Dark Horror

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . Such tales of the dark and the unknown have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows.

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill, a chilling tale of modern-world dangers, dark academia, and the unexpected consequences of revenge as six friends dabble in the occult and are tragically, horrifyingly successful… calling forth an evil entity that demands regular human...

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real...tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows.

I have a meanness inside me, real as an organ. Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice of Kinnakee, Kansas.” As her family lay dying, little Libby fled their tiny farmhouse into the freezing January snow. She lost some fingers and toes, but...

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows. This volume of The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror offers tales from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique. Sure to delight as well as disturb!

Vitus Adamson is falling apart. As a pre-deceased private investigator, he takes the prescription Atroxipine hourly to keep his undead body upright and functioning. Whenever he is injured, he seeks Niko, a bombshell mortician with bedroom eyes and a way with corpses, to piece him back together. Decomposition, however, is the least of his worries when two clients posing his most dangerous job yet appear at his door looking for their lost son.

They say there’s nothing in the dark that isn’t there in the light… but have they ever been alone in a big house during a thunderstorm when the power goes out? Have they ever tried to figure out what that strange noise was just then? Author Scott W. Cook has compiled for you a collection of short stories lovingly crafted to help you while away the evening hours… and put a few goose pimples on your skin, too.

A week before Lenore Warwick's 21st birthday, she's kidnapped by the brooding and dangerous stranger with cold eyes and a lethal touch, who has been stalking her on San Francisco's fog-shrouded streets. Absolon "Solon" Stavig isn't your average criminal though. He's a centuries-old vampire who's caught between wanting to kill Lenore and wanting to save her.

As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer, and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams—and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. Don’t they remember people lapsing into comas back then? And those people always awoke…didn’t they?

The dead spot: a corner drenched in shadow; an earthquake's epicenter; the part of a roller coaster ride where the car rounds the final curve and all force dissipates, leaving those trapped beneath the safety bar feeling sick and hollow. From the beloved author of Frost Bite and Chopping Spree comes this heartbreaking horror collection about girls and women trapped by circumstance, manipulation, and obsession. The book includes a moving introduction by J. A. W. McCarthy (Shirley Jackson Award finalist for Sometimes We're Cruel) and seventeen stories by Sylvaine.

When Robin Griffiths embarks upon the restoration of a stained-glass window in a thirteenth-century church, little does she comprehend the stakes involved. The more slivers of glass she pieces together, the more she realizes things are not what they appear to be in the seemingly cozy hamlet of Bilbury.

As the Patron’s noose tightens down around the House of Graves, Tessa finds herself seeking the aid of Thomas Jury, a witch who’s powerful beyond measure and just as dangerous. But even with Jury’s so called 'help', will the Patron’s power prove too much for Tessa to withstand?

“A chiller” (The New York Times Book Review) and #1 New York Times bestseller horror about a writer’s horrific and haunting pseudonym that destroys everyone on the path, leading to the man who created him—in this psychological horror novel by Stephen King. After thirteen years of...

You’re riding in your self-driving car when suddenly the doors lock, the route changes and you have lost all control. Then, a mysterious voice tells you, “You are going to die.” Just as self-driving cars become the trusted, safer norm, eight people find themselves in this terrifying...

Hugh and his men are faced with fighting creatures only thought to live in legend but which have been brought to Earth by evil bent on annihilating all the realms. That is Hugh's life - and he loves it. At least he did until he found himself staring into the angelic, innocent face of Lady Mina of Stone Crest. In all the time he has led the Shields Hugh has trusted his instinct to keep his men alive, yet now he doesn't know what to believe. Everything points to Mina as the evil summoning the creatures, but she proclaims her innocence. He should be able to see through her lies, if she is indeed lying, but his attraction to her blinds him to even that.

Siobhan is struggling with loneliness after her mother's death, but even though her grandfather is the only one she has left, he’s more interested in his secretive research than his granddaughter. But when a mysterious stranger arrives to help him with his work, nightmarish phenomena begin to plague their village.

When Karina agrees to help the ghost of a murdered Oracle uncover a plot that could unravel the fabric of reality, she finds herself caught in the crossfire between bounty hunters and her ex-bodyguards. Now she needs to reclaim the birthright and power she abandoned before she loses everything and everyone she loves.

It’s the best time of the year in the mountain village I call home, known for its Krampus lore and festive enthusiasm during the holidays. From the outside looking in, my life is perfect. I live in a winter wonderland, I’m engaged to the town’s beloved “honied ham man” and I run the town’s most precious flower shop. No one would ever know my fiancé is an abusive psychopath who’s threatened to kill me if I ever try to leave him. It’s a secret I’ve always kept hidden, my burden to bear. The only person who sees right through the mask I wear is my Christmas tree vendor. He follows me, watches me.

Pandemonium: a twilight dimension of nightmare creatures, mythical beings, the undead, and everything in between. To Dead Jack, it’s hell sweet hell. In the first book of the series, the tortured, drug-addicted detective and his associate, the homunculus Oswald, face rogue leprechauns, ghost pirates, a sex-obsessed shark woman, sycophantic ghouls, an insecure fire demon, and a goateed maniac who calls himself the Duke of Pandemonium.

“The pages practically turn themselves” (USA TODAY) in this collection of four “disturbing, fascinating” (The Washington Post) novellas centered around the theme of retribution from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Stephen King. “1922” (also a Netflix original film): A...