THE TWISTY AND INGENIOUS FOURTH INSTALLEMENT IN THE BIZARRE HOUSE MYSTERIES. The famed mystery writer Miyagaki Yotaro lives a life of seclusion in the remote Labyrinth House. When Yotaro invites four young crime authors to his home for a birthday party, they are honoured to accept. But no sooner have they arrived than they are confronted with a shocking death, then lured into a bizarre, deadly competition… As the twisted contest gathers pace, murder follows murder. The ingenious sleuth Shimada Kiyoshi investigates, but can he solve the mystery of the house before all those trapped in its labyrinth are dead? And can you guess the solution before he does?

Every year, a small group of acquaintances pay a visit to the remote, castle-like Mill House, home to the reclusive Fujinuma Kiichi, son of a famous artist, who has lived his life behind a rubber mask ever since a disfiguring car accident. This year, however, the visit is disrupted by an impossible disappearance, the theft of a painting and a series of baffling murders. The brilliant Kiyoshi Shimada arrives to investigate. But will he uncover the truth, and will you be able to solve the mystery of the Mill House Murders before he does?

Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Golden Girls in this humorous contemporary standalone fantasy about a group of former Chosen Ones coming out of retirement to save the world one last timeThree former Chosen Ones have joined together to spend their retirement in peace and quiet, running Second Life Books and Gifts in Salem, MA. A calm, peaceful, tourist-filled oasis, where they never have to worry about saving the world. Until some of the locals start summoning ancient creatures best left where they were…and they discover that their bookstore basement just may be the portal to the underworld. These ex-heroes may have thought they were done…but if they want to finish their retirement in peace, they’ll have to join together to save the world onelast time.Fun, funny, and heartwarming, this is a story of community, second chances, and the healing power of scones.

The Descent meets The Ritual in a cult aquatic horror about a group of academics trapped in a sea cave who must reckon with eldritch horrors as they are forced to atone for their greatest sins. ATONE OR DIE. Grad student Caro has no idea what she wants to do with her life, but when an opportunity arises to act as a research assistant on an anthropological expedition for her professor and lover, Edward Beck, she doesn't hesitate. Beck assembles a team of academics and professionals to study the ancient sea-based Cult of the Leviathan, and the expedition descends into the sea caves where the cult are said to have dwelt. But when the cave entrance collapses, trapping them inside, the expedition will find they are not alone in the darkness. Surrounded by strange artefacts and scattered bones, an ancient trial has been set in motion. One by one, the members of the expedition will be tested and forced to atone for their greatest sin. . . or die.

A woman returns to the mysterious lodge in the woods where she once worked, and to the inscrutable creature that bound her there, in this haunting Appalachian gothic horror from singular voice Jen Julian. Perfect for fans of Alix E. Harrow and T. Kingfisher. This is the story of Moth, who earned her name working for the Winter Folk. Every year, the Winter Folk gather at a secret lodge in the Appalachians, a place known as Deerhaven, refuge for the time-worn and weary. As a child, Moth heard warnings from her mother: They are heartless, wild creatures—and they got no concern of us. At twenty-one, Moth is a college dropout, indebted, impoverished, and desperate for better things. She falls instantly for Deerhaven’s beautiful antlered host, the mild-mannered Mr. Oslin. When he offers her a housekeeper’s contract—one wish granted for a winter of service—she signs without question. But Deerhaven is a dangerous place. Staff must follow strict rules or else face dire consequences, and the guests can be unpredictable and savage. And yet, Moth endures, enticed by a rumor that Mr. Oslin is looking for a protégé. A singular worker who would stay with him forever and be transformed. Decades later, Moth returns to Appalachia with her husband and teenage daughter. She can't shake the feeling that she needs to return to Deerhaven, which banished her twenty years ago. As she hunts for a way in, her haunting memories and harrowing experiences come roaring back — her friends and rivals, her growing obsession with Mr. Oslin, and her mysterious exile. A door exists in the dark of the woods. After so long away, what has Deerhaven become?

A chilling Lovecraftian horror story from the author of Midnight Rooms, in which a recently freed slave from America making a new life for herself in 1800 Venice finds the mysterious plague that killed her former master may have followed her to Italy . . . and now stalks the canals. Venice, Italy, 1800. The only survivor on a slave ship, Mercy disembarks in Italy, carrying two precious possessions: the first-ever camera that makes daguerreotype plates and a letter regarding an appointment meant for the dead slave holder. The letter takes her to Umberto, an Anatomist. In his basement workspace, she learns he hired the man who formally owned her to capture images of dissected corpses. But that man is dead. With no other recourse for her or Umberto, Mercy assumes the position. In return for the sample plate she took, Umberto takes her to the home of the Contessa, a British woman who married into her title. Charmed by Marcy, she invites the young woman to stay for the season to take pictures. Formally enslaved, Marcy finds this new life of freedom heady, as she takes on the mantle of a photographer and guest in a decadent house of pleasure under the hospitality of an aristocrat. Under the Contessa’s roof, she meets a diverse cast of friendly and strange individuals with whom she forms new bonds and friendships. But all is not well in her new life. Something dark and hungry stalks the canals that snake through the city, biting at her heels. The same death that rode the waves with her now surrounds her in this strange place. What is this malevolence that haunts her? As she tries to understand this macabre force, she must grapple with a greater that the horror that endangers her friends is herself.

EVERYONE KNOWS YOU NEVER SWIM IN THE LAKEBut when a high school right of passage ends with Lana Morrison plummeting into the cursed waters of Oranbas Lake, she gets an up-close look at the real reason for its sinister reputation.More beautiful and terrifying than she could ever have imagined, the mysterious siren captivates Lana's every thought and dream. Why did she spare Lana's life? Why was she allowed to escape the lake? As curiosity turns to yearning, Lana gives in to the call of temptation and returns to lakeside.She makes contact, of a sort, leaving trinkets to try and lure her siren out and is heartened to find gifts left on the shore in return. But it soon becomes apparent that more than one siren lives in the waters and Lana's tokens of affection, though accepted, aren't quite enough to coax them out.When a tourist suddenly goes missing after a swim in the forbidden lake, Lana is forced to confront exactly how far she's willing to go to win the affections of her aquatic love.Swim With Me, Darling is a novella in the "good for her" genre of horror with a generous helping of sapphic romance. The Little Mermaid meets Jennifer's Body in a love story with bite.

In this delightfully cozy and creepy YA romp, a cave monster masquerading as a search-and-recovery guide intends to find and eat a lost wizard—but catches feelings for him instead, perfect for fans of TJ Klune and Andrew Joseph White.Theory has a monstrous secret. He isn’t an ordinary search-and-recovery guide at Fiendworld, the world’s premier magical-sinkhole-turned-amusement-park; he’s a cursed, human-eating mantis. But not to worry—he has an excellent solution for his particular diet. Whenever he’s asked to retrieve the corpse of a lost adventurer, he simply snacks on a finger or two. No harm done. That is, until he’s given his latest recover the body of park management’s missing son. Great. Yet another foolish wizard who got lost adventuring, and this time the direct descendant of the very person who cursed Theory in the first place. Worse, when Theory reluctantly sets off on the search, he’s shocked to find the wizard somehow still alive. Nim—the wizard in question—has no desire to be rescued. He’s on a mission to the bottom of the sinkhole, and refuses to return to the surface before he gets there. He may be a subpar wizard, as his parents constantly remind him, but he’s got a positive attitude, an enchanted backpack, and now a mysterious rescue worker to recruit to his cause! Even though said worker is quite rude and seems to be getting Nim into more danger rather than out of it. To survive, Theory and Nim must brave man-eating fish, walls of tentacles, and devastating both their own, and ones the park desperately tries to keep hidden. Along the way, they may just discover that they’re stronger together than apart.

EVERYONE KNOWS YOU NEVER SWIM IN THE LAKEBut when a high school right of passage ends with Lana Morrison plummeting into the cursed waters of Oranbas Lake, she gets an up-close look at the real reason for its sinister reputation.More beautiful and terrifying than she could ever have imagined, the mysterious siren captivates Lana's every thought and dream. Why did she spare Lana's life? Why was she allowed to escape the lake? As curiosity turns to yearning, Lana gives in to the call of temptation and returns to lakeside.She makes contact, of a sort, leaving trinkets to try and lure her siren out and is heartened to find gifts left on the shore in return. But it soon becomes apparent that more than one siren lives in the waters and Lana's tokens of affection, though accepted, aren't quite enough to coax them out.When a tourist suddenly goes missing after a swim in the forbidden lake, Lana is forced to confront exactly how far she's willing to go to win the affections of her aquatic love.Swim With Me, Darling is a novella in the "good for her" genre of horror with a generous helping of sapphic romance. The Little Mermaid meets Jennifer's Body in a love story with bite.

Beneath the sea, over millennia, sentient beings await our final soon they will make their move. Seaweed Rising follows an amateur seaweed collector who is convinced that algae are taking over the human race. From a Cornish fishing village to the Spanish coast, up to the blinding glacial landscape of the Arctic, human society falls under the microscope in this genre-bending existential drama.

"There was a slight, sickening noise of tearing… one of the branch-like arms was detaching itself from the surrounding grey masses… The head of the thing — a shapeless grey ball, inclined in my direction." From the fungus-webbed House of Usher to the maddening, fungus-like wallpaper of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's classic tale of madness, and Ray Bradbury's account of insidious mushroom dispersal via the US postal system, weird fiction has harboured a thriving culture of fungal horrors throughout the past two centuries. With stories of mycological possession alongside dark, pulpy science fiction monstrous fruiting bodies run amok, this new anthology collects the classic with the lost and obscure to trace our fascination with a spore-infested branch of British and American fiction. Stories included: • Sylvia Plath - Mushrooms • William Hope Hodgson - The Voice in the Night • Edgar Allan Poe - The Fall of the House of Usher • Charlotte Perkins Gilman - The Yellow Wall-Paper • H.P. Lovecraft - The Shunned House • H.G. Wells - The Purple Pilaeus • Julia Horatia Ewing - The Fiddler in the Fairy Ring • E.F. Benson - How Fear Departed from the Long Gallery • Clark Ashton Smith - The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis • H.F. Heard - The Great Fog • Robert Aickman - The Stains • Mark Samuels - Cesare Thodol: Some Lines Written on a Wall • Aaron Worth - The Mykophagoi

DEEP IN THE UNDERWORLD, WILL LOVE BLOOM WHERE IT SHOULD NOT SURVIVE? PRE-ORDER your new necromantasy obsession. . . The Knight and the Moth meets Phantasma in this spellbinding gothic, enemies-to-lovers tale of life, death, and the dangerous bond between two sworn rivals. Jonquil Foye wields the power of Life. Her sworn enemy, Edmund Blackburn, wields the power of Death. On the battlefield, they clash in a deadly duel meant to decide the fate of their warring cities—until their magics entwine and create a volatile being so powerful it drags them both deep into Death itself. Forced into a reluctant truce, Jonquil and Edmund must navigate the treacherous underworld and confront the horrifying consequences of their own creation. As time runs out, their alliance sparks a deeper attraction. But truces are fragile, and Death seems determined to ensure they never return to the land of the living. . . Brutal, gorgeous, and heart-stopping, this gothic dark fantasy romance is perfect for readers who crave high-stakes tension, lushly dark atmospheres, and a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance with a touch of horror. Tropes: ✦ True enemies to lovers ⟡ Yearning ✦ Forced proximity ⟡ Gothic Victorian setting ✦ Reylo vibes ⟡ Masked MMC ✦ Life & Death magic

He has called to her all her life, but she could never reply. . . Midonia, a freelance interplanetary transporter, is on thin ice after a fatal accident on the job. So she doesn’t argue when she’s given the tedious task of flying devout Sister Irena to a remote fringe planet, where a tiny religious colony worships a strange deity called Anguish. Until now. When a solar flare grounds her ship, Midonia finds herself stuck with the cult-like sisters. Even worse, he comes to her in the night, his familiar voice louder than ever. He invades her mind with his hunger, sparking a ravenous obsession that will be near-impossible to escape.

For readers of Nightbitch and We Ride Upon Sticks, this strange and sexy novel of queer love in a small town is an unsettling reminder that the horrors of modern life are monsters ready to possess us all. In the valley at the intersection of three towering mountains sits Cadenze, an ugly, remote town with little to its name. It's filled with tourists in the summer and dead the rest of the year, when most of its residents surrender to a sleepier existence. Except, that is, for whatever is lurking in the caves... Angelina Sicco was born and raised in Cadenze, and for many generations, so was every member of her family. Determined to be content with her lot in life, she walks her mongrel dog, attends her brother's heavy metal concerts, holds court in the local dive bar, and does everything she can to bait hot, queer women to her sleepy, conservative hometown. But on the night of a family party much like every other, Angelina runs into Patrick's ex, the sternly handsome Jagvi, who's back in town for a spell. Perhaps enticed by Jagvi’s arrival, an ancient evil lying dormant in those caves is awakened, and soon Angelina’s small, contained world begins to shatter. As the monstrous force grows bolder, it infiltrates Angelina’s life. It talks with her dog’s mouth; it guzzles on her memories; it controls Angelina from the inside. Only Jagvi’s touch repels it — the final trigger for a secret, passionate romance. But this monster feasts on all the passion, heartbreak, and mess that makes up a life, and Angelina Sicco’s life has never looked tastier. What will Angelina do to protect her future? And what will it cost her?

A human starting over light years from home…. Accepting a job on Spire Station sounded great in theory. Now that I’m on an enormous alien space station with no humans in sight, I’m questioning the sanity of that choice. But it’s not all bad. When my best friend Mezli tricks me into using a pleasure sim, I find an unexpected connection with Breks, the intriguing alien running the sim. He’s everything I’d want in a partner—charming, empathetic, and so damn sexy. The only problem? He hides behind a holo and refuses to let me see his true form. For all I know, he could be a sentient ooze, but I’m too far gone to care. I want him no matter what he looks like. Now I just have to find a way to prove it. An alien desperate to forget his heartbreak… When I took a job at SimTech Suites, I’d planned to use pleasure sims to escape any thoughts of my ex. However, a far more enticing source of distraction shows up—a purple-haired human named Fina with the body of a goddess and shy, delightful wit to match. Too bad I’m nothing like the attractive holo I use for my job. I’m a seladin with sharp teeth, brutal claws, and menacing features that terrify most aliens. Her uneasy reaction after our chance meeting out on the station only confirms that I can never show her my true form. No matter how desperate I am to make her mine. Space for Love is a cozy sci-fi romance featuring a plus-size FMC, a monstrous alien MMC, and enough spice to keep you warm even in the coldness of space.