An ode to classic creature fiction. This Cicada brood is something new.Entomologist Kate Wolfe and her precocious daughter, Sasha, join a team of scientists in Florida to investigate a Cicada infestation. What begins as a working holiday turns to horror when they encounter the abnormally large and aggressive insects. (Short Story: 9000 words)

**Medal Winner of the 2014 New Apple Book Awards in the E-Book Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Horror Category**Life or death? It's all the same for Grace...Some of us have been there before -- falling for the hot, popular jock who just so happens to be dating the hot, popular girl in school. Your snarky-but-always-right bestie insists you make a move, but you’re not so much into putting yourself out there. Then it happens, and suddenly you find yourself eating a cat on your neighbor’s porch. No? Never happened to you? Well, Grace Watkins can’t say the same. Her hunger is growing with each day that passes and her urges are getting harder to control. No one can explain why her body is changing, except one man.

What if you could fix the worst parts of yourself by confronting your worst fears? Dr. Jennifer Webb has invented proprietary virtual reality technology that purports to heal psychological wounds by running clients through scenarios straight out of horror movies and nightmares. In a carefully controlled environment, with a medical cocktail running through their veins, sisters might develop a bond they’ve been missing their whole lives—while running from the bogeyman through a simulated forest. But…can real change come so easily? Esther Hoffman doubts it. Esther has spent her entire journalism career debunking pseudoscience, after phony regression therapy ruined her father’s life. She’s determined to unearth the truth about Dr. Webb’s budding company. Dr. Webb’s willing to let her, of course, for reasons of her own. What better advertisement could she get than that of a convinced skeptic? But Esther’s not the only one curious about how this technology works. Enter real-world threats just as frightening as those created in the lab. Dr. Webb and Esther are at odds, but they may also be each other’s only hope of survival.

It’s one thing to bring the woman you love back into your life. It’s another to try and keep her there. For Dex Foray, con­vinc­ing Perry Palomino to open her­self to their bur­geon­ing rela­tion­ship has been more chal­leng­ing than hunt­ing ghosts, bat­tling demons and stalk­ing Sasquatch com­bined. Add in the fact that the only way they can keep their Exper­i­ment in Ter­ror show run­ning is to take on a third part­ner in the form of the mys­te­ri­ous Max­imus Jacobs — all while inves­ti­gat­ing a sin­is­ter voodoo sect in New Orleans — and you’ve got the per­fect South­ern storm and a recipe for dis­as­ter. Luck­ily, Dex has never been one to back down, even when his life –and heart — are on the line.

Grandpa was always good at telling stories. The one about the lighthouse people was one of his best. But sometimes its hard to know whether or not there's an element of truth buried in all that colorful narrative. Marinka is confident that those lighthouse people are just one of gradpa's random yarns, but her friend Teun is not so sure. Could the dead really be haunting the local beach?Bernard Mayne had solved the matter transmission puzzle and just needed a research grant to bring his project to fruition. But the Crayston Foundation, who had given Mayne the grant, wanted more and found it in a bright newcomer, Frederick Gallenmeadow. Gallenmeadow may have deciphered the ability to not only travel a great distance in a matter of seconds, but to also move through time.Both Mayne and Gallenmeadow are ambitious men and wanted sole credit for the discovery of trans-dimensional travel; the Crayston Foundation wanted the control.The series follows two students, Yvon and Artemus, and their six years at the Conar Academe for Exceptional Students. After rediscovering the research for the time/distance warp device, Yvon involves his best friend, Artemus, in the project. The time/distance warp project would be hard to keep a secret, but Cedric Kentry, the head of the science wing at the academe, manages to do so, at least until the project catches the attention of its original creators, Bernard Mayne and Frederick Gallemeadow. This is short story from within a nine book series called “Journey From Within”.

HE IS ONE OF THE MOST HAUNTING CHARACTERS IN ALL OF LITERATURE. AT LAST THE EVOLUTION OF HIS EVIL IS REVEALED. Hannibal Lecter emerges from the nightmare of the Eastern Front, a boy in the snow, mute, with a chain around his neck. He seems utterly alone, but he has brought his demons with him. Hannibal’s uncle, a noted painter, finds him in a Soviet orphanage and brings him to France, where Hannibal will live with his uncle and his uncle’s beautiful and exotic wife, Lady Murasaki. Lady Murasaki helps Hannibal to heal. With her help he flourishes, becoming the youngest person ever admitted to medical school in France. But Hannibal’s demons visit him and torment him. When he is old enough, he visits them in turn. He discovers he has gifts beyond the academic, and in that epiphany, Hannibal Lecter becomes death’s prodigy.

From the beginning of his distinguished career, Clive Barker has been the great visionary artist of contemporary dark fantasy, a form that Barker himself has termed “the Fantastique.” Through his many novels, stories, paintings and films, he had presented us with unforgettable images of the monstrous and the sacred, the beautiful and the grotesque. His body of work constitutes a great and varied contribution to modern popular culture. This astonishing novella, Infernal Parade, perfectly encapsulates Barker’s unique abilities. Like the earlier Tortured Souls, an account of bizarre–and agonizing–transformations, Infernal Parade is tightly focused, intensely imagined, and utterly unlike anything else you will ever read. It begins with the tale of a convicted criminal, Tom Requiem, who returns from the brink of death to restore both fear and a touch of awe to a complacent world. Tom becomes the leader of the eponymous “parade,” which ranges from the familiar precincts of North Dakota to the mythical city of Karantica. Golems, vengeful humans both living and dead, and assorted impossible creatures parade across these pages. The result is a series of highly compressed, interrelated narratives that are memorable, disturbing, and impossible to set aside. Infernal Parade is quintessential Barker: witty, elegantly composed, filled with dark and often savage wonders. It proves once again that, in Barker’s hands, the Fantastique is not only alive and well, but flourishing. This is vital, visionary fiction by a modern master of the form.

Winter, 1862. A malevolent spirit roams the cold and gloomy streets of Victorian London, the vampiric ghost of John Polidori, the onetime physician of the mad, bad and dangerous Romantic poet Lord Byron. Polidori is also the supernatural muse to his niece and nephew, poet Christina Rossetti and her artist brother Dante Gabriel. But Polidori's taste for debauchery has grown excessive. He is determined to possess the life and soul of an innocent young girl, the daughter of a veterinarian and a reformed prostitute he once haunted. And he has resurrected Dante's dead wife, transforming her into a horrifying vampire. The Rossettis know the time has come – Polidori must be stopped. Joining forces with the girl's unlikely parents, they are plunged into a supernatural London underworld whose existence they never suspected. These wildly mismatched allies – a strait-laced animal doctor, and ex-prostitute, a poet, a painter, and even the Artful Dodger-like young daughter – must ultimately choose between the banality and constraints of human life and the unholy immortality that Polidori offers. Sweeping from high society to grimy slums, elegant West End salons to pre-Roman catacombs beneath St. Paul's cathedral, Hide Me Among The Graves blends the historical and the supernatural in a dazzling, edge-of-your-seat thrill ride.

The Fever exploded across the U.S. and the world. Hour by hour the news grew worse. The virus was spreading at a bewildering pace, killing so fast that estimates had to be constantly revised. Even worse, it appeared to be mutating to an even deadlier form.Along with it came an evil that no one expected. And it knew his name.The Fever exploded across the U.S. and the world. Hour by hour the news grew worse. The virus was spreading at a bewildering pace, killing so fast that estimates had to be constantly revised. Even worse, it appeared to be mutating to an even deadlier form.Stranded on Portsmouth Island after the President instituted martial law, William Hill found himself fighting to survive even though he had come to the island to die. The old village offered shelter against the storms and the coming winter. The sea offered food. Life should have been simple. It wasn’t. He hadn’t counted on the old woman, or the odd little boy she brought with her. He hadn’t expected to provide for nearly a dozen people. He wasn’t prepared for the evil that came to the island. William Hill had never been afraid of the dark. He never had reason to.He did now. Not only had the evil come.It knew his name.

You'd need a good reason to visit Hancox 1 – a tide-locked world infested by biological terror weapons – Krillaz – a nightmare genetically modified cross between rats and hi-mans. Even hunters avoid the place. However, interplanetary recovery agent Vic Vargo has one million reasons to go if he rescues a playboy from the monsters' talons he'll collect a big reward.You'd need a good reason to visit Hancox 1 – a tide-locked world infested by biological terror weapons – Krillaz – a nightmare genetically modified cross between rats and hi-mans. Even hunters avoid the place. However, interplanetary recovery agent Vic Vargo has one million reasons to go. In line to collect a million Hydrans if he rescues a playboy from the talons of the Krillaz, he teams up with a group of executives on a management bonding exercise and heads out to an abandoned city.There, Vargo realises they have all bitten off far more than they can chew. Unlike the Krillaz... Also, includes the bonus short story: 'Sideways Through Time'.

Henry Bates had a very reclusive life, until one day the constant nagging from his wife made him snap, and things started dying. All Henry wanted was to enjoy his retirement like any normal hard working man, but his wife had other plans and retirement wasn't one of those. Henry finally snapped and had his own plans for her and that was to shut her up for good.Henry Bates had a very reclusive life, until one day the constant nagging from his wife made him snap, and things started dying. All Henry wanted was to enjoy his retirement like any normal hard working man, but his wife had other plans and retirement wasn't one of those.One day when Henry was relaxing by the fire, his wife Marjorie came up to him and said "Henry, I thought I told you to take out the trash, sweep the floor and clean out the attic. This isn't a hotel and just because you have retired I'm not going to watch you lay around while things need to be done."Marjorie went on and on for hours as Henry would get up from his recliner and do as she commanded, but as Henry tried to please his wife, the nagging still persisted. Henry said "That's it!" "That's what?" asked Marjorie.Henry shouted, "You'll see!” "Henry, get back here this instant," yelled Marjorie.Henry went into the garage and grabbed a shovel. As Marjorie was pointing her finger and calling him names, Henry swung the shovel, hitting her upside the head and Marjorie hit the floor. Henry knew if she got up off the floor she would have him arrested for assault and battery and attempted murder, so Henry said to himself, "What am I going to do?" as he was pacing back and forth in the kitchen. Henry decided to finish her off.

Samantha is faced with her greatest fear as she serves divorce papers to a man who has shut himself off from the world in his remote mountain home.NYC Midnight hosts an annual short story writing competition. I competed with over 1,400 writers in the first round of the 2015 writing challenge. Writers are placed random in heats and are given a genre, subject, and character assignment. They then have 8 days to write an original story no longer than 2,500 words. Heat 9, my heat, was assigned Ghost Story for the genre, Agoraphobia for the subject and Divorce Lawyer for the character. I came up with two stories that I liked, Liberty Meadow and Do Us Part. I submitted the former. For your reading pleasure here is that story.Synopsis Samantha is faced with her greatest fear as she serves divorce papers to a man who has shut himself off from the world in his remote mountain home.

On the advice of his wife, Paul Rice is making plans to attend his 10th year High School reunion. Returning to his boyhood home of Harmony, Indiana, he finds that he is still haunted by memories of that time-memories of Deidra, his first love, and memories of the Wide Game. It was ten years ago that Paul and his friends watched their day of fun become a race for their lives, a fight for their very souls. Now, as he meets the survivors of that day once more, Paul makes a chilling discovery: the incomprehensible forces that toyed with them have yet to finish playing their own game.

And you thought Hell was weird . . .Longtime contributor to the Hellboy mythos Christopher Golden brings together a crew of luminaries including Joe R. Lansdale (Bubba HoTep) and China Miéville (King Rat), crossgenre sensation Barbara Hambly (The Windrose Chronicles), celebrated mystery writer Ken Bruen (The Dramatist), bestselling science fiction and fantasy novelist Tad Williams (Otherland), and a bevy of other skilled storytellers eager to spin a tale or two about the world's greatest paranormal detective, as some of the biggest names in horror, mystery, and fantasy come together to pay homage to Mike Mignola's Hellboy!