Kelley Armstrong Books In Order

Bitten

I’ve got to get out of here – I don’t have a lot of time left. Philip doesn’t stir when I slip from the bed. There’s a pile of clothing tucked underneath my dresser so I won’t have to risk the squeaks and groans of opening drawers and closets. I pick up my keys, clasping my fist around them so they don’t jangle, ease open the door and creep into the hallway. My legs now itch as well as hurt and I curl my toes to see if the itching stops. It doesn’t. It’s too late to drive to a safe place now-the itching has crystallized into a sharp burn. I stride out onto the streets, looking for a quiet place to Change. Young, beautiful, and successful, Elena Michaels seems to have it all. Her happy, organized life follows a predictable pattern: filing stories for her job as a journalist, working out at the gym, living with her architect boyfriend, and lunching with her girlfriends from the office. And once a week, in the dead of night, she streaks through a downtown ravine, naked and furred, tearing at the throats of her animal prey. Elena Michaels is a werewolf. The man who made her one has been left behind, but his dark legacy has not. And though Elena struggles to maintain the normal life she’s worked so hard to create, she cannot resist the call of the elite pack of werewolves from her past. Her feral instincts will lead her back to them and into a desperate war for survival that will test her own understanding of who, and what, she is.

Stolen

In the tradition of Laurell K. Hamilton, a deliciously wicked sequel to Bitten, from Canada’s new queen of suspense.

Even though she’s the world’s only female werewolf, Elena Michaels is just a regular girl at heart with larger than normal appetites. She sticks to three feasts a day, loves long runs in the moonlight, and has a lover who is unbelievable frustrating yet all the more sexy for his dark side. Like every regular girl, she certainly doesn’t believe in witches. Then again, when two small, ridiculously feminine women manage to hurl her against a wall, and then save her from the hunters on her tail, Elena realizes that maybe there are more things in heaven and earth than she’s dreamt of.

Vampires, demons, shamans, witches in Stolen they all exist, and they’re all under attack. An obsessed tycoon with a sick curiosity is well on his way to amassing a private collection of supernaturals, and plans to harness their powers for himself even if it means killing them. For Elena, kidnapped and imprisoned deep underground, separated from her Pack, unable to tell her friends from her enemies, choosing the right allies is a matter of life and death.

Dime Store Magic

From Canada’s new queen of suspense, another hugely entertaining supernatural thriller that will have you on the edge of your seat. Prepare to be enchanted…

Forget the cackling green hag in The Wizard of Oz, forget Samantha from Bewitched. Real witches are nothing, NOTHING like this. For years real witches have hidden their powers, afraid of being persecuted. They have integrated so well into the community, you could have a witch living right next door and never know about it. Take Paige, for instance, whom we first met in Kelley Armstrong s novel Stolen. Just an ordinary twenty something who runs her own website design company, worries about her weight and wonders if she ll ever find a boyfriend. Okay, so she s leader of the American Coven and guardian of Savannah, the teenage daughter of a black witch. Really, life is ordinary. But then a telekinetic half demon, Leah O Donnell, shows up to fight for custody of Savannah. And although Paige is ready for her, she s not quite so prepared for the team of supernaturals that Leah brings with her, including a powerful sorcerer who claims to be Savannah s father.

When all hell breaks loose literally and Paige is accused of witchcraft, Satanism and murder, the Coven, fearing exposure, abandons her. Cut off from her friends, Paige is forced against her better judgment to accept the help of a young sorcerer lawyer. And she quickly comes to realize that keeping Savannah could mean losing everything else.

Breathtakingly thrilling, hip and funny, this new novel is another page turning triumph from an author who is going from strength to strength.

I had a feeding frenzy on my front lawn, an unconscious paranormal investigator on my stairs, and, somewhere out there, an entire Cabal special projects team devoted to ruining my life. from Dime Store Magic

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Industrial Magic

Meet the smart, sexy supernatural women of the otherworld. This is not your mother’s coven…
Kelley Armstrong returns with the eagerly awaited follow up to Dime Store Magic. Paige Winterbourne, a headstrong young woman haunted by a dark legacy, is now put to the ultimate test as she fights to save innocents from the most insidious evil of all…
. In the aftermath of her mother s murder, Paige broke with the elite, ultraconservative American Coven of Witches. Now her goal is to start a new Coven for a new generation. But while Paige pitches her vision to uptight thirty something witches in business suits, a more urgent matter commands her attention. Someone is murdering the teenage offspring of the underworld s most influential Cabals a circle of families that makes the mob look like amateurs. And none is more powerful than the Cortez Cabal, a faction Paige is intimately acquainted with. Lucas Cortez, the rebel son and unwilling heir, is none other than her boyfriend. But love isn t blind, and Paige has her eyes wide open as she is drawn into a hunt for an unnatural born killer. Pitted against shamans, demons, and goons, it s a battle chilling enough to make a wild young woman grow up in a hurry. If she gets the chance. From the Paperback edition.

Haunted

THE CONTINUING ADVENTURES OF THE SMART, SEXY SUPERNATURAL WOMEN OF THE OTHERWORLDEve Levine half demon, black witch and devoted mother has been dead for three years. She has a great house, an interesting love life and can t be killed again which comes in handy when you ve made as many enemies as Eve. Yes, the afterlife isn t too bad all she needs to do is find a way to communicate with her daughter, Savannah, and she ll be happy. But fate or more exactly, the Fates have other plans. Eve owes them a favor, and they ve just called it in. An evil spirit called the Nix has escaped from hell. She feeds on chaos and death, and is very good at persuading people to kill for her. The Fates want Eve to hunt her down before she does any more damage, but the Nix is a dangerous enemy previous hunters have been driven insane in the process. As if that’s not problem enough, the only way to stop her is with an angel s sword. And Eve is no angel…
. From the Paperback edition.

Broken

In this thrilling new novel from the author of Industrial Magic, a pregnant werewolf may have unwittingly unleashed Jack the Ripper on twenty first century and become his next target.

Ever since she discovered she’s pregnant, Elena Michaels has been on edge. After all, she s never heard of another living female werewolf, let alone one who s given birth. But thankfully, her expertise is needed to retrieve a stolen letter allegedly written by Jack the Ripper. As a distraction, the job seems simple enough only the letter contains a portal to Victorian London s underworld, which Elena inadvertently triggers unleashing a vicious killer and a pair of zombie thugs.

Now Elena must find a way to seal the portal before the unwelcome visitors get what they re looking for which, for some unknown reason, is Elena.

No Humans Involved

Readers around the world have fallen for Kelley Armstrong’s intoxicating, sensual and wicked tales of the paranormal, in which demons and witches, werewolves and vampires collide often hilariously, sometimes violently with everyday life. In Armstrong s first six novels, Elena, Paige and Eve have had their way with us. Now get ready for Jaime Vegas, the luscious, lovelorn and haunted necromancer…
Jaime, who knows a thing or two about showbiz, is on a television shoot in Los Angeles when weird things start to happen. As a woman whose special talent is raising the dead, her threshold for weirdness is pretty high: she s used to not only seeing dead people but hearing them speak to her in very emphatic terms. But for the first time in her life as invisible hands brush her skin, unintelligible fragments of words are whispered into her ears, and beings move just at the corner of her eye she knows what humans mean when they talk about being haunted. She is determined to get to the bottom of these manifestations, but as she sets out to solve the mystery she has no idea how scary her investigation will get, or to what depths ordinary humans will sink in their attempts to gain supernatural powers. As she digs into the dark underside of Los Angeles, she ll need as much Otherworld help as she can get in order to survive, calling on her personal angel, Eve, and Hope, the well meaning chaos demon. Jeremy, the alpha werewolf, is also by her side offering protection. And, Jaime hopes, maybe a little more than that. As I knelt on the cobblestones to begin the ritual, I opened not some ancient leather pouch, but a Gucci make up bag…
.I know little about the geography and theology of the afterlife, but I do know that the worst spirits are kept secured, and my risk of accidentally tapping into a hell dimension is next to nil. Even if I do bring back some depraved killer s spirit, what can it do to me? When you deprive someone of the ability to act in the living world, he s pretty darned helpless. In death, even the worst killer plummets from lethal to merely annoying. Yet whatever had been trying to contact me apparently could cross that barrier, could act in the living world…
at least on me. I added an extra helping of vervain to the censer. from No Humans InvolvedFrom the Hardcover edition.

Personal Demon

In her acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series, Kelley Armstrong has created a scintillating realm where the supernatural and the human coexist on the edge of darkness, romance, and eternity. Now Armstrong tells the captivating tale of a young woman with an insatiable lust for danger. She can t help it. It’s in her blood. Tabloid reporter Hope Adams appears to live the life of an ordinary working girl. But in addition to possessing the beauty of a Bollywood princess, Hope has other unique traits. For she is a half demon a human fathered by a demon. And she s inherited not only a gift for seeing the past but a hunger for chaos along with a talent for finding it wherever she can. Naturally, when she s chosen by a very dangerous group for a very dangerous mission, she jumps at the chance . The head of the powerful Cortez Cabal a family that makes the mob look like amateurs has a little problem in Miami: a gang of wealthy, bored offspring of supernaturals is getting out of hand, and Hope is needed to infiltrate. As spells, astral projections, and pheromones soar across South Beach, Hope weaves her way through its elite hot spots, posing as upscale eye candy and reading the auras of the clientele and potential marks. As it turns out, Hope is a little too good at this job. And soon she s in a little too deep, needing to be bailed out by her jewel thief werewolf ex boyfriend and by the Cortez heir himself. And when a killer goes to work, Hope is among many targets at the pinnacle of Cabal rule. For a woman who didn t know what she was getting into, there s only one way out: it s time for Hope to unleash her most potent primal instincts and open herself, mind and body, to everything she most fears…
and desires. Sexy and suspenseful, Personal Demon is a thrill ride through a world on the wild side of our own.

Living with the Dead

They re smart, sexy, and supernatural. They re the men and women of the Otherworld a realm of witches, ghosts, and werewolves who live unseen among us. Only now a reckless killer has torn down the wall, trapping one very human woman in the supernatural cross fire. Robyn Peltier moved to Los Angeles after her young husband’s sudden death, trying to put some distance between herself and her memories. Though she s still grieving, the challenges of her new life as the PR consultant to Portia Kane the world s most famous celebutante wannabe can sometimes be amusing, even distracting. But when her client is gunned down in the back room of a nightclub, Robyn is suddenly on the run as the prime suspect in the murder. And as more bodies pile up around her, it seems like only Hope Adams, Robyn s best friend, and Hope s somewhat spooky boyfriend Karl are on Robyn s side. Hope Adams follows the kinds of stories whose headlines scream from supermarket checkout lines. But the difference is that Hope s stories are even weirder and they re all true. Though determined to help Robyn, Hope knows it s only a matter of time before her friend is caught. But it s not the police Hope is worried about. For Robyn has gotten herself in the middle of a turf war between two powerful Otherworld cabals who ll spill any amount of blood human and inhuman to protect what they consider theirs for all eternity. And the only way Hope can keep her friend alive is by letting her enter a world she s safer knowing nothing about.

Frostbitten

Smart, sexy, supernatural the men and women of the Otherworld live and love, fight and die, among us. Unseen and unsuspected, this realm of witches, ghosts, and werewolves is now threatened with exposure by a brutal series of bizarre murders that has left even the supernatural world baffled and cold with terror .

Being the world’s only female werewolf has its advantages, such as having her pick of the Otherworld s most desirable males. And Elena Michaels couldn t have picked a more dangerously sexy and undyingly loyal mate than Clayton Danvers. Now their bond will be put to the ultimate test as they follow a bloody trail of gruesome slayings deep into Alaska s frozen wilderness.

There s nothing the werewolf community dislikes more than calling attention to itself. So when a pair of rogue man eaters begins hunting humans, it s up to Elena and Clayton to track down the predators. But any illusions their task would be simple are quickly dispelled. For even in werewolf terms, there s something very disturbing taking place in the dark Alaskan forests. A werewolf more wolf than human and more unnatural than supernatural is on the hunt a creature whose origins seem to spring from ancient legends of the shape shifting Wendigo.

And if that wasn t bad enough, Clayton and Elena find themselves confronting painful ghosts from their pasts and an issue neither of them is eager to discuss. For one of them has been chosen to become the new Pack leader, and as every wolf knows, there can be only one Alpha. They ve always been equals in everything. Now, when their survival depends more than ever on perfect teamwork, will instinct allow one of them to lead and the other to follow?

Waking the Witch

The new novel in Kelley Armstrong’s bestselling Women of the Otherworld series showcases the fascinating Savannah Levine, a powerful young witch with a rebellious past and a troublesome heritage. The orphaned daughter of a sorcerer and a half demon, Savannah is a terrifyingly powerful young witch who has never been able to resist the chance to throw her magical weight around. But at twenty one she knows she needs to grow up and prove to her guardians, Paige and Lucas, that she can be a responsible member of their supernatural detective agency. So she jumps at the chance to fly solo, investigating the mysterious deaths of three young women in a nearby factory town, as a favour to one of the agency’s associates. At first glance, the murders look garden variety human, but on closer inspection signs point to otherworldly stakes. Soon Savannah is in over her head. She’s run off the road and nearly killed, haunted by a mystery stalker and freaked out when the brother of one of the dead women is murdered when he tries to investigate the crime. To complicate things, something weird is happening to her powers. Pitted against shamans, demons, a voodoo inflected cult and garden variety goons, Savannah has to fight to ensure her first case isn’t her last. And she also has to ask for help, perhaps the hardest lesson she’s ever had to learn.

Spell Bound

At last, in the novel every Kelley Armstrong fan will need to own, all the major hero*ines and heroes of Otherworld are united. It’s been ten years since Bitten, the first novel in Kelley Armstrong’s New York Times bestselling Otherworld series. In that time hundreds of thousands of fans have ravenously devoured the adventures of Armstrong’s witches, demons, and werewolves. Now, in Spell Bound, she brings them all together for her most sweeping tale yet. Savannah Levine is in terrible danger, and for once she’s powerless to help herself. At the heartbreaking conclusion of Waking the Witch, Savannah swore that she would give up her powers if it would prevent further pain for a young orphan. Little did she know that someone would take her up on that promise. And now, witch hunting assassins, necromancers, half demons, and rogue witches all seem to be after her. The threat is not just for Savannah; every member of the Otherworld might be at risk. While most of her fellow supernaturals are circling the wagons at a gathering of the council in Miami, Savannah is caught on the road, isolated from those who can protect her and unable to use her vast spell casting talent, the thing she counts on most. In a story that will change the shape of the Otherworld forever, Armstrong gathers Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jamie, Hope, and other beloved characters, who soon learn that the greatest threat to supernaturals just may come from within.

Angelic

As a half demon master of the dark arts, Eve Levine isn’t what anyone would call ‘Angelic.’ That’s exactly why the Fates chose her for the job. She’s their secret weapon against the forces of evil. However, after five years, Eve is tired of being the designated rebel of the angel corps, expected to break the rules, then being penalized for it. When the leaderless djinn stage an uprising, Eve sees the perfect chance to get herself fired. As she plunges deeper into the demon world, though, she realizes she’s in danger of losing a lot more than her job.

Counterfeit Magic

Return to the world of Kelley Armstrong’s best selling novels Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic for a long original novella. The first rule of a supernatural fight club? Don’t kill your opponent. When the fighters come with lethal spells, werewolf strength and half demon powers, that can be a lot tougher than it sounds. It’s hard to attract talent if they know they might not leave the ring alive. So when fighters at a California club start dying it’s bad for business. Witch detectives Paige Winterbourne and Savannah Levine take the case. Going undercover in the power heavy arena of the fight club is a welcome change of pace for Paige, relegated to the role of The Wife as her husband struggles to find his place in his family’s Cabal the corporate Mafia of the supernatural world. As Paige is drawn deeper into new and dangerous corners of her world, she quickly discovers the greatest threat isn’t the killer in her sights. It’s something much, much closer to home. And this is one fight she can’t afford to lose.

Hidden

Hiking through the snow, holiday baking and playing board games by the fire what’s not to love about an old fashioned family Christmas?Werewolves Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers want to give their four year old twins, Kate and Logan, something their parents never had: a nice, normal holiday. No Pack responsibilities, no homicidal half demons or power hungry sorcerers to deal with just the four of them, alone, at a chalet outside Ontario’s Algonquin Park. Then a strange werewolf shows up at their door…
while the town is buzzing about a young man, back from college, found half eaten in the woods. And there’s the missing little girl…
With all the signs pointing to a rogue mutt with a taste for human flesh, Elena and Clay have no choice but to investigate. But are they the hunters or the hunted?

Men of the Otherworld

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong has captivated readers with her spellbinding WoMen of the Otherworld series. Now, for the first time, in this collection of four tales she gives center stage to the men who love these sexy, supernatural women the men who live on the other side of humanity the wild side. As a curious six year old, Clayton didn t resist the bite he asked for it. But surviving as a lone child werewolf was more than he could manage until Jeremy came along and taught him how to straddle the human werewolf worlds, gave him a home and introduced him to the Pack. So begins this tantalizing volume, featuring three of the most intriguing members of the American Pack a hierarchical founding family where bloodlines mean everything and each day presents a new, thrilling, and often deadly challenge. For as Clayton grows from a wild child to a clever teen who tests his beloved mentor at every turn, he must learn not only to control his animal instincts but to navigate Pack politics including showing his brutal archnemesis, Malcolm, who the real Alpha is…
. From the nature of fear, weakness, and courage, to the triumph of belonging and the complications of love and loyalty, these mesmerizing tales reveal the trials of a werewolf coming of age, and lay bare the hearts and minds of the men strong enough for the woMen of the Otherworld and adept enough to take on two worlds.

Tales of the Otherworld

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong has bewitched audiences with her Otherworld series of supernatural thrillers. Now, in this new collection of shorter fiction, some of Armstrong’s most tantalizing lead characters appear alongside her unforgettable supporting players, who step out of the shadows and into the light. Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot blooded bad girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld s most unlikely pairings? Would you like to be a fly on the wall at the wedding of Lucas Cortez and Paige Winterbourne as their eminently practical plans are upended by their well meaning friends? Or tag along with Lucas and Paige as they investigate a gruesome crime that looks to be the work of a rogue vampire?Now devotees of the Otherworld can share these special moments with some of their favorite characters as well as discovering deeper insights into the lives of some of the lesser known players. But even readers new to the Otherworld universe will find much to love in these seven tales of friendship, adventure, and enduring romance. For when the superhuman men and women of the Otherworld set their minds to a task, they do so with fierce passion and an undivided sense of purpose that make them, in the end, very much human.

Exit Strategy

From the author of the acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series comes an exciting new hero*ine whose most secret identity is both lucrative and lethal. Regulars at Nadia’s nature lodge don t ask what she does in the off season. And that s a good thing. If she told them, she d have to kill them. She s a hit woman for a Mafia family. Tough and self sufficient, Nadia doesn t owe anyone any explanations. But that doesn t mean she always works alone. One of her contacts has recruited her in the hunt for a ruthlessly efficient serial killer cutting a swath of terror across the country. The assassin is far too skilled to be an amateur and the precision of the killings is bringing the Feds much too close to the hit man community for comfort. To put an end to the murders, Nadia will have to turn herself from predator to prey as she employs every trick she knows to find the killer. Before the killer finds her

Made to Be Broken

The author of the acclaimed Women of the Otherworld series returns with her latest novel featuring an exciting hero*ine with a lethal hidden talent. This time she’s hot on the trail of a young woman no one else cares about and a killer who s bound to strike again. Nadia Stafford isn t your typical nature lodge owner. An ex cop with a legal code all her own, she s known only as Dee to her current employer: a New York crime family that pays her handsomely to bump off traitors. But when Nadia discovers that a troubled teenage employee and her baby have vanished in the Canadian woods, the memory of a past loss comes back with a vengeance and her old instincts go into overdrive. With her enigmatic mentor, Jack, covering her back, Nadia unearths sinister clues that point to an increasingly darker and deadlier mystery. Now, with her obsession over the case deepening, the only way Nadia can right the wrongs of the present is to face her own painful ghosts and either bury them for good, or die trying. Because in her book everyone deserves a chance. And everyone deserves justice.

The Summoning

My name is Chloe Saunders and my life will never be the same again.

All I wanted was to make friends, meet boys, and keep on being ordinary. I don’t even know what that means anymore. It all started on the day that I saw my first ghost and the ghost saw me.

Now there are ghosts everywhere and they won’t leave me alone. To top it all off, I somehow got myself locked up in Lyle House, a ‘special home’ for troubled teens. Yet the home isn’t what it seems. Don’t tell anyone, but I think there might be more to my housemates than meets the eye. The question is, whose side are they on? It’s up to me to figure out the dangerous secrets behind Lyle House…
before its skeletons come back to haunt me.

The Awakening

Book II in the Darkest Powers trilogy takes us deeper into a world where the supernatural intrudes on the everyday with riveting effect. If you had met me a few weeks ago, you probably would have described me as an average teenage girl someone normal. Now my life has changed forever and I m as far away from normal as it gets. A living science experiment not only can I see ghosts, but I was genetically altered by a group of people who call themselves The Edison Group. What does that mean? For starters, I m a teenage necromancer whose powers are out of control: I raise the dead without even trying. Trust me, that is not a power you want to have. Ever. I m running for my life with three of my supernatural friends a charming sorcerer, a cynical werewolf, and a disgruntled witch and we have to find someone who can help us gain our freedom back before The Edison Group finds us first. Or die trying.

The Reckoning

The gripping finale to the New York Times bestselling Darkest Powers trilogy!

In the end, there’s always a reckoning.

Chloe Saunders’s life is not what you would call normal. First of all, she can’t figure out how she feels about a certain antisocial werewolf or his charming brother-who just happens to be a sorcerer. Then there’s the fact that she’s running for her life from an evil corporation that’s trying to kill her and her supernatural friends. And finally, she’s a genetically altered necromancer who can raise the dead, rotting corpses and all, without even trying.

Not normal.

But Chloe has a plan. And the end is very near.

The Gathering

Strange things are happening in Maya’s tiny Vancouver Island town. First, her friend Serena, the captain of the swim team, drowns mysteriously in the middle of a calm lake. Then, one year later, mountain lions are spotted rather frequently around Maya’s home and her reactions to them are somewhat…
unexpected. Her best friend, Daniel, has also been experiencing unexplainable premonitions about certain people and situations. It doesn’t help that the new bad boy in town, Rafe, has a dangerous secret, and he’s interested in one special part of Maya’s anatomy her paw print birthmark.

The Calling

On the heels of the wildly popular The Gathering comes the second in the ‘Darkness Rising’ YA trilogy from NYT bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. Maya Delaney’s paw print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is a skin walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it’s only a matter of time before she’s able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents. Now, Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they’re kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

Angel: Aftermath

Springing out of Joss Whedon’s Angel: After the Fall story line, novelist Kelley Armstrong The Summoning comes aboard to explore the many repercussions following the explosive last issue of Angel: After the Fall. Artist Dave Ross also comes aboard to present the first arc of AFTERMATH wherein we learn who lived, who died, and who will be forever changed from the experience.

The Bone Key (By:Sarah Monette)

The dead and the monstrous will not leave Kyle Murchison Booth alone, for an unwilling foray into necromancy has made him sensitive to and attractive to the creatures who roam the darkness of his once safe world. Ghosts, ghouls, incubi: all have one thing in common. They know Booth for one of their own…

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume One

An Air Force Loadmaster is menaced by strange sounds within his cargo; a man is asked to track down a childhood friend…
who died years earlier; doomed pioneers forge a path westward as a young mother discovers her true nature; an alcoholic strikes a dangerous bargain with a gregarious stranger; urban explorers delve into a ruined book depository, finding more than they anticipated; residents of a rural Wisconsin town defend against a legendary monster; a woman wracked by survivor’s guilt is haunted by the ghosts of a tragic crash; a detective strives to solve the mystery of a dismembered girl; an orphan returns to a wicked witch’s candy house; a group of smugglers find themselves buried to the necks in sand; an unanticipated guest brings doom to a high class party; a teacher attempts to lead his students to safety as the world comes to an end around them…
What frightens us, what unnerves us? What causes that delicious shiver of fear to travel the lengths of our spines? It seems the answer changes every year. Every year the bar is raised; the screw is tightened. Ellen Datlow knows what scares us; the twenty one stories and poems included in this anthology were chosen from magazines, webzines, anthologies, literary journals, and single author collections to represent the best horror of the year. Legendary editor Ellen Datlow Poe: New Tales Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe, winner of multiple Hugo, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy awards, joins Night Shade Books in presenting The Best Horror of the Year, Volume One.

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Two

Legendary editor Ellen Datlow, winner of multiple Hugo, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy awards, joins Night Shade Books in presenting The Best Horror of the Year Volume 2.

The Best Horror of the Year: Volume Three

What frightens us? What unnerves us? What causes that delicious shiver of fear to travel the lengths of our spines? It seems the answer changes every year. Every year the bar is raised; the screw, tightened. Ellen Datlow knows what scares us; the nineteen stories included in this anthology were chosen from magazines, webzines, anthologies, literary journals, and single author collections to represent the best horror of the year.

Goblins (By:Charles L. Grant)

Opening the X Files…

MeetMulder and Scully, FBI. The agency maverick and the female agent assigned to keep him in line.

Their job: investigate the eeriest unsolved mysteries in modern America, from pyro psychics to death row demonics, from rampaging Sasquatches to alien invasions. The cases the Bureau wants handled quietly, but quickly, before the public finds out what’s really out there. And panics. The cases filed under ‘X.’

Whirlwind (By:Charles L. Grant)

Serial killers come in all shapes and sizes, but this one is particularly puzzling. There’s no pattern to the mutilated bodies that have been showing up in Albuquerque: both sexes, all races, ages, ethnic groups. There is no evidence of rape or ritual. Only one thing connects the victims. They were the victims of a natural disaster. One of the most unnatural natural disasters imaginable, leading to a most painful, most certain and most hideous death…
.

Mulder and Scully, FBI: the agency maverick and the female agent assigned to keep him in line. Their job: investigate the eerie unsolved mysteries the Bureau wants handled quietly, but quickly, before the public finds out what’s really out there. And panics. The cases filed under ‘X.’

Ground Zero (By:Kevin J. Anderson)

Dr. Gregory, a renowned nuclear weapons researcher, is not only dead he’s been charred to a radioactive cinder. Since this is a death on Federal property, Mulder and Scully are hastily called in. As FBI agents who specialize in unexplained phenomena, they are the investigators of The X Files, strange and inexplicable cases which are also mysteries that the FBI doesn’t want solved. When a second victim, completely unrelated to nuclear science or Dr. Gregory is obliterated in the New Mexico desert, and then a third dies the same way in Washington, DC, Mulder and Scully begin to focus on the frightening dimension of their task. The bizarre deaths cannot be a coincidence. And as they work to uncover the secret unifying element that unites these deaths, it becomes clear that this twisted puzzle has fatal consequences for the entire world.

Ruins (By:Kevin J. Anderson)

A well connectedAmerican archaeologist disappears while exploring the lost Mayan city ofXitaclan and FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are flown to the Yucat njungles to investigate. Not an ordinary FBI team, Mulder and Scully are assigned to the X Files,the strange and inexplicable cases the FBI wants to keep hidden from scrutiny…
thecases involving the paranormal, the supernatural and possibly, the extraterrestrial. Based on a mysterious jade artifact and ominous local legends, Mulder decidesthere may be more to this case than simply a missing team of scientists namely ancient curses, blood sacrifices, and deadly reptilian monsterslost in the jungle since before history. Scully is more skeptical. Her priorityis to keep an eye on her partner and try to provide logical explanationsfor Mulder’s unorthodox speculations. Unbeknownst to the two FBI agents, the lost city of Xitaclan is the sceneof an impending three way brush war between Central American drug lords,international smugglers who deal in looted Mayan artifacts, and a covertU.S. military commando team that has been sent to investigate, and destroy,a strange electronic signal received from beneath the ruins a signalaimed upwards, at the stars! Mulder and Scully must unravel the secret ofXitaclan and discover what has become of the lost archaeology team beforethese opposing forces converge on the forgotten ruins…
and unleash a powerthat nothing on Earth can contain.

Antibodies (By:Kevin J. Anderson)

A novel based on the Emmy Award winning television series created by Chris Carter. When a disease ravaged body is found in the smoldering ruins of the federally funded DyMar genetic research lab, Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully fear that a deadly, man made plague is on the loose. As the FBI agents investigating the ‘X Files’ cases the bureau has deemed unsolvable Mulder and Scully pursue the truth wherever it leads, even into the labyrinthine corridors of the FBI…
and beyond. Racing to contain the lethal virus before it can spread, Mulder and Scully make a chilling discovery. Before his death, Dr. David Kennessy, a hotshot cancer researcher at DyMar, had been experimenting with a promising but highly dangerous technology: microscopic bio machines that can cure any disease, heal any wound. In theory, this research could be a miracle cure, perhaps even a doorway to immortality. It was also the only way Dr. Kennessy could save his leukemia stricken son. But when a second corpse turns up, savagely mutilated from within, it’s anything but theoretical. Could machines created to cure have learned to kill? Scrambling for answers, Mulder and Scully are opposed at every step by faceless enemies with all the resources of the government even perhaps of their own agency at their command. Enemies who will stop at nothing to ensure that the secret of immortality falls in the right hands their hands. As sinister forces close in, Scully fights to save the life of an innocent boy while Mulder comes face to face with a crazed and desperate man. A man whose slightest touch brings agonizing death and perhaps a resurrection more horrible still.

Skin (By:Ben Mezrich)

It’s a fairly common, if ghoulish, procedure: the ‘harvesting’ of skin from corpses for temporary use on emergency burn victims until their own grafts are ready. But when a team of moonlighting medical students accidentally takes skin from the wrong donor, the results are catastrophic: a New York City hospital ward is destroyed in a psychotic bloodbath, and an elderly professor, admitted for a routine skin graft, is suddenly the city’s most wanted fugitive. Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully are the only ones to suspect something more ominous than a medical procedure gone awry. As the FBI agents investigating the ‘X Files’ strange and inexplicable cases the Bureau wants to keep hidden, Mulder and Scully are determined to track down the forces they suspect are behind the murderer. While the police hunt the fleeing professor, Mulder and Scully track the skin that was mistakenly grafted onto him. The trail leads from the morgue to the headquarters of a cutting edge biotech company. Soon Mulder and Scully are in Thailand, searching the jungles for an abandoned MASH Unit, where napalm victims were treated with an amazing recovery rate’even though none of the hundreds of men who were nursed back to health ever returned to their families. Scully is looking for an experimental medical technology with disastrous side effects. Mulder suspects the stakes are even higher, a fear gruesomely confirmed as they begin to uncover an unholy and totally deniable alliance between a battle trained plastic surgeon, international politicians, and a legendary Thai monster known as the ‘Skin Eater.’

Fight the Future (By:Elizabeth Hand)

Beneath the tranquil surface of a North Texas town, the future of the human race awaits…
After forty years, members of the Global conspiracy known only as The Project are finally nearing the completion of their plans. Only FBI Special Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully have a glimpse of the nightmare that lies ahead for the rest of the world: an alien invasion fueled by the most devastating virus in human history. And only they know that the Truthisn’t out there anymore It’s already here.

I Want to Believe (By:Max Allan Collins)

In the bitter heart of a brutal winter, women are inexplicably vanishing in rural Virginia. The only clues to the bizarre disappearances are grotesque remains human remains that are turning up in snow banks along the highway. And a disgraced priest has begun to experience strange and disturbing visions possibly connected with a terrible secret. But are the images haunting a fallen man of God to be trusted…
. or are they the deadly lies of a twisted mind?

It is a case right out of the X Files. But the FBI suspended its investigations into the paranormal years ago. Ex agents Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully are the best team for the job, but they have no desire to revisit the past. Still, the truth about these horrific crimes is out there…
. and only Mulder and Scully can uncover it.

Lifeblood (By:P.N. Elrod)

Jack Fleming was an investigative journalist in Prohibition era Chicago until he got shot by an unknown assassin, bitten by his vampire girlfriend, and then became one of the undead. Now, this nice guy nosferatu has a bunch of crazy vampire hunters on his trail, armed with crosses, silver bullets, and sharp wooden stakes. He doesn t know how they found out about him or why they are out for his blood, but it’s not a problem for this street wise gumshoe, until someone starts shooting. Jack himself may be bulletproof, but his friends are not. And Jack is determined to get some answers, even if it kills him again. It s a case of the living versus the undead. But who s hunting whom?

Bloodlist (By:P.N. Elrod)

I ve always had a weak spot for strange ladies. One very beautiful girl had even warned me that she was get this a vampire. But did I listen? No. Before you know it, I m being chased by an ugly thug with a gun, and a bullet blasts its way through my back, and believe it or not nothing happened. I survived! How? You guessed it. I, Jack Fleming, ace reporter, have been transformed into a vampire. Which has its advantages. You never die, you never grow old, you sleep all day…
and best of all, you can hunt down your own murderer. This is the first book in the exciting vampire adventure series, The Vampire Files.

Art in the Blood (By:P.N. Elrod)

Being a vampire isn’t as glamorous as it sounds…
Jack Fleming, Anerican journalist, was bitten by the wrong girl and Jack joined the living dead. Eccentric detective Charles Escott helps Jack solve any strange cases that happen along…
and now Jack and Charles investigate the case of the talented young artist whose life is suddenly cut short.

Blood on the Water (By:P.N. Elrod)

As a journalist in Capone controlled Chicago, Jack Fleming is used to the sight of blood, but when he becomes a vampire, his addictive thirst for it puts him between the cops and the mob in a pulsating fight for his life.

A Chill in the Blood (By:P.N. Elrod)

In the series that Science Fiction Review called ‘fast…
intriguing’ and Mystery Scene dubbed ‘very entertaining,’ P.N. Elrod’s Vampire Files have blended the macabre humor of vampire lore with the hard boiled storytelling of detective fiction to create a series that has achieved both cult status and critical acclaim. Now the hero who has thrilled thousands of readers returns for his most dangerous adventure yet. Jack Fleming was a man of many trades. When he was alive, he was a reporter with a nose for the grittiest news. Now that he’s dead, he’s a private eye with a thirst for justice and blood. But being a vampire with morals is no midnight stroll on the mean streets of post prohibition Chicago. There’s a cold wind blowing off the lake. It smells of death. And even Jack can feel its chill. For in the city of sin, the gangs still rule and they’re on the brink of an all out war. No one not the crooks or the cops cares how much blood, innocent or otherwise, flows during the fight. No one except a certain undead P.I. caught between the local hoods and the boys from New York. Can Jack stop the battle before it starts? And how much of his remaining humanity will he have to give up to do so?

The Dark Sleep (By:P.N. Elrod)

The novel that vampire fans have been thirsting for…
the newest addition to P.N. Elrod’s popular series The Vampire Files. Called ‘fast…
intriguing,’ by Science Fiction Review, and ‘good natured fun’ by Locus, P.N. Elrod’s series The Vampire Files has captured the imaginations of vampire fans and mystery readers alike. Jack Fleming, a vampire detective, makes his ‘living’ on the mean streets of post prohibition Chicago. As he struggles to fight the gangsters at large, he is also trying to sustain an ordinary life. At least, as ordinary as it can get when you’re a vampire…
Death hasn’t ended Jack Fleming’s problems. His girlfriend Bobbi has caught the attention of a famous radio star, who promises to open doors for the lovely singer including the one to his bedroom. His current case retrieving incriminating letters from the ex lover of a rich, foolish young socialite, looks simple until bullets start flying. Now Jack’s mortal partner is in the hospital. Who’s behind the gun? The ex lover? The radio star’s goons? An old enemy? Jack has to find out the truth before the lives of those he loves are put at risk…
‘Well done…
original. You won’t want to miss this series.’ Cemetery Dance

Lady Crymsyn (By:P.N. Elrod)

Spiked with ‘a flavor of the supernatural’ Science Fiction Chronicle, P. N. Elrod’s series, The Vampire Files, goes one step beyond detective noir. Its hero is Jack Fleming, a private detective on the right side of the law but on the wrong side of the living in post prohibition Chicago. This vampire turned gumshoe will take on mobsters, monsters, and everything in between. Now, in Lady Crymsyn, Fleming tries to find a good time girl gone bad, who may have been the victim of a premature burial…
Praise for The Vampire Files series:’Elrod’s treatment of the practical aspects of vampirism is clever and refreshing.’ Booklist ‘Echoes of Hammett and Chandler abound…
an entertaining exercise in supernatural noir.’ Publishers Weekly’Plenty of action, full of twists and betrayals, and the quirky characters and many touches of period flavor keep things amusing.’ Locus’Snappy vampire with a conscience yarn, laced with blackish humor.’ Kirkus Reviews

Cold Streets (By:P.N. Elrod)

P. N. Elrod’s novels of The Vampire Files turn the seductive shadows of the noir novel into sanctuary for fiction’s most unusual private investigator vampire Jack Fleming. In Elrod’s newest novel, Jack takes to Chicago’s cold, violent streets to find a blackmailer who’s onto the detective’s unnatural secret…

Song in the Dark (By:P.N. Elrod)

P. N. Elrod’s novels of The Vampire Files blend the seductive shadows of classic noir into a sanctuary for a most unusual private investigator vampire Jack Fleming. In Elrod’s newest novel, Jack is under the gun when the New York mafia wants his hide, and the love of his life is wanted for murder.

Many Bloody Returns (With: Jim Butcher,Carolyn Haines,Charlaine Harris,Bill Crider,Sandra Burr,,,Elaine Viets,Rachel Caine,Toni L.P. Kelner,Christopher Golden,Jeanne C. Stein,Tanya Huff,P.N. Elrod)

Never before published vampire stories by Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher, Kelley Armstrong, and many others. 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.

Dark Road Rising (By:P.N. Elrod)

The first new Vampire Files novel in four years! Vampire P.I. Jack Fleming is playing babysitter to Gabriel ‘Whitey’ Kroun, a dangerously unstable mobster and newly created vampire with deadly secrets to hide. As Jack tries to unravel the mystery surrounding Kroun’s undead state, he gets caught between his charge’s violent outbursts and some syndicate torpedoes looking to rub them both out, leaving him vulnerable to an even deadlier threat the return of an old enemy desperate to unlock the secrets of Jack’s vampire immortality.

Dates From Hell

She thought her date was out of this world. Actually, he was not of this world…
We’ve all been on bad dates, nightmare dates, dreadful experiences that turned out to be uniquely memorable in the very worst way. But at least our partners for these detestable evenings were more or less…
human! Now Kim Harrison, Lynsay Sands, Kelley Armstrong, and Lori Handeland four of the very best writers currently exploring the dangerous seduction of the supernatural offer up dating disasters and unexpected delights of a completely different sort: dark, wicked, paranormally sensual assignations with werewolves, demon lovers, and the romantically challenged undead. Sexy, witty, chilling, and altogether remarkable, here is proof positive that some love matches are made someplace other than heaven.

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. Kelley Armstrong Jim Butcher Rachel Caine P.N. Elrod Caitlin Kittredge Marjorie M. Liu Katie MacAlister Lilith Saintcrow Ronda Thompson

Blood Lite

…
a collection of entertaining tales that puts the fun back into dark fiction, with ironic twists and tongue in cheek wit to temper the jagged edge.

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 ‘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’…
Celebrity necromancer Jaime Vegas is headlining a sold out’s ance tour, but behind the scenes, a disgruntled ghost has a bone to pick, in Kelley Armstrong’s ‘The Ungrateful Dead.’ Plus tales guaranteed to get under your skin in a good way from

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!

By Blood We Live

Vampires. They are the most elegant of monsters ancient, seductive, doomed, deadly. They lurk in the shadows, at your window, in your dreams. They are beautiful as anything you ve ever seen, but their flesh is cold as the grave, and their lips taste of blood. From Dracula to Twilight, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to True Blood, many have fallen under their spell. Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams brings you 33 of the most haunting vampire stories of the past three decades, from some of today’s most renowned authors of fantasy, science fiction, and horror. Charming gentlemen with the manners of a prior age. Savage killing machines who surge screaming from hidden vaults. Cute little girls frozen forever in slender bodies. Long buried loved ones who scratch at the door, begging to be let in. Nowhere is safe, not mist shrouded Transylvania or the Italian Riviera or even a sleepy town in Maine. This is a hidden world, an eternal world, where nothing is forbidden…
as long as you re willing to pay the price. Edited by John Joseph Adams Wastelands, The Living Dead, By Blood We Live is 245,000 words of the best in vampire fiction. Thirsty? By Blood We Live will satisfy your darkest cravings…

A Fantasy Medley

A Fantasy Medley features the superlative storytelling abilities of four diverse authors:In Zen and the Art of Vampirism, Zoe Takano, the only vampire in Toronto, a city filled with supernatural creatures of Kelley Armstrong’s Otherworld, finds her place in the hierarchy threatened by two interlopers. Riding the Shore of the River of Death returns us to the world of Kate Elliott s Crown of Stars. Kareka, daughter of the begh of the Kirshat, hunts to take a man s head. It is her last opportunity to prove herself as a man or else she will find herself restricted to the role of woman and wife in the clan forever. Robin Hobb revisits her Farseer world in Words Like Coins. Mirrifen, a failed hedge witch s apprentice who has married to find security finds that threatened by a severe drought and the appearance of a pregnant female pecksie. C.E. Murphy takes us to frozen Moscow in From Russia, with Love. Baba Yaga s daughter is a barmaid at a dive when Janx and Eliseo Daisani walk in. They discover, as they compete for the girl s affections, that Baba Yaga has plans for Janx and that her beautiful daughter had merely been the bait.

The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy & Horror 2010

Darkness surrounds us. We can find darkness anywhere: in a strange green stone etched with mysterious symbols; at a small town’s annual picnic; in a ghostly house that is easy to enter but not so easy to leave; behind the dumpster in the alley where a harpy lives; in The Nowhere, a place where car keys, toys, people disappear to; among Polar explorers; and, most definitely, within ourselves. Darkness flies from mysterious crates; surrounds children whose nightlights have vanished; and flickers between us at the movie theater. Darkness crawls from the past and is waiting in our future; and there’s always a chance that Halloween really is a door opening directly into endless shadow. Welcome to the dark. You may never want to leave. This inaugural volume of the year’s best dark fantasy and horror features more than 500 pages of dark tales from some of today’s finest writers of the fantastique. Chosen from a variety of sources, these stories are as eclectic and varied as the genre itself.

Hellbound Hearts

Clive Barker’s iconic masterpiece The Hellbound Heart, the novella adapted into the film Hellraiser, unleashed a new mythology of horror, brilliantly conceived and born of the darkest imagination. Now, enter this visionary world the merciless realm of the demonic Cenobites in this collection of stories inspired by The Hellbound Heart. Featured here is the graphic work ‘Wordsworth,’ from bestselling author Neil Gaiman and artist Dave McKean, who unlock an explicit way to violate innocence one torturous puzzle at a time…
. New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong logs on to a disturbing website for gamers, where the challenge is agonizing, and the solution beyond painful. When his father disappears, an Oxford student returns to his family’s mansion, where a strange mechanism in the cellar holds a curious power, in a haunting illustrated work by Christopher Golden and Mike Mignola.

Campus Chills

Chilling tales born from the dark shadows of campuses across Canada. Edited by Mark Leslie and introduced by Robert J. Sawyer, Campus Chills features thirteen all original tales of terror by Kelley Armstrong, Julie E. Czerneda, Kimberly Foottit, James Alan Gardner, Sephera Giron, Michael Kelly, Nancy Kilpatrick, Susie Moloney, Douglas Smith, Brit Trogen, Edo van Belkom, Steve Vernon and Carol Weekes. Prepare to have your blood run cold, your heart race and your brow bead with sweat: this anthology of horror stories ranges from the starkly terrifying to the tantalizingly creepy. There’s magic mixed in with the chalk dust, evil lurking in the textbooks, malevolence biding its time in the labs and perhaps something even more horrifying in the student cafeteria.

Kisses from Hell

Truly, Madly, Undead ly This irresistible collection features stories of love amid vampires by five of today’s hottest authors Kristin Cast Tempted, Richelle Mead Vampire Academy, Alyson No l Evermore, Kelley Armstrong The Summoning, and Francesca Lia Block Pretty Dead. From a fugitive vampire forced to trust a boy who might work for the group bent on destroying her to the legendary romance of two immortals whose love compels them to risk everything, this heart pounding collection brings new meaning to the words ‘love you forever.’ Whether you’re into romances that are dark and moody or light and fun, these stories will quench that insatiable thirst for enchanting tales of the beautiful undead.

New Dead

RESURRECTION! The hungry dead have risen. They shamble down the street. They hide in back yards, car lots, shopping malls. They devour neighbors, dogs and police officers. And they are here to stay. The real question is, what are you going to do about it? How will you survive?HOW WILL THE WORLD CHANGE WHEN THE DEAD BEGIN TO RISE?Stoker award winning author Christopher Golden has assembled an original anthology of never before published zombie stories from an eclectic array of today’s hottest writers. Inside there are stories about military might in the wake of an outbreak, survival in a wasted wasteland, the ardor of falling in love with a zombie, and a family outing at the circus. Here is a collection of new views on death and resurrection. With stories from Joe Hill, John Connolly, Max Brooks, Kelley Armstrong, Tad Williams, David Wellington, David Liss, Aimee Bender, Jonathan Maberry, and many others, this is a wildly diverse and entertaining collection…
the Last Word on the New Dead.

Vampires

The undead are more alive today than ever. Immortal? Indeed! Nothing has sunk its teeth into twenty first century popular culture as pervasively as the vampire. The fangsters have the freedom to fly across all genres and all mediums there’s even apps for vamps. Whether roaming into romance, haunting horror, sneaking into science fiction, capering into humor, meandering through mystery no icon is more versatile than the vampire. Slack your insatiable thirst with the best sanguinary stories of the new millennium: terrifying or tender, deadly or delicious, bad ass or beneficent, classic or cutting edge.

Subterranean

Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy, published in 2008 to widespread critical and popular acclaim, provided a unique showcase for some of our finest practitioners of dark, disturbing fiction. This much anticipated second volume more than meets the standards set by its predecessor, offering a diverse assortment of stories guaranteed to delight, unsettle, and enthrall. Volume two proper is a full 20,000 words longer than the first installment in the series. This stellar collection leads off with Joe Hill’s dazzling Wolverton Station, in which a predatory businessman travels to England, and to a primal confrontation he could never have imagined. Elsewhere, a number of contributors revisit familiar, well established themes and settings. Glen Cook s Smelling Danger gives us a brand new chapter in the long running annals of The Black Company. The Passion of Mother Vajpai is a story of exotic and erotic initiation set against the backdrop of Jay Lake s novel, Green. Kelley Armstrong reenters the Otherworld with Chivalrous, the account of a devious and long delayed act of revenge. And there s more, much more, including a hallucinatory portrait of guilt, angst, and drug fueled violence by Caitlin R. Kiernan, and an affecting reflection on love, death, and acceptance by Steven R. Boyett. These stories, together with first rate work by the likes of K. J. Parker and Norman Partridge, offer provocative, sometimes visceral entertainment. As this rich, rewarding volume amply demonstrates, the tale of dark fantasy is alive and thriving, and continues to develop in new and unexpected ways.

Seize the Night

Dark Hunter: an immortal warrior who has traded his soul to Artemis for one moment of vengeance on his enemies. In return, they swear to spend eternity protecting mankind from the daimons and vampires that prey on them. Valerius isn’t a popular Dark Hunter he’s a Roman, which means that the largely Greek Hunters have a major grudge against him and his civilization for superceding them. To make things worse, he’s very conscious of his aristocratic background and breeding. So it serves him right when he runs into Tabitha Devereaux. She’s sassy, sexy, and completely unwilling to take him seriously. Not to mention Tabitha is also the sister in law of Kyrian, a former Dark Hunter and Val’s mortal enemy. What Tabitha does take seriously is hunting and killing vampires and soon she and Val have to grapple with the deadliest of all Daimons one who’s managed to come back from the dead, and one who holds a serious grudge against both of them. To win against evil, Val will have to loosen up, learn to trust, and put everything on the line to protect a man he hates and a woman who drives him nuts.