Lisa Tuttle

Be careful what you wish for. Whether searching for love, fame, money or revenge, remember that everything comes with a price. From stepping into an unknown in nature to ignoring the warnings of locals, to finding your perfect match or facing the hidden horrors of your past, beware. The thirteen stories in this brand-new anthology explore the dark side of human nature and take us into the hidden, terrifying recesses of a world we never see. Until it’s too late . . .

Deeply unnerving and utterly original - the book you will need to talk about.A writer decides to write her next book about a female author and artist unjustly forgotten by history. But what starts as an exciting research project rapidly unravels towards breakdown and horror.The subject is to be Helen Ralston, an early twentieth-century author who has been systematically written out of history. The narrator sets about investigating her story as an artist, writer and muse to a much more famous man. Amazingly Ralston turns out to be still alive, and although elderly and frail a series of interviews begin. But a tale about the historic erasure of female voices starts to break down into something even more sinister, bizarre and all-consuming as the narrator uncovers unnerving parallels between Ralston's story and her own...'Lisa Tuttle is, quietly and unsensationally, the finest practitioner of unsettling fiction writing today' Neil Gaiman‘My Death deftly navigates between conventional storytelling and the uncanny feeling that things are perhaps other than they appear... In the end, My Death is not about death at all, but about life after catastrophe: how art revives us, and how writers live on in their readers’ Lauren Elkin, New York Times

Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation into any sort of mystery, call on Jesperson and Lane . . . 'Arthur Conan Doyle would have approved,' says George R.R. MartinMiss Lane is puzzled by Jasper Jesperson's interest in what seems a very minor theft -possibly even a prank - from the storerooms at the British Museum. But London in the 1890s is rife with secret organisations, cults and individuals eager to acquire some of the legendary magic of ancient Egypt. The deeper the two detectives dig, the more hidden crimes they uncover, and the higher the death toll mounts. And at the centre of it all is the 'Mystery Mummy' recently acquired by the museum. 'Tuttle does a lovely job of putting us back in the foggy streets of Victorian London' George R.R. Martin, author of The Game of ThronesAre the deaths and madness truly caused by a mummy's curse? Or is there a scheming, living villain to be apprehended? 'A most engaging detective duo' Mark Douglas Home, author of The Sea Detective and The Woman Who Walked Into The SeaJesperson and Lane, with their experience of past investigations involving psychic phenomena and supernatural events as well as ordinary human criminality, are surely best placed to find the truth.Jesperson and Lane, at your service.

A widowed writer begins to work on a biography of a novelist and artist--and soon uncovers bizarre parallels between her life and her subject's--in this chilling and singularly strange novella by a contemporary master of horror and fantasy. The narrator of Lisa Tuttle's uncanny novella is a recent widow, a writer adrift. Not only has she lost her husband, but her muse seems to have deserted her altogether. Her agent summons her to Edinburgh to discuss her next book. What will she tell him? At once the answer comes to her: she will write the biography of Helen Ralston, best known, if at all, as the subject of W.E. Logan's much-reproduced painting Circe, and the inspiration for his classic children's book. But Ralston was a novelist and artist in her own right, though her writing is no longer in print and her most storied painting too shocking, too powerful--malevolent even--to be shown in public. Over the months that follow, Ralston proves a reluctantly cooperative subject, even as her biographer uncovers eerie resonances between the older woman's life and her own. Whose biography is she writing, really?

Over the past few decades, Lisa Tuttle has quietly established her place as one of today's very best writers of weird and horror fiction. Her previous collection, The Dead Hours of Night, was a finalist for the Bram Stoker Award, and now she is back with this new volume containing twelve more unsettling tales.In 'Bits and Pieces', a woman is surprised to find her lover has left behind his foot in her bed, but it's only the first of many macabre mementoes. 'The Wound' tells of a platonic friendship between two male coworkers that begins to turn into something very different when one of them notices he has started to bleed. The protagonist of 'The Hungry Hotel' is contacted years later by an old one-night stand and goes to meet him at a strange hotel, with unforeseen consequences. These and nine other weird and often frightening tales showcase Lisa Tuttle's unique ability to disturb and unnerve her readers.This collection also includes the rare novella 'The Dragon's Bride', newly revised and expanded for this edition, and an introduction by Neil Gaiman, who has called Lisa Tuttle 'the finest practitioner of unsettling fiction writing today'.

Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation into any sort of mystery, call on Jesperson and Lane . . . 'Arthur Conan Doyle would have approved,' says George R.R. MartinMiss Lane is puzzled by Jasper Jesperson's interest in what seems a very minor theft -possibly even a prank - from the storerooms at the British Museum. But London in the 1890s is rife with secret organisations, cults and individuals eager to acquire some of the legendary magic of ancient Egypt. The deeper the two detectives dig, the more hidden crimes they uncover, and the higher the death toll mounts. And at the centre of it all is the 'Mystery Mummy' recently acquired by the museum. 'Tuttle does a lovely job of putting us back in the foggy streets of Victorian London' George R.R. Martin, author of The Game of ThronesAre the deaths and madness truly caused by a mummy's curse? Or is there a scheming, living villain to be apprehended? 'A most engaging detective duo' Mark Douglas Home, author of The Sea Detective and The Woman Who Walked Into The SeaJesperson and Lane, with their experience of past investigations involving psychic phenomena and supernatural events as well as ordinary human criminality, are surely best placed to find the truth.Jesperson and Lane, at your service.

THE BIG OLD HOUSE WAS PERFECT FOR SARAHNow that her life with Brian was over, she would have a home of her own. She could begin again.But something was waiting for Sarah in her new house, waiting to welcome her, to make her feel at home. Something was waiting for Sarah in the night with golden eyes that glowed and burned, commanding her obedience, demanding her soul, promising her ... Sarah tried to escape the power, but night after night it drew her back, filling her with screaming horror one moment, and relentless, burning pleasure the next.Sarah tried to escape the house, to fight the evil. But she came back. She will always come back. Because now Sarah is never alone ...This reissue of Lisa Tuttle's first novel Familiar Spirit (1983) features the classic cover art by Lee MacLeod and a new introduction by Will Errickson.

Since 2005, Valancourt Books has unearthed and republished almost 500 lost and neglected works from the 1760s through the 2000s, and now for this long-awaited fourth volume of the acclaimed Valancourt Book of Horror Stories series, the editors of Valancourt Books are proud to present 15 more great horror tales -- all by Valancourt authors -- from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. This volume features five brand new stories that have never appeared elsewhere, two rare foreign stories translated to English for the first time, and eight more scarce and seldom-seen tales.The stories in this volume will take you inside the vivid dreams of a woman who can kill in her sleep; to the set of a reality show where contestants may be transformed into specimens of beauty--or into freak show monsters; to a hotel where guests are besieged by a powerful hurricane--and by something even more terrible and deadly. You will read of the bizarre and macabre adventures of a man seeking a skeleton in 1960s London as a gift for his medical student cousin--and his quest's shocking outcome. You will learn how a simple grammar mistake can lead to a terrible and untimely end for a traveler in Venice. These are strange, sinister, and scary stories, by turns suspenseful, horrific, and darkly humorous. Featuring a lineup of rarely reprinted classic tales together with new stories destined to become future classics, this collection is a horror anthology like no other.

In Lisa Tuttle's stories, the everyday domestic world of her female protagonists is invaded by the bizarre, the uncanny, the horrific. In 'Bug House', a woman who goes to visit her aunt is shocked to find she is dying - but even more shocking is what is killing her. The divorcing couple in 'Community Property' arrive at a macabre solution for how to divide ownership of a beloved pet. In 'Flying to Byzantium', a writer travelling to a science fiction convention finds herself caught in a strange and terrifying hell. The thirteen tales in this collection are highly original and extremely chilling, and they reveal Tuttle to be a master of contemporary horror fiction.Never before published in the United States and highly sought-after by collectors, A Nest of Nightmares (1986) is a classic of modern horror. This new edition features the original paperback cover art by Nick Bantock and a new introduction by Will Errickson.'Thirteen stories guaranteed to leave you strongly disquieted' - Neil Gaiman

Among the scattered islands of the ocean-bound world called Windhaven, no one holds more prestige than the silver-winged flyers—humans borne on handcrafted wings who cross treacherous seas, braving shifting winds and sudden storms, to bring news, gossip, songs, and stories to Windhaven’s far-flung communities. Maris of Lesser Amberly is only a fisherman’s daughter, but as much a descendant of the star sailors who founded her world as the flyer family who adopted her. She yearns to soar high above the water on the sky’s buffeting currents. But it is Maris’s stepbrother who stands to inherit the irreplaceable wings when he comes of age—though he dreams of pursuing a very different path. So Maris dares to challenge tradition and the law by demanding that flyers be chosen by merit rather than inheritance. Determined to establish flying competitions and training academies for those not of the flyer-born classes, she wages a bitter battle for change. But even as she triumphs, a host of new troubles confronts her. For a brewing revolution now threatens to destroy the world she fought so hard to join, and crush her proud, rebellious spirit—unless she is willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. From the united imaginations of two award-winning authors, #1 New York Times bestseller George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones) and Lisa Tuttle (Lost Futures), Windhaven is now a spectacular full-color graphic novel—adapted by Lisa Tuttle, illustrated by Marvel Comics artist Elsa Charretier, and a must-have for fans of classic fantasy fiction and artwork.

Should you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation into any sort of mystery, crime or puzzling circumstances, think of Jesperson and Lane . . .Jesperson and Lane have just solved their first major case when a man bangs violently on their door - and almost immediately drops dead. The police rule death by natural causes, but the detectives are determined to find out what really happened . . .Mr Manning was screaming about witches before his death.The case takes them to Mr Manning's Norfolk home, a land of mysterious Shrieking Pits and ancient knowledge. Mr Manning was himself a member of the enigmatic School of Ancient British Wisdom, and not the first to suffer a similar fate. Local gossip suggests that he was secretly engaged to one of the three lovely sisters who reside at Wayside Cross - but which one? Are they really witches, as the gossips also claim?And what does all this have to do with the mysterious Shrieking Pits and a mother desperate to find her missing baby? Jesperson and Lane, at your service.'One of the SF and fantasy & horror field's most urbane - and much under-appreciated- writers' Love Reading

'[A] lively, entertaining blend of murder mystery and supernatural adventure' GEORGE R.R. MARTINShould you find yourself in need of a discreet investigation, think of Jesperson and Lane . . .For several years Miss Lane was companion, collaborator and friend to the lady known to the Psychical Society only as Miss X - until she discovered that Miss X was actually a fraud. Now Miss Lane works with Mr Jasper Jesperson as a consulting detective, but the cases are not as plentiful as they might be and money is getting tight - until a wife's concern for her husband's nocturnal ramblings piques their interest, and mediums begin to disappear all over London.'A gloriously entertaining mystery story full of twists and turns . . . Tuttle executes it with a delicate touch and great elan' ASTOUNDING YARNSThere is only one team with the imagination and intelligence to uncover the nefarious purpose behind the vanished psychics and the somnambulist's wanderings.Jesperson and Lane: at your service.

'A deft and daring blend of mystery and dark fantasy . . . Richly imagined and beautifully written, it lingers in the mind long after the last page is turned' - George R.R. MartinBlending mystery, thrills and fantasy, this standalone novel from award-winning author Lisa Tuttle will leave you looking over your shoulder . . .Laura Lensky's daughter, Peri, has been missing for two years. For the police it's a closed case - she wanted to run away - but for her mother and boyfriend, Hugh, it's a different story.When Laura hires private investigator Ian Kennedy, it is a last-ditch attempt to find her daughter before she leaves for America.Drawn in by strange parallels to an obscure Celtic myth and his first, almost unexplainable case, Ian takes the job. But his beliefs are about to be stretched to their limit - there are darker and more devious forces at work here than any of them imagined . . . 'It will make the hairs stand up on the back of your head. It will make you imagine things you've never imagined before. And it will make you think. It is her best novel to date' - Michael Moorcock

A classic novel from George R. R. Martin, author of the hit HBO TV series A GAME OF THRONES, and award-winning author Lisa Tuttle.