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The Drowning Game: A Novella of the Supernatural Plus Six Other Spine-Tingling Tales  by Jane Nightshade In the tradition of Ray Bradbury comes this collection of "spine-tingling tales." Not only is Nightshade's name inspired by the classic author, but her prose is as effective and haunting, lingering with the reader long after its conclusion.  Welcome to the Sutton County Line. . . It was the hottest summer on record in Sutton County, and Sandy and her friends were desperately in need of a swimming pool. There was a perfectly good one going to waste right in Sandy’s neighborhood—a pool that belonged to the rambling, empty old mansion behind her house—a pool that no one ever used. Until one blisteringly hot summer afternoon, Sandy and her friends made the mistake of trespassing on the mansion’s grounds and taking a dip the pool. Soon they found that something terrible lurked in the pool—something that would prove the old saying that Sandy sometimes heard around to

The light of the tablet pulsated on Margaret until the battery forced it to shut off. Over the course of several hours the white noise intensified to an ear-splitting level. Yet, for all the time spent obsessed on Jenny’s face, Margaret was not affected by the noise. Jenny was all. The white noise shut off, followed by the lingering of that dull ringing in the ears. The fluorescent lights came on, flickering. She stirred awake, if she was ever asleep. The blood from the dead pig that spattered her was long-dried and cracked. She was sore from the position she had been bound in. Behind the black plastic and the door that led into the house she heard the sounds of the locks and bolts turning. The door opened and Russell stepped out from behind the plastic into the garage. He carried a tray of food, on which was a sandwich, a pear, and a cup of water. He wore jeans and a t-shirt. “Good morning, Sister Margaret. Breakfa—" Through an already hoarse voice Margaret screamed.

Undead: A Poetry Anthology of Ghosts and Ghouls Apex Books Undead: A Poetry Anthology of Ghouls, Ghosts, and More offers over seventy contemporary poets contending with a time-honored topic: what lies beyond ‘the great beyond.’ The breadth of selection showcases poems ranging from deceased relatives and celebrities to other undead entities such as, vampires, automatons, angels, and yes, zombies. This anthology makes for a definitive addition to any speculative lit library. Poetry contributors include: Tony Barnstone, Erinn Batykefer, Melissa Bell, Shaindel Beers, K.T. Billey, Andrea Blythe, Rob Boley, Andrew Bourelle, David Bowles, Suzanne Burns, Cathleen Calbert, Lauren Camp, Lucia Cherciu, May Chong, Jackie Chou, Chloe N. Clark, Wanda Morrow Clevenger, Curtis Crisler, John Paul Davies, Carol V. Davis, Ann DeVilbiss, Joan M. DiMartino, Donelle Dreese, Nettie Farris, Ruth Foley, Joshua Gage, Martha Gehringer, Kim Goldberg, Amelia Gorman, Lea Graham, Yalonda Green, John Grey, Je

A World of Horror Hardcover  by Kaaron Warren (Author), Eric J Guignard  (Editor), Steve Lines (Illustrator) MANDATORY MIDNIGHT'S HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION! Every nation of the globe has unique tales to tell, whispers that settle in through the land, creatures or superstitions that enliven the night, but rarely do readers get to experience such a diversity of these voices in one place as in A World of Horror, the latest anthology book created by award-winning editor Eric J. Guignard, and beautifully illustrated by artist Steve Lines. Enclosed within its pages are twenty-two all-new dark and speculative fiction stories written by authors from around the world that explore the myths and monsters, fables and fears of their homelands. Encounter the haunting things that stalk those radioactive forests outside Chernobyl in Ukraine; sample the curious dishes one may eat in Canada; beware the veldt monster that mirrors yourself in Uganda; or simply battle mountain trolls alongside

Something Wicked This Way Comes is a special book. For that reason I am splitting this into a series of several parts. Part 1 herein covers Bradbury. This is the most extensive article I will cover for this series. Yes. It’s that important -- it’s that mandatory.   Like any kid I was first introduced to Ray Bradbury via the TV series Ray Bradbury theater . No surprise, it was my mother who loved the show. If you’ve been reading these articles by now you know she loved to watch her boys getting scared by watching all things creepy and then laughing like the Wicked Witch. Good times.  By the time I was in high school I knew the name Bradbury but, I’m ashamed to admit, I had not yet read his work. The Martian Chronicles was having a resurgence in popularity due in part to the television mini-series, but at that time in my life what informed my sense of all things sci-fi was (yes, of course) Star Wars. And to a lesser degree Star Trek. I don’t want to confuse the reader, as

THE PATIENCE OF A DEAD MAN Michael Clark  HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION Time Means  Nothing to the  Dead He just spent  his last dollar on  a run-down house, but  someone’s been waiting a  long time for this day to  come.    Tim  Russell  bet everything  on a handyman’s dream;  a quaint but dilapidated  farmhouse in New Hampshire. Newly  single after a messy divorce, he plans to  live in the house as he restores it for resale. To  his horror, as soon as the papers are signed and his work  starts, ghosts begin to appear — a bonewhite little boy; a  woman covered in flies. Tim can’t afford to leave and lose it  all, so he turns to his real estate agent Holly Burns to help him decide whether  or not he has any shot at fixing this haunting problem. Can they solve the mystery before  he loses his investment…or perhaps even his life? Excerpt CHAPTER ONE:  HENRY’S DEMISE  NOVEMBER  2

Announcing Mandatory Midnight's first ever GIVEAWAY of a 1962 FIRST EDITION of Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes! All you have to do is share this link anywhere on social media with the hashtag #MandatoryMidnight and follow me on Twitter. Winner* will be chosen at random. Good luck! *Winner will need to provide confidential information that will remain anonymous.

A Sunday school teacher must escape a vengeful brother years after she molested his sister and caused her death. When Sunday school teacher Margaret is abducted she finds herself a prisoner to Russel, who threatens her with a gruesome death for what she did to his fourteen-year-old sister. CHAPTER 1 The first thing she saw was the pig. She heard the distant blaring of white noise. It rose and brought her back to a painful consciousness. Deep beneath its surface she made out faint sounds of a disembodied voice, but the static deafened. A faint click shut it off, followed by a ringing in the ears and the rapid ticking of what must be a timer. Margaret Hollingsworth regained her senses after being abducted from the church parking lot. She was groggy, disoriented. She licked her lips. Something there tasted funny. Previously in darkness, and for how long she had no idea, it lifted and she tried to focus. She sat at the center of a typical and spacious garage wi