Dark Ages Literature

Give your kids a fright! Haunted houses, prowling monsters, vengeful ghosts, and more are waiting for you. Inside you’ll find 35 original short scary stories for kids, including a room where everything is wrong and you can never leave, a forest guide who leads people on a walk they won’t forget, a monster dining in a graveyard, a ghost ship that hunts down treasure seekers, and a statue that comes to life—for a price. And many more! Just make sure you listen to these stories with the lights on.

I was sold to the highest bidder. I expected a monster, a cruel, vicious man who would break me. What I got was Victor Perrigo. Older, rugged, and terrifyingly calm, he’s the kind of man who makes the world bend to his will. And now… I belong to him. “Just breathe, baby,” he says when I’m shoved into his arms. Easy for him to say, he wasn’t just auctioned off like property. I hate him for buying me. I hate the way he watches me, like I’m a puzzle he’s trying to solve. I fight him at every turn, desperate to escape the prison he’s built around me.

It was decreed from the moment she was born. Twenty-three-year-old Reality Kahn would embark on a quest so great, so bold. She would become the greatest girlfriend of all time. She would be a zine maker, an aspiring notary, the greatest waterslide commercial actress on the Eastern Seaboard. She would receive messages from the beyond in the form of advice from the esteemed and ancient ladies magazine, Girlfriend Weekly. When she attends a party in Gowanus at a punk venue known as “Paradise,” Reality meets Ariel, who will become her boyfriend.

Nyssa Volari is dying. But that is impossible, because she is a Soulblight vampire, blessed by Nagash with blood-fuelled immortality. More than that, Nyssa is a fighter – one of the handful of Kastelai vampires not dissolved into true death when the Crimson Keep abandoned them a century ago. With her blades and her will, she carved a kingdom out of the Broken Plains of Aqshy. These things matter little, for Nyssa's blood is cursed. It destroyed the vampire she called father, and as it threatens to do the same to her, Nyssa's allies abandon her one by one.

Tim Newark’s lively narrative answers the most commonly asked questions about the Dark Ages. Who were the Vandals and the Goths? What were Attila the Hun and Charlemagne really like? From surviving contemporary literature and artifacts now shrouded in myth and legend, Newark reconstructs the battles, campaigns, sieges, and legendary leaders of one of the most mysterious eras of European history.

Rising from the gloom-shrouded cults of Ulgu, the empire of the Daughters of Khaine now dominates the Realm of Shadow. These matriarchal witch-aelves are graceful masters of death who revel in spilling blood, and whose opposition to Chaos borders on mania. Proud governors of their own ruthless agendas, it is their devotion to Khaine, the ancient aelven god of murder, the Daughters seek to prove above all—and alongside it, the favour of his high priestess, Morathi. To this end, a Khainite would bleed the realms dry in dedication to her cause.

The empire rests on the edge of a knife, and sisters Ashyn and Moria are the handle and the blade. Desperate to outmaneuver the evil Alvar Kitsune, whose hold on the people grows stronger every day, Emperor Tatsu begs Moria to put aside past grievances and ally with Gavril - at least long enough to make an attempt on Alvar's life.

Born the weakest runt of his Moonclan tribe, Zograt was only ever one beating away from a nasty end...until the Bad Moon bestowed upon him its blessing. Now the Clammy Hand of destiny is upon him and back-stabbing grots scurry to his cause, afraid of the vengeances their new boss will inflict with his powerful spells. For every underling he suffocates with noxious fungi, Zograt stages a magnanimous gesture, for he is all too aware of his fragile grip on power.

Nothing prepared me on how to survive falling in love. New day. New feelings. New threats. I've survived in this post apocalyptic wasteland alone since I was twelve. Never knowing intimacy or love. Until Rex awoke feelings in me I don't understand. The brash, controlling man is my first everything. Yet I remain defiant, clinging to my independence, even if I'm possessive of him. But when sickness strikes him down, fear of losing him consumes me. Though I don't understand how to love, I'll shield him with everything I am. Or die trying.

Cado Ezechiar is a wanderer who has outlived the memory of the age that made him. A Soulblight vampire who accepted the curse as his people and kingdom fell to Chaos, he now roams the Realm of Death and beyond seeking retribution and salvation for the ones he failed. Aided by the bound spirits of those he lost, Cado follows a path of revenge, hunting the servants of Chaos to slake his need for blood while seeking the Sorcerer of Change who destroyed his kingdom.

Tristan's Folly. An ageing fortress built over 50 years ago to repel the invading hordes of the Witch-King, Daleth, an invasion that never materialized - until now. Now the stronghold is a crumbling reflection of its former might, with a mere 1,500 men all that stand between Daleth's savage horde of a hundred thousand, and certain doom.

As cities rise across the Mortal Realms, Lord-Celestant Gardus Steel Soul leads his Hallowed Knights into darkest Shyish, hoping to gain a foothold for the forces of Azyr. But as the foundations of a new citadel are laid, the Hallowed Knights find themselves beset by enemies both living and dead. Now, Gardus must lead his warriors into the very heart of darkness to save the soul of a warrior long thought lost.

Falling for four gruff tattoo artists is unexpected - getting pregnant is catastrophic. I'm the girl everyone looks to for a sunny comment and a bright smile. That's why my attraction to four older ex-military men with silver in their hair and dark ink all over their muscular bodies comes as a complete surprise. We have nothing in common, but I'm putty in their experienced hands.

Remy and Alicia, a couple of insecure service workers, are not particularly happy together. But they are bound by a shared obsession with Jen, a beautiful former coworker of Remy’s who now seems to be following her bliss as a globe-trotting jewelry designer. In and outside the bedroom, Remy and Alicia's entire relationship revolves around fantasies of Jen, whose every Instagram caption, outfit, and new age mantra they know by heart. Imagine their confused excitement when they run into Jen, in the flesh, and she invites them on a surfing trip to the Hamptons.

This 20th Anniversary Edition of Slumber invites you to rediscover the darkly enchanting tale that started it all. Dive into Rory’s journey of self-discovery, resilience, and rebellion against her foretold fate. From Princess to Prisoner, Rory fights to outlast a curse that threatens to claim her life before her 16th birthday. Along the way, she faces harrowing obstacles, forges unexpected alliances, and discovers a strength she never knew she had. This special edition includes an Extended Epilogue, offering a deeper glimpse into Rory’s world and the ripple effects of her choices.

Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where she’s the only scholarship student among China’s most rich and influential teens. But then she starts uncontrollably turning invisible—actually invisible. When her parents drop the news that they can no longer afford her tuition, even with the scholarship, Alice hatches a plan to monetize her strange new power—she’ll discover the scandalous secrets her classmates want to know, for a price.

The Saint of War spares the life of a servant girl so she can fulfill her destiny as the kingdom’s greatest warrior in this short story of love and loyalty by New York Times bestselling author Alix E. Harrow.

East and West. Humans and Spirits. Breccans and Tamerlaines. The Isle of Cadence has always held itself and its residents in a tenuous balance. But now Bane, the spirit of the North Wind, has pushed everyone and everything in his path off-kilter in a bid to claim dominion over all.

As the only living child of Erius's dead sister, Prince Tobin is second in line to the Throne of Skala, but he is not what he seems. To protect him from the paranoid assasinations ordered by his uncle, the wizard Iya gave Tobin the appearence of his murdered twin brother at birth. But now, with the onset of puberty, Tobin has discovered his true identity - SHE the rightful heir to the throne.

One evening, two years’ worth of memories lost. Under the pretense of recovery, my father sends me to an elite boarding college, but soon, my memories start rushing back, and it’s obvious I’m not at Lakeside to heal. I’m here to hide. Navigating the scattered past to decipher the threat lurking in the shadows is hard while I’m kept in the dark and even harder when he steals my focus. Crude, arrogant, and threatening, he draws me in, and the closer I get, the less I understand. Waking up without memories is terrifying, but remembering the time I lost is infinitely worse.