To be honest, he thinks his life is pretty lame until he discovers something terrifying on a weekend camping trip at the local state park. Monsters are real. And living in his backyard. But that's not the half of it. After Matt is forced to kill a strange creature to save his uncle, he finds out that the weird knife he took from his uncle's bag has a secret, one that will change Matt's life. The knife was designed with one purpose: to hunt monsters. And it's chosen Matt as its wielder. Now Matt's part of a world he didn't know existed, working with a covert military unit dedicated to eliminating walking nightmares. Faced with a prophecy about a looming dark war, Matt soon realizes his upcoming Algebra test is the least of his worries. His new double life leaves Matt wondering which is tougher: hunting monsters or asking Ella Mitchell for a date?

     And yet, there is an attraction, undeniable, to the vampire archetype, whether the pale European count, impeccably dressed and coldly masculine, yet strangely ambiguous, ready to sink his sharp teeth deep into his victims' necks, draining or converting them, or the vamp, the count's feminine counterpart, villain and victim in one, using her wiles and icy sexuality to corrupt man and woman alike... Edited and introduced by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams (Wastelands, The Living Dead), By Blood We Live gathers together the best vampire literature from the preceding three decades, authored by many of today's most renowned writers of fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror. Contents: (Author, title (type, year of first publication, beginning page in print edition))01 - Neil Gaiman, Snow, Glass, Apples (short story, 1995, p3)02 - Anne Rice, The Master of Rampling Gate (novelette, 1984, p13)03 - Harry Turtledove, Under St. Peter's (novelette, 2007, p33)04 - Tad Williams, Child of an Ancient City (novelette, 1988, p43)05 - Michael A. Burstein, Lifeblood (novelette, 2003, p75)06 - Barbara Roden, Endless Night (short story, 2008, p88)07 - Garth Nix, Infestation (novelette, 2008, p106)08 - Carrie Vaughn, Life Is the Teacher (short story, 2008, p120)09 - Nancy Kilpatrick, The Vechi Barbat (short story, 2007, p134)10 - Kristine Kathryn Rusch, The Beautiful, The Damned (short story, 1995, p148) 11 - David Wellington, Pinecones (short story, 2006, p161)12 - Norman Partridge, Do Not Hasten to Bid Me Adieu (novelette, 1994, p165)13 - Sergei Lukyanenko, Foxtrot at High Noon (short story, 2008, p180)14 - Michael Marshall Smith, This Is Now (short story, 2004, p189)15 - Nancy Holder, Blood Gothic (short story, 1985, p199)16 - Jane Yolen, Mama Gone (short story, 1991, p204)17 - Joe Hill, Abraham's Boys (short story, 2004, p209)18 - Tanith Lee, Nunc Dimittis (novelette, 1983, p224)19 - Gabriela Lee, Hunger (short story, 2007, p240)20 - Caitlín R. Kiernan, Ode to Edvard Munch (short story, 2006, p250)21 - L.A. Banks, Finders Keepers (short story, 2008, p256)22 - Brian Stableford, After the Stone Age (short story, 2004, p275)23 - Kevin J. Anderson, Much at Stake (short story, 1991, p286)24 - Elizabeth Bear, House of the Rising Sun (short story, 2005, p297)25 - Lilith Saintcrow, A Stand-Up Dame (short story, 2008, p302)26 - Kelley Armstrong, Twilight (novelette, 2007, p316)27 - Eric Van Lustbader, In Darkness, Angels (novelette, 1983, p333)28 - Barbara Hambly, Sunrise on Running Water (novelette, 2007, p355)29 - Bruce McAllister, Hit (short story, 2008, p372)30 - Ken MacLeod, Undead Again (short story, 2005, p385)31 - Robert J. Sawyer, Peking Man (short story, 1996, p388)32 - Ben Lumley, Necros (short story, 1986, p396)33 - Catherynne M. Valente, Exsanguinations: A Handbook for the Educated Vampire by Anna S. Oppenhagen-Petrescu (short story, 2005, p409)34 - Charles Coleman Finlay, Lucy, In Her Splendor (short story, 2003, p415)35 - John Langan, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky (short story, 2009, p426)36 - Stephen King, One for the Road (short story, 1977, p464)37 - Ross E. Lockhart, For Further Reading (By Blood We Live) (essay, 2008, p477)

    A paradise that became ravaged by smog that choked out the skies.Now the realm exists in darkness and its people need a champion, a chosen one to save them from the poison that cloaks the land and threatens to smother its inhabitants.That's what they needed. They got sixteen-year-old Sammy Ellis instead. Her only responsibility was to help the "chosen one" open a gateway into the realm. But, not only has she entered the land in their place, she's also locked them out in the process.Sammy finds herself lost in a twilight land of giant mushrooms and pursued by dark forces. Can she find a way home so the true chosen one can return or has the realm been doomed by her actions?

    When teens receive a government-sanctioned pharmaceutical cocktail during school, paranormal abilities begin manifesting... making the teens more powerful than the adults.After Caleb discovers he has the rare, Affinity for the Dead, he must do whatever it takes to hide it from a super-secret government agency whose goal is exploitation. Caleb seeks refuge in his new girlfriend, Jade, until he realizes that she needs as much protection from her family, as he does from the government.Suddenly, Caleb finds that hiding his ability while protecting Jade and his friends is a full time job; can he escape the government, protect Jade and lose the bullies that are making him miserable? (App. 119,000 word count.)DEATH SPEAKS:Caleb's in high school now and thinks the chaos of last year is behind him. Unfortunately, a serial killer is on the loose and children are his victims. Caleb agrees to help the police apprehend the murderer...until the killer takes notice of Caleb and his paranormal friends.Carson and Brett remain the bullies they always were and their posse continues to grow. How long can the two groups stay out of each others' way before there's a firestorm of retribution...The Government Graysheets continue to keep tabs on Caleb's every move while Jade's family threatens their relationship. Can they still be together even when events threaten to tear them apart? (App. 92,000 word count.)DEATH INCEPTION:Kyle Ulysses Hart and his team of scientists mapped the human genome in the year 2010. As Brain Impulse Technology came online... so did the long arm of the United States government. A covert, military-driven regime was born with genetic manipulation the key to future widespread control. When pharmaceutical laboratories, funded by the Graysheets, discover a way to unlock paranormal potential through compulsive inoculation, their exploitative dream is realized.Clyde and Caleb's lives are predestined to intertwine as they cross paths, his history becoming Caleb's future.A lone teenager named Jeffrey Parker, falls prey when he manifests the rare, Affinity for the Dead. The Graysheets abandon all pretense of stewardship, ripping him from his family for their nefarious purposes. Can Jeffrey remain who he was destined to be in an environment exclusively built for mass control? (App. 24,000 word count._

    It was formerly published in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.

    They're wrong. Amateur photographer Beth Ryder is in trouble. She's taking pictures of things she can't see, things that aren't human. Beth has her own dreams, but people like her don't get to go free. She's seized by a dangerous organization dedicated to keeping Earth's shadow world -- and its frightening inhabitants -- a secret. Forced into otherworldly politics and uncertain whom to trust, Beth must come to terms with a radically altered future -- one in which her own humanity seems to be draining away.

    Gwyneth West's social-climbing mother wants her to compete, by Gwyn isn't so sure...The Pageant is government-sponsored. If you're lucky enough to be chosen, participation is mandatory. Aggressive competition is allowed, even encouraged.And then there's the prize...The winner of The Pageant gets a marriage proposal from Dallas Black, otherwise known as The Dark Prince. Dallas is the son of King Black, who won the last world war and now governs the new settlements. The Royal Family is mysterious. Rumor has it they don't sleep. Rumor has it they eschew the sun.Rumor has it they're immortal.When Gwyn is thrust into The Pageant, she fights to survive the competitive nature of the other contestants. But even if wins...can she survive a vampire fiancé?

    The titans. The behemoths. All banished to the Dark and nearly forgotten. But the cunning ones, the patient ones remain. They hide not in the cracks of the earth or in the shadows of the world. But inside us. Wearing our skin. Waiting. Watching. Once haunted by visions of the world beyond, Ferran now wields that power to hunt the very monsters that he once feared. He is not alone. Others bear the same terrible burden. But Hunter or hunted, it makes no difference. Eventually, everything returns to the Dark.

    This conflict will affect life everywhere, but not everyone is aware it exists. When twelve-year old Max Rigdon is sent to stay with his grandfather for the summer, he unwillingly enters the fight. The day Max steps off the bus he is marked with an evil curse and immediately becomes the target of evil men and creatures with designs on ruling the universe. Not only does this curse cause Max physical pain but it allows his enemies to track and find him. He soon learns that the reason for this unwanted attention is because his grandfather is the keeper of a gateway; a powerful machine that makes travel to hundreds of strange unknown worlds possible. The enemy will do anything to gain possession of this power in their quest to control all worlds. With the help of his friend Cindy and others, Max must quickly learn the necessary skills to survive if he is to avoid the deadly trap that has been planned for him and his grandfather. A trap that has been decades in the making with Max as the missing piece. If successful it will change life as we know it.

    She’s been able to see ghosts since her mother tried to murder her when she was five years old. No way does she want anyone to know she can talk to spooks. Being a foster kid is hard enough without being labeled a freak too. Normally, she just ignores the ghosts and they go away. That is until she see’s the ghost of her foster sister… Sally. Everyone thinks Sally’s just another runaway, but Mattie knows the truth—she’s dead. Murdered. Mattie feels like she has to help Sally, but she can’t do it alone. Against her better judgment, she teams up with a young policeman, Officer Dan, and together they set out to discover the real truth behind Sally’s disappearance. Only to find out she’s dealing with a much bigger problem, a serial killer, and she may be the next victim… Will Mattie be able to find out the truth before the killer finds her?

    He is my enemy. He is to be my end.He is the one I love.I have spent my life in shades of grey. I have died and returned to a world of color. I have fought an Angel and lived. I have kissed the Prince of Ravens. I have faced the Lord of Night and made him kneel. I was accepted into the Four Orders, and I created the fifth. I freed the Shadow of Rome. I sat upon the Twilight Throne.The man asks for my surrender. He asks for peace. He is too late. The girl he knew is gone, and death is in her place. I am Nightfall, and this is my story. You think you know it?Think again.

    She’s on a quest for revenge and, in her opinion, the bloodier the better. The arduous trail that she has been doggedly following for three years has led her directly into the path of Nathaniel Valour, an Irish vampyre who rules over the territory of New England. At first, she sees him as nothing more than one of the fiends she disposes of on a nightly basis, but something tells her that Nathaniel is different from every other vampyre she has ever encountered on her trail of retribution. The truth is, Nathaniel Valour is different—he is a vampyre with a secret. Upon looking into the eyes of Faelynn, Nathaniel realises that she is the one he has unknowingly been waiting for. Can Faelynn see beyond her situation and place her fragile trust in the hands of a depraved creature of the night, one she swore to destroy every last one of? If she can, Faelynn may find herself closer than ever to quenching her thirst for vengeance.This intriguing and passionate saga would be attractive to the habitual readers of Gothic literary works, paranormal romance, and horror.

    Doing all she can to keep her younger sisters safe, Aazuria tries to assimilate and work among the Americans. She tries to hold her head up high even in the lowest of places, until she meets a somber man in a dark corner with eyes that remind her of home. Trevain Murphy is a successful crab fisherman who has spent his life building an empire on the sea. When a graceful dancer captures his attention, he becomes fascinated with her old-fashioned speech and unique mannerisms. Learning that her father has recently died, he cannot resist extending his kindness in offering to guide and protect her. As it becomes clear that the dark-haired woman is much more than she seems, Trevain is unprepared to uncover the staggering secrets behind her innocent facade. Neither the captain nor the princess can imagine that their lives will become forcibly entwined as a common enemy threatens both of their worlds...

    An innocence stolen. Mortality stripped away. In a single night, everyone Roseline Dragomir has ever loved is slaughtered before her eyes. Alone in the world and bound by a solemn marriage vow to a vicious murderer, she must find a strength buried deep within her to keep going or risk completely losing herself. When a mysterious stranger crosses her path, Roseline will discover that not all immortals are evil. Some even bear emotional scars that run just as deep as her own. Will she uncover a will not just to survive...but to fight back? ***DESOLATE is the first book of the prequel trilogy to my YA paranormal romance AROTAS trilogy. This book contains elements that may be sensitive for some YA readers. Please download a sample before purchasing this book to ensure it is suitable for your teen***Desolate is book I of the Immortal Rose trilogy, prequel to the Arotas series. This series will include:DESOLATESAVAGE REFUGE

    He doesn’t know how to win the heart of the girl at the coffee shop. And he shares his home with a clan of mischievous tiny people.Yet these all turn out to be the least of his troubles.A secret race of Giants dwelling in the neighboring mountains wants Gulliver to exterminate all the Little People… or else. When folks in his hometown begin brutally dying, Gulliver must make a hard choice. But choices have consequences.And consequences, he’ll learn, come in all terrible sizes.DEAD SIZE is a comical psychological fantasy mystery thriller for fans of Christopher Moore, David Wong, and Terry Gilliam.(Advisory: this book is intended for mature audiences.)