Creature Feature

Gather round as today’s most diabolically clever authors twist simple moments into otherworldly horrors. An empty baby stroller. A scratching underneath the bed. A farmhouse in the moonlight. With an unnerving sense of the macabre, these stories transform our greatest fears into bone-chilling realities.

The Pram by Joe Hill

A husband’s obsessive desire for a child leads to an unexpected manifestation of his yearning in a nightmarish short story about fatherhood dreams by New York Times bestselling author Joe Hill.

Willy and Marianne’s farmhouse in Maine has acres of meadow and fresh air, and a lonesome bridle path in the forest along which Willy daydreams and ambles. When he’s loaned a decrepit old baby stroller to cart his groceries home, the rickety squeak of the wheels comforts him. So do the sweet coos of a baby Willy knows can’t be real. Can it? In this twisted thicket, wishes come true—with a price.

Ankle Snatcher by Grady Hendrix

Obey the rules. It’s the only way to survive the night in a short story about what hides in the dark by the New York Times bestselling author of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. 

Marcus grew up believing his father killed his mother—then blamed it on the boogeyman under the bed. Always leave the lights on, his father warned, or the boogeyman will get you. Marcus still heeds the superstition, especially when he invites his new girlfriend over. Is Marcus haunted by a creature or has he just inherited his father’s murderous delusions? The night will tell.

It Waits in the Woods by Josh Malerman

Some chilling campfire tales ring too true to ignore. For one young woman, an urban legend calls her into the woods in a spine-tingling short story by the bestselling author of Bird Box.

The dense Michigan forest. Haunting wails. The clip-clop of demon hooves on a bridge to nowhere. It’s more than a tall tale to Brenda Jennings, whose sister disappeared in those woods one fateful night. Three years later, on a solo stakeout in the dark, Brenda goes in after her. She’s desperate for answers, and terrified to find what lies waiting on the other side of that bridge.

In Bloom by Paul Tremblay

There’s something in the water in this hallucinatory short story by Paul Tremblay, bestselling author of The Cabin at the End of the World and The Beast You Are.

Journalist Heidi Cohen is in Cape Cod investigating the sources of recurring toxic algae blooms along the coast. A local named Jimmy has his own theory for her. Every year the fetid growth gets worse—but it’s been going on longer than anyone knows. Decades ago, something happened to Jimmy that he’s never forgotten. Is Heidi ready for the real story?

Best of Luck by Jason Mott

Did you ever hear the one about the man with a string of bad luck? The worst is still to come in a chilling short story of an insatiable friendship by the New York Times bestselling author of Hell of a Book.

For best friends with vastly different fortunes, what’s left to hash out other than a forced confession at gunpoint? All that the destitute, sickly, and grieving Will demands is that monstrously successful Barry admit to draining all the luck right out of him. Like blood. As the standoff escalates, the truth is not the only thing ready to come out.

Big Bad by Chandler Baker

For a family trying to make an isolated farmhouse into a home, fear and rage are getting harder to control in a primal short story by the New York Times bestselling author of Whisper Network and Cutting Teeth.

The Strauss family is on knife’s edge. Sam is a resentful stay-at-home dad. Rachel feels the restlessness in her blood returning. Their children are getting out of hand. And a recent mudslide has forced the wolves out of the woods to look for food.

As dusk falls and tensions rise, the family must come together to survive the night—from the threats outside and those within.

Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of "The Fireman", "Heart-Shaped Box", and "Full Throttle". His work in comic books includes the long-running epic fantasy "Locke & Key", cocreated with artist Gabriel Rodriguez. Much of his work has been adapted for film and television, including the Blumhouse hit "The Black Phone" and AMC’s celebrated two-season adaptation of "NOS4A2." He lives in New Hampshire.

Grady Hendrix is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels "How to Sell a Haunted House," "The Final Girl Support Group," "The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires," "Horrorstör," and more. He is also a screenwriter and the author of the Bram Stoker Award–winning "Paperbacks from Hell: The Twisted History of ’70s and ’80s Horror Fiction."

Josh Malerman is the New York Times bestselling and Bram Stoker Award–winning author of "Daphne," "Pearl," and "Spin a Black Yarn," as well as "Bird Box," which was adapted into a feature film for Netflix. He is also one of two singer-songwriters for the rock band the High Strung.

Paul Tremblay is the author of several novels, including the Bram
Stoker and Locus Award–winning "The Cabin at the End of the World," which was adapted into a feature film by M. Night Shyamalan. He is also the author of the short story collections "Growing Things and Other Stories" and "The Beast You Are," and a contributor to the Amazon Original Stories collection "Forward."

Jason Mott is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels, including the National Book Award winner "Hell of a Book", "The Crossing", "The Wonder of All Things", and "The Returned." Jason was also a nominee for the Pushcart Prize and the NAACP Image Award, as well as longlisted for the Carnegie Medals for Excellence.

Chandler Baker is the New York Times bestselling author of "Whisper Network", a Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick; "The Husbands", a "Good Morning America" Book Pick; and, most recently, "Cutting Teeth."