13 Spooky reads just in time for Halloween!

We're celebrating the spookiest day in the calendar the only way we know how: with 13 of the most pants-wettingly terrifying books from our catalogue!

Anno Dracula: One Thousand Monsters – Kim Newman In 1899 Geneviéve Dieudonné is on a ship of vampire refugees from Dracula's Britain to Japan, the Emperor is persuaded to cede a section of Tokyo to her as the Vampire Bund, an international settlement of the undead. New Year's Eve 1999 in the Vampire Bund in Tokyo, and a vampire is on the cusp of completing her hundred-year plan to become an ascendant power in the world. Only vampire samurai Nezumi stands in her way...

“Compulsory reading” – Neil Gaiman on Anno Dracula
Hekla's Children by James Brogden A decade ago, teacher Nathan Brookes saw four students walk up a hill and vanish. Only one returned – Olivia – with no memory of where she’d been. After a body is found, it is first believed to be one of the children, but is soon identified as a Bronze Age warrior. Yet Nathan starts to have terrifying visions of his students. Then Olivia reappears, desperate to return the corpse to the earth. For he is the only thing keeping a terrible evil at bay...

“This is a horror novel and a standout thriller that can hold its own against the best in either genre today.” – Booklist

New Fears, edited by Mark Morris The horror genre’s greatest living practitioners drag our darkest fears kicking and screaming into the light in this collection of nineteen brand-new stories. Numinous, surreal and gut wrenching, New Fears is a vibrant collection showcasing the very best fiction modern horror has to offer.
“you can be sure of a good scare or two” – SciFi Now
Relics by Tim Lebbon Beneath the surface of our world, mythological creatures still exist—people pay fortunes for a sliver of dragon bone, an angel's wing. Angela Gough is a criminology student whose fiancé Vince disappears. Her investigation leads her into a black market of arcane relics. Mary Rock is a criminal who also wants to find Vince, to kill him. Angela and her team must stop this horrific trade, yet they face a growing menace as the creatures begin to fight back.
“Lebbon is a master of drip-feeding horror and suspense” – The Guardian
Alien: Covenant Origins by Alan Dean Foster As the colony ship Covenant prepares for launch, and the final members of the crew are chosen, a series of violent events reveal a conspiracy to sabotage the launch. While Captain Jacob Branson and his wife Daniels prepare the ship, Security chief Dan Lopé signs a key member of his team, and together they seek to stop the saboteurs before the ship itself is destroyed.
“A fast-paced intriguing read” – SciFi Bulletin
Coldbrook by Tim Lebbon Coldbrook is a secret laboratory located deep in Appalachian Mountains. Its scientists had found a gateway to a new world. Theirs was to be the greatest discovery in the history of mankind, but with their breakthrough came a deadly disease that ravaged the human population. The only hope is to find the one person with genetic immunity to the disease. But will they find her in time?

"...a zombie-apocalypse story quite unlike any other..." – Booklist
Dark Cities, edited by Christopher Golden An anthology of horror stories in urban settings—whether back alleys, crumbling brownstones, gleaming high-rise towers, or city hall.  Terrifying urban myths, malicious ghosts, cursed architecture, malignant city deities, personal demons (in business or relationships) twisted into something worse…virtually anything that inspires the contributors to imagine some bit of urban darkness.
“The evils and mysteries in the pages of this excellent anthology are bed-wettingly nasty.” – The Sunday Sport The Death House by Sarah Pinborough In the near future, children possess a defective gene are sent to the Death House, where all the children are destined to die. When the sickness hits, children are taken from their dormitories in the night and never seen again. Forced to confront his own mortality, 16-year-old Toby tries to block out his past, and his terrifying future. Until a group of new kids arrives and everything changes. Death may be certain, but Toby’s fate is up to him.

“Comes in quietly and leaves with the emotional impact of a wrecking ball” – Barnes & Noble

Nod by Adrian Barnes Dawn breaks over Vancouver and no-one in the world has slept the night before, or almost no-one. A few people, perhaps one in ten thousand can still sleep, and they've all shared the same golden dream. A handful of children still sleep as well, but what they're dreaming remains a mystery. After six days of absolute sleep deprivation, psychosis will set in. After four weeks, the body will die. In the interim, panic ensues and a bizarre new world arises.

“Good enough to make even Stephen King jealous." – The Sun

The Secrets of Drearcliff Grange School by Kim Newman When her mother finds her sleeping on the ceiling, Amy Thomsett is sent to Drearcliff Grange School in Somerset. Although it looks like a regular 1920s boarding school, Amy learns that Drearcliff girls are special, the daughters of criminal masterminds, outlaw scientists and master magicians. When one of the girls in her dormitory is abducted, Amy and her friends must form a secret, superpowered society called the Moth Club to rescue her.
“fascinatingly dark and twisted” –  Rising Shadow The Hammer Vault by Marcus Hearn This remarkable journey through the Hammer vault includes props, annotated script pages, unused poster artwork, production designs, rare promotional material and private correspondence. Hundreds of rare and previously unseen stills help to create a rich souvenir of Hammer’s legacy, from the X certificate classics of the 1950s to the studio’s latest productions.
Kim Newman's Video Dungeon Video Dungeon is the first collection of film critic, film historian and novelist Kim Newman’s full reviews of the best and worst B movies, inspired by his legendary Empire magazine column. With themed chapters covering new films and re-releases, from AfterDeath to Zombie Shark, 500 of the cheapest, trashiest, goriest and, occasionally, unexpectedly good films are covered here, torn apart and stitched back together again in Kim’s unique style. 
On Set With John Carpenter John Carpenter’s producing partner Debra Hill hired photographer Kim Gottlieb-Walker to be the unit photographer on Halloween, and Kim soon became part of Carpenter’s filmmaking family, shooting stills on the sets of some of his most iconic films: Halloween, The Fog, Escape from New York, Halloween II, Christine. Collected here for the first time is the best of that on-set photography, with iconic, rare, and previously unseen images. 
“Priceless images of cast and crew goofing around...a Carpenter set was a place of camaraderie, laughter and fun.” – SFX

Stay safe...