Five strangers from across America are about to open the door to an unspeakable evil in this horror novel from master of the macabre!* Bentley Little.

They share a dark bond. A haunted childhood. A shocking secret. A memory of the houses they lived in--each one eerily identical to the next. From the remote foothills of the west to the green lawns of suburbia, they are returning--to the past, to the unspeakable events they long to forget...to the house.

Now, their journeys are about to converge in a terrifying challenge to confront their nightmares--or be trapped inside them forever....

*Stephen King

With his ability to disgust (and delight) even the most seasoned horror enthusiast (Publishers Weekly), Bentley Little conjures up your greatest fears as he dares you to spend a night with the haunted....

Julian and Claire Perry and their two children, Megan and James, have made the move to a bigger, nicer home in their city's historic district. But something isn't right.

The neighbors seem reluctant to visit. Claire can't shake the feeling that someone is watching her. Megan receives increasingly menacing and obscene texts. And James is having terrible dreams. No wonder, considering what he's seen in the corner of the basement, staring at him and shuffling closer ever so slowly.

Pity no one warned the family about the house. Now it's too late. Because the darkness at the bottom of the stairs is rising....

Five strangers from across America are about to open the door to an unspeakable evil in this horror novel from master of the macabre * Bentley Little.

They share a dark bond. A haunted childhood. A shocking secret. A memory of the houses they lived in--each one eerily identical to the next. From the remote foothills of the west to the green lawns of suburbia, they are returning--to the past, to the unspeakable events they long to forget...to the house.

Now, their journeys are about to converge in a terrifying challenge to confront their nightmares--or be trapped inside them forever....

*Stephen King

Mike and his family are soon terrorized by a secret society of modern day colonials who call themselves The Washingtonians. After a letter is found hidden in Mike's grandmother's barn, a gruesome letter exposing the dark truth that our first president of the United States, George Washington, was in fact a cannibal, his cult of devoted followers are on the hunt to keep the dead president's carnivorous past sacred.

Not only do The Washingtonians want the letter from leaking into the public's consciousness, they also have an insatiable appetite for the tender flesh of Mike's ten-year-old daughter, Amy. Knowledge is power, and staying ignorant is bliss. It is best to keep the public blind and history whole. If word gets out, it will rewrite the very foundation of the country as we know it.

On a par with such greats as Stephen King, Clive Barker and Peter Straub (Midwest Book Review), Bentley Little brings his unnerving talents to the terrifying story of a dysfunctional family in crisis.

Steve Nye writes for an alumni magazine and his long-term relationship is on the steady path to marriage. But his quiet life takes an unexpected turn when he receives a phone call from his mother. His father attacked her and has been committed to a mental asylum. The doctor says he's suffering from dementia. But Steve's father seems so calm, clear-eyed, and perfectly lucid when he whispers, I killed her...

Is it simply another symptom of delusion and madness? To find the answer, Steve investigates the cryptic message leading him down a terrifying path of his own making--and of his own nightmares....

Daniel Martin has never forgotten his childhood encounters with Frank Watkins, the man who built his family a summer home out of cardboard and plywood. Frank's gaze was oddly confusing, as if he was attempting to discern the proper way to behave because he didn't know how to respond in a human manner. Since Frank obviously wasn't an alien, young Daniel thought maybe the man was crazy. In the end, Daniel would learn the terrifying truth about Frank Watkins. And as an adult, Daniel is about to discover there are more of THEM out there...

From the mind of the man Stephen King calls a master of the macabre comes a brilliant new collection of no-punches-pulled horror stories, some never-before-collected and many originals that have never been published anywhere before.In Sticky Note, Gary finds a note with two simple words on it in the gutter: Kill her. Was it part of someone's to-do list? Bentley Little tells us where this yellow square piece of paper takes Gary in a way that only he can.A bad confrontation with a maid at a fancy resort leads a couple on a chilling journey they never dreamed would happen. The Maid may make you think twice about asking the front desk for extra towels or complaining about anything ever again.You'll never think of small-town rodeos the same way after reading The Last Rodeo on the Circuit, and neither will Rob and Teena after they decide to take in the local bizarre entertainment in an unscheduled stop along their road trip to Vegas.Would you anonymously write your negative thoughts about your friends in a slam book? What if the words you wrote changed things? Slam Dance shows you what the consequences of that might be.Sometimes, a Palm Reader knows more than they're willing to reveal to their customers, chilling things that their clients don't really want to know. Would you tell them anyway?Snowmen aren't scary, right? Hal and April Katz are out on a wintery drive when they see a snowman on the side of the road. Then another that looks almost the same a few miles later. And then, hundreds of snowmen around the next bend. You might think snowmen aren't scary, but Snow will prove you dead wrong.Bentley Little can take the innocuous, twist it around, and write a story that will change your way of thinking. Walking Alone: Short Stories is a shining example of his talent to scare you, creep you out, and make you shudder.Table of Contents: Milk Ranch PointSnowChildren's HospitalPalm ReaderSlam DanceLast Rodeo on the CircuitThe Car WashThe FeebThe MallHuntingThe Piano Player has no FingersThe Man Who Watched CartoonsApt PunishmentBlack FridayMoNA Retrospective, Los AngelesJorgensen's FenceThe Silence of TreesSticky NoteThe Smell of Overripe LoquatsThe MaidSchoolgirlsUnder Midwest SkiesPictures of HuxleyMy College Admission EssayPool, Air Conditioning, Free HBOThe TrainA Random Thought from God's Da

CompWare is in serious trouble after a promised merger falls through, so they do what other businesses have done to bolster their public image: they hire a consulting firm to review and streamline their business practices.But there's something strange about the firm they hire--more specifically, the quirky gentleman who arrives to supervise the project: Mr. Patoff, tall and thin and wearing a bow tie, and with an odd smile that never quite reaches his eyes.In his first interactions, the consultant asks a few inappropriate questions, and generally seems a nuisance. Over time, Patoff gains more power, to the point where he seems to be running the whole company. He enacts arbitrary and invasive changes to office protocol. He places cameras all over the building, making workers paranoid; he calls employees at all hours of the night, visits some of their homes and menaces their families. People who defy the consultant get fired... or worse. They soon realize they're not just fighting for their jobs: They're fighting for their lives.The Consultant is a biting workplace satire, with the horrific touches only Bentley Little could provide.

We know who you are Can your current bank say that? We pride ourselves on providing unparalled service to all of our customers. We're looking forward to banking with YOU In the small town of Montgomery, Arizona, Kyle Decker's book shop is barely breaking even. When a bank opens in the empty storefront next door, he hopes the new establishment will bring in more foot traffic.Trouble is, nobody has ever heard of The First People's Bank, and the local branch has appeared mysteriously overnight. Their incentives for new customers seem reasonable... at first. But is it a coincidence when Kyle's wife has her identity stolen, and his son receives emails that seem to know his private thoughts? Or when the manager of a competing financial institution dies a gruesome death?Soon, if people in Montgomery, Arizona, want to buy a new car or home, or if they need a small business loan, they have no choice but to work with The First People's Bank. As The Bank makes increasingly bizarre demands on its customers, it becomes clear the town may be in too deep... and the penalty for an early withdrawal is too terrifying to imagine.With his latest original novel, Bentley Little's dark, razor-sharp satire takes on the worst practices of our banking industry, and you'll never look at your loan officer the same way again.

Once upon a time, waiting for the mail was filled with warm anticipation. But the suicide of the local mailman has left the residents of this tiny Arizona town shell-shocked. Nothing this bad has ever happened here. And now there's a new mail carrier in town, one who's delivering lethal letters stuffed with icy fear. Nothing - not even the most outstanding citizens or the most secret weaknesses - is safe from the sinister power of this malicious mailman...

With his novels, Bentley Little has created nothing less than a nightmarishly brilliant tour de force of modern life in America.--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

In Beverly Hills, a wealthy CEO goes on a bloody rampage and videotapes the slaughter. He leaves behind a chilling cryptic message...This is where it begins.

Miles away, an alarmed mother receives an unsettling letter from her estranged husband, stained with bloody fingerprints.

And all across California, children are becoming affected by a monstrous change--and their parents, by a mounting fear.

Social worker Carrie Daniels and reporter Brian Howells are determined to find the link between these baffling crimes. But they shouldn't look too deeply into the lives of the victims. It's quite dark there. And God help them, they won't like what they find.

Master of the macabre Bentley Little offers a new lesson in fear with this terrifying horror novel.

With a promise of more freedom and a chance to get out from under the thumb of a reactionary school board, the teachers of Tyler High have voted to become a charter school. Instructors and parents alike are thrilled with the prospect of independence. And yet....

The formerly laid-back principal has become unusually strict. And with her toadying secretary, she seems to be running the show. That isn't all. The janitors no longer work nights because of what they hear. The students are frightened by what they see. And things are happening on school grounds that defy rational explanation. But there is an explanation. It's just not anything that anyone can begin to believe--or hope to survive.

A college freshman finds herself stranded in Arizona with no place to stay and nowhere to run. Cabin fever closes in on an isolated park ranger, as two sinister beauties lurk in the desert outside his door. A California divorcee is starting a promising new life. But her young son knows better-because he's seen what's creeping outside the window. A cross-country traveler is on a journey of self-discovery. But one tourist trap holds its own dreadful surprises... Four strangers with one thing in common: a mysterious train choking the sky with black smoke, charging trackless across the American night... and carrying an unstoppable evil, raised from the bowels of history, that will bring their worst fears to life.

SOMEONE'S MOVING INTO THE LAUTER HOUSE...

Cathy was six when the man next door killed his wife and himself.

It was early morning and she was playing outside when she heard the first shot.

And then another shot. And another.

The sounds echoed around the neighborhood like thunder. People came out of their houses to see what was happening.

Later, she saw the blood and the bodies....

Now, the house is no longer vacant. Someone new has moved in. Something terrible is happening to the neighbors. And Cathy has a secret of her own...

Considering she had just attended her mother's funeral, Gloria Jaymes never expected to see the woman again, but then her dead mom shows up at her house.

Gloria's mom is... different. She's younger than when she died, dressed in clothes from the 1980s. And nobody else in Gloria's family seems to recognize her.

As Gloria tries to figure out the reason for her mother's reappearance - and the odd behaviors the woman begins to exhibit - other bizarre events occur. The changes to Gloria's world are small and subtle, at first... then they become much more startling.

The freaky situation might just be connected to a mysterious shed in a small California town. The strangers who gather around the shed seem to know Gloria's name... and maybe they aren't strangers after all.

With Gloria, Bentley Little presents one of his most complex and compelling novels - one that is certain to surprise readers on every page.

Once, the southern California campus was praised for its high honors and distinguished tradition. But this semester, the esteemed institution is going through a change. This semester, UC Brea is really coming alive...In a dark campus parking lot, a female student senses a presence, but it's too late to scream...An unnatural appetite possesses a school janitor who lingers in the stairwells, waiting...And after nightfall, the sixth-floor library is strictly forbidden. Anyone who's gone there knows why...Because something at UC Brea wants to teach the students a lesson...

For the town of Randall, Arizona, the terror starts quietly, oddly-a senile woman in her eighties becomes pregnant. Then the town's beloved minister mysteriously disappears, leaving his church and home hideously defiled by blasphemous obscenities scrawled in blood. Farmers going out to their fields in the morning find their herds of goats slaughtered. Then, as the terror intensifies, the farmers themselves are massacred. The town begins to smell of death, and the trust which has bound neighbors to one another turns to ashes. But the relentless tide of death is only an augury of a far more unspeakable cataclysm. A stranger arrives, an itinerant preacher with mad eyes and an elemental presence named Brother Elias. He seeks out three men: the sheriff, tough, no nonsense Jim Weldon; the new minister, a gentle God-fearing soul named Father Andrews; and Gordon Lewis, a young newlywed whose pregnant wife Marina is the unknowing center of the coming fury. Together, these people must face an implacable force of evil as old as the world and as relentless as the desert sun...

Barry and Maureen found the house of their dreams in Utah's beautiful Bonita Vista. It didn't bother them that they had to join a homeowner's association. They just never realized the Association would invade every aspect of their lives and that the penalty for bending the rules could be the death of them...

Everything is about to change...When Ross Lowry moves into his cousin's guest house in the small community of Magdalena, Arizona, he expects nothing more than breathing room and a brief respite from his economic woes.But something is not right in the desert.After a raucous party on New Year's Eve, the luck of the attendees undergoes an immediate U-turn. The rich and successful suddenly find themselves facing catastrophic failure while the less well-off are unexpectedly flush with good fortune.This is only the beginning...Soon the citizens of Magdalena are experiencing unnatural desires.Next their children begin to disappear and freakish creatures emerge from the surrounding wilderness.The community is unraveling at a frightening pace.But these are merely the early warning signs of a showdown with a powerful force of darkness that could obliterate the world forever, and only Ross Lowry sees the danger that lurks ahead...

With an Introduction by Shirley Jackson Award-winner Gemma Files, this outstanding anthology of all things monstrous includes spine-chilling stories from Bentley Little, Simon Clark, Elizabeth Massie, Tim Waggoner, Sumiko Saulson, plus some of the best emerging horror writers working today.

This anthology gives us a chilling glimpse at the dark and dangerous things prowling in the minds of some of today's best horror writers. - JG Faherty, author of Ragman and Songs in the Key of Death

Throughout the pages are creepy tales by up-and-comers who you may have read, plus writers brand new to a horror reader's discerning eye. Embark on a journey to the realm where monsters-familiar or unique-dwell. Highly recommended to horror aficionados obsessed with eldritch fiction-this one's for you! - Nancy Kilpatrick, author of Thrones of Blood Series and the Darker Passions series