"For the love of God, cut off my head."The last request in Uncle Silas's will shocks everyone speechless, everyone except his favorite niece, Anna. More than death itself, the claustrophobic Silas fears a premature burial. Will her elders carry out his request? Anna is certain they will not. It's up to her to do the right thing, even if it is a bit grisly. Armed with butcher knife and candle, Anna heads for the crypt underneath the church in the dead of night. All ...

Collects six short stories of fantasy and weirdness. Fans of Edgar Allan Poe, H. P. Lovecraft, Greek mythology, and biblical-inspired fantasy will find something interesting."Blood and Beauty" tells the tragic love story of a satyr and a dryad."Sutter's Well" records the weird encounter between two boys and a Lovecraftian monster in Appalachia."Morphine and Chocolate" draws inspiration from the medieval poem Pearl a...

A therapy cat? Who plays blackjack?Stu's run of luck at the blackjack table comes to a spectacular and disastrous bad end. With one twenty-five dollar chip remaining, he's facing a month of ramen noodles until his next paycheck. His friend Harv cajoles him into seeing a gambling consultant who offers an unusual solution for Stu to win his money back. A cat. A very special cat. Guaranteed success claims the consultant. In the world of gambling, nothing is guaranteed...

The Great Corvid, a gem rumoured to be the source of the monarchy's power, has been stolen. The Queen and her council demand that wizard emeritus Learvin and his cat familiar Nightmawl come out of retirement to lead the search. The most likely culprit is a dragon living in a mountain lair on the other side of Swamp Deslolation. The journey to the dragon's cave will be hard, but negotiating with a dragon carries its own set of perils. Nightmawl would rather rest his old bones in a tree and ...

What would you do to save your landlady's cat?Aaron Sanderson overslept through his bar exam. Now, he's working the dead end of a grocery store checkout lane, waiting for his next shot at the bar. His boss is a jerk and the summer heat is stifling in the old building. Aaron thinks he's hit rock bottom, until his elderly landlady enters the store with her cat."The Cat Lady Is Always Right" is a humorous short story about making a stand for the underdog.

The Great Corvid, a gem rumoured to be the source of the monarchy's power, has been stolen. The Queen and her council demand that wizard emeritus Learvin and his cat familiar Nightmawl come out of retirement to lead the search. The most likely culprit is a dragon living in a mountain lair on the other side of Swamp Deslolation. The journey to the dragon's cave will be hard, but negotiating with a dragon carries its own set of perils. Nightmawl would rather rest his old bones in a tree and ...

Is a vampire without fangs harmless? Do trolls really live under bridges? What's a squonk and why does it weep? Where do water wights come from? How do you return a stolen jewel to a ghost?Those are only a few of the questions the stories in this volume consider. There are varied paths in the fantasy genre and these stories travel many of them. The tales range from weird westerns to fairy tales to classic fantasy with a cat as the protagonist. Some feature magic, others none at all...

An enchanted blade. An evil old man. An ancient spirit.The Weird West just gets weirder.Hucksters Orville and Jimmy struggle to buy a decent meal.When an old man asks for help with a supernatural pest, Orville smells opportunity. Jimmy smells danger.And danger is what they find. Jimmy must retrieve an enchanted knife, while fighting a huge coyote, a shapeshifting opossum, and an ancient spirit determined to keep the blade wh...

What is a mermaid to a fisherman?A young woman's spirit trapped in a cat's body, Merliss has lived more lifetimes than she can remember. When an unlucky fisherman happens on an injured mermaid and carries the creature home, Merliss takes an interest in the mermaid's plight. Merliss fears for the community. She knows they will face retribution from the old gods if anyone kills the mermaid, assuming the old gods still have any power.The mermaid soon comes und...

Weird tales from the ever-weirder Old West.Jimmy and Orville are back for more supernatural mayhem in these four stories. Their penchant for finding trouble is as keen as ever. In "The Wand" Jimmy and Orville face off against a dangerous witch who will not accept no for an answer. "The Miracle of Ed's Purgative" brings our hucksters face-to-face with a sasquatch who refuses to leave. The dead witch in "The Wayward Corpse" will not stay in her coffin. "The Flaming E...

Well-behaved children have nothing to fear from Krampus, right?Hans and Helga face a nasty encounter with bully Johan as the days to Christmas count down. But bullies are not the only threat the village children face. Krampus is long overdue to pay a visit. Chickens and ducks have gone missing with hoof prints leading away. Good children like Hans and Helga have nothing to fear, or do they? Johan knows he's a target. What plot is he hatching to save himself? Is Kra...

We live in an instant-gratification microwave society. We have been conditioned to expect instant results, or we get angry, disappointed, or depressed. We have greater opportunities to connect with others; however, we are more disconnected than ever before. We have all the information of the world at our fingertips but shorter attention spans than ever before. What are we doing to ourselves? We have everything other generations could only dream about; however, we can never find our peace, ...