While Anna and Malcolm anxiously await the birth of their twins, the universe is besieged by the complications of bringing a corporeal version of Hell into being. As Empress and Emperor of Cirrus, Anna and Malcolm must also deal with the politics of trying to unite those who live in the down-world with the pampered citizens within the cloud cities. Anna quickly learns that changing the way people think can be a daunting task, especially when the princes of Hell attempt to thwart her plans at every turn.

Spend this Christmas with some of your favorite characters from the Watcher universe. In this collection of short stories, you’ll get an intimate look at certain character’s lives and what happened to them "after the story".

At the tender age of seven, Jess Riley's parents were ripped out of her life by the Tear, a ripple of white light in the sky which randomly transports people from Earth to alternate realities and distant planets once a year. On the night the Tear first appeared, the Watchers, a mysterious group of men possessing supernatural powers, made their presence known to the leaders of the world, earning their complete trust to deal with the turmoil the Tear caused.

Lilly Rayne Nightingale always felt like Fate was trying to wipe away her existence through a series of odd, near fatal incidences. Luckily, her best friend Will was always one step ahead of Fate preventing her from being at the wrong place at the wrong time. Will was her knight in shining armor until he broke her heart after their one and only kiss. On Lilly's first day of college, she meets Brand Cole. Intrigued by Brand, Lilly must decide whether or not she can give up her adolescent fantasy of being reunited with Will and allow Brand the opportunity to conqueror her heart.

Lilly and Brand's daughter, Caylin, saw her soul mate for the first time when she was 14 years old. After a simple exchange of smiles, she knew her life was set on a path which would lead Aiden back into her world forever. For three long years, Aiden keeps his distance from Caylin out of respect for her parents' wishes. Caylin learns that one of the princes of Hell, Baal, is out to kill her. With the help of her family and Aiden, she discovers why he wants her dead and what she needs to do to stop him.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.