What Lives Beneath

By Annie Reed

Leave the path at your peril. Especially when the path marks the only safe passage through an underground city buried deep beneath the surface of the modern world.

Karen enjoys her work as a guide for the City Beneath the City tour—except for the occasional problem tourist, like the two twelve-year-old boys who ditched Karen’s group to go exploring on their own.

The first city known as Moretown Bay disappeared beneath the mud over a hundred years ago. Thanks to a few well-placed spells, a handful of those old buildings give modern tourists a glimpse into the city’s past.

But danger lies beyond the safety of the tour. Unstable buildings. Shifting mud. Passageways that come and go seemingly by magic.

Finding two lost boys turns into a desperate fight for survival against the things that live deep under the old, buried city in this exciting story from the Mazes and Labyrinths issue of The Uncollected Anthology.

“One of the best writers I’ve come across in years.” Kristine Kathryn Rusch, award-winning writer and editor

“The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you’ll be hooked.” –David H. Hendrickson, award-winning author of “Death in the Serengeti"

“Annie’s writing is magic, seriously.” –Robert J. McCarter, author of A Ghost’s Memoir series

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Jul 31, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005893941

Annie Reed

Award-winning author and editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls Annie Reed “one of the best writers I’ve come across in years.”Annie’s won recognition for her stellar writing across multiple genres. Her story “The Color of Guilt” originally published in Fiction River: Hidden in Crime, was selected as one of The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016. Her story “One Sun, No Waiting” was one of the first science fiction stories honored with a literary fellowship award by the Nevada Arts Foundation, and her novel PRETTY LITTLE HORSES was among the finalists in the Best First Private Eye Novel sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and the Private Eye Writers of America.A frequent contributor to the Fiction River anthologies and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Annie’s recent work includes the superhero origin novel FASTER, the near-future science fiction short novel IN DREAMS, and UNBROKEN FAMILIAR, a gritty urban fantasy mystery short novel. Annie’s also one of the founding members of the innovative Uncollected Anthology, a quarterly series of themed urban fantasy stories written by some of the best writers working today.Annie’s mystery novels include the Abby Maxon private investigator novels PRETTY LITTLE HORSES and PAPER BULLETS, the Jill Jordan mystery A DEATH IN CUMBERLAND, and the suspense novel SHADOW LIFE, written under the name Kris Sparks, as well as numerous other projects she can’t wait to get to. For more information about Annie, including news about upcoming bundles and publications, go to www.annie-reed.com.

Book preview

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