Darren Barker

"I'm Emma Cummings and I'm a librarian." Emma likes books and films, good food and uninterrupted sleep. She has treated herself, booking into a luxurious small family run hotel by the sea, isolated and exclusive. She's tired and stressed and has promised herself a complete break from the demands of her job, her colleagues and her dysfunctional family. She's after peace and tranquillity, a chance to indulge in great books, great food and great weather. The hotel is all she hoped for, spotless, comfortable and with a spectacular sea view from her room. The food doesn't disappoint either, but almost from the start her fellow guests irritate her by refusing to leave her alone, despite her obvious preference for her own company. Irritation soon grows into anger, and after a misunderstanding with the noisy libidinous swingers in the next room, Emma really loses her cool. Although she finally deals with the lecherous pair and retreats back to her sanctuary, she finds that she has to become progressively more ingenious to achieve the peace and quiet that she craves. There's no romance on this holiday. Once again, Darren Barker serves up a blood-soaked nightmare in the most innocuous of settings. In turns horrific, hideous and hilarious, this is an ideal book for the holiday loving horror fan. Just don't let anyone interrupt your reading.

In turns cheerful, romantic, melancholy or nostalgic, and underpinned with DB's trademark humour, this is a collection of poems that covers every occasion. There are friends and relatives, love and marriage, birthdays and dreams, but don't worry that he's gone all sentimental. There are still monsters under the bed. They may have been calmed by the sweetness here, but every now and then, there's still a jagged edge to provoke a growl from behind the curtain. This is a measured and thoughtful collection of poems that really does offer something for everyone.

If you've read the first two volumes of Darren Barker's murky verse, then you know what to expect from this third journey into his sick, black mind. Covering the shadier aspects of the human condition, Darren exposes the violence and horror in the most innocent of pastimes. These poems make the everyday chilling and the innocuous unsettling. Don't read them alone, unless you are possessed of a strong stomach and an iron nerve. This book contains one hundred illustrations of the ways in which flesh can be damaged, and minds broken. Read it for the shrewd wordplay, for the imagination and for the delight in horror that Darren so effortlessly invokes. Just don't blame him if you find yourself wondering how sharp your kitchen knives are when you look at your best friend...

Whatever you want to say about revenge, that it is all about hurting someone who hurt you, that it is vengeance, the desire or even the compulsion to pay back someone for a wrong against you, it is generally agreed that it is much more satisfying when exacted some time after the initial injury.Mitchel Gause has had an eventful life. He has seen a lot and suffered a lot over the years. His revenge began accidentally but his hate overcame his scruples when his lust for vengeance and for the kill exploded within him, yet to the rest of the world he was a very quiet unassuming man, kind and caring. He was known to be the sort of friend who would do anything for anyone...just don't cross him, he will never, ever forget it.

Ian McKenzie is a quiet, unassuming man. He has the lifestyle, the friends, the money, more respectability than anyone could ever dream of. He had everything except contentment and happiness. Nothing thrilled him. After his discovery of an aging artefact with accompanying parchment his life takes a vicious turn, one that helps him acquire his own ultimate pleasure. Allowing him to keep his hands clean of murder, the artefact aids him in fuelling depraved acts of debauchment and death. He thrives on constructing more and more elaborate ways to increase both suffering for his victims and sexual pleasure for them all.He has one strict rule; absolutely no witnesses will ever survive.

Briggs looked like your normal everyday person, but he had dark hidden talents and the lust to use them. His cravings were for death and the hunt to a kill. His knowledge of his surroundings and what mistakes to avoid stands him ahead of anyone trying to discover his whereabouts.Using his time wisely the deaths roll in quickly. His serial killer status will show that it's in batches as time allows. When he kills once he kills again it will be fast and furious. An individual who is smarter than the average man, and a talented expert in the ways of murder.

The following tale, although unorthodox in its composition, follows the first hand observations of a peeping tom and murderer.Make sure you draw your curtains and lock your doors and windows.