Twisted Horror

The award winning new book in the, "Twisting Darkness," series by J.R. Gridley. Both books are self-contained, so there is no need to read the first book to understand the sequel. The five new stories include, a group of friends who are hunted by a creature that should not exist. A serial killer whose past comes back for him. A hospital in the middle of a lockdown becomes the spawning ground for nightmares. A woman who gave up her heart is presented with an opportunity to get it back. A man with an entire city trying to kill him. This newest collection of short stories by J.R. Gridley will ...

Five terrifying tales guaranteed to make the jack-o-lanterns scream! It's a Twisted Tales Halloween special featuring more horror and gore than you can throw a dismembered head at - and there's a few of those here, too. WARNING! These tricks and treats aren't for kids. It's violent. It's shocking. And it's very twisted. If you don't like that kind of stuff, tuck your costume back into the chest and wait for Christmas.

Beneath the dew-covered fields of Ireland’s sunniest county lies Cloisters, an ancient seminary built from the ruins of a cursed abbey. Here, eighteen-year-old Fergal Kane arrives to train as a priest. But the hallowed halls of this former monastery, scarred by the blood of slain monks and defiled by other nefarious activities, harbor secrets that whisper in the shadows. As autumn’s icy grip tightens, Fergal’s faith is shaken by a chilling presence in the seminary’s out-of-bounds annex. There, amidst echoes of debauchery and betrayal, he encounters Deirdre—a beguiling beauty with ...

Hollywood homicide detective Petra Connor has helped psychologist Alex Delaware crack tough cases in the past. And in Jonathan Kellerman's New York Times best seller Billy Straight, she took the lead in the desperate hunt for a teenage runaway stalked by a vengeful murderer. Now the complex and wryly compassionate Petra is once again at the center of the action, in a novel of cunning twists and page-turning suspense.

In this Black Mirror style series, each Witching Hour 60-minute read takes you on an edge-of-your-seat journey that can be read in a single sitting. In Outward, we follow the life of Robby Boulder, a teenage addict who is forced to attend a new-age, walk-in-the-woods-style rehab. After the death of his father the previous year, he found himself in the throes of addiction. Then, late one evening, he woke up to a figure in his room, shaking him awake. The man dragged him into his van with three other troubled teens, promising salvation for the price of one week in the woods. But, once Robby ...

An all-apocalyptic volume of Twisted Tales! Four short stories that delve into the troubled minds of the doomed, the damned, and the desperate. The end times have never been more destructive, diseased, or dementedly depraved... WARNING: These stories contain violent scenes and naughty words.

A child is promised the kingdom of darkness. The promise of complete control of the underworld and all that it possesses will be his. There are rules, he is told. In order to be awarded such a gift, he must bring souls to the table, and before that happens, he must commit one of the most heinous acts imaginable to prove he is a loyal subject to the evil one. It's a battle between good and evil. There are dangers that lurk in every corner for those that try to intervene. This dark, gruesome, and supernatural tale will keep you intrigued until the very last page. On Henry’s eighteenth ...

Praise for the Music of Melancholy "This story shocked me to the core. The ending is so unexpected it left me reeling." - Kate O'Hearn, bestselling author of the Pegasus series. The unnatural and the macabre waltz to an eerie music of their own... This collection of stories takes the reader into the darkest corners of the human heart where fear, insanity and horror lurk. What links most of the stories is a sense of chilling disquiet, gathering unease, growing anxiety, rising panic and menacing crises, of lives beginning to fracture... A rich collection of memorable tales. Also by the same ...

"A gripping and gut-wrenching thrill ride, as we experience the horrors of kidnap and the terse action David has become known for. Get your copy of Grim Measures today!" – Lt. Colonel Rip Rawlings, New York Times, USA Today and Amazon Bestselling author. "Brilliant, tense, and filled with action!" ★★★★★ – Jonas Saul, International Bestselling author of The Sarah Roberts Series and The Drowning. "David Darling’s trademark crisp writing and lightning fast pacing is once again on display in Grim Measures. Even with the reduced word count of a novella, there is enough physical ...

While the vast majority perishes in quiet anonymity, a tour of any national monument quickly reveals countless names carved into stone. These names generally identify three classes of people; scribe, conquered and conqueror. Indeed, if anything, life is an endless series of contests, large and small, but these stone-graven records typically ignore the latter for the former. Too often, history overlooks the struggles of mundanity, which perhaps better define those who endure. Pause a reflective moment to ponder the future – anticipate all the boastful elite to be immortalized there. ...

Everyone loves a good joke, but nobody enjoys being subjected to the fun. Pranks are an especially childish form of delight, perhaps because they are the ultimate expression of prurient sadism, which we must disavow as civilized adults. We, the same civilized adults who teach our beloved youth the art of warfare while stockpiling an obscene surplus of thermonuclear weapons. Now that is funny! So, tease a guilty moment to titillate your secret sadist today. Giggling, it whispers. Of spoiled affluence and nothing better to do; of grotesque victimization that makes monsters from innocent ...

Several of the best human hypocrisies are immortalized in catechisms. We say “violence never solved anything” when history repeatedly teaches us otherwise, and once we prematurely labeled an entire, global war as “The War to End All Wars” long before we recorded its half-formed outcome. Dynasties fall. Empires rise. In marble, granite and concrete, we immortalize these events, large and small, and we celebrate the human beings named heroes there. Rightly so. Pause a moment before The Wall – let your finger trace names in stone. From pits of despair and summits of glory, they ...

Rascals, rapscallions, villains and varlets; all terms of a bygone era intended to describe the guy in the black hat, that perverse character of low virtue and strayed morality who forever ties the distressed damsel to cold, steel rails. Gasp! Within fictional fantasies, they are always guys and damsels, and they must wear black. In reality, we still mostly read about bad ‘guys’, but the women tend to fight back now, often with devastating effect. Tonight, the devil laces thigh-high boots over fence-net stockings before taking a turn through town. Be warned and beware. Of evil delight ...

Tabloids invite us to gorge ourselves on tales of epic personal failures, and so many of us eagerly oblige. Guilty pleasures, we savor these stories most satisfactorily with a garnish of sex scandal, a dash of fiscal malfeasance and a generous dollop of social corruption. Next, we expect a weeping dessert of shame and regret to follow. Afterward, everything ends in a dumpster or the backseat of an aging sedan before we stagger home again, sated, smug and full of improving condemnations. Cup your ears and shade your eyes now. Peer into the gloom of your neighbor’s windows to eavesdrop. ...

Champions come in all shapes and forms. The same is true of cowards. Most of us line up somewhere between these two extremes of potential, but none of us eagerly anticipate having to prove ourselves in a crossfire. In fact, most notable acts of heroism are not the results of well-considered, carefully laid plans. Rather, these are often spontaneous yet deliberate demonstrations of selflessness occasionally on display when normal human beings must confront life-threatening risk. Take a deep, calming breath now before you dare gaze into the face of death. Trembling, heed its heckling catcalls...

A silly titmouse once sang sweetly to describe love as “a many-splendored thing”. Perhaps this is so. For some. For others, love’s terrible spectacle shines in its many violent twists and unexpected turns. Each feckless angle of its affection or disaffection invariably leaves a disfiguring blemish that renders exquisite facets of character from alternating impacts of tragedy, disaster, triumph and ecstasy. Too briefly, desire’s artistry sparkles the amazed eye with a fateful brilliance before fiery passion fades to leave its victims cold and trembling in its wake. Steal a secret ...

While we collectively fear wild animals and muggers, most contemporary plagues come in the guise of unavoidable corporate logos and unforgettable commercial jingles. This new and most modern form of disease presents symptoms that include unhealthy obsessions, unwise compulsions and preprogrammed responses, all accompanied by an irrepressible tune that inevitably drives a rational mind to the very brink of lunacy. Visualize anything except the latest fad slogan while engrossing yourself in a moment of hysteric interest, and then pause to think. Of dreamscape dominions wrought from the felt ...

Boogeymen, banshees, werewolves and vampires; all figments of horror drawn upon parchments of fable, each the scrawl of individual phobias revisited by trembling quills dipped into inkwells of collective nightmare. Despite vaguely amusing caricatures, these monstrous legends probably developed from grisly human origins. Indeed, we confront our violent primitives in every new atrocity, and each murder teaches a simple lesson that humankind consistently resists. Consequently, we forever lack viable means for exorcising so-called ‘inner demons’. Even now, your secret devil whispers into ...

Peddlers and snake oil, pimps and pornography, lunatics and paranoia… each pair travels the same darkened alleyways to service identical shadow-bound gates. We receive them by the backdoor, thank you, and always well into the evening. These are private matters undertaken and clearly marked by clandestine hush and furtive sidelong glance. Sometimes concealed in the open but more often hidden in a fog of disinformation, our every secret contains a kernel of truth wrapped within a burlap of proficient lies. Patience and due diligence may unwrap the enigma to decipher a hidden message, but ...

Horror! Suspense! Halloween haunts! Everything that goes bump in the night is here, waiting to be read... if you dare. This collection of Twisted Tales contains Volumes 13-16 in all their gory, gruesome short story goodness.