The Twisted Ones


T. Kingfisher - 2019
    After all, how bad could it be? Answer: pretty bad. Grandma was a hoarder, and her house is stuffed with useless rubbish. That would be horrific enough, but there’s more—Mouse stumbles across her step-grandfather’s journal, which at first seems to be filled with nonsensical rants…until Mouse encounters some of the terrifying things he described for herself. Alone in the woods with her dog, Mouse finds herself face to face with a series of impossible terrors—because sometimes the things that go bump in the night are real, and they’re looking for you. And if she doesn’t face them head on, she might not survive to tell the tale. From Hugo Award–winning author Ursula Vernon, writing as T. Kingfisher.

Frozen Hell


John W. Campbell Jr. - 2019
    Campbell published the novella Who Goes There?, about a team of scientists in Antarctica who discover and are terrorized by a monstrous, shape-shifting alien entity. The story would later be adapted into John Carpenter's iconic movie The Thing (following an earlier film adaptation in 1951). The published novella was actually an abridged version of Campbell's original story, called Frozen Hell, which had to be shortened for publication. The Frozen Hell manuscript remained unknown and unpublished for decades, and it was only recently rediscovered. Frozen Hell expands the Thing story dramatically, giving vital backstory and context to an already incredible tale. We are pleased and honored to offer Frozen Hell to you now, as Campbell intended it. You will be among the first people to ever read this completed version of the story.

Experimental Film


Gemma Files - 2015
    A. Macalla Whitcomb. By deciding to investigate how Mrs. Whitcomb's obsessions might have led to her mysterious disappearance, Lois unwittingly invites the forces which literally haunt Mrs. Whitcomb's films into her life, eventually putting her son, her husband and herself in danger. Experimental Film mixes painful character detail with a creeping aura of dread to produce a fictionalized "memoir" designed to play on its readers' narrative expectations and pack an existentialist punch.

The Vampyre


John William Polidori - 1819
    A young English gentleman of means, Aubrey is immediately intrigued by Lord Ruthven, the mysterious newcomer among society’s elite. His unknown origin and curious behavior tantalizes Aubrey’s imagination. But the young man soon discovers a sinister character hidden behind his new friend’s glamorous facade.   When the two are set upon by bandits while traveling together in Europe, Ruthven is fatally injured. Before drawing his last breath, he makes the odd request that Aubrey keep his death and crimes secret for a year and a day. But when Ruthven resurfaces in London—making overtures toward Aubrey’s sister—Aubrey realizes this immortal fiend is a vampyre.   John William Polidori’s The Vampyre is both a classic tale of gothic horror and the progenitor of the modern romantic vampire myth that has been fodder for artists ranging from Anne Rice to Alan Ball to Francis Ford Coppola. Originally published in 1819, many decades before Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and misattributed to Polidori’s friend Lord Byron, The Vampyre has kept readers up at night for nearly two hundred years.

Tribulation


Adam Jahnke - 2019
    Cult members willingly accept seven brutal years of torture, known as their “tribulation,” to atone for their earthly sins and come out on the other side saved (or thoroughly brainwashed?). The hero of this thriller, Stacy Carlson, must uncover the mystery of the Tribulation cult after her husband Greg is kidnapped by its leader, Brother Elijah (Josh Charles), through a bizarre AM radio broadcast. Greg’s disappearance leads Stacy into this world of zealots, skeptical law enforcement, and a former rock star turned conspiracy radio host, Reid Singer. Stacy and Reid team up to uncover the truth about the otherworldly religious mythology before them. Will Stacy find her husband and bring down the cult? All will be revealed by the end of Tribulation.

The Lady's Maid's Bell


Edith Wharton - 1902
    Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Of Monsters and Madness


Jessica Verday - 2014
    She is torn romantically between her father's assistants-one kind and proper, one mysterious and brooding-who share a dark secret and may have more to do with the violent events than they're letting on.

Your House Is on Fire, Your Children All Gone


Stefan Kiesbye - 2012
    This is where four young friends come of age—in an atmosphere thick with fear and suspicion. Their innocent games soon bring them face-to-face with the village's darkest secrets in this eerily dispassionate, astonishingly assured novel, evocative of Stephen King's classic short story "Children of the Corn" and infused with the spirit of the Brothers Grimm.

The Talisman


Jonathan Aycliffe - 1999
    Once there, it quickly exerts an evil influence over those with whom it comes into contact; an influence which threatens to spread throughout London and beyond, and which pits the living against the dead in a battle for all mankind.

Asylum


Madeleine Roux - 2013
    An outcast at his high school, Dan is excited to finally make some friends in his last summer before college. But when he arrives at the program, Dan learns that his dorm for the summer used to be a sanatorium, more commonly known as an asylum. And not just any asylum—a last resort for the criminally insane.As Dan and his new friends, Abby and Jordan, explore the hidden recesses of their creepy summer home, they soon discover it's no coincidence that the three of them ended up here. Because the asylum holds the key to a terrifying past. And there are some secrets that refuse to stay buried.Featuring found photos of unsettling history and real abandoned asylums and filled with chilling mystery and page-turning suspense, Madeleine Roux's teen debut, Asylum, is a horror story that treads the line between genius and insanity.

Eight Ghosts: The English Heritage Book of New Ghost Stories


Rowan RouthMax Porter - 2017
    Immersed in the history, atmosphere and rumours of hauntings, they channelled their darker imaginings into a series of extraordinary new ghost stories.Sarah Perry's intense tale of possession at the Jacobean country house Audley End is a work of psychological terror, while Andrew Michael Hurley's story brings an unforgettably shocking slant to the history of Carlisle Castle. Within the walls of these historic buildings each author has found inspiration to deliver a new interpretation of the classic ghost story.Also includes two afterwords: Andrew Martin's Within These Walls: How the Abbeys and Houses of England Inspired the Ghost Story, and Katherine Davey's A Gazetteer of English Heritage Hauntings, properties which are said to be haunted, including the eight locations which inspired the stories in this book.

Penpal


Dathan Auerbach - 2012
    Before long, it was adapted into illustrations, audio recordings, and short films; and that was before it was revised and expanded into a novel!How much do you remember about your childhood?In Penpal, a man investigates the seemingly unrelated bizarre, tragic, and horrific occurrences of his childhood in an attempt to finally understand them. Beginning with only fragments of his earliest years, you'll follow the narrator as he discovers that these strange and horrible events are actually part of a single terrifying story that has shaped the entirety of his life and the lives of those around him. If you've ever stayed in the woods just a little too long after dark, if you've ever had the feeling that someone or something was trying to hurt you, if you remember the first friend you ever made and how strong that bond was, then Penpal is a story that you won't soon forget, despite how you might try.

Thumbprint: A Story


Joe Hill - 2012
    . . and her dark past follows closely behind.

Devil's Creek


Todd Keisling - 2020
    According to local legend, there used to be a church out there, home to the Lord’s Church of Holy Voices—a death cult where Jacob Masters preached the gospel of a nameless god.And like most legends, there’s truth buried among the roots and bones.In 1983, the church burned to the ground following a mass suicide. Among the survivors were Jacob’s six children and their grandparents, who banded together to defy their former minister. Dubbed the “Stauford Six,” these children grew up amid scrutiny and ridicule, but their infamy has faded over the last thirty years.Now their ordeal is all but forgotten, and Jacob Masters is nothing more than a scary story told around campfires. For Jack Tremly, one of the Six, memories of that fateful night have fueled a successful art career—and a lifetime of nightmares. When his grandmother Imogene dies, Jack returns to Stauford to settle her estate. What he finds waiting for him are secrets Imogene kept in his youth, secrets about his father and the church. Secrets that can no longer stay buried. The roots of Jacob’s buried god run deep, and within the heart of Devil’s Creek, something is beginning to stir…

Hauntings: Tales of the Supernatural


Henry MazzeoRobert Aickman - 1968
    The Lonesome Place by August Derleth c. 1947 by All-Fiction Field, Inc. and c. 1962 by August Derleth. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.2. In The Vault by H. P. Lovecraft c. 1932 by Popular Fiction Publishing Company, c. 1939, 1945 by August Derleth and Donald Wondrei; c. 1963 by August Derleth. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.3. The Man Who Collected Poe by Robert Bloch, c. 1951 by Popular Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the author's agent, Harry Altshuler.4. Where Angels Fear by Manly Wade Wellman, from "Unknown". Copyright 1939 by Street & Smith Publications, Inc.; c. renewed 1967 by The Conde Nast Publications, Inc. Reprinted by permission of The Conde Nast Publications, Inc.5. Lot No. 249 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle from "The Conan Doyle Stories". Reprinted by permission of the Trustees of the Estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and John Murray, Ltd.6. The Haunted Doll's House by M. R. James from "The Collected Ghost Stories of M. R. James" by Montagne Rhodes James. Reprinted by permission of Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd.7. The Open Door by Mrs. Oliphant8. Thus I Refute Beelzy by John Collier from "Fancies and Goodnights". Copyright 1940 by John Collier. Reprinted by permission of the Harold Matson Company.9. Levitation from "Nine Horrors and a Dream" by Joseph Payne Brennen. Copyright 1958 by Joseph Payne Brennen. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.10. The Ghostly Rental by Henry James11. The Face by E. F. Benson from "Spook Stories". Reprinted by permission of Reverend K. S. P. McDowall.12. The Whistling Room by William Hope Hodgson. Copyright 1947 by August Derleth. Reprinted by permission of Arkham House.13. The Grey Ones by J. B. Priestley. Reprinted by permission of A. D. Peters & Co.14. The Stolen Body by H. G. Wells. Reprinted by permission of Collins-Knowlton-Wing, Inc.15. The Red Lodge from "They Return at Evening" by H. Russell Wakefield. Copyright 1928 by D. Appleton and Company. Reprinted by permission of Appleton-Century, affiliate of Meredith Press.16. The Visiting Star from "Powers of Darkness" by Robert Aickman. Copyright 1966 by Robert Aickman. Reprinted by permission of William Collins & Sons, Ltd.17. Midnight Express by Alfred Noyes. Reprinted by permission of Hugh Noyes.