As children, those four words told us we were about to enter a brand-new world: scarier, happier, more enchanted than our everyday life. No matter our own particular expectations and experience with fairy tales, we knew we were in for a wild ride. Handsome princes would save beautiful damsels in distress and the ogres never got the girl.Perhaps in our own stories, or in our own lives, we aren't quite satisfied with those happily-ever-afters. What sound-minded prince would choose any of those airheaded bosomy blondes that populate familiar animated versions of the original, much darker, and more ominous tales made famous by the Brothers Grimm?Not to mention, fairy tales were often used as bedtime stories.Well, put all that behind you and prepare for a new type of fairy tale. Not only are they guaranteed to get you into bed. though not for sleep, you won't find a single of those old-fashioned stereotypical characters.Instead enter a world where a magic cock ring can grow into a mighty peenstalk, or an unhappy shepherd can meet the sexiest wolf imaginable. A Japanese youth with the strength of a bear finds himself weak in the face of a beautiful samurai, and a young man in a ball gown can charm a prince to distraction. These are but a few of the adventures that await you, once upon a time! Jack and the Peenstalk by Clancy NachtThe Rebelliously Single Prince by Lenore BlackCry Wolf by Mercy LoomisKintaro by S.J. FrostAshes and Crystal by Jason RubisHandsome and Grateful by Kilt KilpatrickSwan Made by Mina KellyKing’s Honor by JL MerrowThe Merman’s Tail by Jay Di Meo

    After an indiscreet rendezvous with a sexy satyr in the supply closet at work, he's put on probation and temporarily reassigned from the Easter Bunny Department to the Cupid Department. As his penance he's ordered to motivate one very sexy but surly cupid by the name of Charles Ross, who is effectively on strike. Their first matchmaking assignment looks clear cut, an in-and-out (so to speak) task they can finish quickly so Vincent can prove he's done his time and go back to stuffing Easter baskets. But when the plan goes wrong and Charlie ends up in a love coma, Vincent is put on trial for his slutty bunny ways! Now his only hope is for love to conquer all-including death-and come winging his way.

    Could it? Raen should have found his mate during his first hunt, instead he almost died. Two years later, he’s struggling with internal fear, and his father’s disapproval. Until he encounters a land-dweller.A man he feels a deep and instant connection to. A man who will drown if Raen doesn’t save him.But in order to do so, Raen must break two of the merfolk’s rules: Don’t interact with land-dwellers. Don’t go beyond the surface. If Raen saves the man, he stands to lose everything he’s ever known. But if he lets him drown, he’ll lose something infinitely more precious to his heart and soul. Beyond the Surface is a paranormal MM romance, with fated mates who almost never met, a sweet insta-love relationship, and an age-gap.

    Instead he ends up shipwrecked, captured and taken to the one country where he dare not reveal his identity. Worse, he s just been bought by a man with no love for Sardelsa.Ripped from his family as a child and sold into slavery, Paole s natural gift for healing made him a valuable asset but did little to shield him from abuse and prejudice. Though he s now free, for the first time in his life he s alone and he hates it. All he wanted was an apprentice and traveling companion in this hostile land. Instead he winds up the unintentional owner of a slave with a mulish attitude and a suspicious history.Yveni dares not tell the truth about who he is, and Paole refuses to trust him until he comes clean. The battle of wills only serves to heat up a sizzling attraction that throws a new complication into the mix: love.Paole wants acceptance. Yveni wants his birthright. Even if they manage to come to an understanding, forces are gathering against them that could tear them apart forever "

    The only thing beautiful in his life is his sister. When Gwennie is obliged to turn a suitor down because she fears to leave her brother to the brutality of their village, Knife is desperate for anything to ensure her happiness.Her suitor's cousin offers him a way out, but it won't be easy. Aerie-Smith has been cursed to walk upright in the form of a beast, and his beloved village suffers from the same spell. Aerie-Smith offers Gwen a trousseau and some hope, if only Knife will keep him company on his island for the span of a year and perform one "regrettable task" at year's end.Knife is unprepared for the form the island's curse takes on his own misshapen body. In one moment of magic, he is given the body of his dreams—and he discovers that where flesh meets spirit and appearance meet reality, sometimes the only place to find truth is in the darkness of a lover's arms.

    This prince was very handsome, and everybody in the kingdom loved him. His father, the king, doted on the young man, and did everything he could to make the boy happy. His mother, the queen, adored her prince, and devised new and special gifts for him every day. The subjects of the kingdom brought offerings to the prince, and served at his pleasure, without a single complaint. The prince, being a good man, responded in kind and treated everybody fairly and with respect. But, much to his father’s confusion and his mother’s disappointment, there was one thing the prince never did... He never smiled. Finally, unable to tolerate his son’s dour expression any longer, the king sent out a decree. He dispatched messengers to every corner of his country, and runners to all the neighboring kingdoms. The first person to make his hard-faced child smile would earn the right to marry him. Unfortunately for the king, things did not go as planned...

    When Haverford is robbed by a pirate, Raef vows to reclaim the stolen goods, hoping his victory will buy him the happiness he yearns for with Haverford. But Jon Kemp does not match what Raef knows about pirates, and the simple quest Raef anticipated turns out to be an epic journey. For while Jon might be a nobler man than Raef believed, he’s still a pirate. Love and loyalty are not on Jon’s agenda, and he certainly has no plans to love someone not entirely human …

    No doubt it’s because of his fascination with humans and their culture. For decades he’s been content to observe from the shadows, but then a lonely human wanders onto Rodney’s rooftop one night and turns his world upside down. David Marshall is everything Rodney has wanted in all his years of solitude. Rodney manages to keep his crush and his identity a secret until David needs a gargoyle’s protection more than late-night conversations with a reclusive friend. Will David be able to see past the monstrous exterior to the true person within? Time is running out, and Rodney must try to grab onto life—and love—before it’s too late.

    But when strange events draw him into a magical world, he becomes the only man who can free Morgan, a lonely, long-enchanted shape-shifter. Whether he feels he’s worthy or not, Hal is the hero Morgan has been waiting for.However, Hal’s task becomes personal as he and Morgan fall in love. Now, to save Morgan and give himself the happily ever after he’s always longed for, Hal will need to do something far more daunting than face Morgan’s captor or finally come out of the closet… He’ll have to believe in himself.This title has been previously published and has been revised from its original release.

    When he finally escapes, freedom comes at great cost. The man who rescues him from near death in a dark alley is far from a savior. He’s a feral mage nearly as broken as Lindsay himself.Dane knows better than to argue with the wind that summoned him to Lindsay’s rescue, but playing nursemaid isn’t the role he envisioned for himself in the battle to end the human campaign to control his people. In spite of his resistance, he is bound to the delicate, skittish mage who unwittingly harbors one of the greatest magical powers ever known.Lindsay desperately hides his growing desire, sure that Dane could never reciprocate. Yet Dane lays his life on the line to protect him, restoring the one thing Lindsay thought was gone forever: hope.But true freedom to live—and to love—will elude Lindsay until he can regain his magic and win Dane’s complete devotion. And survive long enough to do both.

    He’s pretty sure this secret has something to do with seeing another man once a month for three days at a time. Determined to show his boyfriend that he can be everything Danny needs, Rick hatches a plan that ends up revealing way more than he could’ve imagined. (This is a prequel short story related to ISHERWOOD.)

    When a lusty pirate kidnaps him and holds him prisoner on his ship, Taren embraces the chance to realize his dream of a seagoing life. Not only does the pirate captain offer him freedom in exchange for three years of labor and sexual servitude, but the pleasures Taren finds when he joins the captain and first mate in bed far surpass his greatest fantasies.Then, during a storm, Taren dives overboard to save another sailor and is lost at sea. He’s rescued by Ian Dunaidh, the enigmatic and seemingly ageless captain of a rival ship, the Phantom, and Taren feels an overwhelming attraction to Ian that Ian appears to share. Soon Taren learns a secret that will change his life forever: Ian and his people are Ea, shape-shifting merfolk… and Taren is one of them too. Bound to each other by a fierce passion neither can explain or deny, Taren and Ian are soon embroiled in a war and forced to fight for a future—not only for themselves but for all their kind.

    What Adam does know is he's not going to be the scumbag after death that he was in life. Peter dreads Adam's slumps. Partly because they often coincide with frustrating celibacy, but also there's the niggling fear that Adam's going to take his own unlife in a fit of remorse. Peter's seen Adam die once and he's not going through that again if he can help it. So, he decides to give Adam a little Christmas cheer.But what do you give the vampire who has everything?

    Papers with secrets that could spell death. Crispin needs to get them back before anyone finds out what he's been doing, or what his magic can do.Crispin tracks his quarry down to waste paper dealer Ned Hall. He needs help, and Ned can’t resist Crispin’s pleading—and appealing—looks. But can the waste-man and the magician prevent a disaster and save Crispin’s skin?A 16,000 word story set in the Charm of Magpies world, and a prequel to the novel Rag and Bone (March 2016). This story was first published as part of the Charmed & Dangerous anthology.Cover design by Catherine Dair.

    While making a late delivery to a client, he runs into Taz. A man on a disastrous date… When Taz agreed to come to Earth on a date, he didn’t expect to be dumped and left with no way home. Then he falls into Reed’s arms—literally. A coffee date soon becomes a trip back to Reed’s apartment. But when Taz’s stripes begin to show, Reed discovers Taz comes from a planet far, far away. Reed never believed aliens existed, but he’s facing one now. What in the world is he going to do?