Occult Horror

With the stroke of a pen, twenty-three-year-old Ivy Radcliffe becomes Lady Hayworth, owner of a sprawling estate on the Yorkshire moors. Ivy has never heard of Blackwood Abbey, or of the ancient bloodline from which she’s descended. With nothing to keep her in London since losing her brother in the Great War, she warily makes her way to her new home.

A widowed writer begins to work on a biography of a novelist and artist-and soon uncovers bizarre parallels between her life and her subject's-in this chilling and singularly strange novella by a contemporary master of horror and fantasy.

A woman has vanished on the Camino de Santiago, the ancient five-hundred-mile pilgrimage that crosses northern Spain. Daniel, an Irish expat, walks the lonely trail carrying his wife, Petra’s, ashes, along with the damning secret of how she really died.

In 1861, foreign ships have forced open Japan's doors to the West. Missionaries have come to Japan; they are there to save men's souls, but to the Japanese they are there to spread false religion. The young Lord Genji, who possesses the power of prophecy, flees to the Cloud of Sparrows castle, where he shelters two American missionaries. Together with a legendary swordsman and an enigmatic geisha, they embark on a harrowing journey through a dangerous landscape to prepare for a final battle.

The employees of the Freshway grocery store aren’t too happy about having to do an overnight shift, but they’re about to be even unhappier. Their rival store, Devil’s Food, is about to lay siege upon them with extreme prejudice. This is no ordinary grocery chain. Devil’s Food is run by a cult of murderous Satanists committed to killing the competition - literally.

Millions died when the Enillo Virus swept the earth. Millions more were lost when the victims of the plague refused to stay dead, instead rising to slaughter and feed on those left alive. For survivors like John Talon and his son Jake, they are faced with a choice: Do they submit to the dead, raising the white flag of surrender? Or do they find the will to fight, to try and hang on to the last shreds of humanity?

Travel writer Lea Sutter finds herself on a small island off the coast of South Carolina, the wrong place at the wrong time. A merciless, unanticipated hurricane cuts a path of destruction and Lea barely escapes with her life. In the storm’s aftermath, she discovers orphaned twin boys and impulsively decides to adopt them. The boys, Samuel and Daniel, seem amiable and immensely grateful; Lea’s family back on Long Island - husband Mark and their two children, Ira and Elena - aren’t quite so pleased.

A serial killer stalks the ice-glazed streets. Half-frozen deadheads choke the avenues. Infected vermin rise from the labyrinth of sewer systems, hungry for warm flesh. And a handful of survivors struggle to escape and find safety in a world overrun with zombies. In his hunt for the monster known as Tenner, Scott must contend with all of this and more—before things get even worse. Welcome to Hellifax.

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.

LONDON, 1891. Elizabeth Whittle and William Grant enjoy scalping London’s bourgeoisie, taking on the personas of grand spiritist Cerulia Trent and her agent to connect the living and the dead. When a detective arrives, sniffing out fraud with a scientifically minded spiritualist society, the duo decides to take one last job before escaping to the continent. However, their final séance ends horrifically … and soon Lizzie isn’t Lizzie anymore.

This stunning anthology of classic colonial suspense fiction plunges deep into the native soil from which American horror literature first sprang. While European writers of the Gothic and bizarre evoked ruined castles and crumbling abbeys, their American counterparts looked back to the colonial era’s stifling religion, and its dark and threatening woods.

Cora Glass’ humdrum existence as a bank teller flips upside down when a long-abandoned circus mysteriously returns to life. But the entry fee to this big-top show is far more than Cora bargained for. As Harrow Faire shines a spotlight on Cora, she discovers there are far more secrets in that three-ring nightmare than she could possibly imagine. Trapped in the world of the fiendish and alluring man known as the Puppeteer, Cora finds herself caught in a war between him and the reclusive Mr. Harrow. Both parties will stop at nothing - even murder - to get what they want.

When an elite group of Texas Marines—Echo Squadron—is sent into the remote mountains of Kazmira to investigate strange energy readings, they expect a mission of strategy and survival. But what they uncover is far beyond anything human warfare has prepared them for. Ancient beings stir beneath the earth. Giants rise in the shadows. Portals rip open reality. And whispers from Eden echo across the battlefield. Among them is Sergeant Samuel Carter—a soldier, a father of seven, and a man whose unshakable faith is about to be tested by a force older than time.

People don’t understand why I do what I do. I’ve always been misunderstood. I have accepted this but maybe I’ve gone too far. I just can’t help myself. I like the soft texture, the squishing of them in my mouth. The way they pop between my teeth. And I can’t get enough.

My family has always found me lacking. From the way I dress, how I look, to the type of magic I have. My family name is full of pomp and prestige, and I want nothing to do with it. I’m a witch that knows how to set a goal and I have one in mind. I want a real family. It seems too good to be true that I can give the list of traits I want in a partner and have my deepest desire answered, but I’m out of options. From the very first moment I meet Elliot Bramblewick, I have hope. But he’s tricky. I’m not expecting him to be hiding two other mates.

About 15 miles west of Stauford, Kentucky, lies Devil's Creek. According to local legend, there used to be a church out there, home to the Lord's Church of Holy Voices - a death cult where Jacob Masters preached the gospel of a nameless god. And like most legends, there's truth buried among the roots and bones.

Sunglasses After Dark by award-winning author Nancy A. Collins, tells the story of a punk female vampire/vampire hunter searching for the creature responsible for attacking her as she attempts to rescue an innocent man from an unholy faith healer. While on vacation in Swinging London in 1969, American heiress Denise Thorne disappears, never to be seen again. That very same night Sonja Blue, a tough-as-nails punk vampire/vampire-slayer—conceived in terror and born of blood—rises from the gutters of SoHo, determined to fight for what remains of her humanity.

As the daughter of Dracula, you would think I’d be born the perfect monster. You couldn’t be more wrong. As far as monsters go, I’m a screw up—if I’m not tripping over my own feet, I’m accidentally murdering someone (it’s a real issue, guys). Left with no choice, Dad decides to send me to Prodigium—otherwise known as Monster Academy—to train me on how to be a better monster. When bodies turn up on campus, I’m the prime suspect (not that I can blame them).

Yig, known as the Serpent God, is older than humanity, and Yig’s reptilian children once ruled the Earth. Now they are stirring in their caves, walking the Earth in forms not quite human, slowly and patiently preparing their plans. Those who stumble on their secrets are in deadly danger...but only they can prevent the return of our darkest fears.

This is volume two of a two-volume omnibus set comprising the complete fictional works of Howard Phillips Lovcecraft. Every story written for publication under his own name is included in this set, from 1927 through 1935. (Poems, ghostwritten material, and stories written in collaboration with other writers are not included.)