Workers demolishing a building in Colchester make a horrifying discovery in the basement: a cage made of human bones…with a feral child inside. As Phil Brennan and Marina Esposito investigate, they expose the trail of a serial killer who has been operating undetected for thirty years – a killer with a disturbing connection to Brennan's father

Данный текст представляет собой мою попытку литературной обработки визуальной новеллы «Katawa Shoujo». Я постараюсь, чтобы получилось достаточно читабельно. Ну и не убегать в сторону от сюжета. Сами понимаете, тут адаптирован только один рут из возможных…

Haunted by an animal attack, seventeen year old Charlotte feels she is being followed. When she runs into a mysterious boy while camping, she’s afraid. Nothing seems right about him. Despite trying to stay away, there is an unmistakable draw to be near him. Even his scent smells familiar. But the closer she gets, the faster the secrets begin to unravel. Not only is he not human, he may have a link to her past. When Charlotte finds out someone wants her dead, she is torn between love and fear. Can she trust him to keep her safe?

The first installment in this fierce and sensual new paranormal romance series features demonic gladiators, ruthless mafia villains, and a proud race on the brink of extinction. Ten years ago, Audrey MacLaren chose to marry her human lover, making her an exile from the Dragon Kings, an ancient race of demons once worshiped as earthly gods. Audrey and her husband managed to conceive, and their son is the first natural-born Dragon King in a generation—which makes him irresistible to the sadistic scientist whose mafia-funded technology allows demon procreation. In the year since her husband was murdered, Audrey and her little boy have endured hideous experiments. Shackled with a collar and bound for life, Leto Garnis is a Cage warrior. Only through combat can Dragon Kings earn the privilege of conceiving children. Leto uses his superhuman speed and reflexes to secure the right for his two sisters to start families. After torture reveals Audrey’s astonishing pyrokenesis, she is sent to fight in the Cages. If she survives a year, she will be reunited with her son. Leto is charged with her training. Initially, he has no sympathy for her plight. But if natural conception is possible, what has he been fighting for? As enemies, sparring partners, lovers, and eventual allies, Leto and Audrey learn that in a violent underground world, love is the only prize worth winning

In the Midnight Museum - Bram Stoker Award-nominated for Superior Achievement in Long Fiction, 2005 Martin Tyler is a 44-year-old janitor whose life has come to a sputtering halt; he has no friends, no family, and no promise of better days ahead. In the grip of blackest depression, he attempts to take his own life, only to find himself waking up in a local mental health facility where he has been placed for observation. But something more has happened to Martin than just a failed suicide attempt; certain doors of perception have been unlocked in his mind, allowing him to see fantastic creatures that lurk outside on the streets of Cedar Hill - creatures only he can perceive. Over the next 48 hours, Martin will discover what these creatures are, who controls them, and why he must enter The Midnight Museum, a place with no doors or windows, but many entrances and exits; a place just outside the perception of everyday life; a place where Martin will discover how and why he inadvertently holds the fate of the world in his hands. The Ballad of Road Mama and Daddy BlissIn the novella The Ballad of Road Mama and Daddy Bliss, a man assigned community service duty with the city morgue after a DUI arrest is offered a simple deal: transport an old woman's body back to her hometown, and his record will be wiped clean. But this is no typical old woman, and -- as he soon discovers -- he is taking her to a town that is on no map. The old woman's identity, as well as the reasons behind the town's secret existence, will be revealed to him over the course of a few nightmarish hours between midnight and dawn -- the time when The Road demands its sacrifices.Kiss of the MudmanInternational Horror Guild Award for Long Fiction, 2007 A haunting story behind the lyrics of a rock song from the 70s. It is a story of music, stardom, death, and the combination of notes that brings dirty destruction to the Cedar Hill halfway house. Along the way, a visit from the "ulcerations" of Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, John Entwistle and Keith Moon, Kurt Cobain, and Billie Holiday enlighten the legend of just why the greatest guitar player that ever lived was a woman. Music fans will love it, and Braunbeck's fans should not miss it. It has all the things that make his work special: the pain, the despair, and the fear, all combined but with each one allowed its own moment in the sun, each one getting its own time with your nerves before they all come crashing down, leaving you with just enough energy to turn the page.TessellationsA haunted, young actress returns home after the death of her father to discover that her brother has seemingly gone insane. Over the course of one unnerving night she first witnesses — and then becomes a part of — a Halloween nightmare that, piece by piece, physically brings back the past, rips a hole in her consensual reality, and allows demons, monsters, and even a miracle or two to shamble into this world and transform it into the darkest of fairy tales...The Sisterhood of Plain-Faced Women'The Sisterhood of Plain-Faced Women' is the story of Amanda, who gains beauty but at a terrible price as her new physical attributes are torn from other people, the tale never less than compelling and with a heartfelt moral at its core

When a young man goes from the demands and rigors of the army to a luxurious and serene country living, his mind is bound to wander where it should t. Such is the fate of Alexei Alexeyevich Fedyashev, who becomes so absorbed in his newfound idleness that he falls in love with an old portrait. When the famous conjurer and medium Count Cagliostro accidentally ends up at Fedyashev's escape, the young man begs him to bring his dream to reality. Be careful what you wish for, is the lesson young Alexei has yet to learn