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The Folks by Ray Garton


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Charming the Cheerleader


Maggie Dallen - 2020
    But only if he doesn't fall for her first.Conner and his stepsister are new to town, new to Talmore High, and very new to this whole step-sibling situation. As of three weeks ago they were only children...and now? Well, now their parents' newly wedded bliss is wreaking havoc with both of their lives. Not that Conner is worried. He might be the new kid but he's never had a problem being the big man on campus. Until now. No one at this school seems to have gotten the memo that he's beloved. The girls aren't swooning and the guys are looking for any excuse to kick his butt back to California. When his stepsister throws out the challenge, it's a no brainer. If he can make head cheerleader Rosalie "The Ice Queen" Farlow fall at this feet, he'll have it all.But then again, if he wins the bet...he'll lose her. And what's the use of having it all if he loses the only thing that matters? Author's Note: Though this is the first book of a duet, the romance is standalone and features a satisfying, swoonworthy HEA. The timelines of these two books intersect, however, so be sure to read book one first to avoid any spoilers!

The Last Harvest


Kim Liggett - 2017
    Now, on the first anniversary of the Midland, Oklahoma slaughter, the whole town's looking at Clay like he might be next to go over the edge. Clay wants to forget the past, but the sons and daughters of the Preservation Society—a group of prominent farmers his dad accused of devil worship—won't leave him alone. Including Ali, his longtime crush, who suddenly wants to reignite their romance after a year of silence, and hated rival Tyler Neely, who’s behaving like they’re old friends. Even as Clay tries to reassure himself, creepy glances turn to sinister stares and strange coincidences build to gruesome rituals—but when he can never prove that any of it happened, Clay worries he might be following his dad down the path to insanity...or that something far more terrifying lies in wait around the corner.

Hope Over Fear


J.A. DeRouen - 2014
    I don’t deserve pity or sympathy. I’ve made my bed. I left Mason and ripped his heart to pieces as I ran away. The guilt and sorrow consume me, threatening to choke me everyday.But today is a new beginning. Today is the day I will wake up with a renewed resolve and determination to do better … to be better … to be worthy. My name is Sara Preston, and this is my story about what happens after.

He Digs A Hole


Danger Slater - 2018
    Get married. Buy a house. Cut off your hands and replace them with gardening tools. Dig a hole. Can you hear the worms calling? Keep digging.

To Dream the Blackbane


Richard J. O'Brien
    Scientists referred to the event as The Anomaly. A byproduct of The Anomaly was the advent of hybrid beings—people who became mixed with whatever animal or object was closest to them the moment the event occurred. Humans, or pedigrees, soon relegated fairy refugees and hybrids into ghetto zones in large cities.Seventy years later, Wolfgang Rex, a second-generation hybrid—part human, part Rhodesian Ridgeback—is a retired police detective who runs a private investigation business in Chicago’s Southside. It’s a one-hybrid show; though Rex couldn’t survive without his assistant, the faerie Sally Sandweb.One night, two vampires visit Rex and offer him a substantial reward for the recovery of a stolen scroll. Later that same evening, Charlotte Sweeney-Jarhadill, a pedigree woman from Louisiana, visits Rex and hires him to exorcize the headless ghost of a Confederate soldier from her home.To complicate matters, the private detective ends up falling for Charlotte. Meanwhile, the vampires demand results in the search for the missing scroll. When Rex’s assistant Sally goes missing, he must stay alive long enough to find her. Charlotte and the vampires, however, have other plans for Rex.

The Long Weekend


Savita Kalhan - 2008
    They have ended up in a dark mansion in the middle of nowhere with a man who means to harm them. But Sam doesn't know how to get them out. They were trapped, then separated. Now they are alone. Will either of them get out alive? This gripping and hypnotic thriller will have you reading late into the night.

Guest Of Honor: A Novelette


Mark S.R. Peterson - 2013
    Parties, booze, boys--you name it, she does it. Her parents don't care what she does, and when she is home they ignore her. Their attitude started over a year ago when Megan's older brother was tragically killed in a car accident. Then, when her parents die on the same road that took her brother, Megan decides to start over and move far away. She auctions off her parents' property, a country home in northwestern Minnesota, and heads down to the Twin Cities. Megan knows hitchhiking is dangerous, but lately has become a way of life. And this time is no different. She gets picked up by Bart Simms, an attorney from Minneapolis, who agrees to take her where she needs to go. But only after he conducts a bit of estate planning business. The Engels are a farming family who live not far from Megan's old place. They revel peacefully in their secluded backwoods sanctuary, and have a strong desire to keep as much of the government away from their family's farming legacy. Hence the reason they sought the impecable skills of Bart Simms, who has a deep reputation for saving many family farms from unwanted death and estate taxes. But Megan has a problem with the Engels. She has never heard of them, and she's lived in the area all of her life. When she explores their home, she finds more that is out of sorts. She discovers a picture of a teenage girl. A girl who resembles that of a recent murder victim from Minneapolis. Is there more to this backwoods family than meets the eye? This suspenseful story was inspired by the gruesome real-life tales of Ed Gein and the Master of Horror himself Stephen King. Also included in this are two bonus materials: a serial killer short story titled "Hatchet Harry" and an excerpt of Mark S. R. Peterson's thriller novel (published August 2013) titled BEHOLDER'S EYE.

The Family that Lies


Lakisha Johnson - 2016
    With a father who thought the world of them, life was good. Until one day everything changed. While Grayce got love and attention, Merci got all the hell, forcing her to leave home. She never looks back, putting the past behind her until … her sister shows up over a decade later begging for help, bringing all of the forgotten past with her. Merci wasn't the least bit prepared for what was about to happen next. Merci realizes, she’s been a part of something much bigger than she'd ever imagined. Yea, every family has their secrets, hidden truths and ties but Merci had no idea she’d been born into the family that lies.

Malice


Griffin Hayes - 2011
    5000... 4997... 4993...The sheriff has convinced himself and others that the recent rash of deaths in the town are just suicides. Lysander Shore knows different. He knows the townsfolk are being hunted. He knows they face an evil as old as the town itself. He knows it's something that can't be killed, can't be reasoned with.And he knows that the evil knows about him, too. It's waited centuries for Lysander to come home. Now it wants to make him pay.

The Uninvited


William W. Johnstone - 1982
    But for Sheriff Vic Ransonet it was the beginning of a nightmare. People were disappearing without a trace. Animals were being eaten right down to the bone. Lush fertile fields of crops were being stripped bare. But the sherriff knew the evil that lurked in the barns, sheds, and homes of the sleepy parish. He had seen the creatures with his own eyes. He had heard the clicking of ther jaws, the signal that they were on the move to feed their ravenous appetites. And if he couldn't stop them, then every man, woman, and child would die, and Lapeer Parish would be wiped off the map.

White Rabbit


Caleb Roehrig - 2018
    It begins with the reappearance of his ex-boyfriend, Sebastian—the guy who stomped his heart out like a spent cigarette. Just as Rufus is getting ready to move on, Sebastian turns up out of the blue, saying they need to "talk." Things couldn’t get much worse, right?But then Rufus gets a call from his sister April, begging for help. And then he and Sebastian find her, drenched in blood and holding a knife, beside the dead body of her boyfriend, Fox Whitney.April swears she didn’t kill Fox—but Rufus knows her too well to believe she’s telling him the whole truth. April has something he needs, though, and her price is his help. Now, with no one to trust but the boy he wants to hate yet can’t stop loving, Rufus has one night to prove his sister’s innocence…or die trying.

The Skull Ring


Scott Nicholson - 2010
    Pamela Forrest is determined to bring Julia's memories to the surface, hoping to heal Julia's panic disorder. The therapist keeps returning Julia to a night twenty-three years ago when Julia was four. A night of hooded figures, strange chants, pain, and blood. The night her father disappeared from the face of the earth.Julia rebuilds the past a piece at a time during the mind-wrenching therapy sessions. But the line between the past and the present begins to blur. Julia finds a silver skull ring that bears the name "Judas Stone." The same ring had been worn by one of the hooded figures who scarred her both mentally and physically on that long-ago night.Someone is leaving strange messages inside her house, even though the door is locked. The religious handyman, who has a key, spends a lot of time in the woods behind her house. Her boyfriend Mitchell becomes distant and violent. And the cop who investigated her father's disappearance has followed her to the small Appalachian town of Elkwood.Now she has a head full of memories, but she doesn't know which are real and which are the creations of Dr. Forrest. The shadows of Julia's panic are growing larger and darker. But succumbing to madness seems safer than heeding the whispers of the master who claims ownership of her body and soul.

Becoming


Glenn Rolfe - 2017
    Forced to figure out the mystery for herself, Michele encounters terror she has never known, and witnesses the impossible.When other members of the community begin to change or vanish, Sheriff Shane Davis must look beyond reason in order to stop the evil seeping into this small town. With help from an unlikely source, Sheriff Davis will come face-to-face with the truth.You can't destroy what you don't understand. For the town of Avalon, Maine, the future is about change...for better or worse.Becoming is the next horrifying novel from author, Glenn Rolfe. Includes the bonus novella, Boom Town.

Severed


Joshua Marsella - 2021
    Their squad leader, Sgt. George Hanscott, has to make the difficult decision to disobey his unit's direct orders putting his squad's lives at risk, or help a local fishing village end the terror that's been plaguing them for over a century. Will his decision backfire or will his squad of US Marines be able to destroy the evil entity they don't quite understand?Will we find out how George became such a heinous monster? Do we really want to know?

Our Love Will Go The Way of the Salmon


Cameron Pierce - 2014
    From kidnapping to bank robbing, pursuing rainbow trout to unspeakable monsters, from the deserts of Texas to the desolate forests of Oregon, Our Love Will Go the Way of the Salmon is about the extreme measures people take to recapture the ones that got away.