Horror & Ghost Stories Books

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Book SynopsisA fantastic new companion for late-night scares as the nights draw in. Chilling ghost stories from the era of the fireside tale, a series of dark and foreboding missives from the masterful pens of Charles Dickens, E.F. Benson, Algernon Blackwood, Sabine Baring-Gould, Vernon Lee, Edith Nesbit and the master of all, M.R. James. FLAME TREE 451: From myth to mystery, the supernatural to horror, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

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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 finger-tip tingling selection of ghostly capers from E.F. Benson, Algernon Blackwood, Dick Donovan, H.D. Everett, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, William Hope Hodgson, W.W. Jacobs, M.R. James, Bram Stoker, H.G. Wells and Edith Wharton. Gothic mansions, haunted estates, houses over-run by phantoms: this new collection of classic tales will keep you entertained in the long watches of the night. FLAME TREE 451: From myth to mystery, the supernatural to horror, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

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Book SynopsisPhantoms of the dead, warning apparitions and necromancy – there are many stories of ghosts to be found in the retold literature of ancient peoples: ‘Khonsemhab and the Ghost’ and ‘The Adventure of Setne Khamwas with the Mummies’, both from Ancient Egypt; ‘Philinnion and Machates’ from Ancient Rome; spirits featured in Homer’s Odyssey, from Ancient Greece; tales of Babylonian demons and the netherworld; and stories of fire apparitions from Japan. The Vikings too had their fair share of ghosts, such as crop up in the 13th-century Icelandic Laxdaela Saga. These stories are all brought together in this new collection for an intriguing insight into the spirit world of early cultures. FLAME TREE 451: From myth to mystery, the supernatural to horror, fantasy and science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic.

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Book SynopsisAlong with Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker and Oscar Wilde, Robert Louis Stevenson brought to life the monstrous nature that hides within humanity. For his masterpiece The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde, the clever manipulator of the dark and gothic mood revealed the duality of human nature with a tale that resonates still today. This new selection gathers together 'The Body Snatcher', 'A Lodging for the Night', 'The Isle of Voices', 'The Bottle Imp', 'Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk', and many other chilling and thrilling stories for readers who delight in the shadows and the mysterious. 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 SynopsisShe lives in their dreams. They die in hers.Nothing good can grow in the forgotten town of Bedford. After the closure of the paper mill, the town has become a wasteland. A decade of layoffs has caused a collective bitterness, leading many inhabitants to alcoholism, crime and abuse. The worst symptom, however, is the nightmare they all share every single night.Susan Marley haunts their dreams. The object of derision, lust and fear, she wanders the town barefoot, never saying a word. But when she dies, betrayed by life one final time, Bedford begins to suffer horrors far more terrifying than any vision.What dark secrets has Susan Marley been keeping?And why has she come back?For fans of A. M. Shine and Rebecca Netley, The Keeper is a chilling small-town horror from Bram Stoker Award winner Sarah Langan.'Inhabits the mind like a dark, lingering smoke' Jack Ketchum, author of Offspring'Sarah Langan combines a genuinely poetic sensibility with a taste for horror's most bravura excesses' Peter Straub, author of Ghost Story

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Book SynopsisOne of the titles in an exciting series of beloved, charming and spooky ghost stories, brought to life by legendary illustrator Seth. When Lady Jane Lynke unexpectedly inherits Bells, a beautiful country estate, she declares she'll never leave the peaceful grounds and sets about making the house her home. But she hasn't reckoned on the obstinate Mr Jones, the caretaker she's told dislikes her changes, yet never seems able to be found.Trade Review[This] series of Christmas ghost stories, miniature books chosen and illustrated by the cartoonist Seth... [offers] chills-and charm. -- John Williams * New York Times *I just bought my set of these and they... are... PERFECT. I hope they do these every year. -- Patton OswaltEach of these tiny books-20 volumes now-is cleverly illustrated by the cartoonist known as Seth. Even smaller than a Christmas card, they make fun literary stocking stuffers. -- Ron Charles * Washington Post *Seth's evocative covers and black-and-white interior illustrations provide the perfect accompaniment to the stories ... Highly recommended for the horror lovers looking for something special in this post-Halloween season. -- Blu Gilliand * Cemetary Dance *The Seth editions are harbingers of a Christmas ghost story revival. -- Nathalie Akinson * Zoomer *

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Book SynopsisA classic ghost story illustrated by acclaimed cartoonist, Seth.When the Pole-Star is trapped in Arctic ice, its voyage comes to a halt and the lives of the crew are in danger. Superstition soon takes hold as the frightened men claim to hear ghosts in the darkness – but it’s the captain’s increasingly strange behaviour that concerns them the most.

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Book SynopsisA classic ghost story illustrated by acclaimed cartoonist, Seth.A man is unexpectedly appointed as doctor at the local prison. But when a terrified inmate begs to be moved, the young doctor begins to question his good fortune: the cell adjacent to the frightened man has been boarded up for years – and no one will let the doctor inside.

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Book SynopsisLONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/FAULKNER AWARD'Dripping with menace ... brilliantly written ... compelling, shocking and beautiful' Liz Nugent'Brilliant ... highly recommended' Sunday TimesAn unsettling and emotional riveting thriller about fathers and sons, revenge and forgiveness and ghosts from our past. A book not to read alone in the dark... When single father Todd Nasca is spotted on the beach by an old enemy - his high school bully Jack Gates - he is prepared for a tense encounter. But Jack, who hasn't seen Todd in fifteen years, is radiant, and overjoyed to have run into him. Jack suggests a meal to catch up. And by the way, Jack wonders, could he spend the night?Caught off guard by this chance interaction, Todd finds himself unable to escape Jack's charismatic and insistent presence in his home. One night turns into days; and as Jack begins to deepen his relationship with Todd's son, fear starts to set in. What is Jack up to?What follows is a fast-paced story of obsession and violence, showing that love and hate can be intertwined until the very last breath...'Habib's debut novel is a bleak, dark adrenaline rush' Clive BarkerTrade ReviewStandouts include ... Conner Habib's Hawk Mountain, a paranoid and unsettling tale of masculinity in crisis. * Guardian, 'The best crime and thriller books of 2022' *Conner Habib's Hawk Mountain was one of the most impressive debuts of the year. Set in New England, it explores the long-term consequences of bullying as Todd, now in his 30s, and the father of a young boy, encounters his high school nemesis, although the inevitable reckoning is as innovative as it is poignant. * Irish Times, 'The best crime fiction of 2022' *Habib ramps the paranoia up to Highsmithian levels * Guardian *Dripping with menace from the first page, this story of childhood enemies meeting up fifteen years later is utterly enthralling. Brilliantly written with homoerotic undertones, this savage tale is uncompromising in its reflection of teen friendships and isolation, and unflinching in its examination of the delicacy of the human body. There is gold among the gore. I found it compelling, shocking, and beautiful. * Liz Nugent *Conner Habib writes with an hallucinatory precision, and a kind of merciless humanity, about the poisonous work of repression. His forebears-Poe, Highsmith, even classical tragedy-are clear, but his originality is clearer still. Hawk Mountain is a work of strange, glittering darkness. * Mark O’Connell *

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Book Synopsis'A bawdy burlesque' Guardian A collection of witty, transgressive tales from the great Enlightenment thinker, best known for his inimitable blend of philosophy and scandalous sexuality The Marquis de Sade's fiction has electrified generations of readers and earned him a scandalous reputation. But Sade was a moralist above all. In these baroque, salacious tales, aristocrats are caught in a web of incestuous misunderstandings, village priests deceive godly parishioners, and modest housewives satisfy immodest appetites. Comic and tragic by turns, all pose a profound challenge to convention. These maliciously entertaining stories reveal France's infamous libertine as an author whose range and insight can still astonish, centuries after he first shocked polite society.Part of the Pushkin Press Classics series: timeless storytelling by icons of literature, hand-picked from around the globe.Translated by Margaret Crosland.

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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 SynopsisA master of many literary genres, Arthur Conan Doyle excelled particularly in the short-story form, and was acclaimed in his day as much for his detective stories as for his thrilling tales of mystery and the supernatural. While the adventures of Sherlock Holmes have become part of our collective imagination, these stories - concerned with ghosts, obscure scientific experiments and other unexplained phenomena - are now unjustly neglected.Trade Review"There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact." - Arthur Conan DoyleTable of ContentsContains: The Brown Hand, The Usher of Lea House School, B.24, The Great Keinplatz Experiment, Cyprian Overbeck Wells, Playing with Fire, The Ring of Thoth, The Los Amigos Fiasco, How it Happened, Lot No. 249, De Profundis, The Lift.

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Book SynopsisWhen Francis Raven is roused from his sleep on the eve of his birthday and confronted by the sight of a woman trying to stab him, he is unsure whether she is real or an apparition. Years later, against the wishes of his mother, he marries Alicia, a woman with a strange resemblance to the mysterious visitor, who ends up attacking him on his birthday, before vanishing from his life. Is Francis's wife a ghost, a demon or a living human being? And will the prophecy of the night-time visitation be fulfilled one day? Originally published in Household Words in 1855 as 'The Ostler', but recast and expanded two decades later, The Dream Woman is a powerfully dark and suspenseful multi-narrative novella from the master of the mystery genre and the author of some of the most enduringly popular novels of the Victorian era.Trade ReviewA master of plot and situation. -- T.S. Eliot

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Book SynopsisFirst published in 1815, The Devil's Elixirs is a macabre masterpiece of German literature, and is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the Romantic movement, or the genres of fantasy and horror which it spawned.

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Book SynopsisEbenezer Scrooge is a lonely, miserly old man who hates Christmas, which he dismisses as "humbug". One Christmas Eve, however, he is visited by a series of ghosts who reveal to him the innocence he has lost, the wretchedness of his future and the poverty of the present, which he has so far ignored. This experience teaches Scrooge the true meaning of the holiday and leaves him a transformed man. With its memorable cast of characters such as Scrooge, Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol is the most heart-warming of seasonal tales, a timeless classic that continues to enchant readers around the world and a lesson in charity and hopefulness that is as powerful today as when it was first written in 1843.Trade ReviewThe power of [Dickens] is so amazing that the reader at once becomes his captive. -- William Makepeace Thackeray

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Book SynopsisHaving frittered away his family’s fortune in Paris, the profligate Guido, driven by his ungovernable passions, is forced out of his native Genoa and harbours plans for revenge. After a mighty storm, he sees a mysterious, misshapen creature approaching from the sea, with whom he makes an infernal bargain to exchange bodies, with momentous consequences. First published in 1831 and here presented with the supernatural stories ‘The Evil Eye’ and ‘The Mortal Immortal’, the chilling Gothic tale ‘Transformation’ is a paragon of the genre by the author of Frankenstein.

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Book SynopsisWhen Paul d'Aspremont travels to Naples to join Alicia Ward, his beautiful fiancee, he is surprised to see her grow pale under his gaze, and to discover that an Italian suitor, Count Altavilla, is trying to win her affections. Soon the strange gestures and whispers of the locals convince him - against his better judgement - that indeed he has the evil eye, and that he must resort to extreme measures if he wants to shield Alicia from its deadly effects. This 1856 novella from the master of fantasy and the supernatural, featuring one of the most hauntingly surreal denouements in nineteenth-century fiction, is a brilliant and witty examination of man's innermost fantasies and fears.Trade Review"An eerie little masterpiece about a rationalist gradually persuaded of the existence of the irrational." - Gilbert Adair

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Book SynopsisAn enigmatic countess is tormented by a dark secret. An English aristocrat, Lord Montbarry, falls ill and dies in a decaying Venetian palazzo. An Italian servant disappears, and his wife receives a note containing one thousand pounds. With the palazzo now transformed into a luxury hotel, and the late Lord Montbarry’s family in residence, these strands begin to come together, yet strange and macabre events are occurring, and the dead seem unable to rest.Trade ReviewWilkie Collins is the finest practitioner of the novel of sensation. * The Daily Telegraph *

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Book SynopsisThis annotated short-story collection is the perfect companion to Tales of Horror, published by Alma Classics. The two volumes include all the stories by Edgar Allan Poe.The only novel completed by the master of the short-story form, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym relates the rollicking adventures of a boy from Nantucket as he boards a succession of ships and travels in the farthest regions of the southern hemisphere. On the way, he experiences the hardships and dangers of life at sea, surviving a violent storm, stowing away on a whaling ship and being reduced to the most extreme measures by hunger. The result is a yarn as thrilling as any of Poe''s horror stories.Alongside Pym''s exploits, this collection includes many celebrated tales, such as ''The Cask of Amontillado'', ''The Gold Bug'' and ''Hop-Frog'', as well as Poe''s second, unfinished novel, The Journal of Julius Rodman, all of which bear witness to the narrative genius of one of America''s greatest storytellers.

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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 SynopsisAn experiment into the sources of the human brain through the mind of a young woman has gone horribly wrong. She has seen the great god Pan and will die giving birth to a daughter. Twenty years later feted society hostess Helen Vaughan becomes the source of much fevered speculation. Many men are infatuated with her beauty, but great beauty has a price, sometimes you have to pay with the only thing you have left. The Great God Pan was a sensation when first published in 1894. Its author, Arthur Machen, was a struggling unknown writer living in London. He had translated Casanova's memoirs and was living on a small inheritance. He immediately became one of the most talked-about writers of the last years of the nineteenth century, while the publication marked the start of his ongoing influence on modern fantasy and horror. Machen's dark imaginings of the reality behind ancient beliefs feature again in the acclaimed, mesmerising short story 'The White People' and the curious tale 'The Shining Pyramid', also in this volume.Trade Review'One of the greatest horror stories ever written.' Stephen King 'Machen is a genius right enough but I won't take him to bed with me again.' Arthur Conan Doyle 'Arthur Machen...is a mystic, who knew that there exists a threshold which, if it is stepped over, will show us a subtly altered reality.' Clive Barker 'For ability to create an atmosphere of nameless terror I can think of no author living or dead who comes near to him.' Jerome K. JeromeTable of ContentsThe Great God Pan The Shining Pyramid The White People

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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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