Helltown: A Horror Novel


Stephen Bentley - 2015
    It's nothing like the suburb you might live in . . . Unless, that is, an insane, Listerine-guzzling Realtor sold you your house? Or perhaps your postman happens to have a disturbing relationship with his claw hammer? A grieving Dan LaBarbara knows something is different in Helltown as soon as he comes back home. Yeah, sure, the town always been a little off. You can feel that about the place, like if you stepped into a house whose only occupants were freshly murdered corpses in an upstairs bedroom. But this is something else entirely. Standing in his little brother Barbie's basement workshop, holding one of those dioramas Barbie's been building since the accident, the ones that seem to move when you hold them, Dan can feel Barbie's terror. Barbie must know something is coming, something big, something evil. He's trying to warn Dan in the only way he knows. Why else would Barbie build a diorama depicting a man-sized version of a cartoon rabbit with bloody teeth about to devour a trembling teenager? Why else would he spend so much time crafting an intricate model of Death standing over a pimply teenager in the school library? And let's not even talk about that little model of the mob of undead surrounding the massive tower of vicious black spines behind the high school. Hilltown has a story to tell, and the lonely brain-damaged man who builds magical dioramas in his basement workshop has been telling it all along. As the evil closes in around them, Dan and his new love interest Jessica must do the impossible: save everyone one in Hilltown before it's too late.

Dark Advent


Brian Hodge - 1988
    In a deserted midwestern department store, a few people banded together, but beyond their temporary haven an insidious evil was stirring! In the tradition of Stephen King's The Stand.

Blood & Sawdust


Jason S. Ridler - 2012
    But nothing prepared him for Milkwood: a fat, ugly bastard who could take a beating like a government mule, but never, ever won. So when Malcolm risks his life to discover Milkwood's secret, he convinces the fighter to stop being a punching bag and to go for broke in the local tournament. Only problem? A beautiful woman called Lash who needs Milkwood for her own purposes, and a fouler creature on her heels known only as Dizzy Colt. But for Malcolm and Milkwood? Hell, it’s just another day of Blood and SawdustPRAISE FOR BLOOD AND SAWDUST!"With wicked, playful prose that blends the best of pulp with the supernatural, Jason Ridler’s Blood and Sawdust creates an unholy, hell-raising hybrid, the kind of tale Christopher Moore and Jim Thompson might swap after a long night of drinking, trying to one-up one another with acerbic absurdity." Joe Clifford, Author of CHOICE CUTS and JUNKIE LOVEPRAISE FOR THE WORK OF JASON RIDLER!"An exciting new writer." Lucius Shepard, multiple-award-winning author of HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN PRAYER. “Jason Ridler is kind of like a bull rider who’s tossed a saddle on a Tiger tank, and he’s riding that bucking sucker for all he’s worth, because, hey, no one told him that he couldn’t do it, did they? So here he is, the Man in the Barbed-Wire Straitjacket." Norman Partridge, Award Winning Author of DARK HARVEST. "Jason Ridler’s work is intense and taut, with incredible characters and plots that keep your mind buzzing long after you’ve reached the final page." Trent Zelazny, author of TOO LATE TO CALL TEXAS, and FRACTAL DESPONDENCY. ABOUT THE AUTHORJason S. Ridler is the author of BLOOD AND SAWDUST, the Spar Battersea thrillers (DEATH MATCH, CON JOB and DICE ROLL), the short story collection KNOCKOUTS, and has published over fifty stories in such magazines and anthologies as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Brain Harvest, Chilling Tales, and more. His popular non-fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Dark Scribe, and the Internet Review of Science Fiction. A former punk rock musician and cemetery groundskeeper, Mr. Ridler holds a Ph.D. in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. Visit him at twitter at http://twitter.com/JayRidler, Facebook ,http://www.facebook.com/Ridlerville, or his writing blog, Ridlerville, atwww.jsridler.com

In This Skin


Simon Clark - 2004
    From Vaudeville, through the big bands and up to the hottest rock acts, the Luxor had them all. It's closed now, a boarded-up relic, standing alone in a run down industrial part of town. But the old dance hall isn't empty. A hideous presence lives there, a monstrous evil that has the ability to invade people's fantasies and nightmares . . . and bring them to life. Three strangers will soon learn the extent of the dance hall's power. As their lives become more and more entangled in its inescapable web, they will come to see that what haunts the Luxor is far worse than any ghost.

The Summoning


Bentley Little - 1993
    Reissue.

The Lurkers


Kristopher Rufty - 2012
    Small, humanoid creatures with sharp teeth and grasping hands. The people in what’s left of the nearby town live in fear. They’ve learned that if they let the creatures take what they want, they won’t be attacked. An uneasy peace has reigned. But no more. The leader of the creatures has decided his kind will be dormant no longer. To survive, they must kill. They will satisfy their unholy hunger with their favorite prey—humans. But some humans—females—will be kept alive in captivity…to breed.

The Forsaken Boy, a werewolf novel


Troy Tradup - 2010
    Weirdo. Queer. Tonto. Redskin.People have tormented Brandon Turner his entire life. For eighteen years, he's been abused, humiliated, ostracized -- hated.Maybe it's his shabby clothes. Maybe it's the bruises on his arms or the haunted look in his eyes. Or maybe it's some essential, unexplainable difference hidden deep inside. Not quite white, not quite Indian, and soon now ... not quite human.Because Brandon is about to walk a lonely country road and discover a hunger and a power he'd never imagined.By the light of the next full moon, Brandon will reintroduce himself to the town that's always hated him.And for anyone in his path, the only option will be to run ...

Flesh and Blood


Graham Masterton - 1994
    But unknown to the surgeons, the child was a descendant of the vengeful and psychotic "Green Traveller", and the huge pig embarks on a bloody and unstoppable rampage.

Hell Hound


Ken Greenhall - 1977
    What if some morning as the old woman stood at the head of the staircase she were suddenly to feel a weight thrusting against the back of her legs? What if she were to lunge forward, grasping at the air, striking her thin skull against the edge of a stair? What would become of me if she were found unmoving at the bottom of the stairway?’Such are the thoughts of Baxter, a sociopathic bull terrier on the hunt for the perfect master, as he contemplates the demise of his first victim. The basis for the acclaimed 1989 film Baxter, Ken Greenhall’s utterly chilling and long-unobtainable Hell Hound (1977) has earned a reputation as a lost classic of horror fiction. This first-ever reissue includes a new introduction by Grady Hendrix.

Friend


Diana Henstell - 1985
    A young genius desperately isolated in a world of theories and formulae few can understand. Until he meets shy and loving Samantha. The friend he never had. The love he only dreamed of. He loves her so much, he cannot let her go.And when suddenly, tragically, Samantha is lost, he makes a solemn vow -- to use his gifts of genius to keep his beloved Samantha. For just a little while longer....A modern day Frankenstein story that was the basis for a Sci-Fi horror movie of the same name by Wes Craven.

Seven Footprints to Satan


A. Merritt - 1928
    They play Russian Roulette with seven footprints to world domination--and lost. They had become subject to the Collector of Infernal Revenue--Satan. The Master Player of games would glut his lust with souls and gain world power through diabolical manipulations. But into his collection comes James Kirkham, an American explorer determined to prove that the steps are stacked.

Camp Firwood


Boris Bacic - 2020
    Every two weeks, the camp organizes an event called The Trial. The campers all dread it. They don't want to spend the night in the woods with the Firwood Wraith roaming around. And the more they misbehave, the higher the chances they'll be chosen.By the time Kevin realizes what Camp Firwood really is, he is trapped - and every week, more and more campers go missing.

Shadows in the Mist


Brian Moreland - 2006
    Now, he is determined to tell his tale. His grandson, Sean, is given the task of carrying his message. But Sean's personal quest will pull him into a deadly race against those who wish to bury the truth forever and those who wish to use it to unleash hell on earth.

Ghost Light


Clare McNally - 1982
    Bonnie Jackson, the sweetest little girl ever to hit the stage, dies in a fiery spectacle of evil in front of her adoring fans. Now, 60 years later, Bonnie has returned to the stage. But on opening night, she won't be thrilling audiences with her smile--but terrifying them with her demonic revenge. Reversion.

A Winter Sleep


Greg F. Gifune - 2018
    Gifune. In a haunted hotel on the outskirts of a forgotten town, a bizarre group of tenants guard a horrible secret. A troubled man on the run, with nothing left to lose, drives aimlessly along dark highways in search of redemption. A little boy, brutally attacked and left for dead, realizes the strange power his agony has granted him. An enigmatic homeless man with nightmares he can no longer control, lost in a violent dreamscape only he understands, watches and waits. As a snowstorm traps them all within the walls of the old hotel, where madness and depravity run wild, from the shadows, a new reign of lesser gods begins, and an aberrant evil fights for survival amidst the cold terror of a desolate winter, and the bloody dreams of the hopeless and the damned. Cover art by Wendy Saber Core.