A humorous story written for the collection Fiddler Fair, this story has also been reprinted in This Is My Funniest 2: Leading Science Fiction Writers Present Their Funniest Stories Ever (Oct 2007), Galaxy's Edge, Issue 2: May 2013, and Dragon's Teeth (Dec 2013--omnibus of Fiddler Fair and Werehunter).

    Totally. But mean fairies? Fairies weren’t supposed to be mean! But they are, and she really thought she was gonna become fairy dust if it hadn’t been for the super hunky vampire that saved her. Had she mentioned hunky? And, hey, giving him a little snack in return was no bigs. He helped, after all. Except she wanted one nibble to turn into two and then…oodles. And she’d tell him so…just as soon as she finished tasting all of those yummy muscles.Big Bad Vamp – Tory has more bug-out bags and escape plans to get out of Atlanta than there are stars in the sky. And it appears she’s gonna need them. With her habit of digitally visiting different servers across the globe, she always figured she’d piss off the wrong people at some point. It looks like that day has arrived. Some crazy glitter throwing, wing-wearing weirdos are on her tail, and screaming “it wasn’t me” at them isn’t making them go away. With the sparkle freaks closing in, Tory has no choice but to call her fang-banging BFF for help. Finally, an über hunky vamp appears to whisk her to safety. Except she dies. Really. Dead-dead. Almost. See, the thing about it is…Want book three for free? Book three–Poking the Vamp–will be released in FREE INSTALLMENTS through my newsletter.

    The Billionaire's Daughter (Part 1): Breaking FreeClaire Montgomery’s wealthy father has always given her everything she’d wanted – as long as she toed the line. When she refuses her father’s request for the first time, cancelling her engagement to the most successful bachelor at his firm, she discovers exactly how far he’ll go to punish her. Fleeing to San Francisco she experiences true independence for the first time, sharing a house and working in a coffee shop owned by Jordan Hunter. Mysterious and powerful, Jordan's involvement in the BDSM scene both intrigues and frightens her and Claire desperately tries to resist her growing attraction to him.Breaking her engagement has cost Claire her family. If she follows her instincts and submits to Jordan will she be risking her new found freedom?The Billionaire's Daughter (Part 2): San Franciso BreezeClaire's feelings towards Jordan confuse her. She’s always been raised to be a lady in the drawing room and a whore in the bedroom – at least, that’s what her mother said men wanted. But this? This is something entirely different. Jordan focuses his sexual and romantic energy on Claire, training her and caring for her physical and emotional needs. She feels as though she must make the choice to commit to Jordan and his lifestyle or to walk away forever.The Billionaire's Daughter (Part 3): Body and SoulClaire is settled into her new life in San Francisco and has accepted Jordan as her Master.A sudden call from her estranged mother, urging her to return to New York to help save the family business, leaves her feeling conflicted. How can she choose between her lover and her family? If she leaves Jordan now, will he still be there for her when she returns?

    With her sights set on the flamboyant Sebastian and his sophisticated group, Marie is sure that things are about to change for the better. But when a chance encounter brings some unlikely characters into her life, things start to veer off course. Marie would never normally be seen with this bunch of misfits but to her annoyance they just keep turning up. As lives quickly become entwined and unusual friendships form, Marie realises that we don't always get to choose our friends; sometimes they choose us. Buoyed by her newfound friendships, Marie might even take another chance at love.

    He is out of control by the time he is 13 -- running with gangs, stealing cars, fooling around with drugs and guns, and in general making his family’s life hell. Confronted with his growing recklessness and defiance, his mother, the poet Deborah Digges, decides to try to accept Stephen on his own terms--a course that stuns her family and leads to the breakup of her second marriage. Digges “shadows” him on his late-night forays so that she can understand his world, welcomes his gang into their apartment, and tries to see life through his eyes. When she discovers that children who are devoted to animals have an easier time forming attachments to other people, she fills their home with a menagerie of ailing or abandoned pets. She also turns to an unconventional therapist who offers unusual — but helpful — treatment.The Stardust Lounge isn’t your usual story of rebellious adolescence. The power of Digges’s memoir comes from her stubborn unwillingness to give up on Stephen. Even when things are roughest, Digges manages to see the intelligent, sensitive child behind the hostile behavior. However difficult the path she chooses, her story is ultimately a heartening one, and it’s impossible not to root for this family as it rebuilds itself.

    She hardly knows Grady Hollis, the Atlanta ball player who swooped into her Florida hometown and charmed the socks--and more!--right off her. She couldn't resist when he proposed under the stars right on the outfield. But when the aftermath means moving to Atlanta and following him around the country for his eight-month a year travel schedule, she gets cold feet.But Grady has never been a man to give up on a dream and Melanie is everything he ever hoped for in a woman. He knows if only he can convince her to come along for the ride, he'll convince her that their forever can be something special... and sizzling too. The road trip brings them both deeper understanding, surprise revelations and a love every bit as fiery as the passion.If you enjoy fast-paced, sexy stories with a touch of humor, you'll love the Runaway Brides! From small southern towns to big southern cities, these are brides with smarts and sass. Runaway Brides SeriesBook 1:How to Lose a Groom in 10 DaysBook 2:The Wedding AuditionBook 3: There Goes the BrideBook 4: Bride on the Run

    Hamilton’s bestselling novel, Kiss the Dead. You’d think I’d get used to seeing such a beautiful man and knowing he was mine, but it never grew old, as if his beauty and the fact that he was mine, and I was his, would forever surprise me. With a vampire like Jean Claude around, it’s far too easy for Anita Blake to doubt her own appearance—and the hold it has on those who love her. But one hot tub and two incredibly sexy men—Jean Claude and Asher—will make her feel like the most lusted-after woman alive…or undead. Not bad for a mere human… “Hamilton remains one of the most inventive and exciting writers in the paranormal field.”—Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Includes an excerpt of Kiss the Dead, the new Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter novel

    Hill, a nearly blind, elderly black woman, can't protect her when real love--exhilarating, passionate, heartbreaking--enters her life in the gorgeous shape of Huddie Lester.  With her finely honed style and her unflinching sensibility, Bloom shows us how profoundly the forces of love and desire can shape a life.

    Banks, Kelley Armstrong, and many more! Horror fiction explores the dark side of human nature, often pushing the limits of violence, graphic gore, and extreme emotions. But with the popularity of shows and movies, such as "The Walking Dead," "True Blood," "Twilight," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," audiences have demonstrated their love for the genre--especially accompanied with a dose of humor to tone down the terror."Blood Lite III: Aftertaste" continues to put the fun back into dark fiction, featuring a wide range of humorous and highly entertaining horror-filled tales. Edited by Horror Writers Association founding member and award-winning author Kevin J. Anderson, the stories vary in tone from wry to downright laugh-out-loud funny. Featuring such well-known horror writers as Jim Butcher, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Christopher Golden, and many others, this collection of tales is perfect for anyone who enjoys being entertained as much as they love a good scare.Contents:I was a teenage Bigfoot / Jim Butcher --Blood-red greens / Joel A. Sutherland --V plates / Kelley Armstong --Put on a happy face / Christopher Golden --Devil's contract / E.S. Magill --Nine-tenths of the law / Eric James Stone --Scrumptious bone bread / Jeff Strand --Let that be a lesson to you / Mark Onspaugh --Mint in box / Mike Baron --Great zombie invasion of 1979 / J.G. Faherty --Dating after the apocalypse / Stephen Dorato --Typecast / Jeff Ryan --Making the cut / Mike Resnick, Lezli Robyn --Acknowledgments / Will Ludwigsen --Mannequin / Heather Graham --Short term / Daniel Pyle --Distressed travelers / Nina Kiriki Hoffman --Bayou brawl / L.A. Banks --Steeple people / John Alfred Taylor --For sale / David Sakmyster --Man who could not be bothered to die / Norman Prentiss --Last demon / Don D'Ammassa --Misadventure to call your own / Adrian Ludens --Smoke and mirrorballs / Chris Abbey --Brians!!! / D.L. Snell --Still life / Ken Lilli-Paetz --Day in the life / Sherrilyn

    including the President of the United States?

    As an Air Forces Fire Protection Specialist, Ace has seen his fair share of infernos from fires in the sky, to chemical buildings, and even forest fires. While running into a burning building is no big deal for him, he dreads the call. He understands the devastation and destruction fires can cause, not to mention the loss of life as he lost his first girlfriend to a fire while in high school.  His job is get people out of the fire and contain it at the same time. So, when he watches a car crash unfold while on leave, he jumps into action. He’s prepared to do what it takes to save the young women in the car… And protect his heart from the burning desire she awakes in his soul. While heading home to help her mother with a legal problem, Lexi Aberdean is T-Boned and her car bursts into flames. Lucky for her, a good Samaritan saves her life and now all she wants to do is find a way to repay him. Only, he wants nothing to do with her. That is until a series of unexplained events, including a fire, makes Lexi believe the accident was no accident at all.

    The sudden death of his adoptive father and alpha of the pack forces Ax to go back on his word. Suddenly plagued by a gnawing hunger that consumes him from within, Ax must confront his inner demons and his half-brother, Kendall; a brother Ax resents because by pack laws Kendall will inherit the alpha seat vacated by their father. Little does Ax know that his life is going to get way worse before it gets any better. But the moment he has a glimpse of Aimee, Kendall’s fiancée, Ax’s life is forever changed by the revelation that the she-wolf is his fated soulmate. Passions run high as the three of them must come to terms with their fates. Will love triumph over a family feud that has lasted for decades?

    What do you do if you’re a failed music fanzine writer in your early thirties with a dead-end job, and the best moment of your life occurred when you went to your first Thieving Magpies gig as a teenager and suddenly you belonged in a way you never had before, and the worst moment of your life occurred about six years later when Lance Webster, the Magpies’ lead singer, self-destructed on stage before your eyes—basically taking you with him—and just today you’ve discovered that Lance lives down the street from you?If you’re Clive Beresford—the haplessly obsessed guy at the center of Tim Thornton’s wildly comic and energetic debut novel—you get remarkably drunk and write and deliver a note to your idol (the contents of which you can’t remember the next morning), which causes two very large bouncer types to appear at your door warning you to back off, which, in turn, causes you to hide your true identity when you do finally meet Lance, totally by accident (he’s come a long way since the Magpies, but he is still LANCE F**CKING WEBSTER!)…none of which deters you from believing—really believing—that he could still save your life if only you could get that “earth-shattering exclusive” interview with him.With the story shifting between Clive’s life-changing Magpies past and his frantic present, we get a headlong, boisterous coming-of-age (if-not-quite-growing-up) romp and a warmhearted, hilarious view of friendship, hero worship, and the full-blast power of music to help us become, at the very least, who we would like to think we are.

    Recently widowed, Darci Cunningham swims against popular current that she should take her time and heal after the sudden death of her husband. But in a bold turn, she decides to follow a dream set aside and moves to Mackinac Island to pursue her dream of writing.But as she prepares for her first winter on the island, she is unaware of the dangers that have washed ashore--one that may steal her heart, while the other may steal her life(*available in ebook and soon in paperback)

    Since then, she's found some peace as an advocate for POWs, but she knows she'll never love again.Until, on a crowded flight to Washington, DC, she meets Dax, and it happens the way attraction happens best: suddenly, passionately and uncontrollably. Can Keely allow herself a future while still honoring the man from her past?Above and Beyond (Pseudonym Erin St. Claire) When Trevor Rule's best friend Richard is killed in action, Trevor knows his first priority is to take care of Richard's grieving widow, Kyla. All he has to give her is a box filled with the love letters she'd written Richard, a box Trevor has protected with his life. But with each letter he reads, he falls more in love with his best friend's wife.With Richard's death haunting them both, how can Trevor tell Kyla how he feels, and convince her that they both have a right to be happy?"