"Ziska" is a supernatural and thrilling story about love, passion, treason and revenge, set in the late 19th-century Cairo. Ziska is a reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian woman who was killed by her lover once he got tired of her. The reincarnated Ziska is beautiful, mysterious, seductive, and has stolen the hearts of all the young men, including the famous French painter Armand Gervase, who has just arrived in Cairo. Gervase immediately falls for Ziska, feeling that he knows her from somewhere. At same time, he is the only man Ziska has eyes for, because he looks exactly like the man who killed her...
When archaeologist Thomas Ashley is invited to remote Devonshire by Lucian Mallory to examine and decipher millennia-old papyrus scrolls, he is unable to resist the offer, despite knowing of Mallory's sinister and unsavory reputation. The scrolls, retrieved from an ancient necropolis, purportedly contain Egyptian secrets of resurrection and immortality. From the moment of Ashley's arrival, it is clear something is terribly wrong: a gruesome murder has been committed, and everyone is fearful a madman is on the loose. But the truth is far more shocking. As the murders continue, Ashley works to uncover the secrets contained in the scrolls and begins to glimpse the horrific reality of Mallory's inscrutable plan ... Originally published as a limited edition Arkham House hardcover and long out of print, The Third Grave (1981) is a chilling tale by David Case (1937-2018), an undeservedly neglected master of literary horror. Two volumes of Case's best short fiction are also available from Valancourt. "Case should be considered among the half-dozen finest living practitioners of the horror story." - Michael Dirda, The Washington Post "Let us hear more of David Case . . . The field needs more from the author of 'The Hunter', a modern classic worthy to stand beside 'The Most Dangerous Game'." - Ramsey Campbell
In this classic novel of psychological terror, an unrelenting storm forces three travelers to take shelter in a sinister mansion. A powerful storm rages through the Welsh mountains, driving three travelers off the road. Philip Waverton, his wife, Margaret, and their friend Roger Penderel are desperate to get out of the torrential downpour. Their only option is a mysterious old mansion, home to the bizarre Femm family and their brutish butler, Morgan. Although the Femms have plenty rooms in their home, they are hesitant to allow guests to stay in them. Instead, Penderel and the Wavertons must settle in for the night by the ground-floor fireplace and hope the storm will pass by morning. But as the hours go by, their situation only gets worse. The storm intensifies, and the dark house begins revealing its secrets—like what lies behind the two locked doors on the top floor. Now the travelers can only pray they survive until morning . . . Published in 1927, Benighted served as the basis for the 1932 James Whale film The Old Dark House, starring Boris Karloff, Melvyn Douglas, and Gloria Stuart. It was J. B. Priestly’s second novel. “Priestley’s book is a beautifully written affair, oftentimes thrilling and touching, that this reader found perfect company during a few recent stormy days in late October. . . . The novel will surely manage to chill the modern-day reader.” —Fantasy Literature
What is buried in the crypts of the Gothic? Building on psychoanalytic research on haunting, cryptonymy and melancholy, as well as on French philosophies of language, this book explores how haunting is not just a Gothic narrative device but the symptom of an impossibility of representation and of an irreparable loss at the heart of language.
"All my life I've dreamed of the dead." Thanatrauma: the dread of it erodes you, the shadows waiting at the end, the impending conclusion, the troubling dream from which you will not wake. These 21 stories - four published here for the first time - explore some of our fundamental fears: death, loss, grief, and aging. In "Reflections in Black," a man takes a phantasmagoric Halloween journey in search of a former love. In "The Parts Man," a man enters a desperate contract with a sinister entity in a long, vintage automobile. The darkly beautiful "The Dead Outside My Door" is a haunting post-apocalyptic tale unlike any you've ever read. Other offerings include "Whatever You Want," in which a Christmas wish has terrible consequences; "Torn," a bizarre version of a highly personalized Hell; and "The Way Station," a tribute to the legendary Stefan Grabinski. Also included is "August Freeze," from the lost, undistributed Winter 1985 issue of Weird Tales. Winner of the Bram Stoker, World Fantasy, and British Fantasy Awards, Steve Rasnic Tem has established himself as one of today's finest writers of horror and weird fiction. In this new collection, which is by turns chilling and thought-provoking, Tem is at his very best.
From the New York Times best-selling author of The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires comes a nostalgic and unflinchingly funny celebration of the horror fiction boom of the 1970s and ’80s. Take a tour through the horror paperback novels of two iconic decades . . . if you dare. Page through dozens and dozens of amazing book covers featuring well-dressed skeletons, evil dolls, and knife-wielding killer crabs! Read shocking plot summaries that invoke devil worship, satanic children, and haunted real estate! Horror author and vintage paperback book collector Grady Hendrix offers killer commentary and witty insight on these trashy thrillers that tried so hard to be the next Exorcist or Rosemary’s Baby. Complete with story summaries and artist and author profiles, this unforgettable volume dishes on familiar authors like V. C. Andrews and R. L. Stine, plus many more who’ve faded into obscurity. Also included are recommendations for which of these forgotten treasures are well worth your reading time and which should stay buried.
In a career spanning almost 50 years, Lisa Tuttle has proven herself a master of the weird tale, and now this new collection of twelve unsettling stories - some never previously collected - offers readers a chance to discover some of her finest work. In 'Replacements', a woman adopts a monstrous pet, with unforeseen consequences. In 'Born Dead', a stillborn child mysteriously continues to grow just like a living one. 'My Pathology' (whose ending Thomas Tessier has cited as one of the best in the history of horror) explores the sinister results of a couple's alchemical experiments. And a book lover in 'The Book That Finds You' has her life changed in strange ways by the discovery of a rare horror book at a second-hand bookshop. In these weird and chilling tales, Tuttle is at her diabolical best. This edition features an introduction by Lisa Kröger, and each story is specially introduced by the author.
Doctor Nikola’s goal in life is to achieve world domination and immortality. When he finds out that a secret society in Tibet is way more powerful than any other human being or government on the planet, he decides to set off on a long adventure. This society can teach Nikola how to extend life and raise the dead. But are they willing to share their knowledge? Can Doctor Nikola somehow force them to do so? Find out in "Dr Nikola Returns". Guy Boothby was an Australian author who lived in the period 1867-1905. His earlier works described life in Australia, but he gained wide popularity with his later fiction, which offered a vivid combination of crime, science fiction and horror stories. Boothby is well known for his Doctor Nikola series, a collection of novels telling the story of an occultist who seeks immortality and world domination. Other popular stories by him are "A Prince of Swindlers", which tells the story of a thief, and "Uncle Joe's Legacy and Other Stories", which is a collection of ghost stories. All in all, Guy Boothby left the world a colourful and rich literary legacy.
What if there were a whole world of great horror fiction out there you didn't know anything about, written by authors in distant lands and in foreign languages, outstanding horror stories you had no access to, written in languages you couldn't read? For an avid horror fan, what could be more horrifying than that? For this groundbreaking volume, the first of its kind, the editors of Valancourt Books have scoured the world, reading horror stories from dozens of countries in nearly twenty languages, to find some of the best contemporary international horror stories. The stories in this volume come from 19 countries on 5 continents and were originally written in 13 different languages. All 20 foreign language stories in this volume are appearing in English for the first time ever. The book includes stories by some of the world's preeminent horror authors, many of them not yet known in the English-speaking world.
