Short Horror

That there is darkness at the heart of the Yuletide season should not surprise. Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is filled with scenes that are unsettling. The hideous children - Want and Ignorance - beneath the robe of the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. In the finest versions of this story, the best parts are the terrifying parts. Best-selling author and editor Christopher Golden shares his love for Christmas horror stories with this anthology of all-new short fiction from some of the most talented and original writers of horror today.

A masterful collection of short literary horror from the author of The Night Sitter and Sorcerie. Certain to delight short fiction fans of Stephen King and Joe Hill. The moral of fairy tales is generally good advice. Be prepared for something to try to eat you. . . In "No Swimming After Dark," a city couple with marital issues encounter a strange local ordinance in an isolated mountain resort town. In "The Creature Feature," a struggling actor auditions for the role of his lifetime. In "Fallen Leaf Lake," a serial killer targets the wrong victim. In "Monster Under The Bed," a boy suffering ...

A collection of classic works by Edgar Allan Poe, American author, poet, editor and literary critic. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.

A collection of 22 horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to chill you and thrill you to the bone. The nightmares include: THE CADAVER: Blanche foolishly risks her career as a university professor to enhance the learning curve of her students by supplying fresher cadavers for them to dissect. THE GOBLIN: A tourist in Vegas steals money from a quadriplegic panhandler who has special powers FEELINGS: A motorist seeks revenge on a TV news reporter whose ambition to be a star causes an accident that takes the life of the man's wife. THE VELVET CAGE: An abusive and destructive marriage ...

If it knocks four times -- don’t answer. When Liam inherits his late uncle’s remote hunting cabin deep in the Ridge 9 backwoods, he expects quiet isolation — not claw marks on trees, not torn-up trail cams, and certainly not a journal filled with paranoid ramblings about "four knocks" in the night. But the deeper Liam digs into his uncle’s final days, the more disturbing the entries become — detailing a presence that circles the cabin, leaves no tracks, and never comes in… unless you open the door. Now snowed in, with no way to contact the outside world, Liam finds himself alone...

"A MUST READ FOR FANS OF MYSTERIES AND FOLK HORROR." - NP CUNNIFFE, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF "THE WEEJEE MAN". "...IT'S A WELL WRITTEN HORROR STORY WITH FANTASTIC CHARACTERS, BLOODY KILLS, AND I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT" - HORROR READS, 5 STAR AMAZON/GOODREADS REVIEW. "IT'S LIKE STEPHEN KING'S VERSION OF GREMLINS." - THE DANSE MACABRE While on a research expedition in the wilds of the Irish countryside, a team of archeologists are brutally murdered on an ancient druid henge. The bite marks found on the bodies by the forensic techs that gathered the crime scene evidence suggested that animals were ...

A collection of horror/thriller stories for readers who would enjoy a stroll through a graveyard after midnight. Hark! Don’t read this book if a deranged maniac has escaped from the local asylum. Otherwise, enjoy the horror. The creepers include: BABY FRANKENSTEIN:The last descendant of Victor Frankenstein seeks to create an innocent child untouched by human frailty rather than a monstrosity built from body parts like his relative. THE TWELVE-DAY NIGHTMARE: Jessica wakes up twelve days in a row, reliving a terrifying nightmare of death and dismemberment. THE TOOTH COLLECTOR: The deaths of...

UNCOVER WHAT IS BELOW. What is beneath our feet? Below our skin? What lurks in the darkness in the basement, or deep inside the earth? How far down can you read before you go insane? Step down into the chilling stories in Below. We woefully present you with tales of the twisted and terrifying. Listen to maddening transmissions, step into a basement of secrets, encounter a mother whose hate transcends death, a late-night work call becomes a fight of survival, demons lurk, and spirits seek their final revenge. These are not your Mother's bedtime stories…

A demented killer believes he’s doing God’s work — and a teenage boy with dreams of getting his license becomes his next target. Elliot Cross doesn't just hate ambitious dreaming — he sees it as sin. In his twisted mind, anyone reaching for more is disobeying the First Commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. When he volunteers to give Timmy, his daughter’s fatherless classmate, a driving lesson, it’s not a gift — it’s a trap. And the road ahead leads nowhere safe. The Driving Lesson is a short story of religious delusion, power, and cruelty — a standalone ...

A terrifying mosaic of transformation and terror, "Eyes Like Mirrors, Flesh Like Ash" collects twenty macabre tales by Kevin Lintner that claw beneath the skin of reality. From a solo escape room session that unlocks an ancient evil, to haunted photographs that predict one's grotesque demise, each story delivers its own brand of psychological and cosmic horror. Enter cursed houses, twisted minds, eldritch forests, and nightmarish realities where flesh remembers, shadows whisper, and dreams consume. These stories are not for the faint of heart—they are for those who seek the forbidden, the...

During the chaos of the Vietnam War, American soldiers faced more than just enemy fire in the dense jungle, they encountered mysterious creatures known as “Rock Apes,” fierce and elusive beings that locals believed were real, not just legends. These creatures, similar to Bigfoot, Sasquatch, or the Yeti, roamed the jungle depths, attacking without warning and leaving behind terrifying evidence. Unlike the shy Sasquatch of North America, these Rock Apes were aggressive and dangerous, turning the war into something far more frightening. This story reveals true accounts from soldiers who ...

Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where "Fun is Guaranteed!" But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares.

Eighteen short horror stories, one terrifying collection. A set including all of the short stories from Embrace the Darkness, Tunnels, and The Artist in a single audiobook.

Some roads should never be traveled. From isolated rest stops to forgotten overpasses, Haunted Highways takes you deep into the eerie silence between mile markers—where lost travelers hear whispers in the dark and headlights vanish into nowhere. These 25 immersive horror stories are inspired by real unexplained encounters across America’s roads. Each tale pulls you into a nightmarish stretch of asphalt haunted by phantoms, cryptids, and things far stranger. Perfect for fans of Creepshow, The Twilight Zone, and Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, this collection brings atmospheric, slow-...

Who would suspect that the same mind that created the most famous literary detective of all time also took on the eternally popular genre of vampires? Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, a contemporary of Bram Stoker, gave us some fascinating works of vampire fiction. From the bloodsucking plant in "The American's Tale" to the bloodsucking wife in "The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire," he reveled in the horror created by creatures who survived on the blood of men and women.

Lily wants more excitement in her life. She has been sharing erotic fantasies with an online stranger for months. They decide to meet in person for some vampire role play and sexy foreplay. When Lily’s car breaks down en route to meet her blind date, things take a dangerous turn. As the two strangers meet beneath the moonlight, they boldly engage in their erotic fantasies, but tensions escalate when one of them exposes an unsettling secret. What is intended to be a night of thrilling exploits leads to a shocking and brutal climax.

Dare to enter Harmony House... if you can survive its curse. Nestled in the heart of Brooklyn, New York, Harmony House is a striking estate with an allure that draws people in—only to trap them in a web of terror. Five new owners have crossed its threshold, each unaware of the horrors waiting inside. What starts as a dream home quickly turns into a nightmare as they confront the malevolent spirits that haunt its halls. Each story reveals the twisted history of Harmony House through the eyes of its ill-fated residents. From terrifying apparitions to sinister forces that toy with the mind, ...

For more than three decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave. Now, with the tenth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. Included in the pages of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as Neil Gaiman, Kim Stanley Robinson, Stephen King, Linda Nagata, Laird Barron, and many others.

Claudia Shephard’s husband died in a fire. Everyone says it was tragic. Accidental. She doesn't remember much—just smoke, panic, the way her lungs burned as she ran. But three weeks after the funeral, a manuscript arrives on her doorstep. A book she didn’t write. A book that describes, in disturbingly intimate detail, her husband’s affair… and the precise steps she took to murder him. It’s written in her voice. With her quirks. Her phrases. Her secrets. And page by page, Claudia feels her grip on reality begin to unravel. As whispers swirl through their coastal town and friends ...

Unlock the door to a world where myths breathe, mysteries fester, and fiction blends with reality. The Horror Files brings together an enthralling collection of short stories that merge the eerie beauty of legends with gripping mysteries, unsettling horrors, paranormal activity and mystery. From cursed relics, ghostly enigmas, modern day vampires, and real life fight for survival stories, these tales transport readers into dark corners where the boundaries of imagination dissolve. For fans of spellbinding horror and stories that linger in your mind long after the last page, The Horror Files...