Haunted Library Horror Classics

The first in the Haunted Library Horror Classics series presented by the Horror Writers Association. An unabridged edition of the novel that inspired the famous Andrew Lloyd Weber musical. Deep beneath the Paris Opera House, a masked man lives in silence... Every night at the Palais Garnier, hundreds of guests sit on the edge of velvet-covered seats, waiting for prima donna La Carlotta to take the stage. But when her voice fails her, La Carlotta is replaced with unknown understudy Christine Daaé, a young soprano whose vibrant singing fills every corner of the house and wins her a slew of admirers, including an old childhood friend who soon professes his love for her. But unknown to Christine is another man, who lurks out of sight behind the heavy curtains of the opera, who can move about the building undetected, who will do anything to make sure Christine will keep singing just for him... This curated edition of The Phantom of the Opera, based on the original 1911 English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, brings an iconic story of love and obsession to today's readers and illuminates the timeless appeal of Leroux's masterpiece.

Nine spine-tingling stories from the creator of Sherlock Holmes Mournful cries in an ice-bound sea, a potion that allows the user to commune with ghosts, an Egyptian priest who cannot die, and a mesmerist of unrivaled power. Brace yourself for these and other chilling encounters in The Parasite and Other Tales of Terror. Even before he created Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle terrified and delighted readers with tales of suspense, haunted by mysterious forces that defy rational explanation. These stories capture the unique draw of the uncanny and the curiosity that compels us all to ask, "Could it be true?" Presented by the Horror Writers Association, and introduced by award-winning author Daniel Stashower, this collection illuminates Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's talent for the macabre and the supernatural. The Parasite and the other stories in this collection showcase Conan Doyle at his most inventive, sure to entertain both new readers and his most dedicated fans.

A creature that seems to have crawled out of our worst nightmares... Meet Paul Lessingham: an up-and-coming statesman, known for his unflappable calm, winning the respect of his peers and the admiration of the people with his powerful convictions and finely crafted speeches in Parliament. A man at the height of his powers, politically and personally, recently engaged to a beautiful young woman who adores him. A man on top of the world-reduced to a cowering, sniveling heap of abject terror at the utterance of two words: "The BEETLE!" Set in London at the end of the nineteenth century, this blood-chilling tale is told from the viewpoints of four characters who have the distinct misfortune of stumbling into a diabolical scheme of revenge, with a scorned would-be lover-a strange, seemingly magical creature-at its core. Snubbed marriage proposals, secret engagements, deadly chemical experiments, and mysterious visitors all weave their hypnotic spell upon the reader, culminating in a desperate hunt for an abducted young woman whose life, it seems, is the price to be paid for her lover's indiscretion some twenty years prior. Though published the same year as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Richard Marsh's The Beetle was far more popular in its day. This curated edition, based on the original 1897 publication by Skeffington and Sons, London, will horrify and delight the modern reader with its timeless tale of jealousy and its many hideous faces-as relevant today as it was over 100 years ago.

Frankenstein wasn't the only classic horror novel created by a woman. Within a decade of the 1818 publication of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, another Englishwoman invented a foundational work of science fiction. Seventeen-year-old Jane Webb Loudon took up the theme of reanimation, moved it three hundred years into the future, and applied it to Cheops, an ancient Egyptian mummy. Unlike Shelley's horrifying, death-dealing monster, this revivified creature bears the wisdom of the ages and is eager to share his insights with humanity. Cheops boards a hot-air balloon and travels to 22nd-century England, where he sets about remedying the ills of a corrupt government. In recounting Cheops' attempts to put the futuristic society to rights, the young author offers a fascinating portrait of the preoccupations of her own era as well as some remarkably prescient predictions of technological advances. The Mummy! envisions a world in which automatons perform surgery, undersea tunnels connect England and Ireland, weather-control devices provide crop irrigation, and messages are transmitted with the speed of cannonball fire. The first novel to feature the concept of a living mummy, this pioneering tale offers an engaging mix of comedy, politics, and science fiction. Other books in the Haunted Library of Horror Classics series: The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux The Beetle by Richard Marsh Vathek by William Beckford The House on the Borderland by William Hope Hodgson The Parasite and Other Tales of Terror by Arthur Conan Doyle Of One Blood by Pauline Hopkins The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers

When you have all you could ever want, what's left to wish for? Vathek, the majestic and fierce ninth caliph of the Abassides, has the world at his feet, with pleasure palaces constructed solely to satisfy his every possible appetite. Both his anger and his intellect are legendary; possessed of an intense thirst for knowledge, he often invites scholars to converse with him, but imprisons those who cannot be persuaded via logic or bribes to his point of view. Nothing is beyond his grasp, until a hideous stranger sells him glowing swords with letters on them that cannot be translated even by experts-because the letters are ever changing as if by magic! Obsessed with obtaining the stranger's knowledge, Vathek undertakes a massive search of his kingdom. His journey becomes increasingly horrific as he ventures into the underworld, meeting demons and witches. Will love of Mohammed or country or a young woman he encounters be enough to turn him from his foolish quest? Or will the lust for power prove too strong to resist?

Manfred, the lord of the castle of Otranto, has long lived in dread of an ancient prophecy: it's foretold that when his family line ends, the true owner of the castle will appear and claim it. In a desperate bid to keep the castle, Manfred plans to coerce a young woman named Isabella into marrying him. Isabella refuses to yield to Manfred's reprehensible plan. But once, she escapes into the depths of the castle, it becomes clear that Manfred isn't the only threat. As Isabelle loses herself in the seemingly endless hallways below, voices reverberate from the walls and specters wander through the dungeons. Otranto appears to be alive, and it's seeking revenge for the sins of the past.

The King in Yellow is a book of short stories by American writer Robert W. Chambers, first published in 1895. The book is named after a play with the same title which recurs as a motif through some of the stories. The first half of the book features highly esteemed weird stories, and the book has been described by critics as a classic in the field of the supernatural. There are ten stories, the first four of which ("The Repairer of Reputations", "The Mask", "In the Court of the Dragon", and "The Yellow Sign") mention The King in Yellow, a forbidden play which induces despair or madness in those who read it. "The Yellow Sign" inspired a film of the same name released in 2001.

IN A RUINED HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF AN ABYSS LIES THE DIARY OF A MADMAN Fishing buddies Tonnison and Berreggnog didn't bargain for what they found while on holiday near the remote Irish village of Kraighten. While walking along the riverbank, they're astonished to see that the river abruptly ends. It reappears as a surge from a chasm some 100 feet below the edge of an abyss, where also stand the remains of an oddly shaped house, half-swallowed by the pit. Exploring the ruins, the friends discover the moldering journal of an unidentified man-the Recluse-who had lived in the house with his sister and faithful dog years ago. Its pages reveal the man's apparent descent into madness-how else to account for his chronicles of otherworldly visions, trips to other dimensions, and attacks by swine-like humanoid creatures that seem to have followed him home? After one particular vision in which he witnesses the end of the earth and time itself, the Recluse awakens in his study to find nothing has changed-except that his dog Pepper is dead, dissolved into a pile of dust. And then the "swine things" return...