Dark Fantasy Short Stories

From the author of Aevalorn Tales comes a dark fantasy story about doing the wrong thing to do right. Maeree Emberbloom lives in a comfortable home on a quiet hill overlooking her hamlet of Pondaroak. But she has a problem: her magical shop is overrun with piskies. With her business suffering, Maeree is at a loss for what to do. Gammond Brandyford, a young halfling widely regarded as a town menace, offers to "help" Maeree and sets out to capture one. Gammond, though, knows nothing about fae or the danger they represent. Armed with only magicked trinkets and ancient lore, he heads into the ...

The four previous volumes in Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling's anthology series of fairly-tales retold with a distinctively modern edge have been hailded by reviewers as "brilliant", "provocative", and "disturbing". In this triumphant new collection of original fiction, 21 of today's leading writers spin the cherished fables of childhood into glittering gold - offering magical tales for adults, as seductive as they are sophisticated.

Once upon a time, the stories that came to be known as "fairy tales" were cultivated to entertain adults more than children; it was only later that they were tamed and pruned into less thorny versions intended for youngsters. But in truth, they have continued to prick the imaginations of audiences at all ages.

A fourth anthology from the editors of Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears presents contemporary retellings of traditional fairy tales in Gregory Frost's "Sparks", "The Dog Rose" by Sten Westgard, and other works by Jane Yolen, Joyce Carol Oates, Nancy Kress, and John Crowley.

"SEX in the CITY meets 50 SHADES in micro-binge style!" 🔥Dara Nichols Series, Box Set 2: Novelettes 9-16 🔥 From New York Times, USA TODAY, and #1 Erotica Bestseller Marata Eros. What Readers are Saying: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Five Stars..." ~ Lindsay Gould ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ "Addictive, edgy, and irresistible!" 💋 Smart Erotica for Smart Readers: Volume 2 in the wildly popular Dara Nichols Series continues the steamy escapades with a thrilling focus on Zoe Scott. When her firefighter boyfriend, Darrell, seems stuck in his vanilla ways, Zoe and Dara team up to ignite passion and push ...

What exactly is the difference between a love letter and a suicide note? Is there really any difference at all? These might be the questions posed by Dear Sweet Filthy World, Caitlin R. Kiernan’s 14th collection of short fiction, comprising 28 uncollected and impossible-to-find stories. Here are 28 tales of apocalypse and rebirth, of miraculous transformation and utter annihilation. Here is the place where professing your undying devotion might be precisely the same thing as signing your own death warrant or worse.

Within this audiobook, you'll find myriad approaches to Alice, from horror to historical, taking us from the nightmarish reaches of the imagination to tales that will shock, surprise, and tug on the heart-strings. So, it's time now to go down the rabbit hole, or through the looking-glass or...but no, wait. By picking up this audiobook and starting to listen to it, you're already there, can't you see?

A volume of short stories by the best-selling author of The Broken Empire series, Mark Lawrence This is a collection of 14 stories of murder, mayhem, pathos, and philosophy, all set in the world of the Broken Empire. Within this audiobook, you will find tales of men such as Red Kent, Sir Makin, Rike, Burlow and the Nuban, telling of their origins and the events that forged them.

A Doomed Mission. A Sister’s Despair. A Warrior with Nothing Left to Fight For. Nightbreeze has spent centuries in battle, but war no longer holds meaning. Ready to take the great sleep, he returns home for one final farewell—only to find his sister, Starlily, preparing for her own end. A powerful mage, Starlily has given up hope of ever finding her soul mate. Seeking an escape, she joins an elite expedition to recover a lost sword—one hidden deep in the under realms, guarded by an ancient demon. The mission is suicidal, but she doesn’t care. But their powerful parents forbid her ...

Fifty-One Tales is a collection of fantasy short stories by Irish writer Lord Dunsany, a major influence on J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others. Each story is a short vignette, a single moment of strangeness or horror in the face of death.

A carnival of horrors, outer space, heaven: these are just a few of the locations visited in this collection of short stories. Though I’ve always found long form fiction to be easier to write, like many other authors, I started by writing short fiction, where words are precious and each pithy sentence must do the work of an entire chapter. Please join me in my early journey through the abbreviated worlds of the short story.

Dame Armaelle Níallach, a battle-worn knight sworn to protect her sovereign, races through the moonlit forests, cradling an infant princess in her arms. Pursued by ruthless assassins, she seeks refuge in the ancient cemetery of Caer Mawnog, where stone statues of grieving widows and faceless wraiths stand as silent sentinels of forgotten tragedies. Wounded and desperate, Armaelle pleads with the old gods for help—only to find her prayers answered by something far older and more dangerous than she ever imagined. With its vivid world-building, rich in ancient lore and primal forces, the ...

Getrude Bennet has been called the "most important woman writer of fantasy between Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1759-1797) and C.L. Moore (1911-1987)". This is a complete collection of short stories by the woman who first explored the dark fantasy worlds of the modern era. This book contains tales that were originally published in Weird Tales, Argosy, and All-Story Weekly between 1918-1923.

In number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris’s "Dahlia Underground,” venerable vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers survives an attack by an anti-vampire terrorist group, only to show them they tried to blow up the wrong bloodsucker. Bailey Ruth Raeburn, a ghost assigned to assist humans in trouble, steps into the middle of a marital dispute with surprising twists in Carolyn Hart’s “Riding High”....

* Originally Shortlisted in a 2023 Writing Competition * From the author of Aevalorn Tales comes a fantasy story about loneliness and connection. Delve into a world where sunflowers bloom, plums ripen, and love is forged by two unlikely strangers. Far away, in the Hamlet of Hollowgarde, Harlan Springbrook is a peculiar, curmudgeonly halfling who prefers his own company. Eldewine Kettlebloom, a nurturing gardener, tries to draw him out by building a bridge of neighborly communication. Unfortunately, things go amiss, and she nearly kills him. Will Harlan—if not their relationship—survive?...

Beast Hunt invites you to step into the claws, wings, and scales of the creatures humanity has feared for centuries. From mighty dragons to forgotten forest spirits, from mechanical monstrosities to cursed beings of the deep—these are the stories of the unseen, the unheard, and the misunderstood.

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A haunting camping trip from the Twilight Zone. All he wants is to fish along the mighty Missouri River. Instead of relaxation, he discovers an unknown species lurking in the dark waters. As fear turns to familiarity, he strives to learn their ways... until disaster strikes. Now, it’s up to him to save them. Will he be able to rescue them in time, or will they be lost to mankind forever? Fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz will enjoy this short, supernatural tale.

One of Canada’s most acclaimed horror writers, Gemma Files presents a mosaic of interconnected stories about interconnected families. After fleeing Scotland, five clans settled in the fictional town of Dourvale in northern Ontario. Known as the Five-Family Coven, they are the descendants of witches and witch-children, none of whom were spared persecution in their native country. Now shamans, spellcasters, singers, and thieves, the members of the Devize, Druir, Glouwer, Roke, and Rusk families survive by trading their occult powers and talents.

As a child, Henry Cadmus lived on Catalina Island, a scenic vacationland off the Southern California coast. But Henry's experiences were far from idyllic. Today, even though Henry has seen firsthand the horrors of war, the ghastly images that haunt his dreams are ones he associates with his childhood... and the island: a snarling pig-man holding a cleaver; a jackal-headed woman on a high balcony, dripping blood; strange occult rituals... and worse. If it was up to Henry, he would avoid the island entirely.