Jilly Paddock

From Presumed Dead to Intelligence Agent... From Espionage to Celebrity... From Hunter...to Hunted... StarChild is a quirky, subversive band famed for the slick visual effects in their shows. Citizens from a dozen worlds follow the band almost religiously, a cult of fans. When they're invited to play on Ile Garoque, a world that severed all contact with Terra two decades ago, Earth Intelligence moves to plant a spy in their entourage. Enter Anna-Marie Delany and her computer partner, Zenni, a pair known for the skills and prone to danger. It seems simple enough until the lead singer refuses to set foot on the planet, so Anna must use her acting skills and EI's technology to impersonate Taheera. What she does not expect is falling for Jeb Lucas, StarChild's drummer and tech-wizard, nor for stumbling into a hostile first contact situation with a group of predatory aliens. All of this while her father is ill, longing for Anna to inherit his company and fortune, even though she is missing and assumed dead. The world could be Anna's, yet she and Zenni must survive attacks from enemies within EI, capture by the venomous Xha and a pair of dragon-storms, weird elemental disruptions in non-space that can destroy unwary spacecraft. From Author Jilly Paddock, the third volume in Her Zenith Alpha 4013 series takes science fiction and espionage to galactic new heights. Starchild. From Pro Se Productions.

Winner of best Short Story in the 2016 Pulp Ark New Pulp Awards for J. Patrick Allen's "Dragonfly Shadow"You can tell a lot about a dragon by their hoard. Not the shiny one, the other one. The one where they keep their favorite things. Some dragons keep a private stash of dwarven-wrought artifices, and others tapestries that run from wall-to-wall and corner-to-corner. The Dragon Lord himself has a library. A library that devours halls and caves, filling them with every kind of book and codex and scroll. These are the stories that fill his favorite shelf. Of course they're his favorites-they're all about dragons. Pull these stories down. Breath in the vanilla scent that only comes from the oldest books. Savor the writing. Trace your fingers over the calligraphy. Welcome to the finest library ever known. Featuring stories by Jilly Paddock, Joanna Hoyt, Claire Davon, J. Patrick Allen, T. Fox Dunham, Dorian Graves, Denarose Fukushima, Kelly A. Harmon, E. A. Fow, Robert W. Caldwell, and Jim Lee.