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Picture this: you're riding the bus home from work, with the very first newspaper article ever published under your byline clutched in your hot little hand, when a coked-up idiot attempts to hold up everyone on the bus. He takes a dislike to you and is about to slice you open when a large, gorgeously hairy man attacks him and saves your life. Only your rescuer is not a man, but a giant wolf who leaves a bloody pawprint on your newspaper, all over your precious byline...

If you're an intrepid reporter, you don't panic. You run for the newsroom to get a photo of the pawprint before it disappears... because the paper you work for thrives on stories of alien invasions and Elvis sightings and Bigfoot's baby, and this, unlike all of those stories, this is real.

Of course, it's not that simple. The highly civilized Denver werewolves don't want anyone to know of their existence, not even beautiful young reporters who make Lucas, the leader of the pack, think lustful thoughts. But Lucas and his pack have a much bigger problem to deal with: there's another were-pack hunting in their territory -- and being messy about it. If the police solve any of those brutal, apparently random, murders, Denver's more patrician lycanthropes may wind up in big trouble.

Jens Wylie would never leave Earth, but his heart was with the brave men and women of the first Mars Expedition, enchanted by the siren song of the stars. As U.S. Undersecretary of Space, he thought he could share some small part of that bold adventure. But as the mission progressed, Jens saw the sure signs of imminent disaster, a mission failure that could bring Earth's Space program to a halt. He knew that he must risk his future, and maybe even his life, to keep humanity on the road to the stars-the only question was whether he had the courage to do it.

Susan has a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, and a good job in New York City. And then the Calling begins. The Presence that turns everyday reality into a nightmare of sheer terror. The shrieking obscene Silence that follows her everywhere. Calling her.

First she tells her husband and friends, but they don't believe her. Then she tries to run, but it stalks her without mercy. She has been chosen and there is only one thing to do. Answer.

WFA nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Year's Best Horror Stories: Series V (1977), edited by Gerald W. Page, and was reprinted in Nightmare Magazine, March 2016. It is included in the collections Tales from the Nightside: Dark Fantasy (1981), A Glow of Candles and Other Stories (1981) and Scream Quietly: The Best of Charles L. Grant (2012).

Read the full story for free at Nightmare.

A definitive collection of stories from the unrivaled master of twentieth-century horror in a Penguin Classics Deluxe edition with cover art by Travis Louie.

"I think it is beyond doubt that H. P. Lovecraft has yet to be surpassed as the twentieth century's greatest practitioner of the classic horror tale." -Stephen King

Frequently imitated and widely influential, Howard Philips Lovecraft reinvented the horror genre in the 1920s, discarding ghosts and witches and instead envisioning mankind as a tiny outpost of dwindling sanity in a chaotic and malevolent universe. S. T. Joshi, Lovecraft's preeminent interpreter, presents a selection of the master's fiction, from the early tales of nightmares and madness such as "The Outsider" to the overpowering cosmic terror of "The Call of Cthulhu." More than just a collection of terrifying tales, this volume reveals the development of Lovecraft's mesmerizing narrative style and establishes him as a canonical- and visionary-American writer.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1999) - essay by S. T. Joshi
• Suggestions for Further Reading - (1999) - essay by S. T. Joshi
• A Note on the Text - (1999) - essay by S. T. Joshi
• Dagon - (1919)
• The Statement of Randolph Carter - (1920)
• Facts Concerning the Late Arthur Jermyn and His Family - (1987) - (variant of The White Ape 1920)
• Celephaïs - (1922)
• Nyarlathotep - (1920)
• The Picture in the House - (1919)
• The Outsider - (1926)
• Herbert West--Reanimator - (1922)
• The Hound - (1924)
• The Rats in the Walls - (1924)
• The Festival - (1925)
• He - (1926)
• Cool Air - (1928)
• The Call of Cthulhu - (1928)
• The Colour Out of Space - (1927)
• The Whisperer in Darkness - (1931)
• The Shadow Over Innsmouth - (1936)
• The Haunter of the Dark - (1936)
• Explanatory Notes - (1999) - essay by S. T. Joshi

When the streams suddenly run dry in Ani Mmadu, the people know it is time to atone for a sin that goes back to the very beginning of their world, the consequence of the rebellion of one woman against the all-powerful and unforgiving, jealous god. To avert this catastrophe and for the waters to flow and nourish the farms again, the people must send a child of Aja, chosen by the Oracle, into the Forest of Iniquity, to atone for that great sin. It falls on young Adanne to save her people this time. But the Ajas sent into the dreaded forest tend never to return. Is Adanne the long-awaited one who will buck the trend and end the suffering of her people?

This is an extraordinary novel bursting with kaleidoscopic worlds and beings. It is a feat of the imagination from a born storyteller.

Winner of the 1990 Stoker award for Superior Achievement in Short Fiction.

The house sits on a busy street, with traffic and kids and moms walking dogs all passing by every day, completely unaware of what's going on inside. There is the world out there, and the world in here, where a son is caring for his mother as she struggles against cancer through the final days of her life. Inside this house, something evil is calling.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Borderlands (1990), edited by Thomas F. Monteleone. It has subsequently appeared in a number of other anthologies.

This novella was first published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, July/August 2021.

Read the full story for free at Analog.

Opening night at Mary's Place draws a packed house, including Lucky Duck, who has a talent for defying the laws of probability, a member of Ireland's fairy folk, and a mysterious stranger carrying around a deadly secret.

All the best lines from the Saloon at the far-out edge of space-time!

Off the Wall at Callahan's is a collection of epigrams, maxims, proverbs, observations, eye-watering puns, and original song lyrics distilled from the first five volumes of the Callahan's Place series (from Callahan's Crosstime Saloon to Lady Slings The Booze). After the original Callahan's Place was destroyed. all these gems were painstakingly deciphered from blown-up old photos of the wall behind the bar, where Callahan let his customers scrawl graffiti in place of the usual mirror. So technically, every word is "off the wall." Further ennobled by numerous interior B&W illustarations by Phil Foglio, there are even capsule bios at the end for every person (real of imaginary) quoted in the graffiti section.

Welcome to Callahan's Crosstime Saloon... There's no place like it in this, or any other, universe.

This short story originally appeared in Weird Tales in 1928. It has been anthologized many times, including the anthology The Dark Descent, edited by David G. Hartwell, and has also been included in a myriad of collections, including the collections The Call of Cthulhu and Other Weird Stories and The Dunwich Horror and Others.

It was the basis for the 2005 featurette The Call of Cthulhu.

The February 1928 issue of Weird Tales containing "The Call of Cthulhu" is available free on Internet Archives.

After two hundred years of exile, King Maric has allowed the legendary Grey Wardens to finally return to Ferelden. When they come, however, they bring dire news: one of their own has escaped into the Deep Roads and aligned himself with their ancient enemy, the monstrous darkspawn.

The Grey Wardens need Maric's help, and he reluctantly agrees to lead them into the passages he traveled through many years before, chasing after a deadly secret that will threaten to destroy not only the Grey Wardens but also the Kingdom above.

To him, Earth was a prison of the mind and body. Only on the world of the Green Star would he walk -- in the borrowed body of a primitive youth. A thrilling adventure in the grand tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as only Lin Carter can tell it!

As Harmony's Oversoul grows weaker, a great warrior has arisen to challenge its bans. His name is Moozh, and he has won control of an army using forbidden technology. Now he is aiming his soldiers at the city of Basilica, that strong fortress above the Plain.

Basilica remains in turmoil. Wetchik and his sons are not strong enough to stop a army. Can Rasa and her allies defeat him through intrigue, or will Moozh take the city and all who are in it?

The world of Zelharri, where magic reigns supreme, begins a chaotic existence after the death of the Duke. To usurp the throne and prevent the Duke's son, Aletto, from taking his rightful place, the Duke's bother, Jadek, marries his widow and exercises enormous power of Zelharri. Fearing that all the good in Zelharri will be unraveled, Aletto and his sister, Lialla, summon allies to aid them.

In this bewitching fantasy novel, three Californians are recruited into helping Aletto assume his royal position as Duke of Zelharri. The workaholic lawyer Jennifer; her irresponsible sister, Robyn; and Robyn's flippant son, Chris, must harness the mighty power of the Night-Threads to combat the sinister Jadek. The only problem is that they have no faith in this awesome power.

Returning to her home in Oxrun Station to find her family considerably changed and the town noticeably quieter, Cynthia Yarrow begins to be followed by the Greybeast and discovers an awful secret.

VAELIN AL SORNA RETURNS

Anthony Ryan's debut novel Blood Song--the first book of the Raven's Shadow series - took the fantasy world by storm. Now, he continues that saga with The Wolf's Call, which begins a thrilling new story of razor-sharp action and epic adventure.

Peace never lasts.

Vaelin Al Sorna is a living legend, his name known across the Realm. It was his leadership that overthrew empires, his blade that won hard-fought battles - and his sacrifice that defeated an evil more terrifying than anything the world had ever seen. He won titles aplenty, only to cast aside his earned glory for a quiet life in the Realm's northern reaches.

Yet whispers have come from across the sea - rumours of an army called the Steel Horde, led by a man who believes himself a god. Vaelin has no wish to fight another war, but when he learns that Sherin, the woman he lost long ago, has fallen into the Horde's grasp, he resolves to confront this powerful new threat.

To this end, Vaelin travels to the realms of the Merchant Kings, a land ruled by honor and intrigue. There, as the drums of war thunder across kingdoms riven by conflict, Vaelin learns a terrible truth: that there are some battles that even he may not be strong enough to win.

Just one year ago, Neryn had nothing but a canny skill she barely understood and a faint dream that the legendary rebel base of Shadowfell might be real. Now she is the rebels' secret weapon, and their greatest hope for survival in the fast-approaching ambush of King Keldec at Summerfort.

The fate of Alban itself is in her hands. But confidence is stretching thinner by the day when word of another Caller reaches the rebels: a Caller at Keldec's side with all of Neryn's power and none of her benevolence or hard-earned control. As the days before the battle drop quickly away, Neryn must find a way to uncover--and exploit--her opponent's weaknesses. At stake lies freedom for the people of Alban, a life free from hiding for the Good Folk--and a chance for Flint and Neryn to finally be together.

You have three minutes to save your life...

THREE MINUTES

You wake up alone in a horrible land. A horn sounds. The Call has begun.

TWO MINUTES

The Sidhe are close. They're the most beautiful and terrible people you've ever seen. And they've seen you.

ONE MINUTE

Nessa will be Called soon. No one thinks she has any chance to survive. But she's determined to prove them wrong.

TIME'S UP

Could you survive the Call?

A genre-changing blend of fantasy, horror, and folkore, The Call won't ever leave your mind from the moment you choose to answer it.

After so much danger, Nessa and Anto can finally dream of a happy life. But the terrible attack on their school has created a witch-hunt for traitors -- boys and girls who survived the Call only by making deals with the enemy. To the authorities, Nessa's guilt is obvious. Her punishment is to be sent back to the nightmare of the Grey Land for the rest of her life. The Sídhe are waiting, and they have a very special fate planned for her.

Meanwhile, with the help of a real traitor, the enemy come pouring into Ireland at the head of a terrifying army. Every human they capture becomes a weapon. Anto and the last students of his old school must find a way to strike a blow at the invaders before they lose their lives, or even worse, their minds. But with every moment Anto is confronted with more evidence of Nessa's guilt.

For Nessa, the thought of seeing Anto again is the only thing keeping her alive. But if she escapes, and if she can find him, surely he is duty-bound to kill her...

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to stretch from the wreckage of civility that defined Roland's youth to the crimson chaos that seems the future's only promise. Readers of Stephen King's epic series know Roland well, or as well as this enigmatic hero can be known. They also know the companions who have been drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddie Dean and his wife, Susannah Jake Chambers, the boy who has come twice through the doorway of death into Roland's world and Oy, the Billy-Bumbler.

In this long-awaited fifth novel in the saga, their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World's borderlands. Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community's soul. One of the town's residents is Pere Callahan, a ruined priest who, like Susannah, Eddie, and Jake, passed through one of the portals that lead both into and out of Roland's world.

As Father Callahan tells the ka-tet the astonishing story of what happened following his shamed departure from Maine in 1977, his connection to the Dark Tower becomes clear, as does the danger facing a single red rose in a vacant lot off Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan. For Calla Bryn Sturgis, danger gathers in the east like a storm cloud. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the Calla-folken both courage and cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough.

THE LAND OF MITHGAR

Dennis L. McKiernan's world-that-never-was has taken its place beside J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth and Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea as a special realm of adventure and magic with the best-selling Iron Tower Trilogy. Now the first book of The Silver Call Duology continues the tale with...

A CALL TO WAR!

More than two hundred years after the Dark Lord's defeat by the brave alliance of Warrow, human, Dwarf, and Elf, evil is again stirring, and man and Dwarf must turn to the small but stalwart Warrows for aid. And thus it is that Peregrin Fairhill and Cotton Buckleburr, keepers of the Silver Horn, find themselves marching with the Dwarf King at the head of a mighty army.

They are pleged to lead the way along the almost forgotten path to Kraggen-Cor, legendary realm under the Mountain. But Kraggen-Cor is now home to all creatures of evil that yet remain in Mithgar. And even if Perry and Cotton can reopen the ancient way, will they be leading their allies to glorious victory - or certain doom?

RETURN TO MITHGAR-

that magical realm of The Iron Tower Trilogy and Trek to Kraggen-Cor, a land of adventure and enchantment as fully realized as Tolkien's Middle-Earth and Le Guin's Earthsea. Return with this second book in The Silver Call Duology to a time when the armies of light are massing for a desperate attack against the stronghold of Darkness in this

THE FINAL BATTLE!

Kraggen-Cor, once the heart of the Dwarf kingdom, now the mountain fastness of all the creatures of evil that remain in Mithgar. Here the Dwarf King Durek has led his forces to fufill his destiny and reclaim his realm. But with the Dawn Gate held by ememy troops and the Dusk-Door of Kraggen-Cor barred by a nightmare guardian, Durek must split his forces. He sends the Warrow Perry, the human Kian, and several doughty Dwarf warriors to chance the Brega Path, the legendary twisting way through the heart of Kraggen-Cor. With the powers of evil in pursuit, can this small band win through to Durek's army before the enemy springs a diabolical trap which could prove the death of all the Dwarves in Mithgar?

In a land ruled by prophecy and the whims of gods, a young man finds himself at the heart of a war he barely understands, wielding powers he may never be able to control.

Isak is a white-eye, born bigger, more charismatic, and more powerful than normal men. But with that power comes an unpredictable temper and an inner rage he cannot always hide. Brought up as a wagon-brat, feared and despised by those around him, he dreams of a place in the army and a chance to live his own life. But when the call comes, it isn't to be a soldier, for the gods have other plans for the intemperate teenager: Isak has been chosen as heir-elect to the brooding Lord Bahl, the white-eye Lord of the Farlan.

The white-eyes were created by the gods to bring order out of chaos, for their magnetic charm and formidable strength makes them natural leaders of men. Lord Bahl is typical of the breed: he inspires and oppresses those around him in equal measure. He can be brusque and impatient, a difficult mentor for a boy every bit as volatile as he is.

But now is the time for the forging of empires. With mounting envy and malice, the men who would themselves be kings watch Isak, chosen by gods as flawed as the humans who serve them, as he is shaped and molded to fulfill the prophecies that circle him like scavenger birds. Divine fury and mortal strife is about to spill over and paint the world with blood.

The Stormcaller is the first book in a powerful new series that combines inspired world-building, epoch-shattering battles, and high emotion to dazzling effect.

Valeria relishes the tales of the mysterious, powerful Mountain where the gods -- powerful beings in the form of white horses -- live. And she loves hearing stories of the elite Riders who ride the stallions in the Dance -- a pattern that reflects, influences and sometimes creates the past, present or future. Though Valeria has a horse sense thought magical, she knows no woman has ever been called to the Mountain. Until she feels a strange pull and makes the decision to answer the call -- as a boy..

Only Kerrec, a senior Rider, and Euan, a barbarian prince, realize the truth as Valeria survives until the final test -- and passes with acclaim. But in her moment of triumph her secret is discovered and Valeria loses all that she's won.

Meanwhile, the barbarians plot to overthrow the Aurelian Empire. And Valeria's anger and frustration might be enough to give them a way in. Now the Empire depends on the will, the strength and the loyalty of one Rider. A Rider who has been rejected by all but the gods.

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is-a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

In The Calling, the sizzling second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong pumps up the romance, danger, and suspense that left readers of The Gathering clamoring for more.