Urban Short Stories

Vivid, profound, moving, and with moments of sly humor, the stories in The Night Piece reveal worlds both familiar and deeply strange. Drawing from Alexis' acclaimed debut collection, Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa, and the highly original Beauty and Sadness, and including previously uncollected stories, here is the surreal and brilliant short fiction of André Alexis - one of Canada's most extraordinary writers.

As a member of the Order of the Round Table, Kendall Lake is overqualified to be investigating strange phenomena at a seaside photography studio. But since the photographer is related to the Order's most powerful sorcerer, Kendall reluctantly boards a dirigible to Brighton.

In bestselling author J.R. Rain's exclusive ebook short story, Samantha Moon is about to confront a monster of the worst kind - a killer who preys on the innocent. A killer who lives just down her street...Also included: "The Falcon" - A story of life, dreams...and flying. The Angel and the Pistol" - It's a race against time for one immortal charged with saving humanity from their own mistakes. In this case, one man named Ralph. A man with a pistol who's about to make a very, very big mistake. Plus a bonus short story.

Entrapped within the luxurious confines of the Vertico condo complex, together with Ron and the rest of the staffers, expect to be dragged into a world of unnerved and unnerving characters. This mildly prosaic short story reeks of solitude, love (a dash), death, and possibly the supernatural? Are some curious cats luckier than others?

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.

Jack Brown is an unhappy painter whose glass is always half-empty. He lives on the top floor of an apartment complex next to a perky, optimistic witch named Cassie and her troublesome cat. This Halloween, beneath a full moon, Jack stumbles onto a magic spell that brings him far more than he bargained for. Will his pride allow him to ask Cassie for help? And if so...will he manage to do it before he is doomed?

The second novel of the Codex of Souls furthers explores the strange occult world first introduced in Lightbreaker. Mark Teppo’s vision of a magical underworld is a non-stop adventure that continues to bring new light to the occult origins of our history. Markham returns to Paris where he lost his love, and nearly his life. The ancient order of manipulative magicians that once cast him out is now in turmoil...a turmoil made all the greater by the swaths of destruction that Markham tried to avert.

Markham has returned to Seattle, searching for Katarina, the girl who, a decade ago, touched his soul, literally tearing it from his body. But what he discovers upon arriving is dark magick - of a most ancient and destructive kind! An encounter with a desperate spirit, leaping destructively from host to host, sets Markham on the trail of secretive cabal of magicians seeking to punch a hole through heaven, extinguishing forever the divine spark.

These stories present electric messiahs, identity constructs, the Beatles, and even a nuclear Armageddon, which serve as comic foils for Lain's everyman characters. Here is an America where packets of Sea Monkeys arrive in the mail containing secret messages, and the girl next door can breathe underwater. With Last Week's Apocalypse, Douglas Lain arrives with a punch line and a warning.

As a child, Henry Cadmus lived on Catalina Island, a scenic vacationland off the Southern California coast. But Henry's experiences were far from idyllic. Today, even though Henry has seen firsthand the horrors of war, the ghastly images that haunt his dreams are ones he associates with his childhood... and the island: a snarling pig-man holding a cleaver; a jackal-headed woman on a high balcony, dripping blood; strange occult rituals... and worse. If it was up to Henry, he would avoid the island entirely.

Longtime contributor to the Hellboy mythos Christopher Golden brings together a crew of luminaries including Joe R. Lansdale and China Miéville, cross-genre sensation Barbara Hambly, celebrated mystery writer Ken Bruen, best-selling science-fiction and fantasy novelist Tad Williams, and a bevy of other skilled storytellers eager to spin a tale or two about the world's greatest paranormal detective. Some of the biggest names in horror, mystery, and fantasy come together to pay homage to Mike Mignola's Hellboy!

Welcome to the wide world of paranormal pastimes, where striking out might strike you dead. Editors Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner are your announcers for this all-new story collection of the most peculiar plays ever made.… Sports fans live and die by their teams’ successes and failures - though not literally. But these 14 authors have written spirited - in more ways than one - new tales of killer competitions that would make even the most die-hard players ask to be benched.

Grab the first three books in the bestselling, scorching-hot Real Men Shift series in one boxed set! Real Men Howl: Mason Blackwood's inner wolf will go crazy without her. Lucy thinks he's already crazy. Werewolves aren't real. Right? Real Men Snarl: Ally doesn't want to have anything to do with werewolves. Kade Blackwood is a werewolf who wants to do everything to Ally. Real Men Growl: Gavin Blackwood expected gratitude, but what he got was a gorgeous she-wolf who defied him at every turn.

Paranormal romance authors Alexandra Ivy, Nina Bangs, Dianne Duvall, and Hannah Jayne present four original novellas in this exciting anthology.

In this reincarnation story, Goovu and Katala’s destined life together is cut short by transatlantic slave traders, who were traitors and cousins from a couple of villages away. The couple’s home village was ravaged to smithereens. Five hundred years later, and in the present-day United States, could there be a chance for the two souls to reunite? After a fateful car accident sends a youth, Jason, into a coma, the young man begins to remember a past life, which now haunts him to seek out the woman of his actual dreams.

Lana undergoes a near death experience. Michael’s life, as a baby, is just beginning. What tethers together the two lives? This pseudo-paranormal short story has a few mysteries that beg to be unpacked. From having to contend with notions of the Lazarus effect, to briefly flirting with other dimensional space, find yourself entreated to an odd day, as Francistown folk grapple with life, friends, family, and courage.

Scott is devastated when his wife is horrifically struck and killed by a car on their Caribbean honeymoon. In desperation, he gives into his grief and listens to a mysterious suggestion from a morgue janitor that he could have his wife "cured of death". Against all of his reservations and common sense, he feels he has nothing left to lose, but what he finds is that there are unnatural things worse than death.

Ossie and Baxter are on a mission. They've been sent to conduct a membership interview with Yancey Allyson, the latest applicant to The Society of Super Powered Heroes. But what will they do when they discover that Mr. Allyson is a little bit...unorthodox?

Hank and Josie own a small nursery in Mays Landing, New Jersey. They have three kids and a house with a mortgage. Josie has worked hard making and selling wreaths to make money for Christmas presents. Two days before Christmas, while she is collecting pine cones for her wreaths, she finds a woman named Helen lying in the woods behind her house. She is bruised and beaten, but won't let Josie call for help.

Betrayal. Ambition. Violence. Magic. Stranded in a winter wilderness, a young girl fights to survive after the massacre of her family. Her motto is simple: Always create opportunity. It's not long before she runs into an old friend, but can she trust him? This majestic fantasy short story defies cliché and stirs the soul.