Necro Files: Two Decades of Extreme Horror


Cheryl MullenaxNancy Kilpatrick - 2011
    Many hard to find and out of print, some that were banned, Necro Files is a collection that covers every imaginable mode of mayhem and delves into the dark side of human nature. TABLE OF CONTENTS:George R.R. Martin - "Meathouse Man".Joe R. Lansdale - "Night They Missed the Horror Show".Ronald Kelly - "Diary".Elizabeth Massie - "Abed".Randy Chandler & t. Winter-Damon - "I am He that Liveth and was Dead... & Have the Keys of Hell & Death".Edward Lee - "Xipe".Ray Garton - "Bait".Gerard Houarner - "Painfreak".Wayne Allen Sallee - "Lover Doll".Charlee Jacob - "The Spirit Wolves".Brian Hodge - "Godflesh".John Everson - "Every Last Drop".Mehitobel Wilson - "Blind in the House of the Headsman".Monica J. O'Rourke - "An Experiment in Human Nature".Graham Masterton - "The Burgers of Calais".Nancy Kilpatrick - "Ecstasy".Bentley Little - "Pop Star in the Ugly Bar".Wrath James White - "The Sooner They Learn".J.F. Gonzalez - "Addict".

Poe's Children: The New Horror


Peter StraubM. Rickert - 2008
    Showcasing this cutting-edge talent, Poe’s Children now brings the best of the genre’s stories to a wider audience. Featuring tales from such writers as Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll, Poe’s Children is Peter Straub’s tribute to the imaginative power of storytelling. Each previously published story has been selected by Straub to represent what he thinks is the most interesting development in our literature during the last two decades.Selections range from the early Stephen King psychological thriller “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet,” in which an editor confronts an author’s belief that his typewriter is inhabited by supernatural creatures, to “The Man on the Ceiling,” Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem’s award-winning surreal tale of night terrors, woven with daylight fears that haunt a family. Other selections include National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon’s “The Bees”; Peter Straub’s “Little Red’s Tango,” the legend of a music aficionado whose past is as mysterious as the ghostly visitors to his Manhattan apartment; Elizabeth Hand’s visionary and shocking “Cleopatra Brimstone”; Thomas Ligotti’s brilliant, mind-stretching “Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story”; and “Body,” Brian Evenson’s disturbing twist on correctional facilities.Crossing boundaries and packed with imaginative chills, Poe’s Children bears all the telltale signs of fearless, addictive fiction.

Welcome to the Funhouse


Kelly Brocklehurst - 2021
    With twelve grisly stories of coming-of-age terror, carnival cruelty and fairground frights, this collection brings together the best and most exciting talents in the horror community. Roll up! with the following stories:"Mirrors" by Robin Grieve"Candy Apple Smiles" by Christopher Robertson"The Cyclone Sisters' Travelling Circus" by Angela Sylvaine"Anna and Abby" by L. Pine"The Prop" by Nikki R. Leigh"The Viperess of Las Cruces" by C.W. Blackwell"The Golden Tickets" by Roxie Voorhees"Dance With Us" by Kelly Brocklehurst"No Strings" by Jamie Stewart"Family Outing" by Briana Morgan"Mirrored" by Dave Musson"Smile at All the Good Times We Had" by Spencer HamiltonWith a foreword from the editors.

The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection


Ellen DatlowGlen Hirshberg - 2006
    Ellen Datlow, Kelly Link, and Gavin Grant continue this critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen works ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magic realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, and sections on graphic novels, by Charles Vess; on anime and manga, by Joan D. Vinge; on media, by Ed Bryant; and on music, by Charles de Lint. With a long list of Honorable Mentions, this is an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.Isabel Allende   Laird Barron   Elizabeth Bear    Andrew Bonia   Chaz Brenchley   Tom Brennan   Jack Cady   Jennifer Chang Robert Coover  Albert E. Cowdrey   Kelly Everding   Jeffrey Ford    Theodora Goss  Elizabeth Hand  Joe Hill   Glen Hirshberg   Pentti Holappa  Dave Hutchinson   China Miéville, Emma Bircham, and Max Schäfer  Sarah Monette  Ralph Robert Moore  Adam L.G. Nevill   Kim Newman  Reggie Oliver   Chuck Palahniuk   Stacey Richter  Barbara Roden  Deborah Roggie   Jay Russell  Geoff Ryman   Mark Samuels   Willa Schneberg   Nisi Shawl   Delia Sherman  Bruce Sterling   Howard Waldrop  Daniel Wallace   Marley Youmans

Fireworks: The Lost Writings


Jim Thompson - 1988
    Containing many "lost" pieces, it is a compendium of suspense from the pulp magazines of the '20s to his last efforts in the '70s. Fine.

The Monsters We Forgot: Volume 1


R.C. BowmanLeah Velez - 2019
     Within these pages, you’ll find a treasure trove of myths, legends, folktales, urban legends, historical accounts, and stories about horrors, both ancient and modern, that have been hidden, ignored, or forgotten entirely. “The Monsters We Forgot” is a massive anthology of horror stories by an international team of authors ranging from award-winners and bestsellers to visionary newcomers. These stories draw inspiration from the folklore traditions of countries including Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Ireland, Wales, England, Norway, Nigeria, Greece, Poland, the Caribbean, the Middle East, Canada, and the United States, the tales in this three-volume collection range from original folktales and chilling myths to information-age monsters and modern urban legends, and everything in between. Turn on the lights, check the locks, and settle in. You’re about to remember The Monsters We Forgot.

Fantastic Orgy


Carlton Mellick III - 2011
    Over the past few decades, sexually transmitted diseases have evolved in unusual ways. Herpes, AIDS, Gonorrhea; these are all STDs of the past. These days, sexually transmitted diseases are more extreme and bizarre. Not exactly diseases anymore, they are more like sexually transmitted body modifications. There's an STD that changes your hair color, an STD that causes your toes to grow larger, one causes you to grow extra breasts on your body, another causes your skin to grow long metal spikes, and there's an especially annoying STD that causes you to ejaculate miniature eyeballs. Tonight is Share Your STD Night at the Demon Seed Swingers Club. Although most members of society fear the idea of contracting these diseases, there are some underground deviants who embrace them. They believe the diseases make them strange, unique, and beautiful. So they come together once a month to trade their wonderful STDs with each other in a surreal, fantastical orgy. However, tonight will not be like other nights. There's a new disease spreading through the sex club, a disease that causes people to become rabid bloodthirsty killing machines. As the infected rampage through the Demon Seed, the survivors realize there's only one thing they can do to survive the night: turn their grotesque STDs into deadly super weapons. Also featuring the short stories: Candy-Coated - A buff dude with a lollipop for a head has a hard time picking up the laydaaays due to all of the bearded truckers who keep trying to lick his head. Ear Cat - A Kitty of the Month Club selection gone horribly wrong. City Hobgoblins - A member of a punk rock band falls in love with a shark-like creature. (a prequel to the cult novel Satan Burger) Porno in August - A group of porn actors find themselves floating in the middle of the ocean, unable to remember who they are or why they are there. (Chosen for The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror)

Robert Bloch's Psychos


Robert BlochEdo Van Belkom - 1997
    He also liked to write about psychotic and psychopathic killers. This solid anthology, put out by the Horror Writers Association (HWA) and completed after Bloch's death, honors his legacy with 22 tales about murderers and crazies of various stripes. A good many of the stories, most memorably Esther Friesner's "Lonelyhearts," have Blochian twists at the end. The weakest of the bunch have no other flaw than predictability, and the strongest, such as Ed Gorman's powerful "Out There in the Darkness" are classics of traditional storytelling. You'll find excellent stories here by Denise M. Bruchman, Del Stone Jr., Edo van Belkom, Gary A. Braunbeck, and others. Stephen King contributes a little gem of a tale in which the narrator finds himself in an autopsy room: "It fits. It fits everything with a horrid prophylactic snugness. The dark. The rubbery smell.... Dear God, I'm in a body bag." Note: the two previous HWA anthologies are Under the Fang, edited by Robert R. McCammon, and Peter Straub's Ghosts, edited by Peter Straub. --Fiona WebsterContents:Autopsy Room Four by Stephen KingHaunted by Charles GrantOut There in the Darkness by Ed GormanPlease Help Me by Richard Christian MathesonThe Lesser of Two Evils by Denise M. BruchmanPoint of Intersection by Dominick CancillaDoctor, Lawyer, Kansas City Chief by Brent MonahanGrandpa's Head by Lawrence Watt-EvansLonelyhearts by Esther M. FriesnerLighting the Corpses by Del Stone Jr.Echoes by Cindie GeddesLifeline by Yvonne NavarroBlameless by David Niall WilsonDeep Down There by Clark PerryKnacker Man by Richard ParksSo You Wanna Be a Hitman by Gary JonasThe Rug by Edo van BelkomInterview with a Psycho by Billie Sue MosimanIcewall by William D. GaglianiA Southern Night by Jane YolenThe Forgiven by Stephen M. RaineySafe by Gary A. Braunbeck

Houses Without Doors


Peter Straub - 1990
    "Straub at his spellbinding best".--Publishers Weekly.

The Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft


John PelanSteve Rasnic Tem - 2003
    P. Lovecraft’s shocking, terrifying, and eerily prescient Cthulhu Mythos. In twenty-one dark visions, a host of outstanding contemporary writers tap into our innermost fears, with tales set in a misbegotten new world that could have been spawned only by the master of the macabre himself, H. P. Lovecraft. Inside you’ll find:DETAILS by China Miéville: A curious boy discovers that within the splinters of cracked wood or the tangle of tree branches, the devil is in the details.VISITATION by James Robert Smith: When Edgar Allan Poe arrives, a callow man finally gets what he always wanted—and what he may eternally despise. MEET ME ON THE OTHER SIDE by Yvonne Navarro: A couple in love with terror travels beyond their wildest dreams—and into their nightmares.A FATAL EXCEPTION HAS OCCURRED AT . . . by Alan Dean Foster: Internet terrorism extends far beyond transmitting threats of evil.AND SEVENTEEN MORE HARROWING TALESFrom the Trade Paperback edition.vii • Introduction: The Call of Lovecraft • essay by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan1 • Details • short story by China Miéville21 • Visitation • short story by James Robert Smith33 • The Invisible Empire • novelette by James Van Pelt57 • A Victorian Pot Dresser • novelette by L. H. Maynard and M. P. N. Sims85 • The Cabin in the Woods • novelette by Richard Laymon109 • The Stuff of the Stars, Leaking • short story by Tim Lebbon125 • Sour Places • short story by Mark Chadbourn141 • Meet Me on the Other Side • short story by Yvonne Navarro161 • That's the Story of My Life • short story by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan181 • Long Meg and Her Daughters • novella by Paul Finch243 • A Fatal Exception Has Occurred At ... • short story by Alan Dean Foster261 • Dark of the Moon • short story by James S. Dorr275 • Red Clay • short story by Michael Reaves [as by J. Michael Reaves]291 • Principles and Parameters • novelette by Meredith L. Patterson325 • Are You Loathsome Tonight? • (1998) • short story by Poppy Z. Brite331 • The Serenade of Starlight • short story by W. H. Pugmire (variant of Serenade of Starlight) [as by W. H. Pugmire, Esq.]345 • Outside • short story by Steve Rasnic Tem355 • Nor the Demons Down Under the Sea • [Dandridge Cycle] • short story by Caitlín R. Kiernan371 • A Spectacle of a Man • short story by Weston Ochse389 • The Firebrand Symphony • (2001) • novelette by Brian Hodge437 • Teeth • novelette by Matt Cardin463 • Notes on the Contributors (Children of Cthulhu: Chilling New Tales Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft) • essay by Benjamin Adams and John Pelan

The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares


Joyce Carol Oates - 2011
    The Corn Maiden is the gut-wrenching story of Marissa, a beautiful and sweet eleven-year-old girl with hair the color of corn silk. Taken by an older girl from her school who has told two friends in her thrall of the Indian legend of the Corn Maiden, in which a girl is sacrificed to ensure a good crop, Marissa is kept in a secluded basement and convinced that the world has ended. Marissa s seemingly inevitable fate becomes ever more terrifying as the older girl relishes her power, giving the tale unbearable tension with a shocking conclusion. In Helping Hands, published here for the first time, a lonely woman meets a man in the unlikely clutter of a dingy charity shop and extends friendship. She has no idea what kinds of doors she may be opening. The powerful stories in this extraordinary collection further enhance Joyce Carol Oates s standing as one of the world s greatest writers of suspense."

Strange Highways


Dean Koontz - 1995
    This is Koontz's spellbinding collection of takes interconnected by the strange highways of human experience: adventures, terrors, failures and triumphs.

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams


Stephen King - 2015
    Henry Prize winner Stephen King delivers a generous collection of stories, several of them brand-new, featuring revelatory autobiographical comments on when, why, and how he came to write (or rewrite) each story.Since his first collection, Nightshift, published thirty-five years ago, Stephen King has dazzled readers with his genius as a writer of short fiction. In this new collection he assembles, for the first time, recent stories that have never been published in a book. He introduces each with a passage about its origins or his motivations for writing it.There are thrilling connections between stories; themes of morality, the afterlife, guilt, what we would do differently if we could see into the future or correct the mistakes of the past. “Afterlife” is about a man who died of colon cancer and keeps reliving the same life, repeating his mistakes over and over again. Several stories feature characters at the end of life, revisiting their crimes and misdemeanors. Other stories address what happens when someone discovers that he has supernatural powers—the columnist who kills people by writing their obituaries in “Obits;” the old judge in “The Dune” who, as a boy, canoed to a deserted island and saw names written in the sand, the names of people who then died in freak accidents. In “Morality,” King looks at how a marriage and two lives fall apart after the wife and husband enter into what seems, at first, a devil’s pact they can win.Magnificent, eerie, utterly compelling, these stories comprise one of King’s finest gifts to his constant reader—“I made them especially for you,” says King. “Feel free to examine them, but please be careful. The best of them have teeth.”

20th Century Ghosts


Joe Hill - 2005
    She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945.... Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town.... Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing....John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead....The past isn't dead. It isn't even past...

The Peeling & Other Terrifying Tales (Horror Collection)


Iain Rob Wright - 2018
    A new outbreak is about to begin. The world's most deadly disease is loose, and anyone who catches it is doomed. Symptoms include coughing, sneezing, abdominal pain, and rotting of the flesh. There is no cure. Infection is 100% fatal. Stay calm. Please do not panic. The situation is under control. It is under control. The Peeling & Other Terrifying Tales is a collection of novellas and short stories from bestselling horror author Iain Rob Wright. It begins with the 80-page novella THE PEELING, and also includes several short stories, most of which have never been published before. Full table of contents below: 1. THE PEELING 2018 (novella) 2. THE PEELING OF SAMUEL LLOYD COLLINS 3. THE PEELING OMNIBUS (5 previously released novellas set in The Peeling universe) 4. EHLLF (short story) 5. VLOG LIFE (short story) 6. HEIRLOOMS (short story) 7. THE EAGLE & THE WOLF (short story) 8. CHICKEN BOY (short story) 9. THE WITNESS (short story) 10. THE BOB SAGA (1 previously released short story & 1 previously unpublished) "Iain Rob Wright scares the Hell out of me!" - J. A. Konrath "Iain Rob Wright is sick and twisted." - David Moody "A master of the genre." - Matt Shaw