This is a chapter that was edited out of the final manuscript for The Wielder: Sworn Vengeance. An obvious warning: if you haven’t read Sworn Vengeance, this won’t make a lick of sense to you.But if you have, it does address a few questions. It also shows that Arthur wasn’t the only with vengeance on the agenda.This is a chapter that was edited out of the final manuscript for The Wielder: Sworn Vengeance. An obvious warning: if you haven’t read Sworn Vengeance, this won’t make a lick of sense to you.But if you have, it does address a few questions. It also shows that Arthur wasn’t the only with vengeance on the agenda.This short is provided as a “happy” for our readers. Well, maybe happy isn’t exactly the word to use about this short bonus chapter. You’ll see.

Will’s weekend retreat at his lake cottage was interrupted by an issue from work. His intent on remedying the situation was complicated by connection and power issues. Were the problems due to the remote location or was some unknown spirit with him in the cottage?The Death Drink has been reopened, Kalihan along with his friends have started creating havoc again. Acura now tries to persuade his celestial father Sonste to fight this war again. But his father gives him the idea of using the Panacea so as to resurrect the soldiers of yore. Brahm and Ugra the sons of Idaha undergo fast cell multiplication using a mixture of Soma and Panacea and become huge demi-gods. Acura along with the demi-gods excavate a very old palace near Salt Sea. Can they save the earth before it is too late? Find out by reading the second edition of Tribes of Chonohaush.

CLIVE BARKER'S FIRST TALES The book begins with "The Wood on the Hill", a short story about a bourgeois woman who is soon to learn a terrifying lesson concerning her complete disregard for anyone other than herself. The second tale, "The Candle in the Cloud", is a novella of dark fantasy which follows three children who discover a magical candle that transports them to a world where a plague-cloud is destroying everything in its wake. These two tales, the first ever written by Clive, are offered here for the very first time. Their production has been lovingly supervised by Clive himself to ensure that these are not mere books, but works of art to be cherished. Complete with original illustrations and appendices on select editions, First Tales is sure to delight everyone from longtime fans to new readers. In his own words: "These two stories represent the two essential structures of fantastique literature. ’The Wood on the Hill’ is about an incursion of unearthly elements into an approximation of our world. ’The Candle in the Cloud’ is about a journey taken by people from our world into another reality. Yin and Yang, if you like. Forces pulling in opposing directions but to achieve the same end: Revelation." Clive Barker (2013)

Tabitha can’t shake the feeling that something exists beyond the fences of her village. And when she sneaks out, past the gates and down the path into the Forest of Hands and Teeth, she meets a boy who teaches her heart things she never knew. But love in a world surrounded by so much death doesn’t come without its sacrifices, and Tabitha gradually realizes just how much she’ll have to give up to live among the Unconsecrated.

Descend into the nerve-shattering realm of America’s master of horror, H. P. Lovecraft–to a dank place where gloomy maelstroms await the unwary, where the unnatural is surpassed only by the unspeakable, and where all pleasure is perverse. Take a chance. . . . All you can lose is your sanity. The Doom That Came to Sarnath–The magnificent city had wealth beyond measure, but no riches could save it from a ghastly day of reckoning. The Shunned House–He vowed to rid the odious structure of the brooding horror that clung to it, but evil would not go gently. The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath–Desperate to understand his tormenting vision, one man begins a forbidden and nightmarish journey. The Tomb–The old Hyde family crypt held a gruesome attraction for a boy, until he communed with the dead and learned their secrets. The Shadow Out of Time–The quest to understand the devouring force that once possessed a scholar leads a man to the other side of the world, where all will be revealed in one hideous, unholy night. PLUS ELEVEN OTHER MACABRE TALES OF PURE TERROR From the Paperback edition.

Gathering darkly fantastic short fiction previously available only in limited editions, this collection explores the mysteries of souls—whether they are sacrificed on the pinnacle of Mount Parnassus or lodged in a television cable box. In a Kabbalistic tale of transformation, the executor of an old friend’s will is almost duped into housing his soul. In a tale of time travel between 2015 and 1975, a tragedy sparked by an angel falling onto a pizza shop is reenacted—and the event is barely, but fatally, altered. The cornerstone of the collection is a postscript to the harrowing novel of the haunting of the Romantic poets, The Stress of Her Regard. Once Byron and Shelley break free of the succubus that claimed them, their associate, Trelawny, forges an alliance with Greek rebels to reestablish the deadly connection between man and the nephilim. Fans of Powers’s renowned secret histories will delight as he deftly weaves an array of fantastical creatures into richly layered narratives of the past.

It is December 1944 and Europe is still gripped by war. In the densely forested mountains of Belgium one of the conflict's most brutal battles is raging. Cut off from the front, a ragtag group of young British and American soldiers finds itself being hunted by a patrol of elite German Special Forces, including a newly commissioned officer called Kreuz—a teenage boy who will grow up to become Warden Cross (the fearsome prison director who will one day rule Furnace Penitentiary, the terrifying underground prison specially built for teen offenders). As both sides fight for their lives in the unforgiving terrain, however, they start to realize that there are worse things hiding in the snow than soldiers. There are creatures out there with gas masks and piggy eyes (ancestors of Furnace prison's "wheezers")—demonic entities that cannot be killed by guns and grenades, monsters who do not care what uniforms their victims are wearing so long as they bleed, and so long as they scream . . .

This may be The Second Wish, but it's the third witch's dozen of nerve-rending stories of the macabre from the man who gave you the internationally bestselling Necroscope and Vampire World series. Brian Lumley's The Second Wish and Other Exhalations maintains the nightmarish tradition established by his Fruiting Bodies and Other Fungi and Dagon's Bell and Other Discords to complete a trilogy of terror. From Lovecraftian tales such as "The House of the Temple", "Rising With Surtsey" and the title story, to such contemporary horrors as "The Sun, the Sea, and the Silent Scream" and "The Luststone", this new collection has been culled from the writings of a true Master of Nightmares. Remember: in the field of no-holds-barred terror fiction, there's Brian Lumley – and then there's the rest…

Bram Stoker's The Lady of the Shroud is a work by Bram Stoker now brought to you in this new edition of the timeless classic.

“The Towering Inferno Versus the Mighty Quinn” is about a woman working in a sleazy strip-joint who has to use her guile and wit if she’s to overcome a mysterious lust filled fire demon type thingy (thingy being the optimum word here) that is intent on consuming her within its burning hellish flames.This is a story that will certainly get you hot under the collar. Please read and review.“The Towering Inferno Versus the Mighty Quinn” is about a woman working in a sleazy strip-joint who has to use her guile and wit if she’s to overcome a mysterious lust filled fire demon type thingy (thingy being the optimum word here) that is intent on consuming her within its burning hellish flames.This is a story that will certainly get you hot under the collar.If you have read this story then any feed back from a review (be it good or bad) would be most gratefully appreciated.

BEFORE "UNDERWORLD, " THE WAR RAGED ON.... For untold centuries, a secret conflict has been waged between two immortal rivals: The vampires -- ageless aristocrats with a sensual appetite for blood and luxury. Among their ranks are the Death Dealers, an elite corps of the undead sworn to the destruction of their ancestral enemies.... The werewolves -- feral warriors capable of transforming into hellish beasts of unearthly power and ferocity. Once the faithful servants of the vampires, the savage lycans now fight toothand claw against their former masters. Throughout history, the clandestine war has been fought in the shadows of the mortal world. And the seeds of this destructive conflict were sown long ago, when a courageous lycan daredto lose his heart to a beautiful vampire princess.

The vampire Count Saint-Germain, disguised as a missing Hungarian nobleman, is on a spy mission in the heart of Czarist Russia. Almost by the power of his will alone, it seems, Peter the Great is wrestling the city that will one day be St. Petersburg out of swampland. Representatives of the heads of all European states are living in tiny, frigid, wooden homes as they jockey for power and influence over the Czar. When a man shows up claiming to be the Count Saint-Germain, the vampire must figure out how to protect his title and wealth without revealing either his true identity or his True Nature.

Full text. A sharply written tale of adventure on the seas, and fabulous gothic novel, The Phantom Ship will grip the reader from the outset, drawing one into the vibrant world of Captain Marryat’s imagination. It is the story of one Phillip Vanderdecken, and his search for a piece of the "one true cross." From the writer who inspired Herman Melville to take to the seas, this is an exciting work which combines the thrill of the narrative chase with an examination of the theme of religious tolerance, which has possibly a greater resonance today.

It's Chester's first valentine! But what should he give back to the girl who has... nothing? Find out in this YA paranormal story perfect for Valentine's Day, or any time of the year.Alexis Adeluna is a vampire who is apart of a powerful coven that made its home in Sangre Falls. While exploring one of her favorite haunts, the local cemetery, she finds a body of a boy and discovered a gift she never knew she had. She can see and hear the dead. Now, the ghost of the murdered boy will not leave her side, because unless she finds his killer, he is doomed to roam the earth, never finding rest.Review:"It can be difficult for a reader to enjoy a short story, but Sandra Madera does an awesome job writing them." - Josie Epping, Josie's Haven Blog

The Eclective is a group of authors dedicated to the premise that The Story is The Thing, and classifications of genre are mostly a matter for bookshelves. While the following stories share a "Haunting" theme, they might variously be filed as Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy, YA, etc., or anything else. Our idea is that the story itself is more important than the label."Empty Vessel" by M. Edward McNally: Captain Wil has command of his own ship, the respect of his crew, and his wife is expecting their first child. But at sea, the winds always become calm just before the storm breaks."The Smell of Death" by Tara West: Maggie's unusual powers bring new threats to her already troubled childhood."Safe" by Emma Jameson: In Victorian London, a grave robber makes a nice living off the dead, until he opens the wrong crypt."Soulfully Sweet" by Shéa MacLeod: As if helping the living isn't enough of a pain in her divine hindquarters, Branwen (former goddess of love and beauty) is stuck helping the dead on All Hallow's Eve."May I Go Play?" by Heather Marie Adkins: Micah inherits a southern mansion where ancestors long dead relive their violent deaths. And now, they want company..."Blehdward, the Vampire who Couldn't Sparkle" by Pj Jones: Blehdward desperately wants to fit in with the cool vamps. If only he could learn how to sparkle."Franscesca" by Alan Nayes: Break a promise to a feiticeira and you will live to regret it."Soul Eaters" by R.G. Porter: Kaitlyn never believed in the existence of other worlds. Now she's in the middle of one where humans aren't the hunters but the hunted.The Eclective is a group of authors dedicated to the premise that The Story is The Thing, and classifications of genre are mostly a matter for bookshelves. While the following stories share a "Haunting" theme, they might variously be filed as Horror, Paranormal, Fantasy, YA, etc., or anything else. Our idea is that the story itself is more important than whatever label somebody feels like giving it, and by bringing our work together in collections like this one, we hope readers may find a story they might like. Even if it is not in "their" genre.