Sick of sighing at the namby-pampy vampires and hipster witches in mainstream fiction? Of the supernatural stoically resisting its own evil? Parthian and The Ghastling magazine decided to take matters into our own hands with a call to arms for some proper gothic fiction. Fall into the dreamlike realities of absinthe and madness. Meet intoxicating women and mermaids that aren't as charming as they seem...Between these pages, blurring the lines of good and evil, the monstrous reality and the monstrous imagine, are gothic stories for modern times. Here, buildings pursue their own malevolent intents; a grieving father and daughter receive an unexpected and grisly visitor; a man is unravelled by strange symbolism in a twilit park; and a botanist will stop at nothing to safeguard her borders. Which one will leave you haunted? Thirteen tales of the contemporary gothic, including work by: Alan Bilton, author of the surreal novels The Known and Unknown Sea (Cillian Press, 2014) and The Sleepwalkers' Ball (2009). Somerset Maugham Prize-winner Mark Blayney. Carly Holmes, author of The Scrapbook (Parthian, May 2014). Jo Mazelis, author of Diving Girls (Parthian, 2002) which was short-listed for Commonwealth Best First Book and Welsh Book of the Year; Circle Games (Parthian, 2005) and Significance (Seren, September 2014).