ask your mother to stop pointing the gun at your head. Steven is a writer, by all accounts of self-proclamation. But no artist can be expected to work under serious pressure, especially not when the pressure consists of his own mother indenting his tender skull with the muzzle of the pistol held in her hand. Suddenly, it's write or die for Steven. He better tap away on that typewriter or expect to be extracted from the land of the living before he's had the opportunity to finish anything he's ever written. Not to mention that his recently departed Father lying on the floor beside him should supply enough motivation. When Steven manages to frustrate his murderous mother to no end, his wish made under duress actually comes true. Mother's vanished... along with all evidence of the foregoing incident ever having taken place. Is his beloved father really dead? Is his own mother now a criminal on the run? Can he truly never cure his lifetime disease of writer's block? Only one person can uncover the truth and set the world to rights again. That would be Tim, Steven's much more successful, though younger, brother. If only Tim would actually believe Steven's retelling of the frightful situation he's just managed to survive. Someone's got to fix the latest family faux pas. And everyone in the family knows it can't be Steven. In the dead of night, two brothers battle sibling rivalry, serious mother issues, one heinous surprise after another, and a lifetime of family strife to get to the bottom of it all and uncover what's been lying beneath all along. Start Reading Now... What are you waiting for? chuckle-worthy dark comedy, murder mystery, delicious sibling rivalry and family issues, the cure for writer's block, and so much more await you. About the Author Justine Avery Is a Genre-Breaker, a Writer of Delicious Story Above All Else Justine Avery is an avid reader of all genres, weaves her own stories among them all, and sets out to surprise her readers at every opportunity. She's an acutely observant introvert with an insatiable yearning to explorer, a risk-taker who's based in reality, a wanderer with a mission, and a grownup blessed with childlike wonder at the world. Her stories reflect the same, and readers can't get enough of them. Avery writes genre-breaking fiction with universal appeal, emphasizing enticing story above all else. She writes powerful, affecting stories accessible to all readers, regardless of what your own favorite genres happen to be. She writes the tales all readers are drawn to, the stories capable of changing your view of the world around you, the narratives that will become a part of you. Go ahead—take a peek. Use the Look Inside feature above, and start reading Point Blank now.

    Imagine a drug that flips the valleys and makes them peaks, too. You react now to an event based not on the pleasure or pain that it brings, but solely on the intensity of the emotion created. Pain brings pleasure, grief gives joy, horror renders ecstasy.Now give this drug to a soldier. Tell them to kill. Not in the historically acceptable murder of war, but in a systematic corporate strategy--of xenocide.They will kill. And they will revel in it.Welcome to the world of Scream.Jason Trelayne is a Screamer, a soldier forced to take part in the destruction of entire races. But when Trelayne falls in love with a beautiful Scream Angel, an alien who produces the addictive drug, he sets off a chain of events that pits him and a small group of followers against an empire.An award winning novelette of rebellion, love, and an unlikely hero."A dark and powerful story with a first line that sets the tone for what is to come: 'They stopped beating Trelayne when they saw that he enjoyed it.' (A++)" --Fantasy Book Critic"A visceral work. A true pearl of the fantastic literature. Breath-taking." --Café de Ontem"...the book's most skillfully crafted story...quickly becomes one that holds the reader's attention until the very end." --SpecFicWorld"...remind me of the reasons I love the author's writing: his characterization, attention to detail and recurring themes of love, faith and redemption." --SF Crowsnest Reviews"The story has so many layers that I'm still sorting them out. And like an onion, I'm not sure if I'll ever find the final layer." --Tangent Online"One of those rare ideas that seems at once so perfect and so natural that someone must have come up with it before; but if someone has, I haven't heard about it, and regardless Smith exploits the potential of the idea extraordinarily well here." --Strange Horizons

    Unfortunately, the way home isn't as clear-cut as he'd hoped and he's forced to turn to Aria, his GPS, for an alternate route. However, Aria has something far more sinister in mind...

    The cycle of narratives that includes the title work of this collection, for instance, introduces readers to a freakish community of artists who encounter demonic perils that ultimately engulf their lives. These are selected examples of the forbidding array of persons and places that compose the mesmerizing fiction of Thomas Ligotti.

    A rat, perhaps? But no. As soon as I opened the cupboard door, out popped the skull—landing near my feet and bouncing away right across the drawing room.Ghosts and spirits, prets and jinns abound in this collection of stories. From the skull that refused to be given away to the spirits of long dead hill-station residents and from the mysterious man you meet on a dark road to the malevolent presence at the bottom of a pond—these are some of Ruskin Bond’s best stories about the supernatural. Dive under the covers, leave the lights on and lose yourself in these scary, funny and adventurous tales.

    Will the spirits win?After the tragic death of her parents, Dr. Grace Sullivan inherits more than she bargained for. An empty house she’s never heard of, a nosy neighbor, and the restless spirits of a violent, century old murder. A hard-nosed skeptic, Grace refuses to believe in ghosts despite hearing sounds and seeing things that can’t be explained. When she unearths antique furniture from the basement, the spirits become agitated and dangerous. Ian Black and Alex Gallagher, a team of ghost hunters, come in to investigate. Still denying the paranormal events in her home, Grace can’t bring herself to take the ghost hunters or the psychic medium who teams up with them seriously. As Grace struggles with her grief and the feelings she’s developing for headstrong Ian, the disturbing mystery of the house deepens. Now she’ll have to face the unbelievable before the spirits claim her for their own.

    Even as the old Queen's health fails, Victorian Britain stands monumental and strong upon a mountain of technological, scientific, and intellectual progress. For John Kemp, a straight-forward, unimaginative London lawyer, life seems reassuringly predictable yet forward-leaning, that is, until a foray into the recently published sensationalist novel Dracula, united with a chance meeting with an eccentric Dominican friar, catapults him into a bizarre, violent, and unsettling series of events.As London is transfixed with terror at a bloody trail of murder and destruction, Kemp finds himself in its midst, besieged on all sides—in his friendships, as those close to him fall prey to vicious assault by an unknown assassin; in his deep attraction to an unconventional American heiress; and in his own professional respectability, for who can trust a lawyer who sees things which, by all sane reason, cannot exist? Can his mundane, sensible life—and his skeptical mind—withstand vampires? Can this everyday Englishman survive his encounter with perhaps an even more sinister threat—the white-robed Papists who claim to be vampire slayers?"A real 19th century Gothic vampire story, rich and colorful, and wonderfully full of foreboding. The characters are vivid and convincing, and the historical locales make the supernatural element effective and affecting as it builds to the point where our protagonist must recognize it and confront it."— Tim Powers, Best-Selling Novelist; Author, On Stranger Tides"Imagine a cross between Dracula and The Exorcist, written with the literary flourish of the former and the Catholic sensibility of the latter, and you will have some idea of how this heavenly hybrid on a hellish theme speaks with such death-defying and grave-shattering power in this work."— Joseph Pearce, Editor, Ignatius Critical Editions; Author, The Quest for Shakespeare"Nicholson writes with an impeccable ear for turn-of-the-century English and a dry wit worthy of George Bernard Shaw that makes A Bloody Habit a brilliant combination of edification and fun."— Karen Ullo, Author, Jennifer the Damned and Cinder Allia

    He first appeared in Dragonfly in Amber as a sixteen-year-old English camp tag-along/soldier who chanced upon Jamie and Claire Fraser on the eve of the battle of Prestonpans. He made subsequent appearances in Voyager, Drums of Autumn, A Breath of Snow and Ashes and An Echo in the Bone, and showed up through a series of letters to Jamie and his family in The Fiery Cross. Grey is usually described as short (about five six), slight and good-looking, with fine-boned features. He had blond hair, "large, beautiful" blue eyes and a "beautiful" mouth. Grey's background changed as the Outlander series progressed. For example, his father was only an earl in Dragonfly in Amber, but by the time John Grey's own series appeared, his father had become a duke. The following is the description of John Grey's background collected from the more recent books, consisting mostly of Lord John Grey series. Born around June 1729, John William Grey was the second child of the Duke and Duchess of Pardloe, Gerard and Benedicta Grey. The couple's first child is John's elder brother, Harold. In addition to Harold, John had two other siblings -- half brothers from his mother's earlier marriage to Captain DeVane -- Paul and Edgar DeVane. John's godfather immediately enrolled John into the Beefsteak Club after his birth

    One hundred years on and the spirits of the deceased are restless still, ‘haunting’ the community, refusing to let them forget. In 1999, psychic investigators Theo Lawson and Ness Patterson are called in to help, sensing immediately on arrival how weighed down the town is. Quickly they discover there’s no safe haven. The past taints everything. Hurtling towards the anniversary as well as a new millennium, their aim is to move the spirits on, to cleanse the atmosphere so everyone – the living and the dead – can start again. But the spirits prove resistant and soon Theo and Ness are caught up in battle, fighting against something that knows their deepest fears and can twist them in the most dangerous of ways. They’ll need all their courage to succeed and the help of a little girl too – a spirit who didn’t die at the hall, who shouldn’t even be there…

    The winner of multiple Hugo and Nebula Awards, Connie Willis captures the timeless essence of generosity and goodwill in this magical collection if Christmas stories.  These eight tales — two of which have never before been published — boldly reimagine the stories of Christmas while celebrating the power of love and compassion.  This enchanting treasury includes:"Miracle," in which a young woman's carefully devised plans to find romance go awry when her guardian angel shows her the true meaning of love."In Coppelius's Toyshop," where a jaded narcissist finds himself trapped in a crowded toy store at Christmastime."Epiphany," in which three modern-day wisemen embark on a quest unlike any they've ever experienced."Inn," where a choir singer gives shelter to a homeless man and his pregnant wife — only to learn later that there's much more to the couple than meets the eye.Also includes: "The Pony""Adaptation""Cat's Paw""Newsletter"

    Lonely and isolated, he's turned his "special trick" into a lucrative career as an assassin. He thinks he's one of a kind - until one day he's confronted by a young girl named Cassandra, who tells him that he's not alone. She has it too, and the two of them are not the only carriers ofSensory Deprivation Syndrome (SDS)SDS is a medical condition so dangerous that carriers can render anyone they touch blind or deaf, or otherwise senseless, in seconds.Fearing discovery, Luxley follows Cassandra through a dark underground network of "Deprivers" in a desperate hunt for her missing brother Nicholas, taken hostage by a radical group of carriers with a terrifying agenda. Luxley doesn't know who to trust, or who is safe to touch, but he needs to learn Cassandra's secrets fast. As knowledge of SDS spreads, and panic erupts, no Depriver anywhere in the world will be safe.

    Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner Agent Onsi the ropes of investigation when they are called to subdue a dangerous, possessed tram car. What starts off as a simple matter of exorcism, however, becomes more complicated as the origins of the demon inside are revealed.

    Lovecraft's classic stories, among them some of the greatest works of horror fiction ever written, including:

    A long-standing custom of his people. The realm filled with humans, elves, and a multitude of monsters. The goals are simple enough, gather enough treasure to satisfy his instincts, and learn mastery over his amorphic magic. There are other reasons as well, if of lesser importance. There are also rules and customs, laws, that have been developed for good reason, such as staying in human form.Things aren’t quite that simple though. What was supposed to be a subtle entrance to the world happened in the middle of a huge battle instead. Worse, he was dropped in the middle of a horde of undead led by a lich.His quest grows even more complicated after that, but will he realize nothing is as it seems before it kills him? Content Warning: Not suitable for children. This is a monster harem story with explicitly mature scenes between a man and a woman, and other mature content. There’s no explicit group sex in this book, but that’s coming in the second and final book. You have been warned.

    In fact, she never thought she would escape her small and peculiar hometown. When We Were Animals is Lumen's confessional: as a well-behaved and over-achieving teenager, she fell beneath the sway of her community's darkest, strangest secret. For one year, beginning at puberty, every resident "breaches" during the full moon. On these nights, adolescents run wild, destroying everything in their path.Lumen resists. Promising her father she will never breach, she investigates the mystery of her community's traditions and the stories erased from the town record. But the more we learn about the town's past, the more we realize that Lumen's memories are harboring secrets of their own.A gothic coming-of-age tale for modern times, When We Were Animals is a dark, provocative journey into the American heartland.