A dark and utterly original literary horror debut, following a priest whose bloodthirsty life has extended far longer than any mere human's—and is upended when a stranger comes to town Stutley Tillinghast lives a solitary life, ostensibly as the minister of a remote rural parish in Rhode Island. For many decades now, what little human contact he’s allowed himself has been brief, frenzied and bloody, and has always ended in a shallow grave in his cellar. There’s a name for what he is, but he prefers not to use it is simple enough that he has his needs, and that when they become unbearable, he fulfils them. In his long and lonely life, he has met only one other like him—the woman he still yearns for, the one who made him what he is. Then a girl arrives, searching for him. She has his last name, and bears an uncanny resemblance to that woman, awakening memories Tillinghast had long suppressed; the connection he feels for her is immediate and overwhelming. She’s also sick, very sick, with symptoms Tillinghast recognizes all too well...and only he knows how to cure her. Inspired by the real events of the New England vampire panic of the nineteenth century, Tillinghast is a novel to sink your teeth at once a gripping, atmospheric horror that turns the classic monster narrative on its head; a literary work of exceptional prose about giving into--or resisting--our impulses; and a remarkably moving father-daughter story that will leave you unexpectedly hopeful—and rooting, despite your every instinct, for the killers.

'The past is a foreign country' has become a truism, yet we often forget that the past is different from the present in many unfamiliar ways, and historical memory is extraordinarily imperfect. We habitually think of the European past as the history of countries which exist today - France, Germany, Britain, Russia and so on - but often this actually obstructs our view of the past, and blunts our sensitivity to the ever-changing political landscape. Europe's history is littered with kingdoms, duchies, empires and republics which have now disappeared but which were once fixtures on the map of their age - 'the Empire of Aragon' which once dominated the western Mediterranean; the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for a time the largest country in Europe; the successive kingdoms (and one duchy) of Prussia, much of whose history is now half-remembered at best. This book shows the reader how to peer through the cracks of mainstream history writing and listen to the echoes of lost realms across the centuries.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) would have been an extraordinary person in any age. But for a woman of the twelfth century her achievements were so exceptional that posterity has found it hard to take her measure. Barbara Newman, a premier Hildegard authority, brings major scholars together to present an accurate portrait of the Benedictine nun and her many contributions to twelfth-century religious, cultural, and intellectual life. Written by specialists in fields ranging from medieval theology to medicine to music, these essays offer an understanding of how one woman could transform so many of the traditions of the world in which she lived. Hildegard of Bingen was the only woman of her age accepted as an authoritative voice on Christian doctrine as well as the first woman permitted by the pope to write theological books. She was the author of the first known morality play; an artist of unusual talents; the most prolific chant composer of her era; and the first woman to write extensively on natural science and medicine, including sexuality as seen from a female perspective. She was the only woman of her time to preach openly to mixed audiences of clergy and laity, and the first saint whose biography includes a first-person memoir. Adding to the significance of this volume is the fact that Hildegard's oeuvre reflects the entire sweep of twelfth-century culture and society. Scholars and lay readers alike will find this collection a rich introduction to a remarkable figure and to her tumultuous world. With the commemoration of the 900th anniversary of Hildegard's birth in September 1998, the publication of Voice of the Living Light is especially welcome.

Eight dragon shifters rule the world, but then ordinary human Caden Bryce becomes the ninth, destined to be a mate to one of the eight. Yet all Caden wants is his old life back. Dragon King Valerius, most powerful of all the dragon shifters, is none too pleased to find another dragon in his territory. But when the other dragon shifters come to court Caden, Valerius finds that he wants Caden as his own. This is a long serial that is divided into book-length segments. Every single one ends in a cliffhanger. We anticipate there being 9 volumes. This series will not be in KU, because it is on the Raythe Reign serial website. There is also a free podcast on Youtube with the author reading!

A daring post-apocalyptic thriller from a powerful rising literary voice. With winter looming, a small northern Anishinaabe community goes dark. Cut off, people become passive and confused. Panic builds as the food supply dwindles. While the band council and a pocket of community members struggle to maintain order, an unexpected visitor arrives, escaping the crumbling society to the south. Soon after, others follow. The community leadership loses its grip on power as the visitors manipulate the tired and hungry to take control of the reserve. Tensions rise and, as the months pass, so does the death toll due to sickness and despair. Frustrated by the building chaos, a group of young friends and their families turn to the land and Anishinaabe tradition in hopes of helping their community thrive again. Guided through the chaos by an unlikely leader named Evan Whitesky, they endeavor to restore order while grappling with a grave decision. Blending action and allegory, Moon of the Crusted Snow upends our expectations. Out of catastrophe comes resilience. And as one society collapses, another is reborn.

Ramsey Campbell's twilight world of back streets and bedsits, decaying inner cities and suburban streets is like our world. The people are like you and me. But when you are alone there, you see strange sights: phantom hands, dogs that will not die, vampire moths, and the vengeful ghosts of children. This book contains your worst fears . . . or your darkest fantasies. Dark Feasts presents the best of Ramsey Campbell's collected and uncollected stories. It includes 'The Chimney' (winner of the World Fantasy Award, 1978), 'In the Bag' (winner of the British Fantasy Award for best short story, 1978), 'Mackintosh Willy' (joint winner of the World Fantasy Award, 1980) and 'The Companion', of which Stephen King wrote ' . . . maybe the best horror tale to be written in English in the last thirty years'.

Deceptively amiable, but creepy as hell—Unsworth's horror stories are all the more powerful because they're told about characters like you and me, and the evils that are hidden just out of sight of everyday. There's a humanity to this work that makes its macabre twists all the crueler. (Rob Shearman, 2008 World Fantasy Award Winner)Vivid and creepily effective, these are gripping tales of the relentlessly pursued, twisting shadows, half-seen shapes, the goodbye kiss of a ghost, and the terror of imaginary beings. With the rustling pungence of M. R. James and the claustrophobic interiority of Ramsey Campbell, Simon Kurt Unsworth gear-shifts from innocuous to disturbing deftly enough to give the most hardened of us nightmares. (Stephen Vok, BAFTA Award-winning author of GHOSTWATCH)Simon Unsworth possesses that elusive gift they call 'storytelling'. His main strength is that he knows intuitively how to structure a tale to keep you reading right till the end, even when that end is less than happy for his characters. Here is a writer who knows the value of his craft and he's damn well going to use it, no matter who gets hurt in the process. (Gary McMahon)Rather than providing comfort, the soul rending humanity and beguiling sense of nostalgia which permeate these stories ultimately serve only to impenetrably blacken their dark and unforgiving hearts. An emotionally devastating debut collection from a powerful new voice in horror. (Mark Morris)The most impressive debut from any horror writer that I have seen in a very long time. From the terrifying 'Old Man's Pantry' to the sublimely chilling 'Church on the Island' (which was rightly nominated for the World Fantasy Award), Simon Kurt Unsworth's debut collection delivers the goods in every respect. Frightening, evocative, and highly recommended! (Lawrence C. Connolly)SIMON KURT UNSWORTH was born in 1972 and lives in the north of England, somewhere between Lancaster and Morecambe, with his gorgeous wife, exuberant son, and two dogs rescued from the local dogs' home. By profession he works for a charity as a trainer, working across the whole of the U.K., which gives him plenty of time on trains to write stories. His work has previously been published by the BBC, by Ash-Tree Press in their anthologies At Ease with the Dead and Shades of Darkness, in Gaslight Nightmare Tales of Sherlock Holmes, and in Ellen Datlow's anthology Lovecraft Unbound. His story from At Ease with the Dead, 'The Church on the Island', was reprinted in Stephen Jones's Mammoth Book of Best New Horror #19 and was a 2008 World Fantasy Award nominee for Best Short Story. It has also been selected for inclusion in the Very Best of Best New Horror. This is his first collection. Introduction by Barbara Roden; A Different Morecambe; Haunting Marley; The Derwentwater Shark; When the World Goes Quiet; Old Man's Pantry; Scucca; Flappy the Bat; A Meeting of Gemmologists; Where Cats Go; The Baking of Cakes; The Lemon in the Pool; Stevie's Duck; Forest Lodge; The Station Waiting Room; The Animal Game; An Afternoon with Danny; The Pennine-Tower Restaurant; The Church on the Island; Endword/Story Notes.

Joyce Carol Oates’s prize-winning story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” takes up troubling subjects that continue to occupy her in her fiction: the romantic longings and limited options of adolescent women; the tensions between mothers and daughters; the sexual victimization of women; and the American obsession with violence.  Inspired by a magazine story about a serial killer, its remarkable portrait of the dreamy teenager Connie has made it a feminist classic.  Connie’s life anticipates the emergence of American society from the social innocence of the fifties into the harsher contemporary realities of war, random violence, and crime.  The story was the basis for the movie Smooth Talk, which became the subject of much feminist debate. This casebook includes an introduction by the editor, a chronology of Oates’s life, an authoritative text of “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been,” an essay by Oates on Smooth Talk, the original Life article about the serial killer, ten critical essays (including two about the film), and a bibliography.The contributors are Brenda O. Daly, Christina Marsden Gillis, Don Moser, Tom Quirk, B. Ruby Rich, R.J.R. Rockwood, Larry Rubin, Gretchen Schulz, Marie Mitchell Oleson Urbanski, Joyce M. Wegs, Marilyn C. Wesley, and Joan D. Winslow.  

A debut collection of stories set in a hauntingly reimagined Lagos where characters vie for freedom from ancestral ties. ’Pemi Aguda opens her collection of twelve stories with the chilling tale of a woman who uncannily resembles her sinister, deceased grandmother. When the woman shows a capacity for deadly violence, she wonders—can evil be genetic, passed from generation to generation? Set in Lagos, Nigeria, Aguda’s stories unfold against a spectral cityscape where the everyday business of living—the birth of a baby, a market visit, a conversation between mothers and daughters—is charged with an air of supernatural menace. In “Breastmilk” a new mother’s inability to lactate takes on preternatural overtones. In “24, Alhaji Williams Street” a mysterious disease wreaks havoc with frightening precision. In “The Hollow,” an architect stumbles on a vengeful house. Evocative, strange, and yet familiar, “the speculative conceits of these stories are elegantly balanced with the gorgeous fullness of human emotion, all the hunger and longing and fear and delight of being a human in the world” (Lauren Groff).