Horror & Ghost Stories Books

Book SynopsisA collection of stories ranging from rural tales of death to a retelling of the biblical Job story, in which a skeletonized Job trades barbs and blows with a murderous lumberjack.Trade Review"Showing off Evenson's myriad skills, the stories range from rural tales of death to a retelling of the biblical Job story, in which a skeletonized Job trades barbs and blows with a murderous lumberjack. . . . There is a detached brutality to the collection, similar to Beckett's novels, which, due to Evenson's precise control over language is both disturbing and compelling."—Review of Contemporary Fiction"The spirit of Edgar Allan Poe inhabits this collection of violent and mysterious stories that recall not only that master of the perverse but also the seamier side of the nightly news. . . . Many of these tales, particularly the short-shorts, remain enigmatic, resistant to any explication; yet even they are told in such a compelling fashion that one reads not to understand but merely to witness."—Publishers Weekly"Evenson has created a fascinating, mysterious, and austere prose set in scenes that attain the precision of staged burlesque. Through the sparse economy of the plot and settings, Evenson's great moral sensibility is glimpsed behind the carnival mask of apparently frivolous murder."—Seattle Weekly

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Book SynopsisPetrifying the Peach State, hosts of haints have beset the state of Georgia throughout its storied history. In Thirteen Georgia Ghosts and Jeffrey, best-selling folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham, along with her trusty spectral companion Jeffrey, introduce thirteen of Georgia's most famous ghost stories.Trade Review“Ghost stories have a very real place in the folklore and the history of a state or a nation. After all, who should be better able to tell of happenings long past than the ghosts of those who had a part in them?"" - Miss Bessie Lewis, author of They Called Their Town Darien: Being a Short History of Darien and McIntosh County, Georgia“Spine-tingling with a twang...” - National Public Radio’s All Things Considered“In Windham’s tales... myth and fact intertwine to present a picture of the South that is as true as any textbook.” - Paris Review

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Book SynopsisA deluxe, commemorative edition of a beloved collection of ghostly stories from famed southern author and folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham's home state of Alabama. This commemorative edition returns Windham's thrilling classic to its original 1982 keepsake quality and includes a new afterword by the author's children.Table of Contents The Piano The Boyington Oak The Silent Riders A Promise Kept The James T. Staples, Doomed Steamboat of the Tombigbee “I’ll Never Leave You” The Auburn Spirit A Sampling of University Hauntings Granny Dollar and Her Dog Sudden Laughter The Ghosts at Montevallo’s Mansion House The Locket “Paint the Gallows Red” Afterword to the Commemorative Edition by Dilcy Windham Hilley and Ben Windham

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Book SynopsisA deluxe, commemorative edition of famed southern author and folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham's introduction to the Volunteer State's most enduring ghost stories. This handsome commemorative hardback edition returns Windham's suspenseful classic to its original keepsake quality and includes a new afterword by the author's children.Table of Contents I. The Sanke Charmer II The Rosary III The Trees IV Long Dog V The Barrel of Sin VI The Dark Legend VII The Chapel Hill Light VIII Memphis’ Great Jar Mystery IX Shiloh Revisited X The Exorcism of Aunt Crecy XI The Restless Rocker XII The Blessing XIII Stains on the Mausoleum The Witch Who Tormented The Bell Family Afterword to the Commemorative Edition Dilcy Windham Hilley and Ben Windham

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Book SynopsisA commemorative facsimile edition of the beloved and best-selling second book in famed national folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham's southern ghosts series. This new edition returns the book to its original format in jacketed cloth full of original, black-and-white illustrations in a handsome keepsake edition.Table of Contents Foreword to the Original 1971 Edition Chapter 1. The Girl Nobody Knew Chapter 2. A Ghost Who Threw Things Chapter 3. The Farmer Who Vanished Chapter 4. Harpist of the Gulf Chapter 5. Ghosts of Annandale Chapter 6. A Glow in the Dungeon Chapter 7. Disappearing Hounds Chapter 8. Our Family Trouble Chapter 9. The Spirit of the Spindles Chapter 10. The Ghost of the Barefoot Slave Chapter 11. A Ghost Who Inspired Poetry Chapter 12. The Defiant Tombstone Chapter 13. An Eternal Embrace A Final Note Afterword to the Commemorative Edition

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Book SynopsisFor as long as Mississippi has existed (and then some), flocks of phantoms have haunted the mortal inhabitants of the Magnolia State. In Thirteen Mississippi Ghosts and Jeffrey, best-selling folklorist Kathryn Tucker Windham, along with her trusty spectral companion Jeffrey, introduces thirteen of the state's most famous ghost stories.

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Book SynopsisTurns a critical eye on the influential proletarian cultural movement that flourished in 1920s and 1930s Japan. This was a diverse, cosmopolitan, and highly contested moment in Japanese history when notions of political egalitarianism were being translated into cultural practices specific to the Japanese experience.

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Book SynopsisCovering the latest in monsters and the macabre, horror expert Spratford's guide is ideal as both an introductory guide for novices and a fount of new ideas for horror-aware reference staff.

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Book SynopsisHasan Azizul Huq is known for his stories that bring a powerful social consciousness to bear on the lives of ordinary people in contemporary Bangladesh--but doing so with surprising twists to what we think of as the typical grounds of realistic fiction. The Agony of the Ghost gathers twelve remarkable stories from his large oeuvre that offer a sense of the range of his insights and approaches. In Without Name or Lineage, a man returns home in search of his wife and son after the war, only to find them in ways both unexpected and expected. The Sorcerer finds a sorcerer dying without revealing his secrets to three brothers who had been trying to compel him to tell--and strange deaths follow. In Throughout the Afternoon, a disarmingly simple story, a young boy awaits his grandfather's death. In all the stories, the lives of the most disadvantaged people in Bengali society are revealed in harrowing, unforgettable detail.

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Book SynopsisFrom creature features to indie horror flicks, find out what happens when sex, horror, and the religious imagination come togetherThroughout history, religion has attempted to control nothing so much as our bodies: what they are and what they mean; what we do with them, with whom, and under what circumstances; how they may be displayedor, more commonly, how they must be hidden. Yet, we remain fascinated, obsessed even, by bodies that have left, or been forced out of, their proper place. The Forbidden Body examines how horror culture treats these bodies, exploring the dark spaces where sex and the sexual body come together with religious belief and tales of terror. Taking a broad approach not limited to horror cinema or popular fiction, but embracing also literary horror, weird fiction, graphic storytelling, visual arts, and participative culture, Douglas E. Cowan explores how fears of bodies that are tainted, impure, or sexually deviant are made visible and reinforced through popularTrade ReviewGroundbreaking, disturbing, and riveting. Cowan recognizes that horror has a penchant for being at the same time scary and sexy, and that religion likewise has a unique ability to terrify in connection with restrictions on human sexuality. The intersections and even the simple comparability of these two human phenomena has not been explored by academics, much less explored adequately. Only Cowan could write this book, and write it so well. -- James McGrath, Butler UniversityAdds depth and texture to our understanding of horror’s relation to the body and religious imagination. This is a new area of inquiry in the world of religious studies and Cowan is at the forefront as a clear authority on the questions raised by horror, popular theology, and religious studies. -- Laura Ammon, Appalachian State UniversityCowan has managed to write a philosophical take on what is clearly his favorite genre, inviting readers to figure out why and how they, religion and sex fit into these salacious, silly and scary stories. -- Chris LaCroix * Real Change News *Cowan successfully illuminates representations of disfigured (sexualized) bodies in the horror mode while demonstrating how the religious imagination supports or enacts these representations. The book also offers a striking perspective on the different culturally internalized fears that shape our living together and influence our daily choices, preferences, fears, and attitudes…Thanks to the appealing and entertaining way of writing, the book also stimulates curiosity for exploring the abysses in the cosmos of sexuality, horror fiction, and religion. -- Katharina Luise Merkert * Reading Religion *The Forbidden Body proceeds somewhat like a string of pearls, presenting a series of interesting insights as Cowan leads the reader through some of his favorite horror texts and what he finds sociologically significant about the way they deploy sex and raise questions about the unseen order… this is great reading for anyone hoping to produce their own scholarship on religion and popular culture. -- Joseph P. Laycock, Texas State University * Nova Religio *Horror fans will find much to be excited about in this book––perhaps in more ways than one... This is great reading for anyone hoping to produce their own scholarship on religion and popular culture. * Nova Religio *

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Book SynopsisFrom creature features to indie horror flicks, find out what happens when sex, horror, and the religious imagination come togetherThroughout history, religion has attempted to control nothing so much as our bodies: what they are and what they mean; what we do with them, with whom, and under what circumstances; how they may be displayedor, more commonly, how they must be hidden. Yet, we remain fascinated, obsessed even, by bodies that have left, or been forced out of, their proper place. The Forbidden Body examines how horror culture treats these bodies, exploring the dark spaces where sex and the sexual body come together with religious belief and tales of terror. Taking a broad approach not limited to horror cinema or popular fiction, but embracing also literary horror, weird fiction, graphic storytelling, visual arts, and participative culture, Douglas E. Cowan explores how fears of bodies that are tainted, impure, or sexually deviant are made visible and reinforced through popularTrade ReviewGroundbreaking, disturbing, and riveting. Cowan recognizes that horror has a penchant for being at the same time scary and sexy, and that religion likewise has a unique ability to terrify in connection with restrictions on human sexuality. The intersections and even the simple comparability of these two human phenomena has not been explored by academics, much less explored adequately. Only Cowan could write this book, and write it so well. -- James McGrath, Butler UniversityAdds depth and texture to our understanding of horror’s relation to the body and religious imagination. This is a new area of inquiry in the world of religious studies and Cowan is at the forefront as a clear authority on the questions raised by horror, popular theology, and religious studies. -- Laura Ammon, Appalachian State UniversityCowan has managed to write a philosophical take on what is clearly his favorite genre, inviting readers to figure out why and how they, religion and sex fit into these salacious, silly and scary stories. -- Chris LaCroix * Real Change News *Cowan successfully illuminates representations of disfigured (sexualized) bodies in the horror mode while demonstrating how the religious imagination supports or enacts these representations. The book also offers a striking perspective on the different culturally internalized fears that shape our living together and influence our daily choices, preferences, fears, and attitudes…Thanks to the appealing and entertaining way of writing, the book also stimulates curiosity for exploring the abysses in the cosmos of sexuality, horror fiction, and religion. -- Katharina Luise Merkert * Reading Religion *The Forbidden Body proceeds somewhat like a string of pearls, presenting a series of interesting insights as Cowan leads the reader through some of his favorite horror texts and what he finds sociologically significant about the way they deploy sex and raise questions about the unseen order… this is great reading for anyone hoping to produce their own scholarship on religion and popular culture. -- Joseph P. Laycock, Texas State University * Nova Religio *Horror fans will find much to be excited about in this book––perhaps in more ways than one... This is great reading for anyone hoping to produce their own scholarship on religion and popular culture. * Nova Religio *

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Book SynopsisA gothic, lyrical evocation of a shipwreck, ghosts, and lost—and found—love in a North Shore town Jack Cooper, last in a long family line of fishermen, lives alone in the remote North Shore town of Greyshore, haunted by grief. But he will discover what it means to be truly haunted when a ghostly woman appears to lure him to land’s end, to the beckoning waves that have broken his heart. In a tale weird and whimsical, as familiar as folklore and as strange as life itself, musical artists Chan Poling and Lucy Michell create a world where even the most hardened soul has to see that grief may be tough, but life is tougher. As Jack’s childhood friend, the loyal and endlessly optimistic Red, tries to counter the ghost’s allure, the story exerts its own charm, guiding us through a landscape of prose and pictures at once irreverent and dead serious. Though the book’s surreal seduction might call to mind the likes of Wes Anderson, Edward Gorey, or the Decemberists, it is, finally, Poling and Michell’s singular accomplishment, an enchanting imaginative leap into life’s haunted depths.Trade Review"Jack and the Ghost is a gorgeously illustrated meditation on grief and loss, a poignant reminder to not let the ghosts of the past control the present."—Jeremy Messersmith"Finally, a book with pictures that can put a waterproof mascara through its paces."—Dessa"Jack and the Ghost is a book with a readership that needs it—they’re waiting for this book. It does its job with simplicity, charm, and beauty."—Arthur Phillips, New York Times Notable Book winner and international best-selling novelist"Chan Poling and Lucy Michell have put together a gorgeous little book featuring deep loss, the rebirth of life, and lush illustrations that remind me of Ludwig Bemelmans' art for the Madeline series."—Geoff Herbach, author of Stupid Fast "Jack and the Ghost is a haunting tale of lost love and the depths we will go to find it. Jack Cooper seems to have lost everything, but those who love him tell him, with tenderness and strength, tell him he needs to live his life, be a part of the world. This journey from despair to love renewed is, in the end, uplifting, and we are left with hope. In truth, this is a perfect story for all ages."—Julie Poling, Red Balloon Bookshop

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Book SynopsisA micro-biography of horror fiction’s most influential author and his love–hate relationship with New York City. By the end of his life and near financial ruin, pulp horror writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft resigned himself to the likelihood that his writing would be forgotten. Today, Lovecraft stands alongside J. R. R. Tolkien as the most influential genre writer of the twentieth century. His reputation as an unreformed racist and bigot, however, leaves readers to grapple with his legacy. Midnight Rambles explores Lovecraft’s time in New York City, a crucial yet often overlooked chapter in his life that shaped his literary career and the inextricable racism in his work. Initially, New York stood as a place of liberation for Lovecraft. During the brief period between 1924 and 1926 when he lived there, Lovecraft joined a creative community and experimented with bohemian living in the publishing and cultural capital of the United States. He also married fellow writer Sonia H. Greene, a Ukrainian-Jewish émigré in the fashion industry. However, cascading personal setbacks and his own professional ineptitude soured him on New York. As Lovecraft became more frustrated, his xenophobia and racism became more pronounced. New York’s large immigrant population and minority communities disgusted him, and this mindset soon became evident in his writing. Many of his stories from this era are infused with racial and ethnic stereotypes and nativist themes, most notably his overtly racist short story, “The Horror at Red Hook,” set in Red Hook, Brooklyn. His personal letters reveal an even darker bigotry. Author David J. Goodwin presents a chronological micro-biography of Lovecraft’s New York years, emphasizing Lovecraft’s exploration of the city environment, the greater metropolitan region, and other locales and how they molded him as a writer and as an individual. Drawing from primary sources (letters, memoirs, and published personal reflections) and secondary sources (biographies and scholarship), Midnight Rambles develops a portrait of a talented and troubled author and offers insights into his unsettling beliefs on race, ethnicity, and immigration.Table of ContentsIntroduction: “Age Brings Reminiscences” | 1 1 “A Person of the Most Admirable Qualities” | 17 2 “An Eastern City of Wonder” | 32 3 “It Is a Myth; A Dream” | 51 4 “Brigham Young Annexing His 27th” | 67 5 “The Somewhat Disastrous Collapse” | 80 6 “A Maze of Poverty & Uncertainty” | 96 7 “A Pleasing Hermitage” | 114 8 “Circle of Aesthetic Dilettante” | 131 9 “Long Live the State of Rhode- Island” | 154 Conclusion: “The Merest Vague Dream” | 169 Acknowledgments | 181 Notes | 185 Bibliography | 251 Index | 269

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Book SynopsisThe first study to propose a unifying logic underlying the many and varied representations of the vampire in literature and culture. For the last three hundred years, fictions of the vampire have fed off anxieties about cultural continuity. Though commonly represented as a parasitic aggressor from without, the vampire is in fact a native of Europe, and its "metamorphoses," to quote Baudelaire, a distorted image of social transformation. Because the vampire grows strong whenever and wherever traditions weaken, its representations have multiplied with every political, economic, and technological revolution from the eighteenth century on. Today, in the age of globalization, vampire fictions are more virulent than ever, and the monster enjoys hunting grounds as vast as the international market. Metamorphoses of the Vampire explains why representations of vampirism began in the eighteenth century, flourished in the nineteenth, and came to eclipse nearly all other forms of monstrosity in the early twentieth century. Many of the works by French and German authors discussed here have never been presented to students and scholars in the English-speaking world. While there are many excellent studies that examine Victorian vampires, the undead in cinema, contemporary vampire fictions, and the vampire in folklore, until now no work has attempted to account for the unifying logic that underlies the vampire's many and often apparently contradictory forms. Erik Butler holds a PhDfrom Yale University and has taught at Emory University and Swarthmore College. His publications include The Bellum Gramaticale and the Rise of European Literature (2010) and a translation with commentary of Regrowth (Vidervuks) by the Soviet Jewish author Der Nister (2011).Trade Review[S]ucceeds in bringing a wealth of new voices from French and German scholarship to a field mostly dominated by English-language research. . . . [B]rings together a wealth of exciting literary, biographical, and filmic material . . . . [S]cholars and students interested in the monster will no doubt enjoy reading this book, and its individual chapters on the likes of Dracula and Nosferatu are a highly recommended read for courses on the subject. * MODERN LANGUAGE REVIEW *[C]overs a lot of ground. . . . [E]specially informative for classroom use. * MONATSHEFTE *Butler brings to the feast . . . a rare cross-cultural perspective. . . . He also, and very convincingly, calls attention to the instability of genre that haunts vampire narratives . . . . Not merely a contribution to the cultural explication of the vampire, [this book] also touches on . . . broader . . . social transformations of both eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe . . . with elegance and intelligence. * VICTORIAN STUDIES *Butler's analyses of the development of vampire literature in the European tradition - most notably in France and Germany - are the most distinctive. . . A valuable contribution. * CHOICE *Butler's study shows conclusively that the term 'vampire' represents a construct that has been exposed over the centuries to semantic and medial processes of change while mirroring and intensifying them in a cultural sense. . . . [T]he work [also] shows that vampires as a popular export of the Hollywood film industry are returning above all to the place from which they emerged in the eighteenth century to conquer the world: to Europe. * LITERATURKRITIK.DE *Butler, one of the most promising American comparatists of the last generation, has written an extremely enjoyable book. . . . [He] uses the tools of history and geography to read the figure of the vampire. His study might also be called: 'The Vampire: A Political History. * ILSOLE24ORE.COM *Provides interesting analyses of the . . . discourses shaping the vampire, and uncovers fascinating cross currents. * GERMAN QUARTERLY *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Cultural Teratology Vampire Country: Borders of Culture and Power in Central Europe Vampires and Satire in the Enlightenment and Romanticism The Bourgeois Vampire and Nineteenth-Century Identity Theft Dracula: Vampiric Contagion in the Late Nineteenth Century Vampirism, the Writing Cure, and Realpolitik: Daniel Paul Schreber's Memoirs of My Nervous Illness Vampires in Weimar: Shades of History Conclusion: The Vampire in the Americas and Beyond Works Cited Filmography Index

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Book SynopsisMarta doesn’t mean to kill her husband. In fact, she hardly believes that he’s dead. After a grisly accident leaves him drowned at the bottom of Lake Michigan, she begins a frenzied journey into the occult that soon drags in everyone around her, from her mother-in-law to the private detectives parked outside her home, as she tries to dig herself free of her own deadly mistakes. Peter is a young paralegal at the firm hired to investigate Marta’s role in her husband’s death, who is grappling with his own grief in the wake of his brother’s suicide and the distance that seems to have opened between himself and his parents, his oldest friends, and the rest of the world. After learning about Marta’s case, he becomes obsessed with her. On an outing when he’s supposed to interview her neighbors, he instead knocks on Marta’s door and warns her that a company of private detectives is preparing to make her life miserable. Marta slams the door on him, but later sets up a time to hear him out. Neither Marta nor Peter could predict the consequences of their meeting. A story of grief, devotion, and unforgivable mistakes, The Diver explores the disasters that cannot be recovered from, the accidents that cannot be undone, and the risks of love.Trade ReviewThe Diver is an astonishing novel, an eerie and compelling work of psychological suspense, a strange and startling plunge into the dark corners of a relationship. Samsun Knight is an incredibly gifted writer!" - Dan Chaon, author, Sleepwalk

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Book SynopsisA story set in Prague that crosses the lines between the living and the dead. The great love of your life is dead, but that doesn’t stop him from communicating with you—or luring you to join him in the afterlife. To remain safe in this world, you accept the help of a professional medium who develops his own emotional agenda. The Ghost Trio that emerges takes us to pre- and post-World War II Prague where a poignant and chilling love triangle finds its resolution. There we meet great Czech creators of the past including Leoš Janácek and Karel Capek. Inspired by the ghost stories of Henry James and Daphne du Maurier, Clyde Derrick introduces three characters whose passions defy time and the accepted boundaries between the dead and the living. The author, who has lived in and visited purportedly haunted sites in advance of writing this novella, contends that this story and its characters found him. Meanwhile, his portrayal of two Pragues—one poised to fall to Hitler’s army, the other muted by Communist oppression—offers us insights into the past and reminds us to stay vigilant against dangerous politics. The Ghost Trio is a spiritual excursion in which we ponder the limitations and hazards of romantic love as well as the possibility of other lives in other times. The Ghost Trio is the winner of the 2020 Omnidawn Fabulist Fiction Chapbook / Novelette Contest, chosen by Molly Gloss. Trade Review"A couple is haunted by spirits who take them through 20th-century history in Derrick’s novella. . . . An engaging historical ghost story." * Kirkus *"This is an irresistible and original ghost story that moves seamlessly through time and space as it unfolds the history of a brilliant, troubled Czech musician and his lost love. It’s a lyric as intricate and passionate and mournful as Beethoven’s Ghost Trio." -- Molly Gloss, judge of the Omnidawn 2020 Fabulist Fiction Chapbook / Novelette contest"A fabulous literary page-turner, Clyde Derrick’s short, and wonderfully disturbing The Ghost Trio will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about identity, the human spirit, and the possibilities of love and partnership. Even if ghost stories aren’t your thing, you’ll be haunted by these audacious ghosts and befuddled humans long after the final, satisfying page" -- Karen Karbo, author of The Diamond Lane

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Book SynopsisNancy Roberts's Southern Ghost Lore Revival--Exhumed and Improved for Fearless Readers.Nancy Roberts has often been described to as the "First Lady of American Folklore" and the Title is well deserved. Throughout her decades-long career, Roberts documented supernatural experiences and interviewed hundreds of people about their recollections of encounters with the supernatural.This nationally renowned writer began her undertaking in this ghostly realm as a freelance writer for the Charlotte Observer. Encouraged by Carl Sandburg, who enjoyed her stories and articles, Roberts wrote her first book in 1958. Aptly called a "custodian of the twilight zone" by Southern Living magazine, Roberts based her suspenseful stories on interviews and her rich knowledge of American folklore. Her stories were always rooted in history, which earned her a certificate of commendation from the American Association of State and Local History for her books on the Carolinas and Appalachia.Trade ReviewJust about everybody likes a good ghost story. And ghost hunter/author Nancy Roberts . . . has put together as shivery a selection of other worldly tales as you're likely to find anywhere. . . . And whether you believe in ghosts or not, these tales are guaranteed to give you a chill, especially before you go into a dark room alone." - Southern Living

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Book SynopsisYou ask for a story. I will tell you one, fact for fact and true for true." So begins ""Crook-Neck Dick,"" one of twenty-three stories in this beguiling collection of Charleston lore. Derived from African American legends, these fables have entertained generations of Charlestonians with sheer storytelling magic. To delight of folklorists, students of Charleston history, and all those who love a good ghost story, this treasure features photos of the storytellers who shared these remarkable stories with John Bennett.Julia Eichelberger, the Marybelle Higgins Howe Professor of Southern Literature and an executive board member of the Center for Study of Slavery at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, provides a foreword.Trade ReviewA collection of folk story, myth, drolleries, macabre unreason . . . old tales of death, mystery, bizarre incredibilities, diabolic influence, demanding ghosts, buried treasure, enchantments, miracles, visitations, and the dead that are not dead." —Kirkus ReviewsTable of Contents Introduction: Remembering and Rewriting Gullah Narratives An Introductory Comment 1. The Doctor to the Dead 2. The Death of the Wandering Jew 3. Madame Margot 4. The Black Constable 5. Tales from the Trapman Street Hospital 6. All God's Chillen Had Wings 7. The Measure of Grief 8. The Enchanted Cloak 9. The Young Wife Whose Vine Meloned Beyond the Fence 10. Death and the Two Bachelors 11. When the Dead Sang in Their Graves 12. Rolling Rio and the Gray Man; Or, The Gift of Strength 13. The Remember Service 14. A Young Girl's Virtue Preserved by the Devil 15. Crook-Neck Dick 16. Louis Alexander 17. The Apothecary and The Mermaid 18. The Man Who Wouldn't Believe He Was Dead 19. Daid Aaron, I 20. Daid Aaron, II 21. Buried Treasure; Or, The Two Bold Fisherman

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Book SynopsisSamantha Ball is not only broke, she is GBP22000 in debt and soon to be homeless if she cannot get the money together for her rent, so when she is offered the opportunity to earn some money for a hotline to the heavens by giving tarot readings, she jumps at the chance, despite the fact that she does not have a psychic bone in her body - or does she? When Sam starts to hear voices of real dead people her psychic career really takes off and she soon becomes a psychic to the stars with her own slot on a prime time TV show. Someone however does not share Sam s joy and it's only when they set out to destroy her reputation does Sam really need help from the other side.

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Book SynopsisSam's back and now she can see dead people! Following on from, Oh Great, Now I Can Hear Dead People, this fun tale follows Sam's journey as she develops on her eventful journey as a psychic. Sam is busy planning her wedding to her budding pop-star boyfriend Jack, so when she's asked to perform a seance for her mother's WI group on Halloween, she reluctantly agrees. Being preoccupied with seating plans, Sam forgets to close the circle and sets free a whole host of spirits in to our world, who refuse to go back unless they get an invite to the wedding. As Sam struggles with life as a modern psychic, planning her wedding, and trying to help her spirit guide Ange - a good-time Essex girl, who's only interest is what Cheryl Cole is wearing and Heat magazine, she is shocked to hear that Amy, her ex-best friend desperately needs her help and even more shocked when Amy decides her own fate. Oh Great, Now I Can See Dead People is a funny glimpse into the ever crazy world of Sam and her hilarious dead entourage!

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Book SynopsisA diary of a female serial killer is found by the man who was tracking her. While reading it, he discovers that she killed people because she 'saw their evil in their reflections'. He reads accounts of how her dependence on alcohol grew worse with each death, leading to her child being born stillborn and finds that, although she is dead, there is a powerful connection between them.

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Book SynopsisExploring forgotten history and the nature of reality, The World Walker is an adventure of magic and mystery, set during a world-transcending struggle for freedom in a future time of global supremacy. During a time when the hidden leaders of the world are converging into a global elite oligarchy, a common problem of rebellion is spreading and about to reach a pinnacle. Nobody can see this more clearly than Jen, a Raiceman soldier, desperately wishing to escape a life of combat and explore his roots and Elera, who finds herself drawn into a sacred journey to rediscover the true history of humanity. Jen and Elera soon discover their interwoven parts in a story that has unfolded throughout antiquity. Wise protectors and powerful demons step from the shadows to reveal their part in the history of the universe. New worlds open, as those craving power and those seeking freedom are brought together in a series of melodic events. A story of hope, courage and freedom, The World Walker explores the physical, dream and spirit realms of existence.

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Book SynopsisA Mistletoe Bride is murdered on Christmas Eve, 1893. Her ghost haunts the family stately home, Willow Manor, until her remains are discovered and the truth revealed. Set in the present day and Victorian England, the tragic young bride can at last share her story and put right the terrible injustice that destroyed her family and those she loved. The city of Oxford's Randolph Hotel, and the village of Minster Lovell, the site of the stately home, are the locations for this heartwrenching story of deceit, love and betrayal. The Mistletoe Bride, a local legend, was popularised in a poem by Thomas Haynes Bailey in 1884, and then set to music to become the popular song: The Mistletoe Bough!

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Book SynopsisSandy Beech doesn't believe in witches and the supernatural. However, certain strange events occur which put his scepticism to the test: a burning book, a falling crucifix, a mysterious illness, and a fire in a convent which kills all twelve nuns. On her deathbed, Bernadette, the last surviving nun, warns him to control his lusts and avoid African women. Sandy finds this difficult, since he is attracted to exotic, dark-skinned women and after his hedonistic university exchange year in Paris, marries Rocky from the Ivory Coast. Five years later, childless and with the marriage souring, they decide to visit Rocky's home country. Sandy is drawn into a world of strange beliefs and practices: he finds out about the Witch's List - a list of people destined to die, and is attacked by various animals starting with a ferocious dog in Abidjan. He delves further and further into the realm of African witchcraft, but the horrific truth remains obscure...The Witch's List is the first of a trilogy.Trade ReviewAndrew Cairns has written, quite literally, a bewitching novel, one that speaks to an underbelly which lies dormant in us all. The Witch's List bridges our world of convention, with that of a fabulous Twilight Zone, what may be true reality -- a realm of magic and ultimate possibility. I recommend this book because, behind the smokescreen of simplicity, there lies a masked bedrock of extraordinary power. -- Tahir Shah, author of The Caliph's House 2016 Review Rating:4 stars.Once you're on the witch's list, you're as good as dead." Andrew Cairns' novel, The Witch's List, is a beguiling supernatural novel that follows Sandy Beech through childhood into his adult years. His attraction to exotic black women lures him into the dark world of witchcraft. Peculiar things happen when his girlfriend's cousin casts a spell and he becomes ill. Sandy ignores the warning of a dying nun and marries Rocky, another woman from the Ivory Coast. They visit her homeland where Sandy learns about the nonconforming culture and witchcraft. He observes how a few people suddenly become ill, and the superstitious reactions of others who believe the sick were on the witch's list. Sandy meets a strange old woman in the woods who warns him of danger, but the horrific truth remains obscure.Andrew Cairns writes convincingly and The Witch's List is a compelling dark story. Its protagonist, Sandy Beech, brings out his conflicting emotions through flowing narration. Although he is a nice person in general, Sandy's character is weak, especially around women, and he can be manipulated into doing things he knows are wrong. The author's writing is very detailed. I liked learning about the cultural differences that divide the Ivory Coast, as well as its intriguing black magic that still plays a dominant role in many Ivorian lives. I think the book's cover is so appealing and appropriate. The Witch's List by Andrew Cairns is an interesting story. -- Michelle Stanley Readers' Favorite, May 2016

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Book SynopsisIn the Land of Dreams is the story of a man who believes he is being stalked by the ghost of an ancestor, who, for reasons unknown, has returned to lower Manhattan, where he owned a tavern in the 1680s. Eventually the ghostly stalker is taken into the city-sponsored residential program in which our narrator lives, and reveals himself to be his troubled ancestor. He tells a story of violent and irrevocable events that caused a curse to be placed on their family. Both men are looking for redemption, the ancestor through confessing his role in the long-ago troubles and the narrator by finding the right way to interpret these shocking events...

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Book SynopsisOff the south of England, an old evil has been set free... While drilling out at sea, the ill-fated crew of a rig have released something old, something that’s been waiting to return to the surface – a hive of sea sirens; Creatures that need human hosts to survive and human faces to lure people to their demise. Kirsten Costello is a model from East London. Bored of her vacuous existence, she leaves her old life of excess behind and moves to Brighton with her cousin Simone. After a random attack one night under Brighton Pier, Kirsten becomes the object of one of the creature's obsession. Psychically linked by its scratch, she becomes a beacon for its desire to use her body as its own and be the face they need. Always knowing where she is, constantly stalking her by night, it seems there is no way to escape. With the help of Simone, her girlfriend Geena, and local Clairvoyant, Melissa Clarke, Kirsten must fight back against the creature, as it tries to drag her back down below into the depths, down into the Night Waves.

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Book SynopsisWhere there is darkness, there isn't always light… Dayna Harris thought her problems began in her bedroom. More specifically in her bed, the bed she'd shared with her husband, Richard, for twenty-six years. The bed where she witnessed Richard cheating on her with a woman half his age. But maybe they really began in the motel room that day. What conjured the dark figure Dayna first glimpsed in the motel mirror? The dark figure that continues to haunt her as her marriage to Richard crumbles. Consumed by Richard’s infidelity, Dayna begins unravelling his lies revealing a husband she never knew. Now, psychologically imprisoned by a manipulative and dangerous husband, can Dayna find the courage to leave, and can she discover if the very real shadow that torments her is a figment of her imagination or something more sinister? In this edgy paranormal psychological thriller, author J.M. White takes us into the realms of the unknown, lives that are built on lies, forces we can’t always explain and the emotional torture of domestic abuse. It shows one woman’s search for light in the darkness.

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Book SynopsisNewlywed Will Battese finds himself homesick and overwhelmed after following his ambitious wife, Shannon, to New York City. When a surprise pregnancy shreds their already meager budget, Will drops out of college and settles for work at a low-end diner. There, a small act of kindness draws the attention of Victor Degas, a man with an unsettling presence and deformed eyes. Unbeknownst to Will, Degas belongs to an ancient, sophisticated cult known as the Edens and believes Will to be the key to gaining otherworldly power. As the sun sets on Good Friday, Degas orchestrates a home invasion in which Will and his baby boy, Gideon, are kidnapped, leaving Shannon to join forces with an unreliable agent from the Roman Catholic Church. While Will struggles to save other innocents from the Eden parish below the city, Shannon discovers that the cult plans to use her family for an unimaginable demonic ritual, and that the Vatican may let it happen. With no one to trust but themselves, Shannon and Will must fight not only to survive, but to keep their humanity intact. THE CULT OF EDEN is the first volume in The Unrisen saga.

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Book SynopsisThe most common explanation for the Bigfoot phenomena is that they are artificial life forms brought to Earth tens of thousands of years ago by aliens, designed to evolve and learn about the nature of the earth and its inhabitants. In Ron Meyer and Mark Reeder's gripping story, thousands of Bigfoot are poised to combine their knowledge and merge with the first genuine, human-made AGI machine. Over three days, in the primordial forest of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, the Bigfoot take an evolutionary leap...

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Book SynopsisBasil the demon king has come to a crossroads. He has grown tired of life underground and regretful of the atrocities he has committed to maintain his hold on power. Wanderlust leads him to the surface, to live freely among humans. Considering the state of the world, most humans seem unfazed by his arrival - but not all. A religious zealot with murderous intentions and a vengeful biker gang seek his end. Meanwhile, Basil must contend with two internal forces: the disturbing dreams that suggest he once walked the earth as a human; and the pull of the underworld, drawing him back to deal with the troubles he left behind - namely, a cunning foe who craves the throne, a monstrous kraken, and an ancient evil as cold and dark as the soil. 'Burn, Beautiful Soul is The Wizard of Oz with a demon Dorothy... It is a loving but unsentimental dissection of America and its people. It is a story you will never forget.' John Schoffstall, author of Half-Witch

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Book SynopsisKait’s volcanic temper has already scared most of her friends away, and a bad breakup with her college boyfriend Lutz has left her crippled by guilt and painful memories. So, when she learns that her best friend Alice is planning a three-day sabbatical in a secluded mountain cabin, Kait jumps at the chance to tag along, convinced that rekindling their fractured friendship is the key to fixing whatever’s breaking down inside of her. She should have known… Lutz would never let her go so easily. After a chance roadside meeting, Kait’s jealous ex-boyfriend pursues her into the foothills, revealing the monster under his skin for the first time: a body-snatching inhuman entity capable of assimilating and adopting the guise of any human host. Lutz is determined to prove his twisted love to Kait, even if it means carving his monument to his devotion in the pilfered flesh of her closest friends. Now, with miles of snow-hushed Appalachia between them and civilization, Kait must unite her friends against this horrifying threat, and learn to embrace her own inner monster, before the shadows of her past swallow up her life for good.

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Book SynopsisRural East Texas, 1968 Calvina ("Cal") Jean Prather is a 10-year-old precocious angel hunter living in Onward, Texas. She is blessed by birthright to be a "special purpose" child who can see the angels on Earth as they go about their celestial tasks. She lives with her mortician granddaddy in their combined house and funeral parlor. Cal's best friend is Moody, a child with social challenges. Enthralled by local legend, the duo secretly heads for the forbidden reaches of the Sabine River Bottom, where they witness a murder confession while playing an innocent game of Indian scouts. When the killers seek to silence Cal and Moody as witnesses, the children realize that they are tangled in a dangerous web. Cal must soon choose between her solemn oath not to call on the angels to intervene in Earthly matters, or risk the lives of those she loves. Only one angel can be summoned on such short notice who has the light and power to save her: Lucifer. Her gamble with the devil brings her to the jaws of death, and Onward to a reckoning with their own prejudices. Cal must choose between her promise, her loved ones, and her own place in eternity. The revelations reveal the circumstances of her mother's death, the origin of her powers, and who she can claim as her father.

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Book SynopsisIn the brilliant red doom of a Hampshire Sunset Brigit Conti can hear a voice behind her ears that is not her own. Bed-bound, and complaining of a rare bone disease that no Doctor can diagnose, her husband fears that the house they have purchased is a portal through which an older, more malign energy has passed, possessing his wife and son. Through their successive deterioration his secular and agnostic world-view undergoes a metamorphosis, drawing him to a strange man from the hills: the Rector, their unlikely saviour. Or are he and his family merely victims of their own self-serving yuppie way of life? "You Were The Picture of Contented New Wealth" is a gothic tragedy set in the nineteen eighties, bringing proper characterisation and a literary sensibility to the traditional horror story. It's mix of generic elements and mystical realism deal with the irreducibility of evil and its successful normalisation in to our daily and dominant reality.Trade ReviewFor previous Whitbread prize novel,Homage to a firing squad: A pacy, poised and undeniably exciting debut...a teat bleakly humorous, well written adventure Boyd Tonkin, Independent

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Book SynopsisTwo years after jilting his bride and escaping his hometown of Gracious, Brad Van Reed returns to the aid of his eleven year old sister, Kristen. Though he’s having a hard time believing that the old amulet in her possession gives her the power to create sinkholes or see that an evil entity named Nowhere Man is coming for her, Brad’s intent on helping her through this phase. But then, Kristen’s kidnapped by toxic creatures who claim to be under Nowhere Man’s thrall. Left with nowhere else to go, Brad seeks out the help of his former fiancé and aspiring astrophysicist, Felicity. But Felicity has new problems of her own: while seeking out a meteorite that supposedly fell to the mountains surrounding Gracious in the nineteenth century, her girlfriend Emily “Flick” Flickinger falls under the thrall of Nowhere Man and flees into the wilderness. Joining forces with crusty recluse Joseph LeFevre, Brad and Felicity stumble on a device similar to Kristen’s locket. These make up two parts of a powerful ancient weapon designed to stop Nowhere Man, but the third is missing. Can they find the long lost third item before it’s too late? File Under: Science Fiction [ Space Rocks Thing around your neck We are nowhere Small town, big consequences ]Trade ReviewFaraday blends sf and Lovecraft with a narrative voice akin to Stephen King. "Readers will especially enjoy Kristen’s Wednesday Addams vibe."

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book Synopsis#1 New York Times bestselling author Peter Straub’s classic tale of horror, secrets, and the dangerous ghosts of the past...   What was the worst thing you’ve ever done?   In the sleepy town of Milburn, New York, four old men gather to tell each other stories—some true, some made-up, all of them frightening. A simple pastime to divert themselves from their quiet lives.   But one story is coming back to haunt them and their small town. A tale of something they did long ago. A wicked mistake. A horrifying accident. And they are about to learn that no one can bury the past forever...

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