The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance 2

The Mammoth Book of

Also available in the Mammoth series

The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2

The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 20

The Mammoth Book of Wolf Men

The Mammoth Book of Merlin

The Mammoth Book of Best New Manga 4

The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance

The Mammoth Book of Filthy Limericks

The Mammoth Book of Chess

The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance

The Mammoth Book of Best New Erotica 9

The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories

The Mammoth Book of Bizarre Crimes

The Mammoth Book of Special Ops Romance

The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime 7

The Mammoth Book of Sex, Drugs & Rock ‘n’ Roll

The Mammoth Book of Travel in Dangerous Places

The Mammoth Book of Apocalyptic SF

The Mammoth Book of Casino Games

The Mammoth Book of Sudoku

The Mammoth Book of Extreme Fantasy

The Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics

The Mammoth Book of Men O’War

The Mammoth Book of Mindblowing SF

The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures

The Mammoth Book of The Beatles

The Mammoth Book of the Best Short SF Novels

The Mammoth Book of New IQ Puzzles

The Mammoth Book of Alternate Histories

The Mammoth Book of Regency Romance

The Mammoth Book of the World’s Greatest Chess Games

The Mammoth Book of Tasteless Jokes

The Mammoth Book of New Erotic Photography

The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 23

The Mammoth Book of Regency Romance

The Mammoth Book of Threesomes and Moresomes

The Mammoth Book of Drug Barons

Constable & Robinson Ltd
3 The Lanchesters
162 Fulham Palace Road
London W6 9ER
www.constablerobinson.com

First published in the UK by Robinson,
an imprint of Constable & Robinson, 2010

Copyright © Trisha Telep, 2010 (unless otherwise indicated)

The right of Trisha Telep to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available from the British Library

UK ISBN 978-1-84901-370-3

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

First published in the United States in 2010 by Running Press Book Publishers All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher.

9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

US Library of Congress number: 2009943389
US ISBN 978-0-76243-996-6

Running Press Book Publishers
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Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

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Printed and bound in the EU

Acknowledgments

Introduction

T
O
H
ELL
W
ITH
L
OVE
Jackie Kessler

P
RINCES
OF
D
OMINION
Ava Gray

S
PIRIT
OF
THE
P
RAIRIE
Shirley Damsgaard

T
HE
D
EMON’S
S
ECRET
Nathalie Gray

M
ARINE
B
IOLOGY
Gail Carriger

Z
OLA’S
P
RIDE
Moira Rogers

I
N
D
REAMS
Elissa Wilds

T
HE
G
AUNTLET
Karen Chance

T
HE
G
ETAWAY
Sonya Bateman

M
R
S
ANDMAN
Sherri Browning Erwin

T
HE
S
IN
-E
ATER’S
P
ROMISE
Michele Hauf

F
RAGILE
M
AGIC
Sharon Ashwood

N
IGHT
D
RAKE
Lara Adrian

T
HE
S
ONS
OF
R
A
Helen Scott Taylor

E
VE
OF
W
ARFARE
S.J. Day

T
HE
M
AJESTIC
Seressia Glass

A
NSWER
THE
W
ICKED
Kim Lenox

Author Biographies

“To Hell With Love” © Jacqueline H. Kessler. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Princes of Dominion” © Ann Aguirre. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Spirit of the Prairie” © Shirley Damsgaard. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Demon’s Secret” © Nathalie Gray. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Marine Biology” © by Gail Carriger. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Zola’s Pride” © Moira Rogers. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“In Dreams” © by Elissa Wilds. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Gauntlet” © Karen Chance. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Getaway” © Sonya Bateman. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Mr Sandman” © Sherri Browning Erwin. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Sin-Eater’s Promise” © Michele Hauf. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Fragile Magic” © Naomi Lester. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“NightDrake” © Lara Adrian, LLC. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Sons of Ra” © Helen Scott Taylor. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Eve of Warfare” © Sylvia Day. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Majestic” © Seressia Glass. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Answer the Wicked” © Kim Lenox. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

Welcome to the most mammoth Mammoth ever!

Well, it
was
.

OK, OK, I got a little carried away. You see I am a huge fan of contracting great writers and letting them do whatever they want, write the story that their heart desires, that they haven’t had the chance to write yet, that’s always been in the back of their mind, looking for a home, a chance to be written. I feel that’s when you often get the greatest stories. I think that if you burden writers with too many rules and guidelines, you can end up with a story that is just a little . . . flat. OK, so those are my ideas. This freedom-loving, write-what-you-want, to-hell-with-rules attitude also extends to word count and sometimes (now, for instance) I forget to keep an eye on just how mammoth my Mammoth is getting. And, oh, they can really grow, and very quickly. And, suddenly, instead of having a brick-like doorstop of a book (like any other garden-variety Mammoth), you have a book that needs to be published in three (or four) separate volumes. And that’s what happened to me with this book.

It was 100,000 words over. Yes, you read that right. How did I allow that to happen? What kind of editor am I? Well, I think I just got a little excited and overwhelmed: so many wonderful writers, so many neat stories. You’d have trouble too (you really would). There were originally 25 stories in this collection, see, and to hit the word count I had to cut (wait, not
cut
, but
move
in a cunning fashion) eight fantastic stories by phenomenal writers. Here is a list of authors, along with their story titles, who were
originally
supposed to be in this book:

See my dilemma?

Now, obviously, these stories are not disappearing. I just had to do a little creative shuffling (talking to authors, begging for their consent, trying to find new books to put them in) and they will all be appearing in upcoming Mammoths (so watch for them!). The Shinn and Pagliassotti stories will be in the upcoming
The Mammoth Book of Ghost Romance
because they are fabulous and romantic ghost stories and are just the perfect fit. The Andrews story is set in a future world so it is just right for the new anthology of futuristic romance (can’t wait to do this one!) that I’m putting together soon. The Lima story is a wonderful paranormal romance set in a hospital emergency room – lots of those bleeping cardio-respiratory machines, creepy life support systems, kick-ass nurses from hell and gorgeous paranormal males in those hospital gowns that just don’t tie up properly at the back . . . Anyhow, all the stories have a home, you will be pleased to know. Whew!