Trapped in the limbo between life and death, Detective Nick Thomas grapples with an unwavering sense of duty and a ravenous appetite for human flesh. In "Badge of the Dead," a gripping novelette within the Night Things series, the lines blur between the obligations of the living and the sinister cravings of the undead.

A space mission, to be the first humans to land on Jupiter's largest moon, turns deadly. Commander John Russell, second in charge of the Orion spacecraft, bears account of the horrors and inexplicable events that follow on his return journey back to Earth. Stranded near Mars, the crew fight for their survival as they face their worst fears.

When Matt logged on to Zombie Wars Online, he expected another fun-filled night of zombie killing with his friends. Under the spell of the Felote, a gaming apparatus that forces the player into a controlled REM sleep, reality faded away, and a new life began. It was the perfect escape from the harshness of everyday life. But when a malicious hacker takes control of the game, a new nightmare begins, far worse than Matt and his friends could have ever imagined.

After being released from jail, handsome and charming Paul John Knowles embarked on a gruesome joyride of kidnapping, rape, and murder across multiple state borders. As the manhunt gathered pace, the cold-blooded killing spree continued to defy detectives. How many more lives would be lost before the police finally caught up?

If it wasn’t bad enough that an anti-Christmas Grinch was playing cruel pranks, now DS Ellen Fine was right in the middle of a murder investigation. With no leads and the countdown to Christmas in full swing the pressure is on to find out who’s responsible.

Two little girls stand with their heads bowed in my living room. I’m told they’re my granddaughters. Daisy is nine, and Alice seven. Daisy is the spitting image of her mother. This is the first time I’ve met them since my daughter and I fell out after she married that waste of space, Vince. They’ve come to live with me because their mother — my daughter — was murdered. In her own home while they slept close by. I think Vince killed her. But the police can’t prove it. I’ve always known he was no good. He treated my daughter like dirt. I said he’d cheat on her — but she wouldn’t listen.

Who is Audrey Hoedemaker? It's a question her sister Maureen has heard more times than she can count, and she doesn't know what the short answer would be. Little sister, troubled teen, backpacker, musical theatre coach, con artist, childcare worker. Murderer. A tragic, traumatic childhood casts a long shadow on the Hoedemaker sisters. Maureen has worked hard to move beyond the violence of the past and build a good, honest life for herself. Audrey, however, just can't seem to do the same, careening from one state of chaos to another.

Lucas knows the perfect night entails just three things: video games, wine, and pad thai. Peanuts are a must! Other people? Not so much. Why complicate things when he’s happy alone? Then one day the apartment board, a vexing trio of authority, rings his doorbell. And Lucas’s solitude takes a startling hike. They demand to see his frying pan. Someone left one next to the recycling room overnight, and instead of removing the errant object, as Lucas suggests, they insist on finding the guilty party. But their plan backfires. Colossally.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

The 13 chapters of The Art of War, each devoted to one aspect of warfare, were compiled by the high-ranking Chinese military general, strategist, and philosopher Sun-Tzu. In spite of its battlefield specificity, The Art of War has found new life in the modern age, with leaders in fields as wide and far-reaching as world politics, human psychology, and corporate strategy finding valuable insight in its timeworn words.