Humorous Horror

The fourteen stories gathered here, which have appeared in The New Yorker, GQ, Harper's, McSweeney's, and Playboy, as well as in The O. Henry Prize Stories and Best American Stories volumes, display T. C. Boyle's imaginative muscle, emotional sensitivity and astonishing range. There are the...

Bruce thinks he is helping mankind and playing his part in saving the planet when he develops his serum for speeding up the development of lab-grown cultured meat. What Bruce has actually done is send us to the bottom of the food chain. Well, not all the way to the bottom. We are still above ducks. Nobody gets eaten by a duck.

Zauberlehrling Skeeve wird von einer befreundeten Dämonin dazu eingeladen, mit ihr einen Bummel durch die Dimensionen zu machen, um ein Geburtstagsgeschenk für seinen Mentor Aahz zu... organisieren. Doch dann geht etwas schief, und Skeeve ist gezwungen, sie in Gefangenschaft zurückzulassen. Zum Glück ist Aahz ebenfalls ein Dämon, und gemeinsam trommeln sie eine höllische Truppe zusammen, um die Freundin zu befreien. Kompliziert wird es allerdings erst, als Aahz sich weigert, sein Geschenk zurückzulassen.

„Werde Hofmagier!”, fordert der Dämon Aahz. „Viel Gehalt für wenig Arbeit! Wenn man den Job erst mal hat, ist das ein Zuckerschlecken …” – und sein Lehrling Skeeve glaubt ihm. Erst als er königlicher Hofmagier ist, fällt ihm auf, dass sein dämonischer Mentor vielleicht eine Kleinigkeit übersehen haben könnte. Zum Beispiel die riesige angreifende Armee, die mehr Soldaten hat als das Königreich Einwohner – und die Skeeve nun ganz alleine aufhalten soll …

Dunkle Kräfte sind am Werk - und The Stranger Times geht ihnen auf den Grund. Die Wochenzeitung ist Großbritanniens erste Adresse für Unerklärtes und Unerklärliches. Zumindest ist das ihre Eigenwerbung... Gleich in Hannah Willis' erster Arbeitswoche bei der Zeitung tritt eine Tragödie ein, und The Stranger Times ist gezwungen, tatsächlich investigativen Journalismus zu betreiben. Hannah und ihre Kollegen kommen zu einer schockierenden Erkenntnis: Einige der Geschichten, die sie zuvor selbst als Unsinn abgetan hatten, sind furchtbar real.

When you look into the abyss...the abyss looks into you. After dumping the body of a serial killer on my former boss’s desk, I handed in my cop badge, which I’ve replaced with an FBI badge. Yep, I’m a Fed. I work for Special Affairs, a clandestine department tasked with policing the occult underground. In the meantime, my personal life is a disaster zone. There’s a Yakuza boss who wants to kill me, and my crazy Hellicorn is going through an existential crisis. But it’s the evil warlock who is making my life a living nightmare.

The only thing worse than the end of the universe is...Casual Day. Six denizens of Hell, one saint and a small blue alien join forces to stop the ultimate catastrophe: The destruction of the cosmos. That most of them are dead is of little consequence, for they possess great powers. Halos and horns, strength and sarcasm, courage and comedy, oh, and a management textbook: This team has them all. They are The League of Unusual Denizens.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849) is celebrated as a master of the gothic tale of the macabre and the supernatural, but he also wrote a number of humorous and satirical tales, seven of which are presented here.

Skeeve ist ein eher unwilliger Lehrling der Magie. Er sieht einfach zu wenige konkrete Anwendungspunkte für seine wahre Berufung als Dieb. Empört über diese mangelnde Begeisterung beschwört sein Meister einen leibhaftigen Dämon, um Skeeve von den beeindruckenden Mächten der Magie zu überzeugen. Leider tötet ihn der Armbrustbolzen eines Assassinen genau in dem Moment, in dem sich der Dämon materialisiert – und der schreckliche Aahz ist frei. Skeeve bleibt nur eine Möglichkeit: Der Dämon muss sein neuer Mentor werden!

The housing market is depressed. But not as depressed as anyone who spends a night at 668 Langford Place. The decaying mansion next door - number 666 - will soon see the return of Bog-Muggoth, an ancient, evil demon that makes the Amityville Horror seem like Casper the Friendly Ghost. But Bog-Muggoth isn’t making his haunted house call alone. Other vile gods from beyond time and space will be joining in the festivities to make the world their oyster - and leave it an empty shell.

My name is Barry, although it might as well be Loser. Satan owns my soul, and my demon boss, Margery, tortures me with her magical cigarettes every chance she gets. While I’m desperate for freedom, I’ll do anything to stop her from opening the Gates of Hell…or any other crazy thing she has planned. My odds of saving mankind are uncertain, but I have to try.

Slightly Scary Short Stories with humorous, creepy, historical, and thought-provoking tales. An entertaining Halloween book. Featuring new urban legends like "The Coquina Madman", the creepy "Sleepless", and the amusing "What’s in the Attic?".

A young Victorian woman unwittingly unleashes a monster into being in this gothic tale of medical mystery and sinister suspense, perfect for fans of DON'T LET THE FOREST IN and BELLADONNA. Death is just the beginning. When seventeen-year-old Dilly Rothbart finds her recently deceased father's...

Tophet County's Midnight Carnival has it all: a mesmerizing (literally) Phæras Wheel, the racy delights of Sphinxter's All-Archonic Peep Show, and the lip-smacking lure of "things which never should have been fried." It's the perfect prelude to the witch's romantic night with her boyfriend, Chad . . . until a creepy fortune teller makes dire predictions with an enchanted deck of Garbage Pail Kids cards, an otherworldly pyromaniac sets the moon on fire, and a shipload of pasta-faced beasties from Lovecraft's backlist lands on the Dunwich Park softball field.

The witch of Tophet County has three primary preoccupations: Kentucky bourbon, Amish romance novels . . . and protecting her true identity from the chthonic monsters who rule humanity with an iron tentacle. Despite her best efforts to get fired, the witch is trapped in a draconian, century-long contract that condemns her to work for the Archons of the Nether Realms in the banal misery of county government. But when she accidentally pleases her many-armed overlords, the Dread Lord of Human Resources curses her with an unwanted promotion. And it involves meetings.

Kevin Austin has no plans of staying in the strange mountain town of Eden when he ends up becoming the new librarian after the previous one is murdered. He soon realizes this is no ordinary library. The books actually talk and fly around the rooms, and there's a ghost haunting the premises. Not to mention a collection of dangerous magical artifacts in the basement. In the town of Eden, Kevin encounters witches, zombies, demons, talking crows, angels, even gods and goddesses. Everyone in town seems to have secrets, including the alluring Olive, who Kevin falls for in book 1.

Das epische Ende der Geschichte von Sasha Urban. Ich habe meine Familie gefunden, ich habe mein Herz gefunden, ich habe mich selbst gefunden. Aber es ist nicht vorbei. Egal, wie viele Verbündete ich habe, es ist unmöglich, dem Schicksal zu entkommen. Das Ende der Welt naht, und ich bin die Einzige, die es aufhalten kann.

Pyjamas are just pyjamas. Right? Not when they’re COSMIC PYJAMAS! Charlie and his great mate Ben have landed in a spooky House of Horror – all because of Charlie’s new pyjamas!

George and Kate enter Whittaker Magnet School via the "Leave No High-Scoring Child Behind" program. They quickly learn that all Whittaker students do is practice taking tests. Higher scores bring more students, and more tax money! And as if Whittaker isn't strange enough, there may be a demon roaming the halls. Acclaimed author Edward Bloor's Story Time is a darkly hilarious spoof on modern education.

Lex, a teenage Grim Reaper, has the power to damn souls - and it’s getting out of control. Her boyfriend, Driggs, is dead - sort of. She’s a fugitive, on the run from the maniacal new mayor of Croak and the townspeople who want to see her pay the price for her misdeeds. Uncle Mort rounds up the Junior Grims to flee Croak once again, but this time they’re joined by Grotton, the most powerful Grim of all time. Their new mission is clear: Fix his mistakes, or the Afterlife will cease to exist, along with all the souls in it.