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Longlisted for the Sunday Times SA Fiction Award The Mall Dan works at a bookstore in a deadly dull shopping mall where nothing ever happens. He's an angsty emo-kid who sells mid-list books for minimum wage. He hates his job. Rhoda has dragged her babysitting charge to the mall. Now the kid has run off, and Rhoda has two hours to find him. She hates her life. Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her search, but as they explore the corridors behind the mall, they are pulled into a terrifying world... The New Girl Ryan Devlin has taken a job as a handyman at an exclusive private school, Crossley College. He's losing his battle to suppress his growing fascination with a new girl who seems to have a strange effect on the children around her. Tara Marais fills her empty days by volunteering at Crossley's library. But Tara has a secret, an obsession that is as dark as it is dangerous. Both Tara and Ryan are being drawn into a terrifying scheme. The Ward Lisa is a plastic surgery addict. The only hospital that will let her go under the knife is New Hope: a grimy facility dubbed 'No Hope' by its patients. Farrell is a celebrity photographer. His last memory is of a fight with his fashion-model girlfriend and now he's woken up in No Hope, alone - and blind. Farrell persuades Lisa to help him escape, but the hospital's dimly lit corridors only take them deeper underground - into a twisted mirror world...

The second thought-provoking, stunningly written tale of horror from S. L. Grey Lisa is a plastic surgery addict with severe self-esteem issues. The only hospital that will let her go under the knife is New Hope: a grimy, grey-walled facility dubbed "No Hope" by its patients. Farrell is a celebrity photographer. His last memory is a fight with his fashion-model girlfriend and now he's woken up in No Hope, alone. Needle marks criss-cross his arms, a sinister nurse keeps tampering with his drip, and he's woken up blind. Panicked and disorientated, Farrell persuades Lisa to help him escape, but the hospital's dimly lit corridors only take them deeper underground, into a twisted mirror world staffed by dead-eyed nurses and doped-up orderlies. Down in the Modification Ward, Lisa can finally have the face she wants—but at a price that will haunt them both forever.

A page-turning locked-room mystery from the combined talents of Sarah Lotz and Louis Greenberg, writing as S. L. Grey. The Sanctum, the brainchild of gregarious security consultant Greg Fuller, is a luxurious, self-sustaining survival condominium situated fifty feet underground in a remote location in rural Maine. It's a plush bolt-hole for the rich and paranoid - a place where they can wait out the apocalypse in style. When a devastating super-flu virus hits the States, several families race to reach The Sanctum. Among them are committed preppers, people who have invested a great deal of time and money preparing for any apocalyptic scenario. All the residents have their own motivations for buying into the development. All are hiding secrets. And when the doors lock and a death occurs, they realise the greatest threat to their survival may be trapped in the Sanctum with them... PRAISE FOR UNDER GROUND "It's JG Ballard meets Agatha Christie, with a soupcon of Patricia Highsmith thrown in. Grey ... ramps up the tension to an almost unbearable level, and ends with a stunning double finale." The Guardian "Under Ground shifts from slow-burn chills to its frantic finale with considerable expertise. A gripping book - and definitely not for the claustrophobic." SFX "It certainly has the potential to become a classic thriller . . . It's full of well-developed characters, captivating twists and an unpredictable conclusion that will have any thriller fan guessing all the way through." Starburst "Atmospheric, readable and all too plausible. Under Ground is a grim, effective chiller that takes you to the edge and leaves you there" SciFiNow Perfect for fans of Under the Dome by Stephen King and films such as The Hole and The Descent (with a pinch of And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie).

Don't mess with the creepy new girl Ryan Devlin, a predator with a past, has been forced to take a job as a handyman at an exclusive private school, Crossley College. He's losing his battle to suppress his growing fascination with a new girl who seems to have a strange effect on the children around her. Tara Marais fills her empty days by volunteering at Crossley's library. Tara is desperate, but unable, to have a baby of her own, so she makes Reborns—eerily lifelike newborn dolls. She's delighted when she receives a commission from the mysterious "Vader Batiss," but horrified when she sees the photograph of the baby she's been asked to create. Still, she agrees to Batiss's strange contract, unaware of the consequences if she fails to deliver the doll on time. Both Tara and Ryan are being drawn into a terrifying scheme, one that will have an impact on every pupil at Crossley College.

Longlisted for the Sunday Times SA Fiction Award The Mall Dan works at a bookstore in a deadly dull shopping mall where nothing ever happens. He's an angsty emo-kid who sells mid-list books for minimum wage. He hates his job. Rhoda has dragged her babysitting charge to the mall. Now the kid has run off, and Rhoda has two hours to find him. She hates her life. Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her search, but as they explore the corridors behind the mall, they are pulled into a terrifying world... The New Girl Ryan Devlin has taken a job as a handyman at an exclusive private school, Crossley College. He's losing his battle to suppress his growing fascination with a new girl who seems to have a strange effect on the children around her. Tara Marais fills her empty days by volunteering at Crossley's library. But Tara has a secret, an obsession that is as dark as it is dangerous. Both Tara and Ryan are being drawn into a terrifying scheme. The Ward Lisa is a plastic surgery addict. The only hospital that will let her go under the knife is New Hope: a grimy facility dubbed 'No Hope' by its patients. Farrell is a celebrity photographer. His last memory is of a fight with his fashion-model girlfriend and now he's woken up in No Hope, alone - and blind. Farrell persuades Lisa to help him escape, but the hospital's dimly lit corridors only take them deeper underground - into a twisted mirror world...

They thought they were living a nightmare. Little did they realise, it hadn't yet begun . . . "Gripping, creepy as hell, and the dread will linger for days afterwards." Lauren Beukes, author of The Shining Girls and Broken Monsters Mark and Steph are struggling to move on with their lives after armed robbers break into their home and brutalise them. Shaken, they decide to get away and leave their troubles behind them. A house swap in Paris with a couple they meet online, the Petits, seems to provide the perfect escape. But upon arriving for a week's luxurious break at the Petits' flat, they find themselves in a festering, run-down apartment. And when Steph attempts to contact the Petits, she gets no answer. Mark and Steph try to make the most of the trip, but they are unable to relax. After a series of increasingly unsettling events, they decide to come back home. Yet when they arrive home, neither of them can shake the feeling that there's now something sinister about their own home. As time passes, Mark's terrorized by a series of unsettling visions. But is it all in his imagination or is there a far more worrying explanation . . . PRAISE FOR THE APARTMENT "Dark and deeply disturbing. Trust me--this tense and frightening piece of horror is not for kids--or for the faint-of-heart. I'm still shuddering." R.L. Stine "A perfectly crafted, deeply unsettling thriller: a portrait of a marriage unraveling, of the haunting and the haunted, and the idea that grief might be a door that can let other horrific things in. This book had me turning on all the lights, checking under the bed and in the closet, and savoring every terrifying page." Jennifer McMahon, New York Times bestselling author of The Night Sister

From South Africa comes a truly creepy horror debut, widely praised for its originality, social commentary, and roller coaster twists Dan works at a mall bookstore where nothing ever happens. An angsty emo-kid selling mid-list books to mid-list people for minimum wage, he hates his job. Rhoda has dragged her babysitting charge to the mall so she can meet her coke dealer. Now the kid's run off, and she has two hours to find him. She hates her life. Rhoda bullies Dan into helping her, but as they explore the neon-lit corridors behind the mall, disturbing text messages lure them into the bowels of the building, where old mannequins are stored in grave-like piles and raw sewage drips off the ceiling. The only escape is down, and before long Dan and Rhoda are trapped in a service elevator—and it's not stopping at the bottom floor. Plummeting into the earth, Dan and Rhoda enter a sinister underworld that mirrors their worst fears.

Mia is a young girl haunted by a darkness, that threatens her sanity. When she's barely five years old, her babysitter is murdered in the next room. That fateful night forever changes her future. She's left struggling with nightmares and flashbacks, questioning what's real. When a doctor attempts to help, the medications do little more than treat her anxiety. Left with no choice but to treat herself, Mia experiments with a myriad of drugs that are plentiful in her home. She discovers that oxycodone is the only thing that keeps the darkness at bay... that lets her sleep at night. Yet her doctor refuses to prescribe it for someone her age, even though she's heard them talk about having her committed. When the pills begin to run out, Mia is forced to ask around till she finds a drug dealer online. But at sixteen, with no viable income, her options are limited. She ends up having to trade sex, for the drugs she so desperately needs. When she goes away to college, Mia discovers friendship and love, and if she's brave enough... the possibility for a different future. But there's no escaping her past. Not only does it follow her upstate, but she discovers the darkness isn't in her imagination. It's real-and it won't let her go.

Wie tief sitzt deine Angst? Ein tödliches Grippevirus grassiert in den USA. Während Chaos um sich greift, flieht eine Gruppe ganz unterschiedlicher Menschen in einen unterirdischen Luxusbunker – das Sanctum –, ihre eigene, sich selbst versorgende Welt. Doch schon bald befeuern Abschottung und Enge erste Spannungen unter den Bewohnern. Als der Erbauer des Bunkers tot aufgefunden wird, bricht Panik aus. Mit ihm ist der Code zum Öffnen der Türen verloren. Der Sauerstoff wird knapp. Die Wasservorräte schwinden. Der Kampf ums Überleben beginnt.

Following a writing competition, the following stories were created: The Ghost of Christmas Cheer - S L Saunders, A White Yule - Eden Grey, The Train to Chaos - Skye Taylor, Two Christmases - Alys Quinn, The Christmas Writing Competition - Luna Felis, Out of the Box - Sylvia Tillmann, An Act of Kindness - Issy Jinarmo, New Year Cheers - Lisa J Rivers