Gothic
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Fractured Fairytales, Volume 1 by Laurel Black
There’s always been an untold nostalgia within an otherwise happy fairy tale. Whether it be through innocent love, erotic romance, or even love born from war, macabre desires will always rule over their hearts. Because after all, that’s what it means, for beauty to be found within tragedy.
Stories in this collection include The Death of Love, Imperfection, and Mechanical Hearts.
The Velvet Quiet: Volume #1 by Laurel Black
‘The two stared out at the sky. Alex reminisced on what could have been, what he’d already achieved. He thought about Alice, about the lovers he abandoned, the dreams he built for himself. And as the sun kept rising, he couldn’t help but turn to Erin then. He titled his chin up, and kissed him once more, their hands still intertwined.
‘Light filled the sky, and just like that, everything faded to white.’
We fell in love within the veil. Our arms caressed our lovers, as we spoke our promises in the dark. We made our vows, and made them ours, no matter what anyone else may think. Our hearts called out to our lovers, and when Death finally comes for us, we’ll fall asleep softly, gently.
This short story collection includes His Grey Eyes, Time’s Decadence, and The Reaper’s Blessing.
The Angel’s Beloved #1: The Dreamer’s Love by Laurel Black
“Lord Damon?”
‘That voice.
‘He froze. Damon turned, and found Silas standing there, with a clean, white coat in his arms.
‘His lips parted, as he dropped the pillow to the bed. Silas stood there, resolute, with the same, brimming innocence he had so many years ago. He looked down, with a cute little blush across his face. “I shouldn’t even be doing this,” he mumbled to himself. “But here; this is yours, I believe.”
‘Damon approached him carefully. He grabbed the cloak from Silas’s outstretched arms. “Why’d you come back?”
Silas Hegel is the son of a rich aristocrat, whose kind heart has gotten him into trouble more than once. After an accident at a party, Silas finds himself at the mercy of Lord Damon, one of Queen Elizabeth’s most powerful nobles. But there’s more to Lord Damon that meets the eye, and what started off as a simple debt turns into a powerful romance filled with obsession, hope, and heartbreak.
Broken Melody by Joseph Kiel
Young college student Melody has been living a little recklessly recently, and this morning she woke up with all the signs of a fangover: two bite marks on her neck and no memory of the night before. Fearing she’s about to turn into a supernatural creature, she embarks on the ultimate all-nighter full of indulgence and perversions, a twisted race against time to kill the very vampire that infected her before she too will make her turn…
Lily’s Awakening: Book One of the Elemental Guardian series by Omni Delano
Murderers savagely killed Lily’s mother and caused her to flee her home with her father and brother, leaving behind all they hold dear. Traumatized and desperate, they cross paths with Rain, the mysterious Guardian of the Mountain who vows the help them. On the run from dangerous forces, they escape into the dense forest, ascend through snow and ice, to the peaks of the mountain where lies the hidden realm of the Eavald- powerful being tied to the elements.
Here Lily learns the terrible truth that she was the target of the murderers- and why. Lily must now learn their ways, develop and enhance her own powers, if she has any hope of avenging her mother’s death and ending this cycle of violence once and for all. Meanwhile, she must care for her brother and father, and control the burning desire she feels for her savior, Rain, as she learns her way in this dangerous new world.
Will she follow her heart, her desires, or her destiny? Dog of the Coven by Laurel Black
It's no secret that Nick wants to leave the small Southern town of Fontaine. From his relationship with the town bad boy, to the constant night terrors he's subjected to, he's counting down the days until he can finally move himself and his family out. But when a pastor suddenly burns alive right in front of him, he becomes ensnared by a past that torments him, and a man entrenched in lust and blood.
When the Stars Fall by Robin Goodfellow
You had a black dress on that day, with a dark ribbon on your back. Dark, raven hair callously swept over your eyes as you examined your work. You stared at your victims for the longest time, before you crouched down, and stabbed your arm in their chests. You dragged out their still beating hearts, and watched as it slowly succumb to death.
Reinforcements came. An onslaught of medical units hurriedly transported their charges off the battlefield. They saved everyone they could, mourned for those they couldn’t, and killed enemy soldiers you missed. Before I knew it, someone managed to shove a gas mask on my face, then dragged the two of us to the helicopter. Magic, they said. The air was laced with magic.
I remembered searching for you, wanting to thank you for saving the both of us. I saw you standing over someone, a body beneath your heel. You weren’t paying much attention, but that was fine. You were busy.
But I still thought to myself, “She looks really pretty.”
Dorchadas House by Emmanuelle de Maupassant
A dilapidated manor on a remote Scottish isle.
An old maze, concealing something even older.
Strange dreams and awakening desires.“Even on that first night, I dreamt. A presence, in the darkness.”
Yearning for new surrounds, Iris Muir accepts a position at historic Dorchadas House, on the remote Scottish island of Eirig. Attracted to the wild landscape, Iris hopes to forget the burdens of her past, but the house has its own secrets. There are strange cries in the night, and is the stoic housekeeper Mrs McInnes all she seems?
Iris begins to have disturbing dreams about the maze, planted centuries ago in the manor grounds, and feels the brooding presence of Neas and Eachinn, the two brutish farmhands.
As autumn wanes and Samhain Eve approaches, the island folk prepare to honour the dead and the Goddess Nicneven, as they have done for generations past. Has something more than chance drawn Iris to Eirig?
‘Dorchadas House’ is a 1940s Gothic mystery, combining elements of folk-horror with adult themes.
Rose Blood: The Phantasmagoriad Book One – An Anti-Verse Tale by Peter Guy Blacklock
Peter Guy Blacklock’s Rose Blood is the first book in a trilogy of breakneck, erotically charged, Gothic fairytales set in an alternate world full of gruesome horrors, dark fantasies, twisted trysts and hard-boiled heroics; peopled with unique characters, many of whom subvert genre norms, and steeped in authentic occult lore. The gripping story, which hooks from the start, unfolds in and around the eldritch environs of an archaic primeval forest that lingers across a huge swathe of the Britannik Isles – a dark parallel of Britain in the early 1700s.
A chance accident on the road home from finishing-school thrusts a sheltered Rebekah into a violent, desperate and rapidly escalating struggle involving disturbingly prescient dreams, sensual vampiric bloodletting, the brutal kidnap of her sister, the wanton murder-by-troll of her father and the wicked sorceries of an arcane Machiavellian evil from the distant land of Kanaan. With the unlikely aid of a rogue vampire named Mikael, his ghostly lover, Lilith, an old wizard traveller – and agent of the state – called Arkturon and an occult specialist Ranger, the dark-elf Corporal Villovürt; she must set out to rescue Luwsiy, her young sister, from the diabolical machinations of an ancient and powerful sorcerer named Bäliyl Samiyl and his three deadly daughters, Aggareth, Maqlath and Igymeth.
The wizard-led band of assorted and unlikely heroes travel a wayward path that traverses strange otherworldly realms – while a troop of hardened Rangers, led by the stalwart Sergeant D’Geai Rinawn from the deserts of Namib, pursue the same goal on more temporal ground through the ancient, goblin and troll infested Old Forest beset with magical traps and dangers. The two groups follow their respective paths, one beaten by wizardry and wisdom, the other by sword, blunderbuss and brawn.
As well as being part of a trilogy, this novel is the first in a whole series of tales set within the same alternate world that parallels our own. These Anti-Verse Tales will take place in different times and technological periods past, present and future, but are still firmly within the same mirror universe, the convincing magical reality of which is a benighted and bewitching reflection of the histories, myths, legends and folklore of our own world.
Warning: contains extreme themes and situations of a profane, violent, horrific and sexual nature. Expect adult language and situations as well as overt violence and gore!
The Belladonna by Anette Dinh
The Belladonna is a scandalous flower, filled with vanity and lust. No matter what happens, it keeps unborn blossoms nearby, never once allowing them to bloom out of fear they would look somewhere else.
Drevis had fallen in love. His obsession burns through layers of sin, if only to claim her passion once more. He would do anything to protect her from the cruelties of reality and keep her by his side, even if it means destroying everything around her.
