Stephen H Provost

I ain't seen nothin' like it. Not in my years on the force. Not in my time as a gumshoe. People been disappearin'. And all of 'em have one thing in common. They all spend Sunday mornin's at the Compassionate Truth Temple. Not just that, but here's the kicker: These missing parishioners didn't just vanish. It's like they never existed to begin with. They've been erased from the church's records, and I can't even find a birth certificate. But Claire remembers them. She's the dame from the church that hired me to find 'em. Her father, who runs the place, won't admit to nothin'. He's got problems of his own that got him mixed up with the mob. All of it has something' to do with a serial killer who killed a bunch of people decades ago. None of it makes any sense, and my shrink thinks I'm caught up in some delusion. Maybe he's right. All I know is I need to solve this case before I really do go crazy. Asrael's Assassin: Testament in Blood is the first collaboration between Stephen H. Provost, the author of more than 50 books, and Sharon Marie Provost, author of the acclaimed horror thriller Dark Arts: Love Me Tinder.

The Blood Eagle Has Landed Stellan Erikkson is about to become the biggest thing to hit the New York art scene since Warhol. His dark and sinister creations have landed him a showing at one of the city's premier galleries, and the art world is abuzz with the prospect of viewing his twisted yet stunning pieces up close. But Stellan craves more. The pieces he plans to display in New York are but a trifle compared to those that reflect his true passion for the Dark Arts: works that require great sacrifice... Human sacrifice. Stellan only dares display these gruesome portrayals on the dark web: visual symphonies of human flesh, blood, bone, and sinew arranged by his own brilliant mind into masterpieces of unsurpassed gore and beauty. His fans are willing to pay a premium for them, yet he longs for all the world to appreciate his true genius. Walking a fine line between the demands of his ego and his instinct for self-preservation, Stellan skillfully maneuvers from one grisly killing to the next, taunting the police with the images of his genius. Always managing to stay two steps ahead. But will he manage to outwit them forever? Will he somehow miscalculate? Or will his next victim be the one that disturbs a hornet's nest of fury and retribution that even a madman as careful and cunning as Stellan Erikkson is powerless to stop? Just how far is he willing to go... and how far will his adversaries go to stop him? Dark Arts, the debut novel from Sharon Marie Provost, is a thrilling and terrifying game of cat-and-mouse pitting a brilliant and sociopathic serial killer against a cop with a personal score to settle. From the author of the terrifying short-story collection Shadow's Gate and the co-author of Christmas Nightmare's Eve, All Hallows' Nightmare's Eve, and the two-volume Shades of Love.

Halloween isn't just child's play when it comes to trick or treat. Sometimes, the tricks can be deadly, and the treat can be just making it through till morning. Whether your greatest fear is spending the night in a haunted asylum, confronting the Grim Reaper, getting lost in a house of horrors, or dealing with those tiny terrors bent on mischief, you'll confront it in the pages of this volume. Venture not hastily across the veil. Dangers lie beyond that few mere mortals have imagined. And if you wind up in their clutches, you might not make it back. Sharon Marie Provost and Stephen H. Provost present their second collaboration of short horror stories, and the fourth collection in their Nightmare's Eve series: a dozen Halloween- and Samhain-themed tales to keep you up at night during the dark and chilling autumn season.

Black Bart satisfied his sweet tooth with candy from the local mercantile. Bret Harte likely wrote about it. John Studebaker is said to have apprenticed to the town's blacksmith. Mark Twain and Joaquin Murrieta stopped by. An exiled Polish count welcomed guests to the hotel, and more than 3,000 Chinese miners fought California's first Tong war here. It was the Crossroads of the Southern Mines, and it was called Chinese Camp for a reason: Thousands of prospectors from across the Pacific flocked to the Tuolumne County town during the Gold Rush. It was the gateway to Yosemite in the east, to Sonora in the north, to Mariposa in the south, and to Stockton and on to San Francisco in the west. It was a hub for stagecoach lines and a gathering spot for miners, merchants, outlaws, opium dealers, and ladies of the evening. But the gold fever eventually broke, the government outlawed immigration from China, and motorcars put the stage lines out of business. The last Chinese residents left in the early 1920s, and today, fewer than 100 people remain. Main Street is deserted, and its buildings, boarded up or falling down, cast shadows in the twilight that shelter fading memories of a time long past. The ghosts of Chinese Camp, whether restless spirits or mere echoes of the past, have cast an eerie pall over empty streets and abandoned buildings. Author Stephen H. Provost has explored the history of Old West ghost towns before in Mark Twain's Nevada, his highway histories, and his book on Nevada's last boomtown, Goldfield Century. In Chinese Camp: The Haunting History of California's Forgotten Boomtown, he offers a look at a lesser-known but no less fascinating ghost town along California's Gold Rush Road, Highway 49. Packed with more than 130 photos and illustrations, some of which have never been seen before, Provost's book traces the history of Chinese Camp from 1849 to the present day. Peel back the veil that hangs over the forgotten past of this boomtown-turned-ghost town, and discover what makes Chinese Camp a uniquely fascinating window into the past.

If you want to know how Nevada came into its own during the 20th century, U.S. Highway 95 is a great place to start. That state's longest road, running from the Oregon border to its southern tip, is also its richest. Hence, the name Bonanza Highway. A tour of U.S. 95 will take you through fertile lands watered by the Newlands Reclamation Act near Fallon, where fortunes were made raising cattle along with hay, beans, peas, and other crops. Bonanza Highway: U.S. 95, Nevada's Road to Riches, is the fifth volume in the Highways of the West series, illustrated more than 550 contemporary and historical images. And there certainly is plenty to see. Travel down 95, and you'll visit the silver boomtown of Tonopah and Goldfield, just to the south, which became Nevada's biggest city after prospectors struck gold there in 1903. You'll drive alongside old rail lines and visit the ruins of towns that rose and fell on the fortunes of precious metals, marble, borax, and more. Then you'll come to the biggest boomtown of all, lifted to prominence not by mining, but by card games, bright lights, and one-armed bandits: Las Vegas. It's home to what they called old Glitter Gulch along Fremont Street, where U.S. 95 passed directly through downtown. All this and much more lies along this iconic highway, which formed the backbone of Nevada's tourism and commercial trade for much of the 20th century. The beauty of the desert awaits, along with burros, ghost towns, and amazing but true tales of the men and women who forged their futures-and Nevada's-along the Bonanza Highway.

Continuing in the tradition of the critically lauded Nightmare's Eve, Stephen H. Provost and Sharon Marie Provost present a collection of chilling and thought-provoking stories perfect for fans of The Twilight Zone and Black Mirror. What happens to bad little boys at Christmastime? Do ghosts go home for the holidays? What happens when one of Santa's elves comes back from Costa Rica with an infection caused by mysterious bite? How far will a desperate author go to meet a Christmas deadline? Those are just some of the questions posed in this new volume of twists and terror-perfect for the long and moonless nights of winter, when candlelight fails and fitful dreams turn frightful. Flights of fancy and tales of whimsy are interspersed among the night terrors-a welcome but brief respite from your growing unease. You can feel it now, tugging at the corners of your comforter as you nestle all snug in your bed... Is it only your imagination? Or is it really the bogeyman, waiting for the lights to go out so he can seize you? Or a serial killer stalking you, sizing you up to become his next prized trophy? There's enough fear and foreboding here to scare the Christmas stockings off even the jolliest old elf. Welcome, dear friends, to Christmas Nightmare's Eve, when time stands still at the witching hour between Krampusnacht and St. Nicholas Day... and leaves you stranded, helpless, between the waking world and oblivion. Accept your fate: There's no escape for you now. Not even a Christmas miracle can save you.

Follow in the footsteps of the celebrated American storyteller in Nevada, visiting the places he lived, visited, worked, and wrote about. Read about his adventures traveling the Wild West, prospecting for gold, and digging up (or making up) stories for the Territorial Enterprise in Virginia City. Illustrated with numerous vintage and modern photos and illustrations, these are the remarkable stories that transformed Samuel Clemens into Mark Twain and a territory into a state.

A fun, nostalgic look at the great American stores of yesteryear and their rise and fall.The wealthy and leisured lady of the 1920s shopped in a palatial downtown department store with a restaurant, beauty parlor, movie theater, and live orchestra--the harried suburban mom of today rushes her purchases through the self-checkout at the big box store. The Great American Shopping Experience explains how this transformation happened in a fascinating and entertaining history of the growth and decline of America's massive retail empires.From the humble 19th century dry goods store to the majestic department stores of the early 20th century to the shopping malls and outlet stores of today, The Great American Shopping Experience tells the romantic story of Americans' relentless pursuit of the better bargain, surveying the changing fashions, social ideals, and marketing innovations that created shopping as we know it.The Great American Shopping Experience also takes a nostalgic look back at the stores we loved, from the small regional stores that were gobbled up to the big chains that still survive today. If you've ever wondered what happened to your favorite store, The Great American Shopping Experience has the answers.A popular history that is both fun and compelling, The Great American Shopping Experience tells an epic story of capitalism's powers of creative destruction, the repeated transformation of American society, fortunes made and unmade--and the great times and amazing deals we had along the way.