A terrifying, thrilling collection of must-listen horror stories chock-full of nightmarish supernatural beings and the murderously disturbed that are sure to keep you up all night long.

Demonstrating once again her gift for spellbinding storytelling, Anne Rice makes real for us a great dynasty of four centuries of witches - a family given to poetry and incest, murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being called Lasher who haunts the Mayfair women. Moving in time from today's New Orleans and San Francisco to long-ago Amsterdam and the France of Louis XIV, from the coffee plantations of Port-au-Prince to Civil War New Orleans and back to today, Anne Rice has spun a mesmerizing tale.

Patrick and Clare wake up trapped in a basement, a thin wall separating their cells. Their captor is mysteriously absent, which at first seems like a blessing. As more time passes with no food or water, they begin to realize a clock is ticking for their survival. Combining their intelligence and determination, the two begin plotting an escape from their shared prison. Overcoming each obstacle only presents another obstacle standing in the way of their freedom. It will take all of their ingenuity and strength to find their way out of this mess.

When a young man from a village comes to the big city to study, he finds himself overwhelmed by the urban lifestyle. But will he manage to blend in by going to a Halloween party, when his crush asks him to help decorate the place, when the abandoned villa becomes all too spooky for him and when the illusory masks everyone wears seem to never come off?

Laid out upon these frail leaves is a banquet of delectable misfortunes and savory tragedies. Partake of these melancholy morsels of bile and brine, of wrath and regret. Sample vintages of fermented tears and distilled blood. Lick the sharp edges of cursed blades, and nibble frail hopes set on platters of tarnished silver. Strange sorrows warp the palette of perception and bring about subtle ruin and uncanny vigor. Indulge in the filling robustness of Tainted Steel.

This double feature includes two dark fantasy stories featured in Brian Barr's Daemensions short story collection. "Songs of the Hallow Saints" follows a Celtic swordsman searching for his love in the underworld. "The Coldest Winter" follows a king haunted by the death of his beloved queen, who drowned in an ice-covered pond.

Enter a cruel palindrome world: a symmetric place where disturbing situations displace the common; where good acts transmute to evil ones; where windows and mirrors are interchangeable. Within, characters influence each other through macabre arrangements of involuntary happenstance, and learn the inevitabilities of coincidence. A segmented story of a mother and daughter intertwines the others.

A fair fight doesn't start with hunger. That will to live drives a desperate, hungry man to find solace on a train. After all, you've got to keep moving to survive. The only problem is that blending in with the passengers may be worse than getting caught.

Thirteen short stories of the strange that will take you into a world where only the echoes of reality exist. These are Twilight Zone type stories. Journey with a young boy suffering with downes syndrome as he is confronted by bullies. Lost and alone, he finds a protector he never knew existed. Meet a lonely man who is the butt of everyone's jokes, a man who finally finds love, comfort, and acceptance in a way he could never have imagined. They say the waiting is the hardest part. It's not! Winning isn't always what it's cracked up to be, especially when relatives are involved.

Step into the mind of the unstable, where nightmares become reality and reality is not always what it seems. Embrace the Darkness is a collection of six terrifying tales exploring the darker side of human nature and the blurred line between dreams and actuality.

Imagine getting out of the bath and finding blood in four of your six rooms. That’s not the plot of a B-movie. That’s real life. There’s a reason you’re drawn to horror films, and they’re not as far-fetched as you thought. FBI data shows that four out of 10 homicides and six out of 10 rapes go unsolved, and this isn’t just down to shoddy police work or a failing system. Sometimes, there just is no rational explanation. Strange things happen every day, and many of them are never reported. But then, many of them don’t end in horror.

A peculiar tablet unearthed in a Middle Eastern ossuary provokes madness in those who encounter it. One by one, people come under the tablet's sway and are subjected to horrific visions and dreams. In time, the tablet's true purpose becomes clear: It is the harbinger of an eons-dead god whose reemergence will steep the world in terror and suffering. Having put the pieces together, two men race against the clock and attempt to disrupt the terrifying work of an ancient cult.

With 15 dark and twisted tales, the mortician is back to terrify you once again. The author of the hit horror anthology Tales from a Mortician has masterfully woven a new collection that will turn your stomach and have you checking under your bed, locking your doors, and leaving the lights on as you listen. From finding a body in your parents' attic to serial killers, cannibals, werewolves, gut-wrenching Halloween tricks, and even a sweet old lady who kills dozens, Skeletons is sure to terrify, disgust, and enthrall everyone who dares to listen to it.

Officer Seth Erickson is a by-the-book professional, at least until he meets attorney Matthew Longtine and his wife, Deborah. As Seth pursues the elusive Masked Vigilante, Matthew and Deborah solicit him as a security guard while they strive to combat the city's growing gang problem. When Matthew's health takes a turn for the worse, his beloved wife, Deborah, is determined to do whatever it takes to save her husband, even if it means risking losing everything.

Have you been looking for a way to bring the family together during stormy nights? Have you been looking for something to listen to by the campfire on your next vacation? This book is full of thrilling tales that were made to keep children invested in the story. As your kids listen to these stories, their vocabulary will grow. Many of these chapters also reinforce the morals that you have already taught your little ones.