Whitstead, December 1844There has always been something a little otherworldly about the village of Whitstead; there are thin places, where the ordinary world touches on the realms of fairies, ghosts, and darkness. And this year, during the holy season of Christmas, various forces—dragons, demons, fae, dreams, and snow—act on the denizens of the town.A dryad is on a mission to free something trapped in a mirror. A little girl prays for a Christmas pudding. A blind peddler sing...

Whitstead, Harvest 1845Darkness threatens Whitstead as autumn comes. Evil forces are on the move against the town as a whole, but also individual hearts and minds. As Halloween approaches, the veil between worlds thins and demons, vampires, dangerous fae, and madmen are not the only threat—spirits and ghosts loom as well.Love is lost and won. An exiled heir seeks help from dragons. An ancient guardian faces invading peril. Aliens seek lost equipment. A lady helps a ghost fi...

A Whyborne & Griffin short story.Griffin Flaherty wants nothing more than to create a perfect Valentine’s Day for his lover, Dr. Percival Endicott Whyborne. Dinner at a fancy restaurant, an evening at the theater, and a romantic interlude at home should do the trick.But a new client with an urgent case puts Griffin’s plans in jeopardy. A magic talisman has been stolen, and if it isn’t returned by sundown, disaster will befall not only on the thief but the innocents...

Sink your teeth into 20 folklore-inspired short stories with this fantasy-horror anthology featuring bestselling authors like Neil Gaiman, M.R. Carey, and Charlie Jane Anders.ALL THE BETTER TO READ YOU WITH: Includes 12 original curses and 6 classic fairy tales!It's a prick of blood, the bite of an apple, the evil eye, a wedding ring or a pair of red shoes. Curses come in all shapes and sizes, and they can happen to anyone, not just those o...

Taken from A COUNTRY CHRISTMAS, this is the perfect short tale for the festive season.When the Emery family first moved into the village of Fairacre, the locals were not entirely sure what to make of them. With three children, and another on the way, Mrs Emery didn't exactly fit the villagers' idea of a perfect mother.On Christmas morning, with the sunshine catching the frost on the thatched roofs, there is an unexpected knock at the door of the cottage whe...

**The bestselling author of The Lake of Dead Languages presents a vivid and atmospheric story of a magical world on the brink of change and the girl who is the catalyst for it all.“A beautifully told fantasy, ripe with magic, forbidden love and unspeakably dark forces . . . a journey well worth taking.”—Kirkus Reviews“A treat for lovers of the gothic.”—Booklist**Welcome to Blythwood.At sixteen, Avaline Hall has already bur...

A dangerously seductive collection of tales that—like the sirens themselves—are impossible to resistSensuality mingles with fantasy in this sultry anthology starring fairies, sphinxes, werewolves, and other beings by masterful storytellers including Joyce Carol Oates, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, Ellen Kushner, and more. Sirens and Other Daemon Lovers features a vampire who falls in love with her human prey, an updated Red Riding Hood fantasy, an unsuspecting y...

**An outstanding array—****52 pieces in all—**of selected fiction from the multiple-award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman, introduced with a foreword by Booker Prize-winning author Marlon JamesSpanning Gaiman’s career to date, The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction is a captivating collection from one of the world’s most beloved writers.A brilliant representation of Gaiman's groundbreaking, entrancing, ...

25 chilling short stories by outstanding female writers.Women have always written exceptional stories of horror and the supernatural. This anthology aims to showcase the very best of these, from Amelia B. Edwards's 'The Phantom Coach', published in 1864, through past luminaries such as Edith Wharton and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, to modern talents including Muriel Gray, Sarah Pinborough and Lilith Saintcrow.From tales of ghostly children to visitations by depa...

This dazzling new collection of off-the-wall fantasies features stories from the minds of the funniest writers in the field, including Esther Friesner, Neil Gaiman, Tom Holt, Paul di Filippo, Adam Roberts and Molly Brown. Here are 35 stories guaranteed to reassure us that the next-door world will be just as mad as this one.It includes a mix of brand-new stories and rare finds or forgotten gems, with a wide range of tales to suit every taste in humour. From the missionary plunged in...

"Readers who don't mind mixing things up a little . . . should have a very good time indeed" with these short stories blending fantasy and crime ( Booklist ).Tales of mystery and supernatural have long stirred the human imagination. Here are twenty original stories of diabolical crimes and magical solutions featuring some of today's top science fiction, fantasy, and mystery writers. From the Elizabethan era to the far-flun...

Surrounded by the aura of magic, witches have captured our imagination for millennia and fascinate us now more than ever. No longer confined to the image of a hexing old crone, witches can be kindly healers and protectors, tough modern urban heroines, holders of forbidden knowledge, sweetly domestic spellcasters, darkly domineering, sexy enchantresses, ancient sorceresses, modern Wiccans, empowered or persecuted, possessors of supernatural abilities that can be used for good or evil—or per...