Daunted by the singular tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house. But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades. While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life. This book is intended for mature audiences.

After existing in secret for centuries, maintaining a fragile peace with the humans who walk beside them, one single act of retaliation has put the entire vampire nation at risk of discovery. It falls to the Order to stop Dragos, the vampire at the centre of the conflict, before his lust for domination can explode into catastrophe.

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see. It's a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand. After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations. She first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. Now perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, they'll first need to stay alive. Shades of Magic series 1. * A Darker Shade of Magic 2. * A Gathering of Shadows 3.* A Conjuring of Light *

Daunted by the singular sexual tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house. But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven, and demanding Fifty Shades. While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront her anger and envy of the women who came before her and make the most important decision of her life. Erotic, sparkling and suspenseful, *Fifty Shades Darker* is the irresistibly addictive second part of the Fifty Shades trilogy.

In addition to his stellar Necroscope series, Brian Lumley is highly regarded for his short fiction, for which he has won the British Fantasy Award. Beneath the Moors and Darker Places, a companion to The Whisperer and Other Voices, collects nine of Lumley's best long short works, many of them unavailable for decades in any form. The Cthulhu Mythos of the immortal H. P. Lovecraft provides inspiration for much of Lumley's work, including "Dagon's Bell" and "Big C," both included here. The explosive creation of a new volcanic island off Iceland in 1967 led to "Rising with Surtsey," an homage not just to Lovecraft but to the great August Derleth. "David's Worm"-which takes an interesting view of "you are what you eat"-was published in a Year's Best Horror Stories and later adapted for radio in Europe. The collection also includes the macabre "The Second Wish," published here for the first time with the author's original, intended ending, and "The Fairground Horror," first published in The Disciples of Cthulhu twenty-five years ago and not seen since save for a small press edition. The title tale, Beneath the Moors, a complete short novel, has been unavailable in the US since its first publication by Arkham House in the early 1970s. It is considered to be one of Lumley's strongest short works; Tor is proud to restore this and the other pieces in this volume to Lumley's growing readership.

The Indie Collaboration presents its thirteenth anthology of short stories, freely donated by independent writing's most ghoulish ghosts and gremlins. In our third annual Halloween collection, we serve up another sacrificial platter of chilling tales to keep you up at night, so remember to keep a light on tonight and don't forget to check under the bed.The Indie Collaboration presents its thirteenth anthology of short stories, freely donated by independent writing's most ghoulish ghosts and gremlins. In this, our third annual Halloween collection, we serve up another sacrificial platter of chilling tales to keep you up at night. If you choose to read these tales of ancient evils and sinister sorcerers, of ghostly hauntings, witches, serial killers and avenging angels, then remember to keep a light on tonight and don't forget to check under the bed.The Indie Collaboration grew out of a group of independent authors who decided to show the world how great works of fiction can be, without the involvement of any large publishing companies, by creating a direct channel between themselves and their readers. Each author in this anthology has freely donated their time and work and are committed to the Indie Collaboration’s cause:“We offer the best of indie writing in bite size pieces and wherever possible, for free.”We hope you enjoy our books.

LSD Hits the Books is back and this time we're taking aim at that mainstream piece of 'mommy porn' 50 Shades Darker.So the 50 Shades book series has been by some accounts a roaring success. It's sold a hundred million copies and has been turned into a Hollywood film as well. But it's about time we ask the only question that actually matters. Is it any good? LSD enlists the help of founding editor and writer Mikey Lee Ray to take an in-depth and blunt look at this runaway series and answer the important questions once and for all. Enjoy!

FOR THE STASI, IT'S NOT JUST THE TRUTH THAT GETS BURIED . . . A gripping thriller set in 1970s East Germany, perfect for fans of Child 44, Phillip Kerr and Martin Cruz Smith.The body of a teenage boy is found weighted down in a lake. Karin Müller, newly appointed Major of the People's Police, is called to investigate. But her power will only stretch so far, when every move she makes is under the watchful eye of the Stasi.Then, when the son of Müller's team member goes missing, it quickly becomes clear that there is a terrifying conspiracy at the heart of this case, one that could fast lead Müller and her young family into real danger.Can she navigate this complex political web and find the missing boy, before it's too late?Praise for CWA Award-winning David Young'Young is excellent at describing terrible injustice, mass and personal, by way of a strong plot and a sympathetic woman' The...

Ghosts, precognition, suicide and the afterlife are all themes to be found in these thrilling stories by some of the greatest Victorian women writers from both Britain and the USA. Horace Walpole may have started the Gothic-fiction movement, but it was three women who popularized it –Clara Reeve, Mary Shelley and Anne Radcliffe. Victorian women proved they had a talent for creating dark, sensational and horrifying tales of the supernatural, and this anthology showcases some of the best and most representative work by female writers of the time, including Emily Brontë, Mary Braddon, George Eliot and Edith Nesbit, as well as Elizabeth Gaskell, Charlotte Riddell, Louisa Baldwin, Mary Penn, Violet Quirk and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps. Editor Mike Ashley provides valuable insight into the authors' lives and contextualizes each story –every one of which still has the ability to shock and frighten –and shows how Victorian women perfected and developed the Gothic genre.

When her best friend is sacrificed to the devil, she'll go to hell and back for himPlain, poor, plus-size, and autistic, Alesta grew up trying to convince her beauty-obsessed kingdom that she's too useful to be sacrificed. Their god blessed their island Soladisa as a haven for his followers, but to keep the devil at bay, the church sends a child sacrifice to hell's entrance every season—often poor or plain girls just like Alesta.With a head full of ideas for inventions, Alesta knows her best shot at making it to adulthood is to design something impressive for the festival exhibition so she might win a spot in the university—acceptance could guarantee her safety. But Alesta's flying machine demonstration goes awry, a failure that will surely mean death. What happens is worse: Her best friend and heir to the throne, Kyrian, takes the blame expecting leniency but ends up sacrificed in her place.To stop the sacrifices forever, Alesta plans to kill the...

Danny Ryle is a political fixer on Long Island. When the Congressman he works for is blackmailed, Danny investigates only to walk into the middle of a murder. Aided by his father, a retired hit man, a well-connected member of the D.A.'s office, and his team of a former terrorist fighter and a woman ex-cop, Danny struggles to do good while living in a world that makes that difficult. Facing a former love who returns to start again, suspects with troubling alibis, and a wily killer, Danny is back to fix his troubled world.

The past is Darker than they thought... Between helping her mother with the Darker Agency and laying the smack down on monster baddies, Jessie Darker puts the “normal” in paranormal. But lately, things have gotten a little crazy...even for a smart-assed half-demon teenage girl. For starters, Jessie’s been contracted into fifty-five years of annoying servitude. To a demon. Then there’s Lukas Scott, her sexy new boyfriend. Once the former incarnation of Wrath, he’s been going through some...uh, changes. Like residual anger. And trading chaste hangouts for lusty make-out sessions. But it’s when Lukas and Jessie accidentally release a Very Nasty Demon that things get really bad, setting into motion a chain of death and mayhem that threatens both Earth and the Shadow Realm. Jessie has exactly four days to fix it...before all of Hell breaks loose.

A chance meeting at a bar.An instant connection.But that connection turns from a spark into all business. For the moment.And it's a really bad idea to date the boss...Raphael (Raf) Lutz, is under immense stress with the opening of his fifth art gallery in a few months. He's mentally and physically exhausted, and given his perfectionist nature, deeply concerned that this gallery won't stack up to the rest. His best friend, Ambrose and Ambrose's boyfriend, Barrett, have trusted Raf with a very special set of illustrations belonging to Barrett's deceased friend. Raf is making the illustrations a highlight of the gallery's opening, and it has to be just right. Perfect. But he's drowning and he needs a marketing manager yesterday.On the other side of town, Silvan Diedrich has just been downsized from the marketing firm he helped build, and drowning his sorrows in a few drinks and maybe some company sounds about right. The man who takes the...

Madame Katerina, Detective ‘Nine Nails’ McGray’s most trusted clairvoyant, hosts a séance for three of Edinburgh’s wealthiest families.

In the battle between good and evil, there's no such thing as a fair fight. When Jayné Heller's uncle Eric died, she inherited a fortune beyond all her expectations -- and a dangerous mission in a world she never knew existed. Reining in demons and supernatural foes is a formidable task, but thankfully Jayné has vast resources and loyal allies to rely on. She'll need both to tackle a bodyswitching serial killer who's taken up residence in New Orleans, a city rich in voodoo lore and dark magic. Working alongside Karen Black, a highly confident and enigmatic ex-FBI agent, Jayné races to track down the demon's next intended host. But the closer she gets, the more convinced she becomes that nothing in this beautiful, wounded city is exactly as it seems. When shocking secrets come to light, and jealousy and betrayal turn trusted friends into adversaries, Jayné will soon come face-to-face with an enemy that knows her all too well, and won't rest until it has destroyed everything she loves most. . .

The middle third of the book, DARK. Contains the next 15 of 56 original, eerie poems and delightfully frightening stories--some morbidly amusing, others downright disturbing. Darkly evocative engravings add to the macabre nature of this collection. For all readers, DARKER contains no excessive profanities nor sexual content. Perfect fireside reading on stormy nightsAbout DARKER:Imagine you are a mind reader—a voyeur who can steal dreams. It happens in the book, DARK. Now, DARKER, the midsection of DARK you are “The Thief of Dreams,” allowing you to purloin many dreadful, occasionally humorous, and sometimes downright disturbing dreams--fantasies and nightmares of others. All are expressed as poetry and short stories, each designed to make you laugh, shudder or cringe, or all three.For example, all SIX parts of “The Zombie Apocalypse” series (two in DARK, one in DARKER and 3 more in DARKEST) drew that title from a recent admission by Google® that this was their most-searched term in June, 2012. Many believe the Z A will happen. Brakken explains, in his Z A series, that, thanks to recent scientific innovation, this idea, this threat, is, indeed, plausible. Those who initially thought this term laughable may find themselves reconsidering. As we all know, science can be wonderful—or terrible—depending on the final outcome. (In DARKER, there is an invitation to new authors to submit their own Z A episodes for an upcoming anthology.)Brakken's poems such as “In Gloomy Wood” and “The Parson Joshua Black” tell stories that will tingle the spine. Others like “Something in the Shadows” and “Bedtime Story” may lead to the bedroom light being left on until morning. “Gramma’s Noggin” will elicit a laugh while helping readers pronounce Namakagon correctly. Brakken's earlier book is THE TREASURE OF NAMAKAGON.) A sonnet, “The Count,” will beg readers for restraint regarding releasing evil upon the land. There are so many more.Brakken included “Nevermore” a poetic tribute to Edgar Allen Poe and a favorite of many. “Nevermore” answers Poe’s question about the final resting place of the spirit of the deceased maiden in Poe’s, “The Raven.”A number of poems, including “The Ballad of Ole Johnson” and “A Pinery Tale” found inspiration in actual deaths that occurred during northern Wisconsin’s 19th century timber harvest, giving them the western texture akin to the cowboy poetry of Baxter Black. Several mysterious excerpts from Brakken’s 19th century“lumberjack” era novel, THE TREASURE OF NAMAKAGON, complement the poems nicely. And, if dragons are to your liking, you’ll savor the author’s “Three Dragons” series.Beware! Although this large collection of Brakken’s macabre writings will delightfully scare the reader and sometimes stimulate nervous laughter, the author advises us that some of these works are utterly disturbing. His advice? Beware! Read at your own risk: Here there be dragons.Perhaps that is why, for visual relief, the author included many darkly evocative engravings by long-dead master artists from ancient times. Gustave Dore and Albrecht Durer are among the artists who now, long after their death, add mystery and macabre charm to Brakken’s work. Note that these images are not intended to illustrate the writings. Rather, they simply add to the enigmatic, bone-chilling nature of DARK.THE AUTHOR ADVISES READING DARK IN THE ORDER PRESENTED. Jumping ahead may spoil the twisting, turning plots of some sequential works.Sneak peeks of both DARK and THE TREASURE OF NAMAKAGON are at BadgerValley.com.Enter DARKER at your own risk. Then, if you dare, find DARKEST at Smashwords.com. Step into DARKER -- We've been waiting for you.Contents of DARKER (Second of 3 sections):Thief of Dreams IIINevermoreLike MagicThief of Dreams IVThe Ballad of the Ne’er Do Well BoysThe Great MakwaaOh, Shanty BoyThat’s OneBeneath the ClayThe WidowmakerBeastly FeastingsThe Zombie Apocalypse Part IIIGramma’s NogginThree Dragons Part II: The Second DragonDeath’s Dreadful ScheduleOver 20 more poems and short stories await you in DARKEST. Muster all your courage and seek them out at amazingly discounted prices!

Called "one of the most original talents to emerge in the '90s" by Kirkus Reviews, award-winning author Laurie R. King delivers an intelligent, terrifying, engrossing drama of good and evil, unlike any she has written before.... A respected university professor, Anne Waverly has a past known to few: Years ago, her own unwitting act cost Anne her husband and daughter. Fewer still know that this history and her academic specialty--alternative religious movements--have made her a brilliant FBI operative. Four times she has infiltrated suspect communities, escaping her own memories of loss and carnage to find a measure of atonement. Now, as she begins to savor life once more, she has no intention of taking another assignment. Until she learns of more than one hundred children living in the Change movement's Arizona compound.... Anne soon realizes that Change is no ordinary community and hers is no ordinary mission. For, far from appeasing the demons of her past, this assignment is sweeping her back into their clutches...and to the razor's edge of danger.

A referendum on Scottish independence is only days away, and the campaign has been expertly orchestrated by First Minister Susan Ward. All signs point to victory for the nationalists. But when senior civil servant John Millar is shot in a Glasgow alley on a furiously rain-soaked night, his death triggers a chain of catastrophic events. An incriminating phone number and video are found in his possession.Into this chaos walks reporter Fulton Mackenzie. A man himself blighted by tragedy but also someone used to seeing beneath the surface to find the truth. Who was John Millar? Who wanted him dead? And why? And the biggest question of all – who is trying to alter the future path of an entire nation?

An Enemies-to-Lovers StandaloneOnce upon a cold, dark night, a Russian killer stole me from an alley.I'm dangerous, but he is lethal.I escaped once.He won't let me do it twice.The revenge is his. The betrayal is mine.But so are the lies to protect the ones I love.We're cut from the same twisted cloth. Both merciless. Both damaged. In his embrace, I find hell and heaven, his cruelly tender touch destroying and uplifting me at once.They say a cat has nine lives, but an assassin has just one.And Yan Ivanov now owns mine.

Howard Drew, an unrelenting LAPD homicide detective assigned to the Open-Unsolved Unit, investigates the murders of victims long dead. He prowls moral fault lines and assumes the perspectives of his victims and their killers. Drew waits, poised to listen when guilty people divulge information and tired people fold and betray their secrets. Drew also listens to the chorus of forgotten voices and speaks for them because the collective dead demand it. In 2000, a friend discovered Anastasia Stepanchikov, a pretty 29-year-old prostitute from the Ukraine, beaten and shot to death inside her luxury Studio City apartment. Police speculated at the time that Russian organized crime may have been involved. Despite an exhaustive investigation by detectives of LAPD's Homicide Special Section, they never identified the killer or brought them to justice. The leads dried up, and the case went cold. Twenty-one years later, Detective Howard Drew and...

A little sin can be deadly... Jessie Darker goes to high school during the day, but at night she helps with the family investigation business. Cheating husbands and stolen inheritances? They're your girls—but their specialty is a bit darker. Zombie in your garage? Pesky Poltergeist living in your pool? They'll have the problem solved in a magical minute. For a nominal fee, of course... When gorgeous new client Lukas Scott saunters into the office requesting their help to find a stolen box, it sounds like a simple case—until the truth comes out. The box is full of Sin. Seven deadly ones, in fact. They've got five days to recapture the Sins before they're recalled by the box, taking seven hijacked human bodies with them. Easy peasy—except for one thing... There's a spell that will allow the Sins to remain free, causing chaos forever. When the key ingredient threatens the life of someone she knows, Jessie must make the ultimate choice between love and family—or lose everything.

Wildly fantastic superhero stories by a cross section of today's cutting-edge urban fantasy and crime writers.Expanding on the concept behind Byron Preiss's Weird Heroes from the 1970s, George R. R. Martin's Wild Card series, and Michael Chabon's McSweeney's Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales, The Darker Mask is a collection of original prose stories recalling the derring-do of the beings we call Superheroes and the worlds they fight to save. But unique to The Darker Mask stories is that these plots and characters color a literary universe outside of what has been predominantly white, idiosyncratic, and male in previous homages to pulp. This is the stuff of urban legends, new mythos, and extraordinary folks who might live in a soon-to-be-gentrified ghetto, the dreary rust-belt of the city, or in another dimension.The Darker Mask offers an eclectic mix of popular fiction writers exploring worlds gritty, visceral, and...

What is haunting young Liza Prescott? Molly Allworth has been in service since leaving college when her mother died. Still, her situation is getting desperate and when the agency offers her a position that sounds too good to be true, she cannot resist. Soon she finds herself in a remote house in Maine, caring for a little girl who swore she saw her mother's ghost...before she stopped speaking entirely. Nathaniel Prescott, the child's father, thinks any belief in the supernatural is absurdly credulous. Molly's history and heritage, however, have given her a wider view. There's a significant bonus for Molly if she lasts the year. But as winter closes in and mysterious, often creepy events begin to occur, even her growing affection for Nathaniel and Liza may not be enough to make her stay.

A selection of chilling stories from some of the best Indie authors on the market. With stories by Donny Swords, Chris Raven, A.L. Butcher, Alan Hardy, Adam Bigden, & Dani J. CaileA selection of chilling stories from some of the best Indie authors on the market. We dare you to venture into these pages of spine chilling tales and stories of dark shadows & darker tidings, shifters, ancient warriors, zombies, & demons… See the world through the Ripper’s eyes, and so much more. So many dark, foul things wait for you between these pages. Freely donated by the authors themselves, these dark passages are a great example of their various, unique styles and imaginations. Join us in Darker Places. With stories by Donny Swords, Chris Raven, A.L. Butcher, Alan Hardy, Adam Bigden, & Dani J. CaileBrought to you by The Indie Collaboration.

Jace has one last week of work with elder twin brothers, paroled thieves, both total jerks. On arrival at the eerie locale of their final contract, a crippled young girl warns him off Grey Manor. But a cameo is lost inside and it's two million reasons too tempting for his greedy brothers. Jace must keep them out or face the malevolent Lady Grey who never permits a guest to leave.After three trying months, Jace must get through one last week of work with elder twin brothers, both on parole for burglary, both total jerks. And then he's free of the family who've held him down for seventeen years. On arrival at the eerie locale of their final contract, a young girl with a crippled body warns him off Grey Manor, insisting no-one enter the abandoned mansion. But a lost cameo worth two million dollars is hidden inside and Jace faces the impossible task of keeping his greedy brothers out. When he witnesses a grisly death at the hands of the supposedly missing Lady Grey, Jace learns the girl's words are not easily dismissed, forced to unravel the mystery before it unravels him. Leaving has never been harder and the only one with answers is a comatose girl trapped by an entity whose vengeance knows no bounds. (Short Story)

From V.E. Schwab, the critically acclaimed author of Vicious, comes a new universe of daring adventure, thrilling power, and parallel Londons, beginning with A Darker Shade of Magic. Kell is one of the last Travelers—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes—as such, he can choose where he lands. There’s Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, ruled by a mad King George. Then there’s Red London, where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London, ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne—a place where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London...but no one speaks of that now.Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see—a dangerous hobby, and one that has set him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations, first robs him, then saves him from a dangerous enemy, and then forces him to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive—and that is proving trickier than they hoped.

AMAZON VERSIONWhen man and machine are one and the same, death is no longer an inevitability.But in the darkest reaches of space, neither is life. Diplomat.Rebel. Fugitive. Nika Tescarav has lived many lives, though she no longer remembers most of them. Chased by agents of a regime that will do anything to protect the secrets of the Rasu Protocol, Nika flees to the stars with her once and future lover on a mission to expose those secrets. A race across alien worlds both exotic and deadly leads them to the bastion of the enemy, but its discovery brings a terrible revelation: sometimes the truth is indeed worse than the lies spun to conceal it.With Nika and Dashiel on the run, NOIR steps up to defend against a virulent pathogen unleashed upon innocent civilians. When a desperate government moves to crush the resistance once and for all, unlikely alliances are forged between former adversaries and all paths converge in an explosive showdown that will change the future of the Asterion Dominion forever. ASTERION NOIR 700,000 years ago, the Asterions fled persecution for their pro-synthetic beliefs. In the safe harbor of a distant galaxy, they have evolved into a true biosynthetic race and built a thriving society upon the pillars of personal autonomy, mutual respect and boundless innovation.Now that society is fracturing at the seams. Beneath lies built upon lies, the shocking truth as to why threatens the future of not merely the Asterions, but all life in the universe.Cyberpunk and space opera collide in a thrilling new trilogy from the author of the epic Aurora Rhapsody space opera saga. Enter a world of technological wonders, exotic alien life, enthralling characters, captivating worlds—and a terrifying evil lurking in the void that will shatter it all.

It only takes one to make a difference.Just days before Jake Saunders plans on proposing to the love of his life, Jake is called upon once again to save his home, Earth. The Earthen Legion troops and its allies think they're battling only pirates, but a new, more powerful foe from another galaxy flanks their forces and invades, in search of a weapon the planet didn't even know it had.When Jake learns that this new enemy was responsible for the death of his father many years ago, he realizes he can finally face his true nemesis. The odds are stacked against Jake, but with the help of his friends and allies he's made along the way, he must rally the remaining Legion troops and retake Earth before it's too late. The fate of Earth and the fate of his love, rest in the balance.

Take a journey into darker realms with the latest volume of Fiction River Presents. Starting with a one mage's difficult choice, this volume transports readers to dark magical worlds—sometimes eerily similar to our own and sometimes incredibly foreign. Including the prequels to two groundbreaking series, the Runelords and the Fey, this volume proves why Adventures Fantastic says the Fiction River series "is one of the best and most exciting publications in the field today."Table of Contents"Lost in the Tarnished Cube" by Thomas K. Carpenter"Myrtle's Boxes" by Louisa Swann"Old Magics" by Steven Mohan, Jr."Sky in the Ground" by Rob Vagle"The Gleaming Crater" by Thea Hutcheson"Destiny" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch"Barbarians" by David Farland'The Witch's House" by Richard Bowes

Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde is the third volume in the Victorian-styled horror erotica series Darker Passions. In a delightful BDSM-laced exploration of the classic tale of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, Nancy Kilpatrick - writing as Amarantha Knight - creates a compelling tale of desire and the monsters that lurk inside us all. The Darker Passions series combines Victorian fetishes such as bondage, birching and spanking with the themes of the great Victorian gothic novels of the day.

The frozen body of a man is discovered in a used car yard on the hottest day of the year, his face contorted by fear and pain.Detective Kay Hunter and her team are assigned the case, but when they find out who their victim is, their worst fears are realised.There is another man missing—but is he a victim, or a killer?With time running out and witnesses afraid to talk, Kay is thrust into one of the most challenging investigations of her career to date.A Darker Place is the tenth book in the Detective Kay Hunter series by USA Today bestselling author Rachel Amphlett, and perfect for readers who love fast-paced crime thrillers.

The perfect family... The perfect murders... A family massacred. A village in mourning. Can anyone sleep safely while a killer is on the loose? Laura Percival, owner of The Stables, notices something wrong at her friend's house when out on her morning ride. Further investigation reveals scenes she'll never forget. While the police are quick to accuse, Laura is less so, defending those around her as she struggles to make sense of the deaths. And all the time she wonders if she really knew her friends at all. A chance encounter opens up a line of investigation that uncovers a secret life. One that Laura is much closer to than she ever realised. A Killer Strikes is a gripping domestic thriller. If you like character-driven action, suspenseful storytelling and dark revelations then you'll love this exciting novel.

A daughter breaks the family silence about her mother's schizophrenia, reframing hospitalizations, paranoia, illness, and caregiving through a feminist lens. Claire Phillips' elegantly written and unflinching memoir about her mother, an Oxford-trained lawyer diagnosed in mid-life with paranoid schizophrenia, challenges current conceptions about mental illness, relapse and recovery, as well as difficulties caring for an aging parent with a chronic disease. Told in fragments, the work also becomes a startling reflection on mother-daughter relationships during the evolution of 20th-century feminism. Only with her mother's final relapse at age 73 did the author begin to tell this story, first in Black Clock magazine, an essay for which she received a Pushcart nomination and notable mention in The Best American Essays 2015.

A cold and arrogant criminal. A Billionaire's Daughter. An arranged marriage. Maria Being the daughter of a billionaire you would think my life had always been easy. But no, not for one second has my life ever been easy. And now I'm being forced into a marriage with my father's right-hand man, and if I refuse him I stand to lose my inheritance. And while I find him extremely handsome, it's the darkness that I sense in him that both frightens and calls to me. Damien My boss wants to give me his daughter. Sounds simple, doesn't it? If only that were true. His rivals have threatened her life and now he wants me to take her as my wife. To love, honor, and protect her for the rest of my days. I want her. But how can I protect her from myself? How can I honor her when the darkness inside me demands that I defile and break her? Each book in the Boyne Valley...

The explosive follow-up to Joely Sue Burkhart’s darkly erotic thriller One Cut Deeper Life on the run with an assassin hasn’t been what Ranay thought it would be. In fact, parts of it more closely resemble a sex-fueled vacation—until duty calls. The FBI believe Charlie’s brother is working for a human trafficking ring, and Charlie is the only one who can bring him down. Charlie fears Vincent has become a murderous monster like their father. He owes a mercy to the brother he remembers, the one who’d never want to be an uncontrollable killer. But Charlie has never had to kill someone he loves. Not even to save them from a dark, inherited curse. Killing his brother might be enough to push him over the edge. Enough to ruin everything he’s built with Ranay. * * * As a bodyguard for the Vlasenko bratva, the very cruelest arm of the Russian mob, Vincent Gyres has seen and survived the worst the world has to offer. Former Special Forces, ex-CIA and a past inmate at Russia’s most brutal prison, he’s earned his reputation. They call him Ghost because he’s already dead inside. Madison “Mads” Archer’s hatred for scumbags who traffic in human lives is personal—her sister was taken when the girls were just children. Now Madison’s on a joint FBI task force, deep undercover as a sex slave. It’s a small price to pay to see the Vlasenko bratva taken down. A violent criminal like Vincent Gyres doesn’t make a trustworthy ally, regardless of his CIA background. But Mads will use anyone and anything to stop the taking of another innocent young girl’s life. Vincent’s invitation to her to play his submissive in order to get closer to the leader isn’t the problem. Trusting him, wanting him...loving him is. Carina Press acknowledges the editorial services of Alissa Davis.

But after experiencing numerous close calls in orbit, the astronauts soon discover that not all perils reside in the sky. With his marriage already at risk because he cannot explain his frequent absences and strange activities to his wife, Ourecky learns that his unborn child may be in grave danger as a radiation consequence of his flights into space. Even as the Ourecky and Carson accumulate successful mission after successful mission in space, other crucial events occur much closer to home. Interservice rivalries reach new heights as a caustic but highly influential Navy admiral schemes to steal control of the Project from the Air Force. Realizing that a Soviet GRU agent is operating in their midst, a shadowy team of counter-intelligence operatives scramble to shield the Project’s secrets from discovery, leading to a confrontation that bears fatal consequences. As they train to accomplish more difficult missions against complicated targets, Ourecky and Carson are asked to volunteer to risk their lives one more time in an extremely hazardous rescue mission. The stakes are high; even as they leave the launch pad, there is no certainty that either man will return.

Helping damsels in distress is nothing new for Travis McGee--it's basically how he spends his life. But this one was different right from the start. Tossed off a bridge with cement wired to her feet, dragged to safety by Travis and Meyer, she was a hot Eurasian beauty with a cold heart...ready to snare them in a murder racket to end all murders....

Brady Garrett is back on Earth. He's living with his partner Cam and they're raising his sister Lucy together. Life is better than some feral reffo from Kopa has any right to hope, and Brady knows it. He's even grateful for it, most of the time. He loves Cam, even though he's afraid that he's not good enough for him, and he's still having nightmares about the alien Faceless.Cameron Rushton loved being a pilot once, and he still feels the pull of the starlight. He's building a life with Brady now, and with Lucy. Life is good, even if it's not without its complications. Both Brady and Cam are dealing with the endless cycle of interviews, tests, and questions that the military hierarchy hopes will reveal the secrets of the aliens who could very easily destroy humanity. They have each other though, and together they're making it work.But from out in the black, Kai-Ren is still watching and everything Brady and Cam think they've won, they stand to lose all over again.

The historic city of Granada is vibrant with the spectacle of its Easter processions; its bars and streets brimming with life. But high in the adjacent Alhambra hills, gypsy guitarist Paco is found dead in a Sacromonte cave. Sub-Inspector Max Romero is brought in to investigate Paco's death. An initially straightforward inquiry, it soon shades into something more sinister when Max reveals a link with a major property speculation in the beautiful Sacromonte valley below the Alhambra Palace; one that involves laundered drug money, city corruption and Opus Dei. As Max sinks ever deeper into a political quagmire, he clashes with old foe Inspector Ernesto Navarro. He discovers that, even in vibrant Granada, amid its beauty and drama, the dead can reach out to the living.

Lawyer Delia Darker's world becomes very dark when two new clients turn out to be immortal vampires—and her long-time fantasy. Delia Darker works at her family's law firm, serving vampires and other immortals, but she has long ago gotten over her own lust for vampire males after being hurt and abandoned by one. When her colleague forces her to take over a meeting with two of his clients, she's suddenly thrown into the night-time world of music, partying and incredible sex. How can she resist spending the night with Mark Lyons and Caleb Jennings? Caleb has been searching for his and Mark's one true mate, the ideal match prophesized for immortals. However, Mark is skeptical. Immortality just doesn't seem to go with a committed long-term relationship. It doesn't matter how attractive Delia is, he just doesn't think it's going to work—but he's willing to give it a try for his best friend's sake. When that first wild night turns into a series...

Even in Victorian times, Bram Stoker's vampiric masterpiece was considered a lascivious, sex-ridden tale. Nancy Kilpatrick, the mistress of gothic erotic delights, writing here as Amarantha Knight, has refashioned the story to give modern readers the same shocks and thrills that Stoker's novel enjoyed. In Knight's vision, Dracula is a master of the sadistic arts, Lucy and Mina are graduates of a rather severe charm school for young ladies, and even the servants express their deepest desires for the pleasures of the dungeon. From the realm of legend comes a famous and dreaded seducer and defiler of innocence. His name is Dracula, and no virgin is protected from his unspeakable ravishments. Chills and thrills abound in this wildly sexy spin on one of history's most alluring and awe-inspiring anti-heroes. Blood pounds as he brings his victims to the unholy ecstasy that will make them his forever.