Sunday 31 January 2016

PRE-ORDER Fourteen Kinky Valentines Day Stories: Bound, Spanked & Loved

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Book Title: Bound, Spanked & Loved 
Genre: BDSM 
Release Date: February 9, 2016 
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

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BOOK BLURBS

Bound, Spanked and Loved: Fourteen Kinky Valentine's Day Stories

***14 ALL-NEW novellas! Available for a limited time only!***


Bound, Spanked and Loved: Fourteen Kinky Valentine’s Day Stories is the HOTTEST box set of the season, brought to you by fifteen New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors of bdsm and spanking romance. Lose yourself in a whole lotta naughty with this sexy collection of ALL-NEW, standalone novellas sure to set your e-reader ablaze and leave you breathlessly panting for more.

Publisher's Note: The stories included in this smoking hot collection are MF, MFM, and MMMF pairings. Some contain taboo subjects and no-holds barred BDSM and spanking scenes. All will make you blush hard. ***over 700 pages of brand new stories***

Stories Include:

Slab Hands by Annabel Joseph ~ Christine's always been curious about spanking, and the bouncer at the bottom of the stairs has a magnificent set of hands. Once he learns about her secret disciplinary fantasies, he's more than happy to put those hands to use...

Master Class: Initiation by Sierra Cartwright ~ When wanna-be sub Jennifer Berklee calls him Master and begs him to flog her, PI Logan Powell knows all his military training won't be enough to keep his jaded heart safe. He intends to claim this sexy, innocent woman for his own...no matter the cost.

Theirs to Punish by Renee Rose
~ When a billionaire's daughter-turned-ninja picked Casino Magnifico for a heist, she didn't take into account one thing--actually--two. Twin owners Joe and Alex Jamison won't hesitate to employ a little corporal punishment to bring the virgin socialite in line...

Lust Angel by Cari Silverwood
~ On good days, what falls from the heavens may be a naked woman. As an ex-SAS soldier, now private contractor, Adam is used to the unexpected, but nothing in life has prepared him for a fallen angel with a craving for spanking, bondage, and punishment.

Stepbrother Jerk by Natasha Knight ~ To buy her stepbrother's silence, Lisa agrees to submit to his discipline, even though she has no idea what she's in for. But Jace knows exactly what his stepsister needs and a bare bottom spanking is only the beginning.

His Runaway Valentine by Sue Lyndon ~ When a handsome stranger rides out of nowhere to rescue Nora from slavers, the runaway bride is shocked to learn he's the very man to whom she was betrothed. There's no escaping the arranged marriage now, and Luke is quick to make Nora understand that he expects not only obedience, but her absolute surrender.

Rose's Are Red by Ashe Barker ~ Rose has had a crush on Iain McCain for years and when she spots her sexy ex-teacher with a whip in his hand at her favourite BDSM club her heart stills. Dare she approach him? A Valentine's Day card might earn her the spanking she craves if she delivers it personally...on her knees.

His to Take by Kallista Dane ~ On the now-sexless, sterile Planet Earth, Dr. Selena Reston saves the life of Haldor, a Viking warrior from another world. His savage lovemaking shocks her and awakens her wild side. Though she craves his domination, can she build a life with him halfway across the galaxy?

Stepping It Up by Cara Bristol ~ Ariel had crushed on her stepbrother Hunter for years. But if he expects to win back her heart in one wicked weekend, he'll have to step it up and take her in hand...the Rod and Cane Society way.

Claiming Chloe by Korey Mae Johnson
~ When she is left alone on Valentine's Day, Chloe takes matters into her own hands. But going out exploring on her own on an alien planet turns out not to be the best idea she ever had, and when her three handsome alien mates end up having to rescue her, Chloe's bare bottom will pay the price for her naughtiness.

Maud and the Secret Society of Saint Valentine by Emily Tilton ~ Maud has decided that the new boyfriend she's crazy about can't be serious when he tells her she needs a firm hand in the bedroom and everywhere else. The Secret Society of Saint Valentine begs to differ, and summons her to a tribunal where she'll learn just how serious David is.

Dancing With a Dom by Katherine Deane ~ What do ballroom dancing, hard spankings, and mind-blowing orgasms have in common? I guess it depends who your dance partner is. The man smiling down at me, with his hand on my waist... he's a Dom. And he wants to be mine this Valentine's Day.

Taking the Human by Trent Evans ~ For Lukanos, a muscle bound, seven foot tall alien, abducting the beautiful human female was the easy part. Winning her heart--and not breaking his own--was something else entirely.

Sweet Birdie Blue by Alta Hensley ~ Rem Langston has no choice but to save the feisty Birdie Bluebell, whether she wants saving or not. Their icy beginning soon turns to a passion hot enough to melt the blizzard outside, but will Birdie accept Rem into her heart?
excerpt

(From Theirs to Punish by Renee Rose)

Alex watched the beautiful burglar wrench her hands against the zip ties.

“Easy, love. Those will dig into your flesh if you struggle.”

He would switch to bondage tape when he had a chance, but for the moment, he didn’t trust the little tigress until he had her immobilized. He flipped her to her back where her bound hands lifted her pelvis.

Damn, that turned him on. She turned him on. Dressed in a skintight black catsuit, her long lean body just wouldn’t quit. Funny how when he’d thought the burglar was male he’d been ready to throttle him. Discovering this beautiful waif breaking into his brother’s safe, though… Well, he still wanted to punish her, but only in the most erotic way.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed his brother Joe. “I caught her.”

“Her?”

His lips stretched into a wolfish smile. His brother would enjoy this one as much as he did. “Mmm hmm. Cutest little cat burglar I’ve ever seen.”

Her cheeks colored in an enchanting blush, and she brought her knees up to kick.

Still holding the phone, he moved swiftly to straddle her, squeezing her legs together between his thighs. Her scent filled his nostrils—sweet, sensual, earthy. Delicious.

“I’ll be right there.”

“We’ll be waiting.” He hit end and looked down at the struggling thief. “Enough.” He gave her face a light slap—not with any force, just enough to establish dominance.

Her eyes widened in shock, and suddenly her body fought him in a different way, her hips arching, breasts thrusting toward the ceiling.

Oh, hell yeah. She liked being his prisoner. The situation that had been a pain in his ass just became a lot more interesting.

And da-yum, she didn’t appear to be wearing anything under her skintight black ninja clothes. Her nipples poked up under the thin fabric.

It took all his self-control not to pinch them. He gave his head a quick shake to clear it. “What’s your name, ninja girl?”
meet the authors
Cari Silverwood is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling writer of BDSM and kinky, dark-erotic fiction. Contemporary Mff romance, urban fantasy, steampunk, scifi, historical, and erotic parody have all fallen under her pen.

Annabel Joseph is a New York Times and USA Today Bestselling BDSM romance author known for her emotionally intense storylines. She writes mainly contemporary romance, although she has been known to dabble in the medieval and Regency eras.

Natasha Knight is a #1 Amazon Bestselling Author in Erotic Sci-fi and a top 10 bestseller in several other categories, including Military Romance, BDSM erotica and Paranormal Erotica. Her books include spanking romance, and, more recently, dark romances.

Trent Evans - Trent Evans is a #1 Amazon best-selling author in Military Romance, along with top 100 spots in several other romance and erotica genres. As both a writer and editor, he specializes in BDSM romance and erotica, his stories often exploring the darker, more intense aspects of power exchange. Though he still thinks of himself as nothing more than a dancing monkey, miraculously, people still pay him for his work.

Alta Hensley is a #1 Amazon best-selling erotic romance author who has had top-selling books in erotic science fiction, humor, BDSM and historical. She writes the naughty...and then the cure for it.

Sue Lyndon is a #1 Amazon bestseller in BDSM Erotica and Sci-Fi Erotica, as well as an Amazon Top 100 Erotic and Science Fiction author. She writes naughty spanking romances in a variety of genres, from contemporary to historical to fantasy.

Ashe Barker is a #1 Amazon best-selling erotic romance author in LGBT, as well as having numerous spells in the Top 100 erotic and BDSM charts. She writes contemporary and historical romance, with a strong BDSM flavour, the hotter the better

Cara Bristol is a #1 Amazon best seller in science fiction romance and an ARe Bestseller. She writes contemporary, science fiction, and paranormal erotic romance.

Sierra Cartwright is an award-winning, #1 Amazon and international best selling author of contemporary BDSM romance. "If you're not reading her books, you're missing out."--Confessions From Romaholics

Celeste Jones is an Amazon #1 best selling author in Historical Erotica. She writes historical and contemporary spanking romances and detests speaking of herself in the third person.

Emily Tilton, whose books have hit number one on Amazon in four different erotica categories, wishes she could live out her fantasies of submission the way her characters do.

Kallista Dane is a #1 Amazon best-selling author in Sci-fi erotica, as well as a Top 100 author of deliciously naughty spanking stories in BDSM, Erotic Suspense and Historical Romance.

Katherine Deane is a multi published, top 100 erotic and BDSM author. She writes sweet and sexy spanking romances that always have an HEA.

Korey Mae Johnson is an author, a cover artist, and the co-owner of Stormy Night Publications. She enjoys writing kink-themed erotic romance with unique characters and settings, and her two top-selling books have each sold over 8,000 copies.

Renee Rose is a #1 Amazon best-seller in Erotic Paranormal and Erotic Sci-fi categories and a top 5 best seller in Erotic Suspense. She was named Eroticon USA's Next Top Erotic Author.
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Re-Release Blitz!!! TENDRILS By Holly Barbo

Friday 29 January 2016

Just Another Brush Stroke By LW Barefoot #ReviewBlitz

Another Brush Stroke
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Book Title: Another Brush Stroke (The Carnal Exhibitions) 
Author: LW Barefoot 
Genre: Dark Romance 
Release Date: Nov 11, 2015 
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

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book blurb
Harper's running from her broken past. Haunted and tormented with the echo of the infamous Sculptor's words and the scars his knife left behind.

Evan Hawthorne always gets what he wants. His latest craving is the gorgeous, but elusive artist, Harper. His sexual tastes are not for the faint of heart, but he instinctively knows that Harper is exactly who he's been searching for. Her fate is sealed, but Evan's not the only one intrigued and desperate to break Harper out of her shell... or just break her.
excerpt
The salty citrus of his drink mixes with the spicy heat from mine as our tongues meet. Discovery becomes necessity as I drink him in and savor the feeling of being in his arms. His lips rule and mine willingly comply.

When he pulls back, it’s too soon, because I was just getting started, and I haven’t had nearly enough time tasting him. He pulls back before the door to the patio pushes open and our waiter brings the check.

Evan and I leave hand in hand, just like we arrived. But now I gave him permission. I said yes.

I’m thankful we had to walk instead of drive to the restaurant. It gives me more time to consider what was exchanged at dinner. The breeze cools my warm face.

A large tour group blocks the side of the street we’re on. I move off the curb to walk around them, but Evan tugs on my hand to stay by his side.

“What are we doing?” I whisper as the tour guide tells a haunting tale of the building the group stares up at. No one notices us watching them.

“I find it amusing how the stories and histories change every time I hear them,” he whispers.

The building is dark and has been empty forever. Strict protection goes with the preservation of the historical buildings. I’ve noticed what Evan refers to, but I’m sure growing up here you get sick of people distorting and stretching the truth. The tour guide’s top hat and cane only make him seem more charlatan than historian. He rambles on in a deep voice of the resident ghost and the many stories that he swears are true. He even reels his audience in with pictures.

Evan pulls me into the circle of his arms as he leans in and says, “Do you believe in the things that haunt the night, like this man here?”

I want to say yes. I want to spill my twisted true story. But I bite my tongue and shake my head.

“Yes, but my beliefs are based on fact and ghosts that do more than just scare you,” I stop myself before I say too much.

Evan’s grip is tight and I’m pulled into him even closer. The look in his eyes give away something I can’t detect, but it feels as if he knows exactly what I’m talking about.

We all have secrets.
teasers

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Teasers provided by LW Barefoot
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meet the author
In a small town in Oklahoma, I was raised by an endless dreamer of a father. He spun fantastical stories of a heroine that slayed her own dragons, while jamming to the best music imaginable. I've been slaying dragons since and as much as I love fantasy, I believe magic is real and tangible in the very world we live in.

I, like many others before me, believe deeply in the destructive and healing powers of love. I hope to share stories of strong, yet broken characters that find their way in this life. I've had help finding mine, through love, loss, faith, music, creativity, writing, painting, positivity, embracing my past, and relishing the present moment.
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#ReleaseBlitz SUNSHINE BY Holly Barbo

#Book Blast Destroyed By The Bad Boy - By Madison Collins Releases Jan 29



DESTROYED BY THE BAD BOY
Madison Collins
Releasing on January 29, 2016
Self-Published


This book contains two complete erotic romance novellas with no cliffhangers.

Stranded ...

On the way to our parents wedding in the mountains, the mother of all snow storms attacks, leaving me stranded in a remote cabin with my new stepbrother.

My hot as hell, I-need-to-change-my-panties because-they’re-soaked, cocky asshole of a stepbrother, Bentley McAllister.

The kicker of it all?

The only items he's packed are liquor and condoms, and he’s looking at me like he wants to put both to good use.

My name is Sierra, and my libido can only take so much.

Send help!


Caged ...

Two brothers...
One girl...

Rising stars in the cage fighting circuit, Cage and Tripp Garrett are as close as two brothers can be. Fiercely competitive and smoldering with intensity, neither has ever lost a fight. Until they face their toughest opponent yet: Lily.

They both want her. But neither can have her. Lily is as off-limits as they come. They make a pact that the tough-as-nails daughter of their trainer will never come between them.

Until one of them begins to fall in love. Then all is fair in love and war.

Caged is a sexy, fast-paced love story with a punch.

Warning: Contains adult language and sexual content.

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Madison Collins is the author of romantic short stories such as Caged, Stranded with My Stepbrother and the upcoming Monster Prick. She enjoys the occasional stiff cocktail, and watching romantic comedies. Most days you can find her curled up with a good book. She currently resides in New Jersey.


Thursday 28 January 2016

#CoverReveal!!!! Underwater - Edited By Anthony S. Buoni & Alisha Costanzo

COVER REVEAL
underwater official cover

Book Title: Underwater 
Edited by: Anthony S. Buoni & Alisha Costanzo 
Genre: Fantasy Anthology 
Release Date: February 29, 2016 
Hosted by: Book Enthusiast Promotions

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book blurb

When was the last time you came face-to-face with a mermaid?

Ever explore a hidden underwater cave or been haunted by an unearthly creature? Did that passionate childhood fantasy turn into a real, sexy encounter? When was the last time you discovered a bell concealing the entrance to a faerie mound? Have you wondered what would happen if New Orleans was entombed in radioactive water?

UNDERWATER features sixteen exploratory tales that delve into decrepit landscapes and strange magic, inhuman heroes and crushing experimentation. Two-thirds of the world is submerged—experience what happens within, from the fantastical and erotic to the horrifying and triumphant, UNDERWATER showcases stories that will inundate readers with uncharted territories.
excerpt

From “Fossegrimmen” by Megan McFerren:

Brave ventures yield great rewards, Kjell reasons, so long as one survives them. Perhaps the same is true for sheep.

His foot digs deeper, and he steps back. The stories of places like this are known well, the haunts of wights and elves who will demand tribute for passing near their homes. Children’s stories, no doubt, to keep them from toppling down onto the rocks. Myths and fables from more superstitious times.

Surely, then, the strains of music are only his imagination.

Surely, the lilting of fiddle strings must be carrying on the wind across the fell.

Surely, Kjell must have just spent too much time afield alone, and his mind has wandered far as his stubborn sheep.

Curiosity pulls him towards the edge once more. With mistrust towards the stability of the soft soil and misgivings towards his own mind, Kjell slips closer to the falls. Dulcet tones rise in a familiar old song from Kjell’s childhood but whose words he can’t recall. The cascade of water is twice his height but no more than that, and when Kjell leans, only the edge of the shadowy pool beneath shows, foaming white beneath the spray. The bend of strings echoes louder from below, a sound so warm that Kjell forgets how wet his clothes have become in seeking the music’s source.

“Hello?”

Kjell’s voice rings back at him after a pause, too long to be his own echo, and yet, it sounds much the same. His brow furrows at the strange delay. He draws a breath to call again and holds it when a voice responds:

“Hello.”

From “Happiness Shoal” by Gregory L. Norris:

The man pressed forward through the rain. Happiness radiated in his eyes, a rich green the color of emerald gemstones on that moody gray morning, and his lips, the lower slightly plumper than its twin on top, a crooked smile beaming from the prickle of a new, unintentional beard.

The wind gusted, stirring the ocean’s brine. The man blinked, and a measure of the trance broke. He grew aware of the raindrops running through his thatch of dark cowlicks and spikes. His baseball cap was gone—his favorite, he absently recalled. The man dug in his soles and stopped. Turning, he realized that so, too, was one of his rubber boots. The Atlantic at low tide tickled the toes of his left foot through thick wool socks with icy caresses.

“No,” he said. His voice rippled at his ears with a hypnotic resonance, as though spoken underwater.

Joe Dunnegin turned again. Mist drifted in tattered curtains across the shore of Sugar Beach, masking the parameters of the familiar world. The gentle melody of the waves lapping at sand droned into the background while the rising cadence of his heartbeat jumped into the fore. Movement stirred in the mist, a face and body only half there, out of focus. A ghost.

Joe’s euphoria surged. “You,” he called, walking then running, retracing his steps, aware of his cock’s stiffness. Pinned at an awkward angle in his jeans, its pulses sent concentric waves rippling through the rest of his flesh. Deeper, into his marrow, his soul.

“Hello,” Joe called. “You, wait—please.” The figure in the mist dissolved between blinks. “No, stay, stay with me.”

Joe raced along the water line, his cock drawn like a divining rod toward the face growing less distinct by the second. The mist attempted to smother his voice. The ebb and flow of the ocean grew louder.

The figure blended fully back into the mist, there one instant, gone the next. One more step, and Joe forgot why he felt so happy.

“No,” Joe said. And then he sobbed the word again.

He spun in a circle in search of the mysterious presence. The world drifted out of focus, melting into a blur of gray. The rain robbed him of his smile. The chill ramped up its assault, going from tickles to jagged bites that worked up past his calves.

“Where are you?” he cried out. “Where—?”

A strange word danced to the tip of his tongue, too elegant for such a primitive muscle.

“V’liss Wei,” Joe said.

Then the strength departed his legs, and the ground came rushing up, cold and harsh and unforgiving. Joe’s face struck the beach. The tide rolled over his torso. Before darkness eclipsed his senses, the lights—vibrant neon blue, the color of the ghost’s eyes, and red, like blood, shone on the horizon.

From “The Rainbow Sprite” by Alisha Costanzo:

My vision filled too often with bloody fucking rainbows, and my tongue craved the taste of hot, spring rains. I found myself wired and explosive in my daily duties, biting a claimed renegade but imagining the sprite instead. My queen punished me fittingly for it, caning the bottoms of my feet. I left with a hard-on.

She went easy on me, giving me a lesson in my more preferred manner, because I offered information that pleased her. Now, my orders sent me where I wanted to go: for a way to infiltrate the underwater faerie mound. Mine was through the rainbow sprite.

The woods changed with charms, glittering under the moon like beckons. Nevertheless, I found Nani’s watering hole, armed with a bell and her ring—both held the most curious magick.

Spring rain didn’t greet me as my toes slipped into the brisk water. Instead, a peaches and cream scent emitted from the waters before a pale, golden fluff bobbed to the surface above the slender face of a boy. His features matched Nani’s except that his eyes were a soft orange and freckles kissed the center of his face like a frangipani.

I leaned in as the boy hovered there and coaxed him closer. “Are you the little bugger that dropped a bell in there?”

His minute nod propelled him further forward, close enough for me to snatch him up. My grip found his throat, and I swung him onto land with a thunk of his shoulder blades against the grass. Teeth bared at him.

Sweat beaded along the kid’s forehead and wisps of fear wafted from him. Burning seeped into my chest at his touch, slow and eating at my skin like acid. “Will your blood poison me?”

The scent of his fear matured as he nodded again.

Liar.

I pulled the bell from my pocket and jingled it by his face. “What does this do to you on land?”

“Headache.”

“And if it touches you?”

The boy’s gaze hopped to the bell and back to me. “Make me angry. You wouldn’t like me when I get angry.”

Was this pipsqueak quoting the Hulk at me?

I dropped my fangs, flaunted them in his face to the joy of his hyperventilating and pissing himself.

“Pika?” Long, blonde hair slicked back from Nani’s wide, rainbow eyes before they slanted and her mouth puckered. “Vampire.”

“Is this yours?” I pushed his head back to elongate the boy’s throat.

“Nan.” The boy’s voice so brittle it threatened to break.

“You let him free.”

“And why would I do such a thing?”

She tread closer, the water parting to her bare shoulder and dripping down her collarbones. It made me hungrier. “I will make a trade. Me for him.”

I wanted her blood more than the boy’s. “Out of the water.”

Nani climbed into the grass, circling around us and into the tree line.

“Nan.”

“It’s okay. He won’t hurt me.”

I will, but I won’t kill her. Not yet. “Aw. Isn’t this sweet.”

Terrified eyes blinked up at me.

“You have five seconds to disappear before this bell hits the pond.” I jingled the bell at him for emphasis.

“Go,” the sprite told her brother.

He shot out from under me, splashing as I counted, tossing the bell in after him. Rolled onto my back, I smiled up at Nani. “I do believe I scared the piss out of the little bugger.”


From “Going Deep” by Diana Hauer:

Propelled by diving fins, they made good time to Echidna’s Cave. Each of them had waterproof flashlights on their wrists and chemical glow-stick backups, though they had been assured that deeper in, phosphorescent minerals in the walls and plants would light the way.

Seaweed parted like long, thick hair to reveal a dark opening. Morgan met Bo's gaze and pointed to the rocky entrance before them. She sucked another breath of oxygen from her tank, fighting the urge to grin as she admired the blonde man's muscular trunk. Surfing was damn good for him, especially his legs and waist.

Morgan made a mental note to give their guide a generous tip for the discount to Echidna’s Cave; just off a beach cove that the locals called Typhon’s Couch. She’d be fucking Bo with the image of his strong ass and legs flexing for the rest of their time in the Mediterranean. He might even look better now than he did the first day she’d watched from her lifeguard stand as he slid over the waves on his board.

Bo paused in the entrance to the cave, tilting his head and eying it warily. He reached out and experimentally pushed at the edges. He braced his feet on the opposite edge, just inside the rocky lip, and flexed hard as though trying to stretch it wider. His version of a stability test, she guessed.

Shaking her head, Morgan impatiently goosed his muscular bottom to move him aside and squeezed past him, into the hole.

###

A gentle caress at my outer rim coaxed me back into consciousness. Still in a dream, I growled impatiently. My lover was teasing, and I yearned to pull him to me and take him within.

I awoke fully when something much bigger than most ocean creatures entered me. Memories of Typhon surging within me vanished abruptly.

Years had passed since I last felt anything so large moving within me. My fur has grown long, hiding me from all but the most ardent and curious. I’d been sure that Typhon’s rough embrace had woken me until the second one entered me. Ripples sparked long-forgotten sensations through my entire length. Arousal shimmered on my skin, teasing them, urging them to go deeper.


From “The Rock Cave” by Angela R. Sargenti:

I dive deeper than normal because the reef is so pretty. Fish of all colors swim around me—blue, green, and yellow. Beneath the coral, I spy an opening in the rock. My curiosity gets the better of me. As I get closer, I see that it’s big enough to swim through, so I do.

When I come up for air inside the cave, I see two men there, both gorgeous. One of them has long brown hair, and he’s bigger than the other, who’s a blond. They both have fantastic abs, and they glance at each other, smiling.

“Oh,” I say. “I’m sorry. I hope I’m not intruding.”

“Not at all,” says the bigger of the two. “Please come in. We’re just up for air.”

I look at them closely. They don’t seem like threats. In fact, they don’t seem interested in me at all.

“I’ve never been down this far before,” I say, and the slighter man glances at his companion again.

Colluding.

I don’t know why that word pops into my head because it’s not a word I’ve ever used before.

All I know is: it fits.

“Maybe I should go,” I tell them, but their attention immediately focuses on me.

“Don’t go,” says the bigger man.

“Don’t go,” says his companion.

They lean back on the rock ledge and relax, but the water beneath them churns like they’re in some big private hot tub.

“Come closer,” says the man with the brown hair.

“Come closer.”

If they wanted to hurt me, they’d have done so by now, but I’m compelled to obey their summons. I swim up to them, and they lean forward eagerly.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” says the smaller man, suddenly taking the initiative and taking me into his arms.

His chest is warm.

Comforting.

“We’ve been waiting for you,” says the big man. “We knew you were coming.”


From “Eden” by Zander Vyne:

Many would be tested. Most wouldn’t make it. The unchosen were Doomed unless they ran.

My friend, Trek, decided to run and join the group living on the fringe; he’d received a rejection letter and had nothing to lose. “Some Chosen run too, Eve. It’s that good over there, and it’s our only chance to be together.”

I let Trek hold me and kiss me. He was bold, this last time we were together, daring to touch my breasts. He wanted more, and for the first time, he asked for it.

The sin of it—his voice whispering illicit expressions in my ear—excited me. I imagined him naked over me. Passionate. Thrilling. Fucking. Forbidden.

“No.” I pushed him away. I wanted him, but I wanted the privileged life on Eden more. Utopia was for the Chosen only. I would do nothing to ruin my chance at a future there.

I’d been raised on the history of Eden like all children—long, long ago, the Great War had driven Earth’s people underground. With only artificial light, and the barest of resources, they tried everything to reduce their numbers, hoping to last long enough to repopulate the surface. They failed. Only stranded astronauts on space-station Biospheres survived.

My Chosen dad often pointed out Earth in the night sky. “It looks like any other star, but it’s a reminder. Don’t forget that, baby girl.”

Our ancestors found themselves with no home.

The new Biosphere world faced many problems. People wanted solutions ensuring survival. Out of the chaos came The Foundation.

Those pioneers led the expedition that discovered the habitable, but tiny, Eden. To make sure this new home didn’t become like the old one, the Foundation mandated a genetically-engineered society. No trouble-making genes allowed. The people on Eden were all products of the Pleasure Sphere. No one could remember another way of life, another way of reproducing.

For the Chosen, Eden was perfect.

From “Crushed” by Cape C. Capehart:

Murina feared venturing outside of her room. Piaractus distracted her everywhere from everything, and she something would eventually give away her thoughts. Her sisters and classmates would see the inky shadows lurking within her twisted mind, and her foster father would find that his conditioning failed. She visualized the looks of disgust from her sisters, the disappointment of Acei, and the accusations of Arowen and Rachovii. They would call her a traitor and lock her away or maybe put her down like the beast she was.

Murina could not help herself. She wanted to be found by him, somewhere no one could intervene. She wanted to be held down in the sticky muck of the riverbed and gripped with fingers of iron; not like the thin, squirming digits that Fasciatus tried to worm across her breast.

She wanted to be squeezed; to have the life choked from her chest. Nothing else in her foreign world would do.

Murina’s desire eventually found a way. Her sisters could only be away from the parties for so long, curfew-be-damned, and she wormed her way into their group. Lying came easier to her than she would have imagined, and when she started to tear up at their initial rejection, Acei quickly put forth the invitation. The anxiety threatened to leak from her pores and poison the waters as she allowed her sisters to paint her into an acceptable image. She could wear the mermaid costume for another night if it meant getting out of that house and the guilt that Tetra’s large, accepting eyes inflicted upon her.

Murina planned to break away from her group unnoticed during the party to search the river for him, but they never made it there.

The river flowed vacant and lifeless. No minnows darting around the surface, no curious perch, not even scuttle bugs along the floor. Murina’s blood chilled and slowed in her veins. Regret pierced her, sending lightning from her chest through her tail as the shadow spilled across them. She had made a terrible mistake letting any of her sisters leave the security of their home.

Piaractus was a vicious-looking merman, with abnormally large, amber eyes, scarred arms corded with muscle, and a wicked grin full of sharp teeth.

And he had Arowen.

From “Ferryman” by Val Prozorova:

I was nineteen the first time I died.

It happened entirely by accident; I had never kayaked in the sea before, too used to the smooth and still waters of the New Zealand lakes, and the waves overbalanced me. Upside down in the two thoughts circled first, the rope meant to hold me certainly did its job, as I could not get the knot undone, and second, I hoped I had on clean underwear. The paramedics have worse to deal with, but it would certainly be embarrassing.

If anyone found me, anyway. The rope still caught in what I quickly understood not to be a wet knot had my lungs burning from my held breath. I made several proclamations in my youth that I wanted to become one with nature. Perhaps, I should have made it clear that I did not mean it quite so literally.

A water baby, swimming from a young age, playing with water, and attempting—pitifully—to draw it, people often joked that I was half fish. They couldn’t be more wrong. No gills on me, just flared nostrils and pursed lips and fumbling fingers against a knot that wouldn’t give.

Crazy thoughts flew through my mind by this point:

How far does the water beneath me go?

Should I look?

Can I turn the boat over by sheer tenacity and hope for the best?

Shouldn’t my life be flashing before my eyes?

Did I miss that matinee performance?

Like graduation, did I forget to sign up to be part of my own ceremony?

A movement pulled my gaze, desperate enough that I would reach out to a shark for help; perhaps, mercifully, one’s life didn’t flash before their eyes, but their desires did. Because the man swimming towards me, now, certainly personified many of my desires. Dark skin, dark eyes, and hair that swelled with the waves themselves, so long that it swept almost like a tail behind him. His effortless motion through the water, entirely graceful, opened my mouth to gasp. Oh the flaw in that plan.

From “Diluvium” by Anthony S. Buoni:

Peter and Louis looked over the edge of their respective sides of the airboat. Through murky water, the rooftop of a sunken house was visible.

Louis whistled.

"This house was much taller but collapsed when the water rotted the foundation," Ray said. "Let this be another lesson. If you feel or hear the building we're raiding start to creak and groan under your feet, get out. You don't want that toilet water on your skin."

"How deep is it?"

"Here it’s about…seventeen—maybe twenty feet. As we get closer to Canal Street, that number decreases. New Orleans is…was shaped like a cereal bowel. The Vieux Carré was built on the high ground before the levee system, better protecting the French Quarter from floodwaters. Problem is the city is constantly sinking, even still. Every year more and more of it gets swallowed up. Nothing can save it from the hungry swamp. Then storms kept coming, the lake and Mississippi River kept spilling over, and the ground kept sinking. They say in less than twenty years, even the Quarter will be totally submerged."

Louis could not take his eyes off the submerged building, imagining bodies floating silent and graceful underneath the boat, like the betta fish Jenny kept on their kitchen counter. "Why did they ever build here?"

"Greed," Ray said. "It was an inevitable city in an improbable location built on unstable ground as a port linking the center of America to the Gulf of Mexico. This waterlogged wasteland was once considered the jewel of the South."

"How could something so important just fall?"
meet the editors
Alisha Costanzo is from a Syracuse suburb. She earned her MFA in creative writing from the University of Central Oklahoma, where she currently teaches English. She’s the author of BLOOD PHOENIX: REBIRTH, BLOOD PHOENIX: CLAIMED, and LOVING RED, and is co-editor of DISTORTED and UNDERWATER. IMPRINTED, her new novel, is undergoing serious edits for its 2016 release. In the meantime, she will continue to corrupt young minds, rant about the government, and daydream about her all around nasty creatures.

Anthony S. Buoni prowls the gas lamp lit streets of New Orleans, playing moonlight hide and seek with Ouija boards in the Crescent City’s foggy, above ground cemeteries. Anthony is the author of Conversation Party and Synchrony, co-editor to Distorted volume 1, and editor to both Between There anthologies. His stories and articles have been featured in Meow, Small Happy, North Florida Noir, and Waterfront Living. When not haunting swamps and boneyards, Anthony keeps it scary, writing dark fiction, editing, and watching horror movies, using his afterlife to DJ, write music, and conjure other worldly creatures with tarot cards, elixirs, and dreams.
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