Spook Lights: Southern Gothic Horror

Spook Lights: Southern Gothic Horror
Author: Eden Royce
Publisher: Lulu.com
Total Pages: 172
Release: 2015-07-06
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 9781326269890

Pull up a rocking chair and sit a spell. Soak in these tales of Southern Gothic horror: A witchdoctor's niece tells him a life-altering secret, an investigator who keeps a 100% confession rate.... These are stories where the setting itself becomes a character-fog laced cemeteries, sulfur rich marshes-housing creatures that defy understanding and where the grotesque and macabre are celebrated. The true horror is in what you can't see...until it's sitting right next to you. Eden Royce delivers a sultry and spicy dose of Southern Gothic. The stories are rich in flavor and clever in metaphor, the horrors completely surreal or-far more unnerving-all too possible. She brings a refreshing perspective to the table that paranormal lovers are sure to enjoy. -B.D. Bruns, author ofThe Gothic Shift You can feel the warm thick air, the rich history and legends, the desperation of the impoverished, and the deep horror of the betrayed. -Roma Gray, author of Gray Shadows Under a Harvest Moon"

Root Magic

Root Magic
Author: Eden Royce
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2021-01-05
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0062899600

“A poignant, necessary entry into the children’s literary canon, Root Magic brings to life the history and culture of Gullah people while highlighting the timeless plight of Black Americans. Add in a fun, magical adventure and you get everything I want in a book!”—Justina Ireland, New York Times bestselling author of Dread Nation Debut author Eden Royce arrives with a wondrous story of love, bravery, friendship, and family, filled to the brim with magic great and small. It’s 1963, and things are changing for Jezebel Turner. Her beloved grandmother has just passed away. The local police deputy won’t stop harassing her family. With school integration arriving in South Carolina, Jez and her twin brother, Jay, are about to begin the school year with a bunch of new kids. But the biggest change comes when Jez and Jay turn eleven— and their uncle, Doc, tells them he’s going to train them in rootwork. Jez and Jay have always been fascinated by the African American folk magic that has been the legacy of their family for generations—especially the curious potions and powders Doc and Gran would make for the people on their island. But Jez soon finds out that her family’s true power goes far beyond small charms and elixirs…and not a moment too soon. Because when evil both natural and supernatural comes to show itself in town, it’s going to take every bit of the magic she has inside her to see her through. Walter Dean Myers Honor Award for Outstanding Children's Literature!

Hench

Hench
Author: Natalie Zina Walschots
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 426
Release: 2020-09-22
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062978594

“This book is fast, furious, compelling, and angry as hell." -- Seanan McGuire, New York Times bestselling author The Boys meets My Year of Rest and Relaxation in this smart, imaginative, and evocative novel of love, betrayal, revenge, and redemption, told with razor-sharp wit and affection, in which a young woman discovers the greatest superpower—for good or ill—is a properly executed spreadsheet. Anna does boring things for terrible people because even criminals need office help and she needs a job. Working for a monster lurking beneath the surface of the world isn’t glamorous. But is it really worse than working for an oil conglomerate or an insurance company? In this economy? As a temp, she’s just a cog in the machine. But when she finally gets a promising assignment, everything goes very wrong, and an encounter with the so-called “hero” leaves her badly injured. And, to her horror, compared to the other bodies strewn about, she’s the lucky one. So, of course, then she gets laid off. With no money and no mobility, with only her anger and internet research acumen, she discovers her suffering at the hands of a hero is far from unique. When people start listening to the story that her data tells, she realizes she might not be as powerless as she thinks. Because the key to everything is data: knowing how to collate it, how to manipulate it, and how to weaponize it. By tallying up the human cost these caped forces of nature wreak upon the world, she discovers that the line between good and evil is mostly marketing. And with social media and viral videos, she can control that appearance. It’s not too long before she’s employed once more, this time by one of the worst villains on earth. As she becomes an increasingly valuable lieutenant, she might just save the world. A sharp, witty, modern debut, Hench explores the individual cost of justice through a fascinating mix of Millennial office politics, heroism measured through data science, body horror, and a profound misunderstanding of quantum mechanics.

A Blade So Black

A Blade So Black
Author: L.L. McKinney
Publisher: Imprint
Total Pages: 288
Release: 2018-09-25
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
ISBN: 1250153891

"A Blade So Black is the fantasy book I've been waiting for my whole life." —Angie Thomas, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of The Hate U Give For fans of Marissa Meyer, L.L. McKinney's A Blade So Black delivers an irresistible urban fantasy retelling of Alice in Wonderland... but it's not the Wonderland you remember. The first time the Nightmares came, it nearly cost Alice her life. Now she's trained to battle monstrous creatures in the dark dream realm known as Wonderland with magic weapons and hardcore fighting skills. Yet even warriors have a curfew. Life in real-world Atlanta isn't always so simple, as Alice juggles an overprotective mom, a high-maintenance best friend, and a slipping GPA. Keeping the Nightmares at bay is turning into a full-time job. But when Alice's handsome and mysterious mentor is poisoned, she has to find the antidote by venturing deeper into Wonderland than she’s ever gone before. And she'll need to use everything she's learned in both worlds to keep from losing her head... literally. Debut author L.L. McKinney delivers an action-packed twist on an old classic, full of romance and otherworldly intrigue. And don't miss the thrilling sequel, A Dream So Dark! An Imprint Book "Mixing elements of Alice in Wonderland and Buffy the Vampire Slayer... Delectable." —Entertainment Weekly

Haunting Experiences

Haunting Experiences
Author: Diane Goldstein
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Total Pages: 282
Release: 2007-09-15
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0874216818

Ghosts and other supernatural phenomena are widely represented throughout modern culture. They can be found in any number of entertainment, commercial, and other contexts, but popular media or commodified representations of ghosts can be quite different from the beliefs people hold about them, based on tradition or direct experience. Personal belief and cultural tradition on the one hand, and popular and commercial representation on the other, nevertheless continually feed each other. They frequently share space in how people think about the supernatural. In Haunting Experiences, three well-known folklorists seek to broaden the discussion of ghost lore by examining it from a variety of angles in various modern contexts. Diane E. Goldstein, Sylvia Ann Grider, and Jeannie Banks Thomas take ghosts seriously, as they draw on contemporary scholarship that emphasizes both the basis of belief in experience (rather than mere fantasy) and the usefulness of ghost stories. They look closely at the narrative role of such lore in matters such as socialization and gender. And they unravel the complex mix of mass media, commodification, and popular culture that today puts old spirits into new contexts.

The Searcher of the End House

The Searcher of the End House
Author: William Hope Hodgson
Publisher: Good Press
Total Pages: 34
Release: 2020-12-08
Genre: Fiction
ISBN:

Embark on a haunting journey with "The Searcher of the End House" by William Hope Hodgson. Set in the 1910s, this classic tale weaves a web of suspense and intrigue, drawing readers into a world of mystery and the supernatural. Hodgson's masterful storytelling and atmospheric prose make this a must-read for fans of gothic literature and historical fictio

Ghost Cat

Ghost Cat
Author: Eve Bunting
Publisher: Triangle Interactive, Inc.
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2019-01-16
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 1684520029

Read Along or Enhanced eBook: Miss Maggie McCullen has been the keeper for the Port Carrick lighthouse for many years. She has never missed a night, keeping the big light going. And while the people in Port Carrick are grateful to her, they worry about her lonely life at the lighthouse. But they don't know that she has her cat, Sailor Boy, for company. Because Sailor Boy is no ordinary cat. He's a ghost cat. He can make himself visible or invisible, especially when visitors come to call and he wants to be mischievous. But when a fierce storm comes and Miss Maggie needs special assistance, Sailor Boy proves his worth.

Blackass

Blackass
Author: A. Igoni Barrett
Publisher: Graywolf Press
Total Pages: 273
Release: 2016-03-01
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1555979262

Furo Wariboko, a young Nigerian, awakes the morning before a job interview to find that he's been transformed into a white man. In this condition he plunges into the bustle of Lagos to make his fortune. With his red hair, green eyes, and pale skin, it seems he's been completely changed. Well, almost. There is the matter of his family, his accent, his name. Oh, and his black ass. Furo must quickly learn to navigate a world made unfamiliar and deal with those who would use him for their own purposes. Taken in by a young woman called Syreeta and pursued by a writer named Igoni, Furo lands his first-ever job, adopts a new name, and soon finds himself evolving in unanticipated ways. A. Igoni Barrett's Blackass is a fierce comic satire that touches on everything from race to social media while at the same time questioning the values society places on us simply by virtue of the way we look. As he did in Love Is Power, or Something Like That, Barrett brilliantly depicts life in contemporary Nigeria and details the double-dealing and code-switching that are implicit in everyday business. But it's Furo's search for an identity--one deeper than skin--that leads to the final unraveling of his own carefully constructed story.

The House with the Brick-Kiln

The House with the Brick-Kiln
Author: E. F. Benson
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 38
Release: 2018-06-22
Genre:
ISBN: 9781721217861

The House with the Brick-Kiln By E. F. Benson Benson was also known as a writer of atmospheric, oblique, and at times humorous or satirical ghost stories, which were often first published in story magazines such as Pearson's Magazine or Hutchinson's Magazine, 20 of which were illustrated by Edmund Blampied. These "spook stories," as they were also called, were then reprinted in collections by his principal publisher, Walter Hutchinson. His 1906 short story, "The Bus-Conductor," a fatal-crash premonition tale about a person haunted by a hearse driver, has been adapted several times, notably in 1944 (in the film Dead of Night and as an anecdote in Bennett Cerf's Ghost Stories anthology published the same year) and in a 1961 episode of The Twilight Zone. The catchphrase from the story, "Room for one more," even spawned an urban legend, and also appears in the 1986 Oingo Boingo song, "Dead Man's Party." We are delighted to publish this classic book as part of our extensive Classic Library collection. Many of the books in our collection have been out of print for decades, and therefore have not been accessible to the general public. The aim of our publishing program is to facilitate rapid access to this vast reservoir of literature, and our view is that this is a significant literary work, which deserves to be brought back into print after many decades. The contents of the vast majority of titles in the Classic Library have been scanned from the original works. To ensure a high quality product, each title has been meticulously hand curated by our staff. Our philosophy has been guided by a desire to provide the reader with a book that is as close as possible to ownership of the original work. We hope that you will enjoy this wonderful classic work, and that for you it becomes an enriching experience.