Ten tales of murder, mayhem, madness, and dark magic from a #1 bestselling author. A man finds that fast cars and fast women don't mix. An artist uses very special tools to convey his passion. A rebellious teen will make any sacrifice for rock stardom. A mother finds a new role in a post-apocalyptic world. Gateway Drug. It leads to more dangerous things.Features "Hounds of Love, "Sung Li," and other tales from the pages of Cemetery Dance, The Book of All Flesh, and more, along with the afterword "One Sick Puppy." Bonus contributions from British horror master Tim Lebbon and multi-award-winning Australian dark fantasy writer Shane Jiraiya Cummings.

    No longer relegated to the fringes of literature, this explosive collection of the world’s best apocalyptic writers brings the inventors of alien invasions, devastating meteors, doomsday scenarios, and all-out nuclear war back to the bookstores with a bang.The best writers of the early 1900s were the first to flood New York with tidal waves, destroy Illinois with alien invaders, paralyze Washington with meteors, and lay waste to the Midwest with nuclear fallout. Now collected for the first time ever in one apocalyptic volume are those early doomsday writers and their contemporaries, including Neil Gaiman, Orson Scott Card, Lucius Shepard, Robert Sheckley, Norman Spinrad, Arthur C. Clarke, William F. Nolan, Poul Anderson, Fredric Brown, Lester del Rey, and more. Relive these childhood classics or discover them here for the first time. Each story details the eerie political, social, and environmental destruction of our world.

    Four monsters collected in paperback for the first time. 'Did You Forget About Me?'"He had written to me a month or so before he died. I'd ignored the letter the same way I'd ignored all the others." When Cam Miller returns to the town he grew up in he's heading to clear his estranged father's farmhouse. He's also returning to the house he fled 23 years before. There, among the nicotine stained keepsakes and remnants of a broken life, he'll come face to face with a horror that has waited all those years for his return."It's you he wants."'Hope and Walker'"We were both 10. But he was dead. And I sat drawing him."Em Walker is just like any other 10-year-old girl growing up in the small, outback town of Hope. That is, except for the fact that her Dad runs one of the town's two funeral parlours, and the dead have just started speaking to her...When Hope is rocked by a terrible crime, Em, stubborn, scared of spiders, and with a temper that's likely to get her into trouble, will find herself thrust into the middle of a dangerous hunt for the truth."Being scared's good," Grandpa Walker had told me once. "Stops us from doing stupid things." It hadn't stopped me.'The Trade'That summer should have been filled with laughter, with slip n' slides in the yard, lazy afternoons lying watching ice cream clouds swirling through the blue sky, melting in slow motion. I watched a plane rising high above our house. From the ground it looked completely still, as if it hung suspended in the air, a model on a string. I wished I was on it, I wished I could escape. I was seven and that was the summer death stalked our home.It began with the offerings...'Knock and You Will See Me'"We buried Dad in the winter. It wasn't until the spring that we heard from him again." When grieving Ellie Ray finds a crumpled, handwritten note from her recently deceased father, hidden behind the couch, she assumes that her middle boy, Max, left it there. It has a single word written on it: WHY. But, as more and more letters begin to appear throughout the house, Ellie and her three boys will find themselves dragged into a deeply sinister mystery surrounding her father's death."Dad? I looked down at the scribbled note in my hand, at the words torn into the paper. What had started as a whisper had grown louder, more desperate. The words had been screamed onto the page. Dad? Please. What's going on?"'Bones' Four Stories. Four Monsters.

    He was a man on the move, a man who traveled light: and in the end he rode, with all of his possessions, on a rented horse into the Mexican desert to join Pancho Villa -- never to return.Can Such Things Be?Once William Randolph Hearst -- Bierce's employer, who was bragging about his own endless collections of statuary, art, books, tapestries, and, of course real estate like Hearst Castle -- once William Randolph Hearst asked Bierce what he collected. Bierce responded, smugly: "I collect words. And ideas. Like you, I also store them. But in the reservoir of my mind. I can take them out and display them at a moment's notice. Eminently portable, Mr. Hearst. And I don't find it necessary to show them all at the same time." Such things can be. (jacketless library hardcover)

    His estranged family—bitter ex-wife Caroline, troubled teenage son Trenton, and unforgiving daughter Minna—have arrived for their inheritance. But the Walkers are not alone. Prim Alice and the cynical Sandra, long dead former residents bound to the house, linger within its claustrophobic walls. Jostling for space, memory, and supremacy, they observe the family, trading barbs and reminiscences about their past lives. Though their voices cannot be heard, Alice and Sandra speak through the house itself—in the hiss of the radiator, a creak in the stairs, the dimming of a light bulb. The living and dead are each haunted by painful truths that will soon surface with explosive force. When a new ghost appears, and Trenton begins to communicate with her, the spirit and human worlds collide—with cataclysmic results.

    "Weirder Than Weird" is assured to keep the reader captivated on those cold winter nights when all you want to do is to curl up with a good book and let your mind run wild.Imagine, if you will, the worst case scenario for a woman who holds the deepest and darkest of secrets. She tries to keep this ignominious shame from her psychologist but he knows her secret all too well and she ends up paying the ultimate price for her indiscretions. Or... consider poor Keith Tuttle, a young man who unwittingly becomes part of a horrifying tale that damns him for all eternity but strangely enough, someone close to him unexpectedly profits from his doom. Another story called "Arrival Time" will allow you to peer into the life of a solitary man traveling through space and what he has come to rely on in order to keep his sanity. Will he lose it? Stand by..."Weirder Than Weird" is chock full of the most unusual tales that you will ever read. Can you hear the whistle blowing? The train is about to leave the station. Next stop: Macabre-Ville, Humor Heights and Whacky Wherever. The only question now is... Will you be on board?

    Brockmeyer, the award-winning author of KIND NEPENTHE. In "Mine" a child hangs precariously between the isthmus of innocence and evil, shedding his humanity for the altar of a wolf pup.A horrifying and ancient legend reveals itself with a shocking new twist in "A Dirty Winter Moon.""Have a Heart" teaches us that nature always prevails over the follies of man, sometimes in an extremely gruesome manner.In "Rumpelstiltskin" the troll under the bridge is very real, and wants your children for unspeakable deeds.In "The Gym Teacher" a boy's obsession with serial killers leads him to discover the true nature of a monster.These twenty stories traverse the outskirts of society to reveal the brutality of humanity in all its gory glory.

    The landscape of death becomes the new frontier for scientific exploration. With remarkable deftness, Rogers draws together the disturbing and the diverting in twenty-two showcase stories that will guide you through terrain at once familiar and startlingly fresh.

    With elements of Twilight and The Crucible, Her Dear & Loving Husband is a story for anyone who believes that true love never dies. James Wentworth has a secret. He lives quietly in Salem, Massachusetts, making few ties anywhere. One night his private world is turned upside down when he meets Sarah Alexander, a dead ringer for his wife, Elizabeth. Though it has been years since Elizabeth's death, James cannot move on. Sarah also has a secret. She is haunted by nightmares about the Salem Witch Trials, and every night she is awakened by visions of hangings, being arrested, and dying in jail. Despite the obstacles of their secrets, James and Sarah fall in love. As James comes to terms with his feelings for Sarah, he must dodge accusations from a reporter desperate to prove that James is not who, or what, he seems to be. With the help of their friends, witches Jennifer and Olivia, James and Sarah piece their stories together and discover a mystery that may bind them in ways they never imagined. Will James make the ultimate sacrifice to protect Sarah and prevent a new hunt from bringing hysteria to Salem again?

    This rich collection showcases the best of the genre?from short-story masters such as Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, and Poppy Z. Brite; zombie stalwarts such as David J. Schow and Jack Ketchum; "bizarro" founders such as Carlton Mellick III; and popular up-and-comers such as Max Brooks and S.G. Browne?and will satisfy the insatiable hunger of zombie fans everywhere.A series of captivating essays about zombies in folklore and in popular culture by John Skipp, award-winning zombie anthologist and author, enrich an already extraordinary collection by discussing the past, present, and future of the living dead. And a resources section encompassing the best of long-form fiction, movies, websites, games is included for any reader interested in learning more about the wider world of the undead.Sure to sate the hungriest zombie fans with classic as well as contemporary servings of tangled entrails and other unspeakable meals, Zombies: Encounters with the HungryDead will be shambling out of bookstores in October 2009.

    Featuring three brand new, original tales and three reprints, each story explores a different set of characters in a different world and facing different problems in the future world. "Doctor-Patient Confidentiality": A girl wakes up in a cryomed unit and must recall why she's there and what's she's lost. "The Most Precious Memory": In a world where memories are sold and consumed like drugs, one deal has a weird twist."The Girl & the Machine": A time traveler meets someone who claims she's met his future self and that they'll change the world together."Lag": A reporter has found the story of a lifetime--but a malfunctioning teleportation has made her forget it..."The Turing Test": A college student must determine which test subject is human and which is an android with A.I."As They Slip Away": A novella set in the world of Across the Universe, exploring the fate of a side character.

    Stories with taboo subjects, unique voices, shocking images—nothing safe or dry.Burnt Tongues is a collection of transgressive stories selected by a rigorous nomination and vetting process and hand-selected by Chuck Palahniuk, author of Fight Club, as the best of The Cult workshop, his official fan website.These stories run the gamut from horrific and fantastic to humorous and touching, but each leaves a lasting impression. Some may say even a scar.Also includes: The Power of Persisting: An Introduction by Chuck Palahniuk, and from the Editors: The Genesis of Burnt Tongues by Dennis Widmyer and Richard Thomas.Table of Contents:Live This Down by Neil KrolickiCharlie by Chris Lewis CarterPaper by Gayle TowellMating Calls by Tony LiebhardMelody by Michael De Vito, Jr.F for Fake by Tyler JonesMind and Soldier by Phil JourdanIngredients by Richard LemmerThe Line Forms on the Right by Amanda GowinA Vodka Kind of Girl by Matt EganGasoline by Fred VenturiniDietary by Brandon TietzInvisible Graffiti by Adam SkorupskasBike by Bryan HowieHeavier Petting by Brien PiechosEngines, O-Rings, and Astronauts by Jason M. FylanLemming by Terence James EelesThe Routine by Keith BuieSurvived by Gus MorenoZombie Whorehouse by Daniel W. Broallt

     There is something for every horror fan in this four book set, from a psychological terror featuring a repairman from hell, to a bloody tale of betrayal and vampires to a tale of a man hiding himself away for his own safety and a child pushed too far by the school bullies. One novel, one novella, two short stories. From the bestselling author of horror and suspense, Michael Bray, this three book set is a perfect introduction to his work and will appeal to fans of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Bentley Little, Shaun Hutson and James Herbert. Praise for included tiles: Digs into the depth of the readers fear and plays on it.' 'Wild, weird, and wonderfully imaginative!' 'In the spirit of Stephen King, Michael Bray has created a page turning gem. If you love horror, you need to read this story.' 'The story itself was dark and shocking' 'This is one of the best horror stories I have read in ages! It is absolutely grisly, gruesome and nasty' 'A great moral tale with a sting, and a bite, a chop, the odd missing foot and various other nasties.' KEYWORD SEARCH TERMS: Horror Horror box set Horror collection

    Konrath. A F R A I D WELCOME TO SAFE HAVEN, POPULATION 907...Nestled in the woods of Wisconsin, Safe Haven is miles from everything. With one road in and out, this is a town so peaceful it has never needed a full-time police force. Until now...A helicopter has crashed on the outskirts of town and something terrible has been unleashed. A classified secret weapon programmed to kill anything that stands in its way. Now it's headed for the nearest lights to do what it does best. Isolate. Terrorize. Annihilate.Soon all phone lines are dead and the road is blocked. Safe Haven's only chance for survival rests on the shoulders of an aging county sheriff. And as the body count rises, the sheriff realizes something even more terrifying - maybe death hasn't come to his little town by accident...WELCOME TO SAFE HAVEN, POPULATION 907... 906... 905...AFRAID by J.A. KonrathAre you afraid of the dark? You will be. T R A P P E D TERRIFIED...It was supposed to be a harmless camping trip. Six wayward teenagers who'd run into trouble with the law, and their court-appointed guardians, Sara and Martin Randhurst. Three nights on a small, deserted island off of Michigan's upper peninsula. A time to bond, to learn, to heal.Then Martin told a campfire story about the island's history. Of the old civil war prison hidden in there, and the starving confederate soldiers who resorted to cannibalism to stay alive. Everyone thought it was funny. They even laughed when Martin pretended to be dragged off into the woods.But Martin didn't come back. And neither did Sara when she went in search of him.Then the laughter stopped....TO DEATHThe group soon began to realize that this deserted island wasn't so deserted after all. And perhaps Martin's ridiculous story had more truth to it than anyone thought.What's the most horrifying thing you can imagine?This is a hundred times worse...TRAPPED by J.A. KonrathIt starts where other horror ends E N D U R A N C E WELCOME TO THE RUSHMORE INNThe bed and breakfast was hidden in the hills of West Virginia. Wary guests wondered how it could stay in business at such a creepy, remote location. Especially with its bizarre, presidential decor and eccentric proprietor.ONCE YOU CHECK IN...When the event hotel for the national Iron Woman triathlon accidentally overbooked, competitor Maria was forced to stay at the Rushmore. But after checking into her room, she quickly realized she wasn't alone. First her suitcase wasn't where she put it. Then her cell phone was moved. Finally, she heard an odd creaking under the bed. Confusion quickly turned to fear, and fear to hysteria when she discovered the front door was barred and the windows were bricked over. There was no way out....YOU'LL BE DYING TO LEAVEOne year later, four new female athletes have become guests of the Inn.

    Pitcher Orel Hershiser and the Los Angeles Dodgers had beaten the Oakland A's in five games to win the World Series. People were waiting in line at movie theaters to watch Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man. Tom Clancy's The Cardinal of the Kremlin and Anne Rice's The Queen of the Damned were atop the bestseller lists. The most acclaimed genre books of the year were Thomas Harris's The Silence of the Lambs and Peter Straub's Koko.And twenty-two year old college student Richard Chizmar had just published the premiere issue of a horror magazine named Cemetery Dance.Twenty-five years later, there have been seventy issues of Cemetery Dance magazine. There have been more than 275 signed Limited Edition hardcovers in the Cemetery Dance book line. There have been awards including the World Fantasy Award, the International Horror Critics Guild Award, and the HWA Board of Trustees Excellence in Specialty Press Publishing Award, as well as nominations for the British Fantasy Award, the American Horror Award, and the Bram Stoker Award, just to name a few.To celebrate the 25th anniversary of that premiere issue of Cemetery Dance, we're proud to announce Turn Down the Lights, an anthology of authors who helped make the magazine what it is today. These original horror stories by Stephen King, Norman Partridge, Jack Ketchum, Brian James Freeman, Bentley Little, Ed Gorman, Ronald Kelly, Steve Rasnic Tem, Clive Barker, and Peter Straub capture the genuine love of the genre that pushes Cemetery Dance Publications forward year after year.Now, turn down the lights, flip the page, take my hand, and start the dance…