Three Dozen Terrifying Tales — Tony Richards

An old man makes a strange deal with the Devil. A harmless-looking woman proves to be a lot more dangerous than she first appeared. A dark lake holds a devastating secret, as does a dismal housing project and a beautiful secluded beach. Learn the origins of vampire-hunter Abraham van Helsing. Visit a weird circus and face your worst fears. What in heaven's name is a 'lighting dog'? And surely crows can't hurt you ... can they?

There's some gore, murder, and mayhem to be found here, but an awful lot more atmosphere and psychological horror in these stories. And all of them first saw publication in professional magazines, anthologies, and e-zines.

The stories are: ‘The Crows,' ‘Headlamps,' ‘Beautiful Stranger,' ‘The Waiters,' ‘The Spanish Portrait,' ‘Birchiam Pier,' ‘Hamadryad,' ‘At the Church of St. Jack the Ripper,' ‘The Cat, the Ladder, & the Man Mo Shrine,' ‘Mr. Smyth,' ‘Shadows,' ‘By a Dark Canal,' ‘The Black Lake,' Too Good to be True,' ‘Lightning Dogs,' ‘Siafu,' ‘The Moon Also Rises,' ‘The Lords of Zero,' ‘Child of Ice,' ‘Misdirection,' ‘Discards,' ‘Night Game,' ‘The Cure,' ‘At the Circus of the Dead,' ‘The In-Betweeners,' ‘Non-Existent Cats,' ‘The Brother,' ‘Man, You Gotta See This,' ‘The Sentinels,' ‘The Irrigators,' ‘Gone-Away Bay,' ‘Streets of the City,' ‘Our Lady of the Shadows,' ‘After Dark,' ‘Pages From a Broken Book,' and ‘A Matter of Avoiding Crowds.'

Tony Richards has been shortlisted for both the Bram Stoker and British Fantasy awards, and the Horror World website has called him: "One of today's masters of dark fiction."