The theme is Gothic-- the horror of Gothic romance. Throughout the mid-century, paperback Gothic romance books dominated the shelves, always featuring a woman running away from a house. (Go ahead, Google "women running from houses.") Gothic romances tended to tell stories of women coming into conflict with old families, old houses and old traditions. So we've asked a bevy of best-selling writers to celebrate the movement with their own horrific takes on gothic. Run from the house with us! In Churl Yo offers a Bradburyesque sci-fi take on the Gothic, Alethea Kontis also chooses sci-fi in her tale of a futuristic medical procedure gone awry, John Ohno brings a classic governess-arrives-and-things-go-bad story, Jim Towns sets his story in 1972 with his movie-world horror tale, Amanda DeWees has a Gothic tale with an ingenious and tech-savvy female, Jeremiah Dylan Cook gives us a mysterious mansion-and sexy maybe-ghost, Leanna Renee Hieber brings us a ballad-like ghost origin story, Rob Nisbet makes a Lovecraft story out of Lovecraft himself, Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam comes to us with a ghost story of a house with its own ideas, Jason Henderson brings the beginning of a serialized story about an expedition into the fabled and haunted House of Usher, Charles R. Rutledge returns with a Carter Decamp psychic mystery, Henry Herz turns to folklore with his tale of a supernatural being wreaking vengeance on Scottish shores, Tony Jones spins us in the direction of violent, supernatural creatures with a taste for the nightlife, Michael Aronovitz weaves a tale about a person coming to terms with what it takes to escape an attic, Sam Knight perfectly evokes the smells and textures of life at an orchard, and Scott Pearson returns us once again to the contemporary era with his feminist commentary on the Modern Gothic.

THE STORY: The home of the Blackwoods near a Vermont village is a lonely, ominous abode, and Constance, the young mistress of the place, can't go out of the house without being insulted and stoned by the villagers. They have also composed a nasty s

Readers are in for the fright of the night when they help Jodie and Johnny search for their Uncle Barnaby in the monster-filled halls of Grizzlemyst Castle. The reader chooses an optional path and gets drawn into an adventure where shrieking ghouls, brain-dead drudges, mutants, and torturers appear at every turn. Full color.

From the Golden Age of the 1940s, through the Silver Age of the '60s, up until the early '80s--the end of the Bronze Age. Included are the earliest series, like American Comics Group's Adventures into the Unknown and Prize Comics' Frankenstein, and the controversial and gory comics of the '40s, such as EC's infamous and influential Tales from the Crypt. The resurgence of monster-horror titles during the '60s is explored, along with the return of horror anthologies like Dell Comics' Ghost Stories and Charlton's Ghostly Tales from the Haunted House. The explosion of horror titles following the relaxation of the comics code in the '70s is fully documented with chapters on Marvel's prodigious output--The Tomb of Dracula, Werewolf by Night and others--DC's anthologies--Witching Hour and Ghosts--and titles such as Swamp Thing, as well as the notable contributions of firms like Gold Key and Atlas. This book examines how horror comics exploited everyday terrors, and often reflected societal attitudes toward women and people who were different.

Witty and charming, New York Times-bestselling author Kerstin Gier's contemporary young adult novel A Castle in the Clouds follows a girl as she navigates secrets, romance, and danger in an aging grand hotel. Way up in the Swiss mountains, there's a hotel steeped in tradition and faded splendor. Once a year, when the famous New Year's Eve Ball takes place and guests from all over the world arrive, excitement returns to the vast hallways. Sophie, an intern at the hotel, is tasked with ensuring everything goes as planned. But the unexpected seems to lurk in every corner, and she soon realizes that not all the guests are as they appear to be. As Sophie finds herself embroiled in a thrilling adventure, risking not just her job but her heart, readers will be captivated by this whimsical tale of romance and mystery. Find yourself lost in the winding hallways of our grand Swiss hotel where secrets, romance, and danger coalesce into one unforgettable experience.

From the award-winning author or Cursed Be the Child comes this chilling collection of original short stories that chronicles the American nightmare with tales of losers, the lost, the lonely, and their personal monsters. (July)

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is a deliciously unsettling novel about a perverse, isolated, and possibly murderous family and the struggle that ensues when a cousin arrives at their estate.