Short Horror

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real...tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows.

Not all monsters are fantasy. Some are very real, and they walk among us. They're our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. They're the people we're supposed to trust...and they know it. Contained within this anthology are 35 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors and best-selling novelists. Brace yourself for the unexpected and unimaginable horror of...human monsters.

A wealthy man attempts to escape a global plague by hiding in an underground city. Jolly old Saint Nick delivers an unexpected and terrifying present. A loner endures a curse that causes his eyes to bleed. A jealous actor plans for fiery revenge on stage. A woman investigates the urban legend of the murderous “Johnny Blackjack.”

If you like scary stories, you've come to the right place. Over 80 tales of terror told in a true story style that will curdle your blood and send shivers down your spine!

Between 1923 and 1954, Weird Tales magazine shaped the landscape of modern horror, fantasy, and science fiction. It was the crucible of cosmic terror, sword-and-sorcery, and supernatural fiction, a publication that launched the careers of some of the twentieth century’s most enduring genre writers. Weird Tales presents a carefully curated selection of standout stories from the magazine’s golden age. This anthology brings together a wide spectrum of speculative fiction, ranging from mythic fantasy and Gothic mystery to tales of metaphysical horror and existential dread.

Vitus Adamson is falling apart. As a pre-deceased private investigator, he takes the prescription Atroxipine hourly to keep his undead body upright and functioning. Whenever he is injured, he seeks Niko, a bombshell mortician with bedroom eyes and a way with corpses, to piece him back together. Decomposition, however, is the least of his worries when two clients posing his most dangerous job yet appear at his door looking for their lost son.

29 Brand-New Sci-Fi Horror Stories. The future is now, and it's not what we were promised. The optimistic science fiction of old was wrong. Progress is not linear, technology creates as many problems as it solves, and the concept of a better tomorrow has become an abstraction that is in no way guaranteed. When looking at the future now, we no longer ask what is possible, we wonder how we'll cope. Contained within this anthology are 29 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors.

The terror continues in Spine Chillers Volumes 16-20, where each tale leads you further into the dark. Here, haunted houses echo with restless footsteps, unseen eyes track your every move, and ancient curses stir awake after centuries of silence. This book holds nightmares that twist the ordinary into the unthinkable. A quiet street becomes a hunting ground. An empty room conceals something breathing just out of sight. And once the horrors reveal themselves, escape is no longer possible.

Prepare for another spine-chilling ride through more stories from the Reddit r/Nosleep forum. From twisted time travel to a terrifying carnival ride, this collection will keep you wanting to listen with the lights on.

Winner of the 2025 Audie Award for Short Stories/Collections Includes an afterword written by Stephen King and read by Sean Patrick Hopkins Includes a bonus story, “The Music Room” NAMED A NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW TOP 10 HORROR BOOK OF 2024 WINNER OF THE GOODREADS CHOICE AWARD FOR HORROR...

Moonlit graveyards, ravenous monsters, and deadly reflections in the mirror...some nightmares are so diabolically delicious, you never want them to end. And now they don’t have to. Scare Street brings you volumes one and two of Short Horror Stories in a single edition. Six macabre morsels of fear, brought together for your listening pleasure. And each tale packs enough spine-tingling chills to last a lifetime. The clock chimes midnight. Your heart pounds in your chest as you start to listen. You begin to wonder...can you survive long enough to see the next nightmare begin?

In this sweeping, threaded narrative of the global phenomenon known as the Vampire Wars, mankind is unwittingly infected by a millennia-old bacteria unknowingly exhumed by a scientific expedition in Antarctica. Now, in some rare cases, a person’s so-called junk DNA becomes activated. Depending on their racial and ethnic heritage, they begin to manifest one of the many diverse forms of the "others" that are the true basis for the legends of supernatural creatures. These aren’t your usual vampires and werewolves - it goes much deeper than that.

From the mind of the man Stephen King calls "a master of the macabre", comes a brilliant new collection of no-punches-pulled horror stories, some never-before-collected and many originals that have never been published anywhere before. Bentley Little can take the innocuous, twist it around, and write a story that will change your way of thinking. Walking Alone: Short Stories is a shining example of his talent to scare you, creep you out, and make you shudder.

Whether weaving family life and history into dark fiction or writing speculative Afrofuturism, American Book Award winner and Essence best-selling author Tananarive Due’s work is both riveting and enlightening. In her debut collection of short fiction, Due takes us to Gracetown, a small Florida town that has both literal and figurative ghost; into future scenarios that seem all too real; and provides empathetic portraits of those whose lives are touched by otherness. Featuring an award-winning novella and 15 stories, Ghost Summer: Stories is sure to haunt and delight.

A collection of classic works by Edgar Allan Poe, American author, poet, editor, and literary critic. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

31 Brand-New Dark Fantasy Horror Stories. Bloody corridors of ancient rock. A castle surrounded by poisonous thorns. A lost temple of traps and corpses. A subaqueous cave at the bottom of a cursed lake. These are the places where secrets are buried, where ancient evils are summoned, where beasts are imprisoned, where the insane lie in wait. These are tombs of darkness and nightmare, where if you stare into the abyss, the abyss will stare back. Heed the warnings of your elders and return from whence you came. Ahead lie monster lairs.

As a child, Henry Cadmus lived on Catalina Island, a scenic vacationland off the Southern California coast. But Henry's experiences were far from idyllic. Today, even though Henry has seen firsthand the horrors of war, the ghastly images that haunt his dreams are ones he associates with his childhood... and the island: a snarling pig-man holding a cleaver; a jackal-headed woman on a high balcony, dripping blood; strange occult rituals... and worse. If it was up to Henry, he would avoid the island entirely.

The shadows have returned in Spine Chillers Volumes 6-10. In this book, strangers linger where they don’t belong, hungry secrets stir in family homes, and forgotten places hide experiments that should never see the light of day. From phantom visitors to monstrous hungers, from cursed bargains to the footsteps that follow when you’re alone, each story drags you deeper into the dark. No matter where you turn—quiet barrooms, lonely islands, or the streets outside your door—the chill of fear waits to greet you.

Five haunting tales from Benedict Ashforth, the best-selling author of Abbot's Keep.

24 Terrifying Tales told in a true story style that will curdle your blood and send shivers down your spine!