The perfect introduction to the incredible world of Zoran Zivković.Impossible Stories might be approached as if one were inspecting a handsome piece of furniture, a cabinet in which each of any number of regularly sized and shaped drawers is built precisely to contain and to somehow exemplify its own metaphysical freight or uncanny puzzle, and it is in the rhythm and variety of the whole, too, that the nature of Zivković's craft can be apprehended and enjoyed. --Tony White, Wasafiri ...even though they own and use computers, Zivković's characters seem decidedly nineteenth century. They are as intelligent and as neurotic as Poe's personae, and admirers of that master of the outre-or of Borges, Gogol, Capek, and Lem-will be enthralled by them. --Ray Olson, Booklist ...well worth reading for the ingenuity of Zivković's stories. He is extraordinarily clever and has a particular talent for devising awkward moral dilemmas for his characters. His writing is also ... quite unlike that of anyone else. --Cheryl Morgan, Emerald City

    A woman is left struggling to survive after a bear attack leaves her alone in the wilderness. A writer desperately tries to complete his book while being harassed by a relentless spirit. A poem of warning from a traveling salesman. A young boy disappears after hearing his mother calling to him from the woods and returns later that night acting strangely. This horror anthology features both supernatural and realistic situations that will make you double-check your locks at night. Before you tell yourself that these 15 original stories are just made up, rest assured knowing that one of them is inspired by true events.

    These stories bewitch and transport the reader. Though you may not know where Shipp will travel next, each story is an unforgettable thrill-ride and you'll be glad you took the trip. Shipp's novel Vacation established him as one of the foremost authors in the "bizarro fiction" movement. Now he turns his attention to short fiction and literary horror. The themes of alienation and cultural homogenization on a global scale are explored in closer detail. Shipp notes, "This intimacy makes Sheep and Wolves much darker than its predecessor. Because now, the darkness is invading your homes, your dreams, your lives." The author's trademark quirky characters populate an otherwise bleak landscape, this time around facing horrors at home rather than evils abroad.

    

    Chicken'. A woman with four ears gets a chance to make extra money as the mascot of a tattoo parlour, and encounters a middle-aged, cookie-baking stalker who believes she is a sign that the end of the world is nigh.Meet the "freaks"—they're mothers, wives, and lovers: all of them trying negotiate a world that is quicker to stare than sympathize.

    Vicious beasts stalk our twisted pasts. Lost souls haunt our deepest regrets. They are the blood on our hands. They are the obsessions in our heads. They are the vengeance in our hearts. They are the chilling shadows in the night. They are Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors. Edited by Bram Stoker Award-winning editors Doug Murano and Michael Bailey. Featuring a foreword by Alma Katsu, and illustrations throughout by HagCult.Contents: * Foreword (Miscreations: Gods, Monstrosities & Other Horrors) • essay by Alma Katsu * A Heart Arrythmia Creeping Into a Dark Room / short fiction by Michael Wehunt * Matryoshka / short fiction by Joanna Parypinski * Butcher's Blend / short fiction by Brian Hodge * Operations Other Than War / short fiction by Nadia Bulkin * One Day of Inside/Out / short fiction by Linda D. Addison * One Last Transformation / short fiction by Josh Malerman * Brains / short fiction by Ramsey Campbell * You Are My Neighbor / short fiction by Max Booth, III * The Vodyanoy / short fiction by Christina Sng * Imperfect Clay / short fiction by Lisa Morton * Spectral Evidence (2017) / short story by Victor LaValle * Ode to Joad the Toad [Antiquity] / short fiction by Laird Barron * Only Bruises Are Permanent / short fiction by Scott Edelman * My Knowing Glance / short fiction by Lucy A. Snyder * Paper Doll Hyperplane / short fiction by R. B. Payne * Not Eradicated in You / short fiction by Bracken MacLeod * Resurrection Points (2014) / novelette by Usman T. Malik * The Old Gods of Light / short fiction by Christina Sng * Sounds Caught in Cobwebs / short fiction by M. E. Bronstein * Umbra Sum / short fiction by Kristi DeMeester * A Benediction of Corpses / short fiction by Stephanie M. Wytovich * The Making of Asylum Ophelia / short fiction by Mercedes M. Yardley * Frankenstein's Daughter / short fiction by Theodora Goss .

    The resulting journey through dark and desperate futures of aliens, diseases, and humanity's own madness is brain-bending and utterly bizarre.

    Step right up to the modern freakshow. We have mermaids, monsters, and more. You won't be disappointed, but you may not get out alive. UnCommon Bodies presents a collection of 20 beautifully irreverent stories which blend the surreal and the mundane. Together, the authors explore the lives of the odd, the unbelievable, and the impossible. Imagine a world where magic exists, where the physical form has the power to heal or repulse, where a deal with the devil means losing so much more than your soul.The authors: Christopher Godsoe, Philip Harris, Sessha Batto, Rebecca Poole, Brent Meske, Robb Grindstaff, Sally Basmajian, Michael Harris Cohen, Robert Pope, Jordanne Fuller, Deanne Charlton, Bey Deckard, Vasil Tuchkov, SM Johnson, PK Tyler, Laxmi Hariharan, Daniel Smith, Samantha Warren, Bob Williams, Kim Wells, Keira Michelle TelfordContents: * Saltwater Assassin (2015) / short story by Samantha Warren * We Is We / short story by Michael Harris Cohen * Don't Touch Me / short fiction by Bey Deckard * Undead Cyborg Girl / short fiction by Kim Wells * Skin / short fiction by Brent Meske * Scars: First Session / short fiction by Jordanne Fuller * Mermaids / short fiction by Robert Pope * In Her Image / short fiction by Vasil Tuchkov * It Runs in the Family / poem by Deanne Charlton * Brenga's Body / poem by Deanne Charlton * Eternity in a One-Night Stand / poem by Deanne Charlton * Reserved / short fiction by SM Johnson * UnTamed / short fiction by Laxmi Hariharan * Ruby and Deidre / short fiction by Robb Grindstaff * All the Devils / short fiction by Keira Michelle Telford * Ruby / short fiction by Bob Williams * Phantom Pain / short fiction by Philip Harris * Daedalus' Daughter / short fiction by P. K. Tyler * The Zealot [d.o.mai.n] / novelette by Christopher Godsoe * Made for This / short fiction by Sessha Batto * Unbreakable Heart / short fiction by Rebecca Poole * The Well-Rounded Head / short fiction by Sally Basmajian * From the Inside / short story by Daniel Arthur Smith .

    . . ." The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal. Stories is a groundbreaking anthology that reinvigorates, expands, and redefines the limits of imaginative fiction and affords some of the best writers in the world—from Peter Straub and Chuck Palahniuk to Roddy Doyle and Diana Wynne Jones, Stewart O'Nan and Joyce Carol Oates to Walter Mosley and Jodi Picoult—the opportunity to work together, defend their craft, and realign misconceptions. Gaiman, a literary magician whose acclaimed work defies easy categorization and transcends all boundaries, and "master anthologist" (Booklist) Sarrantonio personally invited, read, and selected all the stories in this collection, and their standard for this "new literature of the imagination" is high. "We wanted to read stories that used a lightning-flash of magic as a way of showing us something we have already seen a thousand times as if we have never seen it at all." Joe Hill boldly aligns theme and form in his disturbing tale of a man's descent into evil in "Devil on the Staircase." In "Catch and Release," Lawrence Block tells of a seasoned fisherman with a talent for catching a bite of another sort. Carolyn Parkhurst adds a dark twist to sibling rivalry in "Unwell." Joanne Harris weaves a tale of ancient gods in modern New York in "Wildfire in Manhattan." Vengeance is the heart of Richard Adams's "The Knife." Jeffery Deaver introduces a dedicated psychologist whose mission in life is to save people in "The Therapist." A chilling punishment befitting an unspeakable crime is at the dark heart of Neil Gaiman's novelette "The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains." As it transforms your view of the world, this brilliant and visionary volume—sure to become a classic—will ignite a new appreciation for the limitless realm of exceptional fiction.

    Gary Handler has issues. His boss hates him, his mother hounds him, and his cat thinks he’s an idiot. But that’s okay because Gary’s got the perfect solution to all of life’s troubles: a porn site subscription and his right hand.Sadly, all habits grow old, even the fun ones. Gary soon finds himself at the doorstep of a creepy old pawn shop where he buys a used adult novelty toy to spice up his one-man sex life.Pity for him that it’s cursed by the angry spirits of all the “kids” he’s flushed down the toilet. Needless to say, hairy palms are about to become the least of his worries.----------Jack on, jack off ... with the Jacklight in book 2 of Shingles, the horror comedy series that’s not for those with faint hearts or weak bladders.

    Alberto Manguel has selected 72 fantastic tales from life on the edge of the twilight zone, with stories from Marguerite Yourcenar, Herman Hesse, Italo Calvino, Vladimir Nabokov, and many, many more. This is a collection of irresistible masterpieces, many of which have never before appeared in the English language.Fantastic literature Manguel writes in his introduction, makes use of our everyday world as a facade through which the undefinable appears, hinting at the half-forgotten dreams of our imagination. Unlike tales of fantasy, fantastic literature deals with what can be best defined as the impossible seeping into the possible, what Wallace Stevens calls black water breaking into reality. Fantastic literature never really explains everything, it thrives on surprise, on the unexpected logic that is born from its own rules.Contents:House taken over by Julio CortázarHow love came to Professor Guildea by Robert S. HichensClimax for a ghost story by I.A. IrelandThe mysteries of the Joy Rio by Tennessee WilliamsPomegranate seed by Edith WhartonVenetian masks by Adolfo Bioy CasaresThe wish house by Rudyard KiplingThe playground by Ray BradburyImportance by Manuel Mujica LáinezEnoch Soames by Max BeerbohmA visitor from down under by L.P. HartleyLaura by SakiAn injustice revealedA little place off the Edgware Road by Graham GreeneFrom "A School Story" by M.R. JamesThe signalman by Charles DickensThe tall woman by Pedro Antonio de AlarcónA scent of mimosa by Francis KingDeath and the gardener by Jean CocteauLord Mountdrago by W. Somerset MaughamThe sick gentleman's last visit by Giovanni PapiniInsomnia by Virgilio PiñeraThe storm by Jules VerneA dream (from The Arabian Nights Entertainments)The facts in the case of M. Valdemar by Edgar Allan PoeSplit second by Daphne du MaurierAugust 25, 1983 by Jorge Luis BorgesHow Wang-Fo was saved by Marguerite YourcenarFrom "Peter and Rosa" by Isak DinesenTattoo by Jun'ichirō TanizakiJohn Duffy's brother by Flann O'BrienLady into fox by David GarnettFather's last escape by Bruno SchulzA man by the name of Ziegler by Hermann HesseThe Argentine ant by Italo CalvinoThe lady on the grey by John CollierThe queen of spades by Alexander PushkinOf a promise kept by Lafcadio HearnThe wizard postponed by Juan ManuelThe monkey's paw by W.W. JacobsThe bottle imp by Robert Louis StevensonThe rocking-horse winner by D.H. LawrenceCertain distant suns by Joanne GreenburgThe third bank of the river by João Guimarães RosaHome by Hilaire BellocThe door in the wall by H.G. WellsThe friends by Silvina OcampoEt in sempiternum pereant by Charles WilliamsThe captives of Longjumeau by Léon BloyThe visit to the museum by Vladimir NabakovAutumn Mountain by Ryūnosuke AkutagawaThe sight by Brian MooreClorinda by André Pieyre de MandiarguesThe pagan rabbi by Cynthia OzickThe fisherman and his soul by Oscar WildeThe bureau d'echange de maux by Lord DunsanyThe ones who walk away from Omelas by Ursula K. LeGuinIn the penal colony by Franz KafkaA dog in Durer's etching "The Knight, Death and the Devil" by Marco DeneviThe large ant by Howard FastThe lemmings by Alex ComfortThe grey ones by J.B. PriestleyThe feather pillow by Horacio QuirogaSeaton's aunt by Walter de la MareThe friends of the friends by Henry JamesThe travelling companion by Hans Christian AndersenThe curfew tolls by Stephen Vincent BenetThe state of grace by Marcel AyméThe story of a panic by E.M. ForsterAn invitation to the hunt by George HitchcockFrom the "American Notebooks" by Nathaniel HawthorneThe dream by O. Henry

    His stories are powerfully charged explorations of psychical violence, their effects heightened by detailed character studies graced with a powerful poetic elegance. In simple terms Oliver Onions goes for the cerebral rather than the jugular. However, make no mistake, his ghost stories achieve the desired effect. They draw you in, enmeshing you in their unnerving and disturbing narratives.This collection contains such masterpieces as The Rosewood Door, The Ascending Dream, The Painted Face and The Beckoning Fair One, a story which both Algernon Blackwood and H. P. Lovecraft regarded as one of the most effective and subtle ghost stories in all literature. Long out of print, these classic tales are a treasure trove of nightmarish gems.

    Poison Flowers and Pandemonium collects all four of these original graphic novellas in one beautiful hardcover worthy of Sala's legacy.First up in Poison Flowers is "House of the Blue Dwarf," a 125-page thriller featuring master criminal the Bloody Cardinal, who leaves a wake of mayhem and madness everywhere he goes. "Monsters Illustrated" is a fun, 64-page monster movie riff that showcases Sala's visual imagination. A young woman in a dusty bookstore reads a strange bestiary — the "book within a book" showcases a series of Sala's gorgeous watercolor and ink drawings. But when she gets to the end, she finds the bookseller drives a hard bargain. "Cave Girls Of The Lost World" is a campy, 60-page romp about a team of young women whose plane crashes in a land forgotten by time and rife with dinosaurs, carnivorous plants, and apemen — but these intelligent, brave, and resourceful women are ready to rumble! Rounding out the book is "The Amazing Adventures of Fantomina Fantomella," a 45-page graphic novella of violence and non-stop action. Priest and his mob thought Fantomina was dead. So how is it that she's come back with a vengeance? Poison Flowers & Pandemonium is a perfect showcase of Sala's gorgeous watercolor artwork and his love of B-movie horror, silent film-era archetypes, and femmes fatale.

    These bewitching poems and stories unwind a fevered world of magic and longing and young women who chance the uncanny and gain wisdom beyond their years.

    At the center of it all is the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, who stands to inherit the miles of rambling stone and mortar that form Gormenghast Castle and its kingdom, unless the conniving Steerpike, who is determined to rise above his menial position and control the House of Groan, has his way.In these extraordinary novels, Peake has created a world where all is like a dream - lush, fantastical, and vivid. Accompanying the text are Peake's own drawings, illustrating the whole assembly of strange and marvelous creatures that inhabit Gormenghast.Also featuring:Introductory essays by Anthony Burgess and Quentin CrispTwelve critical essays, curated by Peake scholar Peter G. WinningtonFragment of the unpublished novel, Titus Awakes