54 results for "Literature"

Strange Eons

Bloch, Robert
Robert Bloch's classic contribution to the Lovecraftian Cthulhu Mythos, back in print at last! When Albert Keith comes across a dusty old painting of a hideous, red-eyed, sharp-clawed creature in a dingy junk shop, he falls in love with it at first sight and buys it at a bargain price. But it isn't until he shows it to his friend Simon Waverly that he understands the painting's true significance: it appears to be one of the portraits described by H.P. Lovecraft in his horror story "Pickman's Model." Keith and Waverly slowly begin to realize that Lovecraft's fiction may not be works of the imagination at all-instead they contain a message to mankind, a terrible warning about Cthulhu and his minions, the Great Old Ones. Keith sets off in search of the horrible truth, but can anything stop the Great Old Ones, or is mankind already doomed? Robert Bloch (1917-1994) was a friend and admirer of Lovecraft, and in his Strange Eons (1978), originally published as a limited edition and long out of print, he contributes his own notable entry to the Lovecraftian Mythos. This new edition includes an introduction by David J. Schow. "Robert Bloch is one of the all-time masters." - Peter Straub "A hundred years from now, devotees of this genre will still be reading Robert Bloch." - Richard Matheson
Valancourt Books 2025-08-05 192 pages

The Dead Man Hell in Heaven

Lee Goldberg,William Rabkin
BOOK #3 in THE DEAD MAN saga, the action/horror series that readers and book critics alike are hailing as "an epic tale" that compares to the best of Stephen King and Dean Koontz...The sign on the exit reads "Heaven." What better place could there be for a dead man to visit? But when Matt takes the ramp, he finds a banner welcoming him by name to a tiny town seemingly left behind by the 21st century... and waiting for him to rescue it. But when he agrees to save Heaven's citizens from a coming terror, he discovers that evil has more faces than he could ever imagine - and good is far more complicated than he ever dreamed.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2011-05 114 pages

Isaac Asimov's Magical World of Fantasy Devils

Isaac Asimov,Martin H. Greenberg,Charles Gordon Waugh
From a man too simple for the devil to fool, to a college student taking an honors class in temptation, here are tales of black magic and demonic enchantment--stories of those who heed Satan's siren song and those ready to match wits with this most cunning of opponents. So get ready for some red-hot reading about the age-old battle between humans and their ever-present foe as you settle in for a devilish good time in Isaac Asimov's Devils. Arthur C. Clarke; Brian Cleeve; Ray Russell; Leo Tolstoy; Winston K. Marks; Cornell Woolrich; Frederic Brown; Robert Bloch; Robert F. Young; Stephen Vincent Benet; Rick Hautala; Philip Jose Farmer; Charles Beaumont; Jerome Bixby; Bruce Elliot; Theodore R. Cogswell; Theodore Sturgeon
Robinson Pub. 1989 351 pages

Blood Thirst 100 Years of Vampire Fiction

Leonard Wolf
In the past hundred years, since the publication of Bram Stoker's infamous book, no literary figure has enjoyed a more horrific resiliency than Count Dracula. In film, television, novels, and short stories, he keeps coming back to life, fed by the vital imaginative energies of a world-wide audience that cannot seem to resist his abominable charms. Aristocratic and urbane, deeply erotic and profoundly evil, Dracula's bloodsucking savagery has cast a mesmerizing fascination not only over his victims but over his readers as well. And, as Leonard Wolf suggests, "Vampire fiction...exerts an amazing pull on readers for a reason that we may find disturbing. The blood exchange—the taking of blood by the vampire from his or her victim is, all by itself, felt to be a singularly symbolic event. Symbolic and attractive!" Now, in Blood Thirst: One Hundred Years of Vampire Fiction, Leonard Wolf brings together thirty tales in which vampires of all varieties make their ghastly presence felt—male and female, human and non-human, humorous and heroic—all of them kin to the dreadful bat. From Lafcadio Hearn, Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman, Edith Wharton, August Derleth, and Ray Bradbury to such contemporary masters as Anne Rice, Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, John Cheever, and Woody Allen, and in settings as diverse as rural New England and outer space, this collection offers readers a dazzling compendium of vampire stories. Wolf organizes the collection into six categories—The Classic Adventure Tale, The Psychic Vampire, The Science Fiction Vampire, The Non-Human Vampire, The Comic Vampire, and The Heroic Vampire—which allows readers to see the many guises Dracula's descendants have assumed and the many ways they can be interpreted. In his penetrating introduction, Wolf argues that such an arrangement enables us to see the evolution of the vampire from an unmitigated evil to a creature we are more likely to identify with. "In a century in which God and Satan have become increasingly irrelevant in the popular arts, there has been an accompanying secularization of the vampire idea. And, as the stories in Blood Thirst will show, sympathy for the vampire has grown as we have become increasingly interested in the workings of the mind." Indeed, the vampire's ability to change over time, to draw into itself such a richness of symbolic meanings, to conjure itself into so many diabolical shapes, may account for the enduring appeal of the literature written about it. Here, then, is a definitive collection for aficionados and novices alike, and whether readers find the vampires who inhabit these pages sympathetic or horrific, psychologically intriguing or spiritually repellent, morbidly seductive or comically absurd, Blood Thirst gives us all something to sink our teeth into.
OUP USA 1999-01-28 384 pages

The uncanny

Klavan, Andrew
When American film director Richard Storm first comes to London, he has his own secret mission. Part vacation, part research, he finds renewed purpose working at a curious magazine of weird phenomena, 'Bizarre'. The owner/editor is herself a curiosity and opens up an extraordinary new world - of strange but true hauntings, hunts and spirit worship. When Richard is introduced to beautiful heiress Sophia Endering, he finds himself helplessly in love with her. But she is as dangerous to herself as she is for those who love her - for she has an almost unstoppable death wish. Strange forces are at work and the uncanny twists of fate which brought Richard to London have something much more apocalyptic in store...
Little, Brown 1998 418 pages

Pulling Up Stakes

David, Peter
Sick of vampire books? Movies? TV shows? Yeah. So are we. Sick of the entire unlife of vampires? Yeah. So is Vince Hammond. Unfortunately, Vince is in it up to his (wait for it) neck. Because Vince is a young vampire hunter who lives with his vampire hunter mother in an entire community of vampire hunters, who in turn are part of a cult of vampire hunters going back all the way to the French Revolution, which many believe to be an uprising of the poor against the rich but was actually a massive purging of vampires from the French nobility (hence the guillotine; way more efficient than shoving stakes into their hearts.) And here’s Vince’s major problem: he’s a vampire. But he dare not “come out of the coffin,” as it were, and reveal his true nature, because his mother will literally kill him. And if she doesn’t manage it, she has lots of friends and neighbors to help make sure that happens. So instead Vince has to keep his head down and hunt his own kind while making sure not to actually kill them since, for the most part, vampires are law-abiding citizens who drink from eagerly volunteering “Wanna V’s” hoping for their own shot at the night life. But when some out-of-town hunters show up with a very personal connection to Vince, his two worlds are going to collide in a way that may wind up forcing Vince to run for the hills…assuming he can get far enough away before Mom hunts him down.
Second Age, Incorporated 2013-04-04 260 pages

Vintage A Ghost Story

Steve Berman
Vintage is the engaging story of what it's like to be a teenager in today's world and the troubles that accompany that age as well as what it's like to be haunted by the troubles of the teens of yesterday's world and how similar both those worlds really are. More than a story about Goth fashion, teen angst or even restless ghosts, Vintage delivers pulse-quickening plot, unique and fully-developed characters.
Haworth Positronic Press, Harrington Park Press 2007 149 pages

The Truth

Peter James
Susan and John Carter are crazy about each other. Life is perfect but for one thing - they are on the brink of financial disaster. Surely being a surrogate mother to another man's child won't harm such a strong relationship? Especially when the mysterious Mr Sarotzini is offering to save their home and business - everything they've worked for. What seems to be a perfect solution begins to feel like an impossible situation. Susan's pregnancy is disturbingly painful but no one will tell her why. It becomes apparent that Sarotzini wields immense power and Susan begins to doubt everything she knows. As she realises the terrifying origin of the dark forces Saratzini controls she is in fear for herself and John but most of all for her unborn baby ...
Orion 1998 501 pages

Satan's Diary

Leonid Andreyev,Herman Bernstein
Delve into the dark heart of morality with Leonid Andreyev's chilling exploration of good and evil, "Satan's Diary." This rediscovered work of religious and horror fiction presents a unique perspective on the eternal struggle, inviting readers to confront uncomfortable truths about human nature and the seductive power of darkness. Andreyev's masterful storytelling creates an unsettling atmosphere as he explores profound questions about temptation, sin, and redemption. A cornerstone of literary horror, "Satan's Diary" remains a compelling and thought-provoking read, offering a timeless glimpse into the complexities of faith and the enduring presence of the diabolical. This meticulously prepared print edition makes this classic of religious fiction available for all who seek a journey into the shadows. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Creative Media Partners, LLC 2025-03-28 124 pages

The Dead Man The Dead Woman

David McAfee,Lee Goldberg,William Rabkin
BOOK #4 in thrilling DEAD MAN saga, the action/horror series that readers and book critics alike are hailing as "an epic tale" that compares to the best of Stephen King and Dean Koontz...Matt Cahill thought he was alone with his torment, that he was the only one who could see the evil in people's souls as rotting flesh. But in a small town in Tennessee, terrorized by a vicious serial killer, Matt meets a woman who may see what he does...and together they must confront a horrific and immortal terror that thrives on death.
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform 2011-05 110 pages

The Devil to Pay

Harold Robbins
"You have two days to pass your audition. You better pass it, feller. You’re joining the circus. Ain’t that the best news you ever got?"Delivered by a trio of psychotic clowns, this ultimatum plunges Jamie into the horrific alternate universe that is the centuries-old Pilo Family Circus, a borderline world between Hell and Earth from which humankind’s greatest tragedies have been perpetrated. Yet in this place—peopled by the gruesome, grotesque, and monstrous—where violence and savagery are the norm, Jamie finds that his worst enemy is himself.When he applies the white face paint, he is transformed into JJ, the most vicious clown of all. And JJ wants Jamie dead!
Forge 2006 319 pages

Imaginary Lives

Marcel Schwob
Marcel Schwob (18671905) was one of the key symbolist writers, standing in French literature alongside such names as Stphane Mallarm, Octave Mirbeau, Andr Gide, Lon Bloy, Jules Renard, Rmy de Gourmont, and Alfred Jarry. His best-known works are Double Heart (1891), The King In The Gold Mask (1892), and Imaginary Lives (1896). Imaginary Lives contains twenty-two mythopoeic literary portraits of figures from ancient history, art history, and the history of crime and punishment. From demi-gods, sorcerers, incendiaries, wantons and philosophers of the ancient world, to the "poet of hate" Cecco Angiolieri and the painter Paolo Uccello, through to the pirates William Kidd and Major Stede-Bonnet, and finally Burke and Hare, the serial killers; Schwob presents a vivid array of characters who display all that is macabre, deviant and magnificently terrifying in human beings and in life. In Imaginary Lives, Schwob has created a "secret" masterpiece that joins other biographical glossaries such as Jorge Luis Borges' A Universal History Of Infamy and Alfonso Reyes' Real And Imagined Portraits in the pantheon of classic speculative fiction, of which Schwob's book is the dark progenitor. Livid with decadent imagery, Imaginary Lives resonates loudly today with its themes of temporality, myth, violence and sexuality, and stands as a major work of the fin-de-si]cle. Solar Nocturnal presents classic literature and art by key forerunners of modernism.
Solar Books 2009-04 141 pages

Walking back the cat

Littell, Robert
'Walking Back the Cat' is an unusually riveting and exotic post-Cold War thriller from a master of the espionage genre. A Soviet-era KGB agent code named Parsifal lives under deep cover in a western American town. A specialist in what the KGB describes as 'wetwork' and the rest of the world calls murder, Parsifal discovers that he has come under the orders of a new Resident - one who is preparing an operation that will shake the world. Into this cauldron of chaos comes Finn, a young veteran of the Gulf War, hoping against hope to land in a backwater where he can put the savagery he has witnessed in the desert behind him. Two incarnations of pure violence, Parsifal and Finn careen head on into each other when Finn discovers that someone is shaking down an Apache gambling casino, and Parsifal receieves instructions to kill him. 'Walking Back the Cat' plunges the reader into the mesmerizing world of KGB agents, CIA spooks and modern day Apaches desperately trying to walk the fine line between their ancestral legacy and survival in a world dominated by White Eyes run riot.
Faber 1996 218 pages

The Host

Rosen, Selina
Investigative reporter Jane Weston has a problem. Wherever she goes, the undead follow. They’ve cost her several well-paying, high-profile jobs in metropolitan areas, but she was sure that she would escape them when she took a job at WGBN in Jones Port, Arkansas. No such luck! It seems these blood-sucking night dwellers will follow their “host” to the end of the civilized world - and even beyond. Tracy Cohen is the rabbi of the small Jewish congregation in Jones Port. Tracy lost a lover to gang violence in New York and was rejected by her orthodox family because of her sexual orientation. Tracy’s life has been filled with turmoil, but nothing has prepared her to do battle with the undead in the streets of Jones Port, for the soul of an investigative reporter. Good Isn’t Stupid!
Yard Dog Press 2023-01-08 193 pages

The Panic Hand

Carroll, Jonathan
"I want you frowning now, knowing something is very wrong with your parachute even before actually pulling the cord and praying it opens. P.S. It won't." So Jonathan Carroll addresses his readers in this much-awaited collection of 20 stories. Author of several wry and dark novels, Carroll has a considerable following, but his books are difficult to pigeonhole, so some horror and fantasy readers are still unfamiliar with him. This collection shows off his talents admirably, in tales that range from bittersweet sadness over God's failing memory, to a disturbing friendship between a dog and a dying child, to a macabre fantasy about how men and women manipulate each other. As The New York Times put it, "Carroll's world is one that is subtly out of kilter, and which can take a turn for the sinister at any time." This volume is winner of the 1996 Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Story Collection. Contents: Mr. Fiddlehead (1989) Uh-Oh City (1992) The Fall Collection (1989) Friend's Best Man (1987) The Sadness of Detail (1990) Waiting to Wave (1993) The Jane Fonda Room (1982) A Quarter Past You (1989) My Zoondel (1989) Learning to Leave (1992) The Panic Hand (1989) The Bear in the Mouth (1989) Postgraduate (1984) Tired Angel (1989) The Dead Love You (1990) Florian (1989) The Life of My Crime (1992) A Wheel in the Desert, the Moon on Some Swings (1994) A Flash in the Pants (1995)
HarperCollins 1996 288 pages

Dee Snider's StrangeLand: The Official Novelization

Francis, Christian,Snider, Dee
Based on the screenplay to the terrifying 1998 horror film StrangeLand The Internet was supposed to connect people. For Captain Howdy, it's the perfect hunting ground. Behind the screen waits a sadist who lures teenagers into his world of ritual piercing, body suspension, and unrelenting torment. To him, pain is truth. Flesh is canvas. And his victims are masterpieces. When Detective Mike Gage's daughter disappears, the hunt leads the police into a nightmare of needles, hooks, and cages. A carnival of body modification ruled by a madman who believes he's a prophet. But Howdy isn't just another predator; he's a believer, and his gospel is written in pain. StrangeLand drags you screaming through the shadows of suburbia into a world where torture is transcendence, horror wears a human face, and salvation may come too late. Welcome to Captain Howdy's playground. Once you enter, you don't come back the same.
Echo on Publications 2025-10-22 248 pages