Dirge for a Necromancer
By Ash Stinson
Dark Fantasy
ISBN: 978-1-937976-13-2
Words: 100,369
Pages: 419
$6.99
Editor: Katriena Knights
Cover Art: Amanda Kelsey

There is always a cost to raising the dead…

The Magician Raettonus has been agonizing over the death of his master, Sir Slade, for centuries, studying necromancy in the hopes of bringing him to life once more. Soon after Raettonus arrives at a key defensive citadel to tutor the general’s sons, the trickster god Kimohr Raulinn comes to him, promising to bring Slade back to life. Raettonus is all too eager to make the deal. But where Kimohr Raulinn goes, suffering follows. The citadel falls under siege by foreign forces, and matters look increasingly grim for the small force of defenders. The god of death is rallying his army of steel-toothed warriors to come reclaim the resurrected knight, and deals made with devils are always poisonous…

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The Demons of Cambian Street
By Catherine Cavendish
Horror
ISBN: 978-1-937976-03-3
Words: 32,154
Pages: 148
$4.99
Editor: Thalia S. Child
Cover Art: Valerie Tibbs

Sometimes evil wears a beautiful face…

After her illness, the quiet backwater of Priory St Michael seemed the ideal place for Stella to recuperate. But in the peaceful little town, something evil is slumbering, waiting for its chance to possess what it desires. When Stella and her husband move into the long-empty apartment, they’re unaware of what exists in the cupboard upstairs, the entrance to an evil that will threaten both their lives…

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The Jerk
By Michael Horton
LGBT Action/Adventure/Social Satire
ISBN: 978-1-937976-14-9
Words: 10,805
Pages: 50
$2.99
Edited by Rajani Iyer
Cover Art: Mina Carter

The worst job could become one worth killing for.

JJ is a twenty-eight-year-old male whose resume consists of IT consultant, prostitute, and—most recently—assassin. After an uncomfortable encounter with a client results in the death of a secret agent, JJ finds himself taking the agent’s place at ORKA, the Organization for the Recruitment of Killers and Assassins. JJ has done plenty of things to plenty of people, but he never thought he’d kill one. Still, he’s not one to pass up a job, and working with some of Atlanta’s top assassins could be the chance of a lifetime. Could the promise of wealth and power be enough to stir the demon inside, or is JJ just one failed mission away from being replaced himself?

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The Mind’s Eye
By Paula Jones
Young Adult Fantasy
ISBN: 978-1-937976-15-6
Words: 39,316
Pages 169
$4.99
Editor: Jennifer Fitzpatrick
Cover Art: Annie Melton

After a car accident that killed his parents, seventeen-year-old Kyle Hays is torn between two worlds: The one of his dreams and the real one, and reality isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But is Kyle’s reality just a bad dream after all?

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Lord Devere’s Ward
By Sue Swift
ISBN: 978-1-937976-11-8
Regency Romance

His honor or his passion…

Orphaned Kate Scoville is trapped in a tower prison by her scheming uncle, who plans to wed her to his loathsome son to gain control of her fortune. Plucky and resourceful, Lady Kate escapes to London to beg help from her guardian, the elderly Earl of Devere. But once she arrives, Kate is astounded to find that the Earl has died and his son has inherited–and her new guardian cuts a very dashing figure…

Quinn, the present Earl, remembers Kate from his childhood as an awkward child he loved to tease. But his father’s ward has grown into a beautiful young woman, and when she comes to him in need, he finds his thoughts far from honorable. Duty demands he offer his protection, but their attraction is irresistible, and the temptation of the dark-haired beauty may be too much for even an honorable man to resist…

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Fire Balls
By Tara Lain
ISBN: 978-1-937976-07-1
M/M Romance, Erotic Romance

A passionate artist, a handsome firefighter, can the sex get any hotter?

Artist Rodney Mansfield is small and flamboyant…and a black belt in karate. Too bad the work of art he really wants is firefighter Hunter Fallon. The gorgeous “straight gay” guy could never want the Runtback of Notre Dame, so when Rodney’s handsome surfer friend develops an unexpected passion for the beautiful firefighter, Rodney does what’s best for everyone and helps Jerry land his man. And if that wasn’t enough to kill his chances, embarrassing Hunter by rescuing him from a firehouse bully seals the deal.

Hunter hates gay guys like Rodney…doesn’t he? Then why can’t he get his mind off the powerful pipsqueak’s face…and hands off his body? Isn’t it time for him to admit he’s not such an alpha male after all, and that he’s the property of the artist?

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Renny’s Mate
By Selena Illyria
ISBN: 978-1-937976-05-7
Paranormal Romance

One Island. One Werewolf. One week of wicked sex in the sun…

When Larissa’s given a week at her boss’s private island, she jumps at the chance for some sun, sand, and complete relaxation.

Avoiding his family’s annual get together, Renny hops a plane for his brother’s private island. But once the werewolf in hiding spots Larissa coming out of the surf–wet, nude, and irresistible–hiding is the last thing on his mind. And the last thing he expected was to find his mate. But how can a woman like her trust the black sheep of the family who’s never committed to anything in his life?

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Captured Moon
Lunar Mates Book 6
By Loribelle Hunt
ISBN: 978-1-937976-08-8
Paranormal Romance

A girl can’t outrun two hot werewolves…not when they’re her favorite sex fantasy come to life…

When her marriage ends, Abby retreats into herself to lick her wounds and rebuild her life. She’s found satisfaction and some success writing stories about her favorite secret fantasies–those involving two real-life werewolf twins, Rule and Lawe. She’s happy. Mostly. But who wouldn’t welcome a little fun now and then?

When her friends talk her into participating in a local charity auction, the line between fantasy and reality blurs as Rule and Lawe make their moves. Being pursued by two hot werewolves should have been a dream come true, but it threatens her new independence and takes her back to a time and place she’d rather forget. Abby fears things are spinning out of control with this fantasy, because in reality, a true mate is forever…

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The Drunkard’s Path
By Sylvia Madsen
ISBN: 978-1-937976-12-5
Romance, Romantic Comedy

Cameo Muldoon is an independent single mom with a busy life and no use for dreamers. Managing her family’s organic farm in Northern California and raising a young boy leaves her little time for a personal life, but she manages to steal time to sew beautiful handmade quilts and talk to her pet rabbit, Attila the Bun.

Reporter Call Sanchez’s idea of a wilderness experience is dining al fresco. But after a story gone bad, he’s lucky to have a job. He’s more than happy to take his next assignment: a feature on Mad Jack’s Wilderness Experience in the beautiful, old-growth forest of Northern California. But soon the reports of pot farms, bear attacks, and alien abductions make his investigative antennae twitch, and he suspects the truth is more sinister than local legends and tall tales. What he doesn’t expect is to fall for the lovely Cameo Muldoon, with her organic farming and carrot cake.

And neither of them expects the trouble that’s come to the quiet little town of Nugget…

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Last Friday Night
By Brien Michaels
ISBN: 978-1-937976-09-5
M/M Horror, M/M Erotic Romance

Coming out might be the only way to save the ones you love…

Jessie Nalick used to be married, until his wife left him for another man. But things are looking up–he’s moved to a new place and his new house is almost finished. But when one of the men on the construction site calls him in a panic, something deadly is unleashed.

Tyler Mack is with a different woman night after night, secretly longing for the one who will make him feel something besides soul-crushing emptiness. He’s so straight he’s nearly homophobic, until he’s forced to confront some very uneasy feelings–and other things–that grow between him Jessie as they’re kidnapped and forced to do the unthinkable.

With a kidnapper threatening the lives of their loved ones, the time for self-delusion is over. Tyler must face the one thing he’d rather die than do…but the thought of Jessie so close, so hard, makes him willing to take the chance…

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Bluestocking
By Romaine Mahler
ISBN: 978-1-937976-10-1
Erotica

The evolution of a love angel…

Shy university student Bluestocking is fascinated by the wild and sexy Kali, the “little goddess” she meets one winter at Trinity College in Dublin. Kali leads Bluestocking into riotous adventures–posing nude for an art class, scandal and love in New York, tantric sex in a chateau in France, and finally to a world of fairies and pixies in search of the goddess Venus.

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One Wild Night
by Lilly Morgan
Wild Nights Book 1
Paranormal Erotic Romance

One night a year, it’s all about sex…

Cari Lopez has looked forward to the Wild Night Ball all year–so she could tell Kane Reese just what she thought of him for standing her up at last year’s Wild Run. The dashing heir to the New York alpha had made all the right moves, but he’d disappeared just before the fun really started, leaving her angry and embarrassed, yet aching with the memories of his hands and lips on her skin. But she’s a low-ranking werewolf from the small Miami pack, the first-generation American daughter of a Cuban janitor, and Kane is werewolf nobility. What would the heir to one of the most powerful packs in the country, the son of the reigning Alpha Rex, want with a nobody like her?

Kane Reese wanted nothing more than to find the woman who’d haunted his dreams since last year’s Wild Run. The Wild Night Ball was supposed to be free of teeth and claws, the one night a year when it was all about joy and sex and running wild in the moonlight. But last year’s Ball had ended in bloodshed, and Kane’s duty as the next heir was to protect his pack. But with shifting pack rivalries and a rogue pack out to challenge his father’s place as the Alpha Rex, Kane hopes this year’s Wild Run won’t turn ugly. All he wants is to find that gorgeous little wolf and take her under the moonlight among the whisper of the pines…

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Mountain Devil
by Sue Lyndon
Erotic Contemporary Romance

Only deal with the devil if you can resist his charms…

On the eve of her wedding with Mr. Wrong, Ella Emerson’s cold feet lead her to the Catoctin Mountains, where a few days in the woods seems like the best way to clear her head. But when she’s attacked by an escaped convict, hiding out in the woods becomes more dangerous than she’d planned. And the convict isn’t the only one who’s looking for her.

Bounty hunter Ed Peters can’t believe his bad luck—the convict he’s trailing has run right into a police ambush. There goes payday—or maybe not. The beautiful woman in his sights has a $10,000 reward on her head, and she’s more than willing to let him collect: if he can keep her hidden until all the wedding guests leave town. Seems like easy money until the tension between them explodes into a passion neither of them expected, and Ed finds that what Ella really needs is a good spanking…

But when Ella returns home, Ed finds her difficult to forget, especially when he learns the dangerous truth about the man she’s decided to marry after all…

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Backlit
by Jacqueline Corcoran (Author)
Mystery

Just when Miami photographer Liz Volpe believes she’s found the love of her life in federal public defender Jules McAdams, she’s shocked to find out she was wrong. She’s even more shocked to wake up on his lawn, hung over and wondering what happened the night before, only to discover that he’s been murdered. And now she’s the prime suspect. Even as she doubts her own innocence, Liz must find the real killer…or face life in prison.

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Dragons at Midnight
Selena Illyria
978-1-936751-99-0
Paranormal Erotic Romance

One dragon is hot enough, but three can make this tiger shifter burn in the most delightful ways.

Tiger shifter Louisa thought she’d ring in the New Year all alone. Little did she know that three younger dragon shifters plan on making sure she celebrates things right. Add a little steam, a few dragon shifters with dirty minds, and some creative use of furniture and New Year’s Eve becomes the perfect scorching-hot party for four.

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Mountain Devil
Sue Lyndon
978-1-937976-02-6
Erotic Romance

Only deal with the devil if you can resist his charms…

On the eve of her wedding with Mr. Wrong, Ella Emerson’s cold feet lead her to the Catoctin Mountains, where a few days in the woods seems like the best way to clear her head. But when she’s attacked by an escaped convict, hiding out in the woods becomes more dangerous than she’d planned. And the convict isn’t the only one who’s looking for her.

Bounty hunter Ed Peters can’t believe his bad luck—the convict he’s trailing has run right into a police ambush. There goes payday—or maybe not. The beautiful woman in his sights has a $10,000 reward on her head, and she’s more than willing to let him collect: if he can keep her hidden until all the wedding guests leave town. Seems like easy money until the tension between them explodes into a passion neither of them expected, and Ed finds that what Ella really needs is a good spanking…

But when Ella returns home, Ed finds her difficult to forget, especially when he learns the dangerous truth about the man she’s decided to marry after all…

Warning: This book contains sexual content that may be offensive to some readers (spanking fetish).

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Shadowboxer
Paula Sophia
978-1-936751-96-9
LGBT Fiction

Willie Guyles has a secret he’s been fighting to keep, something he thought he’d boxed up a long time ago. When he meets a drag prostitute while patrolling the streets of Oklahoma City, the old feelings return, and he can’t force them back into the box.

A story about identity crisis, the horrible consequences of bullying, and the detrimental effects of self-loathing, Shadowboxer descends into a world altogether familiar yet strangely askew.

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Darkness
KC Myers
978-1-937976-01-9
Science Fiction

Foster’s wife has been kidnapped. He’s desperate to get her back, but he’s not sure the cops care.

After all, she isn’t human.

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But I’m not talking about those little things. I’m talking about the big things. You know, the life-changers.

On December 31, 1999, I made a New Year’s resolution to start taking my writing seriously. I’d been sidetracked by career and motherhood and then single motherhood and then starting my own business, but I was all done with excuses. I was going to start fresh on January 1, 2000, and write every day before work, and that was that. Period. As long as my toaster didn’t detonate a nuke in my kitchen on midnight of the new millennium and zap us all back to the dark ages as predicted. Surprisingly enough, I awoke on New Year’s Day, 2000 with all my parts and my kitchen intact, went down and made toast in my toaster that still worked, coffee in the old Mr. Coffee that I resolved to scrub religiously every Saturday, booted up the computer, and started searching for writing sites.

I found the old Del Rey online writing workshop. It was like fate (mostly becuase it was free). I promptly spilled my coffee all over my desk and joined, read a few workshop entries, left comments and ratings for the authors, and uploaded the first chapter of the unfinished novel I’d been revising the first thirty pages of for ten years.

And people actually liked it.

But that’s not the point. The point is that I did start writing every day. And I found some great crit partners. And four months later, I met an awesome writer on the opposite coast who became my best crit partner of all, and two years and 3000 miles after that, I married him (which reminds me, I still own him a crit of his new book… Where’s my to do list…). Twelve years later we have two kids and about ten published books between us, and I launched Etopia Press, which just celebrated its first birthday.

Oh yeah, and in between, on January 1, 2001, I quit smoking (for the 25,017th time) and it finally stuck. Today makes eleven years smoke-free (Cold turkey. Lots of gum).

What’s your “big thing”? There’s a certain magic that happens today that makes those big things seem easier, the impossible dream attainable. A magic that’ll be gone tomorrow and won’t be back for a whole year. Grab it now and run with it and make your big things happen!

Happy New Year to all, and may all your big dreams come true.

Annie

* In the spirit of full disclosure, I only scrubbed the Mr. Coffee religiously every Saturday for that one week. I got sidetracked by writing.

Lord Keeper
Tarah Scott
Scottish Historical Romance

No man bargains for war when he chooses a bride, but when he steals her from holy ground, he can expect nothing less.

A midnight race for freedom leads Victoria Hockley, the Countess of Lansbury, to a churchyard deep in the Scottish Highlands. But not even hallowed ground can save her from the devil who’s pursued her from England, or from the furious Scot who swears to protect her.

Iain MacPherson swore he was nothing like his father, but his kidnapping of Victoria Hockley shows the same kind of obsessive jealousy that sent his mother to an early grave. Now Iain has hell to pay, and the devil may very well be the noble English lass who has bewitched his very soul…

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Christmas Moon
Loribelle Hunt
Lunar Mates 5
Paranormal Romance (Holiday)

Delilah is ready for a major life change, so when she’s offered a job in the Appalachian Mountains with her best friends’ boss, she jumps at the chance. Moving to a new town for a dream job with people she likes is even better during the holidays, and the Christmas spirit makes her think she’s landed in a winter wonderland.

What they didn’t warn her about were the werewolves.

Cain and Abel Williamson take one look at the new girl in town and know she’s perfect. Her beauty. Her ability to communicate with animals. They’ll do anything to make her theirs, to protect her. But not everything in town is jolly and bright under the Christmas moon. Can the brothers make Delilah theirs for keeps, and keep her save from what stalks the winter woods?

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Red Rio Blue
Marianna Lauren
Paranormal Erotic Romance

Aubrey Hunnisett, owner of the Rio Blue nightclub, is determined to buy out the rival Club Lunar. But vampire Michael Lennox has no intention of selling, even though two recent murders have thrown the club into rough financial waters. Michael suspects Aubrey is working with his hated enemy, the vampire Richard Sands, whom he’s convinced is involved with the murders. He uses his vampire charm to seed her mind with passionate sex while he rifles through her memories in search of her true intentions. But instead of evidence, Michael finds something in Aubrey he neither needs nor wants—a strong, noble heart, a passionate lover, the kind of woman he’s craved throughout his very long life…

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My Only Wish (This Year)
Brien Michaels
Stories of Us (Book 2)
M/M Contemporary Romance (Holiday)

Brian Jeffries only wants one thing for Christmas: his boyfriend Angelo home with him for their first Christmas together. But Angelo’s parents are forcing him to go to Minnesota to spend the holidays with his family. What are two young lovers to do?

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The Hun and the General
Tristram La Roche
M/M Historical Romance

Livianus is bored and longs for action. His reward for serving Rome is the governorship of a quiet corner of Gaul, but as he whiles away his days at his sumptuous villa, his thoughts turn to Attila the Hun, the feared barbarian with whom Livianus once enjoyed an intimate friendship. When a desperate emperor asks him to return to Pannonia to broker a truce with Attila, Livianus’s old passion flares.

Attila is losing the will to go on. He is tired of being a tyrant but his people’s future depends on him. The arrival of Livianus renews Attila’s spirit as he prepares to march on Constantinople. Livianus has nothing to bargain with, but when the emperor’s sister delivers a proposition for Attila, a new and brighter future seems to lay directly ahead. For the people, and especially for the two men.

But the deadly hand of the emperor isn’t interested in peace, and as their plans are destroyed, only one course of action remains open to the Hun and the general.

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The Gift
Katie O’Connor
Erotic Romance (M/F/M/F)

Sammy Jarvis is harboring a secret fantasy and desperately wants to make it a reality. She finally finds the courage to ask her adoring husband, Nick, for a special Christmas gift—one that will make her dreams come true. She wants Nick find her a woman to make love with.
What’s a man to do? Stymied, Nick turns to his old college friend Carl, and the topic takes them down memory lane to a time when they’d been more than just friends. Rekindling their desires is easy, and they devise a plan for Sammy to meet Carl’s girlfriend Gina.
When Sammy and Gina meet, clothing begins to fly. Being with Gina is everything that Sammy had imagined, but now she wants more. Her heart is big enough to encompass them all, but what will Nick think? Is there room in their marriage to accommodate her new-found love for Gina and Carl? Or will this tangled lover’s heap destroy them all?

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Dragons at Midnight
Selena Illyria
Erotic Romance/Interracial Romance

One dragon is hot enough, but three can make this tiger shifter burn in the most delightful ways.

Tiger shifter Louisa thought she’d ring in the New Year all alone. Little did she know that three younger dragon shifters plan on making sure she celebrates things right. Add a little steam, a few dragon shifters with dirty minds, and some creative use of furniture and New Year’s Eve becomes the perfect scorching-hot party for four.

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Blood and Ashes

KC Shaw
Genre: Fantasy
Length: Novel
ISBN: 978-1-936751-85-3

The Gryphons have a secret. And someone thinks Ana knows it.

Back in May, things were heating up between healer Ana Miradwen and the King’s Enforcer, Vincent Ondarr. Then Vincent stopped seeing Ana abruptly, only to resurface in July—with a fiancée. Ana’s hurt, but she’s angry too. When Vincent summons her to his office, she plans to tell him off.

But Vincent has a proposition for her, and not one she expects. A half-breed rights group called the Gryphons is fighting for change—but it may be a front for something darker. Vincent needs Ana to join the Gryphons and investigate.

Ana’s happy to help, especially since it means spending time with a couple of gorgeous elf men. Never mind that Vincent thinks they’re smugglers. But when someone tries to kill Ana, she realizes that she’s in way over her head. Only it’s too late to back out.

Excerpt

I wished Ash would stop playing battle songs. The crowd was getting agitated.

I sat up straighter in my chair, trying to keep an eye on everyone. At the first sign of real trouble, I planned to jump up and stand between Ash and any would-be attackers.

Which was absurd, considering I was a half-breed elf healer who didn’t know the first thing about fighting, while Ash was a troll who’d spent a year in jail once for almost killing a human during a brawl. But no one in Carafell harmed healers. And lately it seemed to me that half of Carafell wanted to see Ash dead.

The weather didn’t help. It had been a stifling day, but now, in early evening, the wind was up. I heard a few distant rumbles of thunder. It only added to the restless feeling in the tavern, where some fifty people had jammed into the common room to hear Ash play.

Most of them came for the music. Some were there out of curiosity. And a few just wanted to cause trouble.

I glanced at Ash to see if he’d noticed. He sat by himself on the tiny stage, a ball of magelight hanging above him. The light gleamed on the dark wood of his amon, a traditional troll instrument that looked a bit like a small cello and sounded like a god’s command or a lover’s laugh, depending on how Ash plucked the metal strings.

Ash himself was obviously lost in the music. He’d been playing nearly an hour, and his green skin shone with sweat. We’d walked the six miles to the tavern since we couldn’t find a taxi coach that would take trolls, so his cheap, brown trousers and white shirt were stained with dust and sweat.

I was used to the way Ash looked, but to almost everyone else in the room I supposed seeing a troll up close was a novelty in itself. Trolls were just plain different—and scary. Ash wore his black hair in a thick braid that fell to his waist; he had pointed ears like an elf, but they stuck out like bat wings. And even the soft magelight didn’t hide his claws, his flared jaw that made him look as though he could bite through trees, and a muscular frame even a human male would be proud of. At least no one could see his mouthful of fangs.

I looked around the room again. Every bench seat was filled, mostly with elves and humans, although I did see a few vampires and half-breeds. No trolls, of course. The Bunch of Grapes didn’t serve trolls. Ash was undoubtedly the first to cross its threshold.

Not that that was much of a treat. The ceiling was so low even I had to fight the urge to duck beneath the exposed beams, and right now the room smelled of sweat and spilled beer. The door was propped open to let in a breeze, but even more people had crowded into the back, standing up to see the stage.

It was the standers that worried me, mostly. I’d heard some whispering, but more than that I could just feel that something was wrong. I’d been accompanying Ash to performances now for about six weeks—not a long time, but more than long enough to get a feel for ugly crowds, since about half of his performances ended in trouble.

The landlord caught my eye and pointed at the door. Time to get out. I agreed.

I stood up and edged over to the stage. The galloping notes and triumphant chords, underpinned by the amon’s distinctive drone, were rising to a conclusion at last. I wished I could just listen like everyone else.

The song ended, and while the crowd applauded I reached out and tweaked Ash’s ankle, above the brim of his boot.

He opened his eyes and looked down at me. I raised my eyebrows.

That was all the signal he needed. He stood up and bowed, packed the amon away in its leather case, and jumped down from the stage without a word.

I led the way out, pushing through the crowd toward the door. Most people drew back to keep from touching Ash, although I was glad to hear a few folks compliment him as he passed.

Maybe there wouldn’t be trouble after all. We reached the door without incident, and I took a deep breath of clean, rain-scented wind.

The landlord met us just outside. He was an elf, tall and slender, and I’d flirted with him shamelessly to get Ash the engagement. I thought I’d better keep it up now, even though I just wanted to get home before the storm hit.

“It feels good out here,” I told him, with a smile that gave a different meaning to my words.

He grinned back at me, but he seemed distracted. I heard voices behind him as the crowd started to talk, and the noise got louder and louder. “Nice music,” the landlord said. “Thanks for coming.” He glanced at Ash, who had retreated into the street to wait for me. “I didn’t think he’d be that good.”

He held out Ash’s pay. I took the coins and let him brush my fingers with his more than he needed to. I remembered to simper a little.

Then he was gone and we were free. I hurried over to join Ash. “Let’s get out of here while we can.”

“Not a bad crowd,” Ash said, but he sighed. We fell in step on the hard-packed dirt road. “I don’t know if it was worth it, though. All this walking for a few marks.” He slung the strap of the amon’s case over his shoulder.

“It’s worth it,” I said. “It’s not the money, it’s the exposure. Get people used to seeing trolls, and liking what they see and hear—”

“They don’t like me, Ana,” Ash said. He sounded tired. He’d played an all-night performance the night before, at a troll tavern where I wasn’t welcome, and then he’d spent the day working at his current job, helping build a brick warehouse. And now he had to walk six miles just to get home.

“They do like you, or most of them do,” I said. “They really like your music. It’s just that there’s always one or two bad apples in the bunch.”

Ash put his arm around my waist. We weren’t lovers—he was always reminding me he wasn’t interested in elves—but trolls weren’t shy about touching each other. I’d dropped by Ash’s building site a few days before to tell him about tonight’s performance, and he and one of his workmates had been taking a break in the shade, their arms linked as they talked.

I’d braided my hair, but the ribbon had come untied, and the braid was half-unraveled. A gust of wind lifted the loose strands. My hair was too dark a gold for a pure-blooded elf, but Ash seemed to like it. He was always playing with it.

He said, “I appreciate everything you’re doing for me, Ana. I’m just not sure it’s doing any good.”

Before I could answer, I saw Ash’s ears twitch and heard footsteps behind us.

We both stopped and turned around. Three humans were approaching us from the Bunch of Grapes, one man with a bully’s sneer and two dumb-looking thugs flanking him. Ash sighed again.

I stepped forward between them and Ash. The bully looked me up and down and said, “You look like you could use a real man, sweetheart. Someone who’s not green.” He and his thugs guffawed as though he’d said something funny.

“Go away,” I said. “You’re not impressing me, and we don’t have anything to prove.”

The bully stopped next to me—too close for my comfort. I resisted the urge to take a step back. “I’ve got what it takes to impress you. Come on with me, sweetie. I’ll make it worth your while.”

The two thugs stood on either side of me, hemming me in. I felt a jolt of alarm. We were on the edge of Carafell, and the road here was deserted, overhung with trees and edged with thick bushes. Except for the pub and a few roofs in the distance, we were in the middle of nowhere.

Behind me Ash said softly, “It’s not a good idea to threaten a healer.”

“Who’s threatening?” The bully smirked at me. He put his hand under my chin and tilted my head back. “Elf and human make a good mix. Let’s try it.”

I kicked him between the legs—not as hard as I’d have liked, since my robes hampered my movements. He grunted and let go of me. Before he could retaliate, Ash pushed past me and slammed into the man.

I staggered back to let them fight. Ash had dumped his amon in the road. I picked it up and hugged it.

Ash was bigger than two of the three humans and undoubtedly stronger than any of them, and he had claws and fangs. I knew he could kill all three if he needed to.

But he was careful. He pulled his punches, kept his claws to himself, and didn’t even open his mouth to threaten a bite. It was almost painful to watch, except that few of the humans’ blows landed. Ash knew how to fight.

Then the bully pulled a knife.

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The Significant Deaths of Cage and Constance

Jasen Quick
Genre: Fantasy
Length: Novel
ISBN: 978-1-936751-86-0

Cage Reynolds wanted to die.

Having survived two world wars, the death of his is wife, and innumerable suicide attempts, Cage is lonely and depressed. He has a secret, one that defies modern science, and his life is not as it seems. He’s 169 years old, and he cannot die.

On the day that he is pushed in front of a bus by a mysterious man, Cage meets Clementine, a lively young woman who knows more about Cage than she is letting on. She works for Constance Sullivan, a wealthy businesswoman who trades in antiquities. When Cage is lured into Constance’s world, he sees something that even he can hardly believe–something that changes his life forever.

Excerpt

In two days time I will be a hundred and sixty-nine years old, despite my youthful appearance.

Immortality is a weight that becomes heavier as each day passes, and I find myself screaming internally, longing to find my place in this world of mortal people. It’s not that I elude death, in fact quite the opposite: death follows me like a stray dog anxiously hoping for scraps. I am tired and lonely, and I find life in the twenty-first century uninspiring. So much has changed, and yet so much is still the same. I have come full circle, living back in my hometown of Salisbury, where a hundred and thirty-nine years ago I received news that I had just a few weeks to live.

It might be considered ironic that I went on to outlive everyone who drew breath in 1872.

I wake up to the sound of my alarm clock. It is six o’clock, and the sun is shining across my face through the open curtains—I left them open last night to admire the full moon. I open my eyes and stare at the ceiling as the alarm clock continues to ring. It sits on the headboard of my bed, which has shelves built into it, with a few light-reading books and a remote control. I slap the clock with my hand, and it stops ringing.

“Well, Micajah Reynolds, it’s time to rise,” I say to myself, as though the instruction will push me into leaving the warm bed. I decide to ignore my command and stare at the ceiling for a few minutes longer.

I talk to myself quite a lot, which I understand can be considered a sign of madness. If madness was my only flaw, I might actually sleep at night.

I suffer from depression. In fact, I probably always have. I can’t take anti-depressants, because drugs have no effect on my body. I haven’t been intoxicated since 1872. I try to avoid over-analysing my life—I did plenty of that a hundred years ago—and I have created a peaceful routine through which I live each day, one at a time. However, sometimes the depression subdues logic, and I find myself staring at the ceiling trying to talk myself into getting up.

I pull the remote control off the headboard, pressing a button as I swing it over my head and aim it towards an old wooden chest at the foot of my bed. A hi-tech television rises slowly through the lid of the chest, lighting up with footage from a news channel. I quickly mute the sound and roll out of the bed.

Breakfast is one of those routines I created to help fool myself into believing I am normal. I do not need to eat, so I choose food based purely on what tastes nice. Eating is a hobby that serves no purpose other than enjoyment. I am also a big tea drinker. I have a cupboard full of teas from around the world, and I savour every cup.

My kitchen is modern, but with an old-style appearance. The Belfast sink has a waste disposal unit underneath, and the Rayburn oven is computer controlled and also feeds the central heating radiators around the house. The computer-controlled light switches are styled like 1930s switches and can be programmed to switch lights on and off automatically. I have a lot of computer-controlled devices in my house. Perhaps my memories of the nineteenth century allow me the kind of hindsight that modern generations lack when it comes to personal comforts. You don’t know what it’s like to be cold until you have slept in a house with no double-glazing, damp-proofing, or central heating in the middle of winter, with only ordinary blankets to keep you warm.

With such memories clear in my mind, I have perhaps over-compensated with regards to the comfort in my Georgian house. It has under-floor heating throughout the ground floor, especially needed in the kitchen where the ceramic floor tiles always feel cold, climate control throughout the entire house, solar panels, a wind generator, self-cleaning glass in the windows, and computer controlled doors, windows, heating and lighting, etcetera.

The climate control is vital for the safekeeping of my antiquities, which I have collected over the years. Paintings and artwork hang around the house, along with a couple of tapestries, while my really special artefacts are stored in an underground bunker, built under the library. The bunker is bombproof, fireproof, and waterproof and has a sophisticated alarm system that keeps the contents safe. I’d like to think that my home is secure.

Sitting at the kitchen breakfast bar, I needlessly dwell on how mundane my life becomes when I stop actively pursuing excitement. It is at this point I usually head down into the bunker to remind myself of the interesting events that have happened in my life. However, as I sit waiting for the coffee percolator to finish brewing coffee, I become aware of someone in the kitchen with me.

Startled, I jump to my feet and turn to see a man standing nearby, facing the wall. It is as though he is a shop mannequin, except he is almost transparent. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end as I experience that feeling of uncertainty and dread that comes with the realisation that someone has broken into my private Fort Knox.

I step slowly towards the man, whose back is facing me, and I can see the tea cabinet on the wall through his body. I don’t believe in ghosts, because I am content with the rational explanations offered by logical thinking intellects. However, I cannot think of a logical reason as to why a semi-transparent man is standing in my kitchen with his back to me.

“Hello?” I say. The man does not reply. I step closer to him and place my hand on his back, only to find that he is not solid. My hand feels cold as it enters his body. I recoil and step back in case he reacts.

Nothing.

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A Death in Katy

Lynn Lorenz
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Length: Novel
ISBN 978-1-936751-79-2

On the outside, Annie Reynolds’ life looks perfect. Two kids, a husband, and a lovely house in suburban West Houston. But she’s got a horrible secret–her husband has changed into a man she doesn’t recognize. And after a year of suffering Jake’s abuse, she’s made up her mind to get her kids and herself free.

But when Jake and an unknown woman are found shot dead in a cheap motel room, Annie’s freedom isn’t what she’d planned. She’s got no money, no job, and without either she’ll lose the house. And when she becomes the prime suspect in the double murder, she stands to lose something even more precious–her children.

Detective Martin O’Connell is told to wrap it up quickly—it’s an open and shut case; the wife did it. But when he looks into Annie’s green eyes, he doesn’t see a killer. He sees only the woman he’s always longed to find. He knows she’s not guilty, but he’ll have to prove it before his interest in the suspect gets him pulled from the case…and before the real killer can make Annie the next victim.

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The Seducer

Jianne Carlo
Genre: Erotic Romance/Historical
Length: Novella
ISBN: 978-1-936751-80-8
Heat Level: 4
Warnings: This book contains graphic sexual content that some readers may find offensive.

How can she trust her heart to a man known as the Seducer?

Elaina’s step-uncle, Eógan, has murdered her father and usurped his crown. Desperate to save herself and her younger sisters, Elaina, the concubine’s daughter, takes the girls and vanishes from the world. But when she’s discovered by the tall, brash Viking known as the Seducer, he’s determined to make the unwilling woman his own. Even if it involves blackmail: Elaina’s hand for his silence.

Angry at being discovered and desperate to protect her sisters, Elaina agrees to marry Jarvik after he threatens to reveal her identity. She bids him to make haste and slake his lust, but Jarvik will accept naught but Elaina’s full passion. Their joining is explosive and magical, but how can Elaina trust a man called the Seducer? And even if he proves as good as his word, will the political maneuvering of rival kings force Jarvik to relinquish his new wife to the very man who wants her dead?

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Hold the Sky

A.C. Fox
Genre: M/M Erotic Romance/Contemporary
ISBN: 978-1-936751-81-5
Heat Level: 4

When love competes, will anyone win?

Harry has just begun his career as an architect with a well-known Chicago firm, but when he runs up against the talented, successful, not to mention stunningly handsome Garrett Reed, he quickly loses both his cool and his first big contract to the other man. Now a second job has just come up for bid, a huge project that can make Harry’s career. And Garrett is after the same prize.

Garrett is fascinated with Harry. He admires the man’s drive and talent, not to mention his incredible good looks. But as the wild attraction between them burns hotter, the cool, aloof Garrett finds himself in an uncomfortable position. Can the two of them find a way to temper the passion that flares between them, or will their competitive natures tear their tentative love to pieces?

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Bedevil

Kiran Hunter
Genre: M/MParanormal Romance
ISBN: 978-1-936751-83-9
Heat Level: 4

A dream inheritance, a dark legacy, a new beginning…

When Gareth Balaam inherits Harbinger House, he thinks his problems are over. But unfortunately, they’ve only just begun. Harbinger House has a dark past. Shrouded in mystery, what may have occurred within its walls is still a matter of conjecture. The locals at the pub talk about the place in whispers. Gareth’s partner, Tim, thinks the house is haunted.

Gareth doesn’t believe in ghosts, but he does believe Tim is using the house as an excuse to not work on their relationship. Their trip to the country to bring them closer seems to be doing the opposite. Tensions and resentments flare, and through it all, someone is watching…

Luka is lonely and bored. Confined to the shadows of the house for decades, he has driven all the previous occupants insane with lust. Except the last. The one man Luka had loved had broken his heart and had left rather than lose his mind. The house stood empty, and Luka was alone. But not anymore. There’s life in the house again, two delicious lovers, two new humans to seduce. Except one refuses to play…

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Secretly More

Lux Zakari
Genre: Erotic Romance, Contemporary
ISBN: 978-1-936751-84-6
Heat Level: 4

What if the one you love IS the one you’re with…

Jay Navarrete has been in love with his best friend Kimber York for years. When she ends her frustrating long-term relationship with an apathetic musician, he decides the time is finally right to tell her how he feels.

But Kimber has an agenda of her own, one that doesn’t include returning Jay’s feelings. Instead, she’s eager to make up for lost time by becoming more sexually adventurous. Her mission leads her to an upstairs bedroom at a wild party, where she agrees to be blindfolded and await a mystery lover. Although Jay knows it’s wrong, he’s unable to resist the opportunity to be with her.

But Jay soon finds himself in a complex tug-of-war between his integrity and his heart, one that threatens to ruin everything between Kimber and him—especially when she falls hard for someone else: her mystery lover.

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A Spark in the Darkness

Peter Giglio
Genre: Horror
Length: Novel
ISBN: 9781936751655

On the final day of her second life, Edie returns to the family she abandoned five years earlier. Edie is not merely a vampire, she’s a Goddess…one of the vanishing race of beings the vampires need to keep their kind alive. But being dead has taught her much about life, and Edie’s determined to destroy the evil thing she’s become. For something has changed within her, something almost alive in her dead soul. But can a single spark in the darkness be enough to save all she holds dear?

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Dark Knowledge

Keith Pyeatt
Genre: Horror
Length: Novel

ISBN: 9781936751587

With knowledge comes a dark destiny…

A whole new world beckons inside the mind of mentally challenged Welsey Henson, a world that offers him a gift he can’t resist: knowledge. He carries these bits of knowledge back to the physical world, unaware of the dark instincts that come with them. The knowledge builds Wesley’s intellect, giving him abilities he’s never had before—to know the world around him, to heal…but these new instincts thrust him into an evil contest he can’t understand, much less win, against opponents who are trained to kill. The more Wesley understands, the harder it becomes to tell good from evil, and the more difficult his choices become. What must he sacrifice to save the world from his dark knowledge…his life, or his soul?

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Diavolino

by Steve Emmett
Genre: Horror
Length: Novel

ISBN: 9781936751211

Paradise is just one step from Hell.

The chance to build a dream home on a private island in Italy’s most beautiful lake offers architect Tom Lupton the fresh start he’s been yearning for. But when he arrives with his family on Diavolino, he finds the terrified locals dead set against his arrival. The island, whose very existence has been shrouded in secrecy for half a millennium, has a dark history that no one cares to remember, and as their opposition to Tom grows, so grows a brooding evil that will lead them to the very doors of hell…

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In My Lady’s Chamber

Catherine Cavendish
Genre: Horror
Length: Short Story
ISBN: 9781936751426

Upstairs, Downstairs, and in My Lady’s Chamber…

As soon as Lydia sees Goose Green Farm, she knows something’s wrong. Why would John bring her to a derelict farmhouse miles from anywhere in the middle of the Yorkshire Moors? Refusing her pleas to go home, she can see that something is happening to him. As they enter the house, he seems possessed by a sinister presence that draws him to it and threatens his very existence. A terrified Lydia knows she will have to do whatever she can to rescue him from the clutches of a spirit who is hell-bent on revenge.

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Henry

Patti Larsen
Genre: Horror
Length: Short Story
ISBN: 9781936751419

Avlin, Texas is just like any other small town. Only darker.
Life isn’t easy for a white-trash boy in a small Texas town. Henry’s momma turns tricks to keep them in cash, then spends it all on drugs. His neighbor Pearl is determined to show him the way to everlasting salvation, And Henry’s willing to talk to her preacher friend just to get out of this hole.

The Reverend thinks he can mold Henry into the Lord’s image, but when Henry finds out he can control the people around him, the town spirals into madness. And it isn’t the Lord that Henry finds himself resembling…

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Dreaming, Not Sleeping

Julia Kavan
Genre: Horror
Length: Short Story
ISBN: 9781936751198

Her nightmares were simply too good to resist.

A woman is tempted away from the safety of her husband’s arms by a skillful nighttime visitor. But they both find nothing is what it seems…

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We Shadows Have Offended

KW Taylor
Genre: Horror
Length: Novella
ISBN: 978-1-936751-76-1
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

They’ll never forget what they did to that little girl…

After the death of a mutual friend, Sam, Bill, and Roger can no longer hide from the memories of what they all did that day… the day they killed the little girl. The little girl who wasn’t a little girl. Now it’s back, and it’s looking for them, leaving death and destruction in its wake, hell-bent on revenge. Can Sam summon the strength and courage to make a sacrifice that will save his friends and family?

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Teaching Man and Other Tales

Nell DuVall
Genre: Horror
Length: Short Story Collection
ISBN: 978-1-936751-74-7
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

The Devil comes calling on Halloween…
A young woman learns that black cats see all…
Not all brooms are created equal…
Some relationships really do last a lifetime…

Nell DuVall brings us four deliciously creepy tales of good and evil, perfect for All Hallow’s Eve.

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The Dead Hate the Living

Tom Gueli
Genre: Horror
Length: Short Story
ISBN: 978-1-936751-75-4
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

Unfortunately, death isn’t the final resting place…

When a man awakens on a cold, steel table, unable to move, speak, or breathe, he learns a terrible truth. He’s dead. And he’s being prepped for an autopsy. But it is what happens after the autopsy that makes him realize just how painful death can be…and the dead are hungry.

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Cold Revenge

Catherine Cavendish
Genre: Horror
Length: Novella
ISBN: 978-1-936751-77-8
Editor: Thalia S. Child
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

Some dinner invitations are best ignored…

For no apparent reason, Nadine, Maggie, Gary, and Nick are invited to dinner at the lavish home of top fashion writer, Erin Dartford. But why has she invited them? Why doesn’t she want her guests to mingle? And just what is it about the mysterious Erin that makes them want to run for their lives?

Little do they know that as they prepare to eat their first course, an evil as old as mankind is about to be unleashed. And revenge really is a dish best served cold…

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The Loosening

Ralph Hartman
Genre: Horror
Length: Novel
ISBN: 978-1-936751-78-5
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

Witches! Above all else, do ye no harm!

Newcomer Gaye Rawlins was a sliver of hope in the dark despair of Stills Valley, Oregon. The girl would bring an end to the nightmare, a sacrifice to end the ancient evil. Now they could begin. They would call out to the Maid, the Mother, and the Old Crone. They would embrace the Goddess; they would chant and sing the old songs. They would repair the rent in the fabric of life.

And the Great Serpent would stop them…

The ancient evil has been unleashed and a thread is pulled loose from the Weave, flailing, slashing, unraveling. An unknowing heiress, a Hunter Druid, and a coven of witches must reweave the threads, but their task will bring them to the very limits of life and death. And they will bring Gaye with them…

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We Shadows Have Offended by KW Taylor
Teaching Man and Other Tales by Nell DuVall
The Dead Hate the Living by Tom Gueli
Cold Revenge by Catherine Cavendish
The Loosening by Ralph Hartman

We Shadows Have Offended

KW Taylor
Genre: Horror
Length: Novella
ISBN: 978-1-936751-76-1
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

They’ll never forget what they did to that little girl…

After the death of a mutual friend, Sam, Bill, and Roger can no longer hide from the memories of what they all did that day… the day they killed the little girl. The little girl who wasn’t a little girl. Now it’s back, and it’s looking for them, leaving death and destruction in its wake, hell-bent on revenge. Can Sam summon the strength and courage to make a sacrifice that will save his friends and family?

Excerpt

The memory often played itself inside Mensonge’s head as he slept, though seldom vivid enough to cause him to wake up screaming. On the plane from New York to Chicago, he fell into a twilight slumber full of an endless loop of the worst thirty minutes of his entire life.

One second, it had been four boys sitting on a rusty metal carousel as it lazily spun in the late October breeze. Bill was lighting matches and flicking them off into piles of leaves. Hammond was smacking him on the back of the head for doing so every time he caught him. “My mama’s going to bust you, fool,” Hammond would say. “Gonna burn the whole house down.”

Sam just laughed at the two of them, while Roger himself wished he were brave enough to go play with tiny Nona Centini as she sat on the sidewalk nearby, alternately hugging and beating her beloved gray teddy bear. Roger’s tiny cousin, whom they’d left back in Haiti, was just Nona’s age, and he missed her painfully.

“What’s the funny talker think?” Bill was asking.

Roger glared at him and longed to answer in his native tongue but didn’t dare. Bill was the only one of the boys who mocked him, and Roger didn’t care for his attitude. “Something is wrong with your head,” he told Bill.

That was when Sam had gasped and began to point. “Not his head,” Sam had murmured. “What’s wrong with Nona?”

There was no longer a sweet toddler on the sidewalk. Nona’s bear was cast onto the grass, and there was still a tiny figure wearing her crisp, white dress. The thing inside the dress, however, was very clearly no longer human.

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Teaching Man and Other Tales

Nell DuVall
Genre: Horror
Length: Short Story Collection
ISBN: 978-1-936751-74-7
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

The Devil comes calling on Halloween…
A young woman learns that black cats see all…
Not all brooms are created equal…
Some relationships really do last a lifetime…

Nell DuVall brings us four deliciously creepy tales of good and evil, perfect for All Hallow’s Eve.

Excerpt, Teaching Man

The evening of the day John left for Danville, a firm, sure knock sounded on the cabin door. For a moment, Sarry stood still as a rabbit hiding from a fox. Then, the knock came again.

Bears didn’t knock, Sarry told herself. She brushed the flour from her hands and went to answer it. “Who is it please?” she called out, her heart racing.

“Sam Willoughby. May I come inside?” The deep voice carried through the plank door.

Sam Willoughby. Now who might he be? Sarry wondered as she lifted the heavy bar, set it down, and opened the door.

“Good even’, mistress.” The tall, dark suited stranger stood hat in hand. “I’ve lost my way this cold night. Your light shown through the shutters so I came hither seeking shelter. May I enter?” He looked sort of like a traveling preacher or even a teacher.

“Come in, come in. The wind’s fierce out there tonight.” She closed the door behind him, and he helped her replace the bar.

“Aye, that it is. I thought it might blow me to Danville, but no, I pulled up here instead.” He looked toward the fire burning cheerily on the hearth.

Sarry followed his glance. “Sit by the fire and warm yourself. I’ve some mulled cider, if you’ve a taste for it.”

“Aye, that would be right fine, mistress. I thank ye.”

He set his bedroll on the floor and folded his lean body into the rocker by the fire, watching Sarry as she pushed a poker into the fire and poured a mug of cider from John’s jug snug in the corner. Leaning over the crackling fire, she waited a moment to get the poker hot, shook off the ash, and plunged the glowing poker into the mug. Steam rose in twisting tendrils and the aroma of apples filled the small cabin. She handed the heated mug to the stranger.

“Thank ye, mistress, I do appreciate it.” He took the mug and sipped the hot liquid, watching her with eyes that seemed more of night than life.

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The Dead Hate the Living

Tom Gueli
Genre: Horror
Length: Short Story
ISBN: 978-1-936751-75-4
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

Unfortunately, death isn’t the final resting place…

When a man awakens on a cold, steel table, unable to move, speak, or breathe, he learns a terrible truth. He’s dead. And he’s being prepped for an autopsy. But it is what happens after the autopsy that makes him realize just how painful death can be…and the dead are hungry.

Excerpt

All at once I remember: After getting ready for work, I kissed Louise goodbye, asked her to whip up a special dinner, and went on my way to work. I felt a slight numbness in my left hand and a shortness of breath, but I had experienced the sensation before and it always passed in a few minutes; I had grown accustomed to it as a fact of life. As I neared the first toll on Grand Island, I felt the numbness spread up my arm, the pressure on my chest tighten, and the air become more difficult to breathe. Within seconds, a thousand needles of fire were piercing my heart, lungs, and left side. The world grayed. The last thing I remember through the haze is the blaring of a car horn followed by a bone-jarring crash as my Lexus and the world beyond it disappeared from my consciousness.

I am dead.

It explains why I cannot move, why I cannot breathe, and why I was in a vinyl bag before being laid out on this table with the overhead light. It also connects the dots to the brief glimpse I had of the room when I was on my side. The metal tables are operating tables, and the wall of doors contains the refrigerated slabs where bodies are stored. I am in a morgue.

It doesn’t quite add up. If I am dead, then why am I awake? Why am I aware of everything that’s happening? Why can I feel pain?

This last question triggers a recent memory that terrifies me in a way I haven’t felt since I was five and thought Animal of The Muppets wanted to eat me. Had I not already unleashed my bowels in my dying moments, I doubt they would hold now. The voice I didn’t recognize said something about confirming their suspicions concerning my cause of death. I want to cry; they are going to perform an autopsy.

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Cold Revenge

Catherine Cavendish
Genre: Horror
Length: Novella
ISBN: 978-1-936751-77-8
Editor: Thalia S. Child
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

Some dinner invitations are best ignored…

For no apparent reason, Nadine, Maggie, Gary, and Nick are invited to dinner at the lavish home of top fashion writer, Erin Dartford. But why has she invited them? Why doesn’t she want her guests to mingle? And just what is it about the mysterious Erin that makes them want to run for their lives?

Little do they know that as they prepare to eat their first course, an evil as old as mankind is about to be unleashed. And revenge really is a dish best served cold…

Excerpt

Nadine felt Paul’s eyes burning into her, and she couldn’t look at him. He seemed to want an explanation for her protracted absence, but what could she tell him? After she had shot out of that bathroom, she had leaned, panting against the wall, trying to calm herself, desperately telling herself that she had imagined that voice. Yet Julie’s Lancashire accent was so distinctive. As long as she lived, Nadine knew she would never forget it or the events of that awful night. The last night she had seen Julie alive.

How could she explain the mist that had descended in that tapestry-walled passageway, or the shapes that started to emerge? How could she explain the awful smell of burning and the lost minutes when she must have fainted?

She needed to eat something. That was all.

But… She had starved herself many times before and never once hallucinated. She looked around at the other couples. This was certainly a strange dinner party. Apart from chatting to Erin, no one seemed to be mingling. The only other person in the room she recognized was Maggie O’Donnell, that writer whose books were virtually the only ones she read, and then only on long plane journeys. Now and then she caught furtive glances from another guest, and she began to realize that she wasn’t the only one who felt uneasy tonight.

“Come on, Nadine, snap out of it. Try some of these hors d’oeuvres. I don’t know what’s in them, but they are very tasty.” Paul handed her a tiny canapé.

She took a small bite and grimaced. “Oh God, Paul, it’s vile. It’s so bitter. What the hell has she put in here?”

“What are you talking about? I just had one. They’re gorgeous. A kind of curried chicken.”

She thrust it back at him. “Whatever that is, it is not curried chicken.”

His quizzical expression remained until he sniffed at, and then popped the offending morsel in his mouth. “Exactly the same as the one I had. Delicious,” he said, swallowing and wiping his hands on a small linen napkin handed to him by a passing waiter. “Honestly, Nadine, I think you’re losing it today.”

She glared at him, opened her mouth to say something cutting but decided against it. Not here. Not now.

“This is just weird,” she said, watching Erin speak to one of the two liveried waiters. “Have you wondered what we are all doing here? I mean, there’s no atmosphere, apart from a little piped Muzak in the background. No one is mingling, and our hostess doesn’t seem inclined to encourage it anyway. Everyone looks wary.”

“Perhaps they’re all waiting for someone to make the first move. Maybe our Miss Dartford isn’t the hostess type. Maybe she just invites a collection of people and sits back to watch what happens. Who knows? Now come on, I am much more interested in what happened to you while you were away all that time. Did you meet the resident ghost?”

“Paul, how long have we been together? As a couple, I mean.”

“About eighteen months. Why?”

“And in that time, have you ever known me to behave in an irrational way?”

He laughed. “Do you really want me to answer that one?”

“No I’m being serious. I know I get a bit premenstrual sometimes—”

“Not to mention the stressing out when your hair won’t sit right or your latest designer dress doesn’t hang the way you think it should.”

“You know what I’m getting at. I’m not one to imagine voices in my head or see… Oh, I don’t know what I saw. But something in this house doesn’t feel right and something about our hostess doesn’t gel either.”

“Oh come on, Nadine.” He sounded exasperated.

She was about to tell him to forget it when Erin Dartford’s shrill voice called above the muted conversation. “Ladies and gentlemen. Dinner is served, if you would all like to follow me.”

The four couples filed in two by two in total silence. It’s almost like going to a funeral, Nadine thought. But why? She caught Maggie O’Donnell’s eye fleetingly before the writer looked away, apparently searching for her name card on the table.

“Please be seated, everyone.” Again Nadine noticed how Erin’s smile never moved beyond her slightly upturned lips. Her eyes were everywhere, not missing one single move.

Nadine shivered and then found her place, between Maggie’s husband and another man she didn’t know. In front of her was her favorite starter, Parma ham wrapped around slices of melon and chunks of fresh peach. She saw that, in front of each guest was a different dish and, by their reactions, each person was being served their favorite cold starter. Opposite her, sitting between Maggie and a very pretty blonde woman, Paul caught her eye and pointed at his plate of caviar and smoked salmon. His favorite. He smiled and nodded at her dish. Nadine managed to return his smile but the fear that had been haunting her since they’d arrived knotted itself tighter in her stomach.

She turned to Maggie’s husband and was about to ask him how he reckoned Erin could have known so much about her guests’ tastes in food, when their hostess tapped her wine glass.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoy your meal. However, as is the way with these things, I am quite sure some of you will enjoy it more than others.”

“What a curious thing to say.” Nadine realized she had spoken out loud. Neither of her neighbors seemed to have noticed but, judging by the way Paul was now staring at her as she raised her fork to her mouth, it appeared he had. He wore a triumphant expression and she didn’t know why.

She stuck her fork into a chunk of juicy peach and put it into her mouth.

Her world exploded.

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The Loosening

Ralph Hartman
Genre: Horror
Length: Novel
ISBN: 978-1-936751-78-5
Editor: Annetta Ribken
Cover Artist: Annie Melton

Witches! Above all else, do ye no harm!

Newcomer Gaye Rawlins was a sliver of hope in the dark despair of Stills Valley, Oregon. The girl would bring an end to the nightmare, a sacrifice to end the ancient evil. Now they could begin. They would call out to the Maid, the Mother, and the Old Crone. They would embrace the Goddess; they would chant and sing the old songs. They would repair the rent in the fabric of life.

And the Great Serpent would stop them…

The ancient evil has been unleashed and a thread is pulled loose from the Weave, flailing, slashing, unraveling. An unknowing heiress, a Hunter Druid, and a coven of witches must reweave the threads, but their task will bring them to the very limits of life and death. And they will bring Gaye with them…

Excerpt

Marion Peterson wiped her hands on a damp towel and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Oh…” A pause.

“Yes…she’s here.” A longer pause, listening now.

“She’s walled off… I couldn’t see in. I don’t think she’s even aware…”

The faucet at the kitchen sink dripped, plip-plop, onto the gleaming stainless steel. Marion stiffened, gripping the handset tight, listening intently.

“Are you sure? Did you bind him?” There was a tightening in her stance, a squaring of her shoulders as though bracing for something terrible. “And you think it will hold?” Her shoulders sagged forward then, tension deflating. “Okay Joyce. I’ll be there. The ward should hold… And Joyce? I think you might be right about the girl. It’s a shame… Yes… Yes… Of course.” Marion carefully hung up the phone. She looked toward the staircase leading up to Gaye’s room and sighed.

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