Sinister Societies: Six Novellas of Secrets and Horrors

"We are as a people inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings." —President John F. Kennedy Are you one of us? From the esoteric to the pragmatic, history is built on secret societies made as much of myth and rumor as blood and bone. Some societies are real organizations with documented histories. Some are patchwork figments of speculation, malevolence, conspiracy theory, and perhaps even the delicious specter of world domination. It's no secret these societies change lives. Six of today's best horror writers explore those changes for better or worse alongside the darker implications and motivations of such Sinister Societies–the existence of which has never been proven. A foster kid finally feels as though she's a part of something much bigger than the hellish life she was living, when a new home brings her old life into fractious focus. A secret agent—a dancer, singer, assassin—investigates a series of mysterious murders in Europe that point to an invisible killer with inhuman characteristics. In a dark, dreamy town, a line of otherworldly women is tasked with keeping the carnivorous landscape at bay. An accidental murder in a Cleveland, Ohio alleyway during the height of Prohibition—and the discovery of a mysterious book—sparks a series of events that threaten to engulf the entire world. In a late-1800s mining town, the Molly Maguires arrive to help workers fight for better working conditions—but even they can't save the ones sent to work in Tunnel 17. The Rat King controls the underground, and the Coin King controls the overstreets, but when a pickpocket proves that power can be stolen, chaos reigns. Join Mercedes M. Yardley, Tom Deady, Sarah Read, Errick Nunnally, Cindy O'Quinn, and Michael Burke as they uncover the darkness that infests the hidden corners of the mind and the soul. With a foreword by John Skipp. Edited by Linda Hartley.