Led by Peter Octavian, the Shadows continue their battle against the ruthless Hannibal and his vampiric minions, who mean to enslave humanity-and devour all in their path.

For the Shadows, nothing can ever be the same again. Their existence revealed to the world in Of Saints and Shadows, the truth of their divided heritage revealed to themselves in Angel Souls and Devil Hearts, they must now fight the hardest battle of all -- against others of their own kind. The fragile alliance of human and vampire was shattered forever by Hannibal, among the most ancient of Shadows, who turned on them both in their hour of greatest need. Driven by blood, he thirsts for dominion, and humankind to him will always be prey. For those Shadows who walk a different path there is only one choice to be made. Hannibal must be destroyed before he destroys them all. But his followers are many, and those who oppose him are few...

It has taken me years to realize just how extraordinary my life has been. My trend of good fortune has always been more than coincidental. This journey through change has taken me from theory to thesis and far beyond transformation. We live in a world where exploring the unexplained is now confined by science. For those who choose the unconventional path, it seems that social incarceration and emotional imprisonment awaits all who are willing to stand so bold. So rather than seeking answers, people merely began picking one from a box. I have not dreamed of, nor searched for heroes, for I have always lived among them. I have not pretended to be another nor prayed for anything that I have obtained. Yet, somehow I have acquired them all. You see, I have yet to narrow my factors to one single answer, which means, as long as this deductive reasoning continues, I must still be living to face another day. For all those dreamers, like me, I simply could not ask for more.

A secret sect of the Catholic Church, armed with an ancient book of the undead called The Gospel of Shadows, has been slowly destroying vampires for centuries. Now the book has been stolen, and the sect races to retrieve it before their purpose is discovered: a final purge of all vampires. As the line between saints and shadows grows ominously faint, private eye Peter Octavian is drawn into the search. And he'll do anything to find the book ... for Peter Octavian is also a vampire. Ostracized by his kindred for refusing to take part in the 'blood song', he cannot stand by and watch while they are destroyed. In a deadly game with a driven, sadistic assassin, the trail leads to Venice at the time of carnival, where the Defiant Ones, as the vampires are known, are engaged in a savage battle for their lives. Filled with plot twists, mystery, sex and violent death, Of Saints and Shadows is a spine-tingling thriller which opens the door to the world of The Shadow Saga.

When the quarantine occurred in 2020, I found myself writing once more and looking back on everything that I had written over the past several years. I was quite shocked when I came to the realization that my first book of poetry had been published ten years prior. I had been writing now for the past 35 years, and while that doesn't make me some sort of expert, or authority on explaining emotions, it certainly suggests a sense of dedication to something that was incredibly meaningful to me. There were times I almost gave it up, and there were even periods of my life where I quit writing altogether, but something always brought me back to it, again and again. I can't really explain the passion I have for poetry, but I've always been grateful for the ability to look back on my experiences and admire all the lessons I have learned along the way. I guess the one thing I learned that will never change in this journey... My passion for writing, my desire to continue learning from those around me, and my aspiration to spread empathy to anyone who is willing to listen, and for that opportunity alone, I thank you.

An all original anthology from some of todays hottest supernatural writers, featuring stories of monsters from the monster's point of view. In most stories we get the perspective of the hero, the ordinary, the everyman, but we are all the hero of our own tale, and so it must be true for legions of monsters, from Lucifer to Mordred, from child-thieving fairies to Frankenstein's monster and the Wicked Witch of the West. From our point of view, they may very well be horrible, terrifying monstrosities, but of course they won't see themselves in the same light, and their point of view is what concerns us in these tales. Demons and goblins, dark gods and aliens, creatures of myth and legend, lurkers in darkness and beasts in human clothing...these are the subjects of The Monster's Corner. With contributions by Lauren Groff, Chelsea Cain, Simon R. Green, Sharyn McCrumb, Kelley Armstrong, David Liss, Kevin J. Anderson, Jonathan Maberry, and many others.