"Nothing stays dead. Not the dogs. Not the voices. Not me." Seven Dark Stars: Blackness Absolute is a special hardback edition of the classic collection of dark fiction from the author of The Darkest Touch. This chilling work looks to explore the glowing truth that burns hidden amidst the darkness in our lives. Inspired by the great horror authors of the past and present such as H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Harlan Ellison, this revised edition includes ten short stories alongside the novella Grim: the six original and acclaimed stories in the collection, three disturbing new stories from Joseph Sale, and the winning story of the 'Blackness Absolute' Short Story Competition by Matthew Blackwell. Experience the darkness like never before.

"There are those who bow to darkness. And there are others to whom darkness bows." In 2060 Caleb Rogers and his partner Tom Marvin put away one of the most dangerous serial killers Texas has ever known: Craig Smiley, an ex-infantry mental patient who believes he can summon seven gods through a series of disturbing rituals. Caleb and Tom secured him a life sentence in Mars's toughest prison. They thought the whole thing was finished. But when Smiley escapes the prison seven years later and sets out once again on his insane mission, Caleb and Tom are sent to Mars to track him down. Both cop and criminal are determined to finish what they started. Only the criminal will stop at nothing. Gods of the Black Gate is part thriller, part supernatural horror, part sci-fi blockbuster and at its heart: a journey of spiritual descent.

Lost Voices is a horror collection of tales left by the wayside: stories recorded on abandoned VHS tapes, horrors found in lifeless towns, voices silenced by the encroaching darkness. Born from a conversation about screwed up stories that'd been rejected from various anthologies, magazines, and callouts for being too weird, freaky, and dark, Lost Voices dredges these lost tales from a past better forgotten. Featuring twelve dark tales by Joseph Sale, Emily Harrison, Christa Wojciechowski and Ross Jeffery, Lost Voices promises to push the boundaries of what horror can be and do. Foreword by Steve Stred.

Levi Jensen is, by all accounts, a loser. He failed sixth-form, never got to university, and works at a no-future fast-food restaurant. The only thing he's good at is gaming. When his father starts dying of a new type of cancer, only treatable privately and at impossible expense, Levi's one hope of saving him becomes the million-dollar cash-prize for winning the dark-fantasy video-game Fate of Ellaria. But Levi isn't the only one with motivations beyond money for winning. And the price of success in Fate of Ellaria might mean the destruction of what little he has left in the real world. Save Game is a heart-breaking story of an underdog against all odds, as well as a love-letter to the beauty of video-games. Inspired by the amazing and eclectic everyday people who inhabit the gaming world, and the pain of their real-world lives, Save Game aims to show the courage of those who feel they've got no place in reality.

Clone Smiley has vanished. No one knows where he has gone. With the dark of the Origin-verse now awake, something moves across the multiverses, destroying all it touches. One by one, each universe falls, its defenders shattered. Soon, it will reach our world, and then there will be nothing left. From the far corners of the multiverse, a desperate group gathers, the only hope of saving existence itself now resting on the shoulders of killers, psychopaths, prophetesses, and a broken man. Return To The Black Gate is a story of loss and unlikely love, of the battles we fight to hold onto what little we have, and a vision of an end-times never-before-imagined. Where Gods of the Black Gate was a crime-thriller, and Beyond The Black Gate was a sword and sorcery epic, Return To The Black Gate is a harrowing war-story; a tale of despair and heroism in the face of unimaginable horror.

Once, he killed in the name of the gods. Now, he'll kill the gods. Following on from the events of Gods of the Black Gate. Craig Smiley was once one of the most dangerous serial killers the world had ever known. He killed in the name of seven dark gods. Now, betrayed and offered up as a sacrifice by the very deities he served, Smiley finds himself transported to a mysterious realm beyond the Black Gate. On a quest for revenge, and possibly redemption, Smiley will face the gods that made him, and kill for the very last time.

In this new title, James Sale, author of Mapping Motivation and creator of the Motivational Map, explores the mythical triumphs and tribulations of the workplace, how to stay motivated on the quest of life, and how to overcome the monsters and obstacles that way-lay us. This guide is essential not only for Maps practitioners, but anyone seeking to become a modern day Odysseus and find their way home.

The legendary singer Vainamoinen has been gone for fifteen years and people have lost all hope of him coming back, save for a few. Lemminkainen was once friends with the singer and they fought together in an old war - a war in which Lemminkainen was killed. Lemminkainen came back, though not without a price. Each day he loses feeling and parts of his mind. He has to find the old singer again before he turns hollow. The warlord Kaleria has grown bold in the singer's absence and started to take over Kaleva one district at a time. But when he imprisons Lemminkainen in the Giant's Keep, a smith, a warrior, an old mariner and a farm-girl decide to rescue him. But to do that, they will need help. They will need to get Vainamoinen back. Kaleria is no ordinary warlord. Beneath him lies something old and dark that has waited a long time in the Giant's Keep...And it is without humanity.

In the north of England there is a small town - located just off the beaten A-road of civilization - called Pitwell. Driven there by flooding caused in a violent storm, four hapless travelers seek refuge in the town's only hotel, and for a while, as the storm calms and the river waters sink, everything seems like it's going to be ok. Just when it's time for the travelers to return to reality, however, Pitwell decides to show its true colours...Sale's most sickening story yet: Orifice is a classic 'creepy town' tale re-invented for the modern era. Full of savage imagery and traumatizing scenes, this will give even the most diehard horror fan palpitations.

Pilot 93 has been cut off from New Babylon, lost through a wormhole. Communications have stopped. He is alone at the edge of the universe in a one man ship. With rapidly dwindling oxygen, food and fuel, he must find a way to survive, but what will prove even harder is finding a reason to. Haunted by visitations from an infamous serial killer and with only a black box of recordings and his ship's personality upload to draw strength from, Pilot 93's journey will challenge what it means to be lonely, what it means to be human, what it means to even be alive. In this sci-fi novella, Joseph Sale brings his usual flair for vivid characters and haunting imagery to bear whilst also employing a more intimate first person style that emotionally strikes to the heart. Aching, desperate and heroic, The Meaning of the Dark will surely be counted amongst his finest work.

"Nothing stays dead. Not the dogs. Not the voices. Not me." Seven Dark Stars is a new collection of horror fiction from the author of The Darkest Touch that looks to explore the glowing truth that burns hidden amidst the darkness in our lives. Inspired by the great horror authors of the past and present such as H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, and Harlan Ellison, this collection features the dark novella Grim: the story of Blake MacTire, a detective in the slums of Birmingham who's confronted by a killer that believes his dead mother is alive again at the bottom of a lake. Blake's sure it's nonsense - only - he's seen something in the lake too. Something awful and familiar. And it wants him. Alongside this longer tale are six short stories, each one casting light on things hidden in the abyss of our psyche. This book is sure to frighten, enlighten, and hold you until the final page.