FREE/BARGAIN - Horror - 2015

[koland]

A thread for 2015.

We point out free and bargain Horror titles to each other. Please don't post any self-published books*, and please do a search before posting to avoid duplicates.

In case no retailer is specifically mentioned in a post, it is safe to assume it's for Amazon US.

Be aware that many freebies are only free for a day, so grab them fast!

*Unless you have read them yourself, think they are excellent, and you're not connected to the author in any way.

[ATDrake]

Free from the author's small press imprint via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Host by Selina Rosen (ISFDB), the 1st novella in her The Host trilogy of LGBT supernatural adventures (possibly comedic) with f/f romantic elements, starring an investigative reporter plagued by vampires and her rabbi apparently-soon-to-be-girlfriend, free courtesy of the Yard Dog Press imprint (distributed in Baen's ebookstore) for which Rosen is the chief editor, IIRC.

Investigative reporter Jane Weston has a problem. Wherever she goes, the undead follow. They’ve cost her several well-paying, high-profile jobs in metropolitan areas, but she was sure that she would escape them when she took a job at WGBN in Jones Port, Arkansas. No such luck! It seems these blood-sucking night dwellers will follow their “host” to the end of the civilized world - and even beyond.

Tracy Cohen is the rabbi of the small Jewish congregation in Jones Port. Tracy lost a lover to gang violence in New York and was rejected by her orthodox family because of her sexual orientation. Tracy’s life has been filled with turmoil, but nothing has prepared her to do battle with the undead in the streets of Jones Port, for the soul of an investigative reporter.

Good Isn’t Stupid!

[ATDrake]

Free from the author's small press imprint via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Monstrosities by Stoker Award-nominee Jeremy C. Shipp (ISFDB), a collection of his horror/bizarre fiction shorts.

A man with clown heads for hands. A city full of shape-shifting worms. A Cinderella story that ends with slaughter. These are just some of the monstrosities you'll encounter in this horror collection by Bram Stoker Award Nominee Jeremy C. Shipp.

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Cowboys of Cthulhu by David Bain (ISFDB), a short in his Riders of the Weird West series, this one originally published in the Amazing Heroes small-press anthology in 2004.

Snake oil salesman Dr. Darius Darke and other "legends" of the Old West are called upon to fight a band of brain-eating bandits in a three-dimensionally-challenged box canyon.

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Six of the Best: A Hellish Half-Dozen by Kevin G. Bufton (ISFDB), a collection of Exactly What It Says In The Title, including one or two that have been previously published in small press anthologies.

A baby's cry in the middle of the night...a family torn apart by a deadly force of nature...dark and ancient rites, performed in the dead of winter.

Six of the Best: A Hellish Half-Dozen is the stunning debut collection from horror writer Kevin G. Bufton. Walk with him, through the twisted corridors of his mind, as he leads you into the dark places, where no soul is safe, nobody can be trusted, and nothing is as it seems.

Within these pages, you will discover six tales of exquisite horror that will redefine the meaning of terror for you.

Free again from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Desperate Spirits by Lee Allen Howard (ISFDB), mini-collection of 2 horror-ish supernatural thriller shorts.

In this duo of supernatural thrillers, Calvin Bricker deals with desperate spirits right in his own neighborhood.

In "The Vacant Lot," a supernatural presence beckons from an empty neighborhood property. Calvin’s curiosity leads him to an aged portrait painter with a terrible secret about a dead undertaker and his missing wife, who seeks eternal release.

In "How I Was Cured of Naïveté," a seemingly innocent spirit appears in the foyer of Calvin’s home. When he discovers her fate, he sets her free—only to find that little girls aren’t always made of sugar and spice. Snick, snick!

If you like crime and mystery with a supernatural bent, succumb to the call of Desperate Spirits!

[Brendan Moody]

The latest installment of Stephen Jones' Best New Horror series is $1.99 at multiple US retailers, including Amazon, B&N, and Kobo. Note that both the US and the UK publishers seem to have done US e-book editions of this; it's the US one by Skyhorse Publishing that's discounted. I can't seem to find that version on Google Play, so no link for it yet.

[ATDrake]

X-link to the General/Literary megathread since Thomas Ligotti is a multiple Stoker & British Fantasy Award-winner and contributed to this anthology:

Free from the small press imprint via KDP Select @ Amazon: Mighty in Sorrow: A Tribute to David Tibet & Current 93, a collection of literary stories influenced by the titular British poet/artist & his experimental music group

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Brendan Moody

The latest installment of Stephen Jones' Best New Horror series is $1.99 at multiple US retailers, including Amazon, B&N, and Kobo. Note that both the US and the UK publishers seem to have done US e-book editions of this; it's the US one by Skyhorse Publishing that's discounted. I can't seem to find that version on Google Play, so no link for it yet.

You can use a Kobo coupon on the SkyHorse Publishing edition.

[ATDrake]

Free again from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Translation of Father Torturo by Brendan Connell (ISFDB), a horror-ish tale of a priest's unsettling rise to power, which the Publishers Weekly review calls a "predictable but gleefully subversive modern gothic", originally out from Prime Books in 2005.

In 1263, when the vault containing the body of St. Anthony was opened, thirty-two years after its original interment, the flesh had turned to dust, but the tongue was in a perfect state of preservation. For almost eight-hundred years it was kept mounted on a pin. But now it has been stolen. Padua, Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome. . . . Father Torturo, the neo-decadent anti-hero, moves through a modern Italy reeking of incense and filth. In an adventure stained with magic and garnished with cruelty, he travels on an ambitious journey to popedom, where the only laws that restrain him are those of his own artistic taste.

Free again from the small press start-up genre publisher via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Miseria's Chorale, edited by David Edward Nell (ISFDB), chock-full of horror stories by established and new authors, including a contribution by multiple Stoker, British & World Fantasy Award-nominee Peter Crowther (ISFDB, Wikipedia)

Miseria's Chorale gathers together award winners, bestsellers, veterans and exciting new stars in one mammoth anthology that represents a broad definition of horror, taking readers on a journey to unspeakable realms and nightmarish self-discovery. With stories from 48 of the world's most frightening and unique voices in modern horror, including Aaron J French, Adam Millard, Alana I Capria, Alexandre Mandarino, Anna Taborska, Aurelio Rico Lopez III, Bear Weiter, Bruce Memblatt, BT Joy, Cameron Suey, Caren Gussoff, Carmen Tudor, Carl Barker, Christian A Larsen, Christina Murphy, Christopher David Rosales, Christopher Hivner, Christopher Nadeau, Douglas J Ogurek, Dy Loveday, Fred Skolnik, Glen Damien Campbell, Jay Wilburn, James S Dorr, Jon Ingold, Jon Michael Kelley, K Trap Jones, Ken Goldman, Lance Manion, Lucy Taylor, Meghan Arcuri, Michael Thomas-knight, Nick Kimbro, Patrick Lacey, Patrick Tumblety, Paul Kane, Pete Aldin, Peter Baltensperger, Peter Crowther, Peter Mark May, Richard Farren Barber, Richard Godwin, RWW Greene, Ryan Neil Falcone, Sergio Palumbo, Shaun Meeks, Tim Jeffreys, and Todd Keisling. Edited by David Edward Nell.

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99 for today only (Jan 21st) according to the newsletter from Open Road Media (couponable @ Kobo, price good in all the standard Canada & US retailers, may or may not be discounted elsewhere, etc.):

Night Magic by the late actor-turned-writer Thomas Tryon (ISFDB, IMDB, Wikipedia), his standalone dark fantasy/horror take on the Sorcerer's Apprentice trope originally out from Simon & Schuster in 1995.

According to ISFDB, this placed 12th in the nominations for the annual Locus Award in the Best Horror/Dark Fantasy Novel category. This seems to be very mistakenly filed under Romance at Kobo, but eh, maybe it's got strong romantic elements and redemption/salvation by the Power of Grayskull! True Love. Or not. Who knows?

A young magician will risk his soul to learn the secrets of the universe

Though he bills himself as the Greatest Magician in the World, Michael Hawke is painfully aware that he’s nothing more than a sidewalk. He plies his trade outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art, entrancing passing crowds with feats of conjuring and sleight of hand. One afternoon, he plays a trick on a shabbily dressed man whose beard is twisted and whose glass eye gives him a sinister leer. Offended, the man responds with magic of his own, casting a spell that causes Michael to hop like a frog, maniacally splashing in the fountain until the police have to haul him out.

When he recovers from this trance, Michael knows that he has encountered a true magician, one whose secrets he will give anything to understand. But this is black magic, mysterious and deadly, and pursuing it will mean a confrontation with an evil older than civilization itself.

[Manabi]

Cross-posted from the Science Fiction & Fantasy thread, right now the special issue is only for science fiction, but if they hit enough bonus goals a horror issue will also be unlocked. Additionally, you can get a very good deal on Nightmare Magazine, getting a year's subscription plus all 33 back issues for $23.

Lightspeed Science Fiction and Fantasy Magazine is back with another Kickstarter for a themed issue. Last year they did one for Women Destroy Science Fiction!, and it was popular enough that the bonus rewards made supporting the project quite appealing. (I got all of 48 of Lightspeed's back issues, a one year sub to Lightspeed, three special issues (Women Destroy Science Fiction!, Women Destroy Fantasy!, Women Destroy Horror!) as well as credit for a couple of the fantasy and horror magazine back issues all for $40.)

This time around they're doing a special issue called Queers Destroy Science Fiction!. They've already unlocked a couple of bonus goals, one of which is this:

If you chose a LIGHTSPEED subscription reward, you'll get LIGHTSPEED issues #1-61 (including the Queers Destroy Science Fiction! issue), and your subscription will begin with #62 (July 2015). If you already have issues #1-61, we will substitute FANTASY issues #1-58.

If you chose a NIGHTMARE subscription reward, you'll get access to NIGHTMARE issues #1-33, and your subscription will begin with #34 (July 2015). If you already have issues #1-33, we will substitute FANTASY issues #1-58.

All other reward tiers will get 3 additional back issues of LIGHTSPEED (for a total of 6), plus 3 back issues of NIGHTMARE and 3 back issues of FANTASY.

$36 will get you the following:

• One year subscription to Lightspeed Science Fiction & Fantasy Magazine
• All 61 back issues of Lightspeed
• The John Joseph Adams Super Gay Sampler (ebook)

Right now that's 73 digital magazine issues and one ebook for only $36. ($0.49 each!) If you got the back issues last year, you can still get 58 back issues of the Fantasy magazine, so it's still a bargain. ($0.51 each!)

$23 will get you the following:

• One year subscription to Nightmare Magazine
• All 33 back issues of Nightmare
• The John Joseph Adams Super Gay Sampler (ebook)

Right now that's 43 digital magazine issues and one ebook for only $23. ($0.52 each!)

Further unlocks are almost certain, there's 24 days left in the Kickstarter and funding has actually been coming in faster than it did for last year's Women Destroy Science Fiction! Kickstarter. There are other reward tiers as well, but these are the ones most likely to be of interest from a deals standpoint.

[AwfulWaffle]

Just picked up Lauren Beuke's (The Shining Girls) new book Broken Monsters for $3.99 at Google Play. Appears to be PM'ed on Amazon.

[ATDrake]

Free from the genre specialty small publisher Dybbuk Press via KDP Select @ Amazon: (linkage for the lot)

King David and the Spiders from Mars edited by Tim Lieder (ISFDB) a literary dark fantasy/horror anthology of biblically-themed tales (Old Testament, not New, and some with Jewish themes) which is a follow-up to their prior biblically-themed anthology which we previously received free several years ago which had a contribution from Hugo & Mythopoeic Award-winner Catherynne M. Valente: She Nailed a Stake Through His Head: Tales of Biblical Terror.

A ghost haunts King David's family. Brothers devour their enemies and each other. A rabbi opens a Chabad House in a sinister New England town. In this book, you will find seven stories as demented and horrifying as the Bible that inspired them.

Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre, also edited by Lieder, which an editorial review comment in the description says is sadly lacking in Exactly What It Says In The Title, which cannot be found in any of the stories, apparently.

Teddy Bear Cannibal Massacre is an anthology of the best upcoming writers exploring the dark side of stoners, zombies, killer clowns, Disneyland, werewolves in night clubs, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and Scottish hermit crabs.

[ATDrake]

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Attic Clowns: The Complete Collection by Stoker Award-nominee Jeremy C. Shipp (ISFDB), a collection of his horror shorts which have mainly appeared in small press anthologies and magazines, originally out from small press Redrum Horror in 2012. We've previously received volumes #1-4 in the eponymous collection series free, but this is the first time we're getting the omnibus edition.

Bram Stoker Award nominee Jeremy C. Shipp spins 13 tales of horror and dark humor in this highly conceptual collection. Angels and demons, husbands and wives, tormented ghosts and an army of men made of soap--all of them trapped in attics of the mind, attics of heaven or hell, the attics we make for ourselves or with which we ensnare others.

Meet a paranoid astronaut whose jealousy drives him to extremes beyond murder...a miniature circus spawned from the mind of a woman with too much control...the underling demon Globcow who desires redemption even more than the taste of human feet...

Men, women, children, and things beyond imagination all interconnect in ATTIC CLOWNS, where laughter is only the prelude to the bizarre and terrible.

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

Buried by Marissa Farrar (ISFDB), who's had at least one short story printed in a "Masters of Horror" anthology out from New Zealand-based genre specialty small publisher Triskaideka, 2nd in her apparently self-published Serenity series of urban dark fantasy starring the eponymous heroine vs vampires (apparently contains slow-building f/m romantic elements over the course of the series, but is not a dedicated romance, and the plots focus on thwarting the Monster of the Week, according to the customer reviews).

Four years after the horrific murder of her husband, Serenity is living a new life and finally putting the terrifying events behind her. Though now a stronger person, her heart craves the vampire who gave her the strength to change her life.

Desperate to forget Serenity, Sebastian hides away in the underground tunnels of Goreme, Turkey, and has thrown himself into an existence of darkness and blood.

But rumours are abound of something unnatural existing, something with the strength of a vampire but can walk in the light.

And a murderer is on the loose in Angeles Forest, someone who is killing with the ferocity of a beast. The killer is moving closer and closer to the city, searching for something...

[ATDrake]

Free from the author via KDP Select @ Amazon:

The Auld Mither by William Meikle (ISFDB), a short novella.

The Auld Mither, a crone-like hag with razor sharp bones for fingers, is killing off the proponents of a new abbattoir in a deer farming community.

And Dave Duncan seems to be next on the list. Can he figure out how to stop her? Or will he have to pay for the sins of his father?

[Manabi]

Crosspost from the Science Fiction & Fantasy thread because of the Nightmare horror options:

Lightspeed Magazine's Queers Destroy Science Fiction Kickstarter has 3 days remaining, and has now unlocked the Queers Destroy Fantasy special issue. Their latest update tells what you can get from various reward levels, quoted below:

If you pledge $5 or more:

You get the DESTROY SF! Reward, which includes:

• an ebook of the Queers Destroy Science Fiction! special issue of LIGHTSPEED
• six back issues of LIGHTSPEED
• three back issues of NIGHTMARE
• three back issues of FANTASY
• mention of your support in the magazine
• an ebook of a “Queer Fiction Sampler” anthology edited by LIGHTSPEED publisher John Joseph Adams
• an ebook of our additional special issue, Queers Destroy Horror!

Plus, if we unlock our final two stretch goals:

• At $40K, you’ll also get our additional additional special issue, Queers Destroy Fantasy!
• At $50K, the abovementioned “Queer Fiction Sampler” will become a full-sized “Queer Fiction Anthology” (20-25 stories)

All told, that’s more than $50 of value for pledging just $5!

Note: They've now hit $40k, so the first additional goal is unlocked

If you select one of the NIGHTMARE subscription options, you’ll get:

• Everything mentioned in the DESTROY SF! Reward above
• An ebook subscription to NIGHTMARE
• PLUS, NIGHTMARE issues #1-33, and your subscription will begin with #34 (July 2015). (If you already have issues #1-33, we will substitute FANTASY issues #1-58.) [additional $66 of value!]

Note: Nightmare subs start at $24 for a one year subscription.

If you select one of the LIGHTSPEED subscription options, you'll get:

• Everything mentioned in the DESTROY SF! Reward above
• An ebook subscription to LIGHTSPEED
• PLUS, LIGHTSPEED issues #1-61 (including the Queers Destroy Science Fiction! issue), and your subscription will begin with #62 (July 2015). (If you already have issues #1-61, we will substitute FANTASY issues #1-58.)
  [additional $115 of value!]

Note: Lightspeed subscriptions start at $36 for a one year subscription.

This is just an insanely good deal.

[TrevorViking]

^ It really is an amazing deal quantity wise. My backlog is already 73 years long, but I'm still tempted.