In East Jerusalem Noir—published simultaneously with West Jerusalem Noir—the Akashic Noir Series turns its gaze to one of the world's most fascinating locales, in this volume from the perspective of Palestinian writers; translated from Arabic From the editor's introduction: "When you move through the streets of Jerusalem today, you will notice that history surrounds you from all sides. You hear Adhan, the Islamic call to prayer, recited by the muezzin from the Dome of the Rock; you hear the bells of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, where the Christians pray, accompanied by the voices of the Jewish worshippers at the Wailing Wall. You are filled with awe and stand helpless to do anything except feel both joy and sadness at the same time. Your feelings mingle, your thoughts get confused, and you peer at the sky waiting for God's mercy and relief . . . The stories here are varied, and I did not...

Free will is a relic of the past. Souls have a prewritten path to heaven. If they miss it, they are doomed to roam the lost realm of limbo as splinters of their former selves or worse—as demons. Their only hope is the reaper Alames, whose own soul shattered when her celestial lover, Balthos, usurped their creators to make them gods. In her absence, he builds a pantheon of monsters and tricks the mortals, whom he blames for his grief, into worshiping him. But when a new generation defies Balthos's law, Alames's splinters appear among them. Brilliant physicist Ally longs for progress and innovation, but the Council controlling her nation strips the "Mad Princess" of power. Pregnant and uncertain, the unrivaled Captain Se'azana abandons her career for the false promises of love. The starving serf Richard makes a deal with a Fae demon to save his son. And teenage rebel Vana trades her guitar for a blade when faced with ruthless...

Nyssa Volari is dying. But that is impossible, because she is a Soulblight vampire, blessed by Nagash with blood-fuelled immortality. More than that, Nyssa is a fighter – one of the handful of Kastelai vampires not dissolved into true death when the Crimson Keep abandoned them a century ago. With her blades and her will, she carved a kingdom out of the Broken Plains of Aqshy.These things matter little, for Nyssa's blood is cursed. It destroyed the vampire she called father, and as it threatens to do the same to her, Nyssa's allies abandon her one by one. Worse still, an army of zealots led by a brutal priest of Sigmar comes to destroy the vampire lord and claim her birthright.Nyssa Volari is dying. But that is impossible, because she has spent every moment of her second life refusing to lose.

When a mob war sends the Daigle family running back to the Louisiana bayou, Swamp Team 3 springs into action. Aware of the brewing trouble, Gertie, Ida Belle, and Fortune attend an unconventional Wasteland funeral where danger looms. Enlisting the help of a recently-deputized Gomer Hollowman, the women attempt to delay a crime until the proper authorities arrive, but a violent blast leaves the Daigle family forever changed.

You know that office bromance: two of a kind, always taking their lunch together, always wearing the same sly grin. Only ever a hair away from a cold joke about how spreadsheets are a living hell; about taking a bullet if it means going home early on Friday. Sometimes in these fantasies, they're heroes being hauled out on a stretcher. Sometimes they're the ones pulling the trigger. Now, say these guys discover a loophole that makes some days less real than others-less permanent-and start to act out their violent fantasies without fear of reprisal. Why shouldn't they? Tomorrow, everything will go back to normal, with no one the wiser but them. They'll always remember what it felt like to act on their basest impulses. They'll know how it could feel to do it again. Maybe you don't know these guys. Maybe you don't want to. Soft Targets is a reality-bending novella about malignant malaise; the...

Grant Keeping lives for action. He hates close protection jobs filled with grumpy clients and long, boring days. Then trauma surgeon Spencer Corel - a man who relies on order, control, and cake to manage his busy life - hires White Knight Security to find the man stalking him, and suddenly Grant has a client who pushes all his buttons and no time to be bored. Despite escalating attacks, Grant is confident that he can find the stalker and protect Spencer, but can he protect his own heart from wanting more?

He leads the league in scoring. My heart won't give him another shot.I swore I'd never come back to Denver.I'd never trust the wrong man again.But here I am, back in the same place as the bad boy athlete who broke my heart.Clay rules the basketball court, and now he's gunning for redemption. But I'm not the same girl who fell for the man behind the all-star image and reputation.He made me want him like I've never wanted anyone.He made me feel like I was the only thing that mattered.A single look can make me ache.A whispered promise in his gruff voice makes my chest tight.Clay'll do anything to prove we're worth another shot.Shot Taker is a full-length grumpy sunshine sports romance and book 2 in the King of the Court series. Clay and Nova's story begins in Game Changer and concludes in Play Maker.