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...

Dreams and nightmares-what Ambrose Bierce called "visions of the night"-are the basis of some of the greatest weird fiction in literary history. The unruly images that torment us in sleep are usually dispelled by the coming of day-but can they be dismissed so easily? Do nightmares have some impalpable reality that can affect our daily lives, the lives of those around us, and perhaps the very fabric of the universe? Who can say that the nightmare is merely a wisp of fancy engendered by our own minds? After all, it was Edgar Allan Poe who said: "All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream." All original nightmares by David Barker, Jason V Brock, Ramsey Campbell, Gemma Files, Richard Gavin, Caitlín R. Kiernan, Nancy Kilpatrick, John Langan, Reggie Oliver, W. H. Pugmire, Darrell Schweitzer, John Shirley, Simon Strantzas, Steve Rasnic Tem, Jonathan Thomas, Donald Tyson and Stephen Woodworth. This volume is edited by S. T. Joshi, a leading critic and anthologist of weird fiction.

A classic tale of supernatural horror.Richard Marsh's novel "The Beetle" is the story of a British statesman, Paul Lessingham, who is haunted by his youthful indiscretions in Egypt. A shape-shifting figure follows him from Egypt, intent upon getting revenge on Lessingham.The characters are well drawn: Paul Lessingham, a budding cabinet minister with an ominous gap in his past; lovely Marjorie Linton, a witty New Woman caught between her Radical lover (Paul) and her Tory father; madcap young scientist Sydney Atherton who also adores Miss Linton and is meanwhile working on weapons of mass destruction for the glory of the British Empire; Robert Holt, down-and-out clerk who falls into the clutches of the Beetle.

On a midnight visit to a Scottish cemetery, Peter and Jennifer get caught up in a drama three hundred years dead --a tale of two star-crossed lovers and the man who betrayed them. Their bitter ghosts still haunt the graveyard, too angry to leave the world of the living . . . but all too willing to drag Peter and Jennifer into the world of the dead.

"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)

Modern Japanese Short Stories is a remarkable collection of Japanese stories from the pioneers of contemporary Japanese literature. This volume's twenty-five stories by as many authors display a wide range of style and subject matter--offering a revealing picture of modern Japanese culture and society. The stories in this anthology include: "Tattoo" by Junichiro Tanizaki--a large spider tattooed on the back of a young woman results in unexpected changes "Autumn Mountain" by Ryunosuke Akutagawa--vivid memories of a beautiful painting leads a man to wonder if the it ever actually existed "The Priest and His Love" by Yukio Mishima--a Buddhist priest finds his path to enlightenment challenged after falling in love "The Moon on the Water" by Nobel Prize winner Yasunari Kawabata--a young woman who cared for her ailing first husband through most of their marriage regrets remarrying after his death Featuring a new foreword by Japanese literary scholar Seiji Lippit and striking woodcut illustrations by Masakazu Kuwata, the stories are translated by the editor, Ivan Morris, and Edward Seidensticker, George Saito, and Geoffery Sargent. This collection of short stories shows why Japanese literature is so highly valued today--it teaches not only about Japan, but about the human condition and the possibilities of art.

Hugo, Nebula, and Tiptree award–winning author Suzy McKee Charnas offers up her lush stories in this compelling retrospective story collection. In Stagestruck Vampires , the supernatural and the real intertwine seamlessly. A villainous maestro is redeemed by his lovely, apt pupil in “Beauty and the Opera or The Phantom Beast.” Inside the “Unicorn Tapestry,” a psychotherapist stalks a vampire. A dazzling performance of Tosca is marred by a shocking murder during “A Musical Interlude.” This collection features original work by Charnas—the mystical novelette, “Peregrines,” and two original essays. Also included is a collaborative story on vampire themes, “Advocates,” written with Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, author of the Saint-Germain Chronicles.

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!

With The Strange Dark One, W. H. Pugmire collects all of his best weird fiction concerning H. P. Lovecraft's dark god, Nyarlathotep. This avatar of the Great Old Ones is Lovecraft's most enigmatic creation, a being of many masks and multitudinous personae. Often called The Crawling Chaos, Nyarlathotep heralds the end of mortal time, and serves as avatar of Azathoth, the Idiot Chaos who will blew earth's dust away. Many writers have been enchanted by this dark being, in particular Robert Bloch, the man who, through correspondence, inspired Wilum Pugmire to try his hand at Lovecraftian fiction. This new book is a testimonial of Nyarlathotep's hold on Pugmire's withered brain, and these tales serve as aspects of a haunted mind. Along with stories that have not been reprinted since their initial magazine appearances, The Strange Dark One includes "To See Beyond," a sequel-of-sorts to Robert Bloch's groovy tale, "The Cheaters;" and the book's title story is a 14,000 word novelette set in Pugmire's Sesqua Valley. The Strange Dark One is a collection of Lovecraftian fiction by W. H. Pugmire. Each tale is beautifully illustrated by the remarkable Jeffrey Thomas, who is himself one of today's finest horror authors.

The Hugo Award-winning author of The Delirium Brief reveals the secrets of The Laundry Files in an adventure of Lovecraftian horror and espionage hi-jinks... As a newly appointed junior manager within the Laundry—the clandestine organization responsible for protecting Britain against supernatural threats—Bob Howard is expected to show some initiative to help the agency battle the forces of darkness. But shining a light on what’s best left in the shadows is the last thing Bob wants to do—especially when those shadows hide an occult parasite spreading a deadly virus. Traders employed by a merchant bank in London are showing signs of infection—an array of unusual symptoms such as super-strength and -speed, an uncanny talent for mind control, an extreme allergic reaction to sunlight, and an unquenchable thirst for blood. While his department is tangled up in bureaucratic red tape (and Buffy reruns) debating how to stop the rash of vampirism, Bob digs deeper into the bank’s history—only to uncover a blood-curdling conspiracy between men and monsters...

Praise for Keith Thomas' work: "Keith Thomas has a handle on the mechanisms of fear and the tradition of the terror tale that makes him a salient voice in the genre today." - Guillermo del Toro, filmmaker "Taut, riveting... I wanted to read it all over again once I turned the last page." - James Rollins, New York Times bestselling author of Kingdom of Bones "Truly unforgettable..." - Suspense Magazine "Thomas maintains the believability of his tightly coiled plot throughout." - Publishers Weekly _______________________________________ From the writer/director of the critically acclaimed film THE VIGIL and director of the "Pickman's Model" episode of Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (now on Netflix) comes a terrifying debut novella. _______________________________________ Over a long fall weekend, Asher, twelve, travels with his mother, Beth, to his beloved grandfather (Pa)'s house-a wild place stuffed with rare books, strange art, and collected curiosities. With Pa's dementia worsening, Beth and her sister, Zoe, plan to move him into a nursing home-this visit is to break the news and pack the house up. While Asher adores his doting grandfather, Beth recalls her dad as a very different person: a belittling man with a hair-trigger temper. Though Beth had been frightened of her father her whole childhood, he changed, seemingly overnight, ten years earlier into the affable man Asher now loves spending time with. But Pa's increasing forgetfulness masks a much more unsettling reality: his anger didn't just vanish; it was "excised" in an arcane ritual that birthed the horrifying creature he's locked away in the depths of his home- the Dunnie . And now, with Pa's memory failing, the Dunnie won't remain contained . . .

Venture into this alarmingly convincing world, meet the horse whose stubbornness changed history, or the man damned to everlasting love, or the murderer who confessed... and confessed... and confessed. Learn, too the secret of the Mona Lisa's smile, or what really happened to Ambrose Bierce. And ponder, if you can, the case of Simple Simon, who lost the only important thing he had--and never even missed it. Lean back, relax, take a long look at the world of Kersh. You may never recover.

Whether set in the urban decay and horror of the world we know, in Lovecrafts Arkham, in Pugmires own Sesqua Valley, or in places and locales somewhere in between the mundane and decadent world of Pugmires visions, this collection of 14 Lovecraftian tales selected by the author seek to evoke similar strains (albeit in a bit more melancholic melody) of cosmic dread, terror and isolation as contained in the writings of H.P. Lovecraft. This collection includes the following stories: Beyond the Realm of Dream, Graffito Flow, The Hour of Their Appetite, Cool Mist, Dust to Dust, Necronomicon, Gates Closed by Darkness, The Baleful God, Drink the Moon, The Thing in the Glen, The Audient Void, The Hungry Place, A Piece of Stone and The Totem Pole. This is the authors first trade paperback collection, and the stories have been revised by the author for this publication. Cover and 15 interior illustrations by Stanley C. Sargent, inspired by the art of the Maya and Moche (pre-Incan) civilizations.

Stanley G. Weinbaum's classic horror novel, originally entitled "The Mad Brain". When an unassuming man's personality changes dramatically toward the sinister, the woman he loves seeks help from a psychologist, leading to a disturbing discovery.

The stories in Terrors range from a serious and touching portrait of a dying child kept alive by his love of a superhero to swashbuckling retro pulp adventures, the exploration of a lost civilization buried beneath the sands of the Sahara Desert, and the descent into madness of a famous writer of horror stories when he finds himself trapped in a railroad car with a terrifying party of college coeds.

"Many and multiform are the pleasures this volume offers to Lovecraftians, including a hotly anticipated novelette set in Pugmire's trademark locality, Sesqua Valley; a lengthy prose poem sequence; decadent, dreamlike vignettes in the style of Oscar Wilde, and much other new material. The themes of the book, as the author explains it, are 'Lovecraftian dreams as thresholds to alien emotion, dimension, salvation, damnation.' Cross the threshold with one of the shining stars of Mythos fiction.'"--p. [4] of cover.

"I have long admired the things Dick Lupoff can do in the way of atmosphere and characterization in any sort of story-dark or light."-ROGER ZELAZNY "His books and stories, I can testify, having read a great many of them and published some myself, almost unfailingly display not only his intelligence and perceptivity, but also the grace and charm of his wit, the skill of his narrative technique, and the exemplary individuality of his ideas."-ROBERT SILVERBERG DREAMS marks the long-awaited completion of Richard A. Lupoff's epic trio of collections, following TERRORS and VISIONS. The stories range from Lovecraftian horror to Holmesian detection, from hard science fiction to whimsy, from semi-autobiographical recreations of past decades to images of the distant future, culminating in the stunning mini-trilogy of "Dreemz.biz," "Wyshes.com," and "Heaven.god." Whatever the genre or mood, these stories never cease to startle, delight, amaze, and-occasionally-terrify!

With SOME UNKNOWN GULF OF NIGHT, Wilum Pugmire continues his aesthetic exploration of the prose-poem and vignette sequence, many of which may be found in his last collection, THE TANGLED MUSE. With this new title from Arcane Wisdom Press we have a book-length sequence of semi-interconnected pieces, all of which are inspired by H. P. Lovecraft's superb sonnet sequence, FUNGI FROM YUGGOTH. Each numbered segment is an imaginative response to that numbered sonnet in Lovecraft's sequence, and Pugmire's Lovecraftian influence is the main force that drives this present work; yet other influences burrow from his fevered brain - Oscar Wilde, Edgar A. Poe, Baudelaire and the Decadents. Like some freakish soul who has lost his place in modern time, Pugmire's style is like that from another era, and yet it too is tainted by his neoteric experience as a punk rock queen and street transvestite. Like his literary heroes such as H. P. Lovecraft and Thomas Ligotti and Henry James, Pugmire strives to create what he does not hesitate to call "literary art" - prose pieces that are beautifully poetic and imaginatively deranged. This perverse concoction is best when sipped slowly, occasionally, and this is not a book to rush through in one sitting. Let it plant its poisoned fungi gradually upon your innocent brain, and thus blemish forever your paltry soul.

KEEPING THE FLAMES ALIVE The immortal Phoenix, avatar of passion and individuality, appears at key points throughout history to inspire humanity's creative endeavors-and stop those who would quench their fire. In 1593, Christopher Marlowe struggles to complete his latest play-and battles dark forces drowning London in disease, madness, and mayhem. In Lake Geneva, in 1816, renowned poet Lord Byron gathers several friends at a villa for what becomes a harrowing experience. In 1920s Hollywood, someone is murdering young women in the silent film world-and it looks like a certain Latin Lover could be the culprit! In the 1930s, as a new form of music rises from the Mississippi Delta leads to answers, enemies, a chance to settle old scores-and a brand-new King. From bestselling author Aaron Rosenberg comes a historical dark fantasy thriller about art, inspiration, and the extraordinary sacrifices one man must make to shield mankind from all forms of darkness, even those rising from within.

"Humorous and highly amusing." - The Scotsman "A really entertaining collection of stories. The lover of fiction could not desire a more entertaining volume." - Yorkshire Post One of Richard Marsh's rarest works, Between the Dark and the Daylight (1902) contains twelve of Marsh's cleverest stories, ranging in theme from slapstick humour to Gothic horror. In "My Aunt's Excursion," the opening story of the volume, an urbanite Londoner leads his provincial aunt and her party of mostly deranged followers on a hilarious and madcap romp across London. In "Exchange is Robbery," Marsh's recurring charcters and jewellers to the aristocracy, Messrs. Golden and Ruby, discover they have been the victims of a massive jewel fraud. "The Haunted Chair," one of Marsh's strangest and most unnerving stories of horror, features an old chair at a gentlemen's club, whose owner seems capable of returning from the grave. In "A Relic of the Borgias," an ancient cameo ring appears to possess the power to kill. Other stories, like "Em" and "Nelly," reveal Marsh's softer side as a romantic novelist. This new edition, the first in over a century, features the unabridged text of the original work, along with an introduction by Prof. Paul Fox and a reproduction of the impossibly rare jacket cover of the original six shilling edition.