Small Horrors

Barton Dawes' unremarkable but comfortable existence suddenly takes a turn for the worst. A new highway extension is being built right over the laundry plant where he works - and right over his home. Dawes isn't the sort of man who will take an insult of this magnitude lying down. His steadfast determination to fight the inevitable course of progress drives his wife and friends away while he tries to face down the uncaring bureaucracy that has destroyed his life.

Deep in the shadowy forests of Cedar Creek, the Peterson family’s idyllic summer retreat turns into a nightmare when seven-year-old Jamie vanishes without a trace. As search parties comb the woods and whispers of "wild animals" spread through the town, fifteen-year-old Owen knows the truth: something far more sinister is at play. Haunted by the image of a monstrous, otherworldly figure snatching his brother, Owen teams up with a reclusive neighbor, Eleanor Kane, whose knowledge of the forest’s dark history reveals a chilling pattern of disappearances spanning decades. Together with a ...

“An amazing collection of page-gripping short stories” -Amazon reviewer. “A beautifully crafted, highly entertaining horror collection.” -Amazon reviewer Are you ready to enter a world of darkness and fear? A world where the unknown lurks around every corner and terror is waiting just for you? Then welcome to a collection of horror stories from the renowned indie author, Samuel Small, that will keep you on the edge of your seat and leave you questioning the boundaries of the unknown. From a middle schooler receiving texts from the dead, to a group of teens clowning around an ...

In a grand Louisiana estate, an orphan's lost memories hold the key to a ghostly puzzle that could cost her life. Haunted by a past she can’t remember, orphan Leigh Ann is drawn into the sinister corridors of a mysterious Louisiana estate. As horrifying secrets unfold, she’s ensnared in a terrifying dance of danger and discovery. With malevolent forces closing in, will Leigh Ann unveil the chilling truth, or will darkness claim her forever? A spine-tingling journey of horror and suspense awaits.

In a haunting tale of suspense and secrets, an elderly woman's serene life is upended when a malevolent figure from her past reemerges in her stately, enigmatic home by Snake River. As family bonds and dark legacies intertwine, this gripping narrative delves into a world where every corner of the house whispers of hidden truths and unresolved mysteries. The story escalates to a heart-stopping conclusion, leaving readers captivated by the chilling revelation of what truly lurks within its walls.

Some memories don’t drown. They wait.When Erin Mallory returns to Greywater Cove, she isn’t just revisiting the home she fled. She’s stepping back into a story the sea never stopped telling. The coastal town has tried to paint over its past, but the cracks always return. Spirals surface in sand and salt. Children hum songs that no one remembers teaching them. And the sea, silent for years, has begun to whisper again. Erin’s bloodline carries a debt, and the sea is calling it in. Driven by dreams, tormented by the voice of her lost sister, and pursued by a legacy she never chose to ...

In a small Arizona town, a man counts his blessings: a loving wife, two teenage daughters, and a job that allows him to work at home. Then "The Store" announces plans to open a local outlet, which will surely finish off the small downtown shops. His concerns grow when "The Store's" builders ignore all the town's zoning laws during its construction. Then dead animals are found on "The Store's" grounds. Inside, customers are hounded by obnoxious sales people, and strange products appear on the shelves.

Nestled in the quiet town of Brookhaven, Eleanor Marsh’s life as a librarian has always been peaceful, predictable, and safe. She finds comfort in the rows of books that surround her, their well-worn pages carrying stories of adventure, mystery, and hope. But when an unmarked book appears in the library’s collection, Eleanor’s ordered world begins to unravel. The book is unlike any other. Its leather cover is cracked with age, its spine unmarked, and its pages disturbingly blank—at first. Then, names begin to appear. Each name belongs to someone in Brookhaven, and beneath each one ...

Great magicians are masters of illusion. The truly dangerous ones don’t bother with tricks. On Augie Doyle’s seventeenth birthday, a strange carnival rolls into Hollowbrook. It’s all gears and steam, brass and bone—a dazzling steampunk spectacle of rides, wonders, and performers. But beneath the laughter and cotton candy, Augie senses something dark. Something wrong. Then the magician takes the stage. He doesn’t just perform tricks—he defies reality. In his most chilling act, he assembles a man piece by piece, as if stitching together a living puzzle. The crowd cheers. Augie’s...

Oliver was always a jerk. Now that he’s dead, he’s downright terrifying. Augie Doyle eats, sleeps, and breathes horror. Vampires? Real. Werewolves? Absolutely. Zombies? Don’t get him started. His best friend, Ethan, thinks it’s all nonsense—until Oliver Hackl shows up to school. Five days ago, Oliver fell off the Old Mill Bridge and broke his neck. The paramedics pronounced him dead. Now he’s back. Pale. Slow. Wrong. Augie’s convinced it’s the zombie apocalypse. Ethan’s sure there’s a logical explanation. Then Oliver’s friends start dropping like flies. One vanishes, ...

A reminder from the master storyteller Alexander Kuprin—sometimes, there are but a few steps between your own front door and unimaginable horror.

A seemingly straightforward private case turns out to be much more complicated - and sinister - than Special Agent A. X. L. Pendergast ever could have anticipated. Pendergast, together with his ward, Constance Greene, travels to the quaint seaside village of Exmouth, Massachusetts, to investigate the theft of a priceless wine collection. But inside the wine cellar, they find something considerably more disturbing: a bricked-up niche that once held a crumbling skeleton.

Back in the summer of 1988, a young Richard Chizmar was catapulted into the center of a living nightmare as the serial killer Joshua Gallagher—dubbed by the media as “The Boogeyman”—stalked his tranquil Maryland town. A lot has changed in the intervening years. These days, Chizmar enjoys a certain level of celebrity and notoriety himself, being the only person that an incarcerated Josh Gallagher will speak to on or off the record.

Four years after her tumultuous senior year, Jade Daniels is released from prison right before Christmas when her conviction is overturned. But life beyond bars takes a dangerous turn as soon as she returns to Proofrock. Convicted Serial Killer, Dark Mill South, seeking revenge for thirty-eight Dakota men hanged in 1862, escapes from his prison transfer due to a blizzard, just outside of Proofrock, Idaho.

Beneath the ancient pines of Miller’s Woods, something impossible is waking up… When Jake Stenner thought his day couldn’t get any worse after getting a flat tire, he couldn’t have been more wrong. Taking a shortcut through the woods might have been his worst decision yet—and it’s a choice that changes everything. Together with his sister Jill, Jake is thrust into a race against time to uncover what really happened that day, before whatever he found in the woods consumes his family…or the entire town. Has Jake stumbled upon something far greater—and more dangerous—than he ...

Bryan and Ellie Stockton hope they left behind their demons when they move to their idyllic new home in southern West Virginia. Above all, they want a fresh start for their young son, Derrick, who witnessed the tumultuous first years of their marriage—years that were rife with substance abuse, rage, and resentment. Their bright hope for the future is darkened when a child disappears from their neighborhood. The couple becomes suspicious of a reclusive resident with a degenerative brain disorder.

The devils dance around her bubbling cauldron. The search for his missing son leads retired police chief William and three members of his former crew to a remote town nestled in the shadow of the mountains. They are met by decaying buildings and shady locals whose weathered faces harbor a sinister pact with an evil entity. As they seek to unravel the mysteries of the town, the coming of darkness unveils the true nature of this secluded place. Surrounded by chaos, they find themselves in the ultimate battle for their mortal souls. Will William reunite with his son? Can they escape the ...

Augie is dying to know Izzie Crilly’s secret, and death may be the price he pays for figuring it out. When a student is killed in a freak accident outside the comic book shop, Augie writes it off as tragedy—until he spots Izzie, Hollowbrook High’s newest outcast, watching the scene with eerie calm. The dead boy was her boyfriend. But instead of grieving, she strolls away and orders a sandwich. Strange? Definitely. But things get weirder. Izzie starts dating Mateo. Augie’s baffled. Mateo’s popular, good-looking—everything Izzie isn’t. With her bulging eyes, obsession with the ...

Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold. Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy. And they’ll scare you straight to hell.

In the eerie corridors of Redwood Grove, twin sisters confront a haunting inheritance laced with deadly secrets. Step into the shadowy halls of Redwood Grove, where twins Samantha and Donna are ensnared in a web of secrets and danger in their enigmatic inheritance. Amidst ghostly whispers and unseen threats, they must unravel a chilling mystery to outwit a hidden enemy. This supernatural thriller invites you into a world of dark secrets and deadly legacies, where every corner whispers a new terror.