Roots Horror

What if the earth remembered every cut, every fire, every drop of blood spilled upon it? What if the forests, rivers, and skies had been waiting—not to forgive—but to strike back? Step into twenty haunting tales where folklore and ecology entwine in chilling harmony. In Roots of Ruin, nature is no passive backdrop—it is the predator, judge, and executioner. 🌲 Forests that breathe with the bones of the dead. 🌊 Seas that drag entire towns into their drowned kingdoms. ❄️ Winters that bleed red with ancient vengeance. 🐝 Creatures that hive and swarm until humanity is ...

Old Gramps always said the Deadmarsh family was cursed. Will never believed him—until now. In a last-ditch effort to pay his grandfather’s mounting medical bills, Will signs up for a shady sleep study, ignoring the warning signs. But everything changes the night his grandfather vanishes. In his place, Will’s dead sister returns. Convinced the sleep study is to blame, Will tracks down Spectre, the enigmatic research firm behind it, only to discover they’ve disappeared. His search leads him to a girl whose father vanished after her own harrowing encounter with Spectre.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A modern masterpiece, this is a classic Gothic thriller-fantasy from bestselling author Erin A. Craig, about doomed love, menacing ambition, and the ghosts that haunt us forever. In a manor by the sea, one sister is still cursed. Despite dreams of adventures...

Bram Stoker Award Nominee for Superior Achievement in a First Novel In this queer retelling of Nathaniel Hawthorne classic gothic story, Rappaccini’s Daughter, a young woman is lured to a lush estate owned by a botanist who might be hiding dark secrets. Cordelia Beecher is on the run. In...

Coiled at the Roots is the next in the seductive Blood of Lilith romantasy series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Scarlett St. Clair...

A beautiful forest. A terrifying legend. It’s 1986. Two strangers, hundreds of miles apart, grapple with disturbing incidents in a one-of-a-kind quaking aspen forest.

Fresh off my Voodoo-tastic vacation to New Orleans, I find myself presented with the first test of my newly discovered magic. There’s been a murder in the neighboring town of Pine Shoals and the victim has decided she’s not cut out for the spectral life and needs a gentle push into the Otherworld. As it turns out, conjuring some magic and telling a ghost to ‘go towards the light’ isn’t quite good enough, and now the hysterical ghost is stuck in some kind of limbo land. It’s up to me to solve her murder before the poor ghost goes insane—or, becomes demon food. Whichever happens first.

Hollow Roots: 15 Unearthly Folk Horror Stories with Cursed Traditions by Selena Dusk Step into the shadowed corners of forgotten villages, mist-laden forests, and ancient fields where the past refuses to stay buried. In Hollow Roots, Selena Dusk weaves 15 chilling folk horror tales that stir the imagination, unsettle the senses, and linger long after the last page is turned. 🌑 Each story plunges you into a world where old traditions twist into sinister rituals, and the seemingly innocent customs of rural life conceal dark secrets. From haunted harvest festivals to cursed family lineages,...

I’ve got a ring on my finger and a date circled on the calendar, let the wedding planning begin! As luck would have it, the chapel I’ve got my heart set on, is plagued by the not-so-nice spirit of a former bride. She died on what was meant to be her wedding day and isn’t going to step aside to let anyone else take her place at the altar. She claims the chapel is cursed and points to her own murder as a sure sign, but I’m not convinced. I’ll have to keep my new reaper powers in check and solve this case the old-fashioned way if Lucas and I have any shot at starting our happily ever after.

British fantasy and Bram Stoker-nominated author Gemma Amor brings together a unique line-up of thirteen authors to explore heritage and horror, featuring stories from Gabino Iglesias, Erika T. Wurth, and many more.

Conventional wisdom has it that the origins of the horror genre are found in the nineteenth century, in works like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In this paradigm-shaking new book, Bible scholar and cultural historian Brandon Grafius argues that the Bible...

* * * WINNER of the Nebula Award for BEST NOVELLA * * * * * * WINNER of the Locus Award for BEST NOVELLA * * * * * * Longlisted by the British Science Fiction Association for BEST SHORTER FICTION * * * * * * Shortlisted for the Hugo Award for BEST NOVELLA * * * Follow the river Liss to the small...

Horror Video Games of the 1980s explores the eerie, primitive, and surprisingly creative beginnings of horror in gaming. This fan-friendly nonfiction book looks at the decade before modern survival horror was fully formed, when haunted houses, monsters, creepy text adventures, spooky action games, and early computer nightmares were shaping the roots of interactive fear. Blending platform history with game commentary, it shows how limited graphics, strange sound design, and experimental ideas created a distinctive kind of unease that still matters to retro gaming fans. Designed as a readable...

An ancient stone foundation, a mountain shrouded in silence, and a discovery that was never meant to be unearthed. Graduate student Elise Grant thought her field expedition to a remote valley would be the breakthrough of her career. But when her team discovers a "bone garden" surrounding an ancient granite slab, the atmosphere shifts from academic excitement to primal dread. The massive, humanoid tracks in the mud and the shredded remains of a previous survey team prove that they haven't just found a site, they’ve trespassed into a lethal killing field. In the heart of the wilderness, the...

Are you brave enough to enter a world where the line between reality and nightmare is impossibly thin? The Horror Files beckons you into a realm where legends stir from the past, and every corner hides a terror waiting to strike. This is no ordinary collection, it's a descent into darkness, where fear takes on many faces, and no secret stays buried for long. Ancient myths claw their way into the present. Unsolved mysteries evolve into chilling realities. Brutal horrors of today collide with the restless whispers of forgotten legends. With 18 heart-pounding stories, The Horror Files will ...

A cursed boarding school. A missing father. A girl written into a nightmare. Perfect for fans of Stranger Things, Wednesday, and dark supernatural horror. When Elaine arrives at Raventree Institute, the shadows already know her name. Students vanish. Mirrors whisper. The forest at the edge of the grounds feels alive—and hungry. And the only person who seems to notice what’s wrong, Liz, a girl in a battered gray hoodie that no one else remembers, might be her only ally against the thing beneath the roots that devours the living. As the school closes in around her, Elaine discovers she ...

A Collection of Folk Horror Novellas What if the land remembers? What if it never forgives? Step into five isolated villages where ancient rituals still hold sway, grief grows like roots beneath the soil, and forgetting can be fatal. From forest pacts and weatherbound sacrifices to mirrored souls and orchards that bloom with teeth, The Root Remembers gathers five original folk horror tales that peel back the pastoral to reveal the rot beneath. Inside, you’ll find: The Root That Weeps – A grieving woman inherits a cabin with a sealed root cellar... and a tree that feeds on loss. The ...

Strangling vines and meat-hungry flora fill this unruly garden of strange stories, selected for their significance as the seeds of the villainous (or perhaps just misunderstood) 'killer plant' in fiction, film and video games. Step within to marvel at Charlotte Perkins Gilman's giant wisteria and H.G. Wells' hungry orchid; hear the calls of the ethereal women of the wood and the frightful drone of the moaning lily; and do tread carefully around E. Nesbit's wandering creepers. Every strain of vegetable threat can be found within this new collection.

The Ancient: Night Root is a short story with a chilling blend of science fiction and ancient folklore. Some things do not die; they seed themselves in the earth. Buried in the red clay, something ancient waits. A hunger older than memory, and patient as the dark itself. When a scientist perfects the art of resurrecting extinct species, her work is meant to be a triumph of science. Then, deep in the university’s archives, she discovers a bone fragment that defies every genetic record. It is not from any known species… and not entirely dead. What begins as an experiment in genetic ...

Some girls get their hearts broken. Valencia got her soul snatched. Valencia thought she had it all. Fly hair, decent grades, and the kind of confidence that made people pay attention. Then she met him. Older. Smooth. Dangerous fine. The first time felt like a dream. But it wasn’t love. It was a spell. And once he had her, everything started to rot. Her edges thinned. Her skin dulled. The smell of decay followed her everywhere. And the nightmares? They wouldn’t stop. She thought she was the only one. She wasn’t. With her best friend Kiyah by her side, Valencia dives headfirst into ...