No matter how much you've aged or how confident you may be in the dark, your fear will continue to grow roots in your mind. Strangest Fiction is back with the third installment of our namesake speculative fiction series. We've prepared a collection of bad dreams to haunt you, dear reader. You can't escape what's coming, no matter if it's a possessed doll, a ravenous swamp, or a flesh-eating creature from the deep. We hope you enjoy these intense tales from our talented storytellers. Stay s...

You can't kill the dead!Like any good monster, the zombie has proven to be ever-evolving, monumentally mutable, and open to seemingly endless imaginative interpretations: the thralls of voodoo sorcerers, George Romero's living dead, societal symbols, dancing thrillers, viral victims, reanimated ramblers, video gaming targets, post-apocalyptic permutations, shuffling sidekicks, literary mash-ups, the comedic, and, yes, even the romantic. Evidently, we have an enduring hunger for thi...

SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD WINNER!BRAM STOKER AWARD NOMINATEDWith these twelve stories Paula D. Ashe takes you into a dark and bloody world where nothing is sacred and no one is safe. A landscape of urban decay and human degradation, this collection finds the psychic pressure points of us all, and giddily squeezes. Try to run, try to hide, but there is no escape: we are here to hurt each other.CONTENT WARNINGS FOUND INSIDE BOOK"My god, this book. Where do I even b...

***One of Publishers Weekly's ""Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2018""***A group of mountain climbers, caught in the dark, fight to survive their descent; in the British countryside, hundreds of magpies ascend into the sky, higher and higher, until they seem to vanish into the heavens; a professor and his student track a zombie horde in order to research zombie behavior; an all-girl riding school has sinister secrets; a town rails in vain against a curse inflicted upon it by its fou...

From Huxley's Brave New World, to Orwell's 1984, to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, dystopian books have always been an integral part of both science fiction and literature, and have influenced the broader culture discussion in unique and permanent ways. Brave New Worlds brings together the best dystopian fiction of the last 30 years, demonstrating the diversity that flourishes in this compelling subgenre.This landmark tome contains stories by Ursula K. Le Guin, Cory Doctorow, M. Rick...

"Each short story is unique, carefully crafted, and memorable. A fun read from cover to cover." – MIDWEST BOOK REVIEWDesperados and yellow-bellies be warned: These ain't your typical westerns…Herein find legendary masters of anomalous Western and Horror stories—along with a posse of budding word-slingers—who all bring you an electrifying and frightening collection of extraordinary tales set in the Old West and beyond...

An idyllic honeymoon turns horrific when a young couple stops to pet the horses at a farm.This short story was written and developed as part of Jack Ketchum's Master Class, "Talking Scars", hosted by The Cult at chuckpalahniuk.comContains adult situations, content and graphic depictions.

A chilling collection of short stories exploring the depths of human darkness and the cost of empathy.In Aaron Dries's Cut to Care, social workers impersonate the deceased to comfort grieving families, a woman grapples with the weight of a cheated suicide, and a candlestick maker crafts human chandeliers from drunken cowboys. These tales, ranging from supernatural to domestic, splatterpunk to cosmic, remind us of the price of caring too much—or not enough....

Martin is an ace zombie killer but his brother Walter is his complete opposite. They couldn't be any more different in their views on dealing with the dead but they do have two things in common: the struggle to survive, and a personal vendetta on a group of muggers.This zombie short is a spin-off stemming from the full length tale Guns, Booze & Zombies.

Unravel their message. Translate their meaning. Your life may just depend on it…The world has its messengers, its harbingers of bad tidings. Some call them premonitions, others call them superstitions, all we know for certain is that in the cracks between the layers of our reality the truth is known. Warnings come in a strange array of mediums; from circling ravens, to withering crops, to nightmarish late-night visitors, and it is up to us to hear the messages they...

SCIENCE FICTION SAMPLERA world where everyone reads minds. A genetically altered upper class. Aliens. Mars. Reprogrammed human DNA. These hot new science fiction novels will stretch your mind, bend your preconceived notions, and take you on an adventure with a dash of romance.This sampler contains excerpts from the following novels:Grounded by G.P. ChingAll my life I've worked to be simple, but I can...

Enter the dark, mycelia-laden world of mushroom horror:A food blogger hunts for a killer recipe.Ceaseless rain drives a lonely man into his fungus-covered town.A grieving son purchases a kit to regrow his dead mother.This anthology explores the mysterious world of fungi, spores...and things that dwell in the dim forest under the rotting leaves. Here you'll find 31 stories and 5 poems of quiet, cosmic, and body horror-plus subtle humor. Works...