Gothic Short Stories

Elizabeth Gaskell's chilling Gothic Tales blends the real and the supernatural to eerie, compelling effect. 'Disappearances', inspired by local legends of mysterious vanishings, mixes gossip and fact; Lois the Witch, a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria; while in 'The Old Nurse's Story' a mysterious child roams the freezing Northumberland moors.

The Vampire’s Fertile Valentine — A Paranormal Romance Short Story A deadly curse. A forbidden love. One chance to save them all. In the village of Lupercalia, Valentine's Day is more than a celebration—it's a sacred ritual for love, lust, and fertility. Each year, maidens draw the names of eligible bachelors from a ceremonial urn, forging a bond meant to bring life and prosperity to the land. But everything changes when the villagers shun a vampire's descendant from the draw—and their punishment is swift: a barren year, and a deadly curse upon their future. Now, the only way to ...

Come on board for a Gothic journey in a funicular railway in Victorian England, a freight train in the Carpathian mountains, a high tech sky train in Bangkok, an underground railway in Tokyo. Visit stations which lure with the promise of safe shelter but harbour unexpected dangers. Meet the people who work on the tracks – stationmasters, porters, signal-men – and those who travel – commuters, tourists, dead bodies, murderers and ghosts. In this volume, editor Rayne Hall has collected twenty of the finest– and creepiest – railway tales. The book features the works of established ...

Beneath the serene facade of Twin Pines, an ancient evil waits in the shadows. For Emma Flowers, a troubled teenager grappling with her father's mysterious disappearance and her mother's overbearing nature, life has become a labyrinth of bad moods and unanswered questions. Then, after a night of bad storms, Emma finds her neighbor’s dog dead in the middle of the street. As the mystery intensifies, teenagers around town begin falling into coma-like, nightmare states. As the creature moves in on Emma, she begins to uncover the evil’s origins, discovering dark parts of her own past in the ...

Listeners know that few authors are able to create an atmosphere of unease and terror as well as Oates, a fact confirmed by the four novellas presented here. All the novellas in this collection revolve around the theme of love gone wrong - horribly, shockingly wrong.

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Is it a gift if it’s taken by force? Treat yourself to this steamy anthology all centered around love, dominant men and their (mostly) willing Valentines. This set includes six brand new, scorching novellas by USA Today and other bestselling authors… Mr. Imperfect by Carolyn Faulkner Nina is a curvy girl who is wary of men who seem too perfect. She always seems to lose her heart to them when they want nothing to do with her. Then along comes Clete. He's entirely too perfect, although the first thing he does is treat her the way she's always wanted to be treated by a man. But is he just ...

She inherited a house, but discovered something far more valuable within the haunted walls... When Lyra inherits Fairlane Manor from her late great-uncle, she never imagined the secrets it held within its timeworn walls. The legacy of a once-renowned artist lingers like a specter, his eerie and lifelike animal paintings haunting the minds of those who dare to behold them. In a whispered legend, a traveler sought refuge at Fairlane Manor, only to become ensnared in the painter's mysterious masterpiece. Trapped within the canvas, he was cursed to roam as a fearsome werewolf, his fate forever ...

When Violet agrees to house-sit a forgotten chateau in the French countryside, she’s hoping to disappear: from her past, her mistakes, and the pain of heartbreak. Instead, she's pulled into the tragic mystery of Elias Lavelle, a hauntingly handsome World War II officer who died with a broken heart. As Violet unravels the tragic story behind the man, love blossoms between the living and the dead. But as she uncovers fragments of Elias’s past, she realizes he’s hiding a secret so devastating and unforgivable, it could shatter the fragile bond between them and doom his soul forever. What...

A Collection of Folk Horror Novellas What if the land remembers? What if it never forgives? Step into five isolated villages where ancient rituals still hold sway, grief grows like roots beneath the soil, and forgetting can be fatal. From forest pacts and weatherbound sacrifices to mirrored souls and orchards that bloom with teeth, The Root Remembers gathers five original folk horror tales that peel back the pastoral to reveal the rot beneath. Inside, you’ll find: The Root That Weeps – A grieving woman inherits a cabin with a sealed root cellar... and a tree that feeds on loss. The ...

The theme of trust, betrayed or fulfilled, runs through this collection of short stories: Parents lead children into peril, husbands abandon wives, wives manipulate husbands, and time undermines all. Love pangs, a favorite subject of the author, take on a new urgency as earthquakes, illnesses, lost wallets, and deaths of distant friends besiege his aging heroes and heroines.

A mysterious inheritance. A haunted castle. And a dark romance that will unravel secrets long buried. Amelia Whitmore’s life is far from ideal. Struggling financially and desperate for a new start, she receives an unexpected summons that could change everything: an inheritance from a distant relative she barely knew, tied to the enigmatic and reclusive owner of Cadworth Castle, Lucien Blackwood. With little to lose, Amelia journeys to the foreboding castle, hoping for a fresh beginning—but instead, she steps into a world filled with shadowed secrets. Lucien, the brooding and mysterious ...

Featuring work by M. R. James, Edith Nesbit, Oscar Wilde, Gertrude Atherton and many more, this enhanced audio collection of eight enduring stories - some well-known, others less familiar - transport you to a candlelit fireside to hear tales of lonely coastlines, deadly rivers, dark, creaking corridors, horrific, everlasting love and unknown entities lurking in black velvet shadows.

Our story begins in 1785 when a young seafarer, Captain Thornhill, disappears while visiting the shop of a barber in London, a certain Sweeney Todd whose shop in Fleet Street is situated by St. Dunstan's church, just round the corner from the famous and popular meat pie shop run by Mrs. Lovett. Thornhill was carrying a string of pearls as a gift for Johanna Oakley, the sweetheart of his friend Mark Ingestrie who is missing, presumed lost at sea.

In the shadows of Victorian England, the ghosts are gathering. Prepare to have your blood chilled by six tales of fear and phantasmagoria… The Silent Bell: A doctor’s invention to prevent people being accidentally buried alive backfires on him with horrific results. The Stonegate Manor Collection: Lord Feltham’s paintings are worth a fortune, but also conceal a gruesome tragedy that has yet more lives to claim. The Haunting of Reverend Carson: The charlatan Musgrave makes a living pretending to talk to the dead, until he discovers his new client’s demons are more than merely ...

"Hampshire Stories by Joe Giampaolo is a stellar collection of short stories” (Literary Titan, 2020) - "A delightful story brimming with sophistication and charm" (Indies Today, 2022) The Hampshire Stories Series, Deluxe Edition is an award-winning anthology of selected short stories set in 19th-century England. This collection includes twelve short stories divided by genre (Previously published). -- 2020 Literary Titan Book Award, Gold Medal, (Hampshire Stories) -- 2022 Global Book Awards, Bronze Medal, Historical Romance, (Hampshire Stories) -- Readers' Favorite, Five Star Seal, (The ...

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was born in Dublin, Ireland and is acknowledged as an influential writer in the genre of gothic and supernatural fiction of the 19th century. Many of his short stories were originally published in various magazines. Here are six of them: “The White Cat of Drumgonnial”, “Dickon the Devil”, “The Drunkard's Dream”, “The Secret of the Two Plaster Casts”, “The Vision of Tom Chuff”, and “An Authentic Narrative of a Haunted House”.

When scandal threatens to destroy everything, how far will Elizabeth go to protect those she loves? Elizabeth Bennet's world is turned upside down when a tragic accident at Hunsford Parsonage leaves her at the mercy of the enigmatic Mr. Darcy. Blackmailed into accepting his proposal to avoid scandal, Elizabeth soon discovers that her new fiancé's desires run far deeper and darker than she ever imagined. As she navigates the treacherous waters of high society and her own conflicting emotions, Elizabeth must learn to play the game of deception and desire. With every touch, every whispered ...

“CHILLING HISTORICAL HORROR” “Wildly imaginative” A delicious mix of history, horror, and love. Three early American gothic tales, including America’s last witch trial in 1730, the birth of the Jersey Devil in 1735, and the true origin of the Headless Horseman in 1776. In 1730 Ben Franklin published a story about a witch trial in Mount Holly, in The Pennsylvania Gazette. But did he tell the complete story, or was it a coverup of more sinister and frightening events? Emmet, an aspiring reporter, takes his first assignment for Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette and travels to New ...

A cursed wolf. A witch’s dangerous legacy. A love that defies fate itself. When Ruby inherits her grandmother’s cottage, she expects a fresh start—not a beast bound by dark magic. Lorcan, once a man, now wears the form of a monstrous wolf, his fate sealed by an unbreakable curse. The key to his salvation lies in a forbidden grimoire, hidden somewhere within the cottage’s enchanted walls. But breaking the spell comes at a terrible price. As Ruby delves into the secrets of her grandmother’s magic, she discovers a power within herself—one that breathes life into her soul and binds ...