“Star Wars” meets “The Princess Bride”… In a conquered galaxy of the far future, only two rebel groups still dare to resist the plague of tyranny—the solar system Gaeas-7 at one end, and the RAT fleet at the other. But neither knows of the other’s fight, and both are facing imminent destruction. Will they be able to join forces in time for one last desperate stand against an overwhelming evil?Johnny was Gravendale's grave digger and embalmer who loved his job especially picking a special spot that he thought the deceased would be proud to be buried at. Johnny was a little weird because during the embalming process, he would sit beside the cold slab the body was lying on and as he was inserting the hose into the deceased body to drain their blood, he would read stories to them. As Johnny was reading stories to the dead he would carry on conversations with them as though they were still alive. Johnny was about to discover that his so called act of kindness would be a grave mistake because when the dead are buried they don't like to be disturbed. Johnny just couldn't help himself so he paid a heavy price for disturbing the dead.

Jane is a busy baker making time for romance, but a meet-cute with the man of her dreams goes slightly awry when he’s eaten by a rampaging horde of zombies from a parallel universe. Jed is a wisecracking hero, patrolling the multiverse and saving the day when worlds collide. Bloodthirsty ghouls invading a planet of love and light slapstick? Jed’s who you want at your side. But Jane is worried more about love and cake than some pesky zombie apocalypse. To save this leading lady’s life, Jed will take her away from the safety of romance and comedy, into a nightmare of flesh-eating undead. Will Jane learn there’s more to life than love before her innocence is devoured? Night of the Living Date is the second book in Brian Olsen’s Multiverse Mashup, a series of fast-paced genre-smashing adventures that began with The Dystopia Spell.

Natalie and Evie are very different people. They are very different in age, and in income, and at very different stages of their lives. Natalie is a partner in a large law firm, and Evie is a law student at university. They meet at a work function of Natalie’s, where Evie is working as a waitress, and begin a relationship.

Robbie loves Christmas. He loves everything about it, the smells, the sounds, the feel. Now if he could find someone who would share his love for it and his need to spice things up in the bedroom, he’d be a happy man. However, he is not going to get involved with anyone, not even someone as seemingly perfect as Trace. Trace is new in town and just as lonely. When he lays his eyes on Robbie, he knows he has to have him. But when you’re dating someone as skittish as Robbie, things are never that easy and little outside intervention might be in order. Can the Christmas cheer and Robbie’s best friend help Trace push through Robbie’s defenses and win his heart?

Talyn’s in over her head. Talyn is finally beginning to take control of her life in a new world. Learning that her problems aren't natural is a first step, but before she can take true measures, her life takes a turn for the worse. Cast into the depths of Castra's dungeon, she survives only on the sufferance of others. On the other hand, should she live, she will shake the very foundations of the city itself.

On a dare from his older brother, a boy goes out after dark to an abandoned, wooded lot steeped in horror-style urban legends."Mike's Pond" is a very short fictionalized memoir about coming of age in Amherst, New York in the 1980s.I grew up in the 1980s in the idyllic suburban town of Amherst, New York, adjacent to the city of Buffalo. It was Middle America. The main cultural phenomena were Little League games and block parties.But we had legends.There were horrors that lurked in undeveloped plots of wooded land. There were stories born from the looming scare of chemical plants in nearby Niagara Falls, where a residential development called Love Canal made national news."Mike's Pond" is a very short ficitonalized memoir about a boy who goes out one night to explore one of those urban legends and discovers the real-life demons lurking close to home.

Esen has spent his entire life an outcast, and he threw out his last chance at fitting in when he broke the engagement his family worked so hard to arrange. Sent to the royal palace to fulfill one last duty, he counts the hours until he is literally left homeless and destitute.But hiding away in the royal garden, he accidentally overhears a private conversation and meets the mysterious Queen's Man...

Kingston has worked hard to get where he is: owner of his own shop, master potion maker, well-respected...and lonely, too busy with life to enjoy more than his regular visits to Acacia House. If he wishes his loneliness might be eased by Hux, the man he meets at Acacia twice a month, well, someday he'll work up the nerve to ask. Maybe. Then Hux unexpectedly visits his shop, distressed and in desperate need of help to save his employer from a love potion...

He left his seamy past...and found a steamy romance.When Louis Guzman signs on with a Hollywood nanny agency and scores a job offer on his very first interview, he's thrilled for the chance to start fresh—and hopeful that no one will delve too deeply into his checkered work and romantic past.Helping an amicably divorced Beverly Hills power couple raise their two adorable children is the perfect situation. Too perfect to let a vibe of attraction to the handsome producer tempt Louis to flirt his way to a pink slip.Since he came out, Dan Krefman has been too busy with his job to experiment with his newly embraced sexuality. But with undercurrents sizzling like live power cables between him and his kids' hunky Latino nanny, he's finding it hard to maintain his distance.Louis promises Dan—and himself—that just one encounter will get the lust out of both their systems. But it's only the beginning...and when Louis's past crawls out of the shadows,...

It’s a summer of transition for Fiona MacGregor and Meg Jordan. Having just passed the New York state bar exam, Fiona is excited about her emerging career, but something she never anticipated threatens to upend all of her carefully laid plans. Meg is spending the summer in New York City after finishing veterinary school, and before she moves back to Seattle to join her aunt’s veterinary clinic. A hot summer day at a Morningside Heights coffee shop brings them together when they hear the cries of motherless kittens. Fiona and Meg are forced to figure out if love can overcome much more than just geographical distance.

Danger, conspiracy, love, and redemption combine in a steam-driven fantasy.Lady-in-waiting to an impetuous princess, Lily Nightingale is banished from court after protecting her mistress's reputation. The cause of her eviction, magnetic performer and charming ladies' man, Kier Rohann, becomes her unlikely traveling companion.Footloose Rohann thought he'd put his miserable past behind him, until he spotted the man who destroyed his life. But any revenge plans are aborted when he's banned from the palace along with the frustrating Lady Lily. This sensible, steadfast woman possesses all the qualities he's avoided in his sexual dalliances, yet he is increasingly fascinated by her.After uncovering a conspiracy to take over the kingdom, Lily is determined to return to the capital and warn the king, while Rohann wants to run as far as possible from danger. Will a man who has avoided any attachments in life sacrifice himself for the greatest challenge of all—love?

If you want to score, you have to take the shot. Chris Kimball is good at keeping things to himself, but when he breaks his leg during a hockey game, he quickly realizes his biggest secret might be impossible to keep. It was hard enough being in love with his best friend and teammate, Tim Robineau, but when Tim takes care of him as he recovers, Chris’s feelings only grow stronger. Tim is aware that some people think he’s dumb, but they’re wrong. He’s just an easy-going guy who enjoys spending time with his team and friends—especially Chris. Tim has dated a lot of women who couldn’t understand that, and figures he’s cursed when it comes to love—but he’s not. He just doesn’t know it. Yet. *This story previously appeared in the Changing on the Fly Anthology*