Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu was born on August 28th, 1814, at 45 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, into a literary family with Huguenot, Irish and English roots. The children were tutored but, according to his brother William, the tutor taught them little if anything. Le Fanu was eager to learn and used his father's library to educate himself about the world. He was a creative child and by fifteen had taken to writing poetry. Accepted into Trinity College, Dublin to study law he also benefited from the system used in Ireland that he did not have to live in Dublin to attend lectures, but could study at home and take examinations at the university as and when necessary. This enabled him to also write and by 1838 Le Fanu's first story The Ghost and the Bonesetter was published in the Dublin University Magazine. Many of the short stories he wrote at the time were to form the basis for his future novels. Indeed, throughout his career Le Fanu would constantly revise, cannabilise, embellish and re-publish his earlier works to use in his later efforts. Between 1838 and 1840 Le Fanu had written and published twelve stories which purported to be the literary remains of an 18th-century Catholic priest called Father Purcell. Set mostly in Ireland they include classic stories of gothic horror, with grim, shadowed castles, as well as supernatural visitations from beyond the grave, together with madness and suicide. One of the themes running through them is a sad nostalgia for the dispossessed Catholic aristocracy of Ireland, whose ruined castles stand in mute salute and testament to this history. On 18 December 1844 Le Fanu married Susanna Bennett, the daughter of a leading Dublin barrister. The union would produce four children. Le Fanu was now stretching his talents across the length of a novel and his first was The Cock and Anchor published in 1845. A succession of works followed and his reputation grew as well as his income. Unfortunately, a decade after his marriage it became an increasing source of difficultly. Susanna was prone to suffer from a range of neurotic symptoms including great anxiety after the deaths of several close relatives, including her father two years before. In April 1858 she suffered an "hysterical attack" and died in circumstances that are still unclear. The anguish, profound guilt as well as overwhelming loss were channeled into Le Fanu’s work. Working only by the light of two candles he would write through the night and burnish his reputation as a major figure of 19th Century supernaturalism. His work challenged the focus on the external source of horror and instead he wrote about it from the perspective of the inward psychological potential to strike fear in the hearts of men. A series of books now came forth: Wylder's Hand (1864), Guy Deverell (1865), The Tenants of Malory (1867), The Green Tea (1869), The Haunted Baronet (1870), Mr. Justice Harbottle (1872), The Room in the Dragon Volant (1872) and In a Glass Darkly. (1872). But his life was drawing to a close. Joseph Thomas Sheridan Le Fanu died in Merrion Square in his native Dublin on February 7th, 1873, at the age of 58.

A dysfunctional student film crew stumbles upon the long, lost buried treasure of legendary gangster Dutch Schultz, but can't escape the decades-old curse their discovery unleashes in this comedy of terrors.Stan Heberling is having a rotten day. Of course, zombies and a demented hermit with an itchy trigger finger can ruin any guy’s day. All he wants to do is finish his senior film project "Letter 13", but stumbling upon the long, lost buried treasure of legendary gangster Dutch Schultz has messed up his plans big time. Not to mention his frustrations with prima donna actor Bryce and the constant complaints of his teenage sister Dana helping out on second camera. Fortunately, Stan’s smokin’ hot female lead Keisha is as easy going as she is easy on the eyes and brainiac sound man Irv a supportive ally. But Stan is feeling the pressure as he only has the weekend to get his movie in the can and, so far, his well-honed plan has imploded into a comedy of errors. And that’s before the squirrel stew and an ax named Bad D and finding out about a curse that unleashed the undead mobsters. Who said being a director was easy?

Following a near-fatal stroll in his neighborhood in the dead of winter, the fanatically germophobic Eugene Sinclair devises his plan for revenge.Through iconic and oft-reproduced works, American realist Edward Hopper (1882-1967) gained widespread recognition as the artist who gave visual form to the anonymity, isolation and (perhaps) boredom, loneliness and stagnation of twentieth century American life. This collection of short fiction takes nine Hopper canvases and imagines a narrative beyond the frame of each ‘still life’ presented therein. Just as filmmakers like Sam Mendes or Wim Wenders were energised by Hopper’s tableux to introduce temporal and spatial motion to moments frozen in time, so too will this suite of stories take the reader on a journey through the interwar and later years of Hopper’s women. Their lives anything but still, with experiences transcending the cultural and historical constraints of their all-too-human condition, these works of painterly prose invite the reader to enter and explore the worlds conjured by Hopper’s art in text.

Part text, part video, all spine-tingling mystery. Patrick Carman's Skeleton Creek returns to thrill. Strange things happen in Skeleton Creek - and when they do, Ryan writes them down and Sarah captures them on video. They've solved old mysteries. They've followed clues all over the country and underground. They've investigated secret societies. They've found their answers. Or so they thought. Because there are still some secrets that Ryan and Sarah haven't uncovered yet. And there's still a shadowy figure standing in their path...someone who doesn't want Ryan and Sarah digging up any more of the past.

On a rainy night eight years ago, Evan Barrett's parents were lost at sea. In horror, he listened to their frantic Mayday calls on the ship-to-shore radio, to his mother's cries for mercy--and to the deafening shrieks that answered her back. Now seventeen, Evan has gone in search of answers to his parents' strange disappearance. The only explanation that makes any sense to him is that they were swallowed up by The She, a legendary sea creature that devours ships. But when Evan's quest for the truth uncovers shocking allegations against his parents, he must deal with the possibility that everything he knows about his family is a lie. Includes a reader's guide.

Walking home from work one night, a man sees an impossible thing: a rip in space. Out of this pours forth a malevolent being, a vampire. The existence of such a thing will challenge not only his sanity but his notions of Good and Evil. Can he resist the calling of oblivion?A highly respected diplomat is sent on a mission to negotiate a peace treaty with an alien confederation that has been at war with his Earth-centric Alliance for decades. The first council of the Alliance used the distraction of the peace conference to plan and execute a surprise attack on the alien confederation without telling the diplomat. Humiliated, but considered a hero by the populace, the diplomat returns to his work in the administration but immediately starts to undermine his superiors in order to obtain the peace that he was originally sent to establish and regain his reputation. He must try to do this while subjected to constant surveillance, intimidation, and assassination attempts.

In his latest soul-chilling novel, bestselling author Peter Straub tells of a famous children’s book author who, in the wake of a grotesque accident, realizes that the most basic facts of her existence, including her existence itself, have come into question. Willy Patrick, the respected author of the award-winning young-adult novel In the Night Room, thinks she is losing her mind–again. One day, she is drawn helplessly into the parking lot of a warehouse. She knows somehow that her daughter, Holly, is being held in the building, and she has an overwhelming need to rescue her. But what Willy knows is impossible, for her daughter is dead. On the same day, author Timothy Underhill, who has been struggling with a new book about a troubled young woman, is confronted with the ghost of his nine-year-old sister, April. Soon after, he begins to receive eerie, fragmented e-mails that he finally realizes are from people he knew in his youth–people now dead. Like his sister, they want urgently to tell him something. When Willy and Timothy meet, the frightening parallels between Willy’s tragic loss and the story in Tim’s manuscript suggest that they must join forces to confront the evils surrounding them.

An old man yearns to die after an unexpected encounter that nearly took his life. Unable to accomplish the task alone he decides to make an offer with a caretaker that has been stealing from him, enticing her with something she would never refuse.Mayenta has returned once again to the land with no recollection of where she had gone. All she knew was, every time she returned to the vale, she returned lying in the same spot underneath a dogwood tree growing high upon Honor Mountain--and, as usual, she returned naked. What did it mean that she left Paigorya without warning? Where did she go? WHY did she go? And, most importantly, who was she?The Dogwood Tree eBook short story includes a free excerpt from Laurie Y. Elrod's novel, Blackridge-Book One of the So'ladiun.

Meet Ballard and Sandrine, the eponymous protagonists of Peter Straub's extraordinary, deeply unsettling new novella. The two are lovers, widely separated in age but bound together by a common erotic obsession. Their story, which takes place over a period of twenty-five years, is set primarily within the various incarnations of a mysterious yacht making its endless way down the Amazon River. Their journey encompasses moments of beauty and horror, mystery and revelation, pleasure and pain, culminating in the vision of an astonishing--and appalling--apotheosis.

"The Hunter from the Woods" marks the much-anticipated return of Michael Gallatin, the lycanthropic hero of Robert McCammon's 1989 classic, "The Wolf's Hour." These all-new, interlinked stories offer a full measure of McCammon's trademark narrative excitement, and comprise a fascinating composite portrait of a unique fictional creation. The volume opens with a pair of brief glimpses into Michael's early life in Russia and his initial recruitment into the British Secret Service. It ends with a haunting vision of the werewolf at twilight. In between, McCammon gives us three stellar novellas depicting different phases of Michael's long, brutal war against Nazi Germany. "Sea Chase" is a nautical tale about the hazards of transporting a defecting German scientist to a place of sanctuary in England. "The Wolf and the Eagle" is the account of an unlikely friendship between rival "men of action" and a harrowing portrayal of a lethal forced march through the North African desert. ?The Room at the Bottom of the Stairs? tells of an impossible, ultimately tragic love affair set in the embattled city of Berlin during the latter stages of the war. Erotic, visceral, and filled with moments of desolating horror and unexpected warmth, The Hunter from the Woods is a triumph of imaginative storytelling. Like the best of McCammon's earlier work, it offers intelligent, world-class entertainment. In the process, it shines a welcome new light on one of the most uncommon heroes in contemporary fiction.

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, *comes UNHOLY NIGHT*, the next evolution in dark historical revisionism. They're an iconic part of history's most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio. But leave it to Seth Grahame-Smith, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to take a little mystery, bend a little history, and weave an epic tale. In Grahame-Smith's telling, the so-called "Three Wise Men" are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod's prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod's men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he has no choice but to help them escape to Egypt. It's the beginning of an adventure that will see them fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament; cross paths with biblical figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist; and finally deliver them to Egypt. It may just be the greatest story never told.

A horror and fantasy novel from Armenian writter Suren Hakobyan.Waking up in a desert his memories wiped from his head Jonathan has to pass through a hideous town filled with different kind of demons and monsters, find out his way back to home and bring his memories back.Jonathan wakes up in a desert, his past wiped from his head. He’s alone having no clue who and what he is, where he has come from and where he should go. There is only one way – forward when he spots a little town in the distance. Empty streets, old houses, the town seems abandoned. There’s no one to ask for help, there’s nowhere to go. Jonathan wanders the town in search of any sign of life trying to bring his lost memories back, but odd visions haunt him from time to time. Soon Jonathan comes to the realization that he’s moments from death as absolutely evil dwells in the town seeking fresh souls to suck up. The seemingly dead town is only outwardly empty. Grey skies, no sun, no days and no nights. The town is stuck in time. With only one entrance and one exit, but the way leading to the exit is filled with creations that Jonathan has never envisioned, even in his worst nightmares. Who is he? Who brought him here? With a female resident – Elizabeth, Jonathan has to work his way through the horrendous town, figure out his past and find the exit.

The House of the Vampire by George Sylvester Viereck

The It Girl meets The Exorcist in this chilling, haunted boarding school tale New-girl Lindsay discovers all is not right at the prestigious Marlwood Academy for Girls. Ethereal, popular Mandy and her clique are plotting something dangerous. Lindsay overhears them performing strange rituals, and sees their eyes turn black. It doesn’t help that the school itself is totally eerie, with ancient, dilapidated buildings tucked into the Northern California woods, a thick white fog swirling through campus. There are hidden passageways, odd reflections in the windows at night, and scariest of all is the vast lake rumored to have captured the ghost of a girl who drowned many years ago. What Lindsay doesn’t yet realize is that Mandy and her cohorts are becoming possessed by spirits who have haunted the school for two hundred years. Spirits who want someone dead... And that someone is Lindsay.

An ancient evil, trapped in the ruins of a lost Mayan temple for centuries, has been unleashed. It takes the form of a deadly virus, one that causes violent insanity in the living and the recently departed to rise and walk. It spreads around the globe, pitting brother against brother and throwing the world into chaos and war.Evil comes to pass during the fallPUBLISHER'S NOTE:The entire series of The Rift is nowalso available in a reasonably priced two-volume set, reworked and with added content,complete with all the illustrations the original books offered.The Rift (Volume One)The Rift (Volume Two)--------------------------------An ancient evil, trapped in the ruins of a lost Mayan temple for centuries, has been unleashed. It takes the form of a deadly virus that causes violent insanity in the living and the recently departed to rise and walk. The blight spreads around the globe, throwing the world into chaos and war.Regular people are hurled into an existence outside their control, left to deal with a terror they aren't prepared to handle. Life becomes a nightmare, and that nightmare is spreading.The Rift is comprised of four books:The FallDead of Winter (Available Now)Death Springs Eternal (Available Now)The Summer Son (Available Now)