Victorian Gothic

Three novellas to expand and enrich the world of Victorian Gothic: A Spurned Woman follows a reclusive old woman, tired of life. When she is surprised by a young mother, begging help for her stricken child, the old woman reluctantly agrees to return to the village which once wanted to burn her for witchcraft. Bedlam is set between Victorian Gothic Volumes 2 and 3.

1899. Ten long years since the shocking events that led to Constance Bentwith’s incarceration in Bedlam. The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn has split asunder, becoming a hotbed for dangerous minds. 10 years ago, Richard and Lily Kramer left the trauma of London behind them for the tranquil town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight. When an unexpected visitor from their past arrives, they are once again reluctantly drawn into the esoteric world of rituals and monsters. Only this time, the monsters are more human than they bargained for. And infinitely more dangerous.

It is December 1888. Jack the Ripper has not killed for over a month and London is beginning to relax as Christmas approaches. When Katherine Kramer cuts herself on a strange book at a dinner party, she quickly falls ill. Her husband Richard is a professor of medicine, but even his efforts are futile as the mysterious illness blazes through her. As Katherine dies, she gives birth to something nightmarish. Something which should not exist. Something which spurs Richard to embark on a terrifying journey of discovery as he chases the answer to one question: who or what killed his wife?

Grim Wolds, England: Winifred Notty arrives at Ensor House prepared to play the perfect governess—she’ll dutifully tutor her charges, Drusilla and Andrew, tell them bedtime stories, and only joke about eating children. But long, listless days spent within the estate’s dreary confines come with an intimate knowledge of the perversions and pathetic preoccupations of the Pounds family—Mr. Pounds can’t keep his eyes off Winifred’s chest, and Mrs. Pounds takes a sickly pleasure in punishing Winifred for her husband’s wandering gaze.

On his 59th birthday, Tyson Parks—a famous, but struggling, horror writer—receives an ornate antiquarian desk in the hopes it will rekindle his creative juices. Perhaps inspire him to write another best-selling book and prove his best years aren’t behind him… As Tyson begins to use the new desk, he finds himself writing copy at an unfathomable speed, becomes so focused on writing that he binges on all-night, all-day sessions that take a serious physical and psychological toll. Soon, Tyson begins acting strange. Violent.

Destitute and desperate, Catherine Weston accepts the summons from her childhood friend Madeline St. Aubyn to attend her at Cairncroft Abbey. Madeline's health is in a poor state, and she is terrified of her cousin Gabriel. But Gabriel has quite a different effect on Catherine, stirring longings and desires she believed long buried. Then a young woman is found dead, and Madeline's ravings point to a link between this horrific crime and Gabriel - and Catherine must decide if he is a man worthy of her love or a sinister stranger determined to make her his next victim.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (1835-1915), little known now, but a renowned writer in her time, gives us five tales of the "weird" as she might herself have said. Here we have five of her better known stories, peopled with jilted lovers, blood thirsty old ladies, and grand, old houses whose restless ancestors refuse to abandon them! The five tales: "The Cold Embrace", "The Shadow in the Corner", "At Chrighton Abbey", "Good Lady Ducayne", and "Eveline's Visitant".

Adelaide Hampton Parke's world is shattered after the loss of her father and a perilous sea journey. Facing a dire ultimatum from her stepmother, she finds refuge in an unexpected marriage proposal from Eldren Llewellyn, a Welsh lord. But as she steps into his remote estate, Cysgod Lys, Adelaide uncovers chilling secrets lurking within its walls. Is her new husband a savior or a harbinger of doom?

Twenty-year-old Anne Cumberfield is the new bride of Lord Wolfstone - Ignatius Wright, by his given name. As she learns more about the history of Wolfstone Manor and her mysterious husband, will she survive the challenge of being wife to him and of the perils of her isolated home on the moors? Is the beast in her bed worse than the threats that lurk on the moors?

This story of raging comedy and despair centers on the tempestuous marriage of an heiress and a Vietnam veteran. From their "carpenter Gothic" rented house, Paul sets himself up as a media consultant for Reverend Ude, an evangelist mounting a grand crusade that conveniently suits a mining combine bidding to take over an ore strike on the site of Ude's African mission. 

Richard Kramer, still nursing his injuries, is on his way to Germany with Lily Lefèvre to find his sister Anne and her children. Charlie Bentwith is struggling to overcome the trauma of recent events, and the enigmatic Dr. Westcott seems to be distracted by problems of his own. When a new threat arises from an unexpected source, the group of friends who had been bound together by Katherine's death are scattered and still reeling from their recent ordeal.

Sexy bartender Seth Marino is the epitome of the allure and sophistication for which the town of Lavender Shores is known. For 20 years, Seth has found contentment and happiness as co-owner of the Blue Blossom Bed and Breakfast. Seth’s kind heart, good looks, and humor charm both locals and tourists - except the one person who despises him. Charley Perez began building the life of his dreams a few years before Seth moved to town.

On December 19th, 1851, a crime took place in the center of London. One of the few who knows what truly happened is Countess Alina Bronskaya. But she will never speak of it. The crime is her curse and her salvation.

"For the love of God, cut off my head." The last request in Uncle Silas's will shocks everyone speechless, everyone except his favorite niece, Anna. More than death itself, the claustrophobic Silas fears a premature burial. Will her elders carry out his request? Anna is certain they will not. It's up to her to do the right thing, even if it is a bit grisly. Armed with butcher knife and candle, Anna heads for the crypt underneath the church in the dead of night. All does not go according to Anna's careful planning.

Featuring work by M. R. James, Edith Nesbit, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Atherton and many more, this enhanced audio collection of eight enduring stories - some well-known, others less familiar - transport you to a candlelit fireside to hear tales of lonely coastlines, deadly rivers, dark, creaking corridors, horrific, everlasting love and unknown entities lurking in black velvet shadows.

When Queen Victoria stepped onto the throne of Great Britain and Ireland in 1837, gone were the days when the monarch had supreme authority over the kingdom. Victoria ruled at the head of a government with which she was meant to converse, debate, and ultimately guide, and it was a job she sometimes struggled to perform. Victoria described herself as an emotional creature and blamed her gender for what she believed were her shortcomings as a monarch.

The primal image of the black-caped vampire Dracula has become an indelible fixture of the modern imagination. It's recognition factor rivals, in its own perverse way, the familiarity of Santa Claus. In this critically acclaimed excursion through the life of a cultural icon, David Skal maps out the archetypal vampire's relentless trajectory from Victorian literary oddity to movie idol to cultural commodity, digging through the populist veneer to reveal what the prince of darkness says about us all.

Mary Jekyll and the Athena Club foil a plot to unseat the Queen and race to save one of their own in this electrifying conclusion to the Locus Award winning trilogy that began with The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter. Life’s always an adventure for the Athena Club...especially when...

Betrayed by those she trusted, penniless and alone, Darcie Finch is forced to accept a position no one else dares as assistant to dangerously attractive Dr. Damien Cole. Ignoring the whispered warnings and rumors he's a man to fear, she takes her position at his eerie estate, where she quickly discovers nothing is at it seems, least of all her handsome and brooding employer. As Darcie struggles with her fierce attraction to Damien, she must also deal with the blood, the disappearances...and the murders.

Arthur Conan Doyle was the greatest genre writer Britain has ever produced. Throughout a long writing career, he drew on his own medical background, his travels, and his increasing interest in spiritualism and the occult to produce a spectacular array of Gothic tales. Many of Doyle's writings are recognized as the very greatest tales of terror. They range from hauntings in the polar wasteland to evil surgeons and malevolent jungle landscapes. This collection brings together over 30 of Conan Doyle's best Gothic tales