Showing results by author "CaT" in All Categories

Behind the Mask is a multi-author collection with stories by award-winning authors Kelly Link, Cat Rambo, Carrie Vaughn, Seanan McGuire, Lavie Tidhar, Sarah Pinsker, Keith Rosson, Kate Marshall, Chris Large, and others. It is partially a prose nod to the comic world - the bombast, the larger-than-life, the save-the-worlds and the calls-to-adventure. But it’s also a spotlight on the more intimate side of the genre. The hopes and dreams of our cape-clad heroes. The regrets and longings of our cowled villains. That poignant, solitary view of the world that can be experienced only from behind the mask.

Edie Dutton left Kansas with nothing but a few pieces of clothing, a handful of stolen bills, and a forged letter of reference. Since then, she's found a home as a Gilbert Girl at the Crest Stone Hotel. Even despite her transgression at the hotel last fall, she has a second chance to live the life she wants. But Edie Dutton is not her real name, and arriving along with all the newcomers to town comes word that her past may be on its way to put her future in jeopardy.

Celia Thornton would give anything to start over after the blizzard ends her loveless marriage. Jack Wendler needs to leave New York immediately after one too many business deals left his investors penniless. Figuring marriage in remote western Nebraska must be better than the reckoning he's facing in New York, Jack pens a response to a marriage advertisement. When he arrives with a bag of letters—including his own—answering the widows of Last Chance's advertisement for husbands, he's quickly taken with Celia's shy beauty and agrees to marry her on the spot.

Dora Reynolds is just another Gilbert Girl at the Crest Stone Hotel, and she needs it to remain that way. If anyone found out who she truly is, she'd lose her friends and her position. But when money begins to disappear from the hotel's safe and a handsome new desk clerk arrives, she finds her security-and her heart-under threat.

The Reinvented Detective presents stories that complicate law and order as well as the concept of criminals, detectives, punishment, and justice for all by showing how shifting technology, the rise of sentient AIs, and shifting social attitudes may affect what is not only acceptable, but expected, within both real world and digital communities—and everything in-between. These stories reinvent detective and true crime tropes, recasting them for the 21st century, and above all, experimenting, astonishing, and entertaining.

In the early 18th century, 80 years prior to revolution, France went wild for stocks and bonds. Mechanics dropped their tools and tradesmen closed their shops. There was but one profession, one employment, one occupation for persons of all ranks, from peasant to prince. And that profession was speculating in stocks. This is the story of John Law, the adventurous Scotsman played chance against an entire nation.

The only easy day was yesterday and no one knows that better than Lieutenant Commander Silas Branson. He may have taken several kicks to the gut but once a SEAL always a SEAL. He's never backed down from a hard fight and he doesn't intend to start now. Silas lost the love of his life when the death of their son left him and his marriage broken, but now he's back to fight for what's his. Maggie was his woman. As far as he is concerned, she still is. When her life is threatened he'll move heaven and hell to protect their future together.

I'm a billionaire, not a security expert, but even I know my all-American girlfriend taking me down in one smooth move and speaking fluent Russian is suspicious. The worst part? I don't seem to care when I've got her alone, up against the wall with my hand fisted in her hair. Then there's the little matter of the two gun-toting Russians after us. I guess this is what I should expect for owing my Navy SEAL buddy Zane a favor.

She was the girl next door. Too young. Too tempting. Too off limits. Ten years later, she’s all grown up and all woman. He steered clear of her then. But now? Now is a different story entirely.... Ten years ago, the hot but cocky Navy SEAL went from ignoring her, to kissing her, to rejecting her. Now the last thing she wants is his help, even if he is willing and uniquely qualified to give it. And she really doesn’t want to want him.... An all-new SEALs in Paradise steamy standalone enemies-to-lovers romantic comedy.

Sorting through the piles left behind by a grandmother who was both a stage magician and a hoarder, Persephone Aim finds a magical artifact from World War II that has shaped her family history. Faced with her mother’s desperate attempt to take the artifact for herself, Persephone must decide whether to hold onto the past or use it to reshape her future.

As a combat hardened Navy SEAL, Thom Grande has fought terrorism around the globe, but he can't fight is his ex-wife. Or her lawyer. Or the alimony payments. Just when he thinks his life can't get any worse, bad luck smacks him up side the head - literally. Now he's got a traumatic brain injury and can't remember his own name. The good news? He can't remember his ex-wife or the woes she's causing him either.

The most prolific fiction podcaster of all time disappeared without a trace in December, 2020. Investigative journalist B.K. Will looks into the mystery of Cam Candor in a gripping documentary.

Willow’s home is in an abandoned mailbox, and she'd rather stay put. Outside, kids scream and soccer balls collide, trees look like monsters, and rain is noisy in a scary kind of way. It's much nicer to stay inside, drawing. But then, a young boy drops a letter in Willow's mailbox: it's a note to the moon asking for a special favor. Willow knows that if she doesn't brave the world outside, the letter will never be delivered and the boy will be heartbroken. Should she try? Can she?

Dr Cat Jarman is a bioarchaeologist, specialising in forensic techniques to research the paths of Vikings who came to rest in British soil. By examining teeth that are now more than 1,000 years old, she can determine childhood diet and thereby where a person was likely born. With radiocarbon dating, she can ascertain a death date down to the range of a few years. And her research offers new visions of the likely roles of women and children in Viking culture.

He's a Navy SEAL. She's his sister's annoying best friend...and now she's missing. In Tijuana. And he has to find her. During his leave. When he does, things get wild - and not just from the chemistry they’ve been trying to ignore for more than a decade. What happens in Tijuana...might just kill you.

Sexy, independent corporate executive Casey Harrington's life and career were shaped by a childhood Christmas wish left unfulfilled. Now, 20 years later, on a Colorado cattle ranch, she finally gets everything she's always wanted - both a hot cowboy and a dream job. But Bonner "Blue" Boyd is a rancher and Casey is a New Yorker, and even if the sex between them is hot enough to start a prairie fire, they both know that city and country might mix for a week, but it can't work for a lifetime. Or can it?

Zane Alexander was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but the rebellious bad boy traded it in for a Navy SEAL trident. Now, Zane's teammates are depending on him to get the startup capital they need to open their security company and he's gambling on his skills at covert operations. For a million dollars, he'll fake interest in Missy Greenwood, the Senator's daughter his father wants him to date in exchange for the investment.

Two sisters. One destined for the crown, one doomed to silence. Princess Astrid and Princess Vega are identical in every way - except one was born near perfect, the other “deficient”. Born mute. By age six, their fates are sealed. Vega will be the next queen. Astrid, the silent princess, will spend the rest of her days rotting away in a facility. It is a time when the planet has been ravaged by global warming. Famine and disease demand drastic measures to preserve resources that are already stretched paper thin.

Starla Logan's brother disappeared three years ago. With no family left, she receives a surprise letter from him. Zachary is in trouble in Denver and needs help. She leaves immediately and arrives at the Broad Street Boarding House just before Christmas. She'll find Zachary, no matter how long it takes. But when the handsome man staying at the boarding house next door offers to help, she gladly takes him up on his offer.

Olivia Mead is a headstrong, independent girl - a suffragist - in an age that prefers its girls to be docile. It’s 1900 in Oregon, and Olivia’s father, concerned that she’s headed for trouble, convinces a stage mesmerist to try to hypnotize the rebellion out of her. But the hypnotist, an intriguing young man named Henri Reverie, gives her a terrible gift instead: She’s able to see people’s true natures, manifesting as visions of darkness and goodness, while also unable to speak her true thoughts out loud.