A young girl seeks to buy her father a special birthday present. Her innocent quest turns into a magical adventure!In a small village lives a girl with her mother and father. Anxious to buy her father a birthday gift, she goes to market. There she meets a strange old woman who promises to give her a magical reward if she goes into a dangerous forest to find her missing locket. Will Liril help the old woman? What adventures wait in store for her if she does? A girl. A dream. A gift. A magical fairy tale of a young girl who finds out that you should always be careful of what you wish for. You just might get it!The Tale of Liril is a 5,000 word fantasy short story that will delight you in the tradition of your favorite fairy tale classic.

Mr. Sandman has been busy the past year or so, leaving grains of sleep in the corners of my eyes. Dreams from my sleepy mind.Mr. Sandman has been busy the past year or so, leaving grains of sleep in the corners of my eyes. Dreams from my sleepy mind.Every now and then I have a dream so detailed, I actually remember them the next day. Some go on forever, some are bizarre and some are surreal. But they are all guaranteed from my subconscious mind, not made up stories like the other books. Maybe you'll see one or two made into a larger story!

Villains have all the fun—everyone knows that—and this anthology takes you on a wild ride through the dark side! The top villains from sixteen urban fantasy series get their own stories—including the baddies of New York Times bestselling authors Kelley Armstrong, Jim Butcher, Kevin Hearne, and Seanan McGuire.For every hero trying to save the world, there's a villain trying to tear it all down. In this can't-miss anthology edited by Joseph Nassise (The Templar Chronicles), you get to plot world domination with the best of the evildoers we love to hate! This outstanding collection brings you stories told from the villain's point of view, imparting a fresh and unique take on the evil masterminds, wicked witches, and infernal personalities that skulk in the pages of today's most popular series. The full anthology features stories by Jim Butcher (the Dresden Files), Kelley Armstrong (the Cainsville and Otherworld series), Seanan McGuire...

After Reece, Ryder, and Blaise rescued me from the channels, I thought my imprisoned fate had changed. But during our journey back to the station, we’re captured by the Forsaken. The Forsaken are known for killing their prisoners, but a fate much worse than death is waiting for us at their camp. If we want to survive, we’ll have to find a way to escape. But the leader of the Forsaken won’t let me out of her sight. She’s convinced I’m a hybrid and is determined to prove it by forcing me to take a test. A test I’m not sure I can pass.

Given the chance, fifteen-year-old Peregrine "Perry" Eckert would dedicate every waking moment to Creatures & Caverns, an epic role-playing game rich with magical creatures, spell casting, and deadly weapons. The world of C&C is where he feels most comfortable in his own skin. But that isn't happening--not if his parents have anything to do with it. Concerned their son lacks social skills, they ship him off to summer camp to become a man. They want him to be outdoors playing with kids his own age and meeting girls--rather than indoors alone, with only his gaming alter ego for company. Perry knows he's in for the worst summer of his life. Everything changes, however, when Perry gets to camp and stumbles into the World of the Other Normals. There he meets Mortin Enaw, one of the creators of C&C, and other mythical creatures from the game, including the alluring Ada Ember, whom Perry finds more beautiful than any human girl he's ever met. Perry's new otherworldly friends need his help to save their princess and prevent mass violence. As they embark on their quest, Perry realizes that his nerdy childhood has uniquely prepared him to be a great warrior in this world, and maybe even a hero. But to save the princess, Perry will have to learn how to make real connections in the human world as well. Bestselling author Ned Vizzini delivers a compulsively readable and wildly original story about the winding and often hilarious path to manhood.

A classic from the renowned Japanese novelist about isolation and the threat of a nuclear holocaust, The Ark Sakura is as timely today as it was at its original publication. In this Kafkaesque allegorical fantasy, Mole has converted a huge underground quarry into an “ark” capable of surviving the coming nuclear holocaust and is now in search of his crew. He falls victim, however, to the wiles of a con man-cum-insect dealer. In the surreal drama that ensues, the ark is invaded by a gang of youths and a sinister group of elderly people called the Broom Brigade, led by Mole's odious father, while Mole becomes trapped in the ark's central piece of equipment, a giant toilet powerful enough to flush almost anything, including chopped-up humans, out to sea.

From bestselling authors, Piers Anthony and J.R. Rain, comes a story of a dolphin and a girl...and the end of the world. Astronomers from around the world are reporting the coming Pulse, a burst of energy that will incinerate the earth. And as the Pulse comes ever closer, help will arrive from a very unlikely source...aliens living in the oceans depths. Now, armed with information to save the world, one dolphin and one girl must race to save mankind...that is is, if mankind doesn't destroy itself first. Acclaim for Piers Anthony and J.R. Rain "Anthony's most ambitious project to date. Well conceived and written from the heart." - Library Journal on Piers Anthony's Isle of Woman "Be prepared to lose sleep!" - James Rollins, international bestselling author of The Eye of God on J.R. Rain's The Lost Ark "Piers Anthony is a writer of passion. Volk is a masterpiece." - Brad Linaweaver, author of Moon of Ice "Dark Horse is the best book I've read in a long time!" - Gemma Halliday, award-winning author of Spying in High Heels "Piers Anthony is one of the more colorful personalities in the SF world." - Science Fiction Chronicle "Moon Dance is a must read. If you like Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum, bounty hunter, be prepared to love J.R. Rain's Samantha Moon, vampire private investigator." - Eve Paludan, author of Witchy Business

All three books in C.J. Cherryh's epic The Faded Sun trilogy, Kesrith, Shon'jir, and Kutath, collected in one volume.** They were the mri--tall, secretive, bound by honor and the rigid dictates of their society. For aeons this golden-skinned, golden-eyed race had provided the universe mercenary soldiers of almost unimaginable ability. But now the mri have faced an enemy unlike any other--an enemy whose only way of war is widespread destruction. These "humans" are mass fighters, creatures of the herb, and the mri have been slaughtered like animals. Now, in the aftermath of war, the mri face extinction. It will be up to three individuals to save whatever remains of this devastated race: a warrior--one of the last survivors of his kind; a priestess of this honorable people; and a lone human--a man sworn to aid the enemy of his own kind. Can they retrace the galaxy-wide path of this nomadic race back through millennia to reclaim the ancient world that first gave them life?

Everyone has a beast hidden inside of them. What will it take to release Faith's inner beast?Faith is an adventure seeking girl who only wishes to please her older sister, Candice. Will this bond between the sisters be torn apart by betrayal and envy? Will Candice's life end at the hands of the one person who truly believed in her? Will faith ever be the same person?

Nadia, Mateo, and Verlaine have saved Captive's Sound from the dark Sorceress Elizabeth...or so they thought. Despite their best efforts, a crack opened and a new, greater evil seeped through. With Mateo as her Steadfast, Nadia's magic is magnified and she is more powerful than ever. But there is still so much she doesn't know about the craft, leaving her open and vulnerable to a darker magic...which has begun to call Nadia's name.

Jet Clarence is about to have the gift of supernatural power thrust upon him; power that has massive destructive and manipulative potential. On his journey to harness these new abilities, and avoid them consuming his mind, he will be introduced to a previously unseen underworld of violence, deception and horrific demons.Jet Clarence is about to have the gift of supernatural power thrust upon him; power that has massive destructive and manipulative potential. On his journey to harness these new abilities, and avoid them consuming his mind, he will be introduced to a previously unseen underworld of violence, deception and horrific demons. BALANCE is set in an urban environment that acts as a twisted mirror to our own society, both recognisable and a completely unique universe. The deeper the reader goes into this vibrantly populated world, the clearer the darkness that lies hidden below the surface will become.

Darci is a popular sixteen-year-old girl who plays basketball and lives in a country town. But her life is changed forever when she is accidentally transported to the land of Nahaba by Taslessian an apprentice wizard.Within hours of her arrival, both are thrust into a dangerous journey to the cave of Grisham the Great in the hope that he can send her home but not all is as it as it seems.Darci is a popular sixteen-year-old girl who plays basketball and lives in an ordinary country town. But her life is changed forever when she is accidentally transported to the land of Nahaba by a young apprentice wizard called Taslessian.Within hours of her unexpected arrival, both teens are thrust into a dangerous journey to the cave of Grisham the Great in the hope that he would be able to send her home.Upon reaching the cave, however, Darci quickly discovers that there is no such thing as accidents, and that their journey is only just beginning. The Quest of the Demon has begun.

In a world that resembles our own, there are places where the other-worldly gather and build. Atoranon is such a city - founded and protected by those who are not quite human. And in that city is a small boy living a modest life as a shop keeper's helper, who finds himself meeting the most extraordinary of folk.In a world that resembles our own, there are places where the other-worldly gather and build. Atoranon is such a city - founded and protected by those who once were and yet are not quite human. Within walls that have existed for centuries, there a small boy living a modest life as a shop keeper's helper. Through his eyes, we see the wonders, and horrors, of the only home he has ever known.

When 26-year-old vampire Ian Marcellus and 38-year-old single mother Jo Montgomery are unexplainably drawn to each other, Jo is forced to realize her own magickal powers and must come to terms with them in order to save everyone she loves from Mia, the seductive, scheming vampire from Ian’s past.Ian and Jo cannot explain the magnetic pull that they feel to each other, but they also cannot ignore it. This attraction brings to life a series of events, beginning with the discovery of Jo herself being a powerful witch and the worry that her daughter may also inherit this burden. A prophecy is brought to light indirectly indicating that Jo is the one who will rid the earth of Mia’s evil; a fact that Jo has great difficulty accepting. Jo is introduced to Lena Mayfair who is also a witch and owns the local natural remedies shop; Lena helps Jo to overcome her apprehensions and assumes the role of her mentor, teaching her that her abilities are not a curse but in fact a gift. Ian’s brother Marcus and his long time girlfriend Isabella also become intertwined in the story as they have both been affected by Mia’s maliciousness as well, and will do whatever it takes to help Jo defeat her. As the bond between Ian and Jo continues to grow so does Ian’s desire to protect Jo from all of the chaos that has befallen her, he does not even stop to consider that it may be he who is in need of her protection.