Horrors

Fourteen new spine-tingling treats for teens

In this second volume of original horror stories for teenaged readers, you'll find ghosts and werewolves, weird transformations and menacing strangers, the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end and your heart beats faster.

Some of these stories explore the most traditional of horror themes - the visitation of vampires, fear of the dark corners of the basement - with a nod to that master of horror, Edgar Allen Poe. Others take readers into less familiar territory: the terror of a babysitter with a too-vivid imagination, the dangers of compulsive attention paid to a pet fighting-fish, the claustrophobia of a cruise ship where nasty plots abound, and the subtle tension between the discipline of intellect and the boisterous yearning of creativity as it is played out in the minds of teens.

Some stories here come from some of our most celebrated of authors for youth - Priscilla Galloway, William Bell, Anne Laurel Carter, Kathy Stinson, Gillian Chan, Jamie Bastedo, Louise Wadsworth, Diana Aspin, Joanne Findon, Sylvia McNicoll, Wendy Lewis, Sylvo Frank, Alison Lohans and Cheryl Rainfield - some represent the work of gifted emerging writers who have also captured the essence of what makes a good suspense-filled story.