Weird Fiction

Monster 1 sets up the series with essays on the nature of monster stories, what they are, why we write them, then goes on to look at vampire stories featuring Japanese snow ghosts, Pulp vampires in Weird Tales and the occult detectives who chase them. Next are tales of slime monsters, bug-eyed monsters, vampires in space, ape monsters, vampires in Fantasy stories, and finally, the little people. The appendixes to the book include writer's advice on how to create your own monsters using examples from H. G. Wells and Daphne Du Maurier. The final essay looks at false monsters in the tradition ...

Weird Heroes is a collective effort to do something new: to approach three popular heroic fantasy forms—science fiction, the pulps and the comics—from different and exciting directions. Each story in this book is experimental. There are revitalizations of classic fantasy themes such as time travel and jungle adventure. There is innovative use of some of the most dynamic graphic story talent in the world, from Philippino illustrator Alex Nino to American cartoonist Ralph Reese. There is a strong and conscious effort to encourage storytelling which does not rely on violence as a primary ...

Here can be found a dozen tales of Sword & Sorcery, horrors, and of recent pasts unimagined before now. Discover worlds where stout warriors face off against mighty foes, common folk gain powers undreamed of, and the edges of the dark sometimes loom oh, so close. The Stories Iron Men of the Amazon Daedalus Reborn Violence Claimed Culmination of a Cold Year Blotting Out the Sun App Flip Phone Assassins of Opportunity Marazook Cold Snap Promises Whispered in Days of Darkness That Time Nazis Kidnapped a Serial Killer and Took Him Back to the Past to Become a Monster

This compelling collection will engage the lovers of horror, fantasy, and science fiction and marry their eccentric desires in the church of Blithecraft. Twelve stories suitable for the discerning fantasist. A blithely return to the eccentric craft of weird short stories. Tales of other dimensions, eldritch beasts, and seditious sirens. Ancient witchcraft, necromancers, and giant arthropods. Worlds of past, present, and future are presented in a classical style with contemporary beguile.

The case of a lost husband leads Holmes and Watson into the bowels of the new Underground system, where they uncover a fiendish scheme – the recently deceased are being forced to work as unpaid labor in the tunnels. And soon the walking dead come up into the city itself, spreading mayhem and disease. Holmes must find the perpetrator of these atrocities, and stop him, before the plague engulfs London.

Nyarlathotep is the prose poem that marks the first appearance of "The Crawling Chaos", an Outer God in the Cthulu Mythos and one of Lovecraft’s most famous creations. Based on a vivid nightmare that Lovecraft experienced, the poem has been described as “a bleak view of human civilization in decline, and explores the mixed sensations of desperation and defiance in a dying society.”

"Einmal wollte der Kranzedan mit der Untergrundbahn fahren. Am Ende der Rolltreppe, die ihn tief, tief in die Erde hinab führte, befand sich – zwischen verblichenen Reklametafeln leicht zu übersehen – eine kleine Metalltür. Dahinter vernahm der Kranzedan ein ganz feines Stimmchen, das sprach: "Komm, komm, komm …". Da öffnete er die Tür und quetschte sich geduckt hindurch und nie wieder ward er gesehen …”.

An adventure ideally suited to Indiana Jones, ‘The Treasure of the Tombs’ sees three WW1 veterans return to a remote cave to recover hidden gold, but the tomb is cursed.

What is truth? For 19 years, Joshua Webb has been asking that question in the pages of his newspaper, The Paradise Ledger. He's been called a madman, a lunatic, and an anarchist, but now he has stumbled upon a story so huge that it could shake the United States to its very foundation. The source of the trouble is Boston Corbett, the man who shot John Wilkes Booth.

When a collector acquires an old Spanish rapier cheap from an antiques dealer, he thinks he’s got himself a bargain. But he soon realises why the dealer wanted a quick sale.

Earwig takes a rare day off, which he spends drinking by himself in Au Metro, a seedy bar full of drunks, dancers and eccentrics. It is St Martin's day, and in the evening, as crowds parade through the street carrying lanterns through the snow, he is drawn reluctantly into a conversation with a sinister stranger called Tyre. As a result Earwig accidentally maims a waitress with a broken bottle. He understands that on some level Tyre meant this to happen. Shortly afterwards a black cat is delivered to the flat, unasked for.

A deadly captain is the subject if this short story. Young sailor Roberts recalls his experience of Captain Morbond, a cruel, heartless man who mysteriously is followed by small white mice said to carry the souls of dead men.

Something weird is going on! First the school bus gets a flat tire, and then Mrs. Kormel is totally lost in the middle of nowhere! Mrs. Kormel is the weirdest bus driver in the history of the world, and she's driving everyone crazy!

Set along the Great Barrier Reef, ‘The Black Bell Buoy’ recalls the story of two members of the Marine Board who were sent to secure a giant buoy near a dangerous piece of coral. Only one man makes it home though as rumours of a hideous octopus abound.

Henry Ian Darling is a collector of oddities, those that bring him closer to an enigma, one he hopes will be a great thing. But maybe it isn't?

Dad's training to become a firefighter, while Weir's busy with Pet Day! Will FiDo and Blockhead freeze up or find fame?

Whittlecombe. A charming and peaceful village in the south west part of England. All thatched cottages and winding country lanes, triangle sandwiches, cream teas, and picture postcard perfection. But people are dropping like flies. It’s just the flu, right? Could be. Except, wonkiest witch Alfhild Daemonne is about to host the vampire wedding of the century at Whittle Inn. Coincidence? Perhaps, Alf’s fangtastic guests are to blame? Or could bitter arch rivals "the Mori" be making a move on Alf and her wonky inn once more? Is feisty Alf fighting back? You bet she is!

A village in Cornwall is thrown into turmoil after a young girl falls from a train to her death. Was this an accident? Or murder? The mystery deepens when clues link the girl to a double homicide committed ten years earlier. Braddon's sensational novel takes us to the estates of aristocrats, the haunts of tabloid writers, the homes of Bohemian artists, and the dark alleyways of Paris. Braddon, one of Victorian England's best-selling novelists, is at the height of her powers in Wyllard's Weird.

- A woman fears she is losing her mind when her surroundings keep changing without explanation.- A brokenhearted woman will stop at nothing to recapture the heart of the man who left her at the altar.- A loner who lives with seven cats finds himself immobile and at the mercy of hungry felines.- A psychic investigating the disappearance of a little girl uncovers a shocking tale.- A zombie encounters a lost love while shuffling through her empty existence.- An alien scientist with dreadful personal hygiene comes to Earth to genetically engineer a new food source. A collection of twisted ...

This isn't John Wayne. Lone Star is just a beer. Forget about the Alamo. Here are a trio of Texas tales of terror spun from the fevered brain of a nightmare-riding cowboy.