Showing results for "The Dark Dark Stories" in Literature & Fiction

The snick of a lock. The squeak of door hinges. The creak of a floorboard... Nothing is more mysterious than footsteps in the dark. Are those approaching steps that of friend or enemy? Lover or killer?

In his Locus review of Two Worlds and in Between - the first volume of The Best of Caitlín R. Kiernan - Gary K. Wolfe wrote, “...it makes you wish the second volume were here now.” Well, the long wait is over. This second volume completes this ambitious undertaking, collecting the finest of Kiernan’s stories from 2004 to 2012, selected by the author herself. The book includes 25 short stories and one poem, plus the short novel Black Helicopters - more than 200,000 words of fiction, including the World Fantasy Award-winning “The Prayer of 90 Cats”.

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from a master storyteller. Exploring the shadow side of love, these are tales of grief, obsession, control. Intricate examinations of trauma and tragedy in raw, poetic prose. In these narratives, a woman imagines horrific scenarios whilst caring for her infant niece; online posts chronicle a cancer diagnosis; a couple in the park with their small child encounter a stranger with horrific consequences; a toxic relationship reaches a terrifying resolution . . .

If the vampire is both scary and seductive, the lesbian vampire, who lives at the farthest fringes of society, is doubly so. The appeal of this quintessential bad girl is unmistakable and irresistible: the hypnotic eyes, fetishy garb and make-up, lips that can kiss or open to reveal gleaming fangs that lovingly pierce flesh. These are some of the weapons she employs to lure and enslave her victims, willing and otherwise. Edited by noted vampire aficionado Pam Keesey, Dark Angels showcases the lesbian vampire in all her glory.

How does a murderer redeem herself? By going to another world to kill the same person again! Bobbi Nox was notorious for committing a gruesome murder against a former employee; she was sentenced to rot in jail for the rest of her life. But in a divine twist of fate, Dike, the Goddess of Moral Justice, has come calling with an offer: become Dike's Champion of Justice. The target? None other than Markos Turloch, the person Bobbi had murdered! To her astonishment, Markos had been reincarnated as a dungeon core and he conquered the Kingdom of Vessar.

Savedra Severos is no stranger to intrigue. Mistress to the King of Selafai and daughter of a rival noble house, she navigates the treacheries of court with every breath. On the eve of delicate peace talks, the court mage is found murdered. As Savedra investigates, she stumbles further into a web of secrets that enmeshes three kingdoms - entangling spies and sorcerers, lovers and enemies, strangers and kin. Among those secrets are Savedra's own, dangerous enough to destroy her king and her family if they come to light.