Showing results by author "Charles L. Grant" in All Categories

Charles L. Grant's town of Oxrun Station became real to horror fans (much like Lovecraft's Arkham and King's Castle Rock). While most of Grant's stories were contemporary, he did write a trilogy of "historical" novels placed in an earlier Oxrun. The Dark Cry of the Moon is a classic werewolf tale for fans of the old Universal and Hammer horror films. The emphasis is on character and atmosphere, not on gore. It is the second volume in Grant's acclaimed "historical horror" trilogy.

The village of Ashford, New Jersey, is about to discover terror. The Howler, a bloody killer who has already shredded six teens, is moving in. Seventeen-year-old Don Boyd doesn't need the grief. He's already under siege - jock trouble, girl trouble, school trouble, family trouble. Then one frosty autumn night, Don is jumped by the Howler. Suddenly they're surrounded by fog, green fire, the sound of iron striking iron.... And Ashford's real horror begins.

A late-winter blizzard has closed the road beside Maclaren’s Food and Lodging. The staff of three - Neil Maclaren, former cop turned motel-keeper; Julia Sanders, as capable handling trouble as she is mixing drinks; Willie Ennin, whose fondness for knives makes him a superb cook - prepare to entertain their few customers through a long winter night, unaware that they are being watched. They all have secrets, secrets which have attracted the watcher.

So, you think you like to be scared.... Nominated for the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, and the coveted Nebula, the unforgettable tales in this magnificent collection are the work of one of today's most respected masters of horror. Here are stories designed to carry the listener across fear's threshold, to terror...and beyond.

The Patch of the Odin Soldier marks the return to action of the intrepid and irrepressible Lincoln Blackthorne. Rambo, Woody Allen, and Indiana Jones all rolled into one, he’s a reluctant adventurer and soldier of fortune who masquerades as a mild-mannered New Jersey tailor. Although he’d rather be home taking the measure of a new suit, there’s always some new high-tech, high-powered criminal ready to take measure of him.

To his neighbors in the sleepy hamlet of Inverness, New Jersey, Lincoln Blackthorne is a tailor. Far from major population centers, highways, airports, or trains, Inverness is just about the last place you’d expect to find an international soldier of fortune and treasure hunter. But that’s exactly what Blackthorne is - one of the best - and he’s about to embark on his most dangerous journey: the quest for a priceless work of art, a deadly magical talisman, an object of dire arcane power.

The housing market is depressed. But not as depressed as anyone who spends a night at 668 Langford Place. The decaying mansion next door - number 666 - will soon see the return of Bog-Muggoth, an ancient, evil demon that makes the Amityville Horror seem like Casper the Friendly Ghost. But Bog-Muggoth isn’t making his haunted house call alone. Other vile gods from beyond time and space will be joining in the festivities to make the world their oyster - and leave it an empty shell.

He turns into a bat. Drinks the blood of the living. And never pays income taxes. He's the Vampire Lamar, and since he's come to New England, the body count's been rising every time he rises. But even eternal nightlife can take on a chill without companionship. The unholy fiend-in-need seeks a down-to-earth, flesh-and-blood girl who's his type for a very long-term relationship. But where there are vampires, there are vampire hunters. Unfortunately their stakeout for an eccentric "nobleman" sends them chasing a mortal target named Kent Montana.

Down on the bayou, folks called the creature Zergopha. It had been around for quite a spell, slithering through the swamp, chowing down on the odd tourist here and there. Lately, though, it seemed to be after something more than a one-night snack. Affection, maybe. Possibly even...commitment. Now it's spring, and an immortal monster's bizarre fancy has turned to thoughts of weird love. Only one man is the unlucky object of Zergopha's affections.... Kent Montana.

A sleepy village untouched by time, full of quaint antiques, charming sites and friendly neighbors. But outside of Deerfield, nature is still. No children play around the great stone house of Winterrest; no birds fly over its ancient trees. and tales of witches and demons fill the dreams of Deerfield's children. Now the great house is stirring, stretching, hungry. Now the huge doors open, inviting unwary victims deep inside. The warm stone walls are heaving, the doors are pulsing...now the frenzied ritual must begin.

We've all seen them - the stubborn tail-gater who follows too close, for too long...the wild driver who weaves through lanes on a crowded highway...the driver who causes accidents but is never a victim of one. These are the jackals, hunters who follow the nation's highways and byways, preying on the weak and unsuspecting. Jim Scott's been hunting jackals for some time now. They took someone he loved, once, and he's never forgiven them. And Jim doesn't fight alone.

Don't look now, but a mad scientist has discovered the secret of (temporary) invisibility. He's not planning to sneak into the movies, either. He's mad, remember? He wants...revenge! It doesn't take a genius to see right through the faded fiend's transparent scheme: a festival of murder, destruction, and cheap practical jokes. But only one man can clean those unsightly stains on the fabric of society.... Kent Montana. He's the descendant of Scottish nobility, or so he claims.

IT is big. IT is ugly. IT has a heat ray and a bad disposition. IT is, in short, the worst thing to happen to New Jersey since the last election. Nothing can stop IT. Not the army. Not the scientist. Not the preacher. Not even a cute little girl and her dog. Only one man can save us all.... Kent Montana.

Black Oak Security is a crack team of private investigators led by brilliant, enigmatic Ethan Proctor, who has just received a cryptic message from an old friend of his father. Proctor is being asked to look into a series of disappearances and brutal mutilations in the swampy woodlands northwest of Atlanta, Georgia. Some think the culprit is a real-life wolf man. What Proctor doesn't know is that the terror in the swampy backwoods is linked to something much more personal.

Black Oak Security is a crack team of private investigators led by the brilliant and enigmatic Ethan Proctor. But even the brilliant burn out sometimes, and when his employees order him to take a much-needed vacation in Atlantic City, Proctor reluctantly agrees. Ensconced with friends in a boardwalk hotel, he is just beginning to relax when things start getting strange. An old friend drops the information that a killer is stalking the boardwalk - and the locals suspect vampirism.

Black Oak Security is a crack team of private investigators led by brilliant, enigmatic Ethan Proctor. From everyday illegal activities to encounters of a more questionable kind, Proctor has seen it all. Now, summoned to England to investigate an ongoing missing person case, Proctor stumbles upon a legendary forest - and a specter who dwells there.

Black Oak Security is a crack team of private investigators led by brilliant, enigmatic Ethan Proctor. He is a careful man. Careful in what he says, careful in what he does, and very careful about which cases he takes. But when a letter arrives from a woman he once knew, begging him to investigate strange happenings in her town, Proctor is careless. He takes the case without knowing exactly what he's getting into.

This collection of classic horror stories is sure to give you goose bumps, raise the hair on the back of your neck, and put some fright in your night. Includes Yours Truly, Jack the Ripper by Robert Bloch, Coin of the Realm by Charles L. Grant, Something Had to be Done by David Drake, The Graveyard Rats by Henry Kuttner, The Small Assassin by Ray Bradbury, Calling Card by Ramsey Campbell, The Words of Guru by C.M. Kornbluth, and Passengers by Robert Silverberg.

Black Oak Security is a crack team of private investigators led by brilliant, enigmatic Ethan Proctor. He takes on cases that range from the normal to the unaccountably bizarre. Now one of his people, Sloan Delaney, has disappeared during a weekend getaway in the Cumberland Mountains. The last message he left - on Proctor's answering machine - was a tortured scream for help. Soon Proctor is heading into the Kentucky wilderness, following in Sloan's footsteps to a secluded backwoods motel.

Syd and Theresa Guiness got out of their crowded city apartment and moved to a quaint house on a quiet cul de sac in the suburbs. Their dreamhouse. Then little things began to happen. Theresa was certain it was just her imagination and didn't pay much attention...until it was too late - their dreamhouse had become a nightmare.