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horror

These are stories that will scare you and keep you from sleeping, if they are done right. It was a dark and stormy night… You can also check out these subcategories:

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Word Count: 121650

Summary: The helpless Noble I was once is no more. I am Red Sister Sirana, watching my city from the shadows. Once silent and disposable, I've found a place among the Sisterhood of Sivaraus, coarse, crude, and stirring to my blood. In crimson uniform I walk among sensual consorts, studious wizards, and sadistic Priestesses. I am an initiate with true influence in my underground city, a power both freeing and addicting. Everyone keeps secrets which bind them up if they jerk on the web too hard, and none are more vulnerable than novices wielding new power. Should my own secret come to the surface, I know I can't survive alone. I won't give up what I've found. Neither will the Sisterhood. Sivaraus will always need new Red Sisters, no matter what strangeness we bring with us. In Treasure Revealed, A.S. Etaski weaves threads of intrigue and action in this second tale of the Sister Seekers, where a new fighter tastes her potential in new connections that she must dare to strengthen by choice. Sister Seekers is dark epic fantasy for adults with an ever-broadening scope. The saga genre-hops a bit so things never get stale. Found Family is a core theme throughout. Perfect for fans of entwined plots, challenging themes, immersive worldbuilding, and elements of erotic horror. Sexuality and inner conflict play into character growth with nuanced intrigue, intense action, and fantastical magic.

Treasure Revealed - A.S. Etaski - Sister Seekers
Treasure Revealed: Sister Seekers 2
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Praised by literary journals, news outlets, and leading fiction magazines, Nisi Shawl is celebrated as an author whose works are lyrical and philosophical, speculative and far-ranging; “…broad in ambition and deep in accomplishment” (The Seattle Times). Besides nearly three decades of creating fantasy and science fiction, fairy tales, and indigenous stories, Nisi has also been lauded as editor, journalist, reviewer, teacher, speaker, afrofuturist, and proponent and mentor of feminism, African-American fiction, and other pedagogical issues of diversity. Dark Moon Books and editor Eric J. Guignard bring you this introduction to her work, the third in a series of primers exploring modern masters of literary dark short fiction. Herein is a chance to discover—or learn more of—the vibrant voice of Nisi Shawl, as beautifully illustrated by artist Michelle Prebich. Included within these pages are: • Six short stories, one written exclusively for this book • Author interview • Complete bibliography • Academic commentary by Michael Arnzen, PhD (former humanities chair and professor of the year, Seton Hill University) • … and more! Enter this doorway to the vast and fantastic: Get to know Nisi Shawl. Table of Contents includes: • Introduction by Eric J. Guignard • Nisi Shawl: A Biography • The Beads of Ku (fiction) • The Beads of Ku: A Commentary • Otherwise (fiction) • Otherwise: A Commentary • Just Between Us (fiction) • Just Between Us: A Commentary • At the Huts of Ajala (fiction) • At the Huts of Ajala: A Commentary • Street Worm (fiction) • Street Worm: A Commentary • Conversion Therapy (fiction) • Conversion Therapy: A Commentary • Why Nisi Shawl Matters by Michael Arnzen, PhD • In Conversation with Nisi Shawl • Written On The Water: An Essay by Nisi Shawl • A Bibliography of English Language Fiction for Nisi Shawl

Exploring Dark Short Fiction anthology
Exploring Dark Short Fiction #3: A Primer to Nisi Shawl
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Word Count: 98000

Summary: Zack thought he had a strange job before---Marine medic in a secret government base was odd, but personal assistant to a sidhe prince is downright bizarre and damn dangerous. Zack thought he had a strange job before. Working as a Marine medic in a secret government installation was odd, but working as a human liaison to the /fae/ and as the personal assistant to a sidhe prince is downright bizarre. Throw in the fact that he's pretty damn sure he's fallen in love with his boss, and things are close to unmanageable. Of course, around the fae, one never says 'things can't possibly get any worse.' Unexplained events plague the human world. Strange sightings, spontaneous magical explosions, and odd bends in reality crop up. When Finn falls ill and a monstrous creature attacks Zack, things quickly slide into disaster. Lycanthropy, loose-cannon mages, and Lugh conspire to make a hellish mess of things---but the real peril begins when Diego loses an important piece of his mind.

Semper Fae - Angel Martinez - Endangered Fae
Semper Fae
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Word Count: 75000

Summary: What if the person who hated you most was the only one who could save you? Thousands of gentlemen have gone bankrupt in Bridges and trouble brews between the Diamond and Spadros crime families. Yet the city is united in its desire to exact vengeance for those murdered in the zeppelin disaster. Penniless and alone, private eye Jacqueline Spadros confronts the lowest point of her life. Seen as an accomplice in the financial crisis and accused of a crime she didn't commit, Jacqui faces trial in front of a hostile jury - and could receive the death penalty. Jacqui knows she's been framed by the illusive Red Dog Gang. But will the jury believe her?

The King of Hearts - Patricia Loofbourrow - Red Dog Conspiracy
The King of Hearts: Part 4 of the Red Dog Conspiracy
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Word Count: 102000

Summary: Kerys Loring hopes an expedition to a distant alien ruin will make her career―assuming she lives long enough to still have one. Her last team made a significant find, but her bosses took all the recognition and grant money. When Avasar Biotechnology appeals to her unique combination of experience and desperation, she jumps at the chance, even if it means leaving her little brother behind for a three-year trip. At least she’ll be thousands of light-years away from her abusive ex. Within minutes of arrival, her excitement shatters at the sight of her ex already there. Clinging to the hope his position with botanical sciences will keep him away from her team, she forces herself to continue. On her first day in the ruins, she makes a profound discovery… but something goes terribly wrong. Her domineering ex soon becomes the least of her problems as an unstoppable alien threat plunges Wayfarer Outpost into chaos. Trapped in an isolated facility with death stalking every corridor, Kerys finds herself up against an even more insidious threat than ancient aliens: the truth.

Wayfarer AV494 - Matthew S. Cox
Wayfarer: AV494
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Word Count: 125650

Summary: My sister deserved her death, but I didn't kill her. The infamous Sisterhood couldn't care less - it's the perfect excuse to make their move. My name is Sirana. I am a young Noble trapped in a most wretched spot: accused of assassinating my sister, the Matron's heir. If I take the blame, I am next on the sacrificial altar. Dark Elves live for intrigue in our underground matriarchy. We bend the rules for the cunning and the bold. To survive, I must play the game. Court intrigue, demonic rituals, and mind-rending trials against deadly foes surround me, pervasive webs spun by our sadistic priesthood and the Queen’s brutal enforcers. Through it all, the Red Sisters delight in watching me. I must prove myself beneath their ravenous gazes, or I will become the next meal for our dark goddess. A.S. Etaski spins the first threads of an intense and epic tale with No Demons But Us, in which the trials of a young Davrin Elf test her resolve to rise from the depths of fear and hatred tearing her down. Sister Seekers is mature, dark epic fantasy with an ever-broadening scope. Found Family is a core theme throughout the saga, and fans of Dungeons & Dragons will discover homebrew grounds. Perfect for fans of entwined plots, challenging themes, elements of erotic horror, and immersive worldbuilding. Sexuality and inner conflict play into the character growth with nuance, intrigue, action, and fantastical magic. The series begins underground with an isolated race of Dark Elves whose intricate webs first ensnare then catapult us to places a Red Sister can only imagine in her dreams.

No Demons But Us - A.S. Etaski - Sister Seekers
No Demons But Us: Sister Seekers 1
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Word Count: 47,000

Summary: A collection of tales filled with monsters, be they human or beast, ranging in setting from dystopia to pitch black noir and even general silliness. From the ludicrous to the frighteningly plausible; from deep space to after the end of the world. There are clumsy werewolves and bloody revenge, monster sleep overs and a dieting fad sure to kill your appetite. Whether looking into the past or the future, you're sure to find that stuff gets really weird.

Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories - Andrea Speed
Shotgun Bastards and Other Stories
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Word Count: Information not available

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Bad "Things" lurk in dark, abandoned spaces...

Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces picks up the story where Rainey and her Team, along with Kendale's survivors, left off in Darkness.

Escaping a late-night Nagual attack, and with her lover held together by "shoelaces and bailing wire," Rainey encounters the secret behind the Nagual hidden within a black site lab--a secret from The Before with a treacherous purpose in The After.

Stopping the Nagual plan is hard enough, but her team has betrayed the trust of the town's survivors, while an attack by the Nagual's "Maker" and his militant allies looms. When someone compromises Preston's life, Rainey might be out of time and luck altogether.

The black site's lead scientist puts his agenda on hold until he and his militia support team can eliminate Rainey and her team. Tesla has a golden opportunity to test his Nagual creations against an old nemesis and the geopolitical forces standing in the way of his greater destiny.

Meanwhile, the emergent Nagual, Adam and Cain, have plans of their own.

Book 2 of 3 in this four part series, "Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces" brings a science-fiction take on cutting edge bioengineering that pits the limits of romance, loyalty, and community against a violent world hell-bent on devouring it all.

Book 1: Love, Death, & The After: Darkness

Book 2: Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces

Book 3: Love, Death, & The After: Never Again

Abandoned Spaces - CK Page - Love, Death & the After
Love, Death, & The After: Abandoned Spaces
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: James Spencer is hardly the typical troubled youth who ends up at Whisperwood School for Boys. Instead of hating the strict schedules and tight oversight by staff, James blossoms, quickly making friends, indulging in his love of writing, and contemplating the merits of sneaking love poems to the elusive and aloof William Esher. The rumours about William’s sexuality and opium reliance are prime gossip material amongst the third years…rumours that only further pique James' curiosity to uncover what William is really like beneath all that emotional armor. And, when the normally collected William stumbles in one night, shaken and ranting of ghosts, James is the only one who believes him. James himself has heard the nails dragging down his bedroom door and the sobs echoing in the halls at night. He knows others have, too, even if no one will admit it. The staff refuses to entertain such ridiculous tales, and punishment awaits anyone who brings it up. Their fervent denial and the disappearance of students only furthers James’ determination to find out what secrets Whisperwood is hiding...especially if it prevents William and himself from becoming the next victims.

A Light Amongst Shadows - Kelley York & Rowan Altwood
A Light Amongst Shadows
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Word Count: 73000

Summary: “Your bullets can’t kill me. I’m already dead. Inside and out.” When his fiancée is brutally murdered on Valentine’s Day, Ash Corvus is unwittingly plunged into the nightmarish world of the Arpadeem, or as the movies call them… Vampires. What begins as a personal quest for revenge becomes a struggle for the fate of the city itself as Ash’s search takes him into Cedar Rapids’ secret criminal underworld. Ash must cast off his humanity and become a monster himself if he hopes to bring vengeance upon the monster who murdered his love… the man with the scar. A dark, violent thriller from the author of The Weller and War of the Worlds: Goliath!

Vengeance for my Valentine - Adam J. Whitlatch
Vengeance for My Valentine
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Summary: An innocent girl, a vampire, an old lady, a ghost, and a werewolf must combine their talents to defeat an evil billionaire and his hired professional killer…In Night Home: the Vampire Next Door Book 1, the fact that vampires truly exist was almost made public when a story presented as fiction seemed all too real to a vampire hunter.In After Dark: the Vampire Next Door Book 2, a community of vampires quietly hiding on the west coast needed to defeat a serial killer before being blamed for his acts of terror, while at the same time one of them found himself falling in love with a suicidal young woman who expected him to kill her.In All the Way to the Moon: the Vampire Next Door Book 3, vampires on the west coast consider whether to reveal their existence and communicate with others of their kind. Laura, no longer wishing for death, and finally finding happiness in her young life, discovers to her horror that her wealthy and powerful father intends to kill her. To survive she must flee her new home and leave her new friends behind, and travel far to find safety, unaware that a hired killer is not far behind.Fortunately she has a werewolf to help protect her.

All the Way to the Moon - Rose Titus - The Vampire Next Door
All the Way to the Moon
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: In Night Home: The Vampire Next Door Volume I, the fact that vampires truly exist was almost accidentally made public when a story presented as fiction seemed all too real to an amateur vampire hunter, who at the end, was made to remain silent about the secrets he discovered. But it doesn’t end there: the tale circulates as far as the west coast, where a small community of vampires have been quietly hiding; and to them, also, this story is too close to reality to be just a fantasy. But while they take the time to decide whether to attempt contact with their own kind so far away, they have their own local problems to deal with. A savage and barbaric serial killer, suspected of being a vampire, lurks in their own city, stalking the innocent at night. Will the vampires be able to stop the killer before they are blamed for his acts of extreme horror? And that’s not all. A beautiful yet tragic and suicidal young woman wanders like a lost angel from out of the darkness and into their midst, hoping a vampire will make her end swift and easy.

After Dark - Rose Titus - The Vampire Next Door
After Dark
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Every patient zero has a doctor. Edward Taylor just killed a man. It wasn’t the first time but it could be the last. For the last twenty years, he’s been careful, hiding his true self behind a mask of humanity. But now someone out there knows what Edward is, and he has no idea what they’re planning to do with that knowledge. When he’s approached by a journalist working to bring down controversial research lab, Hunter Neurologics, Edward’s personal and work life collide. Cornered, and with his paranoia growing, he’s forced to take action and triggers a sequence of events that might just unleash a plague of the dead on the world. Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping prequel to the brand new horror series, Serial Killer Z.

Infection - Philip Harris - Serial Killer Z
Serial Killer Z: Infection
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Word Count: 50655

Summary: ‘Old actors never die’ shouldn’t be literally true. Carrington Loveless III, skim-blood vampire and senior officer of Philly’s paranormal police department, has long suspected that someone’s targeting his squad. The increasingly bizarre and dangerous entities invading their city can’t be a coincidence. So when a walking corpse spouting Oscar Wilde attacks one of his officers, Carrington’s determined to uncover the evil mind behind it all. As a rare books librarian, Erasmus Graham thought he understood some of the stranger things in life. Sharing a life with Carrington has shown him he didn’t know the half of it. They’ve survived attack books and deadly dust bunnies together and got through mostly unscathed. Now his world and his vampire’s appear ready to collide again. Books are missing from the Rare Book collection—old tomes of magic containing dangerous summonings and necromancy. He’s certain whoever has been stalking the Seventy-Seventh is composing their end game. It’s going to take a consolidated effort from paranormal police, librarians and some not-quite-authorized civilians to head off the impending catastrophe.

All the World's an Undead Stage - Angel Martinez - Offbeat Crimes
All The World's An Undead Stage
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Word Count: 108000

Summary: Being a nobody isn’t Duncan Alexander’s life goal, but it’s worked for him. He has a nondescript job, a few good friends, and overall he’s content. That’s until one fateful trip to San Jose, California, where he is “Called” to meet the mysterious Juliet de Exter. Juliet is a beautiful, wealthy, powerful Immortal who is undertaking The Calling—a search for a human to join her world of Immortals. Inexplicably, Duncan’s calling is more dangerous than any of the Immortals, even Juliet, ever thought it would be. There is more to this nobody, this only child of long-deceased parents, than anyone thought. When Duncan experiences uncontrollable dreams of people he doesn’t know and places he hasn’t been, Juliet and the other Immortals worry. Soon, his visions point to a coven of long-dead witches. The dreams also lead Duncan to his one true love. How will Duncan navigate a forbidden romance with an outcast Immortal? How will he and the others keep the balance between the Light and Dark, survive vicious attacks, and keep the humans from learning who they truly are? More importantly, who is this implacable foe Duncan keeps seeing in his dreams?

The Calling - M.D. Neu
The Calling
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Word Count: 1100

Summary: A muddy trench in France during the Great War wasn’t the most auspicious place for Tom and Michael to reach an understanding of their own natures. A small, individual tragedy unfolds … But then Tom discovers a place beyond, where he and other men like him are blessed with all that life denied them.

An English Heaven - Julie Bozza
An English Heaven
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: When college student Muriel Aubrey inherits an old house in a small town, she imagines that moving into the rural community will be deathly dull. But the old house once belonged to her eccentric granduncle, a professor said to be researching something mysterious before his untimely death. Then Muriel finds the research notes that had been hidden away in the old Victorian; and she discovers what the professor was researching: vampires. It isn’t long before Muriel meets residents of the small town who knew the professor almost a century ago, and learns that everything he wrote in the notes he kept is true...And then she finds herself stalked by a vampire hunter.

Night Home - Rose Titus - The Vampire Next Door
Night Home
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: Secrets are never forgotten. Marcus Black is a killer. He hides behind a mask of humanity, preying on the living and the dead to feed the shadow that lives within him. When the outbreak began he fled to the mountains, but someone out there knows his true identity, and they’ve summoned him back to the city. Now the shadow is missing, and without it, he’s lost. Returning home, Marcus finds the city has changed. The military run brutal work camps while the rich throw parties. Contact with the rest of the world has been lost, and there are rumors of swarms of the dead laying waste to nearby cities. When Marcus meets Cali Hart, a colleague from his former life, she eagerly draws him deeper into this bizarre new world and offers him a way to reawaken the shadow. Desperate to get back to his old life, Marcus is drawn to the idea, but should he trust Cali? Or is her own shadow more dangerous than his? Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping horror series. Get Serial Killer Z: Shadows today and face the dead.

Shadows - Philip Harris - Serial Killer Z
Serial Killer Z: Shadows
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Word Count: 45,000

Summary: Kyle, a young newcomer to New Orleans, is haunted by the memory of his first lover, brutally murdered just outside the French Quarter. Marc, a young Quarter hustler, is haunted by an eccentric spirit that shares his dreams, and by the handsome but vicious lover who shares his bed. When the barrier between these men comes down, it will prove thinner than the veil between the living and the dead…or between justice and revenge.

Skin - Christian Bales
Skin
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Word Count: Information not available

Summary: The dead are not the only threat. After being forced to leave the safety of Camp Redfern, serial killer, Marcus Black, has found himself a new home. Hidden in a cave deep in the mountains, he’s free to unleash his true self and hunt the dead that infest the world. When a chance encounter with a group of scavengers turns violent, Marcus flees to a nearby town. Sanctuary is a safe haven for those lucky enough to survive the swarms of zombies that roam the landscape, but the cracks are beginning to show. As life in Sanctuary unravels, Marcus is caught between two factions vying for control in a cold war that threatens to spill over into violence at any moment. Forced to take sides, and with tensions rising, Marcus must decide which is more important - revenge or freedom. Dexter meets The Walking Dead in this gripping new horror series. Get Serial Killer Z: Sanctuary today and face the dead.

Sanctuary - Philip Harris - Serial Killer Z
Serial Killer Z: Sanctuary
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