See the difference, read #1 bestselling author Anne Rice in Large Print* About Large PrintAll Random House Large Print editions are published in a 16-point typefaceIn the latest installment of The Vampire Chronicles, Anne Rice summons up dazzling worlds to bring us the story of Armand - eternally young, with the face of a Botticelli angel. Armand, who first appeared in all his dark glory more than twenty years ago in the now-classic Interview with the Vampire, the first of The Vampire Chronicles, the novel that established its author worldwide as a magnificent storyteller and creator of magical realms.Now, we go with Armand across the centuries to the Kiev Rus of his boyhood - a ruined city under Mongol dominion - and to ancient Constantinople, where Tartar raiders sell him into slavery. And in a magnificent palazzo in the Venice of the Renaissance we see him emotionally and intellectually in thrall to the great vampire Marius, who masquerades among humankind as a mysterious, reclusive painter and who will bestow upon Armand the gift of vampiric blood.As the novel races to its climax, moving through scenes of luxury and elegance, of ambush, fire, and devil worship to nineteenth-century Paris and today's New Orleans, we see its eternally vulnerable and romantic hero forced to choose between his twilight immortality and the salvation of his immortal soul.From the Trade Paperback edition.

Nine very short (and very disturbing) tales, all of them with peculiar protagonists...Collection of nine short stories. A future world, an exorcism, a bank robbery and a fight for survival are some of the tales inside this book. But beware: their protagonists maybe aren't the same way as they pretend...Now, you can listen them at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keUT7kWAUFc

Published for the first time under his own name, a dark and haunting story from #1 New York Times bestselling author Michael Connelly Like his father before him, Brian Holloway is a safe man. That is, his specialty is opening safes. Every job is a little mystery, and he has yet to encounter a lock he can't break or a box he can't crack. But the day Holloway gets called in to open a rare, antique safe in a famous author's library, his skills open a door that should have remained closed. In this haunting and singular story, previously published anonymously, Michael Connelly proves once again that he is "superb at building suspense.... the reader can never be sure what sudden turns the plot may take" (Wall Street Journal).

Six months have passed since the terrifying battle with Charlie Pink-eye and the Motor City Hammer in the zombie-infested mountains of the Rot & Ruin. It’s also six months since Benny Imura and Nix Riley saw something in the air that changed their lives. Now, after months of rigorous training with Benny’s zombie-hunter brother Tom, Benny and Nix are ready to leave their home forever and search for a better future. Lilah the Lost Girl and Benny’s best friend Lou Chong are going with them. Sounds easy. Sounds wonderful. Except that everything that can go wrong does. Before they can even leave there is a shocking zombie attack in town. But as soon as they step into the Rot & Ruin they are pursued by the living dead, wild animals, insane murderers and the horrors of Gameland –where teenagers are forced to fight for their lives in the zombie pits. Worst of all… could the evil Charlie Pink-eye still be alive? In the great Rot & Ruin everything wants to kill you. Everything…and not everyone in Benny’s small band of travelers will make it out alive.

Differel Van Helsing is the heir to the legacy of her ancestor, the conqueror of Dracula. She is also a 12-year old girl, but when her father is killed she must fight for her very survival, her only ally a stable cat. Her only hope is a cryptic reference to a mysterious weapon, but she doesn't know if it's even real. Or if she can reach it before she is caught and killed. This is a novella.Differel Van Helsing is the 12-year old descendent of Abraham Van Helsing, the conqueror of Dracula and founder of the Caerleon Order, Britain's premier monster-hunting organization. She always knew that one day she would take over as Director from her father, but that wasn't suppose to happen for another nine years.Now her father is dead, and his murderer has made an attempt on her life. She must flee to stay alive, but that cuts her off from any help from her servants and the Order's agents and paramilitary troops. She is on her own; her only ally is a stable cat, while her only hope is her father's mysterious deathbed confession about a secret weapon hidden in the family crypt. She wants to believe him, but how can she be sure it wasn't a delusional dream?More importantly, will she survive long enough to find out?

The tale of Mathias Auer's change from human to vampire. Eternal Sun is a short story prequel to the novel Mourning Sun.Fear constricts Mrs. Queen’s life. Anxiety turns her to stone. And all of Mrs. Queen’s worry overflows into the hum forever spilling from the trembling woman. Recognizing how the nervous habit has consumed his mother, Maven refuses to let his son David visit his grandmother until Mrs. Queen promises to follow the prescribed steps required to regain control over her trepidation. Mrs. Queen forces herself to cease fretting over her diet. She volunteers throughout her community to again socialize with her peers. She even tosses her emergency radio into the silence of her closet. Yet the woman's environment seems to unravel all the more furiously with each of Mrs. Queen’s efforts, until the world itself shakes in an attempt to make Mrs. Queen return to her humming.

In this OTS novella, Magician Elizabeth Tanner is consulted by a local coven when their medium goes missing after a strange Enochian rite. Liz soon learns that there's more to the story, and the woman has been kidnapped by something not from this world. Can she negotiate the woman's release, or will all hell break loose?The Davis kids have acquired land and a cattle ranch from their Civil War injured father. Trying to make the ranch profitable the Davises notice some of their cattle disappearing. After seeing strange things on their ranch such as Indian arrows and unknown riders the Davises believe there is more to the disappearance of their cattle then what they initial thought. As Bub and A.J. track down the supposed thieves Soph guards their small stone house that was passed down by their folks. Things start to heat up when they have confrontation with their neighbors the Farlands. After a showdown on the land the Davises know they are in for a bloody resolution.

When a new video game takes the world by storm, a new player is profoundly moved by the beauty and wonder that the game holds. But under the breathtaking exterior is a dark secret that threatens the sanity and lives of the players.In developed countries, social cohesion has been sacrificed on the altar of individual gratification. Individuals wanted more and better. Inventors and entrepreneurs rallied to serve our desires. We progressed – pulled along by our hunger for improvement. This strategy worked well for centuries. Survival rates benefitted more from technological advances than from recognising individual social contributions. But the paths of ‘what we want in the short term’ and ‘what is good for us in the long term’ diverged. As we moved forwards, we increasingly abandoned non-commercial activities – regardless of their contribution to social wellbeing.We’ve now reached point where the benefits of technological advances are becoming outweighed by the disadvantages. New consumer inventions make us less active. Improved food production is turning us fat. Social media is stopping us socialising. Even medical advances will become less important to the majority – focusing, quite rightly, on a shrinking minority of ill people or providing more years of relative infirmity for the very old.The wellbeing of the majority during the majority of their lives can now be improved more by positive social interaction than by technological advances. To do this, we need to amend our reward system. We need to provide additional motivation for carrying out beneficial social activity. Although many already help others altruistically, there’s no moral reason why they shouldn’t receive further tangible rewards. And tangible rewards might encourage even more people to help one another. This would deliver additional social benefits – thereby improving general wellbeing.

The city changed my life and showed me that the world is deeply mysterious. I need to tell you about her and some terrible things and wonderful things and amazing things that happened . . . and how I am still haunted by them. Including one night when I died and woke and lived again. Here is the riveting, soul-stirring story of Jonah Kirk, son of an exceptional singer, grandson of a formidable “piano man,” a musical prodigy beginning to explore his own gifts when he crosses a group of extremely dangerous people, with shattering consequences. Set in a more innocent time not so long ago, The City encompasses a lifetime but unfolds over three extraordinary, heart-racing years of tribulation and triumph, in which Jonah first grasps the electrifying power of music and art, of enduring friendship, of everyday heroes. The unforgettable saga of a young man coming of age within a remarkable family, and a shimmering portrait of the world that shaped him, The City is a novel that speaks to everyone, a dazzling realization of the evergreen dreams we all share. Brilliantly illumined by magic dark and light, it’s a place where enchantment and malice entwine, courage and honor are found in the most unexpected quarters, and the way forward lies buried deep inside the heart.

Following the phenomenal success of Necronomicon, its companion volume brings together Lovecraft’s remaining major stories plus his weird poetry, a number of obscure revisions, and some notable nonfiction, including the seminal critical essay Supernatural Horror in Literature Gathering together in chronological order the rest of Lovecraft's rarely seen but extraordinary short fiction, this collection includes the entirety of the long-out-of-print collection of 36 sonnets "Fungi from Yoggoth." Howard Phillips Lovecraft died at the age of 47, but in his short life he turned out dozens of stories which changed the face of horror. His extraordinary imagination spawned both the Elder God Cthulhu and his eldritch cohorts, and the strangely compelling town of Innsmouth, all of which feature within these pages. Stephen Jones, one of the world's foremost editors of dark fiction, will complete the Lovecraft story in his extensive afterword, and award-winning artist Les Edwards will provide numerous illustrations for this must-have collection.

At a small marine institute off the coast of Connecticut, only marine biologist Simon Chase realizes that a sixteen-foot pregnant Great White is feeding in the area. But even Simon doesn't know that a far deadlier creature is about to come out of the deep and threaten everything he cares for. A creature whose malevolence is unthinkable. Whose need to feed is insatiable. And whose relentless hunt for prey is unstoppable. Twenty years after his huge bestseller Jaws, the master of the deep has done it again, letting loose a chilling new predator that only he could create. Drawing on his singular knowledge of the sea, science, and history, Peter Benchley masterfully spins a suspense-filled novel that hits you on a primal level, makes your heart pound, and leaves your blood running cold. White Shark is Peter Benchley at his best. Read it at your own risk.

This is a short story. Job would preach his sermons with a powerful voice that echoed throughout the church. All would stop and make their way to the sanctuary to hear and hope. Hope ... was all they had left. The undead horde outside would pound upon the barred church doors when Father Job addressed the congregation. It had made Claire wonder if it was too late for salvation.This is the story of what happens when a character begins to talk back to the author . . . not a good plan in the long run! (Watch out for those Woodle Pooves!)Authors often say their characters make the decisions in the stories. However, in the end, we all know who's really in charge, right?

Long ago, the residents of Malm placed their faith in the Office of Souls to lead them and keep them safe. On Soul Implantation Day 3675, the lives of the Residents of the Territory of Malm are changed forever. Six people bear witness to a soul implantation ceremony gone terribly awry which forms the backdrop of the beginning of an epic struggle between good and evil.In a post-apocalyptic world known as the Territory of Malm, infants are born soulless. With a hideous appearance and unquenchable hunger, they are kept out of sight until they are Chosen.Long ago, the residents of Malm placed their faith in the Office of Souls to lead them and keep them safe after the human race was almost destroyed in the time known only as "Before". But someone long forgotten has other plans, and that means unleashing unspeakable evil into their world.Soul Implantation Day 3675 starts out like any other, and follows the paths of six people who are destined to meet in the courtyard of the Fountain of Souls. They bear witness to a soul implantation ceremony gone terribly awry. Not all of them will survive, and some will suffer a fate far worse than death.Length: 25,000 words*This novella was previously released under the title "The Soul Garden".*The complete Twisted Souls series:The Soul Ripper (Twisted Souls #1)Twisted Souls (Twisted Souls #2)Soul Cycle (Twisted Souls #3)A Soul to Settle (Twisted Souls #4)

Imagine being raised in a beautiful, nurturing environment for the first 22 years of your life and then, sold as bloodstock. Sacrificing your blood to feed a Vampire society. Excited young men and women tricked into believing the next stage of their life is beginning; then, bartered on the open market to ensure that the best and most intelligent can be immortal. "It's not selfish, it's necessary."An advanced civilization has discovered a way to be immortal, and all that is required is a constant flow of human blood, nurtured one by one to ensure that the best of the best can live on and continue to contribute their superior intelligence to maintain this great Empire. But as this blood stock is being nurtured, it is also being studied, and a few special ones are chosen to become immortal as well, and join the select Vampire society. What a choice to have to make, with no knowledge or warning of it at all: to feed from the blood of your kindred and experience life ever lasting, or sacrifice your own life-blood so that another may live indefinitely. With every passing century, and an un-dying race, the population swells. With no more room to expand, integration into the Empire is reduced, then eventually suspended. This is bad news for a Government worker who has allowed herself to fall in love with a brilliant human. He was sure to be selected. Now she must resort to drastic measures to fulfill her dreams. Her selfish actions lead to murder, intrigue and a serial killer case the likes of which has never before been experienced by authorities. In the midst of this is a man thrust into a situation from which only he can end the Empire's atrocities.

Three dark tales by Justin M.D. Nelson, including "The Fenris Wolf", "Mister Grinn", and "The Last Photo of Dr. Graham".Mankind has always looked beyond the stars, beyond the fabric of time and space, seeking answers to questions that should never be asked. This is the story of GBresearch as it embarked upon the most advanced, scientific experimentation in the history of mankind. When doors are open, they are not always so easy to close…. An apocalypse is coming, an apocalypse of untold magnitude and terror.... The best selling short story of Science fiction and atmospheric horror. “A very good short story combining Science Fiction and Horror.” **** “Well worth the read!” **** “Recommended” ****