December Tales

By Tonya Hurley, Ramsey Campbell, Lisa Morton, and more

2021

First Published

3.71

Average Rating

468

Number of Pages

14H12M

Audio Length

Features twelve brand-new eerie tales by award-winning and best-selling authors, as well as eleven chilling classics.(From the Foreword by Colin Dickey)The end of December is different. Dead dark, bleak and without remorse. The wind that had a pleasant briskness to it just a few weeks ago now has a knife’s edge. The sun sits on the edge of the horizon, distant and unmoved, gone almost as quickly as it appears. The skeletal trees have no comfort left to offer us. One doesn’t go outside so much as venture out, bundled up, for necessary provisions before returning to the safety of home. The world has become unforgiving. There is no room for error here. Winter is a time for closing ranks, a time for settling in for the long months. A time when the weather becomes eerie, when the once comforting has become strange. At Halloween the veil between worlds grows thin, but in winter it’s ripped clean open, and in the unrelenting cold we see straight through to the other side. And the other side sees straight into us. It is not a time for revelry. It is a time for ghost stories.Content AlertSome of the stories in this collection include elements of violence, violence against children, suicide, drug use, sex, and profanity. After all, not all ghosts start out as well-heeled consumptive ladies, nor are all those who witness specters prim Victorian antiquarians.Punctuation and SpellingHalf of these stories are new. The other half date from as early as 1834. The authors (or translators) of both the new and classic stories are American, British, and Canadian, and the variations in spellings and punctuation you will encounter in these stories reflect the differing customs of the cultures and of the times. I have chosen to maintain the original spellings and punctuation except in certain bothersome cases in some of the classic tales, such as standardizing “any one” to “anyone” and using double quotes rather than single quotes to designate dialogue.

Avg Rating

3.71

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

29%

4 STARS

35%

3 STARS

18%

2 STARS

12%

1 STARS

goodreads

Authors

Tonya Hurley

Author · 11 books

Tonya Hurley is a New York Times and international bestselling author of the ghostgirl series (Little, Brown) and The Blessed trilogy (Simon & Schuster). Her books are published in nearly 30 countries and in more than 20 languages. Ms. Hurley has a worked in virtually every aspect of teen entertainment: creating, writing, and producing two hit TV series; writing and directing several acclaimed independent films, music videos and videogames. She is a contributor to the Huffington Post, an active member of the Writer's Guild of America, a member of the Horror Writers Association Her first novel, ghostgirl was an instant bestseller and received starred reviews from the literary publications Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, VOYA and School Library Journal. The ghostgirl audiobooks are narrated by Parker Posey with original music by Vince Clarke. PRECIOUS BLOOD, the first book in her new, gritty young adult THE BLESSED Trilogy was released September 25, 2012. PASSIONARIES, the second book, was released January 7, 2014. The Blessed audiobook is read by Moonrise Kingdom star Kara Hayward. Praise for "ghostgirl": Instant New York Times bestseller. Instant International bestseller. "Tim Burton and Edgar Allan Poe devotees will die for this fantastic, phantasmal read." – School Library Journal (STARRED review) "[Hurley] beats out witty teen-speak like a punk-band drummer, keeping the narrative fast-paced and fun yet thought-provokingly heartwarming. Goofy, ghastly, intelligent, electrifying." – Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review) "Readers with a taste for black humor and satire will feast on Hurley’s crisp, wise dialogue. Anticipate a well deserved cult following." – VOYA (STARRED review) "Glittering comedy, a prime exemplar of what might be called demento mori, a growing subgenre of satire about teens who will not or cannot die." – Publishers Weekly (STARRED review) "Harry Potter's epic battles against dark forces of evil are nothing compared to Charlotte Usher's struggles with an even more fearsome foe—high school." – Herald-Standard "Offers the answer to the age old question: Who would come to my funeral? And gives fantasy fulfillment for anyone who wanted to be someone else for a day." – San Francisco Chronicle "Written with deadpan wit… this is a ‘Wonderful Life’-like tale." – New York Post "A sincere (and humorous) exploration of how we all feel invisible at one time or another… a perfect read." – CosmoGirl Indie Next List pick New York Public Library Stuff For The Teenage pick Pennsylvania Library School Assocation Award Outstanding Author for 2012

Ramsey Campbell

Author · 92 books

Ramsey Campbell is a British writer considered by a number of critics to be one of the great masters of horror fiction. T. E. D. Klein has written that "Campbell reigns supreme in the field today," while S. T. Joshi has said that "future generations will regard him as the leading horror writer of our generation, every bit the equal of Lovecraft or Blackwood."

J. D. Horn is the author of the standalone dark fantasy Shivaree and the bestselling Witching Savannah series (The Line, The Source, The Void, and Jilo). The Witching Savannah series has been/is being translated into Russian, Polish, German, Spanish, Italian, French, and Romanian. He and his spouse, Rich, and their rescue Chihuahua Kirby, split their time between San Francisco and Palm Springs.

Glen Hirshberg

Author · 15 books

Three-time International Horror Guild Award Winner Glen Hirshberg’s novels include The Snowman's Children, The Book of Bunk, the Motherless Children trilogy, and Infinity Dreams. He is also the author of four widely praised story collections: The Two Sams, American Morons, The Janus Tree, and The Ones Who Are Waving. A five-time World Fantasy Award finalist, he has won the Shirley Jackson Award for the novelette, “The Janus Tree”. He also publishes new fiction, critical writing, and creative nonfiction in his Substack newsletter, Happy in Our Own Ways (https://glenhirshberg.substack.com/), and offers classes and manuscript coaching and editing through his Drones Club West activities (dronesclubwest@outlook.com). He lives with his family and cats in the Pacific Northwest.

Tod Goldberg

Author · 14 books

Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of over a dozen books, including THE LOW DESERT: GANGSTER STORIES, a Southwest Book of the Year, GANGSTERLAND, a finalist for the Hammett Prize, THE HOUSE OF SECRETS, which he co-authored with Brad Meltzer, and LIVING DEAD GIRL, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His short fiction has appeared in a number of anthologies, including PALM SPRINGS NOIR, LAS VEGAS NOIR, THE USUAL SANTAS, and BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY & SUSPENSE. His nonfiction appears regularly in the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and ALTA and has been anthologized widely, including in BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS. He is the co-host of the popular podcast Literary Disco and is a professor of creative writing at UC Riverside, where he founded and directs the Low Residency MFA in Creative Writing & Writing for the Performing Arts. His next book GANGSTERS DON'T DIE will be released in fall 2023.