Dark Horror

A journey of appraisal. Critiques of dark and speculative fiction spanning a decade. Over one hundred essays that will take you into the dark maw of modern horror in both literature and contemporary cinema.

The prophecy is foretold as the siren of the unholy is sung over Arcana. The blood of the innocent burns for justice, as the ring calls out to the brave. The stand between the Maker’s champion and the Reaper herself will shape the world like never before.

Winner of Literary Titan 'Gold Award' Winner of Reader Ready Award 2025 'Top Pick' Dying was just the start of his problems... David Harris was murdered—shot in the head after unveiling INCARNEX, a compound that defies death. Eight years later, he wakes up in a new body, resurrected by the very creation that cost him everything. But INCARNEX is failing. Every revived person, including David, is on borrowed time. As society teeters on collapse, he has one chance to fix his mistake—before millions, himself included, shut down for good. Hunted by a ruthless CEO, underground rebels, and the...

In a world where dark magic intertwines with a desperate love, one sassy witch will stop at nothing to bring her demon betrothed back from the dead. Morella White runs the UK’s only cat cemetery. She raises the dead felines she buries as grotesque, oversized zombies. Her plans to resurrect a half-cat, half-man demon take a dark turn when Amber May’s cat, Jasper, transforms into a zombie after a brutal attack, and chaos ensues. As Jasper grapples with his new psychic powers, Amber will do anything to protect her cat from falling into Morella’s clutches. A battle between the living and ...

A collection of twenty horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to chill you and thrill you to the bone. The nightmares include: BORN TO BE WILD: After working with a renowned geneticist for five years, a young Harvard graduate is frustrated by his mentor's failure to publish any of their discoveries. SANTA’S NOT COMING TO TOWN: An eight-year-old boy is pissed that Santa never brings him toys like his friends at school and seeks revenge THE LOSER: A disillusioned wife regrets marrying her loser husband who fathered two pathetic dolts and fantasizes how great life would be without ...

Binding Pleasure and Pain I am Dr. Jennifer Palmer, a psychiatrist, and I am here at the Northwest Penitentiary to meet with the notorious and brutal inmate, Jeremy Miller. Jeremy is brought to me naked and in chains. He is huge and muscular. I must admit that I have difficulty focusing on his face. The guards leave, and it is just us. I need to gain his trust, but I’m not quite ready to unlock the chains. We compromise and to put us on even footing; I take off my clothes. But I know I must unchain him to prove he can trust me. As soon as he’s loose, his mouth is on mine and his hands ...

I’m trapped by the devil. What started as an innocent mistake turned into actual hell. In my defense, I didn’t mean to get involved with a mafia prince. But he barged through my defenses anyway. He stalked me from the shadows and stole me from the life I know. Jeremy Volkov might appear charming, but a true predator lurks inside. He’s out to possess, own, and keep me. But I have no plans to stick around in his blood-soaked world. Or so I think.

In Campfire Stories for Kids: A Scary Ghost, Witch, and Goblin Tales Collection to Tell in the Dark, the listener will find a fun collection of magical and spooky tales to delight your children. This book has something for everyone! It is perfect for long days in the house or a gentle bedtime thrill. You and your kids will both love the variety.

Deep beneath the labyrinthine city-prison of the Ward lies the Catanether, a twisted underworld of nightmares where madness becomes manifest. Tango Primary Five finds himself exiled to this underground abyss where the air is thick with the whispers of ancient horrors waiting to be awakened. In the Catanether, the tunnels twist like veins, pulsing with a dark energy that makes the Ward seem like paradise lost. In the shadows of this dark realm, fractured remnants of rival civilizations cling to survival against an all-consuming bedlam black fog, twisted flesh-cybernetic abominations, and ...

Families that kill together, stay together. The Lawman and his weary companions have survived the Rites and are headed west for Victory Island. Not far behind, Lothair Eichberg has sworn to take revenge for the murders of his own kind. Along the way they encounter another infamous figure from the past recently revived and intent on taking over the world. The frozen dead are still rising, starving for human flesh. Ancient family ties will bring them all together again for one final, bloody reunion.

The honeymoon had been perfect, Layla and Andy were just starting the rest of their lives. So how did they end up incarcerated, hostages of a vile, Egyptian terrorist group? Starved, beaten and tortured, their hope fades as they descend into a pit of despair and torment, the four other captives taken with them suffering a similar fate. Desperate for ransom money, the terrorists spare no attention to detail when it comes to extracting money from the victims helpless families. Contains graphic scenes of torture.

January 1937. Jack Miller has just about run out of options. His shoes have worn through, he can't afford to heat his rented room in Tooting, and he longs to use his training as an specialist wireless operator instead of working in his dead-end job. When he is given the chance to join an arctic expedition, as communications expert, by a group of elite Oxbridge graduates, he brushes off his apprehensions and convinces himself to join them.

Felix Rossini is a man with a thousand enemies. Framed for murder, hunted by Mirenze's protectors as well as the criminal underworld, he struggles to survive and fight back against the conspiracy that has marked him for death. A conspiracy of another kind is brewing across the ocean, as the corrupt aristocracy draws Livia Serafini's oldest friends into a plot to destroy her. If she can't find a way to overcome the occult infection spreading through her veins, they may not have to.

A collection of twenty horror/thriller stories with surprise endings to chill you and thrill you to the bone. The nightmares include: SOMETHING IN THE SKY: Strange things happen to two college students on Lovers Lane after a meteor cuts a path through a nearby cemetery. THE TOASTER: The City of Baltimore appropriates funds to move Edgar Allen Poe's grave site to a new mausoleum. LORD OF DARKNESS: Fred finds a large box on his doorstep with a horrific looking ebony statue inside that terrifies him. He abhors scary things and takes it to the city dump for disposal. THE METEOR: Newt is ...

She’s a marine biologist; he’s a shark. Will they ever be able to make a relationship work, or is their sea-crossed love doomed to fail? And who says you need to be alive or even human to enjoy a happily ever after? Warning: this is not a kid’s story. This sharktastic love story is an over-the-top, cheeky tale with a ridiculously fun and shocking, gory conclusion. Originally, I wrote it years ago as a creepy romance just for my partner, as a Valentine’s Day gift. I revamped it after finding inspiration in the latest shark movie trailer. It seemed appropriate to release it on the ...

NEWLY EDITED EDITION: Laura Kendall, two time Olympic archery champion, works her skills for the Maxwell Traveling Gypsy Circus; A circus using the free spirit of the gypsy life style, fashion and mysteries as it's theme to bring in crowds far and wide. Laura, traveling with her son, Jason, thrills audiences, becoming the top act at the big top. Yet, the window to compete is never totally shut. When the circus sets up tent at the sleepy coastal town of Fort Myers, Fla. An animal attack grabs the attention of Karen Walker, Animal Control Officer for the Lee County Sheriff's Department. After...

Monday's Child is Fair of Face Cara Martinez's life at Helix Tech has been an endless procession of days. For six years, she's endured the monotony of her basement office job—until one blood-soaked Monday shatters her world. Stalked through fluorescent-lit corridors by a shapeshifting creature of otherworldly beauty and dark horror, Cara is thrust into a deadly game where she's both prey and unwitting player. As she fights for her life, she uncovers sinister secrets lurking beneath Helix Tech's polished facade. But with each narrow escape and pulse-pounding encounter, she senses an ...

On a brisk autumn day, a 13-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America - and into another realm. One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery.

While sheltered in the clan's stronghold, Syssi is unaware that Kian and Amanda are not human, and neither are the supposedly religious fanatics that are after her. She feels a powerful connection to Kian, and as he introduces her to a world of pleasure she never dared imagine, his dominant sexuality is a revelation. Considering that she's completely out of her element, Syssi feels comfortable and safe letting go with him. That is, until she begins to suspect that all is not as it seems.

The woods are dark this night, and our hero, Reginald, is a royal knight who finds himself alone with only his fear to guide him. He knows not how he got there, where he came from, or where he is going. Follow Reginald on his journey as he encounters ghostly shadows, battles against a giant sea snake, and comes face to face with death and his own mortality.