Tales From The Fringes Of Fear

Dragged fresh from the grave and pulled out of the haunted corners of a school locker, these thirteen new stories are a nod to the storytelling style of Tales from the Crypt and The Twilight Zone. Most kids don’t have to stress about things like exotic insects with a taste for human flesh when they go to class. But students at this school have to be ever vigilant. You never know when a supernatural pastry or a clay monster bent on revenge might be lurking just around the corner. Even a simple field trip to a local animal sanctuary can have s-s-serious consequences. A companion volume to Tales from Beyond the Brain, these stories are guaranteed to make you laugh like a hyena, shake your head in wonder or tremble with fear.

Imagine walking home from school one day and seeing a brain on the side of the road, a brain that, it turns out, is looking for a new home. Or instead of paying attention to the teacher, you shoot a paper airplane across the room and accidentally rip a hole in the fabric of the universe. And what would you do if you discovered that your class reading group was actually recruiting kids with telekinetic powers? Tales from Beyond the Brain is a collection of thirteen spooky stories that are as outrageous as they are terrifying. It's a throwback to the weird tales of yesteryear, in the vein of Tales from the Crypt and The Twilight Zone, but with contemporary characters and settings. Getting an education has never been more dangerous.

With an introduction by W. Axl Rose Del James unleashes an extraordinary collection of snapshots from hell—our hell. Here are spine-chilling stories of everyday people, all caught up in terrible urges—sex and obsession, addiction and violence—all sharing the universal language of fear. . . . A heavy-metal dreamer locked in a savage war with his television set. An artist seduced by a vampire. Two boys trapped by an urban legend come to life—or a drug-induced nightmare. A modern-day gladiator engaged in a brutal death match. A rock-and-roll star who years to be with the one good woman he has ever known—and so ignites a blaze of mad destruction. Praise for The Language of Fear “The Language of Fear is spoken in tunes of rock'n'roll, of barking dogs and net-trapped fish, of acid-sizzled flesh and tattoo needles, and after these few lessons, you'll speak it too.”—Cemetery Dance “Pissed-off, heartbroken rock'n'roll horror: surprisingly tender, garage-band crude, savage as a shotgun blast and audacious as an exit wound.”—John Skipp “After a hard day in Hell, James writes down what he saw. Good reading.”—John Shirley “Best described as an updated Night Shift, the contemporary tales [are] short and nasty.”—Cindy Baum, Scream Magazine

Settle in for a night of blood-curdling suspense. Author Elia Wilkinson Peattie got her start in literature as a journalist and writer of children's non-fiction, but she soon graduated to fare appropriate for more mature audiences. This spellbinding collection of horror and suspense tales is sure to enthrall fans of the genre.

30 dangerous paths. 30 minutes to escape. YOU choose the path to survive — in the spookiest Countdown to Danger yet! This spooky installment of the choose-your-own-path series features serious survival scenarios, horror style! Readers determine their own fate as they dodge obstacles like ravenous zombies, shapeshifting monsters, haunted clocks and deadly booby traps! The door slams behind you, and you realize that you and your cousin are trapped in Smithson House, that old, derelict mansion at the edge of town. This house is possessed by all manner of ghosts and ghouls — and at the stroke of midnight, the supernatural powers in this building will use you to BREAK OUT. Unless, of course, you manage to escape by reversing the curse that holds all of you here. You’ve got 30 minutes to stop the ghosts and save your cousin . . . or die trying!

Jamie loves sharks. He reads about them. He talks about them. Sometimes he even pretends to be a shark. Too bad no one else wants to join his Shark Club. His peers and parents are quickly growing tired of his current obsession. When Jamie's teacher, Mr. Claxton, brings in a new class pet, Jamie is put in charge. But Jamie has an accident while feeding it, and everyone becomes upset with him. He needs to find a way to make things right. In the end, he comes up with a solution that pleases both his teacher and classmates, a solution that also gives Jamie an opportunity to share his newest obsession - lizards.

Middle grader Tanya has managed to stop famed horror writer Joel Southland from stealing people's nightmares for his books. The malevolent, sentient ink that had been the source of all his powers and successes now belongs to Tanya. But the ink--which feeds on nightmares--is growing hungrier and hungrier. It urges Tanya to plunder the dreams of others so it can feed. Among Tanya's struggles to outwit the ink are eleven other creepy tales representing the dreams and nightmares of other characters in the book. From tales of dentists who are actually giant alien insects in disguise to a kid spotting a tombstone with his own name and death date, these stories are sure to thrill and chill.

30 dangerous paths. 30 minutes to escape. YOU choose the path to survive — in the most terrifying Countdown to Danger yet! Face off against the horrors lurking below the city in this latest action-packed installment of the choose-your-own-path series. Depending on the choices you make, you may end up battling a brood of blood-thirsty vampires, dodging a pack of mutant rats, or maybe even foiling an evil plot by the mayor. You are listening to music while meandering the downtown streets of your hometown when — YEARGH! — you fall down an open maintenance hole. Luckily, you don’t hurt yourself upon landing at the bottom of a creepy tunnel. That’s because you’ve fallen on a DEAD BODY. A dead body of a municipal worker that has scratch marks AND bite wounds on his neck. You call up for help, but nobody can hear you, and the ladder appears to have been ripped right off the stone wall — like somebody or something was trying to prevent anyone from getting back out. You’ve got 30 minutes to find your way back above ground . . . or die trying!