There's nothing quite like a short-short. Stories under 1500 words, sometimes under 500 words, demand a quick one-two punch of set up and payoff. And when done right, they deliver the quick-hit pleasure of a box of chocolates. From building-jumping office workers to time-traveling lovers, suicidal swimmers to gamblers who are friends with very tiny aliens, there's enough mind-bending stuff in here to light up even the darkest day. Bet ya can't read just one...

When a pathetic blonde begs Chicago attorney Weston Long to help her find her stalker, the hunt becomes a road trip, the help becomes obsession. And the prey gets deadly. "Jessica Falls is not a comfortable story, but it's one you won't be able to put down..." -Gerald Weinberg, bestselling author of "Freshman Murders"

Follow Terry Hayman's keenly-felt takes on the bloodsuckers we all know and love. Meet a dangerous seductress who's surprisingly smitten by her prey, a heartless predator hiding from an even more heartless adversary, a vampire born blind, one slipping in from an alternate universe, one just trying to raise a son who's able to protect himself from creatures his peers no nothing about. There's always a new way to be undead. (Includes the short novel Raised by a Vampire.)

Explore the dark places of the human heart with stories ranging from classic horror to Greek myth, to modern warfare. Follow a blind vampire into a part of town other vampires avoid in "A Different Hunger." Live the terror when a suburb's forgotten citizens rise up for revenge in "The Shopping Cart People." Find out what finally happened with Medea in "To Ride the Serpent Once More." Explore mini dimensional rifts that bring in vampires in "Peter and the Vampires." Finally, see what's really going on in the Middle East in "So Hot." You'll come out of the darkness a different person.

Experience five science fiction and fantasy tales close to home and heart. In "Call My Name," find out what sort of power someone can hold over you in the future if they know your true name. In "Dropouts," figure out exactly how and why things in the airport are just...wrong. In "We Don't Know Where You've Been, Mr. Jones," make some tough choices with a son whose father may be losing his mind, but not his soul. In "The Last Hotel," follow an unusual married couple who refuse to let a little thing like death keep them apart. And in "Real Death," ask yourself if you could actually choose not to live forever. Terry Hayman is a popular writer of fantasy and science fiction. In these five tales, you can step into his worlds that are often filled with twists and challenges, but also brimming with love and compassion. Find out more at www.terryhayman.com.