Dark Horror

From werewolves and vampires, to demons and aliens, the monster is one of the most recognizable figures in horror. But what makes something, or someone, monstrous? Award-winning and up-and-coming authors like Richard Kadrey, Cassandra Khaw, Indrapramit Das, Priya Sharma, and more attempt to answer this question. These all-new stories range from traditional to modern, from mainstream to literary, from familiar monsters to the unknown . . . and unimaginable.

Fourteen-year-old Nessa lives in a world where every teen will be "Called". It could come in the middle of the day, it could come deep in the night. But one instant she will be here, and the next she will wake up naked and alone in the Sidhe land. She will be spotted, hunted down, and brutally murdered. And she will be sent back in pieces by the Sidhe to the human world...unless she joins the rare few who survive for 24 hours and escape unscathed.

Life at St. Agatha's School for Girls is anything but a fairy tale. With ratty blankets and a torturous device called the box, it's not hard to understand Eliza's desperation to escape. When the timing is right, Eliza manages to run away with her best friend, Millie, heading through the Louisiana swamps to the town on the other side. But the swamps may be even more dangerous than the orphanage. Silver and black fairies invite the girls to experience a world where they can have it all, but Eliza doesn't trust the sparkling beauty.

With each rival my syndicate eliminates two more appear, and they are out for blood. The assassin’s guild, the dwarven miners, and the elven overlords are all looking to put our heads on a pike. If my whiskey business is going to thrive it's going to take a little magic, all of their skills, a lotta luck, and the help of an enslaved djinn to overcome the odds against them. The risk is high, but the rewards are money, power, women, and revolution. Those are worth dying and killing for, so keep your blades sharp.

Uncomfortably Dark presents...The Baker’s Dozen! Delicious dark delights for your horror consumption! Come indulge in the dark and disturbing with 13 tantalizing tales of terror written by an incredible lineup of independent horror authors. With stories ranging from delightful to disturbing, you are sure to find something to please your sweet spot. Authors include Jeff Strand, Christine Morgan, Ruthann Jagge, Aron Beauregard, Lee Franklin, Chris Miller, Patrick C. Harrison, III, Carver Pike, Kenzie Jennings, Daniel Volpe, Rowland Bercy, Jr., Candace Nola and M. Ennenbach.

A centuries old vampire, Gregor, kills to sate his hunger for blood but also for the pleasure of the kill. Abused by his parents, Gregor hates anyone who reminds him of the weak and fearful child he once was. Gregor also has a son, Marcus, whom he took years ago, and attempted to make him into a creature like himself. But Marcus is nothing like Gregor. Trapped, painfully tormented by what he’s been forced to become, Marcus clings to the humanity Gregor has tried to erase. He needs to feed on blood, but Marcus cannot find it in himself to attack innocent prey.

The First Challenge has been conquered, but with a heavy heavy cost. Lives have been left as corpses in the mud, and the Multi-Versal System has targeted Gideon as a threat. Gods and Factions shift their pawns upon the board, and even the Primordial Creators of the System themselves have stirred for the first times in eons.

In the war-torn rubble of the human world, can a rebel elf and a lost dragon prince find love, or will a dark threat tear them and their world apart forever? A new land, a new court, a new king, but some things never change. Broken in all ways, Akiem fled his life as the amethyst prince only to land at the mercy of the beautiful but deadly diamond king, Luceran. Akiem knows dragons. He knows he’ll die today, tomorrow, whenever Luceran’s executioner brings down his axe, and maybe it’s all he deserves.

Robert Nash is unlucky in love. He is so unlucky in love, in fact, that he has never been with another living person. And that's not about to change any time soon when his latest date is far from living.

After escaping her kidnappers and destroying the black market where she was held captive, all Nita wants is to find a way to live her life without looking over her shoulder. But with a video of her ability to self-heal all over the dark web, Nita knows she's still a prime target on the black market. There's only one way to keep herself safe. Nita must make herself so feared that no one would ever dare come after her again. And the best way to start building her reputation? Take her revenge on Fabricio, the boy who sold Nita to her kidnappers.

They call me a playboy. Society’s pretty pet. What they don’t know is I’m so much more. My only directive was to keep her hidden, and safe. After everything she’s been through I’m the last person to offer comfort and care. I have little experience with either. Both of us have been broken by our pasts. But mine is catching up to me, and I would deal with it as I usually do: with total decimation. But that puts her in the crosshairs, and that’s unacceptable.

The New York Times bestselling author of The Only Good Indians and The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones, brings readers a spine-tingling journey through a young boy's haunted home. Winner of the 2017 Bram Stoker Award for Long Fiction! "A triumph. So emotionally raw, disturbing...

In the field of country noir—the dark side of rural and small-town America—Lansdale staked his claim to East Texas with The Nightrunners. A '66 Chevy bears down on the countryside, with a carful of vicious teenagers and evil of Biblical proportions, in this terrifying morality tale of sex and violence.

Twins Oliver and Trisha love going on adventures with their dad. Canoeing and camping on the Champion River will be their best trip yet! But when they capsize in rapids, their father is knocked unconscious. Alone and without cell phone reception, their only choice is to continue down river for help.

Not all angels are sane... Someone saved David Barker’s life, but he doesn’t know who—or what—she is. Now he’s haunted by the image of that beautiful, nebulous vision with the features of a woman and determined to find out why she appeared when he almost died. David uses an angel board in hopes of contacting her, and unfortunately for him, he succeeds. This angel has loved him all his life, guarded him and protected him. And she’ll hurt anyone who interferes with that love. David’s guardian angel is obsessive, possessive… and homicidal.

Other than the trailer park left to her by her deceased daddy, Amy's favorite treasure is Jagger, her 180-pound bullmastiff. One day while she is away, Clayton, her best friend’s scumbag boyfriend sneaks into her yard and takes the dog. His prize fighting pit bull was killed during its last match, costing a lot of bad people a lot of money. To make up for his dog's losses, and to save his own life, Clayton enlists the help of a medical student dropout to turn Jagger into a killing machine by pumping him full of experimental drugs and muscle enhancers.

Onboard the Anna, Amanda suspects that something fishy is going on. But when her investigation of the peculiar all-female Russian crew fails to uncover anything other than more speculation, she decides it's time to stop playing detective and face her real problem - a man she shouldn't want but can't live without.

The end of the world has come not with a bang or a whimper, but with the guttural snarl of walking corpses hungry for human flesh. The "lucky" survivors flee an unstoppable virus spreading death and societal collapse across the globe. As the rules of civilization crumble, a lawyer, a pilot, and a nurse become comrades-in-arms in the fight against extinction. But not every enemy wears a rotting face, and anyone who doesn’t have your back just might have your head. Humankind’s twilight is at hand, and these are indeed... dark days.

Lucy Westenra is beautiful, rich, loved by three men—every inch a lady. But beneath this sparkling, flirtatious facade, she is fascinated by death, which has stalked her throughout her short life. For her, the dead do not slip away easily, as they do for her best friend, Mina; they linger. When Lucy departs for Whitby, her nightly sleepwalks introduce her to the mysterious Vlad, who seems to see parts of her she has never let show before. Vlad makes her an offer.

Twenty Beautiful Lies stand before me. I can feel one’s hatred from across the ballroom. She loathes me and all that I stand for...that’s why she will be my choice, my belle of the ball. Born into a secret society that strangles the life out of me, I have no choice but to face my demons head on. Inheritance isn’t about money or land, it’s much more twisted than that.... A sinful birthright. A dark heritage. A secret tradition only the most powerful and wealthy are aware of. The Order of the Silver Ghost.