A Terror That Devours The World

by H. T. Waite

An art gallery attendant has a series of strange encounters with a laughing woman.

A fetishist commissions an artist for a series of very specific paintings.

A former carnie recounts the incident that made him leave the circus.

An old woman living alone is haunted by a monstrous horse.

From Amazon best-selling horror writer H.T. Waite, author of A Persistent and Growing Unease and An All-Pervading Sense of Dread comes 21 more tales of horror and strangeness.

340 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 16, 2025

Reviews

[Milt Theo · Rating 5 out of 5]

A high-quality creepypasta collection of 22 tales, wit terrific writing and, most important of all, original premises and novel ideas! What's more, a couple of the stories deal brilliantly with transphobia, showing great empathy and displaying a solid grasp of the situations, both internal and external, trans people face daily. The storiesI enjoyd most were the ones that hit heavier: "The Trader of Lives," the opening story, was a wonderful addition to the Faustian bargain horror trope; "The Ash Tree Butcher" was a shockingly good creature feature story, told in a variety of formats; "Don't Keep it Too Long" had several creepy moments, especially the ones when the main character notices the entity haunting her; "The Laughing Painter" was a triumph of suspense and terror; "Dreams Can Come True" was based on a disturbing idea, about the cost of a transgender person's dreams being realized; "Deeper Than You think" was a nifty doppelganger story, again with transcripts of podcasts and similar reports; and finally, "Polydactylphilia" had a surprising twist I for one didn't see at all coming. And that's just half of the book! There follow some awesome short stories about circus acts going wrong, haunted houses and urban explorers, a series of bizarre posts, even about the voice of god and Halloween decorations. I eagerly recommend the book to creepypasta lovers!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Whitney A. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story collection is great. It has an assortment of different style of horror; you'll definitely find something you love! The author is talented at creating terror in both the extraordinary and mundane events in life. I love that because while the idea of being abducted by aliens is terrifying to me, I feel pretty sure it's not going to happen anytime soon. But the play place at a local fast-food joint? Super likely it's going to get me within the next week. My favorite stories are "The Tube Maze", "My Grandfather loved Beetles", "You should be afraid of water slides", and I absolutely loved "Polydactylphilia". Great, great stories all around!.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Breanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Terror That Devours the World by H.T. Waite is a chilling collection of short stories that all hit with their own flavor of dread. Each piece twists reality in quiet, unsettling ways, but The Worst Horse absolutely stole the show for me. It’s eerie, weird, and stuck in my head long after I finished reading. Waite has a way of making even the smallest details feel ominous, and that slow-creeping terror is what makes this collection so addictive.

[Elizabeth Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

i’d say the majority of the stories were decent, but nothing to write home about. a few were stand outs to me though & raised the collections overall rating

[Reshma Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is supposed to be a horror anthology - not a snore fest anthology :(