Book picks similar to
The Macabre Reader by Donald A. WollheimZealia Bishop
horror
paranormal-horror
short-story-collections
weird-fiction
Pretty Monsters: Stories
Kelly Link - 2008
Through the lens of Link's vivid imagination, nothing is what it seems, and everything deserves a second look. From the multiple award-winning The Faery Handbag, in which a teenager's grandmother carries an entire village (or is it a man-eating dog?) in her handbag, to the near-future of The Surfer, whose narrator (a soccer-playing skeptic) waits with a planeload of refugees for the aliens to arrive, Link's stories are funny and full of unexpected insights and skewed perspectives on the world. Her fans range from Michael Chabon to Peter Buck of R.E.M. to Holly Black of Spiderwick Chronicles fame. Now teens can have their world rocked, too!
Dead Lines
John Skipp - 1988
Skipp and Spector'slatest chiller, their most intimate, potent and gripping work yet.
The Eerie Adventures of the Lycanthrope Robinson Crusoe
Peter Clines - 2010
Or is it?Recently discovered amidst the papers of the 20th century writer and historian H. P. Lovecraft is what claims to be the true story of Robinson Crusoe. Taken from the castaway’s own journals and memoirs, and fact-checked by Lovecraft himself, it is free from many of Defoe’s edits and alterations. From Lovecraft’s work a much smoother, simpler tale emerges--but also a far more disturbing one.Here Crusoe is revealed as a man bearing the terrible curse of the werewolf and the guilt that comes with it--a man with no real incentive to leave his island prison. The cannibals who terrorized Crusoe are revealed to be less human than ever before hinted--worshippers of a malevolent octopus-headed god. And the island itself is a place of ancient, evil mysteries that threaten Crusoe’s sanity and his very soul.This version of the classic tale, assembled by two legends of English literature and abridged by Peter Clines, is the terrifying supernatural true story of Robinson Crusoe as it has never been seen before.
The Lovecraft Anthology, Volume 1
H.P. LovecraftMark Stafford - 2011
From cosmic horrors gibbering in the night to uneasy stirrings in the boundless depths beneath the seas, Lovecraft's stories have never lost their power to amaze and unnerve. This graphic anthology breathes new life into classic works of weird fiction.
Cthulhu's Reign
Darrell SchweitzerMatt Cardin - 2010
Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos relate to what will happen after the Old Ones return and take over the earth. In "The Dunwich Horror," the semi-human half-breed Wilbur Whateley speaks in his diary of travelling to nonhuman cities at the Earth's magnetic poles "when the Earth is cleared off," and hints at his own promised "transfiguration." Very few Mythos stories have ever touched on this. What happens when the Stars Are Right, the sunken city of R'lyeh rises from beneath the waves, and Cthulhu is unleashed upon the world for the last time? What happens when the other Old Ones, long since banished from our universe, break through and descent from the stars? What would the reign of Cthulhu be like, on a totally transformed planet where mankind is no longer the master?It won't be simply the end of everything. It will be a time of new horrors and of utter strangeness. It will be a time when humans with a "taint" of unearthly blood in their ancestry may come into their own. It will be a time foreseen only by authors with the kind of finely honed imaginative visions as those included in Cthulhu's Reign
Cthulhusattva: Tales of the Black Gnosis
Scott R. JonesDon Raymond - 2016
there is no madness.
Is there wisdom in insanity? Enlightenment in blackest despair? Higher consciousness in the depths of chaos? These are the stories of the men and women who choose to cast off from the shores of our placid island of ignorance and sail the black seas of infinity beyond. Those who would dive into primeval consciousness in search of dark treasures. Thos who would risk the Deadly Light for one reason: it is still light. Martian Migraine Press presents fifteen diverse tales of enlightenment and horror from some of the best new voices working in Weird Fiction today.
Cthulhusattva: Tales of the Black Gnosis
features poetry from Bryan Thao Worra, stories by Gord Sellar, Kristi DeMeester, Jayaprakash Satyamurthy, and the groundbreaking Mythos novella from Ruthanna Emrys, The Litany of Earth. With cover art by Alix Branwyn, interior illustrations by Michael Lee Macdonald, and an introduction by editor Scott R Jones (author of When The Stars Are Right: Towards An Authentic R'lyehian Spirituality), Cthulhusattva: Tales of the Black Gnosis will plunge readers into a seriously entertaining contemplation of the mysticism and magic inherent to Lovecraft's fantastical world of cosmic horror and dread. Take the Cthulhusattva Vow! Enter the Black Gnosis!
Table of Contents
The Pearl in the Shadows -- Bryan Thao WorraKeys in Stranger Deserts -- Vrai KaiserMr Johnson and the Old Ones -- Jamie MasonAntinomia -- Erica RuppertHeiros Gamos -- Gord SellarMother's Nature -- Stefanie ElrickAt the Left Hand of Nothing -- Jayaprakash SatyamurthyThe Litany of Earth -- Ruthanna EmrysEmperor Eternal -- Konstantine ParadiasThe Wicked Shall Come Upon Him -- Kristi DeMeesterMessages -- John Linwood GrantThat Most Foreign of Veils -- Luke R J MaynardWe Three Kings -- Don RaymondFeeding the Abyss -- Rhoads BrazosAfter Randolph Carter -- Noah Wareness
Cthulhusattva: Tales of the Black Gnosis
edited by Scott R Jones 5.58.5″ trade paperback and electronic book formats ISBN 978-1-927673-16-4 Publication date: May 23, 2016 Distributed to the trade by Ingram
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
Tales from The Lake Vol. 1
Joe MynhardtDaniel J. Stone - 2014
Daniel Stone’s “Alternative Muses”; and a cult horror story in the jungles of South America in William Ritchey’s “Las Maquinas”.Vol.2, 3, and 4 now available. Proudly brought to you by Crystal Lake Publishing - Tales from the Darkest Depths
Interview with the Authors:
So what makes Tales from The Lake so special?
Jennifer Loring: Tales from the Lake is one of the few anthology series where you can find a balance of established horror authors alongside new and emerging talent.J. Daniel Stone: Tales from the Lake is special, I think, first and foremost in that it's an open-themed horror collection. Themes tend to—more than I want to admit, and some might disagree—constrict writers. I don't like that about themes. But with Tales from the Lake we are reading stories by writers who are not given any rules. Just write what one loves and submit. That's wonderful.
Tell us more about your story, and in which volume it appeared?
Jennifer Loring: My story “The Fine Art of Wrecking” was the first place winner of the Tales from the Lake competition. It's based on the traditional legend of wreckers on the East Coast using false lights to run ships ashore to be plundered, but takes a Lovecraftian turn.J. Daniel Stone: My story “Alternative Muses” was the 2nd place winner in the original short story writing contest. The story focuses on a young couple who live on the fringes of society, but who soon are taken back to reality when they get pregnant. Things take a dark turn, and the need to transcend normality and complacency drive this story to a wicked ending.
The Great White Space
Basil Copper - 1975
Plowright, Scarsdale, and the rest of their crew embark on the Great Northern Expedition, traversing a terrifying and desolate landscape to the Black Mountains, where a passageway hundreds of feet high leads to a lost city miles below the surface of the earth. But the unsettling discoveries they make there are only a precursor of the true horror to follow. For the doorway of the Great White Space opens both ways, and something unspeakably evil has crossed over—a horrifying abomination that does not intend to let any of them return to the surface alive . . .
Where the Summer Ends: The Best Horror Stories of Karl Edward Wagner, Volume One
Karl Edward Wagner - 2012
Lavishly designed and illustrated, Wagner's psychological portrayals and ingenious use of Southern landscape make this publication an event.
Stalking the Nightmare
Harlan Ellison - 1982
(1957)The 3 Most Important Things in Life (Scenes from the Real World #1) (1978) • essayVisionary (1959) / Harlan Ellison and Joe L. HensleyDjinn, No Chaser (1982)Invasion Footnote (1957)Saturn, November 11th (Scenes from the Real World #2) (1981) • essayNight of Black Glass (1981)Final Trophy (1957)!!!The!!Teddy!Crazy!!Show!!! (1968)The Cheese Stands Alone (1982)Somehow, I Don't Think We're in Kansas, Toto (Scenes from the Real World #3) (1974) • essayTranscending Destiny (1957)The Hour That Stretches (1982)The Day I Died (1973) • essayTracking Level (1956)Tiny Ally (1957)The Goddess in the Ice (1967)Gopher in the Gilly (Scenes from the Real World #4) (1982) • essay
Lovecraft Unbound
Ellen DatlowWilliam Browning Spencer - 2009
Howard Phillips Lovecraft may have been a writer for only a short time, but the creations he left behind after his death in 1937 have shaped modern horror more than any other author in the last two centuries: the shambling god Cthulhu, and the other deities of the Elder Things, the Outer Gods, and the Great Old Ones, and Herbert West, Reanimator, a doctor who unlocked the secrets of life and death at a terrible cost. In Lovecraft Unbound, more than twenty of today's most prominent writers of literature and dark fantasy tell stories set in or inspired by the works of H. P. Lovecraft. 9 • Introduction (Lovecraft Unbound) • essay by Ellen Datlow 11 • The Crevasse • short story by Dale Bailey and Nathan Ballingrud 31 • The Office of Doom • [Dust Devil] • short story by Richard Bowes 43 • Sincerely, Petrified • short fiction by Anna Tambour 73 • The Din of Celestial Birds • (1997) • short story by Brian Evenson 85 • The Tenderness of Jackals • short fiction by Amanda Downum 99 • Sight Unseen • short fiction by Joel Lane 113 • Cold Water Survival • short story by Holly Phillips 139 • Come Lurk With Me and Be My Love • short fiction by William Browning Spencer 161 • Houses Under the Sea • (2006) • novelette by Caitlín R. Kiernan 195 • Machines of Concrete Light and Dark • short story by Michael Cisco 213 • Leng • short fiction by Marc Laidlaw 239 • In the Black Mill • (1997) • short story by Michael Chabon 267 • One Day, Soon • short fiction by Lavie Tidhar 277 • Commencement • (2001) • novelette by Joyce Carol Oates 305 • Vernon, Driving • short fiction by Simon Kurt Unsworth 315 • The Recruiter • short fiction by Michael Shea 331 • Marya Nox • short fiction by Gemma Files 347 • Mongoose • [Boojum] • novelette by Elizabeth Bear and Sarah Monette 375 • Catch Hell • short fiction by Laird Barron 413 • That of Which We Speak When We Speak of the Unspeakable • short fiction by Nick Mamatas
Lesser Demons
Norman Partridge - 2010
Cross-genre blowtorches with bad guys and worse guys. Love stories both dark and bittersweet. A brand new novella and extensive story notes. You’ll find this and more in the fifth collection from three-time Bram Stoker award-winner Norman Partridge, an author Locus calls “one of the most dependable, exciting, and entertaining practitioners of dark suspense and dark fantasy… emphasis on the dark.”In Lesser Demons, Partridge explores the kind of fiction that made him both a horror fan and a writer. Using the shotgun prose of a crime novel, the title story draws a deadly bead on H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos. “The Iron Dead” introduces Chaney, a monster-hunting pulp hero with a mechanical hand built in hell. “Carrion” cuts a mean swath through Robert E. Howard territory, while “The Big Man” explores dark shadows of American life never imagined in the atom-age horror movies of the fifties.Part celebration, part reinvention, Lesser Demons only serves to underscore RevolutionSF’s verdict: “Norman Partridge is the finest writer of short horror fiction going.” Table of Contents Second Chance The Big Man Lesser Demons Carrion The Fourth Stair up from the Second Landing And What Did You See in the World? Road Dogs The House Inside Durston The Iron Dead A Few Words AfterDust jacket by Vincent Chong
Demiurge: The Complete Cthulhu Mythos Tales of Michael Shea
Michael Shea - 2017
P. Lovecraft—an entire universe of gods and monsters that hundreds of writers have imitated. But Shea has done a lot more than merely mimic Lovecraft’s prose or add a new god or “forbidden book” to the Mythos. In his Mythos tales, Shea has infused his own unique vision and perspective. The much-reprinted “Fat Face” takes us into the seedy underworld of prostitutes and drug dealers in San Francisco, while other tales such as “Dagoniad,” “Copping Squid,” and “Tsathoggua” vividly meld Lovecraftian cosmic horror with the contemporary world of California, with its swimming pools and beachcombers. Shea was also fascinated with Lovecraft’s novel of Antarctic horror, At the Mountains of Madness, and his stories “Under the Shelf” and “Beneath the Beardmore” take us to that frozen land of death and terror. The title story, “Demiurge,” is a previously unpublished novella that draws upon Lovecraft’s tales of psychic possession in its chilling portrayal of a nameless monster who may be the harbinger of the overthrow of the entire human race. Michael Shea (1946–2014) was the award-winning author of The Color out of Time, the Nifft the Lean series of fantasy novels, and the classic tales “Polyphemus” and “The Autopsy.” This volume of his complete Cthulhu Mythos tales has been assembled by S. T. Joshi, a leading authority on Lovecraft and the Mythos. This volume features wraparound cover artwork and five interior illustrations by renowned artist Aeron Alfrey (MADHOUSE).
Weird Tales: 101 Weird, Strange, and Supernatural Stories (Civitas Library Classics)
Various - 2012
May of these stories are from the pages of Weird Tales and other classic magazines which brought the work of masters like H.P. Lovecraft, Seabury Quinn, Clark Ashton Smith, August Derleth, Robert E. Howard, and many others to the public. Includes an active table of contents.