Hamilton and author William McCaskey. In this anthology, science fiction and fantasy authors have woven together brand-new stories that speak to the darkness and despair that life brings while reminding us that good deeds, humour, love, sacrifice, dedication and following our joy can ignite a light that burns so bright the darkness cannot last: A child’s wish for her father comes true. The end of the world has never been so much fun. Conquering personal demons becomes all too real. It’s not always about winning; sometimes it’s about showing up for the fight. It’s about loving your life’s work, and jobs that make you question everything.Contents: Foreword Twilight Falls [Joe Ledger • 10.1] / Jonathan Maberry Not in this Lifetime / Sharon Shinn Mr. Positive, the Eternal Optimist / Larry Correia No Greater Love / Kacey Ezell Broken Son / Griffin Barber Heart of Clay [Dan Shamble, Zombie PI • 6.5??] / Kevin J. Anderson Reprise [Quincy Harker, Demon Hunter • ??] / John G. Hartness Asil and the Not-date [Mercy Thompson • 17.5 / Alpha & Omega • 5.5] / Patricia Briggs In the Dust / Robert E. Hampson Fallen / L. E. Modesitt, Jr. Working Conditions / Patrick M. Tracy Last Contact / M. C. Sumner Ronin / William McCaskey Skjoldmodir / Michael Z. Williamson and Jessica Schlenker Bonds of Love and Duty / Monalisa Foster Zombie Dearest [Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter • 26.5] / Laurell K. Hamilton About the authors About the editors.

    The ghosts of the dead aren't usually dangerous; they just like to talk...a lot.The undead are another matter.Like any sensible girl, Cassie tries to avoid vampires. But when the bloodsucking Mafioso she escaped three years ago finds Cassie again with vengeance on his mind, she's forced to turn to the vampire Senate for protection.The undead senators won't help her for nothing, and Cassie finds herself working with one of their most powerful members, a dangerously seductive master vampire-and the price he demands may be more than Cassie is willing to pay...

    She also happens to be a walker, a magical being with the power to shift into a coyote at will. Mercy's next-door neighbor is a werewolf. Her former boss is a gremlin. And she's fixing a bus for a vampire. This is the world of Mercy Thompson, one that looks a lot like ours but is populated by those things that go bump in the night. And Mercy's connection to those things is about to get her into some serious hot water... Moon Called faithfully adapts New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs' first Mercy Thompson novel to comics. Prepare to see the fantastic characters and supernatural settings that have made her novels a hit with fans worldwide come to four-color life!

    Dealer in Dark Things. Spiritual Exterminator. Demon Slayer.Not everyone can take on the things that go bump in the night.Not everyone tries.But Jill Kismet is not just anyone.She's a Hunter, trained by the best - and in over her head.Welcome to the night shift...

    But elemental mastery over fire sets her apart from others of her night-prowling breed . . . and may be all that prevents her doom.The foe she now faces is human: the vampire hunter called Danaus, who has already destroyed so many undead. For Mira, the time has come to hunt . . . or be hunted.

    When children's librarian and self-professed nice girl Jane Jameson is fired by her beastly boss and handed twenty-five dollars in potato skins instead of a severance check, she goes on a bender that's sure to become Half Moon Hollow legend. On her way home, she's mistaken for a deer, shot, and left for dead. And thanks to the mysterious stranger she met while chugging neon-colored cocktails, she wakes up with a decidedly unladylike thirst for blood.Jane is now the latest recipient of a gift basket from the Newly Undead Welcoming Committee, and her life-after-lifestyle is taking some getting used to. Her recently deceased favorite aunt is now her ghostly roommate. She has to fake breathing and endure daytime hours to avoid coming out of the coffin to her family. She's forced to forgo her favorite down-home Southern cooking for bags of O negative. Her relationship with her sexy, mercurial vampire sire keeps running hot and cold. And if all that wasn't enough, it looks like someone in Half Moon Hollow is trying to frame her for a series of vampire murders. What's a nice undead girl to do?

    Even worse, she’s got two guys hungry for her affections, and they’re not about to let the fiercely independent Dru go it alone. Will Dru discover just how special she really is before coming face-to-fang with whatever—or whoever— is hunting her?

    But the magic that helped bring her into the world left her with a dark secret. Shifter Connor Keene, the only son of North American Central Pack Apex Gabriel Keene, is the only one she trusts with it. But she's a vampire and the daughter of a Master and a Sentinel, and he's prince of the Pack and its future king.When the assassination of a diplomat brings old feuds to the fore again, Elisa and Connor must choose between love and family, between honor and obligation, before Chicago disappears forever.

    I am their last hope in bringing home the lost ones. I salvage what they cannot. When the dust settles, my heart feels as though it will never be pieced back together. But there are too many lives riding on my ability to function at my best.So I push through. And I find that I still have some fight left in me. Now I have one last task before I can rest: to find the simple ingredients of a spell. A spell that will help heal much of my wounds. But it is not only my injuries that I have to stitch closed. My sister's wounds have broken open . . . and perhaps most surprising of all so do another vampire's.Faris.

    Burn victims? No problem. Severed limbs? Piece of cake. Vampires? No way in hell. But as the newest nurse on Y4, the secret ward hidden in the bowels of County Hospital, Edie has her hands full with every paranormal patient you can imagine—from vamps and were-things to zombies and beyond...Edie’s just trying to learn the ropes so she can get through her latest shift unscathed.  But when a vampire servant turns to dust under her watch, all hell breaks loose. Now she’s haunted by the man’s dying words—Save Anna—and before she knows it, she’s on a mission to rescue some poor girl from the undead. Which involves crashing a vampire den, falling for a zombie, and fighting for her soul. Grey’s Anatomy was never like this ...

    But now she’s been hired by Katherine Fontaneau, one of the oldest vampires in New Orleans and the madam of Katies’s Ladies, to hunt a powerful rogue vampire who’s killing other vamps.Amidst a bordello full of real “ladies of the night,” and a hot Cajun biker with a panther tattoo who stirs her carnal desire, Jane must stay focused and complete her mission—or else the next skin she’ll need to save just may be her own...

    And now comes a unique look inside her beloved Hollows series that no fan should miss. . . . The Hollows Insider In the Hollows, the supernatural Inderlanders rule, and humanity must abide by their conventions, or else.To survive among vampires, witches, Weres, gargoyles, trolls, fairies, and banshees - to say nothing of demons - humanity needs a guide. And now, written by Kim Harrison herself, here is an insider's look at the supernatural world of the Hollows, from an overarching new story to character profiles, maps, spell guides, charm recipes, secret correspondence from the elusive Trent Kalamack, and much more.***Enter the world of the Hollows like never before!One misfired spell is all it took to sent investigative reporter Devin Crossman on a mission to uncover all the secrets of bounty-hunting witch Rachel Morgan and expose them to the world.Herewith are all of Devin's notebook entries, a treasure trove of evidence including maps, speces profiles, magic spells, documents from Inderland Security, Takata's song lyrics, Betty Bob's recipes, ley line charms, entries from the Were Registry, articles from the Hollows Gazette, Rynn Cormel's Vampire Dating Guide, demonic spells, and many more entries that cast light into regions of the Hollows that have never been revealed.But Crossman's one-man war against Rachel Morgan has not gone unnoticed....

    Is that how it goes?No one should have to be on the run from their family. Family is who you can trust, right? Dark magic users are the ones on the don’t trust list. Yet, when Greta learns the werecat tribe plans to sacrifice her on the full moon to steal her potent magical blood, she ditches common sense in favor of running to the one man who can protect her. Will Dayne kill her as he has so many others of her kind, or is his grudge against her family strong enough to save her?CLAIMED:… Vampires claiming amnesiacs is the new black.Anthony is cold, ruthless, undead, and hard to like. Yet, all it takes is one human with amnesia, to soften his heart. Ever since being bitten, Charlotte hasn’t been the same. More than anything, he wants to return to a time when she saw him for the man he is, instead of the monster she’s discovered. A time before she feared him. In the midst of a power struggle for vampire king, it soon becomes clear that the only way to protect a fragile human in his care is to claim her as his mate. Meanwhile, his deepest wish is to have his lover awakened from the memory loss that took everything... not just the memories he meant to erase. MATED:A classic, sweet werewolf love story. Or maybe not.Be small. Be invisible. It’s an odd life mantra for a human woman in a world of monsters. But Jane’s blood contains a touch of vampire magic, making her their victim over and over. With her faster-than-normal healing time, she’s an ideal punching bag for the abusive vampire she’s been living with, the one she thought might protect her this time. Paul owes a debt to the werewolf alpha, and Cole doesn’t care how he gets paid: flesh or coin. $10,000 or Jane? The human is a small price for the vampire to pay to be debt-free.Cole is attractive and warm---so different from the coldness and death Jane has grown used to. If the werewolves didn’t have a worse reputation than the vampires, being taken by the alpha might feel like rescue, but Cole’s growing possessive nature, makes Jane fear he’ll only abuse her like the others. If he doesn’t, could becoming an alpha’s mate free her from the vampires for good?

    Turned by rogues who wager her life, Lissa is running from her maker who is determined to kill her, hunted by the Council who has branded her a rogue and blackmailed by werewolves, who utilize her newly-developed talents for their own gain.

    Most humans stay far from its borders-but Victory Vaughn, Boston's only professional demon slayer, isn't exactly human.