From video game characters seeking civil rights and a cave dragon loan shark pondering an investment, to Santa Claus's Australian vacation and an enemy of Sam Spade's out for revenge, plus visits to the Nightside and Sookie Stackhouse's hometown, these stories will take readers around the world on a magical mystery tour."Lucky" by Charlaine Harris -- a Sookie Stackhouse short"Bogieman" by Carole Nelson Douglas"Looks are Deceiving" by Micheal A. Stackpole"the House of Seven Spirits" by Sharon Shinn"Glamour" by Mike Doogan"Spellbound" by Donna Andrews"the Duh Vice" by Michael Armstrong"Weight of the World" by John Straley"Illumination" by Laura Anne Gilman"the House" by Laurie R. King"Appetite for Murder" by Simon R. Green -- a Nightside short"A Woman's Work" by Dana Stabenow

    Includes A Watcher by the Dead by Ambrose Bierce; The Body Snatchers by Robert Louis Stevenson; The Adventure of the German Student by Washington Irving; Dickon the Devil by J. Sheridan Le Fanu; The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe; and The Open Window by Saki.

    From classic stories of the undead by writers like Edith Nesbit, Mary E. Wilkins-Freeman, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon to the work of such acclaimed contemporary authors as Poppy Z. Brite, Nancy Kilpatrick, Tanith Lee, Caitlin R. Kiernan, and Pat Cadigan, this terrifying and tantalizing volume turns the conventions of vampire fiction on their head and inside out as it refashions, and revamps, Bram Stoker's urbane Count Dracula in smart, modern, sexy terms. Original and inventive, the tales in this anthology offer a wide and varied range of undead heroines and doomed heroes, from the tormented good to the unspeakably evil. At large among them in the gardens of literature's longest night are Chelsea Quinn Yarbro's Byronic vampire Saint-Germain, Nancy A. Collins's "Vampire King of the Goth Chicks," Tanya Huff's vampiric detective Vicki Nelson, and Freda Warrington's age-old lovers Karl and Charlotte. In all, the quest continues—for blood to drink, for souls to steal, for life among the undead.CONTENTSIntroduction: My Life Among The Undead by Ingrid PittThe Master Of Rampling Gate by Anne RiceHomewrecker by Poppy Z. BriteWhen Gretchen Was Human by Mary A. TurzilloThe Vengeaful Spirit of Lake Nepeakea by Tanya HuffLa Diente by Nancy KilpatrickMiss Massingberd and the Vampire by Tina RathThe Raven Bound by Freda WarringtonVampire King of the Goth Chicks by Nancy A. CollinsJust His Type by Storm ConstantinePrince Of Flowers by Elizabeth HandService Rendered by Louise CooperAftermath by Janet BerlinerOne Among Millions by Yvonne NavarroLuella Miller by Mary E. Wilkins-FreemanSangre by Lisa TuttleA Question of Patronage by Chelsea Quinn YarbroHisako San by Ingrid PittButternut and Blood by Kathryn PtacekSleeping Cities by Wendy WebbThe Haunted House by E. NesbitTurkish Delight by Roberta LannesVenus Rising on Water by Tanith LeeYear Zero by Gemma FilesGood Lady Ducayne by Mary Elizabeth BraddonLunch At Charon's by Melanie TemForever, Amen by Elizabeth MassieNight Laughter by Ellen KushnerBootleg by Christa FaustOutfangthief by Gala BlauMy Brother's Keeper by Pat CadiganSo Runs The World Away by Caitlin R. KiernanA North Light by Gwyneth JonesJack by Connie WillisVampyr by Jane Yolen

    Perchance to Dream contains a selection of Beaumont’s finest stories, including five that he later adapted for Twilight Zone episodes.Beaumont dreamed up fantasies so vast and varied they burst through the walls of whatever box might contain them. Supernatural, horror, noir, science fiction, fantasy, pulp, and more: all were equally at home in his wondrous mind. These are stories where lions stalk the plains, classic cars rove the streets, and spacecraft hover just overhead. Here roam musicians, magicians, vampires, monsters, toreros, extraterrestrials, androids, and perhaps even the Devil himself. With dizzying feats of master storytelling and joyously eccentric humor, Beaumont transformed his nightmares and reveries into impeccably crafted stories that leave themselves indelibly stamped upon the walls of the mind. In Beaumont’s hands, nothing is impossible: it all seems plausible, even likely.

    L. Moore created Jirel, ruler of Joiry, in reaction to the beefy total-testosterone blood-and-thunder tales of '30s pulp magazines, but Jirel is no anti-Conan. She's a good Catholic girl, stubbornly purposeful, relentless in pursuit of enemies or vengeance, hard-boiled and a little stupid, and cannot be distracted by mere physical attractiveness. Indeed, in Jirel's world, beauty = decadence = corruption. Were these stories written today, inevitably Jirel would have a lot of hot sex, but as they were first published in Weird Tales between 1934-1939, sexual attraction is mostly only vividly implied. No loss. Jirel's journeys through unnatural landscapes and her battles with supernatural opponents are still wonderful to read, and though newcomers Red Sonja and Xena are more famous now, Jirel rules as the archetypal, indomitable redheaded swordswoman in chain mail and greaves, swinging her "great two-edged sword."Contents:· Jirel Meets Magic · nv Weird Tales Jul ’35 · Black God’s Kiss · nv Weird Tales Oct ’34 · Black God’s Shadow · nv Weird Tales Dec ’34 · The Dark Land · nv Weird Tales Jan ’36 · Hellsgarde · nv Weird Tales Apr ’39

    K. Jemisin, Charles Yu, Jamie Ford, and more. For many Americans, imagining a bright future has always been an act of resistance. A People's Future of the United States presents twenty never-before-published stories by a diverse group of writers, featuring voices both new and well-established. These stories imagine their characters fighting everything from government surveillance, to corporate cities, to climate change disasters, to nuclear wars. But fear not: A People's Future also invites readers into visionary futures in which the country is shaped by justice, equity, and joy.Edited by Victor LaValle and John Joseph Adams, this collection features a glittering landscape of moving, visionary stories written from the perspective of people of color, indigenous writers, women, queer & trans people, Muslims and other people whose lives are often at risk.Contributors include: Violet Allen, Charlie Jane Anders, Ashok K. Banker, Tobias S. Buckell, Tananarive Due, Omar El Akkad, Jamie Ford, Maria Dahvana Headley, Hugh Howey, Lizz Huerta, Justina Ireland, N. K. Jemisin, Alice Sola Kim, Seanan McGuire, Sam J. Miller, Daniel José Older, Malka Older, Gabby Rivera, A. Merc Rustad, Kai Cheng Thom, Catherynne M. Valente, Daniel H. Wilson, G. Willow Wilson, and Charles Yu.

    She has only heard stories from the eldest among them; tales of the Old World and of the scientists who invented the WeatherWizard - a technological innovation that controls the weather. Unfortunately, the device also gave an ambitious vampire prince the means to cover the world in impenetrable clouds, allowing his armies to crawl out of their caves and conquer all.Vampires rule over the New World, breeding humans for food. After fifty years of guerrilla warfare, the Resistance is fading, its supplies dwindling. They must rally and succeed—and soon—or all hope of restoring human civilization will be lost.When Myra goes on a desperate mission to help the Resistance, she ends up a captive in the vampires’ palace. With time running out, she must find a way to stop Prince Vladimir, and every wrong step leads to the death of innocents. Her battle abilities prove useless, but Myra discovers she has another skill that can give her an edge over her captors. Now, Myra must defeat the vampire leader at a power game he has been playing for almost two millennia.

    Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted - and still wants - to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.

    This volume collects many of his most famous short works and is a fitting compendium of his literary achievements for newcomers or longtime Hawthorne fans alike.

    There were American, English, and Continental writers who preceded Poe and influenced his work. Similarly, there were many who were in turn influenced by Poe’s genius and produced their own popular tales of supernatural literature. This collection features masterful tales of terror by authors who, by and large, are little-remembered for their writing in this genre. Even Bram Stoker, whose Dracula may be said to be the most popular horror novel of all time, is not known as a writer of short fiction.Distinguished editor Leslie S. Klinger is a world-renowned authority on those twin icons of the Victorian age, Sherlock Holmes, and Dracula. His studies into the forefathers of those giants led him to a broader fascination with writers of supernatural literature of the nineteenth century. The stories in this collection have been selected by him for their impact. Each is preceded by a brief biography of the author and an overview of his or her literary career and is annotated to explain obscure references.Read on, now, perhaps with a flickering candle or flashlight at hand . . .Stories by: Ambrose Bierce, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, Theodor Gautier, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lafcadio Hearn, M. R. James, Bram Stoker, and many others.

    Time falls away as she confronts perils far beyond mortal comprehension and must finally make the decision she has been avoiding for almost a millennium.

    Then comes "The Space Between," where it is revealed that the Comte St. Germain is not dead, Master Raymond appears, and a widowed young wine dealer escorts a would-be novice to a convent in Paris. In "A Plague of Zombies," Lord John unexpectedly becomes military governor of Jamaica when the original governor is gnawed by what probably wasn't a giant rat. "A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows" is the moving story of Roger MacKenzie's parents during World War II. In "Virgins," Jamie Fraser, aged nineteen, and Ian Murray, aged twenty, become mercenaries in France, no matter that neither has yet bedded a lass or killed a man. But they're trying. . . . "A Fugitive Green" is the story of Lord John's elder brother, Hal, and a seventeen-year-old rare book dealer with a sideline in theft, forgery, and blackmail. And finally, in "Besieged," Lord John learns that his mother is in Havana--and that the British Navy is on their way to lay siege to the city.Filling in mesmerizing chapters in the lives of characters readers have followed over the course of thousands of pages, Gabaldon's genius is on full display throughout this must-have collection.

    In these stories of doubt, delusion, and paranoia, no belief, no claim to objectivity, is immune to the distortions of human perception. Here, self-deception is a means of justifying our most inhuman impulses--whether we know it or not.

    Mind your manners and enjoy the chocolate in a dance of sparkling wit and political intrigue.Tremontaine is an episodic serial presented by Serial Box Publishing. This collected omnibus edition gathers all 16 episodes from Season 1.