Genre: Urban Fantasy

The Atrocity Engine (Custodians of the Cosmos Book 1)

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The Atrocity Engine (Custodians of the Cosmos Book 1)
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Men in Black meets Hellraiser in this rollicking mash-up of urban fantasy and cosmic horror from four-time Bram Stoker Award-Winning author Tim Waggoner.

Creatures from dark dimensions infesting your home? Demonic beings trying to drive you insane? Alien gods attempting to destroy your universe?

Just call Maintenance.

This underpaid and overworked secret organization is dedicated to battling forces that seek to speed up Entropy and hasten the Omniverse’s inevitable death.

Neal Hudson is a twenty-year veteran of Maintenance. A surveyor who drives through the streets of Ash Creek, Ohio constantly scanning for the deadly energy known as Corruption. Since the death of his previous partner, Neal prefers to work alone, and he’s not happy when he’s assigned to mentor a rookie.

But they better learn to get along fast.

The Multitude, a group of godlike beings who seek to increase Entropy at every opportunity, are creating an Atrocity Engine. This foul magical device can destroy the Earth, and they don’t care how many innocent lives it takes to build it. (Spoiler alert: It’s a lot!)

Just another day on the job…

Black City Saint

Black City Saint
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For more than sixteen hundred years, Nick Medea has followed and guarded the Gate that separates the mortal realm and Feirie, ever seeking in vain redemption for the fatal mistakes he made when, as St. George, he slew the great dragon. All that while, he has also tried and failed to keep the woman he loves, cursed to be reincarnated, from dying violently over and over.

Yet in the fifty years since the Night the Dragon Breathed over the city of Chicago, the Gate has not only remained fixed, but open to the trespasses of the Wyld, the darkest of the Feiriefolk.

Not only does that mean an evil resurrected from Nick’s own past, but his discovery of Claryce Simone, the latest reincarnation of his lost Cleolinda…a reincarnation destined once more to die. Nick must turn inward to that which he distrusts the most: the Dragon, the beast he slew when he was still only Saint George.

He must turn to the monster residing in him, now a part of him…but ever seeking escape. The gang war brewing between Prohibition bootleggers may be the least of his concerns. If Nick cannot prevent an old evil from opening the way between realms…then not only might Chicago face a fate worse than the Great Fire, but so will the rest of the mortal realm.

The Demon’s Dagger: A Noir Urban Fantasy Novella (Alexander Southerland, P.I.)

The Demon's Dagger: A Noir Urban Fantasy Novella (Alexander Southerland, P.I.)
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Once he checked in, checking out became an obsession!

Crawford the were-rat checks into a shady hotel and promptly stumbles over a dead man. A mysterious troll is obsessed with finding the dagger that killed him—a dagger possessed by a demon! The demon denies that he is a demon and is obsessed with regaining his freedom. Meanwhile, the hotel’s night clerk is obsessed with the hooker on the third floor. Crawford is obsessed with what’s in the hooker’s room: a solid gold statuette of a demon-slaying goddess! Crawford has checked in, but, when obsessions collide, does he have any hope of checking out?

Content Advisory: This book is intended for a mature audience. It contains misogynistic characters, language, and acts. It also contains graphic violence (including violence against women), smoking, drinking, drug use, graphic sexual acts, and crude language and images.

 

A Troll Walks into a Bar: A Noir Urban Fantasy Novel (Alexander Southerland, P.I.)

A Troll Walks into a Bar: A Noir Urban Fantasy Novel (Alexander Southerland, P.I.)
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When a troll speaks–listen up!
Hardboiled P.I. Alexander Southerland just wants to enjoy a quiet drink when a 500-pound troll walks into the bar. Next thing he knows, Southerland is navigating his way through rogue cops, a gang war, beautiful nymphs from the ocean depths, a were-rat, the mayor’s corrupt fixer, the sleaziest (and cleverest) gnome in Yerba City, and creatures right out of legend.

At the center of it all is a mysterious locked box. Can Southerland discover its explosive secret–and survive long enough to pay his rent on time?

In the same universe : The Demon’s Dagger

Walkers in Shadow

Walkers in Shadow
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Demons in Manhattan sewers. Enchanted gateways deep within the Bowery. Zombies in Harlem. Old World vampires haunting New Rochelle. Hidden Templar treasures and a hunt for the Grail across the length of a continent.

Quasi-immortal Damian Paladin and adventuress Leigh Oswin pit their wits, guns and flying skills against the magical and mundane in 1930s America – and worlds beyond.
Thrill to Author Mike Chinn’s WALKERS IN SHADOW. From Pro Se Productions.

Dead Detectives Society

Dead Detectives Society
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THRILLING MYSTERIES OF THE MACABRE !

Throughout history and infinite dimensions, there exists a secret group of supernatural investigators operating on the fringes of society, lurking in the shadows, working strange cases with little reward. They are hardboiled zombies and ghosts, mythological creatures, ass-kicking vampires, tortured humans, and uncanny sleuths whose normal is the bizarre and weird.

Now, for the first time, Kevin J. Anderson, Steve Niles, Nancy A. Collins, Joe R. Lansdale & Kasey Lansdale, David Avallone, Jonathan Maberry, Lisa Morton, Nancy Holder & Alan Philipson, John Jennings, Tim Waggoner, Jeff Strand, Rena Mason, and James Aquilone bring their weird investigators together for Dead Detectives Society #1, a one-of-a-kind anthology of 13 all-new stories.

With 13 illustrations in the print editions!

Weird Tales Magazine No. 368: Occult Detective Issue

Weird Tales Magazine No. 368: Occult Detective Issue
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Weird Tales magazine is known for launching a number of sub-genres of fiction—cosmic horror, swords & sorcery, dark fantasy, and others. It has also greatly added to existing genres like science fiction, horror, and—a personal favorite of editor Jonathan Maberry—weird mystery stories. Or, as they became known—occult detective tales. Here are all-original tales about people who peer into the shadows in order to solve a mystery. Sometimes successfully … and sometimes the darkness wins. The stories range from nail-biting horror to very dark comedy, and there’s a generous mix of short stories, flash fiction (shorter works of about 1500 words), and poems. The lineup is killer, as you’ll discover, and the interpretations of what constitutes “occult fiction” is unique to each writer.

“The Eyrie” by Jonathan Maberry
“Dead Jack and the Mystery of Room 216” by James Aquilone
“Beneath the Scarred Pulpit” by Kenneth W. Cain
“Denizen of Deep Holler” by Jennifer Brody
“The Ephemera of Dreams” by Carina Bissett
“Forming Threads” by Jody Lynn Nye
“The Painted Unseen” by Taylor Grant
“Bull Runs” by Kevin J. Anderson
“Shimmer” by Keith Strunk
“Hold my Beer” by Jeff Strand
“La Silla Del Diablo” by Sofía Lapuente & Jarrod Shusterman
“The Three-Headed Problem” by Rachel Aukes
“Inception” by Brian Lumley
“Laurel Canyons” by Lisa Diane Kastner
“The Taxidermist” by Lyndsey Croal
“Within You, In Time” by Brian Keene and Steven L. Shrewsbury
“Your Sins Will Find You Out” by Cavan Scott
“Night’s Disease” by Colleen Anderson

VampCon

VampCon
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ntroducing
the Reluctant Vampire…
Is Jonathan Stoker a descendant of Bram Stoker, the author of vampire
novel, ‘Dracula’? He neither knows nor cares. What matters is that a powerful vampire
thought it would be a great joke to turn a man with that name.
Years later, Stoker lives on as the reluctant vampire, only emerging from the dark
shadows to suck nonlethal quantities of blood from helpless drunks. He’s on the
run from vampire kind, and hiding from his own mortal son who believes him
dead.
Each vampire has a unique ability based upon how they lived their mortal life.
Stoker smoked cigars and now he can hold his breath for an exceptionally long
time. Big deal! Scared and ashamed, he keeps to the shadows.
But he isn’t useless; nor are his powers as weak as he thinks. Stoker is part of a
prophecy and that prophecy is about to come true at the VampCon…
VampCon: a murderous congregation…When Stoker is visited by the blind vampire sorceress, Ariel Lockhart, his days of
isolation are over. Ariel  summons  him to the VampCon in Boston, a high stakes meeting
of the most powerful vamps in America. Powerful factions are studying  ancient myths and unlocking the key to the
creation of vampire kind… and to their ultimate destruction.
VampCon — it’s a cut-throat summit, a power struggle, a
murderous congregation set up by an insane vampire leader who must be obeyed.
VampCon — is where Stoker begins to learn his destiny, and the
true nature of his unique vampire power.
VampCon —  it’s a trap!
— no one in; no one out. It’s filled with bloodthirsty vampires and one mortal
— Stoker’s son.
Can Stoker, Lockhart, and a small band of troublemakers defy fate and prevent a
nightmare from coming true? It doesn’t seem likely, but Stoker’s little band
are the world’s only hope.

If you’re tired of Twilight fan fiction and second-rate Anne Rice copyists, read
VampCon for the very best of original dark urban fantasy.

Curse of the Phoenix (The Arcane Irregulars)

Curse of the Phoenix (The Arcane Irregulars)
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When a trail of magical murders follow a stolen statue, Lieutenant Danny Pak and FBI Agent Buddy Redhorn have to get it back, before its dire curse falls on the city.

New York Police Lieutenant Danny Pak has a problem. When one of his officers calls him out to an unusual crime scene, Danny realizes that it’s terrifyingly similar to something the department thought was dead and buried. Now he has to find a madman before the story hits the papers and the city explodes into chaos.

Across town, Agent William “Buddy” Redhorn of the FBI has two problems. He’s been assigned a potentially career-ending case with magical ties, and his sorceress boss is out of town. The case involves a stolen statue that belongs to the government of Brunei, but the more he chases the thieves, the more bodies begin to drop. Bodies affected by a strange, unknown magic.

Resolving to work together, Danny and Redhorn have to catch a cold-blooded killer, recover a stolen artifact, all while keeping everything out of the press. If they don’t, it will be more than their careers that will die when the curse of the Jade Phoenix descends on New York.

Important Note: Curse of the Phoenix takes place in the Arcane Casebook universe. If you haven’t read any of those, you might want to start there.

Those Who Hunt the Night (The James Asher Novels Book 1)

Those Who Hunt the Night (The James Asher Novels Book 1)
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From a New York Times–bestselling author: A former spy is recruited to unmask a vampire hunter in this Locus Award Winner.

James Asher, a retired member of the Queen’s secret service in Edwardian England, has settled into quietude as an Oxford professor of philology with his physician wife, Lydia. But his peace is shattered when he’s confronted by a pale aristocratic Spaniard named Don Simon Ysidro, who makes an outlandish claim that someone is killing his fellow vampires of London, and he needs James’s help to ferret the culprit out. The request also comes with a threatening ultimatum: Should James fail, both he and his wife will die.

With James’s talent for espionage and Lydia’s scientific acumen and keen analytical mind, the couple begins an investigation that takes them from the crypts of London to the underworld circles of the unliving to the grisly depths of a charnel house in Paris. Now James and Lydia must believe in the unbelievable—if they’re to survive another night in the shadow of Don Simon Ysidro.

This first book in the James Asher series is “one of the more memorable vampire novels of recent years—smoothly written, suspenseful, awash in moral ambiguity, and rich in vampire lore . . . a must-read for vampire fans” (Kirkus Reviews). Barbara Hambly gives “Anne Rice a run for her money” (Publishers Weekly) and “Don Simon is unforgettable” (Charlaine Harris).