In the depths of Hell lies Envy Town, where a certain demon named Murmer spends his days waiting to hungrily feast upon the souls of the damned. Upon meeting a child that he believes is there by mistake, his interest in the human world is rekindled.A jewelry store clerk is devoured by a mass of flesh-eating worms.It’s just another heist for WILLIE “THE WORM” PITTS and his gang. There is a strong suspicion that the police cannot control crime in the city. The entire department is on edge. Against this backdrop of crime gone wild, STAN POCAROBA, a K-9 police officer, keeps his unit of dogs ready to go and emotionally attached like a close-knit family. One night, Stan and his K-9 Unit corner Willie in a university lab. During the gun fight, test tubes explode in Stan's face. His blood absorbs the fossilized cells of a prehistoric raptor. Stan soon learns that he is able to transform into a raptor with all the powers of the fabled hunter, but not without a few drawbacks. His transformation is a work-in-progress including the pitfalls and dangers of a disjointed life in an unforgiving world. In order to escape the lab, Willie takes a lab research chemist, JUANITA, as hostage. She is also the only person capable of unlocking the mystery of Stan's condition. Stan needs to hurry if he wants to save Juanita. But, the police mistake a transformed Stan for one of the criminals and a dragnet is set up for his capture.Time is running out. Willie buries Juanita in a coffin with a 48-hour air supply, adding a snake and a mouse to keep her company. He demands $10 million from the city or he will let Juanita die. Can Stan control his transformations enough to find Juanita? Will he be captured by his own police department? And how will the dogs cope with a prehistoric raptor as their commander?“Raptor Cop” is a non-stop, action/adventure roller coaster ride---with all the exciting twists and turns!

Meet Abigail Hunter, an investigative journalist. Join her as she interviews a vampire, ghost, werewolf and a witch. Proving once and for all that these creatures of legend really do exist.Every day, thousands of people board an airplane without a second thought. Their minds are full of where they’ve been and their destination. However, sometimes, life has different plans.Flight 437 is such a story. On a flight from Paris, France to New York City, the crew and passengers find themselves trapped on a flight none of them expected. As events unfold, they soon realize they are no longer on the planned flight, but are now, in fact, headed to an unknown destination.

Outside the Palace Walls is quick tale of a king and the chasm between sheltered royalty and the reality of his kingdom.A 13 year old boy of the Yoruba ethnic group of what used to be South Western Nigeria gets caught in the intriguing world of changes sweeping the political landscape in his native Yoruba state, which in itself, is a fragment of the Nigerian state broken up by coups, corruption and ethnic disputes. The raging storm of political antecedents forces the boy to take a philosophical yet seemingly childish entry into the world of his nation's cultural, social and political landscape. With historical information supplied by the few adults around him, scholarly storytellers who believe that history and past incidents are the best predictors of future incidents, he is forced to take the role of a rising younger generation whose heroic actions can clean the past mistakes of the men made by the nation’s corrupt political class, he puts down his thoughts and experiences through a whirlwind of events. His story forms the trigger that eventually establishes a new system of government in a state where democracy is considered a failure. What will you see if you look at the political landscape through the eyes of a child?Will these responsibilities become the initiation of a good man made by the politics played around him or be the birth of a new generation of men carrying the genes of the old class.

A new story about Rumpelstiltskin. An ordinary man has an extraordinary day. As the waters rise, the paranormal threatens. Personal conflicts are never forgotten when the war is remembered.These are just some of the stories and poems that you will find in this book. Many of them are set in and around Hastings and St Leonards-on-Sea on the south coast of England, UK.St Leonards Writers are a group of enthusiastic members who have been meeting weekly since 2007 for lectures, workshops, creative exercises, writing practice, discussions and constructive criticism, and to help one another create the best possible writing. We also perform at festivals and local events in and around St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings, UK.Spindrift contains stories and poems that include the paranormal, the historical, the urban, the comic and the tragic. We have given our imaginations free rein and let loose a wide variety of ideas and characters to delight and entertain.We hope you enjoy them.

"A taut, sensual thriller that grips from the first page. Elena Michales is at once sublime and sympathetic, a modern heroine who shows that real women bite back." -Karin Slaughter, The New York Times Elena Michaels is back-and she has company. Lending a mission of vampires, demons, shamans, and witches, Elena is lured into the net of ruthless Internet billionaire Tyrone Winsloe, who is well on his way to amassing a private collection of supernaturals. He plans to harness their powers for himself-even if it means killing them. For Elena, kidnapped and imprisoned deep underground, unable to tell her friends from her enemies, choosing the right allies is a matter of life and death.

A Spot of Trouble An innocent piece of Mundane Snail Mail has provoked the dreaded Demon Jupiter to hurl his Red Spot at the magical land of Xanth. As the dire Dot draws closer, the unwelcome ordeal of saving the enchanted realm falls to Umlaut, an unlikely lad with an unknown past and an uncertain future. With a handful of colorful companions at his side, Umlaut must unravel a high-stakes intergalactic puzzle, uncover the secret of his mysterious past, and learn to understand the urgings of his own heart. It might have been the merest chance that brought Umlaut to Castle Zombie that morning and launched him on a harrowing adventure. But in the magical land of Xanth, things are seldom left to chance, and adventures lurk around every corner. An unassuming young man with a uncanny knack for attracting lovely young ladies and an uncommon talent for emulating anyone he wished, Umlaut was forced to flee a flock of overly friendly females by disguising himself as a Zombie girl. In his haste to find a hiding place, he found himself face-to-face with a dreadful dragon and feared he would soon meet his end. But in Xanth, things are seldom exactly as they seem, and he soon discovered that the dragon was really a sinuous female sea serpent named Sesame, with a gift similar to his own, who had become accidentally entrapped in the Castle's dungeon. When the two happen upon a packet of mail from Earth delivered by mischance to the Zombie King, they inadvertently set in motion a sinister scheme that could spell the end of Xanth. A letter they forward to the Demon Jupiter unexpectedly enrages him, causing him to send his own Red Spot hurtling toward Xanth. Soon everything is up in a heaval, for no one knows how to avert this interplanetary peril. Even the Good Magician Humfrey is baffled, for some strange force has obscured the future. In desperation, he instructs Umlaut and Sesame to deliver the remaining letters to their far-flung recipients, in the faint hope that this may somehow stop the Spot. As they set out on their appointed rounds, Umlaut and Sesame are soon joined by two feline friends, Jenny Elf's companion, Sammy Cat, and a lovely, prescient creature named Claire Voyant who can sometimes see the future. Beguiled and bedeviled by the delicious Demoness Metria, who uses her shapely assets to distract him from his goal, Umlaut leads his allies on an unforgettable odyssey to the farthest reaches of the enchanted realm, from the submicroscopic Nth Moon of Ida, and the home of all dreams and nightmares, to the unmagical land of Euphoria, where he meets a sweet and sprightly young girl named Surprise who captures his heart. But before Umlaut can complete his quest and return to his beloved, he must unravel the unfathomable puzzle of his own existence, which is somehow inextricably entwined with the fate of Xanth. A satisfyingly suspenseful tale filled with mystery, magic, and merriment, Up in a Heaval is exciting and entertaining fantasy adventure from the pen of a master storyteller.

The vengeful Goddess demands her tithe When a stowaway is discovered aboard the merchant ship Kulap Kanya, Munny, a cabin boy on his first voyage, knows what must be done. All stowaways are sacrificed to Risafeth, the evil goddess of the sea. Such is her right, and the Kulap Kanya's only hope to return safely home. Yet, to the horror of his crew, Captain Sunan vows to protect the stowaway, a foreigner in clown's garb. A curse falls upon the ship and all who sail with her, for Risafeth will stop at nothing to claim her tithe. Will Munny find the courage to trust his captain and to protect the strange clown who has become his friend?

The 33rd edition of Writers of the Future may be the best new book yet! Brand-new adventure through space, time and possibility. The answers, the stories, the visions, and the mind-stretching possibilities are all waiting inside. Welcome to the future of Science Fiction and Fantasy. It gets better every year. These are the award winning short stories of the international contest that have launched the writing careers of some of the best new books! BONUS stories and articles on how to write by New York Times best sellers Anne McCaffrey, Robert J. Sawyer, Todd McCaffrey, Larry Elmore and Bob Eggleton. "The Writers of the Future contest looks for people with the best imaginations who can see through the possibilities of the strangest and best ideas and tell stories that intrigue us and involve us."—Orson Scott Card Celebrate the 33rd anniversary of the Writers of the Future contest and the 28th anniversary of the Illustrators of the Future...

This is the epic final installment of the series. This edition begins right after Aly has been kidnapped by King Uhla'ar and pulled back into Atlantis. The rift is guarded by a behemoth, and Aly simply cannot be rescued easily. Frantic, the kids come to believe that their only hope is to find the rest of the lost Loculi in order to rescue Aly. With that, it’s off to the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, where they have to face down the armies of Artemis, and then to the Lighthouse of Alexandria, where they wind up in the belly of an unimaginable beast. And then finally, back to the Karai Institute for a final trip back to Atlantis to save Aly, the world, and themselves.

Humanity pushed its way to the stars - and encountered the Gbaba, a ruthless alien race that nearly wiped us out. Earth and her colonies are now smoldering ruins, and the few survivors have fled to distant, Earth-like Safehold, to try to rebuild. But the Gbaba can detect the emissions of an industrial civilization, so the human rulers of Safehold have taken extraordinary measures: with mind control and hidden high technology, they've built a religion in which every Safeholdian believes, a religion designed to keep Safehold society medieval forever. 800 years pass. In a hidden chamber on Safehold, an android from the far human past awakens. This "rebirth" was set in motion centuries before, by a faction that opposed shackling humanity with a concocted religion. Via automated recordings, "Nimue" - or, rather, the android with the memories of Lieutenant Commander Nimue Alban - is told her fate: she will emerge into Safeholdian society, suitably disguised, and begin the process of provoking the technological progress which the Church of God Awaiting has worked for centuries to prevent. Nothing about this will be easy. To better deal with a medieval society, "Nimue" takes a new gender and a new name, "Merlin." His formidable powers and access to caches of hidden high technology will need to be carefully concealed. And he'll need to find a base of operations, a Safeholdian country that's just a little more freewheeling, a little less orthodox, a little more open to the new. And thus Merlin comes to Charis, a mid-sized kingdom with a talent for naval warfare. He plans to make the acquaintance of King Haarahld and Crown Prince Cayleb, and maybe, just maybe, kick off a new era of invention. Which is bound to draw the attention of the Church...and, inevitably, lead to war.

Liam O’Connor should have died at sea in 1912. Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010. Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026. But all three have been given a second chance—to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history... In 1993 British computer hacker Adam Lewis finds his name in a coded manuscript that is almost one thousand years old. How did Adam’s name get in there... and why? Confronted by Adam in 2001, the TimeRiders travel back to Sherwood Forest in 1193 to discover the origins of the ancient message. But when a strange hooded man appears interested in the same thing, they begin to wonder what terrible threat this cryptic link from the past holds for the future...

A married man in possession of a dark fortune must be in want of an eternal wife... *My hand is trembling as I write this letter. My nerves are in tatters and I am so altered that I believe you would not recognize me. The past two months have been a nightmarish whirl of strange and disturbing circumstances, and the future... I am afraid. If anything happens to me, remember that I love you and that my spirit will always be with you, though we may never see each other again. The world is a cold and frightening place where nothing is as it seems.*

Strange and legendary Dremlock Kingdom is facing destruction from both within and beyond its stone walls in the form of goblins--creatures spawned by evil that come in all shapes and sizes--and the Deep Shadow, a hungry and spreading force of dark sorcery that infects people with madness. Can a young Squire named Lannon save Dremlock Kingdom with his unique power, the Eye of Divinity?Strange and legendary Dremlock Kingdom is facing destruction from both within and beyond its stone walls in the form of goblins--creatures spawned by evil that come in all shapes and sizes--and the Deep Shadow, a hungry and spreading force of dark sorcery that infects people with madness. To save their kingdom, the knights recruit a lonely and isolated boy named Lannon who lives in a wooded valley with his crazy father, who bears a dark illness of the soul, and his foul-tempered mother. Lannon is sought out because he possesses a rare power called the Eye of Divinity. The knights need Lannon's gift to see through the fog of evil that shrouds Dremlock Kingdom and give them the advantage they need to turn the tables on their ancient foe.With the help of his friends, Lannon tries desperately to unlock the Eye of Divinity in time to save Dremlock Kingdom from otherwise certain doom. With the Deep Shadow creeping around the kingdom and infecting hearts and minds, Lannon isn't sure if anyone in Dremlock can even be trusted. Lannon finds himself, and his fellow squires, caught in a web of mystery and magic in a kingdom where anything can happen.

5,000-word humorous mini story which takes place immediately after the events of the novel, "The Vampire Shrink." Denver Psychologist Kismet Knight counsels vampires. Apparently, some vampires are easier to counsel than others.Amaris Scott witnesses a murder and now her life is in danger. Jinx Thomlinson is notoriously ruthless, and even behind bars waiting for the trial he still has an extensive reach. Amaris' testimony is critical to keeping him locked up for life, and Jinx isn't willing to go easily. He wouldn't hesitate to have her murdered just like all the others before her.She's put in witness protection by the FBI, but when the murderer makes a call to her temporary place emotions run high. She's quickly removed as her handler struggles to find a more suitable location to hide her. With six more months until the trial, they have to find a way to keep her safe or they can forget about locking Jinx up any longer. He never makes the same mistake twice, and leaving Amaris alive was definitely a mistake. She is right to believe he plans to kill her before she can take the witness stand, but there is something neither of them prepared to face. Noah Constance. Agent Noah Constance, he is the fixer who the FBI calls in on special assignments when the risks are great...and Amaris' teenage crush. Under the circumstances it doesn't seem safe for them to pick up where they left off, but can they really resist what drew them together to begin with?