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The Past Is Present
by Kathleen WebbAfter the untimely death of her mother and father, twenty-four year old Catherine Morgan leaves the Cambridge home where she has spent the better part of her life, to move to Cornwall. She takes a job as a teacher, working in an old rambling school which has been converted from a domestic home, perched high up on a hilltop, overlooking the beautiful Cornish coastline. Out of the blue a letter arrives from a bank in Switzerland, advising Catherine that she is the sole heir to a fortune of over thirty million dollars. With no living relatives, save for a great aunt in the USA, Catherine sets out to uncover the source of this staggering inheritance, and to unravel the mystery that lies behind it. With the help of her great aunt, Catherine begins to dig deep into long forgotten family secrets. Strange dreams begin to plague her. She is haunted by the eerie feeling that someone from her family’s past is trying to help her. Catherine must work to make sense of the past while defending herself, and her fortune, from someone in the present who will stop at nothing to secure the money for themselves. The Past is Present is the debut novel by Kathleen Webb.
The Passenger: A Novel
by F. R. TallisNot all those on board are invited . . .1941. A German submarine, U-330, patrols the stormy inhospitable waters of the North Atlantic. It is commanded by Siegfried Lorenz, a maverick naval officer who does not believe in the war he is bound by duty and honour to fight in. U-330 receives a triple-encoded message with instructions to collect two prisoners from a vessel located off the Icelandic coast and transport them to the base at Brest, and British submarine commander, Sutherland, and an Norwegian academic, Professor Bjørnar Grimstad, are taken on board. Contact between the prisoners and Lorenz has been forbidden, and it transpires that this special mission has been ordered by an unknown source, high up in the SS. It is rumoured that Grimstad is working on a secret weapon that could change the course of the war . . . Then, Sutherland goes rogue, and a series of shocking, brutal events occurs. In the aftermath, disturbing things start happening on the boat. It seems that a lethal, supernatural force is stalking the crew, wrestling with Lorenz for control. A thousand feet under the dark, icy waves, it doesn't matter how loud you scream . . .
The Passage Trilogy: The Passage, The Twelve and City of Mirrors (The\passage Trilogy #Bk. 1)
by Justin Cronin'Enthralling...with the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. Read this book and the ordinary world disappears' Stephen KingThe PassageAn epic, awe-inspiring novel of good and evil...Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world.She is.Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.He's wrong.FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.It is.The TwelveThe eagerly anticipated sequel to the global bestseller The Passage...THE TWELVEDeath-row prisoners with nightmare pasts and no future.THE TWELVEUntil they were selected for a secret experiment.THE TWELVETo create something more than human.THE TWELVENow they are the future and humanity's worst nightmare has begun.THE TWELVEThe City of MirrorsIn life I was a scientist called Fanning.Then, in a jungle in Bolivia, I died.I died, and then I was brought back to life...Prompted by a voice that lives in her blood, the fearsome warrior known as Alicia of Blades is drawn towards to one of the great cities of The Time Before. The ruined city of New York. Ruined but not empty. For this is the final refuge of Zero, the first and last of The Twelve. The one who must be destroyed if mankind is to have a future.What she finds is not what she's expecting.A journey into the past.To find out how it all began.And an opponent at once deadlier and more human than she could ever have imagined.
The Passage: ‘Will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction’ Stephen King (The Passage Trilogy #1)
by Justin CroninNOW A MAJOR TV SERIES!'Enthralling ... richly imagined. Above all, Amy is a superb creation, believably human yet beguilingly enigmatic' Sunday TimesAmy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world.She is.Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.He's wrong.FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.It is.'Read 15 pages, and you will find yourself captivated; read 30 and you will find yourself taken prisoner and reading late into the night. It had the vividness that only epic works of fantasy and imagination can achieve. What else can I say? This: read this book and the ordinary world disappears' Stephen King
The Parliament of Blood
by Justin RichardsGeorge Archer, Liz Oldfield and Eddie Hopkins have survived some rather frightening events in their lives, but things are about to get much scarier. They discover that vampires do exist, are intent on taking over London and ending the human race. Together with Sir William Protheroe, they must research ancient Egyptian mummies, a secret underground London gentlemen's club, and a well-known theatre actor to try and stop the vampires from overthrowing Parliament and taking over the world.
The Pariah
by Graham MastertonThe quaint little seaside town of Granitehead seemed like a perfect place for John and Jane Trenton to start their life together. But disaster strikes and Jane and their unborn child are killed. John's grief is total, so when he starts to see the ghostly apparition of his wife he almost welcomes this supernatural phenomenon. Yet all is not what it seems, and this sinister spirit is not Jane, but something altogether evil and terrifying. In a bid to rid himself of this horrific spectre he soon finds that many more in the town have been victims of unwanted visitations. And when he discovers the body of a local busybody, impossibly impaled on a still hanging chandelier, he knows something must be done. But how do you kill the undead?As he searches for an explanation he uncovers a link to a mysterious ship, lost around the time of the nearby Salem witch trials. For three centuries the rotting wreck of the David Dark has lain beneath waves, but an awful secret is concealed in the chill waters...
ParaNorman: A Novel
by Elizabeth Cody KimmelNorman isn't afraid of ghosts. They're his friends - pretty much the only friends he has.When a terrible witch's curse unleashes a horde of zombies on his home-town, Norman needs to keep his head. And stop the zombies chewing on his brains.Not an easy job when you've just been grounded.It's a race against time: can Norman beat the zombies and save the day?
Parallel Hells
by Leon CraigIn this deliciously strange debut collection, Leon Craig draws on folklore and gothic horror in refreshingly inventive ways to explore queer identity, love, power and the complicated nature of being human.Some say that hell is other people and some say hell is loneliness . . .In the thirteen darkly audacious stories of Parallel Hells we meet a golem, made of clay, learning that its powers far exceed its Creator's expectations; a ruined mansion which grants the secret wishes of a group of revellers and a notorious murderer who discovers her Viking husband is not what he seems.Asta is an ancient being who feasts on the shame of contemporary Londoners, who now, beyond anything, wishes only to fit in with a group of friends they will long outlive. An Oxford historian, in bitter competition with the rest of her faculty members, discovers an ancient tome whose sinister contents might solve her problems. Livia orchestrates a Satanic mass to distract herself from a recently remembered trauma and two lovers must resolve their differences in order to defy a lethal curse.
The Paradox: An Oversight Novel (Oversight Trilogy #2)
by Charlie FletcherThe last members of the secret society known as the Oversight still patrol the border between the natural and supernatural, holding a candle to the darkness. But the society's new members are unproven, its veterans weary and battle-scarred. Their vulnerability brings new enemies to London, and surprising new allies from across the sea.But most surprising of all are revelations about the Oversight's past, secrets that will expose the true peril of the world in which their friends Sharp and Sara are trapped - the riddle of the Black Mirrors, and what lies beyond. And the catastrophic danger that will follow the duo home, if they ever manage to return.The dark waters rise. The candle is guttering. But the light still remains. For now . . .
The Paradise Trap (Playaway Children Ser.)
by Catherine JinksEleven year old Marcus loves video games and hates the beach. So he is not happy when his mum Holly drags him to Diamond Beach, the place she loved as a child. Once there, Holly meets Coco, her friend from her childhood. She is there with her electronics-obsessed husband, Sterling Huckstepp, and their kids, cool teenage Newt, pizza-loving Edison and the family robot, Prot. Opening a door into the basement of Holly's caravan, Edison discovers the most amazing amusement park. Whoever opens a door in the basement finds themselves in their very own dream vacation. But when the dream becomes impossible to escape from, it all begins to feel more like a nightmare: Marcus, Holly, and the Huckstepps find themselves trapped in a matrix of terrifyingly perfect dreamscapes peopled with strange characters that will allow them to do anything they want, except leave... A whirlwind adventure at a breakneck speed.
Pantomime (Micah Grey Trilogy #1)
by Laura LamIn a land of lost wonders, the past is stirring once more . . .Gene's life resembles a debutante's dream. Yet she hides a secret that would see her shunned by the nobility. Gene is both male and female. Then she displays unwanted magical abilities - last seen in mysterious beings from an almost-forgotten age. Matters escalate further when her parents plan a devastating betrayal, so she flees home, dressed as a boy. The city beyond contains glowing glass relics from a lost civilization. They call to her, but she wants freedom not mysteries. So, reinvented as 'Micah Grey', Gene joins the circus. As an aerialist, she discovers the joy of flight - but the circus has a dark side. She's also plagued by visions foretelling danger. A storm is howling in from the past, but will she heed its roar?
Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun
by Guillermo del Toro Cornelia FunkeThis enthralling novel, inspired by the 2006 film, illustrates that fantasy is the sharpest tool to explore the terrors and miracles of the human heartYou shouldn't come in here. You could get lost. It has happened before. I'll tell you the story one day, if you want to hear it. In fairy tales, there are men and there are wolves, there are beasts and dead parents, there are girls and forests. Ofelia knows all this, like any young woman with a head full of stories. And she sees right away what the Capitán is, in his immaculate uniform, boots and gloves, smiling: a wolf.But nothing can prepare her for the fevered reality of the Capitán's eerie house, in the midst of a dense forest which conceals many things: half-remembered stories of lost babies; renegade resistance fighters hiding from the army; a labyrinth; beasts and fairies.There is no one to keep Ofelia safe as the labyrinth beckons her into her own story, where the monstrous and the human are inextricable, where myths pulse with living blood ...
The Panic Zone (A Jack Gannon Novel #2)
by Rick MofinaA car crashes in Wyoming: A young mother is thrown clear of the devastating crash. Dazed, she sees a figure pull her son from the flames. Or does she? The police believe it's trauma playing tricks on the mind, until the woman hears a voice on the phone: "Your baby is alive."
Pandora: New Tales Of The Vampires (New Tales Of The Vampires Ser. #Bk. 1)
by Anne RiceA Vampire Chronicles novella from the internationally bestselling Anne RiceIn a cafe in modern-day Paris, in the aftermath of a fresh kill, the fearless and beautiful Pandora begins to tell her tale of treachery, vengeance and love stretching across two millennia. As a young mortal in Imperial Rome in the time of Caesar Augustus, Pandora was first introduced to the blood-tainted cult of Isis. Later, in exile in Antioch, she was drawn even further into the dark, ancient rites. Now looking back across the centuries, Pandora decides to return once more to New Orleans, to find the love of her early life, Marius, and to see once again the Vampire Lestat...
Pandemic: Infected Book 3 (The\infected Ser. #3)
by Scott SiglerScott Sigler is the voice in modern horror - and the INFECTED trilogy is a terrifying, menacing series that will leave you sleepless.The alien intelligence that unleashed two horrific assaults on humanity has been destroyed. But before it was brought down in flames, it launched one last payload - a tiny soda-can-sized canister filled with germs engineered to wreak new forms of havoc on the human race. That harmless-looking canister has languished under thousands of feet of water for years, undisturbed and impotent . . . until now.Days after the new disease is unleashed, a quarter of the human race is infected. Entire countries have fallen. And our planet's fate now rests on a small group of unlikely heroes, racing to find a cure before the enemies surrounding them can close in.
The Palgrave Handbook to Horror Literature
by Kevin Corstorphine Laura R. KremmelThis handbook examines the use of horror in storytelling, from oral traditions through folklore and fairy tales to contemporary horror fiction. Divided into sections that explore the origins and evolution of horror fiction, the recurrent themes that can be seen in horror, and ways of understanding horror through literary and cultural theory, the text analyses why horror is so compelling, and how we should interpret its presence in literature. Chapters explore historical horror aspects including ancient mythology, medieval writing, drama, chapbooks, the Gothic novel, and literary Modernism and trace themes such as vampires, children and animals in horror, deep dark forests, labyrinths, disability, and imperialism. Considering horror via postmodern theory, evolutionary psychology, postcolonial theory, and New Materialism, this handbook investigates issues of gender and sexuality, race, censorship and morality, environmental studies, and literary versus popular fiction.
The Palgrave Handbook of Steam Age Gothic
by Clive BloomBy the early 1830s the old school of Gothic literature was exhausted. Late Romanticism, emphasising as it did the uncertainties of personality and imagination, gave it a new lease of life. Gothic—the literature of disturbance and uncertainty—now produced works that reflected domestic fears, sexual crimes, drug filled hallucinations, the terrible secrets of middle class marriage, imperial horror at alien invasion, occult demonism and the insanity of psychopaths. It was from the 1830s onwards that the old gothic castle gave way to the country house drawing room, the dungeon was displaced by the sewers of the city and the villains of early novels became the familiar figures of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Dracula, Dorian Grey and Jack the Ripper. After the death of Prince Albert (1861), the Gothic became darker, more morbid, obsessed with demonic lovers, blood sucking ghouls, blood stained murderers and deranged doctors. Whilst the gothic architecture of the Houses of Parliament and the new Puginesque churches upheld a Victorian ideal of sobriety, Christianity and imperial destiny, Gothic literature filed these new spaces with a dread that spread like a plague to America, France, Germany and even Russia. From 1830 to 1914, the period covered by this volume, we saw the emergence of the greats of Gothic literature and the supernatural from Edgar Allan Poe to Emily Bronte, from Sheridan Le Fanu to Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson. Contributors also examine the fin-de-siècle dreamers of decadence such as Arthur Machen, M P Shiel and Vernon Lee and their obsession with the occult, folklore, spiritualism, revenants, ghostly apparitions and cosmic annihilation. This volume explores the period through the prism of architectural history, urban studies, feminism, 'hauntology' and much more. 'Horror', as Poe teaches us, 'is the soul of the plot'.
The Palgrave Handbook of Gothic Origins
by Clive BloomThis handbook provides a comprehensive overview of research on the Gothic Revival. The Gothic Revival was based on emotion rather than reason and when Horace Walpole created Strawberry Hill House, a gleaming white castle on the banks of the Thames, he had to create new words to describe the experience of gothic lifestyle. Nevertheless, Walpole’s house produced nightmares and his book The Castle of Otranto was the first truly gothic novel, with supernatural, sensational and Shakespearean elements challenging the emergent fiction of social relationships. The novel’s themes of violence, tragedy, death, imprisonment, castle battlements, dungeons, fair maidens, secrets, ghosts and prophecies led to a new genre encompassing prose, theatre, poetry and painting, whilst opening up a whole world of imagination for entrepreneurial female writers such as Mary Shelley, Joanna Baillie and Ann Radcliffe, whose immensely popular books led to the intense inner landscapes of the Bronte sisters. Matthew Lewis’s The Monk created a new gothic: atheistic, decadent, perverse, necrophilic and hellish. The social upheaval of the French Revolution and the emergence of the Romantic movement with its more intense (and often) atheistic self-absorption led the gothic into darker corners of human experience with a greater emphasis on the inner life, hallucination, delusion, drug addiction, mental instability, perversion and death and the emerging science of psychology. The intensity of the German experience led to an emphasis on doubles and schizophrenic behaviour, ghosts, spirits, mesmerism, the occult and hell. This volume charts the origins of this major shift in social perceptions and completes a trilogy of Palgrave Handbooks on the Gothic—combined they provide an exhaustive survey of current research in Gothic studies, a go-to for students and researchers alike.
The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic
by Clive Bloom“Simply put, there is absolutely nothing on the market with the range of ambition of this strikingly eclectic collection of essays. Not only is it impossible to imagine a more comprehensive view of the subject, most readers – even specialists in the subject – will find that there are elements of the Gothic genre here of which they were previously unaware.” - Barry Forshaw, Author of British Gothic Cinema and Sex and Film The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary Gothic is the most comprehensive compendium of analytic essays on the modern Gothic now available, covering the vast and highly significant period from 1918 to 2019. The Gothic sensibility, over 200 years old, embraces its dark past whilst anticipating the future. From demons and monsters to post- apocalyptic fears and ecological fantasies, Gothic is thriving as never before in the arts and in popular culture. This volume is made up of 62 comprehensive chapters with notes and extended bibliographies contributed by scholars from around the world. The chapters are written not only for those engaged in academic research but also to be accessible to students and dedicated followers of the genre. Each chapter is packed with analysis of the Gothic in both theory and practice, as the genre has mutated and spread over the last hundred years. Starting in 1918 with the impact of film on the genre's development, and moving through its many and varied international incarnations, each chapter chronicles the history of the gothic milieu from the movies to gaming platforms and internet memes, television and theatre. The volume also looks at how Gothic intersects with fashion, music and popular culture: a multi-layered, multi-ethnic, even a trans-gendered experience as we move into the twenty first century.
Pale Demon (Hollows Ser. #Bk. 9)
by Kim HarrisonA stirring instalment of the urban fantasy-thriller series starring Rachel Morgan. A pacey and addictive novel of sexy bounty-hunting witches, cunning demons and vicious vampires.
Palace of the Damned: The Saga Of Larten Crepsley Book 3 (The Saga of Larten Crepsley #3)
by Darren ShanIn the third instalment in the creepy, captivating Larten Crepsley series, Larten finds out what it means to love… but is he also damned to find out what it means to lose?
Palace of Shadows
by Ray CelestinAn outstanding historical novel for fans of The Essex Serpent and Piranesi, Ray Celestin's Palace of Shadows can lay claim to having at its centre the most Gothic House of them all . . .“I’m not asking you to build something impossible. I’m asking you to build something that contains all the strangeness and confusion that you can muster.”Samuel Etherstone, a penniless artist, is adrift in London. His disturbing art is shunned by patrons and critics alike, his friend Oscar Wilde is now an exile living in Paris, and a personal tragedy has taken its toll. So when he is contacted by a mysterious heiress, Mrs Chesterfield, and asked to work on a commission for the house she is building on the desolate Smugglers' Coast of North Yorkshire, he accepts the offer.Staying overnight in the local village pub, Samuel is warned not to spend too much time there. He is told of the fate of the house's original architect, Francisco Varano, chilling tales of folk driven mad by the house, of it being built on haunted land where young girls have vanished, their ghosts now calling others to their deaths...It is only on arrival at the Chesterfield house that he learns the sinister details of Varano's disappearance. And yet its owner keeps adding wing upon wing, and no one will tell him the reason behind her chilling obsession . . . But as Samuel delves deeper into the mysteries that swirl about the house, the nature of the project becomes terrifyingly clear.
The Painted Man: The Painted Man, The Desert Spear, The Daylight War Plus The Great Bazaar And Brayan's Gold And Messenger's Legacy (The Demon Cycle #1)
by Peter V. BrettA stunning special edition of Peter V. Brett’s thrilling debut THE PAINTED MAN, the modern fantasy classic that began The Demon Cycle, featuring over 30 illustrations by acclaimed fantasy artist Dominik Broniek.
The Painted Man (The Demon Cycle #1)
by Peter V. BrettThe stunning debut fantasy novel from author Peter V. Brett. The Painted Man, book one of the Demon Cycle, is a captivating and thrilling fantasy adventure, pulling the reader into a world of demons, darkness and heroes.
The Painted Bride
by Stephen GallagherThe woman in the red dress. He called it the painted bride. Pippa showed the picture to her father and her father called the police. They had Jack in a room all yesterday and kept asking him about it. Now they're all trying to twist it by saying it means something.""What are they trying to say?""That he must have seen her lying on the kitchen floor. That the rainbow means he saw her blood come out.