Close to Midnight

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By Mark Morris

Publisher Description

An exceptional third book in the horror anthology series which Publishers Weekly highlighted as “Beautifully written pieces that lean into the intuitive and fantastic.”

Close to Midnight is the third volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories, 16 of which have been commissioned from some of the top names in the genre, and 4 of which have been selected from the 100s of stories sent to Flame Tree during a 2-week open submissions window.

Contents List:

WOLVES by Rio Youers

BEST SAFE LIFE FOR YOU by Muriel Gray

SOUVENIRS by Sharon Gosling

THE OPERATED by Ramsey Campbell

IN THE WABE by Alison Littlewood

I PROMISE by Conrad Williams

FLAT 19 by Jenn Ashworth

THE FORBIDDEN SANDWICH by Carl Tait

AUTUMN SUGAR by Philip Fracassi

COLLAGEN by Seanan McGuire

REMAINS by Charlie Hughes

THE FLOOR IS LAVA by Brian Keene

THE TRUE COLOUR OF BLOOD by Stephen Laws

THE NINE OF DIAMONDS by Carole Johnstone

ROOM FOR THE NIGHT by Jonathan Janz

WELCOME TO THE LODGE by Alison Moore

GOING HOME by Evelyn Teng

THE SPACEMAN’S MEMORY BOX by Laura Mauro

BAGS by Steve Rasnic Tem

RISE UP TOGETHER by Adam L.G. Nevill

FLAME TREE PRESS is the imprint of long-standing Independent Flame Tree Publishing, dedicated to full-length original fiction in the horror and suspense, science fiction & fantasy, and crime / mystery / thriller categories. The list brings together fantastic new authors and the more established; the award winners, and exciting, original voices. Learn more about Flame Tree Press at www.flametreepress.com and connect on social media @FlameTreePress.

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6 Reviews

4.0

D.K. Hundt

Created about 1 month ago

“CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT – Horror Anthology – Edited by Mark Morris ‘CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT is the third volume in an annual, non-themed horror series of entirely original stories, showcasing the very best short fiction that the genre has to offer, and edited by Mark Morris. This new anthology contains 20 original horror stories . . . .’ The Following Are My Favorites: ‘Wolves’ – by Rio Youers – That Was Good! ‘Best Safe Life For You’ – by Muriel Gray – Love This One! ‘Souvenirs’ – by Sharon Gosling – Love The Ending! ‘The Operated’ – by Ramsey Campbell – That Was Creepy Good! ‘Flat 19’ – by Jenn Ashworth – Creepy Good! ‘Autumn Sugar’ – by Philip Fracassi – My Heart! ‘Collagen’ – by Seanan McGuire – Love This One! ‘Remains’ – by Charlie Hughes – My Heart! ‘The Floor Is Lava’ – by Brian Keene – When Stubbornness And Childhood Fears Converge. Also . . . ewe! ‘The True Colour Of Blood’ – by Stephen Laws – That Was Good! ‘The Nine Of Diamonds’ – by Carole Johnstone – That Was Good! ‘Going Home’ – by Evelyn Teng – Creepy Good! ‘The Spaceman’s Memory Box’ – by Laura Mauro – Love The Story And The Writing! Here Is A Snippet: ‘There’s a game you play, but not yet. Not while the sun lingers. There are other games to play first. Ordinary games, everyday games. Knock Down Ginger, or Knock a Door Run; as many names as there are children in the world. And the other game – the special game, the almost-dark game – began its life here too, burrowing larval into your collective imaginations. Bursting from that fertile cocoon one wet, fragile wing at a time, the way night-things do, for ideas like this wither and die in daylight.’ ‘Rise Up Together’ – by Adam L.G. Nevill – Creepy Good! Thank you, NetGalley and Flame Tree Press, for providing me with an eBook of CLOSE TO MIDNIGHT at the request of an honest review.”

adyarina

Created about 1 year ago

Horror DNA

Created about 2 years ago

“Close to Midnight is the third in a series of anthology books published by Flame Tree Press and edited by https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3017104.Mark_Morris . Featuring stories from mostly well-known authors, the book is thick enough to keep you occupied for quite some time. As with most anthologies, book and movie, it’s a grab bag of tales that will hit or miss depending on your tastes. You can read R.J.'s full review at Horror DNA by https://www.horrordna.com/books/close-to-midnight-mark-morris-book-review .”

Theresa

Created about 2 years ago

“I believe I've said before how much I love a good collection of short stories. This collection was superb. It opened strong with a folk horror tale that I hated to see end, it was that captivating. But I was quickly sucked into each story that followed. There was a wide variety of styles and none disappointed. Now I need to go look up the first two book in this series to read what I've missed. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys short story anthologies. There aren't any extreme horror stories in the group, so it might not be for the hard core horror fans. But for those who enjoy more subtle horror adventures, this is definitely for you. Creepy, disturbing, slightly off-putting can all be used to describe these stories. This book is due to be published October 18, 2022. Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher, Flame Tree Press for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.”

Sucharita Biswas

Created over 2 years ago

“Creepy................. Close To Midnight by Mark Morris is an anthology series which features some critically acclaimed authors. Some of the stories are really creepy enough to scare you out. The climax of all the stories are really very different. Horror fans are definitely going to like it. But, I would not say that it was the best one as some stories disappointed me. I was expecting more from them. So, I would like to give the book 3 stars. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me an opportunity to read and review the book. Read more on bibliophileverse.blogspot.com”

About Mark Morris

Morris has written and edited over fifty novels, novellas, short story collections and anthologies. His recent work includes the official movie tie-in novelizations of The Great Wall and (co-written with Christopher Golden) The Predator, the Obsidian Heart trilogy (The Wolves of London, The Society of Blood and The Wraiths of War), the anthologies New Fears (winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Anthology) and New Fears 2 and many more. Mark has won two British Fantasy Awards, and has also been nominated for several Stokers and Shirley Jackson Awards.