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Dark Duets is a feast of eerie and mesmerizing horror, thriller, and dark fantasy tales—an ambitious and unique anthology featuring biting and atmospheric original stories from seventeen pairs of acclaimed writers, all collaborating together for the first time, including New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris, Rachel Caine, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare, Stuart MacBride, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Jonathan Maberry and David Liss.

Penned by two authors—and in one case, a trio—who have never worked together before, the stories in this enthralling literary chemistry blend diverse elements and rich themes into mesmerizing and highly combustible tales that delve deep into the shadowy, unexplored realms of the imagination.

On the night before Halloween, an unwitting young woman falls under the spell of a dangerous man—and into a terrifying multiverse—in "T Rhymer" by Gregory Frost and Jonathan Maberry. Sarah MacLean and Carrie Ryan explore the exquisite agony of eternal love in "She, Doomed Girl." "Welded" by Tom Piccirilli and T. M. Wright offers an unsettling vision of evil that infects and destroys lives.

Mixing the ordinary with the extraordinary, these bold and vivid stories offer a compelling survey of the supernatural world that is sure to frighten and enchant.

Tabel of Content

• An Introduction - (2014) - essay by Christopher Golden
• Trip Trap - (2014) - shortfiction by Sherrilyn Kenyon and Kevin J. Anderson
• Welded - (2014) - shortfiction by Tom Piccirilli and T. M. Wright
• Dark Witness - (2014) - shortfiction by Charlaine Harris and Rachel Caine
• Replacing Max - (2014) - shortfiction by Stuart B. MacBride and Allan Guthrie
• T. Rhymer - (2014) - shortfiction by Gregory Frost and Jonathan Maberry
• She, Doomed Girl - (2014) - shortfiction by Sarah MacLean and Carrie Ryan
• Hand Job - (2014) - shortfiction by Chelsea Cain and Lidia Yuknavitch
• Hollow Choices - (2014) - shortfiction by Robert Jackson Bennett and David Liss
• Amuse-Bouche - (2014) - shortfiction by Amber Benson and Jeff Mariotte
• Branches, Curving - (2014) - shortfiction by Tim Lebbon and Michael Marshall Smith
• Renascence - (2014) - shortfiction by Rhodi Hawk and F. Paul Wilson
• Blind Love - (2014) - shortfiction by Kasey Lansdale and Joe R. Lansdale
• Trapper Boy - (2014) - shortfiction by Holly Newstein and Rick Hautala
• Steward of the Blood - (2014) - shortfiction by Nate Kenyon and James A. Moore
• Calculating Route - (2014) - shortfiction by Michael Koryta and Jeffrey David Greene
• Sisters Before Misters - (2014) - shortfiction by Sarah Rees Brennan and Cassandra Clare and Holly Black
• Sins Like Scarlet - (2014) - shortfiction by Mark Morris and Rio Youers

Slithering from these pages are never-before-collected tales of suspense and wonder by the woman who invented modern-day dark fantasy: A man goes quietly to bed aboard the doomed Lusitania and awakens on a magical South Pacific Island just as the passenger liner is torpedoed. In a future where women rule the world, a sentient island becomes murderously jealous of a shipwrecked couple. Dire consequences await a human swept into the dark, magical world of elves. A deadly labyrinth coils around the dark heart of a picturesque landscape garden. Within an Egyptian sarcophagus lies the horrifying price of infidelity. Swirling unseen around us are loathsome creatures giving form to our basest desires and fears. A beautiful, veiled medium may hold the key to preventing unspeakable evil from slipping through the borderlands between life and death. On a lost island a woman pipe player and her monstrous dancing partner bring death and terror to five adventurers.

The stories in this collection have played an integral role in the development of modern dark fantasy, greatly influencing such writers as H. P. Lovecraft and A. Merritt.

Contents:

• ii - The Nightmare And Other Tales Of Dark Fantasy (frontispiece) - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• ix - Francis Stevens: The Woman Who Invented Dark Fantasy - essay by Gary Hoppenstand
• 1 - The Nightmare - (1917) - novella by Francis Stevens
• 1 - The Nightmare - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• 79 - The Labyrinth - (1918) - novel by Francis Stevens
• 79 - The Labyrinth - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• 193 - Friend Island - (1918) - shortstory by Francis Stevens
• 193 - Friend Island - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• 204 - Behind the Curtain - (1918) - shortstory by Francis Stevens
• 204 - Behind the Curtain - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• 212 - Unseen--Unfeared - (1919) - shortstory by Francis Stevens
• 212 - Unseen--Unfeared - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• 227 - The Elf Trap - (1919) - shortstory by Francis Stevens (variant of The Elf-Trap)
• 227 - The Elf Trap - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• 248 - Serapion - novel by Francis Stevens (variant of Possessed: A Tale of the Demon Serapion 2003)
• 248 - Serapion - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd
• 343 - Sunfire - (1926) - novella by Francis Stevens
• 343 - Sunfire - interior artwork by Thomas C. Floyd

Fantasy comes in all shades, from gentle tales of elves and fairies, to the blackest of horrors. Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy tends toward the darker edges, where the fantastic mixes with the horrific. With all original tales by a number of SubPress favorites, and writers new to our stable, we ve aimed to illuminate these shadowed corners, to bring into the light the creatures that venture forth from the sea, those that alter our reality to suit their sinister needs, and others who head into territory so bleak it s best left undescribed.

Table of Contents:

• The Gulf - short story by Poppy Z. Brite
• Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders - (2008) - novelette by Mike Resnick
• It Washed Up - short story by Joe R. Lansdale
• The Hour of Babel - short story by Tim Powers
• Monstrous Embrace - short story by Rachel Swirsky
• The Lunatic Miss Teak - short story by Darren Speegle
• The Steam Dancer (1896) - short story by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• Penguins of the Apocalypse - novelette by William Browning Spencer
• Caverns of Mystery - short story by Kage Baker
• Face - short story by Mike Carey
• The Road to Levinshir - (2002) - short story by Patrick Rothfuss

Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy, published in 2008 to widespread critical and popular acclaim, provided a unique showcase for some of our finest practitioners of dark, disturbing fiction. This much anticipated second volume more than meets the standards set by its predecessor, offering a diverse assortment of stories guaranteed to delight, unsettle, and enthrall. Volume two proper is a full 20,000 words longer than the first installment in the series.

Table of Contents:

• Wolverton Station - short fiction by Joe Hill
• The Passion of Mother Vajpai - short fiction by Jay Lake and Shannon Page
• Not Last Night but the Night Before - short fiction by Steven R. Boyett
• Chivalrous - short fiction by Kelley Armstrong
• Smelling Danger: A Story of The Black Company - short fiction by Glen Cook
• That Dappled Thing - short fiction by William Browning Spencer
• Hydraguros - novelette by Caitlín R. Kiernan
• The Parthenopean Scalpel - (2010) - short story by Bruce Sterling
• A Pulp Called Joe - short fiction by David Prill
• Vampire Lake - short fiction by Norman Partridge
• A Room with a View - novelette by K. J. Parker