Scary Fantasy

Serafina has never had a reason to disobey her pa and venture beyond the grounds of Biltmore Estate. There's plenty to explore in her grand home, but she must take care to never be seen. None of the rich folk upstairs know that Serafina exists; she and her pa, the estate's maintenance man, have lived in the basement for as long as Serafina can remember. She has learned to sneak and hide.

This may be the scariest summer of their lives. Worse than going to summer school or working a job that doesn't pay. Even worse than attending their parents' old sleep away camp. The foursome must face their phobias as students at the exclusive and elusive School of Fear. Run by former beauty queen, Mrs. Wellington, the school is unusual, to say the least. But terrifying would be a more accurate description.

In the Clandoms, every person is born with wings, along with the ability to fly. But there has always been one deadly restriction to this gift—a rule that must never be broken. Flying in cloudy skies summons gargols, vicious stone monsters that will tear any poor trespassers apart. History doesn't tell where the gargols came from, or why they're so intent on punishing those who soar too high. But now Ellie Meadows thinks she knows why. An aspiring knight turned wanted fugitive, Ellie has seen the truth with her own eyes.

There is something weird happening in Fever Swamp. Something really horrible. It started with the strange howling at night. Then there was the rabbit torn to shreds. Everyone thinks Grady's new dog is responsible. After all, he looks just like a wolf. And he seems a little on the wild side. But Grady knows his dog is just a regular old dog. And most dogs don't howl at the moon. Or disappear at midnight. Or change into terrifying creatures when the moon is full. Or do they?

In BILLY RICHMOND AND THE SOMETIMES SCARY FANTASY ADVENTURE, Young Billy Richmond and his friends stumble upon a book hidden away for ages, going back to the days of warlocks, mummies, and other frightening spooksters. Opening the book accidentally set loose a horrible curse and now it’s up to Billy to put the evil back in its leather-bound prison before his town (and possibly the world) goes up in smoke!

When Eragon finds a polished stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself. Overnight, his simple life is shattered, and he is thrust into a perilous new world of destiny, magic and power.

Divining the difference between reality and the fantastic may not be as simple as it seems. Because the world you think you know may not actually exist… STORIES is a collection of six short stories loosely based on legends and folklore. Each is set in a modern context, giving the reader an unusual take that yields interesting insight on these traditional tales. The Snow Woman: a spirit in Japanese folklore who traps people in snowstorms, then uses her icy breath to leave them frost-coated corpses. The Slit-Mouthed Woman: a figure from Japanese urban legends who, mutilated by her husband, ...

Since his father disappeared under a dark cloud of scandal, Pin Carpue has been alone in the world. His work for the local undertaker keeps him busy, but his life is bleak. Then Pin encounters the Bone Magician, a man who can raise corpses and make the dead speak. As Pin is drawn into an intoxicating world of mystery and intrigue, he becomes suspicious of Juno, the Bone Magician's young assistant. A strange darkness haunts her when the Silver Apple Killer stalks the streets at night - and as Pin pieces together the secrets of Bone Magic, his own life becomes fraught with grave danger.

For nearly a century, Victorian London relied on “climbing boys” - orphans owned by chimney sweeps - to clean flues and protect homes from fire. The work was hard, thankless, and brutally dangerous. Eleven-year-old Nan Sparrow is quite possibly the best climber who ever lived - and a girl. But when Nan gets stuck in a deadly chimney fire, she fears her time has come. Instead, she wakes to find herself in an abandoned attic. And she is not alone. Huddled in the corner is a mysterious creature - a golem - made from ash and coal. This is the creature that saved her from the fire.

Evan visits an eerie old toy store and buys a dusty can of Monster Blood. But then he notices something weird about the slimy green ooze. It keeps growing. And growing. And growing. And all that growing has given the Monster Blood a monstrous appetite....

May finds herself in a world that most certainly does not feel like a fuzzy mitten. In fact it is a place few living people have ever seen. Here, towns glow blue beneath zipping stars and the people walk through walls. Here the Book of the Dead holds the answers to everything in the universe. And here, if May is discovered, the horrifyingly evil Bo Cleevil will turn her into nothing.

In the Clandoms, everyone is born with wings, though not all the clans are treated equally. Ellie Meadows longed to become a Goldwing—the knights who protect the people -- but because she came from the humble Sparrow Clan, her dream faced almost insurmountable resistance. Nox Hatcher has it even worse. Nox is a Crow, a shattered clan. They can't own businesses or run organizations, all due to a mistake made hundreds of years ago. Nox has had to steal and scrape just to survive, but a single goal has kept him going, even when it felt like all the Clandoms were against him.

The rain hasn't stopped for a week, and the 12 guests of the Blue Vein Tavern are trapped by flooded roads and the rising Skidwrack River. Among them are a ship's captain, tattooed twins, a musician, and a young girl traveling on her own. To pass the time, they begin to tell stories - each a different type of folklore - that eventually reveal more about their own secrets than they intended. As the rain continues to pour down - an uncanny, unnatural amount of rain - the guests begin to realize that the entire city is in danger, and not just from the flood.

In one of the last cities standing after the world fell to monsters, best friends Zed Kagari and Brock Dunderfel have high hopes for the future. Zed desperately wishes to join the ranks of the Mages Guild, where his status as Freestone's only half-elf might finally be an asset. Brock, the roguishly handsome son of merchants, is confident he'll be welcomed into the ranks of the Merchants Guild. But just as it seems the boys' dreams have come true, their lives take a startling turn...and they find themselves members of the perilous Adventurers Guild.

Willa, a young night-spirit of the Great Smoky Mountains, is her clan's best thief. She creeps into the homes of day-folk under cover of darkness and takes what they won't miss. It's dangerous work - the day-folk kill whatever they do not understand - but Willa will do anything to win the approval of the padaran, the charismatic leader of the Faeran people. When Willa's curiosity leaves her hurt and stranded in the day world, she calls upon an ancient, unbreakable bond to escape.

Nimbus had a rough start as a kitten. But her fortunes changed the day she met Fletcher. The boy nursed her back to health from a life-threatening injury and adopted her. But when Fletcher’s aunt brings home a mysterious jar, an ancient nightmare demon is unwittingly unleashed. Despite battling the monster to save her friend, Fletcher’s superstitious aunt blames Nim for the attack and secretly abandons her at a dump. There, Nim is befriended by a theater-loving rat and taken in by a kindly witch named Agatha and her motley crew of cats.

Whenever Mark puts his new, ultra-rare trading card into play, bad things happen to his opponents after the game has ended.

Arriman the Awful, Wizard of the North, is tired of being the most evil wizard in the world so he decides he must get married and have a son to take over. His wife must be a witch with awesome powers but the organised contest has awful consequences.

Isolated and left on their own at a wild animal safari park at the beginning of a zombie uprising, the boys and girls from the school field trip must learn how to survive on their own. They are safe behind the tall fences and strong walls, but what about all the wild animals inside the gates with them?

When Emmaline Beaumont's father started building the ghost machine, she didn't expect it to bring her mother back from the dead. But by locking himself in the basement to toil away at his hopes, Monsieur Beaumont has become obsessed with the contraption and is neglecting the living, and Emmaline is tired of feeling forgotten. Nothing good has come from building the ghost machine, and Emmaline decides that the only way to bring her father back will be to make the ghost machine work or destroy it forever.