We're part of the cover-up!Did you know that there is a secret government agency dedicated to creating conspiracy theories? It's true! It's on Facebook!But it's not in this book. Our conspiracy theories are all fiction. At least, that's what we want you to think! Certainly, we did invite fiction writers to weigh in on conspiracy theories. The result includes (of course) the Masons and dragons (David Clements), the Bavarian Illuminati (Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald) and t...

Before her adventures begin in the acclaimed Mageworlds series, Beka Rosselin-Metadi was just trying to be a regular spacer, flying under an assumed name so she could experience life out from under the constant shadow of her famous war-hero parents. Her first shore-leave is on the avaricious asteroid of Suivi Point, where she and shipmate Ignaceu LeSoit set out to find themselves a good time. The good time finds them first, though, as Ignac' is kidnapped and Beka is dragged into a murder p...

"I want you to witness something that the world has never before seen," Professor Haversham said, pouring himself another glass. "A machine like no other!"

"On Suivi Point" first appeared in Cosmic Tales: Adventures in the Far Future, T. K. F. Weisskopf, ed. Baen Books, 2005. +++ "A Death in the Working" first appeared in Murder by Magic, Rosemary Edghill, ed., Warner/Aspect, October 2004.

"So cool! Sort of like if the Pope and Aleister Crowley had written James Bond."-- Rosemary EdghillContains:"Stealing God"The Holy Grail has vanished and it's up to Peter Crossman to get it back."Selling the Devil"A headless corpse, a holy sword, and a missing girl; Peter Crossman has until dawn to find the common link."Sleeping Kings"The Spear of Destiny was supposed to be safely hidden. Why do a bunch of cultists think they have ...

When Val Sherwood and her friends went for a hike with the Sunset Hills Ecology Club, they didn't expect to see more than the usual wildlife. But when stories told around the camp fire came true, Val had to find a way to live 'til morning.The first published work by the award-winning and best-selling team of Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald, reprinted here for the first time, "Bad Blood" inspired a series of three young-adult horror novels.

"In the First Year came the Plague, and in the Tenth Year the Burning, and afterwards came the Grooglemen out of the Dead Lands...."—A History of the New World From the Beginning to the Present Day, by Absolom Steerforth, Speaker of the Amity Crossroads Assembly.

This story first appeared in A Starfarer's Dozen, edited by Michael Stearns, Jane Yolen Books, Harcourt Brace, 1995.

A dark, rainy night, and a serial killer has claimed another victim; another stripper. Lieutenant Phil Paran has his theory of which really sick bastard is doing 'em. Orville Nesbit, psychic investigator, has another.+++"Ecdysis" originally appeared in OtherWere, edited by Laura Anne Gilman & Keith R.A. DeCandido.+++If you liked this story: Orville Nesbit investigates another case, a classic country-house mystery, in "A Tremble in the Air" by Doyle and Macdonald...

The Queen has a mirror in her bed chamber, a mirror covered with a thick velvet drape. By royal command, none may look into it.A fantasy story that first appeared A Wizard's Dozen, edited by Michael Stearns.Praise for A Wizard's Dozen:"...page turning action ... a high-quality offering that will appeal to reluctant readers as well as to teens who relish adventure stories."—Booklist"...readers will be swept along to the finish by the sure plotting and ...

"Remailer" first appeared in Not Of Woman Born, edited by Constance Ash, Roc, 1999. ISBN: 0451-45681-5

Told in the spirit of an old sailor's fireside tale, "Jenny Nettles" is a middle-grade supernatural story set on the high seas, featuring true-to-life historical detail, real seafaring superstitions, and a delicate introduction to the atrocities suffered by the Scottish Highlanders after the Battle of Culloden and the Jacobite Rebellion. First published in Bruce Coville's Book of Spine Tinglers, "Jenny Nettles" provides a spooky scare and an engaging gateway to learning more.A spec...