Mysteries of the Worm


Robert Bloch - 1981
    To know them will be to know him. And thus we have decided to release a new and expanded third edition of Robert Bloch’s Mysteries of the Worm. This collection contains four more Mythos tales–”The Opener of the Way”, “The Eyes of the Mummy”, “Black Bargain”, and “Philtre Tip”–not included in the first two editions.

The Haunted Looking Glass


Edward Gorey - 1959
    It includes stories by Charles Dickens, Wilkie Collins, M. R. James, W. W. Jacobs, and L. P. Hartley, among other masters of the fine art of making the flesh creep, all accompanied by Gorey's inimitable illustrations.ALGERNON BLACKWOOD, "The Empty House"W.F. HARVEY, "August Heat"CHARLES DICKENS, "The Signalman"L.P. HARTLEY, "A Visitor from Down Under"R.H. MALDEN, "The Thirteenth Tree"ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, "The Body-Snatcher"E. NESBIT, "Man-Size in Marble"BRAM STOKER, "The Judge's House"TOM HOOD, "The Shadow of a Shade"W.W. JACOBS, "The Monkey's Paw,"WILKIE COLLINS, "The Dream Woman"M.R. JAMES, "Casting the Runes"

Tales of Horror & the Supernatural


Arthur Machen - 1948
    The Great God Pan. The White People. Fourteen Stories! Over 500 pages. From the beginning of his literary career, Machen espoused a mystical belief that the humdrum ordinary world hid a more mysterious and strange world beyond. His gothic and decadent works of the 1890s concluded that the lifting of this veil could lead to madness, sex, or death, and usually a combination of all three. Machen's later works became somewhat less obviously full of gothic trappings, but for him investigations into mysteries invariably resulted in life-changing transformation and sacrifice. Machen loved the medieval world view because he felt it combined deep spirituality alongside a rambunctious earthiness. Machen's strong opposition to a materialistic viewpoint is obvious in many of his works, marking him as part of neo-romanticism. He was deeply suspicious of science, materialism, commerce, and Puritanism, all of which were anathema to Machen's conservative, bohemian, mystical, and ritualistic temperament.Contents:N (1936)Out of the Earth (1915)The Bowmen (1914)The Bright Boy (1936)The Children of the Pool (1936)The Great God Pan (1894)The Great Return (1915)The Happy Children (1920)The Inmost Light (1894)The Novel of the Black Seal (1895)The Novel of the White Powder (1895)The Shining Pyramid (1895)The Terror (1916)The White People (1904)

Selected Stories


Fritz Leiber - 2001
    P. Lovecraft and the paperback era of P. K. Dick, and arguably is as influential as both these authors. From a historical context, Leiber, in fact, knew both of the authors, and his work can be seen as a bridge connecting the many different flavors of genres of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Edited by award-winning editors Jonathan Strahan and Charles Brown, this new collection of the grand master's fiction covers all facets of his work, and features an Introduction by Neil Gaiman and an Afterword by Michael Chabon.Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Glimpses: The Best Short Stories of Rick Hautala


Rick Hautala - 2012
    One of 2012’s HWA Lifetime Achievement Award Winners, Rick Hautala has a writing career that spans more than three decades. From Moondeath, his first novel published in 1980, to the republication of his best-selling novel The White Room (DRP, 2012) and his forthcoming “Little Brothers” novella Indian Summer (CD Publications, 2012), his novels and short stories have entertained millions of readers around the world. Now comes Glimpses, a career-spanning “best of” collection that brings together twenty-four stories, including eight from each of Rick’s critically-acclaimed collections Bedbugs and Occasional Demons, and eight previously uncollected stories. And Glimpses delivers what it promises—quick glimpses into the deepest shadows of our lives, around unfamiliar corners of streets we think we know, and down the darkest alleys of strange cities where readers will have to face their worst fears and their most unnerving nightmares. Of course, Glimpses wouldn’t be a Rick Hautala collection if it didn’t included gorgeous original artwork—a wraparound cover and eight new illustrations—from award-winning artist Glenn Chadbourne. So whether it’s in a haunted schoolhouse or an abandoned lighthouse, an iron bridge that spans a fast-moving river or a World War I battlefield, prepare yourself because you never know what you may catch a glimpse of … and by then, it may already be too late.

Goblin


Josh Malerman - 2017
    But with the master storyteller Josh Malerman as your tour guide, you'll discover the secrets that hide behind its closed doors. These six novellas tell the story of a place where the rain is always falling, nighttime is always near, and your darkest fears and desires await. Welcome to Goblin. . . .A Man in Slices: A man proves his "legendary love" to his girlfriend with a sacrifice even more daring than Vincent van Gogh's--and sends her more than his heart.Kamp: Walter Kamp is afraid of everything, but most afraid of being scared to death. As he sets traps around his home to catch the ghosts that haunt him, he learns that nothing is more terrifying than fear itself.Happy Birthday, Hunter!: A famed big-game hunter is determined to capture--and kill--the ultimate prey: the mythic Great Owl who lives in Goblin's dark forests. But this mysterious creature is not the only secret the woods are keeping.Presto: All Peter wants is to be like his hero, Roman Emperor, the greatest magician in the world. When the famous magician comes to Goblin, Peter discovers that not all magic is just an illusion.A Mix-Up at the Zoo: The new zookeeper feels a mysterious kinship with the animals in his care . . . and finds that his work is freeing dark forces inside him.The Hedges: When his wife dies, a man builds a hedge maze so elaborate no one ever solves it--until a little girl resolves to be the first to find the mysteries that wait at its heart.

Tales of the Quintana Roo


James Tiptree Jr. - 1986
    It is the long, wild easternmost shore of the Yucatan Peninsula, officially but not psychologically part of Mexico. A diary of daily life on its jungly beaches could sometimes be taken for a log of life on an alien planet, " writes James Tiptree, Jr., in the preface to this new collection of three talismanic tales of the supernatural. During the late 1970s, Tiptree -- one of the greatest American authors of short imaginative fiction -- lived for months on the eerie windswept shore of the Yucatan, and the true protagonist of this book is neither the Tiptree narrator nor the manifestations of ancient Maya civilization, but rather the Quintana Roo itself as a living, pulsating entity that envelops the reader within a uniquely alien ambience. Following Tiptree's introduction are these unforgettable nouvelles of weird fantasy: "What Came Ashore at Lirios, " "The Boy Who Waterskied to Forever, " and "Beyond the Dead Reef.

Books of Blood, Volume One


Clive Barker - 1984
    Weaving tales of the everyday world transformed into an unrecognizable place, where reason no longer exists and logic ceases to explain the workings of the universe, Clive Barker provides the stuff of nightmares in packages too tantalizing to resist.Never one to shy away from the unimaginable or the unspeakable, Clive Barker breathes life into our deepest, darkest nightmares, creating visions that are at once terrifying, tender, and witty.The Books of Blood confirm what horror fans everywhere have known for a long time: We will be hearing from Clive Barker for many years to come. This first volume contains the short stories : "The Book of Blood," "The Midnight Meat Train," "The Yattering and Jack," "Sex, Death, and Starshine," and "In the Hills, the Cities."

Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural


Henry MazzeoRobert Aickman - 1968
    The Lonesome Place by August Derleth c. 1947 by All-Fiction Field, Inc. and c. 1962 by August Derleth. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.2. In The Vault by H. P. Lovecraft c. 1932 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company, c. 1939, 1945 by August Derleth and Donald Wondrei; c. 1963 by August Derleth. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.3. The Man Who Collected Poe by Robert Bloch, c. 1951 by Popular Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author's agent, Harry Altshuler.4. Where Angels Fear by Manly Wade Wellman, from "Unknown". Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc.; c. renewed 1967 by The Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of The Conde Nast Publications, Inc.5. Lot No. 249 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from "The Conan Doyle Stories". Reprinted by permission of the Trustees of the Estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and John Murray, Ltd.6. The Haunted Doll's House by M. R. James from "The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James" by Montagne Rhodes James. Reprinted by permission of Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd.7. The Open Door by Mrs. Oliphant8. Thus I Refute Beelzy by John Collier from "Fancies and Goodnights". Copyright 1940 by John Collier. Reprinted by permission of the Harold Matson Company.9. Levitation from "Nine Horrors and a Dream" by Joseph Payne Brennen. Copyright 1958 by Joseph Payne Brennen. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.10. The Ghostly Rental by Henry James11. The Face by E. F. Benson from "Spook Stories". Reprinted by permission of Reverend K. S. P. McDowall.12. The Whistling Room by William Hope Hodgson. Copyright 1947 by August Derleth. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.13. The Grey Ones by J. B. Priestley. Reprinted by permission of A. D. Peters & Co.14. The Stolen Body by H. G. Wells. Reprinted by permission of Collins-Knowlton-Wing, Inc.15. The Red Lodge from "They Return at Evening" by H. Russell Wakefield. Copyright 1928 by D. Appleton and Company. Reprinted by permission of Appleton-Century, affiliate of Meredith Press.16. The Visiting Star from "Powers of Darkness" by Robert Aickman. Copyright 1966 by Robert Aickman. Reprinted by permission of William Collins & Sons, Ltd.17. Midnight Express by Alfred Noyes. Reprinted by permission of Hugh Noyes.

Greener Pastures


Michael Wehunt - 2016
    Where nature rubs against small towns, in mountains and woods and bedrooms, here is strangeness seen through a poet’s eye.They say there are always greener pastures. These stories consider the cost of that promise.

Mrs. Midnight and Other Stories


Reggie Oliver - 2011
    400 copies. Contains: "Mrs Midnight", "Countess Otho", "Meeting with Mike", "The Dancer in the Dark", "Mr Pigsny", "The Brighton Redemption", "You Have Nothing to Fear", "The Philosophy of the Damned", "The Mortlake Manuscript", "The Look", "The Giacometti Crucifixion","A Piece of Elsewhere", "Minos or Rhadamanthus".A TV reality show host helps to restore an East End music hall and uncovers the dreadful secret of Mrs Midnight and her Animal Comedians. . . . A historian travels to Switzerland to ghost the autobiography of an exiled Balkan king and encounters a sinister cult. . . . The Master of an Oxford college tries to introduce a dubious piece of modern sculpture into his college chapel with dire consequences. . . . A strange meeting takes place on a playing field between an officer on leave from the trenches and his former headmaster. . . .The settings and characters in Reggie Oliver’s fifth collection of ‘strange’ stories are as varied and unusual as ever, though, as in previous volumes, the theatre forms the milieu of a number of his tales. But the theatres are not just English ones, in the provinces and the West End: one is on the Black Sea; another in post-colonial Kenya. Themes are equally varied, but underlying all is a deep sense of the spiritual under-currents just below the surface of everyday existence, and the precariousness of ‘normality’.Reggie Oliver is an English playwright, biographer and writer of ghost stories. His work has appeared in a number of anthologies, including the Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror.

Gathering the Bones


Ramsey CampbellGahan Wilson - 2003
    John HarrisonGahan WilsonThe anthology market these days is awash with small, themed works focused on very specific markets, like vampire erotica and tales of werewolves, or it features best of the year reprints. It has been years since anyone has dared to bring out a broad-reaching anthology that seeks to define the current state of the genre with all original tales from both masters and hot new writers.

Nightingale Songs


Simon Strantzas - 2011
    . .In the dead of night, your past mistakes will haunt you . . .In the dead of night, you hear a discordant tune . . .In the dead of night, the nightingale sings . . . Simon Strantzas, master of the subtle and the bizarre, returns with a dozen strange tales and eerie mysteries. From the shores of a remote oil-stained sound to deep within the familiar heart of suburbia, these are the songs of broken people who cannot find a way to fix themselves, who must search the dark for salvation. Like a siren, the nightingale sings them onward to face their end. But it sings for you too. A requiem in your honor. Because, for you, it is already too late.Table of ContentsIn the Nightingale, Waiting for the Curtain to Rise, an Introduction by John LanganOut of TouchHer Father’s DaughterThe Deafening Sound of SlumberUnreasonable DoubtTend Your Own GardenThe NightingalePale Light in the JungleAn Indelible Stain upon the SkySomething NewMr. KnealeEverything FloatsWhen Sorrows ComeAfterword

The Big Book of Ghost Stories


Otto Penzler - 2012
    Here, Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler has followed his keen sense of the supernatural to collect the most chilling and uncanny tales in the canon. These spectral stories span more than a hundred years, from modern-day horrors by Joyce Carol Oates, Chet Williamson and Andrew Klavan, to pulp yarns from August Derleth, Greye La Spina, and M. L. Humphreys, to the atmospheric Victorian tales of Rudyard Kipling, Edith Wharton, and H. P. Lovecraft, not to mention modern works by the likes of Donald E. Westlake and Isaac Asimov that are already classics. Some of these stories have haunted the canon for a century, while others are making their first ghoulish appearance  in book form.  Whether you prefer possessive poltergeists, awful apparitions, or friendly phantoms, these stories are guaranteed to thrill you, tingle the spine, or tickle the funny bone, and keep you turning the pages with fearful delight.Including such classics as “The Monkey’s Paw” and “The Open Window” and eerie vintage illustrations, and also featuring haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore! AlsoFeaturing haunted mansions, midnight frights, lovers from beyond the grave, rapping, tapping, wailing shades, and ghosts, ghouls, and specters galore!

The Best Ghost Stories Ever


Christopher KrovatinHenry James - 2003
    Be careful what you do. Ghosts are everywhere. In houses new and old. In lonely walks and grim gatherings. Underneath the wallpaper. Riding through the night.These are some of the spookiest ghost stories ever written, from authors including Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, and Henry James.Prepare to be haunted...