But when three dwarves bring news of a sleeping sickness sweeping across her realm, she knows she cannot stand by and do nothing. As a girl, she survived her own long, magical sleep, so she must try to turn back this new plague and save her people.Abandoning her bridal finery, she dons her armour instead, and rides out to a castle at the very heart of the sleeping lands. There, she finds a beautiful princess, sound asleep, and a very old woman, forever awake. With no handsome prince in sight, the queen wakes the princess in the traditional way - but things are not as they seem, and it will take more than a kiss to ensure everyone lives happily ever after...Penelope Wilton, Gwendoline Christie, Ralph Ineson and Neil Gaiman himself are among the star cast in this captivating fable of love, loss, hope and destiny.This release is an extended cut of the story broadcast on BBC Radio 4, and features an exclusive introduction from Neil Gaiman.CreditsWritten by Neil GaimanAdapted by Katie HimsDirected and produced by Allegra McIlroyRecorded remotely by Sharon Hughes and John BentonSound design by Sharon HughesA BBC Audio North Production CastThe Narrator/The Old Woman - Dame Penelope WiltonThe Queen - Gwendoline ChristieThe Home Secretary - Neil GaimanThe First Dwarf - Ralph InesonThe Second Dwarf - Stefan AdegbolaThe Third Dwarf/The Prince/The Tinker/The Woodcutter - Ian Dunnett Jnr The Pot Girl/The Young Girl/The Mother - Cecilia AppiahThe Maid/The Other Woman/The Stepmother - Emma HandyThe Father/The Inn Keeper/The Bandit - Roger RingroseThe Child - Milton DightonFirst broadcast BBC Radio 4, 26 December 2020

    So it is that Vicki Hendricks, Michael Hemmingson, Thomas Roche, Marilyn Jaye-Lewis, Mark Pritchard, and Stewart Home contribute original works to a collection already distinguished by such major names as Kathy Acker, Samuel Delany, Clive Barker, Leonard Cohen, and Anne Rice.

    She left him three years ago believing he could never be the happily-ever-after man she needed. Yet Jack still wants her and she finds herself wanting to submit to him again.As Jack and Callie explore their Dominant/submissive relationship, Callie gets drawn deep into Jack's world all over again. For his part, Jack can't seem to forget how she nearly ruined him when she took off without even saying good-bye all those years ago, but he's afraid his baser needs will destroy Callie.If Callie gives Jack another chance to prove he can be what she needs, can Jack overcome his own fears and claim Callie forever?

    Amrutananda and Kapiladeva were cunning and extremely sly landlords in two neighbouring villages. They would cheat and ill-treat their labourers, but make a lot of money. However, someone had to teach them a lesson and that’s how Manikya arrived on their doorstep, offering to work for them for free, all set to teach them two very important lessons. Another clever story from the master of funny stories, Two Unforgettable Lessons will amuse you, entertain you and leave you rooting for Manikya and his brains long after you’ve finished the story.

    

    Little is known of her during her 30 plus years as a slave in Tennessee, or her life shortly thereafter. Her arrival and subsequent life in Cascade, Montana would make her a legend. Enjoy this great, inspiring and very humorous story of one amazing woman!

    Discover the bright imagination, suspense, thrilling drama, picturesque visions, and the second look into the true meaning of the “Crossroads” series message. Follow the series to piece together the hidden meaning of the stories to determine the overall message that is being portrayed. Will it bring enlightenment? Will it be the light at the end of the tunnel? Does fear take over and leave the message hidden? The journey continues and the message will surely begin to appear. WARNING: Not the famous Stephen King from Maine.

    Her latest book, the fifth in the series, is a collection of short stories based on her newspaper articles, magazine columns and other writings about France. France in Four Seasons is a series of short (and sweet) anecdotes, designed to give a delightful and evocative insight into French life as the seasons unfold.

    

    Against the relentless onslaught of Russian and Czechoslovakian divisions pouring into West Germany, Captain Kurt Mohr and his tank crews wage a desperate battle to delay the enemy advance. As a brand new company commander, he must also prove his metal to the men who serve under him. Amid the breakneck speed of mechanized warfare, Mohr battles his own self-doubt and fear in order to quickly adapt to the fast-paced battlefield environment. Fighting in Lower Bavaria also poses unique challenges to his command abilities as the close-in nature of the terrain forces him to deal with threats at point blank range. As the war's first day progresses, the brutal reality of war hits home. With the future of their nation at stake, Mohr and his men become the storm and steel that avenge the countrymen whose lives they are sworn to protect.

     Daisy McDare is busy nursing a broken heart, trying to build up her interior decorator business, and baking cookies when murder strikes Cozy Creek. At first she leaves the investigation to Chris Crumple, the local bumbling police detective. But when Crumple arrests the wrong suspect, Daisy takes the investigation into her own hands. Cracking the case won't be easy. She'll need help from her pastry-baking best friend Samantha, her wise-cracking Granny Annie, and her trusty West Highland Terrier Shamus.

    In Cormina, Louisiana a small town that was close to the swampland with a fragile ecosystem she was known for her visions. In her little house close to the river she was quite content to be in her garden, and she didn't much care what the small town people said about her. One night in the middle of a fierce storm her visions were brutal, and her second sight showed her a new path that her life was going to take with people she hardly knew. Instinct always told her that Alex Wakefield and Dominic Cross were more than just men, and she tried to stay a healthy distance away. That was going to be difficult now since she saw herself as their mate and her destiny was intertwined with theirs. Her mind's eyes had shown her that they were meant to be a party of three, and her visions were never wrong.

    Jones's I'm Open to Anything explores bohemian Southern California of the late 1980s and early 90s, before gentrification ruined everything. The book's narrator flees a crumbling industrial wasteland in the Midwest and finds himself in sunny Los Angeles without a car, working in a neighborhood video store and spending many hours watching films. He explores his adopted city and befriends a number of men, most of them immigrants, who teach him the finer points of sex. He acquires the skill of fisting, giving his partners intense pleasure, and at the same time hearing the stories of their lives. They too have fled their hometowns: one to escape torture at the hands of a Salvadoran death squad; another to study anthropology after years of wandering and religious questioning. Alternating between explicit scenes of kinky sex and intimate conversations about matters of life and death, I'm Open to Anything is a porno novel of rare ambition and humor. The book recalls Olympia Press's heyday, when authors made quick money churning out dirty books, but couldn't hide the intellectual obsessions that made them writers in the first place. William E. Jones's previous book, True Homosexual Experiences (also published by We Heard You Like Books), a biography of Straight to Hell's iconoclastic editor Boyd McDonald, celebrates the frank, raunchy language of the first queer 'zine. Jones brings the same unsparing and profane attitude to I'm Open to Anything, his debut novel.

    To give her a taste of home, Erik hatches a plan to bring winter to the beach, but it doesn't last long because when their bodies meet, the temperature is always scorching. Short in length but high in heat, this is the perfect little morsel to read poolside as you may find yourself in need of a cool-down afterward. (Story is approximately 4,000 words.)

    Serendipity by Joanna Wylde: Sarai has lived through one terrible marriage. The last thing she needs is a new man in her life. But Jax isn't interested in taking "no" for an answer... Craven's Downfall by Stephanie Burke: She didn't want to marry the boring man she was bound to, so when one simple wish lands Nola inside a world filled with exotic creatures and erotic fantasies she thought it was a dream come true. But the thing about fantasies is that they never last...or do they? A Wish Away by Marly Chance: Tiffany has a bad history when it comes to birthdays. This year, she's made it 12 hours into her birthday and she's taking no chances. Well, except for that one small birthday wish she made.She wished her sexy best friend, Zak, would notice her and that her routine life would get more exciting. What, after all, could go wrong with a wish like that?