But Button was only dimly aware of the sounds. Her consciousness had shrunk down to focus on the body that was blocking her hole— —and the warm, thick liquid that was dripping onto her hand.” Button is an 11 year old, bubbly and intelligent girl who is haunted in her dreams by a tapping sound… Living with her mother and father in Cottsborough, Vermont, Button had been trained to hide and not ever answer to her secret name, ‘Rachel’. One day, two men arrive at Button’s family home searching for her by this secret name. Refusing to give Button up, things turn violent and the men shoot her father dead. Through a narrow crack in the floor boards, Button bears witness to the murder. Eluding the two men who tried to catch her, Button uses her wits to navigate herself from Vermont to Boston and then to New York. Button has a plan to find her uncle Dromkin. When her search seems hopeless, Button is taken in by a resident of her uncle’s apartment building, Phil, who claims he can help. But when they find Dromkin sprawled on the floor with his throat cut, Button is convinced she is somehow the cause of these family murders... Will Phil be able to keep her identity hidden long enough for her to find out the truth? Praise for Michael Kurland: "A perfect tale of childhood terror." - Tom Kasey Michael Kurland grew up in New York City, attended Columbia University, spent four years in the Army, much of it in Europe, and now lives in California with his partner, novelist Linda Robertson, a dog, a cat, and an occasional visiting family of raccoons. He has been a teacher of obscure subjects to disinterested children, the editor of a magazine even more idiosyncratic than himself, a seeker of absent persons, a magical explainer, and guest lecturer at numerous unrelated events. Kurland has written a dozen or so science fiction novels, a brace of mysteries, and several books that fit into that tenuous genre known as “mainstream.” He has been nominated for an Edgar (twice) and for the American Book Award. His books have been translated into eleven other languages. His other novel with Venture Press is Psi Hunt.

    Sandra Fischer relaxes in bed. Moments later, when her husband enters the room — she is dead. One by one, the women are dying. The leading medical experts are baffled. There is only one clue: the rich, sweet scent of the tropics — the scent of life, seconds after each woman's shocking death.One dedicated doctor. One beautiful woman. Together they will enter an awesome new realm of medical knowledge beyond both life and death. For he will discover a terrifying secret. And she has been chosen for … THE SEEDING.

    There they will confront madness, murder, and the ultimate evil so that their billionaire host might find the key to life beyond the grave. But as they learn, dead souls dwell in The Pines. And death is just the beginning...

    Although In Darkness Waiting begins in much the same vein as many horror novels (mysterious deaths; a small town invaded by evil; plucky, attractive young lovers; the logical level-headed doctor; some salt-of-the-earth townsfolk...) by its end you will have discovered it is not "just another horror novel." With its exploration of the "insect" inside us all, In Darkness Waiting proves more relevant today than ever. Considering a read of In Darkness Waiting is like considering a trip through the Amazon with no weapons and no vaccinations and no shoes. It's like contemplating a journey in the Arctic clad only in your underwear. Or maybe it's more like dropping into one of those spelunker's challenges, those chilling pitch-black shafts into the Earth's crust-and when you get down there your light burns out and you remember the chitinous fauna of the cavern... Unlike undertaking those endeavors, you can get through the harrowing pages of In Darkness Waiting alive (although we are not promising you'll remain unscathed.) Towards the end you'll discover one of the most extreme yet literate passages ever written. It may well be the most outré scene ever created. But John Shirley wasn't after shock alone. Shock is never enough for him.

    Now Dani, along with her four companions, must fight against incredible odds to survive a night that no one will ever forget.A night that will forever be known as ‘the hatching.’The Hatching is a horror novel inspired by John Carpenter movies, as well as the classic stories of Stephen King and Richard Matheson. If you love taut, fast-paced claustrophobic horror, you’ll love The Hatching.

    

    In a drunken brawl, petty criminal Eden Crowell is beaten to the brink of death. Following a futile attempt to save his life, doctors approach his father with an appeal for the man’s organs. In defiance of his wife’s wishes, Bert Crowell agrees, and his son’s organs are harvested.Writer Karen Lockhart becomes one of three grateful recipients, gaining sight after a lifetime of blindness. But with sight comes a new breed of darkness. In a series of increasingly more vivid dreams, Karen witnesses horrors that threaten to shatter her sanity.But soon, Karen comes to realize that what she’s experiencing are much more than mere nightmares. One by one the organ recipients die horrible, mutilating deaths…and Karen witnesses it all with her new eyes.And now, she’s next.PRAISE FOR EDEN’S EYES“The best horror novel I’ve read since Stephen King’s own Pet Sematary. Costello knows how to tantalize his readers, priming them for the horrors to come…”—Rave Reviews“Spine chilling…impeccable research and pacing…a riveting psychological thriller.”—Charles de Lint, author of Dreams Underfoot

    Things at Donovan's Bar get a little raucous sometimes and the people carry their share of Ireland's tragic history, but in Kilgallan, the fights are happy, the songs are sad and the days are as rich as slow-poured, peaty beer.It happens first to the children.To little Mikey Boyle, whose auntie takes off all her clothes, takes his off too, and persuades him into the river...To sweet Marie Lally, barely sixteen, when Mike O'Hara ties the cord around her neck and slides up her nightgown...Village tragedies. Casual eruptions of horror... but at the heart of a nearby hill, something turns in its sleep.Breathes...Awakes...The Shee will put her fingers into your dreams and leave you crying for more.

    But there he discovers a terrifying secret that turns his life upside-down. Newton's adventure begins when Claude Lavigne, a power company employee, sees something monumentally strange in the forests of the gore -- a tiny swatch of unclaimed land created by a surveyor's mistake. The uncanny sight so upsets him, so rattles his sense of what's real, that it leads to his suicide. Lavigne's son, his best friend, and an ancient black man risk an expedition into the gore to discover what Mr. Lavigne saw. In his attempt to stop them, Newton upsets a centuries- old balance that threatens to loose a long-buried nightmare upon the people of Vermont.

     She soon discovers that both her sister and her new husband have tragically perished in a fire which destroyed their home. Alone in the bleak Norfolk brecklands, Deborah is at first forced to accept hospitality from the handsome yet forbidding widower, Sir Randall Gaunt. Yet even when Deborah later stumbles upon the warm companionship of Lord Stannard, the charming young aristocrat wooing her with such passionate urgency, the strange events that follow cause her feelings of uneasiness to grow. And then, before long Deborah becomes inextricably involved in a nightmare of unimaginable evil…

    HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE? When Sheraton's gang burn his wife and kids to death, Eddie soon learns the meaning of hate. HOW MUCH DO YOU HATE? And that's how the prison psycho transfers his awesome power to Eddie. A power that Eddie reckons he can control. A power that will enable Eddie to put the frighteners on Sheraton...

    It was the call of his own blood . . .  When Peter Constantine inherited a vast, remote estate, his life began to change.  Free at last from money worries, Peter and his wife, Meg, could relax—and Peter could explore his new, mysterious home. From the thick woods, the winding trails, the bizarre, sensual sculpture, came a pulsing, ancient call that stirred his very soul. Then he heard the music and saw the beautiful woman who beckoned him into the wood . . . into an ancient ritual, a blood curse, a world of violent, unbridled lust. Now his wife no longer knows him. Now Peter is transformed . . . into a pagan creature, driven by the suffocating need of animal desire . . . until pleasure is not enough, and no evil is forbidden, in . . . The Spirit Wood.

    A young botanist leads a small expedition to find a way out to rescue humanity.

     When American scientist Tony Stevens hears that his young sister Ann has been killed in a skiing accident in Oslo, he refuses to believe it. She hated heights, would never risk descending the treacherous glacier slopes so rapidly – unless she was fleeing for her life. On arriving in Norway, he learns that Ann had been working with an archaeology team excavating a pre-Christian burial site in the frozen wilderness of Trolltinder. Something terrible has been disturbed – surrounding villages are in uproar, fear and superstition cloud the air like a mist of chilling malevolence. And Tony realises that whatever it is out there that devoured his sister has picked up his scent, and is poised to wreak its ancient vengeance once again... Praise for Peter Tremayne: ‘Tremayne is an absolutely gorgeous read, especially on a dark winter’s night . . .’ - Dublin Sunday Press 'Peter Tremayne is established as one of Britain’s leading horror fantasy writers.' – Retail Newsagent 'He brings to the writing of fantasy detail and dedication . . . scrupulous skill . . .' – Space Voyager English author Peter Tremayne started his career as a newspaper reporter and editor. Widely respected for his non-fiction work in language studies, Celtic history and mythology, Tremayne’s first novel was published in 1977. He has since written 28 bóoks, and his titles with Venture Press include Nicor!, Snowbeast! and The Curse of Loch Ness.