A small mountain town hides a dark secret…When his father’s death brings Grant Shipman to the Appalachian town of Wallen’s Gap, he believes his biggest problem will be dealing with the slow pace and odd townsfolk. But something sinister is at work. A dark power rises, an echo of the town’s bloody past. A book of blood magic offers an unspeakable horror a gateway into the world of the living, and only Grant stands in the way of their Dark Rite.Praise for Dark Rite“Wo...

What lurks beneath the ice?Marine biologist Sam Aston is hired to explore a series of subterranean caverns deep beneath the Antarctic. Somewhere within this lost world of magnificent caverns and underground seas lies a source of limitless clean energy, but something guards this treasure. As enemies bent on obtaining this world-changing resource for themselves close in from above, Aston and his team plunge further into the depths, and discover they are not the first to come this way...

The dark fantasy collection features 19 stories, including the Australian Shadows Award-winning "Shadows of the Lonely Dead"; and original title story "Crow Shine" in addition to two other never before published stories."Alan Baxter is an accomplished storyteller who ably evokes magic and menace. Whether it's stories of ghost-liquor and soul-draining blues, night club magicians, sinister western pastoral landscapes, or a suburban suicide–Crow Shine has a mean bite."—Laird Barron, a...

The entire saga of Alan Baxter's dark urban fantasy series, The Balance! This collection includes two novels and two short stories.RealmShiftIsiah is having a bad day. Samuel Harrigan used ancient blood magic to escape a deal with the Devil and now Lucifer wants Sam’s soul more than ever. But Isiah has to protect the blood mage for a greater destiny, with the fate of humanity itself in the balance.MageSignIn an effort to track down t...

"Bone-cracking terror from the stygian depths!"Sometimes, the legends are true.When eccentric billionaire Ellis Holloway hires renegade marine biologist Sam Aston to investigate the legend of a monster in a remote Finnish lake, Aston envisions an easy paycheck and a chance to clear his gambling debts. But he gets much more. There is something terrible living beneath the dark waters of Lake Kaarme and it is hungry.As the dea...

When the city is sick, everyone suffers.Steven Hines listened to the city and the city spoke. Cleveport told him she was sick. With his unnatural connection to her, that meant Hines was sick too. But when his friend, Detective Abby Jones, comes to him for help investigating a series of deaths with no discernible cause, Hines can't say no. Then strange fungal growths begin to appear in the streets, affecting anyone who gets too close, turning them into violent lunatics. As ...

Here, between the realms of the Sky Father and Earth Mother, hellhounds race, ghosts drift aimless, and the taniwha stalks. Home fires drive them back, at the same time sparking stories and poems that traverse seconds, eons, and parsecs. Tales of gatekeepers, cloak wearers, and secret keepers. Of pigs with AK-47s or ruby-hued eyes, of love-struck moa, and unruly reflections. Stark truths, and beautiful possibilities…* WINNER * Sir Julius Vogel Award 2019 (SFFANZ) for Best C...

Damnation & Dames is a collection of paranormal noir stories investigating the supernatural shadows surrounding classic crime. Inside this book are sixteen hand-picked stories, all original, featuring good guys, gumshoes, femme fatales, bootleggers, and gangsters: all your favourite noir characters mixed up with ghosts, giant monsters, faerie, vampires, and werewolves.

A horde of criminally good horror writers took a walk down the mean streets of crime.Their task: to make your blood run cold, to scare you witless and to make your skin crawl.The rising dread of a good mystery doesn't need anything supernatural to keep you on the edge of your seat. But put the two together - crime fiction and horror - and all sorts of nasty business can come out of the woodwork. Sometimes literally.The stories herein include urban monsters, outback gho...

A fiction writer's resource for creating realistic, convincing fight scenes.Fully updated 2026 Edition, with additional details and extra example fight scenes.Author and martial arts instructor, Alan Baxter, presents a short ebook describing all the things a writer needs to consider when writing fight scenes. Baxter's experience from decades as a career martial artist make this book a valuable resource for writers who want to understand what fighting is all about - what it ...

Isiah is having a tough time. The Devil is making his job very difficult.Samuel Harrigan is a murdering lowlife. He used ancient blood magic to escape a deal with the Devil and now he’s on the trail of a crystal skull that he believes will complete his efforts to evade Lucifer. But Lucifer wants Samuel’s soul for eternity and refuses to wait a second longer for it. Isiah needs Samuel to keep looking for the crystal skull, so he has to protect Sam and keep the Devil at bay. Not for ...

Strange things happen in The Gulp. The residents have grown used to it.The isolated Australian harbour town of Gulpepper is not like other places. Some maps don't even show it. And only outsiders use the full name. Everyone who lives there calls it The Gulp. The place has a habit of swallowing people.A couple of weed dealers give themselves a real headache.A young man finds joy in a secret place with the new love of his life.The children of violent, b...