Elizabeth Alsobrooks

Now in its fifth incarnation, Tell-Tale's horror anthologies have become an annual benchmark of emerging talent and well-told stories. The select seven featured here will yank you backward and forward again in time, visiting the exotic and the seemingly mundane....

Offered an enormous sum by an anonymous benefactor for the acquisition of an ancient ceremonial relic, Lady Isabella Valentine was distracted rather than tempted when the dashing young Bedouin slipped in just before closing and promised her a deal she couldn’t refuse....

Ljluka Vargas, immortal prince and the cool-headed enforcer for the Vargas Dynasty, must go up against his most intriguing enemy, the mysterious Nalini....

There will be thoughtful dilemmas to keep you pondering, moral choices and choices for the oldest of reasons - love - and, above all, the test of love versus fate....

"Secret Santa" by Marcus Mattern: If you think you have problems at work, you will change your mind and think it’s the magic kingdom after reading about Darren Young's day. One just never knows their coworkers as well as they think they do....