Showing results for "Shaw" in Horror

Some kings rule in peace. Most must earn their power through strife and blood shed. Alliances secured and the enemy fully revealed at last, the end is at hand. Petra the matriarch stands at Victor's side, the women under her have spread out, each occupying more space, more authority, and more skill than ever before. And Victor, well, he finally has his generals, his soldiers, and his army ready. With the unexpected death of a close friend and one of Victor's strongest generals, he's reminded that Life is precious and so are the ones we love.

Step into the gentle world of Twilight Stories, a heartwarming collection of short tales by Catharine Shaw that brings together timeless lessons of faith, family, and spiritual growth. Guided by the wise and kind Aunt Ruth, four curious children embark on a reflective journey into the promises of God—described as comforting "tickets" for the soul.

When I called all men soul-sucking, I didn’t realize how literal that could be. In a desperate attempt to get away from my ex, I moved to a new city. Only to find the men here to be the same—overbearing, pushy, and just plain creepy. Except, maybe I placed the blame on the wrong people.

I used to think my life would be common, boring even. My online guildies and my friends sure thought so. Yet everything I knew to be true in this world all changed drastically one fateful night... or should I say, it shifted. As it turns out, my father passed on more than his name to me. Something feral and mighty awoke within me, and I knew at once, I would never be the same again. Shortly after, I received an invitation that I didn't expect, a call to attend the mysterious Apex Academy.

It was a shock to discover the existence of Apex Academy. Settling in as a student, expanding my social connections, and studying magic has kept me on my toes. Change is inevitable in this new world, and my survival necessitates adaptation. I have Petra to stand beside me and other females are lining up to warm my bed. No choice can be made casually. Each new mate brings a score of political connections and responsibilities. Dating has never been so intense. Worse yet, my enemies continue to flourish.

Parker Dillon can’t win. Just as she’s trying to start her journalism career, her aunt sells the website where she works, and the new owner is keen to replace employees with AI. But her luck seems to turn when she discovers an intriguing cold pitch buried in her aunt’s files. Ann Mason claims she did something terrible and never got caught. She’s also weirdly infatuated with a long-forgotten TV star. Desperate for a spectacular feature, Parker tracks Ann from Seattle to her home in Arizona.

Angela Carter was one of the most important writers of the 20th century. A pioneer of British magical realism, her work was described by Salman Rushdie as 'without rival and without equal'. Her radical, inventive novels influenced countless writers, while her dark, sensual short fiction turned traditional fables inside out, giving women the power over their desires and fates. Susannah Clapp, Angela Carter's literary executor and friend, introduces the productions and offers fascinating insights into Angela Carter's life and work.

In this chilling collection, five acclaimed authors invite you into a world where the supernatural hides in plain sight. Look closely, and you’ll find it: lurking within an ancient tree, stalking an idyllic beach, and whispering through a friend’s letter. Your curiosity is exactly what it’s been waiting for.

Throughout the long centuries of human history is the want, and the need, to share information, to exchange ideas and for that knowledge and experience, for curiosity and learning, to be the basis of a civil society. In this volume we offer up a small selection of talents from the literary landscape of Continental Europe and its male authors whose time has now come again.

Two adventurers discover a lost city in the Mexican jungle, returning not only with an ancient idol, but also an unimaginable horror that threatens the existence of the world.

Almost always when we think of Ghost Stories, we first think of those written by the Victorians. If you want a really good ghost story to bring that edge of chill, that foreboding of dread, that feeling that in an empty house we are not quite alone and that sometimes the sharp, sheer shock of what just happened is upon us then look no further than ‘The Victorian Ghost Story’ for your listening pleasure.

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that are difficult to achieve elsewhere. The Gothic short story is one of the most enduring of genres. In this volume we explore works by classic authors from all corners of Europe as they explore and exploit narratives with their undeniable talents.

Algernon Blackwood was born on 14th March 1869 in Shooter’s Hill, South East London, to a religious middle-class family. His mother was a widowed Duchess and his father was a Post Office administrator. Blackwood was interested in the paranormal and the supernatural at an early age, and had a thirst for anything on Buddhism, other Oriental philosophies, mysticism and occultism. In his writings the weaving of the supernatural into his various works, from ghost stories and children’s stories to plays and long novels is clearly seen.

At the end of our days we will most likely lie for eternity in the cemetery or graveyard. Many of these, now wreathed in time, have a romance and overgrown beauty as nature keeps and shelters the dead. For our varied and talented authors, a major theme, or indeed character of the stories in this volume is that very location, and how they weave it into their narratives is both fascinating, enlightening and a wonderfully distinct way of telling classic short stories.

Montague Rhodes James is cited as perhaps the greatest English writer of ghost stories, an opinion few would disagree with. Many of his elegant yet terrifying tales were created by discarding the prevailing gothic clichés and placing his characters and narrative in a realistic setting. Thereby the stories gained atmosphere and menace on a grand scale and he was famed as the originator of the antiquarian ghost story. Although story-telling and writing these 30 or so tales was a hobby, when published their effect transformed the genre and still chill the bones in our more modern times.

Vernon Lee was born Violet Paget on 4th October 1856 in Boulogne, France, to intellectual expatriate British parents. In common with several other very talented literary women of the day she felt it necessary to publish under a masculine pseudonym in order for her writing to be taken seriously. Her literary talents were extensive and she wrote a number of novels and plays. Perhaps her best remembered works are her haunting and powerful short stories exploring the supernatural. Lee has often received accolades for these and glowingly compared to other authors such as M R James.

John William Polidori was born on 7th September 1795, in London, to Gaetano Polidori. In 1816 Dr Polidori was given the job of Byron’s personal physician and accompanied him on a trip through Europe. The publisher John Murray offered Polidori £500 to keep a diary of their travels. At the Villa Diodati, Byron’s rented villa at Lake Geneva in Switzerland, the pair met with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary's stepsister, Claire Clairmont.

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. 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.

Richard Harris Barham was born in Canterbury, England, on 6th December 1788. His father died when he was seven, leaving him a small estate, including the manor of Tappington of Denton in Kent. In 1826 Barham first contributed to Blackwood's Magazine; and in 1837 he began to write, for the recently founded magazine, Bentley's Miscellany, a series of tales and poems known as ‘The Ingoldsby Legends’. These became very popular and were later published in book form.

Mary Diana Dods was born at some point in 1790. Much of the details of her life are unknown. Accounts propose that she was one of the illegitimate daughters of George Douglas, the sixteenth Earl of Morton, and that she and her older sister were raised in both Scotland and London. As a writer she seems only to have published under the pseudonym of David Lyndsay. Her works appeared in periodicals such as Blackwood's Magazine and in 1822 she was asked by its founder to provide it with ‘Dramas of the Ancient World’.