100 Best Anthology Books of All Time
We've ranked the best anthology books using expert recommendations, sales data, and millions of reader ratings. At Shortform, we know books. Our book guides are the best in the world. Learn why.
On the Prowl (Alpha & Omega, #0.5)
The werewolf Anna finds a new sense of self when the son of the werewolf king comes to town to quell unrest in the Chicago pack- and inspires a power in Anna that she's never felt before.
Inhuman by Eileen Wilks
Kai has a secret gift of sensing thoughts and desires. What she senses in her neighbor Nathan could be dangerous. Because he has a secret gift, too, and it's about to be let loose.
Buying Trouble by Karen Chance
In a New York auction house, a Lord of the Fey crosses paths with a fiery redheaded mage named Claire. But in this strange underground society, the rarity up for sale is Claire herself.
Mona Lisa Betwining by Sunny
Among the children of the moon, Mona Lisa is of Mixed Blood- part Monere, part human, and destined to be alone. Then she meets a man who could be her salvation- or her downfall.
Must Love Hellhounds (Guild Hunter #0.6; Kate Daniels #3.5; The Guardians #5.5; Sookie Stackhouse #9.2)
The Britlingens Go to Hell: Follow paranormal bodyguards Clovache and Batanya into Lucifer’s realm, where they encounter his fearsome four-legged pets.
Angels’ Judgment: Seek out a traitor in the midst of a guild of nonlethal vampire trackers, one that intends to eradicate the entire species of bloodsuckers.
Magic Mourns: Find out why the giant, three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades has left the underworld for the real world—and whose scent he’s following.
Blind Spot: Join a vampire’s butler in the perilous search for her employer’s niece, aided by a blind—and damn sexy—companion and a hellhound.
Today’s hottest paranormal authors deliver four all-new adventures starring man’s worst friend…
Strange Brew
In Charlaine Harris' "Bacon," a beautiful vampire joins forces with a witch from an ancient line to find out who killed her beloved husband. In "Seeing Eye" by Patricia Briggs, a blind witch helps sexy werewolf Tom Franklin find his missing brother—and helps him in more ways than either of them ever suspected. And in Jim Butcher's "Last Call," wizard Harry Dresden takes on the darkest of dark powers—the ones who dare to mess with this favorite beer.
For anyone who's ever wondered what lies beyond the limits of reality, who's imagined the secret spaces where witches wield fearsome magic, come and drink deep. Let yourself fall under the spell of this bewitching collection of short stories!
Dangerous Women
- Introduction by Gardner Dozois
- “Some Desperado” by Joe Abercrombie - A Red Country story
- “My Heart is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott
- “Nora’s Song” by Cecelia Holland
- “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass
- “Bombshells” by Jim Butcher - A Harry Dresden story
- “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn
- “Wrestling Jesus” by Joe R. Lansdale
- “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm
- “I Know How to Pick ’Em” by Lawrence Block
- “Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson - A Cosmere story
- “A Queen in Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman
- “The Girl in the Mirror” by Lev Grossman - A Magicians story
- “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress
- “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland
- “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon - An Outlander story
- “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherilynn Kenyon
- “Pronouncing Doom” by S.M. Stirling - An Emberverse story
- “Name the Beast” by Sam Sykes
- “Caretakers” by Pat Cadigan
- “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector - A Wild Cards story
- “The Princess and the Queen” by George R.R. Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire story
Zombies Vs. Unicorns
My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
An "ordinary" wedding can get crazy enough, so can you imagine what happens when otherworldly creatures are involved? Nine of the hottest authors of paranormal fiction answer that question in this delightful collection of supernatural wedding stories. What's the seating plan when rival clans of werewolves and vampires meet under the same roof? How can a couple in the throes of love overcome traps set by feuding relatives---who are experts at voodoo? Will you have a good marriage if your high-seas wedding is held on a cursed ship? How do you deal with a wedding singer who's just a little too good at impersonating Elvis? Shape-shifters, wizards, and magic, oh my!
"The Wedding of Wylda Serene" / Esther Friesner
"All Shook Up" /P.N. Elrod
"Tacky" / Charlaine Harris
"A Hard Day's Night-Searcher" / Sherrilyn Kenyon
"Something Borrowed" / Jim Butcher
"Spellbound" / L.A. Banks
"Dead Man's Chest" / Rachel Caine
"Charmed by the Moon" / Lori Handeland
"...Or Forever Hold Your Peace" / Susan Krinard
Rogues
Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis, as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand, in this rogues gallery of stories that will plunder your heart — and yet leave you all the richer for it.
Contents:
- Tough Times All Over by Joe Abercrombie (a Red Country story)
- What Do You Do? (aka The Grownup) by Gillian Flynn
- The Inn of the Seven Blessings by Matthew Hughes
- Bent Twig by Joe R. Lansdale (a Hap and Leonard story)
- Tawny Petticoats by Michael Swanwick
- Provenance by David Ball
- The Roaring Twenties by Carrie Vaughn
- A Year and a Day in Old Theradane by Scott Lynch
- Bad Brass by Bradley Denton
- Heavy Metal by Cherie Priest
- The Meaning of Love by Daniel Abraham
- A Better Way to Die by Paul Cornell (a Jonathan Hamilton story)
- Ill Seen in Tyre by Steven Saylor
- A Cargo of Ivories by Garth Nix (a Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz story)
- Diamonds From Tequila by Walter Jon Williams (a Dagmar story)
- The Caravan to Nowhere by Phyllis Eisenstein (a Tales of Alaric the Minstrel story)
- The Curious Affair of the Dead Wives by Lisa Tuttle
- How the Marquis Got His Coat Back by Neil Gaiman (a Neverwhere story)
- Now Showing by Connie Willis
- The Lightning Tree by Patrick Rothfuss (a Kingkiller Chronicle story)
- The Rogue Prince, or, A King’s Brother by George R.R. Martin (a Song of Ice and Fire story)
Fragile Things: Short Fictions and Wonders
Wolfsbane and Mistletoe
The holidays can bring out the beast in anyone- particularly lycanthropes. Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner have harvested the scariest, funniest, saddest werewolf tales by an outstanding pack of authors, best read by the light of a full moon with a silver bullet close at hand.
Whether wolfing down a holiday feast (use your imagination) or craving some hair of the dog on New Year's morning, the werewolves in these frighteningly original stories will surprise, delight, amuse, and scare the pants off readers who love a little wolfsbane with their mistletoe.
Gift Wrap - Charlaine Harris
The Haire of the Beast - Donna Andrews
Lucy, at Christmastime - Simon R. Green
The Night Things Changed - Dana Cameron
The Werewolf Before Christmas - Kat Richardson
Fresh Meat - Alan Gordon
Il Est Né - Carrie Vaughn
The Perfect Gift - Dana Stabenow
Christmas Past - Keri Arthur
SA - J. A. Konrath
The Star of David - Patricia Briggs
You'd Better Not Pyout - Nancy Pickard
Rogue Elements - Karen Chance
Milk and Cookies - Rob Thurman
Keeping Watch over His Flock - Toni L. P. Kelner
Trigger Warning: Short Fictions and Disturbances
In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction--stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013--as well "Black Dog," a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.
Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In "Adventure Story"--a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane--Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience "A Calendar of Tales" are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year--stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother's Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale "The Case of Death and Honey". And "Click-Clack the Rattlebag" explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we're all alone in the darkness.
A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.
Smoke and Mirrors: Short Fiction and Illusions
13Stories of Your Life and Others
Ted Chiang's first published story, "Tower of Babylon," won the Nebula Award in 1990. Subsequent stories have won the Asimov's SF Magazine reader poll, a second Nebula Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, and the Sidewise Award for alternate history. He won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 1992. Story for story, he is the most honored young writer in modern SF.
Now, collected here for the first time are all seven of this extraordinary writer's stories so far-plus an eighth story written especially for this volume.
What if men built a tower from Earth to Heaven-and broke through to Heaven's other side? What if we discovered that the fundamentals of mathematics were arbitrary and inconsistent? What if there were a science of naming things that calls life into being from inanimate matter? What if exposure to an alien language forever changed our perception of time? What if all the beliefs of fundamentalist Christianity were literally true, and the sight of sinners being swallowed into fiery pits were a routine event on city streets? These are the kinds of outrageous questions posed by the stories of Ted Chiang. Stories of your life . . . and others.
CEO & Co-Founder/AngelList
I’m rereading Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang. It’s one of my favorite sci-fi novels. [source]
finally reading Ted Chiang’s Stories of Your Life and i have basically been crying since i opened my kindle such a beautiful writer and such profound topics. division by zero was my favorite of the collection, but the story the book is titled after is stunning 😍 https://t.co/2c5SuDEfkh [source]
One of the best sci-fi books I’ve read in my life! [source]
Night Shift (Kate Daniels, #6.5; SPI Files, # 0.5; Psy-Changeling, #12.5; Barbarian, #1)
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh delivers a smoldering story with Secrets at Midnight , as the scent of Bastien Smith’s elusive lover ignites a possessiveness in him that’s as feral as it is ecstatic. And now that he’s found his mate, he’ll do anything to keep her.
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews’ novella, Magic Steals , when people start going missing, shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau and jaguar shifter Jim Shrapshire must uncover the truth about the mysterious creatures responsible.
From Milla Vane—a warrior princess must tame The Beast of Blackmoor to earn a place among her people. But she quickly discovers that the beast isn't a monster, but a barbarian warrior who intends to do some taming himself.
It’s seer Makenna Frazier's first day on the job at Supernatural Protection and Investigations, and her first assignment is more than she bargained for when bodyguard duty for a leprechaun prince’s bachelor party goes every which way but right in national bestselling author Lisa Shearin’s Lucky Charms .
Shifting Shadows (Mercy Thompson #0.1, #0.5, #0.7, #0.9, #1.2, #1.8, #4.5, #5.5, #7.4, #8.5)
Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger…
A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson and the characters she calls friends…
Includes the new stories…
“Silver”... “Roses in Winter”... “Redemption”... “Hollow”
…and reader favorites
“Fairy Gifts”
“Gray”
“Alpha and Omega”
“Seeing Eye”
“The Star of David”
“In Red, with Pearls”
A Thousand Beginnings and Endings
Fifteen bestselling and acclaimed authors reimagine the folklore and mythology of East and South Asia in short stories that are by turns enchanting, heartbreaking, romantic, and passionate.
Compiled by We Need Diverse Books’s Ellen Oh and Elsie Chapman, the authors included in this exquisite collection are: Renee Ahdieh, Sona Charaipotra, Preeti Chhibber, Roshani Chokshi, Aliette de Bodard, Melissa de la Cruz, Julie Kagawa, Rahul Kanakia, Lori M. Lee, E. C. Myers, Cindy Pon, Aisha Saeed, Shveta Thakrar, and Alyssa Wong.
A mountain loses her heart. Two sisters transform into birds to escape captivity. A young man learns the true meaning of sacrifice. A young woman takes up her mother’s mantle and leads the dead to their final resting place. From fantasy to science fiction to contemporary, from romance to tales of revenge, these stories will beguile readers from start to finish. For fans of Neil Gaiman’s Unnatural Creatures and Ameriie’s New York Times–bestselling Because You Love to Hate Me.
Side Jobs (The Dresden Files, #12.5)
Contains:
+ "Restoration of Faith"
+ "Vignette"
+ "Something Borrowed" -- from My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding
+ "It's My Birthday Too" -- from Many Bloody Returns
+ "Heorot" -- from My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon
+ "Day Off" -- from Blood Lite
+ "Backup" -- novelette from Thomas' point of view, originally published by Subterranean Press
+ "The Warrior" -- novelette from Mean Streets
+ "Last Call" -- from Strange Brew
+ "Love Hurts" -- from Songs of Love and Death
+ Aftermath -- all-new novella from Murphy's point of view, set forty-five minutes after the end of Changes
Unbound (The Hollows, #7.5; Night Huntress, #0.5; Sign of the Zodiac, #4.5; Dark Days, #0.6)
2 Reckoning by Jeaniene Frost - Bones, faces New Orleans ghouls who eat victims alive - horror
3 Dark Matters by Vicki Pettersson - JJ superhero has illicit affair with Shadow agent Solange
4 The Dead, the Damned, and the Forgotten by Jocelynn Drake - Savannah vampire Keeper Mira investigates murder
5 Two Lines by Melissa Marr - Eavan resists sex and murder that morph her into a glaistig until Daniel Brennan, sex slaver, tempts her into both.
Burning Up (Psy-Changeling, #0.5; Children of the Sea, #3.5; Iron Seas, #0.5)
In Angela Knights's Blood and Roses, a vampire warrior and his seductive captor join forces to stop a traitor from unleashing an army of demonic predators on their kingdom.
New in Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series is Whisper of Sin, in which a woman in lethal danger finds an unlikely protector- and lover- in a volatile member of the DarkRiver pack.
Virginia Kantra continues the haunting tales of the Children of the Sea in Shifting Sea, the story of a wounded soldier rescued by a strange and enigmatic young woman.
Meljean Brook launches a bold new steampunk series with Here There Be Monsters, as a desperate woman strikes provocative- and terrifying- bargain to gain overseas passage.
All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages
From a retelling of Little Red Riding Hood set in war-torn 1870s Mexico featuring a transgender soldier, to two girls falling in love while mourning the death of Kurt Cobain, forbidden love in a sixteenth-century Spanish convent or an asexual girl discovering her identity amid the 1970s roller-disco scene, All Out tells a diverse range of stories across cultures, time periods and identities, shedding light on an area of history often ignored or forgotten.
Stories
Roja - Anna-Marie McLemore
The Sweet Trade - Natalie C. Parker
And They Don`t Kiss at the End - Nilah Magruder
Burnt Umber - Mackenzi Lee
The Dresser & the Chambermaid - Robin Talley
New Year - Malinda Lo
Molly`s Lips - Dahlia Adler
The Coven - Kate Scelsa
Every Shade of Red - Elliot Wake
Willows - Scott Tracey
The Girl with the Blue Lantern - Tess Sharpe
The Secret Life of a Teenage Boy - Alex Sanchez
Walking After Midnight - Kody Keplinger
The End of the World as We Know It - Sara Farizan
Three Witches - Tessa Gratton
The Inferno & the Butterfly - Shaun David Hutchinson
Healing Rosa - Tehlor Kay Mejia
Dark and Stormy Knights
1. A Questionable Client (Kate Daniels, #0.5) by Ilona Andrews: Kate Daniels guards shifter Saiman, less trustworthy than the enemy.
2. Even Hand (Dresden Files, #11.6) by Jim Butcher: "Gentleman" John Marcone, Chicago's most dangerous crime lord, fights water demon with defenses against White Council wizard Harry Dresden.
3. The Beacon by Shannon K. Butcher: Hereditary fighter faces monster that killed his father and town, with a little girl that attracts said monster.
4. Even a Rabbit Will Bite by Rachel Caine: Liesl trains the new Dragonslayer before she faces the last dragon.
5. Dark Lady (Vampire Files, #12.75) by P.N. Elrod: Vampire nightclub owner Jack Fleming promises radio to resident ghost.
6. Beknighted by Deidre Knight: Artist tries to free knight painted in real gold.
7. Shifting Star (Signs of the Zodiac, #4.6) by Vicki Peterson: Skamar, Tibetan for star, newly created tulpa, fights another vicious male of Tulpa.
8. Rookwood & Mrs King by Lilith Saintcrow: Vampire private eye is hired by wife to kill the woman's vampire husband.
9. God's Creatures (Kitty Norville, #0.8) by Carrie Vaughn: Cormac follows a werewolf to convent school.
Dead After Dark
Shadow of the Moon by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Angelia has fought her entire life to make herself strong. Now, with her patria under fire, she has to protect her people from Fury and his werewolf clan. Vowing to bring him to justice, Angelia sets out alone... until the hunter becomes the hunted, and the only way for her to survive is to trust the very wolf she's sworn to kill.
NOTE: This story has been re-released in the Dark Bites anthology
The Story of Son by J.R. Ward
Claire Stroughton is a beautiful lawyer who would rather spend the night with a legal brief than the man of her dreams. Then a routine client meeting turns dangerous--and deeply sensual--when she is held captive by a gorgeous man with an unworldly hunger...
Beyond the Night by Susan Squires
When Drew Carlowe returns home to win back a lost love, he is quick to dismiss rumors that his estate is haunted by a stunning young ghost...until one passionate encounter leaves him mystified--and aching for more.
Midnight Kiss Goodbye by Dianna Love
Trey McCree possesses an insatiable desire for Sasha Armand--and supernatural powers that could endanger her life as a human. But when they team up to stop an evil warlord, Trey discovers that Sasha can do way more than drive men wild...
The Magical Christmas Cat (Breeds, #12.5; Feline Breeds, #11; Murphy Sisters, #2; Psy-Changeling, #3.5)
New York Times bestselling author Lora Leigh and top-selling authors Nalini Singh, Erin McCarthy, and Linda Winstead Jones have a special gift for readers this year: heartwarming holiday stories featuring passionate romance, paranormal adventure, and a distinctly alluring feline touch. With four new stories―including one featuring Lora Leigh's genetically altered Feline Breeds―this is a collection packed with more surprises than Christmas morning, and more chills than the snowiest winter night...
Hexed (Kate Daniels, #4.5; Otherworld, #9.5; Stormwalker, #2.5; Anna Strong Chronicles, #6.5)
New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews spins “Magic Dreams.” Shapeshifting tigress Dali Harimau finds herself in deep waters when she must challenge a dark being to a battle of wits or risk losing the man for whom she secretly longs.
In “Ice Shards,” New York Times bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn returns to the Otherworld as Iris Kuusi, a Finnish house sprite, journeys to the frozen Northlands to confront the crazed shadow of her former lover and break the curse that is keeping her from marrying the man she loves.
National bestselling author Allyson James takes you to Magellan, Arizona, where Stormwalker Janet Begay and her friends are trapped by a powerful curse. It will take every bit of magic simmering beneath her skin for the Stormwalker to survive being “Double Hexed.”
From national bestselling author Jeanne C. Stein comes “Blood Debt,” in which bounty-hunter-turned-vampire Anna Strong is visited by three witches who ask her to right an old magical wrong. Anna will have to live up to her last name to make it through alive.
Bite (Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, #8.5; Sookie Stackhouse, #5.1; Undead, #2.5; Mageverse, #1.5)
Follow a vampire hunter who can be as deadly as her prey. Meet a down-home southern girl who's found out, much to her chagrin, that vampires are her type. Feel the euphoria of fear in the shadow of a reluctant queen of the undead. Step closer to the hot-blooded edge of passion as a strange new mythology of the night is unveiled.
Includes never-before-published stories featuring vampire hunter Anita Blake and everyone's favorite vampire-loving waitress, Sookie Stackhouse.
Dates from Hell
2 The Claire Switch Project by Lynsay Sands - Claire, new shapeshifter, accepts dates for school reunion with crush Kyle and his sister Jill.
3 Chaotic by Kelley Armstrong - Half-demon Hope is sent to museum gala by mentor Tristan to catch werewolf thief Mateson.
4 Dead Man Dating by Lori Handeland - On their first date, Kit goes too far with Eric, shot by bystander Chávez, then wakes to no blood, no body.
Deep Kiss of Winter (Includes: Immortals After Dark, #7; Alien Huntress, #3.5)
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLING AUTHOR KRESLEY COLE delivers a breathtaking tale of a brutal vampire soldier about to know love for the first time... and a Valkyrie aching for his touch.
Murdoch Wroth will stop at nothing to claim Daniela - the delicate Valkyrie who makes his heart beat for the first time in three hundred years. Yet the exquisite Danii is part ice fey, and her freezing skin can't be touched by anyone but her own kind without inflicting pain beyond measure. Can they conquer an agony of frustration and slake the overwhelming desire burning between them?
Gena Showalter - Tempt Me Eternally (Alien Huntress #4.5)
NEW YORK TIMES AND USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR GENA SHOWALTER puts a daring spin on a tale of huntress and hunted... and concocts a sensual chemistry that is positively explosive.
With only skin-to-skin contact, Aleaha Love can change her appearance, assume any identity. Now she’s an AIR (Alien Investigation and Removal) agent on a mission to capture a group of otherworldly warriors. Only she is held captive when dangerously seductive Breean, a golden-skinned, iron-willed commander, threatens her new life - and for the first time, Aleaha wants only to be herself.
Hot Blooded (Dark, #11.5; Midnight, #2.5; Mageverse, #0.5)
“Dark Hunger” by New York Times bestselling author Christine Feehan In a dark jungle, a beautiful activist liberates animals from a secret laboratory—and stumbles across an unexpected prisoner. She releases the Carpathian from his bonds—only to unleash his voracious appetite on herself…
“Awaiting Moonrise” by New York Times bestselling author Maggie Shayne
A Science professor enters the steamy bayou to find a new species of animal, convinced that its presence is behind the stories of lycanthropy in the region, but finds herself tempted by a legendary creature straight out of her most sensual nightmare…
“The Night Owl” by USA Today bestselling author Emma Holly
Little ever seems to stir in the sleepy woods of a small Vermont town, until a new owner takes over the exclusive local inn. He is centuries old and has traveled far and wide to find his queen—and now nothing will stop him from claiming her…
“Seduction’s Gift” by New York Times bestselling author Angela Knight
All’s fair in the war between desire and resistance when a lady cop pulls over a speeder—and finds an immortal lover who is determined to seduce her into accepting her own passionate destiny…
Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft
Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
Glinda the Good Witch. Elphaba the Wicked Witch. Willow. Sabrina. Gemma Doyle. The Mayfair Witches. Ursula the Sea Witch. Morgan le Fey. The three weird sisters from Macbeth.
History tells us women accused of witchcraft were often outsiders: educated, independent, unmarried, unwilling to fall in line with traditional societal expectations.
Bold. Powerful. Rebellious.
A bruja’s traditional love spell has unexpected results. A witch’s healing hands begin to take life instead of giving it when she ignores her attraction to a fellow witch. In a terrifying future, women are captured by a cabal of men crying witchcraft and the one true witch among them must fight to free them all. In a desolate past, three orphaned sisters prophesize for a murderous king. Somewhere in the present, a teen girl just wants to kiss a boy without causing a hurricane.
From good witches to bad witches, to witches who are a bit of both, this is an anthology of diverse witchy tales from a collection of diverse, feminist authors. The collective strength of women working together—magically or mundanely--has long frightened society, to the point that women’s rights are challenged, legislated against, and denied all over the world. Toil & Trouble delves deep into the truly diverse mythology of witchcraft from many cultures and feminist points of view, to create modern and unique tales of witchery that have yet to be explored.
The Bite Before Christmas (Argeneau, #15.5; Night Huntress, #6.5)
It's "Home for the Holidays" in Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series. Cat and Bones may long to wrap presents and set up a tree, but this Christmas, an evil vampire and long-buried family secrets will threaten to take a bite out of their holiday cheer.
31Night Shift
--back cover
@DustyEvely LOVE that book [source]
Many Bloody Returns
Suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous-these all-new stories will ensure that readers never think of vampires (or birthdays) in quite the same way again.
In New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Dracula Night," Sookie Stackhouse is the only human at the annual commemoration of Dracula's birth. But this year, the Prince of Darkness actually shows up-and finds Sookie to be a tasty-looking present.
New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's crime-solving wizard Harry Dresden, of the Dresden Files novels, heads to a role-playing party to give his vampire brother a birthday present in "It's My Birthday Too," only to discover there are some bloodthirsty party crashers who don't share their brotherly love.
In "Twilight," Cassandra DuCharme, who appeared in New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's Dime Store Magic, knows she has to kill to live as a vampire another year-but finds herself disturbingly disinterested in the hunt.
Plus ten more bloody good birthday stories that take the cake.
Contents
xi • Preface: A Few Words (Many Bloody Returns) • (2007) • essay by Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner
1 • Dracula Night • [Sookie Stackhouse 4.3] • shortstory by Charlaine Harris
21 • The Mournful Cry of Owls • novelette by Christopher Golden
50 • I Was a Teenage Vampire • novelette by Bill Crider
73 • Twilight • [Women of the Otherworld Short Fiction 7.2] • novelette by Kelley Armstrong
100 • It's My Birthday, Too • [The Dresden Files 9.2] • novella by Jim Butcher
146 • Grave-Robbed • [Vampire Files] • novelette by P. N. Elrod
176 • The First Day of the Rest of Your Life • [The Morganville Vampires: Extras 2.5] • novelette by Rachel Caine
201 • The Witch and the Wicked • novelette by Jeanne C. Stein
230 • Blood Wrapped • [Henry Fitzroy] • novelette by Tanya Huff
254 • The Wish • shortstory by Carolyn Haines
265 • Fire Ice and Linguini for Two • [Garnet Lacey 2.5] • novelette by Lyda Morehouse [as by Tate Hallaway ]
290 • Vampire Hours • novelette by Elaine Viets
318 • How Stella Got Her Grave Back • novelette by Toni L. P. Kelner
Meet Cute: Some People Are Destined to Meet
Readers will experience Nina LaCour's beautifully written piece about two Bay Area girls meeting via a cranky customer service Tweet, Sara Shepard's glossy tale about a magazine intern and a young rock star, Nicola Yoon's imaginative take on break-ups and make-ups, Katie Cotugno's story of two teens hiding out from the police at a house party, and Huntley Fitzpatrick's charming love story that begins over iced teas at a diner. There’s futuristic flirting from Kass Morgan and Katharine McGee, a riveting transgender heroine from Meredith Russo, a subway missed connection moment from Jocelyn Davies, and a girl determined to get out of her small town from Ibi Zoboi. Jennifer Armentrout writes a sweet story about finding love from a missing library book, Emery Lord has a heartwarming and funny tale of two girls stuck in an airport, Dhonielle Clayton takes a thoughtful, speculate approach to pre-destined love, and Julie Murphy dreams up a fun twist on reality dating show contestants.
This incredibly talented group of authors brings us a collection of stories that are at turns romantic and witty, epic and everyday, heartbreaking and real.
34Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone.
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.
I found the narrative honest and riveting. The author used the journey through the hiking trail to work out her problems. [source]
Angels' Flight (Guild Hunter, #0.4, #0.6, #0.8, #3.5)
In Angels’ Judgment a hunter must track one of her own gone bad, while surviving the deadly tests placed in her way by the archangels themselves. Unexpected backup comes from a stranger who might just be the most lethal threat of all...
Plus FIRST TIME IN PRINT
In Angels' Pawn a vampire hunter faces off against two rival factions and the angel manipulating them both, and a vampire whose help is not entirely selfless...
And NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED
In Angels’ Dance an angel trapped in the mountain stronghold of the Refuge finds herself under siege by a warrior angel from a martial court.
36Walden
In Walden, Thoreau condenses his two-year, two-month, two-day stay into a single year, using the four seasons to symbolize human development—a cycle of life shared by both nature and man. A celebration of personal renewal through self-reliance, independence, and simplicity, composed for all of us living in “quiet desperation,” Walden is eternal.
He discusses how the original ideals that America was founded on were being compromised, and how massive industrial interests were starting to dominate. [source]
The beginning is hard going. Once you get past that, then suddenly you’re into these beautiful and inspiring descriptions of nature. [source]
In case you were deceived and expected me to name Walden by Henry David Thoreau, you should read it too if you haven’t, it obviously is the inspiration to Walden Two. :) [source]
Angels of Darkness (Alphas, #0.5; Guild Hunter, #3.5; The Guardians, #7.5; Samaria)
2 Alphas: Origins by Ilona Andrews — A woman is kidnapped into a world divided by a superhuman civil war. As the captive of an irresistibly dangerous male, she has two choices: submit and become a pawn, or take hold of her own destiny.
3 Nocturne by Sharon Shinn — Accepting a position in a secluded and whispered-about mansion, a woman soon discovers the source of its mystery: the blind, tormented angel who lives there, and whose secrets could now destroy them both.
4 Ascension by Meljean Brook — When vampires disappear from a community he's protecting, a world-weary Guardian doesn't know what evil he's hunting, but he'd rather hunt alone than accept help from his ex-lover and fellow Guardian, Radha. But Radha refuses to leave him, because she's determined not just to help him save the community...but to save him.
Blood Lite (Hellchaser, #0.5)
Charlaine Harris reveals the dark side of going green, when a quartet of die-hard environmentalists hosts a fundraiser with a gory twist in An Evening with Al Gore...
In an all-new Dresden Files story from Jim Butcher, when it comes to tracking deadly paranormal doings, there's no such thing as a Harry's Day Off for the Chicago P.D.'s wizard detective, Harry Dresden...
Sherrilyn Kenyon turns a cubicle-dwelling MBA with no life into a demon-fighting seraph with one hell of an afterlife in Where Angels Fear to Tread. NOTE: This story has been re-released in the Dark Bites anthology.
Celebrity necromancer Jaime Vegas is headlining a sold-out séance tour, but behind the scenes, a disgruntled ghost has a bone to pick, in Kelley Armstrong'sThe Ungrateful Dead.
Plus tales guaranteed to get under your skin - in a good way - from:
* Janet Berliner
* Don D'Ammassa
* Nancy Holder
* Nancy Kilpatrick
* J. A. Konrath
* F. Paul Wilson
* Joe R. Lansdale
* Will Ludwigsen
* Sharyn McCrumb
* Mark Onspaugh
* Mike Resnick
* Steven Savile
* D. L. Snell
* Eric James Stone
* Jeff Strand
* Lucien Soulban
* Matt Venne
* Christopher Welch
So let the blood flow and laughter reign - because when it comes to facing our deepest, darkest fears, a little humor goes a long way!
Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy
In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.
These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!
Featuring writing from . . .
Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola Yoon
BookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel).
Wild Invitation: A Psy-Changeling Collection (Psy-Changeling, #0.5, #3.5, #9.5, #10.5)
In Stroke of Enticement , a wary young teacher, skeptical about love, arouses the man—and the animal—in an aggressive leopard changeling who must prove his affections are true.
Plus 2 NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED NOVELLAS
In Declaration of Courtship , Grace, a shy submissive wolf, finds herself pursued by the last man she ever would have imagined: a SnowDancer lieutenant said to be “mad, bad, and dangerous to know.”
In Texture of Intimacy , SnowDancer healer Lara discovers the searing joys—and unexpected challenges—of being mated to quiet, powerful Walker, a man used to keeping his silence.
Playing Easy to Get (B.A.D. Agency #1.5; Vikings Underground #3; Immortals After Dark #1)
"Turn Up The Heat" / Sherrilyn Kenyon
The story of an average woman who wins the vacation of a lifetime - a trip to Sex Camp. But what Allison George gets is a race for her life with an ex-Mafia who is now being sought by his previous employer. Vince Cappelleti knew the island was a risky proposition, but he'd run out of options. Now the only thing he wants in his sights is Allison, but in order to have a future with her, he must first deal with his past.
"Hunter's Oath" / Jaid Black
What was supposed to be a simple taxi ride to Fairbanks, Alaska for Sofia Rowley ends up becoming a terrifying fight for her freedom. Sold by the cab driver to a mysterious man who imprisons her in a lost Viking world, Sofia is forced to stand all but naked on a bride auction block, her fate now in the hands of the highest bidder.
"The Warlord Wants Forever" / Kresley Cole
Nikolai Wroth, a ruthless vampire general, will stop at nothing to find his Bride, the one woman who can “blood” him, making his heart beat and filling him with strength. Coldly interested only in the power his mate will bring, he can hardly believe when Myst the Coveted, his army’s new immortal captive, awakens him body -- and soul. Famed throughout the world as the most beautiful Valkyrie, Myst has devoted her life to protecting a magical jewel and to fighting the vampires.
Death's Excellent Vacation
It really can be an endless summer - if you're immortal. Though a vampire would be ill-advised to take a cruise to Bermuda, the possibilities for getting away from it all - and maybe snacking on some unsuspecting tourist - are many...
Sookie Stackhouse and her vampire friend Pam take a weekend getaway to Mississippi in #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Two Blondes." And when they end up in a shady gentleman's club, to escape in one piece they need to do something that wasn't on their itinerary - something involving a stage, a pole, and very little clothing.
New York Times bestselling author Katie MacAlister's "The Perils of Effrijim" follow a demon whose vacation in Paris is disrupted when he's banished to another plane, thus kicking off a crazy dimension-hopping road trip across Europe.
Protecting an heiress from supernatural hit men isn't Cat and Bones's idea of a relaxing vacation in New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost's "One for the Money," but it could get worse. And it does - when Cat's mother shows up.
With ten more original tales, editors Harris and Kelner bring together a stellar collection of tour guides who offer vacations frightening, funny, and touching - for the fanged, the furry, the demonic, and the grotesque.
Holidays Are Hell
There's no place like home for the horrordays—unless you'd prefer a romantic midnight walk through a ghost-infested graveyard . . . or a haunted house candlelight dinner with the sexy vampire of your dreams. The (black) magical season is here—and whether it's a solstice séance gone demonically wrong with the incomparable Kim Harrison, a grossly misshapen Christmas with the remarkable Lynsay Sands, a blood-chilling-and-spilling New Year's with the wonderful Marjorie M. Liu, or a super-powered Thanksgiving with the phenomenal Vicki Pettersson, one thing is for certain: in the able hands of these exceptional dark side explorers, the holidays are going to be deliciously hellish!
My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon
What newly married couple doesn't dream of a romantic retreat where they can escape the world for a while — but what happens when supernatural forces intrude on their wedded bliss?
Nine of today’s hottest paranormal authors answer that question in this all-star collection of supernatural stories. Can a vampire-hunter enjoy her honeymoon after learning that her new hubby is a werewolf? How can newlyweds focus on their wedding night when their honeymoon suite is haunted by feuding ghosts? And what’s a wizard to do when a gruesome monster kidnaps the bride on her way home from the wedding? With so much otherworldly mayhem awaiting our newlyweds, will they ever get around to the honeymoon itself? Find out in...My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon.
Contents:
Stalked / Kelley Armstrong --
Heorot / Jim Butcher --
Roman holiday, or SPQ-arrrrrr / Rachel Caine --
Her mother's daughter / P.N. Elrod --
Newlydeads / Caitlin Kittredge --
Where the heart lives / Marjorie M. Liu --
Cat got your tongue? / Katie MacAlister --
Half of being married / Lilith Saintcrow --
A wulf in groom's clothing / Ronda Thompson.
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
In The Bloody Chamber - which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan's 1984 movie The Company of Wolves - Carter spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like "Little Red Riding Hood," "Bluebeard," "Puss in Boots," and "Beauty and the Beast," giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.
Yes. Angela Carter played a very important role in my life because I was born in 1937, a few years before she was born, and although we didn’t grow up together, we both grew up in a world where sexism was out in the open. There was no critique of the type of sexism that I experienced when I grew up, and I think the same is true for her. And we both experienced what a lot of people called the second wave of feminism in the 20th century. [source]
The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (Grishaverse, #0.5, 2.5, 2.6)
Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid's voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy's bidding but only for a terrible price.
Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times–bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of short stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love.
Perfect for new readers and dedicated fans, these tales will transport you to lands both familiar and strange—to a fully realized world of dangerous magic that millions have visited through the novels of the Grishaverse.
This collection of six stories includes three brand-new tales, all of them lavishly illustrated with art that changes with each turn of the page, culminating in six stunning full-spread illustrations as rich in detail as the stories themselves.
Supernatural (Lords of Deliverance, #1.5; Demonica, #6.5; Guardians of Eternity, #7.6; Nightwalkers, #1.5; Dragon Kin, #0.4)
Darkness Eternal by Alexandra Ivy: After being held captive by one vampire for four centuries, Kata had no intention of taking another one to the underworld with her. Yet even in the pits of hell, there's no ignoring the intoxicating desire awakened by his touch...
Kane by Jacquelyn Frank: Kane knows Corrine was meant to be his . . . just as he knows that truly possessing the lovely human is forbidden. But on the night of the Samhain moon, the beast in every demon in stronger than reason, and Kane's hunger is more powerful than any punishment...
Dragon on Top by G.A. Aiken: Escorting the highborn Bram through deadly Sand Dragon territory will try Ghleanna's patience...and her resolve. For Bram is determined to enhance the journey with a seduction no female could resist...
Summer Days and Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories
Featuring stories by Leigh Bardugo, Francesca Lia Block, Libba Bray, Cassandra Clare, Brandy Colbert, Tim Federle, Lev Grossman, Nina LaCour, Stephanie Perkins, Veronica Roth, Jon Skovron, and Jennifer E. Smith.
Let it Snow
Alternate cover edition for B006MOW98E
The Complete Stories and Poems
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (Wastelands #1)
From the Book of Revelation to The Road Warrior, from A Canticle for Leibowitz to The Road, storytellers have long imagined the end of the world, weaving eschatological tales of catastrophe, chaos, and calamity. In doing so, these visionary authors have addressed one of the most challenging and enduring themes of imaginative fiction: The nature of life in the aftermath of total societal collapse.
Gathering together the best post-apocalyptic literature of the last two decades from many of today's most renowned authors of speculative fiction - including George R. R. Martin, Gene Wolfe, Orson Scott Card, Carol Emshwiller, Jonathan Lethem, Octavia E. Butler, and Stephen King - Wastelands explores the scientific, psychological, and philosophical questions of what it means to remain human in the wake of Armageddon. Whether the end of the world comes through nuclear war, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm, these are tales of survivors, in some cases struggling to rebuild the society that was, in others, merely surviving, scrounging for food in depopulated ruins and defending themselves against monsters, mutants, and marauders.
Wastelands delves into this bleak landscape, uncovering the raw human emotion and heart-pounding thrills at the genre's core.
--back cover
Contains the following stories:
Introduction by John Joseph Adams
The End of the Whole Mess by Stephen King
Salvage by Orson Scott Card
The People of Sand and Slag by Paolo Bacigalupi
Bread and Bombs by M. Rickert
How We Got In Town and Out Again by Jonathan Lethem
Dark, Dark Were the Tunnels by George R. R. Martin
Waiting for the Zephyr by Tobias S. Buckell
Never Despair by Jack McDevitt
When Sysadmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow
The Last of the O-Forms by James Van Pelt
Still Life With Apocalypse by Richard Kadrey
Artie’s Angels by Catherine Wells
Judgment Passed by Jerry Oltion
Mute by Gene Wolfe
Inertia by Nancy Kress
And the Deep Blue Sea by Elizabeth Bear
Speech Sounds by Octavia E. Butler
Killers by Carol Emshwiller
Ginny Sweethips’ Flying Circus by Neal Barrett, Jr.
The End of the World as We Know It by Dale Bailey
A Song Before Sunset by David Grigg
Episode Seven... by John Langan
Appendix: For Further Reading
An Enchanted Season (Psy-Changeling #0.5; Murphy Sisters #1)
It's the time of year when dreams come true, miracles happen every day, and love is the greatest gift of all...
The holidays always seem to bring out the best in everyone, with heartfelt hugs for long-missed friends, sincere smiles in the spirit of the season, and a feeling of magic in the air.
Here, for the first time, is a collection of paranormal romances celebrating the holidays as never before. From a shape-shifting leopardess who wants a packmate to be her soulmate to a snowstorm that brings a surprise gift, these all-new tales by Maggie Shayne, Erin McCarthy, Nalini Singh, and Jean Johnson will stir your spirit in all the right places.
Irregulars
The agents who work for the NATO Irregular Affairs Division can’t tell anyone what they do, or how hard they work to keep us safe. It brings a colorful collection of men together:
Agent Henry Falk, the undead bum. Agent Keith Curry, former carnivore chef turned vegetarian; Agent Rake, Babylonian demon with a penchant for easy living; and Agent Silas August, uncompromising jerk.
Four cities, four mysteries, four times the romance. Is your security clearance high enough to read on?
Home Improvement: Undead Edition
As well as a brand-new Sookie Stackhouse story by the Number 1 Sunday Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris, there are 13 more cautionary tales of home renovation by bestselling authors Patricia Briggs, James Grady, Heather Graham, Melissa Marr, amongst others. This is an outstanding line-up of frightening and funny fixer-upper tales guaranteed to shake foundations and rattle readers’ pipes.
This is the fourth anthology following on from Wolfsbane and Mistletoe, Many Bloody Returns and Death’s Excellent Vacation.
Includes:
"If I Had a Hammer" (Sookie Stackhouse #12.5) by Charlaine Harris
"Wizard Home Security" by Victor Gischler
"Gray" (Mercy Thompson #0.5) by Patricia Briggs
"Squatters' Rights" by Rochelle Krich
"Blood on the Wall" by Heather Graham
"The Mansion of Imperatives" by James Grady
The Strength Inside by Melissa Marr
"Woolsey's Kitchen Nightmare" by E.E. Knight
"Through This House" (October Daye series 4.5) by Seanan McGuire
"The Path" by S.J. Rozan
"Rick the Brave" (Downside Ghosts series 3.5) by Stacia Kane
"Full-Scale Demolition" (Spellcrackers.com series 0.5) by Suzanne McLeod
"It's All in the Rendering" by Simon R. Green
"In Brightest Day" by Toni L.P. Kelner
55The Great Gatsby
Former USA President
When he got to high school, the president said, his tastes changed and he learned to enjoy classics like “Of Mice and Men” and “The Great Gatsby.” [source]
CEO/Microsoft
Melinda and I really like this book. When we were first dating, she had a green light that she would turn on when her office was empty and it made sense for me to come over. [source]
Partner/500 Startups
For Non-Business, I'd have to say Dune (Herbert), Emergency (Strauss), The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald) or Flint (L'Amour). I re-read these books every year because they are just so well written & great stories that I get new perspective & details every time I read them. [source]
Hot Spell (Demon World, #2; Breeds, #5.5; The Guardians, Prequel)
Hot for the Holidays (Includes: Mageverse, #5.5; Breeds, #13.5; Wolf Breeds, #6; Stormwalker, #0.5; Dark Magick, #0.5)
Vampire's Ball by Angela Knight
Kat Danilo's childhood turned tragic when her sister become the victim of a serial killer. Years later, she gets a chance at justice when she discovers she'd the daughter of Lancelot, vampire knight of the Round Table. But first, she's got to convince a handsome vampire warrior that she's worthy to gain the magical powers that are her birthright—powers that might help her find her sister's killer.
If the murderer doesn't find her first....
Sweet Enchantment by Anya Bast
This novella provides a first taste of the world in which Anya's new Dark Magick series is set.
A Little Night Magic by Allyson James
The town of Magellan is famous for its woo-woo activity. Naomi is known as an Unbeliever (one who doesn't believe in Magellan's mystical energy). But Naomi must put disbelief aside when her Navajo lover reveals that he is a Changer, a shapeshifter, and has returned to Magellan to protect her from grave anger on Christmas Eve.
A Christmas Kiss by Lora Leigh
Inked (World of the Lupi, #5.5)
From today's most provocative authors come four tales of urban fantasy and paranormal romance exploring body art that is more than it seems-in a world of magic and mayhem that always leaves its mark.
This captivating tattoo theme surrounds each author's popular characters and worlds: Karen Chance's war mage Lia de Croissets, Marjorie M. Liu's demon-hunter Maxine Kiss, Yasmine Galenorn's Otherworld Intelligence Agency operative Camille D'Artigo, and Eileen Wilk's Lupi world.
An Apple for the Creature
What could be scarier than the first day of school? How about a crash course in the paranormal from Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner, editors of Home Improvement: Undead Edition? Your worst school nightmares—taking that math test you never studied for, finding yourself naked in school assembly, not knowing which door to enter—will pale in comparison to these thirteen original stories that take academic anxiety to whole new realms.
In #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris’s story, "Playing Possum," Sookie Stackhouse brings enough birthday cupcakes for her nephew's entire class but finds she's one short when the angry ex-boyfriend of the school secretary shows up.
When her guardian, Kate Daniels, sends her undercover to a school for exceptional children, teenaged Julie learns an all-new definition of "exceptional," in New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews's "Magic Tests."
For those who like fangs with their forensics, New York Times bestselling author Nancy Holder offers "VSI," in which FBI agent Claire is tested as never before in a school for Vampire Scene Investigation.
And in New York Times bestselling author Thomas Sniegoski's "The Bad Hour," Remy Chandler and his dog Marlowe find evil unleashed in an obedience school.
You'll need more than an apple to stave off the creatures in these and nine other stories. Remember your first lesson: resistance is fruitless!
Includes stories by: ILONA ANDREWS, AMBER BENSON, RHYS BOWEN, MIKE CAREY, CHARLAINE HARRIS, DONALD HARSTAD, STEVE HOCKENSMITH, NANCY HOLDER, FAITH HUNTER, TONI L.P. KELNER, MARJORIE LIU, JONATHAN MABERRY, THOMAS SNIEGOSKI
60Skeleton Crew
Where's My Hero? (The Gamblers of Craven's #2.5; Brotherhood - MacAllister's, #4.5; Splendid, #3.5)
Where are my heroes? Whenever I'm reading a book by one of my favorite authors I find I'm falling for the wrong guy -- not the hero, but the other man -- and what I really want is for him to have his own story.
Like Jake Linley, from Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas…that doctor could sit by my bedside if I ever got sick. And Ned Blydon in Splendid by Julia Quinn...he makes me want to learn to waltz! I never thought living in a drafty castle would be much fun until Simon of Ravenswood in Master of Desire by Kinley MacGregor came along.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that these are my men -- when do they get their stories?
Sincerely,
A Romance Fan
Some books are so special that there is more than one hero to love, but only a single story is told. So if you find yourself asking, "Where is my hero?" you'll discover the answer right here in this delicious collection by New York Times bestseller Lisa Kleypas, New York Times bestseller Julia Quinn and USA Today bestseller Kinley MacGregor.
When eminently sensible Lydia Craven decides to marry for security rather than love, she doesn't calculate on the determination of devil-may-care doctor Jake Linley to rewrite the romantic formula in Lisa Kleypas' charming romp, Against All Odds .
Dashing Ned Blydon is in a most unenviable predicament—he's engaged to one Thornton sister, while being secretly in love with the other—in Julia Quinn's sensuous A Tale of Two Sisters .
When Simon of Ravenswood secretly answered Lady Kenna's letters in the name of a powerful earl, he was only being polite. Little did he know the lady would fall in love with the author and come between him, his best friend, and a solemn vow made long ago, in Kinley MacGregor's enchanting Midsummer's Knight .
Unnatural Creatures
The sixteen stories gathered by Gaiman, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards, range from the whimsical to the terrifying. Magical creatures from the werewolf, to the sunbird, to beings never before classified will thrill, delight, and quite possibly unnerve you in tales by E. Nesbit, Diana Wynne Jones, Gahan Wilson, and other literary luminaries.
Sales of Unnatural Creatures benefit 826DC, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting students in their creative and expository writing, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.
Songs of Love and Death: All-Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love
“Love Hurts” copyright © 2010 by Jim Butcher
“The Marrying Maid” copyright © 2010 by Jo Beverley
“Rooftops” copyright © 2010 by Carrie Vaughn LLC
“Hurt Me” copyright © 2010 by M. L. N. Hanover
“Demon Lover” copyright © 2010 by Cecelia Holland
“The Wayfarer’s Advice” copyright © 2010 by Melinda Snodgrass
“Blue Boots” copyright © 2010 by Robin Hobb
“The Thing About Cassandra” copyright © 2010 by Neil Gaiman
“After the Blood” copyright © 2010 by Marjorie M. Liu
“You, and You Alone” copyright © 2010 by Jacqueline Carey
“His Wolf” copyright © 2010 by Lisa Tuttle
“Courting Trouble” copyright © 2010 by Linnea Sinclair
“The Demon Dancer” copyright © 2010 by Mary Jo Putney
“Under/Above the Water” copyright © 2010 by Tanith Lee
“Kaskia” copyright © 2010 by Peter S. Beagle
“Man in the Mirror” copyright © 2010 by Yasmine Galenorn
“A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows” copyright © 2010 by Diana Gabaldon
Stroke of Midnight
Four of romance's most intriguing authors have come together to create a mesmerizing anthology--unforgettable tales of vampires, shapeshifters, and werewolves. At the heart of these deeply sensual tales are everyday people facing extraordinary events--men and women thrown together by fate and an irresistible desire. In this world, your eyes can betray you as myth becomes reality, curses are vanquished, and love is the only weapon that can stand in the face of evil. In this world, there is a moment when passion and forbidden desire collide at the... Stroke of Midnight.
Winter Born by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Two enemy Were-Panthers discover that fate has destined they become lovers. Pandora must learn to trust Dante's foreign nature. But as she slowly succumbs to the truest passion she has ever known, dark forces have already set out to reclaim her...
NOTE: This story has been re-released in the Dark Bites anthology
Born of the Night by Amanda Ashley
When Lady Shanara Montiori is taken hostage, she learns that the rumors about her captor are true. Lord Reyes is afflicted with the dark curse of the werewolf. Still, Shanara can't fight the attraction they both feel. Will their love break the curse-or feed its powerful hold?
Make It Last Forever by L. A. Banks
An innocent mistake forces the beautiful Tara onto a mission to save herself from the dark fate that awaits her. Salvation comes in the form of a seductive biker with a heart of gold. But will surrendering to their ripe attraction unleash a danger even she cannot control?
Red Moon Rising by Lori Handeland
Novelist Maya Alexander's peace is shattered when she is stalked by a Navaho skinwalker who has taken on the guise of a wolf. Her only hope is the mysterious Clay Philips. In his arms, she seeks protection-but as the red moon rises, no one is safe from the danger that lurks nearby...
Hex Appeal
In the magical world that lies hidden beneath our own, witches and conjurers play deadly games. They know just the right spell to kill a man with one kiss—or raise him back again. And they’re not afraid to exact sweet revenge on those who dare to cross them. But what if you’re the unlucky soul who falls victim to a conjurer’s curse? And if you had the power to cast a magic spell of your own, would you use it?
In this bewitching collection, nine of today’s hottest paranormal authors tell all-new, otherworldly tales. Spellbinding stories featuring bigfoot, albino vampires, professional wizards, resurrected boyfriends and even a sex droid from the twenty-third century named Silicon Lily. But as our conjurers are about to discover, it’s all fun and games until someone gets hexed. And sometimes, even the best spun spells can lead to complete and utter mayhem.
Includes:
Retribution Clause by Ilona Andrews
Bigfoot on Campus by Jim Butcher
Holly’s Balm by Rachel Caine
Snow Job by Carole Nelson Douglas
Outside The Box by P. N. Elrod
How Do You Feel? by Simon R. Green
There Will Be Demons by Lori Handeland
Cherry Kisses by Erica Hayes
The Arcane Art of Misdirection by Carrie Vaughn
Length: 13 hours and 8 minutes
66Different Seasons
Apt Pupil--a golden California schoolboy and an old man whose hideous past he uncovers enter into a fateful and chilling mutual parasitism.
The Body--four rambunctious young boys venture into the Maine woods and in sunlight and thunder find life, death, and intimations of their own mortality.
The Breathing Method--a tale told in a strange club about a woman determined to give birth no matter what.
source: stephenking.com
Mean Streets
Nightside dweller John Taylor is hired by a woman to find something she lost—her memory—in a noir tale from Simon R. Green.
Kat Richardson’s Greywalker finds herself in too deep when a “simple job” goes bad and Harper Blaine is enmeshed in a tangle of dark secrets and revenge from beyond the grave.
For centuries, the being that we know as Noah lived among us. Now he is dead, and fallen-angel-turned-detective Remy Chandler has been hired to find out who killed him in a whodunit by Thomas E. Sniegoski.
Black Enough: Stories of Being Young & Black in America
Whether it’s New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds writing about #blackboyjoy or Newbery Honor-winning author Renee Watson talking about black girls at camp in Portland, or emerging author Jay Coles’s story about two cowboys kissing in the south—Black Enough is an essential collection full of captivating coming-of-age stories about what it’s like to be young and black in America.
Geektastic: Stories from the Nerd Herd
With illustrated interstitials from comic book artists Hope Larson and Bryan Lee O'Malley, Geektastic covers all things geeky, from Klingons and Jedi Knights to fan fiction, theater geeks, and cosplayers. Whether you're a former, current, or future geek, or if you just want to get in touch with your inner geek, Geektastic will help you get your geek on!
Midnight Pleasures (Wild Wulfs of London #0.5; Dream-Hunter #0.5)
Four of romance's most popular authors have created this spellbinding collection of stores filled with dark passion and desire. Under the cover of darkness, their heroes inhabit worlds haunted by ageless hungers and deadly forces stronger than any seen by day...and vanquished only by the power of love.
Now travel into realms where dazzling wonders roam the night, where magic replaces reason, and where a kiss unleashes a raging fire in the blood. And here, if you dare, discover the seduction that begins at the bewitching hour when a man and woman partake in...Midnight Pleasures.
Darkfest by Amanda Ashley
The price of saving her dying mother is Channa's promise to spend a year at the castle of tormented nobleman, Lord Darkfest...to obey him as his servant or, as his secrets are revealed, to become his salvation. And her own.
Phantom Lover by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Haunted by recurring nightmares of terrifying beasts, Erin McDaniels is afraid to sleep-until a hero arrives in her dreams to save her...and makes erotic, incredible love to her. But can she find him again when she is awake?
NOTE: This story has been re-released in the Dark Bites anthology
Under Her Spell by Maggie Shayne
A consultant for a TV series about one gorgeous witch, "white witch" Melissa St. Cloud plans to make the show authentic. But once on the set she is pulled into the arms of a man who opens up a doorway to the darkside and chilling peril.
A Wulf's Curse by Ronda Thompson
Running away from an arranged marriage, Elise steals aboard a wagon in a traveling circus and finds herself in the bed of the Beast Master, Sterling Wulf, who is something other than he seems...and suddenly all Elise desires.
Stars Above (The Lunar Chronicles, #0.5, 0.6, 1.5, 3.1, 4.5)
The universe of the Lunar Chronicles holds stories—and secrets—that are wondrous, vicious, and romantic. How did Cinder first arrive in New Beijing? How did the brooding soldier Wolf transform from young man to killer? When did Princess Winter and the palace guard Jacin realize their destinies?
With nine stories—five of which have never before been published—and an exclusive never-before-seen excerpt from Marissa Meyer’s upcoming novel, Heartless, about the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, Stars Above is essential for fans of the bestselling and beloved Lunar Chronicles.
--
The Little Android: A retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” set in the world of The Lunar Chronicles.
Glitches: In this prequel to Cinder, we see the results of the plague play out, and the emotional toll it takes on Cinder. Something that may, or may not, be a glitch….
The Queen’s Army: In this prequel to Scarlet, we’re introduced to the army Queen Levana is building, and one soldier in particular who will do anything to keep from becoming the monster they want him to be.
Carswell’s Guide to Being Lucky: Thirteen-year-old Carswell Thorne has big plans involving a Rampion spaceship and a no-return trip out of Los Angeles.
The Keeper: A prequel to the Lunar Chronicles, showing a young Scarlet and how Princess Selene came into the care of Michelle Benoit.
After Sunshine Passes By: In this prequel to Cress, we see how a nine-year-old Cress ended up alone on a satellite, spying on Earth for Luna.
The Princess and the Guard: In this prequel to Winter, we see a game called The Princess
The Mechanic: In this prequel to Cinder, we see Kai and Cinder’s first meeting from Kai’s perspective.
Something Old, Something New: In this epilogue to Winter, friends gather for the wedding of the century...
72The Tales of Beedle the Bard (Hogwarts Library Book)
Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” “Babbitty Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump,” and of course, “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” But not only are they the equal of fairy tales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter.
RUNNING TIME ➔ 1hr. and 35mins.
©2008 J.K. Rowling (P)2020 J.K. Rowling/Pottermore Publishing
Naked City
In this thrilling collection of original stories, some of today’s hottest paranormal authors delight, thrill, and captivate readers with otherworldly tales of magic and mischief. In Jim Butcher’s ”Curses”, Harry Dresden investigates how to lift a curse laid by the Fair Folk on the Chicago Cubs. In Patricia Briggs’ “Fairy Gifts,”, a vampire is called home by magic to save the Fae who freed him from a dark curse. In Melissa Marr’s “Guns for the Dead”, the newly dead Frankie Lee seeks a job in the afterlife on the wrong side of the law. In Holly Black’s “Noble Rot”, a dying rock star discovers that the young woman who brings him food every day has some strange appetites of her own.
Featuring original stories from 20 authors, this dark, captivating, fabulous, and fantastical collection is not to be missed!
Contents:
Curses / by Jim Butcher --
How the pooka came to New York City / by Delia Sherman --
On the slide / by Richard Bowes --
The Duke of Riverside / by Ellen Kushner --
Oblivion by Calvin Klein / by Christopher Fowler --
Fairy gifts / by Patricia Briggs --
Picking up the pieces / by Pat Cadigan --
Underbridge / by Peter S. Beagle --
Priced to sell / by Naomi Novik --
The bricks of Gelecek / by Matthew Kressel --
Weston walks / by Kit Reed --
The projected girl/ by Lavie Tidhar --
The way station / by Nathan Ballingrud --
Guns for the dead / by Melissa Marr --
And go like this / by John Crowley --
Noble rot / by Holly Black --
Daddy longlegs of the evening / by Jeffrey Ford --
The skinny girl / by Lucius Shepard --
The Colliers' Venus (1893) / by Caitlín R. Kiernan --
King pole, gallows pole, bottle tree / by Elizabeth Bear.
74The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman
The Japanese have always closely associated the sword and the spirit, but it was in the 1600s during the Tokugawa shogunate when the techniques of swordsmanship became forever associated with the spirit of Zen. The Unfettered Mind is a book of advice on swordsmanship and the cultivation of right mind and intention, written by the 17th-century Zen master Takuan Soho (1573-1645). Takuan was a gardener, calligrapher, poet, author, adviser to samurai and shoguns, and a pivotal figure in Zen painting. He was also known for his brilliance and acerbic wit. The succinct and pointed essays in this book were written to the samurai Yagyu Munenori, who was a great swordsman and rival to the legendary Miyamoto Musashi.
In these writings Soho is concerned primarily with understanding and refining the mind—both generally and when faced with conflict. Soho illuminates the difference between the right mind and the confused mind, the nature of right-mindedness, and what makes life precious. First published in 1988, this book is considered a true classic that influenced the direction that the art of Japanese swordsmanship has taken since.
Beyond the Dark (Includes: Tale of the Demon World, #5; Breeds, #10.5; Wolf Breeds, #5)
ACE #1
A daring collection of never-before-published erotic desire from four of the hottest names in paranormal romance.
Four of the most sizzling authors of paranormal romance take readers beyond their wildest fantasies, to a seductive midnight world of erotic suspense, demons, mages, vampires, and knights. A world of queens with devilish secrets, and of demons with secret desires. So dangerous and fun, readers may never want to come back down to earth again...
A Tyranny of Petticoats (A Tyranny of Petticoats, #1)
Criss-cross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They're making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.
With stories by:
J. Anderson Coats
Andrea Cremer
Y. S. Lee
Katherine Longshore
Marie Lu
Kekla Magoon
Marissa Meyer
Saundra Mitchell
Beth Revis
Caroline Tung Richmond
Lindsay Smith
Jessica Spotswood
Robin Talley
Leslye Walton
Elizabeth Wein
Charmed and Dangerous
Rhys Ford - Dim Sum Asylum
For Detective Roku MacCormick, working Arcane Crimes is his passion. Now cleared of any wrongdoing for shooting his last partner, MacCormick is given back his badge… as well as a new case and partner. Trent Leonard isn’t exactly what he’d expected, but then nothing in San Francisco’s Chinatown ever is.
Ginn Hale - Swift and the Black Dog
When Jack Swift killed a tyrant and won the revolution he became a national hero. But someone in the new government prefers dead heroes to living, swearing, cynical wizards. Caught between bullets, revenge and desire, Jack had better be swift indeed.
KJ Charles - A Queer Trade
Apprentice magician Crispin Tredarloe returns to London to find his master dead, and his papers sold. Papers with secrets that could spell death. Waste paper seller Ned Hall can’t resist Crispin’s pleading—and appealing—looks. But can the wasteman and the magician prevent a disaster and save Crispin’s skin?
Nicole Kimberling - Magically Delicious
Occult attacks against NIAD agents aren’t remotely Keith Curry’s department. But when his lover, Gunther, is assaulted, Keith refuses to just sit back and fill out paperwork. He’s on the case—even if that means enraging powerful mages, crossing leprechaun picket lines, or braving dinner with Gunther’s goblin parents.
Jordan Castillo Price - Everyone's Afraid of Clowns
Psychic medium Victor Bayne can spot a ghost any day of the year, but Halloween holds some special surprises. His psych-groupie boyfriend Jacob coaxes him to the location of an old spirit sighting, but they can’t ghosthunt without enduring a cheesy “haunted house” that’s even more disturbing than they realize.
Jordan L. Hawk - The Thirteenth Hex
Hexman Dominic Kopecky doesn’t understand why dashing crow familiar Rook wants his help investigating murder by patent hex. For one thing, Dominic isn’t a witch. For another, the case is already closed—and someone is willing to kill to keep it that way.
Charlie Cochet - The Soldati Prince
Riley Murrough goes from serving lattes to being chased by demons. If that wasn’t bad enough, he bears the mark of a shapeshifter king from a magical realm. Riley’s determined to get answers, but if the demons out for his blood don’t kill him, the urge to strangle the arrogant king might.
Lou Harper - One Hex Too Many
Veteran detective Mike Mulligan is an expert on violent crimes—of the occult variety. He might even be cursed. Detective Hugh Fox is eager to partner up and prove himself, but Mulligan is accustomed to flying solo. Can they trust each other enough to track a killer who’ll stop at nothing, not even summoning a demon?
Andrea Speed - Josh of the Damned vs. the Bathroom of Doom
It's a boring night at the Quik-Mart for Josh and his friend Doug. Until a vampire with a grudge—and the most adorable backup ever—crashes the store. Can Josh survive the Bathroom of Doom?
Astrid Amara - The Trouble With Hexes
P.I. Tim Keller has a problem. And the only person who can solve it is his ex-boyfriend, Vincent, whose job as a hexbreaker was the reason they broke up. It’s hard admitting he was wrong, especially when coughing up organs. But there’s a missing person to find, a hexmaker to hunt down, and a romance to repair before Tim breathes his last.
78Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
"Riding the Bullet," published here on paper for the first time, is the story of Alan Parker, who's hitchhiking to see his dying mother but takes the wrong ride, farther than he ever intended. In "Lunch at the Gotham Café," a sparring couple's contentious lunch turns very, very bloody when the maître d' gets out of sorts. "1408," the audio story in print for the first time, is about a successful writer whose specialty is "Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Graveyards" or "Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses," and though Room 1408 at the Dolphin Hotel doesn't kill him, he won't be writing about ghosts anymore. And in "That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is In French," terror is déjà vu at 16,000 feet.
Whether writing about encounters with the dead, the near dead, or about the mundane dreads of life, from quitting smoking to yard sales, Stephen King is at the top of his form in the fourteen dark tales assembled in Everything's Eventual. Intense, eerie, and instantly compelling, they announce the stunningly fertile imagination of perhaps the greatest storyteller of our time.
Down These Strange Streets
1 The Bastard Stepchild - George R.R. Martin
2 Death by Dahlia - Charlaine Harris
3 The Bleeding Shadow - Joe R. Lansdale
4 Hungry Heart - Simon R. Green
5 Styx and Stones - Steven Saylor
6 Pain and Suffering - S.M. Stirling
7 It's Still the Same Old Story - Carrie Vaughn
8 The Lady is a Screamer - Conn Iggulden
9 Hellbender - Laurie R. King
10 Shadow Thieves - Glen Cook
11 No Mystery, No Miracle - Melinda M. Snodgrass
12 The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery - M.L.N. Hanover
13 The Curious Affair of the Deodand - Lisa Tuttle
14 Lord John and the Plague of Zombies - Diana Gabaldon
15 Beware the Snake - John Maddox Roberts
16 In Red, with Pearls - Patricia Briggs
17 The Adakian Eagle - Bradley Denton
Carniepunk
The traveling carnival is a leftover of a bygone era, a curiosity lurking on the outskirts of town. It is a place of contradictions—the bright lights mask the peeling paint; a carnie in greasy overalls slinks away from the direction of the Barker’s seductive call. It is a place of illusion—is that woman’s beard real? How can she live locked in that watery box?
And while many are tricked by sleight of hand, there are hints of something truly magical going on. One must remain alert and learn quickly the unwritten rules of this dark show. To beat the carnival, one had better have either a whole lot of luck or a whole lot of guns—or maybe some magic of one’s own.
Featuring stories grotesque and comical, outrageous and action-packed, Carniepunk is the first anthology to channel the energy and attitude of urban fantasy into the bizarre world of creaking machinery, twisted myths, and vivid new magic.
RACHEL CAINE’s vampires aren’t child’s play, as a naïve teen discovers when her heart leads her far, far astray in “The Cold Girl.” With “Parlor Tricks,” JENNIFER ESTEP pits Gin Blanco, the Elemental Assassin, against the Wheel of Death and some dangerously creepy clowns. SEANAN McGUIRE narrates a poignant, ethereal tale of a mysterious carnival that returns to a dangerous town after twenty years in “Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid, and the Open, Lonely Sea.” KEVIN HEARNE’s Iron Druid and his wisecracking Irish wolfhound discover in “The Demon Barker of Wheat Street” that the impossibly wholesome sounding Kansas Wheat Festival is actually not a healthy place to hang out. With an eerie, unpredictable twist, ROB THURMAN reveals the fate of a psychopath stalking two young carnies in “Painted Love.”
Prom Nights from Hell
The Complete Grimm's Fairy Tales
I think of this as a story about our genetic endowment at birth. We are all dealt out gifts of good genes and also some not so good ones. [source]
83Moby-Dick
Regarded as a Great American Novel, "Moby Dick" is the ultimate tale of seeking vengeance.
Narrated by the crew member Ishmael, this epic whaling adventure follows the crew of the "Pequod," as its captain, Ahab, descends deeper and deeper into madness on his quest to find and kill the white whale that maimed him. Beyond the surface--of ship life, whaling, and the hunt for the elusive Moby Dick--are allegorical references to life--and even the universe--in this masterpiece by Herman Melville.
Complete and unabridged, this elegantly designed clothbound edition features an elastic closure and a new introduction by Christopher McBride.
Former USA President
According to the president’s Facebook page and a 2008 interview with the New York Times, this title is among his most influential forever favorites. [source]
Founder/Apple
Jobs told me that "Moby-Dick" was among his favorite books and he reread it a lot when he was a teen. [source]
Evil derives from the violent avoidance of the realisation of our own mortality and there could be few better examples of this in literature than Melville’s portrait of Ahab in Moby-Dick. [source]
84Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner
WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE • WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTIONNew York Times Readers’ Pick: Top 100 Books of the 21st Century • An Oprah’s Book Club Selection • An Instant New York Times Bestseller • An Instant Wall Street Journal Bestseller • A #1 Washington Post Bestseller • A New York Times "Ten Best Books of the Year" "Demon is a voice for the ages—akin to Huck Finn or Holden Caulfield—only even more resilient.” —Beth Macy, author of Dopesick"May be the best novel of [the year]. . . . Equal parts hilarious and heartbreaking, this is the story of an irrepressible boy nobody wants, but readers will love.” —Ron Charles, Washington PostFrom the acclaimed author of The Poisonwood Bible and The Bean Trees and the recipient of the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, a brilliant novel that enthralls, compels, and captures the heart as it evokes a young hero’s unforgettable journey to maturitySet in the mountains of southern Appalachia, Demon Copperhead is the story of a boy born to a teenaged single mother in a single-wide trailer, with no assets beyond his dead father’s good looks and copper-colored hair, a caustic wit, and a fierce talent for survival. Relayed in his own unsparing voice, Demon braves the modern perils of foster care, child labor, derelict schools, athletic success, addiction, disastrous loves, and crushing losses. Through all of it, he reckons with his own invisibility in a popular culture where even the superheroes have abandoned rural people in favor of cities.Many generations ago, Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.
85Labyrinths: Selected Stories and Other Writings
Labyrinths is a representative selection of Borges' writing, some forty pieces drawn from various books of his published over the years. The translations are by Harriet de Onis, Anthony Kerrigan, and others, including the editors, who have provided a biographical and critical introduction, as well as an extensive bibliography.
86The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win the Future
The movement that brought Donald Trump to the White House has better ideas than the old right or the new left. It’s time that the rest of America started listening.
The Tea Party began as a protest for patriots who feared Big Government. President Trump has become a hero for patriots who are against Big Everything.
Fed up with Silicon Valley, the media, liberal higher education, the military-industrial complex, Twitter mobs, swamp monsters, Big Pharma, out-of-control prosecutors, and gun-grabbing fascists, ordinary Americans miss the days when America cared about rule of the people, by the people, and for the people. Remember when you didn’t feel bombarded on all sides by coastal billionaires and their government stooges? The MAGA Doctrine urges an overdue restoration of self-rule by a populace long taken for granted by its rulers.
Turning Point USA founder and social media superstar Charlie Kirk explains once and for all why a New York real estate magnate found an audience among young conservatives all over the country. Trump and his allies are working to protect all the small things that both parties dismissed: local businesses, families, churches, and the rights of the individual. Kirk explains why it took a reality TV superstar to see past the sclerotic and power-hungry institutions, from the United Nations and Google to Harvard and Viacom, working to crush real America. The Trump Doctrine is all about giving you a say in the future of America and a hand in making it happen.
As the mainstream media keep churning out lies about the “real reasons” behind the new conservative agenda, Charlie Kirk’s The MAGA Doctrine is a powerful reminder of the true narrative of freedom and greatness that swept Donald Trump to the presidency.
USA President
Watch Mark Levin interview of Charlie Kirk tonight at 11:00 P.M. on @FoxNews. Amazing!!! And, while you’re at it, go get Charlie’s new book, “The MAGA Doctrine: The Only Ideas That Will Win the Future”...This is a really GREAT book. Support Charlie Kirk! [source]
Congrats to a great guy, Charlie Kirk, on writing The #MAGADoctrine. Charlie has had a “front row seat to one of the most extraordinary presidencies in American history”, and his book captures it all. It’s a must-read! https://t.co/NNaL0qG4kX [source]
Can’t wait to read this. @charliekirk11 is one of the most brilliant conservatives of his generation & he is leading a movement that is engaging young people in the political process. Everyone has something they can learn from Charlie! ❤️ Pick up a copy of his new book today! https://t.co/bQiB4FuGiU [source]
Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories
Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities. You won't find any elves or wizards here...but you will find the biggest, boldest, and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled.
The Weird features 110 stories by an all-star cast, from literary legends to international bestsellers to Booker Prize winners: including William Gibson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Franz Kafka, China Miéville, Clive Barker, Haruki Murakami, M. R. James, Neil Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, and Michael Chabon.
The Weird is the winner of the 2012 World Fantasy Award for Best Anthology
Say Goodbye for Now
When Pete Solomon, a neglected twelve-year-old boy, and Justin bring a wounded wolf-dog hybrid to Dr. Lucy, the outcasts soon find refuge in one another. Lucy never thought she’d make connections again, never mind fall in love. Pete never imagined he’d find friends as loyal as Justin and the dog. But these four people aren’t allowed to be friends, much less a family, when the whole town turns violently against them.
With heavy hearts, Dr. Lucy and Pete say goodbye to Calvin and Justin. But through the years they keep hope alive…waiting for the world to catch up with them.
Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions
Sixteen of today’s hottest writers of paranormal tales weave stories on a common theme of journeying. Authors such as Kelley Armstrong, Rachel Caine, and Melissa Marr return to the beloved worlds of their bestselling series, while others, like Claudia Gray, Kami Garcia, and Margaret Stohl, create new land-scapes and characters. But whether they’re writing about vampires, faeries, angels, or other magical beings, each author explores the strength and resilience of the human heart.
Suspenseful, funny, or romantic, the stories in Enthralled will leave you moved.
"Enthralled" is a collection of 14 original teen paranormal short stories from some of today's bestselling YA talent, united with the common theme of road trips.
Contents:
Introduction by Melissa Marr & Kelley Armstrong
Giovanni’s Farewell by Claudia Gray
Scenic Route [The Forest of Hands and Teeth] by Carrie Ryan
Red Run by Kami Garcia
Things About Love [As You Wish] by Jackson Pearce
Niederwald [Soul Screamers] by Rachel Vincent
Merely Mortal [Wicked Lovely] by Melissa Marr
Facing Facts [Darkest Powers] by Kelley Armstrong
Let’s Get this Undead Show on the Road by Sarah Rees Brennan
Bridge by Jeri Smith-Ready
Skin Contact by Kimberly Derting
Leaving by Ally Condie
At The Late Night, Double Feature, Picture Show by Jessica Verday
IV League by Margaret Stohl
Gargouille by Mary E. Pearson
The Third Kind by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Automatic by Rachel Caine
Her Body and Other Parties
A wife refuses her husband's entreaties to remove the green ribbon from around her neck. A woman recounts her sexual encounters as a plague slowly consumes humanity. A salesclerk in a mall makes a horrifying discovery within the seams of the store's prom dresses. One woman's surgery-induced weight loss results in an unwanted houseguest. And in the bravura novella Especially Heinous, Machado reimagines every episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a show we naively assumed had shown it all, generating a phantasmagoric police procedural full of doppelgangers, ghosts, and girls with bells for eyes.
Earthy and otherworldly, antic and sexy, queer and caustic, comic and deadly serious, Her Body and Other Parties swings from horrific violence to the most exquisite sentiment. In their explosive originality, these stories enlarge the possibilities of contemporary fiction.
@jourdayen BEST BOOK [source]
Machine of Death: A Collection of Stories About People Who Know How They Will Die (Machine of Death, #1)
Machine of Death tells thirty-four different stories about people who know how they will die. Prepare to have your tears jerked, your spine tingled, your funny bone tickled, your mind blown, your pulse quickened, or your heart warmed. Or better yet, simply prepare to be surprised. Because even when people do have perfect knowledge of the future, there's no telling exactly how things will turn out.
Featuring stories by:
* Randall Munroe
* Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
* Tom Francis
* Camille Alexa
* Erin McKean
* James L. Sutter
* Douglas J. Lane
* and many others.
Featuring illustrations by:
* Kate Beaton
* Kazu Kibuishi
* Aaron Diaz
* Jeffrey Brown
* Scott C.
* Roger Langridge
* Karl Kerschl
* Cameron Stewart
* and many others
Dangerous Visions
Author
Dangerous Visions is the greatest original anthology ever created in any genre. This collection remade the field. [source]
Heart of Darkness (Includes: Lords of the Underworld #4.5)
The Darkest Angel by Gena Showalter
A Lords of the Underworld tale
An iron-willed demon assassin, the angel Lysander has never known lust, until he meets Bianka. Spawned from the bloodline of Lucifer, the beautiful but deadly Harpy is determined to lead the pure-hearted Lysander into temptation.
Love Me to Death by Maggie Shayne
Twenty-two years ago four teenage boys were convicted of a young girls murder. Now, in the form of a beautiful woman, the victim is seeking vengeance. And only one man dares to dig into the past to uncover its secrets and set her free.
Lady of the Nile by Susan Krinard
Lady Tameri believes herself to be the reincarnation of an ancient Egyptian princess, and Leo Erskine has set out to prove her wrong, never dreaming that the two of them are about to discover a prophecy that will bind them together forever.
95The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown (Lady Whistledown, #1)
The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964 (Science Fiction Hall of Fame, #1)
The collection has some minor but frustrating flaws. There are no contributor biographies, which is bad enough when the author is a giant; but it's especially sad for contributors who have become unjustly obscure. Each story's original publication date is in small print at the bottom of the first page. And neither this fine print nor the copyright page identifies the magazines in which the stories first appeared.
Prefaced by editor Robert Silverberg's introduction, which describes SFWA and details the selection process, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964 is a wonderful book for the budding SF fan. Experienced SF readers should compare the table of contents to their library before making a purchase decision. Fans who contemplate giving this book to non-SF readers should bear in mind that, while several of the collected stories can measure up to classic mainstream literary stories, the less literarily-acceptable stories are weighted toward the front of the collection; adult mainstream-literature fans may not get very far into The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964. --Cynthia Ward
· Introduction · Robert Silverberg · in
· A Martian Odyssey [Tweel] · Stanley G. Weinbaum · nv Wonder Stories Jul ’34
· Twilight [as by Don A. Stuart; Dying Earth] · John W. Campbell, Jr. · ss Astounding Nov ’34
· Helen O’Loy · Lester del Rey · ss Astounding Dec ’38
· The Roads Must Roll · Robert A. Heinlein · nv Astounding Jun ’40
· Microcosmic God · Theodore Sturgeon · nv Astounding Apr ’41
· Nightfall · Isaac Asimov · nv Astounding Sep ’41
· The Weapon Shop [Isher] · A. E. van Vogt · nv Astounding Dec ’42
· Mimsy Were the Borogoves · Lewis Padgett · nv Astounding Feb ’43
· Huddling Place [City (Websters)] · Clifford D. Simak · ss Astounding Jul ’44
· Arena · Fredric Brown · nv Astounding Jun ’44
· First Contact · Murray Leinster · nv Astounding May ’45
· That Only a Mother · Judith Merril · ss Astounding Jun ’48
· Scanners Live in Vain · Cordwainer Smith · nv Fantasy Book #6 ’50
· Mars Is Heaven! · Ray Bradbury · ss Planet Stories Fll ’48
· The Little Black Bag · C. M. Kornbluth · nv Astounding Jul ’50
· Born of Man and Woman · Richard Matheson · vi F&SF Sum ’50
· Coming Attraction · Fritz Leiber · ss Galaxy Nov ’50
· The Quest for Saint Aquin · Anthony Boucher · ss New Tales of Space and Time, ed. Raymond J. Healy, Holt, 1951; F&SF Jan ’59
· Surface Tension [Lavon] · James Blish · nv Galaxy Aug ’52
· The Nine Billion Names of God · Arthur C. Clarke · ss Star Science Fiction Stories #1, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1953
· It’s a Good Life · Jerome Bixby · ss Star Science Fiction Stories #2, ed. Frederik Pohl, Ballantine, 1953
· The Cold Equations · Tom Godwin · nv Astounding Aug ’54
· Fondly Fahrenheit · Alfred Bester · nv F&SF Aug ’54
· The Country of the Kind · Damon Knight · ss F&SF Feb ’56
· Flowers for Algernon · Daniel Keyes · nv F&SF Apr ’59
· A Rose for Ecclesiastes · Roger Zelazny · nv F&SF Nov ’63
Author
There is simply no better introduction to the whole history of science fiction than this book. [source]
Cravings (Undead #1.5; Moon #3.5)
"Beyond the Ardeur" (An Anita Blake tale) By Laurell K. Hamilton
Anita is attending a friend's wedding when Nathaniel, her pomme de sang, makes known in no uncertain terms that he wants to take the relationship to the next level. Anita's subsequent actions take her to a place she has hitherto carefully avoided.
***This short story is a condensed version of Incubus Dreams, book 12 in the Anita Blake series!
"Dead Girls Don't Dance," by MaryJanice Davidson
Vampire Andrea Mercer is literally dug up by an old crush, Daniel Harris, and during a trip to Minnesota to see the vampire queen, her desire for him reignites.
"Originally Human" by Eileen Wilks
Succubus Molly Brown discovers a gorgeous, naked man in the woods and decides to help him recover his memory.
"Burning Moon" by Rebecca York
All werewolf Grant Marshall wants to do is rip out the throat of the man who killed his wife–then swim out into the Atlantic Ocean and never come back. He tracks his wife’s killer to a small New Jersey seaside town, where he meets Antonia, a blind tarot card reader--the woman with the power to change his fate.
98Nightmares and Dreamscapes
A solitary finger pokes out of a drain. Novelty teeth turn predatory. Flies settle and die on an old pair of sneakers in New York, and the Nevada desert swallows a Cadillac. Meanwhile the legend of Castle Rock returns . . . and grows on you. What does it all mean? What else could it mean? First there was Night Shift (1978), then Skeleton Crew (1985), and now Stephen King is back with a third collection of stories--a vast, many-chambered cave of a volume, with passages leading every which way to hell . . . and a few to glory.
The long reach of Stephen King's imagination and the no-holds-barred force of his storytelling have never been so richly demonstrated. There's something here for readers of every stripe and predilection--classic tales of the macabre and the monstrous, cutting-edge explorations of the borderlands between good and evil, brilliant pastiches of Chandler and Conan Doyle, even a teleplay and a non-fiction bonus, a heartfelt piece of Little League baseball that first appeared in The New Yorker.
In story after story, several published here for the first time, he will take you to places you've never been before, places that are both dark and vividly illuminated. Fair warning: You will lose a good deal of sleep. But Stephen King, writing to beat the devil, will do your dreaming for you.
Can you believe? Then come . . .
A Christmas to Remember (Lucky Harbor, #8.5; Chaos, #2.5; Last Chance, #6.5; Everson, Texas, #0.5; Tallgrass, #1.5)
Jill Shalvis, Dream a Little Dream: Melissa has kept every man at a safe distance-especially firefighter Ian, a sexy friend with sexy benefits. But Ian secretly longs for more. Luckily, 'tis the season for giving love a chance . . .
Kristen Ashley, Every Year: Holidays don't come easy for Shy and his brother, Landon. But with the magic of Christmas, along with a little help from Tabby and her family, the Cage brothers are about to get the gift of a lifetime . . .
Hope Ramsay, Silent Night: Down on her luck and evicted from her apartment, single mother Maryanne hopes to start over in Last Chance. When the snow begins to fall, it looks like her baby might literally spend Christmas Eve in a manger. And Maryanne might celebrate the holiday with a handsome stranger.
Molly Cannon, Have Yourself a Messy Little Christmas: Lincoln is a bachelor who's set in his ways-until a professional organizer dressed up as Mrs. Claus changes his life, one tip at a time. . .
Marilyn Pappano, A Family for Christmas: War widow Ilena doesn't mind spending Christmas alone. But when a new doctor blows into town with the winter wind, will she get her secret Christmas wish?
Plus: Excerpts from upcoming novels!
(40,000 words)
100The Illustrated Man
@BrittMichaelian One of my favorite authors! Have you read the Illustrated Man recently? The first story in the book is titled "The Veldt." It was written in 1950 but is ALL ABOUT technology we are talking about today (#AI, #VR). Every story in the book is great. [source]