horror – fairy tale/folklore

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Summary: Turmoil consumes the Underworld when the death of a god leaves a power vacuum. Phobetor, the stern and ambitious god of Nightmares seeks to fill the gap at any cost. Murderous nightmare daemons escape to the mortal realm, placing all of mankind in peril. In the midst of the unrest, star-crossed lovers yearn for one another across the void, one disempowered and bound to the Earth, the other trapped in the land of dreams by a grave sacrifice. Will love conquer all, or is the world's only salvation a god with an iron fist? "Chaos reigns supreme in the land of dreams and in reality. Earth’s only hope is in the hands of two lovers who have been separated after making a supreme sacrifice." - David Watson, HorrorAddicts.net

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Summary: RISE (noun / verb) Eight definitions to inspire writers around the world, and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) An upward slope or movement 2) A beginning or origin 3) An increase in amount or number 4) An angry reaction 5) To take up arms 6) To return from death 7) To become heartened or elated 8) To exert oneself to meet a challenge Rise features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

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Summary: “Aye, well, what is an angel, anyway?” At Samhain, things in Llwyncudd are taking a turn for the strange and bizarre. The red dragon is spotted around town trying to dig its own grave whilst his vessel is happily participating in life elsewhere. Did Stewart’s dragon spirit leave him? Michael, can’t live with the thought. Meanwhile, Dr Lilibeth Blackthorne, PsyD, has moved to town at her brother Sam’s suggestion. Many of its residents are in desperate need of her counselling services and she’s uniquely qualified—even if she’s never particularly seen multiple personalities quite like this. Fairy-halfling Arthen also joins the town after being raised in the local fairy village on the other side. Despite the odd cultural clashes of living in a society that requires silly things like clothing, he is making many new friends and is more special than his former masters would have him believe. Join our friends as they battle their demons from the darker side of the veil in Green Hills and Battlefields—the thrilling fifth book of the Green Hills Series by Celyn Kendrick!

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Summary: Armand Tarkanian is trapped in the ultimate dead-end job: embalming decedents under his abusive uncle’s watchful eye. Every day he goes through the motions, making death look beautiful while his life is anything but. A car accident leaves him indebted to Berj, a mysterious man with rune-carved gold teeth and a penchant for worshipping old gods. Blackmailed and desperate, Armand feels more trapped than he was under his uncle’s thumb. But the embalmer harbors his own dark secret, a bloodline curse that allows him to communicate with the dead. When the spirits show him how they were murdered, Armand must choose between fealty to the sadistic and manipulative Berj, or joining the Legion of the Lamb, a monster-hunting biker gang with their own agenda. What began as a dangerous game between secret societies has led Armand on a frightening quest to save the only family he’s ever known and a chance to get closer to the rebellious misfits who saved him.

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Summary: Clarity (noun) Four definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) Coherent and intelligible 2) Transparent or pure 3) Attaining certainty about something 4) Easy to see or hear Clarity features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

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Summary: There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community. These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others that have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us. These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales. *** Life and Death and Family Secrets... Sheridan Cascaden faces more than memories when she receives a call in the darkest hours summoning her home. Sent away five years prior to safeguard her from the evil that claimed her mother, Sheridan hasn't been back since. She returns to find her home in a disturbing state and her father straddling the Veil, with no explanation of what happened. Not only must she deal with her own demons, but she will have to delve into his if she is to unlock the mystery and save Papa's life. But where lies the line between truth and madness among the shifting shadows? And can Sheridan navigate it before it's too late... for both of them?

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Summary: Humans are, so far as we know, the only creatures on this planet who mark the passage of time. As such, we are keenly aware from an early age that time is tick, tick, ticking away. In the end, for all of us, is Death. We fear it. We are intoxicated by it. We run from it and somehow find ourselves wrapped in its dark-robed arms. A small village suffering through a terrifying plague seek a solution from a prophet. A “pig” crawls on his hands and knees through the dark labyrinth of a BDSM dungeon in search of the only thing that can satiate his hunger. Two young men find themselves chased through the woods by a real-life urban legend. A lonely young man finds a boon companion in Death. These stories and more fill Darkest Death, a collection of short horror fiction by W. Dale Jordan, author of The Stop.

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Summary: In this second instalment of the Damien the Devil series, we see Damien has found a new, more permanent home outside the foster system with Pat, Damien's Renfield and caseworker, and his twin brother Matt. He is also enjoying a budding romantic relationship with Brian, another boy from the foster home. But after the two of them are caught kissing, Damien is kicked out on the streets in the middle of the night-only to find himself in a very dangerous situation with a vampire. Brian, feeling guilty about the whole situation, goes looking for Damien the next evening, only to fall victim to the vampire's trap himself. Damien and Pat save Brian, but he's unable to remember what happened that night-until he starts to be plagued with nightmares. Meanwhile, Damien is too afraid to reveal to Brian that he is a vampeal: a half-vampire and half-human. Will they both be able to handle the truth of what each other is hiding?

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Summary: INK (NOUN) Five definitions to inspire writers around the world and an unlimited number of possible stories to tell: 1) A colored fluid used for writing 2) The action of signing a deal 3) A black liquid ejected by squid 4) Publicity in the written media 5) A slang word for tattoos Ink features 300-word speculative flash fiction stories from across the rainbow spectrum, from the minds of the writers of Queer Sci Fi.

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Summary: So what's a young gay boy living in the eighty's from suburbs of Dayton, Ohio to do, when he comes out to his family, only to finds out his family has been keeping their own secrets. Jason Wynwood just turned 18 finding out he is in a long bloodline of witches. As Jason searches for love, he falls for a mysterious black haired gentleman named Damien. Jason is thrown into a dangerous world of magic with witches, vampires and werewolves, and a glittery nightlife sexual pleasures. He also discovers Young gay men have been turning up dead at rest stops all over surrounding areas. Police suspect that it's the work of a serial killer. But when a friend ends up dead it becomes personal. Can Jason find the killer before anyone else turns up dead?

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Summary: Damien is a 14 year old orphan that has grown up  in foster homes all his life. He finds out that he is a "Vampeal" , a child born from a vampire and human. If that wasn't bad enough Damien is a teenager that is dealing with his feelings for other boys. Damien is put into a home that the foster parents are very religious and he ends up on the street. Patrick is Damien's caseworker and if fresh out of college is assigned to look after him but finds out that Damien is no longer at the foster home. So Patrick sets out to look for him, which turns out to be a very dangerous road for both of them.

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Summary: A story born in the hollers of Eastern Kentucky. Elizabeth Robinson. An Elizabeth Robinson has lived in the hills of Eastern Kentucky as long as people have built permanent settlements in the lush, green forests. While the mountains recover from the War of Northern Aggression, the simple folk seek the healings of the Robinson women. Three generations, working the ways from the old country, live in isolation. The youngest Elizabeth Robinson, a healer by happenstance, despises her role in the family. She longs for freedom, the wilderness of her youth, an escape from a dark secret. Alone in the forest, she stumbles upon the ghost of a Yankee soldier, Samuel Henry. Determined to help Samuel pass beyond the veil, Elizabeth brings him back to her mountain home. Turning of the wheel of fortune, prosperity changes to misfortune for the Robinsons, and a menacing figure lingers like a thick fog. Generations, built on lies, force Elizabeth to face a bleak reality and make the ultimate sacrifice.

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Summary: While Sacrum Umbra showed us the darkness of our own shadow, and In Ventre Tuo the guts of our inner monster, The Lesser Apocrypha is still another beast altogether. Meant to gather together the stranger stories, it contains some of the more surreal and ephemeral stories, the ones that just are without much rhyme or reason. Stories like an odd moment in the park, the strange child who won't stop haunting you, an alien invasion that gets very personal, an AI born of a lolcat, monsters in the woods, and a spell gone terribly wrong.

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Summary: Love defies time, crosses the infinite distance of space, and sparks formidable magics in the hearts of those it touches. And immortality? Yeah, it’s got that covered, too. In this powerful volume, Pop Seagull Publishing presents twelve science fiction and fantasy short stories on the theme of love and its role as a force of nature. Follow an ambitious 1930’s journalist and her high-society boyfriend as they defend the world from evil beings that hide in shadows. Can love prevail when science fails? Take a wild ride with Zephraim Cochrane as he searches for his long lost love through inter-dimensional travel. After all, the best inventions are always made to get dates. Embark on a whirlwind romance with a creature of the Fey in seven days, a beautiful story of friendship and finding self-love before all else. Descend into a very Torontonian sort of hell in search of lost love in Melanie in the underworld... just don’t forget to pet the corgi. You’ll find these adventures, and many more, inside.

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Summary: The Fright Factory is here to help you as you labor in the control room, on the assembly line, or mixing the chemicals of inspiration and imagination in huge vats that give off dark and eerie vapors. Here you'll find guidance in drawing up the blueprints of your story along with a selection of tools to help you customize your design. The elements of horror include the setting, the tingle of suspense building into genuine fear, and of course the Monster. Those are the basics. From there horror can become ghost stories, tales of suspense, splatter and/or gross-out horror, and what might be called the O. Henry approach (twist endings). Cross-genre writing mixes in police procedurals, P.I. stories, and medical horror. Romance with monsters has become popular. You can also throw in the weird western, the Elder Gods, and Joe R. Lansdale - a category unto himself. Whether you're telling a weird tale in the classic tradition of Clark Ashton Smith or creating cutting edge steampunk frights, the long and venerable history of the horror story has also spawned a set of clichés you'll want to avoid. Now the whistle shrieks, signalling the beginning of a new shift. Time to set the machinery of the factory in motion as we explore the art and craft of building better horror.

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Summary: Nukekubi are a form of Japanese goblin that during the day look like ordinary folk. At night they separate their head from their body and fly around scaring people to death to feed on the energies released. Ray McAndrues, a Pagan wizard/priest, encounters a Nukekubi that is feasting on the people of Toronto and decides that he has got to put a stop to it. Ray gains allies in his quest in the form of two Japanese martial artists who have made hunting Nukekubi their life’s work and his on-again, off-again girlfriend Cathy, who is also a mystic. Problems arise when east and west do not communicate wall and Cathy is his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Also, what is the centuries-spanning tie that binds Ray to the Nukekubi and will it help or hinder the quest?