The beautiful and the bizarre Something watches from the corner of the room, peeking through a crack, existing within an impossible space—what does it want? The ghost of a lover returns at the end of a lifetime, carrying a dark secret—what will she say? A woman struggling with identity finds herself in the arms of a dangerous woman with a mysterious curse—what will she find? The beautiful and the bizarre exist side by side in this collection of fantastic and strange tales by prolific short story author, Marlena Frank. From dark fantasy stories of sharp-toothed mermaids and bewitched sorceresses to horror stories with ferocious bird beasts and golden-eyed monsters that live in the peripheral of human existence, these stories bring to life the creatures that haunt the nightmare world. From heart-rending to heart-pounding, these tales will linger long after reading them.

"A pair of yellow eyes caught the moonlight and locked onto hers." Mercy has always dreamed of becoming a werewolf trapper like her father. In Kanta, one must learn how to survive one way or another. A dark-skinned, blue-eyed young beauty, Mercy understands that she brings out the beast in monsters and men. When a routine werewolf delivery turns into a vicious assault from a pair of human traffickers, Mercy's life changes forever. Somehow she must endure in a dangerous city where women and werewolves are hunted.

Saira has been trained from birth for this: to battle one of the Great Ones and retrieve that precious prize. But Rajani is old and clever, and like the Great Rocs before her, she is wise to the ways of thieves.A fantasy short story.Saira has been trained from birth for this: to battle one of the Great Ones and retrieve that precious prize. But Rajani is old and clever, and like the Great Rocs before her, she is wise to the ways of thieves. A fantasy short story."Clawbinder" was first published on Short-Story.Me! and is now available for the first time as an individual eBook. It also includes a short preview of the upcoming novelette "Night Feeders", a supernatural western.