Book picks similar to
Secrets of the Weird by Chad Stroup


horror
transgender
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Spiderstalk


D. Nathan Hilliard - 2013
    In the past year he has broken up with his fiancee, barely survived a terrible car wreck, and had his brother's family vanish while he lay unconscious in the hospital. All they left behind was a frantic call on his cell phone's voice messages, and a blurry photo of a spider. Since then he has been a crippled shell going through the motions of life with nothing but the search for his brother to keep him going. But Adam is about to discover that things can still take a turn for the worse. Much worse. His quest for his brother has brushed up against a very dark corner of the world and something has come out of that darkness with an unholy vengeance. Something unbelievable. He can't fight it, he can't hide from it, and not even the police can protect him as his world descends into chaos. His only hope lies in a mysterious pair of strangers who have appeared out of nowhere with an offer of aid. But they have their own agenda, and his survival may not be their top priority. Now Adam must keep his wits about him and learn to believe in himself again as events send him on a collision course with a monster more horrific than he ever dreamed possible.

Moth to a Flame (Narrowdale Mystery Book 2)


Michael Omer - 2015
    Since then, the recurring nightmares, creepy hallucinations and overpowering fear are gone. That's good, right? I mean, no one in their right minds wants to feel like that. I am starting to wonder if I'm in my right mind anymore...When a lady in my neighborhood died, I couldn't help but stick my nose in, to see what happened. I should just get on with things–I've got some new friends, and a cool boy named Chris has taken an interest in me. Everyone is telling me to just leave this weird murder alone.But I can't stop myself. The more I find out about her death, the more twisted everything is.I think there’s a predator in Narrowdale. And now it’s hunting me…What have I gotten myself into?

True Singapore Ghost Stories: Book 14


Russell Lee - 2006
    'Dead men DO tell tales! And everybody wants to know what they say. So they use Ouija boards, Tarot cards, etc. Do these work?' Read what RUSSELL LEE says.

Sarcophagus


Ben Hammott - 2017
    Concealed in a remote area of the Amazon jungle is something the Mayans thought so dangerous they built a secret prison to entomb it. It remained undiscovered for centuries. When a maverick archaeologist hears rumours of a mysterious lost city, he heads into the Amazon jungle, determined to find it. He soon learns that some things are best left unfound. The dangerous past the Mayans tried so hard to bury, is about to become our terrifying future.

Curse of the Phoenix (The Arcane Irregulars Book 1)


Dan Willis - 2021
    When one of his officers calls him out to an unusual crime scene, Danny realizes that it’s terrifyingly similar to something the department thought was dead and buried. Now he has to find a madman before the story hits the papers and the city explodes into chaos.Across town, Agent William “Buddy” Redhorn of the FBI has two problems. He’s been assigned a potentially career-ending case with magical ties, and his sorceress boss is out of town. The case involves a stolen statue that belongs to the government of Brunei, but the more he chases the thieves, the more bodies begin to drop. Bodies affected by a strange, unknown magic.Resolving to work together, Danny and Redhorn have to catch a cold-blooded killer, recover a stolen artifact, all while keeping everything out of the press. If they don’t, it will be more than their careers that will die when the curse of the Jade Phoenix descends on New York. Important Note: Curse of the Phoenix takes place in the Arcane Casebook universe. If you haven't read any of those, you might want to start there.

Mira's Return: The Complete Series: A Mermaid Fantasy Adventure & Prequel to the Elemental Origins Series


A.L. Knorr - 2018
    It’s time to leave the ocean. Mira Belshaw has been at sea for… well, she doesn’t know how many years. It’s hard to keep track of time when you live in the ocean. But after enough time, the salt water triggers the desire to procreate, and her time is up.For weeks, she’s been swimming north. Finding a mate is the most important thing to her right now, and to do that, she has to return to the place where she was last human - the coastal city of Saltford.Equipped with everything she needs to lure her perfect mate and produce a strong siren child, all she needs is the opportunity to mingle with humans. But when she meets Nathan MacAuley, the ONE, things start to go sideways…The Mira's Return trilogy contains all three titles Returning, Falling, and Surfacing and is a companion series to The Elemental Origins Series, a teen fantasy adventure series by an award-winning author. Read a snippet The sound of his voice resonated through my core, vibrating like he'd plucked a tightly wound string running through me from head to toe. My head snapped up. "I parked in the middle of a dump thinking it was just a nice little cul-de-sac, perfect place for some shut-eye," the voice continued. "I woke up to grunting noises and opened my eyes to six grizzlies eating garbage all around my truck." He laughed and the sound warmed me all over.A new scent drifted my way - pine trees and sawdust, and him. I gripped the table at the sudden wave of desire that coursed through me. 
I turned around to face the voice.He was shucking his coat and laughing while he told Phil his story. The table of men lifted their beers to welcome their friend and I heard a few of them call, "Nathan! Welcome home buddy!"
Nathan.I was half-hidden in an alcove. The Sea Dog had many such nooks, modelled after a ship like it was. I stared at him from the shadows.He was wearing a simple zip up cotton sweater, jeans, work boots, and a baseball cap. The clipped beard and the hair curling out from under his hat was the colour of copper. His cheeks were flushed and pink from the crisp autumn air. Nathan doffed his cap and threw it on the hat rack beside the door. He had broad shoulders, long legs and arms, a lean stomach, a broad jaw, straight teeth, big hands... my eyes took in all of this biological information and then moved to his expression. His face communicated a kind heart, a sweetness not seen in most male faces. He greeted each of the men at the table by name and with genuine care. He shook hands, slapped backs, and even hugged.
Here was a man who could love and father my child. Here was a man I could love.Nathan turned a chair backwards and sat down facing his friends, laughing and talking.Phil slung Nathan's canvas jacket over the back of a chair and looked around. He spotted me. "Mira, do you mind pouring Nathan a pint? He likes the bitter."I came to life. I went behind the bar, took a beer glass, and pumped the tap the way Phil had taught me. I filled the glass carefully, ensuring the head was just the right size. I walked over to the table to deliver the bitter, my eyes on Nathan alone. I couldn't have looked elsewhere if I had tried. I had found him. I was in shock at how quickly it had happened, but there was no denying it. Nathan was my guy.
Nathan saw me in his periphery as I set his beer on the table in front of him. He turned and looked into my eyes.

Into the Fold (Kan Savasci Cycle, #3)


Chase Blackwood - 2019
    Within its shadowy depths the greatest of the old gods had carved a world unto himself. A place unrivaled in its beauty, obscurity, and danger.Trapped within The Fold, under the tutelage of the last arkeinists, Aeden must overcome his greatest obstacle, or die trying.

The Visible Filth


Nathan Ballingrud - 2015
    He decides to keep the cell phone just until the owner returns and everything changes. Then the messages begin.Will’s discovered something unspeakable and it’s crawling slowly into the light.

Love In Vein II


Poppy Z. Brite - 1997
    If you found Love in Vein too disturbingly dark, too exquisitely explicit, too deliciously erotic in the secrets it revealed -- you're going to adore Love in Vein II. Poppy Z. Brite has done it again with a provocative new collection even more dangerously seductive, more boldly erotic than her first. It is not for everyone. But it may be what you need.

The Demons of Jaitraya


Shubira Prasad - 2020
    They hid in the bowels of the Earth, in the water and in space and remained dormant for eons. In the 20th century of the Christian era, however, some of them reappeared in different forms to plague the Earth with Wars and illnesses. At the end of his war with Ravana, Rama had asked Hanuman to raise and train a contingent of warriors who would take birth multiple times on Earth, to contain the demons. Aishani and adheesh are two such warriors, blessed with divine weapons and powers to fight the world’s evils at present times. Read this exciting story to know who finally wins. The good or the evil? The demons of jaitraya is the first book of the trilogy of the war between demons and humans.

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. *

ODD AND CHILLING ENCOUNTERS: True stories of the unknown


R.S. Russo - 2019
    From Ouija and demons to visits from angels. Encounters with ghosts, shadow people, skin walkers, aliens and UFO sightings. Warning: This book contains explicit language and is not suitable for children or anyone who is easily offended.

Sunblind


Michael McBride - 2014
    Border Patrol Agent Christian Rivera discovers the body of an undocumented alien in the middle of the vast Sonoran Desert with three enigmatic words carved into her flesh, presumably by her own hand, it triggers a frantic search for the remainder of her party, a group of twenty-five men and women who have inexplicably vanished into the desert.Aided by two of the agency's best trackers, Rivera follows the woman's trail into the brutal heart of one of the hottest and most unforgiving landscapes on the planet, where nothing can survive for long. As more bodies turn up, Rivera and the others begin to realize they may be up against an enemy far deadlier than the desert, an unseen adversary that will stop at nothing to take from them what it needs to survive. A mythical evil that may not be myth at all, but horrifically real, could very well be stalking them, and their only hope of surviving the same fate that befell the missing party lies in deciphering the clues to their disappearance before it's too late. If it isn't already…From Michael McBride, bestselling author of Burial Ground and Snowblind, comes Sunblind, a thrilling new novel of terror and action that will take you on an unforgettable journey from the desperate streets of Mexico, through the deadliest corridor in the world, to a place where mankind was never meant to tread.