Books like 'Once Upon a Time'
Readers who enjoyed Once Upon a Time by Serena Valentino also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
fantasy horror dark fantasy urban fantasy supernatural monsters/creatures gothic fairy-tale dark vampires
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Call of Cthulhu: Horror Roleplaying by Sandy Petersen, Lynn Willis
20 ratingsCALL OF CTHULHU is Chaosium's classic roleplaying game of Lovecraftian horror in which ordinary people are confronted by the terrifying and alien forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. CALL OF CTHULHU uses Chaosium's Basic Roleplaying System, easy to learn and quick to play. This bestseller has won dozens of game-industry awards and is a member of the Academy of Adventure Game Design Hall of Fame... -
![The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard]()
The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard
16 ratingsJohannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has come into possession of a vital clue that may lead him to his ultimate goal: a cure for death. The path is vague, however, and certainly treacherous as it takes him into strange territories that, quite literally, no one has ever seen before... -
![I Am Grimalkin by Joseph Delaney]()
I Am Grimalkin by Joseph Delaney
21 ratingsFrom the publisher:"I'm coming for you, and nothing living or dead can stop me."One witch is the most feared, the most ruthless, and the most deadly of all the witches in the county. If she hunts for you, she will find you. If you have crossed her, you don't stand a chance. She is the witch assassin, and her name is Grimalkin.Grimalkin's one alliance is with Tom Ward, the Spook's apprentice... -
![The Spook's Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney]()
The Spook's Sacrifice by Joseph Delaney
25 ratingsAs the Spook's apprentice Tom's first duty is to protect the County from the dark. But now Mam needs his help in her homeland of Greece. One of the most dangerous of the old gods, the Ordeen, is about to return there, bringing slaughter and devastation. Meanwhile, the Devil himself is still loose and if he and the Ordeen join forces, a new age of darkness will descend... -
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![The Brothers Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard]()
The Brothers Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard
16 ratingsHorst Cabal has risen from the dead. Again. Horst, the most affable vampire one is ever likely to meet, is resurrected by an occult conspiracy that wants him as a general in a monstrous army. Their plan: to create a country of horrors, a supernatural homeland. As Horst sees the lengths to which they are prepared to go and the evil they cultivate, he realizes that he cannot fight them alone... -
![The Spook's Blood by Joseph Delaney]()
The Spook's Blood by Joseph Delaney
19 ratingsTime is running out for Thomas Ward. His final battle against the Fiend is drawing near, and the Spook's apprentice has never felt more alone in his task. Isolated and afraid, the Fiend is set to send the greatest of his servants against him - Siscoi, a Vampire God more ferocious than anything he has yet faced... -
![The Romeo Catchers by Alys Arden]()
The Romeo Catchers by Alys Arden
12 ratingsIs blood thicker than magic in La Nouvelle-Orléans?Adele scours Storm-ravaged New Orleans for the truth about her family’s magical past, tormented by the fate she condemned her mother to, and by the lies she’s forced to tell to cover it up. But every turn leads her back to the one person she’s determined to forget: Niccolò Medici... -
![Rise of the Huntress by Joseph Delaney]()
Rise of the Huntress by Joseph Delaney
25 ratingsThe Spook and his apprentice, Thomas Ward, have returned to the county after a long journey and a hard battle. But their troubles are far from over. Their home has been over-run by enemy soldiers.Tom, Alice and the Spook flee across the ocean to the island of Mona. It's on Mona that this small band fighting against the dark will face an old enemy grown terrifyingly powerful... -
![The Spook's Mistake by Joseph Delaney]()
The Spook's Mistake by Joseph Delaney
25 ratingsAs danger increases in the County, Tom is sent far north by his master to be trained by Bill Arkwright, another Spook. Arkwright lives in a haunted mill on the edge of a treacherous marsh and his training methods prove to be harsh and sometimes cruel. But he has toughened up many previous apprentices and now he must do the same for Tom and prepare him for the gravest dangers of his life... -
![The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories by Jeff VanderMeer, George R.R. Martin]()
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories by Jeff VanderMeer, George R.R. Martin
14 ratingsFrom Lovecraft to Borges to Gaiman, a century of intrepid literary experimentation has created a corpus of dark and strange stories that transcend all known genre boundaries. Together these stories form The Weird, and its practitioners include some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature... -
![Demon Thief by Darren Shan]()
Demon Thief by Darren Shan
24 ratingsThe second novel in this bonechilling series by Darren Shan, author of the New York Times bestselling Cirque Du Freak series is sure to give you goosebumps. Kernel Fleck has always known he's weird. He sees lights. Strange, multi-colored patches of light, swirling through the air. But it's not until a window opens into a demon world, with horrific consequences, that Kernel discovers his powers... -
![Bec by Darren Shan]()
Bec by Darren Shan
24 ratingsAs demonic Fomorii ravage their land, Bec and a band of warrior companions leave their devastated rath to answer a plea for help. An orphaned priestess-in-training, Bec hopes the journey will help her solve the mysteries of her birth. But fighting demons has a steep price.. -
![Slashback by Rob Thurman]()
Slashback by Rob Thurman
16 ratingsI stopped and let them circle me, first because it was intriguing and, second, because, honestly, what could they do? Only knives, but all armed, and that made them even more interesting. Interesting. Fun.Playtime…Taking on bloodthirsty supernatural monsters is how Caliban and Niko Leandros make a living... -
![The Last Aerie by Brian Lumley]()
The Last Aerie by Brian Lumley
16 ratingsNestor and Nathan Kiklu are the twin sons of Harry Keogh, the Necroscope... -
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![The Kill Society by Richard Kadrey]()
The Kill Society by Richard Kadrey
17 ratingsSandman Slim has been to Heaven and Hell and many places in between, but now he finds himself in an unknown land: the far, far edge of the Tenebrae, the desolate home of the lost dead. Making his way inland with nothing but his unerring instinct for trouble to guide him, he collides with a caravan of the damned on a mysterious crusade, led by the ruthless Magistrate... -
![Blackout by Rob Thurman]()
Blackout by Rob Thurman
18 ratingsWhen half-human Cal Leandros wakes up on a beach littered with the slaughtered remains if a variety of hideous creatures, he's not that concerned. In fact, he can't remember anything-including who he is.And that's just the way his deadly enemies like it.. -
![The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey]()
The Curse of the Wendigo by Rick Yancey
19 ratingsWhile attempting to disprove that Homo vampiris, the vampire, could exist, Dr. Warthrop is asked by his former fiancé to rescue her husband from the Wendigo, a creature that starves even as it gorges itself on human flesh, and which has snatched him in the Canadian wilderness... -
![Matt Archer: Bloodlines by Kendra C. Highley]()
Matt Archer: Bloodlines by Kendra C. Highley
6 ratingsWhen seventeen-year-old Matt Archer set out on his last mission in the Australian Outback, he thought it would be like every other hunt. Not even close. After only two days on the ground, his best friend is possessed, a long-lost family member has returned and hidden truths have come to the surface... -
![Dead Roses for a Blue Lady by Nancy A. Collins]()
Dead Roses for a Blue Lady by Nancy A. Collins
6 ratingsPreviously available only in an ultra-limited-edition hardcover, Dead Roses for a Blue Lady collects eight tales of Sanja Blue, all by the vampire/vampire-hunter's creator Nancy A. Collins. These tales include the hard-to-find "Vampire King of the Goth Chicks" and "Some Velvet Morning" along with tales original to this collection, such as "Knifepoint," "Tender Tigers" and "The None-such Horror... -
![Shrouds of Darkness by Brock E. Deskins]()
Shrouds of Darkness by Brock E. Deskins
6 ratingsBrooklyn is home to thousands of drug dealers, murderers, rapists, thieves, gang bangers, and mafia. There are also some really unpleasant people--like me. My name is Leo Malone, and I'm a vampire. I've lived in Brooklyn for nearly a century, and I've grown to like the place. I used to be a Sheriff; the law enforcement within the vampire enclave... -
![Matt Archer: Legend by Kendra C. Highley]()
Matt Archer: Legend by Kendra C. Highley
6 ratingsWhen Matt Archer was fourteen, he was chosen—by a magic, spirit-inhabited knife—to hunt monsters with a special paranormal division of the Army. When he was fifteen, he was thrown into a global war the rest of the world didn’t know existed.Now Matt’s sixteen and the war has cost him more than he ever thought it would... -
![The Ammonite Violin & Others by Caitlín R. Kiernan]()
The Ammonite Violin & Others by Caitlín R. Kiernan
6 ratingsIn Caitlín R. Kiernan's The Ammonite Violin & Others, one of contemporary dark fantasy s most bewitching and distinctive voices is back with another banquet of the weird and unexpected. In his introduction, Jeff VanderMeer (City of Saints and Madmen, Finch) writes, Kiernan creates her own light in this remarkable collection, and shines it on dark places... -
![Of Flesh & Bone by Kathryn Ann Kingsley]()
Of Flesh & Bone by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
6 ratingsNow that the Darkness has tasted her, it won't let Emma go.Robbed of her memories, Emma feels like a ghost trapped in her own body. She doesn't remember much, but she knows one thing--something happened to her in Arnsmouth. Whatever had happened to her had been terrible... -
![Of Grave & Glory by Kathryn Ann Kingsley]()
Of Grave & Glory by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
6 ratingsEmma Mather is having trouble telling friend from foe…and being wrong about whether someone is her ally or her enemy could cost her more than just her life.The Candle has taken Gigi Gage as their prisoner, and Emma will do anything to save her friend from whatever torture Dr. Thaddeus Kirkbride is putting her through in the Arnsmouth Asylum... -
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![A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone]()
A Kiss With Teeth by Max Gladstone
10 ratingsFrom the award-winning author Max Gladstone comes a dark fantasy tale, "A Kiss with Teeth, a Tor.com Original short storyVlad has grown distant from his wife. His son has trouble at school. And he has to keep his sharp teeth hidden.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied... -
![In the Blood by Nancy A. Collins]()
In the Blood by Nancy A. Collins
10 ratingsVampire and vampire-hunter Sonja Blue is back, taking out her rage on the demonic blood-drinkers who hide among the living. But her hunt is attracting attention: Morgan, the monster who remade her 20 years ago wants to bring his beloved daughter to heel, and Sonja has found her existence entwined with that of a mortal man... -
![The Death of Me by Jonathan L. Howard]()
The Death of Me by Jonathan L. Howard
10 ratingsJohannes Cabal, a necromancer of some little infamy, has this much in common with Emily Dickinson; because he could not stop for Death, she kindly stopped for him. Well, perhaps not that kindly... -
![High Moor by Graeme Reynolds]()
High Moor by Graeme Reynolds
12 ratingsWhen John Simpson hears of a bizarre animal attack in his old home town of High Moor, it stirs memories of a long forgotten horror. John knows the truth. A werewolf stalks the town once more, and on the night of the next full moon, the killing will begin again. He should know. He survived a werewolf attack in 1986, during the worst year of his life... -
![The Book of Cthulhu by Ross E. Lockhart, Caitlín R. Kiernan]()
The Book of Cthulhu by Ross E. Lockhart, Caitlín R. Kiernan
14 ratingsThe Cthulhu Mythos is one of the 20th century's most singularly recognizable literary creations. Initially created by H. P. Lovecraft and a group of his amorphous contemporaries (the so-called "Lovecraft Circle"), The Cthulhu Mythos story cycle has taken on a convoluted, cyclopean life of its own... -
![The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard]()
The Fear Institute by Jonathan L. Howard
18 ratingsJohannes Cabal and his rather inexact powers of necromancy are back once more. This time, his talents are purchased by The Fear Institute as they hunt for the Phobic Animus - the embodiment of fear... -
![Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard]()
Johannes Cabal the Detective by Jonathan L. Howard
20 ratingsJohannes Cabal is back -- a little older, a little wiser, but just as sharply funny, cuttingly sarcastic, and unexpectedly violent as ever. For necromancer Johannes Cabal, dealing with devils, demons and raising the dead is pretty much par for the course. But when his attempt to steal a rare book turns sour, he is faced by a far more terrifying entity -- politics... -
![Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark]()
Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
25 ratingsIn America, demons wear white hoods.In 1915, The Birth of a Nation cast a spell across America, swelling the Klan's ranks and drinking deep from the darkest thoughts of white folk. All across the nation they ride, spreading fear and violence among the vulnerable. They plan to bring Hell to Earth. But even Ku Kluxes can die... -
![Necroscope by Brian Lumley]()
Necroscope by Brian Lumley
24 ratingsDEAD MEN TELL NO TALES...Except to Harry Keogh, Necroscope. And what they tell him is horrifying.In the Balkan mountains of Rumania, a terrible evil is growing. Long buried in hallowed ground, bound by earth and silver, the master vampire schemes and plots. Trapped in unlife, neither dead nor living, Thibor Ferenczy hungers for freedom and revenge... -
![Slither by Joseph Delaney]()
Slither by Joseph Delaney
19 ratings"My name is Slither, and before my tale is finished you'll find out why."The dark is full of terrifying creatures. And Tom Ward—the seventh son of a seventh son, and the Spook's last apprentice—hasn't seen all of them. Far from the county, one named Slither has lived for hundreds of years, hunting blood.But a dying father binds the monster to a bargain... -
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![Demon Road by Derek Landy]()
Demon Road by Derek Landy
18 ratingsThe mind-blowing new supernatural thriller from bestselling author DEREK LANDY, creator of international sensation Skulduggery Pleasant.Full of Landy’s trademark wit, action and razor-sharp dialogue, DEMON ROAD kicks off with a shocking opener and never lets up the pace in an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America... -
![North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud]()
North American Lake Monsters by Nathan Ballingrud
16 ratingsNathan Ballingrud's Shirley Jackson Award winning debut collection is a shattering and luminous experience not to be missed by those who love to explore the darker parts of the human psyche. Monsters, real and imagined, external and internal, are the subject. They are us and we are them and Ballingrud's intense focus makes these stories incredibly intense and irresistible.These are love stories... -
![The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron]()
The Imago Sequence and Other Stories by Laird Barron
16 ratingsThe title story of this collection - a devilishly ironic riff on H. P. Lovecraft's "Pickman's model" - was nominated for a World Fantasy Award, while "Proboscis" was nominated for an International Horror Guild award and reprinted in The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror 19. In addition to his previously published work, this collection contains an original story... -
![Vampire: The Masquerade Revised by Mark Rein-Hagen, Phil Brucato]()
Vampire: The Masquerade Revised by Mark Rein-Hagen, Phil Brucato
16 ratingsThey stalk in the shadows, moving gracefully and unseen among their prey. They are the blood-drinking fiends of whispered legends - Kindred, Cainites, the Damned. Above all, they are vampires. Their eternal struggle, waged since the nights of Jericho and Babylon, plays itself out among the skyscrapers and nightclubs of the modern world... -
![The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman]()
The Lesser Dead by Christopher Buehlman
16 ratingsThe secret is, vampires are real and I am one.The secret is, I’m stealing from you what is most truly yours and I’m not sorry—New York City in 1978 is a dirty, dangerous place to live. And die... -
![Paint it Black by Nancy A. Collins]()
Paint it Black by Nancy A. Collins
10 ratingsRed Blood, Black Night Vampire and vampire-hunter Sonja Blue has faced many monsters, but none compare to the Other, the demonic alter ego inside her. Now, as her world grows darker still, her vampiric "grandfather" Pangloss returns. Could he show her the way to redemption? Or is he here simply to drive her further into the abyss? About the Author Nancy A... -
![32 Fangs by David Wellington]()
32 Fangs by David Wellington
10 ratingsThe Final ReckoningLaura Caxton's battles against the ancient vampire Justinia Malvern have cost her nearly everything—her badge, her freedom, her friends and family . . . maybe even her humanity.And as she hides out in the deepest backwoods of Pennsylvania, pursued by the cops who were once her colleagues, Laura certainly looks beaten... -
!['Salem's Lot by Stephen King]()
'Salem's Lot by Stephen King
45 ratingsThousands of miles away from the small township of 'Salem's Lot, two terrified people, a man and a boy, still share the secrets of those clapboard houses and tree-lined streets. They must return to 'Salem's Lot for a final confrontation with the unspeakable evil that lives on in the town... -
![Tears of the Furies by Christopher Golden, Thomas E. Sniegoski]()
Tears of the Furies by Christopher Golden, Thomas E. Sniegoski
6 ratingsBehind the facade of a stately Boston brownstone, humanity's last defenses are being marshaled. Called to action by the enigmatic, brilliant man known only as Mr. Doyle, they hail from all planes of existence and are born from an array of supernatural and otherworldly backgrounds and bloodlines.. -
![Ancient Enemies by Matthew Bryan Laube]()
Ancient Enemies by Matthew Bryan Laube
6 ratingsThe story of "The Ancient" continues... Joseph Miller and Mike Samson are closing in on one of the Fallen on the busy streets of New York City, with the help of a young woman who just happens to grow fur and fangs. Little do they know someone from Miller's past is hunting them to settle a grudge over a thousand years old... -
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![The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey]()
The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey
26 ratingsThese are the secrets I have kept. This is the trust I never betrayed. But he is dead now and has been for more than forty years, the one who gave me his trust, the one for whom I kept these secrets. The one who saved me . . . and the one who cursed me.So starts the diary of Will Henry, orphaned assistant to Dr... -
![The Fisherman by John Langan]()
The Fisherman by John Langan
24 ratingsIn upstate New York, in the woods around Woodstock, Dutchman's Creek flows out of the Ashokan Reservoir. Steep-banked, fast-moving, it offers the promise of fine fishing, and of something more, a possibility too fantastic to be true... -
![Impact Winter by Travis Beacham]()
Impact Winter by Travis Beacham
18 ratings"They came after the impact and the firestorms. When the sun went dark. Like they’d been there all along. Just waiting."From executive producers of The Walking Dead and Travis Beacham, the writer of Pacific Rim, comes a heart-stopping Audible Original featuring a brilliant British cast. It’s the near future and seven years since a comet hit the earth and blotted out the sun... -
![Blood Orange by Karina Halle]()
Blood Orange by Karina Halle
18 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Karina Halle comes a dark and delicious Dracula retelling filled with secrets and lies, dangerous liaisons and a forbidden, student-teacher, second chance love story with a twist. "My heart will always find yours."Dahlia Abernathy has only known revenge... -
![The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron]()
The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron
16 ratingsOver the course of two award-winning collections and a critically acclaimed novel, The Croning, Laird Barron has arisen as one of the strongest and most original literary voices in modern horror and the dark fantastic... -
![Children of the Vampire by Jeanne Kalogridis]()
Children of the Vampire by Jeanne Kalogridis
14 ratingsIt is Amsterdam, 1871, twenty-five years before the start of Stoker's novel, and twenty-five years following Arkady Tsepesh's flight from his family's ancestral castle with his wife and young son, Stefan, after learning that he and his family are bound by an ancient covenant to serve their ancestor, Prince Vlad Tsepesh, who is also known as Dracula...
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