They're spoken of in stories and superstitions, relics of an unenlightened age, old wives' tales, passed down through generations. And yet, no matter how wary and jaded we have become, as individuals or as a society, a part of us remains vulnerable to them. Werewolves and wendigos, poltergeists and vampires, angry elves and vengeful spirits.In this beautifully illustrated volume, the host of the hit podcast Lore serves as a guide on a fascinating journey through the history of these terrifying creatures, and explores not only the legends but what they tell us about ourselves. Aaron Mahnke invites us to the desolate Pine Barrens of New Jersey, where the notorious winged, red-eyed Jersey Devil dwells. Mahnke delves into harrowing accounts of cannibalism-some officially documented, others the stuff of speculation . . . perhaps. He visits the dimly lit rooms where séances take place, the European villages where gremlins make mischief, and Key West, Florida, home of a haunted doll named Robert.The monsters of folklore have become not only a part of our language but a part of our collective psyche. Whether these beasts and bogeymen are real or just a reflection of our primal fears, we know, on some level, that not every mystery has been explained, and that the unknown still holds the power to strike fear deep in our hearts and souls. As Aaron Mahnke reminds us, sometimes the truth is even scarier than the lore...

    The figure hangs for a moment then disappears and the officer is changed forever. Suddenly, a world that made sense has been turned upside down and the terrified family who first called the police remains uncomforted. This family is not alone though, for all over the world, police officers come in contact with the strange and the paranormal. If it were anyone else, we would dismiss these tales as falsehoods by most. But the people in these stories are not unreliable witnesses or fanciful con artists; they are the men and women who serve our communities when terrifying forces seek to harm us. Our patrollers are trained to observe, to remember details, and to never assume things are as they seem; the officers involved in these stories have never been able to find rational explanations for their experiences. These accounts come from officers across the globe, from devout Catholics to staunch Atheists and everyone in between who could not have imagined what they would come across when they took their calls, and many of them wish they could forget their experiences after they did. Delve into these eighteen stories and discover that even those charged with protecting us witness things they were never equipped to deal with. If you are a non-believer, withhold your judgment until you have read the chillingly convincing evidence for yourself. If you already believe, you will know the fear these officers faced. When your job is to confront the evils that people can do to each other, to protect those who are unable to against harm, it is inevitable you will one day find something that you cannot protect. After all, as Nietzsche once said, “And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.” Ready to scare yourself senseless? Scroll to the top of the page and hit buy!

    Quick. Clean. Efficient. It was none of those. With police searching for them across the state, a band of criminals hide out in a desolate cabin on the frozen shore of Lake Shadow. Isolated, shrouded in thick forest, and haunted by a mysterious history, they thought it was the perfect place to hide. Tensions mount as they hear strange noises outside. Slain animals are found in the snow. Before long, they realize something is watching them. Something hungry, violent, and not of this world. In their attempt to escape, they found the Creature of Lake Shadow.

    Bey had spent his entire life running through the woods and never once saw anything to convince him there were creatures worth fearing. When his littler sister, Chensei, whines about the trip home at night, Bey only mocks her. Until she disappears beyond the treeline. I, PONTIANAK Everyone hates and fears monsters, except for when you’re the monster. I never asked for it, and honestly I can’t say I’ve really enjoyed it. But I am what I am, and I can’t change it. Hell, I can’t even control it. My name used to be Anastasia, and I am a Pontianak.

    Brought to Newport, Rhode Island, from her native Ireland to nurse ailing millionaire Sean O'Riley, she's living a life few can imagine. But money can't hide the tension between O Reily s trophy wife, his paranoid daughter, the eccentric aunt in the attic and the staff members who run the house. When O Riley s business partner goes missing, family friend Zach Flynn arrives. Determined to help him solve the case, Caer becomes enmeshed in a mystery that weaves together the sins of the past with one family s destiny and a spirit that watches the mansion, possessing a deadly gift.DEADLY HARVESTWhen a young woman is found dead in a field, dressed up as a scarecrow with a slashed grin and a broken neck, the residents of Salem, Massachusetts, begin to fear that the infamous Harvest Man is more than just a rumor. But out-of town cop Jeremy Flynn doesn t have time for ghost stories. He's in town on another investigation, looking for a friend s wife, who mysteriously vanished in a cemetery. Complicating his efforts is local occult expert Rowenna Cavanaugh, who launches her own investigation, convinced that a horror from the past has crept into the present and is seducing women to their deaths. Jeremy uses logic and solid policework. Rowena depends on intuition. But they both have the same goal: to stop the abductions and locate the missing women before Rowena herself falls prey to the Harvest Man s dark seduction.DEADLY NIGHTAidan Flynn, a private investigator and eldest of the Flynn brothers, scoffs at the haunted-house rumors--especially since Kendall Montgomery, a tarot card reader who has been living in the mansion, is the one to tell him the tale of a woman in white. But when he finds a human bone on the grounds, and another by the river, Aidan delves into the dark history of the Flynn plantation. Forced together to uncover the truth, Aidan and Kendall realize that a serial killer whose victims seem to vanish into thin air has long been at work and that their own fates are about to be sealed forever unless they believe in the unbelievable.

    She's sure she'll die of boredom, living in a small town surrounded by woods. However, her town just happens to be the base of the powerful Greenwood Pack. Her parents also just happen to be close friends with the packs Alpha. And the Alpha just happens to have a gorgeous son. Since her town is infested with werewolves, hunters are never far away. With Evan and the hunters around, Sutton sure isin't going to be bored.

    Bennett's dream home from his childhoodyears. The house was creepy and ominous and Bobby Bennett found he didn't like it much.When Bobby explores the attic and discovers an old radio that was 'cool' enough to put in his bedroom, things begin to happen.Strange and evil things!First, the whispers in the night, then the ghostly image...it wantsBobby to do unspeakable deeds. And most importantly, it wants him to 'replace'! Bobby is terrified to find out what that means!But is Bobby only dreaming or is this nightmare real? He wasn't sure until tragedy struck his new friend. Evil can hide in the strangestand most innocent of places. Can Bobby resist the demands of the ghost who is driven by the 'Demon from Hell' before it is too late for his family...and himself?

    With the last of the blood mopped up and the locals none the wiser, it seems he's just a train ride away from getting his wish.Of course, there are a few small complications. Like the lovely and occasionally violent Miss Frances Brown, former star of the Campbell Family Circus, who seems to have become his new traveling companion. And then there's the matter of the train having driven through a dimensional gateway into Hell...Maybe Jonathan shouldn't be quite so worried about getting back to Michigan. Maybe his time would be better spent in worrying about how to get off the train while he, and Fran, are still among the living.

    CoomerRichard Dennison has just landed a new job at the Stor-All Self-Storage as a night security officer. The owners are a bit strange but not as bizarre as the renters who visit their units at night. And the only instructions he’s been given are to call the police.Primitive by Lucas MangumA group of old friends decide to spend the weekend camping on Moon Mountain only to have their vacation interrupted when a disheveled woman appears out of the woods. She tells them she’s looking for her son but the group find her story hard to believe. Will she find her son and will they all make it off the mountain alive?The Vessel by Matt Harvey A cult, Heralds of Celestial Ascendancy, is hellbent on reviving their dark god. All they need is a body for their Master to inhabit. When Elise Abbington wakes in the middle of the night to find herself feeling strange, little does she know, she’s on a crash course with the cult and a deprogrammer willing to do anything to stop the cult’s cause.

    Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos that is the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to “survive.” Because even after it’s over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.

    Well, perfect except for one thing…the neighbor.

     Given the opportunity, it is the one big predator that will go for you every single time. Two people have been killed inside a month, and now a monster croc has been captured – a hybrid – grown huge with 'hybrid-vigor' – and in the Everglades, a new and deadly invasive species – the most aggressive predator on the planet. Authorities are baffled – where did it come from? And what else might be lurking out on the water? But Abigail O'Neil knows. After seventeen years, Abigail has come home – an old cabin in the deepest swamp – where all the darkest secrets lie – where monsters breed. But even in the swamp, the most cold-blooded monsters are always human. And so is the most dangerous prey

     After struggling with the death of her lifemate of over a century, Tara spends what the leaders of her clan considers an unreasonable amount of time in finding another. The clan needs offspring, they insist. While soaring over a meadow, Tara sees a dragon intruder attack a shepherd. Outraged, she intervenes and saves the young man from certain death. Breaking a two hundred year old pact between man and dragon forbidding any contact between the two, a powerful yet dangerous bond slowly grows between the dragon and her boy. This is a fun short story, at 5300 words. Stories two and three are already written. They continue the series and will be available shortly! I hope you enjoy them all.

    A large horde of the spiders take over the small village of Newtown, killing all but two of its residents. Laurence Johnson and Chloe Jones have only been together one night after Laurence parted ways with his wife. They find themselves trapped in the house with no way of escaping. Their only hope is to try and stay alive long enough for the army to intervene. Lorna Johnson is on the outskirts of town with nowhere to go and the spider invasion taking control. Her only hope of survival lies with a team headed up by Doctor Michael Briggs. He has a plan to stop the invasion before it gets out of hand. But he is running out of time and he is running out of allies. If he doesn't move quickly then mankind will face the darkest day it has ever known.

    I had a three-day notice to pay rent or quit. The ad was the answer to my problem. Someone needed a party hostess for 24 hours on a private island. With my catering experience and model looks, I could get the gig. But when I set eyes on the man about to fly me to the island, I realized I might have made a mistake. The tall, older, arrogant stranger didn’t just undress me with his eyes, he used me right there on the pavement. Deviant desires seemed to radiate from him. He pulled a black leather dog collar out of his pocket. “Wait. You have to sign this before we do anything. Read it.” He handed me a contract. The wind swept a bottle down the runway and blew my skirt up. It was hard to read with his dark eyes looking right through my underwear and into my secret places. “This is a mistake. I didn’t know the ad meant —.” “You thought you were going to serve canapes on a tray?” He chuckled. “No, Brittani. You’re the main course.” His eyes worked me over again. “And you’re perfect.” He handed me a pen that probably cost more than my laptop. “Just sign at the bottom of the page. Full disclosure, full consent. That’s the way I do business.” “Can I leave?” “Of course you can leave. If you leave now. But you don’t get paid if you leave. Once we get to the island, you’re ours for 24-hours.” He tapped the contract with his long finger. “When your service is over, I transfer $10,000 to your account and send you home.” “$10,000?” I choked on it. That was more than generous. I scanned the contract again. It had long, dense paragraphs of disclaimers and waivers but not much in the way of details. “I’ll be — okay — when it’s over?” “You’ll be okay.” He smiled. I liked his smile. I needed the money. I signed. He put the collar around my neck and buckled it. If you like dark short erotica, kinky alpha billionaires — and no-entrances-barred hard-and-unprotected group interracial action with a white woman at the center, you'll love Q. Zayne's creamy story about Brittani’s scary-hot visit to The Billionaire’s Club. Click Buy and get the adventure! All characters are 18+ and readers should be, too, due to language and sexual content. If you're over 21, enjoy the dash of interracial BMWW romance sparked amid all the juicy action. :)