Occult Horror

Benton Bertrand is a banshee, cursed with the ability to sense death. Every time he sleeps, he becomes a trapped passenger within a murderer’s skin: able to hear, see, and feel every part of their kill. No matter how hard he tries, it always ends the same way - with death.

Thrust into Nightmare Penitentiary, I meet a group of hard, alpha, psychotic inmates who believe I’m the answer to all their prayers. Me? I’m just trying to survive and figure out what it means to live. My new home isn’t just a prison, but a labyrinth with horrors around every corner.

The dead speak, and one man hears their harrowing cries.... Dan Tate survived a heartbreaking tragedy and is plagued by nightmares of his terrifying ordeal. Withdrawing into an emotionless shell, he has driven away everyone who cared about him. Dan is lost, and utterly alone. Until he hears the voices.... In Coffin Cemetery, the anguished spirits cry out, seeking a way to move on. But Dan isn’t the only one who speaks with the dead. Janet Ladd, a greedy and corrupt medium, also hears their call. She intends to use these tormented souls to fulfill her own petty desires.

Make Pretend is the first book in a series collecting all of Armand Rosamilia's short fiction. Twenty-one tales ranging from horror to crime thriller to science fiction, contemporary fiction to fantasy and more. From stories a few days ago to one 40 years old.

When occult enthusiast Sir Giles Tumulty comes into possession of a stone known as the Crown of Solomon, he is amazed at its startling powers. It can replicate itself infinitely, and can transport its holder to any place or time. Sir Giles and his nephew Reginald, an opportunistic businessman, conspire to exploit their new treasure. Seeking to enlist honest Lord Arglay in their plans, Arglay quickly realizes what is at stake. Unlimited power should not fall into the wrong hands...and it already had....

Money's tight and their new home is a fixer-upper. Deep in rural southwest England, with an ancient wood at the foot of the garden, Tom and his family are miles from anywhere and anyone familiar. Tom's wife, Fiona, was never convinced that buying the money-pit at auction was a good idea, not least because the previous owner committed suicide - though no one can explain why.

When Cassie's twin sister, Lissa, commits suicide, Cassie discovers she can travel to Hell to retrieve her sister's soul. Cassie thought she knew all about the Hell of legend, but finds Hell has evolved over the millennia into a bustling city full of the damned with looming skyscrapers, crowded streets, systemized evil, and atrocity as the status quo.

If you've never read a Repairman Jack novel, this is the place to begin. It's 1990. A twenty-one-year-old named Jack has dropped out of college, leaving his old life behind to build a new one in New York City. Manhattan's rough edges are jagged enough to shred any unwary newcomer, but perhaps not one who is determined to stay off the grid, at any cost, in the busiest metropolis on earth. And to do so, he'll have to take jobs of a less than legal nature.

Demonic possession. Exorcism. Haunted Houses. Satanic Rituals. For most people this is the stuff of nightmares, horror movies, folklore, and superstition. For New York City police Sergeant Ralph Sarchie, it's as real—and dangerous—as midnight patrol . . . A sixteen-year NYPD veteran, Ralph...

Recently named the world's chief clairvoyant, Cassandra Palmer still has a thorn in her side. As long as Cassie and a certain master vampire---the sizzling-hot Mircea---are magically bound to each other, her life will never be her own. The spell that binds them can only be broken with an incantation found in the Codex Merlini, an ancient grimoire. The Codex's location has been lost in the present day, so Cassie will have to seek it out in the only place it can still be found---the past.

Tom Wallace lived an ordinary life, until a chance event awakened psychic abilities he never knew he possessed. Now, he's hearing the private thoughts of the people around him - and learning shocking secrets he never wanted to know. But as Tom's existence becomes a waking nightmare, even greater jolts are in store, as he becomes the unwilling recipient of a compelling message from beyond the grave.

It’s the mid-'90s. Grunge and flannel are fading as the Spice Girls and Hot Topic conquer the malls. Cherry gloss glistens on the lips of the youth. Modems hiss as America comes online. And in a fog-drenched cove at the edge of New England, something terrible awakens when a fisherman reels in a gruesome catch: the remains of a young woman. Remains still pulsing with furious life.

Connie’s life is a mystery, her background unknown, her future uncertain. Driven by desperation, she uses her powers to investigate crimes. If she can’t unravel her own past, she’ll seek justice for others. A chance encounter, a brace of poisoned partridges, and Connie is knee deep in trouble again. Her story is slowly unraveling, the truth almost within reach. If only she could remember.

Dr. John Gladstone, a scientist in Victorian London, is thrust into the world of the vampire after his carriage runs over a young man of angelic beauty named Niccolo. When Niccolo kidnaps Gladstone's child and vanishes, the doctor must go in pursuit, with the help of his daughter, Ursula, who is enticed by the lure of eternal life, and Lady Hespeth, whose demure exterior hides a dangerous obsession. Why are the vampires taking children, and what is the connection to Gladstone's experiments with a deadly virus?

Avery and the White Haven witches have finally found their grimoires and defeated the Favershams, but their troubles are only just beginning. Something escaped from the spirit world when they battled beneath All Souls Church, and now it wants to stay, unleashing violence across Cornwall. On top of that, the magic they released when they broke the binding spell is attracting powerful creatures from the deep, creatures that need men to survive. And then there’s the Witches Council. Thirteen covens spread across Cornwall, and not all of them welcome the White Haven witches.

"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.

College. A time of transition from youth to young adulthood. New lessons, new responsibilities, new distractions. A period of life treasured by most. Unless you happen to attend an institute of higher learning where the bullies are werewolves, the teachers are sadists, and the pretty girls are all deadly. A school like that demands a special kind of student, someone with the skills and power to survive. Someone like Declan O'Carroll.

Ruby Wilcox, owner of the Crystal Cave, Pecan Springs’ only New Age shop, has always tried to downplay her psychic gift - until she experiences a horrifying nightmare that just won’t stop. Again and again, she dreams that a woman is abducted on the hike-and-bike trail and knows that the victim is in deadly danger. Prodded by her friend and partner, China Bayles, Ruby goes to the police - only to find that her dream has already become far too real.

Over 100 years ago, a group of witches made their way from New England to Whitewater, Wisconsin, known as Second Salem. Others also made their way to the city and, through their ignorance, unleashed an evil entity. Three sisters, the Willoughby Witches, created an incantation strong enough to ensnare the demon. Lord Henry McDermott, college professor, anthropologist, and archaeologist, has yearned to learn more about the legend of the Willoughby Witches. Taking the summer off to research the folklore, Henry discovers that there is more waiting for him in Whitewater than just a story.

Ishmael Jones and his partner Penny are attending the re-opening of Tyrone’s Castle, an ancient Cornish inn originally built by smugglers. Over dinner that night, the guests entertain one another with ghost stories inspired by local legends and superstitions. But it would appear that the curse of Tyrone’s Castle has struck for real when one of their number disappears into thin air. And then another....