Introduction by Seanan McGuire

The anthology is loaded with stories of dark urban fantasy imbued with mythology; seventeen fantastic tales of monsters, gods, magic and so much more.

• Joanne Anderton, “Sanaa’s Army”
• Alan Baxter, “Cephalopoda Obsessia”
• Jenny Blackford, “A Moveable Feast”
• Vivian Caethe, “Skin”
• MD Curelas, “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes”
• Thoraiya Dyer, “Surviving Film”
• Dirk Flinthart, “The Bull in Winter”
• Stephanie Gunn, “The Skin of the World”
• Richard Harland, “A Mother’s Love”
• Pete Kempshall, “Dead Inside”
• Penny Love, “A Small Bad Thing”
• Karen Maric, “Embracing the Invisible”
• Christine Morgan, “Ferreau’s Curse”
• Nicole Murphy, “Euryale”
• Kat Otis, “And the Dead Shall be Raised Incorruptible”
• Dan Rabarts, “The Bone Plate”
• Erin Underwood, “The Foam Born”

This paranormal noir anthology brings you sixteen stories of murder and mayhem, monsters and mysterious femme fatales.

• Lindsy Anderson – The Third Circle
• Chris Bauer – Three Questions and One Troll
• Alan Baxter & Felicity Dowker – Burning, Always Burning
• Jay Caselberg – Blind Pig
• M.L.D. Curelas – Silver Comes the Night
• Karen Dent – A Case to Die For
• Dirk Flinthart – Outlines
• Lisa L. Hannett & Angela Slatter – Prohibition Blues
• Donna Maree Hanson – Sangue Sella Notte
• Rob Hood – Walking the Dead Beat
• Joseph L Kellogg – The Awakened Adventure of Rick Candle
• Pete Kempshall – Sound and Fury
• Chris Large – One Night at the Cherry
• Penelope Love – Be Good Sweet Maid
• Nicole Murphy – The Black Star Killer
• Brian G. Ross – Hard Boiled

Introduction by Kim Wilkins

Cover illustration by Kathleen Jennings

The gods are dead, but will not be forgotten.

When Mymnir flees the devastation of Ragnarok, she hopes to escape all that bound her to Ásgarðr — a heedless pantheon, a domineering brother, and her neglectful father-master, Óðinn. But the white raven, a being of memory and magic, should know that the past is not so easily left behind. No matter how far she flies, she cannot evade her family.

In planting seeds of the old world in the new, Mymnir becomes queen of a land with as many problems as the one she fled. Her long-lived Fae children ignite and fan feuds that span generations; lives are lost and loves won because of their tampering. Told in thirteen parts, Midnight and Moonshine follows the Beaufort and Laveaux families, part-human, part-Fae, as they battle, thrive and survive in Mymnir’s kingdom.

Midnight and Moonshine is a collection of interconnected tales with links between them as light and strong as spider-silk. From fire giants to whispering halls, disappearing children to evening-wolves, fairy hills to bewitched cypress trees, and talking heads to moonshiners of a special sort, Midnight and Moonshine takes readers on a journey from ninth century Vinland to America’s Deep South in the present day. Hannett and Slatter have created a mosaic novel of moments, story-tiles as strange as witchwood and withywindles.

Midnight and Moonshine is a rich tapestry of dark fantasy, fairy tale and speculation.

Publishers Weekly Starred Review

In “Seeds”, the opening story of Hannett and Slatter’s innovative dark fantasy collection, Mymnir, Odinn’s white raven, flees the Ragnarok, “an apocalypse for the gods alone,” and comes to the New World. There she creates a Fae kingdom in the image of Asgardr, transforming herself from a thieving, neglected raven into the fearsome, immortal Fae Queen. Though each story in this collection is self-contained and varied in tone and setting (Mymnir’s Fae Court, Prohibition-era Charleston, the present, to name a few), each one builds upon its predecessor, with multiple generations of protagonists and recurring objects, characters (especially Mymnir, whose desires and memories, over the centuries, bring her to the cusp of another Ragnarok), and themes. Marked by imagery both beautiful and grotesque, and unnerving twists that recall the uncanny horror of original fairy tales, this collection contains a unifying, multilayered plot that draws upon Norse mythology to take the reader on a thrilling, unsettling journey.

Introduction by Damien Broderick

Wild Chrome, stories by Australian Greg Mellor, is a significant debut SF collection.

The stories in Wild Chrome have appeared in Cosmos, Clarkesworld, and Aurealis, as well as 10 stories original to the collection, and capture the meteoric rise of Mellor since his first professional sale in 2009.

In his introduction, Damien Broderick says of the collection:

“This is a tour de force, and by itself is proof that Gregory Mellor is a writer to watch in the way we kept an eye on Ursula K. Le Guin and Brian W. Aldiss and Roger Zelazny when they were setting out, learning to pilot their burning imaginations into the realm of words shaped to ignite the dreams of their readers.”

Silurian Tales Volume 1

Introduction by Gardner Dozois

For the first time, 18 of Utley’s intriguing Silurian Tales (and an additional original offering) have been collected and placed into chronological order, starting with the introductory “All of Creation”, in which a link to the mid-Paleozoic Siluro-Devonian era grants present-day people a unique opportunity to study the Earth of 400 million years ago. These stories range in tone and style as they explore a wide variety of topics. Utley eschews action in favor of character-driven tales and weighty discussions, tackling the many-worlds hypothesis in “The Gift Horse”, time travel in “The Age of Mud and Slime”, and theology in “Half a Loaf”. The real focus is on Utley’s thought-provoking exploration of the concept from every angle, since the sprawling cast and lack of obvious connecting narrative leave each story standing alone. The result is subtle but powerful, and will leave readers wanting to do their own research into prehistoric eras.
– Publishers Weekly

1. “All of Creation”
2. “The Woman Under the World”
3. “Walking in Circles”
4. “Beyond the Sea”
5. “The Gift Horse”
6. “Promised Land”
7. “The Age of Mud and Slime”
8. “The Wind Over the World”
9. “The Tortoise Grows Elate”
10. “Cloud by van Gogh”
11. “Half a Loaf”
12. “Chaos and the Gods”
13. “Foodstuff”
14. “Chain of Life”
15. “Exile”
16. “The End in Eden”
17. “Lost Places of the Earth”
18. “A Silurian Tale”
19. “The 400-Million-Year Itch”

Book 3 of the Chronicles of Dion

Winner of the Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel 1999

In search of her missing niece Dally, Dion arrives in luxurious Akieva, the glorious and corrupt capitol of decadent Aramaya. Here, at the dazzling court of the handsome young emperor, Dion discovers her niece trapped in the web of necromancy and deceit hiding within the magnificent Winter Palace. But Dion’s arch enemy lurks at the center of the web, Bedazzer, the ruthless demon who has vowed to possess her-no matter the cost. In the ensuing deadly conflict, Dion must confront the dark secrets of her own heart and the mighty evil concealed in those around her.

Book 2 of the Chronicles of Dion

Winner of Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel 1998

Reunited with the family she left behind as a child, Dion finds her cherished homeland of Moria overrun by marauding Witch Hunters and dreaded Fire Angels. She soon realizes that she must use her awesome powers to help save her land and its people from the crushing grip of the Great Destroyer. Finding herself thrust into a morass of court intrigue, political conspiracy, and furious passion, Dion is forced to confront the deadly, seductive world of demons. Ultimately it is her strength of will, and the pure heart and bravery of the man she loves which will serve as her only weapons against the arch necromancer who would make her his queen.

Book 1 of the Chronicles of Dion

Provincial and naive — and the most powerful mage in the realm –young Dion is an innocent adrift in a world of intrigues and treacheries, with foul, hungry demons lurking just beyond its borders. And now she has been called upon to serve her Duke’s favorite mistress: the extraordinary Kitten Avignon, Our Lady of Roses.

For the mesmerizing courtesan is a woman in dire jeopardy, stalked by a fearsome necromancer who will not sleep until his beautiful prey suffers horribly and is destroyed. And with Evil’s night approaching, shielding the Lady and herself from harm will require every ounce of a power Dion is only beginning to recognize and fear — a great gift suddenly imperiled by blossoming womanhood…and dangerous desire.

Introduction by Trent Jamieson

The debut collection by award-winning Australian dark fantasist Felicity Dowker.

“She is one of those rare and talented writers of horror who can creep you out while still making you admire the graceful construction of her prose.” – World Fantasy Award winner Angela Slatter

“Felicity Dowker is one of the all-too-rare writers who really understands both horror and its appeal. She can show the terrifying aspect of things as outre as enchanted dragons or the zombie apocalypse, or as commonplace as dysfunctional families and the Santa Claus army. To borrow her own words, ‘It hurts, and it’s horrible, and it’s beautiful . . . and we might as well enjoy it’.” – Award-winning Stephen Dedman

The collection includes the stories:

• Bread And Circuses
• Jesse’s Gift
• From Little Things . . .
• Us, After The House Came Back
• The Bearded Ones
• Berries And Incense
• To Wish On A Clockwork Heart
• Phantasy Moste Grotesk
• The Blind Man
• Red Delicious
• After The Jump
• Rota Fortunae
• Nepenthe
• The Female Of The Species Is More Deadly Than The Male
• The Emancipated Dance

In the second volume of this award-winning series, editors Liz Grzyb and Talie Helene have compiled an impressive list of fantastic stories first published in 2011, from New Zealand’s and Australia’s finest writers. Includes Angela Slatter’s British Fantasy Award-winning story “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter”.

The 32 stories selected are

• Peter M Ball “Briar Day” (Moonlight Tuber)
• Lee Battersby “Europe After The Rain” (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
• Deborah Biancotti “Bad Power” (Bad Power, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Jenny Blackford “The Head in the Goatskin Bag” (Kaleidotrope)
• Simon Brown “Thin Air” (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
• David Conyers and David Kernot “Winds Of Nzambi” (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
• Stephen Dedman “More Matter, Less Art” (Midnight Echo #6, AHWA)
• Sara Douglass & Angela Slatter “The Hall of Lost Footsteps” (The Hall of Lost Footsteps, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Felicity Dowker “Berries & Incense” (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Terry Dowling “Dark Me, Night You” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
• Jason Fischer “Hunting Rufus” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
• Christopher Green “Letters Of Love From The Once And Newly Dead” (Midnight Echo #5, AHWA)
• Paul Haines “The Past Is A Bridge Best Left Burnt” (The Last Days of Kali Yuga, Brimstone Press)
• Lisa L Hannett “Forever, Miss Tapekwa County” (Bluegrass Symphony, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Richard Harland “At The Top Of The Stairs” (Shadows and Tall Trees #2, Undertow Publications)
• John Harwood “Face To Face” (Ghosts by Gaslight, HarperCollins)
• Pete Kempshall “Someone Else To Play With” (Beauty Has Her Way, Dark Quest Books)
• Jo Langdon “Heaven” (After the Rain, Fablecroft Press)
• Maxine McArthur “The Soul of the Machine” (Winds of Change, CSFG)
• Ian McHugh “The Wishwriter’s Wife” (Daily Science Fiction)
• Andrew J McKiernan “Love Death” (Aurealis #45, Chimaera Publications)
• Kirstyn McDermott “Frostbitten” (More Scary Kisses, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Margaret Mahy “Wolf Night” (The Wilful Eye – Tales From the Tower #1, Allen & Unwin)
• Anne Mok “Interview with the Jiangshi” (Dead Red Heart, Ticonderoga Publications)
• Jason Nahrung “Wraiths” (Winds of Change, CSFG)
• Anthony Panegyres “Reading Coffee” (Overland, OL Society)
• Tansy Rayner Roberts “The Patrician” (Love and Romanpunk, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Angela Rega “Love In the Atacama or the Poetry of Fleas” (Crossed Genres, CGP)
• Angela Slatter “The Coffin-Maker’s Daughter” (A Book of Horrors, Jo Fletcher Books)
• Lucy Sussex “Thief of Lives” (Thief of Lies, Twelfth Planet Press)
• Kyla Ward “The Kite” (The Land of Bad Dreams, P’rea Press)
• Kaaron Warren “All You Can Do Is Breathe” (Blood and Other Cravings, Tor)