Parasites

A decade in the future, humanity thrives in the absence of sickness and disease. We owe our good health to a humble parasite - a genetically engineered tapeworm developed by the pioneering SymboGen Corporation. When implanted, the tapeworm protects us from illness, boosts our immune system - even secretes designer drugs. It's been successful beyond the scientists' wildest dreams. Now, years on, almost every human being has a SymboGen tapeworm living within them. But these parasites are getting restless. They want their own lives...and will do anything to get them.

Don't look for commonplace nightmares in these stories. Brian Lumley's monsters are never commonplace! In the award-winning 'Fruiting Bodies', for example, the terror doesn't stalk the night but moves almost imperceptibly underfoot, or through the woodwork... or in other places! 'The Pit-Yakker' is a tale of industrial decay, of a love that might have been, a hatred stillborn, and a scar to disfigure the landscape of the mind forever. And as for 'The Man Who Felt Pain'... well, don't we all? Yes, but not everyone else's! This Witch's Dozen of fine tales of terror can only add to the acclaim rightly accorded the man who gave you the brilliant Necroscope series, and its direct sequel, Brian Lumley's Vampire World.

Spread Me is a darkly seductive tale of survival from Sarah Gailey, after a routine probe at a research station turns deadly when the team discovers a strange specimen in search of a warm place to stay. Kinsey has the perfect job as the team lead in a remote research outpost. She loves the solitude, and the way the desert keeps her far away from the temptations teeming out in the civilian world. When her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. Temptation has found her after all, and it can't be ignored any longer. One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host—and one of them is the perfect candidate....

Strange, mushroom-like growths are appearing on peoples' bodies and doctors, puzzled by the strange virus that plants inhuman desires in the minds of victims, look for a cause and uncover a horrifying reality.