S.J.Budd

For fans of Mexican Gothic, from three-time Bram Stoker Award–winning author Gwendolyn Kiste comes a novel inspired by the untold stories of forgotten women in classic literature--from Lucy Westenra, a victim of Stoker’s Dracula, and Bertha Mason, from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre--as they band together to combat the toxic men bent on destroying their lives, set against the backdrop of the Summer of Love, Haight-Ashbury, 1967. Reluctant Immortals  is a historical horror novel that looks at two men of classic literature, Dracula and Mr. Rochester, and the two women who survived them, Bertha and Lucy, who are now undead immortals residing in Los Angeles in 1967 when Dracula and Rochester make a shocking return in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco. Combining elements of historical and gothic fiction with a modern perspective, in a tale of love and betrayal and coercion,  Reluctant Immortals  is the lyrical and harrowing journey of two women from cla...

  The debut collection from Kev Harrison, author of THE BALANCE, this tome brings together tales of ghosts in the machine, folkloric creatures let loose, abandoned places and dystopian nightmares. Containing thirteen stories - three of which are previously unpublished, with three others never before available in print, take your first tentative step onto the PATHS BEST LEFT UNTRODDEN. Over the years I've read a lot of Kev Harrison's fiction and have loved every word of it. His short stories have been featured in many different magazines and anthologies and he also has some very impressive novellas under his belt.  So when I found out he was releasing a short story collection I was genuinely so excited, Paths Left Best Untrodden went straight to the top of my TBR mountain (it really is that high) and got stuck in. The collection starts off strong with Big Game. It's set in the future, but it doesn't feel like it's too far into the future that we won't be experien...

  She doesn’t know where she’s been, these last few years, or how she came by the scars that mark her body. She can barely remember who she is, a lot of the time. But Sasha knows Salvation Spring, the tiny nowhere town out in the middle of the desert that calls to her in dreams and haunts her waking life. Getting there is hard. But what she’ll find there - and what the place will ask of her - will be much, much harder. Because the Spring isn’t what it seems - far from it. And neither, for that matter, is Sasha. Not by a long way. This is my third read by T.C.Parker and now I'm a huge fan! Each book is so different yet all have that gripping urgency where you want to read the book cover to cover in one sitting. In this tale, Salvation Spring, we meet Sasha who has braved great hardship fighting her way through the hot lifeless desert. Her only concern is making it back to the mines. A place she has dreamt of many times, it calls to her and she knows she needs to return to find the a...

  Welcome to Wales, land of mists and megaliths, where mythical creatures and ancient spirits lurk in the strangest of places. This collection of 10 supernatural stories offers a flurry of folklore, a gathering of ghosts, and even a cosmic cave creature. Stories include... Lure:  A fisherman who nets the tail fin of a lure becomes obsessed with finding the rest, but what else lies hidden in the ancient lake? Carreg Samson:  A Neolithic burial chamber stares out to sea, remembering times long since past, but when it loses its heart of stone to a young girl the repercussions are hard to bear. Coblynau:  An old man watches the mountain which was once a slag heap of coal. He listens for the knock of the Coblynau, certain they will come for him... soon, just like they did to warn of the Aberfan disaster. Author Catherine McCarthy’s second collection invites the reader on a regional journey, evoking a sense of quiet horror from the cosmic to the Gothic. This collection con...

  Nim is a master swimmer floating on waves of wet hope. His penance is to swim and carry, but his heart is held onboard a grieving ship in the aquamarine prison of her eyes. She is his sentence and he is hers. Will a mysterious humanoid jellyfish reunite the star-crossed lovers? This book contains graphic sex and violence, and is not suitable for readers under the age of 18. Praise: “Punishment by Hope is a wildly poetic and surreal odyssey through sexual obsession, murder and retribution, set in a bioluminescent Dantesque world of fiery and aquatic horrors.”—Barbie Wilde, Author (The Venus Complex, Voices of the Damned) and Actress (Hellbound: Hellraiser II) “A dreamlike seascape of desperate wishes, and a nightmarish vision of love’s life and death, this is a powerful, haunting tale.”—Tim Lebbon, Author of Eden “Punishment by Hope is a vivid and erotic fantasy mystery. Hofstatter weaves a memorable spell.”—James Bennett, Author of Chasing Embers “Punishment by Hope ebbs and flow...

  A quartet of established female horror writers from both sides of the Atlantic have joined supernatural forces to bring you - Daughters of Darkness - a publication from the women-run indie press Black Angel. These stories will take you across the centuries, from Whitechapel to New Orleans, from dark humour to Gothic, weaving the weird with the macabre. Within these pages, meet the myriad monsters these female writers have conjured, letting them loose to roam and cast long shadows. Beware - this is only the beginning... Daughters of Darkness was one of those anthologies that I read all too quickly as I couldn't wait to see what the next tale would be about. In these pages we have four female writers all hugely talented but all able to stand out with their tales of darkness.I had so much reaidng this and really hope there will be a Daughters of Darkness 2!!!!! Theresa Derwin starts off the anthology with her offering of 5 dark tales and poetry - Freaks and Geeks, Whitechapel Transf...

  Emily has been obsessed with the occult since her mum died, collecting every pagan curio and oddity she can find. Then on the night of her 16th birthday, her father gives her a piece of real magic; a beating human heart inside a wooden box. If the gift weren't strange enough, his instructions are even stranger; You'll need to feed it to keep it alive.  The box needs her blood, and in exchange, shows her wondrous and rousing things. Desires she never knew existed. But as Emily's father lapses into addiction, as she grows weak with blood loss she realizes all too late the box has desires of its own.  The Maker's Box is a contemporary dark fairy tale of magic, obsession and madness. The Maker's Box by David Barclay is a very dark tale about a dark heart. It is the second novella to be released by Aphotic Realm the home of dark and sinister fiction. I really enjoyed reading Nightcrawler by P.A.Sheppard and knew I was in for something really dark! On her 16th birthday ...