Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories


M.R. James - 1904
    R. James's writings currently available, Count Magnus and Other Ghost Stories contains the entire first two volumes of James's ghost stories, Ghost Stories of an Antiquary and More Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. These volumes are both the culmination of the nineteenth-century ghost story tradition and the inspiration for much of the best twentieth-century work in this genre. Included in this collection are such landmark tales as "Count Magnus," set in the wilds of Sweden; "Number 13," a distinctive tale about a haunted hotel room; "Casting the Runes," a richly complex tale of sorcery that served as the basis for the classic horror film Curse of the Demon; and "Oh, Whistle, and I'll Come to You, My Lad," one of the most frightening tales in literature. The appendix includes several rare texts, including "A Night in King's College Chapel," James's first known ghost story.

I Shudder at Your Touch


Michele SlungCarolyn Banks - 1991
    Here are gathered the best of their chilling, thrilling, upsetting, and unsettling experiments with our sexual psyches. And rest assured, flesh will tingle--but whether from horror or pleasure or a bit of both, we'll leave you to judge.From its opening pages, with King's blackly humorous portrait of a very, very mad housewife to its conclusion, where we find Barker's wholly shocking tale of a deadly quest into the heart of passion, I Shudder at Your Touch brings you a host of kinky, perverse, bizarre and creepy figures. You'll find a cricket-playing vampire, a sleek sea creature likely to give mermaids a bad name, a strangely seductive handyman who's equally adept at knocking down apartment walls and female inhibitions, and a plastic religious statue offering X-rated enlightenment from its perch atop the family TV.I Shudder at Your Touch features 22 daring writers who prefer to go too far, writers whose every tale will have you fighting back a scream...and a cry of delight.Contents:The revelations of 'Becka Paulson / Stephen King --Sea lovers / Valerie Martin --Psychopomp / Haydn Middleton --A glowing future / Ruth Rendell --The tiger returns to the mountain / T.L. Parkinson --Consanguinity / Ronald Duncan --Keeping house / Michael Blumlein --The Villa Desiree / May Sinclair --Cleave the vampire, or, a gothic pastorale / Patrick McGrath --The swords / Robert Aickman --Salon Satin / Carolyn Banks --How love came to Professor Guildea / Robert Hichens --Wings / Harriet Zinnes --The Basilisk / R. Murray Gilchrist --A quarter past you / Jonathan Carroll --The master builder / Christopher Fowler --Festival / Eric McCormack --Ladies in waiting / Huch B. Cave --Death and the single girl / Thomas M. Disch --Master / Angela Carter --The conqueror worm / Stephen R. Donaldson --Jacqueline Ess: her will and testament / Clive Barker

Vastarien: Vol. 1, Issue 1


Dagny PaulMichael J. Abolafia - 2018
    The journal includes nonfiction, literary horror fiction, poetry, artwork and non-classifiable hybrid pieces.Vol. 1, Issue 1 Contents:• Foreword to Teatro Grottesco essay by Thomas Ligotti•The Nightmare of His Art: The Horrific Power of the Imagination in "The Troubles of Dr. Thoss and "Gas Station Carnivals" essay by W. Silverwood•The Gods in Their Seats, Unblinking short fiction by Kurt Fawver• Affirmation of the Spirit: Consciousness, Transformation, and the Fourth World in Film short fiction by Christopher Slatsky•Try the Veal poem by Robert Beveridge•How to Construct a Gun from Your Own Flesh short fiction by Michael Uhall•Notes on a Horror essay by Dr. Raymond Thoss•"Eccentric to the Healthy Social Order" : Inversions of Family, Community, and Religion in Thomas Ligotti's "The Last Feast of Harlequin" essau by Michael J. Abolafia•Wraiths poem by Wade German•Eraserhead as Antinatalist Allegoryessay by Colby Smith•The Alienation of the Self: Marx, Polanyi, and Ligottian Horroressay by S. L. Edwards•The Theatre of Ovid short fiction by Aaron Worth•Infinite Light, Infinite Darkness short fiction by Martin Rose•Night Walks: The Films of Val Lewton essay by Michael Penkas• Solar Flare short fiction by Paul L. Bates•Strange Bird poem by Ian Mullins•Nervous Wares & Abnormal Staresshort fiction by Devin Goff•My Time at the Drake Clinic short fiction by Jordan Krall•Singing the Song of My Unmaking short fiction by Christopher Ropes•"They say I should kill myself and not try to spoil their enjoyment in being alive": An Interview with Thomas Ligottiinterview by Wojciech Gunia

H.P. Lovecraft: Against the World, Against Life


Michel Houellebecq - 1991
    P. Lovecraft, the seminal, enigmatic horror writer of the early 20th century. Houellebecq’s insights into the craft of writing illuminate both Lovecraft and Houellebecq’s own work. The two are kindred spirits, sharing a uniquely dark worldview. But even as he outlines Lovecraft’s rejection of this loathsome world, it is Houellebecq’s adulation for the author that drives this work and makes it a love song, infusing the writing with an energy and passion not seen in Houellebecq’s other novels to date.

Carter & Lovecraft


Jonathan L. Howard - 2015
    Lovecraft mythos into the twenty-first century, optioned by Warner Bros TV.Daniel Carter used to be a homicide detective, but his last case-the hunt for a serial killer-went wrong in strange ways and soured the job for him. Now he's a private investigator trying to live a quiet life. Strangeness, however, has not finished with him. First he inherits a bookstore in Providence from someone he's never heard of, along with an indignant bookseller who doesn't want a new boss. She's Emily Lovecraft, the last known descendant of H.P. Lovecraft, the writer from Providence who told tales of the Great Old Ones and the Elder Gods, creatures and entities beyond the understanding of man. Then people start dying in impossible ways, and while Carter doesn't want to be involved, he's beginning to suspect that someone else wants him to be. As he reluctantly investigates, he discovers that Lovecraft's tales were more than just fiction, and he must accept another unexpected, and far more unwanted inheritance.

Houses Under the Sea


Caitlín R. Kiernan - 2018
    Lovecraft first invited colleagues such as Frank Belknap Long and Robert Bloch (among others) to join in his creation of what has come to be known as “The Cthulhu Mythos” (over Lovecraft’s less invocative name of “Yog-Sothery”), dozens of authors have tried their hand at adding to this vast tapestry with varying degrees of success. Some, like the then teen-aged Ramsey Campbell, used the Mythos as a starting point to his own career while still finding his own authorial voice (The Inhabitant of the Lake and Less Welcome Tenants, Arkham House 1964); others, like Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, did so at the height of their careers, paying homage to an author who had been such a tremendous inspiration to them. But no one, absolutely no one, has contributed such a body of brilliant and profoundly original work to the Mythos as has Caitlín R. Kiernan. The stories are fully illustrated with over 30 new full page illustrations by Richard A. Kirk, John Kenn Mortensen, and Vince Locke. The full wraparound dustjacket and frontispiece are by Piotr Jablonski. In this remarkable collection the author has selected over two dozen of her best Lovecraftian tales ranging from 2000s “Valentian” to her more recent classic “A Mountain Walked” as well as including the complete Dandridge Cycle, as well as a new story, “M Is for Mars.” In short, this is a cornerstone volume for Kiernan fans and Mythos devotees alike. This edition is limited to 500 signed copies, each signed by Caitlín R. Kiernan, Michael Cisco, S.T. Joshi, and the artists: Piotr Jablonski, Richard A. Kirk, John Kenn Mortensen, and Vince Locke. Introduction / S. T. Joshi --Lovecraft and I --Valentia --So runs the world away --From cabinet 34, drawer 6 --The drowned geologist --The dead and the moonstruck --Houses under the sea --Pickman's other model --The thousand-and-third tale of Scheherazade --The bone's prayer --The peril of liberated objects, or The voyeur's seduction --At the Gate of Deeper Slumber --Fish bride --The alchemist's daughter (a fragment) --Houndwife --Tidal forces --John Four --On the reef --The transition of Elizabeth Haskings --A mountain walked.

The Cipher


Kathe Koja - 1991
    She had to see the dark hole in the storage room down the hall. She had to make love to Nicholas beside it, and stare into its secretive, promising depths. Then Nakota began her experiments: First, she put an insect into the hole. Then a mouse...Now from down the hall, the black hole calls out to Nicholas every day and every night. And he will go to it. Because it has already seared his flesh, infected his soul, and started him on a journey of obsession - through its soothing, blank darkness into the blinding core of terror...

Scars and Other Distinguishing Marks


Richard Christian Matheson - 1987
    'Red' seems to me to be a masterwork. 'Vampire' is a breathtaking work of virtuosity."—Dennis Etchison, from his Introduction"An impressive debut. These stories are all beautifully written and very, very disturbing."—Fangoria"Richard Christian Matheson's prose is elegant, yet spare. He is undoubtedly the master of the contemporary horror short story. His potent, subtle horror sneaks up on the reader and its echoes linger long after the story has ended."—Ellen Datlow, fiction editor, Omni

Whispers from the Abyss


Kat RochaTim Pratt - 2013
    The WHISPERS FROM THE ABYSS ANTHOLOGY is the first ever H.P. Lovecraft inspired collection created specifically for readers on the go. All 33 spine-chilling tales are concentrated bites of terror which include works by Greg Stolze (Delta Green), Nick Mamatas (Shotguns v. Cthulhu), Tim Pratt (Marla Mason), Dennis Detwiller (Delta Green), Greg Van Eekhout (The Boy at the End of the World), A.C. Wise (Future Lovecraft), David Tallerman (Giant Thief), Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Future Lovecraft), John R. Fultz (Seven Prices), Chad Fifer (The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast).“All about that moment I love, the moment where something approaches. The moment where you close your eyes and hope it goes away. It will. But there’ll be another story right behind it. And another. And another.” -Alasdair Stuart, host of the PSEUDOPOD podcast.

The Art of H.P. Lovecraft's the Cthulhu Mythos


Pat Harrigan - 2006
    In these pages are glimpses of the most terrible beings ever to exist, whose very names are spoken of in whispers, if at all: Mighty Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth the Crawling Chaos Nyarlathotep and He Who Shall Not Be Named. Strange and alien races swarm here: the Fungi From Yuggoth, the star-headed Elder Things, the slithering Formless Spawn and awful chthonians. The Art of H.P. Lovecraft's The Cthulhu Mythos contains hundreds of full-color pieces of art, from fan favorites such as Patrick McEnvoy, Michael Komarck, Jean Tay, Thomas Denmark, John Gravato, Aaron Acevedo, James Ryman, Felicia Cano, Linda Bergkvist and dozens more. Once you see these blasphemous visions, you will never forget them.

This World is Full of Monsters


Jeff VanderMeer - 2017
    An alien invasion comes to one man’s doorstep in the form of a story-creature, followed by death and rebirth in a transformed Earth.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Poe's Children: The New Horror


Peter StraubM. Rickert - 2008
    Showcasing this cutting-edge talent, Poe’s Children now brings the best of the genre’s stories to a wider audience. Featuring tales from such writers as Neil Gaiman and Jonathan Carroll, Poe’s Children is Peter Straub’s tribute to the imaginative power of storytelling. Each previously published story has been selected by Straub to represent what he thinks is the most interesting development in our literature during the last two decades.Selections range from the early Stephen King psychological thriller “The Ballad of the Flexible Bullet,” in which an editor confronts an author’s belief that his typewriter is inhabited by supernatural creatures, to “The Man on the Ceiling,” Melanie and Steve Rasnic Tem’s award-winning surreal tale of night terrors, woven with daylight fears that haunt a family. Other selections include National Book Award finalist Dan Chaon’s “The Bees”; Peter Straub’s “Little Red’s Tango,” the legend of a music aficionado whose past is as mysterious as the ghostly visitors to his Manhattan apartment; Elizabeth Hand’s visionary and shocking “Cleopatra Brimstone”; Thomas Ligotti’s brilliant, mind-stretching “Notes on the Writing of Horror: A Story”; and “Body,” Brian Evenson’s disturbing twist on correctional facilities.Crossing boundaries and packed with imaginative chills, Poe’s Children bears all the telltale signs of fearless, addictive fiction.