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.

    Finding him for her anonymous client will put her fledgling business in the supernatural haven town of Nocturne Falls, Georgia in the black for months. Maximilian Cornelius Vandervere the Fourth was a privileged and respected member of one of Alpha-Prime’s most elite families before the Incident made him a social pariah. An uncomplicated life as Max Vander in the secret alien colony on Earth is the perfect solution. The double whammy of a love spell and a truth spell is definitely a complication he doesn’t need. Ruby can’t help but notice the tall, gorgeous blond alien. It’s hard to ignore a man who keeps declaring his love and proposing marriage to a woman he’s just met. And it’s clear he needs help. Sweet, sexy Max is a puzzle she can’t resist.

    Sophie Mead has a problem.She's falling for one of Nocturne Falls' resident gargoyles: the tall, muscled, and sexy Elias Saunders.But when Elias comes to her after being attacked, she has to put aside her attraction for him. What looks like a small mark on his left forearm is more than just a mark. His skin is turning to stone - and it's spreading.Sophie enlists the help of an old family friend, and joins Elias on a desperate quest to find out what's happened to him, and how to stop it, before he becomes a statue. Permanently.