Twisted Horror

Beneath the dew-covered fields of Ireland’s sunniest county lies Cloisters, an ancient seminary built from the ruins of a cursed abbey. Here, eighteen-year-old Fergal Kane arrives to train as a priest. But the hallowed halls of this former monastery, scarred by the blood of slain monks and defiled by other nefarious activities, harbor secrets that whisper in the shadows. As autumn’s icy grip tightens, Fergal’s faith is shaken by a chilling presence in the seminary’s out-of-bounds annex. There, amidst echoes of debauchery and betrayal, he encounters Deirdre—a beguiling beauty with ...

Axel Wilson is extremely protective of his former street crew, a bunch of child thieves who are under the care of his mentor, Saul Hagin. But Saul is dead, and Saul’s mate Ira has dollar signs where his heart should be. Not knowing what else to do, Axel makes a call for help, not realizing that his problem is going to land smack dab in front of the Alphabits, and drop him right on top of his true mate’s lap.

Martha can tell things about a person just by touching their clothes, as if their emotions and memories have been absorbed into the material. It started the day she fell from the tree at her grandma's cabin and became blind in one eye. Determined to understand her strange ability, Martha sets off to visit her grandmother, Mormor-only to discover Mormor is dead, a peculiar boy is in her cabin and a terrifying creature is on the loose. Then the spinning wheel starts creaking, books move around and terror creeps in.

Are we alone in the universe? To date, all indications tell us we are the only intelligent form of life currently inhabiting our Milky Way Galaxy. Aliens may survive in government laboratories, but they are naturally difficult to record with any convincing fidelity. Yet yesterday’s far-out conspiracies too often become today’s startling headlines given a bit of unwanted exposure. Pause one moment now to take note of a shadow-bound summons, but beware. Your paranoid shade whispers. Of bright lights on calm nights; of tasks at hand delivered with a foreign understanding and unspeakable ...

What's that movement behind the curtain? Why are those seagulls coming so close? What’s that light in the sky? Is that mist on the water? How sharp is that knife? Do dragons dwell in deep space? These questions and more are answered in Dark Rooms, ten short stories of dark fiction, supernatural, suspense and psychological horror all bound together with a black sense of humour. Stories of sibling love... and hate, and the dangers of driving in the rain. Would you really want to be stranded on a deserted island? And some days, going to the circus isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Open ...

The Soul Redemption is a brutal, heart-pounding psychological thriller that you won’t want to put down. At the story’s heart is a young man, Jacob, whose early life dealt him a huge blow. It all began with the sudden disappearance of his parents, followed by a series of misfortunes that sent him spiralling down into the abyss. Confined to the Winebeck Hospital for the insane, Jacob becomes a pawn in a sick game within those walls. He is subjected and witness to unspeakable horrors at the hands of twisted, depraved staff and fellow patients. And it takes an insurmountable will for him to...

Dean Bannon comes to New Orleans for one reason only: to track down a missing 16-year-old girl. That's before he meets the drop-dead gorgeous con artist who makes him want to lose his legendary control. With her past, Emma Castille doesn't claim to be psychic. She just notices things other people don't. Like the fear in a runaway's eyes - or the pain in an ex-FBI agent's heart. Her chemistry with Dean is blistering, but Emma follows her passion...not someone else's orders.

While the vast majority perishes in quiet anonymity, a tour of any national monument quickly reveals countless names carved into stone. These names generally identify three classes of people; scribe, conquered and conqueror. Indeed, if anything, life is an endless series of contests, large and small, but these stone-graven records typically ignore the latter for the former. Too often, history overlooks the struggles of mundanity, which perhaps better define those who endure. Pause a reflective moment to ponder the future – anticipate all the boastful elite to be immortalized there. ...

Everyone loves a good joke, but nobody enjoys being subjected to the fun. Pranks are an especially childish form of delight, perhaps because they are the ultimate expression of prurient sadism, which we must disavow as civilized adults. We, the same civilized adults who teach our beloved youth the art of warfare while stockpiling an obscene surplus of thermonuclear weapons. Now that is funny! So, tease a guilty moment to titillate your secret sadist today. Giggling, it whispers. Of spoiled affluence and nothing better to do; of grotesque victimization that makes monsters from innocent ...

Several of the best human hypocrisies are immortalized in catechisms. We say “violence never solved anything” when history repeatedly teaches us otherwise, and once we prematurely labeled an entire, global war as “The War to End All Wars” long before we recorded its half-formed outcome. Dynasties fall. Empires rise. In marble, granite and concrete, we immortalize these events, large and small, and we celebrate the human beings named heroes there. Rightly so. Pause a moment before The Wall – let your finger trace names in stone. From pits of despair and summits of glory, they ...

Tabloids invite us to gorge ourselves on tales of epic personal failures, and so many of us eagerly oblige. Guilty pleasures, we savor these stories most satisfactorily with a garnish of sex scandal, a dash of fiscal malfeasance and a generous dollop of social corruption. Next, we expect a weeping dessert of shame and regret to follow. Afterward, everything ends in a dumpster or the backseat of an aging sedan before we stagger home again, sated, smug and full of improving condemnations. Cup your ears and shade your eyes now. Peer into the gloom of your neighbor’s windows to eavesdrop. ...

A silly titmouse once sang sweetly to describe love as “a many-splendored thing”. Perhaps this is so. For some. For others, love’s terrible spectacle shines in its many violent twists and unexpected turns. Each feckless angle of its affection or disaffection invariably leaves a disfiguring blemish that renders exquisite facets of character from alternating impacts of tragedy, disaster, triumph and ecstasy. Too briefly, desire’s artistry sparkles the amazed eye with a fateful brilliance before fiery passion fades to leave its victims cold and trembling in its wake. Steal a secret ...

Boogeymen, banshees, werewolves and vampires; all figments of horror drawn upon parchments of fable, each the scrawl of individual phobias revisited by trembling quills dipped into inkwells of collective nightmare. Despite vaguely amusing caricatures, these monstrous legends probably developed from grisly human origins. Indeed, we confront our violent primitives in every new atrocity, and each murder teaches a simple lesson that humankind consistently resists. Consequently, we forever lack viable means for exorcising so-called ‘inner demons’. Even now, your secret devil whispers into ...

What happened to James Lockedon? When a man is reported missing, Detective Jain can’t understand why he has to deal with it. Missing people are mundane jobs for uniform officers. However, he quickly realises that he’s in over his head and the investigation takes a dark turn. Going back to crimes from decades before to help him solve this new mystery, Jain wonders how far a man can go in order to stay hidden. A debut novel, mixing genres into an unconventional mystery novel. Independent review quotes (Goodreads): "The best book I've read this year" "What a fantastic read" "I took for ...

When Iolanthe “Io” Cresswell marries wealthy widower Cassian Graves, she never expects to inherit his late wife’s ghost. But from the moment she steps into Lachlan House—an eerie, decaying mansion perched on the cliffs—something feels off. Cassian insists Eleanor died by suicide, but the townspeople whisper a different story. Strange noises wake Io at night. Locked doors open on their own. And then there are the messages—handwritten notes in Eleanor’s script, appearing in Io’s belongings, warning her to leave while she still can. As Io digs into the past, she uncovers ...

Whispers in the Ash A chilling supernatural thriller that blends psychological horror, buried secrets, and the terrifying cost of guilt. When Daniel Reeve buys an abandoned house deep in the snow-covered forest, he wants only one thing: to disappear. Hiding from his past—and the memory of the wife he lost under violent, secretive circumstances—he seeks peace in solitude. But the silence in the house is not empty. Something waits in the basement. Something that remembers. As the nights stretch on, Daniel begins to hear his dead wife's voice. Objects move. Mirrors reflect more than they ...

Within realms of the unknown, superstition stalks. Primitives see god in a rainbow, but they also suspect a deadly serpent beneath every unturned stone. Ignorance and fear sometimes unite to inspire us or spare us, but more often this demonic duality serves to light the torches of enraged mobs. Indeed, history tells stories of witches burned alive amid great celebrations. We know these things happened. We also know witchcraft is a figment. Fearlessly now, step away from the staid, known world that shelters you. Venture into lands of conundrum and enigma to witness ciphered matters of mind. ...

Rascals, rapscallions, villains and varlets; all terms of a bygone era intended to describe the guy in the black hat, that perverse character of low virtue and strayed morality who forever ties the distressed damsel to cold, steel rails. Gasp! Within fictional fantasies, they are always guys and damsels, and they must wear black. In reality, we still mostly read about bad ‘guys’, but the women tend to fight back now, often with devastating effect. Tonight, the devil laces thigh-high boots over fence-net stockings before taking a turn through town. Be warned and beware. Of evil delight ...

Champions come in all shapes and forms. The same is true of cowards. Most of us line up somewhere between these two extremes of potential, but none of us eagerly anticipate having to prove ourselves in a crossfire. In fact, most notable acts of heroism are not the results of well-considered, carefully laid plans. Rather, these are often spontaneous yet deliberate demonstrations of selflessness occasionally on display when normal human beings must confront life-threatening risk. Take a deep, calming breath now before you dare gaze into the face of death. Trembling, heed its heckling catcalls...

Disinfectants, detergents, insecticides, fungicides, herbicides and homicides – everything a human being needs to clear his or her lot and start fresh in life, clean and pure, and it all waits at the press of a finger. Some of us love a good disaster, but we watch from a safe distance and it always happens to someone else… somewhere else… never here. Never us. Distended bellies and skeletal children are always the misfortune of others. Stop and wonder why. Your preferred answer no doubt leaps easily to mind, but the truth is probably quite different, because pestilence comes in all ...