Anderson, and Rob Thurman—nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil..Unfortunately, that’s exactly what makes it so easy to cross the line.In #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s Cold Case, Molly Carpenter—Harry Dresden’s apprentice-turned-Winter Lady—must collect a tribute from a remote Fae colony and discovers that even if you’re a good girl, sometimes you have to be bad...New York Times bestselling author Seanan McGuire’s Sleepover finds half-succubus Elsie Harrington kidnapped by a group of desperate teenage boys. Not for anything “weird.” They just need her to rescue a little girl from the boogeyman. No biggie.In New York Times bestselling Kevin J. Anderson’s Eye of Newt, Zombie P.I. Dan Shamble’s latest client is a panicky lizard missing an eye who thinks someone wants him dead. But the truth is that someone only wants him for a very special dinner...And New York Times bestselling author Rob Thurman’s infernally heroic Caliban Leandros takes a trip down memory lane as he deals wih some overdue—and nightmarish—vengeance involving some quite nasty Impossible Monsters .ALSO INCLUDES STORIES BYTanya Huff * Kat Richardson * Jim C. Hines * Anton Strout * Lucy A. Snyder * Kristine Kathryn Rusch * Erik Scott de Bie *From the Trade Paperback edition.

    All stories can be read on their own. This collection contains the following A Real Man books: Blacksmith, Brutal, and Kilt Me. BLACKSMITH: Steel isn’t the only thing that’s hard. MADDIE Deacon was older than me, but I wanted him regardless. He had this raw edge to him, this primal aura surrounding him that made me feel wholly feminine. He was the epitome of a man…a real man. Even his profession was masculine: a blacksmith. I had no doubt he knew how to work for his hands over a woman, how to use them to make her feel the soft and hard sides of him. What I wanted was for him to be my first…my only. DEACON She thought I didn’t see her watching me, that I didn’t know she wanted me. I knew, and I wanted her with a fierceness that rivaled anything else. What Maddie didn’t know was I’d already claimed her. There was no other woman for me but her. I was a possessive bastard, territorial when it came to her. The time had finally come to make her mine. I’d show her how primal I really was, how rough I liked it, how much I wanted to make her scream my name. I’d show her how a man took care of his woman in all the ways that counted. She’d be mine. Only mine. BRUTAL: He’s loved her his entire life. AXEL She’s my best friend, my everything. She’s been the girl I’ve loved since I knew what that meant. I box—fight bloody—for a living, and at every fight she’s there, cheering me on, being mine whether she knows it or not. I’ve never been with a woman because for me she’s it. Roxie is the only one I’ll ever want. Enough time has passed. It’s time I told Roxie how I feel, because there’s no way I can hold in my feelings any longer. ROXIE I want to think the looks, the possessiveness that comes from him means he wants me the same way I want him. He’s been in my life for longer than I can remember, and I never want that to change. I’ll be with him until the end. My love for him runs so deep, so strong I can’t breathe at times. I watch as he pushes other girls away, his gaze locked on mine as if he’s trying to tell me there isn’t anyone else for him. But I’m afraid to turn our relationship from friends to lovers. I’m afraid of crossing that line that could ruin what we have. KILT ME: He’ll show her exactly what’s under his kilt. MOLLY The first time I saw Mr. McGowan, he was walking into our class wearing a kilt. Our substitute professor, was big and brooding, masculine, and had a sexy Scottish brogue going on. Maybe I didn’t need that extra tutoring, but I sure as hell wanted it. ALASTAIR I noticed Molly the moment I stepped into the classroom. She was the wee lass with the fire-colored hair, the intense green eyes, and a body that had me burning alive. I didn’t want to look away from her because I knew she was mine. Maybe there was a rule about staff not fraternizing with students. But given that I’m just the substitute professor, and that I wanted her like a fiend, I was about to cross some lines and break some rules.

    Only in the woods, among the wildlife, is Addison truly welcome. Only there can he be at peace. Until the day he first knows terror, the day when his life changes radically and forever....Twelve of the other fourteen short stories and novelettes included in this audio anthology were most recently reissued in a print collection entitled Strange Highways, published by Warner Books (1995). The other two—"The Scariest Thing I Know" (2000) first published in Martha Stewart Living magazine and "Hostage Situation" (2009) in The New York Times Summer Thriller series.Only the short work "Down in the Darkness," has ever been produced for audio.

    These are the Savage North Chronicles. Over 2,000 pages of superhuman abilities, harrowing adventures, and heartwarming moments that will give you all the feels. Savage North Chronicles Reading Order:1. THE DARKEST WINTERElle - Haunting shadows are nothing new to Elle St. James, she’s been running from them all her life. But since the outbreak spread from the lower forty-eight, new monsters lurk in the darkness. After Elle wakes from the fever, capable of horrific deeds, she fears she’s one of them.Jackson - After the world goes mad and takes his family with it, Jackson Mitchell tosses aside his badge and decides a bottle of bourbon and the depths of despair are preferable to any semblance of living. All of that changes, however, when a group of young survivors are in dire need of his help and Jackson sacrifices his blissful oblivion in order to keep them safe.Brought together under the worst possible circumstances, Elle and Jackson must face the inexplicable realities of the new world. Their past lives are over, and the arctic isn’t all that’s savage anymore.1.5 THE LONGEST NIGHT, prequel novellaLife seemed complicated for Sophie when she had teen pregnancy and her squeaky-clean reputation as the mayor’s daughter to worry about. Now, everything is changed. Bloodcurdling screams pierce the night air and lurid memories haunt feverish dreams.Alex is the new kid from the wrong side of the tracks, and it’s all he can do to keep his head down until his eighteenth birthday when he can leave his life in foster care behind him. But Alex doesn’t realize he and the quiet girl from class with lonely, blue eyes are fated in the most impossible way imaginable.2. MIDNIGHT SUNThe six of them survived the Alaskan winter after the Virus devastated the North, but summer in the land of the midnight sun is fraught with a brutality of its own—long, grueling days, mosquito-ridden evenings, and woods with lurking shadows more dangerous than grizzlies.2.5. FADING SHADOWSCrazed survivors and Ability-hungry madmen aren’t the only repercussions of the Virus, and when a new, unforeseen danger threatens the townspeople, Kat must embrace her unharnessed Ability she’s been trying for years to avoid.3. UNTAMEDBeau has learned to embrace his Ability, but when he loses his best friend, Beau’s world crumbles all over again. Brokenhearted, he embarks on a transformative journey of self-discovery, fraught with danger and adventure, and most unexpectedly, love. But the scars left in the wake of the Virus run deeper than Beau can possibly imagine.4. UNBROKENThea fears the moment she’ll have to use her telekinesis again. After all, the mere flick of her wrist in the heat of the moment could prove fatal for someone she loves, and she already has enough blood on her hands to last her a lifetime. So, Thea jumps at the chance to shrug off the shadows of her youth and prove to herself she’s unbroken.Hunter and Thea have never gotten along, and three weeks together could be Hunter’s undoing...just not in the way he’s expecting.

    Chapters: Harrison Bergeron, Epicac, 2br02b, Welcome to the Monkey House, Miss Temptation, Report on the Barnhouse Effect, All the King's Horses, Who Am I This Time?, Deer in the Works. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt: "Harrison Bergeron" is a satirical, dystopian science fiction short story written by Kurt Vonnegut and first published in October 1961. Originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, the story was re-published in the author's collection, Welcome to the Monkey House in 1968. In the story, social equality has been achieved by handicapping the more intelligent, athletic or beautiful members of society. For example, strength is handicapped by the requirement to carry weight, beauty by the requirement to wear a mask and so on. This is due to the 211th, 212th, and 213th amendments to the United States Constitution. This process is central to the society, designed so that no one will feel inferior to anyone else. Handicapping is overseen by the United States Handicapper General, Diana Moon-Glampers. Harrison Bergeron, the protagonist of the story, has exceptional intelligence, strength, and beauty, and thus has to bear enormous handicaps. These include headphones that play distracting noises, three hundred pounds of weight strapped to his body, eyeglasses designed to give him headaches, a rubber ball on his nose, black caps on his teeth, and shaven eyebrows. Despite these societal handicaps, he is able to invade a TV station, declare himself Emperor, strip himself of his handicaps, then dance with a ballerina whose handicaps he has also discarded. Both are shot dead by the brutal and relentless Handicapper General. The story is framed by an additional perspective from Bergeron's parents, who are w...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=18941

    Winston K. Marks (1915-1979) is one such unjustly forgotten author.Included here are 12 science fiction stories, published between 1953 and 1959, representing some of his best work:THE WATER EATER (1953)UNBEGOTTEN CHILD (1953)…SO THEY BAKED A CAKE (1954)BACKLASH (1954)TABBY (1954)BREEDER REACTION (1954)FORSYTE'S RETREAT (1954)MATE IN TWO MOVES (1954)THE TEST COLONY (1954)BROWN JOHN’S BODY (1955)THE MIND DIGGER (1958)THE DEADLY DAUGHTERS (1958)If you enjoy this book, search your favorite ebook store for "Wildside Press Megapack" to see the more than 100 other entries in the series, covering science fiction, modern authors, mysteries, westerns, classics, adventure stories, and much, much more!

    The desert skies are swarming with howlingred things. Has the weather gone mad? Or is something unearthly attacking the West Coast? Rushing from his Fortress of Solitude in the North Pole, the Man of Bronze prepares to confront a threat to humanity unlike any he has everfaced! Pulp writer Will Murray—author of seven previous Doc Savage adventures—once again teams up with legendary series creator Lester Dent to bring back to life the seminal scientist-superman who starred in his own best-selling pulp magazine back in the 1930s. Doc Savage returns. For real.

    But amid this civilization, a shadow took root, one that would stretch its arms across space and time. Amid this ancient civilization's advances, the hideous evil of Phyrexia was born.Years later, a conflict between the brothers Urza and Mishra over the supremacy on the continent of Terisiaire escalates with the discovery of an ancient artifact, a remnant of the Thran, but with it comes the peril that befell them. The classic origin story of planeswalker Urza sets the stage for the new age of Magic. This single volume represents two of the most popular Magic stories.Contents: The Brothers' War [Artifacts Cycle • 1] [Magic: The Gathering • 4] (1998) / novel by Jeff Grubb: Dominarian legends speak of a mighty conflict, obscured by the mists of history. Of a conflict between the brothers Urza and Mishra for supremacy on the continent of Terisiare. Of titantic engines that scarred and twisted the very planet. Of a final battle that sank continents and shook the skies. The Thran [Magic: The Gathering • 11] (1999) / novel by J. Robert King: Before the Brothers' War. Before the five colors of magic. Before history itself, the plane of Dominaira was ruled by the Thran. They built machines and artifacts, the likes of which have never since been seen. But amid this civilization, a shadow took root, one that would stretch its arms across space and time.

    When the traitor’s Primarch – the Night Haunter – issues a challenge, Lion’El Johnson of the Dark Angels descends to an abandoned world for a final confrontation with his treacherous brother. But the Night Haunter has a darker purpose...A short story from the Age of Darkness anthology.

    It has been a big success, drawing submissions from well-known sf and fantasy writers, as well as fostering some amazing new talents. This collection contains some of the best of those stories from the past year.There is fiction from David Farber, Tim Pratt, and David Lubar among others, also four new Ender's Game universe stories by Card himself. This collection is sure to appeal to Card's fans, and be a great ambassador to them for these other talented writers.

    After nine long years of trying to grow their family into the perfect dream come true, fated mates, Ryan and Layna, are ready to give up. Not on each other but on their dreams. When they're given the chance to help an abandoned baby temporarily, they're faced with a pain harsher than what they've already been through. The pain of hope. But this little one isn't what any of them expected, and when the fiery truth comes out, hearts are bound to melt.A visit from a shadow of Christmas past, a lost child, and the reunion P. Jameson fans have been asking for, all wrapped up with a shiny bow as we revisit the Ouachitas in Merrily Ever After.

    Here are 25 stories (plus a bonus interview with best-selling author George R.R. Martin) by some of the field's greatest authors. Included are:THE TRUE DARKNESS, by Pamela SargentPERMANENT FATAL ERRORS, by Jay LakeADJUSTMENT TEAM, by Philip K. DickROBOTS DON’T CRY, by Mike ResnickNO GREAT MAGIC, by Fritz LeiberESCAPE HATCH, by Brenda W. CloughBACKLASH, by Winston K. MarksTHE PICK-UP, by Lawrence Watt-EvansPOPULATION IMPLOSION, by Andrew J. OffuttWAY DOWN EAST, by Tim SullivanTHROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT: 28, by Grendel BriartonTO INVADE NEW YORK, by Irwin LewisTHEY WERE THE WIND, by C.J. HendersonSTOPOVER, by William GerkenCONSEQUENCES OF STEAM, by Michael HemmingsonOUTSIDE LOOKING IN, by Mark E. BurgessDEAD WORLD, by Jack DouglasNEFERTITI'S TENTH LIFE, by Mary A. TurzilloQUICKSILVER, by Lonni LeesAFTER ALL, by Robert ReginaldTHE BARBARIANS, by Algis BudrysEX MACHINA, by Cynthia WardMONKEY ON HIS BACK, by Charles V. De VetTHE SURVIVORS, by Tom GodwinTHROUGH TIME AND SPACE WITH FERDINAND FEGHOOT: 99, by Grendel BriartonSPEAKING WITH GEORGE R.R. MARTIN: Interview conducted by Darrell SchweitzerAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Megapack" to see more entries in this series, covering classic authors and subjects like mysteries, science fiction, westerns, ghost stories -- and much, much more!

     Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection If You Liked School, You'll Love Work.