His dark secrets drive him to take increasingly extreme risks, but he’s never lived so quite so dangerously as when he hooks up with Midcity’s most powerful prognosticator. Fawna Brady is tormented by the destinies she sees for those around her. To Fawna, knowledge of the future is a cage she’d do anything to escape. She’s stunned to discover a taste of the freedom for which she yearns at the side of Simon, the one person in the world who despises everything she is, everything she stands for. Simon’s defiant attitude toward destiny captivates Fawna, but will her love destroy him? And will Simon rush headlong into the delicious doom she offers?

    His mate, Carly, is not about to let him run off alone, and so Tiger takes her on a wild adventure for what proves to be the most important rescue mission of his life.

    Hartness. Lila Grace Carter is your favorite new detective, you just don’t know it yet. She’s determined, smart, caring, and sassy as the day is long. She also talks to dead people. Of course, as she puts it, “I’m Southern. We all talk to dead people down here. The difference is, they talk back to me.” Lila Grace has lived in Lockhart, S.C. her entire life, and has always been shunned for being different. Discovering her ability to see and talk to ghosts at an early age, she used her ability to help people settle disputes, communicate with lost loved one, and generally make life better in small ways. Until poor dead Jenny Miller showed up on her doorstep. Now Lila Grace has a teenaged ghost following her around, a handsome new sheriff in town, and a murderer in her sleepy southern town. This ain’t Mayberry, kids. Award-winning author and poet John G. Hartness has mined his southern roots for inspiration and color in this supernatural love letter to small-town Southern life. "A modern Southern Gothic with charming characters—living and dead. Hartness expertly blends a sinister, small-town murder with the warmth, humor, and innocence of a cozy mystery. Lila Grace is an entertaining amateur sleuth. Highly recommend." —E.J. Stevens, award-winning author of the Ivy Granger Psychic Detective series "More twists than a tangled ball of twine! Great fun and more Southern than grits." -Charlotte Henley Babb, author of Maven Fairy Godmother

    But Elllie’s problem is a very different kind of phenomenon...SHADOWIt ought to be attached to her; instead it has a life of its own. And her dark mirror image is a wild thing, willfully seducing the very man Ellie hoped could help.SCIENCECam has devoted his career to exploring the boundaries between this world and the Hereafter. But nothing could prepare him for the mischief and mayhem of a soul split in two.SURRENDERWho will give in first: the man struggling to unite two halves of one fascinating female; the shadow fighting for freedom to experience the thrill of every emotion; or the woman who is about to discover her own deepest desires?

     Please be our guest as the National Association of the Lycan Brotherhood hosts the seventy-eighth annual Gathering. The biggest event of the social season, the Gathering has become the favorite method of networking among packs and bringing together fated mates. At the Gathering, shifters from across the country show up to show off and to see who's the true leader of the pack. Four stories, three matings, and a homecoming five-hundred years in the making. Come and enjoy tales from the biggest shifter event of the year as wolves from around the country fall in lust, in love, and in fate at the Gathering.

    It is thus embarrassing when he is run over by a bus. It is even more embarrassing when he, and atheist, realises there is an afterlife…Resurrected on a huge flat plain, he is forced to play a deadly game. Moved as a pawn to the whim of the Gods in a fight to the death with warriors from all ages of earth’s history. Killed again and again only to be resurrected.The General, the Grim Reaper and Anubis are some of the strange beings who direct this grisly entertainment. Is it real or only in his decaying mind. Who is the Clown? It there anywhere to escape to?To retain his sanity, he must believe there is an end; an escape; a purpose. A thought-provoking story leading to an action filled climax that challenges our accepted beliefs…

    Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction — and an inspiration for a new generation of writers, spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure. Now, in the Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and bestselling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters — many of them set in their authors’ best-loved worlds. Join today’s finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R.R. Martin, K.J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Ken Liu, C.J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel.Contents:- The Best Man Wins by K.J. Parker- Her Father’s Sword by Robin Hobb- The Hidden Girl by Ken Liu- The Sword of Destiny by Matthew Hughes- "I Am a Handsome Man", Said Apollo Crow by Kate Elliott- The Triumph of Virtue by Walter Jon Williams- The Mocking Tower by Daniel Abraham- Hrunting by C.J. Cherryh- A Long, Cold Trail by Garth Nix- When I Was a Highwayman by Ellen Kushner- The Smoke of Gold Is Glory by Scott Lynch- The Colgrid Conundrum by Rich Larson- The King’s Evil by Elizabeth Bear- Waterfalling by Lavie Tidhar - The Sword Tyraste by Cecelia Holland- The Sons of the Dragon by George R.R. Martin

    This is NOT in continuity; you don't need to read it to read the novels and you don't need to have read the novels to read/understand the story (although it will probably make some of it a little clearer).THE BRAVE TALE OF MADDIE CARVER was originally published on the Paranormal Haven blog. It's been expanded and given a new ending here, and is a free holiday gift for readers.It's only 2300 words.

    Each short story cultivates a whimsical sense of imagination and reveals a mature, darker voice than previously experienced from this legendary author. In one tale the Angel of Death enjoys newfound celebrity while moonlighting as an anchorman on the network news, while in another the shortsighted ruler of a gentle realm betrays himself in dreaming of a "manageable war." Further storylines include an American librarian who discovers that, much to his surprise and sadness, he is the last living Frenchman, and rivals in a supernatural battle who decide to forgo pistols at dawn, choosing instead to duel with dramatic recitations of terrible poetry. Featuring several previously unpublished stories alongside a bevy of recently released works, this haunting compilation is appealing to both genre readers and mainstream literature lovers.Includes "By Moonlight," Locus Award-winner for Best Novelette.

    Stockbroker Juliette Bishop gets more than she bargained for when she flies to New Orleans to handle a business matter for her ailing father and comes face to face with her former lover, the handsome, yet mysterious Andre Lescarbeau.* This Sweetblood World short story (dark vampire romance) was originally published in the Mammoth Book of Southern Gothic Romance.

    What happened to Benny Imura and his friends after they reached Sanctuary—and discovered that it was far from the miracle they had thought it would be? Jonathan Maberry shares a glimpse into a formative moment in an exclusive e-short story that also features Joe Ledger (Patient Zero, Extinction Machine) and Iron Mike Sweeney (The Pine Deep Trilogy).

    RainSix years ago federal agent Samantha Moon was the perfect wife and mother, your typical soccer mom with the minivan and suburban home. Then the unthinkable happens, an attack that changes her life forever. And forever is a very long time for a vampire. Now the world at large thinks Samantha has developed a rare skin disease, a disease which forces her to quit her day job and stay out of the light of the sun. Now working the night shift as a private investigator, Samantha is hired by Kingsley Fulcrum to investigate the murder attempt on his life, a horrific scene captured on TV and seen around the country. But as the case unfolds, Samantha discovers Kingsley isn't exactly what he appears to be; after all, there is a reason why he survived five shots to the head.VAMPIRE LOVE STORYby H.T. NightJosiah Reign is a lover and a fighter. Out for a simple jog, he happens upon a young woman who needs help. So Josiah does what he does best. He takes on her attackers...all five of them, in fact. Little does Josiah know that this one act of goodwill will introduce him to a very strange world, a world of dreams...and nightmares. For this woman, Lena, is not who she seems, and her friends are the stuff of legends. Worse yet, Josiah finds himself falling for not one, but two of these deadly creatures of the night. And as Josiah suffers a devastating loss that rocks his world, he will fight for what he believes in. He will fight for his one true love. And fighting is what Josiah does best.THE VAMPIRES' LAST LOVERby Aiden JamesTxema Ybarra is the most unenviable nineteen-year-old girl alive. Smart, pretty, and athletically gifted, this University of Tennessee freshman should be enjoying college life and her entrance into adulthood. And for a moment she does…until the vampires show up. Born with an unusual ‘twin teardrop’ birthmark on her neck, Txema (pronounced Chema) is one of only a handful of females in the world who bear this trait. It marks her as a vessel of eternal youth and beauty for an elite vampire society determined to protect her precious blood….But it also is the only thing standing in the way of a rogue ‘undead’ nation determined to destroy mankind and usurp the power their sexier brethren have held uncontested for centuries.(Includes a clickable Table of Contents.)

    Exclusive Charley Davidson Short Story featured in the December 2016 newsletter.

    In happy-ever-after endings, ghosts come to life so that lovers can be united in the flesh.Contains the following novellas/short stories:The Chinese Bed by Anna CampbellOld Salt by Carolyn CraneHaints and Hobwebs by Jennifer EstepHat-Trick by Gwen CreadyGhost of Blackstone Manor by Donna FletcherSeventeen Coppers by Jeannie HolmesYours in Eternity by C.T. AdamsThe Lovers by Julia LondonA Single Girl's Guide to Getting Ahead by Liz MaverickJonquils in the Snow by Annette BlairThe Heart Thief by Cindy MilesGhost in the Machine by Dru PagliassottiThree Little Words by Christie RidgwayGhost of a Chance by Caridad PineiroIn His Hands by Sara ReinkeCan You Hear Me Now? by Sharon ShinnThe Storm by Linda Wisdom>>>--4EVR---> by Holly Lisle

     Suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous-these all-new stories will ensure that readers never think of vampires (or birthdays) in quite the same way again. In New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Dracula Night," Sookie Stackhouse is the only human at the annual commemoration of Dracula's birth. But this year, the Prince of Darkness actually shows up-and finds Sookie to be a tasty-looking present. New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden, of the Dresden Files novels, heads to a role-playing party to give his vampire brother a birthday present in "It's My Birthday Too," only to discover there are some bloodthirsty party crashers who don't share their brotherly love. In "Twilight," Cassandra DuCharme, who appeared in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's Dime Store Magic, knows she has to kill to live as a vampire another year-but finds herself disturbingly disinterested in the hunt. Plus ten more bloody good birthday stories that take the cake.Contents xi • Preface: A Few Words (Many Bloody Returns) • (2007) • essay by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner1 • Dracula Night • [Sookie Stackhouse 4.3] • shortstory by Charlaine Harris21 • The Mournful Cry of Owls • novelette by Christopher Golden50 • I Was a Teenage Vampire • novelette by Bill Crider73 • Twilight • [Women of the Otherworld Short Fiction 7.2] • novelette by Kelley Armstrong100 • It's My Birthday, Too • [The Dresden Files 9.2] • novella by Jim Butcher146 • Grave-Robbed • [Vampire Files] • novelette by P. N. Elrod176 • The First Day of the Rest of Your Life • [The Morganville Vampires: Extras 2.5] • novelette by Rachel Caine201 • The Witch and the Wicked • novelette by Jeanne C. Stein230 • Blood Wrapped • [Henry Fitzroy] • novelette by Tanya Huff254 • The Wish • shortstory by Carolyn Haines265 • Fire Ice and Linguini for Two • [Garnet Lacey 2.5] • novelette by Lyda Morehouse [as by Tate Hallaway ]290 • Vampire Hours • novelette by Elaine Viets318 • How Stella Got Her Grave Back • novelette by Toni L. P. Kelner