His major inspiration and invention was cosmic horror: the idea that life is incomprehensible to human minds and that the universe is fundamentally alien. Those who genuinely reason, like his protagonists, gamble with sanity. He has developed a cult following for his Cthulhu Mythos, a series of loosely interconnected fictions featuring a pantheon of human-nullifying entities, as well as the Necronomicon, a fictional grimoire of magical rites and forbidden lore. His works were deeply pessimistic and cynical, challenging the values of Enlightenment, Romanticist, and Christian humanism. Lovecraft's protagonists usually achieve the mirror-opposite of traditional gnosis and mysticism by momentarily glimpsing the horror of ultimate reality. Although Lovecraft's readership was limited during his life, his reputation has grown over the decades, and he is now commonly regarded as one of the most influential horror writers of the 20th century, exerting widespread and indirect influence, and frequently compared to Edgar Allan Poe.

    He is homeless, stuck in a city where he is forgotten.On Thanksgiving, a small miracle happens. An unusual man named Scott McKenzie offers him a ride to a place in Oregon called the Oasis.The Oasis is in Middle Falls. Miracles happen in Middle Falls.The Final Christmas of Robert Burke was originally released to Shawn Inmon's newsletter subscribers. It is now being released in ebook and audiobook form for the first time. Like all Middle Falls stories, it is a standalone story and can be read at any point in the series.

    She didn't want to be beautiful. And she wasted time doing mad things--like eating and sleeping...This story was the basis for a classic episode of "The Twilight Zone" TV show!

    A time of legends that nearly destroyed the world. Out of the chaos Mankind has struggled, and from the ashes of destruction civilization has once more returned to the land.But unknown to man a forgotten evil stirs in the west, for generations it has worked its foul craft in the shadows. Growing stronger, no longer content to lurk in the darkness consumed by hatred and gnawing on its own ambitions. It has grown powerful and in its might it seeks to throw down what remains of the old world and destroy the petty kingdoms of man.The last of the immortals has returned from his self-imposed exile. He has seen the danger and seeks a Talisman lost for three thousand years. Only the sword Aethir, forged by the immortals can save the world. Old legends have come to life, and the age of man is on the brink of destruction. Now he must convince an outlaw and a fugitive to aid him in its recovery or all is lost.

    First, her roommate has been stealing the rent from her for months. Next thing she knows, she’s the one who has to pay it all back. In a week. That, or be evicted. Second, she meets Aiden Manning. He’s intriguing at first, cool and sexy. Somehow both how she thinks a rich guy should be, yet completely different. Until he makes her an outlandish and totally inappropriate offer, that is. But with her life self-destructing between her parents’ divorce and her own money problems, Gwen finds herself having to make the hardest decision of her young life: Will she accept Aiden’s offer to be his girlfriend and the money that comes with it, letting her keep her apartment and stay in school, or leave her life behind just when it’s truly begun? All it takes is signing on that dotted line… word count: 20,000

    Post-Apocalypse America is unrecognizable from the past. Jake survives by working as the leader of a scavenging adventuring team. A former mage, now he follows the strange path of cultivation, taught to him by a mysterious traveler. As far as he knows, he is one of the only people on Earth with this power. Events will unfold that change Jake's life forever. Jake might even lose his very humanity while trying to do the right thing. But in return, perhaps he will grasp a second chance to save himself and others, to correct the past. He is about to be caught up in something much greater than himself. Will he be consumed by the machinations of greater powers? Only one thing is for certain. No matter how terrible the odds, Jake doesn't give up. Experience the start of the next hit LitRPG series from bestseller Blaise Corvin. This is a cultivation story with elements of eastern fantasy, but also includes LitRPG and GameLit tropes.

    She wanted time alone to mull over Jared’s proposition that she move in with him. Since they haven’t been dating long, she wants to make sure she makes the right decision.But when Jared follows her, hoping to persuade her with his own special brand of seduction, she realizes there’s more to him than meets the eye.Can Jared use seductive persuasion to his advantage?

    Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, he grew up in the rural community of Hazel Grove. Wells attended high school in Ottawa, Ontario and university in Halifax, Nova Scotia. As an undergraduate, he spent summers working in Iqaluit, Nunavut as an airline cargo handler. After a brief stint at graduate school in Montreal, Quebec, he returned to Iqaluit in 2001 and later that year transferred to the remote settlement of Resolute, on Cornwallis Island, where he worked until 2003, when he moved to Halifax with his wife, Rachel Lebowitz. At this point he started contributing book reviews and essays on Canadian poetry to periodicals including Books in Canada, Quill & Quire and Maisonneuve. In the spring of 2004, his first chapbook of poems, Fool's Errand, appeared. In the fall of that year, Toronto's Insomniac Press published his full-length collection of Arctic poems, Unsettled, under Paul Vermeersch's 4 AM Books imprint. In 2004, Wells started working for Via Rail Canada as a service attendant. In 2006 he became the Reviews Editor for Canadian Notes & Queries. In 2007, after moving to Vancouver, he published Sealift, a CD recording of 24 poems from Unsettled; "Achromatope," a letterpress broadside; and After the Blizzard, a limited edition chapbook. In the spring of 2008, Jailbreaks, his anthology of Canadian sonnets, was published. Anything But Hank!, the children's book he co-wrote with Lebowitz, with illustrations by Eric Orchard, was published in the fall. In 2009, after moving back to Halifax, Wells published Track & Trace, his second trade collection of poems, with illustrations by renowned graphic artist Seth. Track & Trace was shortlisted for the 2010 Atlantic Poetry Prize. In 2010, he published The Essential Kenneth Leslie, the first collection of Leslie's poems to be published since 1972.

    Attitude. Beauty that brings men to their knees-if their Jujitsu moves don't do it first. The women of the private investigation firm Stilettos, Inc. are not your average PIs. Each armed with a special power, there's no case the Stiletto Girls can't crack-until Specials start vanishing in growing numbers.Darian Lorring is an agent for the Specials Intelligence Agency, a secret government organization of humans with special powers. His unit's latest mission is to track the Stiletto Girls and determine their role in the assassination attempts on the president. But it's hard to keep secrets from a Stiletto Girl. His best defense? Keep sex on the brain. And Darian will eat and breathe sex to protect his country...having Paige in his bed again is just an added bonus.Empath Paige Sykes hopes solving the missing Specials case will answer unresolved questions of her mother's disappearance ten years ago. But one sexy, chauvinistic SIA agent continues to get in her way-and in her bed. How can she trust what she feels around Darian when his ability allows him to project emotions and physical sensations? How can she trust any man when her ex, Collin Raines, appears to be tied to attempts on the president's life?If you liked "Charlie's Angels," you'll really love this sexy, fast-paced paranormal!

    Tasked with routing out enemy agents and thwarting an elaborate espionage ring, which includes beautiful American double agent Josephine Lafitte, MacLea’s mission is betrayed. Now, trapped in a dramatic showdown aboard a captured American warship headed for the breach at Niagara Falls, battle-hardened MacLea finds himself fighting not just for freedom, but for his life.

    Her mother taught her the three rules of walking: Never interfere. Never be seen. Never walk the same person’s dream more than once. Dea has never questioned her mother, not about the rules, not about the clocks or the mirrors, not about moving from place to place to be one step ahead of the unseen monsters that Dea’s mother is certain are right behind them.Then a mysterious new boy, Connor, comes to town and Dea finally starts to feel normal. As Connor breaks down the walls that she’s had up for so long, he gets closer to learning her secret. For the first time she wonders if that’s so bad. But when Dea breaks the rules, the boundary between worlds begins to deteriorate. How can she know what’s real and what’s not?

    Contentsix • Introduction: Berserker Lies • essay by Fred Saberhagen1 • The Machinery of Lies • novella by Fred Saberhagen71 • Masque of the Red Shift • (1965) • novelette by Fred Saberhagen95 • In the Temple of Mars • (1966) • novelette by Fred Saberhagen117 • Brother Berserker • (1967) • novella by Fred Saberhagen183 • Smasher • (1978) • novelette by Fred Saberhagen

    Their battle is fought out on twenty miles of the most lonely road in the country, a place where the only thing worse than not knowing what you're up against, is slowing down . . .

    The story involves two warring factions that battle by using time travel to change the outcome of events throughout history. No Great Magic was originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction Magazine's December 1963 issue. To bring the dead to lifeIs no great magic.Few are wholly dead: Blow on a dead man's embersAnd a live flame will start. -GravesFritz Reuter Leiber, Jr was an American fantasy, horror and science fiction writer. He was an expert chess player and a champion fencer. He received the Gandalf award at the World Science Fiction Convention in 1975 and the Grand Master Award at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1981.

    Illustrator and writer's Carolyn Marie Castagna's first shared short story.A small icicle hanging from a roof peers inside a window at a small reading room, and learns about magical human qualities, and the importance of the one most special human feeling.