White brings with it dreams of respect, of wealth, of simply being treated as a human being. It's the one thing Walter will never be. But what if he could play white, the way so many others seem to do? Would it bring him privilege or simply deny the pain? The title story in this collection asks those questions, and then moves on to challenge notions of race, privilege, personal choice, and even life and death with equal vigor.

From the spectrum spanning despair and hope in What She Saw When They Flew Away to the stark weave of personal struggles in Chocolate Park, Let's Play White speaks with the voices of the overlooked and unheard. I Make People Do Bad Things shines a metaphysical light on Harlem's most notorious historical madame, and then, with a deft twist into melancholic humor, Cue: Change brings a zombie-esque apocalypse, possibly for the betterment of all mankind.

Gritty and sublime, the stories of Let's Play White feature real people facing the worlds they're given, bringing out the best and the worst of what it means to be human. If you're ready to slip into someone else's skin for a while, then it's time to come play white.

Blurbs:
These raw, brutal stories, often with intriguingly open endings, display an odd and unsettling relationships to the poetry of violence. These dark tales announce the arrival of a formidable new master of the macabre.
-Samuel R. Delany, author of Dhalgren and Through the Valley of the Nest of Spiders

What a stunning collection. Let's Play White... and so on time. Chesya Burke has] touched something special in her] stories. I'm a big Octavia Butler fan and I see a peek of that as well as some latter-day Toni Morrison within these pages]. I see the light and warmth Chesya is] offering. There definitely is magic in that. The short story, next to poetry, is the most difficult writing form. Chesya has] tamed it and made it yield to her] touch.
-Nikki Giovanni, Grammy-nominated spoken word artist and poet

Cover Artist:
Jordan Casteel

About the Author:
Chesya Burke has published over forty short stories in various venues including Dark Dreams: Horror and Suspense by Black Writers, Voices From the Other Side, and Whispers in the Night, each published by Kensington Publishing Corp. as well as the historical, science, and speculative fiction magazine, Would That It Were, and many more. Several of her articles appeared in the African American National Biography, published by Harvard and Oxford University Press, and she won the 2004 Twilight Tales award for short fiction. Chesya attends Agnes Scott College, where she studies creative writing and the African diaspora as it relates to race, class and gender. Many of these themes find themselves appearing in her fiction.

When modern-day occultist Aaron Pace discovers the secrets of inter-dimensional travel via a mystical pathway called The Labyrinth, he wastes no time in exploring a multitude of strange new worlds and alternate realities. But then, Aaron finds himself trapped in the most bizarre dimension of all - a place where dinosaurs coexist with giant robots, where cowboys fight reptilian lizard people, and where even the grass can kill you. This is a world populated by the missing and the disappeared, a world where myth is reality and where the extinct is reborn. Now, side-by-side with his new companions Kasheena and Bloop, Aaron must learn to navigate its dangers and survive long enough to escape... THE LOST LEVEL. Apex is proud to present the first book in Grand Master Award winner Brian Keene's long-awaited new series, a loving ode to lost world classics like Burroughs's PELLUCIDAR, Howard's ALMURIC, and Lansdale's THE DRIVE-IN, but with a thoroughly modern twist that only Brian Keene could conceive.

The parenting manual you have been waiting for Why can't they be like me? asks the puzzled parent; the child thinks, Why can't my parents understand me? Love that is aided by understanding will transform your parenting and dramatically increase its joy. Understanding is underrated Parenting is the most complex task we humans engage in. It can challenge, thrill, encourage, frustrate, and confuse you - all in less than a day However, it can be made enjoyable and much simpler if only we will learn how our children feel on the inside when they act, or choose not to act. Understanding the different temperaments will help you meet your child's urgent and deep emotional needs. This book will: 1. Help you take a giant step in understanding your child. 2. Help you avoid conflicts with your child and give you understanding of the interaction between your temperament and your child's temperament. 3. Lower the stress and create the bonding a family dreams about. 4. Help you guide your child to achieve his or her potential. 5. Increase your child's self-esteem and return your confidence in parenting. And much more . . . Want immediate help and solutions? This book has a FAST TRACK The author has studied extensively in the field of temperament and is an expert on human nature. He gives you the benefit of his many years of counseling and coaching parents and children. In these pages you will find the principles of the best scientific research on temperament broken down into helpful analysis and practical tools. Every family should possess a copy and will be sure to use it over and over again.

Once upon a time there was a monster. This is how they tell you the story starts. This is a lie.

Sometimes things are not what they appear to be. DNA doesn't define us, gravity doesn't hold us, a home doesn't mean we belong. From circus tents to space stations, Damien Angelica Walters creates stories that are both achingly familiar and chillingly surreal. Within her second short story collection, she questions who the real monsters are, rips families apart and stitches them back together, and turns a cell phone into the sharpest of weapons.

Cry Your Way Home brings together seventeen stories that delve deep into human sorrow and loss, weaving pain, fear, and resilience into beautiful tales that are sure to haunt you long after you turn the last page.

Once upon a time there was a girl ...

Featuring the following works:
Tooth, Tongue, and Claw
Deep Within the Marrow, Hidden in My Smile
On the Other Side of the Door, Everything Changes
This is the Way I Die
The Hands That Hold, the Lies That Bind
Not My Circus, Not My Monkeys: The Elephant's Tale
The Judas Child
S Is for Soliloquy
The Floating Girls: A Documentary
Take a Walk in the Night, My Love
Falling Under, Through the Dark
The Serial Killer's Astronaut Daughter
Umbilicus
A Lie You Give, and Thus I Take
Little Girl Blue, Come Cry Your Way Home
Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
In the Spaces Where You Once Lived

Want to understand yourself and other people better? Want to be a highly effective leader? The intricacies of how we are designed are here along with the solutions to our frustrations with people. Moments of insight and epiphany will leap at you from these pages as you read. You will become equipped to help lead and teach people of all ages as never before. Don't live without this knowledge. Keep this indispensable reference book with you in all of your attempts to succeed. You will find: * Help for self-discovery and self-actualization * Understanding for all your relationships and team environments * The vital information you will need to lead with an intimate knowledge of people * Help with children for parents * Help for teachers, educators, and therapists * Help to motivate adults according to how they are made * Why and how stress affects different people and what to do to help them handle their stress * The Achilles heal that can derail and demotivate each type * Help in a very usable form - resulting from a greater understanding of people - for all those who help, lead, train or teach others. Tapping the vast research of temperament studies and the intricacies of how we are designed, bestselling author and international speaker, Ray W. Lincoln, explains in simple terms how to be better than you ever imagined you could be. Grab this long-awaited companion to his breakthrough book, INNERKINETICS. You'll be glad you did

Welcome to Glitter & Mayhem, the most glamorous party in the multiverse.

Step behind the velvet rope of these fabulous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror tales of roller rinks, nightclubs, glam aliens, party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, and debauchery.

Dance through nightclubs, roller derby with cryptids and aliens, be seduced by otherworldly creatures, and ingest cocktails that will alter your existence forever.

Your hosts are the Hugo Award-winning editors John Klima (Electric Velocipede) and Lynne M. Thomas (Apex Magazine), and the Hugo-nominated editor Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Magazine). Join glittery authors Christopher Barzak (One for Sorrow) and Daryl Gregory (Pandemonium) on the dance floor, drink cocktails with Maria Dahvana Headley (Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire) and Tim Pratt (Marla Mason series), and skate with Seanan McGuire (InCryptid series), Diana Rowland (Kara Gillian series), and Maurice Broaddus (The Knights of Breton Court series). The fantastic Amber Benson gets the party started with her floor-rattling introduction (Calliope Reaper-Jones series).

We're waiting.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction by Amber Benson
Sister Twelve: Confessions of a Party Monster by Christopher Barzak
Apex Jump by David J. Schwartz
With Her Hundred Miles to Hell by Kat Howard Star Dancer by Jennifer Pelland
Of Selkies, Disco Balls, and Anna Plane by Cat Rambo
Sooner Than Gold by Cory Skerry
Subterraneans by William Shunn & Laura Chavoen
The Minotaur Girls by Tansy Rayner Roberts
Unable to Reach You by Alan DeNiro
Such & Such Said to So & So by Maria Dahvana Headley
Revels in the Land of Ice by Tim Pratt
Bess, the Landlord's Daughter, Goes for Drinks with the Green Girl by Sofia Samatar
Blood and Sequins by Diana Rowland
Two-Minute Warning by Vylar Kaftan
Inside Hides the Monster by Damien Angelica Walters (formerly known as Damien Walters Grintalis)
Bad Dream Girl by Seanan McGuire
A Hollow Play by Amal El-Mohtar
Just Another Future Song by Daryl Gregory
The Electric Spanking of the War Babies by Maurice Broaddus & Kyle S. Johnson
All That Fairy Tale Crap by Rachel Swirsky

Are there such things as intelligent emotions? This book will argue that there are, and they are the ones we must focus on if we want to know success. Drawing from the critical literature on temperament psychology, Ray W. Lincoln will show how understanding the patterns of emotion in our temperament will enable us to manage our emotions effectively. Frustration, hurt, anger, loneliness, and jealousy are just some of the emotions we need to have in our control - not off the leash and attacking us. Too many people cry out, Show me how to control my feelings Combining temperament's urges and emotional drives, Lincoln does not depend on general methods but on how you are made and can learn to overcome emotion's tyranny. Discover your uniqueness. If you long to know how to understand your emotions and the immense power of your feelings, learn how here. Loaded with application and practical help At last, successful ways to master yourself, not just general tips Makes sense of who you are and how you operate Guidance to master your emotions From children to adults, the problem of emotional management is paramount to a satisfying life. It is not just a matter of self-awareness and self-discipline; it is understanding how we function. Your eyes will be opened to see yourself as never before, and the facts about how your emotions operate may surprise you.

The destructiveness of passion, both earthly and supernatural, makes cities bleed and souls burn across worlds, through endless time. Experience the spiritual side of the zombie apocalypse in The Days of Flaming Motorcycles and transcend both hell and nirvana in Zen and the Art of Gordon Dratch's Damnation. Look into The Mad Eyes of the Heron King to find the beautiful brutality written in the moment of epiphany or Go and Tell it On the Mountain, where Jesus Christ awaits your last plea to enter heaven-if there is a heaven to enter when all is said and done. Horror's top authors and promising newcomers whisper tales that creep through the mists at night to rattle your soul. Step beyond salvation and damnation with thirty stories and poems that reveal the darkness beneath belief. Place your faith in that darkness; it's always there, just beyond the light.

Want to know where exceptional wines of world-class quality are to be found in Colorado? Colorado's red gold is waiting to be mined with glass in hand and taste buds at the ready. Yes, Colorado wine has come of age. You will be introduced to prestigious best in the world wines, grapes of excellent quality, winemakers with impressive training and, most importantly, wines that can compete with any region in the $20 to $40 range - and win. They have It's time to experience world-class wines in world-class mountain splendor. As a bonus, learn to taste with your emotions and increase the pleasure of wine. This premier guide to Colorado wines will: - Introduce you to the red grapes and wines of Colorado - Educate you about Colorado wine, its wineries, and winemakers - Fascinate you with how wine is made in Colorado - Direct you to quality in your chosen style of wine - Let you see the wines through the winemaker's eyes - Stir pleasurable emotions and motivate you to rush to the store - Introduce you to some of the Colorado's leading chefs as they describe how to match food with Colorado wine - Provide recipes from great Colorado chefs that pair well with Colorado wines for your next special occasion In this Top of the World wine experience, knowledgable tasters offer you their perspectives on the wines they tasted, and the stories behind the wines will energize your conversations.

Visit the darker side of science fiction. From post-apocalyptic punk bands to the unearthing of ancient beings in a coal mine, from Moreau's beast men to a dreamy theatrical wonderland, explore the fiction that descends from the darkest pits of the human mind. These stories represent the first year of original online content from Apex Magazine. Enjoy work from acclaimed masters such as Theodora Goss, Ekaterina Sedia, Mary Robinette Kowal, Lavie Tidhar, Gord Sellar, Jennifer Pelland, George Mann, and many more!

Contains the following dark SF stories published in Apex Magazine from January 1, 2008 through June 30th, 2009:

Table of Contents
Post Apocalypse - James Walton Langolf
These Days - Katherine Sparrow
In the Seams - Andrew C. Porter
The Nature of Blood - George Mann
Scenting the Dark - Mary Robinette Kowal
The Limb Knitter - Steven Francis Murphy
I Know an Old Lady - Nathan Rosen
Blakenjel - Lavie Tidhar
Behold: Skowt! - Jason Heller
A Splash of Color - William T. Vandemark
A Night at the Empire - Joy Marchand
Organ Nell - Jennifer Pelland
Starter House - Jason Palmer
On the Shadow Side of the Beast - Ruth Nestvold
Cai and Her Ten Thousand Husbands - Gord Sellar
Dark Planet - Lavie Tidhar
The Puma - Theodora Goss
Mind of a Pig - Ekaterina Sedia
Waiting for Jakie - Barbara Krasnoff
Hindsight, In Neon - Jamie Todd Rubin
Clockwork, Patchwork and Ravens - Peter M. Ball
Hideki and the Gnomes - Mark Lee Pearson
Plebiscite AV3X - Jason Fischer
Shaded Streams Run Clearest - Geoffrey W. Cole

Part sword and sorcery, part extreme horror, King of the Bastards is wild adventure across seas, beaches, and mountains full of horrifying monstrosities, dark magic, and demonic entities.

Rogan has been many things in his life as an adventurer -- a barbarian, a thief, a buccaneer, a rogue, a lover, a reaver, and most recently, a king. Now, this prehistoric bane of wizards and tyrants finds himself without a kingdom, lost in a terrifying new world, and fighting for his life against pirates, zombies, and the demonic entity known as Meeble. And even if he defeats his foes, Rogan must still find a way to return home, regain his throne, save his loved ones, and remind everyone why he's the KING OF THE BASTARDS.

...if you're one of those people who are always looking for a good, bloody, sword & sorcery tale, then look no farther. KING OF THE BASTARDS has what you want in spades.
--Singular Points, Charles R. Rutledge

Here is the help you have been waiting for. Ray W. Lincoln has once again hit a home run in his teen parenting book, I'm Still a Keeper. Understand your teen as never before. Reduce those conflicts and fights to a minimum by parenting your teen with confidence, understanding, and love. Parenting is not the same when your child turns the corner into the teenage years. Discover what changes will occur and learn how to deal with the teen mind and brain. When those teen emotions flare, know your teen and give them the all-important knowledge of how to manage their emotions according to how they have been designed. Need to reduce the stress of teen parenting? Who doesn't? In these pages you will find the help you crave and the way to a happier home and the treasured peace of mind and heart you seek. Teens can benefit, too from understanding themselves and developing their emotional and social intelligence. Of greatest importance is this self-discovery and knowing how their happiness and the path to fulfillment in their lives can be found.

The city-state Sirapirat once knew only warmth and monsoon. When the Winter Queen conquered it, she remade the land in her image, turning Sirapirat into a country of snow and unending frost. But an empire is not her only goal. In secret, she seeks the fragments of a mirror whose power will grant her deepest desire.

At her right hand is General Lussadh, who bears a mirror shard in her heart, as loyal to winter as she is plagued by her past as a traitor to her country. Tasked with locating other glass-bearers, she finds one in Nuawa, an insurgent who s forged herself into a weapon that will strike down the queen.

To earn her place in the queen s army, Nuawa must enter a deadly tournament where the losers souls are given in service to winter. To free Sirapirat, she is prepared to make sacrifices: those she loves, herself, and the complicated bond slowly forming between her and Lussadh.

If the splinter of glass in Nuawa's heart doesn't destroy her first.

War has come in this sequel to the best-selling novel THE LOST LEVEL.

The snake-like Anunnaki have always been a blight for the people living in the hidden dimension known as the Lost Level, but now, the denizens are fighting back. After their community is decimated and their loved ones are enslaved in the aftermath of a devastating Anunnaki attack, Aaron Pace leads a diverse group of warriors -- including the bowwoman Tolia, the mighty Karenk, a baby Triceratops, and a time-displaced Ambrose Bierce -- on a trek through primordial jungles, dark forests, and a sun-blasted desert while battling pterodactyls, man-eating worms, and other dangers.

Can their small band lay siege to the Anunnaki city and rescue their friends, or will they suffer the same cruel fate so many others have before them? Find out in Brian Keene's RETURN TO THE LOST LEVEL.

Includes a bonus short story

Here is a carefully planned program for jointly lifting your belief in yourself and your faith in God. The results will be felt in your marriage, family life, job, relationships, and your spiritual life. Work through this book and both you and your family will never be the same again. This book will show you: 1) There is no conflict between being the best God created you to be and having a deep faith in God, 2) How and why we think of ourserlves the way we do, 3) We must establish a partnership with God to be our very best, 4) The way you can help your children and teenagers build their self-images, 5) Parental possibilities we may have forgotten, 6) Personal power that constantlly grows. Here's you workbook to develop your personal power - a path to develop your personal possibilities.

Resistance. Revolution. Standing up and demanding to have your space, your say, your right to be. From small acts of defiance to protests that shut down cities, Do Not Go Quietly is an anthology of science fiction and fantasy short stories about those who resist. Within this anthology, we will chronicle the fight for what is just and right, and what that means: from leading revolutions to the simple act of saying No.

Resistance can be a small act of everyday defiance. And other times, resistance means massive movements that topple governments and become iconic historical moments. Either way, there is power in these acts, and the contributors in Do Not Go Quietly will harness that power to shake our readers to the core. We are subordinates to a power base that is actively working to solidify its grip on the world. Now is the time to stand up and raise your voice and tell the world that enough is enough

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

FICTION

John Hornor Jacobs - Glossolalia

A. Merc Rustad - The Judith Plague

Maurice Broaddus/Nayad Monroe - What the Mountain Wants

Karin Lowachee - Sympathizer

Brooke Bolander - Kindle

Cassandra Khaw - What We Have Chosen to Love

Fran Wilde - The Society for the Reclamation of Words and Meaning

Rich Larson - Scurry

Sarah Pinsker - Everything Is Closed Today

Sheree Ren e Thomas - Thirteen Year Long Song

Dee Warrick - Nobody Lives in the Swamp

Russell Nichols - Rage Against the Vending Machine

Meg Elison - Hey Alexa

Marie Vibbert - South of the Waffle House

Veronica Brush - Face

Jo Miles - Choose Your Truth

Rachael K. Jones - Oil Under Her Tongue

Eugenia Triantafyllou - April Teeth

E. Catherine Tobler - Kill the Darlings (Silicone Sister Remix)

Shanna Germain - Salted Bone and Silent Sea

POETRY

Annie Neugebauer - To Write

Jeremy Paden - The Skeleton Archer Speaks

Mary Soon Lee - If the Fairy Godmother Comes

Lucy A. Snyder - Permian Basin Blues

Christina Sng - The Dolls

Joshua Gage - #greenlivesmatter

Alethea Kontis - Witch's Star

Bianca Spriggs - Plot Twist

Is there a God? Was the universe intelligently designed? Or has the universe developed by unintelligent, natural, random happenings that created life itself and a vast universe by evolving over billions of years? Is there any overwhelming evidence one way or the other? Does it matter? These are some of the big questions that underlie our understanding of the world and everything in it. They influence how we live and how our lives will be molded; and yes, they do matter - a lot. Our beliefs actually shape our lives. This book (one of several books by this author dealing with the questions that have exercised the best minds throughout the ages and plagued all sincere seekers after truth) deals with questions that must be answered. Its message is for anyone, but its inspiration came from the many seekers.We will also find out in this series that everyone has a faith of some sort that shapes their lives. It matters a lot what we believe, but our beliefs also need to be grounded in real solid evidence. And we are about to find out where that evidence is to be found.

Upside Down: Inverted Tropes in Storytelling is an anthology of short stories, poetry, and essays edited by Monica Valentinelli and Jaym Gates. Over two dozen authors, ranging from NYT-bestsellers and award winners to debut writers, chose a tired trope or cliche to challenge and surprise readers through their work.

Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more...then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them.

Join Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralmbi Markov, Sunil Patel, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, Alyssa Wong, and many other authors as they take well-worn tropes and cliches and flip them upside down.

CONTENTS
Introduction - Jerry Gordon

SECTION I: INVERTING THE TROPES
On Loving Bad Boys: A Villanelle - Valya Dudycz Lupescu
Single, Singularity - John Hornor Jacobs
Lazzrus - Nisi Shawl
Seeking Truth - Elsa Sjunneson-Henry
Thwock - Michelle Muenzler
Can You Tell Me How to Get to Paprika Place? - Michael R. Underwood
Chosen - Anton Strout
The White Dragon - Alyssa Wong
Her Curse, How Gently It Comes Undone - Haralambi Markov
Burning Bright - Shanna Germain
Santa CIS (Episode 1: No Saint) - Alethea Kontis
Requiem for a Manic Pixie Dream - Katy Harrad & Greg Stolze
The Refrigerator in the Girlfriend - Adam-Troy Castro
The First Blood of Poppy Dupree - Delilah S. Dawson
Red Light - Sara M. Harvey
Until There Is Only Hunger - Michael Matheson
Super Duper Fly - Maurice Broaddus
Drafty as a Chain Mail Bikini - Kat Richardson
Swan Song - Michelle Lyons-McFarland
Those Who Leave - Michael Choi
Nouns of Nouns: A Mini Epic - Alex Shvartsman
Excess Light - Rahul Kanakia
The Origin of Terror - Sunil Patel
The Tangled Web - Ferrett Steinmetz
Hamsa, Hamsa, Hamsa, Tfu, Tfu, Tfu. - Alisa Schreibman
Real Women Are Dangerous - Rati Mehrotra

SECTION II: DISCUSSING THE TROPES
I'm Pretty Sure I've Read This Before ... - Patrick Hester
Fractured Souls - Lucy A. Snyder
Into the Labyrinth: The Heroine's Journey - A.C. Wise
Escaping the Hall of Mirrors - Victor Raymond
Tropes as Erasers: A Transgender Perspective - Keffy R.M. Kehrli

SECTION III: DEFINING THE TROPES
Afterword - Monica Valentinelli & Jaym Gates
Trope Definitions/Index of Tropes

SECTION IV: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS AND ADDITIONAL BIOS

Step right up Come one, come all, to Jackson's Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade. The steam train may look older than your great-grandmother's' china, but within her metal corridors are destinations you have only ever dreamed. They're real, friends, each and every one--and yours for the taking.

Witness Rabi, Vanquisher and Vanisher Extraordinaire, who can make coins and the past vanish before your very eyes. Dare to visit the Beauty and the Beast, our conjoined twins who are terrible and tortured by turns. Sample Beth's marmalade, the sticky sweetness containing the very memory of the day you turned sixteen, and your beloved's lips touched yours once and never again.It's worth the price, traveler. Jackson's Unreal Circus is where you can be whoever or whatever you want. Whether it be a ride on the Ferris wheel, slipping inside a skin that is not your own, or the opportunity to live as you never have before--it is all possible on this, the grandest of tours. The train beckons you--come, come

For the first time, E. Catherine Tobler has compiled a collection of her popular circus stories. With nine stories ranging from the first publishing within this universe to a previously unpublished piece, this is your ticket to her magical world. Welcome to The Grand Tour.

Contains the following destinations:
Vanishing Act
Artificial Nocturne
We, As One, Trailing Embers
Liminal
Blow the Moon Out
Ebb Stung by the Flow
Lady Marmalade
Every Season (original to this collection)
Inland Territory; Stray Italian Greyhound

Also features a special introduction by Hugo-nominated author A.C. Wise