Urban Fantasy Comedy

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.

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.

"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.

As a twenty-three-year-old college dropout, Clark Crane has nothing to show for himself but three dead-end jobs. So when he becomes the unlikely intern for enigmatic celebrity Charisma Saintly and her "coven" of personal assistants, he's prepared to do whatever it takes to succeed. Only, he has no idea who—or what—Charisma really is....

Vivian doesn't feel like she fits in - and never has. As a child, she was so whimsical that her parents told her she was "left by fairies". Now, she is living alone in Dublin, where the neighbors treat her like she's crazy, her older sister condescends to her, social workers seem to have registered her as troubled, and she hasn't a friend in the world. So, she decides it's time to change her life. She begins by advertising for a friend. Not just any friend. She wants one named Penelope.

In this collection of 19 short stories, Craig Nybo invites you to visit the lives of mostly unfortunate souls as they face the most terrifying moments of their existences. With everything from vampire hunting to zombie bashing, from steampunk death devices to shifty soul brokers, Nybo brings his own sense of perspective and, of course, his sense of humor to this collection of departures from reality. Terrifying Lies contains Nybo's acclaimed story, "The Mechanic", along with 18 other tales of the macabre.

Actor Matthew McConaughey descends into a surreal desert of the soul, an admirer of Miley Cyrus performs a 3,000-word sentence in defense of his passion, an aging porn star dons a dinosaur costume to film the sex scene of a lifetime, and Leonard Cohen shills for Subway: these mercurial and wildly varied stories explode the conventions of short fiction.

Tophet County's Midnight Carnival has it all: a mesmerizing (literally) Phæras Wheel, the racy delights of Sphinxter's All-Archonic Peep Show, and the lip-smacking lure of "things which never should have been fried." It's the perfect prelude to the witch's romantic night with her boyfriend, Chad . . . until a creepy fortune teller makes dire predictions with an enchanted deck of Garbage Pail Kids cards, an otherworldly pyromaniac sets the moon on fire, and a shipload of pasta-faced beasties from Lovecraft's backlist lands on the Dunwich Park softball field.

Speakeasy manager Clara Woodsen will do anything to save her silent film idol from an untimely death. Even summon a demon. Even bet her soul she can teach his half-human/half-cheetah assistant to foxtrot. But people around town are acting strange. Have Clara's efforts unleashed a zombie plague? Or are her customers just really bad at dancing the Charleston? And can Clara find true happiness with the man of her dreams if she uses her...brains?

Tanesca, a small town in eastern KS, faces a rash of cattle mutilations, strange weather, an invasion of strangers, crop circles, and weird sightings. Can Frieda and her niece, Anne, stop the vicious woman behind it all?

"It's okay to love me, Joey. But don't be in love with me." New York, 1941. Joey El Bueno is just a smart-aleck kid, confounding the nuns and bullies at St. Stephen's School on East 28th Street, when he first meets Jane Bent, a freckle-faced girl with red pigtails and yellow smiley-face barrettes, who seems to know him better than he knows himself. A magical afternoon at the movies, watching Carey Grant in Gunga Din, is the beginning of a puzzling friendship that soon leaves Joey baffled and bewildered.

Meet Gregor Samsa, a humble young man who works as a fabric salesman to support his parents and sister. His life goes strangely awry when he wakes up late for work and discovers that, inexplicably, he is now a man-sized baby kitten. His family freaks out: Yes, their son is OMG so cute, but what good is cute when there are bills to pay? As his new feline identity threatens to eat away at his personality, Gregor desperately tries to survive this bizarre, bewhiskered ordeal by accomplishing the one thing he never could as a man: He must flee his parents’ house.

Ree Reyes, urban fantasy heroine of Geekomancy, is working her regular barista/drink-slinger shift at Grognard's when it all goes wrong. Everything. As with Geekomancy (pop culture magic!) and its sequel, Celebromancy (celebrity magic!), Attack of the Geek is perfect for anyone who wants to visit a world "where all the books and shows and movies and games [that you] love are a source of power, not only in psychological terms, but in practical, villain-pounding ones."

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.

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.

Obadiah Grudge is tall, dark, and gaunt, though he prefers the word rich. He dresses well and has a taste for the finer things, so its a good thing that the mysteries he writes consistently hit the top of the best seller lists. The critics hate him; his public loves him. He has everything he wants. Then one day he gets a call. His estranged father is dead. Obadiah has inherited his father's monster-killing business, his lunatic of a partner, and his pet Raven. It's too bad he didnt inherit his father's skill.

I’m Cora, a witch who escaped my enemies, the mages, to start a new life as a medium. I swore off both men and book boyfriends, especially Merlin. Except, my best friend and vampire librarian persuades me to help her run her book club for werewolves, dragons, and fae in the magical English village of Witch Hollow. When the library grimoire casts a curse, we can only find our true love from within our book of the month. I don’t believe in true love, so I choose my book as a joke.

Young Holisz was fascinated at first by the study of wizardry! But then he found something even more fascinating: Girls! One in particular took his fantasy, but there was a problem. Holisz, orphaned as a young boy, worked as groom to the baron's horses and also as a stableboy, while the damsel who captured his fancy was the baron's only daughter! 'Twas a forbidden relationship, and when the Holisz' enemies discovered them together, quick were they to inform the baron!