Gothic Short Stories

Haunted Castles is the definitive, complete collection of Ray Russell's masterful Gothic horror stories, including the famously terrifying novella trio of "Sardonicus", "Sanguinarius", and "Sagittarius", The characters that sprawl through Haunted Castles are frightful to the core: the heartless monster holding two lovers in limbo; the beautiful dame journeying down a damned road toward depravity (with the help of an evil gypsy); the man who must wear his fatal crimes on his face in the form of an awful smile.

Arthur Conan Doyle was the greatest genre writer Britain has ever produced. Throughout a long writing career, he drew on his own medical background, his travels, and his increasing interest in spiritualism and the occult to produce a spectacular array of Gothic tales. Many of Doyle's writings are recognized as the very greatest tales of terror. They range from hauntings in the polar wasteland to evil surgeons and malevolent jungle landscapes. This collection brings together over 30 of Conan Doyle's best Gothic tales

Here 19 classic tales from masters of the genre. The collection comprises 'Schalken the Painter' by J. S. Lefanu; 'Sredni Vashtar' by Saki (H. H. Munro); 'The Room in the Tower' by E. F. Benson; 'Charles Ashmore's Trail' by Ambrose Bierce; 'The Mark of the Beast' by Rudyard Kipling; 'The Castle of Ratcliffe Cross' by J. Wadham; 'The Bead Necklace' by Alice Perrin; 'The Oval Portrait' by Edgar Allan Poe; 'The Leather Funnel' by Arthur Conan Doyle; 'Berenice' by Edgar Allan Poe; and many more.

Audible presents a special edition of The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde narrated by Richard Armitage. With Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Richard Armitage tells the story of a conflicted man who seeks a remedy to free the monster inside him from the clutches of his conscience. Following his celebrated performance of David Copperfield, Armitage delivers another powerhouse performance as the narrator of this Gothic tale.

A ghostly presence in “The Lady’s Maid’s Bell” desires revenge against a tyrannical husband. In “Mr. Jones”, Lady Jane Lynke inherits an estate unexpectedly, and can’t make sense of how to manage the servants - especially since the caretaker has been dead for decades, but keeps giving orders. Meanwhile, in “Afterward”, a newly wealthy American couple moves into a large, isolated house in southern England complete with a ghost...and the mysteries surrounding the husband’s business are slowly uncovered.

At the age of 12, Joel Knox is summoned to meet the father who abandoned him at birth. But when Joel arrives at the decaying mansion in Skully's Landing, his father is nowhere in sight. What he finds instead is a sullen stepmother who delights in killing birds; an uncle with the face - and heart - of a debauched child; and a fearsome little girl named Idabel who may offer him the closest thing he has ever known to love.

When bar owner Devon Kincaid finds a bleeding man - a hot, hard, handsome, naked bleeding man - in the snow one night, she brings him home to care for him. He's definitely not like any man she's ever met before, but what she doesn't realize is that he's not just a man.

Dare to enter Harmony House... if you can survive its curse. Nestled in the heart of Brooklyn, New York, Harmony House is a striking estate with an allure that draws people in—only to trap them in a web of terror. Five new owners have crossed its threshold, each unaware of the horrors waiting inside. What starts as a dream home quickly turns into a nightmare as they confront the malevolent spirits that haunt its halls. Each story reveals the twisted history of Harmony House through the eyes of its ill-fated residents. From terrifying apparitions to sinister forces that toy with the mind, ...

In a world of shadows, love defies every curse. In Victorian London, a dark, forbidden love unfolds in this spellbinding gothic romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast. When the enigmatic Lord Ravenwood—cursed, tormented, and haunted by betrayal—encounters the spirited Lavinia Ashcroft, their fates become irrevocably entwined. Bound by secrets and driven by a relentless desire to defy an enchanted curse, their union becomes a battleground between the man and the beast within him. As Ravenwood’s monstrous past threatens to consume him, Lavinia’s mystical gift reveals hidden truths ...

The next novella in the New York Times bestselling Sworn Soldier series, featuring Alex Easton investigating the dark, mysterious depths of a coal mine in America. "The audiobook narrated by Avi Roque is delightful." —BuzzFeed News on What Moves the Dead Alex Easton does not want to visit...

Struggling writer Elijah stumbles on an antique fountain pen buried in a forgotten desk. The words flow like never before—vivid, raw, unstoppable. But something isn’t right. The stories feel too real. Too alive. As fiction bleeds into reality, Elijah must uncover the pen’s secret before it finishes his story for him. Dark, elegant, and addictive, The Ink Thief is a gothic short story that grips from the first line and doesn’t let go.

The Graveyard: A Terrifying Horror Short Story Five friends. One graveyard. A night they’ll never escape. Danny O’Keefe and his friends only wanted a few beers, a smoke, and some ghost stories under the October moon. But when a rusted chain snaps from an old headstone, they unleash something that should have stayed buried—a centuries-old curse tied to Abigail Drear and her coven of witches. What begins as a thrill turns into a nightmare of fog, decay, and unholy resurrection. One by one, the friends face horrors beyond imagination: dead hands clawing from the dirt, corpses animated by...

Behind a crooked door on a rain-slick street waits a shop that should not exist. Its shelves do not simply hold books—they keep their readers. Within these walls, the grieving find voices that speak back, the ambitious discover words too sharp to control, and the broken are offered bindings that demand flesh. Each volume promises revelation, but the price is always written in advance: memory, voice, sight, or the self itself. The Bookshop of Shadows is a chilling collection of interconnected horror tales, where every story stands alone yet leads deeper into the shop’s impossible ledger....

Some rooms don't forget. Some dolls don't stay burned. And some names should never be remembered. Corinne thought she left the horrors behind when she escaped the burning house. But memory doesn’t die—it braids itself deeper. In her new apartment, she finds a hidden door sealed beneath layers of paint… and behind it, a room that knows her name. As thread seeps into her teeth and dolls reassemble with the faces of the dead, Corinne uncovers a terrifying truth: she was never meant to survive the legacy—only carry it. Now, the thirteenth braid tightens, and the stitched voices call her...

He rang the bell for absolution. The frost answered instead. Graduate student Elias Greer came to a ruined mountain monastery for solitude, research, and escape from his past. But Saint Agatha’s is more than ivy and stone. It is a Veiled Place—where echoes speak truths not yet confessed, and the cold itself listens. Veyr, the frost wight of the belfry, has lingered for a century—starved for warmth, aching for devotion. His presence moves through the air like breath, his touch lingering in the frost that coils across mirrors and skin. Elias should resist. Instead, he kneels in ...

📖✨ Fairy tales were never meant to be safe… ✨📖 Step into the shadows of Grimm & Twisted, where the classic fairy tales you thought you knew unravel into chilling, dark, and unexpected new versions. This collection takes beloved folklore and injects it with mystery, horror, and surreal twists—where Cinderella’s slipper leads her to a curse, the Big Bad Wolf is the least of Red Riding Hood’s problems, and a sleeping beauty might never wake up... or maybe she never really slept at all. With 25 original, nightmarish retellings, this book is perfect for lovers of dark fantasy, ...

Welcome to Madison, Georgia, where the magnolias bloom, the tea is sweet, and the monsters are real. In this cozy horror anthology, the charming town of Madison hides secrets in its flowerbeds and shadows in its attics. Behind every wrought-iron fence and sun-warmed porch lies something unexpected: a banshee who quilts in the carriage house, a wight who prefers crossword puzzles to haunting, a wendigo who wears sweaters by the fire, and cryptids who just want someone to talk to. But don’t be fooled by the cobblestone streets and Southern charm. The ghouls here are real and love has a ...

Short stories have always been a sort of instant access into an author’s brain, their soul and heart. They can lift our lives into locations, people and experiences with a sweep of landscape, narration, feelings and emotions that are difficult to achieve elsewhere. The Gothic short story is one of the most enduring of genres. In this volume we explore works by classic authors from all corners of Europe as they explore and exploit narratives with their undeniable talents.

In a marshbound village where time sags and secrets linger, the old bell at St. Olwen’s chapel tolls once more. Thomas Wherrit has buried dozens beneath its shadow. But when the bell rings without warning—and no grave awaits—unease begins to fester. Something is stirring in the soil. And this time, the call feels personal. The Gravedigger’s Bell is a chilling standalone tale from Sebastian Blackwood—perfect for fans of eerie folklore, quiet dread, and stories that leave their echo long after the last page.

I didn’t know what I was walking into that night. A friend’s birthday, a high-end club, and there he was—a shadow in the corner, all piercing eyes and lethal charisma. I knew Marcus was trouble the moment he looked my way, but something in his gaze was calling me to him, despite the warning etched into every line of his face. He told me to stay away. Told me his world was too dark, that I was too good for him. But even then, I could feel it: a pull that went deeper than reason, tethering me to the danger he carried. Soon, it wasn’t enough to just watch from the sidelines—I wanted ...