"When you open this collection, you're headed down a dark alley within the precincts of the Twilight Zone. It's the kind of place where the wrong people get hurt; hazard is everywhere and it doesn't play favorites. The complacent won't find refuge here on the threshold of the void. Nobody is safe and nothing is sacred. Enjoy the ride."
– from the introduction by Laird Barron
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BEHOLD THE VOID is nine stories of terror that huddle in the dark space between cosmic horror and the modern weird, between old-school hard-edged horror of the 1980's and the stylistic prose of today's literary giants.
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Praise for Behold the Void:
SHORT STORY COLLECTION OF THE YEAR – This Is Horror
“Fracassi…builds his horrific tales slowly and carefully…his powers of description are formidable; and he’s especially skillful at creating, and sustaining, suspense.” – The New York Times
“…think vintage King at his best.” – Rue Morgue Magazine (“Dante’s Pick”)
“…recalls the work of writers such as McCammon, King, and Bradbury.” – John Langan, LOCUS Magazine“With carefully drawn characters, vividly constructed situations, and deft description, Behold the Void offers the perfect blend of honest-to-goodness human nastiness and true supernatural creepiness. This is horror fiction at its best.” – Brian Evenson, author of A Collapse of Horses
“Everything here is damned near perfect… a first-rate collection.” Black Static
“Philip Fracassi is the next big horror writer to blow your mind. If you’re a fan of the horror genre at all, then this guy is a must-read.” – Lit Reactor
“These stories are scary, yes, but more than that, they’re haunting– they get inside you and they don’t go away.” – Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying
“Fracassi’s Behold the Void is the perfect read for horror fans who expect authors to raise the bar and redefine what horror fiction means.” – Ronald Malfi, author of Bone White
“Fracassi is quickly building a reputation as a superior storyteller of incredible talent…. an author we must surely now hail as a leading light in the dark field of horror fiction.” – This Is Horror
"When you open this collection, you're headed down a dark alley within the precincts of the Twilight Zone. It's the kind of place where the wrong people get hurt; hazard is…
A murdered movie star reaches out to an unlikely fan. An orchard is bewitched with poison apples and would-be princesses. A pair of outcasts fail a questionnaire that measures who in their neighborhood will vanish next. Two sisters keep a grotesque secret hidden in a Victorian bathtub. A dearly departed best friend carries a grudge from beyond the grave.
In her debut collection, Gwendolyn Kiste delves into the gathering darkness where beauty embraces the monstrous, and where even the most tranquil worlds are not to be trusted. From fairy tale kingdoms and desolate carnivals, to wedding ceremonies and summer camps that aren’t as joyful as they seem, these fourteen tales of horror and dark fantasy explore death, rebirth, and illusion all through the eyes of those on the outside—the forgotten, the forsaken, the Other, none of whom will stay in the dark any longer.
A murdered movie star reaches out to an unlikely fan. An orchard is bewitched with poison apples and would-be princesses. A pair of outcasts fail a questionnaire that measures who…
"First rule. Never open your story with a corpse. It's a cliché. If you do it to be ironic, I'll throw your manuscript in your face."
Greta didn't set out to solve a murder. But if the first thing you see when you come home after a long day at a lousy job is your own dead body, it can make even the most cynical non-starter in 1994 Seattle take an interest. Refusing to believe her dead eyes, the one-time theater editor at the city's least noteworthy periodical - now a bitter ghost haunting the streets and busways of the Emerald City - will happily break every rule of crime fiction to tell her story and prove she didn't die a lame-ass, suicidal Cobain imitator. If Greta manages to figure out who really killed her, in the process? That's just an extra shot in her overpriced espresso.
Hauntingly scary, darkly funny, and occasionally nostalgic, I Wish I Was Like You is one vengeful spirit's look at a city learning to embrace narcissism and the dead inhabitants who will always call it home
"First rule. Never open your story with a corpse. It's a cliché. If you do it to be ironic, I'll throw your manuscript in your face."
Cartoons in the Suicide ForestWhen we’re deadYou know She’ll adore us"Lyrical and perverse, like a prostitute on acid in a poetry slam, this collection of the dark, erotic, and bizarre flirts with the heroin fever dreams of a William Burroughs and the horrific surrealism of Charlee Jacobs." - Wrath James White, THE RESURRECTIONIST and THE BOOK OF A THOUSAND SINS
Cartoons in the Suicide ForestWhen we’re deadYou know She’ll adore us"Lyrical and perverse, like a prostitute on acid in a poetry slam, this collection of the dark, erotic, and…
Laird Barron’s fourth collection gathers a dozen stories set against the backdrops of the Alaskan wilderness, far-future dystopias, and giallo-fueled nightmare vistas.
All hell breaks loose in a massive apartment complex when a modern day Jack the Ripper strikes under cover of a blizzard; a woman, famous for surviving a massacre, hits the road to flee the limelight and finds her misadventures have only begun; while tracking a missing B-movie actor, a team of man hunters crashes in the Yukon Delta and soon realize the Arctic is another name for hell; an atomic-powered cyborg war dog loyally assists his master in the overthrow of a far-future dystopian empire; following an occult initiation ritual, a man is stalked by a psychopathic sorority girl and her team of horrifically disfigured henchmen; a rich lunatic invites several high school classmates to his mansion for a night of sex, drugs, and CIA-funded black ops experiments; and other glimpses into occulted realities a razor’s slice beyond our own.
Laird Barron’s fourth collection gathers a dozen stories set against the backdrops of the Alaskan wilderness, far-future dystopias, and giallo-fueled nightmare vistas.
Brothers Macbeth and Drederick Tooms should have it made as fair-haired scions of an impossibly rich and powerful family of industrialists. Alas, life is complicated in mid-1950s USA when you’re child heirs to the throne of Sword Enterprises, a corporation that has enshrined Machiavelli’s The Prince as its operating manual and whose patriarch believes, Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds, would be a swell company logo.
Consider also those long, cruel winters at the Mountain Leopard boarding school for assassins in the Himalayas, or that Dad may be a supervillain, while an uncle occasionally slaughters his nephews and nieces for sport; and the space flight research division of Sword Enterprises “accidentally” sent a probe through a wormhole into outer darkness and contacted an alien god. Now a bloodthirsty cult and an equally vicious rival firm suspect the Tooms boys know something and will spare no expense, nor innocent life, to get their claws on them.
Between the machinations of the disciples of black gods and good old corporate skullduggery, it’s winding up to be a hell of a summer vacation for the lads.
Brothers Macbeth and Drederick Tooms should have it made as fair-haired scions of an impossibly rich and powerful family of industrialists. Alas, life is complicated in mid-1950s…
The Red Equinox has dawned, and the old gods who have slept for aeons are stirring.
Urban explorer and photographer Becca Philips was raised in the shadow of Miskatonic University, steeped in the mysteries of her late grandmother’s work in occult studies. But what she thought was myth becomes all too real when cultists unleash terror on the city of Boston. Now she’s caught between a shadowy government agency called SPECTRA and the followers of an apocalyptic faith bent on awakening an ancient evil.
As urban warfare breaks out between eldritch monsters and an emerging police state, she must uncover the secrets of a family heirloom known as the Fire of Cairo to banish the rising tide of darkness before the balance tips irrevocably at the Red Equinox.
The Red Equinox has dawned, and the old gods who have slept for aeons are stirring.
Urban explorer and photographer Becca Philips was raised in the shadow of Miskatonic…
One moment, Robert Londrigan is a rising-star newscaster, devoted husband, and expectant father; the next, he's a widower in a morgue, staring at gaping holes in his daughter's body where surgeons have harvested every useful scrap of her organs and tissue. The rock-bottom falls out from under his life when a disfigured man knocks Robert out and steals what's left of her tiny corpse out from under his nose, and leaves a gruesome surprise waiting for him back home. Robert's search for the disfigured man leads him through a rapidly-fragmenting reality into a chiaroscuro world and the discovery that neither his wife nor his daughter are who he thought they were. Gary A. Braunbeck's work has earned, 7 Bram Stoker Awards, an International Horror Guild Award, 3 Shocker Awards, a Black Quill Award, and a World Fantasy Award nomination. (Amazon.com)
One moment, Robert Londrigan is a rising-star newscaster, devoted husband, and expectant father; the next, he's a widower in a morgue, staring at gaping holes in his daughter's…
The Incendium Maleficarum has been lost and Carter Weston presumed dead, but the story of That Which Should Not Be is only just beginning. Now Carter’s only daughter, Rachel Jones, and his oldest friend, Henry Armitage, must embark on an epic journey that will take them from the hell-blasted Tunguska forest to the catacombs of Paris to the shores of the Scottish Isles.
They are in a race against time, for in France, strange murders and whispers of occult rituals herald the rise of an ancient evil bent on plunging the world into eternal darkness.
It is up to Rachel and Henry to learn Carter’s fate, recover the Incendium Maleficarum, and perhaps even save the world.
The Incendium Maleficarum has been lost and Carter Weston presumed dead, but the story of That Which Should Not Be is only just beginning. Now Carter’s only daughter, Rachel…
Smokey Hollow is a quiet town, but all that changes when Brian Keays moves in and discovers a locked steamer trunk in the attic of his home.
A suspicious fire destroys a mental asylum, but there is no sign of any of its inhabitants. Victims are found dead with a pillowcase over their heads, the same method used in an unsolved series of murders, committed over fifty years ago.
Brian tries to piece together the connection to the trunk and its grisly contents, his investigation aided by anonymous notes. He follows the trail from a ventriloquist firefighter whose dummy knows more than its puppeteer, to a Somnambulist whose pockets contain clues, and to a Knackerman who disposes of animal carcasses but keeps a container with its own mysterious contents.
Death is everywhere, but answers are hard to come by.
Smokey Hollow is a quiet town, but all that changes when Brian Keays moves in and discovers a locked steamer trunk in the attic of his home.
A decade ago, if you'd walked into a bookstore looking for a zombie novel, you would have found only two: Brian Keene's The Rising and Joe McKinney's Dead City. Long recognized as one of the driving voices that launched the world's fascination with the living dead, Joe McKinney's Dead World novels have emerged as seminal works in the Horror genre.
Now, collected for the first time in Dead World Resurrection, are all of Joe McKinney's zombie short stories. Here you'll not only find tales that provide invaluable links between the various Dead World novels, such as "Ethical Solution," "Dating in Dead World," and the award-winning story "Survivors," but also nightmare glimpses into other post-apocalyptic worlds told in the inimitable Joe McKinney fashion. From the bleak political satire of "State of the Union" to the historical vignettes of "Starvation Army" and "Paradise of the Living Dead," this collection features the full range of McKinney's horrific mastery of the living dead.
The zombie has grown up since Joe McKinney first penned Dead City, yet he has continued to stand out among the throng of voices telling tales of the undead. Dead World Resurrection shows why.
A decade ago, if you'd walked into a bookstore looking for a zombie novel, you would have found only two: Brian Keene's The Rising and Joe McKinney's Dead City. Long recognized…
2009 British Fantasy Award Winner for Best Collection
The twenty-one stories collected in Bull Running for Girls are widely varied, both in setting and subject. From small town life in Madison County to the dangers of bull running in Pamplona, the stories seem, at first blush, unrelated. They are bound, however, by Allyson Bird’s strength. She is a remarkable woman, the stories collected here as personal as they are unsettling. The atmosphere, the tone and mood invoked by the author aside – it is the humanity at the heart of each tale that is so disquieting.
2009 British Fantasy Award Winner for Best Collection
The twenty-one stories collected in Bull Running for Girls are widely varied, both in setting and subject. From small town…
JournalStone's DoubleDown series hits book number 3. Dog Days: It's the summer of 1983 and the suburbs of Houston are reeling from a disastrous hurricane. But the storm brought more than wind and floodwaters. In the swamps that surround Clear Lake a brutal and possibly supernatural killer is gathering strength, and waiting for the full moon. The focus of his bloodlust is fifteen year old Mark Eckert. Reckless to a fault, with a knack for making spectacularly bad decisions, Mark had planned to spend that last summer before high school wandering the swamps with his friends and his beloved dog Max. But after a chance encounter with the lunatic, Mark's summer becomes a time of terror and tragedy. With his life on the line, Mark's courage will be tested to his limits and beyond as he struggles to survive the hottest days of summer: the dog days. Deadly Passage: Just after the American Revolution, the slave ship Lombard sets off from Africa, beginning its brutal passage to the New World. But even this ship's hardened crew of thugs and drunkards is unprepared for the horrors ahead. When the Lombard's human cargo dies one by one, free black crewman George Bell suspects a stealthy and devious stowaway - not disease - is the cause. As the death toll mounts and the slaves threaten mutiny, he must choose between his humanity and duty to a callous captain. But Bell doesn't have much time to make his voyage of self-discovery. The deadly beast burrowing through the rotten guts of the Lombard grows more powerful with each life it takes.
JournalStone's DoubleDown series hits book number 3. Dog Days: It's the summer of 1983 and the suburbs of Houston are reeling from a disastrous hurricane. But the…
Are you laid off, downsized, undersized? Call us. We employ. 1-800-555-0606 How lucky do you feel? So reads the business card from LIMBUS, INC., a shadowy employment agency that operates at the edge of the normal world. LIMBUS's employees are just as suspicious and ephemeral as the motives of the company, if indeed it could be called a company in the ordinary sense of the word. In this shared-world anthology, five heavy hitters from the dark worlds of horror, fantasy, and scifi pool their warped takes on the shadow organization that offers employment of the most unusual kind to those on the fringes of society. One thing's for sure - you'll never think the same way again about the fine print on your next employment application!
Are you laid off, downsized, undersized? Call us. We employ. 1-800-555-0606 How lucky do you feel? So reads the business card from LIMBUS, INC., a shadowy employment…
In the deepest reaches of space, on a ship that no longer exists, six travelers stare into the abyss . . . and the abyss stares back. Man has finally mastered the art of space travel and in a few hours passengers can travel light years across the galaxy. But, there's a catch-the traveler must be asleep for the journey, and with sleep come the dreams. Only the sleeper can know what his dream entails, for each is tailored to his own mind, built from his fears, his secrets, his past . . . and sometimes his future. That the dreams occasionally drive men mad is but the price of technological advance. But when a transport on a routine mission comes upon an abandoned ship, missing for more than a decade, six travelers-each with something to hide-discover that perhaps the dreams are more than just figments of their imagination. Indeed, they may be a window to a reality beyond their own where shadow has substance and the darkness is a thing unto itself, truly worthy of fear.
In the deepest reaches of space, on a ship that no longer exists, six travelers stare into the abyss . . . and the abyss stares back. Man has finally mastered the art of space…
Miskatonic University has a long-whispered reputation of being strongly connected to all things occult and supernatural. From the faculty to the students, the fascination with other-worldly legends and objects runs rampant. So, when Carter Weston's professor Dr. Thayerson asks him to search a nearby village for a book that is believed to control the inhuman forces that rule the Earth, Incendium Maleficarum, The Inferno of the Witch, the student doesn't hesitate to begin the quest. Weston's journey takes an unexpected turn, however, when he ventures into a tavern in the small town of Anchorhead. Rather than passing the evening as a solitary patron, Weston joins four men who regale him with stories of their personal experiences with forces both preternatural and damned. Two stories hit close to home as they tie the tellers directly to Weston's current mission. His unanticipated role as passive listener proves fortuitous, and Weston fulfills his goal. Bringing the book back to Miskatonic, though, proves to be a grave mistake. Quickly, Weston realizes he has played a role in potentially opening the gate between the netherworld and the world of Man. Reversing the course of events means forgetting all he thought he knew about Miskatonic and his professor and embracing an unknown beyond his wildest imagination.
Miskatonic University has a long-whispered reputation of being strongly connected to all things occult and supernatural. From the faculty to the students, the fascination with…
