The Return of the Ritual is an enthralling short story that follows the savvy Sherlock Holmes-type character Dr Taverner and his unassuming assistant as they hunt for a stolen manuscript – the type of which, if found in the wrong hands, could have catastrophic consequences for humanity. After Dr Taverner receives a telepathic lead on the misuse of the ancient ritual, he and his assistant Dr Rhodes set out on an adventure to track down the stolen manuscript and save the world from ruin. But will they track down the missing ritual and prevail? First published in 1926, this story by Dion Fortune forms part of a more extensive collection of scary detective stories based around the eccentric character, Dr Taverner. Taverner runs a nursing home where the occupants are far from ordinary, with vampires, shapeshifters, telepaths and bloodhounds as residents. With her fiction deeply rooted in the esoteric sciences, Dion Fortune has created a world unlike no other, directly influenced by her personal beliefs and experiences with occultism. Republished by Fantasy and Horror Classics as a short story in its own right, this fantasy and horror classic is a must-read for lovers of occultist literature, and those interested in classic mysteries and crime fiction.

A horror debut by one of Britain's most celebrated up-and-coming writers, in which four friends get lost in a forest in Sweden, to find their lives are in mortal peril... as something evil lurks.

75 years since its first release, a true modern rarity and historical keystone in occult fiction and cinematic pop culture returns. Shrouded in the same brand of mystery and contradiction that forms its tangled plot, Ritual is commonly recognised by cult cinema fanatics as the original seed that spawned the towering movie enigma, The Wicker Man. A police officer is requested to investigate the presumed murder of a child in an obscure rural village. During his short stay, he is subjected to a spectacle of psychological trickery, sexual seduction and ancient practices and rituals.

Last Days (winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Horror Novel of the Year) by Adam Nevill is a Blair Witch style novel in which a documentary film-maker undertakes the investigation of a dangerous cult—with creepy consequences. When guerrilla documentary maker, Kyle Freeman, is asked to shoot a film on the notorious cult known as the Temple of the Last Days, it appears his prayers have been answered. The cult became a worldwide phenomenon in 1975 when there was a massacre including the death of its infamous leader, Sister Katherine. Kyle's brief is to explore the paranormal myths surrounding an organization that became a testament to paranoia, murderous rage, and occult rituals. The shoot's locations take him to the cult's first temple in London, an abandoned farm in France, and a derelict copper mine in the Arizonan desert where The Temple of the Last Days met its bloody end. But when he interviews those involved in the case, those who haven't broken silence in decades, a series of uncanny events plague the shoots. Troubling out-of-body experiences, nocturnal visitations, the sudden demise of their interviewees and the discovery of ghastly artifacts in their room make Kyle question what exactly it is the cult managed to awaken – and what is its interest in him?

During the Silent Era, when most films dealt with dramatic or comedic takes on the "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" theme, other motion pictures dared to tackle such topics as rejuvenation, revivication, mesmerism, the supernatural and the grotesque. A Daughter of the Gods (1916), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Magician (1926) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) were among the unusual and startling films containing story elements that went far beyond the realm of "highly unlikely." Using surviving documentation and their combined expertise, the authors catalog and discuss these departures from the norm in this encyclopedic guide to American horror, science fiction and fantasy in the years from 1913 through 1929.

This carefully crafted ebook: “ARTHUR MACHEN Ultimate Collection: Dark Fantasy Classics, Supernatural Tales & Horror Stories (Including Essays, Translations & Autobiography)” is formatted for your eReader with a functional and detailed table of contents. Arthur Machen (1863-1947) was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror (Stephen King has called it "Maybe the best [horror story] in the English language"). Historian of fantastic literature Brian Stableford has suggested that Machen "was the first writer of authentically modern horror stories, and his best works must still be reckoned among the finest products of the genre". Table of Contents: Novels: The Three Impostors The Hill of Dreams The Terror: A Mystery The Secret Glory Short Stories and Novellas: A Fragment of Life The White People The Great God Pan The Inmost Light The Shining Pyramid The Red Hand The Bowmen The Soldiers' Rest The Monstrance The Dazzling Light The Bowmen And Other Noble Ghosts The Marriage of Panurge Psychology The Rose Garden The Ceremony The Happy Children The Great Return A New Christmas Carol Out of the Earth Essay: Hieroglyphics Translation: The Memoirs of Jacques Casanova de Seingalt, 1725-1798 Autobiography: Far Off Things Criticism: Arthur Machen: A Novelist of Ecstasy and Sin (With Two Uncollected Poems by Arthur Machen)