Nelson Palmer has a knack for finding drama in his life, the fact that his sister tried to kill one of his best friends proves it. He thought he’d broken from the chaos, but when a friend sends him a text saying she's pregnant, his life turns upside down. After a night out drinking with teammates, Nelson was surprised as anyone when he woke up next to her, and whether he remembers the night or not, he’s ready to do what's right for the baby. Annie Lake has loved Nelson for over a decade. She's watched as girlfriend after girlfriend came and went, without Nelson noticing she was right in front of him. She hadn't expected to get pregnant the one time he treated her as more than a friend. It was a dream come true for her, right up until the moment he woke up and had no idea why she was in his bed. Now Annie's left trying to figure out what to do, while dodging a marriage of convenience. Will Nelson and Annie be able to work things out? Or will the secret Annie has been keeping be too much for Nelson to handle?** Views: 53
What’s a little blackmail between consenting adults?Rachel Davis will do anything to get her sister out of a bad relationship with her fiancé. Even if it involves a few fibs, a little breaking-and-entering, and blackmailing the fiancé's potential boss, Charles, for his help. So what if the handsome Charles happens to be a vampire?Charles Wright has found the perfect way to trap the man threatening his brother's wife: cozy up to him, get invited along on the skiing trip, and then search for incriminating evidence. How much better that audacious but gorgeous Rachel is just as eager to nail the bastard. As far as he's concerned, there's nothing wrong with a little blackmail between two consenting adults. Especially when it's time for Rachel to pay up. Views: 53
### From Publishers Weekly This patchwork anthology of 13 new vampire stories proves that heavyweight contributors can give some substance to a relatively slight theme. Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse novels), Kelner (the Laura Fleming mysteries) and 11 other writers with serious vamp credentials craft stories around the concept of birthdays for bloodsuckers. Most of the tales only blow out candles in passing, as with P.N. Elrod's Grave-Robbed, which mixes pathos and comedy as vampire PI Jack Fleming busts a phony medium mid-séance, and Tanya Huff's Blood Wrapped, in which Henry Fitzroy's search for the ideal gift for a vampire's 40th mixes with his pursuit of a human kidnapper. Christopher Golden takes birthdays to heart in his poignant coming-of-age story, The Mournful Cry of Owls, while Kelley Armstrong proposes in Twilight that a vampire's real birthday is the date of transformation from mortal to immortal. Fans of the many series vampires on parade here will be undeterred by the variable quality of their adventures. _(Sept.)_ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ### From Experienced genre hands ensure the high quality of 13 stories about birthdays and vampires. The opening story uses Charlaine Harris' series star Sookie Stackhouse, who, as the only nonvampire at a Dracula's birthday ball, finds herself on the menu. Dropping by a role-playing party with his brother's present, Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden must deal with deadly party crashers. A pair of vampires tracks down a serial killer in Toni L. P. Kelner's "How Stella Got Her Grave Back." More chillingly, a vampire knows she must kill to live another year but is strangely reluctant in Kelly Armstrong's "Twilight," and in Elaine Viets' humorous "Vampire Hours," a woman deliberately chooses damnation. Murray, Frieda Views: 53
Getting out of hell is just the beginning What do you do after you've escaped Hell, gone back, uncovered the true nature of God, and then managed to become the new Lucifer? Well, if you're James Stark, you have to figure out how to run Hell while also trying to get back out of it . . . again. Plus there's the small matter of surviving. Because everyone in Heaven, Hell, and in between wants to be the fastest gun in the universe, and the best way to do so is to take down Lucifer, a.k.a. James Stark. And it's not like being in L.A. is any better—a serial-killer ghost is running wild and Stark's angelic alter ego is hiding among the lost days of time with a secret cabal who can rewrite reality. Starting to care for people and life again is a real bitch for a stone-cold killer. Review“The most irreverent, darkly comedic, and downright cool installment to date. ... Powered by Kadrey’s twisted wit and distinctive narrative voice, this novel is replete with memorable lines, images, and pop culture references. …The action-packed and bombshell-laden blend of dark fantasy, crime fiction, and Hellish sitcom is utterly readable.” (Publishers Weekly )“Richard Kadrey’s ‘Sandman Slim’ series is one of my favorite sets of fantasy books from the last few years.” (John Scalzi )“Allow me to both love this series for its feel of crossing hard-boiled crime pulp with H.P. Lovecraftian fantasy, and hate the author for being so damn good at it.” (Bookgasm )“A hell of a good time” (io9.com )“Full of action, wit, and suspense, this grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let go. Kadrey is a master storyteller (overused, I know, but very apt) and he will have you rooting for him in Hell and on Earth.” (Suspense magazine on Aloha From Hell )“This bad-ass supernatural horror stuff is clearly the material he was born to write. Kadrey has an ungodly (literally) amount of fun with Stark’s wryer-than-wry and violenter-than-violent observations and dialog.” (Cory Doctorow, boingboing.com on Aloha From Hell )“If authors were tarot cards, Richard Kadrey would unarguably be the Hierophant of Paranormal Fantasy.” (Paul Goat Allen on Aloha From Hell )“Kadrey’s stylized treatment of the ubiquitous urban fantasy genre makes it seem fresh” (Kirkus Reviews on Aloha From Hell )“Compelling...brilliantly metaphoric...profane mixture of noir atmospherics, black humor, and nonstop action will please Kadrey’s many fans.” (Publishers Weekly on Aloha From Hell )“Kadrey’s prose is raw and gutter-tough, Raymond Chandler meets Lux Interior at the Whisky a Go Go at the end of days.” (Austin Chronicle on Aloha From Hell )“Everything a sequel should be; that is, more. … There’s hardly a moment where you’re not chewing your fingernails to the wrist wondering what happens next. … Kadrey is a hell of a writer, versatile and seasoned, and these pulpy, dark, ultraviolent novels are his best work yet.” (Cory Doctorow, boingboing.com, on Kill the Dead )“Think Get Shorty meets Hellraiser.” (San Francisco Chronicle on Kill the Dead )“James Stark, antihero of 2009’s Sandman Slim, returns in this gritty, over-the-top tale of supernatural mayhem…Profane, intensely metaphoric language somehow makes self-tortured monster Stark sympathetic and turns a simple story into a powerful noir thriller.” (Publishers Weekly on Kill the Dead )“Kadrey knows how to spin a story, his prose is crisp and effortless, and the entertainment value is high.” (Charles de Lint, Fantasy and Science Fiction on Kill the Dead )“…endlessly inventive and high-octane…Kadrey’s an excellent writer who’s able to juggle all of it without dropping a single pin.” (Locus on Kill the Dead )“A sharp-edged urban fantasy, drenched in blood and cynicism, tipping its hat to Sam Peckinpah, Raymond Chandler and the anti-heroes of Hong Kong cinema. Kadrey brings it off through the propulsive force of Stark’s in-your-face, first-person, present-tense narration. It’s a bravura performance.” (San Francisco Chronicle on Sandman Slim )“His best work yet. . . . Kadrey tells his story in a swirl of tight, darkly intense prose. . . . Sandman Slim is very, very good indeed.” (SF Site on Sandman Slim )“Sandman Slim is one of the best books I have read in a very, very long while. Richard Kadrey is a genius. I read it on the plane ride home and was totally blown away.” (Holly Black on Sandman Slim )“Paced like greased lightning (watch out for friction burns on your turning finger), blend the movie-ish delights of tough guy noir and such smart-mouthgore-fests as “Reanimator” and “Army of Darkness”, seasoned by soupcons of Gaimanian romanticism and Koontzian sentiment.” (Booklist on Sandman Slim )“Kadrey’s tale lives on a tightrope, but the author nails the right balance of detective fiction and theological fantasy, seriousness and humor, pathos and absurdity.” (Lincoln Star Journal on Sandman Slim )“Nicotine and octane in equal parts might come close to the high-energy buzz from Richard Kadrey’s Sandman Slim. Crisp world building, recognizable and fully-realized characters, and a refreshingly unique storytelling style make for an absorbing read.Sandman Slim is my kind of hero.” (Kim Harrison on Sandman Slim )“The best B movie I’ve read in at least twenty years. An addictively satisfying, deeply amusing, dirty-ass masterpiece, Sandman Slim swerves hell-bent through our culture’s impacted gridlock of genres…it’s like watching Sergio Leone and Clive Barker co-direct from a script by Jim Thompson and S. Clay Wilson.” (William Gibson on Sandman Slim )“Sarcastic, irreverent and ridiculously enjoyable riff on the Urban Fantasy genre. … a lot like a mosh pit -- rough, exuberant, unpredictable -- and a heck of a lot of fun.” (Miami Herald on Sandman Slim )“Dirty, disgusting, vulgar, violent, poisonously testosterone-driven, so politically incorrect it ought to be prosecuted, and generally all-round offensively in your face. … I loved it. It’s amazing.” (Robin McKinley on Sandman Slim )“The perfect escapist storyline … side-splittingly funny. … gruesome slapstick mixed with down-and-dirty Hammett-esque mayhem and double-dealing. … If you’ve been hoping someone would bring the full-strength SoCal toxic waste to the urban fantasy game, then Sandman Slim is your poison.” (io9.com on Sandman Slim ) About the AuthorRichard Kadrey has published five novels, including Sandman Slim, Kill the Dead, Aloha from Hell, Butcher Bird, and Metrophage, plus the forthcoming Devil Said Bang, and more than fifty short stories. A freelance writer and photographer, he lives in San Francisco, California. Views: 53
Linnet Ellery, a young attorney at a prestigious New York vampire law firm has proved she has extraordinary luck—and not just in the courtroom. She has walked unscathed through events that would kill a normal person. Linnet's elven ex-boyfriend is trapped in Fairyland, and Linnet will have to lead a raid into Fey to free him—alongside her boss, whom she is falling in love with. But a love affair between a vampire and a human is strictly forbidden, and any violation is punishable by death for both parties.As events unfold, Linnet determines the source of her mysterious power, and is dismayed to discover that she is the most dangerous person in the world to her vampire and werewolf friends. The more secrets and treachery she uncovers, the more Linnet realizes that a decision must be made: Can she be her true self, without sacrificing everyone she cares about?At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management... Views: 53
No rest for the wicked means no rest for good witches. Michelle thought ridding the world of demons would finally give her some time to rebuild her magical reserves, but fate has other plans. Someone has unleashed magical mayhem on her town, inflicting its residents—magical and mundane, living and inanimate—with all kinds of dangerous spells, and she's the only witch capable of containing the damage. She can't even have a date night with Elron without things going to the dogs. Dogs whose barking can send people flying across rooms, for starters. To add to her misery, the premier of all the witches has chosen Michelle to be her successor, but tragedy strikes before their plans can even start. Michelle's never wanted to be a politician, and navigating the treachery of the clans proves to be a deadly game—one that Michelle doesn't know how to play. As Michelle struggles to solve one witch-made emergency after another, the... Views: 53
