Welcome to the Gallery
of
Gothic Fiction
From Ashes to Ashes (Novella)
One of the most glorious paths through a child's wonderland is down the aisle of a candy store―a dream world of confectionery delights that entice the youthful exuberance with a myriad of colourful wrappings and sugary possibilities. And such was the delightful atmosphere at the Sweet Things Candy Emporium where, on the sunny morning of April first, Becka Marshall opened the doors to not only her childhood dream but to the dark prospects of an unforeseeable nightmare.
Suddenly plagued by a series of strange events, and the grisly death of a police officer, Becka discovers that her store is haunted by the ghosts of thirteen children who had died in a fire in 1943. Being an amateur ghost hunter, Becka and two friends decide to prove to the police that the nightly intruders are the mischievous spirits of lost children.
The Prayers of Penelope (Novelette)
The cemetery is not a place where children should play, but that is where Penelope Piatt found Amelia and Billy, a sister and brother who poverty had carelessly displaced. Alone and dejected, Penelope, an unprepossessing spinster, prays constantly for two children to love and care for, but after meeting the strangely oriented children, she discovers that God has sent her wandering into a nightmare. Penelope routinely spends each Sunday afternoon at the Spirit Haven Cemetery, where she ceremoniously manicures the graves of her recently deceased parents and where she encounters Amelia and Billy, who, though impoverished in appearance, wish to visit their father who lives in the privileged part of the city. Befuddled as to why two children with a wealthy father would live on the street, she takes the children to the big white house on Fairview Avenue where she horrifyingly discovers the truth.
Reunion Day (Novelette)
After fifty years of declining invitations to attend his high school reunions, Bill Wilder, a retired garage mechanic who lives in Huntington, West Virginia, reluctantly decides to attend an upcoming event, which is taking place in his hometown of Walker, West Virginia -- a secluded coal mining town located in the Appalachian Mountains.
On the morning of the reunion, Bill hops in his restored 1948 Ford coupe and begins his journey south. Upon the approach to his destination the mountains become eerily cold and foggy, and after crossing an old familiar bridge, he enters the town of Walker, where nothing has changed since he fled there in nineteen fifty-seven. As it nears reunion time, Bill slowly becomes reacquainted with the denizens of his youth and the horrors of his life as a rebellious teenager.
A Room for the Night (Novelette)
A devoted bicyclist and travel writer in need of a Halloween story decides to visit the north country of Yorkshire. His thoughts are to visit villages with haunted houses and to interview people who have ghost stories. Riding his bicycle northward from York, he collects photographs and haunting stories from villagers as he cycles along. Coming to the end of his work day, the threat of a rain storm prompts him to take a back road to an obscure village, where he hopes to find lodging for the night, but after a road accident, he is forced to stay at what he thinks is a bed and breakfast, where he soon discovers that some ghost stories are true and that Hill Top Manor is no place for the living.
The Spirit Lamp (Novella)
Fanatically attracted to antique lamps, Gerard Archer stops at a yard sale when he sees a vintage lamp with a very unique base, which has been crafted from silver and gold. Asking the seller how much he wants for the artefact, the man shockingly replies that a five-pound note will send it up the road.
Without hesitation, Gerard purchases the lamp and takes it home where his wife, Sarah, falls in love with it, but after having problems with what he thinks is the lamp’s wiring, Gerard begins to see shadows and hear disembodied voices. After the lamp is conspicuously displayed in the library, the cat mysteriously goes missing and during a dinner party the guests are assaulted by unseen hands. As the evening progresses, it becomes obvious that the lamp is not what it appears to be.
Bartholomew (Short Story)
After frequently feeding a feral rat that had risen from the sewer and began living in a hole in the wall of his closet, Winston Willows discovered that his friendship with the rodent was not the best of ideas. Living in poverty in a rundown hotel, Winston eventually runs out of food resources to feed his pet, which he had named, Bartholomew, so, to Winston’s horror, the rat compensates by directing his appetite solely toward the consumption of human flesh.
An Image of Idolatry (Novelette)
Russia, 1584—The daughter of a Russian aristocrat has been scheduled to marry someone who she abhors. Refusing to marry the prospective groom, she is sent, by her father, into exile at a monastery located on the White Sea, in the far north regions of the country. Taking up painting, by the encouragement of a monk, Tatiana begins by painting religious iconography, but soon begins a painting of a strange knight from the twelfth century who appears nightly in her dreams.
After finishing the portrait, a strange owl appears at her window with messages from the knight, stating that he is coming to her, but his arrival proves to be much more than the monk and the church can handle.
The Witches' Bane (Novelette)
Philip Whitney, a luckless young man who strangely becomes attracted to his family’s genealogy, discovers that his American roots began in Salem, Massachusetts during the time of the Puritans. As his search takes him to a witch’s house in modern day Salem, a witch that was known to be hanged in 1692, a procession of odd events take him back to the witch trials, where he is to free the woman’s daughter, who was hanged for witchery, and bring her to the future. After his arrival at Gallows Hill, three hundred and twenty-four years in the past, he is thrown into the Salem jail, where he meets a notorious ancestor and a well-known pirate.
Stories of Haunted Places and Tormented Souls
An Anthology
Six Tales of the Paranormal.
A travel writer and avid bicyclist is the focus of the first story, who, on Allhallows Eve, takes a ride on his bicycle from York, England to the moors of Yorkshire in search of ghost stories, he unfortunately finds himself in an unusual haunted house and in a peculiar situation. The second story relates to a contemporary man who is plagued by misfortune and finds his tragic redemption in Salem, Massachusetts during the witch trials of sixteen ninety-two. The third instalment regards a writer who is visited by a stranger who relates to him a story that is even stranger, a story of his terrifying experience on an Excursion train. The forth story tells of a doctor, who, during the Civil War in Louisville, Kentucky, devises a way to obtain cadavers for medical research, which ends in an experience of terror. The fifth tale recounts a story of a Russian woman whose wealthy father confines her to a monastery on the White Sea, where she remains, but after taking up painting, finds her escape in the portrait of a long dead knight of the Crusades. And finally, the last story relates to an opiate addled poet who is pursued by a dark allegory of death.
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I'll Never Leave Home Again (Novelette)
A schizophrenic writer, who has just been released from a mental institution, returns to his childhood home, which he had inherited from his father. Though the outside of the house appears to have been well maintained, he discovers that the house's interior has fallen to ruin. Working his way upstairs, his curiosity takes him to his parent's room, of which, to his amazement, he sees has been restored to the time when he was a child. Checking other rooms, he sees that they have fallen to decay, but upon entering his bedroom, he sees that it too has not been touched by time. After a night of continuous terror, brought by the appearance an old animated doll, a large shadowy figure, and a few ghosts, his mind keeps searching for the reason why the house is falling to ruin and has recently become haunted.
Amarantha (Novella)
Justin Griffith has a dream girl and she has been lasciviously haunting his slumber since childhood. As a teen he becomes fixated on the ethereal girl, obsessed to the point that he cannot maintain a healthy relationship with any tangible female. Eventually marrying his pregnant high school sweetheart, Justin discovers that his love and libido are still raging for the girl he fears he will never meet. Approaching his twenty-fourth birthday, he finally finds his dream girl on a bus ride to work one morning, but though perfectly fitted to his desires, he comes to believe that the strange girl is a horrifying curse, one that is diligently dedicated to his destruction.