Cedrick Pyle's tower stretches high to stand as a monument to the mogul's dominion over time. But when the wind blows cold, the desperate and the lonely trespass to find shelter upon Mr. Pyle's estate. Cedrick steadies himself for battle, for he suspects his tower and the poor surrounding it will attract the desire of his nemesis named Turner. And Cedrick knows monsters always follow that man.Ethan Pyle trembles for grandfather Cedrick’s obsession. Though the tower sways in the gusting winds, Cedrick remains adamant that his tower must continue to grow taller and taller. Only the most desperate of construction crews brave the heights and the cold to attempt to build one level more atop the Pyle spire. Ethan’s anxiety swells further when Cedrick claims monsters are gnawing at the tower’s foundations, that the homeless who shelter in his estate's warehouses have attracted monsters and a terrible enemy. Soon, Ethan can no longer deny the evidence that something wicked has its eye on the tower as grandfather Cedrick claims. Soon, Ethan’s sleep is disturbed by the sounds of teeth scraping against the tower's foundation stones.

Zombie Fallout It was a flu season like no other. With fears of contracting the H1N1 virus running rampant throughout the country, people lined up in droves to try an attain one of the coveted vaccines. What was not known, was the effect this largely untested, rushed to market, inoculation was to have on the unsuspecting throngs. Within days, feverish folk throughout the country, convulsed, collapsed and died, only to be re-born. With a taste for brains, blood and bodies, these modern day zombies scoured the lands for their next meal. Overnight the country became a killing ground for the hordes of zombies that ravaged the land. This is the story of Michael Talbot, his family and his friends. This is their story a band of ordinary people just trying to get by in these extra-ordinary times. When disaster strikes, Mike a self-proclaimed survivalist, does his best to ensure the safety and security of those he cares for. Book 1 of the Zombie Fall-Out Trilogy follows our lead character in his self-deprecating, sarcastic best. What he encounters along the way leads him down a long dark road always skirting on the edge of insanity. Can he keep his family safe? Can he discover the secret behind Tommy's powers? Can he save anyone from the zombie Queen - a zombie that seems by all accounts to have some sort of hold over the zombies and Mike himself? Encircled in a seemingly safe haven called Little Turtle, Mike and his family together with the remnants of a tattered community while not fighting each other, fight against a relentless, ruthless, unstoppable force. This last bastion of civilization has made its final stand. God help them all.

Desperate situations give rise to desperate means. When Richard Cacciare is diagnosed with a terminal illness, a mysterious voice only he can hear gives him an unorthodox and violent plan to restore his health.When impoverished, middle-aged janitor Richard Cacciare is diagnosed with a terminal, hematological illness, he falls into despair. His spirits are revived, however, when a voice only he can hear dictates a plan to restore his health at the expense of others. The Voice states life is NOT sacred and health can be restored when consuming the blood of others. Mr. Cacciare then embarks on a sacrilegious murdering spree, killing victims and bottling their blood. Will this plan actually succeed? How long and how far will Mr. Cacciare go to prolong his life, and will the Voice allow him to stop?

Sanders was a bricklayer by trade and a good one at that. His latest project would involve crafting a fireplace on a mountaintop estate for an elusive owner. Although he had done hundreds of similar jobs before, this one could very well be his last if he fails to comprehend the true value of a few toy soldiers.Sanders was a bricklayer by trade and a good one at that. His latest project would involve crafting a fireplace on a mountaintop estate for an elusive owner. Although he had done hundreds of similar jobs before, this one could very well be his last if he fails to comprehend the true value of a few toy soldiers. His young boys would certainly appreciate them as pilfered gifts, but Sanders may not stay alive long enough to watch them ever play again.

In this space station drama, an old earth cartoon alien is the harbinger of death and dwarf stars take five million years to die as prisoner Rister finds out the hard way.In deep space, there’s always some terrifyingly easy way to die…..For Nidi Station residents, sighting a certain alien cartoon creature indicates their approaching demise. But is the little green man a true harbinger of death or is he simply an ale-inspired hallucination? For new resident Dr. Maynard Grison, who’s suffering from a severe identity complex, one more push is all that’s needed to send him over the edge. The question is, which stimulus will set him off, the wastewater re-cyc green ale, being shadowed by Marvin the Martian, or the talking floorboards? Find out in this psychological space drama inspired by The Haunting of Hill House.

A short horror homage set in paradise. From the collection "Fragments Of Ruin."A short horror homage set in paradise. A group of researchers from Miskatonic University have traveled to the Caribbean to find answers. Unfortunately, they find them. (A short story from the collection "Fragments Of Ruin.")

Jud Starver is doing all he can to keep his family safe. They've run out of supplies in their barricaded quarters making an escape to a safe zone necessary. Unfortunately the undead on the other end of the door have a different plan in mind.This zombie short is a spin-off stemming from the full length tale Guns, Booze & Zombies.It is Christmas 1914. As Europe descends further into the Great War, Christopher Flyte is sent home in disgrace from his school. He returns to the sleepy English village of Alton. It is here that he meets the mysterious traveler, Bailey - a master storyteller who fills the boy's head with stories of King Arthur's time. The more Christopher hears, the more he suspects that Bailey's stories are more than just simple myths. Soon, Christoper is a pawn in a game that has been playing out for centuries....

Now, to-date, all ten Paranormal ebooks by scifiguy3553, whom is Joseth Moore.“19th & Emily,” “The Literary Virus,” “Custodial Science,” “The Starets’s Hunt,” “The Caregiver,” “Normal-PARA,” “There’s No Place Like Zone,” “Vengeance In 3D,” “Dead Silent,” and “Cousin Josh.”In this first book of the Memories Series: Dieudonne, a war survivor, returns to his village to find a puzzle box; a gift from an old friend waiting for him. Unable to comprehend the thought behind the gift, he turns to the foreigner who brought it to him. It happens that Lod Vanderson is not just the carrier who brought the gift but the very person whose story is imprinted on the puzzle pieces. The games of life, including the Football World Cup Lod attended with his dad in South Africa, are full of unpredictable losses and gains. Lod begins to recount his story and place each puzzle piece in its place so that Dieudonne will understand the thought behind the gift and who gave him the gift.

This month, Fiction Vortex is celebrating Halloween with a special all-horror issue. It's still speculative fiction, just with extra scares and mental scars. We know, as well as you do, that true terror isn’t from the dark corners of the world, but from the dark recesses of your mind, and that beneath a thin layer of imagination the true monsters are quite human.This month, Fiction Vortex is celebrating Halloween with a special all-horror issue. It's still speculative fiction, just with extra scares and mental scars. We could give you detailed descriptions of monsters. We could supply a supernatural scapegoat to pin the source of your fears upon. Yet in the end we know, as well as you do, that true terror isn’t from the dark corners of the world, but from the dark recesses of your mind, and that beneath a thin layer of imagination the true monsters are quite human.Fiction Vortex publishes speculative fiction weekly online: FictionVortex.com.

A cat and mouse game played by those who stalk the night. Who is the hunter and who is prey? This 2,100 word short explores the classic vampire and hunter story from a different angle.**Book 1 of 3 in the Planet of Riches Trilogy** For someone who’s been in college as long as I have, you’d think I’d be used to people by now. And for the most part I am…until I met Meredith.Meredith was annoying on too many levels to count and was just too self-centered to live. Not that I had plans on killing her because I didn’t. Instead, I planned to ship her away to a slave planet where she’d spend the rest of her life toiling away in inhumane conditions. Poetic justice as I like to think of it for all she’d ever done to me.But as I dug into her history, and present, I found out that she was looking for the Planet of Riches, a mystical planet which generations of people have been searching for.A planet I’d just started searching for.If that wasn’t bad enough, she was dealing with the Planet Mafia, the biggest and most organized mafia in the universe.Could I use this association to my advantage or would I end up disappointed?Would I find the Planet of Riches or end up as lost as all the others who’d searched and found nothing?What secrets did this planet have just waiting to be revealed?**This is Book 1 of 3 in the Planet of Riches Trilogy**Book in the Trilogy:Planet Secrets (Book 1)Planet Mafia (Book 2)Planet of Riches (Book 3)

The road to Broken Hill has never been so scary: a compulsive read from one of Australia's finest writers.

In the wake of his divorce and the loss of his New York art job, Shane Bellamy is bereft and directionless. The remote cottage on the Missouri river provides the perfect escape: small, picturesque, and lonely. There, Shane becomes fascinated with the history of the cottage, and that of its larger sister property, the Riverhouse, now demolished. Inspired, he embarks on an unusual art project, one that almost seems to have a life of its own. As the painting develops, surprising Shane both with its style and its strange, silent strength, he finds that the image is a sort of portal, inviting him into the Riverhouse's past. He learns of it owners, portrait artist Gustav Wilhelm, known for his arrogance as much for his genius, and of Wilhelm's wife, the beautiful but ignored Marlena. His painting progress, and the story blooms in Shane's mind like a dark rose, full of deepening mystery and harrowing secrets… Gradually, Shane comes to realize that the decades' old drama isn't yet finished. Ghosts haunt the cottage, particularly the intriguing Marlena, and Shane cannot help being inexplicably drawn to her, despite her obvious dangers. As a result, Shane finds himself caught in the spiraling collision course of his own life and that of the Riverhouse. He knows he should escape, and yet he cannot seem to walk away. After all, he thinks, ghosts can't harm the living. Can they? In the end, the power of the story draws Shane into its embrace, like a man walking right up to a cliff's edge, believing he can stop anytime, not knowing that there is someone behind him, sneaking up, waiting for just the right moment, the perfect moment, to give one…little…push.

He claims he's not a fan of rock-and-roll, but somehow Harlan Ellison's seminal novel based on the career of Jerry Lee Lewis ended up in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. One of the first -- and still one of the best -- dissections of the wildly destructive rock-and-roll lifestyle, Spider Kiss isn't about giant cockroaches that attack Detroit or space invaders that smell like chicken soup. Instead, it's the story of Luther Sellers, a poor kid from Louisville with a voice like an angel who's renamed Stag Preston by a ruthless promoter. Preston's meteoric rise on the music scene is matched only by the rise in his enormous appetites -- and not just for home cooking -- and soon the invisible monkey named Success is riding him straight to hell. This raucous early novel reinforces Ellison's reputation as one of America's most dynamic writers.

When Jordan is awakened in the middle of the night by a horde of the undead, he is forced into a fight for his life and his upperclass suburban existence. What he finds leads him to question the safe path he has followed in life and ultimately make the choice to stay the course or start fresh.When Jordan is awakened in the middle of the night by a horde of the undead, he is forced into a fight for his life and his upperclass suburban existence. What he finds leads him to question the safe path he has followed in life and ultimately make the choice to stay the course or start fresh. A short sci-fi story about modern life, conformity, and the road not taken.