Horror Trained

Come on board for a Gothic journey in a funicular railway in Victorian England, a freight train in the Carpathian mountains, a high tech sky train in Bangkok, an underground railway in Tokyo. Visit stations which lure with the promise of safe shelter but harbour unexpected dangers. Meet the people who work on the tracks – stationmasters, porters, signal-men – and those who travel – commuters, tourists, dead bodies, murderers and ghosts. In this volume, editor Rayne Hall has collected twenty of the finest– and creepiest – railway tales. The book features the works of established ...

Fifteen-year-old Bren doesn’t scare easily, especially since her father left, making her head of the house. So when a group of kids dare each other to pass through a tunnel rumored to be haunted by a train that steals people away to "the Nevermore," Bren steps up. But when she reaches the other end of the tunnel, more than she bargained for awaits. For fans of “kids on bikes” ‘80s-style horror.

From beloved horror author Jonathan Janz, Marla is a slow-burn, full-throttle horror novel about the families we inherit, the guilt we carry, and the terrible gravity of a gaze you can’t forget. The hardcover edition includes a foiled cover, gorgeous sprayed edges, and an exclusive...

Jonah Rourke is a railroad man, and railroad men don’t believe in miracles. So when his sister, Nell, disappears into a town that shouldn’t exist—one that won’t let anyone in, and won’t let anyone out, Jonah follows her anyway. Past the last streetlamp. Past the last honest mile. Onto a road that counts down like an execution and charges for every step. On this road, you don’t pay in money. You pay in pieces of yourself. Because something is coming. Something hungry. Something that doesn’t care who you are, only what you’re willing to surrender to keep moving. Jonah isn’t ...

Twelve stations. Twelve ghosts. One last train. Every station has its secrets. Every platform holds a memory. And somewhere in Britain, a train is still arriving for passengers who should have been home long ago. In Ghosts of the Last Train, award-ready storyteller Adrian Cave takes you on a journey through twelve of Britain's most atmospheric railway stations, where the fog never quite lifts and the last service of the night carries more than just the living. At Crewe, a platform appears on no plan, crowded with people the world has forgotten. At York, a Roman soldier searches the fog for ...

Some trains don’t run on coal. Beatrix only wanted a story. The night she boxes up her dorm room, an ad finds her: a vintage passenger train, a private berth, and three days of track with nothing asked of her but that she arrive and write. The confirmation never mentions Tothmere. Neither does the fine print she doesn’t read. Tothmere Station has a clock in the gable, a departure board that won’t settle on a destination, and passengers who don’t breathe. It also has a conductor in dark blue and cream gloves, with a smile one degree too wide. He punches her ticket. That’s all the ...

The 18:05 commuter train was supposed to take him home. Instead, it took him fifty years into the past. Briggs Worth is a forensic structural engineer. He doesn’t believe in ghosts; he believes in load paths, shear forces, and the inevitability of collapse. He has spent his life calculating risk and pushing his estranged daughter away to keep her safe. But when Briggs falls asleep on his evening commute, the world shifts. The smell of stale sweat is replaced by ozone and unfiltered tobacco. The plastic seats turn to crushed red velvet. And the date on the newspaper across the aisle ...

On December 18, 1867, the Buffalo and Erie Railroad's eastbound New York Express derailed as it approached the high truss bridge over Big Sister Creek, just east of the small settlement of Angola, New York, on the shores of Lake Erie. The last two cars of the express train were pitched completely off the tracks and plummeted into the creek bed below. When they struck bottom, one of the wrecked cars was immediately engulfed in flames as the heating stoves in the coach spilled out coals and ignited its wooden timbers

New York Times bestselling author Richard Kadrey and Cassandra Khaw have teamed up to deliver a new dark story where Neil Gaiman meets Jessica Jones with magic, monsters, and mayhem. Julie Crews is a coked-up, burnt-out thirty-something who packs a lot of magic into her small body. She’s...

A ceremonial collar, a public unveiling, a name left behind — Clara’s hucow transformation nears its completion. Once defiant, now obedient, Clara has embraced her place in the hucow project. The injections have reshaped her, the training has molded her, and the ceremony will finalize her new purpose. Presented before handlers and clients, she is displayed with pride — renamed, exposed, and aching for use. Her body responds on command, her thoughts melting into instinct and desperate need. The woman she once was is gone. In her place kneels Lulu: full, docile, overflowing, and ready ...

While in route to her sister Dena’s home in Arizona, Lily Gates takes a train ride she will never forget with her husband, Mark. They see far more than they ever expected. They meet new people, see new places, and run into “old friends” more often than they would like to. The story is filled with several twists and turns, giving the reader a thrill ride of their own. This is sure to be a train ride that you will never forget!

Established author David T. Dawson presents a heavily illustrated 21st Century “Film Noir” novella of original horror stories tailored for the Modern Age. Each tale is moulded in the present day, unravelling mundane and everyday tableaus into unhinged and often hideous montages. Blending grisly humour with clinical narcissism, repellant primal urges, unjustified entitlement, and ghastly Karma, Nutter on a Train revels in showcasing the very worst in human nature. David is the author of five critically acclaimed and successful books. Under the pseudonym 'Dave Philpott', he is the creator...

Some trains only run at night. And some passengers never come home. Judd hears it every night. The distant whistle. The grinding wheels on abandoned tracks. No one else believes him—not his mother, not the neighbors. They say the tracks were torn up years ago. But the train keeps calling. Determined to prove he isn’t crazy, Judd sneaks out on his bike after midnight, flashlight and sandwich in tow. He finds the old depot, the crumbling platform, the ghostly tracks gleaming in the moonlight—and Reggie, the ragged old man who warns him about what really comes through here. Because the ...

Some jobs are boring. This one is deadly. When college student Ben Suarez takes a third-shift security job at a desolate railyard, he expects long hours, quiet nights, and the slow creep of exhaustion. What he doesn’t expect is the feeling of being watched. The shadows that move when they shouldn’t. The whispers that slither through the empty train cars. Armed with only his smartphone and desperate texts to his girlfriend, Ben begins to unravel a chilling truth buried beneath the steel and gravel—a past soaked in blood, where the dead refuse to rest. As the nights wear on, his fear ...

10 short stories of horror and mystery by Tammy Ruggles: 1. Voodoo. (A bullied teenage girl has had enough). 2. Her (A man suspects that the woman he loves is responsible for a series of murders). 3. Haunted Lake. (Tragedy at a lake turns to horror for a group of close friends). 4. Death Bed Confession. (A long-buried family secret comes to light in a death bed confession). 5. Medallion. (A mysterious medallion creates a chain of tragic events among a group of high school friends). 6. The Drowning.(Questions arise in a family when a friend dies). 7. Night of the Rat. (In a secluded cabin, ...

“An addictive read; a strong recommendation for those who like suspense tinged with a little romance.”—Booklist A woman without a memory struggles to discover the truth about her past and her identity in this cerebral and dark thriller reminiscent of works by bestselling authors S.J...

Light the candles and shut the door. The Wrong Train is a deliciously creepy and terrifyingly good collection of scary stories for fans of Patrick Ness, R.L. Stine, and Emily Carroll.

Marie Duboise is the eighth-generation granddaughter of Marie Laveau, the long-ago voodoo queen of New Orleans. Her many-times removed grandmother, who died in 1881, had bequeathed a very valuable and powerful heirloom to the eighth grandchild of the eighth generation of her passing. Although only a child when first receiving the beautiful ornament, as the years pass, she will come to realize just how powerful the gift is. She will also come to realize that her long-deceased ancestor has some tasks for her. One of these tasks involves a Ghost Train

They say this train runs on stolen souls. They say if you fall asleep, you might wake up somewhere else…or worse, as someone else. Step aboard with modern horror master Michael Squid, conductor of nightmares, as he guides you through these and other destinations of pure terror.

A carnival of horrors, outer space, heaven: these are just a few of the locations visited in this collection of short stories. Though I’ve always found long form fiction to be easier to write, like many other authors, I started by writing short fiction, where words are precious and each pithy sentence must do the work of an entire chapter. Please join me in my early journey through the abbreviated worlds of the short story.