The Best Horror of the Year


Book Description

From Ellen Datlow (“the venerable queen of horror anthologies” (New York Times) comes a new entry in the series that has brought you stories from Stephen King and Neil Gaiman comes thrilling stories, the best horror stories available. For more than four decades, Ellen Datlow has been at the center of horror. Bringing you the most frightening and terrifying stories, Datlow always has her finger on the pulse of what horror readers crave. Now, with the thirteenth volume of the series, Datlow is back again to bring you the stories that will keep you up at night. Encompassed in the pages of The Best Horror of the Year have been such illustrious writers as: Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Stephen Graham Jones, Joyce Carol Oates, Laird Barron, Mira Grant, and many others. With each passing year, science, technology, and the march of time shine light into the craggy corners of the universe, making the fears of an earlier generation seem quaint. But this light creates its own shadows. The Best Horror of the Year chronicles these shifting shadows. It is a catalog of terror, fear, and unpleasantness as articulated by today’s most challenging and exciting writers.







Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI


Book Description

Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI is one of the most infamous slasher-movie sequels of the 1980s. Known for its over-the-top gore effects, bizarre and psychedelic campground killer plot-and its legacy as a lightning rod for conspiracy theories concerning everything from UFOs and alien abductions to 9/11 and a secret cabal at the heart of world power. This revised and expanded Director's Cut contains a complete, authorized adaptation of the infamous cult slasher movie as well as the secret history of the behind-the-scenes drama and high-strange events that inspired the filmmakers, complete with footnotes and autobiographical anecdotes. Camp Ghoul Mountain Part VI: The Official Novelization is a love letter to the horror movie boom of the 1980s and conspiracy theories of the 1990s-and, perhaps, a dire warning of the dark future to come. Who wants to go camping?




The Crypt of Blood


Book Description

On one fateful Halloween night, a television station near Denver, Colorado aired an adaptation of the infamous Gothic horror novel The Crypt of Blood. The spirited local theater troupe production of the classic vampire story quickly spiraled into high-strange weirdness, ghostly madness, and the disappearance of its cast and crew.What transpired on-stage and on-screen that night has become an urban legend, a myth relegated to internet forums, speculation among eccentric horror film collectors, and the ravings of the mad and paranoid. Some call it a publicity stunt by local filmmakers. Others decry it as a hoax. A few say the broadcast never aired at all.Those who have actually seen the special, however, insist it reveals something far more terrifying than any horror movie.You find yourself in possession of a copy of that dreaded broadcast, its cursed images seared into the tape of a well-worn VHS cassette. It's time to discover for yourself if this found-footage nightmare is as terrifying as its reputation, and if The Crypt of Blood: A Halloween TV Special is proof of a haunting-or something far worse-after all.




Behold the Undead of Dracula


Book Description

The classic monsters have returned... again! During the gothic horror revival of the late 1950s through the 1970s, vampires, witches, devil worshipers, occultists, spirits, ghouls, and grave-robbing mad scientists returned to terrify a new generation of thrill-seeking movie audiences. Influenced by the social and cultural upheavals of the time and the ever-present specter of nuclear war, these classic terrors became more violent, more subversive--and more seductive. Behold the Undead of Dracula features stories inspired by the films of the gothic horror revival, dripping with blazing bright-red blood and radiating sex appeal. Eleven of the best authors in underground horror fiction offer up unique and terrifying takes on this special era of cinematic history, summoning spine-tingling tales sure to frighten and seduce unwary readers. Grab your popcorn, take a seat, and watch as the curtain rises on these gothic nightmares. Bear witness to the lurid and sensual horrors of Behold the Undead of Dracula! Featuring: "Go to the Devil" by Matthew M. Bartlett "Over the Violets There That Lie" by Gwendolyn Kiste "George Strait and the Black Orchard Grimoire" by Mer Whinery "Vengeance of the Blood Princess" by Dominique Lamssies "Diabolus in Musica" by William Tea "Taste of Fear in the Night (European Release Title: Curse of the Mountain Witches)" by Tom Breen "You Should Smile More: The Blood Coven of Arkana" by Heather L. Levy "Mina's Castle" by Sean M. Thompson "Cleaver Castle of Carnage Presents: The Coven Strikes Back" by Christa Carmen "The Bloody Cask of Rasputin" by Thomas C. Mavroudis "The Filthy Creation of Frankenstein" by Gemma Files Cover art by Trevor Henderson Interior illustration by Mat Fitzsimmons Editing and layout by Jonathan Raab




High Strange Horror


Book Description

What is "High Strange"? It's the men in black erasing your UFO research. It's a corporate takeover by bio-occult horrors. It's losing your edge, and finding it again at the bottom of the cosmos. It's your television telling you to eat your government-approved genetically-modified breakfast cereal. It's the unexplained lights in the sky and the faceless gray woman haunting your dreams. It's ancient legends working under contract. It's the forbidden film playing at a haunted movie theater. It's the medical staff making sure you stay crazy. It's the 19th round of mini golf with a disembodied pirate. It's the outer reaches of human experience. Where conventional reality ends, High Strange begins. Over a dozen authors mine the deepest reaches of consciousness and Fortean phenomena. Are you ready to see what lies beyond the veil? On the Weird and the Damned (introduction) by Jonathan Raab Investigations by Michael Bryant So You've Lost Your Edge. Now What? by Charles Martin and Will Weinke Frosty Pyramid Treats by Jonathan Raab The Dead Wait by Toni Nicolino The Keepers by David A. Owens Night Dog by Matthew M. Bartlett The Pirate-Ghost of Hole 19 by Doctor Gaines The Lights Are Off by Christopher Fraser Púca by C.R.J. Smith Delve by Matthew D. Jordan Brought Low by J. Howard Shannon Black-Eyed Children, Blue-Eyed Child by Billy Lyons The Vampire Sea by Amberle L. Husbands Ascendance by Julie Godard Cats by Jake Skillings The Projectionist by Mer Whinery Excerpt from Look For Me by Colin Scharf I Want to Believe (post-script essay) by Colin Scharf




The Lesser Swamp Gods of Little Dixie


Book Description

Drawn into the haunted heart of southern Oklahoma by the promise of a mysterious inheritance, conspiracy theory radio show host turned county sheriff Cecil Kotto finds himself thrust into the depths of a horrifying occult mystery.Witchcraft, corn sorcery, the KKK, wicked temptations, and inhuman horrors from Hell await Sheriff Kotto as he begins to piece together the frightening truth about his long-lost aunt, and his own unholy connection to a source of power far greater than anything he could ever imagine.Alone and straining under the weight of his own paranoia, distrust, and alcoholism, Kotto must face the true terrors of southeastern Oklahoma: the darkness of the human heart, and the wrath of the Lesser Swamp Gods of Little Dixie.




Far Below and Other Weird Stories


Book Description

For the first time, Far Below and Other Weird Stories contain all of Robert Barbour Johnson's weird fiction in one book, plus three essays selected by S. T. Joshi. His stories were admired by H. P. Lovecraft, and, "Far Below" was voted in 1953 by readers as the best story ever published in Weird Tales magazine. His stories are distinctive, and frequently use common motifs such as inanimate objects coming to life, ancestral curses, vampires, werewolves, witches, and so on. He always manages to infuse new life into these venerable themes by innovative treatment, and writes with an intense Poe like style which makes his weird fiction entertaining to read.




Freaky Tales From the Force


Book Description

Elected as county sheriff on a paranormal defense and anti-goblinry platform, Sheriff Kotto has defended the citizens of his Rust Belt community from secret societies, malignant aliens, blood-stealing nonprofit organizations, and more. To document his war against the paranormal, Kotto stars in Freaky Tales From the Force, a local documentary-style public access television show produced by reporter Veronica Cartwright. Join Sheriff Kotto, his intrepid deputies, and the public access television crew as they investigate a variety of supernatural threats including wendigos, a lizard boy, evil clones, a haunted numbers station, flesh creepers, the wreckage of neoliberal economic policies, a Nazi sorcerer, a spectral locomotive-and a season-spanning threat: cosmic bloodsuckers from outer space!Each story in this anthology represents one episode of Freaky Tales' inaugural season, capturing all the high-octane, hard-drinking, high-strange action. Featuring special guest star writers and a new long-form story arc, Freaky Tales From the Force: Season One is the perfect book for readers new to the Kottoverse and long-time fans alike.Tune in, crack a beer, watch the skies-and support your local sheriff!




New Moon on the Water


Book Description

In a smoky, after hours jazz joint where almost nobody ever dies, or the ranch house next door owned by a monster, or a high rise elevator in which raging terror awaits the next passenger, these brilliant stories discover a world you thought you knew--and a darker one you will never forget. With 13 stories never before collected, NEW MOON ON THE WATER is Mort Castle's first new collection in a decade, presenting the best short fiction of the writer deemed a "horror doyen," "the Charles Dickens of horror," and "the master of contemporary horror." "Mort Castle is one of the best short story writers in the horror field today. More than that, he's one of the best short story writers around, period. . He writes short stories that make a point, stick in your memory, remain with you long after you've put down the book in which they appear." - Robert Weinberg, Novelist, Editor World Fantasy and Bram Stoker awards HWA Lifetime Achievement Award "Castle's stories are frightening trips inside the dark psyche of common people ... (He is) a must read for the fans of both Stephen King and the fans of Raymond Carver." - Newsweek.pl ..". funny, moving, surprising and dark. Mort Castle is a writer who loves word play, but like every writer worth his salt remembers that even for kids, play is a serious business." - Jack Ketchum, Novelist, author of The Girl Next Door, Bram Stoker Award winner