A small, snow-covered town with a rich history, where everyone knows each other's secrets. A grand, old mansion on the outskirts of town that’s been abandoned for decades. 12-year-old Emma, who recently moved to the town with her family. Emma has alot of curiosity and love for mysteries. She also hopes to make new friends and has a fascination with the mansion.

A present contains a monstrous secret. An uninvited guest haunts a Christmas party. A shadow slips across the floor by firelight. A festive entertainment ends in darkness and screams. Who knows what haunts the night at the dark point of the year? This collection of seasonal chillers looks beneath Christmas cheer to a world of ghosts and horrors, mixing terrifying modern fiction with classic stories by masters of the macabre. From Neil Gaiman and M. R. James to Muriel Spark and E. Nesbit, there are stories here to make the hardiest soul quail - so find a comfy chair, lock the door, ignore the cold breath on your neck and get ready to welcome in the real spirits of Christmas.

Ghost stories at Christmas can be traced back to pagan times - Yule and Saturnalia - when the Winter Solstice (like Hallowe'en and Wulpurgis Night) was viewed as a moment in space and time where the thinness of the boundaries between the supernatural and human worlds became remarkably plastic, and all manner of strange things were said to be seen and heard in the winter air. while we no longer have the old stories spoken in the old homes around the old fires by the old myth-keepers, let us sit around and enjoy some of the stories that would have sent shivers up the great-great-grandchildren of those little ones sitting around the Yule fire - the supernatural literature of the Victorians and Edwardians. Enclosed in this volume are tales of dark winter nights and harrowing encounters between the worlds of Man and the Hereafter. There are tales of cursed antiquities, otherworldly toy stores, possessed dolls, deals with the devil, and murderous cabin fever. I hope your Christmas is - as M. R. James put it "may be the cheerfuller for a story-book" which takes you back to a different world - one not mapped out, trending, or tweeted about, one dark, forbidding, and evocative. Perhaps I may be a luddite for saying it, but I find something strangely comforting in that. Something consoling and hushing and chilling. Perhaps you will, too.

A ghost appears in a pregnant woman’s room on Winter Solstice Eve. Is it a warning for her future or revealing secrets of the past? Mercenary-turned-duchess Korinna is about to publicly announce her new pregnancy on the Winter Solstice. But a ghost appears in her bedroom the night before, making her fear for the unborn child’s life. When she asks her husband for help, both are surprised to find out the truth about the spirit. Dedicated to those who have served in the military and paid the ultimate sacrifice. “The Ghost on Winter Solstice” is a holiday story of Wyld Magic, the epic fantasy series. This takes place during the middle of the events of book two, A Pride of Gryphons, but it can be read as a stand-alone. Look for the Wyld Magic series: A Flight of Marewings A Pride of Gryphons Also try the spin-off novel, The Voyage of the Miscreation. Related stories: The Duke’s Daughter Together We Will Fly The Ghost on Winter Solstice

Reading a ghost story on Christmas Eve was once as much a part of traditional Christmas celebrations as turkey, eggnog, and Santa Claus. When he finds an abandoned duck punt on Christmas Eve, a hunter rows out into the marsh and comes across a shipwreck. He climbs aboard to explore—and finds himself trapped when a surge snaps the mooring line and his punt floats away. Sleep eludes him, and soon he discovers that he's not the only one trapped on the derelict ship.

Strange creatures begin to appear in the normally dull Graysland after Rupert digs up a mysterious bell in his backyard. He sets off with his best pal Squeem to discover the secret of a mysterious haunted mansion, its creepy occupant, and their connection to an all but forgotten old holiday called Winter Joy. Locked in, a prisoner of the mysterious owner of the mansion, Rupert is rescued by Pie O’Sky, who gives him a key that opens a door on a dangerous journey where he will come face-to-face with the Ghost of Winter Joy.