Oskar doesn't have many friends. So when Eli moves in next door, things seem to be improving. She's a little strange, and her 'father' is frankly sinister, but at least she likes Oskar. Then a child's body is found hanging from a tree, and all hell breaks loose. Is it a serial killer? Or something a bit...different?
“Lindqvist’s short stories pack the same emotional punch as his novels. . . . excellent . . . well worth reading—just not alone in a cold, dark house.” —Booklist A classic short story collection from the writer called Sweden's Stephen King that continues the breathtaking story begun in the internationally acclaimed classic Let the Right One In Because of the two superb films made of John Ajvide Lindqvist's vampire masterpiece Let the Right One In, millions of people around the world know the story of Oskar and Eli and of their final escape from Blackeberg at the end of the novel. Now at last, in “Let the Old Dreams Die,” the title story in this absolutely stunning collection, we get a glimpse of what happened next to the pair. “Let the Old Dreams Die” is not the only stunner in this collection. In “Final Processing,” Lindqvist also reveals the next chapter in the lives of the characters he created in Handling the Undead. ”Equinox” is a story of a woman who takes care of her neighbor's house while they are away and readers will never forget what she finds in the house. Every story meets the very high standard of excellence and fright factor that Lindqvist fans have come to expect. Totally transcending genre writing, these are world class stories from possibly the most impressive horror writer writing today. Praise for John Ajvide Lindqvist: “John Ajvide Lindqvist is a force to reckoned with. Brilliant.” ―MTV.com “Sweden's answer to Stephen King.” ―Daily Mirror (UK)
These days it takes a very special vampire movie to stand out. Like Twilight, the Swedish film Let the Right One In is a love story between a human and a vampire but there the resemblance ends. Let the Right One In is not a romantic fantasy but combines the supernatural with social realism. Set on a housing estate in the suburbs of Stockholm in the early 1980s, it's the story of Oskar, a lonely, bullied child, who makes friends with Eli, the girl in the next apartment. 'Oskar, I'm not a girl,' she tells him and she's not kidding. They forge a relationship which is oddly innocent yet disturbing, two outsiders against the rest of the world. But one of these outsiders is, effectively, a serial killer. While Let the Right One In is startlingly original, it nevertheless couldn't have existed without the near century of vampire cinema that preceded it. Acclaimed film critic and horror novelist Anne Billson looks at how it has drawn from, and wrung new twists on, such classics as Nosferatu (1922), how vampire cinema has already flirted with social realism in films like Near Dark (1987) and how vampire mythology adapts itself to the modern world.
In his new novel, John Ajvide Lindqvist does for zombies what his previous novel, Let the Right One In, did for vampires. Across Stockholm the power grid has gone crazy. In the morgue and in cemeteries, the recently deceased are waking up. One grandfather is alight with hope that his grandson will be returned, but one husband is aghast at what his adored wife has become. A horror novel that transcends its genre by showing what the return of the dead might really mean to those who loved them.
Four families wake up one morning in their caravans, next to their cars, on an ordinary campsite in southern Sweden. However, during the night something strange has happened. Everything else has disappeared, and the world has been transformed into an endless expanse of grass. The sky is blue, but there is no sign of the sun; there are no trees, no flowers, no birds. And every radio plays nothing but the songs of sixties pop icon Peter Himmelstrand. As the holiday-makers try to come to terms with what has happened, they are forced to confront their deepest fears and secret desires, and in many cases expose the less appealing aspects of their character. Past events that they have tried to bury rise to the surface and take on a terrifying physical form. Can any of them find a way back to reality? I Am Behind You is a compelling, eerie new novel from the internationally bestselling author of Let the Right One In. John Ajvide Lindqvist lives in Sweden. His first novel, Let the Right One In, was published in thirty countries and adapted into two feature films. His novels Handling the Undead, Harbour and Little Star are also published by Text Publishing. ‘As imaginative and brilliant as any of [Stephen] King’s famous stories...Eerie and compelling.’ Canberra Weekly ‘A genuine skin-crawler of a book.’ Otago Daily Times ‘Every character—even the animals—is finely drawn in a surreal tale that is simply extraordinary.’ Courier-Mail ‘[Lindqvist’s] talent for psychological horror takes a new twist in his latest novel...A slow-burner with a few intense thrills up its sleeve.’ Sydney Morning Herald ‘Things end badly, with throat-cutting, melting flesh and a gruesome motoring accident, all timed impeccably and reported with unblinking clarity.’ NZ Listener ‘Simply delicious...Lindqvist’s talent in exposing the truer nature of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances is evident once again...Dive in and question it yourself!’ AustCrime
This introductory volume offers an elegant analysis of the enduring appeal of the cinematic vampire. From Georges Méliès' early cinematic experiments to Twilight and Let the Right One In, the history of vampires in cinema can be organised by a handful of governing principles that help make sense of this movie monster's remarkable fecundity. Among these principles are that the cinematic vampire is invariably about sex and the vexed human relationship with technology, and that the vampire is always an overdetermined body condensing what a culture considers other. This volume includes in-depth studies of films including Powell's A Fool There Was, Franco's Vampyros Lesbos, Cronenberg's Rabid, Kümel's Daughters of Darkness, and Merhige's Shadow of the Vampire.
On a winter trip home to the island of Domarö, Anders and Cecilia take their six-year-old daughter Maja across the ice to visit the lighthouse at Gåvasten. And Maja disappears. Leaving not even a footprint in the snow. Two years later, alone and more or less permanently drunk, Anders returns to Domarö to confront his despair. He slowly realises that Maja's disappearance is not the first inexplicable tragedy to strike the islanders. Nor is everyone telling him all they know; even his own grandmother, it seems, is keeping secrets. And what is it about the sea? There's something very bad happening on Domarö. Something that involves the sea itself. John Ajvide Lindqvist serves up a masterful cocktail of suspense laced with bizarre humour and a narrative that barely pauses for breath. Harbour is also a heartbreaking study of loss and guilt: a novel whose epic climax pits the infinite force of nature against the implacable love of a father for his child.
Abby's life as a vampire is dangerous enough as it is, and it's about to get much worse - the murder rate in the little town where she lives is climbing fast, and this time she's not the one responsible. Abby and her guardian, Thomas must fight to protect her secret from a new monster who wants their home, and wants them dead.--From back cover.
'The new Stephen King. Don't miss it' The Times He found her as a baby, abandoned in the forest. He saved her life. With her first breath - a perfect, musical note - he realised she was no ordinary child. It was for her own protection that he hid her from the authorities. Was it his fault, what she turned into? Or was that why she was left for dead in the first place? The girl who became a little star. Who became, with her extraordinary powers, the most terrifying thing imaginable. In John Ajvide Lindqvist's fourth masterpiece, he ratchets up the tension until the story reaches its blood-chilling conclusion. In doing so, he confirms his place as the undisputed new king of horror.
On December 31, 1980, a masked killer crashes the New Year's Eve party at the Rollerville roller disco, turning a night of fun into a night of murder and mayhem.