Scary Science Fiction

More than 50 years after publishing his first story, Hugo Award-winning author Asimov remains one of the great names in science fiction. Almost single-handedly he transformed the field from the romantic and Gothic legacy of Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs into the rational, clear-minded genre that exists today. This selection of some of Asimov's most enduring and unforgettable stories is read by the author himself. These vintage tales encompass the full range of Asimov's versatility, while displaying his puckish sense of humor.

Frankie was a completely normal pet goldfish until Tom's evil-scientist big brother, Mark, tried to murder him with toxic gunge! Luckily Tom and his best friend, Pradeep, shocked Frankie back to life with a battery, and he's been their zombie-fishy friend ever since. On a trip to the aquarium, something fishy starts going on. Something that almost certainly involves evil older brothers, a vampire kitten, a psychic octopus, and a plot to take over the world! Can Pradeep and Tom help Frankie to swim another day, or will he come to a squiddy end?

Stephanie's uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that, while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn't fiction. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source, the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard.

Alex McBuff doesn't want to sell the family castle. An orphan, its ghosts have been like a family to him. But it is falling to pieces through lack of money. A Texan billionaire offers Alex $500,000, but on condition that it is ghost free.

Only Thomas Ward is left. He's the last hope; the last apprentice. Can Thomas succeed? Will he learn the difference between a benign witch and a malevolent one? Does the Spook's warning against girls with pointy shoes include Alice? And what will happen if Thomas accidentally frees Mother Malkin, the most evil witch in the county?

You never know what's out to get you. Though you might think you're safe from monsters and menaces, everyday objects can turn against you, too. A mysterious microwave. A threatening board game. A snowman that refuses to melt. Even your own heartbeat has its secrets. Thu-thump. Thu-thump. When you stop to listen, each beat sounds more menacing than the last.

After Rose Rita Pottinger cuts her finger on an enchanted Egyptian scroll, Lewis Barnavelt must work together with his neighbor Florence and sorcerous uncle Jonathan to rescue Rose Rita from the tomb in which she's imprisoned.

Brett and Tom are crazy about video games. In fact, they became best friends when they discovered that they could beat all their opponents. Now they’re ready to take on the best one of all—Rodomonte’s Revenge—a new virtual reality game that just opened in the mall. Fire rivers, enormous buzz-bugs, impossible cliffs, and a treasure-filled castle are all exciting parts of the skill levels. But when the game begins to take over Brett and Tom’s minds, they fear that they might become a permanent part of the action.

A brutal, unflinching account of global collapse, Rotting Earth takes you deep into the chaos, where soldiers fought hopeless battles, world leaders made impossible choices, and ordinary people faced horrors beyond imagination.

The ghosts of Craggyford Castle have been happy for 500 years. But outside the world is changing. Soon there will be nothing left of their old haunts, with new factories and houses as far as a ghost can see. So they set out to find a new home.

In the six months since Anthony, Lucy, and George survived a night in the most haunted house in England, Lockwood and Co. hasn't made much progress. Quill Kipps and his team of Fittes agents keep swooping in on Lockwood's investigations. Finally, in a fit of anger, Anthony challenges his rival to a contest: the next time the two agencies compete on a job, the losing side will have to admit defeat in the Times newspaper.

A sinister problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren't exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see - and eradicate - these supernatural foes. Many different Psychic Detection Agencies have cropped up to handle the dangerous work, and they are in fierce competition for business.

After leaving Lockwood & Co. at the end of The Hollow Boy, Lucy is a freelance operative hiring herself out to agencies that value her ever-improving skills. One day she is pleasantly surprised by a visit from Lockwood, who tells her he needs a good Listener for a tough assignment. Penelope Fittes, the leader of the giant Fittes Agency, wants them - and only them - to locate and remove the Source for the legendary Brixton Cannibal.

I was just a normal kid, I went to school (got expelled a lot, but that wasn't my fault), played sports and hung out with my best friend.Until I accidentally vaporized my maths teacher.Now, I spend my time at Camp Half Blood, battling monsters and generally trying to stay alive.And now that Zeus thinks I've stolen his lightning bolt, staying alive is going to be even harder.

Ever since Cass almost drowned (okay, she did drown, but she doesn't like to think about it), she can pull back the Veil that separates the living from the dead...and enter the world of spirits. Her best friend is even a ghost. So things are already pretty strange. But they're about to get much stranger. When Cass's parents start hosting a TV show about the world's most haunted places, the family heads off to Edinburgh, Scotland. Here, graveyards, castles, and secret passageways teem with restless phantoms. And then Cass meets a girl who shares her "gift"....

Out on the Yorkshire Moors lives a secret line of people for whom books are food, and who retain all of a book's content after eating it. To them, spy novels are a peppery snack; romance novels are sweet and delicious. Eating a map can help them remember destinations, and children, when they misbehave, are forced to eat dry, musty pages from dictionaries.

As a massive outbreak of supernatural visitors baffles Scotland Yard and causes protests throughout London, Lockwood & Co. continue to demonstrate their effectiveness in exterminating spirits. Anthony Lockwood is dashing, George insightful, and Lucy dynamic, while the skull in the jar utters sardonic advice from the sidelines.

Jack Miller has spent his entire nine years in the same house on the same street in the same town with the same best friend. One day, while delivering papers on his same ordinary paper route, Jack finds himself amidst a very unordinary world. A world where strange and silly monsters become his friends. In this story, Jack and Annabelle meet Winston who is determined to get their help back in Monster World.

In the second book of this FANGtastic spin-off of Mo O'Hara's New York Times best-selling My Big Fat Zombie Goldfish chapter book series, an aspiring evil scientist and his mostly evil (and totally forbidden) vampire kitten blast off to Evil Scientist Space Camp.

When Ren and his younger brother, Kip, are sent to spend Halloween with their aunt Winnie, who runs Old Manor Nursing Home, they're expecting a boring holiday. But then a strange autumn carnival rolls into town offering them spooky thrills and monstrous delights. Kip, lured by the magic of the carnival, makes a bargain with the mysterious Tick-Tock Man for unlimited rides. Now, Ren has until the end of Halloween night to save his brother or Kip will be trapped in the carnival - forever!