Watch out, Harry Dresden, Kinsey Milhone and Mercy Thompson: there's a new kick-ass guardian in town and Verity Fassbinder's taking no nonsense from anyone, not even the fox-spirit assassins who are invading Brisbane in this fast-paced sequel to VIGIL. Life in Brisbane is never simple for those who walk between the worlds. Verity's all about protecting her city, but right now that's mostly running surveillance and handling the less exciting cases for the Weyrd Council - after all, it's hard to chase the bad guys through the streets of Brisbane when you're really, really pregnant. 'Verity is the best thing about the book . . . she's a surly, straight-talking, Doc Marten-wearing punchbag who investigates Weyrd-related crime on behalf of the beleaguered "normal" police' (SFX) An insurance investigation sounds pretty harmless, even if it is for 'Unusual Happenstance'. That's not usually a clause Normals use - it covers all-purpose hauntings, angry genii loci, ectoplasmic home invasion, demonic possession, that sort of thing - but Susan Beckett's claimed three times in three months. Her house keeps getting inundated with mud, but she's still insisting she doesn't need or want help . . . until the dry-land drownings begin. V's first lead in takes her to Chinatown, where she is confronted by kitsune assassins. But when she suddenly goes into labour, it's clear the fox spirits are not going to be helpful. Corpselight, the sequel to Vigil, is the second book in the Verity Fassbinder series by award-winning author Angela Slatter. 'Simply put: Slatter can write! She forces us to recognise the monsters that are ourselves' Jack Dann, award-winning author.

Walking between the worlds has always been dangerous - but this time V's facing the loss of all she holds dear. Verity Fassbinder thought no boss could be worse than her perfectionist ex-boyfriend - until she grudgingly agreed to work for a psychotic fallen angel. And dealing with a career change not entirely of her own choosing is doing nothing to improve V's already fractious temper. The angel is a jealous - and violent - employer, so she's quit working for the Weyrd Council and sent her family away, for their own safety. Instead of indulging in domestic bliss, she's got to play BFFs with the angel's little spy, Joyce the kitsune assassin . . . and Joyce comes with her own murderous problems. The angel has tasked V with finding two lost treasures, which would be hard enough even without a vengeful Dusana Nadasy on her heels. And Inspector McIntyre won't stop calling: the bodies of Normal women who disappeared decades before are turning up, apparently subjected to Weyrd magics. Angelic demands or not, this isn't something she can walk away from. And the angel is getting impatient for results . . . 'Slatter [has] gone from strength to strength, armed with first-class imagination and first-class storytelling skills' Jeff Vandermeer, bestselling author of the Southern Reach trilogy

A doctor makes a late-night emergency call to an exclusive California riding school; a professor inherits a mysterious vase... and a strange little man; a struggling youth discovers canine horrors lurking beneath the streets of Albany; a sheriff ruthlessly deals with monstrosities plaguing his rural town; a pair of animal researchers makes a frightening discovery at a remote site; a sweet little girl entertains herself... by torturing faeries; a group of horror aficionados attempts to track down an unfinished film by a reclusive cult director; a man spends a chill night standing watch over his uncle's body; a girl looks to understand her place in a world in which zombies have overrun the earth; a murderous pack of nuns stalks a pair of Halloween revelers... What frightens us, what unnerves us? What causes that delicious shiver of fear to travel the lengths of our spines? It seems the answer changes every year. Every year the bar is raised; the screw is tightened. Ellen Datlow knows what scares us; the seventeen stories included in this anthology were chosen from magazines, webzines, anthologies, literary journals, and single author collections to represent the best horror of the year. Legendary editor Ellen Datlow (Lovecraft Unbound, Tails of Wonder and Imagination), winner of multiple Hugo, Bram Stoker, and World Fantasy awards, joins Night Shade Books in presenting The Best Horror of the Year, Volume Three.

A collection of original horror and dark fantasy from the world's best writers, including Stephen King and John Ajvide Lindqvist Many of us grew up on The Pan Book of Horror Stories and its later incarnations, Dark Voices and Dark Terrors (The Gollancz Book of Horror), which won the World Fantasy Award, the Horror Critics' Guild Award and the British Fantasy Award, but for a decade or more there has been no non-themed anthology of original horror fiction published in the mainstream. Now that horror has returned to the bookshelves, it is time for a regular anthology of brand-new fiction by the best and brightest in the field, both the Big Names and the most talented newcomers including: - Ramsey Campbell - Peter Crowther - Dennis Etchison - Elizabeth Hand - Brian Hodge - Caitlin R. Kiernan - Stephen King - John Ajvide Lindqvist - Richard Christian Matheson - Reggie Oliver - Robert Shearman - Angela Slatter - Michael Marshall Smith - Lisa Tuttle A Book of Horrors will be the foremost in the field: an eclectic collection of the very best chiller fiction from across the world.

"Sure, writers have demons and inner critics that whisper horrible, discouraging things to us. But some of us give them undignified pet names and enrol them in short courses to get them off our hands..." In these essays, Angela Slatter—the World Fantasy Award-winning author of the Sourdough Stories, the Verity Fassbinder Series, and more—explores the relationship between the writer, their work, and the publishing industry they inhabit. Drawn from twelve years of author presentations, keynote speeches, blog posts, and articles aimed at aspiring and established professionals, You Are Not Your Writing features Slatter’s best advice on managing social media, understanding the role awards play in your developing career, the hierarchy of rejection, and strategically building your career and network of other writers. Most importantly, they draw the line between the writer and their work, and illustrate the dangers of mistaking one for the other. Whether you’re a new writer seeking advice on taking the next step, or a fan of Slatter’s fiction looking for a glimpse behind the scenes, this chapbook is a peek into the mindset and philosophy of one of Australia’s most acclaimed writers of fantasy and horror. ESSAYS IN THIS COLLECTION · How to Be A Writer · Online Presence: Pros, Perils and Possibilities · Time Moves Differently Here · Awards Don’t Matter · You Are Not Your Writing · The Writing Life: A Really Big Echo Chamber

A tantalizing selection of stories from some of the best female authors who’ve helped define the modern vampire. Bram Stoker was hardly the first author—male or female—to fictionalize the folkloric vampire, but he defined the modern iconic vampire when Dracula appeared in 1897. Since then, many have reinterpreted the ever-versatile vampire over and over again—and female writers have played vital roles in proving that the vampire, as well as our perpetual fascination with it, is truly immortal. These authors have devised some of the most fascinating, popular, and entertaining of our many vampiric variations: suavely sensual . . . fascinating but fatal . . . sexy and smart . . . undead but prone to detection . . . tormented or terrifying . . . amusing or amoral . . . doomed or deadly . . . badass and beautiful . . . cutting-edge or classic . . . Blood Sisters collects a wide range of fantastical stories from New York Times bestsellers Holly Black, Nancy Holder, Catherynne M. Valente, and Carrie Vaughn, and critically acclaimed writers Chelsea Quinn Yarbro and Tanith Lee, all of whom have left their indelible and unique stamps on the vampire genre. Whether they are undeniably heroes and heroines or bloodthirsty monsters (or something in between), the undead are a lively lot. This anthology offers some of the best short fiction ever written by the “blood sisters” who know them best: stories you can really sink your teeth into.