Horror, ghost stories and supernatural fiction

Book Synopsis"An outstanding story in outstanding hands." - Josh Malerman A biting novel from an electrifying new voice, Such a Pretty Smile is a heart-stopping tour-de-force about powerful women, angry men, and all the ways in which girls fight against the forces that try to silence them. There's something out there that's killing. Known only as The Cur, he leaves no traces, save for the torn bodies of girls, on the verge of becoming women, who are known as trouble-makers; those who refuse to conform, to know their place. Girls who don't know when to shut up. 2019: Thirteen-year-old Lila Sawyer has secrets she can't share with anyone. Not the school psychologist she's seeing. Not her father, who has a new wife, and a new baby. And not her mother the infamous Caroline Sawyer, a unique artist whose eerie sculptures, made from bent twigs and crimped leaves, have made her a local celebrity. But soon Lila feels haunted from within, terrorized by a delicious evil that shows her how to find her voice until she is punished for using it. 2004: Caroline Sawyer hears dogs everywhere. Snarling, barking, teeth snapping that no one else seems to notice. At first, she blames the phantom sounds on her insomnia and her acute stress in caring for her ailing father. But then the delusions begin to take shape both in her waking hours, and in the violent, visceral sculptures she creates while in a trance-like state. Her fiance is convinced she needs help. Her new psychiatrist waives her "problem" away with pills. But Caroline's past is a dark cellar, filled with repressed memories and a lurking horror that the men around her can't understand. As past demons become a present threat, both Caroline and Lila must chase the source of this unrelenting, oppressive power to its malignant core. Brilliantly paced, unsettling to the bone, and unapologetically fierce, Such a Pretty Smile is a powerful allegory for what it can mean to be a woman, and an untamed rallying cry for anyone ever told to sit down, shut up, and smile pretty.

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Book SynopsisFrom the acclaimed author of The Boatman's Daughter, a gripping, achingly atmospheric tale about the horrors that lurk in the dark corners of family history. And a young woman striving to break free of that tragic past. Nellie Gardner is looking for a way out of an abusive marriage when she learns that her long-lost grandfather, August Redfern, has willed her his turpentine estate. She throws everything she can think of in a bag and flees to Georgia with her eleven-year-old son, Max, in tow. It turns out that the "estate" is a decrepit farmhouse on a thousand acres of old pine forest, but Nellie is thrilled about the chance for a fresh start for her and Max, and a chance for the happy home she never had. So it takes her a while to notice the strange scratching in the walls, the faint whispering at night, how the forest is eerily quiet. But Max sees what his mother can't: They're no safer here than they had been in South Carolina. In fact, things might even be worse. There's something wrong with Redfern Hill. Something lurks beneath the soil, ancient and hungry, with the power to corrupt hearts and destroy souls. It is the true legacy of Redfern Hill: a kingdom of grief and death, to which Nellie's own blood has granted her the key. From the author of The Boatman's Daughter, The Hollow Kind is a jaw-dropping novel about legacy and the horrors that hide in the dark corners of family history. Andy Davidson's gorgeous, Gothic fable tracing the spectacular fall of the Redfern family will haunt you long after you turn the final page.

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Book SynopsisA dark spirit haunts an isolated Norfolk retreat in this unsettling and sinister historical horror set in the early 1900s, perfect for readers of Michelle Paver, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Andrew Michael Hurley. Norfolk, 1917. Unable to join the army due to a heart condition, Freddie lives and works with his father in the grounds of the Edenwell Hydropathic, a wellness retreat in the Norfolk broads. Preferring the company of birds - who talk to him as one of their own - over the eccentric characters who live in the spa, bathing in its healing waters, Freddie overhears their premonitions of murder. Eustace Moncrieff is a troublemaker, desperate to go to war and leave behind his wealthy family. Shipped to Edenwell by his mother to keep him safe from the horrors of the trenches, he strikes up a friendship with Freddie at the behest of Doctor Chalice, the American owner of the Hydropathic. As the two friends grow closer and grapple with their demons, they discover a body, and something terrifying stalking the woods. The dark halls of the spa are breached, haunted by the woodland beast, and the boys soon realise that they may be the only things standing between this monster and the whole of Edenwell.

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Book SynopsisWhen a summer storm sweeps through a sleepy town unleashing a monstrous and otherworldy power that threatens to break reality, Olivia will stop at nothing to find her best friend and get them to safety. Mona Award's Bunny meets Stranger Things in this mind-bending and terrifying examination of female friendship and the lengths we'll go to protect the ones we love, from the Bram Stoker award winning author of Queen of Teeth. Three years after running away from home, Olivia is stuck with a dead-end job in nowhere town Chapel Hill, Pennsylvania. At least she has her best friend, Sunflower. Olivia figures she'll die in Chapel Hill, if not from boredom, then the summer night storm which crashes into town with a mind-bending monster in tow. If Olivia's going to escape Chapel Hill and someday reconcile with her parents, she'll need to dodge residents enslaved by the storm's otherworldly powers and find Sunflower. But as the night strains friendships and reality itself, Olivia suspects the storm, and its monster, may have its eyes on Sunflower and everything she loves. Including Olivia.Trade ReviewLIBRARY JOURNAL BEST HORROR NOVELS 2023PASTE MAGAZINE BEST HORROR BOOKS 2023THE LINE-UP 2023 HORROR BOOK HIGHLIGHTSThrillingly original. Piper deftly stitches threads of vulnerability, existential anxiety, and complex friendship power dynamics into a feverish, nail-biting, writhing-in-your-seat nightmare. A juicy horror tale you'll want to sink your teeth into, before it sinks its teeth into you.—Rachel Harrison, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The ReturnHailey Piper's prose crackles sharply and thrums with the mesmerizing pulse of a passing summer storm. A vivid, imaginative, and chillingly tense novel, A Light Most Hateful cements Piper as one of the most spectacularly fierce talents working in horror fiction today. — Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last SpokeA Light Most Hateful is filled with mesmerizing language that breathes cosmic chaos, abandonment, loneliness, and desperation. Piper explores the fear of betrayal by those closest to us and of the meaning of friendship and loyalty in the face of disparity. This is a book where the landscapes are upturned and roaming, where memories come to life as nightmares, and beckons us with the question, what if you can control the act of creation and uncreation? Piper has fabricated a darkly glorious woven reality where everything might exist and unexist simultaneously. — Ai Jiang, Nebula and Locus awatrd finalist, and author of LinghunEvery moment is earned, every monster deserving of its time in the spotlight. In short, it’s a perfect primer for the beautifully dark world of Hailey Piper’s fiction, as well as a must-read for longtime fans.—Paste MagazineIf Neil Gaiman, Mary Shelley, and Shirley Jackson could collaborate, this stunning novel would be the result.—Library Journal, Best Horror of the Year 2023The story twists reader expectations into knots, flipping genre conventions and connecting unlikely elements to make something truly singular. The result is an ambitious, genre-shredding novel that takes big swings and, improbably, lands every one... Piper’s prose crackles with energy and wit as it ties the novel’s wilder excesses together into a story at once comfortingly familiar in its themes and cosmically alien in its execution. — Publishers Weekly, starred reviewA stunning novel that purposefully plays with genre conventions and centers love, even as it actively terrifies readers to their core, much like recent novels from Victor LaValle, Rachel Eve Moulton, and Chuck Tingle. — Library Journal starred reviewIt is completely wild, a little ridiculous in a fun way [...] and plenty gross, too. Buckle up and enjoy the ride! — BookriotShades of Barker, Gaiman and King dance through A Light Most Hateful, but the horror is pure Hailey Piper. A devastating storm of unnatural origin? Check. A contagion of zombies infected with their own memories? Check. Nightmares begetting nightmares in a fractal convocation? Check. A friendship between two girls as opposite as they are alike, tested by fear and desire and destiny? Double and triple check! Piper envelops the reader in a tempest of terror from the first page to the last. It's as close to a thrill ride as you can get between two covers. Don't miss it! — David Demchuk, award-winning author of The Bone Mother and RED XPiper has spawned a slick mess of family dynamics. — Polly Hall, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The Taxidermist’s LoverPiper's prose will leave you breathless in this stormy, jagged little pill of a novel about love and hate and acceptance in a world gone mad. A furiously compelling and propulsive read. — Gemma Amor, Bram Stoker award-nominated author of Dear LauraWhat has sprouted out from Hailey Piper's head is a fully-formed goddess of a novel, equal parts terrifying, awe-inspiring, and downright worshipful. I'm still scorched by A Light Most Hateful, even after closing its pages, blinded by its brilliance. — Clay McLeod Chapman, author of Ghost EatersA LIGHT MOST HATEFUL begins with a scream, and that's appropriate given you'll be screaming your way through this swirling, phantasmagoric, unpredictable nightmare. Escaping the suburbs has never been so harrowing. — Nat Cassidy, author of Mary: An Awakening of Terror and NestlingsHailey Piper has whipped up a roiling tale of horror unlike anything I’ve ever read. Like a bolt of lightning, this story will leave an imprint behind your eyelids, to be revisited and relived every time you close your eyes, long after you’ve turned the final page. — Scott Leeds, author of Schrader's ChordWith A Light Most Hateful, we should all be hailing the new Queen of Cosmic Horror; Piper firmly cements her reputation of being one of the most electrifying and commanding voices in horror. — Ginger Nuts of HorrorFor previous works:Eerie and visceral, Piper combines the supernatural with the deeply human in a novella that explores the many faces of horror, at once haunting and familiar, yet utterly new.—A.C. Wise, Nebula Award-nominated author of Wendy, DarlingHailey Piper boards a starship where the most terrifying part of the voyage isn’t the cargo hold full of corpses, the tentacled creatures that stalk the pod bays, or their mysterious, otherworldly master, but the depths of the human psyche. An intriguing blend of b-movie scifi and incisive, soul-baring reflection.—Adam Cesare, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Clown in a CornfieldWith surgical precision, Hailey Piper’s stories slice through the skin, fat, and muscle of her characters’ lives, all the way down to the living bone and what is written on it. In terms of their prose. their wit, their insight, their compassion, their terror, these are the sharpest of stories. Read them, but be prepared for the cuts.—John Langan, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of The FishermanEvery story has this incredible balance of being dark and scary but also wildly charming! It’s magic…—Rachel Harrison, Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of The ReturnA powerful, beautiful horror story.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Readers ... will be in horror heaven with this mesmerizing, original, and breathtaking debut.—Library Journal (starred review)Hailey Piper is at the top of her game, literally machete-chopping through new territory—Cemetery DanceOne of the best horror books of 2021.—Rue MorgueA voice to be reckoned with.—Tor NightfireA veritable banquet—Cemetery Gates MediaBold, thoughtful, and beautifully written.—The Future Fire

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Book SynopsisA brand-new collection of four intense, claustrophobic and terrifying horror tales from the Bram Stoker Award®-nominated and Splatterpunk Award-winning author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke.Four devastating tales from a master of modern horror...This Skin Was Once MineWhen her father dies under mysterious circumstances, Jillian Finch finds herself grieving the man she idolized while struggling to feel comfortable in the childhood home she was sent away from nearly twenty years ago by her venomous mother. Then Jillian discovers a dark secret in her family''s past--a secret that will threaten to undo everything she has ever known to be true about her beloved father and, more importantly, herself. It''s only natural to hurt the things we love the most...Seedling A young man’s father calls him early in the morning to say that his mother has passed away. He arrives home to find his mother''s body still in the hous

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Book SynopsisHow to Sell a Haunted House meets High Fidelity in this music store set horror about an A&R man who inherits a set of cursed records from his late father. Perfect for fans of Grady Hendrix and Paul Tremblay. After his estranged father's mysterious death, Charlie Remick returns to Seattle to help with the funeral. There, he discovers his father left him two parting gifts: the keys to the family record store and a strange black case containing four ancient records that, according to legend, can open a gate to the land of the dead. When Charlie, his sister, and their two friends play the records, they unwittingly open a floodgate of unspeakable horror. As the darkness descends, they are stalked by a relentless, malevolent force and see the dead everywhere they turn. With time running out, the only person who can help them is Charlie's resurrected father, who knows firsthand the awesome power the records have unleashed. But can they close the gate and silence Schrader's Chord before it's too late?

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Book SynopsisA beautifully illustrated book of ghost stories, written and illustrated by film artist and screenwriter Iain McCaig, depicting daily life in Smalltown, where Lake Wobegon meets Norman Rockwell, with monsters.

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Book SynopsisA chilling anthology of over 20 stories of cursed and haunted books; featuring malevolent second-hand books, cursed novelizations, unsettling journals and the end of the world.

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Book SynopsisThe MenumeetsReady or Notin this dark tale of opulent luxury and shocking violence from the New York Times bestselling author ofBloom.

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Book SynopsisEngaging occult fiction, featuring short stories by Storm Constantine, Caitl?n R. Kiernan, Edgar Allan Poe, and others!

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Book SynopsisLife is tough. And then there's The Change. . .Awoman, ignored and invisible, starts to discover her voice. But whoor whatisspeaking thoughher?Partbody-horror, part feminist fiction, They Shut Me Up poses the question: howcan we retell historic female narratives?

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Book SynopsisSpirits, ghosts and ghouls dance their macabre fortunes in the pages of this thrilling new book. From cemeteries and abandoned mansions, battered tenement buildings and ice-cold chambers to the desert wastelands of Arabia, this new collection gathers stories from open submissions and surrounds them with the ghastly emanations of H.P. Lovecraft, M.R. James, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Amelia Edwards and the frightful tales of Le Fanu, Charlotte Riddell and Elizabeth Gaskell. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Stewart C. Baker, Rebecca Brothers, Ramsey Campbell, Georgia Cook, Gina Easton, Bruce Golden, Caye Gowyn, John Linwood Grant, Rayne Hall, Vanessa C. Hawkins, Jennifer Hudak, Brianna Ishii-McFaull, Dylan Kingsley, Amanda Cecelia Lang, Fiona Lehn, Samuel Marzioli, S.R. Masters, Bret Nelson, Lena Ng, Sam W. Pisciotta, Josephine Queen, Erica Ruppert, C.R. Serajeddini, Evelyn Teng, and Wen Wen Yang. The gorgeous, deluxe edition Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories, the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

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Book SynopsisA grieving mother and son hope to Christmas in a remote mountain cabin in Pennsylvania, in this chilling novella of dread, isolation and sinister spirits lurking in the frozen woods. Perfect for fans of The Only Good Indians, The Shining and The Babadook

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Book SynopsisA startling, witty and downright terrifying collection of short stories from the 21st century's Richard Matheson (Richard Chizmar, Chasing the Boogeyman.)Perfect for fans of Paul Tremblay, Rachel Harrison and Eric LaRocca.

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Book SynopsisA gripping, snappy creature feature from the master of horror noir about two detectivesone dead, one livinghired by an embittered old landowner to banish a bloody cosmic monster from his ancestral home, perfect for fans of Cassandra Khaw, Charles Stross and Lucy A. Snyder.

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Book Synopsis A supernatural tour-de-force' Daily Mail'Haunting and atmospheric' A.J. Gnuse, author of Girl in the Walls'The perfect modern ghost story' Katie Lowe, author of The Furies Some secrets can never be concealed . . .Nell Galilee, her husband and twelve year old step-daughter Maude rent a holiday cottage by the sea, needing time and space away from home. Nell grew up in this small, wind-blown town and has mixed feelings about returning, and it isn't long before she is recognised by a neighbour, seemingly desperate to befriend her. The cottage has been empty for some time, and from the start Nell feels uncomfortable there. Something isn't quite right about this place . . .Maude, furious about being brought here against her will, soon finds herself beguiled by the house's strange atmosphere. There are peculiar marks in the roof beams above her bedroom, and in another room, a hiding place, concealing a strange, unnerving object.As the house gradually reveals its secrets, Nell becomes increasingly uneasy - and Maude spellbound. But these women - and the women that surround them - are harbouring their own secrets too, and soon events will come to a terrible head . . .A brilliant, unsettling and chilling ghost story of mothers and daughters, truth and deception that asks how far you would go, to get what you truly desire . . . Everyone is talking about The Hiding Place...'There's nothing like a haunted house to get the heart racing and this deliciously dark contemporary gothic tale set in Whitby will do just that. Hugely atmospheric, the writer builds the tension gradually - unsettling and creepy, it's a perfect supernatural read for Halloween' My Weekly'Satisfyingly unsettling, this is a hugely atmospheric novel that oozes with uncanny menace' Lucie McKnight Hardy'Tense, atmospheric and suffused with the peculiar longing of motherhood' Araminta Hall'Full of intrigue . . . sure to leave readers unsettled' Anita Frank, author of The Lost OnesTrade ReviewAn unsettling, supernatural tour de force ... with a back story steeped in local history and plot teeming with everyday anxieties, Amanda Mason has created a new gothic myth. Home for a family party, Nell decides it's time for a proper holiday with new hubby and step-daughter Maude. But the house they rent is, well, unwelcoming, with marks carved on ancient beams, ghostly footsteps, drifting smells and sinister secrets buried behind panels. As poison from the past seeps into the fractures within Nell's new family, personal histories and past horrors entwine to trap the reader in a claustrophobic, terrifying embrace. * Daily Mail *There's nothing like a haunted house to get the heart racing and this deliciously dark contemporary gothic tale set in Whitby will do just that. This gothic tale about mothers and daughters explores the lengths people will go to, to obtain power and control. Hugely atmospheric the writer builds the tension gradually - unsettling and creepy, it's a perfect supernatural read for Halloween. * My Weekly *A masterful, unnerving thriller. * Woman's Own *Haunting and atmospheric, The Hiding Place lingers in the dark spaces of a home as Amanda Mason deftly crafts a steady, creeping tension. As the Elder House's secrets are revealed, Mason shines a brilliant light on the unsettling extents of desire. * A.J. Gnuse, author of The Girl in the Walls *The Hiding Place has everything; chills that build, an immersive setting and a wonderful clash between the present and the past, the living and the dead. At the heart of this haunting novel are characters so real and compelling their stories continue to resonate long after reading. * Jess Kidd *Full of intrigue, with hidden agendas, lingering resentments & thwarted desires, this sinister tale is dripping with an insidious malice that is sure to leave readers unsettled. * Anita Frank, author of The Lost Ones *Satisfyingly unsettling, this is a hugely atmospheric novel that oozes with uncanny menace. * Lucie McKnight Hardy *A really convincing ghost story. Elder House, like Shirley Jackson's Hill House, evoked a chilling and eerie sense of past mystery and unhappiness. I was completely pulled along by the narrative and read it in a fevered rush. * Zoe Somerville, author of The Night of the Flood *Tense, atmospheric and suffused with the peculiar longing of motherhood. * Araminta Hall *The Hiding Place is the perfect modern ghost story--evocative, unsettling and genuinely spine-tingling. With vividly realised characters and a chilling mystery at its heart, I truly couldn't put it down--and the atmospheric, immersive world Amanda Mason has created stayed with me long after I'd turned the final page. * Katie Lowe, author of The Furies *A gripping and readable novel, full of subtle characterisation, an acute sense of atmosphere and place, and narrative tension. The Hiding Place is an accomplished modern-gothic haunted-house story, elevated by its exploration of the threads which link mothers and daughters (and step-daughters), the secrets they share (and also hide from each other), and women's wishes and desires, and what they will do to achieve them. * The Countryman *The Hiding Place is a tense, creepy novel that vibrates with mystery. A page-turning, spine-tingling horror story perfect for a windy night. * Inga Vesper, author of The Long, Long Afternoon *With echoes of The Enfield Haunting, a sustained sense of unease permeates this evocative novel, which holds a very unsettling power indeed. * Heat on The Wayward Girls *Wonderfully creepy debut ... Cleverly plotted and keeping the reader on the edge of the seat until the end of with a supremely satisfying denouement. * I newspaper on The Wayward Girls *A compelling story with fascinating characters and a truly mesmerising setting. * NB magazine *

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Book SynopsisGhastly castles, haunted mansions, shadowy forests and long, dark corridors... This new addition to the Gothic Fantasy series is packed with tales of terror, bringing together the new and the familiar, the unusual and the unexpected. Featuring many stories from open submissions by new writers, Terrifying Ghosts Short Stories delivers a satisfying read for anyone fascinated by glimpses of the beyond: some of the master storytellers included are E.F. Benson, Amelia B. Edwards, Lafcadio Hearn, Henry James, M.R. James, Sheridan Le Fanu and Edith Wharton. New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Die Booth, Nancy Brewka-Clark, Ramsey Campbell, Dan Coxon, Felix Flynn, Robert Ford, Lyndsay E. Gilbert, Lisa L. Hannett, Sarah Hans, Sean Hogan, O.R. Kennett, John Kiste, Spencer Koelle, Jessica Landry, J.A.W. McCarthy, Marshall J. Moore, Joe Nazare, Michael Nethercott, Adam L.G. Nevill, Michelle Tang, and Jeffrey Thomas. The Flame Tree Gothic Fantasy, Classic Stories and Epic Tales collections bring together the entire range of myth, folklore and modern short fiction. Highlighting the roots of suspense, supernatural, science fiction and mystery stories the books in Flame Tree Collections series are beautifully presented, perfect as a gift and offer a lifetime of reading pleasure.

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Book SynopsisFelix Castor is a freelance exorcist, and London is his stamping ground. At a time when the supernatural world is in upheaval and spilling over into the mundane reality of the living, his skills have never been more in demand. A good exorcist can charge what he likes - and enjoy a hell of a life-style - but there's a risk: sooner or later he's going to take on a spirit that's too strong for him. After a year spent in 'retirement' Castor is reluctantly drawn back to the life he rejected and accepts a seemingly simple exorcism case - just to pay the bills, you understand. Trouble is, the more he discovers about the ghost haunting the archive, the more things don't add up. What should have been a perfectly straightforward exorcism is rapidly turning into the Who Can Kill Castor First Show, with demons, were-beings and ghosts all keen to claim the big prize. But that's OK; Castor knows how to deal with the dead. It's the living who piss him off ...Trade ReviewSleazy and down-at-heel and quintessentially London, Mike Carey's Felix Castor steps effortlessly into the growing field of supernatural noir and brings with him a blast of fresh, British air. Think Shoestring meets Constantine, with backing vocals from the shades of Leslie Charteris and Anais Nin. Carey's plotting is tight and laconic, and laced with shivery, understated horrors from both the human world and beyond. It grabs you from the first out-of-nowhere nasty surprise, and rarely lets go thereafter. You'll be up all night finishing this one. Richard Morgan, bestselling author of ALTERED CARBON Imagine an unholy cross between Buffy, Jonathan Creek and hardboiled noir, set it in the sleazier bits of London, and you've got Mike Carey's The Devil You Know, a supernatural crime novel featuring Felix Castor, reluctant magician and part-time exorcist THE GUARDIAN Entertaining, well-paced, intelligently plotted and full of memorable characters THE TIMES Witty, deadpan and shudderingly noir ... With a plot nailed down tighter than a coffin lid, Carey drives this thriller like Chandler at the wheel of a runaway hearse, combining the mundane with the monstrous to depict a capital city where demons, ghou DAILY EXPRESS

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Book SynopsisOver 25 short story masterpieces from writers such as Louis de Bernières and Ian Rankin - modern literary tales to chill the blood.This spine-chilling new anthology of 20th and 21st century tales by big name writers is in the best traditions of literary ghost stories. It is just a little over a hundred years ago that the most famous literary ghost story, The Turn of the Screw by Henry James, was published and in the intervening years a great many other distinguished writers have tried their hand at this popular genre - some basing their fictional tales on real supernatural experiences of their own.Trade ReviewA first rate list of contributors... Hair raising!' Time Out 'All we need say is buy it. * Starlog *

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Book Synopsis'Shapton has created a mystical territory - a performance, an exhibition, a guestbook - in which I felt the ghost within myself; the thing that will outlive me. A fearless and exquisite book' Miranda JulyGuestbook explores the glimmering, unsettling things that haunt us in the midst of life, combining stories, vignettes and an evocative curiosity cabinet of artifacts and images - found photographs, original paintings, Instagram-style portraits - to transform the traditional ghost story into something else entirely.'Leanne Shapton has a way of making books entirely new, surreal, and uncanny ... Guestbook contains ghost stories for a world of images and captions, in which the ghosts are all of us, and our strange time' Sheila Heti, author of How Should a Person Be?Trade Review'Ghost' is a good word for all the nameless longing that doesn't get resolved in this lifetime. Shapton has created a mystical territory - a performance, an exhibition, a guestbook - in which I felt the ghost within myself; the thing that will outlive me. A fearless and exquisite book. -- Miranda JulyLeanne Shapton has a way of making books entirely new, surreal, and uncanny, always experimenting with the ways image and text can be mixed to tell new stories, in new ways. Guestbook is a delicious haunting and leaves one with a chill of recognition for how we live as ghosts in this distant, distracted, and image-obsessed time. -- Sheila HetiIt looks like a book, about the strangeness and sadness of love, but is really a house, and the house is haunted, and is still haunting me. -- John Jeremiah Sullivan, writer for the New York Times and editor for Harper's Magazine and the Paris ReviewGuestbook discretely ushers us into the realms of the profound and the other worldly via the profane, the staged and the everyday. A rare and thrilling synthesis of literary sensibility and the artist's eye. The kind of picture book every grown up dreams of reading. -- Adam O'Riordan, author of 'In the Flesh' and 'The Burning Ground'Through her experimental prose, Leanne Shapton has created a unique meditation on spectrality. Both a selection of mystical ghost stories and a tracing of ephemera and archival imagery, Guestbook identifies the uncanny nature of everyday life. Shapton glides seamlessly through each of the many vignettes that make up this haunting work which is part poem, part novel, part artwork, and everything in between. -- Hans Ulrich ObristIn this astounding book, full of exquisitely disquieting narrative gestures and found ghosts, Leanne Shapton proves herself a master scrap-booker of the unconscious, a brilliant bricolage comic, and a fierce and subtle artistic provocateur. Enter these worlds at your peril, and to your guaranteed delight. -- Sam Lipsyte, author of 'Hark' and 'The Ask'Hard to describe and impossible to forget, Guestbook is genuinely haunting and wholly original: a book to be experienced more than read. -- Lottie Moggach, author of 'Kiss Me First'Shapton inventively explores the space between presence and absence, craftily blending images and text to articulate what cannot be explained, only sensed, making for a uniquely haunting and uncanny work. * Publishers Weekly *In this perfectly uncanny collection of stories, Leanne Shapton explores the many things that follow and haunt us as we go about our lives, unsettling us in sometimes terrifying and sometimes exhilarating ways. Shapton's words are interwoven with images of art and artifacts, adding to the surreal aura of each of the stories, reminding us of the always pulsing energy that imbues nearly everything around us, always, whether we feel it right away or not. * Nylon, '50 Books You’ll Want To Read In 2019' *It's fascinating to see what happens when we try to tell stories we don't quite have words for. That's why Leanne Shapton's Guestbook-comprised of vignettes, photographs, and original paintings-is the perfect medium (get it?) for these ghost stories. * LitHub, 'Most Anticipated Books of 2019' *Guestbook reveals Shapton as a ventriloquist, a diviner, a medium, a force, a witness, a goof, and above all, a gift. One of the smartest, most moving, most unexpected books I have read in a very long time. -- Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric DisturbancesLeanne Shapton's "Guestbook" lifts the veil on what is unknowable, but deeply felt in periphery. Buy this book! -- Richard McGuire, graphic novelist and illustrator for the New York Times and the New YorkerA book like no other: Shapton can lift up the most everyday things - family photographs, ordinary rooms, vintage dresses, Christmas wrapping-paper - and give the reader a glimpse of the teeming ghostworld beneath. -- Joanne LimburgI can't wait to see how form and function unite here. * TOR.com, 'The Books We're Looking Forward to in 2019' *Guestbook is a profoundly sympathetic work, and one filled with yearning. That yearning, like a ghost, lingers long after the stories are done. -- NPR * Lily Meyer *The short story is an arena - or a literary gym - where writers can flex muscles that might seem out of place in a novel. Leanne Shapton has tremendous form in both genres, in fact, but her collection Guestbook pushes the envelope in the most beguiling, clever and provocative ways. Full of images, photos, wrapping paper, competing texts, and meta-meta-fictional fun and games, it's a mind-bending celebration of the form's potential. -- William Boyd * New Statesman Books of the Year *Sharp prose and visual artwork combine in these seductive modern ghost stories...this book is an artefact in itself - a tactile, mysterious and seductive one. Read it once and you'll be very likely to find yourself eyeing it every now and again, wondering whether it's exactly where you left it, and whether you could possibly have turned down the corner of this page or that -- Hephzibah Anderson * Guardian *Guestbook is a catalogue of what haunts us and, more often than not, as with Important Artifacts, it is the little things. -- Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisTales of suspense for the twilight hour... Dark Encounters is a collection of classic and elegantly unsettling ghost stories. A spine-tingling collection, these tales are set in the brooding landscape of Scotland, with an air of historic authenticity – often referring to real events, objects and people. From a demonic text that leaves its readers strangled to the murderous spectre of a feudal baron, this is a crucial addition to the long and distinguished cannon of Scottish ghost stories. For those who seek out the unnerving, the unknown and the unexplainable, Dark Encounters is guaranteed to raise the hair on the back of your neck. This edition features a rare story – 'The MacGregor Skull' – which was the last story every written by the author and posthumously serialised in the Scotsman in 1963.Trade Review'Superbly entertaining, the perfect read for Scotland's long dark winter evenings' -- Ken Lussey * Undiscovered Scotland *'A really atmospheric book. Best set aside for a cold, dark winter’s evening in front of a roaring log fire!' * Women Together *'A great mood setter for anyone relishing the approach of Halloween' * Inverness Courier *'Like most really good ghost stories, there is an element of fact or historical myth surrounding it to make the tale that much more authentic. The author also has the knack of keeping the reader hanging on his words to try and find out what was the cause of the tale' * Army Rumours *'Croft Dickinson draws on true stories and real people, and has a nicely understated writing style' * Scottish Field *

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Book SynopsisWhen she unearths the bones of a young child, Beverly Vernon''s life is transformed in ways she never expected.Widowed Beverly Vernon, a displaced East Coast children''s book illustrator and mother of two childless adult daughters, is finding it difficult to settle in rural Florida. Filling her days by painting the portrait of a longed-for imaginary grandchild, she is struggling to find meaning in her life. But everything changes when she uncovers the bones of a young child in her backyard. A child who evidently died through violent means. Determined to find out who the child was and how and why they died, Beverly notices that the portrait she''s working on seems to change of its own accord - and that''s not the only unexplained phenomenon taking place within her home. Is she being haunted - or is she going mad? In her efforts to uncover the truth behind the bones, Beverly finds her relationship with her two daughters coming under threat, and her faith and beliefs tested to their very limit.

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Book SynopsisShakespeare Vs CthulhuAn anthologie of fine stories inspir'd by the Bard of Stratford and the Lovecraftian MythosImagine if it had been William Shakespeare, England's greatest playwright, who had discovered the truth about the Great Old Ones and the cosmic entity we know as Cthulhu, rather than the American horror writer H P Lovecraft. Imagine if Stratford's favourite son had been the one to learn of the dangers of seeking after forbidden knowledge and of the war waged between the Elder Gods in the Outer Darkness, and had passed on that message, to those with eyes to see it, through his plays and poetry.Welcome to the world of Shakespearean Cthulhu!To mark the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare, Snowbooks proudly presents fifteen stories of eldritch horror that blend the Bard's most famous plays with Lovecraft's most terrifying creations. But before you dip into this curséd tome, be warned that way madness lies...

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Book SynopsisJoel Lane (1963-2013) was one of the UK’s foremost writers of dark, unsettling fiction, a frank explorer of sexuality and the transgressive aspects of human nature. With a tight focus on the post-industrial Black Country and his home city of Birmingham, he created a distinct form of British urban weird fiction. Scar City is one of the final collections put together before his death in 2013 – with his home city of Birmingham as their nucleus, these are intense, haunting and often painful stories from a master of the short form. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY NICHOLAS ROYLE

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Book SynopsisWhen a young man inherits a vast mansion from an estranged great-uncle, his apparent good fortune sours when unsettling things begin to happen … A terrifying psychological thriller cum gothic ghost story from the bestselling author of A Suitable Lie. ‘A beautifully written tale, original, engrossing and scary. It’s a wonderful mixture, a psychological thriller with a touch of a ghost story (sort of), a dollop of the supernatural (but not really) and murder (perhaps), told through the vision of a druggie poet who hasn’t taken his medicine and is therefore an unreliable witness (or is he?) … a dark joy’ The Times ‘A deeply satisfying read’ Sunday Times ‘A fine, page-turning thriller’ Daily Mail _________________ What you see isn’t always real… Ran McGhie’s world has been turned upside down. A young, lonely and frustrated writer, and suffering from mental-health problems, he discovers that his long-dead mother was related to one of Glasgow’s oldest merchant families. Not only that, Ran has inherited Newton Hall, a vast mansion that belonged to his great-uncle, who had been watching from afar as his estranged great-nephew grew up. Entering his new-found home, it seems Great-uncle Alexander has turned it into a temple to the written word – the perfect place for poet Ran. But everything is not as it seems. As he explores the Hall’s endless corridors, Ran’s grasp on reality appears to be loosening. And then he comes across an ancient lift; and in that lift a mirror. And in the mirror … the reflection of a woman. A terrifying psychological thriller with more than a hint of the gothic, House of Spines is a love letter to the power of books, and a reminder that lust and betrayal can be deadly… _________________ Praise for Michael J. Malone: ‘House of Spines is a gothic ghost story and psychological thriller all rolled into one. Brilliantly creepy, with a dash of Glasgow humour, I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. A spine-tingling treat’ Lisa Gray, Daily Record ‘From the stunning opening chapter, I was hooked. House of Spines is an intriguing tale with a haunting, gothic quality that compels you to keep reading till the end’ Howard Linskey ‘At first it seems like a poet’s paradise, but something sinister lurks within the corridors … a MUST READ’ Daily Express ‘The story twists and feints, pulling us along with it at every turn, the edginess of its central character making every development even more unsettling … a chilling read, best savoured late on a dark night’ Herald Scotland ‘You might not want to be alone when you read this spine-chilling gothic thriller ... As he explores its endless corridors his grip on reality seems to be evaporating in this terrifying exploration of lust and betrayal’ Sunday Post ‘Prepare to have your marrow well and truly chilled by this deeply creepy Scottish horror … A complex and multi-layered story – perfect for a wintry night’ Sunday Mirror ‘Beautifully crafted and colourfully descriptive … keeps the reader gripped by an uneasy presence, a chill, literally, down the spine’ Undiscovered Scotland ‘Malone is a massive talent … get on board now so you can brag you were reading his books long before the rest of the world’ Luca Veste ‘Vivid, visceral and compulsive’ Ian Rankin ‘A terrific read … I read it in one sitting’ Martina Cole ‘A deeply personal thriller that will keep the reader turning those pages, with twists and turns designed to keep the heart pumping’ Russel D. McLeanTrade Review'Disturbing but compulsive' Martina Cole; Vivid, visceral and compulsive' Ian Rankin; 'Malone's effortless writing style confirms him as a sharp new voice in crime fiction' Anya Lipska; 'Malone just gets better and better' SJI Holliday; 'A deliciously dark tale about the things that haunt us, House of Spines is unexpected and beautiful, and has all the gothic elements of classics like Rebecca, and all the poetry and page-turning trickery you'd expect from Michael Malone. Wonderful' Louise Beech; `In a creepy gothic mansion in Glasgow, Malone weaves his magic and creates a chillingly unnerving tale. There is a real sense of foreboding and ghostly goings on, but it's the books and the sense of a world that exists on the margins of our imaginations that got every hair on the back of my neck standing on end. House of Spines is disturbingly delightful, although you might never look at mirrors, lifts and old houses in the same way again!' The Book Trail; `House of Spines is spine-chillingly brilliant, filled with depth and emotion, and certainly kept me guessing' Off-the-Shelf Books; `House of Spines is a satisfyingly, chillingly haunting and delightfully disturbing read, don't miss it!' Chapterinmylife

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Book SynopsisOxfordshire is full of the weird, wonderful & mysterious. From Faringdon to Banbury, Henley to the edge of the Cotswolds, and not forgetting Oxford itself, local author Mike White shines a light into the darkness to chill, amuse, surprise and, above all, entertain. Standing stones that do more than stand, odd & out-of-place animals, highwaymen & other ne’er-do-wells, eerie lights in the skies, riotous behaviour of various sorts, witches & cunning folk, both cursing & curing, and, of course, a plethora of ghost stories. 'Sometimes I wonder whether it is possible to step outside the door in Oxfordshire without running into something slightly supernatural.'

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Book SynopsisIn 1972, during the chaotic days of miners' strikes and the three-day week, Bridget 'Brix' Shipley moves to Plunge Hill to start her new job as a medical secretary at the local hospital. As she writes to Maurice, her younger brother, sick at home, it becomes clear that not all is well at Plunge Hill.

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Book SynopsisWhy do people love ghost stories, even if they don’t believe (or say they don’t believe) in ghosts? Is it simply the adrenaline rush that comes from being mesmerized and terrified by a great storyteller, or do these tales yield deeper meanings—telling us things about our own inner shadows? Stephen Johnson brings together some of the most memorable encounters with ghosts in world literature, from Europe, Russia, the United States, and China. Recurring themes and imagery are noted, interpretations suggested—but only suggested, since ambiguity and resistance to rational interpretation are key elements in the best ghost stories. As the writer Robert Aickman observed, often the decisive moment comes when someone, somehow, makes a “wrong turning”—literally, perhaps, but at the same time psychologically, even morally—and some mysterious nemesis takes over. Old favorites by M. R. James, Ambrose Bierce, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman are interlaced with extracts from longer works by Emily Brontë, Henry James, and Alexander Pushkin,, along with slightly left-field apparitions from Tove Jansson and Flann O’Brien. With such expert guides, who knows what we will be led to encounter in the haunted chambers of our minds?

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Book Synopsis"“I wanted to be close to you. So I went to the forest…” Gardens, relationships and imaginations run wild in Katie Oliver’s debut short fiction collection. The world is unpredictable and no woman is safe. Boundaries are blurred: between fantasy and reality, technology and nature, autonomy and oppression. The threat of violence simmers throughout as women transform into birds, converse with plants and plot their revenge. These dark, surreal tales will put down roots and stay with you long after reading: how close… is too close?"Trade Review"Katie Oliver’s narrators are often facing a choice between the cold, clean world of technology and the murky darkness of nature, with neither option as the safe one, both posing a threat to the bodies of these women and their tenuous grip on sanity." - The Word Factory"Oliver’s universe is surreal, fetid, and teeming with organic purpose" - The Yorkshire Times

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