Ward kept his mask on. "You said you could tell me who one of my parents was, my liege," he said."It's more that I know what they were. You're from a demonic bloodline. One of your parents was probably some sort of hell beast or interdimensional monster or soul-eating demon. I expect that's why you were left at the temple.""Oh," said Ward, deflated. That much of his past he had guessed already."How's the eggs?" Nero asked.Three disparate souls have been linked ...

What can a cross-dressing mortician, his unbearably handsome assistant, a sex-mad chef, an angry policewoman and a bitter fish do to stop a series of grisly murders? Ebenezer Sink has always been able to see the fates of people around him, whether he likes it or not. Just a little contact with their worldly goods and he finds himself buried up to the neck in details about the how, why and when of their perfectly timely deaths. But lately he's been seeing the work of a murderer, one unlikel...

Come on a journey through the darkest parts of the human psyche, the mysterious hidden corners of history, the sharp end of mythology and the silly rules of high fantasy. Meet gods, demons, escaped convicts, ghosts, missing prime ministers and disgruntled elves in this collection of short stories from all across the science fiction and fantasy spectrum.

"Now it's been acknowledged, now he's had to think about it, it won't go away. War Vladistov. One fucking conversation, two swigs of lukewarm beer, a crap almost-snog, the appearance of crazy Xiaoping Hathaway, and suddenly the world is way too complex for Josie to handle."Josie starts to get a bad feeling, a feeling he can't shake. A premonition of bad things to come."It chases him all the way back to the dorms like a shadow."What do you get when you put a bunch of...

Tiffany really, really wanted a dog for her eleventh birthday. But when she woke up that morning, it wasn't a cute, fluffy puppy that greeted her in the garden; it was a big, stern Alsatian with grey fur and a very solid handshake. And he could solve mysteries. What on Earth is a girl supposed to do with her own detective dog?

Helen and Leroy were lovers in the strictest sense of the word; no attachments, just sex. But now he's gone, his cop buddies have no leads, and Helen has the strange business card she found in his pocket: The Street of Two Doors. Driven by unresolved feelings and a burning desire to answer the question of his death, Helen tracks down the mysterious organisation and becomes a full-fledged member. Now, the answers she wants about Leroy and his murderer lie behind a web of sexual fantasies an...

Betts doesn't know why she left the theatre. Why she listened to a man she had never met, even if he was a very famous and very attractive musician. Why she had to be the one spared the horrors of the Narrows fire.Now she's spiralling out of control, plagued by guilt and confusion, watching the surviving members of Hero court the press to speak about their ordeal. Which is strange, but not too strange. And they're replacing their dead member remarkably quickly, which is odd. But no...

Ward dug out the Duke's letter, now much dog-eared from travel, and handed it over. Frowning, she read it in silence."Who is Ward?" she said at length."I am.""I don't understand.""It's my name. Ward Ramsden.""Ward? That's the name of a temple orphan. What about your true name?"He shrugged. "I don't have one. Ward suits me fine."She stared at him for a long moment, one eyebrow arched. "You're telling the truth," she observed. "But how can you...

Spirits are restless in Los Hellas. Following reports of ghosts being sighted on the island, Felix McGuiggan has been contracted by the SWIFTWATER Corporation to reassure the natives and prove their new virtual reality technology isn't responsible. Gig has never believed in ghosts, but tracking one down may be the only way he can get paid.

Three qverse security experts--hackers, if you're being vulgar--have been hired to prove that you can't murder someone with the internet. Of course you can't, that would be nonsense, but one of the companies in charge of the billion dollar system needs investors and the public to be reassured. This is how Regina Carter, Felix McGuiggan and Lloyd Hong meet, but not for the first time.As clues pile up and mysteries twist and tighten around one another, the hacks find themselves in th...

"I'm going to murder you," he said."A shame," said Terra. "It seems we must do this the hard way. Again." And she began to speak the words of a geas: "I command thee, by the binding of thy name, within the arms of Cataclyst, God of Numbers. Here now I recognise thee by the name--"She stopped. She had to stop. Her lips had knitted themselves together with stitches made of flesh. Now they fused over and her mouth, with its pert, rosebud lips, disappeared completely. Fear bloome...

Zeem, a Persian fairy peri, finds himself in a world far from his mythical roots as he navigates the busy aisles of Tesco in Wickley West, London. Living in a rundown tenement and spending his time with Johnny Flannery, a local thief, Zeem is a far cry from the magical creature he once was. However, when he finds himself drawn into an investigation into the murder of Medusa, Zeem realizes that his connections to the ancient Greek gods Artemis and Eros may not have faded as much as he thoug...