In a coastal town on the Outer Carolina Banks, David Ribault and Merrill Poulnot are trying to revive their stale relationship and commit to marriage, and a slick developer claiming to be related to a historic town hero, Rawson Steele, has come to town and is buying up property. Steele makes a romantic advance on Merrill and an unusual 5 a.m appointment outside of town with David. But Steele is a no-show, and at the time of the appointment everyone in the town disappears, removed entirely ...

A Bram Stoker Award–winning anthology featuring twenty stories based on local legends and ghost stories from around the world.Wherever you're from, there are local stories of ghosts, unexplained phenomena, or some thing that people are afraid to talk about. You can dismiss them as old wives' tales, and yet they stay with us, haunting our everyday lives. In Haunted Legends, these tales are brought disturbingly to life by some of the best horror and...

Inside the Castertown MegaMall, the biggest mall in the world, live the night children—runaways, abandoned kids, kids who got lost and were never found. They only come out at night, after all the shoppers are gone.When thirteen-year-old Jule Devereaux visits the mall after the mysterious disappearance of her aunt, she becomes a pawn in the war between two gangs of night children: the Castertown Crazies, led by the stalwart Tick Stiles, and the Dingos, whose leader is the batty Burt ...

TV says it. Magazines say it. American society commands it. You must be thin. You must be young. Fad diets. Fat-purging pills. Fitness clubs. Liposuction. Breast implants. Steroids.In the tomorrow of Thinner Than Thou, the cult of the body has become the one true religion. The Dedicated Sisters are a religious order sworn to help anorexic, bulimic, and morbidly obese youth. Throughout the land, houses of worship have been replaced by the health clubs of the Crossed Triceps....

The Dogs of Truth contains 17 new or previously uncollected short stories. Included are "High Rise High," about a student revolt at the ultimate "secure" high school; "Focus Group," where a star-struck fan dictates the fate of soap opera characters through a biochip implant; "Escape from Shark Island," which looks at an extreme version of today's trendy "family bed;" and "Precautions," where germ-phobia reigns supreme.The new stories tell of the "Grand Opening" of the world...

MORMAMA is a riveting supernatural, southern gothic tale from Kit Reed, the author of Where.*2018 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST HORROR**Locus 2017 Recommended Reading List*One of io9's 20 Amazing New Scifi and Fantasy Books for MayKirkus' the Best Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror Reads for MayDell Duval has been living on the street since ...

The best stories from a master of speculative fictionCalled "one of our brightest cultural commentators" by Publishers Weekly, Kit Reed draws from life—with a difference. This new collection brings together thirty-four of her strong, original stories, from early classics like "The Wait" and "Winter" to six never-before-collected short stories, including "The Legend of Troop 13" and "Wherein We Enter the Museum." An early favorite, "Automatic Tiger," is the first in...

The world is in chaos: war, plague, global ecological collapse. Parents everywhere seek sanctuary for their precious children, the future of mankind. For those who are rich and powerful enough, safety can be found—for a price—at the Clothos Academy. Run by a mysterious man known only as Sarge, set in a former monastery atop a sheer cliff on a tiny island somewhere in the Mediterranean, Clothos will admit only one hundred students before it is sealed off—perhaps permanently—from the terrors...

@expectations is a fabulous work of women's fiction by a writer who has made a career of delving deep into women's hearts and finding the truth of their feelings and their lives. Reed's fiction has always examined the female and familial conditions with a sharp eye, a truthful insight, and a unique style that leaves her readers breathless and wanting more.Jenny is living a typical suburban life, one she's no longer sure she really wants and doesn't know how to change. When ...

Four speculative near futures by Kit Reed, author of Where and Mormama, showcasing her sharp and transgressive social dystopias where characters are pushed to their psychological limits.@ExpectationsJenny lives a typical suburban life and stumbles upon an online community where people create their own lives through words. Soon she becomes so far removed from her life that she can no longer see the line between real...

The baby business is booming. Billions of dollars are spent each year on strollers, cribs, and clothing, not to mention assisted reproduction and adoption. With fertility rates dropping precipitously in the US and babies becoming ever more valuable as a combination of status symbol and perfect accessory, there's clearly a developing market for someone like Tom Starbird. Tom is The Baby Merchant--though he'd never think of himself in such terms. In his mind, Tom creates perfect famil...

A motorcycle gang of nuns rides out on a mysterious rescue mission in this dazzling work of metaphysical science fiction by Kit Reed.This scarifying trip into the near future provides an extraordinary look at women in the contemporary world.Marooned on Schell Isle in a pre-apocalyptic near future, the women are waiting. The men have all gone to war - the ultimate sexist act. When he comes back will he be welcomed? It's an open question. But today is the day everything begin...