Classic Literature Dark

A brooding monster. A quirky professor. A small Indiana town with a soul of its own. Christine Grace finds her predictable scholarly life comforting, if a bit boring. Her live-in boyfriend presses her for marriage, but she's too philosophically inclined to take an interest. So, really, why does she suddenly start imagining things in the window's reflection? Is time truly starting and stopping all around her, or is she inexplicably cracking up?

A collection of strange and often grisly tales by some of the world's greatest writers, ranging from mildly unsettling to hair-raising.

Sariah's reward for revealing the stone truth is a death sentence. Banished and on the run, Sariah must find a way to carry out the stone's mystifying legacy, before the executioners murder her kin, her enemies slaughter her lover, and the mysterious bracelet she has been forced to wear kills her.

What if you found out you were the granddaughter of the first woman. No, not Eve, but Lilith? After 150 years Dika Edens, the oldest of four girls each destined to live forever finds out that very thing. She is not sure if it is a curse or a gift from the Gods. All she knows is the man that has informed her of this has way too much guilt on his shoulders regarding her and her past. Chrome is her Guardian, but that does not mean he can protect her from everything. He should be the first one to know that - since he is the one telling her that she must save the world.

A terrorist on the run hides in a brothel. Desperate for respite after evading authorities for days, he hires a prostitute even though he has lived his life as a chaste man. The well-off idealistic young man and the poor woman doing what she can to survive clash but also inspire each other in this dark tale of failed dreams.

With the last deadly quest behind him, Abraham Jenkins finally has time to focus on his own mission to uncover a portal home to 2018. He's closer than ever. He can smell the freshly mowed grass of the baseball diamond, and taste the ballpark hotdogs. But when mysterious new enemies emerge to attack the kingdom, Abraham must put his own agenda on hold to protect the King and his henchmen, lest he join them in a noose.

The Cats of Ulthar, written by H.P. Lovecraft in 1920, is a short yet striking tale that showcases his ability to blend dark fantasy with moral allegory. First published in Tryout in 1920, the story is a haunting meditation on justice, retribution, and the mystical bond between cats and the arcane. It occupies a unique place in Lovecraft’s body of work, weaving a fable-like narrative that retains the eerie undertones characteristic of his writing.

Killing children is an ugly business, but the alternative is so much uglier. Abner Slate just watched his five-year-old daughter Olive kill his wife and son. Olive is a sopath. Born without souls, sopaths are children who will lie, cheat, rape, and murder to get what they want. There's one in every family these days, destroying America's heartland from within. After murdering his daughter in self-defense, Abner is taken in by a secret network of sopath victims called Pariah.

Christmas may come but once a year but evil, intrigue and malevolence are everyday events. Within this volume Christmas is a time when these dark forces form and coalesce to take life and liberty from people who may and who may not deserve the spin of its wheel. Some are merely evil, others have the beginnings of a conscience that displays itself in a dialogue with the devil, or perhaps only themselves. But, in this volume Christmas takes a ringside seat to the horrors of the human heart.

The Maiden Thief by multiple NYT and internationally best-selling author Melissa Marr is a dark fantasy novelette about a teenager whose town is plagued by the annual disappearances of girls and young women.

While taking a break from work and passing through Egypt, Harry Houdini and his wife take a tour of the pyramids. Harry returns after dark with his guide and suddenly finds himself assaulted and thrown into a pit of eldritch horror that challenges his sanity and escapist skills. FNH Audio presents an unabridged narration of this Lovecraft classic.

The story is told from the first person perspective of an unnamed narrator and details his experiences with a scientist named Crawford Tillinghast. Tillinghast creates an electronic device that emits a resonance wave, which stimulates an affected person’s pineal gland, thereby allowing them to perceive planes of existence outside the scope of accepted reality.

Lusus Naturae is Beauty and the Beast in reverse. Charles Renshaw, an aristocrat, purchases a monster called Cyprian - a member of the rare species, Lamia. At first, Cyprian fulfils the role of a collector's whimsy, then becomes an object of passion as Renshaw's obsession with her leads him on a path to ruin. Within a short time, he sees his monster's feral nature emerge and understands that she cannot be controlled as easily as he first imagined.

The Ivy City is dying. It flails under a sea of the risen dead, the holy churches broken, the nobles largely destroyed, the population leaderless and alone, the city itself is bleeding and growing cold. Tattered crimson ribbons of blood fill the gutters. A despicable wizard, scion of the noble line, has shoved the Ivy City to the brink of death as he seeks what he sees as his rightful throne. Doomed by his forbidden love, discarded by the crown, forgotten by the people, a disgraced hero rises from the ashes to combat the rising darkness.

All Danika Frost wanted was to lead a normal life and go to college. It’s too bad destiny had other plans. After her mother is brutally attacked, Dani inherits the family business: protecting the world from things that go bump in the night. With the help of the Ink, ancient spirits who live in her skin as tattoos, Dani must hunt down demons and the necromancers who raise them. Alone in the dark city streets of Blackthorn, Dani meets a young girl named Cassie. Her sister is missing, and Dani recognizes the tell-tale signs of demonic possession.

Having escaped being burnt at the stake, the reluctant sorcerer Fursey is back in this sequel, trying to make a quiet life for himself as a grocer in the realm of King Ethelwulf. But when his old enemies seize his wife, Fursey resolves to embrace evil and return to Ireland to reclaim her. Along the way, he'll have to contend with bloodthirsty Vikings, a melancholy vampire, an alcoholic wizard, a lovesick cow, and Satan himself, who is more determined than ever to get his hands on Fursey's soul.

After centuries of secret conflict, humans and parahumans have reached an uneasy truce. But unspeakable evil now threatens the tenuous peace.

“The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” is an Edgar Allan Poe short story that expertly blends his dark perspective with the comic. -This is the original story—only word order and difficult vocabulary have been updated. -End notes, interpretation, and discussion of major themes follow the text. -Biographical information on Edgar Allan Poe is included. -For other classic short stories in easy to understand updated English search for “Simplified for Modern Readers Series.”

‘A Wicked Voice’ reuses the theme of music from beyond the grave from Vernon Lee’s first ghost story, ‘Winthrop’s Adventure’. Here, young composer Magnus is writing an opera, determined to go against the conventions of his predecessors, but he soon finds himself haunted by a voice beyond the grave which overpowers him and stops him writing.

Publicado en 1973, Oficio de tinieblas 5 fue definida por el propio Camilo José Cela como «la purga de mi corazón». En sus páginas, el gran autor gallego reflexiona sin ambages sobre el aventurado acto de escribir, una tarea llena de oscuridad en la que entran en juego ideas sobre el sexo y la muerte, la soledad del individuo y la posibilidad de conectar con un mundo oculto e insospechado.