Dark Fantasy Short Stories

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 ...

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 ...

Stephen King meets Neil Gaiman in this story of ancient gods and tortured spirits, of temptation and manipulation, and of mankind’s quest to seek justice over revenge. When a forgotten god arrives in a town haunted by the ghosts of dead slaves, will they accept its offer to guide them to the afterlife, or will they heed their priestess’s warnings about the mysterious deity? Gripping and provocative, this story will leave you pondering its ending, and your presumptions, deep into the night.

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.

The light is gone. Darkness Reigns.Merida has fallen into darkness. With the Keeper of Light dead, no one stood a chance against the Dragon King. Now a vapid wasteland, the darkness reaches across the kingdom, withering everything in its path. With no choice but to fight, the heir to the Light Stone must fight to reclaim what was lost. If Adreus takes his place as the Keeper of Light, and wields the Light Stone, then maybe he can overcome the darkness once and for all. But he's not the only one seeking its power.

The thing the machines consume is us. Ready to lease out your mind? Or pay for your next meal with involuntary ads? The Closet Full of Time collection contains five short stories that speak to that sinking feeling that we're serving the machines instead of the other way around. That our inventions are taking things we can’t afford to lose.

He can’t trust her, but he will claim her. Elise roams free in the anti-shifter research lab. For weeks, she walked by Ransom’s cage, ignoring him. Then she frees him, But she’s reluctant to escape. Ransom won’t leave her behind, She’s shifter, and shifters don’t abandon shifters. There’s more to this brave female than Ransom first realized. Ransom wants to find his pack. Elise wants to return to the anti-shifter research lab. Something has to give. It won’t be Ransom... ◆◆◆ Fight Hard. Love Harder. Ransom’s Revenge is a steamy, stand-alone romance in the Broken ...

From the savage steppes of Nagali to the heart of intrigue in Quing Tzu, this anthology is packed with tales of the supernatural, of action and adventure. Set in the same world as the epic fantasy Convent series, beginning with A Dead Wizard’s Dream, this collection of 11 original fantastical short stories explores lands heretofore unseen in the series.

An old king with nothing left to lose is lured to the site of his greatest victory by a long-forgotten enemy seeking revenge. The last dragon-slayer and the last dragon, brought together with just one anticipated outcome, but what if they have more to ask of each other? A brave knight cursed to know love as no other, but to never have that love returned in kind. The wild west as you've never seen it before. Two ancient warriors body-stealing through time. These are just some of the stories in this collection from award-winning author Brian A. Hopkins.