Urban Horror

For as long as I can remember, I've been the girl who didn't fit in, the girl who collapsed in the middle of class, just because my brain decided to turn on me. I can't really complain, though. We don't live in the Middle Ages, so I have yet to be subjected to an exorcism. I can get treatment for my condition. Epilepsy aside, I can mostly be a normal person and have a normal life. There's just one problem. I'm not a normal person. I never have been. And the first time I find this out is upon receiving an exclusive invitation to The Academy of the Devil.

From cakes to stakes, a celebration of everyone's favorite bloodsucking subculture by a baker's dozen of favorite authors. Each of these 13 original stories offers a fresh and unique take on what birthdays mean to the undead. From Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse attending a birthday party for Dracula to Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden battling bloodsucking party crashers, these suspenseful, surprising, sometimes dark, sometimes humorous stories will ensure paranormal fans will never think of vampires or birthdays quite the same again.

Jessamyn Teoh is closeted, broke, and moving back to Malaysia, a country she left when she was a toddler. So when Jess starts hearing voices, she chalks it up to stress. But there's only one voice in her head, and it claims to be the ghost of her estranged grandmother, Ah Ma. In life Ah Ma was a spirit medium, the avatar of a mysterious deity called the Black Water Sister. Now she's determined to settle a score against a gang boss who has offended the god - and she's decided Jess is going to help her do it.

After our recent victory against Queen Titania’s forces, I thought my harem and I would get some time to relax. Maybe throw a few parties in my subspace and invite the finest from the Celestial and Infernal Academies. Turns out that the Beast of Revelation is on the loose, and it wants to eat the entire universe, starting with Hell itself. Someone needs to defeat the beast and put it back in its cage. And the Prince of Darkness has come to me for help.

Seven years ago Professor Gabriel Kennedy's investigation into paranormal activity at Summer Place ended in tragedy and destroyed his career. Now Kelly Delaphoy, the ambitious producer of a top-rated ghost-hunting television series, is determined to make Summer Place the centerpiece of an epic live broadcast on Halloween night. To ensure success she needs help from the one man who has come face-to-face with the evil that dwells in Summer Place, a man still haunted by the ghosts of his own failure.

We're the D'Artigo sisters: Half-human, half-Faerie, we are savvy - and sexy - operatives for the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. But our mixed-blood heritage short-circuits our talents at all the wrong times. My sister Delilah shapeshifts into a tabby cat whenever she's stressed. Menolly's a vampire who is still trying to get the hang of being undead. And me? I'm Camille - a wicked-good witch. Except my magic is as unpredictable as the weather, which my enemies are about to find out the hard way.

M.J., her partner Gilley, and their client, the wealthy, de-lish Dr. Steven Sable, are at his family's lodge, where his grandfather allegedly jumped to his death from the roof-although Sable says it was foul play. But the patriarch's isn't the only ghost around. The place is lousy with souls, all with something to get off their ghoulish chests. Now M.J. will have to quell the clamor-and listen for a voice with the answers...

Rick Yancey’s first gothic suspense tale, The Monstrumologist, earned him a prestigious Michael L. Printz Award. The second installment of this acclaimed series, Curse of the Wendigo, finds young Will Henry on the hunt for a supernatural beast plaguing New England in the late 1800s. Will and his mentor, the domineering Dr. Warthrop, are enlisted to help the doctor’s former fiancée. It seems her husband has been lost in the Canadian wilderness.

The arrival of vast, alien, inhuman intelligences reshaped the landscape for human affairs across the world, and the United Kingdom is no exception. Things have changed in Britain since the dread elder god Nyarlathotep ascended to the rank of prime minister. In America, a thousand-mile-wide storm system has blanketed the Midwest, and the president is nowhere to be found. The government has been infiltrated by the shadowy Black Chamber, and the Pentagon and NASA have been refocused on the problem of summoning Cthulhu.

My name is Ethan Drake, and I’m a police detective. And I got plenty darkness to give. So does my partner, who’s a demon, and frankly, a royal pain in my ass. But occult investigators are in short supply in the PD, so what are you going to do? Anyway, we just caught a bodysnatching case that has the stench of occult workings all over it.

To cement the leadership of his North Carolina Shiftertown, Bowman O'Donnell agreed to a "mating of convenience". Two powerful wolf shifters, he and Kenzie keep the pack in order and are adored by all.

Jewell Parker Rhodes follows up her acclaimed Voodoo Dreams with a present-day mystery surrounding the gifts of an ancestor of the Voodoo Queen. Doctor Marie Levant can't explain why she's drawn to New Orleans, or why it's comforting and unsettling at the same time. And she can't shake her haunting dreams. But when she delivers a dead woman's baby, Marie knows malevolent forces are at work, and it's up to her to stop them.

There’s only so much room on the Island, only so much blood, and Manhattan’s Vampyre Clans aren’t interested in sharing. So when the Vyrus-infected dregs of New York’s outer boroughs start creeping across the bridges, the Clans want to know why. Bad luck for PI Joe Pitt. Joe used to be a Rogue, work off his own dime, pick his own gigs, but tight times and a terminally ill girlfriend pushed him to the renegade Society Clan. Now he has all the cash and blood he needs, but at a steep price.

Bleakwood, Oregon—once a sleepy, forgotten town—has become ground zero for an unspeakable horror. When Danielle Pryer’s long-lost brother, Bruce, returns from the Vietnam War carrying a monstrous mutation, reality itself begins to unravel. Vines turn to veins, brick to bone, and the laws of physics become mere suggestions. But Bleakwood’s nightmare is just beginning.

The sexy, thrilling adventures continue in best-selling author Keri Arthur's new Dark Angels series, set in the realm of danger and desire known as the Guardian World.... Half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones can enter the realm between life and death, and she can see the Reapers who collect the souls of the dead. Now, she is using her gifts - and the investigative know-how of a man who broke her heart - to find a cabal searching for the power to control time, reality, and fate. And this is besides her work for the Vampire Council, half of whom want her dead.

Fathered by an incubus, raised by a mortal mother, and liaison to the Pemkowet Police Department, Daisy Johanssen pulled the community together after a summer tragedy befell the resort town she calls home. Things are back to normal - as normal as it gets for a town famous for its supernatural tourism, and presided over by the reclusive Norse goddess Hel. Not only has Daisy now gained respect as Hel’s enforcer, she’s dating Sinclair Palmer, a nice, seemingly normal human guy. Not too shabby for the daughter of a demon.

Darius is back. Edinburgh thought that it had seen the last of this seductive dragon king, but that was before Darius found something worthwhile. He just can't stay away from the impossibly beautiful Dr. Sophie Martin, even though he knows that a passion this strong could prove detrimental for them both. Sophie tried to forget her encounter with smoking-hot Darius to no avail. He's in her dreams, tempting her.

In his quest to destroy the Dark Fae, the Dragon King known as Kiril goes to Ireland as a spy. When a gorgeous, mysterious woman tries to seduce him, Kiril instantly sees through her glamour to the Dark Fae beneath. Shara isn't just any Dark; she's from one of the most powerful bloodlines. And despite the dangers, Kiril can't stay away from her. He is enthralled by her smile and enslaved by the undeniable passion. Shara has one chance to make things right with her family and to prove her worth.

Following on the heels of Robert Brockway's comedic horror novel The Unnoticeables, The Empty Ones reveals the next chapter in the lives of a few misfits attempting to fight back against the mysterious Unnoticeables. The Empty Ones follows Carey and Randall to London where they go to rescue Gus and fight more of these mysterious angel-like creatures, and stumble on a powerful and unexpected ally.

As a medical examiner, seeing ghosts has its advantages. After being informed by a ghost that there is a mass grave in the area, Lance and Detective Angus Young feel the fallout. As one investigates the murders, the other investigates the bodies, both trying to piece together what happened. Luckily, the dead aren't all silent. As ghosts of the victims appear, clues to what happened start to come together. The only problem now is figuring out who the killer is and catching him before he strikes again.