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Crater Lake
by Jennifer KillickThe Times Children's Book of the WeekIt could be the mysterious bloodstained man who tries to stop their coach, or the fact no one seems to be around at the brand-new activity centre when Lance and the rest of his class arrive for the Year 6 school trip, but something is definitely not right at Crater Lake! What follows is a fight for survival that sees five pupils band together to save their classmates from an alien fate far worse than death. But whatever happens, they must Never, Ever fall asleep!
The Midnight Swan (The Clockwork Crow)
by Catherine FisherWith an invisible girl, a parliament of owls and a pen that writes by itself, the journey to the Garden of the Midnight Swan might be Seren's most dangerous adventure yet. In this third book of the award-winning The Clockwork Crow series, Seren and Tomos must try to help the Crow find the way back to his human form. But why is Captain Jones enquiring about Seren's past? How have the sinister Fair Family gate-crashed the Midsummer Ball, and what is the one desire of the mysterious Midnight Swan?
Crater Lake: Evolution (Crater Lake #2)
by Jennifer KillickIt's five months since the nightmare Year Six school trip to Crater Lake, and something has gone very wrong in Lance's home town of Straybridge. There's been an explosion at the university, a mysterious test creature is missing and no one is allowed in or out of the town. On top of this, Lance has lost touch with his friends since starting at his new school. And now his mum has been acting strangely since they started decorating the Christmas tree.As he goes door to door trying to reunite his team, Lance realises how bad things have got. Now he, Katja, Max, Chets and Ade, plus new friend Karim, must think bigger and bolder if they are to save their families. But there's something else out there too ... something straight out of their nightmares.
The Red Gloves and Other Stories
by Catherine FisherGripping stories of myth, folklore and magic:Two step-brothers share one nightmare; red gloves that reach for your throat; a changing room where a stranger asks to swap lives with you; and a ghost in the rain... An expert storyteller weaves nine spells. Fear mixed with wit, heart and magic.
Mordew
by Alex PhebyGOD LIES DEFEATED, his corpse hidden in the catacombs beneath Mordew.On the surface, the streets of this the sea-battered city are slick with the Living Mud and the half-formed, short-lived creatures it spawns - creatures that die and are swept down from the Merchant Quarter by the brooms of the workers and relentless rains, where they rot in the slums.There, a young boy called Nathan Treeves lives with his parents, eking out a meagre existence by picking treasures from the Living Mud - until one day his mother, desperate and starving, sells him to the mysterious Master of Mordew.The Master derives his power from feeding on the corpse of God. But Nathan, despite his fear and lowly station, has his own strength – and it is greater than the Master has ever known. Great enough to destroy everything the Master has built. If only Nathan can discover how to use it.So it is that the Master begins to scheme against him - and Nathan has to fight his way through the betrayals, secrets, and vendettas of the city where God was murdered, and darkness reigns…WELCOME TO MORDEW – THE FIRST IN A FANTASTIC NEW TRILOGY FROM THE WELLCOME BOOK PRIZE-SHORTLISTED WRITER, ALEX PHEBY.
Malarkoi: Cities Of The Weft - Book II
by Alex PhebyNATHAN TREEVES IS DEAD, murdered by the Master of Mordew, his remains used to create the powerful occult weapon known as the Tinderbox.His companions are scattered, making for Malarkoi, the city of the Mistress, the Master’s enemy. They are hoping to find welcome there, or at least safety. They find neither – and instead become embroiled in a life and death struggle against assassins, demi-gods, and the cunning plans of the Mistress.Only Sirius, Nathan’s faithful magical dog, has not forgotten the boy. Bent on revenge, he returns to the shattered remains of Mordew – only to find the city morphed into an impossible mountain, swarming with monsters. He senses something in the Manse at its pinnacle – the Master is there, grieving the loss of his manservant, Bellows – and in the ruins of the slums Sirius finds a power capable of destroying his foe, if only he has the strength to use it.The stage is set for battle, sacrifice, magic and treachery in the stunning sequel to Mordew. ... Welcome to Malarkoi..
Demon's Fire (The DS Taylor Nicks and DC Marcus Black Series)
by Lee CockburnDemon's Fire is the third instalment in the crime thriller series featuring DS Taylor Nicks and DC Marcus Black. The City had barely settled back to normal when the sky turned orange as flames licked upwards and smoke billowed out from a quiet industrial estate in Edinburgh. Blood-curdling screams of those trapped within were muffled by the sound-proofed room as the women climbed desperately over one another to try and escape, their efforts futile against their prison walls, their captors slain where they sat, bullet holes in their heads. Human trafficking, prostitution, drug dealing, kidnapping, violence and murder hidden in plain sight in Edinburgh City Centre. Drug dealer Burnett’s grip on the city has no limits, and he will stop at nothing to ensure that remains the case. Nicks and Black struggle to secure evidence against him within the confines of the law, but an enemy of Burnett, hell-bent on revenge, doesn’t have to play by their rules. A thrilling story of crime and retribution, good versus evil, Demon's Fire will have you on the edge of your seat as the tentacles of despair take hold of your emotions. Hearts are broken and others mended as the tale gathers momentum, the lives of the officers forever entwined by fate.
Beast (Six Stories)
by Matt WesolowskiElusive online journalist Scott King examines the chilling case of a young vlogger found frozen to death in the legendary local ‘vampire tower’, in another explosive episode of Six Stories…‘Matt Wesolowski brilliantly depicts a desperate and disturbed corner of north-east England in which paranoia reigns and goodness is thwarted. It's a big ask to come up with a new vampire tale, but Wesolowski achieves it magnificently. He is an exceptional storyteller' Andrew Michael Hurley‘Disturbing, compelling and atmospheric, it will terrify and enthral you in equal measure’ M W Craven‘Beautufully written, smart, compassionate – and scary as hell. Matt Wesolowski is one of the most exciting and original voices in crime fiction’ Alex North________________In the wake of the 'Beast from the East' cold snap that ravaged the UK in 2018, a grisly discovery was made in a ruin on the Northumbrian coast. Twenty-four-year-old Vlogger, Elizabeth Barton, had been barricaded inside what locals refer to as 'The Vampire Tower', where she was later found frozen to death.Three young men, part of an alleged 'cult', were convicted of this terrible crime, which they described as a 'prank gone wrong'. However, in the small town of Ergarth, questions have been raised about the nature of Elizabeth Barton's death and whether the three convicted youths were even responsible.Elusive online journalist Scott King speaks to six witnesses – people who knew both the victim and the three killers – to peer beneath the surface of the case. He uncovers whispers of a shocking online craze that held the young of Ergarth in its thrall and drove them to escalate a series of pranks in the name of internet fame. He hears of an abattoir on the edge of town, which held more than simple slaughter behind its walls, the tragic and chilling legend of the ‘Ergarth Vampire… Both a compulsive, taut and terrifying thriller, and a bleak and distressing look at modern society's desperation for attention, Beast will unveil a darkness from which you may never return…________________‘Endlessly inventive and with literary thrills a-plenty, Matt Wesolowski is boldly carving his own uniquely dark niche in fiction’ Benjamin Myers‘A gripping and incredibly powerful novel of our times – the Six Stories series just keeps getting better and better’ Kevin Wignall‘Creepy, exciting and very well written’ Yrsa Sigurðardóttir‘Such a fantastic, creepy read!’ Elodie Harper‘Absolute genius’ Louise Beech‘Edgy and dark’ From Belgium with Book Love‘Wesolowski is on addictive, chilling and macabre form’ Tattooed Book Geek‘Visually stunning and chillingly complex. Five stars are not enough’ The Book Trail‘The epitome of a page-turner’ The Book Review Café‘Excellently chilling, fantastically dark’ The Reading Closet‘A spectacular read’ Emma’s Bookish Corner
I Am Dust
by Louise BeechWhen iconic musical Dust is revived twenty years after the leading actress was murdered in her dressing room, a series of eerie events haunts the new cast, in a bewitching, beguiling, moving and terrifyingly dark psychological thriller…‘A delicate supernatural thriller of love, loss, murder and the dangers that come with getting what you wish for. Quite lovely in a dark, dark way’ Sarah Pinborough‘Ghost story, murder mystery, romance. This mesmerising and entertaining book has it all…’ Emma Curtis‘Haunting, provocative, and true to Beech’s style: packed with pain and heart’ Jack Jordan_________________________________A haunted theatreA murdered actressThree cursed teenagersA secret that devastates them all…The Dean Wilson Theatre is believed to be haunted by a long-dead actress, singing her last song, waiting for her final cue, looking for her killer…Now Dust, the iconic musical, is returning after twenty years. But who will be brave enough to take on the role of ghostly goddess Esme Black, last played by Morgan Miller, who was murdered in her dressing room?Theatre usher Chloe Dee is caught up in the spectacle. As the new actors arrive, including an unexpected face from her past, everything changes. Are the eerie sounds and sightings backstage real or just her imagination? Is someone playing games?Is the role of Esme Black cursed? Could witchcraft be at the heart of the tragedy? And are dark deeds from Chloe’s past about to catch up with her?Not all the drama takes place onstage. Sometimes murder, magic, obsession and the biggest of betrayals are real life. When you’re in the theatre shadows, you see everything.And Chloe has been watching…________‘A bold, original concept brilliantly executed … I adored it’ John Marrs‘A delicate and mesmerising thriller’ Matt Wesolowski‘Dark and haunting … further cements Louise Beech as one of the most original and exciting authors of the moment’ Claire Allan‘Loads of twists and turns as the tension ramps up to breaking point’ Gill Paul‘This book is about believing in yourself and finding out that you had the power all along’ Madeleine Black‘It kept me reading until my eyes hurt and kept me thinking about it long after I’d finished’ Fionnuala Kearney‘A work of almost tangible atmosphere and authenticity … poignant and layered’ S. E. Lynes‘This book works magically, emotionally and psychologically’ Carol Lovekin‘A floating, lyrical, almost mystical‘ Jen Med’s Book Reviews‘Atmospheric, haunting and sprinkled with magic’ Literary Elf‘Spooky, mysterious, chilling and emotional’ Off-the-Shelf Books‘Unnerving, scary, creepy and heartbreakingly sad’ Tales Before Bedtime‘Beautifully evocative’ Espresso Coco‘Sheer emotional brilliance’ The Tattooed Book Geek‘I’ll be surprised if I read anything as good as this in 2020’ TripFiction
Hinton Hollow Death Trip (Detective Sergeant Pace Series #3)
by Will CarverFive days in the history of a small rural town, visited and infected by darkness, are recounted by Evil itself. A stunning high-concept thriller from the bestselling author of Good Samaritans and Nothing Important Happened Today.‘Cements Carver as one of the most exciting authors in Britain. After this, he’ll have his own cult following’ Daily Express________________It’s a small story. A small town with small lives that you would never have heard about if none of this had happened.Hinton Hollow. Population 5,120.Little Henry Wallace was eight years old and one hundred miles from home before anyone talked to him. His mother placed him on a train with a label around his neck, asking for him to be kept safe for a week, kept away from Hinton Hollow.Because something was coming.Narrated by Evil itself, Hinton Hollow Death Trip recounts five days in the history of this small rural town, when darkness paid a visit and infected its residents. A visit that made them act in unnatural ways. Prodding at their insecurities. Nudging at their secrets and desires. Coaxing out the malevolence suppressed within them. Showing their true selves.Making them cheat.Making them steal.Making them kill.Detective Sergeant Pace had returned to his childhood home. To escape the things he had done in the city. To go back to something simple. But he was not alone. Evil had a plan. ________________Praise for Will Carver‘Weirdly page-turning’ Sunday Times‘Laying bare our 21st-century weaknesses and dilemmas, Carver has created a highly original state-of-the-nation novel’ Literary Review‘Arguably the most original crime novel published this year’ Independent‘At once fantastical and appallingly plausible … this mesmeric novel paints a thought-provoking if depressing picture of modern life’ Guardian‘This book is most memorable for its unrepentant darkness…’ Telegraph‘Unlike anything else you’ll read this year’ Heat‘Utterly mesmerising…’ Crime Monthly
Deity (Six Stories #5)
by Matt WesolowskiOnline investigative journalist Scott King investigates the death of a pop megastar, the subject of multiple accusations of sexual abuse and murder before his untimely demise in a fire … another episode of the startlingly original, award-winning Six Stories series.‘First-class plotting’ S Magazine‘A dazzling fictional mystery’ Foreword Reviews‘Readers of Kathleen Barber’s Are You Sleeping and fans of Ruth Ware will enjoy this slim but compelling novel’ Booklist––––––––––––––––––––––––A shamed pop starA devastating fireSix witnessesSix storiesWhich one is true?When pop megastar Zach Crystal dies in a fire at his remote mansion, his mysterious demise rips open the bitter divide between those who adored his music and his endless charity work, and those who viewed him as a despicable predator, who manipulated and abused young and vulnerable girls.Online journalist, Scott King, whose Six Stories podcasts have become an internet sensation, investigates the accusations of sexual abuse and murder that were levelled at Crystal before he died. But as Scott begins to ask questions and rake over old graves, some startling inconsistencies emerge: Was the fire at Crystal’s remote home really an accident? Are reports of a haunting really true? Why was he never officially charged?Dark, chillingly topical and deeply thought-provoking, Deity is both an explosive thriller and a startling look at how heroes can fall from grace and why we turn a blind eye to even the most heinous of crimes…––––––––––––––––––––––––Praise for the Six Stories series‘Matt Wesolowski brilliantly depicts a desperate and disturbed corner of north-east England in which paranoia reigns and goodness is thwarted … an exceptional storyteller' Andrew Michael Hurley‘Beautifully written, smart, compassionate – and scary as hell. Matt Wesolowski is one of the most exciting and original voices in crime fiction’ Alex North‘Insidiously terrifying, with possibly the creepiest woods since The Blair Witch Project … a genuine chiller with a whammy of an ending’ C J Tudor‘Endlessly inventive and with literary thrills a-plenty, Matt Wesolowski is boldly carving his own uniquely dark niche in fiction’ Benjamin Myers‘Frighteningly wonderful … one of the best books I’ve read in years’ Khurrum Rahman‘Disturbing, compelling and atmospheric, it will terrify and enthral you in equal measure’ M W Craven‘Bold, clever and genuinely chilling with a terrific twist that provides an explosive final punch’ Deidre O’Brien, Sunday Mirror‘A genuine genre-bending debut’ Carla McKay, Daily Mail'Impeccably crafted and gripping from start to finish’ Doug Johnstone, The Big Issue‘The very epitome of a must-read’ Heat‘Wonderfully horrifying … the suspense crackles’ James Oswald‘Original, inventive and dazzlingly clever’ Fiona Cummins‘A complex and subtle mystery, unfolding like dark origami to reveal the black heart inside’ Michael Marshall Smith‘Haunting, horrifying, and heartrending. Fans of Arthur Machen, whose unsettling tale The White People provides an epigraph, will want to check this one out’ Publishers Weekly‘Matt Wesolowski has just the formula to meet your self-scaring needs… ‘ Strong Words magazine‘A masterly piece of storytelling, very sinister, deliciously entertaining’ New Books Magazine
The Beresford
by Will CarverEverything stays the same for the tenants of The Beresford, a grand old apartment building just outside the city … until the doorbell rings… Will Carver returns with an eerie, deliciously and uncomfortably dark standalone thriller._______________Just outside the city – any city, every city – is a grand, spacious but affordable apartment building called The Beresford.There’s a routine at The Beresford.For Mrs May, every day’s the same: a cup of cold, black coffee in the morning, pruning roses, checking on her tenants, wine, prayer and an afternoon nap. She never leaves the building.Abe Schwartz also lives at The Beresford. His housemate, Sythe, no longer does. Because Abe just killed him. In exactly sixty seconds, Blair Conroy will ring the doorbell to her new home and Abe will answer the door. They will become friends. Perhaps lovers. And, when the time comes for one of them to die, as is always the case at The Beresford, there will be sixty seconds to move the body before the next unknowing soul arrives at the door.Because nothing changes at The Beresford, until the doorbell rings…Eerie, dark, superbly twisted and majestically plotted, The Beresford is the stunning standalone thriller from one of crime fiction’s most exciting names.
Demon (Six Stories #6)
by Matt WesolowskiScott King’s podcast investigates the 1995 cold case of a demon possession in a rural Yorkshire village, where a 12-year-old boy was murdered in cold blood by two children. Book six in the chilling, award-winning Six Stories series._______________________In 1995, the picture-perfect village of Ussalthwaite was the site of one of the most heinous crimes imaginable, in a case that shocked the world.Twelve-year-old Sidney Parsons was savagely murdered by two boys his own age. No reason was ever given for this terrible crime, and the ‘Demonic Duo’ who killed him were imprisoned until their release in 2002, when they were given new identities and lifetime anonymity.Elusive online journalist Scott King investigates the lead-up and aftermath of the killing, uncovering dark stories of demonic possession, and encountering a village torn apart by this unspeakable act.And, as episodes of his Six Stories podcast begin to air, and King himself becomes a target of media scrutiny and the public’s ire, it becomes clear that whatever drove those two boys to kill is still there, lurking, and the campaign of horror has just begun..._______________________
The Loss Of Some Detail
by Mandi MartinForget all you know, for all you know might well be false. That is how is often seems to asylum worker James Grey as he tends to the patients abandoned to Oculus Mentis, an austere asylum lost to the world. His day to day quite literally forgettable. Until now. Slowly the world around him starts to change. Plagued by lucid dreams, a haunting drawing and visions of a pleading female he feels his mind is dissolving. Aided by the enigmatic Silas and silent Marianne he seeks to solve the mysteries that are tormenting him.
Miss Blaine's Prefect and the Weird Sisters
by Olga WojtasFifty-something librarian Shona is a proud former pupil of the Marcia Blaine School for Girls, but has a deep loathing for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, which she thinks gives her alma mater a bad name. Impeccably educated and an accomplished martial artist, linguist and musician, Shona is selected by Marcia Blaine herself to travel back in time for a crucial mission involving Macbeth, the weird sisters and a black cat.Unsure which version of history she’s in, Shona tries to figure out who she’s here to save. But between playing the Fool and being turned into a mouse, things don’t always go her way. Shona’s expertise in martial arts is put to the test as family tensions rise and fingers are pointed for murder. Can Shona unravel the mystery in time to complete her mission?Never underestimate a librarian!
Go Back at Once
by Robert AickmanCompleted by Robert Aickman in 1975; but never before published in the USA; Go Back at Once is a delicious; delirious comic fantasy about the joys and terrors experienced by two young women seeking to escape the degradations of our technological and conformist age by fleeing to a chaotic; poet-ruled utopia.
Bad Eminence
by James GreerMeet Vanessa Salomon, a privileged and misanthropic French-American translator hailing from a wealthy Parisian family. Her twin sister is a famous movie star, which Vanessa resents deeply and daily. The only man Vanessa ever loved recently killed himself by jumping off the roof of her building. It’s a full life.Vanessa has just started working on an English translation of a titillating, experimental thriller by a dead author when she’s offered a more prominent gig: translating the latest book by an Extremely Famous French Writer who is not in any way based on Michel Houellebecq. As soon as she agrees to meet this writer, however, her other, more obscure project begins to fight back – leading Vanessa down into a literary hell of traps and con games and sadism and doppelgangers and mystic visions and strange assignations and, finally, the secret of life itself.Peppered with ‘sponsored content’ providing cocktail recipes utilizing a brand of liquor imported by the film director Steven Soderbergh, and with a cameo from the actress Juno Temple, Bad Eminence is at once a sexy, old-school literary satire in the mode of Vladimir Nabokov, as well as a jolly thumb in the eyes of contemporary screen-life and digital celebrity.
Fifty Forgotten Books
by R. B. RussellFifty Forgotten Books is a very special sort of book about books, by a great bibliophile and for book-lovers of all ages and levels of experience. Not quite literary criticism, not quite an autobiography, it is at once a guided tour through the dusty backrooms of long vanished used bookstores, a love letter to bookshops and bookselling, and a browser’s dream wish list of often overlooked and unloved novels, short story collections, poetry collections and works of nonfiction. In these pages, R. B. Russell, publisher of Tartarus Press, doesn’t only discuss the books of his life, but explains what they have meant to him over time, charting his progress as a writer and publisher for over thirty years, and a bibliophile for many more. Here is living proof of how literature, books, and book collecting can be an intrinsic part of one’s personal, professional and imaginative life, and as not only a solitary act, but a social one, resulting in treasured friendships, experiences, and loves one might never, otherwise, have enjoyed. Filled with a lively nostalgia for the era when finding strange new books meant pounding the pavement and not just searching booksellers’ websites, Fifty Forgotten Books is for anyone who wishes they could still browse the dusty bookshelves of their youth, and who can't wait to get back out into the world in quest of the next text liable to change their life.
Screams & Nightmares: The Films of Wes Craven
by Brian J RobbIn a remarkable career that spanned more than forty years, writer, producer, and director Wes Craven successfully tapped into the horror vein to create scary, funny, cutting-edge thrillers that have become classics in the genre. His films have been both critical and commercial successes, most notably A Nightmare on Elm Street, which spawned a series of sequels and made Craven (and his creation, Freddy Krueger) an international sensation. He then created a second indelible horror movie series with Scream. In Screams & Nightmares, Brian J. Robb examines Craven’s entire career, from his low-budget beginnings to his most recent box office hits, from the banned thriller The Last House on the Left and the cult classic The Hills Have Eyes to the outrageous Shocker and The People Under the Stairs . Through exclusive interviews with Craven, Robb provides in-depth accounts of the making of each of the films – including the final instalments of the Scream series – Craven’s foray into writing novels, and his numerous television projects, charting the rich tapestry of his life and career until his death in 2015.
The Black Vampyre: A Legend of St. Domingo
by Uriah Derick D'ArcyWARNING! Contains moderate bloody violence against slavers and plantation owners!This pioneer vampire tale from 1819 spills revenge-cold blood as its narrator leads us through high gothic terror to radical outrage on the subject of slavery, reaching a blood-soaked conclusion dripping with 'biting' polemic vilifying the bankers who caused the economic recession of that same year.An anti-capitalist horror fable from 200 years ago, The Black Vampyre vilified the worst financial predation the capitalist world would ever see, decades before Karl Marx ― the enslavement of Africans in the New World.One dead man said no! And this is his story.The Black Vampyre; A Legend of St. Domingo tells the affrighting tale of a slave who is resurrected as a vampire after being killed by his owner; the slave seeks revenge by stealing the owner's son and marrying the owner's wife. The anonymous writer D'Arcy sets the story against the conditions that led to the Haitian Revolution.First published in chapbook form in New York in 1819, this emancipatory tale from literary New York in the 1810s arguably dates the birth of horror as know it!This edition features a new introduction as well as extensive notes and a guide to literary allusions.
Ghostwriting
by John HerdmanA delicious study in paranoia from the master of the modern Scottish Gothic. Ghost-writer Leonard Balmain finds himself drawn into an unwanted complicity with the dark revelations unfolding within that of his subject ― the mysterious Torquil Tod. When Tod's tale turns into murder and sexual betrayal, Leonard realises he knows too much and is in danger of ending up on the very pages of Tod's turbulent history.Black magic, sacrificial murder and cannibalism collide in an uneasy voyage towards, and from beyond, the grave."A dark, cautionary tale, utterly compelling and charged with Herdman's unwavering sense of irony and his sharp satirical bite." Brian McCabe, The Scotsman."A story of deception and betrayal, of obsession and confused identities, but more importantly it is Herdman's best novel." Carl MacDougall, The HeraldBlack magic, sacrificial murder and cannibalism collide in an uneasy voyage towards, and from beyond, the grave.Brian McCabe, The Scotsman ."A powerful evocation of the uncanny psychological bonding between ghost biographer Leonard Balmain and his elusive and sinister subject, Torquil Tod..... Herdman captures very clearly the tone of the dramatic monologues of Hogg and Stevenson, while managing to maintain a contemporary resonance."Douglas Gifford, Books in Scotland"Hogg's and Stevenson's manic private memorists meet the postmodernist theories they anticipated. Cleverly, Ghostwriting investigates the paradoxes of narrative itself ... The novel wears its intellectual sophistication lightly."Gavin Wallace, Chapman
Little Apples
by Ricky Monahan BrownAn aspiring writer of gothic fiction and his wife move upstate when financial crisis hits New York City. Their destination ― a house that was once the height of modernity and the orchard that they establish there. As the couple begin a new life, crisis continues to stalk them. Astrid is slowly consumed by her beloved apple trees. The police are joined by the local community in investigating a headline missing person case, and nothing is quite as it seems. Then, when the pair seem to have established their own personal Eden, they must confront the ungodly powers gathering in the roots of the surrounding forests. Ricky Monahan Brown’s Little Apples has all the aromatic flavour of the modern Gothic: sharply tart amid rot and decay. This dark and wry tale explores some of the strangest manifestations ever to be found growing at the heart of a contemporary marriage.
Heaven Burns
by Jen McGregorHeaven Burns is a historical novella, dramatising one of the most barbarous practices prevalent in Restoration Scotland.It is 1662 and Scotland suffers a scourge of witches. What else could explain the wars, the plagues, the storms?Runaway housewife Isobel has a duty to do, acting as clerk to John Dixon, the finest witchpricker in the country. She’s sure it’s what God wants her to do. She’s sure she can keep her growing feelings for Dixon in check.When a stranger appears telling wild tales of stolen names and false identities, Isobel’s loyalty is put to the test. Is the stranger telling her of a great wrong to be put right, or sent from Hell to thwart the witch hunts?*The background to Heaven Burns is very real. Research estimates that between 1590 and 1622, around 1,000 women may have been executed in Scotland for witchcraft, and many more tried.In Scotland, under the second King Charles, and especially after the passing of the 1649 Witchcraft Act, local religious leaders began hunt and execute witches. Once a woman had been accused of witchcraft, all that was needed by the local minister was a confession. Instead of a confession however, women could be condemned through the use of witchpricking. Just as it sounds, witch pricking was a vicious practice, which involved pricking accused women with various needles in order to obtain proof of witchcraft.The cover and interior illustrations of Heaven Burns show an imaginative rendering of some of the witchpricker’s accoutrements and chattelsAs well as being brutally drawn in places, Heaven Burns is also a story of passion. It is excellently researched, for anyone interested in historical fiction, especially around the period of Scottish witch hunting.
Between the Virgin and the Sea
by Cath BartonCath Barton's melancholic novella Between The Virgin and the Sea is set in an unnamed city which has fallen off the map of the world, and is accessible now only by sea.Violence has broken out in the city and the people, fearing that the church is involved, pray instead at roadside shrines.The story tells the events of a day at the end of which the white statue of the Virgin which stands on a hill overlooking the city may ― or may not ― come to life to restore peace to its people. Central to the story and living in the barrios is a boy called Tag, the things of which he dreams and the maps he draws.Set in a surreal and changing city, in which pizza delivery is carried out by donkey, and nothing may be what it seems, Between the Virgin and the Sea explores themes of childhood and coming of age.A captivating blend of magical realism, tender comedy, and literary experimentation, Between the Virgin and the Sea is a captivating portrait of urban life quite unlike any other.
Chilling Cocktails: Classic Cocktails with a Horrifying Twist
by Jason WardDid Silence of the Lambs leave you reaching for a smooth bottle of dry red wine?After reading The Shining did you have an unaccountable urge to sip a red rum concoction?And did Bram Stoker's Dracula induce a craving for... well, perhaps the less said about that the better.If so, fear not – you are not alone! Chilling Cocktails is a creepy compendium of 50 drinks inspired by the most frightening horror stories ever written. Each delicious recipe is accompanied by dark and compelling facts and anecdotes about the inspiring story, certain to get you in the mood for a cool refreshment.What's more, if you can keep your appetite after reading the grisly details, a selection of complementary snack ideas are also sprinkled throughout. Try pairing 'Dracula's Kiss' with some 'Night of the Living Dead Cheddar Bites'. Or 'Carrie's Prom Punch' with 'Paranormal eggtivity Deviled Eggs'.The perfect gift for the horror and booze fan in your life, Chilling Cocktails is all you need to get the party started for your next horror movie night or Halloween party – just make sure the doors and windows are locked first!