Book picks similar to
Delightful Agony by David Whitman
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horror
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Dead: Onset
T.W. Brown - 2016
His days working construction are about to end; he is finally going to be a high school music teacher. Stephanie, his bride-to-be even has a surprise planned for him when he gets home from work that first night. None of that matters. For several days, the news has been hinting at reports of a strange illness that appears to be global. Unfortunately, this is no regular sickness. The dead are returning to life and attacking the living. Evan is at his new job for less than ten minutes when he gets a call from Stephanie. There is a man in their house and he is trying to attack her. Set in the world of the DEAD series, there is a new story to tell. See the world die through the eyes of one man in DEAD: Onset.
Found Shadows
P.T. Hylton - 2019
Decades ago, six children from across the United States disappeared on the same afternoon. Now the only one who can stop it from happening again is the boy who managed to escape. Eric Partin doesn’t understand what happened thirty years ago. All he knows is that he was taken by strangers and locked in a small room for weeks before he escaped his captors. Now the other five have been found living seemingly normal adult lives in the small town of Wakefield, Tennessee. But the Wakefield Five aren’t like other people. There’s something wrong with their minds. The only consistency in their wildly conflicting stories is that they all blame one person for what happened: Eric Partin. Eric must return to Wakefield to uncover the truth before the evil infects another generation. From PT Hylton, the author of Regulation 19, comes a tale of a haunting unlike any other.
The Cranes That Build the Cranes
Jeremy Dyson - 2009
In this collection he explores the dark depths of the human condition, offering tales of death, disaster and - just occasionally - redemption.
Dark Forces: New Stories of Suspense and Supernatural Horror
Kirby McCauleyEdward Gorey - 1980
E. D. KleinThe Detective of Dreams by Gene WolfeVengeance Is. By Theodore SturgeonThe Brood by Ramsey CampbellThe Whistling Well by Clifford D. SimakThe Peculiar Demesne by Russell KirkWhere the Stones Grow by Lisa TuttleThe Night Before Christmas by Robert BlochThe Stupid Joke by Edward GoreyA Touch of Petulance by Ray BradburyLindsay and the Red City Blues by Joe HaldemanA Garden of Blackred Roses by Charles L. GrantOwls Hoot in the Daytime by Manly Wade WellmanWhere There’s a Will by Richard Matheson and Richard Christian MathesonTraps by Gahan WilsonThe Mist by Stephen King
Hungry Gods
J.D. Brink - 2015
Undead. 'Nuff said.The country's premier superhero team is missing. So when a mutant monstrosity goes on the rampage, it's Spitball to the rescue! He's a third-string hero today, determined to be first-string tomorrow. And the Army may be giving him just the chance he needs. Spitball's been invited to undertake a secret mission into America's heartland. What he's about to discover, however, is not a chance at stardom but a horror movie come to life...Hungry Gods is a fast-paced adventure of costumed superheroes, government conspiracy theories, and flesh-eating zombies. Spandex adventure for adults.
Haunted Legends
Ellen DatlowM.K. Hobson - 2010
Lansdale, Caitlin Kiernan, Catherynne M. Valente, Kit Reed, Ekaterina Sedia, and thirteen other fine writers to create stories unlike any they've written before. Tales to make readers shiver with fear, jump at noises in the night, keep the lights on. These twenty nightmares, brought together by two renowned editors of the dark fantastic, are delightful visions sure to send shivers down the spines of horror readers.
Give the Devil His Due (The Sanheim Chronicles Book 3)
Rob Blackwell - 2013
Quinn O'Brion and Kate Tassel, two small-town journalists, became the Prince of Sanheim and used that power to defeat a serial killer.In Band of Demons, Quinn and Kate battled a new threat, two legendary creatures who had already destroyed everyone in their path. But Kate and Quinn's victory came at a heavy price. In Give the Devil His Due, Kate's only hope to save Quinn is to trust the man who took him from her. Don't miss the epic finale to the trilogy that has readers raving about its great characters, plot twists and deft combination of urban fantasy, mystery and suspense.The Lord Sanheim rules forever...
Ghost and Horror Stories of Ambrose Bierce
Ambrose Bierce - 1964
Morbid, cynical, eerie, they take you to a twilight region of flesh and spirit — and into the darkest recesses of the human mind. These are unusual constructions of terror and grim irony, reminiscent of Poe, the Gothic novel, and the Romantic short story, but having the unmistakable individual stamp of a man who knew first-hand something of the fears and specters which haunt men.In this volume you will come across a number of old favorites: "An Inhabitant of Carcosa," "The Eyes of the Panther," "The Death of Halpin Frayser," "An Adventure at Brownville," and such classics as "The Middle Toe of the Right Foot," "The Damned Thing," and "Moonlit Road," a minor masterpiece in which events of the story are told from three different points of view, including that of the victim as spoken through a medium. You will also find some less familiar, but equally fascinating stories and pieces not available elsewhere, including "Visions of the Night," in which Bierce gives us a rationale for his "reverse holiness" and the surrealistic morality that permeates these writings. Bierce's characters — possessed poets, shabby aristocrats, grimy professional men, revived corpses, haunted malefactors — live in a spare, perverse world. Patricide, the revenge of the dead, inexplicable disappearances, dreadful ironies, hypnotism and second sight, and the like, form much of the substance of these unsettling tales.
Five Tales of Horror and Suspense
C.D. Wilsher - 2018
A young man finds out from a fortune teller that there’s always a price to be paid. A rich man doesn’t quite have the 25th high school reunion experience he expected. Beware of strangers on a train. A dog may not be man’s best friend. An aging hitman takes a trip down memory lane.
Dead Pulse Rising
K. Michael Gibson - 2014
The remaining survivors hide desperately, for all hope seems lost... until an armored fortress on wheels plows through the ghouls, crushing bones and decayed viscera. The vehicle stops and two men emerge from its doors, armed to the teeth and ready to cancel the apocalypse. This is K. Michael Gibson's "Dead Pulse RISING."The story follows the onset of a mysterious disease that infects the populace of Baltimore, turning many into flesh-eating zombies. Whether it is a manifestation of Mother Nature's wrath or a new form of biological warfare remain unknown. What law enforcement officer and ex-USAF special operator Kyle Walker and his partner Marvin Winters know is that they have to use their fighting skills, their massive armored vehicle, and copious amounts of firepower in order to survive and protect those dear to them. Their struggle is further complicated when spooks from the United States Department of Homeland Security arrive and display an unwanted interest in something Kyle has aboard his vehicle. The Homeland Security agents are also hell bent on keeping the Baltimore situation a secret, and are prepared to use any means to keep the greater public in the dark of what has happened to the city.The author combines social anxieties about doomsday scenarios, threats of bio-terrorism, and unwarranted government intrusion to craft an original take on the zombie apocalypse genre. Cannibalistic monstrosities, special forces operatives, tactical combat action, and the end of the world await readers in the pages of "Dead Pulse RISING."
The Raven Curse (A Halloween Special)
Emilia Hartley - 2018
After all, he’s managed to live a full century with the curse a Carver put on him. But now, a demon is chasing him, and the magic residing in his curse could literally unleash Hell on Earth. Ciaran needs a Carver to undo the curse and stop a catastrophe. But when he seeks out this generation’s Carver witch, he discovers he wants her to do much more with him than just lift a curse. All her life, Samantha Carver has heard tales of the dangerous murderer her great-grandmother cursed, so it’s no wonder that when the man shows up in her yard, she tries to shoo him away. But the unsettlingly sexy man won’t go, and the more Samantha gets to know him, the more she questions what she’s always heard. Is the simmering attraction Ciaran and Samantha share enough to overcome a hundred years of distrust and misunderstanding? Or is their relationship—and Samantha’s sleepy town—doomed? I hope you all enjoy my Halloween Standalone! Book 3 of my latest series Lumberjack Bears will be available November 4th :). Happy Halloween!! - Emilia
The Monkey's Paw and Other Tales of Mystery and Macabre
W.W. Jacobs - 1978
Most do not know, however, that its author, W.W. Jacobs, was an immensely popular writer from the 1890s through the Second World War, selling many tens of thousands of copies of his 13 short story collections. His craftsmanship was admired by such authors as G.K. Chesterton and Evelyn Waugh. Jacobs mostly wrote humorous short stories about humble seafaring folk, but "The Monkey's Paw" is by no means his only tale of the macabre. This collection contains 18 stories with subjects including haunted houses, vengeful ghosts, guilty murderers and people faking supernatural phenomena. "The Monkey's Paw" is, of course, a moral tale about how there's always a price to pay if you interfere with what's natural. It's not a mere object lesson, though: the powerful mood of mourning and despair is what makes it so memorable. Jacobs also emphasizes the dangers of mocking the supernatural. In the superb tale "The Toll House," for example, four men pull the familiar stunt of staying in a supposedly haunted house overnight. They tease each other while drinking whiskey and playing cards to while away the time, and one of them tugs on the servants' bell as a joke. Later on the man who pulled the bell is all alone in the dark, pursued by ominous footsteps, rushing about in a panicky search for the stairs. And in "Jerry Bundler," an actor tries to pull a prank on a man who is fearful of ghosts by dressing up as a renowned local spirit. He pays for his impudence in a way that is not supernatural, but the reader's left wondering what forces contrived the tragic chain of events. It's a delightful collection of stories, distinguished by Jacobs's ability to infuse horror into the simplest, most prosaic of situations, his excellent sense of pacing in the short story form, and his sardonic sense of humor. --Fiona Webster
Apocalypticon
Clayton Smith - 2014
Unfortunately, that "normal" includes collapsing skyscrapers, bands of bloodthirsty maniacs, and a dwindling cache of survival supplies. After watching his family, friends, and most of the non-sadistic elements of society crumble around him, Patrick decides it's time to cross one last item off his bucket list. He’s going to Disney World. This hilarious, heartfelt, gut-wrenching odyssey through post-apocalyptic America is a pilgrimage peppered with peril, as fellow survivors Patrick and Ben encounter a slew of odd characters, from zombie politicians and deranged survivalists to a milky-eyed oracle who doesn't have a lot of good news. Plus, it looks like Patrick may be hiding the real reason for their mission to the Magic Kingdom...
The Mystery of Irma Vep - A Penny Dreadful
Charles Ludlam - 1987
A sympathetic werewolf, a vampire and an Egyptian princess brought to life when her tomb is opened make this a comedy that has everything."Far and away the funniest two hours on a New York stage....What more meaningful gift could Ludlam bequeath [audiences