Book picks similar to
The Tangled Muse by W.H. Pugmire


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horror
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Unbortion


Rowland Bercy Jr. - 2018
    Following an undeniable call to pursue the one who abandoned it and seek revenge the quest for retribution had begun, and nothing or no one would stand in the way.

Warm Moonlight


Joseph Wurtenbaugh - 2012
    It's a thrilling story of adventure and rescue, of escape and revenge, set in New England in the early days of Prohibition. Written in the great storytelling tradition, 'Warm Moonlight' has all the intensity of a got-to-hear-how-it-ends campfire yarn, but with a decidedly adult sophistication and sensibility. The ending is unique and satisfying, but leaves the audience, like one of the characters in the story, wondering - how much of it was true? How much invented? Can such things be? Maybe it's a ghost story or . . . . maybe it isn't.

The Innsmouth Syndrome


Philip Hemplow - 2011
    to investigate a cluster of inexplicable mutations among the young people of Innsmouth, a sickly and destitute town on the Massachusetts coast. Initially skeptical, she rapidly discovers that the true mystery is older and more horrifying than anything for which her training has prepared her. As the danger mounts, a double helix of history and urban folklore draws her inexorably to the door of a sinister, evangelical cult - and beyond the limits of her science and belief.

The Red Tree


Caitlín R. Kiernan - 2009
    Within its walls she discovers an unfinished manuscript written by the house's former tenant--an anthropologist obsessed with the ancient oak growing on a desolate corner of the property.Tied to local legends of supernatural magic, as well as documented accidents and murders, the gnarled tree takes root in Sarah's imagination, prompting her to write her own account of its unsavory history.And as the oak continues to possess her dreams and nearly almost all her waking thoughts, Sarah risks her health and her sanity to unearth a revelation planted centuries ago...

World War Cthulhu: A Collection of Lovecraftian War Stories


Brian M. Sammons - 2014
    War has existed in one form or another since the dawn of human civilization, and before then, Elder terrors battled it out across this planet and this known universe in ways unimaginable.It has always been a losing battle for our side since time began. Incidents like the Innsmouth raid, chronicled by H.P. Lovecraft, mere blips of victory against an insurmountable foe. Still we fight, against these incredible odds, in an unending nightmare, we fight, and why? For victory, for land, for a political ideal? No, mankind fights for survival.Our authors, John Shirley, Mark Rainey, Wilum Pugmire, William Meikle, Tim Curran, Jeffrey Thomas and many others have gathered here to share war stories from the eternal struggle against the darkness. This book chronicles these desperate battles from across the ages, including Roman Britain, The American Civil War, World War Two, The Vietnam Conflict, and even into the far future.Table of ContentsLoyalty by John ShirleyThe Game Changers by Stephen Mark RaineyWhite Feather by T.E. GrauTo Hold Ye White Husk by W.H. PugmireSea Nymph’s Son by Robert M. PriceThe Boonieman by Edward M. ErdelacThe Turtle by Neil BakerThe Bullet and the Flesh by David Conyers & David KernotBroadsword by William MeikleThe Ithiliad by Christine MorganThe Sinking City by Konstantine ParadiasShape of a Snake by Cody GoodfellowMysterious Ways by C.J. HendersonMagna Mater by Edward MorrisDark Cell by Brian M. Sammons and Glynn Owen BarrassCold War, Yellow Fever by Pete RawlikStragglers from Carrhae by Darrell SchweitzerThe Procyon Project by Tim CurranWunderwaffe by Jeffrey ThomasA Feast of Death by Lee Clark ZumpeLong Island Weird by Charles ChristianThe Yoth Protocols by Josh Reynolds

Beckon


Tom Pawlik - 2012
    Three people are each drawn to the small town of Beckon, Wyoming. A young anthropologist researches a Native American legend and makes a terrifying discovery. An ex-cop investigating her cousin's disappearance finds herself in grave peril. And an aging businessman is lured by the promise of a miracle. One by one they discover the town's ghastly secret. The only question is . . . will any of them make it out alive?

Move Under Ground


Nick Mamatas - 2004
    Old R'lyeh rises out of the Pacific, ready to cast its damned shadow over the primitive human world. The first to see its peaks: an alcoholic, paranoid, and frightened Jack Kerouac, who had been drinking off a nervous breakdown up in Big Sur. Now Jack must get back on the road to find Neal Cassady, the holy fool whose rambling letters hint of a world brought to its knees in worship of the Elder God Cthulhu. Together with pistol-packin' junkie William S. Burroughs, Jack and Neal make their way across the continent to face down the murderous Lovecraftian cult that has spread its darkness to the heart of the American Dream. But is Neal along for the ride to help save the world, or does he want to destroy it just so that he'll have an ending for his book?

The Shadow Kingdom


Robert E. Howard - 1929
    A story of Kull, first published in Weird Tales, August 1929.

Messenger


Scott Medbury - 2015
    His name was Death and Hell was following close behind...Book zero of the America Falls series is an action-packed novella that tells the story of a mysterious traveler with a hook hand who travels the post-apocalyptic eastern states of America spreading a message of hope about 'The Cities' and the budding rebirth of the United States.It isn't always smooth travelling at the end of the world though, and when he stumbles across a gang of cannibals out for the blood of the innocent, he must decide whether to interrupt his mission and risk death at the hands of psychopaths to help someone in need.

Our Lady of Darkness


Fritz Leiber - 1977
    Then one day, peering at his apartment window from atop a nearby hill, he sees a pale brown thing lean out his window…and wave.This encounter sends Westen on a quest through ancient books and modern streets, for the dark forces and paramental entities that thrive amidst the towering skyscrapers of modern urban life…and meanwhile, the entities are also looking for him.A pioneering work of modern urban fantasy, Our Lady of Darkness is perhaps Fritz Leiber’s greatest novel.

New Tales of the Yellow Sign


Robin D. Laws - 2012
    A slim, sinister text called The King in Yellow drove those who read it to madness. Despite suppression by anxious authorities, it spread through global culture, and history itself, like a virus. Now the contagion bears hideous fruit.New Tales of the Yellow Sign expands the classic horror mythos of weird tales pioneer and Lovecraft precursor Robert W. Chambers into new vistas of unease and imagination. Over the course of eight troubling stories, writer and visionary game designer Robin D. Laws lures you into diseased timelines, impossible pasts, and the all-too-terrifying present.Sterilize your suicide chamber, harken to the remorseless clicking of your black box, and whistle for the monstrous creature that lives in your basement. The pallid mask awaits.

Annihilation


Jeff VanderMeer - 2014
    Nature has reclaimed the last vestiges of human civilization. The first expedition returned with reports of a pristine, Edenic landscape; the second expedition ended in mass suicide, the third in a hail of gunfire as its members turned on one another. The members of the eleventh expedition returned as shadows of their former selves, and within weeks, all had died of cancer. In Annihilation, the first volume of Jeff VanderMeer's Southern Reach Trilogy, we join the twelfth expedition.The group is made up of four women: an anthropologist; a surveyor; a psychologist, the de facto leader; and our narrator, a biologist. Their mission is to map the terrain, record all observations of their surroundings and of one another, and, above all, avoid being contaminated by Area X itself.They arrive expecting the unexpected, and Area X delivers—but it’s the surprises that came across the border with them and the secrets the expedition members are keeping from one another that change everything.

Midnight in a Perfect World


Ambrose Ibsen - 2018
    Horrific specters walking the streets. A drug that promises to change the world. An apocalyptic cult. Something is stirring in the city of Duluth, Minnesota. Ever since a celebrated researcher announced the creation of a new experimental drug—a drug with the potential to cure the mind of countless ills—people have been disappearing. When a grad student involved with the drug's development unexpectedly commits suicide, a private detective is tasked with unearthing the details of her tumultuous final days. This miracle drug may not be what it seems. Others touched by the drug begin to see things—horrible things—and find themselves transported into a nightmarish world where an ancient evil stirs. Those who taste the drug are left spiraling into horror. Dark figures tail them on the street, and the scenery of their nightmares begins to encroach upon waking life, blurring the lines between dreams and reality. Their terrifying experiences make up the individual fragments of a dire mosaic. As the pieces fall into place, they come to realize the unspeakable horrors that await all of mankind. Midnight is looming, and the sun may never rise again over the city of Duluth.

Witch House


Evangeline Walton - 1945
    The little girl saw it, saw the evil that had been bequeathed her by the house that had bedeviled her ancestors. And there was no escaping it. It lived at the lonely mansion off the New England coast.. it followed her.. possessed her.. and it would not

The Altar In The Hills and Other Weird Tales


Brandon Barrows - 2014
    Lovecraft, the most-fevered mind of 20th century horror and weirdness! These weird tales blend horror, science-fiction and fantasy to weave stories of darkness and terror that will alternately leave you checking dark spaces for hidden horrors and wondering at the nature of reality itself. From the horror/mystery of The Altar in the Hills to the private confessions and revelations of one of mankind's most brilliant minds in Through the Ether, these seven stories bring with them Old Gods, strange twists and interesting characters that will both surprise and delight fans of horror fiction.