Ghost Fiction

Russia's Ural Mountains hide a deadly secret: a supernatural portal to the country of the vampires. Soviet scientists and ESP-powered spies, in a secret military base, study the portal - and the powerfully evil creatures that emerge from it, intent on ravaging mankind. When Jazz Simmons, a British agent sent to infiltrate the base, is captured by the KGB espionage squad and forced through the portal, his last message tells Harry Keogh, the Necroscope, that the vampires are preparing for a mass invasion.

Seren Doughty is a forty-two-year-old author who has written nothing in the five years since her daughter's murder. Divorced and alone in her Edinburgh flat, Seren's only relationship has been with Alex, a library research assistant too young and eager for her. So when her former editor approaches her agent with the idea for a ghost story, Seren immediately thinks of the abandoned island of Finish in the Outer Hebrides and seizes the opportunity to commit herself to a new project.

Sixteen years old and enslaved since she was born, Junie has spent her life on Bellereine Plantation in Alabama, cooking and cleaning alongside her family, and tending to the white master’s daughter, Violet. Her daydreams are filled with poetry and faraway worlds, while she spends her nights secretly roaming through the forest, consumed with grief over the sudden death of her older sister, Minnie. When wealthy guests arrive from New Orleans, hinting at marriage for Violet and upending Junie’s life, she commits a desperate act.

All me and Gourry wanted was a peaceful little road trip, but we can’t take one step without wannabe heroes showing up to “vanquish” us! You’d think there was a bounty on our heads or—Wait, there IS?! Ah, crap. Better head to Sairaag to get this whole mess sorted out! Sure hope it’s just a big misunderstanding and not some complex plot by an old enemy to lure us into a—Wait, WHO issued the bounty? Oh, boy...

Young Janey Falke is nothing, and she certainly doesn't stand a chance against the power and might of the malevolent beings known as the Saints and their bloodthirsty worshipers. But instead of running like she should, she makes an oath to kill them all. No matter how firm her resolve though, she's still just a girl with a knife and no skills, and she won't last long against these seemingly all-powerful gods; not unless she can engage with her own mysterious powers and step into her true self.

The ghost story is perhaps the oldest of all the supernatural literary genres and has captured the imagination of almost every writer to put pen to the page. Here, Edgar Award-winning editor Otto Penzler has followed his keen sense of the supernatural to collect the most chilling and uncanny tales in the canon.

In Black River, Tennessee, there is a legend hiding in the shadowy trees. The Bell Witch, a vile, vindictive spirit, is said to haunt the dark woods. Driven by rage, she stalks the descendants of four ancient families - cursed bloodlines, doomed to play out her sadistic game for eternity. Until four young survivors take a stand, and vow to end the witch’s curse once and for all. Their journey will pit them against death, madness, and demonic forces. But if they fail, the witch’s curse will claim a new generation of souls....

His name is Joshua Knight. Once a respected explorer, he’s now called the Tarnished Knight by the press. He took the fall for a disaster in the Underworld, destroying his career. The devastating event occurred in the newly discovered sector known as Glass House—a maze of crystal that is rumored to conceal powerful Alien antiquities. The rest of the Hollister Expedition team disappeared and are presumed dead. Whatever happened down in the tunnels scrambled Joshua’s psychic senses and his memories, but he’s determined to reveal the truth.

A terrifying ghost story from the Queen of Icelandic crime, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, author of the Thora Gudmundsdottir novels. The crunching noise had resumed, now accompanied by a disgusting, indefinable smell. It could best be described as a blend of kelp and rotten meat. The voice spoke again, now slightly louder and clearer: Don't go. Don't go yet. I'm not finished.

An infertile couple escape to Italy for a short break but soon understand they are not alone, and that an ancient evil has awoken.

During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost. But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined. Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her. Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.

Amateur ghost hunters Perry Palomino and Dex Foray embark on their most terrifying investigation yet. Now a functioning campground, Perry and Dex spend an isolated weekend on a tiny, fog-shrouded island to investigate potential hauntings - but as the duo quickly find out, there is more to fear on D'Arcy Island than just ghosts. The island quickly pits partner against partner, spiraling the pair into madness that serves to destroy their sanity, their relationship, and their very lives.

John’s House provides all he needs. Surrounded by a vast, beautiful ocean under a void of sky, the House is John’s haven. He is alone, but never lonely; he is here now, but neither remembers nor longs for a before. In his House, John is safe and untroubled. But then a terrible shadow creature breaks in—and it wants him out. Pushed from the House, John falls into the light… And finds himself in modern-day Los Angeles, the first person to ever come back from the other side.

Quick-witted, ambitious Ji Lin is stuck as an apprentice dressmaker, moonlighting as a dance hall girl to help pay off her mother’s Mahjong debts. But when one of her dance partners accidentally leaves behind a gruesome souvenir, Ji Lin may finally get the adventure she has been longing for. Eleven-year-old houseboy Ren is also on a mission, racing to fulfill his former master’s dying wish: that Ren find the man’s finger, lost years ago in an accident, and bury it with his body. Ren has 49 days to do so, or his master’s soul will wander the earth forever.

Jonathan Martin Delaware Deseronto is a six-foot-five serial killer with a problem. He's stuck out on I-476 in a heavy November rainstorm with two flat tires and the dead bodies of a cop and a coed named Marissa Madison in his trunk. Desperate to get off the highway, he drives his car on its back rims towards exit six. The car stalls on the ramp, and Deseronto uses the last of its momentum to plunge over the crest of a steep slope and crash into a length of concrete pipe below.

While daydreaming, 11-year old Matt Hamilton gets lost in the mysterious woods of Rathburn Park. A small white dog shows him the way out, but it seems strange that no one else has seen such a dog. It seems stranger still when Matt returns to the woods and meets a girl dressed in old-fashioned clothes. She claims her name is Amelia Rathburn, but the only Rathburn still living is nearly a hundred years old. Is Matt's imagination getting the better of him, or has he stumbled across a pair of ghosts?

In the dead of night, a decrepit, unmarked motor yacht drifts into the medieval port of Vernazza, Italy. The run-down vessel forms a jarring contrast to the pastel colored tower homes and terraced vineyards surrounding the natural harbor along the coast of Cinque Terre. Less than fifty yards away, a man wakes up on board a small rowboat, covered in blood. Lying next to him is a woman with two – execution style – bullet holes to her forehead. In his right hand he holds a small suitcase. Tucked into his pocket is a Russian built Makarov semiautomatic handgun – with two rounds missing.

The identity of Elizabeth Cage has always been a mystery. Even she doesn't know who, or what, she is. But she's learned to live with it. Until now, when what should have been a peaceful holiday turns into anything but, and Elizabeth is forced to recognise that she isn't what she seems. But neither is anyone else. Has her whole life been a lie? Someone very badly wants to know the truth about Elizabeth Cage. And they'll do anything to find out. But who will live to regret it?

Viola Marek is a struggling real estate agent, and a vampire. But her biggest problem currently is that the house she needs to sell is haunted. The ghost haunting the house has been murdered, and until he can solve the mystery of how he died, he refuses to move on. Fox D’Mora is a medium, and though is also most-definitely a shameless fraud, he isn’t entirely without his uses—seeing as he’s actually the godson of Death.

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter, Gertie. Now, in present day, 19-year-old Ruthie lives in Sara's farmhouse with her mother, Alice, and her younger sister, Fawn. Alice has always insisted that they live off the grid, a decision that suddenly proves perilous when Ruthie wakes up one morning to find that Alice has vanished without a trace. Searching for clues, she is startled to find a copy of Sara Harrison Shea's diary....