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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde and Other Tales of Terror
By Robert Louis Stevenson. 2002
Everyone has a dark side.Dr Jekyll has discovered the ultimate drug. A chemical that can turn him into something else.…
Suddenly, he can unleash his deepest cruelties in the guise of the sinister Hyde. Transforming himself at will, he roams the streets of fog-bound London as his monstrous alter-ego.It seems he is master of his fate.It seems he is in complete control.But soon he will discover that his double life comes at a hideous price...Stories for Halloween
By Edgar Allan Poe. 2014
The midnight hour approaches. You lie in bed and try to sleep, but there is the howling of the wind…
outside, the creak of a floorboard, the scream of a cat, the ticking clock...Your heart beats, your skin crawls, and despite yourself you reach for this book and enter a world like a nightmare, haunted by dark fears, guilty secrets and the bloody consequences of rage, revenge and obsession. You cannot tear yourself away, these tales will appall and yet enthrall you, for no mere mortal can resist the master of Gothic horror, Edgar Allan Poe.Stop What You’re Doing and Read…After Dark: Ghost Stories & Dracula
By Bram Stoker, M. R. James. 1987
To mark the publication of Stop What You're Doing and Read This!, a collection of essays celebrating reading, Vintage Classics…
are releasing 12 limited edition themed ebook 'bundles', to tempt readers to discover and rediscover great books. M.R. JAMES' GHOST STORIESSELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY RUTH RENDELLM. R. James wrote his ghost stories to entertain friends on Christmas Eve, and they went on to both transform and modernise a genre. James harnesses the power of suggestion to move from a recognisable world to one that is indefinably strange, and then unforgettably terrifying. Sheets, pictures, carvings, a dolls house, a lonely beach, a branch tapping on a window - ordinary things take on more than a tinge of dread in the hands of the original master of suspense.DRACULA'The door is shut, and the chains rattle; there is a grinding of the key in the lock; I hear the creaking of lock and bolt...I shall not remain alone with them. I may find a way from this dreadful place, away from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his children still walk with earthly feet!'Young lawyer Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania on business for a mysterious Count. Months later in England, beautiful Lucy Westenra falls ill and dies, inexplicably, as if from a severe loss of blood. Lucy's friends, including Jonathan's fiancée Mina and the intrepid doctor Van Helsing, must begin a desperate battle against a powerful, ancient evil, in Bram Stoker's definitive gothic tale.The Spook House: Terrifying Tales of the Macabre (Pocket Penguin Classics Ser. #Vol. 4)
By Ambrose Bierce. 2008
Death awaits them all …A man stares into the deep river swirling beneath him – hands tied, noose around his…
neck – and waits for the order to end his life. Another is trapped for eternity in a room full of corpses. A cowering woman is strangled in the dead of night. These are just some of the countless victims for whom all hope is lost in Ambrose Bierce’s chilling stories of death, delusion and the supernatural.Spirits of the Dead: Tales and Poems
By Edgar Allan Poe. 2007
A unique one volume collection of all Poe's best tales and poems. Full of variety, entries include The Murders in…
the Rue Morgue, The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Purloined Letter - three classic detective stories - plus The Raven, one of his greatest poems. A wonderful selection of tales and poems that are representative of every genre written by Poe, from the macabre and horrifying to the humorous and purely descriptive.The Snow Ghost and Other Tales: Classic Japanese Ghost Stories
By Various. 2023
Enter the haunted world of Ancient Japan in this spine-tingling collection of ghostly tales told and retold across the centuries.…
From Goblin infested caves and haunted Tombs, to vengeful spirits and strange, sinister happenings, Ancient Japan was a country and culture that lived with between realms: the world of everyday and the world of supernatural.It was a time and place where men could be brought down by karmic forces or lured into deadly danger by ghostly apparitions, and where the land held sorrowful secrets or stories that long-awaited an opportunity to reveal them and seek reparation.The Snow Ghost and Other Tales brings together some of the best and scariest tales that endured across centuries of folk lore in one new beautiful hardback collection. Finally commited to writing during the turn of the twenieth cenutry by a unique set of folklorists, the ghost stories presented in this new anthology will transport readers to a time of magic and mystery, and let them relish in the spine-tingling traditions of Japanese culture largely lost now to modernity.For readers of Haruki Murakami, David Mitchell and Shirley JacksonSlow Motion Ghosts
By Jeff Noon. 2019
'Noon's storytelling is assured and compelling ... it's a belter' Guardian‘Constantly surprising’ SpectatorA viciously occult murder.A curious clue left on…
the body.The soundtrack to the murder still playing...It is 1981 and Detective Inspector Henry Hobbes is still reeling in the aftermath of the fire and fury of the Brixton riots. The battle lines of society - and the police force - are being redrawn on a daily basis. With the certainties of his life already sorely tested, a brutal murder will shake his beliefs to their very core once more. The manner of the death and its staged circumstances pose many questions to which there are no obvious answers. To track the murderer, Hobbes must cross boundaries into a subculture hidden beneath the everyday world he thought he knew. His investigation takes him into a twisted reality, which is both seductive and devastating, and asks him the one question he has been dreading: How far will he go in pursuit of the truth?Jeff Noon is the author of six acclaimed novels, Vurt, Pollen, Automated Alice, Nymphomation, Needle in the Groove and Falling Out of Cars, as well as two collections of short fictions, and is also the crime fiction reviewer for The Spectator. He lives in Brighton.A Skull in Shadows Lane
By Robert Swindells. 2012
The war has just ended in the tiny village of Coney Cley, and Josh and his gang are desperate for…
some excitement. When they head for the eerie, abandoned Shadows Lane to explore a deserted house, they find more than they bargained for - a human tooth. Then a creepy, skeletal face appears at a dark window . . .Believing there's a skeleton haunting Shadows Lane, the children are shocked to learn the truth about 'Boney' - he's an escaped prisoner of war. But someone else is also hiding in the village - someone much more dangerous.Tense and chilling, this is another fantastically gripping tale from the award-winning author of Room 13 and Stone Cold.Shine
By Candy Gourlay. 2012
Monsters are in the eye of the beholder.Rosa suffers from a rare condition that renders her mute. She lives on…
the strange island of Mirasol where the rain never seems to stop.In the gloom of the island, its superstitious population are haunted by all sorts of fears . . . they shun people who suffer from Rosa's condition, believing them to be monsters. So Rosa must live hidden away in an isolated house with its back to the rest of the world, with only the internet for a social life.But Rosa has no desire to leave Mirasol. This is where her mother died and every night she lights a candle on the windowsill. The islanders believe this is the way to summon ghosts, and Rosa wants her mother back.One day she is befriended by a boy online who calls himself Ansel95 – and she quickly realizes that this is one friendship that can take place in the real world. Can she really trust him? What does he want from her?And then Mother turns up at the front door.From the author of the critically-acclaimed Tall Story comes a haunting, intense and moving novel which weaves myths and ghosts into a modern setting. As Rosa's social life blossoms, how will she seize the freedom to be who she really is?The Shattered Lands
By Brenna Nation. 2023
'An enemies to lovers must-read' - Gay Times18 years after her disappearance, the princess has returned. But what is left…
of her kingdom?Sapphire finds herself in Eriobis with a crown, a castle and too many handmaidens to count. And so her life begins as the heir to the throne of a country she doesn't understand - a country ruled by magic and secrets.That's before she meets Ashes. A dark witch with the power to destroy Sapphire's life and kingdom. But Ashes also happens to be the only person that can help her discover the truth.And the answers might unravel the very world she's come to know.'A bewitching fantasy packed with dark secrets, luscious world building and heart shattering twists, Brenna Nation has woven a romantic and devastating tale about the things we do for love.' - Rosie Talbot, author of Sixteen SoulsPerfect for fans of The Dark Tide and Six Of Crows, discover the secrets of Eriobis in this magical Sapphic story.The Shade of Hettie Daynes
By Robert Swindells. 2012
If you expect to see a ghost, you see a ghost... That's what Bethan tells herself when her brother Harry…
takes her to see the ghost at the old reservoir. But she really can see it: a pale figure floating over the water, one finger pointing downwards.Local legend says that the ghost is Hettie Daynes, an ancestor of their family, who vanished over a hundred years ago.If so, what does she want? And why is she appearing now?Harry and Bethan and their friends Rob and Alison are determined to find out!A deliciously shivery ghost tale from multi award-winning author Robert Swindells.The Secrets of Time and Fate (Secrets #3)
By Rebecca Alexander. 2016
16th CenturyEdward Kelley and his mentor Dr John Dee have come to a crossroads. At the mercy of Countess Elizabeth…
Báthory, they set out to find a cure for her unnatural condition.21st CenturyJackdaw Hammond is living rough in London, blacking out and waking with a sense of dread. Can the lessons of the past help defeat the dark magic that threatens to steal her soul?The Resident
By Francis Cottam. 2011
Every year, three million single women in America move into an apartment for the first time. Few of them change…
the locks. Juliet Devereau can't believe her luck: after weeks of looking for a place to live, she's found a beautiful, spacious apartment overlooking Brooklyn Bridge. It almost seems to good to be true.It is... Over the weeks, a chilling sense of being watched stalks Juliet. Strange sounds wake her in the night, the mirror in the bathroom trembles, and doors she thought shut are open. Then the silhouette of a man standing in her living room makes her realise that she's not alone in there. But what's haunting her is far more terrifying than a malevolent spirit; it's alive, strong and obsessed. Suddenly Juliet is caught up in a deadly game of cat and mouse, and there's no guarantee that she'll come out alive...The Puffin Book of Ghosts And Ghouls (The Puffin Book Of...)
By Gene Kemp. 1972
Get ready for Halloween with these terrifying tales. . . Have you checked under your bed? Made sure there's nothing…
hiding in your wardrobe? Good. Then you should be safe to read this book... Settle down for the 14 ghostly stories...Enter the terrifying world of the supernatural and meet an unnerving array of ghosts and ghouls, including a Victorian child with disturbing powers, two children with a gruesome plan, and a bizarre ghost puppy. These shuddering short stories come from highly acclaimed authors, including: Gene KempJoan Aiken Penelope Lively Michael Morpurgo Ray Bradbury Are you brave enough to make it through all 14 stories?The Pit and the Pendulum: The Essential Poe
By Edgar Allan Poe. 2009
This selection of Poe's critical writings, short fiction and poetry demonstrates an intense interest in aesthetic issues and the astonishing…
power and imagination with which he probed the darkest corners of the human mind. The Fall of the House of Usher describes the final hours of a family tormented by tragedy and the legacy of the past. In The Tell Tale Heart, a murderer's insane delusions threaten to betray him, while stories such as The Pit and the Pendulum and The Cask of Amontillado explore extreme states of decadence, fear and hate.The Picture of Dorian Gray
By Oscar Wilde. 2003
'A triumph of execution ... one of the best narratives of the "double life" of a Victorian gentleman' Peter AckroydOscar…
Wilde's alluring novel of decadence and sin was a succès de scandale on publication. It follows Dorian Gray who, enthralled by his own exquisite portrait, exchanges his soul for eternal youth and beauty. Influenced by his friend Lord Henry Wotton, he is drawn into a corrupt double life, indulging his desires in secret while remaining a gentleman in the eyes of polite society. Only his portrait bears the traces of his depravity. This definitive edition includes a selection of contemporary reviews condemning the novel's immorality.Edited with an Introduction and notes by ROBERT MIGHALLThe Phantom of the Opera
By Gaston Leroux. 2009
Rumours that a ghost stalks the dark passages and cellars of the Paris Opera House, wreaking havoc, have long been…
rife among staff and performers. This Phantom also haunts the imagination of the beautiful and talented singer Christine Daaé, appearing to her as the 'Angel of Music' - a disembodied voice, coaching her to sing as she never could before. When Christine is courted by a handsome young Viscount, the mysterious spectre, who resides in the murky depths of the building, is consumed by jealousy and seeks revenge. With its pervading atmosphere of menace, tinged with dark humour, The Phantom of the Opera (1910) offers a unique mix of Gothic horror and tragic romance that has inspired film, stage and literature since its publication.The Phantom of the Opera
By Gaston Leroux. 2012
Discover the classic Gothic horror novel of haunted cellars, opera, murder and unrequited love that inspired Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running…
west end hit.Christine is a beautiful young singer at the Paris Opera. She is watched by the Opera's 'phantom' - a mysterious masked figure who terrorises the Opera's management and players. With the Phantom's help, Christine rises to become the Opera's star performer, but when the Phantom demands her heart in return, Christine is torn between gratitude and pity for her strange benefactor, and love for her childhood sweetheart, Raoul.HAVE YOU EVER WANTED TO BE SOMEONE ELSE?Vanessa has always found it easy to pretend to be somebody different, somebody…
better. When things get tough in her real life, all she has to do is throw on some nicer clothes, adopt a new accent and she can escape.That's how it started: looking round houses she couldn't possibly afford. Harmless fun really. Until it wasn't.Because a man who lived in one of those houses is dead.And everyone thinks Vanessa killed him...______________________Praise for Nuala Ellwood'A gripping, poignant novel ... I read it in one sitting' Rosamund Lupton'A clever, twisty plot that takes psychological mind games to a new level. Nuala Ellwood has done it again!' Jane Corry'This book will take all your expectations and upend them, making you question everything you thought you knew' Emma Kavanagh'Brilliantly compulsive and with one hell of a twist! I was consumed until the final heartbreaking page' Claire Douglas'Absolutely brilliant - exciting, clever, it deserves to be a bestseller' Priscilla MastersThe People's Will: (The Danilov Quintet 4) (The Danilov Quintet #4)
By Jasper Kent. 2013
The next moment he was upon him, his eyes blazing, his mouth open to reveal his fangs. Osokin began to…
pray, not that he would live but that he would truly die . . .Turkmenistan 1881: the fortress city of Geok Tepe has fallen to the Russians. Beneath its citadel sits a prisoner. He hasn’t moved from his chair for two years. Neither has he felt the sun on his face for more than fifty . . . although for that he is grateful.Into this subterranean gaol marches a Russian officer. He has come for the captive. Not to release him, but to return him to St Petersburg – to deliver him into the hands of an old, old enemy who would visit damnation upon the ruling family of Russia: the great vampire Zmyeevich. But there is another who has escaped Geok Tepe and followed the prisoner. He is not concerned with the fate of the tsar, or Zmyeevich or the officer. All he desires is revenge.And other forces have a part to play. A group of revolutionaries has vowed to bring the dictatorship of Tsar Aleksandr to an end, and with it the entire Romanov dynasty. They call themselves The People’s Will . . .