texan is an exciting yet intimate portrait of early Texas history. If you like a good cowboy story, passionate romance, and a strange sci-fi twist, you will love The Time Traveling Texan.Explore Texas history with fresh eyes in Richard C. Pillsbury’s debut novel, available in Kindle and paperback.

    It brings together nineteen of Bisson's finest works for the first time in one volume, among them the darkly comic title story, which garnered the field's highest honors, including the Hugo, Nebula, Theodore Sturgeon, and Locus awards.Contents:Bears Discover Fire (1990)The Two Janets (1990)They're Made Out of Meat (1991)Over Flat Mountain (1990)Press Ann (1991)The Coon Suit (1991)George (1993)Next (1992)Necronauts (1993)Are There Any Questions? (1992)Two Guys from the Future (1992)The Toxic Donut (1993)Canción Autentica de Old Earth (1992)Partial People (1993)Carl's Lawn & Garden (1992)The Message (1993)England Underway (1993)By Permit Only (1993)The Shadow Knows (1993)

    First published in Collier's, May 6, 1950.The story concerns a household in Allendale, California, in the aftermath of a nuclear war.

    The years pass but no one looks any older. One night a doctor tells the story of a young woman who gives birth to a baby in the most horrible way! Evil psychic powers, obsession and the supernatural in the most ordinary, everyday places. A spine-chiller from the master of horror.

    Classic Short Story: ‘The Beggar’ by Anton Chekhov

    From Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the acclaimed Cemetery Dance Publications, Dark Screams: Volume One reaches across genres to take readers beyond the precipice of mortal toil and into the glimmering void of irreality and beyond.  WEEDS by Stephen King When a meteorite lands on his property, Jordy Verrill envisions an easy payday. Unfortunately for Jordy, this is no ordinary rock—and the uncompromising force inside has found its first target.  THE PRICE YOU PAY by Kelley ArmstrongNever pay more than you owe. Sounds like easy advice to follow. But for Kara and her childhood friend Ingrid, some debts can never be repaid . . . especially those tendered in blood.  MAGIC EYES by Bill Pronzini Edward James Tolliver has found a weary sort of asylum among the insane. He knows he’s not one of them—but how can he tell anyone about the invaders without sounding that way?  MURDER IN CHAINS by Simon Clark Imagine awaking to find yourself in an underground vault, chained by the neck to a murderous lunatic, a grunting goliath who seems more animal than man. What would you do to save yourself?  THE WATCHED by Ramsey Campbell Little Jimmy gets a glimpse of the cold truth when he finds out that it’s not always what you see that can get you into trouble; it’s who knows what you see.

    He and many other wealthy nobles, hold a masquerade ball using seven rooms in the abbey, each decorated with a different color. The last one is velvet black.In the midst of their revelry, a mysterious figure disguised as a Red Death victim enters and makes his way through each of the rooms. The story follows many traditions of Gothic fiction and is often analyzed as an allegory about the inevitability of death, though some critics advise against an allegorical reading. Many different interpretations have been presented, as well as attempts to identify the true nature of the titular disease.Librarian's note: this entry relates to the story "The Masque of the Red Death." Collections of short stories by the author can be found elsewhere on Goodreads.