I’m proud to be the curator of the The Horror Short Reads Bundle, a terrific special book bundle deal available through Feb. 27.

We live in a new golden age for horror fiction, spurred by surging readership and technological advances in publishing, and no form of narrative has benefited more from this renaissance than the horror novella.

The notion that novellas prove the best vessels for horror has for decades been the conventional wisdom among connoisseurs. The incontrovertible evidence dates back to masterpieces like J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s “Carmilla,” Algernon Blackwood’s “The Willows,” Henry James’ “The Turn of the Screw,” H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Shadow Over Innsmouth,” and many others. Recent decades continued this excellence — consider the stories collected in Stephen King’s Different Seasons, or Clive Barker’s “The Hell-Bound Heart,” Elizabeth Engstrom’s “When Darkness Loves Us,” or Victor LaValle’s “The Ballad of Black Tom,” to name just a few.

The short novels and novellas that I’ve assembled for this Horror Short Reads e-book bundle are sure to introduce you to new favorites and reacquaint you with favorites from the past.

This overflowing cornucopia of a StoryBundle explores all the permutations of the horror novella, providing 22 tales of terror penned by 21 authors, ranging from career grand masters to up-and-comers making their debuts. These bodybag-wrapped meaty morsels include 18 standalone novellas and short novels, plus the anthology A Sinister Quartet, which holds four more novellas.

You’ll find pulse-pounding thrillers and slow-burning noir, supernatural and psychological terror, narratives mind-bending and straightforward, the bloody and the subtle, even dark humor.

For those who love a good scare, horror can be comfort food, a thrill ride of the soul that’s completely under your control, even as the words on the page make you feel shiveringly otherwise. There’s fuel here for many an enjoyably sleepless night. Bon appétit! – Mike Allen

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For StoryBundle, you decide what price you want to pay. For $5 (or more, if you’re feeling generous), you’ll get the basic bundle of four novellas in .epub format—WORLDWIDE.

• The Kraken Sea by E. Catherine Tobler
• Obsecration by Matthew M. Bartlett
• Bishop by Candace Nola
• Family Solstice by Kate Maruyama

If you pay at least the bonus price of just $20, you get all four of the regular novellas, plus 15 more books, for a total of 19 (or really 22 since A Sinister Quartet contains 4)!

• 12 Hours by L. Marie Wood
• Joey Leonard’s Last Horror Movie Marathon by Kevin Lucia
• King of the Bastards by Brian Keene and Steven L. Shrewsbury
• Beneath Ash and Bone by D. Alexander Ward
• Children of Fire by Chris DiLeo
• Catfish Lullaby by AC Wise
• Pretty Marys All in a Row by Gwendolyn Kiste
• The Unicorn Killer by Candace Nola
• Taboo in Four Colors by Tim McGregor
• Small Gods of Calamity by Sam Kyung Yoo
• A Sinister Quartet by Mike Allen, C.S.E. Cooney, et al.
• Saferby Kate Maruyama
• Children of the Night by John Blackburn
• The Happy Man by Eric C. Higgs
• Plague of Gulls by Stephen Gregory

This bundle is available only for a limited time via http://www.storybundle.com. It allows easy reading on computers, smartphones, and tablets as well as Kindle and other ereaders via file transfer, email, and other methods. You get a DRM-free .epub for all books!

It’s also super easy to give the gift of reading with StoryBundle, thanks to our gift cards – which allow you to send someone a code that they can redeem for any future StoryBundle bundle – and timed delivery, which allows you to control exactly when your recipient will get the gift of StoryBundle.

Why StoryBundle? Here are just a few benefits StoryBundle provides.

• Get quality reads: We’ve chosen works from excellent authors to bundle together in one convenient package.
• Pay what you want (minimum $5):You decide how much these fantastic books are worth. If you can only spare a little, that’s fine! You’ll still get access to a batch of exceptional titles.
• Support authors who support DRM-free books: StoryBundle is a platform for authors to get exposure for their works, both for the titles featured in the bundle and for the rest of their catalog. Supporting authors who let you read their books on any device you want—restriction free—will show everyone there’s nothing wrong with ditching DRM.
• Give to worthy causes: Bundle buyers have a chance to donate a portion of their proceeds to Girls Write Now!
• Receive extra books: If you beat the bonus price, you’ll get the bonus books!

StoryBundle was created to give a platform for independent authors to showcase their work, and a source of quality titles for thirsty readers. StoryBundle works with authors to create bundles of ebooks that can be purchased by readers at their desired price. Before starting StoryBundle, Founder Jason Chen covered technology and software as an editor for Gizmodo.com and Lifehacker.com.

For more information, visit our website at storybundle.com, tweet us at @storybundle and like us on Facebook.