With its circulation dwindling, Genevieve is desperate for a good story. When she hears about a reclusive mountain woman, she realizes her chance.Graham Sheridan needs her seclusion for a multitude of reasons, none of which she wants to impart on the intrusive, tenacious reporter.Was it fate that bought them together or something otherworldly?

     Gingerbread houses, caroling carolers, brightly trimmed trees, big family dinners, pristine snowfalls-the familiar pleasures of the season. But what better pleasure is there than a good holiday story? So open this winter solstice sampler and indulge in fully festive fantasies, nightmares before Christmas, and stunning space-age celebrations. These stories will warm hearts and minds like a blazing Yule log. Fantastic Holiday Stories by Kevin J. Anderson, Mercedes Lackey, Mike Resnick, Kristine Rusch, Jonathan Maberry, Eric James Stone, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Quincy J. Allen, Ken Scholes, Sam Knight, David Boop, Heather Graham, Brad R. Torgersen, and Patricia Briggs.

    Tourists flock to the cities within the city: the Magic City of the World’s Fair on an island created of artifice and illusion; the forbidden city of Chinatown, a separate, alien world of exotic food and nightclubs that offer “authentic” experiences, straight from the pages of the pulps; and the twilight world of forbidden love, where outcasts from conventional society can meet.Six women find their lives as tangled with each other’s as they are with the city they call home. They discover love and danger on the borders where mystery, science, and art intersect.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    To help her sister out, Madison reluctantly agrees to spend a weekend with Dee’s closest friend, a smart-ass troublemaker Karlie Henderson. To Madison’s consternation, she discovers that the opinionated young college activist she remembers has turned into a wildly popular romance author and an attractive, exciting woman she can’t quite keep out of her thoughts.Karlie's life is in complete upheaval. Depressed and troubled, she's not looking forward to spending a weekend trying to be polite to her best friend's arrogant older sister. Memories of their past encounters leave both women unprepared for the different kinds of sparks that arise when they spend a day together on Madison's yacht. Suspicious of Madison's motivations, Karlie has no choice but to return home and try to move on with her life—but the damage has already been done, and the consequences may be deadly.

    In "Seeing Eye" by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother—and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's "Last Call," wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers—the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer.For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection of short stories!

    If she fails in her mission, those she loves will cease to exist.Selene Perkton is a philosophy professor in Los Angeles. She lives an ordinary, well scheduled life, and knows her place in it. When Alec appears, the world she thought she knew becomes a very different place.Can Alec and Selene put aside their differences, or will the evil lurking in the shadows manage to pull them apart?Cover Artist: Sheri Halal

    Now she's back in Cedar Creek, a little older, a lot wiser, and ready to live the quiet life for a while.It's been eight months since her fiancée walked out and shattered Grace Donnelly's dreams of a happily ever after. Her friends tell her it's time to put herself out there, but the breakup with Emma was still just too raw for Grace to wash her hands and move on.After a meeting a chance meeting at her brother's bakery, Jessica finds herself unable to get Grace off of her mind. She's sure she feels an attraction from Grace as well, but will Jessica be able to convince Grace to stop living in the past and take a chance on a future together with her...16,900 words

    fond of blood, allergic to sunlight, and mostly evil... until the night a sparkly unicorn stabs her through the heart with his horn. Oops. Her family thinks she was attacked by a vampire hunter (because, obviously, unicorns don't exist), and they're shocked she survived. They're even more shocked when Pearl discovers she can now withstand the sun. But they quickly find a way to make use of her new talent. The Vampire King of New England has chosen Pearl's family to host his feast. If Pearl enrolls in high school, she can make lots of human friends and lure them to the King's feast—as the entrees. The only problem? Pearl's starting to feel the twinges of a conscience. How can she serve up her new friends—especially the cute guy who makes her fangs ache—to be slaughtered? Then again, she's definitely dead if she lets down her family. What's a sunlight-loving vamp to do?

    Old comics found in a musty basement and a discarded copy of Alice in Wonderland, become her map to a world of fantasies. From foster child living in Boston, to closeted Army physician wounded while serving in Iraq to family doctor in the rural town of Canfield, whatever her role and wherever her journey takes her, she never travels alone. Kathleen meets and falls in love with Claire Hollander, a free-spirited adventurer and storyteller who will challenge Kathleen to unlock the secret doors to her past. A tale of opposites colliding and then reuniting, Flowers from Iraq balances humor and tragedy, the landscape of battle and the interior of the human mind. A drama that takes place during our own time of war, the story is a compelling reminder of the healing that comes through love and the human connection.

    Enjoy a taste of The Amoveo Legend in Sara Humphreys’ riveting paranormal romance short story expanding on the world of the Amoveo—beautiful, secretive shapeshifters whose very existence is threatened by an age-old enemy and warring factions within the clans.In this free promotional tale, Boris Zankoff is a shapeshifter from the Tiger Clan who wants no part of the burgeoning civil war among the Amoveo, But when his human mate lands on his doorstep in desperate need of his help, apathy is no longer an option

    Using an ancient myth reset in the queer community in Buffalo, New York, it explores gender fluidity, sexual diversity, and the deeper questions of love and identity.

    But that’s what happens when you’re a mediator – cursed with the “gift” of communicating with the dead.That’s how Suze has ended up at the graves of a pair of NCDPs - Non-Compliant Deceased Persons – whose drama didn’t end with death. It’s Suze’s job to make sure they move on—for good.But the NCDPs aren’t the only ones with problems. The reason Suze is spending her Valentine’s Day with the undead instead of her boyfriend, Jesse, is because he’s having so much trouble adjusting to life after death . . . not surprising, considering the fact that he used to be an NCDP himself, and now his girlfriend busts his former kind for a living, while he tries to cure his kind of what used to ail him.Can Suze use her mediating skills to propose a mutual resolution, and bring all these young lovers together - including Jesse and herself - especially on the night Saint Valentine declared sacred to romance? Or will she end up alone—and possibly undead—herself?

     Karin Ashley lives a lonely life that feels hollow, with a job she hates and a family she loves but can't quite figure out. Called in late one night to respond to an electronic break-in at a branch office of the Records & Licensing Agency, she is introduced in the most terrifying way to a hidden world of legends, supernatural beings and plenty of corruption, both literal and metaphorical. Behind corporate and political veils, evil spirits are summoned and bargained with for power. Fantastic powers and reality-bending magic lurks beneath the successes and conquests of modern corporate dynasties, descended from ancient arcane Houses that have influenced human history for centuries. Karin is thrust headlong into a world suddenly gone mad, but she won't have to fight alone. Mystically bound to an ancient spirit within the sword through a capricious twist of fate, will the new bonds they forge together prove to be the strongest yet?

    Lana Novak hasn’t played violin in over twenty years, her musical life these days confined to being a devoted band mom to her clarinet whiz daughter Robin. She didn’t think she could get back into it after this long, but Melanie Feinberg, the outgoing, enthusiastic, and very cute butch orchestra director from Robin’s school, has other ideas.

    There will be other short stories posted here in the future. And I might possibly participate in an anthology featuring Half-Moon Hollow's cast of weirdos. Enjoy!Note: original URL was from author's now-deleted blog.