Dark Fiction

I've been hiding out with the dragons, but then mysterious fae show up at the dragons' stronghold and abduct me at the King's command. The royals of Embermere are hosting the Fae Heir Trials to find their successors. The winners will marry and become the next to rule the fae lands. Turns out I'm the King's illegitimate daughter, and the wicked queen intends to kill me off during the challenges. I find myself thrust into a barbaric tournament where death is all but guaranteed. I'm competing against the most gorgeous, deadly fae warriors of the realm.

Just before summer begins, 13-year-old Ali finds an old photograph. She recognizes the two children in it; one’s her mother, the other her aunt Dulcie - but who is the third person, the one who’s been torn out of the picture? Ali will have two months to figure it out, since she’s spending the summer with her aunt and her cousin in the same house her mom and aunt used to visit when they were kids. Then Ali meets Sissy. Sissy is mean, spiteful, and determined to ruin Ali’s summer. Sissy also has a secret. Could it have something to do with the old photo? Ali is dying to find out - though, if she’s not careful, that may be exactly what happens to her.

After his father’s retirement, Elia Montalto took over organized crime in King’s Trace, Maine. His pragmatic nature makes him popular and allows him to strike alliances with government officials, which keeps prying eyes off his business. But even a town as small as theirs is not without risk or envy, and Elia has only ever really wanted one thing: Senator Harrison’s daughter.

Callypso Lillis is a siren with a very big problem, one that stretches up her arm and far into her past. For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear. Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer. He’s a man who can get you anything you want … at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects. But for one client, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now.

29 Brand-New Sci-Fi Horror Stories. The future is now, and it's not what we were promised. The optimistic science fiction of old was wrong. Progress is not linear, technology creates as many problems as it solves, and the concept of a better tomorrow has become an abstraction that is in no way guaranteed. When looking at the future now, we no longer ask what is possible, we wonder how we'll cope. Contained within this anthology are 29 never-before-published works by supremely talented authors.

Jennifer Plummer and the Divine Flesh have exactly three things in common: They're trapped inside Jennifer's body, they despise each other, and they're in love with Daryl Plummer, Jennifer's ex-husband.

Raised and trained in seclusion at a secret fortress on the edge of the northern wilds of the Kingdom of Ashai, a young warrior called Rezkin is unexpectedly thrust into the outworld when a terrible battle destroys all that he knows. With no understanding of his life’s purpose and armed with masterful weapons mysteriously bestowed upon him by a dead king, Rezkin must travel across Ashai to find the one man who may hold the clues to his very existence.

In the quiet streets of Pleasant Falls, Kyle thought he could escape the shadows of his past. But some systems don’t let go. When Heather is kidnapped, he’s forced to confront a world he tried to leave behind—one ruled by Brian Grant and his shadow enforcers, where obedience is mandatory, and mistakes have consequences. With each drop, each route, Kyle’s freedom slips further from his grasp. Now, the stakes are higher than ever: Heather’s life, his own survival, and the hard truth that some choices can never be undone. Every decision carries weight, every silence holds danger, and...

Dark raven hair and piercing green eyes, sweet and naive Eleanor Romero would make a beautiful bride. Ten million dollars and a forced signature later and she was mine. Like a thief I came in the dead of night and stole her away from her protected castle and placed her in a gilded cage made of gold. The deal had been made. She would become my wife. She would bear my children. She would bend to my will. But most importantly, she would help me destroy the man she loved most, the man who took everything from me: her father.

SKIN - An anthology of dark fiction. A collection of stories from some of the best up-and-coming authors of horror.

Camille Ellis has gone rogue agent, and there's no turning back now. The conclave might have put the Charybdis case to bed, but Cam isn't willing to let it lie. No badge doesn't mean no backup these days. As mate to an alpha warg, she has access to new and lethal resources. A whole pack full of them. And they all want justice for the sins committed against them. But the stakes are higher than she knows, the secrets exposed darker than she feared, and the cost of winning higher than she ever imagined.

Samantha is a young attorney transported to an alternate reality in her sleep across the Void and time. She soon finds that the world she wakes up in is controlled by an all-powerful System with mechanics similar to the fantasy games she played back on Earth. After a brutal introduction to her new reality, Samantha (Sam) is given a class explicitly curated by the enigmatic System.

In the darkness of a vast cave system, cut off from the world for millennia, blind creatures hunt by sound. Then there is light, there are voices, and they feed. Swarming from their prison, they multiply and thrive. To scream, even to whisper, is to summon death. Deaf for many years, Ally knows how to live in silence. Now, it is her family's only chance of survival. They must leave their home, shun others, and find a remote haven where they can sit out the plague. But will it ever end? And what kind of world will be left?

As the Patron’s noose tightens down around the House of Graves, Tessa finds herself seeking the aid of Thomas Jury, a witch who’s powerful beyond measure and just as dangerous. But even with Jury’s so called 'help', will the Patron’s power prove too much for Tessa to withstand?

Trey Colter is running out of road. As the top enforcer for the ruthless Silent Vipers Motorcycle Club, Trey has spent years doing bloody work in the shadows of South Georgia. But behind the violence, he’s been hiding one dangerous secret from his brothers: Brittany. She’s his childhood sweetheart, a beautiful civilian who still believes in the man he could have been. With their wedding only days away, Trey is ready to leave the biker life behind for good. But in the MC world, nobody walks away clean. To earn his freedom, Trey is handed one final job that feels more like a death ...

Most days, I steal from ships to earn a living. Not glamorous, admittedly, but it's honest work. Okay, fine. It isn't honest either, but it means I get to eat. Until one night, a sinfully sexy angel strides into my favorite dance hall and compels me to work for him. It isn't just work, though. He wants me to be his wife in Castle Hades. Apparently, his prophetic dreams say I'll help him become king.

The Founders were the first marked, and they used those powers to build kingdoms, subjugate the land, and enrich themselves. They will not suffer another to join their ranks. Lost in a world with levels, stats, and monsters, Hal fights to survive in an unforgiving land, and to escape execution from its rulers. Ingenuity and courage won’t be enough. With marked powers he doesn’t understand, he’s easy prey for all the goblins, bandits, aberrations, and foul monsters that plague the realm. He’ll need to abandon his humanity by embracing the beast within.

Courage isn’t having the strength to go on, it’s going on without having the strength. Betrayal by one of their own leaves Ben and the others with more questions than answers as they push westward toward Colorado and their home in Durango. Or what’s left of it.

Get ready for an out-of-this-world adventure! Dark Skies: Rise of Mankind is the first book in a series of five. It's a thrilling story filled with mysteries, adventures, and a whole lot of fun! Meet Ken, a 12-year-old boy who's about to embark on the most amazing journey of his life. He'll travel to distant planets, encounter strange creatures, and help save the universe! So, buckle up and join Ken as he blasts off into the unknown. You won't want to miss it!

Ben Davis was prepared for disaster. He just didn't know it would come so soon. He and his teenage son Joel, are miles deep in the backcountry of the San Juan Mountains when high-altitude nuclear electromagnetic detonations light up the pre-dawn sky. Ben, Joel, and their dog, Gunner, must make their way home - or whatever's left of it - on foot.