Shards is dark fiction at its shortest and sharpest, a collection of disturbing stories from Australia's master of dark flash fiction, Shane Jiraiya Cummings. Each shard is an imaginative fragment, broken, sharp, and poised to draw blood. Views: 21
February Thaw is the second e-collection by Tanya Huff and brings together some of the short fiction that helped define the field. From an Imperial Dragon in Toronto's Chinatown, to a heavy metal retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk, to the realization that the ancient gods are one highly dysfunctional family, Huff skews our world slightly sideways. These seven stories, each with a brand new introduction by the author, remind us that the weird and the wonderful is all around us if we only bother to look. Views: 21
Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000290 EndHTML:0000010534 StartFragment:0000002723 EndFragment:0000010498 SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/twk/Desktop/00_2015newversionebooks/TIF02%20A%20Bright%20Winter%20Sun-yarbro-new-id5.5/bookfiles/Trouble%20in%20the%20Forest%20Book%20Two-metadata.doc Trouble in the Forest Book Two: A Bright Winter Sun By Chelsea Quinn Yarbro writing as Trystam Kith Price: $5.49 eISBN: Published: June 19, 2015 Imprint: Event Horizon EBooks/Event Horizon Publishing Group Copyright © 2015 Chelsea Quinn Yarbro Cover Image: © Alvaro German Vilela Original Copyright © 2004 by Trystam Kith PRINT HISTORY: Five Star First Edition/August 2004 Print Pages: 332 Description: Terror Reigns in Sherwood Forest ... From acclaimed author Chelsea Quinn Yarbro (writing as Trystam Kith) comes the second book in the Trouble in the Forest duology, a medieval fantasy that turns legend into horror. Deep in the forest, trouble is brewing. No one is safe in the thick, dark forest—no peasant, monk, minstrel, merchant, traveler, forester, or King's man may go into the forest without taking his life and his soul in his hands. Those who dare the deep green are found dead soon after, or worse–disappear. Only former Crusader Hugh deSteny is prepared to lead the fight against the bloodthirsty denizens of the forest, and he knows that the enemy he faces could damn him eternally if he loses the battle. Armed with precious knowledge, deSteny must undertake the fight of his life to preserve the forest and all who live within it from certain catastrophe - and a fearsome enemy the likes of which none save him have ever faced before. Demons of the Night: ... dangerous undead creatures roamed the forest, preying on good Christians and turning them into worse than devils, lost to salvation and redemption. It was all very well to praise the Virgin, and to eat bread and meat, but what good would that do if the outlaws and all their fell brotherhood were allowed to go unchecked, until all of England was in their sway? She managed to keep these thoughts to herself, but discovered she had lost her appetite. Dutifully she ate, for it would insult the Prince to refuse his food, but it was as tasteless as rags, and the wine she drank might have been sour milk for all the lift it gave to her heart. The thought of another journey through the forest filled her with dread, but she did her best to steel herself for the ordeal to come. Review Quotes: "A Cold Summer Night is an original rendition of the vampire myths and Robin Hood legend...This dark fantasy comes highly recommended." — Baryon-Online.com "... the story is excellent and the reversal of the usual roles of good and evil is very effective." — Science Fiction Chronicle . Bio: A professional writer for more than forty years, Yarbro has sold over eighty books, more than seventy works of short fiction, and more than three dozen essays, introductions, and reviews. She also composes serious music. Her first professional writing - in 1961-2 - was as a playwright for a now long-defunct children's theater company. By the mid-60s she had switched to writing stories and hasn't stopped yet. After leaving college in 1963 and until she became a full-time writer in 1970, she worked as a demographic cartographer, and still often drafts maps for her books, and occasionally for the books of other writers. She has a large reference library with books on a wide range of subjects, everything from food and fashion to weapons and trade routes to religion and law. She is constantly adding to it as part of her on-going fascination with history and culture; she reads incessantly, searching for interesting people and places that might provide fodder for stories. In 1997 the Transylvanian Society of Dracula bestowed a literary knighthood on Yarbro, and in 2003 the World Horror Association presented her with a Grand Master award. In 2006 the International Horror Guild enrolled her among their Living Legends, the first woman to be so honored; the Horror Writers Association gave her a Life Achievement Award in 2009. A skeptical occultist for forty years, she has studied everything from alchemy to zoomancy, and in the late 1970s worked occasionally as a professional tarot card reader and palmist at the Magic Cellar in San Francisco. She has two domestic accomplishments: she is a good cook and an experienced seamstress. The rest is catch-as-catch-can. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with two cats: the irrepressible Butterscotch and Crumpet, the Gang of Two. When not busy writing, she enjoys the symphony or opera. Views: 21
A first grade girl who can prognosticate but frets about whether she’s good or bad, a murder where the obvious culprits claim they had nothing to do with it, a man who is told that he’ll meet his future self and then does. A shimmering web of intrigue connects all of these, and a deft literary touch gives life to an enchanting set of fully realized characters. Views: 21
Short horror story, accompanied by work by P. Craig Russell (adapting Poe's "Eldorado") and others. Views: 21
Santa Claus is coming to town...at least, that was the plan, but now his elves have started going missing, kidnapped by some insidious figure in a black cloak, and despite the magic swirling about the place, the toys aren't going to put themselves together. So begins a terrifying game of cat and mouse as Kris Kringle searches The Land of Christmas for his abducted minions, unaware that he is to play an integral part in his foe's plans.
Krampus is pissed at Santa after lending him his snowblower and never getting it back. His punishment? To build a Human Santapede long enough to stretch around The Land of Christmas, and at its helm, the jolly fat man himself. Can Santa - aided by his best foreman, Finklefoot - get his elves back, defeat Krampus, and save Christmas before it is too late, or will Krampus succeed in creating the ghastliest single-file organism the North Pole has ever seen?
Ho-Ho-Holy Shit, things are about to get messy...
**Review
"This is no foul, offensive story for the sake of it. It's actually closer in spirit to the works of Terry Pratchett or, more closely, Robert Rankin (albeit far, far more debauched than either of these fellows). It's full of wry asides, knowing jokes and lots and lots of bad (and therefore, very good) puns. And it's all done with a firm feeling of joy and delight" - Ginger Nuts of Horror
*
"This book is every bit the totally irreverent, offensive, obscene masterpiece of holiday hilarity you might expect." - The Horror Fiction Review Views: 21
