John Langan

Hugo Award winning editor and horror legend Ellen Datlow presents this chilling horror anthology of 19 original short stories from a world-class line-up of the masters of horror, delving into the histories and traditions of the spookiest season of the year. Featuring stories by Josh Malerman, Stephen Graham Jones, Garth Nix and many more. Halloween, Samhain, Día de los Muertos—festivals across the world where we can commune with those we have lost, when spirits can cross over, and when the boundary between the living and the dead is far, far too thin. A young boy encounters a woman with an ancient and terrifying link to the holiday, a group of college students attend a Halloween party to die for, and a troubled girl exploits a local urban legend to try and turn her life around. From America to New Zealand via the rural Romanian wilderness, this anthology explores our worldwide obsession with the spookiest season of the year, when the veil is lifted and the spirits come alive. Featuring 19 original stories from bestselling and award-winning masters of the genre, and from Hugo, World Fantasy, Locus, Bram Stoker and Shirley Jackson award-winning editor and horror legend Ellen Datlow, this anthology invites you to carve a pumpkin, light the lanterns and welcome in trick or treaters from across the world. With stories by: Josh Malerman Lee Murray Rich Larson Clay McLeod Chapman Livia Llewellyn Michael Marshall Smith Stephen Graham Jones Linda D. Addison Christopher Golden Alma Katsu Brian Evenson Siobhan Carroll Ch?k?d?l? Emel?mad? Theresa DeLucci Garth Nix Jeffrey Ford Richard Kadrey Nathan Ballingrud John Langan

By the Bram Stoker Award Winning author of the Fisherman, this masterful and haunting blend of horror and fantasy sees a young Conan visit the cursed village where the ultimate crime took place. Where will this journey into the darkness take the young barbarian? On the day he was born, warriors attacked Conan's village in Cimmeria, kidnapping children before fleeing. The villagers pursued the raiders and exterminated them to a man. But they were too late. The children were already dead. Fourteen years later, Conan and his cousin, Ruardih visit the site of the massacre, finding strange artefacts and feeling a dreadful unease as they near the cursed village. Upon their arrival, they are greeted by the corpses of the damned. Despite the portents, Conan and Ruaridh continue exploring the village. Met with bizarre and arcane creatures, they will stumble upon darknesses that should not have been revisited. What is this strange place? Who were the mysterious raiders who attacked the village? And why did they sacrifice innocent children? The answers lie deeper in the mountains, and Conan will chase them into the dark, whatever the cost.

College Writing Skills with Readings emphasizes writing skills as well as process. The text identifies a set of four fundamental skills that are critical to effective writing: Unity: Discover a clearly stated point, or topic sentence, and make sure that all other information in the paragraph or essay supports that point. Support: Buttress the points with specific evidence, and plenty of it. Coherence: Organize and connect supporting evidence so that paragraphs and essays transition smoothly from one piece of supporting information to the next. Sentence Skills: Revise and edit so that sentences are error-free for clearer and more effective communication. These four bases are essential to all effective writing, whether it be a narrative paragraph for a personal journal, a cover letter for a job application, or an essay for an academic assignment.

A garishly painted figurine contains a terrible curse; the ten-year anniversary of a sensational horror film shot in an abandoned mine reveals stunning secrets; endnotes for a book review uncover a strange high-tech pathogen; a man witnesses something uncanny and unexplained as his friend succumbs to a watery death; a seasick woman aboard a ferry is pursued by a barnacle-covered specter; a professor reveals the mysterious connection between Joseph Conrad and Peter Pan; a man encounters the ghost of his lost sister in a liminal space between the land and sea; an academic meets a mythical creature on a mysterious island. John Langan, author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Fisherman, returns with thirteen new tales of cosmic horror in Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions. In these stories, he continues to chart the course of 21st century weird fiction, from the unfamiliar to the familial, the unfathomably distant to the intimate. Includes extensive story notes and an introduction by Victor LaValle.

John Langan, author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Fisherman, returns with ten tales of cosmic horror. In these stories, he continues to chart the course of 21st Century weird fiction, from the unfamiliar to the familial, the unfathomably distant to the intimate. A Halloween haunted house becomes a conduit to something ancient and uncanny. The effigy of a movie monster becomes instrumental in a young man's defence against a bully. A family diminishes while visiting a seaside town, leaving only one to remember what changed. Lured in by fate, a father explores a mysterious tower, and comes face to face with the creature imprisoned within. Mourning his death, a young man travels to his father's hometown, seeking closure, but finds himself beset by dreams of mythic bargains and a primaeval, corpse-eating titan. Praise for John Langan‘A writer whose work will unnerve you as deeply as Shirley Jackson’s’ Washington Post‘John Langan is fishing for your sleep, for your soul… I fear he’s already got mine’ Stephen Graham Jones‘Horror at its sharpest and most imaginative’ Paul Tremblay‘A beast of a contemporary horror writer’ Laird Barron‘One of the finest practitioners of the moody tale ... whenever John Langan publishes a book I am going to devour that book’ Victor LaValle

The fourth issue of Penumbra, Hippocampus Press's acclaimed journal of weird fiction, criticism, and poetry contains an abundance of short and powerful tales from such leading writers as Geoffrey Reiter, Michael Aronovitz, Joe Pan, and Scott J. Couturier. The issue also highlights the work of weird writers around the world, from Harris Coverley and Dmitri Akers (Australia) to Norbert G ra (Poland) to Arthur Staaz (Northern Ireland). Among the articles in the issue, Deborah Bridle studies two stories by China Mi ville for their probing of the fraught issue of climate change. Peter Straub's work is analyzed by John C. Tibbetts; his article includes extracts of an interview with Straub. James Goho discusses the weird work of the Irish writer Dorothy Macardle, Marcos Legaria examines lesser-known writings by C. L. Moore, and David Rose illuminates the work of Brian McNaughton. Darrell Schweitzer presents a groundbreaking interview with leading contemporary weird writer John Langan. In a special section, the pulp writer Anthony M. Rud's story of Australian terror, "Bunyips in the Mulga," is reprinted, with analyses of that work by the Australian scholars Ellen J. Greenham and Duncan Norris. This issue of Penumbra also features the verse of a dozen poets, including Ann K. Schwader, John Shirley, Leigh Blackmore, Wade German, and DJ Tyrer. All in all, the issue provides a rich and varied feast for the devotee of the weird.

‘Illusory, frightening, and deeply moving, The Fisherman is a modern horror epic. And it’s simply a must read’ Paul TremblayIn upstate New York, within the woods, Dutchman’s Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked and fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true. When Abe and Dan, two widowers who have found solace in each other’s company and a shared passion for fishing, hear rumours of the Creek and what might be found there, the remedy to both their losses, they dismiss them. Soon, though, the men find themselves drawn into a tale as deep and old as the Reservoir. It's a tale of dark pacts, of long-buried secrets, and of a mysterious figure known as the Fisherman. It will bring Abe and Dan face to face with all that they have lost, and with the price they must pay to regain it.‘An epic, yet intimate, horror novel. Langan channels M. R. James, Robert E. Howard and Norman Maclean. What you get is A River Runs Through It... straight to hell’ Laird BarronMore praise for The Fisherman ‘Reading this, your mouth fills with worms. Just let them wriggle and crawl as they will, though—don’t swallow. John Langan is fishing for your sleep, for your soul. I fear he’s already got mine’ Stephen Graham Jones‘What starts as a slow, melancholy tale gains momentum and drops you head first into a churning nightmare from which you might escape, but you’ll never forget, and the memory of what you saw will change you forever’ Richard Kadrey‘The Fisherman is a treasure, the kind of book you just want to snuggle up and shiver through. I can’t say enough good things about the confidence, the patience, the satisfying cumulative power of this book. It was a pleasure to read from the first page to the last’ Victor LaValle‘Stories within stories, folk tales becoming modern legends, all spinning into a fisherman’s tale about the one he wishes had gotten away. Langan’s latest is at turns epic and personal, dense yet compulsively readable, frightening but endearing’ Adam Cesare

You are not alone. Written by the scariest minds in horror today, these 22 brand-new tales show how monsters are taking back their power in a world that desperately needs an inhuman intervention. From violent tooth fairies and Twitter-addicted trolls to vengeful vampires and bittersweet Eldritch family holidays, these stories of real-life monsters-both familiar and never-before-seen-will soothe the monstrous soul of every reader. Because part of you knows that humans are the problem... and monsters are the solution you've been looking for. Humans Are The Problem: A Monster's Anthology is the premiere short-story anthology from Weird Little Worlds Press and made possible by the generous support from the horror community and Kickstarter backers. It includes: "When Humans Attack: A Concerning Introduction," by Michael Cluff and Willow Becker"Root Rot," by Sarah Read"Taffy Sweet," by Michaelbrent Collings"The Dawn Woman," by Calvin Cleary"Who We Are," by L. H. Moore"Aquarium Diver," by Philip Fracassi"Nothing Personal," by Georgia Cook"Woof," by Patrick Barb"If Wishes Were," by John Langan"On This Side of the Veil," by Gabino Iglesias"Epic Troll," by Auston Habershaw"The Man and Seaweed and Reeds," by Corey Farrenkopf"The Sound," by Leah Claire Kaminski"Poor Butcher-Bird," by Gemma Files"Crack of the Bat," by T. J. Tranchell"A Clean Kill," by Justin Guleserian"Mea Tulpa," by Gordon Linzner"In the House of the Elementals," by Lisa Morton"Passed On," by Die Booth"The Blanch," by Dominick Cancilla"My Friend Nessie," by J. H. Moncrieff"Laurel's First Chase," by Christi Nogle

College Writing Skills with Readings emphasizes writing skills as well as process. The text identifies a set of four fundamental skills that are critical to effective writing: - Unity: Discover a clearly stated point, or topic sentence, and make sure that all other information in the paragraph or essay supports that point.- Support: Buttress the points with specific evidence, and plenty of it.- Coherence: Organize and connect supporting evidence so that paragraphs and essays transition smoothly from one piece of supporting information to the next.- Sentence Skills: Revise and edit so that sentences are error-free for clearer and more effective communication. These four bases are essential to all effective writing, whether it be a narrative paragraph for a personal journal, a cover letter for a job application, or an essay for an academic assignment.

In this anthology of weird fiction, twenty-two authors share their harrowing visions of worlds shaped by the Yellow Sign, in stories and poems inspired by Robert W. Chambers's foundational works of weird horror. From the personal to the historic, from the macabre to the fantastic, the stories and poems gathered here illuminate new, unexpected realities shaped by the King in Yellow, under the sway of the Yellow Sign, or in the grip of madnesses inspired by their power. Authors included: Marc Abbott - Linda D. Addison - Meghan Arcuri - Greg Chapman - JG Faherty - Trevor Firetog - Patrick Freivald - Carol Gyzander - Todd Keisling - John Langan - Curtis Lawson - Adrian Ludens - Lisa Morton - Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. - Sarah Read - Kathleen Scheiner - Ann K. Schwader - Darrell Schweitzer - J. Daniel Stone - Steven Van Patten - Tim Waggoner - Kaaron WarrenRobert W. Chambers's classic work of weird fiction, The King in Yellow (1895), contained two stories that have exercised wide influence in the genre. "The Repairer of Reputations" introduced the world to The King in Yellow, a play in two acts, banned for its reputed power to drive mad anyone who reads its complete text. Another story, "The Yellow Sign," used the experiences of an artist and his model to elaborate on the mythos of the Yellow King, the Yellow Sign, and their danger to all who encounter them. In those tales Chambers crafted fascinating glimpses of a cosmos populated by conspiracies, government-sanctioned suicide chambers, haunted artists, premonitions of death, unreliable narrators-and dark, enigmatic occurrences tainted by the alien world of Carcosa, where the King rules in his tattered yellow mantle. In Carcosa, black stars rise and Cassilda and Camilla speak and sing. In Carcosa, eyes peer from within pallid masks to gaze across Lake Hali at the setting of twin suns.

Welcome to the new pulp Weird Horror magazine is a new venue for fiction, articles, reviews, illustration, and commentary. This is the magazine of weird tales that you've been craving. A modern, inclusive, diverse array of pulp fiction and commentary. Long live the new pulp Our inaugural issue features contributions from David Bowman, Shikhar Dixit, Steve Duffy, Inna Effress, Tom Goldstein, Orrin Grey, Vince Haig, Nathaniel Winter-Hebert, Sam Heimer, John Langan, Suzan Palumbo, Ian Rogers, Naben Ruthnum, Lysette Stevenson, Simon Strantzas, and Steve Toase. FICTION: Shikhar Dixit; Steve Duffy; Inna Effress; John Langan; Suzan Palumbo; Ian Rogers; Naben Ruthnum; and Steve Toase. NON-FICTION: Tom Goldstein; Orrin Grey; Lysette Stevenson; and Simon Strantzas. ART: David Bowman; and Sam Heimer; and Nathaniel Winter-Hebert. DESIGN: Vince Haig; and Nathaniel Winter-Hebert

John Langan, author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Fisherman, returns with a new book of stories. An aspiring actress goes to an audition with a mysterious director. An editor receives the last manuscript of his murdered friend. A young lawyer learns the terrible connection between her grandfather and an ancient race of creatures. A bodyguard drives her employer across a frozen road toward an immense hole in the earth. In these stories and others, John Langan maps the branches of his literary family tree, tracing his connections to the writers whose dark fictions have inspired his own. Introduction by Stephen Graham Jones.

Now in its 10th edition, English Skills with Readings emphasizes personalized learning to address student deficits in grammar and mechanics. Throughout the book, students are exposed to examples of writing that reflect the three key realms of their lives - personal, academic, and workplace. Seeing these different types of writing helps students understand the critical way in which writing will have an impact on the many facets of their lives. English Skills with Readings continues to encourage new writers to see writing as a skill that can be learned and a process that must be explored. The four skills, or bases, for effective writing are as follows:• Unity: Discover a clearly stated point, or topic sentence, and make sure that all other information in the paragraph or essay supports that point. • Support: Support the points with specific evidence, and plenty of it. • Coherence: Organize and connect supporting evidence so that paragraphs and essays transition smoothly from one bit of supporting information to the next. •Sentence skills: Revise and edit so that sentences are error-free for clearer and more effective communication. The four bases are essential to effective writing, whether it be a narrative paragraph, a cover letter for a job application, or an essay assignment. The new edition also includes a new and updated focus on information literacy, working with sources and writing research papers, making this a powerful and flexible text for students and instructors alike.