Books like 'The Talisman'
Readers who enjoyed The Talisman by Jonathan Aycliffe also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
fantasy horror supernatural paranormal folk-horror rural gothic quest suspense dark
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Underwood and Flinch by Mike Bennett
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAll David Flinch ever wanted was a normal life. But when you're a member of the Flinch family, normal has never been easy. For hundreds of years, the eldest-born male of each generation of the Flinch family has been servant and guardian to the vampire, Lord Underwood. While the Flinches have changed through the generations, Underwood has remained eternal... -
Bloodwars by Brian Lumley
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe twin sons of Harry Keogh, the Necroscope, have taken very different paths. Nathan as his father's powers--to talk to the dead, to travel instantly through space. Like Harry, this new Necroscope fights evil wherever he finds it... -
Sinister: Unsacred by John P. Logsdon
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTurns out that mind-control drugs really suck... It was bad enough for Evangeline to spend a year running for her life. Now, she was stuck between the Houses who were hunting for her, the hellion-run mob, and an army of normals who are on a power-drug. Oh, and let's not forget the team of Directors controlling the Black Ops Paranormal Police Department.. -
The Best Ghost Stories Of Algernon Blackwood by Algernon Blackwood
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSelected from the entire body of Algernon Blackwood’s work, this collection contains some of his finest writing. Blackwood’s ability to create and sustain an atmosphere of unrelieved horror is witnessed in ‘The Willows’, a starkly terrifying tale of another dimension impinging on our own. In contrast, ‘The Other Wing’, is a chilling but delicate evocation of the mysteries of childhood... -
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Hell's Gift by K.S. Haigwood
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDepression consumes the guardian angel, Rhyan, after his human charge chooses her soulmate over him. Filled with anger and despair, he lashes out. And when his hate-filled words land him neck-deep in Hell, he realizes he's gone too far. He expects trouble, but not to discover his own soulmate in the fiery depths... -
Andy's Diary by Tim O'Rourke
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIn his confession, Ben McCloud told Detective Chief Inspector John Walker about the four murders that took place at Black Hill Farm. But what about the others? There are two sides to every story and this is Andy’s. 'Andy's Diary' the second book in the paranormal romance series: ‘Black Hill Farm’. For young adults aged 16 years and over... -
Maggie's Grave by David Sodergren
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe small Scottish town of Auchenmullan is dead, and has been for years. It sits in the shadow of a mountain, forgotten and atrophying in the perpetual gloom.Forty-seven residents are all that remain.There's nothing to do there, nothing to see, except for a solitary grave near the top of the mountain. MAGGIE WALL BURIED HERE AS A WITCH reads the faded inscription... -
Sleepy Hollow: Bridge of Bones by Richard Gleaves
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"My earliest memory is of discovering my grandfather's severed head." The HEADLESS HORSEMAN has risen and rides. JASON CRANE is the Horseman's target. But Jason must stay and fight, to protect those he loves. For Sleepy Hollow is falling to evil. Now Jason Crane lives under a tyrannical guardian. Jason Crane must descend into fearful darkness. And Jason Crane has an appointment with death.. -
The Collected Ghost Stories of E.F. Benson by E.F. Benson, Richard Dalby
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsContents:Room in the tower --Dust-cloud --Gavon's eve --Confession of Charles Linkworth --At Abdul Ali's grave --Shootings of Achnaleish --How fear departed from the long gallery --Caterpillars --Cat --Bus-conductor --Man who went too far --Between the lights --Outside the door --Terror by night --Other bed --Thing in the hall --House with the brick-kiln --"And the dead spake-" --Outcast... -
Grey: The Balance: Book One by Nick Shamhart
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsGrey is a paranormal thriller dealing with the unseen world of balancing powers. Too often life is viewed in terms of good and evil, black or white, and the balance point tipping in either direction is ignored... -
Tales of Horror and the Supernatural by Arthur Machen
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThe Best of Arthur Machen's short stories: The Novel of the Black Seal, The Novel of the White Powder, The Great God Pan, The White People, The Inmost Light, The Shining Pyramid, The Bowmen, The Great Return, The Happy Children, Out of the Earth, N, The Children of the Pool, The Terror... -
Swarm of Fire by John P. Logsdon, Christopher P. Young
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsThis pixie's got nothing on Tinkerbell... A foul-mouthed pixie has hit the streets in Vegas to stir up trouble. He's tiny, angry, and full of magic dust. His primary goal is to wreak as much havoc as possible on the tourists and casinos.Ian Dex and the crew of the Las Vegas PPD have to track down the little bastard and stop him... -
A Witch's Lament (The Salem Witches Book 1) by Cathy Walker, Cathy Walker
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSalem's history of rampant darkness and death isn't over yet, a fact Skye discovers upon purchasing a house in the infamous seaport. Her presence ignites events that began centuries ago during the witch trials and stimulates her formerly benign powers into a force beyond earthly bounds... -
Demon Dawn by William Massa
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOver the years, I’ve racked up a pretty interesting resume. Monster Hunter. Demon Slayer. Paranormal Investigator. Now I’m about to add "thief" to the list. The mastermind behind this high-risk heist is Vincent Taske, a billionaire dying of cancer. A man desperate to cheat death no matter what the cost. His plan? Break into the Hagen Bank... -
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Necroscope: The Plague-Bearer by Brian Lumley
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHarry Keogh is moving on. Though the search for his missing wife and child continues, his heart now lies in Edinburgh with Bonnie Jean--a beautiful Scottish werewolf whose friendly pack and flourishing pub have given him a place he can almost call home... -
The Man Behind the Monster by Sarah Noffke
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHe is the most powerful man to ever live, and therefore doomed to misery. Sherlock Holmes meets House for a combination that makes for a brilliant anti-hero. Ren Lewis was born with the power to control minds, hypnotize others, and read thoughts. Therefore he is certain of one thing. God made a mistake. No one should be born with so much power... -
The Scene by R.M. Gilmore
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHavoc ensues when journalist Dylan Hart takes on the story of a lifetime. Exsanguinated hookers? Vampires in real life? What more could the public want? As the death toll rises, Dylan discovers she's put herself on the killer's radar and will have to fight to survive... -
Joy of Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA humorous paranormal romance by USA Today bestselling author Mindy Klasky.Sometimes a thunderstorm is just a thunderstorm. But not this time.Jane Madison’s school for witches is in session, and the first order of business is an intricate Samhain ritual. Alas, in the midst of a sudden, unseasonable deluge, a classic Greek monster is released into the magic circle... -
The Children of Old Leech: A Tribute to the Carnivorous Cosmos of Laird Barron by Ross E. Lockhart, Justin Steele
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThere are Things - terrifying Things - whispered of in darkened forests beyond the safe comfort of firelight: The Black Guide, the Broken Ouroboros, the Pageant, Belphegor, Old Leech... These Things have always been here. They predate you. They will outlast you. This book pays tribute to those Things. For We are the Children of Old Leech...and we love you... -
Fatpocalypse by Johnny B. Truant
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsMISSED BOOKS 1-4?The "Fat Vampire Value Meal" contains books 1-4 in the Fat Vampire series at a 33% discount. Get it here: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/.. -
Blood Genesis by Tessa Dawn
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBefore there was a modern-day town called Dark Moon Vale, there was an ancient kingdom nestled in the Transylvanian Alps. Before there was a primordial species called the Vampyr, there was a celestial race begotten of gods and men. Before light battled shadow, the sacrifice became mandatory, or the first Blood Moon adorned the celestial sky... There was the Curse.A punishment.An abomination... -
The Deep End of Fear by Elizabeth Chandler
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsLet Sleeping Ghosts LieTwelve years ago Kate's family left the Westbrook estate on a stormy night, just after young Ashley Westbrook drowned in an icy pond. Now kate, alone in the world, has returned to the estate to tutor another spoiled Westbrook child, Patrick. The seven-year-old says he talks to Ashley by the pond. He does dangerous, deadly things because, he says, "Ashley dared me to... -
Dark Gods by T.E.D. Klein
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsFour unusually literate horror novellas, by the former editor of "The Twilight Zone" magazine... -
Their Wicked Wolf by Elle Boon
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsShe’d lost her happily ever after once. She won’t do it again.Sky knew what it meant to hurt thanks to a sadistic alpha,but what she went through at the hands of a madman had her welcoming death,instead of suffering anymore pain. They’d do anything to save their mate.Raydon and River thoughtthey’d never find a mate that would love them, until they found their one true love... -
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Curfew by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsOn the border between England and Wales lies the tiny town of Crybbe, not picturesque enough for the tourist trade, quietly sliding into decay. Max Goff means to change all that. Goff has made millions in the record business, but his heart is in New Age philosophy. He has learned that Crybbe was once a spiritual center of sorts, surrounded by ancient standing stones that were emblems of power... -
The Haunting of Leigh Harker by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSometimes the dead reach back...Leigh Harker’s quiet suburban home was her sanctuary for more than a decade, until things abruptly changed. Curtains open by themselves. Radios turn off and on. And a dark figure looms in the shadows of her bedroom door at night, watching her, waiting for her to finally let down her guard enough to fall asleep... -
December by Phil Rickman
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn the twelfth-century ruins of the Abbey, it is said every stone was cemented in blood. On December 8, 1980, that blood will run again...In the ruins of a haunted medieval abbey, four musicians hope to tap into the site's dark history. The experience almost destroys them. Years later, the original group is forced to return to the abbey, to confront the old evil they discovered... -
Paper Dolls by Anya Allyn
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe DARK CAROUSEL series is a heart-stopping mix of American Horror Story and the fantastical elements of Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. ~In Book One, Cassie, Ethan and Lacey sought their missing friend, Aisha, in the deep of the forest... -
The Cold Calling by Will Kingdom
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsLife isn't easy for Detective Inspector Bobby Maiden. Death is even harder. When Maiden is revived in hospital after dying in a hit and run incident, his memories are not the familiar ones of bright lights and angelic music, only of a cold, harsh place, he has no wish to revisit - ever... -
Unrest by Michelle Harrison
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSeventeen-year-old Elliott hasn’t slept properly for months. Ever since the accident that nearly killed him, a shadowy figure has made its presence felt – a figure only he can see. Elliott is convinced his near death experience has enabled him to contact the dead... -
Quarter to Midnight: Fifteen Tales of Horror and Suspense by Darcy Coates
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratings"Push past the curtains of the rational, safe world and explore the un-nameable horrors living in the darkest corners of our conscience... -
Gateways to Abomination: Collected Short Fiction by Matthew M. Bartlett
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsBizarre radio broadcasts luring dissolute souls into the dark woods of Western Massachusetts. Sinister old men in topcoats gathered at corners and in playgrounds. A long-dead sorcerer returning to obscene life in the form of an old buck goat. Welcome to Leeds, Massachusetts, where the drowned walk, where winged leeches blast angry static, where black magic casts a shadow over a cringing populace... -
The Apparition Phase by Will Maclean
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsSome ghosts never leave us.SHORTLISTED FOR THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE 2021'A wild rural gothic with some slick plotting . . . the perfect novel for our phantom present' Guardian'Outstanding . . -
Wife of the Left Hand by M.L. Bullock
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAvery Dufresne had the perfect life--a rock star boyfriend, a high-profile career in the anchor chair on a national news program. Until a dangerous threat brings her perfect world to a shattering stop. Avery loses everything but when she emerges from the darkness she finds she has a new ability--a supernatural one... -
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Fright Night by John Skipp, Craig Spector
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsBased on the motion picture written by Tom Holland.Charley has seen the coffin and the bodies drained of blood. He knows he will be the vampire's next victim. But no one will believe him: not the police, not his girlfriend Amy, not even the school weirdo, Evil Ed... -
Dark Carnival by Nancy K. Duplechain
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 8 ratings"I noticed countless eyes following me. They belonged to shop-keeps closing up for the night, the homeless watching me from their makeshift beds, call girls pretending to wait for their next tricks on the corners, but all the while, wary of my every move. I didn’t belong here and they knew it... -
Phantasma by Kaylie Smith
Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars · 5 ratingsWelcome to Phantasma.There are only two rules to the game. Stay alive. And don’t fall in love.When Ophelia’s sister disappears, there is only one way to save her. Ophelia must enter Phantasma, a deadly contest inside a haunted mansion, and claim its prize—a single wish. Phantasma is a maze of twisting corridors and lavish ballrooms, of demons and temptations... -
A Candle for d'Artagnan by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsOlivia Atta Clemens, immortal vampire, Roman noblewoman, beloved of the Count Saint-Germain-has come to Paris seeking only peace. But the year is 1637, and there is no peace to be found in the Court of Louis XIII, where Cardinal Richelieu maneuvers to control the throne... -
The Searching Dead by Ramsey Campbell
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDominic Sheldrake has never forgotten his childhood in fifties Liverpool or the talk an old boy of his grammar school gave about the First World War. When his history teacher took the class on a field trip to France it promised to be an adventure, not the first of a series of glimpses of what lay in wait for the world... -
The Stones of Muncaster Cathedral by Robert Westall
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSoon after steeplejack Joe Clarke begins work on one of the spires of Muncaster's medieval cathedral, terrible things start to happen and Joe realizes that there is a malevolent force connected to the spire's gargoyle... -
The Devil's Woods by Brian Moreland
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsFear wears many skins. Deep within the Canadian wilderness, people have been disappearing for over a century. There is a place the locals call “the Devil’s Woods,” but to speak of it will only bring the devil to your door. It is a place so evil that even animals avoid it... -
The Lucifer Chord by F.G. Cottam
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRuthie Gillespie’s efforts to find out the truth about a mysterious missing rock star lead her on a terrifying journey into the past. Researcher Ruthie Gillespie has undertaken a commission to write an essay on Martin Mear, lead singer and guitarist with Ghost Legion, the biggest, most decadent rock band on the planet, before he disappeared without trace in 1975... -
Eternity by Tamara Thorne
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsIf you always wanted to see Dexter visit Eureka or Haven, the small town of Eternity is the place for you to be.WELCOME TO ETERNITYA LITTLE BIT OF HELL ON EARTHWhen Zach Tully leaves Los Angeles to take over as sheriff of Eternity, a tiny mountain town in northern California, he's expecting to find peace and quiet in his own private Mayberry. But he's in for a surprise... -
The Howling by Gary Brandner
Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsKaryn and her husband Roy had come to the peaceful California village of Drago to escape the savagery of the city. On the surface Drago appeared to be like most small rural towns.But it was not.The village had a most unsavory history. Unexplained disappearances, sudden deaths.People just vanished, never to be found... -
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The White People and Other Weird Stories by Arthur Machen
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsMachen's weird tales of the creepy and fantastic finally come to Penguin Classics. With an introduction from S.T. Joshi, editor of American Supernatural Tales, The White People and Other Weird Stories is the perfect introduction to the father of weird fiction. The title story "The White People" is an exercise in the bizarre leaving the reader disoriented and on edge... -
A Russian reader "Viy": Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English (illustrated, annotated) by Nikolai Gogol, Лев Дуров
Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars · 27 ratings*Illustrated, Annotated, Includes Vocabulary in English, Explanatory notes in English, Essay in English. A Russian reader with Explanatory notes in English. “Вий” Николая Гоголя. На русском языке... -
Withered Hill: A dark and unsettling British folk horror novel by David Barnett
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIf you find your way here, you’re already lost.InsideA year ago Sophie Wickham stumbled into the isolated Lancashire village of Withered Hill, naked, alone and with no memory of who she is.Surrounded by a thick ring of woodland, its inhabitants seem to be of another world, drenched in pagan, folklorish traditions... -
Stolen Tongues by Felix Blackwell
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 22 ratingsA romantic cabin getaway doesn’t go exactly as planned. High up on the windswept cliffs of Pale Peak, Faye and Felix celebrate their new engagement. But soon, a chorus of ghastly noises erupts from the nearby woods: the screams of animals, the cries of children, and the mad babble of a hundred mournful voices. A dark figure looms near the windows in the dead of night, whispering to Faye... -
When Things Get Dark: Stories Inspired by Shirley Jackson by Ellen Datlow, Joyce Carol Oates
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsA chilling anthology in tribute to the genius of Shirley Jackson. Shirley Jackson is a seminal writer of horror and mystery fiction, whose legacy resonates globally today. Chilling, human, poignant and strange, her stories have inspired a generation of writers and readers... -
The Vessel by Adam Nevill
Rated: 3.93 of 5 stars · 14 ratings'A watcher may remark that after sleeping for so long, the building appears to have been roused.'Struggling with money, raising a child alone and fleeing a volatile ex, Jess McMachen accepts a job caring for an elderly patient. Flo Gardner—a disturbed shut-in and invalid. But if Jess can hold this job down, she and her daughter, Izzy, can begin a new life...
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