Showing results for "Ghosts of Christmas Past Neil Gaiman" in All Categories

From Dickens's A Christmas Carol to the ghost stories of M.R. James, the tradition of a haunted tale at Christmas has flourished across the centuries. The twelve stories of The Winter Spirits are all centred around Christmas or Advent, boldly and playfully re-imagining a beloved tradition for a modern audience. Taking you from a haunted Tuscan villa to a remote Scottish island with a dark secret, and drawing inspiration from festive traditions from all around the globe, these vibrant haunted stories are your ultimate companion for frosty nights.

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen…but do you recall the most petrifying Christmas figures of all? Not all children fear just a lump of coal in their stockings. Discover the terrifying Yuletide fables, folktales, and folklore that have horrified kids (and adults) for generations...

Hugo Award-winning editor, and horror legend Ellen Datlow presents a terrifying and chilling horror anthology of original short stories exploring the endless terrors of winter solstice traditions across the globe, featuring chillers by Tananarive Due, Stephen Graham Jones, Alma Katsu, and many more. This anthology of all-new stories invites you to huddle around the fire and revel in the unholy, the dangerous, the horrific aspects of a time when families and friends come together—for better and for worse.

From the dark mind of John Durgin, author of The Cursed Among Us and Inside The Devil's Nest, comes nine suspense-filled tales that will have you gasping for breath.

Robert Aickman, the supreme master of the supernatural, brings together eight stories in which strange things happen that the reader is unable to predict. His characters are often lonely and middle-aged, but all have the same thing in common: they are brought to the brink of an abyss that shows how terrifyingly fragile our piece of mind actually is. 'The Unsettled Dust', 'The House of the Russians', 'No Stronger Than a Flower', 'The Cicerones' and 'Ravissante' first appeared in the Sub Rosa collection in 1968, but the stories were published together as The Unsettled Dust in 1990.

A teen girl and her family return to her mother's childhood home, only to discover that the house's strange beauty may disguise a sinister past, in this contemporary gothic horror from the author of What We Harvest. A BOOKPAGE AND KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR The house was supposed to be...

First published in the US in 1988 and in the UK in 1990, The Wine-Dark Sea contains eight unsettling stories that explore protagonists' fears and desires, at once illogical and terrifying, and culminate in a disturbing and enigmatic ending. Aickman's "strange stories" (his preferred term for them) are a subtle exploration of psychological displacement and paranoia; his characters ordinary people that are gradually drawn into the darker recesses of their own minds. For fans of the horror genre, Robert Aickman is a must read.

Welcome to Hallmark, Vermont, the setting for every cliched Christmas dream. Idyllic and picturesque, it's where real Christmas magic happens. Here, a lonely librarian bumps into the man of her dreams and is swept away into a whirlwind romance. A big city girl runs into her high school sweetheart and rekindles a forgotten spark. A secret prince escapes the pressures of royalty - and finds his true love. Except this year, something sinister has infected Hallmark's Christmas magic, turning Christmas morning dreams into Christmas Eve nightmares.

t’s the first anniversary of the mysterious death of Edward Luddenham, found dead at his home on the Yorkshire moors one frosty Christmas Eve. Now nine people gather at his manor house for the reading of the Will. Each has their own motivations for coming: curiosity, duty, unrequited love, desperation, greed. They have been instructed to bring a “festive mystery story” to share.

Strange, scary rumors are flying about the tiny, snowy town below the mountains. Some say a tiger sprang loose from a circus train and roams the snowy meadows. Some say it stalks in the wintry forests. Some say it’s a monster.

Although well-known for her novels of manners and social critique, such as The House of Mirth and the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Age of Innocence, Edith Wharton was also a master of the ghost story. Her ghostly characters appear in many different forms, haunting such places as a splendid English country estate, a lonely house on the coast of storm-tossed Brittany, and an isolated New England village.

From the acclaimed Civil War historian, a brilliant new history—the most intimate and richly readable account we have had—of the climactic three-day battle of Gettysburg (July 1–3, 1863), which draws the reader into the heat, smoke, and grime of Gettysburg alongside the ordinary soldier...

Reggie and Midge, genteel husband and wife who live in what was the family's more or less stately home, are now the reluctant managers of Chortlesby Manor Hotel, an English country inn of no particular distinction. But even this transformation will not solve their financial problems. The possibility of succor comes instead in a transatlantic phone call from Midge's old classmate, Victoria, who is arranging "mystery tours" of the English countryside for American visitors and wants to use Chortlesby Manor as one of the locales of her staged murders.

New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice An anthropologist working with forensic teams and victims’ families to investigate crimes against humanity in Latin America explores what science can tell us about the lives of the dead in this haunting account of grief, the power of ritual, and...

One of Amazon's Best Romances of December · An Indie Next Pick · A December LibraryReads Pick · A Shondaland Best Book of December The Renaissance Faire is on the move, and Lulu and Dex are along for the ride, in the next utterly charming rom-com from Jen DeLuca. A high-powered attorney...

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER ONE OF TIME'S 100 BEST MYSTERY AND THRILLER BOOKS OF ALL TIME In this masterpiece of modern American horror that inspired Stanley Kubrick’s classic film, Jack Torrance takes a job as the caretaker of the remote Overlook Hotel. As the brutal winter sets in...

Hanna Harp’s incendiary debut paranormal dark romance, perfect for fans of Sadie Kincaid’s Forged in Blood and Keri Lake’s Anathema, follows Cade, a devoted hunter fighting to shield his sister Callisto from a haunting generational curse, but when a mysterious spirit begins to break down...

When Leeds meets Layla, he’s convinced he’ll spend the rest of his life with her - until an unexpected attack leaves Layla fighting for her life. After weeks in the hospital, Layla recovers physically, but the emotional and mental scarring has altered the woman Leeds fell in love with. In order to put their relationship back on track, Leeds whisks Layla away to the bed-and-breakfast where they first met. Once they arrive, Layla’s behavior takes a bizarre turn. And that’s just one of many inexplicable occurrences.

As the days grow shorter and the temperature drops, Halloween approaches. Come, brave listener, pull up a chair, and spend some time with master storyteller Stephen Fry as he tells us some of his favourite ghost stories of all time, in truly terrifying spatial audio. From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the tortured spirits of M.R. James, from Edgar Allan Poe’s terrifying tale of a doppelganger to Charlotte Riddell’s Open Door that should definitely stay shut, join Stephen as he tells you some truly terrifying tales.

Since the 1970s, FantasticLand has been the theme park where "Fun is Guaranteed!" But when a hurricane ravages the Florida coast and isolates the park, the employees find it anything but fun. Five weeks later, the authorities who rescue the survivors encounter a scene of horror. Photos soon emerge online of heads on spikes outside of rides and viscera and human bones littering the gift shops, breaking records for hits, views, likes, clicks, and shares.

“Wild, mesmerizing, perversely witty….A Valentine from hell.” —Janet Maslin, New York Times The publication of Joe Hill’s beautifully textured, deliciously scary debut novel Heart-Shaped Box was greeted with the sort of overwhelming critical acclaim that is rare for a work of...

For four aging men in the terror-stricken town of Milburn, New York, an act inadvertently carried out in their youth has come back to haunt them. Now they are about to learn what happens to those who believe they can bury the past - and get away with murder. Peter Straub's classic best seller is a work of "superb horror" ( Washington Post Book World) that, like any good ghost story, stands the test of time - and conjures our darkest fears and nightmares.

Some doors are better left closed . . . Darkly profound and utterly chilling, Apartment 16 is a work of compulsive psychological horror from the award-winning author of The Ritual, Adam Nevill. ‘Fast becoming Britain's answer to Stephen King’ – The Guardian In Barrington House, an upmarket...

There’s nothing too unusual about a father asking his son for a favor—unless, of course, the father in question has been dead for five years. Thomas, a young virtuoso pianist living a quiet, carefully structured life in France, is stunned when his late father, Raymond, suddenly appears in his home. He’s not a ghost in the traditional sense—he’s real enough to ask for help. His request? That Thomas travel with him to San Francisco to find Camille, the long-lost love of his life.

The New York Times bestselling author of Promise Not to Tell returns with a simmering literary thriller about ghostly secrets, dark choices, and the unbreakable bond between mothers and daughters . . . sometimes too unbreakable. West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange...

GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK As the Civil War looms, a young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister’s ghost in this “poignant story of love, family and friendship [that] celebrates the power of liberation” (People). “An enrapturing tale of survival...

Eel Marsh house stands alone, surveying the windswept salt marshes beyond Nine Lives Causeway. Mrs Alice Drablow lived here as a recluse. Now Arthur Kipps, a junior solicitor with a London firm, is summoned to attend her funeral, unaware of the tragic and terrible secrets which lie behind the house's shuttered windows.

Academy Award, Golden Globe, and Emmy winner Emma Thompson lends her immense talent and experienced voice to Henry James' Gothic ghost tale, The Turn of the Screw. When a governess is hired to care for two children at a British country estate, she begins to sense an otherworldly presence around the grounds. Are they really ghosts she's seeing? Or is something far more sinister at work?

“Joyland is a breathtaking, beautiful, heartbreaking book....Even the most hardboiled readers will find themselves moved” (Charles Ardai, Edgar- and Shamus Award-winning editor of Hard Case Crime). Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the...

When Elsie married handsome young heir Rupert Bainbridge, she believed she was destined for a life of luxury. But pregnant and widowed just weeks after their wedding, with her new servants resentful and the local villagers actively hostile, Elsie has only her late husband’s awkward cousin for company. Or so she thinks. Inside her new home lies a locked door, beyond which is a painted wooden figure—a silent companion—that bears a striking resemblance to Elsie herself.

A lone narrator meets a railway worker who is confined to a cold, gloomy station in a deep cutting near a tunnel entrance. This worker is a signalman, and it is his responsibility to give the green light for trains to pass through the area. These are slow, monotonous days. The signalman’s life is not marked by much, until the nightmares begin. Three times in a row, a ghost mysteriously appears before the signalman – and with each apparition, a tragic accident unfolds on the rail tracks. Although our narrator doubts the man at first, events soon make him a believer too.

From the New York Times bestselling author of NOS4A2 and Horns comes this award-winning collection of short fiction. Imogene is young, beautiful . . . and dead, waiting in the Rosebud Theater one afternoon in 1945. . . . Francis was human once, but now he's an eight-foot-tall locust, and...

Late one moonlit night, Walter Hartright encounters a solitary and terrified woman dressed all in white. He saves her from capture by her pursuers and determines to solve the mystery of her distress and terror. Inspired by an actual criminal case, this gripping tale of murder, intrigue, madness and mistaken identity has never been out of print since its publication and brought Collins great fame and success.

People and secrets from the past threaten to disrupt Nola Trenholm’s new life in New Orleans in the third novel of the Royal Street series by New York Times bestselling author Karen White. Nola is ready to focus on starting over in the Big Easy. She wants to get back to work on the renovations...

What secrets reside in the Clandestine house? Rumors have run wild for a century in the mouths of all the locals. It is known as the haunted house that swallows people whole. It isn’t until an out of town buyer Hannah Watts purchases Clandestine house that the the dark past of the time capsule home will come to light. What happened to the Clandestine family? What is going to happen to Hannah?

Newly divorced Alison Kerby wants a second chance for herself and her nine-year-old daughter. She's returned to her hometown on the Jersey Shore to transform a Victorian fixer-upper into a charming-and profitable guest house. One small problem: the house is haunted, and the two ghosts insist Alison must find out who killed them.