Just in time for Halloween, this macabre collection of tales will scare you witless. It is a grim and howlingly terrifying compilation of stories by the masters of the genre. The tales here range from the traditional to the humorous; from the classic to the thriller and the mythological. Whatever your horror bent, you'll find a story here to satisfy your darkest cravings.

For the first time, Stephen King has published "The Little Green God of Agony," a monstrous little piece about a slimy thing that slithers and oozes. John Ajvide Lindqvist, the writer of the vampire film Let Me In, has scribbled "The Music of Bengt Karlsson, Murder," in which a mean-spirited ghost is out for blood. And a host of other horror geniuses contribute, including Peter Crowther, Brian Hodge, Richard Christian Matheson, Robert Sherman, Angela Slater, and others.

Acclaimed horror editor Stephen Jones has assembled a who's-who of scariness in his mission to bring back to prominence horror writing. In his Introduction, titled "Whatever Happened to Horror," Jones sets out his manifesto.

What the hell happened to the horror genre?

Whatever happened to menacing monsters, vicious vampires, lethal lycanthropes, ghastly ghosts and monstrous mummies?

These days our bloodsuckers are more likely to show their romantic nature, werewolves work for covert government organisations, phantoms are private investigators, and the walking dead can be found sipping tea amongst the polite society of a Jane Austen novel.

These are not the iconic figures of fear and wonder that we grew up with. These are not the Creatures of the Night that have scared multiple generations over the centures and forced countless small children to hide under the bedclothes reading their books and comics by torchlight.