A missing intergalactic artifact valuable enough to inspire murder. A cartoon gag gone bad that leads to a gruesome death. Greek deities unraveling a divine mystery in New York City. A human detective navigating the temptations of Faerie in pursuit of a magical killer. Call them sleuths, call them gumshoes, call them shamuses or dicks or beagles—these private investigators prowl the back alleys of imagination, explaining the unexplainable, seeking answers and justice for two hundred dollar...

Psychotic killers, devious ghosts, alien monsters, howling storms, undead creatures, and other dark forces haunt the highways and the truckers who drive them in these 18 chilling tales. A ghostly voice on a trucker's CB radio knows more about his life than it should… Two drivers find their cargo gives them inhuman appetites… A boy in a truck stop encounters a supernatural force that threatens to destroy the world… The hypnotic singing lulling a driver to sleep might not be coming from the ...

Alec Archer isn’t just a superhero... he’s a survivor.* He’s survived being harpooned by the megalomaniacal captain of a steampunk airship.* He’s escaped being drowned by a sex-crazed mermaid.* He’s narrowly avoided being reduced to a glowing pile of mush by a radioactive grandma.* Even Kryptonite probably couldn’t hurt him.(His inability to think before he opens his mouth, on the other hand, will probably get him killed.)By day, Alec is the owne...

Grieving his husband’s untimely death, Alec Archer doesn’t feel up to donning the Whirlwind’s skintight turquoise costume to defend Centerport against yet another supervillain.But the evil genius who calls himself the Zookeeper doesn’t care about Alec’s feelings. The Zookeeper has chosen Centerport as the perfect place to demonstrate his latest creation, a genetic process that converts harmless house-pets into lethal bio-weapons.Whether he’s battling giant spiders, rescuing...

Royden Poole is having a very bad day. Strong-armed into investigating a break-in, a bizarre theft, two missing persons, and a shooting with no body, and all he wants to do is go back to pretending he's dead. And that's just a warm up.There's an infinity of time and space just after midnight where the rules of reality you are accustomed to don't necessarily apply. Most people don't know anything about it. And of those that do, most don't want anything to do with it. But a heart's d...

“When you have eliminated the impossible whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth...” Arthur Conan Doyle -On the banks of the river Thames a massive new building is being completed. A stunning creation of glass and concrete that will be a new landmark on London's skyline. And people are dying because of it...Dozens of mysterious unexplained accidents have claimed the lives of workmen during the construction and journalist Jessica Anderson is convince...

“Old school horror.” —Jonathan MaberryTHE LEGEND LIVESEveryone knows the legend of the Jersey Devil. Some believe it is an abomination of nature, a hybrid winged beast from hell that stalks the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey searching for prey. Others believe it is a hoax, a campfire story designed to scare children. But one man knows the truth...THE DEVIL AWAKESSixty years ago, Boompa Willet came face to...

The locals were ecstatic when the carnival pulled into Holland, Nebraska. They shrieked in delight on the lightning-fast rides. They gasped in shocked fascination at the chilling collection of freaks and human oddities. But all the while, piercing red eyes glared out at the townies from the shadows of the midway. Eyes that burned with vengeful hatred. Eyes that lusted for blood . . .Only Mayor Margin Holland and his beautiful teenaged daughter Linda could feel the air of “wrongness...

Toy LandThere they were, just as he remembered. Rooms and rooms of them. Dolls. Toy soldiers. Clowns. When he was a kid, his Aunt Cary's toy collection should have been a child's paradise. But instead he had been terrified by their staring eyes . . .Toy HellTwenty years had passed since Jay Clute set foot in Victory, Missouri. Twenty years of trying to forget that night--that hellish night of unimaginable horror. Now his Aunt Cary w...

"Doon the wynds an' up the streets,Where revenants sought souls tae eat,The Butcher called for twitching meatAn' Burke an' Hare did answer."-anon.A year after the Cadaver Riots tore the heart from Edinburgh. Fear still chokes the Old Town, for though the revenants were driven back with shot and steel, they still lurk in the city's shadowed closes. When night falls, they strike.In dissecting room...

Nightmares come in many forms. Some rend the veil of sleep with heart-stopping madness. Others defy sanity to leave a helpless corner of your mind twitching for release. Sometimes, hours after waking, a nightmare drifts across your memory, tainting your day with wisps of discomfort. NIGHTMARES UNHINGED reveals horror in all its mutable forms—abject to absurd—through twenty tales of terror.Contributors include Mario Acevedo, Edward Bryant, Dustin Carpenter, Sean Eads, Keith Ferrell,...

KIDS DO THE DARNDEST THINGS . . .Paul Kelly had a very big temper for such a small boy. When he tired of his toys he smashed them. When a dog or cat got in his way, he kicked them. And when other children told on him, he made sure they were very, very sorry . . .CHILD’S PLAY . . .But that was nothing compared to what Paul discovered next. Which was that if he didn’t like certain people, he could make it so he’d never have to see them ...