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Uncanny Kingdom: An Eleven Book Urban Fantasy Collection (Uncanny Kingdom Omnibus 1)

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by David Bussell




  The Uncanny Kingdom Collection

  An Eleven Book Urban Fantasy Collection

  David Bussell

  M.V. Stott

  Copyright © 2018 by Genre Reader

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  Become an Insider

  London Coven

  Underground Magic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Familiar Magic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Nightmare Realm

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Deadly Portent

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Ghosted

  Deathday

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Fresh Hell

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Something Rotten

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Twice Damned

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Dark Lakes

  Magic Eater

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Blood Stones

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Past Sins

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7


  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Become an Insider

  Become an Insider

  …And be the FIRST to hear about NEW RELEASES and SPECIAL OFFERS in the UNCANNY KINGDOM universe. Just hit the link below…

  JOIN HERE!

  London Coven

  Underground Magic

  Familiar Magic

  Nightmare Realm

  Deadly Portent

  Underground Magic

  1

  London, February, 1957

  I pulled my leather jacket closed; London was cold and prickled my skin.

  My name is Stella Familiar and I was tracking something very, very bad through the streets of Hammersmith, West London.

  I looked down; there were spots of red on the paving stones before me. It took the tip of one black boot and poked at it. The crimson smeared.

  Fresh blood.

  The creature couldn’t be far ahead.

  I brushed past Londoners; noisy, breaths fogging, going about their days. Hurrying home, or perhaps heading to the pub to get one last drink before the bell rang. None of them saw the city as I did. Saw the streets as I did. They all thought they understood what the world was. Understood their place in it and the dangers that lived there. Prided themselves on being the top dogs. Top of the food chain.

  If they knew the truth, they’d never leave their homes.

  There’s an underbelly to the city that people like me call the ‘Uncanny.’ A hidden world that overlaps the everyday, unseen by most. Unseen until it makes itself seen, and pray you never see that day. Chances are you’ll be dead.

  London is full of the Uncanny, in fact, the whole of the United Kingdom is. But a place like London… for some reason it’s a hub for the Uncanny. We’re drawn to it. Every stripe of strange finds themselves here eventually. Drawn to the noise and the chaos and the concentration of magic like flies to a corpse.

  I turned the corner and scanned the street, looking for any sign of my monster.

  My job for today.

  Bodies had been turning up across this part of the city. Homeless people, mostly, found with their chests ripped open. The police thought they were dealing with a serial killer, and they were sort of right. But this wasn’t the kind of killer they’d be able to hunt, arrest, take to trial, and put behind bars. This was a killer from a horror story. A thing that didn’t exist outside of a child’s worst nightmare. At least, that’s what they would think. I, and those like me, knew better.

  Monsters are real.

  Not that all monsters are killers; some live hidden and are no threat at all. But some… some live to feed. To stalk, to kill, to devour. To use their abilities to sow damage, destruction and death. To see your face twitch in fear at the moment you realise your little life is about to end in a bloody full stop.

  At this point, I knew these things without ever actually experiencing any of them first hand. But it was all there, in my head. A giant file I could flick through, like I’d had decades of experience. Centuries, even. It was February 16th, 1957. It was my birthday, and I mean that literally. I didn’t exist the day before, and then, on this day, I did. Not that I was born exactly. No, I was created. Conjured.

  More blood on the ground. I was moving in the right direction. Head down, fists clenched, I strode forwards, after the trail.

  I’m a Familiar to a trio of witches; the witches of the London Coven. They’ve lived for centuries, always with a Familiar by their side. I hadn’t asked what had happened to their last Familiar, why they’d needed to create me as a replacement. I had a feeling I didn’t want to know.

  My masters keep an eye on the Uncanny activity in London, sort of like a magical police force of three. Their job is to keep us all in line, make sure things don’t get out of hand, and punish those that transgress.

  The punishment is where I come in.

  I’m the blunt tool, sent out into the streets of London while they remain safe inside their heavily protected coven. I investigate, deliver warnings, unleash punishment, make judgement. End lives, if necessary. Whatever it takes to keep these streets safe.

  In other jobs, I suppose they’d break you in easy, but here I am, first day at work, first day alive, first day breathing in and out, and I’m on the tail of a shape-shifting murderous monster. A monster that, if I wasn’t careful, would make this my last day on the job.

  I should have been scared, I was dimly aware of that. No experience, barely hours old, chasing a murderer. But I wasn’t scared. I was excited. Eager to face up to death and take it down. To beat the thing senseless until my knuckles were red raw.

  I realised I’d begun whistling to myself, and wondered what the tune was. I’d never heard it before. Well, I’d never heard any music before. Everything was a first for me. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the obstruction in front of me. My right boot hit something and almost sent me tumbling to the ground. I whirled back, steadying myself, fists already glowing defensively with power—

  —I looked down, feeling foolish… and that’s when I saw the blood… the entrails… the dead body.

  I’d been slow, and someone had paid the price.

  2

  Magic is all around you.

  Every street, every rock, every blade of grass emits trace amounts of it. It’s like a constant hum of background radiation that we all swim through every day of our lives. Some places only emit a weak level of magical energy, some practically scream with it. The London Coven, for example, burns explosively with magic. If you could see in the spectrum I do, the London Coven would look like a raging, white-hot fire in the blackest night.

  I feed on magic, all of the Uncanny do. We draw it in so we can use it. It sustains us. Without it we’d fall to the ground, helpless wrecks. Junkies going cold turkey, screaming for a fix.

 

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