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Word Count: Click here to reveal103,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: In volume three of this widely-praised dark fantasy anthology series, the Night Bazaar, a secret marketplace of the rare, strange, occult, and dangerous, journeys to 19th century London. There, as usual, its vendors will purvey curious services, forbidden wares, and rare objects which cannot be had elsewhere, for any price. The midnight market has operated throughout history in various locales, appearing in a city for one week only, never to return. This time the Bazaar’s proprietress, the enigmatic and unflappable Madame Vera, escorts the reader on an eerie, fantastical British tour in ten linked short stories by various authors. Some tales feature such recognizable luminaries as Sherlock Holmes, occultist Madam Blavatsky, and Queen Anne Boleyn. Several take place during the Bazaar proper, while others occur earlier or later, tied to its 1880 London appearance by a curse or spell – or, by an object found, inherited, purchased, or stolen during the decades since, by the unsuspecting, foolish, or greedy (though seldom the completely innocent). Together, these ten linked stories take readers on a fantastical journey into astonishment, dread, and dark delight. The Night Bazaar still holds everything you’ve read about but thought had passed away, or perhaps never existed at all. How wrong you were! But be warned: as usual, each object or service comes with a gift, a curse, or a haunting. NOTE: THE VOLUMES IN THIS SERIES MAY BE READ IN ANY ORDER YOU LIKE!

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Summary: Welcome, Gentle Stranger. The Night Bazaar is open to you, once more. But this mysterious midnight gathering isn’t the usual marketplace. It’s a vendor's faire not constrained by geography or time. One week it appears in present-day New York, the next in . . . well, let’s say 14th century Venice, shall we? For this time, Madame Vera and the other peripatetic denizens of The Night Bazaar return to the Bazaar’s roots. Its origin story and inaugural appearance, as the exotic marketplace pitches its colorful tents in La Serenissima, the city of a hundred canals, host to fancy glassworks, masked revelries, and singing gondoliers. And – you guessed it. Unfortunately, in 1348, to the Black Death. The market's aisles are still crowded with vendors of the rare and unusual, exotic dancers, assorted faeries, jongleurs, acrobats, mountebanks, courtesans, and purveyors of curious objets d’art. Booths feature medical oddities and strange instruments of all sorts. Tents offer passersby unusual, uncanny services. But this time, the Plague threatens the complacent citizens of Venice. Who will survive, and at what cost? The Bazaar always sells that which cannot be had elsewhere, at any price. Everything you’ve read about, but thought had passed away, or perhaps never existed. How wrong you were! For Madame Vera and her staff can take you anywhere, and anytime. You need only be Invited . . . and now you have been. (Volumes of The Night Bazaar can be read in any order; each anthology is designed to stand alone as well. Time is relative, after all!)

Word Count: Click here to reveal3,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Lem and her dog, Spock, have a late-night encounter with a stowaway. ’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the Teapot… Not a creature was stirring, not even a lonely robot; The stockings were hung in the mess hall with care In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

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Summary: In the chaotic and crime-ridden settlement of Boxtown on Mars, Minty Storey witnesses a bar fight she has no idea will change the course of her life. Halfway across the planet, Janet Pilgrim and the Volunteer Space Rescue Service struggle to do something about the pirate menace on the spaceways between Earth and Mars. But the problems both face are much bigger than pirates and bar fights. When a leader of Earth’s Manifest Destiny movement makes an appearance on Mars, events begin to roll to a climax that will hold the fate of the planet in the balance.

Word Count: Click here to reveal102096 (Click here to hide)

Summary: The adventures and trials of a vampire's journey from 1499 to the 38th century.

Word Count: Click here to reveal105000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Archeology and anarchy? Magic and mayhem? Relics and havoc? All of the above, and Taryn St. Giles just keeps digging. After the destruction caused by the discovery of the glass gargoyle, the last thing archeologist Taryn St. Giles needs is another elven artifact capable of obliterating the world. But her eccentric new patroness seems hell bent on finding exactly that. An unholy companion piece to the glass gargoyle, the obsidian chimera may be far worse, and it may more than just an artifact. It also could prove deadly to anyone who finds it. Struggling to unearth the connection between her overzealous patroness, an outbreak of zombie trolls, and an infestation of flying snakes, Taryn also stumbles upon proof that the elves are still alive. She'll need all the help she can get from old friends and an old adversary who might be more than a friend, because the elves have changed in the thousand years they've been missing. Unfortunately, their murderous spells are not a thing of myth. They want the obsidian chimera back. And they won't let anything, or anyone, stop them from reclaiming it--and the rest of Taryn's world.

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Summary: Surfside City, New Jersey. 1966. Cub reporter Harman Bass is cutting his teeth in the fast world of local journalism and getting out-scooped by the competition. Facetious, cocky, and always quoting Nietzsche, Harman isn’t making any friends both in and out of the newsroom. All that changes when the daughter of a prominent family is found dead on the beach, handing Harman the juiciest news story of the year. But she wasn’t any old beauty pageant queen; she was his high school girlfriend. Harman’s dogged reporting into the young woman’s death reveals pushback from the authorities and pulls the newshound into the resort’s darkest corners. After one of his sources is murdered, the routine story becomes dangerous and personal. Something watches Harman from the shadows, something ancient and hungry, worshipped by powerful men who kill to keep their secrets. Harman’s job and life are soon threatened, and the once brash reporter must battle his boss, rival journalists, and his own sanity before filing what could be his last story. THE OCEAN HUGS HARD is a mystery with the salty whiff of the ocean, a tinge of nostalgia, and a dollop of mind-shattering eldritch horror.

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Summary: The Etruscan goddess Cilens gifted Ramtha’s family with visions of the future. But when one vision warns her trader husband of an upcoming robbery, can he act quickly enough to recover his treasure?

Word Count: Click here to reveal85,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Reylan’s last assignment for The Arcadia Trust brought a rebellious human servant under his roof, and a volatile werewolf lover named Jorgas into his bed, leaving the self-reliant Blood Shade—known to the outside world as vampires—in no hurry to risk his immortality for them again. But when a new terror starts disappearing humans from a bad part of town, Reylan must do everything in his power to keep Sydney’s supernatural factions from the brink of war. Having an ambitious, meddlesome human in the mix is only going to make things worse…especially when that human is Jorgas’s father. Reylan will need all his determination and cunning to keep the peace under his roof, between the night’s power brokers, and in his lover’s troubled heart.

Word Count: Click here to reveal110000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: When a corpse with webbed feet and other aquatic adaptations washes ashore during a hurricane, the county medical examiner calls in marine biologist Will Myers for assistance. The deceased’s mysterious sister, Andreia, claims the body and asks Will to help figure out how her brother died. Will and Andreia bond over shared tragedies and a yearning to heal a dying ocean as they seek to learn how her brother spent his final days. Andreia brings Will to her undersea home, part of a hidden civilization inhabited by smugglers, hackers, treasure hunters, and traders—all members of a different species, driven to the edge of extinction by human diseases and climate change. As feelings between the two grow, the investigation into her brother’s death leads to a sinister plot by a fanatical cabal. Together, Will and Andreia must find a way to save both humanity and the ocean without imperiling the existence of her species.

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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: Click here to reveal31144 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Vikash Soren, the perfect police officer except for his odd paranormal ability, never seems to lose his temper. Always serene and competent, he’s taken on the role of mediator in a squad room full of misfits. But on the inside, he’s a mess. Unable to tell his police partner that he loves him, Vikash struggles silently, terrified of losing Kyle as a lover, partner and friend. But life in the 77th Precinct doesn’t leave much room for internal reflection. A confrontation with a stick-throwing tumbleweed in Fairmount Park leads to bizarre consequences involving pill bugs, statues and…time travel? If Vikash manages to survive the week and stay in one point in time, he might be able to address normal things like relationship problems. He just needs Kyle to have a little more patience. Maybe a few centuries’ worth.

Word Count: Click here to reveal103,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: The Pirates of Sufiro is the story of a planet and its people—of Ellison Firebrandt the pirate captain living in exile; of Espedie Raton, a man from the streets of Earth looking to make a fresh start for himself and his wife on a new world; of Peter Stone, the geologist who discovers a fortune and will do anything to keep it; and of the lawman, Edmund Ray Swan who travels to Sufiro seeking the quiet life but finds a dark secret. It is the story of privateers, farmers, miners, entrepreneurs, and soldiers—all caught up in dramatic events and violent conflicts that will shape the destiny of our galaxy.

Word Count: Click here to reveal73440 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Once upon a time, two handsome young princes fell in love, faced down adversity, and lived happily-ever-after…until one romantic evening, they unwittingly ate a confection laced with a mind-wiping toxin. In this light fantasy world, four realms have settled into an uneasy peace. A surprise twist to a prearranged marriage agreement spawns this story of unexpected love, newfound courage, and heroic adventure. Join Princes Efren and Marcelo on their heart-warming journey as they sort through misleading twists and turns to defeat devious foes. Twice! Contains the stories: The Contingency Plan: An untimely death throws a marriage arrangement, the final phase of a treaty, into disarray. Now the Crown Prince of Zioneven can make his own choice from among the princess’s younger siblings. As a royal son in the matriarchal sovereignty of Sheburat, Prince Marcelo grew up knowing Royal sons never married. Never. Period. Except Prince Efren isn’t from Sheburat, and he has other plans. The Best-Laid Plans: A death that wasn’t what it seemed … A kidnapping that isn’t what it seems … Time is running out. Enmeshed in political intrigue, death, and a kidnapping, will Prince Efren untangle the web of clues in time to save his naïve young husband, or will Prince Marcelo dig deep to discover a previously untapped inner strength and determination to facilitate his own survival? Change of Plans: Once upon a time, two handsome young princes fell in love, faced down adversity, and lived happily-ever-after… until one romantic evening, they unwittingly ate a confection laced with a mind-wiping toxin. Are their chances at rekindling their love doomed? Or will their ignominious new beginning propel them toward a more teasingly fun rapport? Also contains three bonus scenes not included with the individual stories.

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Summary: There are creatures lurking in our world. Obscure creatures long relegated to myth and legend. They have been sighted by a lucky-or unlucky-few, some have even been photographed, but their existence remains unproven and unrecognized by the scientific community. These creatures, long thought gone, have somehow survived; creatures from our nightmares haunting the dark places. They swim in our lakes and bays, they soar the night skies, they hunt in the woods. Some are from our past, and some from other worlds, and others that have always been with us-watching us, fearing us, hunting us. These are the cryptids, and Systema Paradoxa tells their tales. *** Life and Death and Family Secrets... Sheridan Cascaden faces more than memories when she receives a call in the darkest hours summoning her home. Sent away five years prior to safeguard her from the evil that claimed her mother, Sheridan hasn't been back since. She returns to find her home in a disturbing state and her father straddling the Veil, with no explanation of what happened. Not only must she deal with her own demons, but she will have to delve into his if she is to unlock the mystery and save Papa's life. But where lies the line between truth and madness among the shifting shadows? And can Sheridan navigate it before it's too late... for both of them?

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Summary: For six lifelong friends, it was supposed to just be a simple game night. But when they break out a new, classic high-fantasy style game—half tabletop RPG, half dungeon-crawling board game, simultaneously familiar and unexplored—for a test run, they find themselves transported into the game’s setting, living the lives of their made-up characters, where the dangers, and the monsters, are deadly serious. Left with little choice but to jump headlong into their roles, Cordelia, Morgan, Jack, Eriko, Tamsin, and Tobias will have to become the heroes they were just pretending to be to stop a nightmare creature’s reign of terror… or find out if life and death in this fictional setting is as real as it seems. Ranger and cleric, barbarian and thief, bard and magician: they'll have to combine all of their new-found abilities to stop a creeping evil and to survive in this strange new world.

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Summary: A careful study on estrangement and loss, The Price of a Small Hot Fire excavates the archetypal horrors of monstrous motherhood, from abandonment and unsteady reconciliation to the grave. Experimental and intimate, E.F. Schraeder’s collection gives voice to a semi-autobiographical examination of a griefscape from a queer lens.

Word Count: Click here to reveal103,300 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Legends tell of large cats defending the principality of Tournai, but such creatures are only myth. Or are they? Prince Philip inherited the throne of Tournai at a young age, and since then, his life has centered around ruling his country and resisting those pressuring him to do as they want both in matters of governance and those more personal. He’s become isolated and lonely. Amory is the second son of a wealthy merchant who has never approved of anything about him or had any use for him. Until now. When kind-hearted Amory is offered to the prince in exchange for more time for Amory’s merchant father to complete a commission, both Philip and Amory are horrified. But Philip agrees to keep Amory at the palace, where they gradually become friends, then lovers. For the first time in his life, Philip is free to share not only his heart, but the magical shape-shifting ability that runs in the royal bloodline—something the royal family has kept secret from all but those closest to them for generations. Neither Amory nor Philip imagined falling in love, and they certainly don’t expect what those who oppose their relationship will do to keep them apart—maybe even resorting to murder.

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Summary: No one wants to be fooled, but that’s what Frankenstein did to you all. Victor's words were the mere ravings of a coward and madman. The truth is a fickle mistress. I was the one that raided the graveyards and robbed the dead of their terrestrial remains. It was I who pursued your creation across continents when you hadn't the spine to see to it yourself. It was I who held my begotten son in my hands that day. Frankenstein took the glory, took the fame, and horded the money from our misfortunes. The time for my retribution has come.

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"Once upon a time" is a phrase that immediately conjures images of enchantment. Royal balls, magical creatures, love at first sight... We are taken to a fantasy world where anything is possible. The Queen of Clocks and Other Steampunk Tales brings together the magic of fairytale and the allure of cogs and gears. Within these pages, find dancing automatons, industrial age fairies, a mermaid with wind-up legs, heroes of the steam age, and more. Drawing from classic tales of the Brothers Grimm, Carlo Collodi, Charles Perrault, Hans Christian Andersen, and Homer, these original interpretations are sure to delight fans of steampunk and fairytales alike.