Gini Koch

PORTALS: What mysteries...or horrors...await you on the other side? The lure of an open doorway is hard to resist. What lies beyond? Where will it take you-and how will you be transformed? Will it lead to paradise...or a living hell? You'll never know, unless you have the courage to take that first step. In this anthology you will find sixteen stories of portals to exotic destinations, whether it's a doorway in the desert that appears out of thin air, a fairy ring of mushrooms in the backyard, a crack in the road, or a train headed straight to Hell. Science fiction and fantasy authors Nancy Holzner, Esther Friesner, Ian Tregillis, Jacey Bedford, John Linwood Grant, Kate Hall, Gini Koch, Violette Malan, Juliet Kemp, James Enge, Steven Harper, F. Brett Cox, Jaime Lee Moyer, Jason Palmatier, Andrija Popovic, and Patrick Hurley invite you to step through a host of doorways to other realities with infinite possibilities, some horrible, some comic, and some just plain weird. So take my hand-not too tight -and let's journey into another world. The door is open. The portal awaits.

What does it mean to be "temporally deactivated?" Experience a historical moment through the intervention of a time travel agency. Be trapped inside a time bubble-willingly-so that you can save the universe from Darkness over and over again. Step outside of time at the order of your queen in order to stop a traitor...or to keep an assassin from destroying the future. Or travel forward into the future in order to kill off timelines to save your son...or backwards to halt an accident to save your relationship. Join fantasy and science fiction authors Ken Altabef, Alex Gideon, Stephen Leigh, D. B. Jackson, Faith Hunter, C. S. Friedman, Emily Randall, Gini Koch, Misty Massey, Rhondi Salsitz, Edmund R. Schubert, R. K. Nickel, Marie DesJardin, and Christine Lucas as they defy time and warp space in order to define what it means to be "temporally deactivated." So get ready and hold on tight. It's time to step outside of time.

Katherine "Kitty" Katt faces off against aliens, conspiracies, and deadly secrets in the seventeenth novel in the Alien series, where sci-fi action meets steamy paranormal romance. When a call for help from an unknown entity comes to Kitty, she figures it's just business as usual for her life. Only the call isn't from someone in her own universe but from one of the many others, where her life is even more different than the one she discovered in Bizarro World. And, this time, it's not just Kitty who changes universes. The fate of the multiverse is now resting on Kitty and company's shoulders, but they may not be able to save it alone--and the help Kitty's come to rely on may not be able to intervene, assist, or even show up to watch. Or, as the multiverse calls it: Game On.

For thousands of years the immortal Gilgamesh has presided over the legendary Ur-Bar, witnessing history unfold from within its walls. Some days it is a rural tavern, others a fashionable wine shop. It may appear as a hidden speakeasy or take on the form of your neighborhood local. For most patrons it is simply a place to quench their thirst, but for a rare few the Ur-Bar is where they will meet their destiny. Join R. K. Nickel, Rachel Atwood, Kari Sperring, Jean Marie Ward, Gini Koch, Jacey Bedford, William Leisner, Garth Nix, Diana Pharaoh Francis, David Keener, Mike Marcus, Kristine Smith, Aaron M. Roth, and Juliet E. McKenna as they recount all new tales from the Ur-Bar. From humor to horror, from the Roman Empire to Martian Colonies, there's something to please everyone. Just remember to beware when the mysterious bartender offers you the house special ...