Day 1 - Los Angeles, California. The Zombie Apocalypse has to start somewhere with a Patient Zero scenario. This is it. Only, nobody believes in zombies. Yet.Cities of the Dead: Stories from the Zombie Apocalypse is a collection of short-stories detailing various aspects of the end times. The stories are being serialized throughout the end of 2011 and beginning of 2012, and will not be presented in chronological order.Travel the United States and across the globe and witness the zombie apocalypse and life among the undead as you've never experienced it before.

Author Vern Charles lost his precious wife and son to the Undeath. Now he has nothing left but his words. But as a creator of fiction, trading stories for bullets is the only way he knows to survive in the post-zombie-apocalypse economy. Until he discovers the power of those words...Nightmares have visited her every night for as long as she can remember. She would draw them out, hoping they'd disappear from her mind. Sometimes it worked, other times it didn't. And then, one normal day, the characters from these dreams of terror materialize, making Krystal question both reality and her sanity. When two of these characters reveal themselves as friends, they ask for her help, quickly earning her trust. They stumble across an old curse cast on Krystal's great-great-great-grandfather that will soon be bestowed upon her own shoulders. Can Krystal break the curse and dodge the prophecies appearing, or will she get caught up, destroying her town and, soon after, the world?

Follow the adventures of Finn McCoy, paranormal handler extraordinaire, as he attempts to save his hometown of Shallow Springs, Virginia from an unstoppable evil as ancient as the Appalachian Mountains themselves.Finn McCoy is a paranormal handler. He handles things that ordinary paranormal investigators can't or won't, and he often ends up cleaning up behind them.For fifteen years, McCoy has turned his back on his hometown of Shallow Springs, Virginia, and the dark secrets the town harbors. But now an evil, unstoppable force has been unleashed on the unsuspecting residents of the town, and McCoy finds himself the only thing standing between the town and total destruction.From best-selling author Scott Langrel comes the first in a series of paranormal thrillers featuring the indefatigable paranormal handler Finn McCoy.

From the award-winning author of Hide Me Among the Graves, Last Call, Declare, and Three Days to Never, a phantasmagoric, thrilling, mind-bending tale of speculative fiction in which one man must uncover occult secrets of 1920s Hollywood to save his family. In the wake of their Aunt Amity’s suicide, Scott and Madeline Madden are summoned to Caveat, the eerie, decaying mansion in the Hollywood hills in which they were raised. But their decadent and reclusive cousins, the malicious wheelchair-bound Claimayne and his sister, Ariel, do not welcome Scott and Madeline’s return to the childhood home they once shared. While Scott desperately wants to go back to their shabby South-of-Sunset lives, he cannot pry his sister away from this haunted “House of Usher in the Hollywood Hills” that is a conduit for the supernatural. Decorated by bits salvaged from old hotels and movie sets, Caveat hides a dark family secret that stretches back to the golden days of Rudolph Valentino and the silent film stars. A collection of hypnotic eight-limbed abstract images inked on paper allows the Maddens to briefly fragment and flatten time—to transport themselves into the past and future in visions that are both puzzling and terrifying. Though their cousins know little about these ancient “spiders” which provoke unpredictable temporal dislocations, Ariel and Claimayne have been using for years—an addiction that has brought Claimayne to the brink of selfish destruction. As Madeline falls more completely under Caveat’s spell, Scott discovers that to protect her, he must use the perilous spiders himself. But will he unravel the mystery of the Madden family’s past and finally free them. . . or be pulled deeper into their deadly web?

Down by the river, the first to go missing were not much lamented. Disappearances of homeless men foraging through trash or nuisance skater kids who rolled their boards along the planked piers at night were not noteworthy enough to delay the city’s development projects.  But deep beneath the riverbank, the evidence of a terrible crime has been covered up twice. When a TVA dam falters and the river swells, panic rises downtown. As the Tennessee creeps over its banks, it dredges up death from its own polluted bed. Twenty-nine victims of a long-ago slaughter walk when the water rises, patrolling the banks and dragging the living down to a muddy grave. No one remembers how they died and no one knows what they want.  Some secrets are never washed away. Instead they are patient, biding their time. They wait for the water to lift them so they can prowl for the justice that was denied them ninety years ago. But in ninety years a city’s shape changes, and where justice can no longer be found, vengeance may have to suffice.  The city of Chattanooga is about to learn a terrible truth about the things a river can and cannot hide…. And reluctant medium Eden Moore may be the only one who can dissuade the twenty- nine bodies from adding hundreds of its citizens to their ghastly ranks.  Not Flesh Nor Feathers is a stand-alone sequel to Four and Twenty Blackbirds and Wings to the Kingdom.

John Elderberry was just trying to take his daughter's friend home... only to find himself lost in the storm of a town that should not be.John Elderberry thought he knew who he was and where he came from... until he found himself lost in a town that should not be. Monsters may snarl or smile, but all of them seek whom they may devour. John fights for his life but is losing his mind and soul. He realizes that dying within would be a fate worse than death. He must survive... even if he must perish.

In the sleepy English village of Lampton, there is a man who is different to everyone else. But he's not a werewolf. And that's what makes him different.On the ninth floor of an upscale apartment complex, a young couple will come to terms with the loss of their son and the impending release of their daughter from a psychiatric clinic on her fourth birthday.In the three days leading to Korine being released from the clinic, The Mother, The Father and Linda will each, in their escapism, deal with their own demons. And each will captain their negation and ridicule before eventually, on the third day, falling into some kind of teary and blissful acceptance.This is a story of happiness, regardless of the hurt and suffering of which it is sometimes garbed.

Seventeen-year-old Rowan Harper knows her life is forever changed the moment her schizophrenic mother commits suicide. What Rowan doesn't realize is how much her mother’s choice altered her own fate. It’s not until after meeting Jet, a sapphire-eyed dead boy, Rowan begins to learn of her new destiny as becoming her mother’s replacement for something she never knew existed.Plus a bonus short!Seventeen-year-old Rowan Harper knows her life is forever changed the moment her schizophrenic mother commits suicide. What Rowan doesn’t realize is how much her mother’s choice altered her own fate. It’s not until after meeting Jet, a sapphire-eyed dead boy, Rowan begins to learn of her new destiny as becoming her mother’s replacement for something she never knew existed. Plus a bonus short story-Choice- told from Jet’s perspective!People often say everything happens for a reason. Seventeen-year-old Jet Donavan Mathews is about to find out that statement is not always true. Jet will learn that sometimes there are moments which were never meant to occur, moments where you are left with a choice.

Alice spent her birthday crying and angry.Betrayed by those closest to her, she drove until her gas light came on. She doesn’t know where she is. …but the blood knows. Revenge is sweet, but sometimes it is most foul. The cost of revenge in this tale may be too high, but vengeance will be served.This short story has appeared in Visionary Press Ezine.Alice spent her birthday crying and angry. Betrayed by those closest to her, she drove until her gas light came on. She doesn’t know where she is. …but the blood knows. Revenge is sweet, but sometimes it is most foul. The cost of revenge in this tale may be too high, but vengeance will be served.Bonus content: chapter 1 of my coming of age horror novel "Fall Leaves and the Black Dragon"

Have you ever wondered what happens to you after you have died? Do you ever crave the comfort of knowing that the souls of your loved ones is at rest? If you do then perhaps you should never hire Steven Bowes, a clairvoyant who'd rather have a stiff drink then deal with a stiff corpse.Have you ever wondered what happens to you after you have died? Do you ever crave the comfort of knowing that the souls of your loved ones is at rest? If you do then perhaps you should never hire Steven Bowes. Known for his ability to cleanse a house of evil spirits for years, Bowes would rather stay home and drown his annoyance with all things dead with alcohol. While he cant assure you that they are in a better place, he can make sure that you will have a proper nights rest. But what happens when Steven is not allowed to rest in peace?

A tribute to and continuation of the work of the horror master, William Hope Hodgson.Based on characters created by the legendary pioneer of supernatural horror William Hope Hodgson, this short story speculates what might have happened to the ghost-finder and his circle during World War I. In 1919 they meet again after the better part of five years - well, all bar one.

This is not just a vampire story. There are no glitter or frills. This is not some love story. This is a story about vampires. A battle between the vampires vs. the underworld. They've come back to reclaim their spot on the dark side. They're tough. They're mean and they are craving blood.Dignity and Reason have suffered much stress and misery because of their cousin Guiles, his daughter Prevarica, and the rest of the Leasing family. Now Guiles leaves Dignity the responsibility for bankrupt and neglected Founders Grove park, and it will take miracles—and a really good lawyer—to get him out of this. As for the Leasings, when they land in terrible trouble, old Ambassador Grace advises Dignity and Reason to try to save them, and he offers the prospect of help from Heavenite secret agent Patience Orchard. The question is, would the cousins rather just be rid of the Leasings?

Something is stirring in London's dark, stamping out its territory in brickdust and blood. Something has murdered Saul Garamond's father, and left Saul to pay for the crime. But a shadow from the urban waste breaks into Saul's prison cell and leads him to freedom. A shadow called King Rat, who reveals Saul's royal heritage, a heritage that opens a new world to Saul, the world below London's streets--a heritage that also drags Saul into King Rat's plan for revenge against his ancient enemy,. With drum 'n' bass pounding the backstreets, Saul must confront the forces that would use him, the forces that would destroy him, and the forces that shape his own bizarre identity.

When your family has a history which you’d rather forget, there’s an invading force of Taurans trying to remodel your planet and some evil monster just won’t leave you alone; you know it’s not your day. Vincent Kombel knew that he had a lot to pay for; being of Old Blood meant much on New Sevilla, just for Vincent it meant a little bit more...Ebony is a smart, sexy, career-oriented black woman who wants nothing more than a summer fling with a man who challenges her mind and body. What she doesn’t expect is a blond haired, blue-eyed bass player—who won’t take “no” for an answer—to accept the challenge. When Ebony’s attempt at a brief fling turns into more, despite negative reactions from friends and family, she finds juggling love, family, and career are nothing compared to the ultimate betrayal she endures. Now her dreams spiral into lies and secrets that threaten her future and her best friend’s trust.

In the middle of a snowstorm, on a lonely wooded road, Jason and Valerie cross paths with a suspicious stranger. He might just be a run-of-the-mill drunk, but Jason senses something else—a streak of sadism seems to emanate from him. But there’s something else out here in the woods, too, a creature that purrs as it feasts on human flesh, an abomination lurking in the snow, hidden in the darkness.Jason and Valerie wanted a nice, leisurely vacation, visiting Jason’s brother in Virginia, but Mother Nature intervened, delivering a hellacious snowstorm to the region. With their transportation plans thwarted, the travelers find themselves on a deserted road in the middle of the night, a blizzard raging all around them, and a suspicious stranger has joined their midst. To Jason, the newcomer seems a little off. He might just be a run-of-the-mill drunk, but Jason senses something else—a streak of sadism seems to emanate from him. Little does Jason know, the stranger is the least of their worries. There’s something else out here in the woods, a creature that purrs as it feasts on human flesh, an abomination lurking in the snow, hidden in the darkness. But even if Jason and Valerie manage to survive, there’s one more surprise waiting for them, with a revelation that will test their very humanity.