Occult Horror Fiction

We each inhabit many worlds, often at the same time. From worlds on the inside to the world on a cosmic scale. Worlds imposed on us, and worlds of our own making. In time, though, all worlds will end. With Skidding Into Oblivion, his fifth collection, award-winning author Brian Hodge brings together his most concentrated assortment yet. It includes all of the best picks and awards finalists. All stories have one thing in common: It’s the end of the world as we know it, and we don’t feel fine at all.

When an acclaimed novelist purchases the summer estate of her youth on Orcas Island, Washington, she voices three intentions: to provide a respite for her hardworking husband; to preserve the innocence of their precocious thirteen-year-old son; and to renovate a cliffside cabin into the writing retreat of her dreams. But there’s also an unfulfilled promise that has haunted Meredith Lila Gaines since the day she fled the property and the life she knew.

Repairman Jack doesn’t believe a house can be haunted. But he’s about to change that tune… In the borough of Queens, just across the river from Manhattan, two clever practitioners of spiritualist hocus-pocus use high-tech tricks to dupe their marks. Perhaps they’re too good: they’ve lured too many clients from other mediums and are now under attack. Unable to go to the police for fear of exposing their own scams, they hire Repairman Jack to fix their problem.

Just when I thought it was safe to step onto my porch, the power of the Oracle has sent another person in need to my stairs. He thinks he's searching for his missing husband, but the moment I smell him, I know he's dragging along a curse from a necromancer with a stench strong enough to curl the leg hairs I haven't had time to shave. Which reminds me—I should probably do some grooming before my date. Did I mention I have an arraignment in court? For murder? It's all I can do to put this legal nonsense to bed before the rotten bouquet of necromancy wafts into my world yet again.

After a recent string of disappearances in a small Connecticut town, a grieving widower with a grim secret is drawn into a dangerous ritual of dark magic by a powerful and mysterious older gentleman named Heart Crowley. Meanwhile, a member of local law enforcement tasked with uncovering the culprit responsible for the bizarre disappearances soon begins to learn of a current of unbridled hatred simmering beneath the guise of the town’s idyllic community.

With the death of Ruprekt Matkosen, his daughter, Ashielle, is now the Lord Governor of Ceocan. Her father’s murderers still lurk in the shadows, threatening not only her rule but every mortal soul under her protection. Even her own people cannot be trusted - any one of them may be part of the poisonous plot to destroy her bloodline. Deep beneath the palace, locked away from all human contact, Ashielle finds a weapon unlike any other: a monster, more adept at hunting in the darkness than any assassin.

We’re all afraid of things that go bump in the night. Shadows in the graveyard, wind moaning through the trees, a creaking door in a sinister old house. There are things hiding in the darkness. And sometimes, what you can’t see can definitely hurt you.... Scare Street is proud to present Night Terrors: Volumes one to three in a single collection. A menagerie of macabre nightmares, featuring 39 tales of supernatural horror for your listening pleasure.

Three years after the Monster Massacre, members of Rebecca’s old wolf pack have begun to go missing without a trace. The world has undergone many changes in the years since monsters came out of the shadows. An anti-monster group known as the Black Hand has started to organize across the United States. In response, pro-monster organizations have been growing in numbers and militancy. Targeted killings of suspected monsters and their allies, monsters spirited away in the dead of night, and the beginnings of pro-monster legislation are all signs of a cosmic shift on the horizon.

Sometimes, what’s needed most is hiding in plain sight. It’s been almost a year since Sheriff Jayne O’Shea arrived in Whispering Pines. Deciding to stay was the best decision she ever made, but the closer the anniversary gets, the gloomier she feels. It doesn’t help that she and Tripp have been arguing. Neither does the dense fog blanketing the village. Or the group of cranky wedding planners staying at the B&B.

Things are heating up in Whispering Pines, and it’s not just the weather. Sheriff Jayne O’Shea is on edge. Hopeful applicants have taken over the commons area, all of them begging to become residents. Villagers who left long ago have returned, causing an uproar among the locals. The slow burn feud between the sister witches has reached the boiling point. And her parents are acting just plain weird. Fortunately, it’s time for the annual Beltane celebration, the last opportunity for everyone to gather before tourists invade the village for the summer.

"Who am I? Why, I'm you. Or parts of you. The best parts. I'm the touch of Richard Speck, Ed Gein, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, and Bin Laden in all of you. I am the thousand tiny angers and fleeting rages of your day - at the car that cuts you off on the freeway, at the kid who sneaks ahead of you in line at the movies, at the old fart with the full basket in the eight-items-only express checkout at the supermarket. I'm the nasty glee in the name-callers and the long-suffering pain, the self-loathing, the smoldering resentment, the suppressed rage, and the never-to-be-fulfilled promises of revenge in their targets.

Meg's always thought that love and ghosts are fantasies for gullible people, but her skepticism is about to be tested. As her roommates Sol and Alexei move on with their lives, Meg remains stuck in her rut, unsure what to do about her future or about her best friend Athos. He wants more than friendship from her, but she isn't sure whether she's straight or gay, let alone in love with him. Not helping are the strange trances that show her the lives of two other young girls - one who wants to be a voodoo priestess, and the other who wants to escape a Christian cult.

Life is hard. Change is difficult. But adjusting to being a ghost? Well, that is just darn near impossible. And Bridget Sway is struggling. It's not just the job, the uniform, the housemates, the rules, the community service. It's everything. And now she's facing a week-long group assessment to evaluate her adjustment.As if that isn't bad enough, some inconsiderate soul has shoved another dead ghost in her locker. Things are looking bleak for Bridget. If she fails the assessment, she'll be "re-educated."

Harmony Black is much more than your average FBI special agent. In addition to being a practicing witch, she's also an operative for Vigilant Lock, an off-the-books program created to battle occult threats - by any means necessary. Despite her dedication to fighting the monsters threatening society, Harmony has become deeply conflicted about her job. Her last investigation resulted in a pile of dead bodies, and she suspects the wrong people are being punished for it.

After Cora Glass’s life was stolen by Harrow Faire, things just keep going from bad to worse. Unable to run, unable to escape, there seems to be no way to avoid what she’s become - the Contortionist. But a girl can only take so much. Haunted by an abandoned and seemingly sentient circus? Fine. The life of her best friend threatened unless she sacrificed herself? Fine. Tormented and stalked by a grinning madman who wanted to kill her, and now wants to do worse? That’s where Cora has to draw the line.

Doctor Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme, has defeated demonic hordes, battled evil wizards, and tirelessly defended our realm against invading interdimensional armies. But when a dangerous dream begins inspiring normal people to act out their darkest ambitions, even Doctor Strange is pushed to his very limits.

Gray Brooks knows all about death. A former Marine, he survived the horrors of war, only to waste his life in a series of drunken nights and misdemeanors. But all that changed the day he was shot in a robbery gone wrong. After being pronounced clinically dead, Gray returns to life in the hospital. And something inside him has changed. Still tethered to the afterlife, Gray now sees the supernatural beings that stalk humanity. Demons, ghosts, and other creatures that defy logical explanation. And for once in his life, Gray is compelled to do the right thing.

The police are convinced that Julia Ransom was guilty of the brutal murder of her husband, renowned psychic August Ransom. But after six months of investigation and media frenzy, she is free of their scrutiny, because of the lack of evidence. One afternoon she walks from her Pacific Heights home to Fisherman's Wharf, alone, unwatched - and, she realizes, happy. But not for long.

During the rule of her murderous Dark Fae uncle, Thistle "Tricks" Periwinkle found sanctuary among the Wyr in New York. Her ethereal beauty and sparkling personality won the hearts of the public, but after her uncle's death, there are those who don't want to see her ascend to the throne. Able to wield thunder and lightning, Wyr sentinel Tiago Black Eagle has ruled the skies for centuries. He's sent to protect Tricks when she's almost assassinated in Chicago....

When our universe falls in the gods' crosshairs, only one woman can stand against them.... Kat Dubois. Immortal. Ex-assassin. Humanity's last hope. Kat has finally embraced her role as the Nejeret figurehead, diving headlong into the mission to forge an alliance between her people and the human race. Only then will they finally be able to defeat the Senate. Progress is painfully slow, and not remotely steady...until a terrorist attack provides Kat with a lead that just might turn the tide of the war.