But Newberry faces a danger of another kind: to his heart, by the woman forced to marry him. What will it take for this prudish bounder to convince his wife to stay?Vixen by Jill Myles - A shifter novella of 15,000 words: Miko's denied her were-fox nature for far too long and turned her back on her vixen heritage. But when she meets two very sexy cat-shifters, she has to decide if she truly wants to give up on her frisky side, or embrace it. Because the were-fox in her doesn't want to choose between both men...it wants them both. Kitten-tiger & the Monk by Carolyn Crane - A Disillusionists novella of 20,000 words: Sophia Sidway, Midcity's most dangerous memory revisionist, seeks out the mysterious Monk in the wasteland beneath the Tangle turnpike, hoping for redemption...but it turns out that the Monk is not all that pious, and the turnpike is no turnpike at all.

    But first they'll have to overcome some very unusual residents of the hills and valleys. One is David Drake's unforgettable creation, Old Nathan the Wizard. He doesn't claim much for his magical powers, but they're real enough for what they are-and besides, he hasn't forgotten how to use his long flintlock rifle. Enter the gritty, realistic world of Old Nathan, a backwoodsman who talks to animals and says he'll face the Devil himself-and who in the end will have to face the Devil in very fact. A century later, very different interlopers, from criminals to snooping college professors, are poking around the hills, up to no good. But a very unusual family, the Hogbens, are likely to cause more trouble than unwelcome visitors can handle, as Henry Kuttner relates. They're a family of mutants, with very unusual powers, and city folk who cause trouble are likely to suddenly find unbelievable-and unpleasant-things happening to them. But not all of the trouble is caused by humans, as the Slade family find out when Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor relate how a Kentucky family finds itself caught in the middle of a struggle between battling groups of the creatures who live deep underground and are the basis from the old legends of gnomes. The Slades have to make sure that the right gnomes win-or an earthquake will wipe out everyone in at least four states. Magic, mutants, and mountain folk add up to an unusual volume, with adventure ranging from the grim and eerie to the wildly comic.

    Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the grey harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song.Contents:Uncle Dobbin's Parrot FairThe Stone DrumTimeskipFreewheelingThat Explains PolandRomano DromThe Sacred FireWinter Was HardPity the MonstersGhosts of Wind and ShadowThe Conjure ManSmall DeathsThe Moon is Drowning While I SleepIn the House of My EnemyBut for the Grace Go IBridgesOur Lady of the HarbourPaperjackTallulah

    Includes:Jim Shepard’s "Tedford and the Megalodon"Glen David Gold’s "The Tears of Squonk, and What Happened Thereafter"Dan Chaon’s "The Bees"Kelly Link’s "Catskin"Elmore Leonard’s "How Carlos Webster Changed His Name to Carl and Became a Famous Oklahoma Lawman"Carol Emshwiller’s "The General"Neil Gaiman’s "Closing Time"Nick Hornby’s "Otherwise Pandemonium"Stephen King’s "The Tale of Gray Dick"Michael Crichton’s "Blood Doesn’t Come Out"Laurie King’s "Weaving the Dark"Chris Offutt’s "Chuck’s Bucket"Dave Eggers’s "Up the Mountain Coming Down Slowly"Michael Moorcock’s "The Case of the Nazi Canary"Aimee Bender’s "The Case of the Salt and Pepper Shakers"Harlan Ellison’s "Goodbye to All That"Karen Joy Fowler’s "Private Grave 9"Rick Moody’s "The Albertine Notes"Michael Chabon’s "The Martian Agent, a Planetary Romance"Sherman Alexie’s "Ghost Dance"

    Pursued for a secret he does not possess and with the fleet at his heels, he has but one thought: to stay alive. His pursuers aren’t inclined to sit down and talk, although that’s not the end of Elei’s troubles. The two powerful parasites inhabiting his body, at a balance until now, choose this moment to bring him down, leaving Elei with no choice but to trust in people he hardly knows. It won’t be long before he realizes he must find out this deadly secret — a secret that might change the fate of his world and everything he has ever known — or die trying.

    Here are seventeen shopping trips you?ll never forget, from a store that sells the highest quality familiars?to the non-magical daughter of a magic-filled family who is left to mind the family jewelry store though she has no means to defeat an enchanting thief?to a woman running a Wiccan supply store who is suddenly faced with an IRS audit?

    With an invisible monster you never know when you're in danger and when you're safe—if you retreat to your fortress you can't be sure you haven't locked it in with you. The invisible monster is something on which no one is an expert. But everyone has the same relationship to it. It could just as well be peering over your shoulder as mine.On a sunny spring morning the settlement of Kahukura in Tasman is suddenly overwhelmed by a mysterious mass insanity. A handful of survivors find themselves cut off from the world, and surrounded by the dead. As the group of try to take care of one another, and survive in ever more difficult circumstances, it becomes apparent that this isn't the first time that this has happened, and that they aren't all survivors and victims - two of them are something quite other. And, it seems, they are trapped with something. Something unseen is picking at the loose threads of their characters, corrupting, provoking, and haunting them.Wake is a book that asks: 'What are the last things left when the worst has happened?' It is a book about extreme events, ordinary people, heroic compassion—and invisible monsters.

    It is not an easy task, for many dangers threaten the bridge builders, from nomad raiders to Free Magic sorcerers. Despite the danger, Morghan wants nothing more than to join the Bridge Company as a cadet. But the company takes only the best, the most skillful Charter mages, and trains them hard, for the night might come when only a single young cadet must hold the bridge against many foes. Will Morghan be that cadet?Also included in this collection are eighteen short stories that showcase Nix’s versatility as he adds a fantastical twist on an array of genres including science fiction, paranormal, realistic fiction, mystery, and adventure.

    For two hundred years the city has sustained this barrier by harvesting its children's innate magical energy when they reach adolescence. When it’s Lark’s turn to be harvested, she finds herself trapped in a nightmarish web of experiments and learns she is something out of legend itself: a Renewable, able to regenerate her own power after it’s been stripped.Forced to flee the only home she knows to avoid life as a human battery, Lark must fight her way through the terrible wilderness beyond the edge of the world. With the city’s clockwork creations close on her heels and a strange wild boy stalking her in the countryside, she must move quickly if she is to have any hope of survival. She’s heard the stories that somewhere to the west are others like her, hidden in secret—but can she stay alive long enough to find them?

    You'll recognize Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and other enduring characters, but they'll exist in realms beyond your imagination, where the familiar is transformed into the extraordinary and otherworldly.Contents:Taken in Death / J.D. Robb --If Wishes Were Horses / Mary Blayney --Beauty, Sleeping / Elaine Fox --The Christmas Comet / Mary Kay McComas --Stroke of Midnight / R.C. Ryan.

    This spellbinding collection is a must for fans of classic SF. - Publishers WeeklyWith the publication of his first story, 'The Coldest Place', in 1964 Larry Niven launched one of the most important careers in the history of science fiction. Over the next decade his stunning hard science fiction won four short fiction Hugo Awards and both the Hugo and Nebula Awards for his all-time classic novel, Ringworld.But it was the short stories that amazed and astounded first. Stories like 'The Coldest Place', 'Becalmed in Hell', 'Neutron Star', and 'All the Myriad Ways' set the boundaries for 'Known Space', one of science fiction s grandest future histories, while Niven also explored the classic tavern story in his 'Draco's Tavern' sequence and even fantasy in his 'Magic Goes Away' stories.Astoundingly, there has never been a single compendium the focused solely on Niven's best short fiction until now. The Best of Larry Niven collects no less than twenty seven stories written over a period of thirty-five years, bringing together some of the best-loved stories in science fiction for the first time, along with some overlooked classics. Whether this is your first time in Known Space or you're visiting old friends in Draco's Tavern, The Best of Larry Niven is unforgettable.Contents:9 • Introduction (The Best of Larry Niven) • essay by Jerry Pournelle11 • Becalmed in Hell • [Known Space] • (1965) • shortstory by Larry Niven25 • Bordered in Black • (1966) • shortstory by Larry Niven45 • Neutron Star • [Known Space] • (1966) • novelette by Larry Niven63 • The Soft Weapon • [Known Space] • (1967) • novelette by Larry Niven113 • The Jigsaw Man • [Known Space] • (1967) • shortstory by Larry Niven125 • The Deadlier Weapon • non-genre • (1968) • shortstory by Larry Niven135 • All the Myriad Ways • [Time Travel - Parallel Universe] • (1968) • shortstory by Larry Niven145 • Not Long Before the End • [Magic Goes Away] • (1969) • shortstory by Larry Niven157 • Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex • (1969) • essay by Larry Niven165 • Inconstant Moon • (1971) • novelette by Larry Niven191 • Rammer • [State] • (1971) • novelette by Larry Niven219 • Cloak of Anarchy • [Known Space] • (1972) • shortstory by Larry Niven239 • The Fourth Profession • (1971) • novelette by Larry Niven285 • Flash Crowd • [Teleportation] • (1973) • novella by Larry Niven337 • The Defenseless Dead • [Gil Hamilton] • (1973) • novelette by Larry Niven381 • The Flight of the Horse • [Svetz] • (1969) • shortstory by Larry Niven395 • The Hole Man • (1974) • shortstory by Larry Niven409 • Night on Mispec Moor • [State] • (1974) • shortstory by Larry Niven421 • Flatlander • [Known Space] • (1967) • novelette by Larry Niven459 • The Magic Goes Away • [Magic Goes Away • 1] • (1978) • novel by Larry Niven523 • Cautionary Tales • (1978) • shortstory by Larry Niven527 • Limits • [Draco Tavern] • (1981) • shortstory by Larry Niven533 • A Teardrop Falls • [Berserker] • (1983) • shortstory by Larry Niven545 • The Return of William Proxmire • (1989) • shortstory by Larry Niven555 • The Borderland of Sol • [Known Space] • (1975) • novelette by Larry Niven595 • Smut Talk • [Draco Tavern] • (2000) • shortstory by Larry Niven605 • The Missing Mass • [Draco Tavern] • (2000) • shortstory by Larry NivenCover art by Edward Miller

    No technology. No nothing.A deadly EMP obliterates the nation's power grid.The survivors must rely on themselves, their courage, and wit, while enduring horrific hardships.Joe Buck is on a collision course with a life altering event. He’ll need to rely on his skills to survive the catastrophic EMP about to unfold as he’s working behind the scenes of his blue collar job at the Super Bowl. Breakout country singer, and small-town girl Lexi Carter is on the same trajectory. She has just finished singing a well-received rendition of the National Anthem at the Super Bowl. It’s 5:23 pm and Ethan Crossfield, the lead pilot of the Blue Angels, has NRG Stadium in his sights, packed with thousands of people as he streaks across the sky at mind numbing speeds, moments before his flyover.The crowd is raucous.The performances were meticulously rehearsed, finely tuned down to the second, and should have gone off without a hitch. Except for one surprise glitch: An EMP.During the chaos and the ensuing struggle to survive, society collapses faster than expected, and an unlikely hero emerges, unknowingly stalked by powerful and ruthless people willing to kill at all costs to maintain the secrecy of their diabolical plot.Find out who is left standing in this fast-paced and thrilling first installment in the World on Edge series.

    Let's face it-some bonds are made to be broken.Here, for the first time ever, are four stories from today's most provocative authors that take the classic idea of the "faerie tale wedding" and give it a swift kick in the bustle.“Can He Bake a Cherry Pie?” by Laurell K. Hamilton.“The Shadow of Mist” by Yasmine Galenorn.“The Tangleroot Palace” by Marjorie M. Liu.“The Wrong Bridegroom” by Sharon Shinn.

    They explore events mentioned in the novels, characters seen and unseen and may include novel teasers of things to come. This volume includes:Darkest before Darkwater by Tee MorrisA group of survivors from the airship Guy Fawkes find themselves washed ashore on an uncharted island. In their search for survival they uncover one mystery after another.The Shadows of Calcutta by Phil RossiAgent Robert Smith, on return from a mission in Nepal, is diverted to India where he is charged to find a missing agent. Alex Tanner had been investigating a series of thefts and murders holding the Ministry’s attention, and now it falls on Agent Smith to find his missing comrade.Night's Plutonian Shore by Jack ManganIn 1849 when a poet is murdered in the streets of Baltimore. The man behind the seemingly random murder manages to elude the law until — in 1889 — Agents Bruce Campbell and Brandon Hill track him down. The assassin, Mikael Scharnusser, gives the slip to the agents on revealing his “talent” and the madman’s intentions to bring down the House of Usher.The Seven by P.C. HaringAgent Brandon Hill is on assignment in South America, enjoying the local culture and women, when a mystery that could lead to El Dorado falls into his lap. Before the intrepid agent knows it, he is the jungle uncovering a plot but the devilish Illuminati. He will need all his monkey knife fighting skills to survive this one.

    Includes the award-winning first three novels. HUNTED #1'My name is Lucas Soul. Today, I died again. This is my fifteenth death in the last four hundred and fifty years.'WARRIOR #2The perfect Immortal warrior. A set of stolen, priceless artifacts. An ancient sect determined to bring about the downfall of human civilization.EMPIRE #3An immortal healer. An ancient empire reborn. A chain of cataclysmic events that threatens to change the fate of the world.If you like high-octane adventures that combine science and a dose of the paranormal, then you'll love the world of Seventeen.The Seventeen Series novels in orderHunted #1 - previously published as Soul MeaningWarrior #2 - previously published as King's CrusadeEmpire #3 - previously published as Greene's CallingLegacy #4 - previously published as AshstormThe Seventeen Series short stories in orderFirst Death #1Dancing Blades #2The Meeting #3The Warrior Monk #4The Hunger #5The Bank Job #6BoxsetsThe Seventeen Series Collection Novels #1-3The Seventeen Series Short Story Collection #1-3The Seventeen Series Short Story Collection #4-6 (Coming Soon)The Seventeen Series Ultimate Short Story Collection #1-6 (Coming Soon)