In this collection of shorts, enter the sometimes funny, sometimes serious world of angels. Meet an angel punished by having to sit on a rock for three years (it could have been worse, he says) and a guardian angel who knows he should never have gotten this assignment (because he’s a demon). Peek into angelic online support forums and find out what happens when God institutes a creation-wide self-esteem movement.The short story bundle contains Damage, Winter Branches, Even A Stone,...

29-year-old Lee has a Park Slope apartment with easy access to Manhattan, loves her job as an auto mechanic, and can see her guardian angel (a wisecracker with a fascination for the Rumours album.) That's kind of a full life for a kid in the world's biggest playground. Despite what everyone thinks, she doesn't need, or want, a romantic relationship.Far more comfortable in blue jeans and flannel than in heels and satin, Lee finds herself lying to every man she dates. To the physical...

When Gage Jordan's uncle dies inside a magic circle, and his cousin Jeff can't communicate, no one has the answers. Was Gage's uncle trying to protect Jeff, or was he working black magic? Some claim there's a generational curse while others whisper about demonic possession.The only thing Gage knows for sure is they're in danger. Demons are prowling the Vermont countryside, hunting for him and Jeff as the souls who got away. Gage's father can't help, and he's forbidden Gage to talk ...

Something's shooting down shuttles when they try to land on the surface of Pluto.After an invisible force annihilates two shuttlecraft in rapid succession, the humans at Pluto Station find themselves pitted against a weapon they can't see. Every time it fires, the weapon gets stronger, until it's targeting anything heading in-system. Meanwhile, their resupply freighter is on approach, carrying all their food and equipment for the next three months. Its destruction will mean starvat...

"Honey? I think you have a twin."Amber Brickman used to dream of unearthing ancient civilizations with her soulmate. But now she's the Assistant Fire Marshal, sifting through burn sites while the walls are still warm, looking for evidence of arson. It's the life she's pieced together after her fiancé was murdered just weeks before their wedding. Ashes are easier to sort out than broken hearts, and paperwork doesn't leave you lonely.She's not asking for more, but she's about...

Punished for a year due to a slight infraction, the Archangel Gabriel is living with a human family, in a human body, working as a servant until he can return to Heaven. He thought he’d be tending sheep and harvesting grapes, but now it’s the middle of the night, and he’s got a suffocating five-year-old girl in his lap. He’s never even felt a fever before, but somehow, he needs to save this child’s life.And then they expect him to deliver a baby. He’s never done it before, but how ...

To escape her abusive family, Joey needs her string quartet to succeed. But there’s not a lot of money in classical music, and a whole lot of competition.When a bride gets so drunk she forgets she hired a classical string quartet, the second violinist stuns everyone by ripping off a guitar riff on her violin. Seeing a goldmine, the quartet tries to capitalize on this by changing their entire repertoire.But changing their playlist starts twisting the friendships the quartet ...

A rosary in one hand. A dagger in the other.Sister Magdalena never heard of the Catherinite nuns until the day she faced her own death sentence.Rome, 1562. It's the era of the Index of Banned Books and the Roman Inquisition. Kings still burn heretics. The worst threats come from within the Church itselfOnly seventeen, Magdalena killed a priest who tried to rape her within the walls of her convent. His powerful family will see her executed, and then they'll destroy h...

Every year, thousands of expecting parents start prenatal testing to find out if it’s a boy or a girl…and instead learn the baby is going to die.Anencephaly. Trisomy 18. Potter’s sequence. They’re called “incompatible with life.” But they’re not incompatible with love.Many doctors recommend immediate termination, but more parents are carrying their babies for as long as possible, often without guidance.Carrying to Term: A Guide for Parents after a Devastating Pr...

Everyone knows about guardian angels — and Nezeq knows he should never have been made one. He’s a demon, after all. So instead of protecting the human Joshua, Nezeq tries to kill him. And fails.That’s his first mistake.His second mistake is in coming back to finish the job. There’s not going to be a third mistake.Originally published in Dragons, Knights and Angels magazine, Damage won second place in the 2006 Reader’s Choice Award for short fiction...

Welcome to this remastered best-of collection to showcase the highlights of the entire out-of-print Planetary Anthology series from Sol to Pluto and everything in between.Sol:Sundown And Out (David Hallquist)Let The Dead Bury Their Dead (Caroline Furlong)Mercury:The Mirror of Circe (John C. Wright)The Element of Transformation (L. Jagi Lamplighter)Venus:The Fox’s Fire (Danielle Ackley-McPhail)The Rocket Raising (Freder...

"If I get to Heaven and find her there, I'd rather be in Hell."Six years ago, an ultrasound diagnosed baby Annie with an incurable birth defect. She'd be born, and then she'd die.Doctor Olivia Thackeray walked into the exam room and did the unforgivable. She lied to Annie's mother, badgered her, and finally yelled to coerce her into an abortion she didn't want.Today, Doctor Thackeray walks into the mother's church. And she's still unforgivable.An ou...