This edition brings together some of the best horror writers from the last few decades. Featuring stories from Ray Garton, Kelley Armstrong, Simon Clark, Gord Rollo, Chad Lutzke, Mike Duke, Christina Bergling, David Owain Hughes, P. Mattern & Kevin J. Kennedy.

    As battles and treachery rain down upon them, Beiste and Elle find an unlikely ally in a ghost, and discover that a few stolen moments of passion can bring light from the shadows… In Kathryn Le Veque's DEEP INTO DARKNESS, Findlater Castle in the Scottish Highlands becomes a place of mystery and doom for Jamison Munro and his wife,Havilland. Traveling across the highlands one dark and stormy night, they stumble upon a lonely Host in Findlater Castle, a pathetic soul waiting for his wife to return to him. It is a terrible tale of a tragic love story that the Host tells the travelers but when Havilland becomes curious about mysterious tapping sounds that go on in the middle of the night, she soon realizes the danger that she and her husband are in. It becomes a race against time for Havilland to free a trapped spirit and save both their lives in the process. In Terri Brisbin’s UPON A MISTY SKYE, Alexander MacDonald and Isabel MacLeod were not supposed to meet or fall in love or marry. Now that they have, both of their parents plan to separate them, by any means possible. But the ghost of Duntulm Castle has other plans for the forbidden lovers and those who stand in the way of true love. In Madeline Martin’s A GHOSTLY TALE OF FORBIDDEN LOVE, Gavin MacDuff is a laird with a cruel and bitter aunt he’s sworn to protect. Senara is the new lady’s maid at Castle of Park and has sacrificed everything for the betterment of her family. Their paths tangle and lead to a road of hidden longing and secret passion – all of which is threatened by the power of one ghost who is fixed on revenge. In Ruth A. Casie’s THE MAXWELL GHOST, traitors, deception, murders and ghosts run rampant at Caerlaverock Castle. Jamie Collins, a man of reality not magic, serves Lord Herbert in exchange for a his own farm. Laura Reynolds, the Herbert's distant cousin comes to the castle to solve the murders and put the ghost to rest. The two, long-time friends find their destinies intertwined with hidden passions, but all is in jeopardy when Laura becomes the murderer’s next target. Jamie will find he needs some ghostly assistance to save Laura and declare his love.

     Eccentric billionaire Conrad Wolverton is throwing the holiday party of the century. Rumor has it, he’s just looking to sell off his mansion, and an in-person showing disguised as an elegant soiree is the easiest way to do it. But whatever the reason, the buzz is that all the rich and influential power couples will be there. Daniel and Maddy Thorne, Benjamin and Jenna Chase, Adrian and Meghan Risinger, and maybe even a surprise guest are rumored to be in attendance. WILL YOU BE THERE? - 100% of my profits from this book will be donated to charity. Please see melaniemarchande.com for more details.

    Thirty and single? Well, getcha butt to the Gathering! Scarlet - As if hitting thirty wasn’t enough, unmated Scarlet Wickham is summoned to this year’s Gathering. As a woman Marked to be the mate of an Alpha pair, she’s not going to find happiness anywhere other than in the arms of two Alpha werewolves. So, off she goes with her sisters in tow. ‘Cause yeah, she’s one of the plump Wickham triplets, and they’re all being carted off to werewolf speed dating. Gabriella - Ugh. Gabriella Wickham thought turning thirty was bad enough, but now she’s been invited (ordered) to attend this year’s Gathering (werewolf speed dating). Having a Mark on her arm means that she’s one of the few human women destined to mate with not one, but two Alpha werewolves. Thank goodness werewolves don’t come in “ugly.” After her sister Scarlet mates the Ruling Alphas, things really start to get interesting. Gabby runs into not one, but two hotter than hot werewolves who make her tingle in all the right places. Yum. Of course, “yum” comes with baggage of both the mental and female kind. Lovely. Luckily it’s nothing a few punches and a good talking to can’t cure. Maybe…-ish. Whitney - Whitney Wickham is at the darned annual werewolf Gathering all right. Only there’s one problem: she doesn’t belong there. Her sisters carry the Mark indicating they’ll mate an Alpha Pair of wolves, while Whitney does not have that lovely, swirling scar. She’s been hauled half way around the world to be stared at, and not-so-covertly sniffed, for no reason. Unfortunately the gorgeous, drool worthy, magic-mojo-wielding Wardens don’t know why she’s been summoned to the Gathering any more than she does. Which sucks. But at least they’re hot. The ALPHA MARKED series: The Wickham Sisters 1. Scarlet 2. Gabriella 3. Whitney The Twynham Sisters 4. Rebecca 5. Lorelei 6. Paisley

    Sometimes you get what you ask for.Sixteen-year-old Madison Banner had the perfect life: a good home, great friends, and loving parents. Everything was normal, until she overheard that she had been adopted.After confronting her parents, Madison was left with more questions than what had been answered. Rules were set. She would be told the truth after she graduated -- two years.As Madison pries into the secrets of her heritage, she discovers more than she ever bargained for. Strange things begin to happen. Dreams of a mysterious nightly visitor seem all too real. A power within her awakens. There was more handed down through her DNA than dark hair and purple eyes. She has been given a destiny, whether she wanted it or not.Kismet is the first novel in the follow-up-series to K.A. Poe’s Nevermore, but can be read as a stand-alone series. This novel is approximately 70,000 words in length (340 pages).

    Over the span of centuries, many lives have been lost, many people have gone missing, and many others have lost their minds in the blink of an eye, all without explanation.When May returns to the farm she lived on until age 15, she quickly learns that the unfortunate events of her family’s past are not as coincidental as she always thought, her hometown is plagued with deadly immortal beings, and now she too is about to fall victim of the dangerous supernatural world, just as her ancestors. Her brother, who’s been missing since childhood, turns out to secretly be living just down the road from the family farmhouse, her blood will literally be the death of her, and the man she wants to trust most, the man she’s quickly falling in love with, is also one of the beings she should fear the most. From best-selling author “Tarisa Marie” comes Bryxx, the first book in her new Crimson Forest series.

    Avenging her mother and destroying her father. Rhys has been sent to stop her, and act as her guardian and husband as far as the Dragon Council is concerned. He arrives to late to stop her beginning, but does stop her ending. Now she has to learn to control the rage within her, or she will be destroyed.

    Now he's in southern Nevada, where a beautiful, unmated bear Shifter greets him...with a shotgun in her hands.Nell is a hot-tempered mother of two cubs, and she doesn't take kindly to new Shifters showing up in town without her consent - even one with a sexy smile and brilliant blue eyes. But when her sons are endangered and she desperately needs help protecting them, Cormac proves he's worthy of her trust as well as her desire. ____________The print version of this story can be found in the anthology Unbound , which was released on March 5, 2013.

    And then there's the dead people. But even as they are trying to figure out their relationship status, Cassie's godfather and their mutual boss, Steve Crawford, starts to make headway on finding the man he believes murdered his entire family when Steve was just a child.Cassie and Michael are inevitably brought into the ongoing investigation. Meanwhile, the sad spirit of a little boy, probably killed by the same murderer that Steve is pursuing, continues to haunt Cassie. And to make matters worse, Cassie begins to have progressing visions of a deadly hunt where she is the prey. Michael realizes to his chagrin that he can't help her: all they can do is hope that working with Steve and his law enforcement colleagues to find a murderer, might bring an end to the nightmare visions that take Cassie all the way to the gates of hell.

    Literally. Pepper has one job. It’s a pity she can’t remember what it is! Waking up in a strange cabin, well everything is strange when you’ve lost your memory, she learns to trust Bas, even if he is a lawyer! Things get stranger when she learns what she was wearing when Bas found her. Something is amok! Join Bas and Pepper, as they put the pieces back together in this fun-filled, holiday romp. Warning, includes two flying reindeer, a sleigh, a sexy bear shifter, Krampus and maybe a Christmas Elf or two. Unsuitable for those who do not believe in Christmas Magic! You have been warned! Claused Bear shifter Kain, who also happens to be a lawyer, has just met his mate. There’s just one problem, she’s crazy. Like, two sandwiches short of a picnic crazy. Why? Because his mate, a wonderfully curvy woman, named Marraine Le Fey, thinks someone has stolen her magic wand. That’s right. Her. Magic. Wand. And why does she have a magic wand? Because she’s a fairy godmother of course! None of this alters the fact that she’s his bonded mate, so he’s going to get Marra out of jail, and find her some help. Only she doesn’t want psychiatric help, that would be too easy. Instead, Marra wants Kain to assist her in her role, as a wandless fairy godmother. For Marraine Le Fey has a Cinderella, who needs her help. If you want to know who gets to go to the ball—Well, it’s not really a ball, more of a business presentation. This is the twenty-first century, after all— Come join the fun, in Claused. Because once you make a fairy godmother a promise, there’s no getting out of it. Wrapped Asher has taken on numerous roles while working undercover, but this might be his most difficult yet, because it involves family. Not his family, he never knew his own mom, and spent his early years in foster homes—until he ran away, knowing he was different, and afraid of how bad that different was. One man saved him, one man took him in and taught him what it was to be a shifter. One man, Carlisle, who accepted him, even though he is a wolf, and Asher is a bear. Now, Carlisle, the man who became his adoptive father, wants him to help figure out what happened to Jeremiah, the alpha of his old pack in Timber Rest, who is lying in a coma. But Carlisle hasn’t been back there for years, and things change. Will they be welcomed, or run out of town? Especially when the pack find out that Asher is a bear shifter. Kelli has been asked by her aunt to help figure out what happened to her uncle, the pack leader, Jeremiah. She travels to the pack home of Timber Rest immediately, no one can ignore the call, even if she was supposed to be lying on a hot beach somewhere with her girlfriends. When Asher and Kelli meet, their attraction is intense, and their true mate bond can’t be ignored. But they have work to do, and together the aim to work out what happened to Jeremiah, and how to get him out of his mysterious coma. However, neither of them are prepared for what is revealed in a cave, high up in the Mistletoe Mountains. A leprechaun, and a fairy, no less. This is Wrapped, after all, you didn’t expect normal, did you?

    

    But Reece’s secret identity threatens their electric attraction when a face from his past reappears, leading to a confrontation that changes everything. Emma now knows the truth about what Reece does in his “spare time.” But what can she do about it? The man behind Bolt’s mask is the love she refuses to give up—but she’s not alone. A band of rogue scientists still want their prize lab rat back, and they’ve enlisted Reece’s gorgeous and dangerous ex-girlfriend to help. Emma’s always known she’s wanted more than your typical average relationship—but what happens when destiny comes with danger? Is the power of love strong enough to survive supercharged evil?

    Stranded in a valley teeming with enemy troops, Sol scrambles to survive and evade capture. Pararescueman Bo Bolick has been given just twenty-four hours to find Sol before a US carpet bombing destroys every living thing in the valley, friend or foe.As Bo’s search intensifies, Minh, a young Hanoi woman who entertains the fighters and travelers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, becomes inextricably caught up in the raging battle between her North Vietnamese troops and the American forces sent to rescue Sol. In the midst of heavy combat, Minh tries to find and understand love for the first time in her life.But the clock is ticking. A curtain of fire is going to descend. The desperate realities of jungle warfare are about to collide with a warrior’s code that says no man will be left behind.

    Erica’s gift allows her a special connection with the crime, but it comes at a deep personal cost… Until now, she’s kept her gift a secret, even from the other members of the team. But this case will throw her together with Agent Trent Buchanan. He’s the object of her secret desires, but he’s also a cocky womanizer. She’d rather swim in shark-infested waters with a paper cut than admit she has feelings for him.A man with one desire…Wolf Shifter Trent wants Erica more than he’s ever wanted any woman. He’s spent years patiently waiting for her to admit that she wants him too. Working one-on-one in a race to find a serial killer, Trent’s patience and Erica’s resolve wear thin. When Trent discovers the truth about Erica, will he accept her for who she is? And can he protect her from the horrors that her gift brings?A case that pushes them to the edge…Erica will have to risk it all if she wants to stop the killer, and when she does, Trent may have to put his own life on the line to make sure his mate is protected…

    Hartness. Lila Grace Carter is your favorite new detective, you just don’t know it yet. She’s determined, smart, caring, and sassy as the day is long. She also talks to dead people. Of course, as she puts it, “I’m Southern. We all talk to dead people down here. The difference is, they talk back to me.” Lila Grace has lived in Lockhart, S.C. her entire life, and has always been shunned for being different. Discovering her ability to see and talk to ghosts at an early age, she used her ability to help people settle disputes, communicate with lost loved one, and generally make life better in small ways. Until poor dead Jenny Miller showed up on her doorstep. Now Lila Grace has a teenaged ghost following her around, a handsome new sheriff in town, and a murderer in her sleepy southern town. This ain’t Mayberry, kids. Award-winning author and poet John G. Hartness has mined his southern roots for inspiration and color in this supernatural love letter to small-town Southern life. "A modern Southern Gothic with charming characters—living and dead. Hartness expertly blends a sinister, small-town murder with the warmth, humor, and innocence of a cozy mystery. Lila Grace is an entertaining amateur sleuth. Highly recommend." —E.J. Stevens, award-winning author of the Ivy Granger Psychic Detective series "More twists than a tangled ball of twine! Great fun and more Southern than grits." -Charlotte Henley Babb, author of Maven Fairy Godmother