13 SCARY STORIES. 13 AUTHORS OF COLOR. 13 TIMES WE SURVIVED THE FIRST KILL. The White Guy Dies Firs t is a powerful and entertaining collection for YA readers featuring thirteen scary stories in which the white guy dies first. Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling and critically acclaimed Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker.

Fourth Wing meets The Hunger Games in this spicy, page-turning romantasy where humans and direwolves forge unbreakable bonds and fight for survival at all costs.  Only the worthy survive the Bonding Trials.  She’ll risk her life—and her heart—to be one of them.   Meryn Cooper has always hated the Bonded, elite warriors who form mental links with the massive, vicious direwolves they ride. While they live in luxury, Meryn struggles to keep her family out of poverty. When her little sister, Saela, is kidnapped—stolen across the border by the immortal monsters her country has spent centuries fighting—Meryn’s world falls apart.   Desperate to cross the front and save her sister, Meryn enlists in the army and is thrown into the deadly Bonding Trials, where any mistake will cost her life.     Now Meryn must survive four months of training at the castle. She is bound to a feral direwolf who refuses to communicate. The other trainees would love to spill her common blood. And her cold and beautiful instructor, Stark Therion, is eager to punish any weakness.   Everything is a competition, and everyone is out to get her—everyone except the dangerously handsome crown prince, whose attention adds another target to her back. In the castle, every smile hides a knife…and the halls hide dark secrets.   It’s bond or bleed. Duel or die. Failure is ruin.  Dire Bound contains mature content including depictions of graphic violence, and is therefore recommended for readers 17+. For a full list of tropes and TWs, please visit the author's website.   Readers are already falling in love with  “ONE OF THE BEST READS OF THE YEAR! This book was insanely good.” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐   “Stop it right now... I’m actually quite feral for the next book…” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐    “The plot was THICK, the tension and banter? Flawless. And the world with the wolf bond, and trials??? NEED MORE NOW.” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐“I just finished and still trying to mentally and emotionally recover to what just happened to me. You need to read it IMMEDIATELY.” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “If you’re into dark romantasy with high stakes, fierce characters, and just the right amount of emotional wreckage, Direbound is your next obsession.” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “What an incredible read!! … I am blown away. … The romance, the anguish, the BANTER! I love a book with good banter and this was FULL OF IT!” Goodreads reviewer ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ “I. Am. OBSESSED. … Left me spiraling in the best way possible. The morally grey anti-hero? Perfection. The slow-burn tension? Electric.

13 SCARY STORIES. 13 AUTHORS OF COLOR. 13 TIMES WE SURVIVED THE FIRST KILL. The White Guy Dies Firs t is a powerful and entertaining collection for YA readers featuring thirteen scary stories in which the white guy dies first. Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, including stories from bestselling and critically acclaimed Adiba Jaigirdar, Alexis Henderson, Chloe Gong, Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé, H. E. Edgmon, Kalynn Bayron, Karen Strong, Kendare Blake, Lamar Giles, Mark Oshiro, Naseem Jamnia, Tiffany D. Jackson, and Terry J. Benton-Walker.

**_All 31 award-winning, headline-grabbing, head-spinning, genre-defying issues of SEX CRIMINALS collected in one soft unthreatening volume celebrating its tenth-ish anniversary. Bonnie & Clyde meets The 40-Year-Old Virgin by way of When Harry Met Sally_**—only none of these orgasms are fake! When Suzie and Jon have sex, time stops. Literally. So they have lots of sex, fall in love, and eventually start robbing banks. Until they find out they're not alone… Collects Sex Criminals issues # 1- #30 & the one-shot special issue #69. Select praise & accolades for the Sex Criminals Eisner Award winning Best New Series Harvey Award winning Best New Series #1 New York Times Bestseller #1 Amazon Literary Graphic Novels _Entertainment Weekly's Must List_ _Publishers Weekly Bestseller_ "Fraction's best work yet. It's a precision-tuned screwball comedy on its surface, and that surface is gorgeous, thanks to Zdarsky's ace sense of design and inventive color technique." —TIME "An honest, heartfelt story about relationships that was more John Hughes than John Holmes." —USA Today "Sex comedies usually focus on the pursuit of orgasm; the writer Matt Fraction and the artist Chip Zdarsky have devised an ingenious one about the stillness that follows it. Zdarsky's fluid, brightly hued artwork is dense with smutty gags, but this is a deeper, more understated comedy than it initially seems." —The New York Times "Wildly imaginative, randy and true with characters whose sexual satisfaction freezes time and facilitates crime. Artist Zdarsky's staging, storytelling and character designs make this even crazier. Great fun!" —The Miami Herald "A sex comedy with a splash of crime thriller, the title is a fascinating examination of the pleasures and pitfalls of intimate relationships, using the central fantastic conceit as a metaphor for the way sex distances people but also, under the right circumstances, brings them together." —The A.V. Club "I wouldn't trust most comic creators to turn a sexual awakening into compelling pulp fiction, but Fraction and Zdarsky pull it off masterfully." —PASTE "Sex Criminals is just amazing. If this isn't on your pull list you have to get it." —io9 "Sex Criminals is not just one of the best comics I've ever read, it's one of the best things I've ever read, period." —Wil Wheaton, actor "The best debut of 2013" —RollingStone

An alliance between enemies. A weapon of untold power. And a bond that could rewrite fate. Blessed with the power of illusion, Ivy Pomeroy has many tricks up her sleeve. However, none of them are a match for the enchanted collar at her throat that keeps her bound to a ruthless king. Forced to play the role of his obedient pet, she plots in secret to destroy him and claim the freedom she has always been denied. When a mysterious reaper arrives in the city with his sights set on the same weapon Ivy needs, she must decide how far she’s willing to go for her freedom. With a tenuous alliance tying them together, Ivy learns there is more to her reluctant companion than meets the eye. He sparks her curiosity and ignites dangerous desires within her. But will their newfound connection lead them to triumph? Or will the secrets they harbor destroy each other? Above all, Ivy must remember she is not the pet they tamed. She is the beast they let inside. And she will show no mercy. FOR FANS OF JENNIFER L ARMENTROUT, REBECCA YARROS, AND SARAH J MAAS COMES A FAST-PACED FANTASY ROMANCE FULL OF TWISTS, BANTER, AND BETRAYAL.

An alliance between enemies. A weapon of untold power. And a bond that could rewrite fate. Blessed with the power of illusion, Ivy Pomeroy has many tricks up her sleeve. However, none of them are a match for the enchanted collar at her throat that keeps her bound to a ruthless king. Forced to play the role of his obedient pet, she plots in secret to destroy him and claim the freedom she has always been denied. When a mysterious reaper arrives in the city with his sights set on the same weapon Ivy needs, she must decide how far she’s willing to go for her freedom. With a tenuous alliance tying them together, Ivy learns there is more to her reluctant companion than meets the eye. He sparks her curiosity and ignites dangerous desires within her. But will their newfound connection lead them to triumph? Or will the secrets they harbor destroy each other? Above all, Ivy must remember she is not the pet they tamed. She is the beast they let inside. And she will show no mercy. FOR FANS OF JENNIFER L ARMENTROUT, REBECCA YARROS, AND SARAH J MAAS COMES A FAST-PACED FANTASY ROMANCE FULL OF TWISTS, BANTER, AND BETRAYAL.

Spicy enemies to lovers fantasy romance with an HEA. NEVER CATCH THE COURT JESTER’S ATTENTION. AND NEVER BE ALONE WITH HIM. Those were the rules. And I’d broken them. The jester had been a dark temptation. Forbidden. Magnetic. Seductive. His wicked tongue was impossible to resist. Captive to my enemy’s heated embrace, I became his obsession. And this devious, sensuous trickster became my destiny. Now our fates are linked. In a kingdom where passion and power clash, I’m the ruined princess he’d walk through fire to protect. But deadly threats are closing in. A dangerous game has begun against the Crown. And if I don't make a cruel deal, my heart will be forced to choose. My claim to the throne. Or my desire for the jester. WARNING: This is the second book in a scorching hot romantasy series with explicit sexual content and language. For readers 18+ who want heavy steam, epic forbidden love, a morally grey book boyfriend, and 'touch her and he'll unalive you' vibes. FOR CWs: Please check the author's website.

Revenge demands the ultimate sacrifice. When twins Thais and Thatcher are thrust into the deadly Trials of Ascension, they'll navigate brutal competitions and forbidden desires, discovering some secrets are worth dying for—and others are worth killing for. In a world where divine power bleeds into the mortal realm, Thais Morvaren has mastered the art of deception. To her seaside village, she's just a fisherman's daughter, serving oysters to summer tourists. In secret, she hides her ability to forge starlight—a power that would force her into the deadly Trials of Ascension. But when a priest's ritual exposes her powers, Thais is seized and conscripted into the trials against her will. Now trapped in a competition she never wanted to enter, she transforms her fear into purpose: to kill the King of the Gods. To take down one of the Aesymar, she must become one, even if it costs her everything. What she doesn't expect is her twin brother's powers suddenly manifesting, forcing him into the trials alongside her—leaving Thais to protect more than just herself. Worse still, the selection ceremony binds her to a mentor: Xül. A necromancer prince with blood-soaked hands, a sharp tongue, and dark secrets of his own. From the moment they meet, sparks fly. He's insufferably arrogant, she's stubborn to the bone, and neither has any intention of yielding to the other... or to the heat between them. Each trial survived brings her closer to godhood, but beneath the spectacle of competition, something ancient and malevolent stalks the shadows of the divine realm—a darkness that threatens to unravel the heavens themselves. The cost of godhood is rising. Because some stars aren't meant to be weapons. Some stars are meant to fall.