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Stoker and World Fantasy Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology Book of the Dead (1989), edited by John Skipp and Craig Spector. The story can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Third Annual Collection (1990), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling.

This short story originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, December 2010. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 16 (2011), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Cracking the Sky (2015).

Rosalyn Vaughn hasn't been feeling well. Eerie colors, smells and sounds are making her feel dizzy and disoriented. It isn't something she ate. It isn't something she smoked. It's something she read.

Rosalyn loves horror novels, but the last volume she borrowed from the library shouldn't be read late at night or, for that matter, in broad daylight. It's called The Book of the Damned, and its readers don't simply thrill to the terrors revealed between its covers, they live them--shrieking, relentless nightmares of madness, suicide, and murder.

Now Rosalyn is about to join the other tortured innocents who checked out The Book of the Damned... and paid with their immortal souls...

Princess Lasva is about to be named heir to her childless sister, the queen. But, when the queen finally bears an heir, Lasva's future is shattered. Grief-stricken, she leaves her country of Colend and falls into the arms of Prince Ivandred of Marloven Hesea. His people are utterly different-with their expertise in riding, weaponry, and magic- and the two soon marry.

When the sensational news makes its way to Lasva's sister, the queen worries for Lasva at the hands of the Marlovens, whose king's mage is in league with the magical land of Norsunder - considered by Colendi to be their enemy. The queen orders Emras, a scribe, to guard Lasva.

But it may be too late - Lasva is already deeply involved with the Marlovens and their magic. War wages on, and all are forced to redefine love, loyalty, and power.

A hilarious, shocking, terrifying thrill ride across the American landscape, The Damned Highway pays homage to the gonzo journalism of Hunter S. Thompson and the uncanny terrors of H. P. Lovecraft!

Horror legend Brian Keene (The Rising) and cult storytelling master Nick Mamatas (Move Under Ground) dredge up a tale of drug-fueled eldritch madness from the blackest depths of the American nightmare. On a freaked-out bus journey to Arkham, Massachusetts, and the 1972 presidential primary, evidence mounts that sinister forces are on the rise, led by the Cult of Cthulhu and its most prominent member - Richard M. Nixon!

Few believed Professor Coldwell was in touch with an unseen world-that he could commune with spirits. But in Scotland's oldest university town something has passed from darkness into light. Now, the young are being haunted by night terrors and those who are visited disappear. This is certainly not a place for outsiders, especially at night. So what chance do a rootless musician and burned out explorer have of surviving their entanglement with an ageless supernatural evil and the ruthless cult that worships it? This chilling occult thriller is both an homage to the great age of British ghost stories and a pacy modern tale of diabolism and witchcraft.

Most people who have a near-death experience come back alone...but not Danny Orchard.

After he survived a fire that claimed the life of his evil twin sister, Ashleigh, Danny wrote a bestselling memoir about going to heaven and back. But despite the resulting fame and fortune, he's never been able to enjoy his second chance at life: Ash won't let him.

She's haunted Danny for twenty years and now, just when he's met the love of his life and has a chance at real happiness, she wants more than ever to punish him for being alive--so she sets her sights on Danny's new wife and stepson. To save them from her wrath, he'll have to meet his sister where she now resides--and hope that this time he can keep her there forever.

A thrilling Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, novel

'Most women complain that there are no single straight men left. I'd just like to meet one that's human.'

I'm Anita Blake, expert on creatures of the night. I've dined with shapeshifters, danced with werewolves, and been wooed - but not won - by Jean-Claude, the Vampire Master of the City.

And now a darkly dangerous vampire named Alejandro has hit town. He wants me for his human servant. A war of the undead has begun. Over me...

Five years into his traveling carnival tour of the galaxy, Thaddeus Flint and his alien business partner are rolling in the dough for the Corporation. When Billybuck Dancer, the trick shot artist, gets bored and starts taking dangerous chances with his own safety, Flint captures his attention by arranging a much-publicized and highly-profitable showdown between Dancer and his nemesis, Doc Holliday.

72 hours in Hell! Dis was a harsh, inhospitable, dangerous place and the Magter made it worse. They might have been human once -- but they were something else now. The Magter had only one desire -- to kill everything, themselves, their planet, the universe if they could. Brion Brandd was sent in at the eleventh hour. His mission was to save Dis, but it looked as though he was going to preside over its annihilation.

Lieutenant Sven Tveskoeg is in disgrace. His victory on Hekati, and the emperor's favour, have turned his patron against him: General Indigo Jaxx wants Sven dead. Exiled to Wildeside, Sven waits for Jaxx's assassin. He hunts, he fieldstrips his weapons, he tries not to mind. At the age of 28, he's lived longer than he expected anyway. But then Sven finds himself offering to save the life of Jaxx's son. This means returning to Farlight, where he finds that the emperor is missing, his empire is collapsing, there are murderous riots in the capital and General Jaxx stands on the edge of ruin. All Sven has to do is nothing. But when has he ever done anything that sensible...

The devil-may-care, not quite 100 per cent human, mercenary soldier/killing machine known as Lieutenant Sven Tveskoeg and his like-minded team, the Aux, are back in this third explosive, non-stop action-filled adventure.

Contains:

• Passage to Dilfar
• Thelinde's Song
• The Bells of Shoredan
• A Knight for Merytha
• The Palaces of Aache
• A City Divided
• The White Beast
• Tower of Ice
• Devil and the Dancer
• Garden of Blood
• Dilvish the Damned

From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hands sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs' sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. Drawn into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel must now deliver the Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone.

But the Last Silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.

And that truth may be too awful for any to imagine.

Sworn by Oath
Kagen Vale is the trusted and feared captain of the palace guard, charged with protection of the royal children of the Silver Empire. But one night, Kagen is drugged and the entire imperial family is killed, leaving the empire in ruins.

Abandoned by the Gods
Haunted and broken, Kagen is abandoned by his gods and damned forever. He becomes a wanderer, trying to take down as many of his enemies as possible while plotting to assassinate the usurper, the deadly Witch-king of Hakkia. While all around him magic?long banished from the world?returns in strange and terrifying ways.

Fueled by Rage
To exact his vengeance, Kagen must venture into strange lands, battle bizarre and terrifying creatures, and gather allies for a suicide mission into the heart of the Witch-king's empire.

Kings and gods will fear him.

The Silver Empire is in ruins. War is in the wind. Kagen and his allies are on the run from the Witch-king. Wild magic is running rampant everywhere. Spies and secret cabals plot from the shadows of golden thrones.

Kagen Vale is the most wanted man in the world, with a death sentence on his head and a reward for him?dead or alive?that would tempt a saint.

The Witch-king has new allies who bring a terrible weapon?a cursed disease that drives people into a murderous rage. If the disease is allowed to spread, the whole of the West will tear itself apart.

In order to build an army of resistance fighters and unearth magical weapons of his own, Kagen and his friends have to survive attacks and storms at sea, brave the haunted wastelands of the snowy north, fight their way across the deadly Cathedral Mountains, and rediscover a lost city filled with cannibal warriors, old ghosts, and monsters from other worlds. Along with his reckless adventurer brothers, Kagen races against time to save more than the old empire... if he fails the world will be drenched in a tsunami of bloodshed and horror.

In the future, the terminally ill can prolong life by surrendering their consciousness to a cybernetic life form that is then recruited into the notorious Legion of the Damned, an elite fighting unit charged with protecting humanity.

The Confederacy is threatened by an uprising of the Hudathans, an unfeeling cyborg race that has built up its forces through stolen technology, and their only opponents are the members of the Legion.

The new techno-thriller from the author of Legion of the Damned and The Final Battle

It takes more than guts to win a war...

In a Legion gone lax, Colonel Bill Booly, with his mixed blood and by-the-book attitude, is a misfit. So when he steps on some important toes, his punishment is assignment to the worst post in the galaxy: Earth.

But Booly and his troops will turn out to be Earth's best line of defense, when a Legion-led military coup topples the government.

It's Legionnaire against Legionnaire in a struggle that will be won by strength, by courage, and...

Having stopped a mutiny against Earth's government, General Bill Booly and his troops face an even greater challenge: a battle for the future of every living being in the universe, against a fanatical human and his killer technology.

You're only a hero until your next battle.

Legion General Bill Booly knows that peace is just a pause between wars. He's just crushed one uprising, and now a new rebellion is already brewing on a remote world light years away--spawning a web of terrorism that is close enough to catch the vulnerable Confederacy in its grasp.

To ensure the survival of The Confederacy, the Legion of the Damned must establish a new capital on the planet Algeron--and seize faster-than-light technology from alien forces before it can be used against them.

From the NATIONAL BESTSELLING AUTHOR of When Duty Calls.

Captured by the alien Ramanthians, diplomat Christine Vanderveen must protect the Confederacy's President from both their captors and fellow prisoners. But rescue is on the way, led by Lieutenant Tonio Sanchez, Vanderveen's former lover, who must try to set aside his personal feelings for the sake of the mission.

The gripping new Legion of the Damned novel—from the national bestselling author of When All Seems Lost.

As the war with the Ramanthian continues, Captain Antonio Santana and his force of biobods and cyborgs find themselves surrounded by enemy forces, faced with annihilation at every turn.

On the home front, Santana's love--diplomat Christine Vanderveen--copes with growing shortages, treacherous allies, and her own emotions. Yet when she meets the charismatic newly elected president of the Clone Republic, she finds herself torn between old love and new loyalty.

As Christine fights her own divided heart, light years away, Santana is in a battle for his life. And this battle may be his last…

The all-new, thrilling conclusion to the Legion of the Damned series from the national bestselling author of When Duty Calls.

Earth has fallen. And the men, women, and cyborgs of the Confederacy must dig deep within their warrior hearts to make one final stand against an alien aggressor...

On a rim world, Captain Antonio Santana is reunited with diplomat Christine Vanderveen to protect the severely wounded Ramanthian Queen, who has fled there to avoid assassination. And they'll risk everything to save the Confederacy, billions of lives-and their future together.

Hundreds of years in the future, much has changed. Advances in medicine, technology, and science abound. Humanity has gone to the stars, found alien life, and established an empire. But some things never change...

All her life, Lady Catherine Carletto--Cat--has lived for the next party, the next lover, the next expensive toy. Until, in a bloodthirsty power grab, Imperial Princess Ophelia and her cadre of synth assassins murder her brother, the emperor, and go on to purge the galaxy of his friends and allies--including Cat's family.

Now Cat is on the run. And, like countless others before her, she finds sanctuary among the most dangerous of society's misfits--the Legion. Cat becomes Andromeda McKee: a woman with a mission--to bring down Empress Ophelia--or die trying.

In a different world, Lady Catherine "Cat" Carletto would never have left her pampered life behind. But when Princess Ophelia became Empress Ophelia in a coup that claimed the lives of the princess's brother and all who supported him, including the Carletto family, Cat had to hide--or die.

She became Legionnaire Andromeda McKee, and now she's a battle-scarred veteran who knows how to kill. And when she's summoned to Earth to receive the Imperial Order of Merit from the Empress herself, Andromeda realizes that the moment is coming when her revenge will be at hand...

Now a platoon leader, Legionnaire Andromeda McKee seems to have successfully left behind her true identity of Lady Catherine "Cat" Carletto, one of the last two surviving members of the Carletto family targeted for death by Empress Ophelia.

After failing at her one shot at vengeance, Andromeda had been questioning her own resolve. But now her uncle has been killed in a government raid back on Earth, leaving her as the last Carletto standing--and the family's only chance for justice…

A chance that comes when the empress's ship crashes on a hostile planet and Andromeda is assigned to head up the rescue mission. As a legionnaire, Andromeda McKee has countless kills under her belt. But when faced with her greatest enemy, it will be Cat Carletto who has to pull the trigger on the one who really matters…

Anne Rice, best selling author of The Vampire Chronicles, delves into the mysterious legend of the mummy in this original and poetic tale of romance and horror.

It begins in the early 1900s when archaeologist Lawrence Stratford discovers a perfectly preserved mummy in a tomb in Cairo. Little does he know that the mummy, one Ramses the Great, a.k.a. Ramses the Damned, has consumed an extraordinary potion that makes him immortal; only the powerful rays of the sun are needed to bring him to life. Transported to London, the mummy dispenses with his wrap and takes on a human guise. As Reginald Ramsey, he immediately captures the heart of Stratford's daughter, Julie, who is privy to his unnatural secret but can't resist his stunning good looks. All goes well until Reginald comes across Cleopatra, his long-lost love, under glass in a museum. Unable to bear the sight of this once-glorious Queen now on gruesome display, he decides to bring her back to life...a decision he will live - forever - to regret.

The ancient world collides with the modern one in Anne Rice's richly erotic yet sentimental love story that resonates with the macabre

Ramses the Great, former pharaoh of Egypt, is reawakened by the elixir of life in Edwardian England. Now immortal with his bride-to-be, he is swept up in a fierce and deadly battle of wills and psyches against the once-great Queen Cleopatra. Ramses has reawakened Cleopatra with the same perilous elixir whose unworldly force brings the dead back to life. But as these ancient rulers defy one another in their quest to understand the powers of the strange elixir, they are haunted by a mysterious presence even older and more powerful than they, a figure drawn forth from the mists of history who possesses spectacular magical potions and tonics eight millennia old.

This is a figure who ruled over an ancient kingdom stretching from the once-fertile earth of the Sahara to the far corners of the world, a queen with a supreme knowledge of the deepest origins of the elixir of life. She may be the only one who can make known to Ramses and Cleopatra the key to their immortality--and the secrets of the miraculous, unknowable, endless expanse of the universe.

The Excoriators seem powerless to protect the small cemetery world of Certus Minor from the berserk World Eaters, but their salvation soon comes from a wholly unexpected quarter...

Following the trajectory of a blood-red comet, the berserk World Eaters blaze a path of destruction across the galaxy in its wake. The small cemetery world of Certus Minor appeals to the Space Marines of the Excoriators Chapter for protection, but the force dispatched to deal with this grim threat is far too small and their losses against the renegades are high. Just as all seems lost, salvation is borne out of legend itself as sinister spectral warriors descend upon this planet of the dead, and the enemies of the Imperium come face to face with those who have already travelled beyond the realm of the living...

Sten's luck was finally running out.

He had barely scraped through Imperial flight school when he was assigned a tac division in the Fringe Worlds, where the Imperial officers were more concerned with the perfect fit of their dress whites than with honing their fighting skills.

The enemy Tahn couldn't have picked a better time or place to launch their long-planned attack against the Empire. Sten and his men were outgunned, outmanned, and outfought -- and no reinforcements could be expected from the besieged Eternal Emperor.

It looked like Sten's number was up. But if he had to go, he didn't intend to go alone...

Sten had fully expected to die in a blaze of glory, taking his Emperor's greatest foe with him. Instead he was a slave laborer in a P.O.W. camp deep in the heart of enemy territory.

But sitting out the action had never been Sten's style. And now that the war was building to a climax, the Eternal Emperor needed him more than ever. Not even the toughest prison in the known universe could keep Sten from his mission...

For eons, the Amplitur had searched space for intelligent species, each of which was joyously welcomed to take part in the fulfillment of the Amplitur Purpose. Whether it wanted to or not. When the Amplitur and their allies stumbled upon the races called the Weave, the Purpose seemed poised for a great leap forward. But the Weave's surprising unity also gave it the ability to fight the Amplitur and their cause. And fight it did -- for thousands of years.

Will Dulac was a New Orleans composer who thought the tiny reef off Belize would be the perfect spot to drop anchor and finish his latest symphony in solitude. What he found instead was a group of alien visitors -- a scouting party for the Weave, looking. for allies among what they believed to be a uniquely warlike race: Humans.

Will tried to convince the aliens that Man was fundamentally peaceful, for he understood that Human involvement would destroy the race. But all too soon, it didn't matter. The Amplitur had discovered Earth...

For millennia, the alien union called the Weave had ben at war with evil Amplitur. When its new elite fighting unit appeared, it became frighteningly clear that Amplitur was subjecting humans to vile genetic manipulations. The Weave could reverse the effects, but the result could turn the former warriors into the most despicable creatures in the galaxy....

The Weave was on the verge of winning a decisive victory after a milennia of war, thanks to their new allies from earth. But then the birdlike Wais scholar Lalelang found evidence that Humans might not adapt well to peace. Researching further, she uncovered a secret group of telepathic Humans called the Core, who were on the verge of starting another war, and then eliminating Lalelang. At the last moment, she was saved by a lone Core commander. He took a chance on her intelligence and compassion, and gambled the fate of Humanity on the possibility that together, they could find an alternative to a galaxy-wide bloodbath....

Book 2 in The Horus Heresy: The Siege of Terra. Essential reading for all Horus Heresy fans. Discover the lengths to which Horus will go to claim Terra as his own!

On the thirteenth day of Secundus, the bombardment of Terra began... With the solar defences overcome through the devastating strength of the Traitor armada and the power of the warp, Horus launches his assault on the Throneworld in earnest. After withstanding a ferocious barrage of ordnance, an immense ground war commences outside the Palace with every inch gained paid for in the lives of billions. The front lines are beyond horrific and the very air is reduced to poison and blood. Bodies are thrown into the meatgrinder but the outer redoubts cannot possibly hold for long, even with the loyal primarchs to reinforce them. For Horus has his own generals to call upon... Between the plague weapons of Mortarion and the fury of Angron, the defenders face a losing battle.

Three bizarre, spellbinding novellas comprise the first volume of this series. "Stained with Crimson" is an erotic, horror-filled vampire tale. In "Malice in Saffron," a young girl exacts vengeance against men as a result of being brutally raped, but then tells of her eventual redemption and horrible self-sacrifice. "Empires of Azure" is a grim tale of death and sorcery. The unifying element is the setting: the magical French city of Paradys during the medieval era. Lee's superb imagination and her creative use of language to convey mood has generated three fantastic tales.

Table of Contents:

• Stained with Crimson - (1988) - novella
• Malice in Saffron - (1988) - novella
• Empires of Azure - (1988) - novella

Three brilliantly colored narrative threads intertwine as the story unfolds:

- The rock star known as Vampire Lestat, worshipped by millions of spellbound fans, prepares for a concert in San Francisco. Among the audience--pilgrims in a blind swoon of adoration--are hundreds of vampires, creatures who see Lestat as a "greedy fiend risking the secret prosperity of all his kind just to be loved and seen by mortals," fiends themselves who hate Lestat's power and who are determined to destroy him . . .

- The sleep of certain men and women--vampires and mortals scattered around the world--is haunted by a vivid, mysterious dream: of twins with fiery red hair and piercing green eyes who suffer an unspeakable tragedy. It is a dream that slowly, tauntingly reveals its meaning to the dreamers as they make their way toward each other--some to be destroyed on the journey, some to face an even more terrifying fate at journey's end . . .

- Akasha--Queen of the Damned, mother of all vampires, rises after a 6,000 year sleep and puts into motion a heinous plan to "save" mankind from itself and make "all myths of the world real" by elevating herself and her chosen son/lover to the level of the gods: "I am the fulfillment and I shall from this moment be the cause" . . .

These narrative threads wind sinuously across a vast, richly detailed tapestry of the violent, sensual world of vampirism, taking us back 6,000 years to its beginnings. As the stories of the "first brood" of blood drinkers are revealed, we are swept across the ages, from Egypt to South America to the Himalayas to all the shrouded corners of the globe where vampires have left their mark. Vampires are created--mortals succumbing to the sensation of "being enptied, of being devoured, of being nothing." Vampires are destroyed. Dark rituals are performed--the rituals of ancient creatures prowling the modern world. And, finally, we are brought to a moment in the twentieth century when, in an astonishing climax, the fate of the living dead--and perhaps of the living, all the living--will be decided.

After accidentally summoning a demon while playing poker, the normally mild-mannered Chesney Anstruther refuses to sell his soul... which leads through various confusions to, well, Hell going on strike. Which means that nothing bad ever happens in the world - and that actually turns out to be a really bad thing.

There's only one thing for it. Satan offers Chesney the ultimate deal - sign the damned contract, and he can have his heart's desire. And thus the strangest superhero duo ever seen - in Hell or on Earth - is born!

Book one of the To Hell & Back saga is a riotous fantasy from the acclaimed author of the Henghis Hapthorn stories.

Lilith, the consort of the Unnamed One, has released the Damned, tortured souls from all levels of Hell, to walk the streets as the living dead. A dark chaos leaks onto Earth, taking the form of a deadly contagion that not even the Neteru team can handle. One touch from these deadly creatures infects a human, driving him to madness, death... and worse.

This time, Damali Richards, the Vampire Huntress (aka the millennium Neteru), Carlos, and the Guardians cannot effectively close ranks. The infection spreads to key team members and threatens to wipe out the entire squad. Even the Covenant is infected. They must track down the Chairman before members of the Neteru-Guardian team are lost and the team implodes. The only antidote is to behead Lilith. But first they must find her.

A new novel featuring Gotrek & Felix, two of Warhammer's most popular characters.

Gotrek and Felix: unsung heroes of the Empire, or nothing more than common thieves and murderers? The truth perhaps lies somewhere in between, and depends entirely upon whom you ask... Legend tells of the City of the Damned - a dark and forbidding place destroyed in a previous age by the wrath of Sigmar. Long have its fallen towers remained undisturbed by the people of Ostermark, but now an ancient evil stirs in the depths, gathering its strength once more. Gotrek and Felix are swept up in the crusade of Baron Götz von Kiel to cleanse the city, and as the ruins are torn from the passage of time itself, the Slayer's doom appears to be approaching more quickly than either of them would like.

Fantasy novel set in Games Workshop's Warhammer universe