Word Count: 11000
Summary: Any landing you can crawl away from is a good one. A data privateer crash-lands on a barely habitable moon where he's rescued by a research scientist who refuses to show his face. Though suspicious and paranoid by necessity, Rhodi finds himself drawn to the soft-spoken man behind the mask. Professor Covington prefers being isolated with his research. He has good reason to limit human contact, but he can’t abandon anyone to the ravages of a fickle and dangerous environment. He knows Rhodi’s hiding things. It’s none of his business and his mysterious guest will leave once a nasty native virus has run its course. Strange how the thought makes him less happy by the hour.
Word Count: 7200
Summary: Part of the "A Holiday to Remember 2017 Series" On the colony planet Vega III, everyone knows Beck—outgoing, fabulous, and genderqueer—and nobody notices Anil, the quiet plant biologist. But when Anil finds Beck hiding in his greenhouse, lonely and missing Earth, it's Anil who is able to comfort Beck by letting them talk about what they miss most—the feeling that comes with celebrating the holidays with loved ones, especially New Year's Eve. The two of them are drawn to one another, but both of them are hiding secrets about their sexuality. With trust between them already on shaky ground, Anil's elaborate plans to cheer Beck may well backfire. A Holiday to Remember Freddy MacKay - Watermelon Kisses Foster Bridget Cassidy - But to Love More Toni Griffin - Corey's Christmas Bundle Angel Martinez - Safety Protocols for Human Holidays Nicole Dennis - Secrets & Silk Kassandra Lea - Winter Home Jill Wexler - The Christmas Eve Craigslist Killer Jayne Lockwood - New Beginnings Tray Ellis - A Piece of Ourselves J. Scott Coatsworth - I Only Want to Be With You Siri Paulson - A New Year on Vega III
Word Count: 13000
Summary: There are three certainties in modern life: death, taxes, and infuriating customer support. Even when you’re dead, you can’t catch a break. Ainlay Harrison is surprised to wake up as a ghost – and even more surprised to be onboarded into the AfterLife™’s most exciting project: hauntings. After a simple typo leaves Ainlay stranded at the wrong address, the only option is to correct the mistake – but that means going through the most feared and hated monster on either side of the grave: a customer service chatbot. Some things never change … and fighting through undead bureaucracy is enough to make anyone want to die. Will this blasted chatbot be enough to drive Ainlay to end it all? Or is there some way to drill some sense into this infernal bot? This tongue-in-cheek satirical novelette pokes fun at the gruelling realities of customer support and bureaucracy. Ainlay vs Infernal Support is a fun and witty read that’s perfect for fans of the TV series Ghosts and If Found, Return to Hell by Em X. Liu.
Word Count: 10000
Summary: How far would a werewolf go to help a friend? Werewolves and dogs don’t usually get along, but Jordan Abbey has formed a bond with her elderly neighbor’s Rottweiler. So when Rex goes missing during a dog-walking mishap, she’s determined to return him home. With her abilities, finding him should be easy. Except there is one problem. The vampire lord of the city has declared she’s not allowed to shape-shift within the city limits of Rancho Robles. Better to ask forgiveness than permission, or so Jordan thinks. But there is another issue she has to face - Animal Control. Rumors are getting around about wolf-like dogs wandering the city, and they respond quickly to panicky stray dog calls. Jordan knows how to be discreet, or so she believes. Will Jordan be able to find her friend without sacrificing her freedom?
Word Count: 12000
Summary: Luella Carey isn’t crazy, not really, not that anyone believes her. Sent to Barrow Haven Asylum for a melancholic nature, she’s locked away at the behest of her father and his new wife. Grieving for her mother’s death, Luella finds comfortable solitude in the asylum until several anonymous letters appear. Mr. Winifred Carey’s new wife intends murder. She plans to claim the Carey fortune as her own. Mere days to escape the asylum and warn her father, Luella turns to a new friend, Mr. Isaac McEwen. The clock ticking down the hour, Luella fears her final decision. A grave mistake, perhaps? But who can she trust?
Word Count: 14500
Summary: With the Milky Way Galaxy teetering on the edge of a widespread conflict, one man’s choices will ripple across the stars. Lars Svensson has left behind his military past for a much quieter life as a captain of the Lundgren, an old, rundown mining barge. His routine is upended when a catastrophic explosion at a deep spaceport forces him to take on hundreds of desperate survivors. Tensions run high as the Lundgren rushes toward the nearest inhabited system--but the disagreements among the crew soon prove to be the least of Lars’ worries. Sudden sabotage cripples the ship, leaving them all stranded in the cold void between the stars, light-years from any chance of rescue.
Word Count: 7300
Summary: Two brothers find misery in California's Gold Rush until a Chinese doctor promises them riches. They should have asked, at what price? Set in the Trinity Mountains, this is the first book - a single story - in a series of short reads in science fiction and fantasy.
Word Count: 28985
Summary: A collection of the "Brassbright Kids" stories PLUS a brand-new novelette! The Steamkettle Kids Save the Day - Can Paisley Pockets and Christopher Cogan stop a crime in progress? They may be just a couple of kids, but where there’s a will and some smarts, there just might be a way. The Legend of The Engineer - In a country called Industralia, children listen to a New Year's story about Frostica, the Engineer, and a magical train. A Life Invented - Gerard Liddle tinkers with his very first inventions - which sometimes work, and sometimes do unexpected things. The Steamkettle Kids and the Lucky Tentacles - After a hurricane shakes up Steamkettle Bay, Paisley Pockets, Christopher Cogan and Jimmy Cupper have an adventure as big as the sea. ~ NEW ~ The Secret of Tarragon Alley - Robin dreams of having a garden filled with flowers, just like Gramma did. When he brings home a little clay pot filled with gnarly, weird plants, he has no idea that it will take him on an amazing adventure.
Word Count: 7000
Summary: Emma and her Aunt Agathe share a family resemblance - they can both speak to ghosts. But Agathe, rejected by her family and constantly beset by heartache, has spent her whole life fleeing her unusual gift. Emma, however, embraces it. Grave Songs for the Dead is a cycle of three interconnected short stories, gothic with a touch of magic realism, set in the late 19th century.
Word Count: 7643
Summary: Space politics sends The Protector on a mission, the failure of which could result in mass destruction. When her mission is sabotaged, the man bred from birth to be a Protector must leave his lover in order to carry out his duty. However, before he leaves, he promises to meet the white-haired H’asean at Asphodel’s Pit, one of the most dangerous dives in all the known universes, sending him off with Protector’s Brachi friend. Meanwhile, at Asphodel’s Pit, inhabitants of other planets are going about their business. Sloff runs the dive, along with his old friend Rinig sa Bre, who provides security. Both men are unaware all hell in on the verge of breaking loose, as a Protector is about to arrive, looking for his young sir.
Word Count: Information not available
Summary:
“Is blood thicker than water?”
The answer seems obvious until a half-millennium-old blood feud ignited between twin brothers of a 16th century Scottish Reiver clan revisits violence generation to generation, pursuing their descendants from island to island and finally onto a new continent ,where the familiar proverb is ultimately pitted against this fluid tale of guilt, blood, water, and time.
Rich with magical realism, Is Blood Thicker taps millennia-old folklore to spin a modern fable of love, pain, and family wisdom consumed by a lived code:
‘Drink, Pray, Fight, Feck’ … and a fox.
Word Count: 11000
Summary: What if you staged the best haunted house in the history of the holiday, but nobody came? Brady is prepared with mounds of treats, stellar special effects, and an extraordinary welcome for the throngs of trick-or-treaters he expects in his first year at his new place—a gloriously gothic house with the reputation for really being haunted! But the trick’s on Brady: Halloween is almost over and not one person has knocked on his door. Once a top Interdimensional Law Enforcement agent, Rej was busted down to Creature Control after a run-in with his arch-nemesis. When he tracks a non-sentient construct across the dimensional barrier, he’s sure he’s about to confront Gorvenath again. But the person who bursts onto the porch in a swirl of tuxedo coattails is a monster of a very different sort—but is he Gorvenath’s accomplice or his victim? Monster Till Midnight is an 11,000-word gay romance featuring a hopeful samhainophile, a suspicious LEO, gratuitous candy corn, and a relationship that threatens to be really, really, really long distance.
Word Count: 13,800
Summary: Get ready to enter a world where the only way to escape from work is death! Richard is a man who would rather be in jail than have to get a job, but his attempts to get arrested keep failing. That is, until he's transported to an office planet where the cubicles are made of particle board, the spreadsheets are endless, and the boss is a whip-wielding maniac. With the help of a rebel coworker named Destiny and a newfound power, Richard must navigate the impossible maze of the office and take on the oppressive boss to save her people. Planet of the Wage Slaves is a hilarious, satirical take on the modern work environment that will have you laughing and cringing at the same time. It's the perfect read for anyone who has ever felt trapped in a soul-sucking job or who just wants a good dose of surreal sci-fi comedy. So put down that TPS report, grab a copy of Planet of the Wage Slaves, and join Richard on his absurd journey through the cubicle jungle!
Word Count: 8,040
Summary: A sheltered prince. A sudden death. An unexpected choice. How will Prince Marcelo react to discovering he’s The Contingency Plan? For eighteen years, there has been peace between Sheburat and the kingdom of Zioneven. The untimely death of a princess throws the marriage arrangement—the final phase to complete the terms of the treaty—into disarray, and the contingency plan is put into motion. Now the Crown Prince of Zioneven gets to make his own choice from among the princess’s younger siblings. As a rare royal son in the matriarchal sovereignty of Sheburat, Prince Marcelo grew up knowing he would never marry. Never. Royal sons did not marry. Period. Except, Prince Efren isn’t from Sheburat, and he has other plans. Keywords: gay, fantasy, romance, prince, royalty, marriage, arranged marriage, wedding, virgin, fantasy, meet cute, hope, sweet, short story, novelette, ebook
Word Count: 13,300
Summary: England, 1834. On the night of a harvest moon, in the shadows of late autumn, Malcolm comes across a quaint village tucked away in the forest. It seems the perfect spot for a weary traveller to lay his head, and maybe find a little company. But there is dark magic afoot, and lots of local gossip swirls around the seductive titian-haired weaver, Daniel. All Malcolm seeks is a night's pleasure. He never suspected he would have to worry about losing his life. Or his heart. This novelette is about 14,000 words in length and the first entry in the Darkly Enchanted Romance Series.
Word Count: 14999
Summary: Rafael Schiller, vampire and sexual god without peer, believes himself the top of the food chain, until a bizarre creature feeding in an alley scares the deathless hell out of him. Rafael Schiller’s had a long road and he’s forgotten the meaning of several human words along the way. Commitment? Relationship? Love, for all the gods’ sakes? What does a vampire need those for? He’s completely content treating his long string of one-off lovers as midnight snacks. He makes it good for them and has no reason for guilt or grief. Some nights still induce an odd, hollow ache, but he can just drown it in the next conquest. Master of his universe, he lives without a care…until he encounters a bizarre creature feeding in an alley. It’s caught his scent, and now that it’s hunting him, Rafael remembers a word from his childhood. Krsnik—the hunters, the monsters who feed on the blood of vampires. He could run, but he’d be running forever, and that would sure as hell take the fun out of life. Time to figure out what the creature really is, what can defeat it, and why he feels so drawn to it.
Word Count: Information not available
Summary: After a nebulous Enemy destroys Earth and threatens the rest of the Universe, the remnants of humanity on Mars try to find a way to triumph while keeping the Enemy at bay through unusually harsh game theory.
Word Count: 12000
Summary: If The Little Mermaid were set in the twenty-second century... In the aftermath of climate change, humans have abandoned the flooded coasts. Underwater, people of another kind struggle to rehabilitate the polluted seas. After one rescues a human engineer, she realizes he might hold the key. If she can learn how to interact with the world like a human, if she can understand them, if she can become enough like them, maybe they will help. Maybe he will help. But to reach him, she may need to sacrifice who she is...
