From demons to cowboys, from werewolves to mistletoe, this 2-in-1 will keep you warm during cold December nights. Set in Kenyon's imaginative world, A Dark-Hunter Christmas shows Gallagher, in New Orleans, at Christmastime, without his family. Missing the ones he loves is a powerful force, and threatens to cast a pall over the Big Easy's Christmas cheer. But Simi has a few tricks up her sleeve, intent to show him that even though he is apart from his loved ones, he still has people to lean on...In Santa Wears Spurs, the wanted outlaw O'Connell was forced years ago to abandon his spitfire of a woman-his wife, Catherine-before his enemies hurt her to get to him. Now he's ready to turn himself in to the authorities, but not before he does one last good deed. A deed that miraculously sends him head-to-head with Catherine who wants a bigger piece of his hide than his enemies do. But with his dangerous brother hot on his tail to end him, he has to protect Catherine at all costs. Something that would be a lot easier to do if she could forgive him for screwing up her life and leaving her. It will take a little miracle and a whole lot of Christmas magic to put his enemies behind him and allow him to win back his own good name and a heart he should never have abandoned.

    The agency maverick and the female agent assigned to keep him in line.Their job: investigate the eeriest unsolved mysteries in modern America, from pyro-psychics to death row demonics, from rampaging Sasquatches to alien invasions. The cases the Bureau wants handled quietly, but quickly, before the public finds out what's really out there. And panics. The cases filed under "X."Something out there is killing people, remaining invisible and unseen by human eyes until it strikes with deadly force...

    Link has won an ardent following for her ability to take readers deep into an unforgettable, brilliantly constructed fictional universe with each new story. In “The Summer People,” a young girl in rural North Carolina serves as uneasy caretaker to the mysterious, never-quite-glimpsed visitors who inhabit the cottage behind her house. In “I Can See Right Through You,” a middle-aged movie star makes a disturbing trip to the Florida swamp where his former on- and off-screen love interest is shooting a ghost-hunting reality show. In “The New Boyfriend,” a suburban slumber party takes an unusual turn, and a teenage friendship is tested, when the spoiled birthday girl opens her big present: a life-size animated doll. Hurricanes, astronauts, evil twins, bootleggers, Ouija boards, iguanas, The Wizard of Oz, superheroes, the Pyramids...These are just some of the talismans of an imagination as capacious and as full of wonder as that of any writer today. But as fantastical as these stories can be, they are always grounded in sly humor and an innate generosity of feeling for the frailty--and the hidden strengths--of human beings. In Get in Trouble, this one-of-a-kind talent expands the boundaries of what short fiction can do.

    Edited by Christopher Golden, it features an extraordinary lineup of collaborative stories, with the authors of each story collaborating for the very first time. And here they are! -TRIP TRAP by Sherrilyn Kenyon & Kevin J. Anderson -WELDED by Tom Piccirilli & T.M. Wright -DARK WITNESS by Charlaine Harris & Rachel Caine -REPLACING MAX by Stuart MacBride & Allan Guthrie -T. RHYMER by Gregory Frost & Jonathan Maberry -SHE, DOOMED GIRL by Sarah MacLean & Carrie Ryan -HAND JOB by Chelsea Cain & Lidia Yuknavitch -HOLLOW CHOICES by Robert Jackson Bennett & David Liss -AMUSE-BOUCHE by Amber Benson & Jeffrey J. Mariotte -BRANCHES, CURVING by Tim Lebbon & Michael Marshall Smith -RENASCENCE by Rhodi Hawk and F. Paul Wilson -BLIND LOVE by Kasey Lansdale & Joe R. Lansdale -TRAPPER BOY by Holly Newstein & Rick Hautala -STEWARD OF THE BLOOD by Nate Kenyon & James A. Moore -CALCULATING ROUTE by Michael Koryta & Jeffrey David Greene -SISTERS BEFORE MISTERS by Sarah Rees Brennan, Cassandra Clare, and Holly Black -SINS LIKE SCARLET by Mark Morris & Rio Youers

    He is the author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles, The Illustrated Man, Dandelion Wine, and Something Wicked This Way Comes. Bradbury has once again pulled together a stellar group of stories sure to delight readers young and old, old and new. In One More For The Road we are treated to the best this talented writer has to offer : the eerie and strange, nostalgic and bittersweet, searching and speculative. Here are a father's regrets, a lover's last embrace, a child's dreams of the future 栬l delivered with the trademark Bradbury wit and style.First day --Heart transplant --Quid pro quo --After the ball --In memoriam --Tete-a-tete --Dragon danced at midnight --Nineteenth --Beasts --Autumn afternoon --Where all is emptiness there is room to move --One-woman show --Laurel and Hardy alpha centauri farewell tour --Leftovers --One more for the road --Tangerine --With smiles as wide as summer --Time intervening --Enemy in the wheat --Fore! --My son, Max --F. Scott/Tolstoy/Ahab accumulator --Well, what do you have to say for yourself? --Diane de Foret --Cricket on the hearth --Afterword: Metaphors, the breakfast of champions

    Our most imaginative literary minds have been devoured by these incredible creatures and produced exciting, insightful, and unflinching new works of zombie fiction. We've again dug up the best stories published in the last few years and compiled them into an anthology to feed your insatiable hunger….©2014 Paula Guran (P)2014 Audible Inc.• Joanne Anderton, “Trail of Dead”• Michael Arnzen, “Rigormarole” (poem)• Marie Brennan, “What Still Abides• Mike Carey, “Iphigenia in Aulis”• Jacques L. Condor (Mak a Tai Meh), “Those Beneath the Bog”• Neil Gaiman, “The Day the Saucers Came” (poem)• Roxane Gay, “There is No ‘E' in Zombi Which Means There Can Be No You Or We”• Ron Goulart, “I Waltzed with a Zombie”• Eric Gregory, “The Harrowers”• William Jablonsky, “The Death and Life of Bob”• Shaun Jeffrey, “Til Death Do Us Part”• Matthew Johnson, “The Afflicted”• Stephen Graham Jones, “Rocket Man”• Joy Kennedy-O'Neill “Aftermath”• Caitlín R. Kiernan, “In The Dreamtime of Lady Resurrection”• Nicole Kornher-Stace, “Present”• Joe R. Lansdale, “The Hunt: Before and The Aftermath”• Shira Lipkin, “Becca at the End of the World”• David Liss, “What Maisie Knew”• Jonathan Maberry, “Jack & Jill”• Alex Dally MacFarlane, “Selected Sources for the Babylonian Plague of the Dead (572-571 BCE)”• Maureen McHugh, “The Naturalist”• Lisa Mannetti, “Resurgam”• Joe McKinney, “The Day the Music Died”• Tamsyn Muir, “Chew”• Holly Newstein, “Delice”• Cat Rambo, “Love, Resurrected”• Carrie Ryan, “What We Once Feared”• Marge Simon, “The Children’s Hour” (poem)• Maggie Slater, “A Shepherd of the Valley”• Simon Strantzas, “Stemming the Tide”• Charles Stross, “Bit Rot”• Genevieve Valentine, “The Gravedigger of Konstan Spring”• Carrie Vaughn, “Kitty’s Zombie New Year”• Don Webb, “Pollution”• Jay Wilburn, “Dead Song”

    Ghosts, ghouls, incubi: all have one thing in common. They know Booth for one of their own . . .

    Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure but violent purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse's bones—designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?Of such concepts and unforgettable images are made the twenty-eight stories in this collection—many published here for the first time. By turns speculative, satirical, and heart-wrenching, fresh in form and language, and featuring a cast of damaged yet hopeful seekers who come face-to-face with the deep weirdness of the world—and at times the deeper weirdness of themselves—Three Moments of an Explosion is a fitting showcase for one of our most original voices.

    Featuring new fiction by Mary Robinette Kowal, E. Lily Yu, Shveta Thakrar, Charlie Jane Anders, Delilah S. Dawson, and Sarah Monette, classic fiction by Scott Lynch, essays by Natalie Luhrs, Sofia Samatar, Michael R. Underwood, and Caitlín Rosberg, poetry by C. S. E. Cooney, Bryan Thao Worra, and Sonya Taaffe, interviews with E. Lily Yu and Delilah S. Dawson by Deborah Stanish, a cover by Antonio Caparo, and an editoral by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas.

    Thirsting for vengeance against the enemy who made him something less than human, Sam returns to England and crosses paths with Cassandra Fielding. His best friend’s little sister has become a fearless woman on a dangerous mission of her own. And against all odds, she sees past what he’s become, and stirs a desire he thought he’d lost forever…“Simon Says” by Bianca D’ArcSpecial Forces soldier Simon Blackwell ended his affair with Mariana Daniels three years ago, but he hasn’t stopped protecting her. Mariana has no knowledge of the dark, deadly creatures that lurk in the forest surrounding her clinic, or of the mysterious powers that make Simon the only one who can defeat them. But soon he’ll have no choice but to reveal the truth, and urge her to trust in an explosive passion that never faded…

    Some live boring. Some even die boring. Fred managed to do all three, and when he woke up as a vampire, he did so as a boring one. Timid, socially awkward, and plagued by self-esteem issues, Fred has never been the adventurous sort.One fateful night – different from the night he died, which was more inconvenient than fateful – Fred reconnects with an old friend at his high school reunion. This rekindled relationship sets off a chain of events thrusting him right into the chaos that is the parahuman world, a world with chipper zombies, truck driver wereponies, maniacal necromancers, ancient dragons, and now one undead accountant trying his best to “survive.” Because even after it’s over, life can still be a downright bloody mess.

    He writes letters to his brother and to others, including a friend still in jail, to whom he progressively reveals the intriguing pieces of a strange and fantastic narrative. When he meets a real estate agent who tells him he is, to his utter surprise, the heir to a huge old house in town, long empty, he moves in. He is immediately confronted by an array of supernatural creatures and events, by love and danger. His life is utterly transformed and we read on, because we must know more. We revise our opinions of him, and of others, with each letter, piecing together more of the story as we go. We learn things about magic, and another world, and about the sorcerer Mr. Black, who originally inhabited the house. And then knowing what we now know only in the end, perhaps we read it again.

    From Brian James Freeman and Richard Chizmar of the acclaimed Cemetery Dance Publications, Dark Screams: Volume One reaches across genres to take readers beyond the precipice of mortal toil and into the glimmering void of irreality and beyond.  WEEDS by Stephen King When a meteorite lands on his property, Jordy Verrill envisions an easy payday. Unfortunately for Jordy, this is no ordinary rock—and the uncompromising force inside has found its first target.  THE PRICE YOU PAY by Kelley ArmstrongNever pay more than you owe. Sounds like easy advice to follow. But for Kara and her childhood friend Ingrid, some debts can never be repaid . . . especially those tendered in blood.  MAGIC EYES by Bill Pronzini Edward James Tolliver has found a weary sort of asylum among the insane. He knows he’s not one of them—but how can he tell anyone about the invaders without sounding that way?  MURDER IN CHAINS by Simon Clark Imagine awaking to find yourself in an underground vault, chained by the neck to a murderous lunatic, a grunting goliath who seems more animal than man. What would you do to save yourself?  THE WATCHED by Ramsey Campbell Little Jimmy gets a glimpse of the cold truth when he finds out that it’s not always what you see that can get you into trouble; it’s who knows what you see.

    Having left the battlefield a shattered man, he comes home to find yet more tragedy for in his absence, his wife has died of the flu. Haunted by memories of the woman he loved and the atrocities he perpetrated, Tomas dreams of fire and finds himself setting match to flame when awake. . . .Alice Dartle is a talented clairvoyant living among others who share her gifts in the community of Cassadaga, Florida. She too dreams of fire, knowing her nightmares are connected to the shell-shocked war veteran and widower. And she believes she can bring peace to him and his wife s spirit.But the inferno that threatens to consume Tomas and Alice was set ablaze centuries ago by someone whose hatred transcended death itself. . . .

    Now, in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world through their short stories. This venerable collection brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Damien Broderick, Elizabeth Bear, Paul McAuley and John Barnes. And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must-read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre.The multiple Locus Award-winning annual compilation of the year's best science fiction stories