Tales of the Otherworld (Women of the Otherworld Series) »

Kelley Armstrong is the New York Times bestselling author of the Women of the Otherworld series. She has been telling stories since before she could write. Her earliest written efforts were disastrous. If asked for a story about girls and dolls, hers would invariably feature undead girls and evil dolls, much to her teachers’ dismay. All efforts to make her produce “normal” stories failed. Today she continues to spin tales of ghosts and demons and werewolves while safely locked in her basement writing-dungeon.

New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong has bewitched audiences with her Otherworld series of supernatural thrillers. Now, in this new collection of shorter fiction, some of Armstrong’s most tantalizing lead characters appear alongside her unforgettable supporting players, who step out of the shadows and into the light.
  
Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld’s most unlikely pairings? Would you like to be a fly on the wall at the wedding of Lucas Cortez and Paige Winterbourne as their eminently practical plans are upended by their well-meaning friends? Or tag along with Lucas and Paige as they investigate a gruesome crime that looks to be the work of a rogue vampire?
Now devotees of the Otherworld can share these special moments with some of their favorite characters—as well as discovering deeper insights into the lives of some of the lesser-known players. But even readers new to the 
 
Otherworld universe will find much to love in these seven tales of friendship, adventure, and enduring romance. For when the superhuman men and women of the Otherworld set their minds to a task, they do so with fierce passion and an undivided sense of purpose that make them, in the end, very much human.
 

Publishers Weekly

Witches, sorcerers, half-demons, vampires, and werewolves clash in bestseller Armstrong's second Otherworld collection (after 2009's Men of the Otherworld), which includes many stories first posted on her Website to fill in the gaps about characters from her novels. In “Rebirth,” Aaron, a young Englishman, discovers his vampire heritage; in the lighter “Bewitched,” half-demon witch Eve Levine braves racial stereotyping to connect with sorcerer Kristof Nast. The novella “Beginnings” reveals the backstory of Elena, the heroine of 2004's Bitten. The first tales are accessible to new readers, but some stories feel incomplete, and Armstrong's complex worlds, which include magical organizations reminiscent of mafia families, may confuse the uninitiated. Armstrong's longtime fans, however, will be delighted. All proceeds go to World Literacy of Canada. (Apr.)