Laura Anne Gilman, Joely Sue Burkhart, and Angela Korra’ti take us back to the days of the Civil War with ministering angels, magical creatures, and death. Each of the women in these stories refuses to take on the role she’s been assigned by birth, race, or circumstance. Each woman demonstrates life changing defiance.

Shannari is destined to unite the Green Lands. All she has to do is survive a battle with a barbarian, marry the barbarian, escape the very sexy barbarian and his elite warrior band, kill her former fiance, and make it home in one piece.The men in Shannari’s life don’t take no for an answer easily, and she’s definitely worth fighting for. She doesn’t believe in love with good reason–her last lover tried to kill her at a most inopportune time. It’s a good thing she has fast reflexes, even when she’s distracted. Now Rhaekhar has to convince her that his love is worth fighting for, and keep her alive while doing it.

The long awaited sequel to Joely Sue Burkhart’s first Shanhasson novel, The Rose of Shanhasson, is finally here. The Road to Shanhasson is the second in the “Blood and Shadows” series, and continues the breathtaking story of Shannari, rightful queen of the Green Lands.

Shannari is about to be made the Khul’lanna of the Plains, wife to the Khul, leader of the 9 camps of the Sha’Kae al’Dan people. Unusual in the land of her birth for her skills as a warrior and prized as the rightful ruler of the Green Lands before being stolen away by Rhaekar, the Khul of the Sha’Kae al’Dan, Shannari is as foreign to these people as they are to her.

Shannari has admitted her love for Rhaekar, and, reluctantly, that she also loves Gregar, the Shadowed man who, along with the other eight Blood guards, protects Rhaekar from danger. Rhaekar, far from being angered by her love for another man, is man enough to give her what she wants, and determines that Gregar shall be her co-mate.

Some of her new people welcome Shannari, but others are angry that a hated Outlander is to become their new queen. Controversy and danger swirls around Shannari and the men she loves, threatening to tear apart the camps. Shannari works with Rhaekar, Gregar, and some new allies to bring peace to the camps, but she forgets that Theo, the current ruler of the Green Lands, will stop at nothing to debase and destroy her, and his bloody pact with Lygon, the god of Shadow, will bring Shannari to her knees.

Eleni is fighting for her life and her sanity in the Green Lands. She’s so desperate she believes barbaric Keldar is her only hope. Having convinced her brother he should send her as an ambassador, she allows herself to be captured and sold to the Keldari warrior Zahar.Zahak has plans for Eleni. Her unique bloodline means she can appear to fulfill a prophecy that will make the man who holds her the ruler of all of Keldar; so he’s going to give her to his brother.

The gods have other plans for Eleni and Zahak; plans that may not leave them alive at the end.

Humanity has been nearly destroyed by by an alien virus. Some have become monsters, a few have remained human, and far too many are dead. A vaccine saves a remnant of humanity and they begin to rebuild, taking on new names to represent their new lives and their hope of a better future.

Isabella Thanatos, Beautiful Death to the people of New Olympia, is a killing machine who has dedicated her life to protecting her people. Athens, her city, is the jewel in the crown of the civilization they’ve built off of the ruins of their old lives and she won’t let any monster run loose in her city except Hades, the seductively beautiful alien whose people loosed the virus on humanity and caused their ruin. He is a welcome visitor and sits on the city council–but not by her choice. He missed his opportunity to kill her long ago, but she won’t miss hers.

When Isabella discovers she’s been mysteriously contaminated with the virus, she knows she should kill herself before she becomes the very thing she hates. Fearing for her people but desperate to find out how and why she was contaminated before she has to die, Isabella runs to the only one who can help her, the monster Hades.

Outside the city she discovers that everything she was taught is a lie. There is no chaos, the contaminated live in harmony with humans, what Hades wants to do to her–with her–doesn’t include death, and the city she loves is controlled by a monster in the guise of a man.

In 2001 Tim left the day to day practice of law to devote himself to writing. Since then he has completed two novels and over 20 short stories, all of which he hopes to publish someday.

When not writing, Tim manages the largest project management publishing company in the Midwest United States. He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his wife and two children.

“Monday Night at the Vampire Lounge” and the other Paul Altimari stories set the tone for our Bump in the Night anthology.

Compared to the Vampire Lounge, Vegas looks like a church social. When you step into the world of blood letting, daytime morality is irrelevant. This is the world of cold pointy tongues, sharp teeth and razor blades, where pain and pleasure come together in a red cocktail. Come in, see what you find. Wipe the blood off when you leave.

Most importantly, keep your mouth shut.

When former police officer Paul Altimari stumbles across a dying girl, he does what any good citizen would do–he calls the police. Too bad the body’s gone when they get there.

As more bodies pile up–some of them on Altimari’s front lawn–things get worse. Sure, he figures it out but the police aren’t going to believe him; they don’t like him much. Too bad the killer vampire likes him a little too well.

Bump is an EPIC Awards finalist for best anthology. The EPIC Awards are given annually to recognize outstanding achievements in e-publishing.