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Playback: Light and Shadow (Short Story)
by Elizabeth MassieIn this terrifying original novella, Bram Stoker Award-winning author Elizabeth Massie provides a chilling prequel to the forthcoming horror movie Playback, starring Christian Slater, Alessandra Torresani, and Toby Hemingway, in which a group of high-school students accidentally awakens an evil that possesses its victims through video. But the dark curse dates back to turn-of-the-century New York, and begins with a grudge surrounding the birth of film itself. While fooling around with the movie camera invented by his murdered grandfather, a rich young playboy is overcome with bloodlust--and sets out to kill one of history's most beloved figures. In Playback: Light and Shadow, heads snap and cameras roll, giving a whole new meaning to the term "slasher film."BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Daryl Gregory's Raising Stony Mayhall.
Scent of Darkness: A Novel
by Margot BerwinIn her best-selling debut, Hothouse Flower and the Nine Plants of Desire, Margot Berwin brought us to the rain forests of Mexico--to a land of shamans, spirit animals, and snake charmers--in the search for nine rare and valuable plants. Now, with her hotly anticipated second novel, Berwin takes us somewhere darker: deep into the bayous of Louisiana, to a world of fortune-tellers, soothsayers, and potent elixirs. Scent of Darkness is a magical, seductive story about the power of scent, and about what happens when a perfume renders a young woman irresistible. Evangeline grows up understanding the extraordinary effects of fragrance. Her grandmother Louise is a gifted aromata, a master of scent-making and perfume. When Eva was a girl, Louise carefully explained that lavender under her pillow would make her dream of the man she would marry; eucalyptus would make her taller; almandine, fatter; and jasmine, Louise promised, would wrap her life in a mystery. When Eva is eighteen, Louise leaves her the ultimate gift--a scent created just for her. The small perfume vial is accompanied by a note in Louise's slanted script: "Do not remove the stopper, Evangeline, unless you want everything in your life to change." From the moment Eva places a drop--the essence of fire, leather, rose, and jasmine--on her neck, men dance closer to her, women bury their noses deep into her hair, even the cats outside her bedroom cry to be near her. After a lifetime spent blending into the background, Eva is suddenly the object of intense desire to everyone around her. Strangers follow her down the street; a young boy appears at her door asking for a favor; and two men, one kind and good, the other dark and seductive, fall deeply, madly in love with her. As her greatest gift becomes an unbearable curse, Eva must uncover the secret of her scent and the message her grandmother, the woman who loved her most, wanted to tell her. A bewitching tale of love, blood, power, and magic, Scent of Darkness is a wildly inventive novel that will seduce the reader's every sense.
Snivel: The Fifth Circle of Heck (Heck #5)
by Dale E. Basye Bob DobDale E. Basye sends Milton and Marlo to Snivel, the circle reserved for crybabies, for their latest hilarious escapade in Heck. Snivel is a camp--a bummer camp--a dismal place where it's always raining, and Unhappy Campers are besieged by swarms of strange mosquitoes that suck the color right out of them. Soon the Fausters discover that some Unhappy Campers have been disappearing. So after Marlo gets chosen for a special project and never comes back, Milton makes up his mind to find her and all the missing children.Can Milton find his sister and get the heck out of Snivel? With the help of some new friends, his pet ferret, and Vincent Van Gogh's ear, he just might have a chance.From the Hardcover edition.
The Ghost of Greenwich Village: A Novel
by Lorna GrahamIn this charming fiction debut, a young woman moves to Manhattan in search of romance and excitement--only to find that her apartment is haunted by the ghost of a cantankerous Beat Generation writer in need of a rather huge favor.For Eve Weldon, moving to Greenwich Village is a dream come true. She's following in the bohemian footsteps of her mother, who lived there during the early sixties among a lively community of Beat artists and writers. But when Eve arrives, the only scribe she meets is a grumpy ghost named Donald, and the only writing she manages to do is for chirpy segments on a morning news program, Smell the Coffee. The hypercompetitive network environment is a far cry from the genial camaraderie of her mother's literary scene, and Eve begins to wonder if the world she sought has faded from existence. But as she struggles to balance her new job, demands from Donald to help him complete his life's work, a budding friendship with a legendary fashion designer, and a search for clues to her mother's past, Eve begins to realize that community comes in many forms--and that the true magic of the Village is very much alive, though it may reveal itself in surprising ways.From the Trade Paperback edition.
The Lifted Veil (The Art of the Novella)
by George EliotLatimer, a sensitive and intellectual man, finds he has clairvoyant powers, and, when he meets Bertha Grant, he refuses to heed the warning visions.
Projection
by Risa GreenThree girls battle a dangerous secret society that will do anything to protect an ancient Greek power in this murder mystery for fans of Dan Brown.In ancient Rome, it was whispered that the great philosopher Plotinus could project his soul into another human being in a ritual that hinged on a kiss. In present-day Delphi, California, the sole remaining guardians of the Plotinus Ability hide in plain sight as members of the exclusive Oculus Society--until their leader, Octavia Harris, is killed in her own home. With no leads on the case, Octavia's daughter, Gretchen, vows to find her mother's murderer at any cost. One piece of the puzzle falls into place when Gretchen's best friend, Jessica Shaw, discovers the Plotinus Ability. Skeptical but curious, the two can't resist trying the ritual, but they're not alone. Ariel Miller, an outsider with a well-known hatred of all things Oculus Society, films the friends exchanging their first kiss, and it isn't long before the YouTube video ("Popular Girls = Secret Lovers") goes viral. As Ariel's guilt and the girls' suspicions of her mount, the three must forget the past and trust one another if they are to find the murderer still in their midst.From the Hardcover edition.
The Horla: Ball-of-suet, Etc. - V. 2. The Horla, Etc. - V. 3. Little Louise Roque, Etc (The Art of the Novella)
by Guy De Maupassant Charlotte MandellOur woe is upon us.This chilling tale of one man's descent into madness was published shortly before the author was institutionalized for insanity, and so The Horla has inevitably been seen as informed by Guy de Maupassant's mental illness. While such speculation is murky, it is clear that de Maupassant--hailed alongside Chekhov as father of the short story--was at the peak of his powers in this innovative precursor of first-person psychological fiction. Indeed, he worked for years on The Horla's themes and form, first drafting it as "Letter from a Madman," then telling it from a doctor's point of view, before finally releasing the terrified protagonist to speak for himself in its devastating final version. In a brilliant new translation, all three versions appear here as a single volume for the first time. The Art of The Novella Series Too short to be a novel, too long to be a short story, the novella is generally unrecognized by academics and publishers. Nonetheless, it is a form beloved and practiced by literature's greatest writers. In the Art Of The Novella series, Melville House celebrates this renegade art form and its practitioners with titles that are, in many instances, presented in book form for the first time.
The Geomancer's Compass
by Melissa HardyThis futuristic novel has all the elements YA fiction needs to draw critical attention from reviewers, and to elicit award-nominations. It is thematically interesting, culturally diverse, well-written, futuristic, and very funny. Set in the year 2021, this fantastic YA novel explores the tension between a young woman's future building infrastructure for Augmented Reality, and the commitment she makes to her dying grandmother to honour ancient Chinese magic. The Geomancer's Compass imagines a world in the near future while exploring the Chinese immigrant experience and the expanding, elastic and shifting nature of reality.
The Dark Between
by Sonia GenslerA supernatural romance about the powers that lie in the shadows of the mind, perfect for fans of Sarah Rees Brennan, Alyxandra Harvey, and Libba Bray. At the turn of the twentieth century, Spiritualism and séances are all the rage--even in the scholarly town of Cambridge, England. While mediums dupe the grief-stricken, a group of local fringe scientists seeks to bridge the gap to the spirit world by investigating the dark corners of the human mind. Each running from a shadowed past, Kate, Asher, and Elsie take refuge within the walls of Summerfield College. But their peace is soon shattered by the discovery of a dead body nearby. Is this the work of a flesh-and-blood villain, or is something otherworldly at play? This unlikely trio must illuminate what the scientists have not, and open a window to secrets taken to the grave--or risk joining the spirit world themselves.
The Other: Or, A Necessary Companion For All People. Containing, I. Directions To Planters Of Sugar, ... Xx. Other Notable And Curious Subjects ... By Tho. Tryon,
by Thomas TryonHolland and Niles Perry are identical thirteen-year-old twins. They are close, close enough, almost, to read each other's thoughts, but they couldn't be more different. Holland is bold and mischievous, a bad influence, while Niles is kind and eager to please, the sort of boy who makes parents proud. The Perrys live in the bucolic New England town their family settled centuries ago, and as it happens, the extended clan has gathered at its ancestral farm this summer to mourn the death of the twins' father in a most unfortunate accident. Mrs. Perry still hasn't recovered from the shock of her husband's gruesome end and stays sequestered in her room, leaving her sons to roam free. As the summer goes on, though, and Holland's pranks become increasingly sinister, Niles finds he can no longer make excuses for his brother's actions. Thomas Tryon's best-selling novel about a homegrown monster is an eerie examination of the darkness that dwells within everyone. It is a landmark of psychological horror that is a worthy descendent of the books of James Hogg, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shirley Jackson, and Patricia Highsmith.
The Sitter: A Novel (Babysitter Ser.)
by R. L. StineMaster of chilling suspense R. L. Stine proves that you never outgrow a good scare. If he frightened you then, he’ll terrify you now. . . . Ellie Saks is dying to escape the city. She’s sick of dead-end jobs, her mother’s disapproval, her loser ex-boyfriend, Clay, who won’t take a hint, and the memories of a terrible incident that occurred years ago. When her best friend suggests a summer in the Hamptons, full of glitzy parties, cool cocktails, and hot dates, Ellie’s on the first Jitney out. To fund all this glamour, Ellie takes a job as a nanny. From the outside, the family’s beachfront home is perfect. But then Ellie meets four-year-old Brandon, who hasn’t spoken for months. The boy’s icy stare and demonic laughter make clear to Ellie that he is troubled, haunted by something too horrible for words. She begins to receive threatening messages and disturbing gifts. But it’s not until she barely escapes a harrowing experience that she realizes her life may depend on figuring out who’s behind it: Clay? Brandon? And why? And every once in a while, in a crowd, she sees a face she hasn’t seen in seven years—the face of a boy who died long ago. It would seem that Ellie’s summer of fun has turned into a summer of horror—one she’ll never forget . . . if she survives it at all.
Black Water Sister
by Zen ChoA reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy. When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, she’s moving back to Malaysia with her parents – a country she last saw when she was a toddler. She soon learns the new voice isn’t even hers, it’s the ghost of her estranged grandmother. In life, Ah Ma was a spirit medium, avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she’s determined to settle a score against a business magnate who has offended the god—and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it, whether Jess wants to or not. Drawn into a world of gods, ghosts, and family secrets, Jess finds that making deals with capricious spirits is a dangerous business, but dealing with her grandmother is just as complicated. Especially when Ah Ma tries to spy on her personal life, threatens to spill her secrets to her family and uses her body to commit felonies. As Jess fights for retribution for Ah Ma, she’ll also need to regain control of her body and destiny – or the Black Water Sister may finish her off for good.
Survivor Song: A Novel
by Paul Tremblay“Fresh and surprising. Survivor Song may be one of Tremblay’s best— beautifully detailed, viscerally frightening, and deep with emotional resonance." —Dan Chaon, New York Times bestselling author of Ill WillA riveting novel of suspense and terror from the Bram Stoker award-winning author of The Cabin at the End of the World and A Head Full of Ghosts.In a matter of weeks, Massachusetts has been overrun by an insidious rabies-like virus that is spread by saliva. But unlike rabies, the disease has a terrifyingly short incubation period of an hour or less. Those infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb. Hospitals are inundated with the sick and dying, and hysteria has taken hold. To try to limit its spread, the commonwealth is under quarantine and curfew. But society is breaking down and the government's emergency protocols are faltering.Dr. Ramola "Rams" Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie, a friend who is eight months pregnant. Natalie's husband has been killed—viciously attacked by an infected neighbor—and in a failed attempt to save him, Natalie, too, was bitten. Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible to receive a rabies vaccine. The clock is ticking for her and for her unborn child.Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Rams make their way through a hostile landscape filled with dangers beyond their worst nightmares—terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges that push them to the brink. Paul Tremblay once again demonstrates his mastery in this chilling and all-too-plausible novel that will leave readers racing through the pages . . . and shake them to their core.
Precocia: The Sixth Circle of Heck (Heck #6)
by Dale E. Basye Bob DobDale E. Basye sends Milton and Marlo to Precocia, the circle reserved for kids who grow up too fast, for their latest hilarious escapade in Heck.When Bea "Elsa" Bubb, the Principal of Darkness, tells Milton and Marlo Fauster they've gotten too big for their britches, she sends them to Precocia, the circle of Heck for smartypants kids who grow up too fast. There, the children learn adult jobs. William the Kid teaches bill collection. Mozart teaches commercial jingles. And all the students are forced to act, dress, and talk like little adults. Soon, the Fausters realize that Precocia's vice principals Napoleon and Cleopatra want more than to hasten adulthood--they seem to want to eliminate childhood altogether. Can Milton and Marlo figure out their plan in time to stop it?Heck is a school in the afterlife where bad kids go for all eternity, or until they turn eighteen, whichever comes first. As in Dante's Inferno, there are nine circles of Heck, based on kids' various vices.
The Memory Thief: A Novel
by Emily ColinIn Emily Colin's exquisite debut novel, perfect for the fans of Kristin Hannah, one man's vow to his wife sparks a remarkable journey that tests the pull of memory and reaffirms the bonds of love. Before Madeleine Kimble's mountaineer husband, Aidan, climbs Mount McKinley's south face, he makes her a solemn vow: I will come back to you. But late one night, Maddie gets the devastating news that Aidan has died in an avalanche, leaving her to care for their son--a small boy with a very big secret. The call comes from J.C., Aidan's best friend and fellow climber, whose grief is seasoned with survivor's guilt . . . and something more. J.C. has loved Maddie for years, but he never wanted his chance with her to come at so terrible a cost. Across the country, Nicholas Sullivan wakes from a motorcycle crash with his memory wiped clean. Yet his dreams are haunted by visions of a mysterious woman and a young boy, neither of whom he has ever met. Convinced that these strangers hold the answers he seeks, Nicholas leaves everything behind to find them. What he discovers will require a leap of faith that will change all of their lives forever. "Dazzlingly original and as haunting as a dream, Emily Colin's mesmerizing debut explores the way memory, love, and great loss bind our lives together in ways we might never expect. From its audacious opening to its knockout last pages, I was enthralled."--Caroline Leavitt, New York Times bestselling author of Pictures of You"In The Memory Thief, love itself is a character, able to transcend all natural boundaries to find its way home, or learn to let go. Emily Colin writes about loss with heartbreaking conviction, and yet there is a knowing sweetness at the core of this richly emotional tale. Here is a lovely, self-assured debut from a writer to watch."--Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author of A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty
Strands of Bronze and Gold
by Jane NickersonThe Bluebeard fairy tale retold. . . .When seventeen-year-old Sophia Petheram's beloved father dies, she receives an unexpected letter. An invitation--on fine ivory paper, in bold black handwriting--from the mysterious Monsieur Bernard de Cressac, her godfather. With no money and fewer options, Sophie accepts, leaving her humble childhood home for the astonishingly lavish Wyndriven Abbey, in the heart of Mississippi.Sophie has always longed for a comfortable life, and she finds herself both attracted to and shocked by the charm and easy manners of her overgenerous guardian. But as she begins to piece together the mystery of his past, it's as if, thread by thread, a silken net is tightening around her. And as she gathers stories and catches whispers of his former wives--all with hair as red as her own--in the forgotten corners of the abbey, Sophie knows she's trapped in the passion and danger of de Cressac's intoxicating world. Glowing strands of romance, mystery, and suspense are woven into this breathtaking debut--a thrilling retelling of the "Bluebeard" fairy tale.
Cole's Redemption: Alpha Pack Book 5 (Alpha Pack)
by J.D. TylerFans of J. R. Ward, Nalini Singh, Kresley Cole and Gena Showalter, meet the Alpha Pack. Once, they were Navy SEALS. Now, they are a top secret team of wolf shifters with Psy powers who take on the darkest dangers on Earth. Intensely passionate and utterly thrilling, J. D. Tyler's Alpha Pack are unforgettable.When a battle leaves healer and black wolf shifter Zander Cole deaf and his powers dimmed, he is devastated and sees only one option: leave the Pack for ever. White wolf shifter Selene Westfall knows pain - and she lives to exact revenge. So when she is challenged by a savage black wolf, she puts up a vicious fight - only to become his Bondmate as a result of his bite. Forced together through their unlikely, turbulent bond, a love neither expected may be all that stands between these two damaged souls and a killer trying desperately to keep the past dead and buried...Don't miss the other sexy and exciting Alpha Pack adventures in Primal Law, Savage Awakening, Black Moon and Hunter's Heart.And be sure not to miss J. D. Tyler's romantic suspense alter-ego Jo Davis, and her thrilling, scorching-hot Sugarland Blue series.
Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #1: Professor Gargoyle (Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #1)
by Charles Gilman"Two-headed monsters, giant tentacles, angry demons - Lovecraft Middle School is great creepy fun!" -Ransom Riggs, author of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children Strange things are happening at Lovecraft Middle School. Rats are leaping from lockers. Students are disappearing. The school library is a labyrinth of secret corridors. And the science teacher is acting very peculiar - in fact, he just might be a monster-in-disguise. Twelve-year-old Robert Arthur knew that seventh grade was going to be weird, but this is ridiculous! Professor Gargoyle (Volume I in the Tales from Lovecraft Middle School series) is full of bizarre beasts, strange mysteries, and nonstop adventure. It's perfect for readers ages 10 and up. Best of all, the cover features a state-of-the-art "morphing" photo portrait - so you can personally witness the professor transforming into a monster. You won't believe your eyes! "Gilman's debut and series kick-off is great fun for fans of light horror. The changing image on the cover will snag interest, and the spookily realistic black-and-white illustrations throughout complete this slick, scary, funny package. [There are] delectable hints of age-appropriate, Lovecraftian Otherness...with none of the purple prose." -Kirkus ReviewsFrom the Hardcover edition.
Truth and Fear: Book Two of The Wolfhound Century (The Wolfhound Century Trilogy)
by Peter HigginsA new edition with glorious new cover art.Peter Higgins' Vlast is a superbly imagined 'other' Russia, an epic land of trackless forest, sentient rain and deep powers in the Earth. Its capital Mirgorod is home both to a brutal dictatorship centuries old and fleeting glimpses of the houses and streets of another city. Compared to the works of of both China Mieville and John Le Carre WOLFHOUND CENTURY was a hugely original creation. Now Peter Higgins returns to that world.Investigator Lom returns to Mirgorod and finds the city in the throes of a crisis. The war against the Archipelago is not going well. Enemy divisions are massing outside the city, air-raids are a daily occurrance and the citizens are being conscripted into the desperate defence of the city.But Lom has other concerns. The police are after him, the mystery of the otherworldly Pollandore remains and the vast Angel is moving, turning all of nature against the city. But will the horrors of war overtake all their plans?
The Satanists
by Robert HoldstockThe serenity of the countryside is shattered by the dark and brutal rituals of the past...The SatanistsThe undreamt-of horrors of the night herald, for them, the promise of eternal life, despite the memory of one man's shattered body nailed to a cross. But the Messiah has been dead two thousand years. Now is the time of the Anti-Christ...
The Host Rides Out
by Celia ReesA psychic storm rages and ghosthunters stalk the city where young Davey Williams lives, destroying good and evil alike. Davey risks his own life to save his friends, but will the ghosts be there when he needs them? And now the Lady has returned, brimming with malice and hungry for vengeance. Davey must escape her deadly clutches by Midsummer, or be in her thrall forever...
The Dark Millenium
by John Glasby A.J. MerakPlanet Earth was finished, its surface seared by nuclear heat, its great cities obliterated, its billions of inhabitants dying or dead. Only a few pockets of survivors remained. For all but a few it was only a matter of time. Then into the poisoned atmosphere of Earth there flashed a mysterious craft from somewhere deep in space. It landed, a small number of Earth people were taken aboard, then the craft disappeared into the great void. During the dark millennium which followed a strange experiment was conducted. When it was complete, another space craft took off for Earth...
This Second Earth
by John Glasby R.L. BowersThe world that Man has known for close on twenty thousand years had been overthrown in a holocaust of atomic fire and annihilation. The immense and complex system of civilisation had been utterly destroyed almost overnight and only a scant handful of true humans remained.Stretched out between the rivers of radioactive fire, the cities were growing wildernesses of shattered stone and brick, splintered glass and silent streets. But here and there in quiet places sheltered from the deadly rains, men waited for the fires to subside and hoped to rebuilt something a little like the civilisation which had existed before.This is the stirring and sometimes terrible story of the supreme struggle for survival, when the continued existence of the human race on Earth is uncertain after such a tremendous catastrophe, and when all life is menaced by the wandering bands of mutants, creatures spawned and tainted by the deadly radiation.
The Fortune Hunters (Murder Room #638)
by Joan AikenAn inheritance comes with its own sinister dangers...'Joan Aiken's triumph with this genre is that she does it so much better than others' New York Times Book ReviewAnnette, an increasingly amnesiac magazine editor who has inherited an unexpected fortune, leaves London for a new life in a cottage in the country, but falls prey to a series of strange characters who threaten to deprive her of not just her money, but her sanity too. There's a world-famous artist with a dark secret; a New Zealander on an archaeological dig; and a strange neighbour wheeling an invalid 'child' on a lonely road...Set in the picturesque Sussex town where the author was born and spent her early years in a haunted house, this gothic thriller builds to a terrifying climax as the heroine pits her wits against the sinister forces that surround her.
The Labyrinth
by Robert HoldstockOne man against the monstrous forces of evil. The sixth book in the Nighthunter series.