I never thought I could be in this position; propositioned to be a surrogate to his child, the likely heir of his fortune and family's legacy. And he'll pay me! Enough to put off my money worries for the rest of my life... The question is, do I want to do it? He's Rami Al-Hassan, a billionaire Sheikh of The Principality of Al-Andalus, and he certainly isn't accustomed to being turned down. I never could have imagined doing something like this before now, but looking into that gorgeously chiseled face, and those sparkling, enigmatic eyes, I can see something behind the ostentatious exterior. Something like love... Can I find it within myself to accept the Sheikh's indecent proposal? Can I sell my body to the Sheikh? Can I really carry his child?

    Rather inexperienced in using her magic, she's prone to mistakes. It is one such mistake that lands her in debt to the Chief Royal Inventor who blackmails her into retrieving an Oriental and his machine. But to find the Oriental she needs to intercept an airship and the best way to do that is through piracy.Tilda turns to the notorious Black Jack Knight, a sky pirate known for his cruelty and cleverness who dislikes passengers, particularly of the female variety. Fortunately for Tilda he accepts a currency she can provide—the location of a man who witnessed his brother's murder, a murder which Jack was falsely accused of committing. Together they fight corsairs, a mad inventor and their growing attraction to each other in order to retrieve the man Tilda has been forced to find, only to learn his machine could destroy her and everyone like her.

    Orphaned as a baby, the only thing she has from her past is her unusual name. Now, at seventeen, she's willing to give it up if it means she can disappear. What she doesn't know is that, in the West, eleven have been sent to find her, and when they do, her whole world will change. They are the Star Riders, those chosen by Adonai to protect the worlds from the forces of darkness. All alone, they search for the one prophesied to be at their side at the end of days. A special child with unknown powers who will change everything.

    The flooded metropolis of London has adapted to the rising sea levels: the elite gaze out over the Thames from their ivory towers, while the inhabitants of submerged pubs peer into the streets like specimens in an aquarium. Hired by a notorious underworld figure, Leo Noiret uncovers a terrifying conspiracy that stretches from the depths of Drowntown to the highest echelons of power. Meanwhile, aqua-courier Gina Cassel learns that young love can be a dangerous game when she becomes romantically involved with the heir to the Drakenberg Corporation. There’s a storm brewing in Drowntown, with Gina and Noiret at its heart…

     Sure, Michael’s nice enough—he’s smart, successful, and good-looking to boot. The trouble is, he’s not G.W. Benton, the sexy, slightly older rancher who lives near the McCullough place. G.W. has a young son and a history of heartbreak, and while Cassidy has known him all her life, she swears she’s over her childhood crush. Cassidy has made herself a life in Seattle, where Michael is eagerly awaiting her return. A difficult decision looms closer and closer for the big-city girl who still has a soft spot for her country roots. Is Seattle—and Michael—her real home, or does her heart still belong to Busted Spur after all this time? All proceeds from the sale of this novella will be donated to the Humane Society.

    The leaders of these guilds have complete control over their members, but one man is about to challenge that authority.Follow the tale of The Artificer’s Apprentice to see what he shall fashion in his shop...

    H.M.S. Thunder Child steams towards her glorious destiny in this 'War of the Worlds' pastiche! The War of the Worlds contains a small section on the Thunder Child battleship that attacks three tripods to save a paddle steamer. This story takes place a few days before the event and leads up to the final dramatic moment. The clever build-up leads to this final battle of ironclad v three Martian tripods. The story moves between the crew of the HMS Thunder Child at sea, and Mister Stanley, the man from the War Office. He is moving across the land to various semaphore stations. He is linked to the ship because he delivered the mission orders before the story starts. If you have read War of the Worlds and enjoyed it, you will like this story too.

    While most of Humanity finds the event fascinating, two British explorers know the horrible truth. The rotating moon is the legendary sign that foreshadows the return of a prehistoric demon, the monstrous destroyer of Atlantis, an unkillable colossus known only as the deadly, dreaded Squid God.Racing around the world, and against the clock, Prof. Einstein and Lord Carstairs battle the fanatical legions of Squid God worshippers in a valiant effort to stop the ghastly rebirthing ceremony and keep the demonic mollusk locked in the stygian depths of its unearthly lair. Authors Nick Pollotta & James Clay have lovingly crafted a splendid Fantasy/Adventure, heavily laced with their classic off-the-wall humor, and sprinkled with a light dusting of parody toward the legendary works of H.P. Lovecraft, H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and just about everything else from the golden glory days of Victorian England."Rewrites literary history, remodels London worse than the Blitz, and convinces that it is wise never to deny the supremacy of British womanhood! What more can you ask?" --ANALOG

    One is a guy I met online, who I’ll never work up the guts to meet in real life. And the other? That’s a long story…My life feels like it’s falling apart at the seams—I’m broke, my restaurant is on the verge of failure, and my brother’s best friend just moved back to town. Okay, so maybe Brooks Callahan’s return isn’t a life-ending event, but it sure feels like it. Eight years ago, he told me he wanted me. He was just a kid, and honestly, so was I. When I tried to let him down gently, he lashed out, his awful words scarring me in ways they never should have.Now Brooks is the only one who can help me, and I have to find a way to put our issues to bed. Metaphorically, not literally. That would be ridiculous, right? Of course, it would.Maybe I’ll ask the guy I’ve crushed on for months…my online friend whose posts always seem to reverberate in my soul. Whose messages make me laugh. Think. Feel.The one who has his own crush…on someone else.What am I going to do?

    A century from now we understand full well - science creates magic. And magic is destructive… She’s been hunted all her life. Now it’s time to become the hunter. Chloe Phantom has never been able to settle for long. At least, not since she was a girl. Living up to the promise she made to her genius father, just a week before he was killed in a fire at his lab, she’s been on the move for years. And worst of all, she doesn’t know exactly why. All she knows is that her father made her different. That the nanotech he put inside her is giving her magical powers and keeping her safe. And that the people who killed her father are now after her too. And some of them aren’t exactly human… Caught between the four new nations of a divided, future America, Chloe has found some semblance of peace in the deep ‘earthscrapers’ of LA, filling her days in the depths working menial jobs and trying to dodge the soldiers of the powerful WSA (Western States of America), and the terrifying nano-vamps that hunt people just like her. But deep inside her there’s a need to discover the truth of her past. And when her identity is exposed, and her hunters begin closing in once more, Chloe knows she needs help if she’s ever going to unravel the mystery. She is the last in her bloodline. The last Phantom. And soon enough, when all seems lost, help will come from the most unexpected of places… The Last Phantom is the first in a planned series, a thrilling mixture of sci-fi dystopia and urban fantasy, filled with civil strife, war, science, magic, heart-felt romance, and a host of weird and wonderful characters.

    When the spirit of her deceased partner, Jacqueline Marley, warns Ebony that she will be visited by three ghosts, Ebony writes the visitation off as a dream. But on this Christmas Eve, the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future must try to pull off a miracle, restoring Ebony’s heart before it’s too late.Hauntings and Humbug is a retelling of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, set in New York Times bestselling author Melanie’s Karsak’s steampunk universe.

    Able to lay her own tracks, as well as pick them up again, the train is a marvelous feat of engineering, and as an unbound entity she can travel anywhere her master desires. The only trouble is the trouble she attracts. Her owner and creator, one Professor Hieronymus J. Dittmeyer, can’t seem to help but catch the attention of all manner of odd characters, including an undead conductor and a ghostly guardian. But even the most well intending ghost just isn't enough to keep trouble from the tracks. From run of the mill outlaws, to world-class super villains, the crew of the Sleipnir needs hands-on protecting and they need it fast!Enter Rodger Dodger, dead-eye marksman and all around vexed soul. Dodger finds he is inexplicably drawn to the Sleipnir and her crazy crew, though he is reluctant to return to the work of a gunslinger after a dreadful history of bloodshed and violence. At the request of a restless spirit, Dodger takes on the work, straps on the biggest guns this side of the Mississippi and soon finds his life will never be the same again. (Which is just fine with him because he didn't like the one he had anyways.)On a train that can go anywhere, anything is bound to happen!

    It spread from the Rift, a great chasm hundreds of miles long that nearly split the southern continent in two. The Rift was a portal, a gateway between their world of science and the mythological world of magic.On the northern continent of Ocker, King Godwin declared that no magical monstrosity would be allowed within their borders. The Royal Inquisitors were formed to investigate reports of mystical occurrences and, should they be found, to destroy them.Inquisitor Simon Whitlock knows his responsibilities all too well. Along with the apothecary, Luthor Strong, they’ve spent two years inquiring into such reports of magical abominations, though they’ve discovered far more charlatans than true magical creatures. When assigned to investigate Haversham and its reports of werewolves, Simon remains unconvinced that the rumors are true. What he discovers in the frozen little hamlet is that the werewolves are far more real than he believed; yet they’re hardly the most dangerous monster in the city.

    But soon it’s discovered that Warwick killed dozens of people as he strove to perfect another improved Ticker for Penny, and he’s put on trial for mass murder. On the last day of Warwick’s trial, the Farthings’ factory is bombed, Penny’s parents disappear, and Penny and her brother, Nic, receive a ransom note demanding all of their Augmentation research if they want to see their parents again. Is someone trying to destroy the Farthings...or is the motive more sinister?Desperate to reunite their family and rescue their research, Penny and her brother recruit fiery baker Violet Nesselrode, gentleman-about-town Sebastian Stirling, and Marcus Kingsley, a young army general who has his own reasons for wanting to lift the veil between this world and the next. Wagers are placed, friends are lost, romance stages an ambush, and time is running out for the girl with the clockwork heart.

    Here in these remote areas, thriving cities, and secret worlds, a strange technological revolution reigns. Inside these pages inventors, dreamers, and revolutionist rule in worlds of steam driven machines, cog powered humanoids, clockwork miracles, and paranormal magic. Dressed in corsets, top hats, and cog lined finery the heroes and heroines face down immense obstacles as they take to the skies in airships, use incredible technology that is a mix between ancient and futuristic, and discover love. Fifteen talented authors, artists and poets have come together in the must read anthology of 2014. The product of this collaboration is an incredible journey through a blend of sci-fi, fantasy, action, adventure, history, paranormal, and romance that embraces the roots of Steampunk while pushing the genre to new, bolder limits. Stories by Catherine Stovall, Amanda Gatton (Illustrator), Robert Craven, Samantha Ketteman, Cindy J. Smith, Emma Michaels, Faith Marlow, Nina Stevens , Wayne Carey, Zoe Adams, MJ Baerman, Eada Janes, Andrea Staum, Deborah Dalton, SJ Davis, and Cecilia Clark.