Mind your step, it’s somewhat dark in here. A library of shadows? Hahaha, yes, that’s an apt description. What are you likely to find? The answer is confusingly simple. Books and stories that stay with you. Horror in a variety of incarnations. Sometimes old school, quiet horror, tales that are light on blood ands gore. Those things are so often mistaken as a definition of the genre. Although, it has to be said, there may be blood. More often than not, they’re stories of cosmic proportions made human. Sometimes apocalyptic and post apocalyptic. After all, isn’t the end of the world the ultimate in horror stories?
Reading
The truth is, we all need to be scared. Most bookshops have horror and sci-fi sections. Speculative fiction which deals with the ghosts and ghouls, the dark creatures and imagined monsters. The horrors of today and dread of dystopian tomorrows. Reading books – horror, cosmic, apocalyptic stories – is a wonderful way of taking the edge off our fears. Coming to terms with those moments when you feel a trifle overwhelmed with the world and fancy that you hear the dead knocking at the door.
So, relax and read on. Mr Leonard and I both hope that you’ll find something of interest in this unassuming bibliography. A little dark distraction, ebook or paperback, to while away an hour or two. My name? I’m Howard Spode, an associate of the author. I like to think of myself as the reliable custodian.
Collapse
A mystery illness sweeps the globe. Billions fallen, gripped by an unknown affliction. Hope is all the few survivors have. Hope that the collapsed will recover and wake again. But waking is when the real nightmare begins. A post-apocalyptic horror novel.
4 Hours
City flu – swift, virulent, devastating. Beneath Whitehall, a few of the immune gather in a bunker. Something worse than pandemic is taking place above their heads. Two men are sent to investigate. They’re against the clock and the unknown. An apocalyptic horror novella.
Bad Pennies
Seeing a stranger die is the worst thing that Chris has ever witnessed. Picking up the dead man’s wallet is a mistake, a moment of weakness. That’s all it takes, one impulsive act, for reality to unravel. Because pocketing the wallet is only the beginning.
Call Drops
Vincent likes nothing more than rootling round second-hand shops in search of the interesting and unusual. Items that lost and forgotten. That’s all about to change. He’s found something that is best left unfound. An old school horror story, one of those books that stay with you.
Doggem
All the kids adore Doggem, the class cuddly toy. They each get to hug him, love him, take him home. All they need do in return is write his diary. It’s George’s turn and George comes from a very unusual family. Horror, cosmic horror, apocalyptic? It’s hard to classify this darkly charming story.
The Bledbrooke Works
Some places don’t feel right. No rhyme or reason, they’re just wrong. Bledbrooke is one of those places. It’s always been different. Quaint and quiet, a little backwater with a somehow dark charm all of its own. Once you get used to it, you won’t want to live anywhere else. A cosmic horror story.
Congeal
It starts with reports of an inland lake turning semi-solid. Soon, that greasy, sickening substance isn’t confined to an inland lake. An ancient, cosmic entity is bubbling up to the surface in search of food. One woman struggles for survival in this post-apocalyptic horror story.
Strowg
Ever got fed up with your job? Changing profession is the obvious answer but that’s more difficult when it’s one of those lifestyle jobs. And infinitely more difficult when your employer is Strowg, an age-old and increasingly feral creature of the night.
Night Service
All aboard the night service, the last bus you catch. Sometimes we all get on those rare darktime buses. The ones that run when sensible folk are safely in their beds. This is a wild ride. Don’t expect to get off alive. A horror story from the Scaeth Mythos and Dead Boxes Archive.
A Plague of Pages
Sometimes you need to press the restart button. Anthony’s dream is to be a writer and he’s about the realise his dream. Trouble is, some dreams turn into nightmares. An apocalyptic meeting of horror, virus, zombies and dangerous objects.
Burntbridge Boys
It’s 1979 and Sammy Rafferty is on the run. From the past, the police, some unfriendly criminal types. He thinks his football dreams are over. But, he’s run to Burntbridge Lye. A place where dreams don’t always die. The most unusual of things – a football horror story.
The Dead Boxes Archive
A chilling horror story collection, seven tales of terror together for the first time in one volume. Dead Boxes – scary things, wonderful and dreadful secrets hiding in plain view. They hold miracle, mystery, answers to questions best not asked and directions to places better left unfound.
