Bücher veröffentlicht von Crystal Lake Publishing

A schoolgirl steps between a soldier and a ravening monster... 1943. Soviet Union is under attack as WW2 is raging. Fighting in the doomed battle of Kursk, Andrei finds himself in a strange city where Svetlana, a girl he has never seen but who looks eerily familiar, saves him from a fist-faced creature. When Svetlana's family is lost, the two embark on a harrowing odyssey across the snow-covered plain, battling deformed former humans and taken prisoners by the army of black stars. Against impossible odds, they reach their destination where they discover a secret that will change history. Little Sister is a dystopian historical fantasy set in the Soviet Era. Presenting a richly imagined alternative history world, this is a tale of friendship, survival, and heartbreak. Fans of The Book Thief and The Wolfhound Century will enjoy this striking fantasy rooted in Russian fiction. Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.

You never know who is on the other side of the screen. Sidney, a single mother with a dull day job, has big dreams of becoming a full-time horror reviewer and risqué gore model. Between managing a cellphone store, honoring her soccer mom duties, and wrangling her hostile ex-husband, it seems building her following and interacting with her fans is the only authentic outlet she has-and the validation it gives her is proving to be a little addictive. She'll overlook her responsibilities for it. She'll neglect her real-life friendships for it. She'll even pose nude in bathtubs of blood for it. If her growing pool of online followers is any indication, her efforts are working, and things are looking good for her Elvira-esque aspirations. Her website is gaining traction, and every day it seems more and more people are sliding into her DMs to chat with her and tell her how amazing she is. In fact, Sidney has so many followers that chatting with them is getting to be a job in itself. More than a job, it might even be getting a little risky.... When Sidney travels to the mountains to attend a horror film festival, she is flattered to find that one of her followers has come to meet her. But he might not be the only one who has gone out of his way to get up close and personal with her. When Sidney is attacked on the way back to her hotel late one night, she learns that real-life horror is not a game, and being stalked isn't flattering-it's terrifying, and it could get her killed. Believing the incident to be a fluke, Sidney decides to forget the attack and focus on her life again. Only this might not be so easy. Because Sidney-and her loved ones-are in serious danger. This stalker isn't just your average stalker. He knows her every movement, and he knows each step of her routine. In fact, he's right behind her... and when he gets close enough, he won't take no for an answer. Followers is a mystery and thriller with a strong female protagonist that blends women's fiction with horror.Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.¿

"Peaky Blinders meets Return of the Living Dead...Bloody, violent fun!"-Todd Keisling, Stoker award nominated author of Devil's Creek "A tale of London's scum that is visceral, shocking, and fast, Boatman's Floaters is historical horror at its best."-Multiple Bram Stoker Award-winning author Lee Murray Fire and plague. Certainly no strangers to London Town. But when legions of living dead rise from the Thames' fetid waters to feast upon the living, the city teeters on the brink of antihalation. And while floaters seek blood, another army takes advantage of the chaos. Boiling out of their rookeries of crime, marauders swarm through London's affluent neighborhoods looting and burning. Hooligans vs the Living Dead: A Victorian Zombie Adventure! With the beleaguered police and the Queen's army battling twin plagues-human and inhuman-London's criminal youth gangs join forces to save their city. Will Tagget, leader of the Lambeth Lads, together with his enemies Bill Drummond of the Drury Lane Gang, bull-necked George Fish of the Elephant and Castle Gang, shillelagh-wielding Dirk Bogart of the New Cut Gang, Quincy Bird of City Road, along with their female counterparts-Lambeth Kate, Queen Jane, New Cut Beth, Razor Lil and Dirty Deidre-set out on an adventure the telling of which might earn a man a lifetime of free drinks. If he lives to tell it. Will these violent gangs put aside their rivalries long enough to get the job done? Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.¿

The spirits of the dead exist, and they want to communicate. First appearing in the late 1800s, spiritualism became a religious movement that swept the nation. Under the assumption that the dead live on in the afterlife, spiritualists believed that contact with the dearly departed was not only possible, but something those who crossed over longed for. Contact was usually made through a medium, a person who claimed to have the ability to speak with the dead. There Is No Death, There Are No Dead is a horror anthology that tackles all aspects of the spiritualist movement: from the true believers to the nay-sayers, the hoaxes to hauntings, the real mediums to the scam artists. From ghosts to possessions, from profound loss to insurmountable grief, these short stories explore limitless genres (historical fiction, Gaslamp mystery, modern horror, and everything in between) with a diverse cast of characters challenged at every corner. There Is No Death, There Are No Dead includes new work from some of the most talented and respected authors in the horror and dark fantasy genres, featuring stories from Gemma Files, Helen Marshall, Kathe Koja, Lee Murray, David Demchuk, Lisa Morton, Gwendolyn Kiste, S.P. Miskowski, Seanan McGuire, Catherine Lord, Chesya Burke, Nadia Bulkin, Michelle Belanger, and Laird Barron, and edited by Bram Stoker Award winner Jess Landry and Aaron J. French. The dead are speaking. Will you hear? Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.

Seb McAlister is trapped between a circling mountain range in the desert. He needs to outwit a creature straight out of a Lovecraftian nightmare... and a fast car. Not to mention a ragtag group of would-be monster mashers racing alongside him.

Come peruse the dusty shelves of BOOK HAVEN. Scan the titles, study the strange trinkets that are lined up on display. Maybe pull aside the cobwebs and run your fingers alone the spines of the books, caress the artifacts. You will find many forgotten treasures and un-mined gems among the debris."Mark Allan Gunnells is one of our best short story writers, and this book continues that tradition. I loved reading this collection!"-John R. Little, author of Miranda, The Memory Tree, and The Murder of Jesus ChristFrom the author of Flowers in a Dumpster comes a new collection of stories to terrify you, to move you, to make you think. In the title novella, readers are introduced to a future where all literature has been lost, but a group of government agents are on the hunt for the mythological Book Haven, a vast secret library. Along the way, they encounter mysteries and betrayals and are not sure who they can trust.With Book Haven and Other Curiosities, Gunnells provides an eclectic mix of tales to entertain and engage the imagination. Some of what you find will be horrifying, some of it beautiful, but all of it is yours for the taking. We're so glad you found your way here and welcome you in side BOOK HAVEN.

This collection of dark speculative tales will lead the reader on a roller coaster ride through the unknown, where things aren't always what they seem.Now that you've warmed by the embers, submerse in darker days.The author of the short story collections These Old Tales, Fresh Cut Tales, and Embers presents Darker Days: A Collection of Dark Fiction. In his youth Cain developed a sense of wonderment owed in part to TV shows like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, One Step Beyond and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Now Cain seeks the same dark overtones in his writing.There's a little something for every reader within this collection. These 26 short speculative stories arise from a void, escaping shadows that ebb and weave through minds like worms, planting the larvae that live just under the skin, thriving upon fear. These are Cain's darker days.In this collection, Cain features stories from the Old West, of past lives and future days, the living and the dead, new and unique monsters as well as fresh takes on those of lore. Once more he tackles themes of loss and grief and the afterlife, always exploring the greater unknown. In "The Sanguine Wars," Cain takes us to a future war where soldiers are made to endure the horrors of war. He explores the complexities of global warming and what lengths men and women alike sink to in "The Reassignment Project." And, as often is the case, he ends on a lighter note, with "Lenny's New Eyes" and "A Very Different Sort of Apocalypse."When the darkness comes, embrace it. Let it wrap you up in cold. Don't worry, it's not your time...yet.Table of Contents:"A Ring For His Own""Heirloom""Rust Colored Rain""Prey""Passing Time""What Mama Needs""My Brother Bit Your Honor Roll Student""Outcasts: The Sick and Dying 1 - Henry Wentworth""The Sanguine Wars""The Hunted""Her Living Corals""Puppet Strings""The Trying of Master William""By The Crescent Moon""Mantid""The Underside of Time and Space""Outcasts: The Sick and Dying 2 - Gemma Nyle""The Griffon""Adaptable""When They Come""The Reassignment Project""Presage""One Hopeless Night by a Clan Fire""Lenny's New Eyes""Outcasts: The Sick and Dying 3 - Anna Kilpatrick""A Very Different Sort of Apocalypse"Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.

The Legend Continues…In the spirit of popular Dark Fiction and Horror anthologies such as Gutted: Beautiful Horror Stories and Behold: Oddities, Curiosities and Undefinable Wonders, and the best of Stephen King's short fiction, comes Crystal Lake Publishing's Tales from The Lake anthologies.Where are the real horrors? Whether they be a family member returning from the dead, exploring the depths of depression or the deterioration of the mind, you'll find them here.This anthology contains twenty-two tales and three poems to elicit unexpected emotions, to bring you into the story. Welcome to my lake, where dreams really do come true… As nightmares!Includes work from Gemma Files, Lucy A. Snyder, Tim Waggoner, Gene O'Neill, Paul Michael Anderson, Craig Wallwork, Allison Pang, Stephanie M. Wytovich, Michelle Ann King, Cory Cone, Jonah Buck, Lucy Taylor, Laura Blackwell, Marge Simon, Robert Stahl, Jason Sizemore, Meghan Arcuri, Peter Mark May, Lane Waldman, Joanna Parypinski, Samuel Marzioli, Andi Rawson, and Bruce Boston.With an introduction by editor Kenneth W. Cain. Cover art by Ben Baldwin. Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing - Tales from The Darkest Depths.

Beatrice is back to face her greatest threat since. . .well, the last time!In Cooper's Cove a hapless team of archaeologists unleash the vengeful spirit of a 16th Century witch on the sleepy seaside town of Dorsal Finn. Hexes and curses fly as Beatrice and her friends must find out what links the appearance of this incredible foe and The Spirit of the Ocean, a super-yacht hosting the biggest celebrity charity event the town has ever seen.As the population of Dorsal Finn succumbs to witchcraft, so Beatrice must gate-crash the party with her motley-crew of friends and allies in the hope of stopping the witch's sinister plan, and save everyone from endless oblivion. . . Again. This novel is great for those who like their supernatural adventures laced with humour, sinister action and mystery. Fans of Stranger Things, The Goonies, The Librarians, The Monster Squad, Ghostbusters, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Nancy Drew will delight in the antics and adventures of Beatrice and her off-the-wall friends. Murder. Mystery. Monsters. Welcome to the world of Beatrice Beecham! Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.

"The Dead Stage - the period of time between completing the working draft of a stage play and placing it with an interested party." - Dan WeathererDan Weatherer, an author turned playwright, learned quickly that there are practices playwrights can implement to dramatically increase the appeal of their work.Inside, you'll find advice that will enable you to better tailor your work to the needs of the theatre industry, without having to compromise on style, content or subject matter. Dan discusses his early mistakes, and presents the advice of notable theatre professionals including the award-winning playwright, Deborah McAndrew, noted actor Matthew Spence, and London Horror Festival producer, Kate Danbury (along with many, many more!).You'll also be able to read several of Dan's completed stage plays, which are presented in a preferred industry format, and often contain side-notes detailing the success (and failures) of said pieces.From budgets to set design, run-time to cast size, if you ever felt the desire to write for the stage, following the advice presented in this book will help improve your chances of pairing your script with an interested party, hopefully making The Dead Stage pass almost unnoticed.Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.Interview with the author:What makes this non-fiction book so special?"Placing a stage play with a theatre company is (in my experience) more difficult than placing a book with a publisher. Open theatre calls are highly competitive, seeing hundreds of entries for a call that can possibly stage only three or four pieces. Quality of work is no longer enough to guarantee consideration for performance.The tips and advice contained in The Dead Stage allowed me to build an impressive portfolio of theatre work in a relatively short space of time. I believe it is important to share experiences if they may be able to help others achieve success."Tell us more about why you wanted to write this guide."Throughout my career, I have worked to create opportunities for others, believing it is better to be a small fish in a thriving ocean, rather than a big fish in a stagnant pond.This book is about sharing my experiences and mistakes, in the hope that I can help others avoid the pitfalls that I fell into.Theatre, more than any other medium, is a tough industry to break into. Every piece a playwright will write will always be in competition with work from the greatest playwrights of all time. Theatre is a business: seats need to be sold in order to keep theatres running, and so often established pieces are booked instead of the work of what many might term the 'New Writing'. This is because they are considered safe bookings, and the theatre will, in most instances, not lose money. New writing is considered a risk. Usually, theatres set aside a budget for new writing, but this is often small and tightly contested.But theatre needs new voices and there are theatre companies willing to give new writing a chance. This book is my way of saying that yes, it is possible to see your work performed on stage, no matter your previous experience in the theatre industry."If you have a passing interest in the theatre industry, either as a playwright, director, producer, actor or working behind the scenes, then this book is for you. It includes insights and advice from an array of professionals working at all levels of the industry today. Their advice helped me see my work performed on stage, now it's their turn to help you."

An emotional sampler of life on Earth as it once was.In this collection of sixteen dark, literary tales, disparate characters and their descendants twine and interconnect throughout America from the rural seventies to the post-apocalyptic, stitching together a nefarious mosaic of experiences.Whether delving into the exploits of a murderous police officer and a lapsing priest engaged in a battle of wills in the sun-blasted dunes of Death Valley, or an anthropologist couple sorting their infertility issues after inadvertently unleashing an Ice Age killer plague, or a mysterious ferry in the Pacific Northwest holding the darkest secrets of a private eye's final case, or a man so obsessed with touching the infinite that he eagerly volunteers for a one-way mission to preserve the final remnants of mankind, Dead Reckoning and Other Stories ultimately yields a kind of found almanac for human posterity.Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.Interview with the author:What makes this collection so special?Dino: Dead Reckoning and other stories attempts to create a mosaic of the American experience by presenting stories that touch on a variety of genres like horror, crime, science fiction, mystery, and rural noir, while also grazing elements of the bizarre and the western. Each dark tale is treated almost like an artifact, grouped by time periods and thematic elements from vengeance, to obsession, to the mysterious, to body horror, to the post-apocalyptic.Tell us more about your title story.Dino: What if a cop, driven to murderous vigilantism after seeing the legal system fail repeatedly, confesses to a suicidal priest mired in a crisis of faith and nothing left to lose? Dead Reckoning began as a simple image from a dream of a priest on horseback pulling a cop by rope over a desert dune, but in its writing, it became a test of wills-an exploration of law and faith, pushed to their violent, self-destructive extremes. Why should readers give your work a try?Dino: The collection attempts to collate an experience-a kind of found almanac for a future generation to find. Crossovers in character and events are sprinkled throughout, creating a shared-world experience in the vein of Stephen King's overall works. Fans of varying genres will find something to appreciate, especially if they're into authors like Stephen Graham Jones, Joyce Carol Oates, and Brian Evenson-writers who explore multiple genre tones from science fiction, horror, crime, and all their variants.

The tale of a widow's harrowing journey through grief and peril into the cold remnants of a dead world.Damon Sharpe had in part found victory, he believed, in his battle to unearth a truth obscured by time. By autumn, he was dead, leaving to his wife Anne a house of unfulfilled wishes, remnants, and the key to the enigma of his obsession, the Mourner's Cradle.A journey through grief and peril delivers Anne Sharpe from her home in St. Charles to the faraway skeletons of a long-dead civilization where she will find the desperate answers she seeks…or die trying.This horror novel is perfect for fans of… The Silent Corner by Dean Koontz The Fisherman by John Langan The Grieving Stones by Gary McMahon Daphne du Maurier Thomas Ligotti Shirley Jackson Dan SimmonsProudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.Interview with the author:So what makes this horror novella so special?It's a story of inner darkness and shattered remnants. Not everyone is comfortable confronting tragedy and loss, yet it's something most of us must eventually face. If the things we love are stripped away, what will remain? The Mourner's Cradle is the story of a widow, Anne Sharpe, and her battle to make sense of her husband's death, which places her on a dark and perilous path.Tell us more about your lead character.The invisible woman reveals herself. Her name is Anne Sharpe. People hardly noticed her before her husband's death. Not everyone understands her. Her grief has brought out a dark fury in her, though perhaps it has been there for some time and her husband's death was the catalyst for its liberation.Why should readers give this book a try?For a glimpse into the human abyss and a cold journey to long-forsaken pinnacles. So be careful, dear readers. You dance with skeletons.Do you have other books featuring these characters?The Mourner's Cradle shares its setting of St. Charles with my debut horror novella, Poisonous. Some readers will find some familiarity in this, though The Mourner's Cradle is its own story and a different tale of a different time.

"Kevin Lucia is this generation's answer to Charles L. Grant." - Brian KeeneThe things we want are so very rarely the things we need.Clifton Heights, a modest Adirondack town, offers many unique attractions. Arcane Delights sells both paperbacks and hard-to-find limited editions. The Skylark Diner serves the best home-cooked meals around, with friendly service and a smile. Every August, Mr. Jingo's County Fair visits, to the delight of children and adults. In essence, Clifton Heights is the quintessential small American town. Everyone knows everyone else, and everyone is treated like family. It is quiet, simple, and peaceful.But shadows linger here. Flitting in dark corners, from the corner of the eye. If you walk down Main Street after dark, the slight scrape of shoes on asphalt whispers you're not alone, but when you look over your shoulder, no one is there. The moon shines high and bright in the night sky, but instead of throwing light, it only seems to make the shadows lengthen.Children disappear. Teens run away. Hunters get lost in the woods with frightening regularity. Husbands go mad, and wives vanish in the dead of night. And still, when the sun rises in the morning, you are greeted by townspeople with warm waves and friendly smiles, and the shivers pass as everything seems fresh and new...Until night falls once more.Handy's Pawn and Thrift sits several blocks down from Arcane Delights. Like any thrift store, its wares range from the mundane to the bizarre. By daylight, it seems just another slice of small town Americana. But in its window hangs a sign which reads: We Have Things You Need. And when a lonely traveling salesman comes looking for something he desperately wants, after normal visiting hours, after night has fallen, he will face a harsh truth among the shelves of Handy's Pawn and Thrift: the things we want are rarely the things we need.Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing-Tales from the Darkest Depths.

17 horror Stories. One legendary music venue.We all know the old cliché: Sex, drugs and rock and roll. Now, add demons, other dimensions, monsters, revenge, human sacrifice, and a dash of the truly inexplicable. This is the story of the (fictional) San Francisco music venue, The Shantyman.In Welcome to the Show, seventeen of today's hottest writers of horror and dark fiction come together in devilish harmony to trace The Shantyman's history from its disturbing birth through its apocalyptic encore.Featuring stories by Brian Keene, John Skipp, Mary SanGiovanni, Robert Ford, Max Booth III, Glenn Rolfe, Matt Hayward, Bryan Smith, Matt Serafini, Kelli Owen, Jonathan Janz, Patrick Lacey, Adam Cesare, Alan M Clark, Somer Canon, Rachel Autumn Deering and Jeff Strand.Compiled by Matt Hayward. Edited by Doug Murano.Bring your curiosity, but leave your inhibitions at the door. The show is about to begin…