Women in Horror Month

February is Women in Horror Month and here is a list of some of the best independent and small press horror books from female writers. Covering a range of sub-genres, there is sure to be something here for any horror fan. Take a look through the list, grab a few books, and maybe discover your new favourite author.

ANN FOX

The Ivory Tower: A Novelette

My name is Cynthia Montgomery and I am a fighter. Since the world fell apart, when the dead began to rise, I have searched for my lost love, Vera Lynn. The undead are everywhere, desperate to feed, but I soon learned that those humans who survived can be just as monstrous. I need to make it to safety, to the Ivory Tower, but will it be the paradise that I am looking for? Buy UK and US

 

 

Dirges in the Dark: A Novella

When actress Cassidy May lands the lead in the story of Hellen Grimaldi’s life, she believes it could be the boost her career needs. However, the more she looks into the past of Hellen and the shocking events which led to her death, the more fearful Cassidy becomes about taking the role. Did Hellen truly summon demons during that fateful performance? Was Cassidy about to unleash the same hell that Hellen had? What dark forces were really at play behind the curtain? Buy here

 

PAMELA MORRIS

No Rest For The Wicked

Theirs was a hatred that lived beyond the grave. A powerless domestic who searches for escape. Naked and screaming, the ghost of Sadie Price wants nothing more than to strike terror into all who dare enter Greenbrier Plantation. A murderous wife who seeks justice. Lucy thought shooting her philandering husband and his mistress would bring her peace, but her subsequent suicide only creates a more hellish existence for her in the afterlife. A sadistic doctor who refuses to relinquish control. Dr. Addams stalks the house and grounds of Greenbrier Plantation using his dark powers to control his Earth-bound spirits and anyone living who dares get in his way. Can peace ever come to these tortured souls or are they eternally damned to walk the earth as proof that there really is no rest for the wicked? Buy here

Dark Hollow Road

A past filled with terror.
On Dark Hollow Road, Mary Alice Brown and her siblings know little more than poverty and abuse at the hands of their father. Getting rid of their tormentor seemed the answer to bringing joy back into their lives. But when that doesn’t work, Mary takes it upon herself to see that justice is served.
A present full of dread.
After an unusual visit from an elderly woman looking to borrow sugar, the theft of his coloring book, and complaints about other kids bothering him in the middle of the night, six-year-old Brandon Evenson, who lives within sight of the house on Dark Hollow Road, goes missing.
A future obsessed with revenge.
Desperate, Brandon’s parents seek answers from Lee Yagar, a local who’s warned people time and again of the dangers lurking at the old Brown place. But, Lee’s suggestion that Mary is involved in Brandon’s abduction makes little sense. Mary is presumed dead, as she’s not been seen in decades, but is she? And is the house truly as empty and abandoned as it appears to be?
A psychological horror driven by hate, fear, and every parent’s worst nightmare. Buy here

Visit the author’s website

Theresa Jacobs

The Zombie Effect

The game they never should have played.

Caleb adores his friends even though he spends most of his time as a mediator to their bickering.
The one thing they all have in common is their love of zombies.
The choice to begin a zombie boy’s club is unanimous.
However, his friends take a simple game of scaring people too far.

When the fun changes to hurting innocent people, Caleb wants it to stop.
But they won’t listen, and the games grow darker still.
Caleb is afraid to tell anyone, and afraid to continue down the same path.

Will he be able to get out of the club and stop his friends ​before they go too far? Buy here

Joanne Van Leerdam

Lac Du Mort & Other Stories

From the macabre to the deeply disturbing, Lac Du Mort and Other Stories delivers eight chilling tales that will please lovers of horror and dark fiction. Buy here

 

 

 

The Silver Feather

A graveyard.
A talisman.
A confrontation with evil personified.

When Phil loses the girl he loves, life as he knows it comes to a screeching halt.
Little does he realise that there is so much more yet to be lost.

This haunting, macabre tale will please all lovers of horror and dark fiction. Buy here

S. K. Gregory

Hotel Hell: The Penthouse Book One

When you check into the Harrington-Smyth Hotel, you might not check out…

Georgina Fray is flat broke, living in her car and desperate for a job. When her friend, Arielle, tells her about an opening as a maid in the hotel she works at, Georgina jumps at the chance. It’s not the kind of job she is used to, but it beats starving to death.
It isn’t long before she learns the rules – the customer is always right, no arguing with the guests and stay out of the Penthouse. Georgina thinks Arielle is overreacting, but strange things are happening at the hotel – accidents, people turning violent – and it seems to have something to do with the guest in the Penthouse.
With no money, Georgina can’t exactly leave, but soon she finds herself dreaming about the Penthouse, of someone calling her name, drawing her in. Can she resist? Or will she discover the secrets hidden within?

18+ only. Contains mature content – violence, sexual situations and scenes of self harm. Buy UK and US

Pippa Bailey & Myk Pilgrim

Rancid Eggs: Bite-Sized Horror for Easter

We brought you Poisoned Candy for Halloween, Bloody Stockings for Christmas, and now we’re back with Rancid Eggs for Easter. Delve into our orgy of chocolate and bunnies, celebrating what Easter is really about… copious amounts of gore, excess, and humping, glorious, glorious humping.
We promise you won’t be disappointed.
So stick on a smile, smear that chocolate on your genitals, and prepare to have your mind blown and pants destroyed.
Welcome to Rancid Eggs: Bite-sized Horror for Easter. Buy UK and US

Devil’s Night: Bite-Sized Horror for Halloween

Welcome back, boils and ghouls, monsters and misfits, preternaturals and perverts, to the undisputed most wonderful time of the year!

Join us for a horror short fiction goody bag brimming with poisoned candy, ravenous haunted houses, water-born internal organs, casual necrophilia, yummy scrummy cat faeces, three boys in a tent, teleplasm, and of course an angry skeleton called Bob.

“Pippa Bailey and Myk Pilgrim return to form with the all-new Devil’s Night collection.
Simply put, the two authors deliver hard with tight sharp wit, humour and horror hand in hand.
As it should be.”

Nelson W. Pyles – author, Creator and executive producer of The Wicked Library

So slip into something a lot more creepy (we suggest your Nan’s nightie) crack open a cold cider and dip into Devil’s Night: Bite-sized Horror for Halloween!

And again, this book is very much NOT FOR CHILDREN.

Seriously check it out, you won’t be sorry, unless you are, but if you are the sort that would be sorry about a choosing recreational necrophilia fiction, well, then this was never going to end well for you anyway. Buy UK and US

Find out more on the authors’ website and Facebook page

Lee Franklin

Berserker: Green Hell

A terrifying debut novel set during the Vietnam War. Australian Lance Corporal Terence ‘Pinny’ Pinfold and his squad find themselves in the midst of the living hell of the Vietnam War. Known as Reapers, their job is to go in after the firefights, collect dog tags and any evidence of war crimes. As each soldier tries to make some sense out of a senseless war, there are more questions than answers as mutilated, butchered bodies are discovered the further to the North they venture. Pinny soon finds himself at the very core of the real war – in a secret underground facility amongst hybrid creatures which belong only in the very worse nightmares. With Pinny’s aboriginal bloodline, the enigmatic Doctor Jacinta Harding believes she has found the perfect specimen…Pinny might survive the war, but he might not save himself. Buy UK and US

S. P. Oldham

Hag’s Breath

‘She goes barefoot, preferring to feel how the grasses and rushes bend at her touch, the small creatures writhe and struggle at her weight. She relishes how the cool, damp earth gives way to her…

Sibilanta stands on a rock at the river’s edge. At her closeness the water line retreats, leaving a border of wet mud. She stares out across the night, the deep blue sky mirroring the shade of her cloak; except the sky is scattered with stars, glittering cold and silver. It is dimly lit by a low and wary moon, while Sibilanta’s cloak is unadorned and simple.’

Chilling; sinister; eerie; this work of fiction presents you with five compelling stories. If you thought a witch was a character from your childhood, something to scare children with, then think again. ..

Witches come in all shapes and sizes; all manner of bearing; grace of stature; deviance of thought. Wickedness of deed. In these imaginative, beautifully crafted stories you will indeed encounter witches of all kinds; be they protectors or hunters, ancient or modern, evil or cursed. Some are born to their calling, others need some persuading. In a variety of settings ranging from the snow covered forests of Norway to a medieval peasant village, you will be taken across time to bear witness as their stories unfold.

Prepare to immerse yourself in a richly imaginative collection of tales that will remind you just why you were once so scared of witches… and why you should still be so. Buy UK and US

Visit the author’s website

Suzi Albracht

Death Most Wicked

Detective Mikael Ruskoff is on the hunt to catch the brutal killer of little girls. He doesn’t know that his own father’s satanic cult is involved until he approaches Mikael with a deal that has a steep, personal price tag… allow himself to become groomed to be his father’s successor in the cult and the name of the killer will be provided.

The pressure intensifies after the killer strikes again, grabbing two young sisters right from under their father’s eyes. Mikael knows the killer will dump one girl’s body in hours if he is not stopped. Will Mikael forfeit his own life for theirs?

This book contains vivid characters with intense personal relationships. Characters who are involved in life-threatening situations and must-have thrilling scenes that scare you to the core with psychological fear. Death Most Wicked is a stay-up-all-night-reading novel sure to jumpstart your heart.

Death Most Wicked is Book 1 in The Devil’s Due Collection. Buy here

The Devil’s Lieutenant

Rookie Homicide Detective Jake Holyfield has an expectant wife and a precocious, young daughter at home. Jake’s also working his first assignment… a murder case without a body that turns into a series of similar murders. There are murmurings about the occult being involved, but Jake doesn’t believe it… not yet.

Just as Jake gets close to uncovering the source of the murders, someone breaks into his home and assaults his pregnant wife, sending him a warning. And then out of the blue, a mysterious caller suggests he can help Jake solve the murders and protect his family. But can this unexpected savior help him in time?

This is a novel with characters who have intense, personal relationships that intertwine in unexpected ways. It has exciting, heart-stopping scenes in a strong storyline that will keep you guessing… a stay-up-all-night-reading novel for horror fans.

The Devil’s Lieutenant is Book 2 in The Devil’s Due Collection. Buy here

Carmilla Voiez

Broken Mirror and Other Morbid Tales

Thirteen tales of the macabre from horror author Carmilla Voiez. Meet a confused ghost, a vampire, searching for love, and a woman bent on revenge; visit a gateway to hell, a hotel in faery and an abandoned asylum, in this unique collection of stories. Includes the novella Basement Beauty plus the following short stories –
Salon of Lost Souls
Impatient for Death, a Love Story
Jagged Jaws
Broken Mirror
Dead aHead
The Changeling
Pumpkin Lanterns
Dance The Ghost With Me
Cracked
Penetration
Cellar Door
The Violinist
This collection includes some stories which contain descriptions of violence, mental illness, sexual assault, self-harm, body dysmorphia and bullying. Trigger warnings for each relevant tale will be as accurate and comprehensive as possible. Buy here

Ribbons (Book 4 in the Starblood Series)

The rum bar seems a cosy setting to wait out the apocalypse. When the rain stops falling those who are still breathing are forced to re-evaluate their lives. Edensun, The Bringer of Chaos, and Freya’s paths are destined to cross, but when they come face to face who will be the hero and who the villain? The Morrigu gather; they are told their fate is to save the world from Chaos, but they worship a goddess of war whose intentions are dubious. Only the witch in the tower block seems to know the truth and she is unwilling to share.
Ribbons is the fourth book in the Starblood series and an LGBT love story full of horror and dark fantasy. Buy here

Lisa Vasquez

The Voices Within

Stitched Smile Publications presents: The Voices Within anthology.

They start as whispers, or static, beckoning you to listen and to be heard. They are the voices that creep into your psyche and coil around your own thoughts until one day you can’t tell the difference between which ones are yours and which ones aren’t. What happens when the voices become too much? What happens when the voices become too real? Come explore what happens when the voices are unleashed. Buy here

Unfleshed: Tale of the Autopsic Bride

Young Morrigan, the daughter of a local aristocrat, is full of innocence and life. Angus Wulfe is an eccentric and devious doctor who stalks her while he cultivates a plan to win her affection. Their two worlds collide in a grisly twist of fate when the Plague arrives on the shores of their town. With no cure in sight, and bodies dropping incrementally every day, the doctor uses his influence, along with his reputation in medical advances – stemming from his clandestine and macabre experiments-to manipulate Morrigan’s father. In return for her hand in marriage, the doctor would save her life. Clinging to life, Morrigan begins to feel a change. Has the doctor cured her, or did her father make a deal with the Devil? Buy here

Learn more about the author here

Dani Brown 

Ketamine Addicted Pandas

Ketamine fuelled revenge.
Pandas have been locked up too long. Away from the stable diet of baboon brains and techno they need. Pursued by Nazis and aided by demons, they leave Northern Europe in carnage. Buy UK and US

 

 

 

56 Seconds

So much can happen in 56 seconds, 4 seconds shy of a minute…
…a life of lingering lust, and love lost in the night.
Everything and nothing, all in such a short amount of time.

A neon-drenched fever dream that explores the noisy underbelly of EBM clubs, flesh obsessions, excessive alcohol consumption, and the perversions that fire off like exploding synapses. Warehouses soaked in a collective sweaty wetness slowly churn thick into a honey that sticks forever to the tongue. Flies consume the sweet stenches in search of their own love to turn bitter. Two members of the opposite sex wander through a haze of artificial fog to tango with lost pleasures – weaving a tapestry of footwork that twists time around the hands on the clock: 56 seconds. Repeated, like too many revolutions in a twirl. And the most important of all: love/lust lost in technology – cellphones with cameras, romance left to rewind and highlight the isolated pleasures of pain, then snapshot the few seconds lost – to remember for 56 seconds, and a lifetime.

Deleted. Blocked. Rejected.

Dani Brown concocts a tale that is the literary equivalent of Gaspar Noe’s work in cinema. A true l’enfant terribles in pique-form, as she controls her prose with a true purpose: exploring the seedy side of human nature, Brown shows us a world with bright strobing lights, loud music, sex-fueled aggressions, and the disturbances that come with living in a technological world. Never has so much happened in less than a minute than the steamy madness of 56 Seconds. Enter through the dilapidated door and witness this eerily erotic, darkly comedic, and excessively strange story that would satiate the palettes of Andy Warhol and Bosch alike.

Prepare to get WET. Don’t put your tongue on the STICKY stuff. Buy UK and US

Coming Soon – Becoming

Find more books from Dani Brown on Amazon UK and US

Lou Yardley

Hellhound

* 2018 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards Finalist *

The Hound & The Philosopher Inn looks like your average pub, with only its mouthful of a name to separate it from any other. But, secrets lurk just beyond the ales, wines, spirits and bar snacks. Deadly secrets.

Kit pops into the pub following a dismal experience at a job interview. Christine visits the same pub whilst waiting for a cab. Both of their lives will be changed forever. Both will learn the pub’s secrets.

Peter is one of these secrets. Peter Smedley is a businessman, ruthless and cunning and co-owner of The Hound & The Philosopher Inn. He is also a werewolf, hellbent on changing the status quo.

HELLHOUND will draw you into the supernatural underbelly of Greater London with the promise of blood, guts and the realisation that the monsters may be closer than you think. Buy here

The Deal Maker

*** Finalist in the 2019 Independent Author Network Book of the Year Awards ***

Everyone has a price. What’s yours?

“The Deal Maker” is the new demonic tale from the mind that brought you “Hellhound”, “When the Sun Sets” and “We All Scream for Ice Cream”.

Ted’s girlfriend has vanished from the face of the earth and conventional methods of finding her have failed miserably. So when a devilish entity that calls itself Jack appears and offers him a solution, Ted finds himself agreeing to its terms, no matter how bloody and painful they may be. How far will he go to find her?

Kelly lives for one thing and one thing only: Vengeance. The trouble is those who should be feeling her wrath are remarkably good at hiding. Is she prepared to lose everything to find them?

“The Deal Maker” looks at how far people are willing to go to chase their goals. How much are we prepared to lose until we cease to be human? What are we willing to give up?

If demons, gore and hellish creatures are your thing, dive right in! Buy here

D.J. Doyle

Twisted Tales

A collection of tales with a twist, from sci-fi to folklore, there’s something for everyone.
Also a number of 100 word horrors to tease the horror taste buds.
Featuring The Devil’s Tree by the talented Lee Franklin. Buy here

 

 

 

Red & Reddest – Two Stories in One Book!

*****WARNING: Content may disturb and offend. There are scenes of a sexual nature*****

Red: A depraved past has shaped a man into the twisted serial killer he is today. His obsession with the color Red, and his lust for blood, leads to inventive ways to kill his captives. Who is his next victim, and can she be his salvation?

Reddest: When you’re pushed over the edge, revenge is a dish best served in cold blood. Buy here

Dona Fox

A Perfect Memory

I am going to die here. My name is Mindy Mason; I’m a student from the University. I volunteered for one experiment; it was to be for one day only. I want to go home now. I know Wendy has a knife, and she will kill again. How can I stop her? Buy here

 

 

 

Crystal Bones and Gossamer Wings

A box full of newspaper clippings, photographs, and tiny bones found under a dying woman’s bed leads to the discovery of the existence of an unusual group of children. Kept apart, these children grew up believing their fathers were the wealthy mortal men who had wed their pregnant mothers. One of these children was named Crystal, she was raised by a scientist who was obsessed with the secret of winged flight; her mother died during one of his tests and Crystal was sent to a foster home. As an adult, she’s searching for her father, while strange furies rise within her that become harder to control. Can she find her mortal stepfather? Will he have the answers? Can he tell her who she is, what she is, and what’s wrong with her? Will she find the others like her before it’s too late? Buy here

The Girl With Atypical Eyes

Life played its horrible games with the girl. As she grew up she devised clever places to hide—inside and outside of her mind. She was tricked by her own illusions; she was caught in traps of her own creation. It began with a kidnapping, a locked room, and the broken doll that was more than a plaything … and always, in the shadows, the dangerous painting from her past waited, threatening to expose her. Buy here

 

 

Christina Bergling

The Rest Will Come

Murder can be risky…and not just for the douchebags on the business end of Emma’s power saw.

Men only let Emma down. They cheat, and they lie. They send unsolicited pictures of their genitals. Ready to give up hope, Emma decides to go on one last date. Then it finally happens—she finds the thing she loves most of all.

Killing clueless jerks she finds on the internet.

Lost in a happy haze of hunting her victims, devising increasingly-clever killings, and streamlining her dismemberment process, Emma gets careless.

As her need for her murderous outlet grows, she runs an increasing risk of getting caught…or worse—falling for one of her victims. Buy UK and US

Savages

An incredibly touching, yet unapologetically brutal trek through a post-apocalyptic wasteland of a civilization that once was.

Two strangers, reliant upon each other for survival face impossible odds, driven by little more than the primitive desire to live, are hunted by vicious hordes of those who were once human – savages…

Mindless murdering savages. Are they zombies? Are they still human? Whatever the other survivors have become, they no longer speak; they only kill and live like animals.

Parker and Marcus navigate through the ruins and battle through these lingering savages with no answers, searching for the last strain of humanity. Until one discovery changes everything…

The infant’s cry shatters their already destroyed world. For Parker, the babe invokes the ghosts of her dead husband and sons. For Iraq war veteran Marcus, the child embodies his hope and gives him innocence to protect. For both, they struggle to determine if faded notions like romance can even still exist in this bleak, dying world.

In this grim post-apocalyptic portrait, the survivors face the horror of not knowing what happened to the world around them as they question whether humanity was ever human at all. Buy UK and US

F B Hogan

The Nightmare

Seven cleverly crafted tales of gothic and contemporary horror to keep you awake at night. Ghosts and devils fight for a corner in this creepy collection of dark fiction, from the imagination of the author who brought you Death Comes Calling. Do you dare? Buy here

 

 

 

Death Comes Calling: A Collection of Dark Tales

Death comes calling and decides to stay. A selection of dark fiction for lovers of gothic horror. Pull the shutters and bolt the door. Keep the fire burning and the candles lit. Something is coming. Listen for the knock at the door but whatever you do, don’t let it in. Buy here

 

 

 

Allisha McAdoo

Your Dirty Secret: An Extreme Horror Tale

*Warning * This story contains graphic materials. Life has a funny way of turning out. Meegan grows up poor and realizes at a very young age that she is going to have to do anything to survive. As she gets older her mother sells her to a circus hoping she will have a better life. However, being a part of the circus is not the best situation. Once more she is going to have to do anything to survive. Meegan’s world is turned upside down when she finds out her mom’s secret. Meegan meets Mr. Rumple, an unusual Ali, and all bets are off as she decides to wreck havoc on behalf of the secret. No longer is she going to have to do anything just to survive. Buy UK and US

Mr. Nice Guy: An Extreme Horror Tale

*Warning* This story contains graphic material, it may bring on nightmares, irrational fears, loss of appetite and finishing this story without getting a wink of sleep. :pLuke grew up in an abusive home to where his mom and stepdad hurt him in every way possible. Finally once all grown up he decides he isn’t going to take it anymore. As he lives his life the best that he can he runs into a bad situation after a bad situation, to the point where being abused when he was younger seemed like a vacation. Will he survive or end up in the electric chair? This story will keep you guessing and on the edge of your seat. This is nothing like you have ever experienced. Buy UK and US

 Caroline Angel

Coming Soon – Origin of Evil

New from J Ellington Ashton Press comes Origin of Evil. Somewhere in the dark, something moves, something creeps, something stalks. Vampires, werewolves, and all those monsters from folklore are real, and have been put hereby alien invaders!
The Destroyer of Worlds has crashed onto our Earth, pursued by monsters, aliens, and our own armed forces. Can a couple of big city detectives protect this creature as they race to save themselves? And  are the mysterious Guardians friends or foes? Can they take out the monsters as well as battle the aliens? An epic twist of Horror, Science Fiction and Fantasy by award winning author Caroline Angel  combine on this journey that will leave you breathless and begging for more.

 

That’s it for this month and we hope you managed to find a few new reads. Check back next month when we will be providing a list of e-books at just 99p/c. Our monthly promotions are listed below;

March – 99p/c e-books

April – Novellas

May – Poetry

June – Anthologies & Collections

July – Audio Books

August – Books in a Series

September – Standalone Short Stories (under 10k words)

October – 31 Days of Horror

November – Fantasy Books

December – Children’s Books