"For the love of God, cut off my head."The last request in Uncle Silas's will shocks everyone speechless, everyone except his favorite niece, Anna. More than death itself, the claustrophobic Silas fears a premature burial. Will her elders carry out his request? Anna is certain they will not. It's up to her to do the right thing, even if it is a bit grisly. Armed with butcher knife and candle, Anna heads for the crypt underneath the church in the dead of night. All ...

Collects six short stories of fantasy and weirdness. Fans of Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Greek mythology, and biblical-inspired fantasy will find something interesting."Blood and Beauty" tells the tragic love story of a satyr and a dryad."Sutter's Well" records the weird encounter between two boys and a Lovecraftian monster in Appalachia."Morphine and Chocolate" draws inspiration from the medieval poem Pearl a...

What is a mermaid to a fisherman?A young woman's spirit trapped in a cat's body, Merliss has lived more lifetimes than she can remember. When an unlucky fisherman happens on an injured mermaid and carries the creature home, Merliss takes an interest in the mermaid's plight. Merliss fears for the community. She knows they will face retribution from the old gods if anyone kills the mermaid, assuming the old gods still have any power.The mermaid soon comes und...

The Big Feast Cafe is a weird and wonderful place.Victor's wife is missing. The police are making no progress. Victor believes they suspect him. Acting on a business card found in his mailbox, Victor goes out one night in search of The Big Feast Cafe, a place where the lost are said to gather.His search draws him into one crime scene after another. Soon a pair of cops are chasing him for a murder. The Big Feast Cafe proves to be a weird place indeed. Victor...

Weird tales from the ever-weirder Old West.Jimmy and Orville are back for more supernatural mayhem in these four stories. Their penchant for finding trouble is as keen as ever. In "The Wand" Jimmy and Orville face off against a dangerous witch who will not accept no for an answer. "The Miracle of Ed's Purgative" brings our hucksters face-to-face with a sasquatch who refuses to leave. The dead witch in "The Wayward Corpse" will not stay in her coffin. "The Flaming E...

Plagues kill but Merliss has far more to fear than a disease.Merliss is no ordinary cat. She's a young girl's spirit trapped in a cat's body. While the magic that banished her has snatched away her ability to speak to humans, it has given her a life spanning millennia. For centuries she has lived with the cunning folk, assisting their efforts to heal the sick and ward off malevolent creatures. Now a bleeding sickness has thrown the medieval community into chaos.

Taking from a Barrow? Not a good idea.Ethan's family has fallen from owning a manor to scraping by on a small farm. As he approaches manhood, his prospects don't look very promising. And Arabella, the girl he's set his sights on, is the daughter of the Squire. Goaded by his younger brother, Ethan enters the Barrow, fights for his life with the tomb guardian, and escapes with a silver gorget.Ethan hatches a plan to impress Arabella with the gorget. At the sa...

Well-behaved children have nothing to fear from Krampus, right?Hans and Helga face a nasty encounter with bully Johan as the days to Christmas count down. But bullies are not the only threat the village children face. Krampus is long overdue to pay a visit. Chickens and ducks have gone missing with hoof prints leading away. Good children like Hans and Helga have nothing to fear, or do they? Johan knows he's a target. What plot is he hatching to save himself? Is Kra...

The Great Corvid, a gem rumoured to be the source of the monarchy's power, has been stolen. The Queen and her council demand that wizard emeritus Learvin and his cat familiar Nightmawl come out of retirement to lead the search. The most likely culprit is a dragon living in a mountain lair on the other side of Swamp Deslolation. The journey to the dragon's cave will be hard, but negotiating with a dragon carries its own set of perils. Nightmawl would rather rest his old bones in a tree and ...

The Great Corvid, a gem rumoured to be the source of the monarchy's power, has been stolen. The Queen and her council demand that wizard emeritus Learvin and his cat familiar Nightmawl come out of retirement to lead the search. The most likely culprit is a dragon living in a mountain lair on the other side of Swamp Deslolation. The journey to the dragon's cave will be hard, but negotiating with a dragon carries its own set of perils. Nightmawl would rather rest his old bones in a tree and ...

A therapy cat? Who plays blackjack?Stu's run of luck at the blackjack table comes to a spectacular and disastrous bad end. With one twenty-five dollar chip remaining, he's facing a month of ramen noodles until his next paycheck. His friend Harv cajoles him into seeing a gambling consultant who offers an unusual solution for Stu to win his money back. A cat. A very special cat. Guaranteed success claims the consultant. In the world of gambling, nothing is guaranteed...

Is a vampire without fangs harmless? Do trolls really live under bridges? What's a squonk and why does it weep? Where do water wights come from? How do you return a stolen jewel to a ghost?Those are only a few of the questions the stories in this volume consider. There are varied paths in the fantasy genre and these stories travel many of them. The tales range from weird westerns to fairy tales to classic fantasy with a cat as the protagonist. Some feature magic, others none at all...