She has been sold to the highest bidder so that she may produce an heir for the devilishly handsome and arrogant Earl and she is outraged. How can she have any respect or feelings for a man whose reputation is that of a complete wastrel and philanderer? She resolves to resist him at all costs yet Sophia is totally unprepared for the exquisite pleasure she experiences from her husband’s wicked hands as he introduces her to a world of sexual delight she had no idea existed. For Ralph, when his cousin had suggested he take a wife to heal the rift in his family, it had seemed the perfect solution to his problems. However, he hadn’t counted on choosing someone as spiritedly passionate as Sophia and something inside of him reacts to her in a way that disconcerts him. What started out as a necessary chore soon becomes an exciting challenge as he determines to do what he does best - seduce his young wife and put an end to the estrangement that exists between them. But why is Sophia’s good opinion becoming increasingly important to him? And why does he feel the compulsive need to convince her that he is not the unsavoury character she believes him to be?

    Judge Joe Dredd’s first year on the streets as a full-eagle Judge. Bred for justice, trained in law, Dredd’s no helpless rookie, but he’s not the seasoned veteran we know either. Three tales follow the first adventures of the future city’s greatest lawman. With an introduction by the Mighty Tharg! CITY FATHERS The brutal murder of a Justice Department-sanctioned spy uncovers something new and dangerous in the sector’s murky black market. Unless Dredd can stop it, chaos will be unleashed. COLD LIGHT OF DAY A savage killing spree results in the deaths of two highly-regarded Judges, and many consider Dredd to be responsible: a decision he made five years earlier – while he was still a cadet – has come back to haunt him. WEAR IRON “Wear iron, that’s the rule.” Paul Strader is a stick-up man, and a stone cold professional. But when he gets in over his head, he has to risk everything on the word of a corrupt lawman and break every rule he has. Every rule but one...

    (He also wrote excellent short stories and novels.) This volume contains 27 of his stories, including the classics "The Waveries," "Honeymoon in Hell," "Cartoonist," and many more! Included are:THE WAVERIESOBEDIENCEALL GOOD BEMSFIRST TIME MACHINEBLOODTHE LAST MARTIANMAN OF DISTINCTIONVENGEANCE FLEETTHE WEAPONMOUSETHE DOMEGREAT LOST DISCOVERIES I -- InvisibilityGREAT LOST DISCOVERIES II -- InvulnerabilityGREAT LOST DISCOVERIES III -- ImmortalityMILLENNIUMSECOND CHANCECONTACTA WORD FROM OUR SPONSORSOMETHING GREENCRISIS, 1999AND THE GODS LAUGHEDMITKEY RIDES AGAINPLACET IS A CRAZY PLACEHONEYMOON IN HELLDAISIESDAYMARECARTOONISTAnd don't forget to search this ebook store for "Wildside Megapack" to see more entries in the series, covering science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, adventure stories, westerns, and much, much more! (Sort by publication date to see the most recent of our 100+ releases.)

    Be they straight-up monsters or nightmares behind a human mask, they track us and they kill us. Sometimes, they play with their food, where death would be a kindness. But there is hope. There are those who search out the monsters, those who hunt the hunters. These are their stories. ********* Featuring 13 stories of military horror by some of the best known and emerging writers in the genre. 1. Apex Predator -- N. X. Sharps & Tim Marquitz 2. Two Birds, One Stone -- Evan Dicken 3. Non Zero Sum -- R. P. L. Johnson 4. Only Stones -- Christine Morgan 5. That Old Black Magic -- James A. Moore 6. Ngu Tinh -- D. F. Shultz 7. Warm Bodies -- Kirsten Cross 8. The Bani Protocols -- Rose Blackthorn 9. Hungry Eyes -- Seth Skorkowsky 10. The Secret War -- David W. Amendola 11. Outbreak -- V. E. Battaglia 12. Droch Fhola -- Brad C. Hodson 13. Bonked -- Patrick Freivald

    As its Ship Mother, kept alive in a state of pseudoimmortality, she has provided wisdom and counsel to succeeding generations of its crew, self-exiled survivors of earth’s great plague. But now, to escape the ravages of space radiation, the giant starship has returned to earth, only to discover a world on the verge of extinction, its barren surface blanketed in a crystalline substance that resembles ice and that is slowly, inexorably encapsulating the planet. Zoya is chosen as emissary to this strange new earth, and now she must approach its denizens and find a suitable home for her desperate crew among the shrinking lands.But what she finds shakes Zoya to her core: groups of humans huddled like moles in underground techno-warrens called preserves, and a pseudospiritual order known as the Ice Nuns, who seek control of the physics-defying crystals and enslave their disciples in their crazed quest for truth. For on this once green land, Ice and the science behind it are now the only God–and mastering this grand ecology of information the only higher calling. Allies are few and far between, but somehow Zoya must uncover the secrets of Ice and halt its expansion. That is, if the snow witches don’t get her first...

    To protect her lands and her tribe, Mithra comes up with a sticky solution to an impossible problem. Written in 1998, this short story was New York Times Bestselling author Gail Carriger’s first professional sale.

    Okay yes, all that stuff too, but I'm not talking about that right now. The government has also been lying to us about space aliens. Aliens have landed on the National Mall and are asking to speak with the President of the United States. For the sake of the planet, diplomat Michael Wallenson is tasked with keeping them away from Donald Trump at all costs. Will Michael succeed? Or will these heavily armed, easily offended aliens succeed in reaching our leader? Building the border dome, coal-powered missiles, and the true identities of the men in black - all in Take Us To Your Trump, another hilarious satirical comedy from author Andrew Stanek.

    Hughes The toymaker and the General / Mike Resnick The deserter / Poul Anderson Rate of exchange / Roland Green and John F. Carr The coming of the eye / Don Hawthorne The great beer shortage / Janet Morris and David Drake Necessity / S.M. Stirling Tribute maidens / Harry Turtledove A lion to the sea / John Dalmas Discovery Bar-Lev, a traveler's tales of twenty worlds.

    To her dismay, Luke Kelly arrives at her ranch a much different and broken man. Can Meg ever forgive his callous treatment of her and help Luke become the man he used to be?

    A collector of classic art and fine wine, Michael's business has provided him with a very good life.But Michael also has a secret. One that could cost him everything if discovered. With the aid of Marlin, a former CIA case officer and his longtime mentor, Michael operates a clandestine organization that protects his company from a global network of intellectual-property pirates who want what he has, even if they have to kill to get it. Together, the two men use whatever means necessary to defend what Michael has spent his life building.Because of his very dangerous life, Michael has forbidden himself from ever getting too close to anyone. That is, until he meets Caitlin Doyle, a beautiful, intelligent, and politically connected campaign strategist working on the upcoming presidential election. While on a weekend vacation to the mountains, Michael and Caitlin come under attack by a group of hired assassins. Barely escaping the sudden, brutal, and well-orchestrated assault, Michael must respond against a powerful and unknown enemy in ways that test his courage and beliefs like never before. With merely a blurred photo of a man's hand to go on, Michael wages a battle that circles the globe – all to hunt down the men who invaded his perfect life.Set against the contrasting worlds of high technology, politics, and espionage, The Archangel Response moves quickly from a defiled Russian monastery to an exploding supertanker in Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor, through the corrupt halls of government in Washington DC to Spain's Running of the Bulls.Ending in a violent confrontation that could cost Michael everything he's worked for, and even the woman he loves, The Archangel Response is a pulse-pounding thriller from first-time author Kevin Harmon that will leave readers shocked and emotionally moved.

    His only friend on Thrais, discovered dead and tortured, left him enough money to buy himself out of his contract and a curious encrypted "bearer deed" to a mysterious property on the distant edge of the galactic Spray. With the seductive, secretive showgirl Jenore Mordene at his side and a villainous pleasure cult dogging his every move, Labro sets out to learn the truth behind his bearer deed and more about his own past than he had ever dared bargain for.

    The War on Terror provides the backdrop for the novella that introduces the roots of ultimate antihero, Max Ahlgren.Captain Max Ahlgren is proud to be one of the first team commanders in the Marine Corps' nascent MARSOC detachment. Finally, the Corps' elite warriors are working alongside those of other branches, battling insurgents, not on the front lines but behind them. After his first mission, however, Max learns he will be replaced as team commander.The new commander, Major Whitbeck, comes from 8th and I: Marine Barracks, Washington DC. His late father, a revered general, died in a terrorist car bombing. The commander is in Afghanistan for vengeance--and redemption.When the team infiltrates the ancient desert fortress of Kazindrak, hunting an elusive Al-Qaeda terrorist, Whitbeck reveals his ineptitude in combat. Max's fury grows as the body count rises. When the actual nature of the mission is revealed, Max gets a good look at the sordid underbelly of the War on Terror and sees first-hand what monsters men can become. If he is to survive, however, he may have no choice but to become one.Sometimes the greatest enemy is within...

    The mission was simple. Steal a journal from Fairfax Breckinridge, one of the greatest alchemists of the time. However, he hadn’t expected to find Fairfax himself, with a dagger in his back. Nor had he expected his automaton daughter, Liliana. Suddenly entrenched in a mystery too great for him to fully comprehend, he must rely on the help of a wayward detective, and an automaton who claims she has a soul, to piece together the clues laid before them. Will Arhyen uncover the true source of Liliana’s soul in time, or will London plunge into a dark age of nefarious technology, where only the scientific will survive?

    Limited to only 1500 copies.

    To counter it, the realm must call on its greatest heroes, its most courageous adventurers. Unfortunately, those great heroes, those brave adventurers, are all busy—being dead mostly.So it is left to Dannen Ateran, known in his youth as the Bloody Butcher but, more recently as the passed-out drunk at the table in the corner, to lead his companions against an army of the dead.They are not heroes.But perhaps they just might do.The Antiheroes is the first book in a new epic fantasy series by bestselling author Jacob Peppers. It is a tale of fast-paced action, swordfights, magic, and humor. Think you can't laugh at undead armies and battles of life and death? Come find out.