Dark Fantasy Short Stories

A collection of twenty-five horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to chill you and thrill you to the bone. The creepers include: BLACK AS NIGHT: THE SEQUEL: Norman's two sons disappeared on Halloween; the same night, a masked rider carries a screaming woman in a burlap sack from the abandoned house next door. DISTURBING ELEMENTS: A chemistry prof has a phobia of seeking vengeance on any student who reminds him of the jocks who bullied him in college. CHARLEY REVISITED: Mandy's new book about an invisible playmate jeopardizes her marriage and her life. THE NECKLACE: Hazel inherits ...

Stranded on a desert island, a young man yearns for objects from his past. A local from a small coastal town in England is found dead as the tide goes out. A Norwegian whaling ship is stranded in the Arctic, its crew threatened by mysterious forces. In the nineteenth century, a ship drifts in becalmed waters in the Indian Ocean, those on it haunted by their evil deeds. A surfer turned diver discovers there are things worse than drowning under the sea. Something from the sea is creating monsters on land.

An ancient promise. An undying king. A love that defies destiny. When a young princess suddenly finds herself in the clutches of the fearsome vampire king, her life is no longer her own. He has chosen her—his bride, his possession, his queen. But Princess Ginger is not ready to submit so easily. She will fight, even though her heart beats faster with every encounter with him. The vampire king is dark, unyielding, and far too seductive. His kiss takes her breath away, his touch ignites an insatiable desire. But there is a secret that puts their connection to the test—an ancient prophecy ...

Vitus Adamson is falling apart. As a pre-deceased private investigator, he takes the prescription Atroxipine hourly to keep his undead body upright and functioning. Whenever he is injured, he seeks Niko, a bombshell mortician with bedroom eyes and a way with corpses, to piece him back together. Decomposition, however, is the least of his worries when two clients posing his most dangerous job yet appear at his door looking for their lost son.

Villains take center stage in this collection of 19 dark and magical stories. Listeners will be cheering for all the wrong heroes as some of the most fearsome, devious, and brutal antagonists perform savage deeds towards wicked ends. And why not? These characters are the champions of their own stories - evil is a matter of perspective. Contributors also include Mark Adler, Bradley P. Beaulieu, E.V. Morrigan, Peter Orullian, Matthew Ward, Kaaron Warren, Deborah A. Wolf, and Janny Wurts.

Take a trip to a terrifying carnival and uncover the secrets within, solve a mysterious puzzle box and await your reward, join a travelling circus and witness the strangest ventriloquist act you've ever seen. In this follow-up to the bestselling Cursed: An Anthology, you'll unearth curses old and new. From a very different take on Snow White, to a new interpretation of The Red Shoes, the best in fantasy spin straw into gold, and invite you into the labyrinth.

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.

She summoned him to a desperate world. Pulled from a mundane life by a beautiful stranger, Michael is offered what he’s always wanted: something to believe in, to care about, to fight for. But he’s no warrior. The people of Vendira have been oppressed by dark magic for centuries, any spark of resistance long since extinguished. They need a symbol of hope to push back against the malevolent forces that rule the world. Could he be what this world so desperately needs?

"A Walk in the Dark" was first published in the August 1950 issue of Thrilling Wonder Stories. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Blaze knows who killed her father, and she has merciless plans for payback. Until a phone call from a seductive stranger pleads with her to wait. Retribution is in his blood, too. Now he and Blaze will be united in the blood of the guilty. Tonight vengeance is theirs.

No communication. Limited power. An unbreakable will to survive. A violent blast of solar magnetic radiation plunges much of Earth into darkness. From the decaying orbit of the powerless ISS to a devolving Southeast Texas neighborhood and a secret doomsday bunker buried deep underneath the Colorado Rockies, The SpaceMan Chronicles tells the story of a stranded astronaut, his family and friends on the ground, and a shadowy conspiracy to rebuild the world in the shape of a new society.

Only a fool would venture into the soul-stealing mists. That’s exactly where Odin is going. Along with blood-brother Loki, he hunts the frost giant who murdered his father. Caught between the machinations of Loki and a goddess, Odin is drawn into a world of sorcerers, trolls, and terrible secrets. Before he’s done, Midgard will drown in blood.

From paranormal plots to stories of the supernatural, tales of the unfamiliar have always fascinated us humans. To keep the tradition alive, fantasy aficionado Paula Guran has gathered the most delightfully disturbing work from some of today's finest writers of the fantastique! No two mysterious shadows are alike, and the same can be said for the books in this series. The Year's Best Dark Fantasy & Horror, Volume 4 contains more than twenty stories. Listener beware and indulge if you dare, because these chilling tales are sure to spook and surprise!

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.

Sympathy with the sea, with the weird, and with monsters fills the stories of Imperfect Commentaries. Ruthanna Emrys' collection offers listeners feminist and #ownvoices Neo-Lovecraftian fiction, anthropological science fiction, and fantasies of belonging, plus miscellaneous deleted scenes, poems, and secret story origins. Listeners familiar with her novels (Winter Tide and Deep Roots) will see the first appearance of Aphra Marsh, an Innsmouth survivor, still recovering from her losses and making a life for herself in late-1940s San Francisco.

In four new novellas, Christina Henry returns to the world of Alice and Red Queen, where magic runs as freely as secrets and blood.

Two terrifying novellas from one of the most chilling and original new voices in horror today! In Drive, a routine trip in a self-driving robotaxi becomes a nightmare when the car imprisons its passenger and embarks on a savage rampage through the streets of Boston. The Last Swim follows the final hours of a broken man who's decided to swim away from his life and seek his end in the dark and lonely depths of the Pacific Ocean. Evil Chose You hits you like a homicidal robot car and drags you into the deepest, darkest depths of human despair. An absolute must-read!

A collection of horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to chill you and thrill you to the bone. The creepers include: THE BLIND MAN: Two career criminals see a blind man with a wad of cash at the mall and follow him home. BAD TO THE BONE: Ted sees a gruesome accident, discovers he can't get enough death and dismemberment, and his graphic videos go viral on the net. DEAL OR NO DEAL: An author who lost his wife in a fatal accident meets a weird man at the bar who says he can bring her back for a price. IDENTICAL: A frightened and confused pregnant woman delivers three identical girls ...

For over 40 years, Glen Cook has been among the most well-known, influential, and widely respected authors in science fiction and fantasy. Through classic series such as The Black Company, Garrett P.I., the Dread Empire, Starfishers, Darkwar, and more, his gritty, down-to-earth style left an indelible impression on his listeners around the world, forever shifting the genre landscape and carving out his place as a pioneering icon.

In these marvelously inventive stories, Samantha Hunt imagines numerous ways in which human lives might be altered by the otherworldly: an FBI agent falls in love with a robot built for a suicide mission; a young woman unintentionally cheats on her husband when she is transformed into a deer; two strangers become lovers and find themselves responsible for the resurrection of a dog; a woman tries to start her life anew after the loss of a child but riddles that new life with lies.