The Waking That Kills (29 page)
I sat there with my knees touching his, my fingers holding his. In a strange and marvellous way, he was beautiful. His face was a work of art. No, it was a work of life, the life he’d had. No, more than that. It was the life he’d made.
Behind him, the estuary was silver in the light of an autumn afternoon. A flock of gulls whirled this way and that, brushing their wings on the water. Their voices were harsh and cold. And the air through the window was cold, a shiver of winter I hadn’t felt for years.
I thought he was asleep. I unfolded my hands from his hands and made to stand up.
No. He jolted upright, as though a tingle of electricity had passed through his body. His head came off the pillow and his eyes opened wide. He stared at my face, he read the signs on it, and he found the name and the word he’d been reaching for.
He opened his mouth, his lips moved.
Lundy
... two clicks of his tongue.
Wax
... a single puff of sound, as soft as a kiss.
His body sank back into the chair, he shrank into the dressing-gown, he closed his eyes. The effort of remembering had weakened him even more. I didn’t stand up. I didn’t want to go. I didn’t want to let go. I stayed with him as the afternoon grew darker, until it was night and the gulls fell silent, and I felt the warmth and the strength fading in his fingers.
THIS IS THE HOTEL WHERE OUR NIGHTMARES GO...
It’s where horrors come to be themselves, and the dead pause to rest between worlds. Recently widowed and unemployed, Richard Carter finds a new job, and a new life for him and his daughter Serena, as manager of the mysterious Deadfall Hotel. Jacob Ascher, the caretaker, is there to show Richard the ropes, and to tell him the many rules and traditions, but from the beginning, their new world haunts and transforms them.
It’s a terrible place. As the seasons pass, the supernatural and the sublime become a part of life, as routine as a morning cup of coffee, but it’s not
safe
, by any means. Deadfall Hotel is where Richard and Serena will rebuild the life that was taken from them... if it doesn’t kill them first.
‘Tem’s
Deadfall Hotel
makes
The Shining
’s Overlook Hotel look like Butlins. Eerie, disturbing and yet strangely touching, you’ll check in but may never check out.’
Christopher Fowler, bestselling author of the Bryant and May Mysteries and
Hell Train
‘Rasnic Tem is at the height of his powers with this effort.’
Fearnet.com
‘Truly brilliant.’
Denver Post
‘Steve Rasnic Tem is a school of writing unto himself.’
Joe R. Lansdale
www.solarisbooks.com
Imagine there was a supernatural chiller that Hammer Films never made. A grand epic produced at the studio’s peak, which played like a cross between the Dracula and Frankenstein films and Dr Terror’s House Of Horrors...
Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the ‘Arkangel’ races through the war-torn countryside, they must find out:
What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of? What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them? Why is their fellow passenger the army brigadier so feared by his own men? And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself?
Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all in a classically styled horror novel.
ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE
Each step leads you closer to your destination, but who, or what, can you expect to meet along the way?
Here are stories of misfits, spectral hitch-hikers, nightmare travel tales and the rogues, freaks and monsters to be found on the road. The critically acclaimed editor of
Magic
,
The End of The Line
and
House of Fear
has brought together the contemporary masters and mistresses of the weird from around the globe in an anthology of travel tales like no other. Strap on your seatbelt, or shoulder your backpack, and wait for that next ride... into darkness.
An incredible anthology of original short stories from an exciting list of writers including the best-selling Philip Reeve, the World Fantasy Award-winning Lavie Tidhar and the incredible talents of S.L. Grey, Ian Whates, Jay Caselberg, Benjanun Sriduangkaew, Zen Cho, Sophia McDougall, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, Anil Menon, Rio Youers, Vandana Singh, Paul Meloy, Adam Nevill and Helen Marshall.
www.solarisbooks.com