c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
Here are the stories written on the Book of Blood. They are a map of that dark highway that leads out of life towards unknown destinations. Few will have to take it, most will go on peacefully along lamplit streets, ushered out of living with prayers and caresses. But for a few, a chosen few, the horrors will come, skipping to fetch them off to the highway of the damned...
— Clive Barker, Books of Blood, Volumes 4-6
When I awoke I was laying on the floor in a darkened room. The rope, like the very core of myself, had turned from snow white to a hot, unfamiliar red.
— C.K. Walker, Aiden's Spot
I’ve always felt a little lost in life, like I never received complete instructions on who I'm supposed to be. Everyone else around me seemed to know exactly who they were. Their lives would fly right by me; their GPS’s locked on to destinations while I just sat idling in the street. In high school I never did any extracurricular activities because I couldn't figure out if I was a sports person or a music person. And it was no different in college. I wandered through four different majors, unable to decide who I wanted to be. I just felt like a blank slate.And if I was a blank slate, Micah York was The Starry Night - authentic, beautiful, perfect. He was my exact antithesis which is what attracted me to him in the first place. He was born knowing exactly who he was and what he was about. His confidence and certainty in himself was an all but tangible element of him.
— C.K. Walker, The Afterlife Experiment
I believe that you believe that. But this thing, whatever it is, it's tricky. Manipulative. A liar. And it's smarter than you.""I'll try not to be offended by that.""You shouldn't be."“What do you think it is?”“Something very old and very evil.
— C.K. Walker, Room 733
Lydia shrugged. "At least we'll have some stories to tell after graduation.""These aren't the kind of stories I want to tell.
— C.K. Walker, Room 733
I'm an art major. You're a political science major. YOU go lay down the law.
— C.K. Walker, Room 733
Even though it’s pleasing to boast about achievements I have earned in my generation, nothing makes me more content in the world than just having the exciting opportunity to share my passion of work with the public. What is even more exhilarating, is being able (having the capability) to spend quality time with my loving wife, (Gloria) and family doing what I love most in the world -- writing. Their total well-being and health, along with my health too means everything to me. I have had my fair share of narrow escapes in my life to know how important my family, and health are to me. I will never take that for granted again – ever.
— Chris Mentillo, Obliterated: Everything is About To Change
We stopped looking in the shadows, when we realised that WE were the monsters that we are afraid of. I want to take these monsters, give them a voice and put them back under our beds, in our closets and in the shadows, back where we are most afraid of them.
— Rob Shepherd, The Grays Anatomy
Never Sell Yourself Short.
— Chris Mentillo, The Unhappy Heiress
Mom says you have to believe in Santa if you want presents on Christmas.
— C.K. Walker, Santa's Magic
The Skinned Men kill again.
— C.K. Walker, Borrasca
My mother used to say not sleeping was the sign of a guilty mind. It could have been. There was a lot in my mind to feel guilty about. When you’re drunk and trying to sleep, your thoughts are visited by the ghosts of those deeds whose heat still glows hottest in your personal darkness. Our actions burn much longer than the moments in which they occur. And drunks like me, we hide from the glow of the embers by fueling other fires and hiding within the flames.
— Robert E. Dunn, The Red Highway
I second that. This is all so creepy. I feel like we are in some sort of strange movie, forget an episode of Buffy. We have passed into official horror movie territory.”-Nessa and Cora
— Andrea Heltsley, Dissolve
Especially on rainy nights like this, they would congregate under the bridge, all the boys from nowhere, the boys who lived nowhere, who had nowhere else to go.
— Robert Dunbar, The Streets
Just as there are broken people, there are broken places on this earth. Some have always been broken. All cities have such neighborhoods at their edges, and this city is all edges … block after block of bleakly hopeless outskirts.People don’t bury dead cities. They abandon them. They abandon them to the poorest of the poor, to the lost and the doomed.
— Robert Dunbar, The Streets
They say a basis in fact underlies most legends. They say it all the time, all those Wise Elders in all those old horror films, the high priests, the scientists, the gypsy fortune tellers. On this single issue they agree unanimously.
— Robert Dunbar, Vortex
I think everyone should have a problem with zombies on fire.
— Faith McKay, Lipstick & Zombies
Trolls have existed on this planet for as long as humans. This is what I was told and what I translated to Tub. The first mention of them in recorded history is from ninth-century Norway, when the nefarious creatures began showing up in song, verse, and bedtime stories to keep misbehaving children in line. According to Norse folklore, trolls are one of the Dark Beings, the purest embodiments of evil, and they scurried from between the toes of Ymir, the mythic six-headed Frost Giant whose murdered body became the universe in which we live; his bones became the mountains, his teeth boulders, and so forth.
— Guillermo del Toro, Trollhunters
Horror is the awakening of repressed knowledge, something that you have known all along but kept at the periphery of awareness so that life can go on.
— Matthew De Abaitua, If Then
It’s a terrible thing, isn’t it? To be dragged under?
— Guillermo del Toro
And in the echo of that gladness, horror blooms within me. In its own strange way, it's a horror as deep as any I've experienced so far. I've succeeded in taking another human hostage, in making him urinate on himself. I made a plan to torture someone, and then I carried it out, and it satisfied me to do so. As much hurt and hell as the Wolfman has caused, I don't want to be his judge and jury, his jailer and tormentor. I don't want to be that person. I want to be good. I don't want to fall into a big, black pit of darkness, because what if I can't get out?
— Carolyn Lee Adams, Ruthless
Thomas had lived in fear and terror the past few weeks, but this was almost too much. To feel safe only to have that snatched away again.
— James Dashner, The Scorch Trials
There's a transparent face that looks deep into my eyes, baring my soul, right before terror consumes me and the image becomes a black mass of horror.
— Brandy Nacole, Deep in the Hollow
There is no light at the end of the tunnel for us. We are who we are.
— Isaiyan Morrison, Old Farmer's Road
Touch the stone,' said Beliah, 'and you will touch "reality", or what the ignorant of all ages think "reality" is. That kind of truth will kill you, man. You won't see morning! I have kept you all your life from such things as remorse, terror, pity. Touch the stone, and those same angels will change you into an old poor pathetic deluded dying creature. Hubert, a nurse has to shave you, your hand shakes so much. You know that don't you? You dribble at every orifice, Hubert. You've begun to smell this past year or two...' He suddenly howled as if I had actually touched the stone,'YOU WILL BE RAVAGED IN FIRES OF GRACE!'I heard Nurse McGregor in the next ward. 'Good evening,' came her cheerful voice to the looney who had strangled his sweetheart and then buried her in his garden. 'Is it cocoa tonight, or tea, or milk?"Beliah was weeping. Outside the eaves dripped. The whole earth was drenched with the grief of Beliah. He wept inside me. I felt his marvellous tears on my face.
— George Mackay Brown, Scottish Ghost Stories
Claws grabbed his head from behind, curving round his face, serrated talons gouging into his eyes
— Neil Davies, The Village Witch
No wonder many people dare not look closely at life: It's a horrible sight.
— Bangambiki Habyarimana, The Great Pearl of Wisdom
The Professor gripped his axe, having pulled it, with some difficulty, from the boy's head.
— Neil Davies, The Village Witch
Clear skin, a manicure, a couple dead zombies, and then fame!
— Faith McKay, Lipstick & Zombies
This book's like black holes. It really engulfes you whole.
— Ana Claudia Antunes, Pierrot Love: When A Call From The Other Side Takes Its Own Side
Snape looked horrified. 'You have kept him alive so that he can die at the right moment?''Don't look shocked, Severus. How many men and women have you watched die?''Lately, only those whom I could not save', said Snape.
— J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
No amount of therapy can replace the joy of revenge writing.
— Mylo Carbia, The Raping of Ava DeSantis
Solitude is obviously dangerous for people with active brains. We need men around us who have ideas and like talking. Leave us alone for any length of time, and we start filling the void with supernatural creatures.
— Guy de Maupassant, A Day in the Country and Other Stories
Daylight does not lend itself to terror: objects and people are plain to see; and we encounter there only those things which dare to show themselves in the glare of day. But night, opaque night denser than walls, night, empty and infinite and so black and fathomless that terrifying things reach out and touch us, night when we feel horror stirring, mysteriously prowling―night seemed to him to hide some unknown, imminent, threatening danger. What could it be?
— Guy de Maupassant, A Day in the Country and Other Stories
He's evil, and the only thing that stops evil is death.
— Kayla Krantz, Dead by Morning
I am lost! Someone has taken over my mind and is controlling it! Someone is in command of all my actions, movements, and thoughts. I am nothing inside, merely a spectator enslaved and terrified by everything I do.
— Guy de Maupassant, A Day in the Country and Other Stories
The Earth was not dead. She had been sick, yes, weakened by an infestation. Now she was ridding herself of it. For those who remained alive the choice was a simple one, whether they realised it yet or not: Work with the land-- respect it and give back to it-- or die.
— Joseph D'Lacey, Black Feathers
It was to apologize, and apologizing means he remembers what happened, and that means being trapped in a nightmare that’s already come true.
— Beth Revis, The Body Electric
Emily, there are enemies everywhere. We have to be on our guard, especially for the next couple of weeks.’ Theo sighed unhappily. ‘This is going to be the longest fortnight of my life.’ ‘That’s saying something,’ I joked, ‘given how long you’ve lived.’ ‘Exactly,’ he said, without smiling.
— Pat Spence, True Blue
So, I poisoned his coffee this morning and watched him drink it.
— A.F. Stewart, Killers and Demons II: They Return
preserve my sanity, for to this I am reduced. Safety and the assurance of safety are things of the past. Whilst I live on here there is but one thing to hope for, that I may not go mad, if, indeed, I be not mad already. If I be sane, then surely it is maddening to think that of all the foul things that lurk in this hateful place.
— Bram Stoker, Dracula
There was a muffled pop, the sound of a small pumpkin exploding in a microwave oven.Morris cut the wheel to the left and there was another bump as the Biscayne went back into the parking area. He looked in the mirror and saw that Curtis's head was gone.Well, no. Not exactly. It was there, but all spread out. Mooshed. No loss of talent in that mess. Morrie thought.
— Stephen King, Finders Keepers
As Roran watched, the man's arms, neck, and chest shriveled, and his bones appeared in sharp relief-from the bowlike curve of his collarbones to the hollow saddle of his hips, where his stomach hung like an empty waterskin. His lips puckered and drew back farther than they were intended to over his yellow teeth, baring them in a grisly snarl, while his eyeballs deflated as if they were engorged ticks being squished empty of blood, and the surrounding flesh sank inward.
— Christopher Paolini
Horror story is not result of accident.
— Jie Zhang, Heart Of Red River
Revenge: it's a dream of flames fueled by scorched remains that are lit to a torch and brought back upon the one who burned you.
— August Verona, What To Do When You Are Dead
Suddenly, she heard a loud bang, a thump and a scream that caused her to jump from the bed. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up and her body became one big goosebump.
— Evangeline Duran Fuentes, Cry on Hallow's Eve
Your friend will pay deeply for what he’s done here tonight,” Chance snarled once he wiped off most of the blood. “You can tell him to run as far and as fast as he can, I’ll get him. Just let him know that once this is all over, it’s just gonna be you and me and a world full of corpses.
— Kayla Krantz, Dead by Morning
Franklin Fletcher dreamed of luxury in the form of tiger-skins and beautiful women. He was prepared, at a pinch, to forgo the tiger-skins. Unfortunately the beautiful women seemed equally rare and inaccessible. At his office and at his boarding-house the girls were mere mice, or cattish, or kittenish, or had insufficiently read the advertisements.
— John Collier, Fancies and Goodnights
Their laughter was like the stridulation of the ghosts of grasshoppers.
— John Collier, Fancies and Goodnights
How happy I might be, if only she was less greedy, better tempered, not addicted to raking up old grudges, more affectionate, with slightly yellower hair, slimmer, and about twenty years younger! But what is the good of expecting such a woman to reform?
— John Collier, Fancies and Goodnights
Just behind his jaw bones a tiny movement was perceptible, like the movement of gills in a fish.
— John Collier, Fancies and Goodnights
There are some young almond tress, which ordinarily look as if drawn by a childish hand. Now, as the wind sets their weak branches gibbering, they seem like shamanistic scratches on the white bone of the brittle bright night.
— John Collier
At some point, even the greatest misery begins to fade. Life, or what passes for life, plods on in it's own unending weary footsteps, and somehow we plod along with it, if we stay lucky.
— Jeff Lindsay, Dexter Is Dead
I'm electric with vertigo, even though I'm on the ground, vertigo like I felt once when I stood on the edge of a high cliff in Arizona and looked straight down.
— M.T. Anderson, Thirsty
Once upon a time there was a king, and the king commissioned his favorite wizard to create a magic mirror. This mirror didn’t show you your reflection. It showed you your soul—it showed you who you really were.The wizard couldn’t look at it without turning away. The king couldn’t look at it. The courtiers couldn’t look at it. A chestful of treasure was offered to anyone who could look at it for sixty seconds without turning away. And no one could.
— Martin Amis
You'll never see us coming.
— Dan Wells, I Am Not A Serial Killer
No, you will never been tamed, you are a monster, the eternal wild one. I often wonder where you came from, only someone with something to hide has such a cloudy beginnings. Who are you? Or more importantly who were you? There is only the odd bits that are known about you and nothing is set in stone. Do you even know the real you behind the charade? The fact that you are aroused by virginity, is a worrying fascination. I would not be surprised if the person who turned you realised what a monster he'd created. They were not called Frankenstein by any chance? Maybe you are a creature of many parts? Did you destroy your creator as well in a fit of rage? Is that why your are always looking for your virgin bride? Only you take beautiful swans and turn them into ugly ducklings. You will never return to that life that you give up. Stop trying to recreate them.
— Beverley Price, Blood Bound
There is love in me the likes of which you've never seen. There is rage in me the likes of which should never escape. If I am not satisfied int he one, I will indulge the other.
— Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Welcome, let’s all prepare to be whisked to the magical land of candy. Be warned, candy is very addicting and at Jubilee’s the candy is the tastiest in the world,
— Derek Ailes, Zombie Command: A Horror Anthology
As the helpless vampire watched the transformation, it started screaming. It was still screaming when his rows of razor sharp teeth sank into its throat.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire
...there are more terrifying monstrosities in the world than Anthropophagi. Monstrosities who, with a smile and a comforting pat on the head, are willing to sacrifice a child upon the altar of their own overweening ambition and pride.
— Rick Yancey, The Monstrumologist
Only a few can survive and face reality without a vice.
— Jacob Wild
Know your number. If you don’t know it you might forget who you are.
— Diane Samuels, Kindertransport: A Drama
True vampires that want to build a strong family does not go around turning people just because they want to. But even the most sensible of vampire can be tempted by beauty. When you come across someone whose beauty seems to be made of the stars themselves, then you want to preserve that beauty forever. Despite knowing that it may not be the best idea in the world. But then beauty is a power all of its own.
— Beverley Price, Blood Bound
His meat was going to be very fulfilling.
— Derek Ailes, Zombie Command: A Horror Anthology
And then I saw her, who I could have only assumed with Aura Tsang, a very petite women, with the exotic features of those you associate with an Asian background complete with slick dark hair but the most amazing piercing blue eyes, the type that any Aryan would have be proud of. She seemed to have the persona that made her a person of the world,Yet, there was the energy that she was giving off, a energy of a powerful and brave woman who could and would take on the world and yet she had the gentlest smile complete with dimples. I was transfixed by her and I felt that my heart would burst into a thousand of pieces if she spoke to me, which of course she would and it did.
— Beverley Price, Blood Bound
Everyone knows a Wixen when we smell one. You smell the prettiest, a mixture of strawberries, sex and deceit. Dior should bottle it.
— Beverley Price, Blood Bound
But it was not hateful bile that was thrust from me, it was an angry hatred that can only come from those that I had been repressed over the years. It was just subtle cracks that were forming and that was my response coming through. I spoke about the lies that she had subjected the family to, and her gross laziness, expecting Dad and now me to drop everything for her, were she could just as easily get here. And no she can not say I may not be in as this was essentially a night job. It was always the same old role that she wanted to play, the wounded wife and mother, by those that supposedly loved her but this was a self opposed persona and I told her as such. I do not know who was more shocked by the change in me, me or mother. What was shocking was mother's response, that Dad had always called me the specially impossible child, mother had always focused on the impossible part, but now she could finally see why Dad had thought I was special as well. It was a moment of rapture that was disturbed by the book demanding attention, or should I say the person in the book was demanding attention? And with that the spell was broken and mother returned to her normal self, bemoaning that if I did not go visit her soon that I would be written out of the will and I meekly said I would visit soon.
— Beverley Price, Blood Bound
Longche willed himself to change into his true vampire form. As the helpless vampire watched the transformation, it started screaming. It was still screaming when Longche's rows of razor-sharp teeth sank into its throat. It had been thousands of years since he had drunk the blood of vampires. With each creature he consumed, he could feel himself growing stronger.Growing stronger - and growing closer to the Dark Mother, who was waiting to exact a terrible revenge upon him.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire
Do you know how to hide a dead body?
— Chris Grams, 3 DOWN
What?' He cried, darting at him a look of fury: 'Dare you still implore the Eternal's mercy? Would you feign penitence, and again act an Hypocrite's part? Villain, resign your hopes of pardon. Thus I secure my prey!'As He said this, darting his talons into the Monk's shaven crown, He sprang with him from the rock. The Caves and mountains rang with Ambrosio's shrieks. The Daemon continued to soar aloft, till reaching a dreadful height, He released the sufferer. Headlong fell the Monk through the airy waste; The sharp point of a rock received him; and He rolled from precipice to precipice, till bruised and mangled He rested on the river's banks. Life still existed in his miserable frame: He attempted in vain to raise himself; His broken and dislocated limbs refused to perform their office, nor was He able to quit the spot where He had first fallen. The Sun now rose above the horizon; Its scorching beams darted full upon the head of the expiring Sinner. Myriads of insects were called forth by the warmth; They drank the blood which trickled from Ambrosio's wounds; He had no power to drive them from him, and they fastened upon his sores, darted their stings into his body, covered him with their multitudes, and inflicted on him tortures the most exquisite and insupportable. The Eagles of the rock tore his flesh piecemeal, and dug out his eyeballs with their crooked beaks. A burning thirst tormented him; He heard the river's murmur as it rolled beside him, but strove in vain to drag himself towards the sound. Blind, maimed, helpless, and despairing, venting his rage in blasphemy and curses, execrating his existence, yet dreading the arrival of death destined to yield him up to greater torments, six miserable days did the Villain languish. On the Seventh a violent storm arose: The winds in fury rent up rocks and forests: The sky was now black with clouds, now sheeted with fire: The rain fell in torrents; It swelled the stream; The waves overflowed their banks; They reached the spot where Ambrosio lay, and when they abated carried with them into the river the Corse of the despairing Monk.
— Matthew Lewis
They say revenge is a dish best served cold. This isn’t correct. Revenge is a dish best served lukewarm or at room temperature (depending on the room) with a side of sauerkraut lightly sprinkled with pepper, a generous helping of golden brown roasted potatoes, and a large loaf of marble rye, washed down with any kind of unfiltered wheat beer.But whatever you do—and remember this, as it can be a matter of life or death—don’t put any sort of fruit in the beer. Fruit doesn’t belong in beer.
— Brian South, The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story
Living in Hell kept him aware of the possibility of Heaven, and he’d never felt more alive.
— Clive Barker, The Scarlet Gospels
Some teeth long for ripping, gleaming wet from black dog gums. So you keep your eyes closed at the end. You don't want to see such a mouth up close. before the bite, before its oblivion in the goring of your soft parts, the speckled lips will curl back in a whinny of excitement. You just know it.
— Adam Nevill, The Ritual
We'll eat your steam and lap up your blood. But first, we'll drink your screams
— Stephen King, Doctor Sleep
Once they're in...they stay in. And that little bitch invited that evil into herself like a hard dick on prom night.
— Kyle M. Scott, AFTERTASTE
Innards came out crossed and complex, like a tumble of plus and minus signs--the equation of human life.
— M.P. Johnson, Cattle Cult! Kill! Kill!
I'm guessing you're tits deep in a horror novel. Something by Laymon, or Ketchum, or one of those sick fucks you read.
— Kyle M. Scott, AFTERTASTE
As she walked to the stairway, he pulled her back with a light tug on her shoulder. "They're responding to you now."	Turning to face him, she said, "Responding to me? What did I say?"	"The hallway was full of them. When you said we were going downstairs to eat, they started filing down the stairs."	"They all took the stairs?"	Eddie nodded, his shining, gifted eyes watching the ghostly procession.	He said, "They don't want to be far from you, Jess. And I'm not entire sure it's well intentioned."	"Come to use," the voices whispered.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
There is a saying that when someone is struck down without warning that he "didn't know what hit him." It's a bit of a copout, providing the excuse that what happened wasn't the individual's fault at all. That it couldn't have been avoided and no one is to blame.Frankly, that's just a bunch of hokey horseshit.
— Pete Kahle, The Specimen
The computer may be incompetent in itself--that is, unable to do the work for which it was designed. This kind of incompetence can never be eliminated, because the Peter Principle applies in the plants where computers are designed and manufactured.
— Laurence J. Peter, The Peter Principle
Rain turned to ice,and lightning splintered, it splicedthe black sky, it seeped a bright white.All animals they fled,from the sky as it bled,pale death that fell veiling the night.
— A. Lee Brock, Penny Willan and the Well: A Fairy Tale of Ode
Wrath crawled out from the well,on direction from Hell,to get back what it once lost.With vengeance in mind,it set out to find,a specified soul to accost.When the Hell-well beckoned,Mother’s will now reckoned,her dead soul now wholly enslaved.Embodied in a rotting husk,the corpse reeked of putrid musk,her being wholly depraved.
— A. Lee Brock, Penny Willan and the Well: A Fairy Tale of Ode
Envy said, “Girl, I remember well,ye, who I flung from Hell,and not a day has passed, I haven’t missedthe loss of your soul that I mourned,I’ve been bereft and forlorn,for the sweet taste of your flesh I’ve yet to kiss.But no worries—bygones,that’s the past—long gone,I don’t hold a grudge, no, in no way.And though your family they did swindlemy joy of flaying ye on a spindle, I begrudge ye not a little, so let’s play.So, merely toss your token in my well,and all your dreams I will unveil,for ye alone, them I’ll grant.Come closer, little Penny,your hands I know are not empty,ye have something I dreadfully want.
— A. Lee Brock, Penny Willan and the Well: A Fairy Tale of Ode
In hundreds of years of wish fulfillment,never once to the demon’s bereavement,had a wish gone unable to be yielded.It was love this day, which defeated the curse,and there in Hell there was little worse,than the dark forces of evil gone unwielded.
— A. Lee Brock, Penny Willan and the Well: A Fairy Tale of Ode
Buried and burned. Never find them. Never. Buried and buried.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
With no one to confide in, she'd held the argument inside her own head and naturally found a way to dissolve facts into concepts and concepts into explanations that in the end explained nothing at all.
— Vincent H. O'Neil, Interlands
A grey-suited figure with badly-scuffed shoes was squatted over a woman’s body, obscuring her face and upper torso. A loose, white dress; torn, now mostly red. A pattern of rose petals, drenched in blood. One of her sandals was missing, scarlet streaks and spatters on her jade-green polished toenails and pale, slender ankles.	Another step took him around the hunched and twitching figure. It ignored him, intent on its work. Then its victim came fully into view … and he saw her ruined face.
— Scott Kaelen, The Lingering Remains
It's this place. Whatever darkness came to the island, it's here to stay. Stick around long enough and it gets inside your skin, into your cells, like an infection.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
Jessica's hand flew to her mouth. If she had any doubt, the next entry settled it.	She read on, cool beads of sweat trickling down the back of her neck, hardly daring to breathe as the black heart of Ormsby Island came closer and closer into focus.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
Then the crying started. First one child, a little girl called Jen from across the street, then another, then another, until the June afternoon sounded like a vacation in hell.
— Kyle M. Scott, AFTERTASTE
The stinging slap against her cheek whipped her head sideways. Her hand reflexively went to her burning face.	"I told you no," Tobe said, barely above a whisper.	Daphne had no words. He'd never so much as hinted at touching her in anger before. She now understood what stunned speechless meant.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
Fear blossomed within her - not like a flower, but like blood welling from a gunshot wound, spreading throughout her entire body.
— Caroline Hanson, Love is Darkness
I have a new nickname for Dottie. She's now the Crazy Whisperer.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
When asked what profession they like least, most people will give the obvious answer: clowns.
— Brian South, The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story
This is why it is important never to pick or smell flowers, and to always wear headgear when admiring them.
— Brian South, The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story
Nothing says you care like sending someone a kitten.
— Brian South, The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story
Brunch is such an odd thing. It was created by fat, lazy people who were too lazy to wake up at a reasonable hour and too fat to wait until the next proper time for dining.
— Brian South, The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story
The less one knows about meat, the more one is able to enjoy it. Meat tastes wonderful, of course, but as with the lad hawking hard-to-find wares at unbelievable prices, it’s best not to ask too many questions.
— Brian South, The Zombie Sheriff Takes Tucson: A Love Story
Many veterans feel guilty because they lived while others died. Some feel ashamed because they didn’t bring all their men home and wonder what they could have done differently to save them. When they get home they wonder if there’s something wrong with them because they find war repugnant but also thrilling. They hate it and miss it.Many of their self-judgments go to extremes. A comrade died because he stepped on an improvised explosive device and his commander feels unrelenting guilt because he didn’t go down a different street. Insurgents used women and children as shields, and soldiers and Marines feel a totalistic black stain on themselves because of an innocent child’s face, killed in the firefight. The self-condemnation can be crippling.The Moral Injury, New York Times. Feb 17, 2015
— David  Brooks
Do you realize that a middle-class couple, one archaeologist, one dolls' expert, can't move from their house because ancient spirits are blocking them in? It's a reasonable sort of day's experience, isn't it?
— Robert Holdstock, The Fetch
You state here that you believe your daughter, Amy, is no longer with you; that the girl living in your house - who looks and sounds exactly like Amy - is not in fact your daughter. Is this correct? Is this still the case?
— A. Ashley Straker, Connected Infection
Simon stopped listening. He realised he'd had enough. Enough of the theories, enough of the mystery, enough of the bullshit. Enough of the soldiers and guns and MI5. Enough of bugs in phones and in people he cared about. Enough of not being cared about back. Enough of uncertainty and lies and civilisation, collapsing or not. Enough of is part in it, his place, his role; the character of Simon Parfitt and all the baggage it entailed.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
It was one thing to talk about ghosts, quite another to have them messing around with things in the physical world.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
There are some that even beg for the Chamber," she could hear Isaar saying in the back of her mind. "Soft minded fools or broken souls that would rather live a fabricated existence than deal with reality.
— Charles Hash, Nascent Decay
I shall challenge all authority. Question all who claim dominion over me. I am not a thoughtless being but a man with his own beliefs.
— Grandaddy BAD
Your desire for vengeance will cause countless deaths, child,” she said, pointing a crooked finger at Rhylie. “Innocents will be caught up in your maelstrom, their lives torn apart. People you have never met, and will never know will die beneath your shadow if you do not stop. You tear the galaxy asunder with each step you take towards Vorcia.
— Charles Hash, Nascent Decay
She stared at Raven in a long second of shocked silence, before sagging to the floor.
— A. Ashley Straker, Connected Infection
Nice driving, ya doomed fucks!
— Daniel Younger
When I first saw her she dropped her purse and was scrambling to find her glasses. I was two doors down on the right side of the hall, so I walked over and picked them up. I handed them to her and she slipped them on. Her hair was a mess and her face was pouring sweat. I was too and I was itching to get into my apartment. Living on the fourth of five floors was hot, but I had air conditioners in every room with big enough windows. The four machines made it like an ice box and I loved it. Some nights when it got cool enough outside, my windows would fog and I’d see my breath. 	I turned and walked back to my small place and she called out.	“Thank you! Most people don’t notice me!”	I turned back to her and smiled, our eyes locked. Her glasses were thick, and they magnified her eyes several times. It was strange looking at them, but I kept my gaze on her for a few seconds as I turned back to my place. I looked her over. Her small breasts stood out against her stomach, which bulged slightly as if she was three or four months pregnant. I didn’t think she was, because she wasn’t straining as hard as I would think a pregnant woman would in this heat. She was attractive in a subtle way, not my usual type. She was tall, about six feet almost, and her long hair was curly, the bones in her hands and wrists stood out. She was skinnier than I ever liked. I’ve always preferred girls with a heft to them. Something about her made me curious, she felt…different.
— Todd Misura, Divergence: Erotica from a Different Angle
Yes' Simon nodded. 'This would suggest that these patterns grow inside the batteries until a critical point is reached, when the shapes develop no further, and the phone ceases to function.
— A. Ashley Straker, Connected Infection
There's so many kids," he said low enough so only Jessica could hear. "We're going to walk right into them in two more steps."	If it gave Jessica pause, he didn't sense it. Instead she seemed to pull him faster.	A frigid hand closed around his heart, freezing the ebb and flow of his blood.	Eddie gasped, overcome with the chill of a thousand deep, dark graves.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
This was a part he didn't like. It made him feel like a jailer, or a kidnapper.	"Another sin, another string of Hail Marys," he said, sitting on the edge of the bed. So much was riding on this. It could all blow up in their faces. If he was still a betting man, that's where he'd lay his money. Too many moving parts that weren't in line with one another.	Praying wasn't an option. God didn't have time for deceivers.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
She fished a gum wrapper and pen from her bag and wrote down her number. "I'd like to stay friends with you and Jason. That's my cell number. You can call me any time you want, except at two-thirty-six in the morning."	Alice cocked her head. "How come I can't call you at two-thirty-six/"	"I need that minute to sleep," Jessica said, smiling.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
Fear is quite the anaesthetic
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
Which grave are we in?" she said.	"The oldest." She felt Eddie's puzzlement.	"That can't be possible. He looks like he was just buried."	"There must be something at work in the chemistry of the island that's preserving his body. It's like the incorruptibles, bodies that weren't preserved in any special way that don't decay. Catholic saints like Bernadette and Padre Pio are said not to have decomposed even though they died a long, long time ago. Environmental factors can cause a kind of mummification."	Jessica said, or thought, "This is bizarre. I'm getting a lesson on mummification while in the coffin of a dead man.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
You told us this place was haunted. How haunted is it?"Paul cast a quick glance at the house. "I'm not sure. When they found the bodies twenty years ago, the place became off-limits. That was horror enough. There were whispers of strange stuff going on before then, but no one is alive who could verify a thing. Somehow, an urban legend grew about the whole island. "Don't go near haunted Ormsby Island. They say a reporter went out alone one night just after the mass murder had been discovered and never came back. Since anyone who had committed the murders was either dead or gone at that point, it had to be the island itself that offed the reporter. Mitch, Ormsby Island isn't even on most maps of Charleston Harbor. Locals will turn away the moment you even say its name.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
Yeah, I get it. I'll be cool as a well digger's ass."	He jumped when the front door slammed shut, the harsh bang echoing around the trees.	Mitch shook his head. "That well digger must be working in a hot spring.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
Before they knew it, Ormsby Island would become a paranormal attraction like Waverly Hills or Houghton Mansion or the Whaley House. The place would be crawling with people anxious to catch a ghost on camera or audio.
— Hunter Shea, Island of the Forbidden
Everything not saved will be lost. –Nintendo “Quit Screen” message
— T. Michael Martin
Are we not all actors playing parts in another person's play?
— Shannon L. Alder
If you look into the face of evil, evil's gonna look right back at you
— American Horror Story
Clarke, in the deep folds of dream, was conscious that the path from his father’s house had led him into an undiscovered country, and he was wondering at the strangeness of it all, when suddenly, in place of the hum and murmur of the summer, an infinite silence seemed to fall on all things, and the wood was hushed, and for a moment in time he stood face to face there with a presence, that was neither man nor beast, neither the living nor the dead, but all things mingled, the form of all things but devoid of all form. And in that moment, the sacrament of body and soul was dissolved, and a voice seemed to cry “Let us go hence,” and then the darkness of darkness beyond the stars, the darkness of everlasting.
— Arthur Machen, The Great God Pan
The mirror's light sparks in the eyes,And horrified, my lids drawn tight,I step back to that realm of nightWhere not a single exit lies...(Untitled: "I pass away this life of mine...")
— Alexander Blok, The Silver Age of Russian Culture: An Anthology
His desire for this to be a joke was quickly replaced by a desire for whiskey.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
That one smooth black eye stared, and reflected in it I fancied I could see the cyclopeon city, and the endless column of the marching dead.
— Stephen King, Revival
Max?' he asked.'Yeah?''...What are you doing?''Shooting people.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
Infants never learn to soothe themselves to sleep. They learn, abandoned in seclusion, that no matter the volume of their despondence, no matter the force of their tears, when they are alone and frightened, no-one will ever come to their rescue. Infants do not soothe themselves. They merely surrender. And it is caged in their cribs where the infants learn, in the face of their demons, to remain silent and submitting.
— C. Sean McGee, Alex and The Gruff
It was obvious from their expressions that they believed the wellbeing of R.’s inhabitants was endangered by my youth. The visit was very enjoyable, but the horror of the previous night still clung to me.
— E.T.A. Hoffmann, Tales of Hoffmann
For a moment, Simon's sympathetic nervous system forgot he was arachnophobic. The sight of those spindly legs rising, like an ink drawing popping out of paper into three-dimensional space, should have caused a surge of adrenaline, a yelp of panic, and at least three feet of involuntary back-peddling.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
Leaning forward in the chair, Harley squeezed out a controlled fart, so no one could hear it. This damn reception area was like a echo chamber. If he weren’t careful, it could reverberate around the hall like a shotgun blast.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire: Redemption
And now the bad Mommy was here – outside his window. With a little whimper, he ran back to the bed, jumped in, and pulled the covers over his head.Good Mommy was gone now…and bad Mommy had come to eat him up.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire: Redemption
Something was wrong with the devices themselves. Digging deep into the internal structure of the circuit boards with powerful microscopes, Simon's team had discovered broken and incorrect connections, electronic dead-ends, short circuits, and nonsensical pathways.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
The unfortunate 8075 hadn't survived his assault, splintering apart, fragments of its casing skittering across the bench. The battery within had split along its plane, revealing something as out-of-place as a missile in a bathtub.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
No, not horror. Enlightenment.
— Tim W. Burke, The Flesh Sutra
He had no problem with flies or bugs or beetles, even creepy ones like earwigs and cockroaches...Six legs were fine, but eight were alien and unnatural.'The same number of legs as four fully-grown serial killers!
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
Odessa sighed. 'When I said you were one of the smartest people in the company, I was referring solely to your technical abilities. Now get to work.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
But the things in the batteries couldn't be spiders. It just wasn't possible. There had to be another explanation. But of what kind?
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
He reached the ground floor and flung the door open, fleeing into the street. He glanced back and saw that she wasn't following, so he slowed to a halt. His pulse raced. The entranceway was dark, the door swinging slowly closed. Movement to his left caught his attention: the camera on the corner of the building that covered the resident's parking. It swivelled to point directly at him, and he stared at it for a moment, suddenly doubtful it was a closed-circuit system after all.He ran for his car, and the camera followed.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
Simon shook his head. 'I don't want to be a hero. I'd rather abandon the technology altogether, sit on a hill and speak to my neighbours by smoke-signal.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
...a fissure appeared. Splinters of plastic broke away around it, and the fissure widened, radiating further fractures.When the first leg broke out, Simon tried to shriek.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
This is what my high school life had become—a horror show of epic, mind-fuck proportions.
— G.G. Silverman, Vegan Teenage Zombie Huntress
Who gave you a gun?''The army.''Why?''That's what the army does, Simon.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
All she could see was her demise and it called out a tempting ruse, offering a suffering less potent than what sickened the living.
— B.B. Wynter, The Lament of Sky
The military operation swiftly became one of disaster management and damage control, search and rescue.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
He realised he was in a chair. The world was white and blurry in half his vision, and it took him a few moments to realise a sheet of paper was stuck to his face.
— A. Ashley Straker, Infected Connection
God isn't here. God doesn't even know about this place
— Johan Harstad, 172 Hours on the Moon
I like to make blank pages darker. It's this thing I do.
— Rob E. Boley
Everything is worse...if you think something is looking at you.
— Shirley Jackson
Sometimes you can lock the doors and close the blinds, but the monsters are still there inside your house, sleeping and breathing and just waiting to wake up and terrorize you all over again.
— Travis Thrasher, Marvelous
Sometimes, we are so focused on what we want that we are blind to the things that make us happy. It’s just incredible, and when I focus on what is right in front of me, nothing else matters. All my worries vanish.
— Paige Dearth, One Among Us
There was one moment of intersection, when the topic of hate-watching came up. "Why do you watch TV shows--and keep watching them--if you don't like them?" Terrence asked.Simple: Some days, all you have is gazing upon horror, and the small comfort of being surprised that it is not yours.
— Colson Whitehead, The Noble Hustle: Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death
She leaned forward and whispered sensuously in his ear, 'I am Lilith and you are mine now - forever.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire
Wives of criminals, Massau later reflected, were indeed an interesting lot. There are those who, real panthers in madness, defend their men with claws out; there are the cold and insensitive ones, who wrestling step by step, discuss each argument and answer your questions with other questions; there are the stubborn ones who can pass the entire night in total silence against the light of the interrogation; there are still others, who, shaken and in distress, discover as you do that they have lived for years beside a monster.
— David King, Death in the City of Light: The Serial Killer of Nazi-Occupied Paris
How many people has this hotel eaten?
— Kate Racculia, Bellweather Rhapsody
We may think of ourselves as static anti-heroes, but in reality we're dynamic protagonists just waiting for our courage to kick in.
— Justin Alcala
It’s not nice to think of children growing up like mushrooms, in the dark.
— Shirley Jackson
The horror was this: the others.
— Anne Rice, The Wolf Gift
They shared a sensation that was as addictive as a needle full of heroin to a street junkie.
— Paige Dearth, One Among Us
He screamed in agony as large black wings erupted from his back - each had four large talons on it.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire: Redemption
Regress towards progress - Dr Wannamaker
— Lauren Bradshaw, Daddy's Girl
Harley's eyes widened in horror, and a low moan of fear escaped his mouth. The back alley was filled with a vision from Hell.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire: Redemption
Horror. I can't manage it. I become--well--horrified. Self-help books have a similar effect. When asked, "Any literary genre you simply can't be bothered with?" - (By the Book: Writers on Literature and the Literary Life from the NYT Book Review, by Pamela Paul)
— Emma Thompson
He knew his vampire 'sisters' would drain the girls until they were nearly dead, then feed them some of their own blood. That’s when the turning would start - as vampire and human blood mixed - and the parched agony of the Dark Kiss began.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire: Redemption
She emerged from the shadows like an apparition, and he was taken aback by her beauty. Never in his wildest dreams had he expected to chance upon such a vision of loveliness in those harsh and unforgiving mountains. Her beautiful face, long black hair, and slender figure enchanted him.
— Alan Kinross, Longinus the Vampire
It was dark enough that I couldn't make out their features, but I could see that someone was cutting through the links of the fence. There was a sense of urgency about those that watched him, some of them turning to peer over their shoulders into the brush and foliage that edged the fence. I watched them in horror, a sense of dread washing over me. What kind of horrors had they led to our very doorstep?
— Rose Wynters, Phase Three: Devastate
I've always said women are vicious creatures - Detective Zach Grimes
— Lauren Bradshaw, Daddy's Girl
What looked like morning was the beginning of endless night
— William Peter Blatty, The Exorcist
Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time.
— H.P. Lovecraft, The Best of H.P. Lovecraft: Bloodcurdling Tales of Horror and the Macabre
Only a cynic can create horror--for behind every masterpiece of the sort must reside a driving demonic force that despises the human race and its illusions, and longs to pull them to pieces and mock them.
— H.P. Lovecraft