Buried by Sunset – J.J. Walker
Randall’s unexpected arrival at the house his father left him reignites rumors in the community about how the man who lived there disappeared, and why someone who looks like him is back.
Pushed to uncover what happened to a father he never met, Randall finds himself entangled in the lives of people who don’t take kindly to strangers, and the sinister secret of a desert town teetering on the edge of extinction.
“When Randall Stanford arrived in Thornfold, he raised its population from 70 to 71.”
Tinfoil Butterfly – Rachel Eve Moulton
Emma is hitchhiking across the United States, trying to outrun a violent, tragic past, when she meets Lowell, the driver she hopes will take her as far as the Badlands. But Lowell is not as harmless as he seems, and a vicious scuffle leaves Emma bloody and stranded in an abandoned town in the Black Hills with an out-of-gas van, a loaded gun, and a snowstorm on the way.
The town is eerily quiet and Emma takes shelter in a diner, where she stumbles across Earl, a strange little boy in a tinfoil mask who steals her gun before begging her to help him get rid of “George.” As she is pulled deeper into Earl’s bizarre, menacing world, the horrors of Emma’s past creep closer, and she realizes she can’t run forever.
“The mask covers up his features, all except his too-green eyes. Fierce as a cat’s.”
The Ghost Tree – Christina Henry
When the bodies of two girls are found torn apart in the town of Smiths Hollow, Lauren is surprised, but she also expects that the police won’t find the killer. After all, the year before her father’s body was found with his heart missing, and since then everyone has moved on. Even her best friend, Miranda, has become more interested in boys than in spending time at the old ghost tree, the way they used to when they were kids.
So, when Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging the remains of the girls through the woods, she knows she can’t just do nothing. Not like the rest of her town. But as she draws closer to answers, she realizes that the foundation of her seemingly normal town might be rotten at the center.
If nobody else stands for the missing, she will.
“She and Miranda always met under the ghost tree.”
Lacuna’s Point – Tim Meyer
Three years ago, Ellie Brower’s daughter went missing somewhere in the heart of Virginia. Today, Ellie receives a mysterious text message that leads her to believe her daughter might still be alive. She follows this rabbit hole to the coastal town of Lacuna’s Point.
But there’s something wrong with this place. The town’s only constable is zero help and downright hostile. There’s a beloved mayor who presides over town affairs, but no one has ever seen his face. Meanwhile, an enormous clock tower holds something sinister behind its cyclopean eye of time.
As Ellie unravels the mystery of her missing daughter, the town begins to change. Its geography. Its spirit. Slowly, this homely paradise transforms into a nightmarish dreamworld. And not just the town. The people themselves are slowly evolving into something else.
“The only thing she could concentrate on was that clock tower, its face’s perfect circle…”
Forget This Ever Happened – Cassandra Rose Clarke
It’s June 1993 and Claire has been dumped in rural Indianola, Texas, to spend her whole vacation taking care of mean, sickly Grammy. There’s nothing too remarkable about Indianola: it’s run-down, shabby, and sweltering, a pin-dot on the Gulf Coast.
Except there is something remarkable. Memories shimmer and change. Lizards whisper riddles under the pecan trees. People disappear as if they never existed. Yesterday keeps coming unspooled, like a video tape. And worst of all, a red-lightning storm from beyond our world may just wipe the whole town off the map, if Claire and her maybe-girlfriend Julie can’t stop it.
Because reality doesn’t apply in Indianola. Indianola is not supposed to exist.
“Something ripples in the grass – a shadow, a dark quick movement.”
Goblin – Josh Malerman
Goblin seems like any other ordinary small town. These six novellas tell the story of a place where the rain is always falling, nighttime is always near, and your darkest fears and desires await. Welcome to Goblin.
A Man in Slices: A man proves his “legendary love” to his girlfriend with a sacrifice even more daring than Vincent van Gogh’s … and sends her more than his heart.
Kamp: Walter Kamp is afraid of everything, but most afraid of being scared to death. As he sets traps around his home to catch the ghosts that haunt him, he learns that nothing is more terrifying than fear itself.
Happy Birthday, Hunter!: A famed big-game hunter is determined to capture, and kill, the ultimate prey: the mythic Great Owl who lives in Goblin’s dark forests. But this mysterious creature is not the only secret the woods are keeping.
Presto: All Peter wants is to be like his hero, Roman Emperor, the greatest magician in the world. When the famous magician comes to Goblin, Peter discovers that not all magic is just an illusion.
A Mix-Up at the Zoo: The new zookeeper feels a mysterious kinship with the animals in his care, and finds that his work is freeing dark forces inside him.
The Hedges: When his wife dies, a man builds a hedge maze so elaborate no one ever solves it, until a little girl resolves to be the first to find the mysteries that wait at its heart.
“In Goblin the dead are buried standing up.”
Darkness on the Edge of Town – Brian Keene
One morning the residents of Walden, Virginia, woke up to find the rest of the world gone. Just gone.
Surrounding their town was a wall of inky darkness, plummeting Walden into permanent night. Nothing can get in – not light, not people, not even electricity, radio, TV, internet, food, or water. And nothing can get out. No one who dared to penetrate the mysterious barrier has ever been seen again. Only their screams were heard.
But for some, the darkness is not the worst of their fears. Driven mad by thirst, hunger, and perpetual night, the residents of Walden are ready to explode. The last few sane prisoners of this small town must prepare a final stand against their neighbors, themselves, and something even worse … something out there … in the darkness.
“The darkness has teeth – sharp, obsidian fangs that you can’t see.”
