Dark Fantasy Short Stories

Welcome to Winterhaven ~ Almost Nothing Is What It Seems... But the Sex is Real and the Secrets are Many! Down and out on her luck, Verity answers an ad in in a small country newspaper. The job offer sounds almost too good to be true and the salary is much more than she made in the city. Even with her doubts, though, Verity visits Winterhaven and falls in love with the rural area... but behind the lush green beauty of the countryside lies ugly secrets! Winterhaven Manor holds many secrets, and all those associated with the grand old estate seem to have secrets of their own to protect. ...

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.

In a world of shadows, love defies every curse. In Victorian London, a dark, forbidden love unfolds in this spellbinding gothic romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When the enigmatic Lord Ravenwood—cursed, tormented, and haunted by betrayal—encounters the spirited Lavinia Ashcroft, their fates become irrevocably entwined. Bound by secrets and driven by a relentless desire to defy an enchanted curse, their union becomes a battleground between the man and the beast within him. As Ravenwood’s monstrous past threatens to consume him, Lavinia’s mystical gift reveals hidden truths ...

From a childhood as an abandoned orphan to life as one of the city’s most skilled burglars, master thief Rafiq has long lived high off the wealth of Avanasia—its trade, its jewels, and its women. The vaults of Avanasia's merchants are as open to him as the legs of its most beautiful courtesans. For in Avanasia, there is but one paramount truth: There are those who have, and those who take. And Rafiq is one of the latter. But when he steals an ancient heirloom blade from a powerful merchant, he sets in motion a series of events that will shift the balance of power in the city.

A collection of twenty-five horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to thrill you and chill you to the bone. The creepers include: ALONE: Laura keeps hearing weird noises in her house while her husband is on a business trip. FOREVER YOUNG: An elderly multibillionaire will pay five hundred million to be young again, but he also needs a young female to sacrifice to an island of cannibals. LOVE ON THE ROCKS: After twenty years of marriage, Louise can't stand the sight of him and wants a divorse. His temper is boiling over. Is there another man? THE ALIEN: Marge just found out her ...

Lacy Logan thought she had a normal life. She was healthy, happy, and about to start her own paranormal investigations business...until she met the man in black. In a matter of days, she was fighting for her life, questioning her sanity, and hoping to uncover a secret from her past that would allow her to slay a demon.

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!

The Shadow Market is a meeting point for faeries, werewolves, warlocks, and vampires. There, the Downworlders buy and sell magical objects, make dark bargains, and whisper secrets they do not want the Nephilim to know. As a Silent Brother, Brother Zachariah is a sworn keeper of the laws and lore of the Nephilim. But once he was a Shadowhunter called Jem Carstairs, and his love, then and always, is the warlock Tessa Gray. And Jem is searching through the Shadow Markets, in many different cities over long years, for a relic from his past.

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 ...

Kendra has been burned and broken, but this omega is ready to rise from the ashes. In the harsh and unforgiving underworld of Solstice Bay, omegas are marked with tattoos, their bodies adorned with the sigils of their claimed alphas. For Kendra, the tattoos she bears are more than just ink; they represent a life of restricted choices, a fate bound to the whims of others. But Kendra is no ordinary omega. Beneath her submissive veneer lies a fiery spirit yearning to break free from the chains of tradition. Fueled by an unwavering determination to forge her own destiny, Kendra's defiance ...

Dan Harmon, creator of NBC's Community and known Dungeons & Dragons aficionado, tells the tale of when Drizzt stands face-to-face with his own prejudices.

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.

A thrilling collection of the first eight Samantha Moon short stories, including: Teeth - What happens when a child is born with a rare throwback gene, a gene that produces two exceptionally long teeth? Vampire Nights - Samantha Moon meets someone unexpected on a late night trip to Denny's, someone who seems to know all her secrets and has all the answers. Vampire Blues - Samantha Moon discovers that even a routine case can offer a few surprises―and that not all men are created equal. Vampire Dreams - Samantha Moon sets out to find the answer to a mysterious, haunting dream...a dream in ...

📖✨ Fairy tales were never meant to be safe… ✨📖 Step into the shadows of Grimm & Twisted, where the classic fairy tales you thought you knew unravel into chilling, dark, and unexpected new versions. This collection takes beloved folklore and injects it with mystery, horror, and surreal twists—where Cinderella’s slipper leads her to a curse, the Big Bad Wolf is the least of Red Riding Hood’s problems, and a sleeping beauty might never wake up... or maybe she never really slept at all. With 25 original, nightmarish retellings, this book is perfect for lovers of dark fantasy, ...

Trespassers shall be eaten The only known survivor of mixing black magic and dead magic, Jenny Greenteeth was an evil witch who lived in a swamp. Enter her territory at your own risk!

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.

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

Over the course of two award-winning collections and a critically acclaimed novel, The Croning, Laird Barron has arisen as one of the strongest and most original literary voices in modern horror and the dark fantastic. Melding supernatural horror with hardboiled noir, espionage, and a scientific backbone, Barron's stories have garnered critical acclaim and have been reprinted in numerous year's best anthologies and nominated for multiple awards, including the Crawford, International Horror Guild, Shirley Jackson, Theodore Sturgeon, and World Fantasy awards.

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.

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!