Featuring eleven brand new, never before seen urban fantasy stories from bestselling, award-winning authors, Urban Magic will take you on a series of exciting adventures in worlds full of magic. All proceeds from sales of this anthology will go to the American Library Association Disaster Relief Fund, which helps libraries recover after natural disasters.

    'Do you need to fear the Grim Reaper? Is death the end or is it merely a point in a journey? What are the facts?' RUSSELL LEE investigates and uncovers the truth.

     The individuals whose experiences you are about to read know that only too well, since nothing in their lives had prepared them for their encounters with things that are not supposed to happen — but did! Events like these remain hidden because those they happen to are afraid to speak out of a natural reluctance to have their sincerity or sanity questioned. Societies define their own realities and those who challenge them do so at their own peril. The moral seems to be that where these kinds of events are concerned, ignorance is the best policy. Ignorance, of course, will not stop people from having strange, inexplicable experiences. Mysterious stuff will continue to fall out of the sky. People will continue to have bizarre UFO encounters. Little men, monsters, talking mongooses and invisible presences won't stop their determined trespassing into our reality. While most of the world turns a deaf ear to these dimensions of experience, FATE has been listening. And a great number of people have shared their stories with FATE. You are about to read the strangest of them, the reports that represent the greatest challenge to science, reason and understanding. What you will find here, in The World's Strangest True Stories, is nothing less than a full, unobstructed view of these other realities, tantalizing glimpses of things that don't belong here, of worlds not our own...

    Howard (creator of Conan the Barbarian), Clarence E. Mulford (creator of Hopalong Cassidy), and many more.The western tales are:“A Texan Rides the Trouble Trail,” by Johnston McCulley “Sixguns to Bowie,” by Robert J. Hogan “The Drive,” by Clarence E. Mulford “Thieves of Black Rock Desert,” by Bill Anson “Long Sam Jumps the Devil,” by Lee Bond “Gun-Whipped!,” by Carmony Gove “Easy Money,” by Ben Frank “The Trail Trap,” by T. W. Ford "Ride Proud, Rebel!" by Andre Norton “Long Sam Collects,” by Lee Bond “Mitigating Circumstances,” by Lon Williams “Night of the Thirteenth,” by J. Allan Dunn “A Lonely Ride,” by Bret Harte “Trumpets West!” by Luke Short “Pay Out West," by Thomas Thursday The Virginian, by Owen Wister “The Spirit of the Range,” by B. M. Bower “Mountain Man,” by Robert E. Howard “Guns of the Mountains,” by Robert E. Howard “Don’t Frame a Red Head,” by Clarence E. Mulford “Ranger Out of Bounds,” by Johnston McCulley “Ranger Style,” by J. Allan Dunn “Plumb Amusing,” by Jackson Cole “Long Sam’s Singing Six-Guns,” by Lee BondAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for "Megapack" to see other volumes in this series, from westerns to science fiction to ghost stories to mysteries...and many more!

    Down on his luck and desperate to make quota, Jacoby happens upon a “cherry rock”. The kind that wouldn’t just meet his quota but put him into a sizeable financial bonus. But there’s a problem. A scan shows a sizeable hollow cavity inside, and company procedures are clear: voids must be drilled and tested for potentially explosive gases. That would mean handing it over to a specialty drilling team, and thus, kissing his payday goodbye. Refusing to hand his financial future away, Jacoby ignores his terminal’s warning and stakes his claim. Except, his saw cuts into more than just rock.Something was inside… something alive. Jacoby quickly learns that some rocks are hiding more than just precious minerals and trace metals. And when some things are set loose, there is no putting them back.Mankind will never be the same.

    Mike and his cousin, Salvatore “Sally-Boy” Boccanera are born one minute apart, in the same hospital, and it seems like they’ll never be more than a minute apart the rest of their lives. Their experiences knocking around the city are challenging, funny, touching, and at times disturbing—all of the ingredients that define growing up. Life lessons happen in the Italian bakery Sally-Boy’s father owns, where the boys loll and play, with ears and eyes wide open. But maybe the biggest lesson of all looms over Mike’s father, who’s determined to make drastic changes in pursuit of a better life. Hanging in the balance, at the center of the boys’ tumultuous lives, is the fire escape. It’s a place that is uniquely theirs, and Mike best describes its spell, recalling how it reeks in the rain, blisters in the sun, and ices over in the snow. It’s where he and Sally-Boy talk and think and philosophize and plot and try to understand all they can about themselves and the world.

    If you already own these books, please do not purchase this book. * * * Alaric's Perfect Mate (Saber Chronicles Book One) Saber-toothed tiger shifter Alaric Carmichael has been having mating dreams for the last year. He begins to think it’s a lost cause, until one night when he scents his mate in the crowd. Now, Alaric has a new purpose in life: making his mate deliriously happy. It’s a good thing she likes the way he purrs. Contains m/f interaction, a rare shifter, and the human who makes him purr. * * * Slade's Feisty Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Two) Gretchen never expected her mate to purr, but she’s thrilled she’s found her truemate. She’s always thought of wolves as being the most awesome shifters because of their hunting skills and pretty fur coats, but she’s beginning to think that saber-tooth tigers are pretty awesome too. Especially her truemate, who thinks she smells like butterscotch and likes how feisty she is. * * * Caleb's Tempting Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Three) As vampire master of the city of Belle Terra, Caleb Night has seen just about everything. When a gorgeous saber-tooth tigress female finds him in his private club, he knows he’s staring into the golden eyes of his truemate. He never expected his truemate to be a shifter, but nothing makes him hotter than when she purrs. * * * Galen's Lovely Mate (Saber Chronicles Book Four) Fairy Serena Fontaine has been away from the Belle Terra Supernatural Hotel for a week when she has a dream urging her to return to town. As she draws close to the arena where the were-fights are being held, she has a vision of a saber-tooth tiger and passes out. She wakes up in the arms of her truemate, a gorgeous saber shifter.

    He would travel the world in his magnificent flying chariot, the Pushpaka Vimana, which had been gifted to him by his great-grandfather Brahma. Lanka enjoyed an age of peace and prosperity under Kubera's reign. But all that changed when his fearsome half-brother Dasagriva, the leader of the rakshasas, decided to claim the city as his own. Amar Chitra Katha pieces together from various sources in Indian mythology, the story of the Lord of Wealth.

    Like murder.Esme Gardner isn’t a trend setter—or a trend follower, for that matter. She likes her comfortably messy apartment, insists on a reliable internet connection at all times, and has never baked a loaf of sourdough bread or knit a pair of mittens in her life. Esme is a potato chip loving artist who appreciates a good walk-in closet.When her new friend, Ethan MacKinnon, proposes that she join him to spend Christmas in a tiny house in the middle of nowhere so that they can make money blogging about their ‘tiny house experience,’ Esme is not the least bit interested. Unfortunately, she needs money, and the job pays well, so with a little push from her friend Charlotte, Esme heads out to the tiny house on Big Wolf Lake with Ethan—a man she barely knows.Pretending to be into minimalism isn’t easy, but their job is to demonstrate the joys of hygge—the Danish art of coziness—so Esme and Ethan press on and things are actually going pretty well . . . until they discover a body. Things take a turn for the worse when the pair realizes that they’re snowed in…with a murderer on the loose.Can they solve the crime and nab the killer in time for Christmas?

    Sheltered by a potter the boy grew up with the prophecy of a wandering sage ringing in his ears that he would one day become king. The Sanskrit classic, Kathasaritasagar and Vikrama Charita, from which most of this story is taken, traces the path that makes Shalivahana so powerful that an entire era, the Shalivahana Shaka, was named after him.

    

    Basically good old fashioned smut. They are twisted fairytales but are NOT Dark Erotic in nature. If you're looking for a sweet, traditional romance this probably isn't for you. *HER BEAST* Low on money and needing to help her ill sister, Belle joins an elite escort service. Although being with strange men sexually is not something she would have ever thought she'd be doing, Belle is desperate.Her first night on the job lands her in the home of elusive businessman Jackson "The Beast" Brass. He's a man she has lusted after quietly for the last year, but she knows they could have never been together in more than a professional way. But tonight anything goes.Although still one of the wealthiest men in the country, Jackson now isolates himself due to being badly scarred from an automobile accident. He knows who Belle is, and has wanted her for longer than he cares to admit. He just hopes she's ready to experience the darker side of pleasure, because tonight Jackson will give her more than she can handle. *LITTLE BEAUTY* He's been watching her. She just doesn't realize it.After passing out at a frat party, Aurora wakes to find herself in a strange bedroom. Frightened at what happened to her, she realizes she isn't alone, but in the apartment of her chemistry professor, a man that frightens and arouses her.Grey Dawson has had his eye on Aurora for the last several months. Some would say he was obsessed, but Grey knew what he felt. They were true and real emotions, and Aurora needed to realize that she felt them, too. He watches her, knows her schedule, and when their eyes lock he knows she has to feel the same way that he does. Grey will not stop until he possesses her completely. *RED'S WOLF*  After leaving a costume party, Red gets lost and finds herself deep within the woods that surround her town. With her fear of not knowing where she comes to the realization that she is being stalked. The harder and faster she runs, the more she feels like the prey to a very deadly predator.And then she is caught, and she has nowhere to hide. The man that comes out of the darkness is naked, massive in form, and seems feral. He is solely focused on her, yet he doesn't touch her. The way he watches Red inhales her scent like he is trying to imprint her into his body, makes her feel shockingly aroused.He doesn't seem to want to hurt her, but to mate with her, like a beast in the wild claiming his woman. Red should be fighting for her life to escape, not submitting to a man that has these kinds of sexual needs moving through her like a violent animal.

     In a world of power plays, and safewords, only the strongest can find pleasure in submission. From strangers passing in the night, to lifetime loves that spark with new life; join us in the intriguing world of BDSM. No is not a safeword, and this deal is only available for a limited time! The Sub That Got Away by: Amy J Hawthorn Out of Order by: Bella Juarez Make Believe Submissive by: Daisy Philips Under His Protection by: Doris O'Connor Submitting To Temptation by: Jan Graham Broken by: Julia Sykes Fire and Ice by: Juliet Braddock Submission Dance by: Lori King Yes, Justin by: Michele Zurlo Surrender Her Inhibitions by: Nicole Morgan In His Hands by: Raven McAllan Indulge by: Sherri Hayes

    There’s just one catch. It has to be ready for Valentine’s Day launch. Holy jingle bells!Annoyed with her daughter’s annual trip to the Underworld, Demi decides to crash Hades’ party at the Elysian Club, but she finds out she’s not as immune to the hot, writhing bodies as she thought. Especially one body in particular…Nick is a polar bear shifter on Hades’ indentured payroll. When he catches sight of a sexy goddess in the throng of festive nightclub goers, he knows this won’t be a holiday party he’ll soon forget.

    But what of its opposite -- the moment when it becomes clear that things are indisputably over? Dumped is a survey of every type of romantic crack-up, a group of stories full of the hilarity, wisdom, insight, and sometimes, yes, fierce revenges of some of the most memorable broken hearts in recent literature. Dumped sheds light on what can be the toughest part of human relations -- whether newly elucidating the misery we've all endured, or merely reminding us that others have had it far worse -- from the mother in Elizabeth Berg's Open House absurdly attempting to tell her son his father has left, to the betrayed wife in Roald Dahl's "Lamb to Slaughter," who beats her husband to death with a leg of lamb, then cooks it for the police. With contributions from such notable authors as Will Self, Saul Bellow, Alice Munro, Raymond Carver, Lorrie Moore, Dorothy Parker, Andre Dubus, and Tobias Wolff, as well as rising stars like Lucinda Rosenfeld and Steve Almond, Dumped spans every variety of romantic catastrophe and every possible response to it; from the wise to the hilarious, the bitter to the bittersweet. This book is the panacea for problems of the heart.