Book picks similar to
The Balance by Kev Harrison


horror
folk-horror
paper-edition
5-star

Standalone


Paul Michael Anderson - 2020
    They are monsters. They are evil. They stalk through summer camps, abandoned hospitals, rundown schools, and isolated houses, hunting anyone foolish enough to visit these places, leaving behind carnage, terror, death, and destruction. Sometimes, there are survivors. Always, there is blood. And they do it to protect and preserve all of existence across the Multiverse.But now they are the ones being stalked and hunted, and life as we know it hangs in the balance unless they figure out a way to survive. ___PRAISE FOR PAUL MICHAEL ANDERSON"Anderson announces himself as a major talent in the dark fiction realm." - Fangoria"Anderson writes with a sure, steady hand." – Jack Ketchum, author of The Woman, The Girl Next Door, and Off Season"Paul Michael Anderson's writing doesn't feel gimmicky, but it has a pulp edge to it. Anderson's the real deal, guys." – Dead End Follies

The Switch House


Tim Meyer - 2018
    We promise. Your dreams will come true. Everything you've ever wanted, we have it. This is a chance of a lifetime. Come inside. Switch with us.Angela and Terry return home after several grueling months of filming the popular television show, LET'S SWITCH HOUSES!, only to find their residence in ruin. Sure, the décor and framed photographs are the same; the color of the walls hasn't changed; the furniture sits unmoved. But something is off. Their quiet New Jersey home feels tainted. Angela can sense it. Crawling inside her. Infecting her mind. Poisoning her thoughts.Then the nightmares begin. Awful, lucid visions that cause her to question her own reality. What happened at 44 Trenton Road while she was gone? Just what did she do, that bizarre woman who claims she can communicate with the beyond? Who is she exactly? Angela aims to find out, but the further she investigates, the deeper into madness she descends. How far will she travel before she loses the trail of clues? Or worse—before she loses her mind.THE SWITCH HOUSE is a short novel for fans of supernatural thrillers with a dark twist.

After: Taras and Theron / Beyond Jerusalem


David McAfee - 2011
    Tired, weak, and nearly broken under the weight of his guilt, he wanders the streets waiting for death to catch up to him. But when he is beset by bandits, he gains a new perspective. Maybe he doesn't have to feel guilty about feeding, after all.Theron - Theron travels by ship to his long ago home of Athens, Greece. He soon discovers the Council of Thirteen has put a price on his head so large every Bachiyr in the city will try to collect it, which leads to a very tense reunion with an old lover.The Ugliest Thing, by Daniel Arenson - Just what is it about the image in the telescope that makes people lose their sanity? Is it worth the risk to see for yourself?Also included is a preview of 61 A.D., the thrilling sequel to David's 2010 horror bestseller, 33 A.D.

The Old Bay King


Donnie Goodman - 2021
    If they don't bring in a haul and pay off their loan to Otis Bailey, the King of the Old Bay, they're as good as dead. Unfortunately for them, Otis is the least of their worries.Mixing elements of crime and creature horror, The Old Bay King is sure to delight the fans of Guy N. Smith's Crabs series and J.F. Gonzalez's Clickers series.This short story will be available in the upcoming collection, The Razorblades in my Head, due out in Summer 2021.

Awake in the Night


John C. Wright - 2014
    Wright's four brilliant forays into the dark fantasy world of William Hope Hodgson's 1912 novel, The Night Land. Widely considered to be the finest tribute to Hodgson ever written, this novella was previously published in 2004 in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection. The five-million year epic that begins with "Awake in the Night" continues in AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, which in addition to "Awake in the Night" contains "The Cry of the Night-Hound", "Silence of the Night", and "The Last of All Suns", which collectively tell the haunting tale of the Last Redoubt of Man and the end of the human race. John C. Wright has been described by reviewers as one of the most important and audacious authors in science fiction today. In a recent poll of more than 1,000 science fiction readers, he was chosen as the sixth-greatest living science fiction writer.

Juniper


Ross Jeffery - 2020
    As Juniper suffers from scorching drought and medieval famine, the townsfolk are forced to rely on the ‘new cattle’ for food: monstrous interbred cats kept by the oppressed Janet Lehey. But there’s a problem: Janet’s prized ginger tom, Bucky, has gone missing, flown the coop. As Janet and her deranged ex-con husband Klein intensify their search for the hulking mongrel, Betty Davis, an old woman clinging to survival on the outskirts of Juniper, discovers something large and ginger and lying half-dead by the side of the road. She decides to take it home… Juniper is surreal, dark, funny, and at times: excruciatingly grotesque. Buckle up for a wild ride through the dust-ridden roads of a tiny, half-forgotten American town…

True Crime


Samantha Kolesnik - 2020
    Once the abuse becomes too much to handle, the two siblings embark on a sordid cross-country murder spree beginning with their mom. As the murder tally rises, Suzy’s mental state spirals into irredeemable madness.

After Me, the Great Flood


Jayson Robert Ducharme - 2021
    As she settles into her new home, she begins a genuine friendship with her landlord, and they discover a fondness and mutual trust for each other.However, as the months go on, Lena begins experiencing increasingly bizarre and fantastical happenings, and she suspects that there is something nefarious lurking beneath the foundations of the house, which Ellis will not admit is there. To uncover the truth, Lena must put her relationship with Ellis at hazard, and what she discovers is something unearthly and beyond death.

Until the Sun


Chandler Morrison - 2019
    Authority. Mortality. If you could liberate yourself of these burdens, would any cost be too great? On a hot August night, a troubled fifteen-year-old boy with a tragic past wakes to find his tyrannical foster parents murdered by a trio of nocturnal, blood-drinking heathens. The killers give him the opportunity for a new life, one where he can be relieved of traditional hardships, vanquish his enemies, and attain a sense of true belonging…at the cost of what little remains of his humanity. The life he is offered is one of eternal darkness, but the promise of undying acceptance, freedom, and power gives it an appeal that his current dreaded existence is lacking. Fraught with resentment over his catastrophic adolescence and confronted by ambiguous notions of good and evil, he is forced to explore a dark world on the fringe between bliss and oblivion. As he edges ever closer to a climactic encounter with the demons that plague his soul, he discovers just how dangerous it is to be young and alienated in modern society.

Out of Darkness - Book 3 (Out of Darkness Serial (An Amish of Lancaster County Saga))


Ruth Price - 2014
    All she knows is that she's being hunted. When she stumbles, bloody and beaten, onto Abram Yoder's Lancaster County farm, she is not only given a chance at safety, but also the possibility of love. Will the ghosts of Sofia's past keep her from seizing a new future? Abram Yoder is a man trapped in the past. His wife Rebekah died in childbirth two years back, and even through prayer, he hasn't been able to absolve his grief and allow himself to live. When a mysterious woman comes to his Lancaster farm needing help, will Abram find the faith to love again? Join Sofia and Abram as they confront the past, embrace the future and with God's help, bridge the gap between their two worlds and maybe even find love in Book 3 of the 10 Part Out of Darkness serial. If You Love Amish Fiction, Scroll up and Grab a Copy Today!

Saving the King


Leilani Love - 2018
     Katrina would do anything for her long-time friend and Queen, so when the newborn Prince is thrust into her arms she promises to protect him as she is rushed with Arthur to Merlin’s. When Morgana’s Demon Army attacks her carriage, Katrina is outnumbered and outmatched as she finds herself surrounded with nowhere to run. On his way home Bryan stumbled upon a turned carriage. His wolves take off following after the trail of what looks to be a small army of men. When he sees a giant painted man about to kill a small woman he rushes to help without thinking about the consequences. Riding his horse as fast as he dares, the woman in his arms lips are blue from the cold, the baby cries getting softer Bryan feels his panic rising. Who is she and how did she come to be traveling along with a baby that wasn’t hers? Will he be able to figure out before those men come back to try and finish the job? A fantasy King Arthur retelling.

School's Out


Brian Keene - 2016
    SCHOOL’S OUT, an all-new post-apocalyptic novella by Brian Keene, was suggested to him by his son, marking their first official collaboration, and is suitable for all ages.

I'll Bring You the Birds from Out of the Sky


Brian Hodge - 2017
    Never put a more slothful soul in a fella big enough to wrestle an ox to the ground."The Conklin Collection is haunted and haunting, powerful in its brutal simplicity. What looks like the work of a fevered imagination begins to appear more and more like the desperate attempts of a man toiling at the edge of his limits to depict what cannot be depicted…An underlying order as old as the hills, its thousand throats concealed beneath the roots and rocks, between the streams and trees, deep in the besieged mountains of Appalachia."My momma said it was their eighteenth summer when Cecil started shooting up like a weed again. That ain't normal."But the most crucial painting of all is missing. And the only place it could be is the last place that should be searched."The rest, I think they always knew deep down Cecil was the one in trouble, that something was after him already. He never should've gone over the mountain."I'll Bring You the Birds From Out of the Sky is a tale of art and obsession, of a dying heritage and cosmic horror, brought to rustic life with full-color paintings by artist Kim Parkhurst.

Jedi Summer: With the Magnetic Kid


John Boden - 2016
    A summer full of sun and surrealism, Lessons of loss and love. Of growing up and figuring it out. Nestled in the mountains of Pennsylvania is a small town, it's not like the others. Things are strange there- people die but hang around, pets too. Everyone knows your name and sometimes, a thing as simple as a movie coming to the local theatre, is all it takes to keep you going.

Gone to See the River Man


Kristopher Triana - 2020
    Groupies. Stalkers.These people will give anything for the idols they worship, be they rock stars, actors or authors. Or even serial killers.Lori is just such a fanatic. Her obsession is with Edmund Cox, a man of sadistic cruelty who butchered more than twenty women. She’s gone so far as to forge a relationship with him, visiting him in prison and sending him letters on a regular basis. She will do anything to get close to him, so when he gives her a task, she eagerly accepts it.She has no idea of the horror that awaits her.Edmund tells her she must go to his cabin in the woods of Killen and retrieve a key to deliver to a mysterious figure known only as The River Man.In her quest, she brings along her handicapped sister, and they journey through the deep, dark valley, beginning their trip upriver. The trip quickly becomes a surreal nightmare, one that digs up Lori’s personal demons, the ones she feels bonds her to Edmund. The river runs with flesh, the cabin is a vault of horrors, and ghostly blues music echoes through the mountains. Soon they will learn that The River Man is not quite fact or folklore, and definitely not human -- at least, not anymore. And the key is just the beginning of what is required of Lori to prove she’s worthy of a madman’s love.