Ancient Images

The deal seemed too good to be true. Until it came time to pay.

The letters said, “Whatever you most need, I do. The price is something that you do not value and which you may regain.” To four teenagers, it seemed an offer too good to pass up. They filled out the enclosed forms. Indeed, they soon got what they needed most, but in shocking ways they never imagined. Twenty-five years later, they have never been able to forget the horror. But it’s not over yet. In fact, it’s about to get much worse. Now it’s time to pay the price.

This book has been previously published.

A brilliant collection of stories by one of the masters of horror.

Not all companions are friendly. There are many that you most definitely do not want to see. When Elaine was working late at the office, she thought she was all alone. But something sinister was in the elevator shaft…working its way to her floor. Miles, too, thought he was alone in his new house, the house of a murderer, but he, too, had an unwanted companion. And Knox will never forget what was waiting for him in the dense fog.

Come and meet all of these companions and more in this chilling collection of horror tales by award-winning master of terror Ramsey Campbell. That clawing sound you hear, the haunting singing, the moving shadow—they all mean that something is waiting to make your acquaintance.

Contains “The Companion”, the story Stephen King called “one of the three finest horror stories I have ever read”.

This book has been previously published.

A town trapped in the grip of spreading evil

Isolated on the moors of northern England, the town of Moonwell has remained faithful to their Druid traditions and kept their old rituals alive. Right-wing evangelist Godwin Mann isn’t about to let that continue, and his intolerant brand of fundamentalism has struck a chord with the residents. But Mann goes too far when he descends into the pit where the ancient being who’s been worshipped by the Druids for centuries is said to dwell….

What emerges is no longer Mann, but a demon in Mann’s shape, and only the town’s outcasts can see that something is horribly wrong. Slowly, as the evil spreads, Moonwell becomes cut off from the rest of the world. Telephone lines become disconnected. Roads no longer lead out of town. And the monster’s power only grows…and grows.

This book has been previously published.

Included are:

"At the Mountains of Madness," by H. P. Lovecraft
"The Events at Poroth Farm," by T.E.D. Klein
"The Return of the Sorcerer," by Clark Ashton Smith
"Worms of the Earth," by Robert E. Howard
"Envy, the Gardens of Ynath, and the Sin of Cain," by Darrell Schweitzer
"Drawn from Life," by John Glasby
"In the Haunted Darkness," by Michael R. Collings
"The Innsmouth Heritage," by Brian Stableford
"The Doom That Came to Innsmouth," by Brian McNaughton
"The Shadow Over Innsmouth," by H. P. Lovecraft
"The Nameless Offspring," by Clark Ashton Smith
"The Hounds of Tindalos," by Frank Belknap Long
"The Faceless God," by Robert Bloch
"The Children of Burma," by Stephen Mark Rainey
"The Call of Cthulhu," by H.P. Lovecraft
"The Old One," by John Glasby
"The Holiness of Azédarac," by Clark Ashton Smith
"Those of the Air," by Darrell Schweitzer and Jason Van Hollander
"The Graveyard Rats," by Henry Kuttner
"Toadface," by Mark McLaughlin
"The Whisperer in Darkness," by H. P. Lovecraft
"The Eater of Hours," by Darrell Schweitzer
"Ubbo-Sathla," by Clark Ashton Smith
"The Space-Eaters," by Frank Belknap Long
"The Fire of Asshurbanipal," by Robert E. Howard
"Beyond the Wall of Sleep," by H.P. Lovecraft
"Something in the Moonlight," by Lin Carter
"The Salem Horror," by Henry Kuttner
"Down in Limbo," by Robert M. Price
"The Dweller in the Gulf," by Clark Ashton Smith
"Azathoth," by H.P. Lovecraft
"Pickman’s Modem," by Lawrence Watt-Evans
"The Hunters from Beyond," by Clark Ashton Smith
"Ghoulmaster," by Brian McNaughton
"The Spawn of Dagon," by Henry Kuttner
"Dark Destroyer," by Adrian Cole
"The Dunwich Horror," by H. P. Lovecraft
"The Dark Boatman," by John Glasby
"Dagon and Jill," by John P. McCann

At Mile 81 on the Maine turnpike is a boarded up rest stop, a place where high school kids drink and get into the kind of trouble high school kids have always gotten into. It’s the place where Pete Simmons goes when his older brother, who’s supposed to be looking out for him, heads off to the gravel pit to play “paratroopers over the side.” Pete, armed only with the magnifying glass he got for his tenth birthday, finds a discarded bottle of vodka in the boarded up burger shack and drinks enough to pass out.

Not much later, a mud-covered station wagon (which is strange because there hadn’t been any rain in New England for over a week) veers into the Mile 81 rest area, ignoring the sign that says “closed, no services.” The driver’s door opens but nobody gets out.

Doug Clayton, an insurance man from Bangor, is driving his Prius to a conference in Portland. On the backseat are his briefcase and suitcase and in the passenger bucket is a King James Bible, what Doug calls “the ultimate insurance manual,” but it isn’t going to save Doug when he decides to be the Good Samaritan and help the guy in the broken down wagon. He pulls up behind it, puts on his four-ways, and then notices that the wagon has no plates.