Maxima Library

Includes a never-before-published Sookie Stackhouse story!

What could be scarier than the first day of school? How about a crash course in the paranormal from Charlaine Harris and Toni L. P. Kelner, editors of Home

Improvement: Undead Edition

? Your worst school nightmares — taking that math test you never studied for, finding yourself naked in school assembly, not knowing which door to enter — will pale in comparison to these thirteen original stories that take academic anxiety to whole new realms.

In #1

New York Times

bestselling author Charlaine Harris's story, "Playing Possum," Sookie Stackhouse brings enough birthday cupcakes for her nephew's entire class but finds she's one short when the angry ex-boyfriend of the school secretary shows up.

When her guardian, Kate Daniels, sends her undercover to a school for exceptional children, teenaged Julie learns an all-new definition of "exceptional," in

New York Times

bestselling author Ilona Andrews's "Magic Tests."

For those who like fangs with their forensics,

New York Times

bestselling author Nancy Holder offers "VSI," in which FBI agent Claire is tested as never before in a school for Vampire Scene Investigation.

And in

New York Times

bestselling author Thomas Sniegoski's "The Bad Hour," Remy Chandler and his dog Marlowe find evil unleashed in an obedience school.

You'll need more than an apple to stave off the creatures in these and nine other stories. Remember your first lesson: resistance is fruitless!

Includes stories by: ILONA ANDREWS, AMBER BENSON, RHYS BOWEN, MIKE CAREY, CHARLAINE HARRIS, DONALD HARSTAD, STEVE HOCKENSMITH, NANCY HOLDER, FAITH HUNTER, TONI L.P. KELNER, MARJORIE LIU, JONATHAN MABERRY, THOMAS SNIEGOSKI

Tales of alpha angels... from four alpha authors.

They soar through the night, unearthly creatures of legends and lore. Four masters of urban fantasy and paranormal romance explore the rapture of the heavens above, and the darkness below in four all-new stories of angels and guardians, and good and evil.

Elrod's second urban fantasy anthology is not quite as good as 2009's

Mean Streets

, though the one author both volumes share, Jim Butcher, does his usual top-notch job with the Dresden Files tie-in "Even Hand," a dramatic character study of Chicago crime boss John Marcone and his little-known but powerful drive to protect small children at any cost. Equally as good is Carrie Vaughn's taut and suspenseful "God's Creatures," in which a hunter searches for a werewolf among the residents of a Catholic reform school. Rachel Caine's "Even a Rabbit Will Bite," in which a dragon slayer is rendered redundant by the near extinction of her quarry, is unexpectedly poignant. Six less memorable stories round out the volume.

Fall under the intoxicating spell of their hex appeal...

In the magical world that lies hidden beneath our own, witches and conjurers play deadly games. They know just the right spell to kill a man with one kiss -- or raise him back again. And they're not afraid to exact sweet revenge on those who dare to cross them. But what if you're the unlucky soul who falls victim to a conjurer's curse? And if you had the power to cast a magic spell of your own, would you use it?

In this bewitching collection, nine of today's hottest paranormal authors tell all-new, otherworldly tales. Spellbinding stories featuring bigfoot, albino vampires, professional wizards, resurrected boyfriends and even a sex droid from the twenty-third century named Silicon Lily.  But as our conjurers are about to discover, it's all fun and games until someone gets hexed.  And sometimes, even the best spun spells can lead to complete and utter mayhem.

Includes Stories From:

Ilona Andrews

Jim Butcher

Rachel Caine

Carole Nelson Douglas

P. N. Elrod

Simon R. Green

Lori Handeland

Erica Hayes

Carrie Vaughn 

Four of the bestselling names in romance and fantasy come together in this collection of thrilling novellas featuring powerful women who know how to handle a hex or two.

An omnibus of novels by Ilona Andrews and Jeaniene Frost

New York Times bestselling authors Jeaniene Frost and Ilona Andrews bring you two short stories of paranormal.

Jeaniene Frost's story, One For the Money, features vampires Cat and Bones trying to protect a spoiled heiress with a price on her head and an undead hitman on her trail. Previously published in Death's Excellent Vacation. Also includes the first three chapters from Jeaniene's story in The Bite Before Christmas anthology, as well as a sneak peak at ONCE BURNED, the first novel in the new Night Prince series.

Ilona Andrews story, A Questionable Client, is a prequel to her award-winning Kate Daniels series. In a world beset by magic waves, Kate Daniels works as a mercenary. She is tired, hungry, and there is foul-smelling blood on her boots. All she wants to do is to go home, but when Mercenary Guild offers her a job she can't refuse, she find herself protecting a man against Russian wizards. Previously published in Dark and Stormy Knights. Also includes first two chapters of FATE'S EDGE, book 3 in the Edge series, and first two chapters of Magic Grieves, a Kate Daniels novella.

An omnibus of novels

From New York Times bestselling authors Charlaine Harris and Nalini Singh and national bestselling authors Ilona Andrews and Meljean Brook, tales of man's worst friend…

In these hound-eat-hound worlds, anything goes. and everything bites.

Follow paranormal bodyguards Clovache and Batanya into Lucifer's realm, where they encounter his fearsome four-legged pets, in Charlaine Harris's The Britlingens Go to Hell. Seek out a traitor in the midst of a guild of non- lethal vampire trackers, one that intends to eradicate the entire species of bloodsuckers, in Nalini Singh's Angels' Judgment. Find out why the giant three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades has left the underworld for the real world – and whose scent he's following – in Ilona Andrews's Magic Mourns. Embark on a perilous search for the kidnapped niece of a powerful vampire alongside her blind – and damn sexy – companion and a hellhound in Meljean Brook's Blind Spot.

These four novellas by today's hottest paranormal authors will have hellhound lovers everywhere howling.