She uses her cache of stolen magic tricks to seduce and bedazzle her marks. When she's hired by a demon to steal a cursed magical amulet from a monstrous tower in Hell, it must be her lucky day.The prize? A single wish—whatever she wants.The catch? There's competition: Ethan Benford, swordsman and enchanter, arrogant, maddeningly sexy and the only incorruptible man in town.Lena's been burnt before by Ethan's easy charm, and she vows he'll meet his match this time. But is ultimate power worth betraying the only man who truly believes in her?

    This short novella is set during the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and it focuses on the character of Leonard McCoy. Published in April 2014.

     He's a warrior, hardened by years of protecting his town from vampire attack. She's a garden witch who sees the world in shades of sunshine and delight. Opposites don't only attract, they go supernova in this sizzling tale of magic and mayhem. [Author's note: this novella - 84 pages, 22,000 words -- was originally published in the Dark & Deadly: 8 Bad Boys of Paranormal boxed set, so if you have that one, you already have it. Thanks!]

    With her trademark "sassy dialogue, lusty lovemaking [and] irreverent humor"* New York Times bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson delighted fans with her wickedly sexy and wildly funny anthology, Dead and Loving It-stories in which the worlds of the Wyndham Werewolves and Undead Queens collided. Now she returns to that sensual and irresistible after-dark realm of werewolves, vampires, and mermaids in three more original novellas--including an all-new Betsy Taylor novella.

    How will the future unfold for both species? Are the undead capable of controlling their urges? Can we resist the desire to stake them through the heart? Will we be the best of friends, or will our sinfully-seductive new neighbors literally have us over for dinner?In this shocking, sometimes amusing, always thought-provoking anthology, 22 of the world’s finest horror and dark fantasy writers reveal the future as they imagine it, moving from this century to the next. Whether vampires help or hinder us, affect or infect us, editor Nancy Kilpatrick is sure you will agree: we definitely have not seen the last of the undead!

    Unknown to even her closest friends, Zoe is not entirely human. She's a werewolf and a daughter of the "Fangborn," a hidden race of werewolves, vampires, and oracles.Zoe's attempt to rescue her cousin leads her on a quest for artifacts—including Pandora's Box, an object of world-ending power. With the fate of humanity in the balance, Zoe will be forced to renew family ties and pit her own supernatural abilities against a dark and nefarious fo.At once captivation, deftly worded, and character-rich Seven Kinds of Hell expands vampire legend and werewolf noir in both intensity and charismatic bite.

    Get ready for a twist on the holiday season with paranormal tales from six fantasy authors: "The Grandfather Paradox: An UltraSecurity Christmas Story" by J. T. Bock A Billionaire, a Christmas Dinner, and the Grandfather Paradox Nobody has time for this, especially UltraAgent TimeTrap. Between holiday drinks with friends, visiting long-lost family, and her mother's reality show special, TimeTrap's time is limited—even for an alt-jumper like her who can travel through space and time. Another alt-jumper is messing with her mojo and her timeline. UltraAgents are missing. Her bosses have disappeared. Now she has to protect the next target, a hot CEO of a large defense company. Is there enough time to save the day and Christmas and enjoy a holiday cocktail with a special someone? "The Naughty List" by Debra Dunbar Samantha Martin is an Imp, on holiday with her angelic main-squeeze, Gregory. What better place to show an angel the true meaning of Christmas than a small Alpine resort town? But it’s hard to keep up the impish good cheer when people are being murdered for their sinful ways. Could the killer be. . . Santa? "The Biting Cold" by Mark Henwick Detroit. A bitter winter. A city coming apart and a woman holding on to her rapidly ebbing life. Psychiatrist Dr. Amanda Lloyd is focused only on living long enough to give her testimony in court and put a vicious criminal away. The defense lawyers are fighting for a postponement she can’t afford and digging into her own mental problems in an attempt to discredit her. She can’t spare time for the patient who claims to be a vampire. Unless what he offers her is exactly what she needs. "Facing the Darkness" by Susan Illene Kerbasi, a former guardian of Purgatory, has resisted every effort to help him find his humanity. After forty-five hundred years of tending to his prisoners in the cruelest of ways he feels he's above the petty concerns of mankind. But what's he to do when he's charged with bringing comfort to a boy sick with cancer during the holiday season? This is one child who just might break through that impervious wall he's wrapped around his heart. "Cat and Moused" by J.C. Mells Moused Thurman was sure there had to be better ways to spend Christmas Eve than being held hostage in an elevator by a sexy, sassy, vampire-assassin. But for the life of him, he couldn't think of one. "A Christmas Feral" by Connie Suttle Cassie is running from the man who forced her to become his fiancée. Parke is stepping into his father's shoes as Chancellor of everything paranormal. The two are on a collision course with unpredictable results. What should you do when a Truth Demon marries a Fire Demon? Get the hell out of Seattle.

    In Jim Butcher’s ”Curses”, Harry Dresden investigates how to lift a curse laid by the Fair Folk on the Chicago Cubs. In Patricia Briggs’ “Fairy Gifts,”, a vampire is called home by magic to save the Fae who freed him from a dark curse. In Melissa Marr’s “Guns for the Dead”, the newly dead Frankie Lee seeks a job in the afterlife on the wrong side of the law. In Holly Black’s “Noble Rot”, a dying rock star discovers that the young woman who brings him food every day has some strange appetites of her own.Featuring original stories from 20 authors, this dark, captivating, fabulous, and fantastical collection is not to be missed!Contents:Curses / by Jim Butcher --How the pooka came to New York City / by Delia Sherman --On the slide / by Richard Bowes --The Duke of Riverside / by Ellen Kushner --Oblivion by Calvin Klein / by Christopher Fowler --Fairy gifts / by Patricia Briggs --Picking up the pieces / by Pat Cadigan --Underbridge / by Peter S. Beagle --Priced to sell / by Naomi Novik --The bricks of Gelecek / by Matthew Kressel --Weston walks / by Kit Reed --The projected girl/ by Lavie Tidhar --The way station / by Nathan Ballingrud --Guns for the dead / by Melissa Marr --And go like this / by John Crowley --Noble rot / by Holly Black --Daddy longlegs of the evening / by Jeffrey Ford --The skinny girl / by Lucius Shepard --The Colliers' Venus (1893) / by Caitlín R. Kiernan --King pole, gallows pole, bottle tree / by Elizabeth Bear.

    Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack! "One of the all-time great characters in one of the all-time great series." — Lee Child“Repairman Jack is one of my favorite characters—I’m full of happy anticipation every time I hold a new RJ novel in my hands.” — Charlaine Harris, creator of True Blood“The Tomb is one of the best all-out adventure stories I’ve read in years.” — Stephen KingRepairman Jack is one of the most original and intriguing to arise out of contemporary fiction in ages. His adventures are hugely entertaining. — Dean KoontzF. Paul Wilson is a hot writer, and his hottest and my favorite creation is Repairman Jack. — Joe R. LansdaleF. Paul Wilson’s Repairman Jack is a cultural icon. If you haven’t crossed paths with him you’re out of the loop. Get with the program. — David Morrell, creator of Rambo.Repairman Jack is one of the greatest fictional characters created by any thriller writer in the past half century. If you haven't discovered him and his world yet, what a fabulous, extraordinary, and electric reading experience awaits you. — Douglas Preston, co-creator of the Pendergast novelsI'm a Repairman Jack addict. Be warned: Read one book and you'll become one, too. If you've got an impossible problem to solve, he's the one guy you want in your corner: flawed, conflicted, and oh-so-wonderfully brutal. Each book is a sweet hit of pure adrenaline. Pick up a copy and get hooked today. — James Rollins, New York Times bestseller of The Doomsday KeyJack is righteous!” — Andrew VachssFinally! All the Repairman Jack short fiction - many hard to find, one nigh impossible - collected for the first time.QUICK FIXES includes:"A Day in the Life""The Last Rakosh""Home Repairs""The Long Way Home""The Wringer""Interlude at Duane’s""Do-Gooder""Piney Power"plus author introductions to each storyfrom the author's Foreword:I compiled this collection at the insistence of Repairman Jack fans, especially the completists. A number of small presses have approached me to do a signed, limited first edition, but I'm not comfortable with charging a premium price for previously published material.

    It is a place of contradictions—the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion—is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns—or maybe some magic of one’s own.Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed, Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.RACHEL CAINE’s vampires aren’t child’s play, as a naïve teen discovers when her heart leads her far, far astray in “The Cold Girl.” With “Parlor Tricks,” JENNIFER ESTEP pits Gin Blanco, the Elemental Assassin, against the Wheel of Death and some dangerously creepy clowns. SEANAN McGUIRE narrates a poignant, ethereal tale of a mysterious carnival that returns to a dangerous town after twenty years in “Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely Sea.” KEVIN HEARNE’s Iron Druid and his wisecracking Irish wolfhound discover in “The Demon Barker of Wheat Street” that the impossibly wholesome sounding Kansas Wheat Festival is actually not a healthy place to hang out. With an eerie, unpredictable twist, ROB THURMAN reveals the fate of a psychopath stalking two young carnies in “Painted Love.”

    He always had been… from the beginning. Once a slave, Malachi hadn’t ever lived free, until a mysterious woman turned him into something he didn’t understand. At first he fights it, seeing it as a different kind of bondage. Then he realizes it is his destiny. Embracing that destiny could lead to freedom-or it could lead him into an endless hell. Author’s note: This is the story of how Malachi was Changed and how he was led to the Hunters~ although his future mate is alluded to, this isn’t their story. It’s Malachi’s story, or at least, the beginning of it.

    Dan Shamble and his ghost girlfriend are called to the Vampire Circus when a fortune teller’s cards go missing. Not exactly the glamorous life, but the stakes escalate when a vampire trapeze act goes dead wrong, and Shamble discovers even more skeletons in the closet than the ones that live there. As he shuffles for clues through an unnatural cast of carnies, he faces a slate of suspects that could freak out even the most daring detective—a werewolf lion tamer, a fat lady with an enormous secret, an undead ringmaster…and what could be scarier than a circus clown? The only thing certain is that the show must go on—dead or alive.

    just when she receives a lucrative commission to ink a magic tattoo for a werewolf before the next full moon.Caught between the rough and tumble world of the werewolves, the law and order rules of the vampires, and a sexy man-in-black whose motives are in doubt, Dakota must tread carefully to survive - because she doesn't know whether her werewolf client is the tattoo killer ... or the next victim.

    That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story Shawn could sell toward alleviating those bills—and suggested Shawn ask the same of his other friends.Unfettered is the result, an anthology built to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.Every story in this volume is new and, like the title suggests, the writers were free to write whatever they wished. Authors contributing are -Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks (a Shannara tale)-Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks (a precursor to the Word/Void trilogy)-How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss (a Four Corners tale)-River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (a Wheel of Time tale)-The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams-Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey (a precursor to the Kushiel series)-Dogs by Daniel Abraham-Mudboy by Peter V. Brett (a Demon Cycle tale)-Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick-The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian (a Vault of Heaven tale)-The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore-Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood (a Summer Dragon tale)-Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn-The Lasting Doubts of Joaquin Lopez by Blake Charlton-The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne (an Iron Druid tale)-Select Mode by Mark Lawrence (a Broken Empire tale)-All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham-Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth (a Struck epilogue tale)-Unbowed by Eldon Thompson (a Legend of Asahiel tale)-In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik (a Temeraire tale)-The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan (a Riyria Chronicles tale)-The Duel by Lev Grossman (a Magicians tale)-The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman (an Annwn Cycle tale)and artist Todd Lockwood, who donated artwork as well as a story.With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right but it’s a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community—proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises.After all, isn’t that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?

    The humble, pixelated games of the ‘70s and ‘80s have evolved into the vivid, realistic, and immersive form of entertainment that now rivals all other forms of media for dominance in the consumer marketplace. For many, video games have become the cultural icons around which pop culture revolves.PRESS START TO PLAY is an anthology of stories inspired by video games: stories that attempt to recreate the feel of a video game in prose form; stories that play with the concepts common (or exclusive) to video games; and stories about the creation of video games and/or about the video games—or the gamers—themselves.These stories will appeal to anyone who has interacted with games, from hardcore teenaged fanatics, to men and women who game after their children have gone to bed, to your well-meaning aunt who won’t stop inviting you to join her farm-based Facebook games.At the helm of this project are Daniel H. Wilson—bestselling novelist and expert in artificial intelligence—and John Joseph Adams—bestselling, Hugo Award-nominated editor of more than a dozen science fiction/fantasy anthologies and series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy (volume one forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2015). Together, they have drawn on their wide-ranging contacts to assemble an incredibly talented group of authors who are eager to attack the topic of video games from startling and fascinating angles.Under the direction of an A.I. specialist and a veteran editor, the anthology will expose readers to a strategically chosen mix of stories that explore novel video game concepts in prose narratives, such as save points, kill screens, gold-farming, respawning, first-person shooters, unlocking achievements, and getting “pwned.” Likewise, each of our authors is an accomplished specialist in areas such as science fiction, fantasy, and techno-thrillers, and many have experience writing for video games professionally.Combining unique viewpoints and exacting realism, this anthology promises to thrill generations of readers, from those who grew up with Atari 2600s to the console and PC gamers of today.