Cats Creep

Evil has nine lives in this new anthology of cat horror. Cursed and cuddled, revered and reviled, the cat has left spectral paw prints across history, folklore, and fiction. Ancient gods, devilish deities, and symbols of superstition, these mysterious creatures have inspired centuries of dread. "CATS CREEP: DARK TALES OF FELINE FRIGHT AND FANTASY," edited by bestselling anthologist William P. Simmons, darkens your nights with 15 purrfect classic and...
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Evil has nine lives in this new anthology of cat horror.

Cursed and cuddled, revered and reviled, the cat has left spectral paw prints across history, folklore, and fiction. Ancient gods, devilish deities, and symbols of superstition, these mysterious creatures have inspired centuries of dread. "CATS CREEP: DARK TALES OF FELINE FRIGHT AND FANTASY," edited by bestselling anthologist William P. Simmons, darkens your nights with 15 purrfect classic and forgotten terror tales.

They hide in the shadows and curl beside your pillow. They are hunters, companions, pets...and what else? What secrets do they know, what motives do they hide? Are they links to other worlds or the devil's playthings? Assassins stealing the baby's breath or sorcerers in disguise? Felines were worshipped as Goddesses in ancient Egypt and consorts of the goddess Freya in Nordic myth; in Medieval Europe they were burned as witches and blamed for the Black Death. They are harbingers of death and damnation, Familiars and fiends; fairies in disguise and demons of deceit, pagan gods and emblems of human darkness.

They have clawed their way through generations of weird fiction, from ghost stories and pulps to occult thrillers. Follow the preternatural, enchanted, and cursed cat through various cultures, perspectives, and archetypes. Curated from the 19th-20th centuries, this creepy collection reveals various macabre manifestations of 'Felis Catus' in both classic and forgotten short stories, many of which are reprinted here for the first time. Your guides to a secret world of fur, fangs, and fear are Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stocker, J.S. Le Fanu, Arthur Gray, Barry Pain, Algernon Blackwood, Fred White, Ambrose Bierce, M.R. James, Lafcadio Hearn, H.P. Lovecraft, W.J. Wintle, Balzac, F. Anstey, and A.C. Benson.

Within these pages cats reveal a madman's crimes, avenge the death of their kittens, stalk a greedy antiques collector, and harken a family's doom. A religious zealot's neighbor may be a satanic feline. A vacationer finds terror in a village of shapeshifters. A mummified cat protects ancient Egyptian treasure, love ends in tragedy between a man and a panther, and a boy's art protect him from goblins.

This new volume in the Shadow House Library of Weird Fiction series features an Introduction by editor William P. Simmons.

Draw the shades, open this book, and see darkness through a cat's eyes.

• The Black Cat, Edgar Allan Poe
• The Squaw, Bram Stoker
• The White Cat of Drumgunniol, J.S. Le Fanu
• The Necromancer, Arthur Gray
• The Gray Cat, Barry Pain
• Ancient Sorceries, Algernon Blackwood
• The Black Cat, Fred M. White
• The Eyes of the Panther, Ambrose Bierce
• The Stalls of Barchester Cathedral, M.R. James
• The Boy Who Drew Cats, Lafcadio Hearn
• The Cats of Ulthar, H.P. Lovecraft
• The Black Cat, W. J. Wintle
• A Passion in the Dessert, Honore de Balzac
• Curse of the Catafalques, F. Anstey
• The Grey Cat, A. C. Benson

Editor Bio:
William P. Simmons is a critically acclaimed Amazon bestselling author of four collections and editor of nine anthologies. Specializing in supernatural horror, his work has appeared in several publications. He has been featured in Publisher's Weekly, Rue Morgue, and Dark Discoveries. An active HWA member, his fiction and poetry has received eight Honorable Mentions in THE YEAR'S BEST FANTASY & HORROR, and has been praised by Adam Nevill, Kealan Patrick Burke, Graham Masterton, and T.M. Wright. Simmons is also a literary critic, reviewer, and journalist. He feeds the dark so that it won't take even more from him.

Shadow House Library of Weird Fiction collects classic and forgotten genre fiction.