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This collection of short fiction from award winning-author Jay Lake represents his favorites of his own work, both current and classic. With an emphasis on recent publications since his last short fiction collection, in 2007, The Sky That Wraps showcases his reach in fantasy, science fiction, and the ambiguous territory in between. This volume includes two all-new stories, "Coming for Green" and "To Their Late Escape", as well as previously uncollected fan favorites "The American Dead" and "The Sky That Wraps The World Round, Past the Blue and Into the Black".

High school wrestler Jake Persson is living on vitamins and diet Mountain Dew as he fights to make weight at the height of championship season. In the small mining town in northern Minnesota's Iron Range where Jake lives, this is the most exciting thing that has happened in years. During his last meet, Jake confronts his future and the unnerving sense that his own body and desires are starting to betray him. Chelsey Johnson writes a gripping story about hunger, control, and wrestling down desire.

Americans are afraid of their food. And for good reason. In 2011, the deadliest food-borne illness outbreak in a century delivered killer listeria bacteria on innocuous cantaloupe never before suspected of carrying that pathogen. Nearly 50 million Americans will get food poisoning this year. Spoiled, doctored or infected food will send more than 100,000 people to the hospital. Three thousand will die. We expect, even assume, our government will protect our food, but how often do you think a major U.S. food farm get inspected by federal or state officials?

Wolfgang Schmitt, ex-underwear model, self-proclaimed wisecrack, and cynical copywriter turned undercover agent, is biding his time, unsure how to spend the millions he scored after his recent undercover mission for the FBI. Complicating matters is the fact that he might be called in for a new mission; if it's off the books and calls for a touch of seduction, Wolf is the man for the job.

Haldane, son of the Get warlord Black Morca must flee for his life through a familiar landscape turned strangely alien, aided by a wizard of uncertain abilities and the hazardous favor of the Goddess Libera. His perilous journey will take him to a final battle amidst the standing stones of power of Stone Heath where he will discover his true destiny. An exciting, thought provoking tale by critically acclaimed and award winning masters of the genre.

Chantal is the ultimate femme fatale, the deadly siren of every man’s dreams and nightmares. A ruthless - and beautiful - black widow, she seduces and destroys those around her. To her lover, Dan Stark, she promises paradise and more. But as her web descends, he must decide his role - one of her victims . . . or her killer.

Private investigator Mike Haller has been hired to find Muriel Contreras, a hooker who's inherited nearly $1,000,000. But just when he's approaching an answer to her whereabouts, he discovers he's been sabotaged - and his P.I. license is suspended. Haller sets out on his own to find out who is trying to stop him, but the chase quickly turns deadly when his colleague - who assigned Haller to the case - is brutally murdered.

In 1997, Daniel Trush, a bright, active, outgoing twelve-year-old, collapsed on the basketball court and fell into a deep coma. Rushed to the hospital, he was found to have five previously undetected aneurysms in his brain. One had burst, causing a massive cerebral hemorrhage. While Daniel remained comatose, the uncontrolled pressure inside his skull caused him to suffer multiple strokes.

In spring 2008, inspired by the Vietnam-era Winter Soldier hearings, Iraq Veterans Against the War gathered veterans to expose war crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here are the powerful words, images, and documents of this historic gathering, which show the reality of life in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The year is 1989 in Los Angeles, and Miles Jameson is about to graduate from high school. The last big party of high school is approaching, along with the end of a turbulent decade, and Miles has only a vague desire to “work with his hands” (his girlfriend points out that this is a bit trite). Marked with the disaffection and apathy that filled a particular era, and that has always marked adolescence, author John Duncan Talbird gives us a rollicking and bacchanalian look at the challenge of making something of yourself, even when it seems there is little to work with.

Target of Opportunity opens in the midst of World War II as San Francisco Police Inspector Gilman and his brother-in-law, former Washington attorney Donald Kerwin, stop into a 7-Eleven - and are met with a torrent of bullets. A gunman at the register kills Kerwin and wounds Gilman, and an illegal police search follows, leading to a dismissal of charges against the suspect.

This adrenaline-packed page-turner from bestselling author Max Byrd brings back the unstoppable P.I. Mike Haller, this time in the streets of London. Lighting a cigarette in the gray night, P.I. Mike Haller is uneasy about the job that has brought him to London and away from his home in California. His instincts warned him that he was in for trouble - he just didn't trust the old man who had hired him, and he couldn't quite explain the reason behind his suspicions.

Re-released for the first time in years, the hit action-packed thriller features the unforgettable, original P.I. Mike Haller. P.I. Mike Haller is on the case to find a newsman who suddenly went missing in Sacramento Valley. A tearful, boozy wife has paid him to find her husband, but someone else is attempting to dissuade him - using a .38 with Haller's name and address on it.

Stories of Color marks Lawrence Biscontini's first book of fiction. Written during a 12-country, 12-month sabbatical in 2015, these various short stories offer something for (almost) everyone. The common thread of the human condition among all sentient beings weaves throughout the tales.

Written by multiple Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Award nominee Jay Lake, "A Very Old Man with No Wings at All" was first published in the August 2007 issue of Aeon. Over his long career, Jay Lake has published 10 novels and more than 300 stories. He was honored with the 2004 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

In this second volume of the GemQuest series, the battle lines have been drawn. The Dark Lord reaches beyond his realms in search of the heir, and the disparate nations of the world begin to recognize the magnitude of his evil. They rise up united and renew their bonds. From the dazzling ice kingdom of Eleutheria to the magnificent tree-top city of Seramour, revived allies succor and protect the Twins during the preparation for their all-important quest for the Gem of Eternity.

Nestled in upstate New York, Stratburgh University has a problem. Three sorority sisters have disappeared, and the police say they simply ran away. The students are outraged. Even openly gay junior Jamie Bradford is concerned, only he has other worries. He doesn’t have a boyfriend and is willing to disregard the troublesome news on campus to find one. With hopes of finding a lover, Jamie attends the party of the year and becomes involved with two men at the same time. One is the man of his dreams; the other is a man of his nightmares and a police officer. And Jamie’s hell begins. The cop has another goal and will stop at nothing to achieve it. He’s even willing to track Jamie through the Catskill Mountains and New York City to get what he wants. Jamie’s life.

When they say that war changes a man, they're being euphemistic. War makes a man insane by civilian standards. When the man comes back, he may return to civilian norms again. After a while. I'm not proud of many of the things that happened in Nam. I'm not proud of some of the things I did myself. But the men I served with were, for the most part, doing the best job they could with the cards they'd been dealt. I'm proud of them, and I'm proud to have been among them.

During the height of the crack epidemic that decimated the streets of D.C., Ruben Castaneda covered the crime beat for the Washington Post. The first in his family to graduate from college, he had landed a job at one of the country’s premier newspapers. But his apparent success masked a devastating secret: he was a crack addict. Even as he covered the drug-fueled violence that was destroying the city, he was prowling S Street, a 24/7 open-air crack market, during his off hours, looking for his next fix.

Written by multiple Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy Award nominee Jay Lake, "The Leopard's Paw" was first published in the April 2007 issue of Subterranean Magazine.

Over his long career, Jay Lake has published 10 novels and more than 300 stories. He was honored with the 2004 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.