Showing results by author "Kevin Candela" in All Categories

Styled like a classic drive-in double feature, this pair of tales strives to evoke that beloved era and its associated feelgood emotions while still thrilling and frightening those willing to take the rides. Both stories are family-style entertainment with little foul language and virtually no "adult situations" - in other words, sheer all-ages fun.

It’s that time of year again. In the shadows, otherworldly creatures lurk, under the gravestones, the dead begin to rise, and in that old house down the lane, ghosts rattle their chains. For once more, Trick or Treat Thrillers brings you our pick of the best Indie-paranormal short stories for 2020! Before you begin listening to our selection of 13 stories, however, we recommend you first check under your bed, in your closet, and outside of your window. You never know what may be coming your way.

Horrifying creatures have been loosed from a secret lab, leaving the handful of survivors of the storm under siege by nightmarish beasts with raking talons and fiendish cleverness. Though small, the monsters are utterly ruthless, and though at first they carefully seek out only one person at a time their resolve and boldness continues to increase such that they are soon hunting down the last of the human prey...an army of vicious predators determined to exterminate the species that created them.

On distant Gavelin, Roman and Nikala face the daunting prospect of taking on the consolidated powers of most of Gavelin’s Howling Wind-infected tyrants without the aid of their Dragon Child friend Chalice Rayne. Meanwhile here on Earth, renegade conservative mouthpiece Carl Morrow’s stolen super-stealth blimp is quickly running out of corners to hide in as “Charlie Tomorrow” and his high-tech rebels work to put together a plan to expose the true darkness that has all but overtaken their society. But Charlie and his crew have no idea how truly outmatched they are.

One thing a sneak thief needs is ambition, and Sal and Gazel certainly don't come up short there. Sure, they're mainly just ripping off low profile places like out of the way frontier museums...but they have big plans.

What if you had all kinds of superhero powers, but they only worked if you were stark naked? That's the world these days for Race Harleson, reluctant savior of humanity. One of Race's most unpleasant (and dangerous) nemeses, the shameless Space Invader, is at it again. But this time, the supervillain with the personal privacy issues has put everyone in an awkward position, for his terrifying misdeeds have awakened something deep beneath the ground - something so mighty and monstrous that even the arrogant baddie is in fear for his life.

The ghosts were there the day it opened for business. The Leeward Hotel is a mirror. From the moment its first stone was laid, it has reflected the mysteries of the restless and the restless Atlantic Ocean over which it looms atop a stark cliff in Cornwall, with guests frequently seeing the highly eccentric owners walking around the halls while they were supposedly locked in their private haven upstairs.

On far distant Gavelin, Leks and Quinara - scrappy human survivors of a demonic plague that has all but wiped out their civilization - race against time in a perilous journey to the perceived safety of the cradle of their society: the great coastal city of Amaline on the Sandarine Sea. Along the way, they meet horrifying carnivorous mud monsters, sentient human-hunting thunderstorms and an outcast bio-alchemist with a warped sense of humor whose bizarre menagerie features a panther-like beast made of living metal.

The creator of The Krakenstein Chronicles follows up his first two SF/fantasy/horror/comedy short story collections, A Year in the Borderlands and Playing with Reality, with a third heaping helping of generally freakish tales from the other side of existence. Wild narratives of mystery, horror, awe - and even some laughs - are assembled here together for the first time. Lost Radio brings you the timelessly eerie and thrilling stories of things that very well could be - whether you want them to exist or not.

Here collected for the first time are the thrilling and hopefully hilarious tales of the world's most embarrassed superhero. "Everyman" Race Harleson just wanted to do his guard shift and pick up his check - so the cosmos decided he'd get to be special, giving him Superman-like powers including strength, flight, and virtual invulnerability...so long as he's completely naked while he fights crime and saves the world.

The world teeters on the edge of catastrophe in the sixth and final saga in the Krakenstein series. But this time it’s not because of some nightmarish new city-smashing horror arriving on the scene. No, it’s our species on the attack. Well, a handful of humans, anyway. Fanatic extremists, Generals Blakemoor and Dilack, have taken over the United States’ military forces who in turn had stepped in to run the country after the devastating strike on Washington by Vampulon, the extraterrestrial horror.

With great power comes great responsibility. And on modern day Earth, if great power doesn’t play nice with greater powers it gets something else too: Deadly persecution. After all, the stakes are no less than absolute control of every living being on the planet. Roman Novato and Chalice Rayne can communicate telepathically, sense imminent danger, and more now, but when those accidentally inherited talents are set against shape-shifting alien assassins, invisible drones, devastating particle beam satellites, and the world’s hidden ruling elite the game isn’t exactly fair.

Just like their new home of Sunder Creek, set in the shadow of Blood Ridge, young Ronnie Carpenter and her shy ward Essa Hale harbor strange secrets. In fact, their arrival seems to bring the town’s dark and unspoken terror to light, as it affects Essa in mysterious ways. Soon, inexplicable events all point to an ancient legend being all too real. What does the dreaded ilé nagí, the fiery spirit of the woods, want with the girl? Ronnie must find out before it’s too late.

The sixth "drive-in double feature" in the Super SF Double Feature series spotlights alien invasion in both directions - coming and going - with two thrilling tales of science-fiction culture shock.

The big squidheaded guy who's not Cthulhu is back - and this time, it's really, really personal, because the monster who's out to destroy him is his own brother! Twenty years after Krakenstein and Magenti saved humanity from itself, the giant monster battles are still going on. Towering "bug lady" Magenti may have disappeared of late, but Krakey is still patrolling the world. Tailed by the Moray 2 stealth sub, which is captained by none other than longtime Krakenstein "human friend" Shea Sanders, the titan isn't able to stop the latest problem by himself.

Something ancient has awakened in the depths. So terrifying is this newly freed entity that sea slugs are driven onto resort beaches to climb hotel walls...and die. Yet the threat posed by the primal sentience is far less obvious to the world's dominant species, seemingly manifesting in the trance states of a couple rescued by Ben Miles and his celeb wife, Morna Belchek...and subsequently communicated to Morna as well.

In these two "inspired by actual accounts" but still entirely fictional tales, a pair of challengers of the unknown go one on one with two of the world's most famous mysterious legends. In "Beneath Still Waters", a lake-dwelling giant creature draws a devoted paranormal investigator into a staggering encounter that goes far beyond a blurry photo of something with a long neck and humps passing by a Loch Ness excursion boat.

Gigantic centipedes born of genetic engineering and experimental pesticides and fertilizers storm a small farming community, running down and devouring everything on two legs, in this exciting new tale of suburban terror and mayhem.

Here, for the first time, is the complete saga of Krakenstein, the titanic mutant who's out to save the world, whether humanity likes it or not. Noble environmental scientist Dr. Max Shepperton's bizarre transformation from nerdy human being to a 300-foot-tall squid-headed monster seems a great tragedy, until the world realizes that his Godzilla-sized new form might be the one thing that can prevent the Earth's vengeance against greedy corporate profiteers from bringing about the extinction of Shepperton's former species - the human race.

Sin has risen, and only Sinbad and his friends stand in its way. The Sinbad Forever Trilogy concludes with an epic for the ages - and through them - as Sinbad and his unique band of adventurers find themselves struggling to survive against the teeth and talons of prehistoric creatures to whom they represent nothing more than annoyingly elusive meals.