The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

author.
    “The Lighthouse Keeper and His Wife” © by Sara Mackenzie. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
    “Blood Song” © by Lynda Hilburn. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
    “The Princess and the Peas” © by Alesia Holliday. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
    “At Second Bite” © by Michelle Rowen. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
    “Blue Crush” © by Roxanne Conrad. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
    “The Wager” © by Sherrilyn Kenyon. First published in Elemental: The Tsunami Relief Anthology, May 2006. Printed by permission of the author.
    “In Sheep’s Clothing” © by Meljean Brook. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.
    “The Dream Catcher” © by Jennifer Ashley. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

Introduction
    Demons are the new vampires, or so I’m told by reliable sources. The world of the paranormal has been blurring, blending with fantasy to a certain extent, to create a magical new partnership. There are now hundreds of blogs and websites devoted to different strands of the paranormal and to the authors who write it. All are full of lively discussions between writers, would-be writers, and devoted fans - the website fangsfurandfey, a Livejournal community started by writers Jeaniene Frost, Caitlin Kittredge, and Melissa Marr, is just one fantastic example.
    Such creative, energetic dialogue between readers and writers has given paranormal romance a fun, fast and furious buzz. Forget writers shuttered away writing with no connection to their fans; most paranormal romance authors are accessible and contactable, and are forever gracious with comments and questions. This is no ivory tower genre, but one with a very human face (albeit attached to a body with iridescent, fairy wings).
    Put another way, paranormal writers quite simply have the best fans. These are readers who turn up to book signings bubbling over with enthusiasm, who get tattoos from their best-loved books (when Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Acheron was published, one of my regulars showed up at the bookshop where I work one afternoon with a perfect replica of the Acheron symbol - “a yellow sun pierced by three white lightning bolts” - at the back of her neck), who don’t say no to cupcakes because they are on some ridiculous Palm Beach diet, and who are passionate about the genre: what they like, they LOVE; what they don’t, they LOATHE. How refreshing is that?
    The authors in this new anthology have been drawn not only from the broad wealth of talent in the paranormal romance genre, but also from the world of fantasy. We haven’t completely neglected our old friend the vampire (from the previous collection, The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance) but he has been seriously overwhelmed by a magical collection of succubi, selkies, mermaids, werewolves, angels, ghosts, sorceresses, goddesses, gargoyles, fae princes and djinn, to name just a few.
    This volume is the perfect opportunity to try out some new paranormal authors or curl up with the newest stories from your die-hard favourites. Where else are you going to find such a huge collection of bestselling, and critically acclaimed, authors in one place? Paranormal romance is blossoming.

The Temptation of Robin Green
Carrie Vaughn
    The talking dog always whined when Robin fed the griffin.
    “C’mon, Robin, please? The doc’ll never know. I never get any treats.”
    “Sorry, Jones,” Robin said to the dust-coloured mutt in the steel and acrylic-glass cell.
    “Please? Please, please, please ?”Jones’ tail wagged the entire back end of his body.
    “No, Jones. Sorry.”
    “But it’s not fair. Those guys get fed late.”
    “They have bigger stomachs than you.”
    “Oh, please, just once, and I’ll never ask again!”
    But it was a lie, the whining would never stop, and giving in would make it worse. It turned out that a talking dog was even more endearing than the non-talking kind. It took all of Lieutenant Robin Green’s army training to turn away from the mutt and move on to the rest of her rounds.
    She hit a switch to illuminate a bank of lights in the second enclosure. The occupant had the thick, tawny-furred body of