Classic Literature Dark

London 1888, Jack the Ripper is on the loose terrorizing the citizens of Whitechapel. The Queen of England sends a mysterious agent to uncover the truth of the vile monster hunting England's streets. The trail of blood leads to an even bigger mystery and to a darker enemy of the Crown itself. While on Mont Orgueil, Grace Flynn, a prisoner of both England and France, awaits her execution for a very long list of crimes.

Laura and her father live a quiet life in their remote castle in the dense forests Styria. It is a solitary existence for young Laura, who has no companionship except for her governess and the occasional visits of neighbouring gentry. Into this lonely life comes the mysterious house guest, Carmilla. Slowly Laura falls under Carmilla's spell. Whilst she is both attracted and repulsed by Carmilla, she seems unable to find the energy to resist her.

A strange woman becomes a guest of the house of Laura and her father by devious means. Disappearances, nocturnal wanderings, sickness, and death ensue, and no one knows what is behind it all.

High Plains Moon has something for everyone: The old West, American Indian mythology, werewolves, vampires, land wars, and even a little romance. Funny, fast-moving, and building to a climactic finish, High Plains Moon is a worthy and satisfying second novel in the acclaimed Night Marshal series.

As the son of a wealthy man, Enitan Javed has spent his life frivolously - drinking, fighting, and making love. But after his father dies, Enitan is unjustly accused of murdering him and is given the harshest sentence possible. Judged irredeemable, he is banished to the Downs. As even young children know, nothing lives in the Downs except demons who delight in torturing the condemned. Brutalized by the men who transport him to his fate, Enitan has nothing left but his thirst for vengeance.

Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer of Gothic tales and mystery novels. He was the leading ghost-story writer of the 19th century and was central to the development of the genre in the Victorian era. Carmilla is Le Fanu's famous classic vampire story which has been filmed numerous times, including Vampyre (1932), Blood and Roses (1960), Crypt of Horror (1964), The Vampire Lovers (1970) and Carmilla (1999).

Lusus Naturae is Beauty and the Beast in reverse. Charles Renshaw, an aristocrat, purchases a monster called Cyprian - a member of the rare species, Lamia. At first, Cyprian fulfils the role of a collector's whimsy, then becomes an object of passion as Renshaw's obsession with her leads him on a path to ruin. Within a short time, he sees his monster's feral nature emerge and understands that she cannot be controlled as easily as he first imagined.

The Marquette Institute and the Department of Preternatural Activities (DPA) have been America's primary defense against the things that go bump in the night for more than a century and a half. It has been said that without the activities of this group and similar organizations, the human race would've fallen under the heel of dark forces long ago.

Making his way to a tryst with his "dark lady" near the royal palace the young playwright William Shakespeare encounters a mysterious woman in a cloak. Mistaking her for his lady friend, he accosts her in a familiar fashion, only to discover, to his dismay, that she is in fact the queen. He overcomes his initial discomfort, and takes advantage of the situation to make a petition for royal support to establish a national theatre.

The story is told from the first person perspective of an unnamed narrator and details his experiences with a scientist named Crawford Tillinghast. Tillinghast creates an electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected person’s pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality.

Lacy Logan thought she had a normal life. She was healthy, happy, and about to start her own paranormal investigations business...until she met the man in black. In a matter of days, she was fighting for her life, questioning her sanity, and hoping to uncover a secret from her past that would allow her to slay a demon.

A story about an Demonic Angel in Heaven and an Angelic Demon in Hell. Damon always felt out of place in his surroundings and at his work. Most would consider it an ordinary problem but Damon was an angel working in Heaven. When Damon is redeployed to work on a mission on Earth, things start to become interesting. He is however dismayed to find out that he has been assigned as a shoulder Angel to the most boring man on Earth, Joe Smith.

Brock takes Celeste to his Elvin city, thinking she'll be safe. He is wrong. The Warloc's protégé is bent on his physical return to the living and uses her necromancy to bring forth Brock's first victim and more. Brock and Celeste must defeat prejudice and power to continue their journey and find Brock's twin sister, Mirhana

The Maiden Thief by multiple NYT and internationally best-selling author Melissa Marr is a dark fantasy novelette about a teenager whose town is plagued by the annual disappearances of girls and young women.

Even though he’s one of the Heartland Security Agency’s Peacemaker agents, a man sworn to help protect and preserve the morality of the United States, Neal can’t give up his habit of patronizing prostitutes. When one of them steals the prototype of a top secret device, however, he has no choice but to come clean in order to rally fellow agents for a recovery mission. His situation goes from bad to worse when he is tricked into a plot to take down one of the Agency’s most powerful secret allies.

Antigo is the last of his family line in a town that has long forgotten ancient pledges and rites which bind the mythic and monstrous Skekstatsiis within the forest. Tradition maintains Antigo must become a man by the end of harvest or those eldritch fetters will shatter. Unceremoniously passed over again by all suitors, Antigo finds the corpse of a friend. Convinced of the Skekstatsiis's return, the elders write it off as fairytale and delusion, or worse: a plot by the Trade League to disrupt the harvest!

Alice has had a lousy life since she left Wonderland. All grown up and trapped in an unhappy marriage, she longs to escape. But when she finally manages to leap through the mirror, she gets one twisted shock after another. Whatever happened to the crazy, charming Wonderland of her youth? This time, the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, Mock Turtle, Humpty Dumpty, Tweedledum, and Tweedledee are out for blood. Something has warped the magical mystery realm, sending Alice reeling from one close shave to the next.

Keawe es un hawaiano que decide conocer otras tierras y se embarca en un buque que se dirige a San Francisco, donde descubre una casa preciosa, cuyo dueño parece triste y solo. Keawe se pregunta cómo el dueño de una casa tan hermosa puede ser tan infeliz. Tras enseñarle su mansión, el anciano le muestra una botella de vidrio blanco en cuyo interior se pueden ver los colores cambiantes del arco iris, además de un diablillo.

Ever since they were orphaned, Tyler has kept close tabs on his sister, Shannon. He has to, considering her weird and risky obsessions. Now she has a new one: an inexplicable crush on an odd-looking stranger. And what Shannon wants from her unwitting “honey boy,” Tyler can’t begin to fathom. Not until he follows his sister into the darkest corners of her desires.

Written in 1905, this is Vernon Lee’s final genuinely weird tale, and it tells the 18th-century legend of Sister Benvenuta, a nun who wrote letters to a model of infant Christ. Whilst unexpectedly funny in places, this short story has dark undertones.