stories in and

A Thing Divine

A Thing Divine by Rian Adara

Ehvy has dreamt of the same man her entire life. Vicious, bloody, decadent visions haunt her nights, but she’s never paid them any mind. Until a chance encounter has her face to face with Will, the literal man of her dreams, and she begins to wonder whether they were dreams at all but memories. As Will drags Ehvy deeper into her darkest desires, he wakes up the monster in her that has been lurking just under the surface. As Ehvy wrestles to separate nightmare from reality, she rejects the notion that she is some lovesick girl taken in by a handsome man. Instead, she’s a woman ready to rip the corrupt heart out of the world and will sink into the pits of Hell with Will to do it.


Gospel of the Cuckoo

Gospel of the Cuckoo by Sirius

Dallas’ entire life changed when the Church of New Lazarus opened its doors. The small town of Wicker, Alabama has been taken over by a glamorous, fast-talking reverend with a charismatic smile as bright as his Rolex watch. This new reverend, who calls himself Blue, has declared himself a ‘modern day Lazarus’ and has set the whole town on fire with religious fervor. Yet, Dallas doesn’t trust him. There is something sinister about the new church and its cult-like following. And when Dallas, who has spent five years caring for his ailing grandfather, is suddenly thrust into the world behind the pulpit; he finds that his expectations of salvation may lie in more infernal hands.


Lover, Thy Name Is Pestilence

Lover, Thy Name Is Pestilence by A.L. Davidson

Dakota and Ed Hollander have lived quiet, isolated lives deep in the Smoky Mountains for nearly a decade without much trouble — despite the pious locals who scrutinize their way of life. Everything changes overnight when a brutal civil war decimates the United States, leaving behind a wasteland of decay and ruin in its wake... Now, in a world recovering from famine and war, Dakota and Ed fight to prepare themselves for the harsh winter that will soon arrive on their doorstep. But Dakota’s sense of safety is rattled when lost travelers come knocking, and everything Ed told them about the world post-disaster is scrutinized as the secrets hidden in the cellar desperately claw their way to the surface. The carnage of Ed’s devotion is strewn across the snow in blood red streaks, and Dakota finds themself making drastic choices that threaten to strip away their humanity like flesh off a carcass. At the end of the world, love is written with the blade of an axe, and the most haunting plague of all may just be man’s own hubris.


Someone Else’s Horror Story

Someone Else’s Horror Story by Rebecca Crunden

Jace Venable lives a quiet life in the house his father left him. He dreams of fixing up the barn out back so that he doesn’t have to return to the city he’s only too happy to leave behind. He likes to be left alone, thank you very much. And then, one night, he finds a runaway in his barn. A boy with a horrifying story that’s about to upend Jace’s quiet life permanently.


Bad House Spirit

Bad House Spirit by DeAnna Knippling

The house was creepy. No getting around that. Windows covered on the inside with tinfoil so nobody could look in. And barred on the outside so nobody could get out. KEEP OUT and BEWARE OF DOGS signs everywhere. Pictures on the walls that seem like eyes are watching her from between the trees. Everything’s brown and yellow, hasn’t been updated since the Seventies…and a bad smell, too… You never know what you’re going to get, cleaning houses for a living. Carrie goes where her company sends her. But in this case, her curiosity might just put her in the wrong place at the wrong time…in front of the wrong ghost. A short tale of haunted houses and tortured souls...


The Black Cat Bookshop

The Black Cat Bookshop by E.M. McConnell

"The bookshop offers people knowledge, and it feeds from what you learn. But everyone must make a payment for the knowledge they have taken. Even you, Brandon. Even you." An entity was born into smoke and rage, a destructive force that was bound into a Bookshop, sentient, feral, and hungry. It offers knowledge and power, enough to fulfil their wildest dreams, but there is always a price. Payment will always be due. This book follows four characters, all seeking the bookshop for different reasons: Rachel, Matthew, Lucy and Brandon. The Black Cat Bookshop is a Gothic Horror story that explores what it is to find knowledge, and if it is really worth the price, in the end.


Death by Sugar

Death by Sugar by E.M. McConnell

Death By Sugar is a collection of horror poetry. They seek to look at what truly frightens or horrifies us, be that supernatural, psychological or gothic horror. What looks back at us when we look in the mirror? What would happen if your loved ones came back? What does the murderer think as they craft their masterpiece? What if the most unassuming, non dangerous items in our lives are secretly sentient, angry, and hateful? Death By Sugar shows us all the ways we can die. But at least we won't starve.


A Tainted Soul

A Tainted Soul by A.W. Rene

Sixteen-year-old Annaya Roth is fighting for her life to fit in at yet another new school—and to escape the Dead. Annaya and her mother, Samantha, just moved to the small mountain town of Asherville. The people there are nice enough. They smile and wave—but Annaya knows to not get too close. Samantha is tired of running. She just wants to keep her daughter safe. So, in one last desperate attempt to save Annaya—Samantha moves them to the one place she never wanted to step foot in again.


Going Home

Going Home by Jack T Canis

A short Gothic tale about a 9yo boy who is lost on his birthday outing - all he wants to do is go home.


Rootwork

Rootwork by Tracy Cross

Set in a small parish in Louisiana in 1889, Rootwork follows sisters, Betty, Ann and Pee Wee. When school lets out for the summer, the girls head off to stay with their hoodoo-practicing aunt, Theodora, an empowered woman equally feared and revered by the local townspeople. They learn how to make “hot foot powder” and the secrets of a good “black cat bone”. Need to get back at an enemy? A little goofer dust will help that. The girls delight in their new hoodoo adventure, until a tragic event strikes, involving the malicious town sheriff, transforming not only their lives but also the sisters themselves. A story of love, folk magic, redemption and independence, Rootwork explores the strength of family and the darker side of the heart.


Our Own Unique Affliction

Our Own Unique Affliction by Scott J. Moses

Our Own Unique Affliction is the story of Alice Ann, a dejected immortal who longs for her life in the sun. Navigating guilt, loss, family, meaning, murder, and all that comes with the curse of living forever. An existential bleak, quiet until it's not, hallucination on duality, rife with fangs, empathy, blood, and grief. "Unexpected and grim, Scott J. Moses' Our Own Unique Affliction is the most inventive and bombastically gruesome vampire story I've read since The Light at the End by John Skipp and Craig Spector. An exquisitely written meditation on grief, family, and trauma told with such empathy and care. I feel broken after reading this book, and I applaud Scott for obliterating my soul with such grace and tenderness." - Eric LaRocca, author of Things Have Gotten Worse Since We Last Spoke and Other Misfortunes "Scott Moses writes from a place of pure empathy, the result of which is a story that pulls the reader in with deceptive ease, putting them through the emotional wringer, culling fear from every page. A tightly written fever dream of bloodlust and family ties, grief, rage and the eternal hunt." - Laurel Hightower, author of Crossroads and Below "Moses gives us not only complicated and relatable characters, but also cinematic scene-setting coated with pathos and grit. Our Own Unique Affliction forces readers to face that often circumstance is the only thing separating us from the monsters." - J.A.W. McCarthy, Shirley Jackson Award nominated author of Sometime We’re Cruel and Other Stories "Moses tenders a vampire's origin and fate in the skin of a mood-soaked tragedy, embraced by bloody nights and unyielding regrets. Fans of Paul Tremblay's The Pallbearers Club should sink their fangs in before sunrise." - Hailey Piper, Bram Stoker Award-winning author of Queen of Teeth "An interesting psychological twist on the vampire narrative. Definitely a fun read." - Charlene Elsby, author of Hexis, Psychros, Menis


The Headsman

The Headsman by Christina MĂŽrzoi

Take a glimpse into the world of a headsman, a gloomy village in which each dweller has a secret: an evil witch, a shrewd florist, a naive young man, a foreign merchant, a dreadful husband, a mischievous maid, and a lustful duke. These stories are intertwined, weaving a dark narrative of love, trickery, brutality, and loss. Under the bleak aesthetic, raw human emotions unravel themselves in a gripping story about moral decay. In a world that belongs to the wicked, how far can one walk this path while keeping a clean conscience? The Headsman is a collection of short stories that focus on interconnected characters, sometimes looking at the same event from a different perspective. As a genre, it falls somewhere under dark fiction territory.


The Summer Gothic

The Summer Gothic by Edited by K.M. Miller

K.M. Miller (Editor), Tyler Battaglia, B.A. O'Connell, Laura Marie Bailey, Venus Parkes, Quinton Li, Enda Mulholland, Abby Moeller, Lucia Larsen, FreydĂ­s Moon, Cas Trudeau, Lotte van der Krol, Alba Sarria, Billy Don Loper, Angela Sun, Dean Shepherd, Corey Bryan, Cinnamone Winchester, SebastiĂĄn Ungco (Illustrator), Chrys Marr The Summer Gothic is a collection of works that make up Panorame Press' first anthological edition, highlighting the spooky, lonely, and sweltering parts of the summertime. We asked indie, young, and debuting authors in the modern writing community to give us their grim looks into the season of summer, through hot days, lonely lighthouses, racing Mississippi nights, and soft whispering in humid forests. Panorame Press strives to give our authors and artists a place to share their works and build their portfolios free of submission costs, strict guidelines about what's considered marketable media, and other modern publishing barriers.


Sleeping Celeste

Sleeping Celeste by Alana K. Drex

It is October 1885, and Marie Maecott seems to be the only one who knows what has happened to her daughter, Celeste. She is angry that no one else understands her daughter's condition, as any mother would be. Then one chill night, groundskeeper for Heathridge Cemetery, Jacob Willis, tells her a dark secret in his family's past that just may hold the key to her problem. Marie will need to set off on a journey to find out--one in which she will discover terrible parts of herself--parts that would have been better off left buried. And some are going to find out the truth of the timeless adage: it is best not to come between a mother and her child.


Red Rains Down

Red Rains Down by Ryan Harville

Take a terrifying trip along lonely highways and discover the horror hiding below the Bible Belt. Let these thirteen tales lead you to long hidden churches, run-down gas stations, and the lost parts of the forest. Unearth an ancient ritual where the fate of an entire town rests on the outcome. Meet a long-haul trucker with very peculiar cargo and clientele. Walk with two young men as they preach door-to-door and find evil hidden in the heart of the suburbs. Stalk the woods with a new mother as she hunts for her missing son. Visit an amusement park where the fun never ends, no matter how much you want it to. Stories of madness and vengeance, of monstrous creatures and human monsters, are all waiting for you just down the road.


21 Grams

21 Grams by M Regan

In the bowels of an unassuming, ever-moving funerary parlor, a mortician known as the Operator hides a fearsome machine called the Godwin, rumored to have the ability to resurrect the dead. It runs, like a soul does, on logos: on words. And in exchange for those words—for a client’s life story—the corpse of their choosing might yet walk again. Careful, though. Words bear weight, so one must choose them wisely. Author M. Regan delivers a harrowing and beautiful glimpse into a world filled with desire, darkness, love, and loss.


The Bayou

The Bayou by Arden Powell

SFINCS

"Eugene didn’t know if he believed in the devil beyond the wicked things people did of their own accord, but if the devil had a face, it would look like Johnny Walker’s." Small-town Louisiana, 1935. When Eugene was twelve, a girl from town disappeared. Everyone said the gators must have got her when she strayed too near the bayou. No foul play, just a terrible accident. But Eugene can't shake the conviction that Mary Beth's death had something to do with the man who used to haunt her—the man no one else could see. Now, nearly two decades later, there are more dangerous things than gators in Chanlarivyè. People are disappearing again, and this time, no one can find the bodies. As the town's unease grows, charismatic fugitive Johnny Walker arrives on the scene, shedding bullet casings and stolen bank notes in his wake. He tangles himself up in Eugene's life and awakens memories Eugene thought he had laid to rest years ago. Memories of the mysterious man who followed Eugene into his dreams, and memories of the bayou— And of the horrifying entity that lurks beneath the water's surface, slowly seeping into the town like a stain.


Ripper Country: A Collection

Ripper Country: A Collection by Jack Harding

A darkly twisted feast of Gothic horror stories that will take you to the edge of darkness - and beyond... Welcome to RIPPER COUNTRY. A semi-alternate Victorian London where imagination runs wild and madness reigns supreme. Where the cobbled streets run red with the blood of the innocent, and unscrupulous fiends come out to play. Where the wicked stench coming off the old river pales in comparison to the foulness of the crimes that will forever haunt the annals of British history. Where the man you know as Jack The Ripper is the least of Whitechapel's worries. Inside these pages, you will find stories of fear, madness, suspense and terror that will stay with you long after you turn the last page. Enjoy this blood-soaked debut collection from Jack Harding, author of React and Driving in the Dark, a British horror author set to leave his own bloody legacy on this haunted land...


Delphinium, or A Necromancer's Home

Delphinium, or A Necromancer's Home by V. M. Jaskiernia

SPFBO8

The Larkspur Quartet vol. I Book Two in The Courting of Life and Death Lady Elizabeth Anne does not know about the dark magic her beloved practices, and he has no intent to tell her. As they travel to his childhood home for the summer, Pierre Salvador attempts to balance his newfound love with his murderous crĂŚft. After they arrive, the future Duc de Piques finds there is much to be done, and duties cannot be put off any longer. A fatal illness is spreading throughout his land, he is being claimed by those of Faery, and someone has already tried to take his life. But it will take much more to kill a lord of death.


Blind the Eyes

Blind the Eyes by K.A. Wiggins

SPFBO8

In the City of Nightmares, one haunted girl is taking back more than just her dreams.
A lush & lyrical gothic-dystopian YA Fantasy of stolen choices, eldritch horrors & sisterhood beyond the grave. _______ In a drowned city overrun by shapeshifting monsters of the climate apocalypse, human contact is forbidden and the slightest wilfulness or sign of inner life can draw down ravening horrors. Haunted outcast Cole would give anything to be able to follow the rules, silence her rebellious pest of a ghostly best friend, and live a virtuous (and peaceful) life in Refuge. But her shameful secret obsession with the monsters' victims is only the start of her downfall when a dangerously tempting encounter with a tattooed stranger entangles her in a deadly conspiracy. Hunted for what she knows—and what she doesn’t yet even suspect—Cole scales the austere heights of the Tower of Refuge and scours the depths of carnivalesque underground club Freedom for allies. But with mysterious unseen threads tugging her into gruesome visions of the monster-taken and absolutely zero practice in making friends (much less navigating an unexpected and not entirely welcome romance whiledrumming up a revolution), her survival and the fate of the city are both at risk. Can she untangle the most earth-shattering secret of all, confront her forbidden feelings, and lay to rest the ghosts of her past in time to escape a bloody end? An award-winning series starter for fans of post-climate-collapse dystopias, monsters-and-magic urban fantasy, and genre-bending gothic dark fantasy with messy and morally grey characters, dreamweaving and threadwitchery, and intricate worldbuilding.


Bestow the Darkness

Bestow the Darkness by Amanda Hocking

BESTOW THE DARKNESS is a brooding gothic romance set in the rugged forest of 1890s Michigan. Emiliath lives in a cloistered religious sect with her sisters and brothers, as she has for over twenty-one years. Her life is stable and quiet, but she has begun to feel a longing for something more. When tragedy hits close to home, she begins to connect with a handsome stranger from the city, Trent. But her quiet life is far more sinister than it seems, and Trent has his own secrets. On top of that, a hungry beast is lurking in the forest, and it might be the end of everything Emiliath has ever known.


Nocturne: A Collection of Dark Tales

Nocturne: A Collection of Dark Tales by H.B. Diaz

WriteHive Book Club

From the gothic to the gory, this ghostly collection will keep you awake long into the witching hours of night. Step into the twisted warren of a lunatic mind, face the angered spirits of a haunted mansion, or escape a cursed forest's ancient monster. Whichever story you choose, be sure to keep the lights on. Featuring short stories seen in publications from the likes of Flame Tree Press, ID Press, and Horror Tree, plus six brand new tales.


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