Urban Fantasy Comedy

Twisty scares with heart. Ghosts, sea monsters, and a rest home for troublesome witches all feature in this collection of paranormal stories set in Wellington, New Zealand. By turns spooky and laugh-out-loud funny, these tales stew with malevolence and mischief. Climb aboard the ghost bus for a wild ride of sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and humor, and hop off a little more in love with Aotearoa's capital city.

Oliver Brixby believed, without a doubt, he was having an allergic reaction to new medication: sensitivity to the sun, loss of appetite, pale skin. It turned out worse than he could ever imagine -- he was now a vampire. Oliver's quiet, bookish existence takes a flip when introduced to the vibrant social scene of a New York City Vampire. His adjustment will not be easy, since he's squeamish at the sight of blood.

Murders are happening outside Charlotte's hottest nightspots. A new vampire society has set up shop in the sewers. And Jimmy Black's about to run afoul of the Master of the City. If Jimmy weren't already a vampire, the week ahead would be the death of him.

"Cold case" takes on a whole new meaning when vampire detectives risk life and limbs (literally) to connect a series of decades-old kidnappings in Charlotte with current missing persons cases. All clues lead through the veil of Faerieland to the legendary Goblin's Market, a magical bazaar where anything is available - for a price.

Clarissa Lawrence has been fired from multiple internships as a student teacher for reasons outside her control. Magical things keep happening to her...like the students turning into frogs. Her love life isn’t any more normal, considering how her boyfriends keep mysteriously suffering from heart attacks. Clarissa doesn’t know how to explain it all. When Clarissa learns she is descended from a powerful sorceress, she would do anything to find the magical world where she knows she belongs.

Das Haus ist verflucht! In einem verflucht schlechten Zustand, aber davon lässt sich Joanne den Einzug ins Eastend House nicht vergällen. Und wenn sich die Geister bis zur Decke stapeln, aus ihrem neuen Zuhause bekommt sie keiner raus! Da beißt auch der mürrische Geist Ewan auf Granit. Die karrierebesessene Firmenanwältin hat keine Zeit für Angst. Seine besten Spuke sind verschwendete Geistermüh. Es braucht schon brachiale Gewalt, um Joannes Aufmerksamkeit auf sich zu ziehen.

Sarah Wright woke up a few times after parties in strange places - but the morgue's a first. At 18, she's eager for a taste of independence, moving out of state to attend college. A change of scenery is extra-needed due to a bad breakup with her boyfriend, Scott. However, soon after escaping the body cooler, she makes two startling realizations: vampires are real and she is one. There's nothing quite like an untimely death to ruin plans. California's sunny beaches aren't the best place for vampires to chill, and worse, she winds up stuck in Seattle, living with her parents.

Award-winning YA author Philip Murdstone is in trouble. His star has waned. The world is leaving him behind. His agent, the ruthless Minerva Cinch, convinces him that his only hope is to write a sword-and-sorcery blockbuster. Unfortunately, Philip - allergic to the faintest trace of Tolkien - is utterly unsuited to the task. In a dark hour, a dwarfish stranger comes to his rescue. But the deal he makes with Pocket Wellfair turns out to have Faustian consequences.

When a talented new player joins the perennially losing sub-minor-league hockey team the Fighting Aardvarks, it marks the beginning of a winning tradition. But things aren't as they seem, and players begin to change. First-line center Hammie learns the truth: The Aardvarks are becoming vampires, and it's up to him to stop them before the infestation spreads beyond just the team.

Trapped for decades, a powerful god seeks freedom...and revenge. But the only thing that can save him is the passion of a woman's touch...Emma Keane is your average city girl trying to get a date. There's just one thing holding her back: The disembodied male voice speaking to her through her mind. Sound kind of crazy? Maybe. But crazy turns downright deadly when the voice persuades her to travel to the wilds of the Mayan jungle. There she will free his bod - his incredibly hot, muscled, naked body.

Look who's on the Dick Gibson Radio Show: Arnold the Memory Expert ("I've memorized the entire West Coast shoreline - except for cloud cover and fog banks"). Bernie Perk, the burning pharmacist. Henry Harper, the nine-year old orphan millionaire, terrified of being adopted. The woman whose life revolves around pierced lobes. An evil hypnotist. Swindlers. Con-men. And Dick Gibson himself. Anticipating talk radio and its crazed hosts, Stanley Elkin creates a brilliant comic world held together by American manias and maniacs in all their forms.

After a near fatal car accident, Casey Maldonado's life is over. So she packs up, puts her house on the market, and leaves town, her only companion Death, who won't take her but won't leave her alone.

The Difference Between You and Me is a modern-day comedy of manners, an insider's take on Hollywood protocol and prestige. With her sly yet generous wit, DeMarco illuminates everyday annoyances and disasters that every woman will recognize - office backstabbing, why-won't-he-call frustrations, and the unsettling vacuum that can open up in the middle of the busiest life.

Richard Milhous Nixon lived one of the most improbable lives of the 20th century. He faced down the Russians, the Chinese, and, ultimately, his own government. The man went from political mastermind to a national joke, sobbing in the Oval Office, leaving us with one burning question: How could he have lost it all? Here, for the first time, is the tale told in his own words: the terrifying supernatural secret he stumbled upon as a young man, the truth behind the Cold War, and the truth behind the Watergate cover-up.

Comedy writer and middle daughter of Al Gore, Kristin Gore has written a funny and moving debut novel about life on Capitol Hill as seen through the eyes of Samantha Joyce, a 26-year-old health care analyst to Ohio Junior Senator Robert Gary. Hard working, idealistic, extremely competent, as well as neurotic and prone to daydreaming, Sammy, as she's known to her friends, has little time for anything, much less a relationship.

Five years ago, Brock Adams disappeared from Cedar Glen, New Jersey, never to be seen or heard from again, leaving behind his wife Faith, his daughters...and two sons under a family curse. Give up everything. That was the deal. Give up his werewolf pack, his family and his immortality, in exchange for finally ridding his sons of the deadly curse. But when a disguised Brock sneaks back into Cedar Glen, he finds the curse still very much in effect. He also bumps into Faith, who he aches for just as much now as the day he left.

Receiving unwanted attention after foiling an armed robbery, the unhuman Inspector Hobbes takes a long-overdue camping holiday with Andy, his accident-prone friend, and Dregs, the delinquent dog. In the bleak and dangerous Blacker Mountains, Andy stumbles across something shocking before falling for an attractive widow, while Hobbes wonders why an old gold mine has reopened.

The guy in the next cubicle listens exclusively to Kenny G. It's all Aliester Crewley hears at work, day after excruciating day. It's driving him mad. Music this bad can only mean one thing - something demon-y is afoot. A powerful amateur magickian, Aliester knows how to deal with demons. But actions can have seriously unintended, rather bizarre consequences - of the Apocalyptic kind.

Jimmy Black's knack for stumbling into the right place at the wrong time has landed him his dream job or worst nightmare - Master Vampire of the City. Almost everyone that works for him wants him dead. His best friend isn't speaking to him. His girlfriend is now his ex-girlfriend. And the Vampire Council has appointed a watchdog who'll decide if he lives past Thursday. He has a kidnapping to solve, monsters and demons to fight, and a whole new crime empire to figure out.

This is not your ordinary fall weekend in Charlotte, North Carolina. Vampire private detectives Jimmy Black and Greg Knightwood have been hired to save a client from being cursed for all eternity, but end up in a bigger mess than they ever imagined. Suddenly trapped in the middle of a serial kidnapping case, Jimmy and Greg uncover a plot to bring forth an ancient evil. Soon, they've enlisted the help of a police detective, a priest, a witch, a fallen angel, and a strip club proprietor to save the world.