In Ireland, an unexpected reunion takes a terrible turn. In Australia, the tides are changing while those involved never stop watching. In Mexico, fear brings uncertainty into a once strong relationship. And in the United States, worlds are about to collide.1/27 answers the important question: What happens next?

     Gingerbread houses, caroling carolers, brightly trimmed trees, big family dinners, pristine snowfalls-the familiar pleasures of the season. But what better pleasure is there than a good holiday story? So open this winter solstice sampler and indulge in fully festive fantasies, nightmares before Christmas, and stunning space-age celebrations. These stories will warm hearts and minds like a blazing Yule log. Fantastic Holiday Stories by Kevin J. Anderson, Mercedes Lackey, Mike Resnick, Kristine Rusch, Jonathan Maberry, Eric James Stone, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Quincy J. Allen, Ken Scholes, Sam Knight, David Boop, Heather Graham, Brad R. Torgersen, and Patricia Briggs.

    Fever brings the two stories together for the first time in one volume, a one-way ticket to a dizzying new world of desire.In "The Awakening," a beautiful naturalist's dream comes true-to live among the feral jungle creatures. But an untamed, irresistible beast of another sort inspires her to explore her own wild side. Wild Rain's Rachel Lospostros has escaped from a faceless assassin and found sanctuary thousands of miles from home, under the towering jungle canopy. In this world teeming with unusual creatures she encounters Rio, a native of the forest imbued with a fierce prowess, and possessed of secrets of his own. When Rio unleashes the secret animal instincts that course through his blood, Rachel must decide if he is something to be feared-or desired.

     His invitation to a renowned school, famous for its submissive training, will rock her world. She has no idea the things that will be asked of her or the boundaries that will be pushed—but she’s eager to find out.

    She had been butting heads with straight-laced John McBride since they were kids.John McBride only takes one week of vacation a year, and there isn’t any way he’s driving down a mountain back to Raleigh just because Kelsie Cole is already standing on the porch staking her claim when he arrives.The cabin has two rooms, and they are adults. They can share a space for seven days. It’s not like they’re attracted to each other or anything, right? Kelsie grits her teeth, but assures herself she can handle it.

    He contacts me only through notes − unpredictable and untraceable. When we meet, he can touch me, but I’m not allowed to touch him. When we make love, it’s only after I have been bound and blindfolded. It’s the only time I truly feel alive. Which is why I play along with it. For now.Caden Thaine is the most sinfully beautiful man I have ever seen. But more than that, his touch sets me on fire. And dear God, do I ache for him. I don’t know where he lives or even what he does. But this doesn’t scare me. My only fear is that one day his messages will stop. I know he’s hiding something. But that’s okay. I am hiding things too. Like my real name and... who I really am. But the deeper I fall for him, the stronger my curiosity becomes. I could never have imagined just how much our lives are bound. And that pulling at his tangled web of secrets would cause my own dark past to come back to try and reclaim me. Will we survive? Will our love?Adult romantic suspense. +18 years.

    She kisses like a movie star and knows everything about every film ever made. She's also dead and waiting in the Rosebud Theater for Alec Sheldon one afternoon in 1945.... Arthur Roth is a lonely kid with big ideas and a gift for attracting abuse. It isn't easy to make friends when you're the only inflatable boy in town.... Francis is unhappy. Francis was human once, but that was then. Now he's an eight-foot-tall locust and everyone in Calliphora will tremble when they hear him sing....John Finney is locked in a basement that's stained with the blood of half a dozen other murdered children. In the cellar with him is an antique telephone, long since disconnected, but which rings at night with calls from the dead....The past isn't dead. It isn't even past...

    Two sexy, ruthless men...one innocent female caught in the middle. Prepared to spend the summer back at home, Julianna Oakley's plans take an unexpected turn for the worse. She's become Nick Palcini's ultimate obsession, and he will stop at nothing to have her.Dangerous and controlling, Nick has been setting the stage for a long time, and sparks fly when their separate worlds collide. But Nick didn't bank on one thing: Julianna's fiery, independent streak. She'll fight him at any cost. When Travis Jackson, Nick's right-hand man, lays his eyes on the prize, all Hell breaks loose. He should know Nick is playing for keeps, and while Julianna is fighting for her freedom, a lifetime full of secrets and twisted perceptions slowly unwind as Julianna gets caught in the fray.

    With Alison's Wonderland, she has compiled a treasury of naughty tales based on fable and fairy tale, myth and legend: some ubiquitous, some obscure all of them delightfully dirty. From a perverse prince to a vampire-esque Sleeping Beauty, the stars of these reimagined tales are like the original protagonists chafing at desire unfulfilled. From Cinderella to Sisyphus, mermaids to werewolves, this realm of fantasy is limitless and so very satisfying. Penned by such erotica luminaries as Shanna Germain, Rachel Kramer Bussel, N. T. Morley, Elspeth Potter, T. C. Calligari, Sommer Marsden, Portia Da Costa and Tsaurah Litzsky, these bawdy bedtime stories are sure to bring you (and a friend) to your own happily-ever-after. "

    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

    Offering up heart-pumping tales of suspense in all its guises are thirty-two of the most critically acclaimed and award-winning names in the business. From the signature characters that made such authors as David Morrell and John Lescroart famous to four of the hottest new voices in the genre, this blockbuster will tantalize and terrify.Lock the doors, draw the shades, pull up the covers and be prepared for Thriller to keep you up all night.

    Originally featured on Suvudu.com, this is Random House’s first multicontributor chain story in which the readers voted on the outcome—now published here in its entirety as a thrilling eBook. Munira bint Azhar, the half-human daughter of a djinn, is a skilled Retriever in the city of Port Nightfall. Now the powerful sorcerer Temesis has given Munira a dire ultimatum: steal a magical lantern—the Light of Ta’lab—from the horrific undead kingdom below the city, or watch her father die at Temesis’s hand. Will she be able to retrieve the lantern and save her father’s life, or will they both perish in the process?   With an Afterword featuring the choices readers were given at the end of each chapter.