- Table View
- List View
Mirror
by Graham MastertonIt is said that a mirror can trap a person's soul...Martin Williams is a broke, two-bit screenwriter living in Hollywood, but when he finds the very mirror that once hung in the house of a murdered 1930s child star, he happily spends all he has on it. He has long obsessed over the tragic story of Boofuls, a beautiful and successful actor who was slaughtered and dismembered by his grandmother. However, he soon discovers that this dream buy is in fact a living nightmare; the mirror was not only in Boofuls house, but witness to the death of this blond-haired and angelic child, which in turn has created a horrific and devastating portal to a hellish parallel universe. So when Martin's landlord loses his grandson it is soon apparent that the mirror is responsible. But if a little boy has gone into the mirror, what on earth is going to come out?
Ghost Bird
by Mary ArriganNobody ever passed the old Garvan house alone; gossip and suspicion surrounded it. But when an eerie cry draws Meg, Pete and Harvey into its grounds, little do they expect to be swept up into a love story that spans the century. What part do the dilapidated house, a mysterious old man and a strange bird play in this story and how can Meg, Pete and Harvey right the wrongs of history?
Scabbit Isle
by Tom PowThe first time Sam sees the mysterious figure of Janet she vanishes into the deserted fields beyond the town where nothing has ever been built. Sam learns that centuries before this was the place to which plague victims were banished - Scabbit Isle - a place of terror. With the help of Mr Carruthers, the old curator of the local museum, Sam gradually uncovers the horror of Janet's story - consigned to Scabbit Isle by her cruel father and abandoned by her weak lover, Janet suffers without hope. She will continue to do so, if she can't find someone who, for love, will risk all to enter the plague colony to release her. Janet seems to be beckoning Sam to help her and a tragedy within Sam's own family brings Sam even closer to Janet's fate. Janet is the same age that Sam's twin sister Alice would have been had she not been killed in an accident. It is a loss from which Sam's father, in particular,has never recovered. Can Sam summon up the courage to face the terrors of Scabbit Isle and, like Orpheus, venture into the underworld to bring Janet peace?
A Skull in Shadows Lane
by Robert SwindellsThe war has just ended in the tiny village of Coney Cley, and Josh and his gang are desperate for some excitement. When they head for the eerie, abandoned Shadows Lane to explore a deserted house, they find more than they bargained for - a human tooth. Then a creepy, skeletal face appears at a dark window . . .Believing there's a skeleton haunting Shadows Lane, the children are shocked to learn the truth about 'Boney' - he's an escaped prisoner of war. But someone else is also hiding in the village - someone much more dangerous.Tense and chilling, this is another fantastically gripping tale from the award-winning author of Room 13 and Stone Cold.
Break Of Dark
by Robert WestallIs there a barrier that divides the dark unknown from the everyday world around us? If so, is it broken sometimes by the dead returning, by the undead, or by alien creatures? What else could account for the chance meeting (or was it?) between a young student and hitch-hiker who turns out to be so much stranger than she seems? Why else should three successive crews flying a Second World War bomber - Blackham's Wimpey - be driven to madness, despair, even to death, though the plane returns from each mission without a scratch? Who are Fred, Alice and Aunty Lou; the figments of Peter's imagination that become a real life nightmare for Roger and Biddy? There is St Austin Friars, too: a church without a congregation - until a burial service, oddly arranged a month ahead, is attended by a sinister assortment of the living and the dead. And Sergeant Nice, an ordinary policeman in an ordinary seaside town faced with a series of quite extraordinary thefts; the work surely, of no human hand. Chilling, but often humorous as well, these stories creep up on you and take you by surprise.
Scarecrows
by Robert WestallThere were three people, standing in the darkest place, watching him. Simon is outraged that his Mum plans to remarry. He can't bear her new fiancé or the way his mother and sister seem to have forgotten his late father. Overwhelmed by hatred and anger he seeks solace in a nearby abandoned water mill. But another, powerful hatred lingers within its walls. And it is about to be unleashed... Westall's immense talent is evident from the opening line - Simon's anger and unhappiness are tangible, and the Scarecrows' ill-intentions terrifying.
The People's Will: (The Danilov Quintet 4) (The Danilov Quintet #4)
by Jasper KentThe next moment he was upon him, his eyes blazing, his mouth open to reveal his fangs. Osokin began to pray, not that he would live but that he would truly die . . .Turkmenistan 1881: the fortress city of Geok Tepe has fallen to the Russians. Beneath its citadel sits a prisoner. He hasn’t moved from his chair for two years. Neither has he felt the sun on his face for more than fifty . . . although for that he is grateful.Into this subterranean gaol marches a Russian officer. He has come for the captive. Not to release him, but to return him to St Petersburg – to deliver him into the hands of an old, old enemy who would visit damnation upon the ruling family of Russia: the great vampire Zmyeevich. But there is another who has escaped Geok Tepe and followed the prisoner. He is not concerned with the fate of the tsar, or Zmyeevich or the officer. All he desires is revenge.And other forces have a part to play. A group of revolutionaries has vowed to bring the dictatorship of Tsar Aleksandr to an end, and with it the entire Romanov dynasty. They call themselves The People’s Will . . .
The Last Rite: (The Danilov Quintet 5) (The Danilov Quintet #5)
by Jasper KentRussia – 1917. Zmyeevich, king of all vampires, is dead. History records that the great voordalak – known across Europe as Dracula – perished in 1893 beneath the ramparts of his own castle, deep in the mountains of Wallachia. In Russia, the Romanov tsars are free of the curse that has plagued their blood for two centuries.But two decades later and Tsar Nicholas II faces a new threat – a threat from his own people. War has brought Russia to her knees and the people are hungry for change. Revolution is in the air.Mihail Konstantinovich Danilov – who himself carries Romanov blood – welcomes the prospect of a new regime. Like his ancestors he once fought to save the Romanovs from the threat that Zmyeevich brought them. Fought and won. But now he sees no future for a Russia ruled by a tyrant. He is joined in the struggle by his uncle, Dmitry Alekseevich - a creature born in a different era, over a century before. For more than half his existence he has been a vampire, and yet he still harbours one very human desire; that his country should be free.But the curse that infects the blood of the Romanovs cannot be so easily forgotten and Mihail soon discovers that it – that he – may become the means by which a terror once thought eradicated might be resurrected . . .
Dead Island
by Mark MorrisWhat will you do? How far will you go? What will you become?Welcome to Banoi, a tropical island where you can leave the stresses of the world behind... Welcome to the Royal Palms Resort - which offers its guests from around the world the ultimate in luxury and relaxation... Welcome to the holiday paradise where your dreams should come true...but where a nightmare is about to begin....Because a mysterious epidemic has suddenly, and without warning, broken out across the island. The local islanders, hotel guests and workers alike are struck down - only to rise again, craving the flesh and the blood of the still living. For four of the holidaymakers and a handful of others scattered around Banoi who are seemingly unaffected by the plague, they must face the awful, terrifying reality of a zombie apocalypse. Now there is only one thing left to do: survive.Welcome to Dead Island... a paradise to die for.
Jacqueline Hyde
by Robert SwindellsWhen Jacqueline Hyde finds the little glass bottle in Grandma's attic her life suddenly changes. Goodbye clean, good Jacqueline. Hello cheeky, loud Jacqueline Bad.It's fun at first. Exciting. But then Jacqueline Bad gets into serious trouble. And although she keeps trying to be her old self, the bad side just won't let go...A darkly addictive fable, truly absorbing.
The Ghost Teacher
by Tony BradmanLook...there by the dustbins, what do you see? A shimmering and a glimmering, and a figure forming in the darkness. It is the Ghost Teacher...Class 3 are the worst class ever. They do lots of crashing and bashing, nose-picking and flicking, fighting and fidgeting. No teacher can control Class 3. Until Miss Shade - the Ghost Teacher - pays them a visit...
No Time At All
by Susan SallisTwo disabled children love their new bungalow by the sea. It even has its own spectral steam-train which only they can hear each night. The train holds many mysteries which will change their lives.
Ghost Stories: More Ghost Stories
by M. R. JamesMalignant forces and supernatural visitors haunt this selection of superbly spooky tales selected and introduced by Ruth Rendell. M. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense.
The Frankenstein Teacher
by Tony BradmanThe floor shook. The tables and chairs shook. The children shook. Suddenly, the door creaked open... and a huge figure loomed over them. It was... The Frankenstein Teacher!Class 3F get a very unusual new teacher. Frankenstein! But although Frankenstein looks very very scary, he has a very big heart and Class 3 learn to see beyond his scary appearance to the real person beneath when the class hamster meets a very sticky end...
The Candle Man
by Catherine FisherMeurig, the fiddler, is a haunted man. Hafren, the evil spirit-woman of the Severn has captured his soul and now possesses the key to his life - a small candle stub. Hafren taunts and torments Meurig but with help from Conor and Sara, he CAN take back his life from her watery grasp - at the cost of flooding the land. Meurig must make his choice - his life or the village. . . . . .
Ghost To The Rescue
by Helen DunwoodieSomething strange is in the air...First a mysterious parcel arrives for Rowan, containing an engraved medallion on a golden chain. Then an odd-looking young man turns up at the house, and something in the air tells Rowan to be suspicious... Something else is in the air too - the ghost of Lady Maisie! The brave 250-year-old spectre's powers are fading, but she is determined to help Rowan solve the mystery.
Dickens at Christmas
by Charles DickensDiscover this selection of the best of Dickens' Christmas stories and writings in one beautiful gift edition. The ultimate Christmas present.It is said that Charles Dickens invented Christmas, and within these pages you'll certainly find all the elements of a quintessential traditional Christmas brought to vivid life: snowy rooftops, gleaming shop windows, steaming bowls of punch, plum puddings like speckled cannon balls, sage and onion stuffing, miracles, magic, charity and goodwill. This beautifully produced Vintage Classics edition gathers together not only Dickens' Christmas Books ('A Christmas Carol', 'The Chimes', 'The Battle of Life', 'The Cricket on the Hearth' and 'The Haunted Man') but also stories that Dickens wrote for the special seasonal editions of his periodicals All the Year Round and Household Words, and a festive tale from The Pickwick Papers. A must-have for Christmas, this edition should be as necessary to your festivities as holly, mistletoe and silver bells.
Stop What You’re Doing and Read…After Dark: Ghost Stories & Dracula
by Bram Stoker M. R. JamesTo mark the publication of Stop What You're Doing and Read This!, a collection of essays celebrating reading, Vintage Classics are releasing 12 limited edition themed ebook 'bundles', to tempt readers to discover and rediscover great books. M.R. JAMES' GHOST STORIESSELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY RUTH RENDELLM. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense.DRACULA'The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key in the lock; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt...I shall not remain alone with them. I may find a way from this dreadful place, away from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his children still walk with earthly feet!'Young lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania on business for a mysterious Count. Months later in England, beautiful Lucy Westenra falls ill and dies, inexplicably, as if from a severe loss of blood. Lucy's friends, including Jonathan's fiancée Mina and the intrepid doctor Van Helsing, must begin a desperate battle against a powerful, ancient evil, in Bram Stoker's definitive gothic tale.
Hunters & Collectors
by M. SuddainJohn Tamberlain is The Tomahawk, the universe’s most feared food critic – though he himself prefers the term ‘forensic gastronomer’. He’s on a quest, in search of the much-storied Hotel Grand Skies, a secretive and exclusive haven where the rich and famous retreat to bask in perfect seclusion. A place where the waiters know their fish knife from their butter knife, their carotid from their subclavian artery, and are trained to enforce the house rules with brutal efficiency. Blurring the lines between detective story, horror and sci-fi, Hunters & Collectors is a mesmeric trip into the singular imagination of M. Suddain – a freewheeling talent whose poise, invention and sensational sentences have already earned him comparisons to Vonnegut, Pynchon and Douglas Adams.
Unquiet Spirits
by K M PeytonMad is devastated when she's forced to move with her mother from London to a bleak, rural wilderness - until she gets a job restoring the local manor house, Good Graces. There, among the ancient tapestries and furniture, she meets the heir, Simon.But as Mad and Simon grow closer, Mad realises her arrival has awoken the restless spirits of the old house. One ghostly presence seems welcoming, but the other is furious - and they are both frighteningly powerful. Mad's relationship with Simon soon spirals out of control, as they are swept up in a tide of centuries-old emotion and rage.
A Legacy Of Ghosts
by Colin DannThere had been rumours for years about the wealth of old Mr Mackie. But when ben and Richard start snooping around the dead man's house, they're soon plunged into a web of terror. Whose dark face is at the window? Where are the strange footsteps coming from? And what is the secret of the blue ring wrapped in a blanket? Pursued by a villainous tramp, and haunted by ghastly visions, the two boys find themselves on a daring journey through darkest Wales, and into the unearthly territory of the ancient spirits.
Medusa's Butterfly
by Simon RaeA box is left on Marcus’s doorstep in the rain. Fussy Aunt Hester has told Marcus not to open the front door under any circumstances. But she’s out – and just this once can’t hurt . . . can it?Except the parcel isn’t embroidery supplies for Aunt Hester. Or fishing tackle for Uncle Frank. Whatever is in there, it’s alive. And it’s ANGRY. The thing in the box sends Marcus’s life spinning horrifyingly out of control – controlling his mind and testing his will so that every moment is deadly. Can Marcus overcome the pull of the Gorgon’s gaze, and use her power for good? Because he received that box for a reason – but he must find out what it is, before the terrible, beautiful Medusa turns everyone he holds dear to stone . . . and then comes for him. Laced with myth, this modern story positively writhes with horror and suspense. A terrifying, unputdownable read for fans of Percy Jackson and Harry Potter.
The Phantom of the Opera
by Gaston LerouxDiscover the classic Gothic horror novel of haunted cellars, opera, murder and unrequited love that inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running west end hit.Christine is a beautiful young singer at the Paris Opera. She is watched by the Opera's 'phantom' - a mysterious masked figure who terrorises the Opera's management and players. With the Phantom's help, Christine rises to become the Opera's star performer, but when the Phantom demands her heart in return, Christine is torn between gratitude and pity for her strange benefactor, and love for her childhood sweetheart, Raoul.
Dracula
by Bram Stoker‘I am Dracula. And I bid you welcome to my house’He is deathly pale. His fingernails are cut to sharp points. His teeth protrude menacingly from his mouth in clouds of rancid breath… Yet even Count Dracula’s unnerving appearance and the frightened reaction of the local peasants fail to warn Jonathan Harker, a young man from England, about his host. Little does Jonathan know that this is a land where babies are snatched for their blood and wolves howl menacingly from the forest, where reality is far more frightening than superstition. What’s more, it’s going to be up to him to stop the world’s most bloodthirsty predator…Includes exclusive material: In the Backstory you can learn all about the strengths and weaknesses of vampires! Vintage Children’s Classics is a twenty-first century classics list aimed at 8-12 year olds and the adults in their lives. Discover timeless favourites from The Jungle Book and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to modern classics such as The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
The Ghost Downstairs
by Leon GarfieldA bargain of a lifetime - seven years off the end of his life in exchange for a fortune now!By day, Mr Fast was a solicitor’s clerk, drawing up strangle-tight agreements and contracts. By night he repaired to his rooms to spy upon his neighbours (for he had no friends) and to dream of being richer than other men. But when old Mr FIshbane offers him what he most desires in return for seven years off the end of his life, he could never imagine the little lost spectre that will come to haunt him . . .Another remarkable novel from Leon Garfield.