Dark Fantasy Short Stories

Introducing Book Three of The Surprising Catch, the long-awaited follow-up to The Stubborn Suitor and The Reckless Secret. If you’ve been waiting for Ashley's story, this is it! Ashley Woodsen has sworn off all men. The love of her life walked out on their marriage over a year ago, for a slimmer, younger version of Ashley. She couldn't forget his hurtful parting words, and it was just easier to go it alone. So why does she feel her heart flutter and her insides tense every time someone mentions…him? Preston Alcott has always been a playboy. Wealthy, successful, and as alpha as they get,...

Introducing Book Four of The Surprising Catch, the long-awaited follow-up to The Stubborn Suitor and The Reckless Secret. If you’ve been waiting for Ashley's story, this is it! Ashley Woodsen has sworn off all men. The love of her life walked out on their marriage over a year ago, for a slimmer, younger version of Ashley. She couldn't forget his hurtful parting words, and it was just easier to go it alone. So why does she feel her heart flutter and her insides tense every time someone mentions…him? Preston Alcott has always been a playboy. Wealthy, successful, and as alpha as they get, ...

Introducing Book Two of The Unexpected Crush, the hot and sexy new series by Alexa Wilder... She won’t sacrifice her dreams for a man. He proves she doesn’t have to. Kaia Davenport has left her old life behind. Now an intern at a prestigious hospital, she’s sacrificed so much to get where she is. She’s confident in her job, but when it comes to her curvy body, she’s learned she’s not in every man’s taste. And it’s not like she has time to date - all she cares about is her dream of being a doctor. Unfortunately, she manages to get into trouble during her very first week at ...

Janell making phone calls to demonic lovers in front of her husband is just the beginning. The horrors hit home for two young men telling ghost stories while driving through the thickest fog of the year. An aging hunter summons the spirit of the Bavarian wilderness as his abilities and will begin to fade. A teacher opens his mouth to instruct his students - and finds himself speaking in the voice of his newly deceased mentor. A young woman, pregnant out of wedlock in the late 1950s, is "sent away" only to find her new home harbors strange secrets.

Meet the Caanlin, a race of shape-shifting humans of dark skin that can become leopards. Enslaved by the Salesicans, a half-breed joins a revolt in Leopard of Night. In Sight For Jaygas, a man attempts to find a purpose in his tribe. A breeder finds love and shame in Disgraced. Sythara of the Hicaanlin leads a group of warriors toward certain doom. Finally, how the Caanlin War is envisioned.

Night Portals is a metaphysical anthology series that explores the hidden secrets of life around us. Twelve "What If" short stories from the mind of Ernie Howard. The Old couple is the second book in the series. Pete checks on his elderly parents at least once a week. The countless visits all melt into one, but it doesn't matter how many boring visits he has with his parents. He makes these visits with a sense of foreboding. Will this be the last time? Pete and his wife have a different visit this time around. One that is far worse than death.

Clementine has been taken by a creature of darkness. Dorin is a fiend in love who must find Clementine before losing her forever. While on his desperate search, Dorin pens eight dark and romantic monstrous tales, written only for Clementine.

Sometimes, a thread pulled through the flesh is all that holds you together. Sometimes, the blade of a knife or the point of a nail is the only way you know you're real. When pain becomes art and a quarter is buried deep within you, all you want is to be seen, to have value, to be loved. But love can be fragile, folded into an origami elephant while you disappear, carried on the musical notes that build a bridge, or woven into an illusion so real, so perfect that you can fool yourself for a little while.

In this macabre trilogy of dark fantasy tales, follow the harrowing journeys of those who bargain with demonic forces to gain power, only to pay a soul-shattering price. From a war-hardened captain consumed by vengeance in "The Blood Pack," to a ruthless tyrant king confronting the shadows of his wicked past in "Vorkrath's Torment," to a condemned witch's all-consuming quest for retribution in "The Witch's Revenge," these stories paint a chilling portrait of corruption, ruin, and the steep cost of drawing upon the darkest of magics. With vivid, visceral prose that conjures nightmarish ...

He traded his scythe for a clipboard. What could possibly go wrong? Mort Finley is done with death. After centuries on soul collection duty, he's hanging up the cloak and launching a new career—as a life coach. The kind with business cards, throw pillows, and an ever-wilting office fern. His clients? Burned-out, washed-up, or just plain stuck. But Mort sees their potential... and for the first time, maybe even his own. Of course, transitioning from Reaper to self-help guru isn’t without hiccups—like flickering lights, mysteriously appearing skull décor, and the occasional existential...

A collection of short stories ranging from horror to dark fantasy. All the stories herein share the mouth-watering carnal expectation of a dark embrace, a thrilling and forbidden kiss that promises to shred moral constraints and open the path to a new life of acceptance.

After surviving an attempt to end his life, Spencer is determined to make it through whatever horrors await him to get what he wants. Lead by a guide he’s not sure he can completely trust, Spencer will have to put his faith in the unknown and hope that he’s strong enough to see the end of his journey. Facing off against things that the human mind can’t possibly comprehend, a man with nothing to lose will learn the true meaning of regret, remorse, and recovery.

Contained in this deceptively short volume are many, many little stories, largely in assorted scifi/fantasy/speculative fiction settings (and don't get us started on the Fairy Tales). They're often satirical, frequently sharp-edged, sometimes poison-tipped, and what's worse is, none of them show proper respect and reverence to Heroes, much less Goodness, Truth, and Light. This is clearly Very Bad, and you should stay far away from this book.

This novel collects the five novellas in the Succubus Schemes series into an episodic novel. Helen and Amy, the heroines from The Succubus Apprentice, have now graduated from apprentices and are pursuing their new careers of mage and succubus respectively. They start off trying to steal an egg from a pterodactyl's nest, and from there go on to serve as bodyguards for a dark elf, try to fix a couple of other supernatural relationships for their friends, and then run a scam on the most powerful corporation in the world with the help of some very unreliable allies.

Journey from the fabled city of fabric in Paeu to the demon-infested landscape of Ishambria, from the Machiavellian scheming in Quing Tzu to the cat-littered crags of Al Kutz as you embark on a vivid voyage through this immersive high fantasy anthology, encountering along the way legendary Guardians, magic scarves, barbaric priests, duplicitous gods, cackling Witches, and wind-riders.

This is a short story set in the Narcoscape of the Book of Dreams series. It is named "Dreaming of a White Christmas" and was originally printed in the collection A Cozy Christmas. In this brief installment, Nicodemus Smith has her hands full tracking down a lost philanthropist who fancies himself to be Santa Claus. Enjoy the yuletide oddness with Nic and the gang no matter what the season. I'll see you on the dreamside, ---Melanie

Worlds collide, mysteries unfold, and the extraordinary awaits in this kaleidoscope of tales. Step through the portal into a collection of spellbinding short stories where reality bends, humor sparks, and darkness lurks at the edges of imagination. From the satirical escapades of a giant and a Lilliputian journalist uncovering seismic scandals to a spectral lighthouse that beckons the brave, each tale invites you into a realm where the ordinary and the fantastical intertwine. Uncover chilling secrets in an enchanted garden, face the perils of corporate sabotage in the void of space, and ...

They call the Malar Dorah unbreakable. Five centuries it stood unconquered until foul trickery cracked its gates. Now, it is the final bastion of a retreating northern army, and the culmination of a long-raging war. The warlord Belerod stands at the Dorah's doorstep with a horde at his back, set on testing the meaning of unbreakable with his golems.

Valerie’s Tale is a story about a little girl with a heart filled with courage and strength, living in a world plagued with war and where magic is divided by clerics, who believe in using magic conservatively, and mages, who use it for whatever their heart’s desire.

Welcome to six of the most amazing fantasy stories you'll ever hear. This volume includes five full-length fantasy stories plus an exclusive bonus short story.