The Crescent Beach Mall in South Carolina was your basic modern shopping center-boutiques, movie theaters, eateries, and a packed parking lot-until reality unraveled on the inside. Now the mall is a supernatural oddity known worldwide as "Pandora's Box." People travel from miles around to have their chance inside; some come out, and some are never seen again.

Native to the area, Sebastian doesn't mean to cash in on the possible tragedies of others, necessarily, but he finds there's money to be made by a tour service into the bowels of Pandora. He gives visitors ample warning: if...

The Crescent Beach Mall in South Carolina was your basic modern shopping center-boutiques, movie theaters, eateries, and a packed parking lot-until reality unraveled on the inside. Now the mall is a supernatural oddity known worldwide as "Pandora's Box." People travel from miles around to have their chance inside; some come out, and some are never seen again.

Native to the area, Sebastian doesn't mean to cash in on the possible tragedies of others, necessarily, but he finds there's money to be made by a tour service into the bowels of Pandora. He gives visitors ample warning: if...

The Crescent Beach Mall changed overnight from a typical shopping center to a magical vortex. Visitors flock to South Carolina to live out their fantasies only to be driven mad. Sheriff Valerie Dunn is the only one keeping tabs on the riffraff, until her life becomes steeped in the tragic results of a drunken fit of rage. State Inspector Virginia Eldridge seems to relish harassing the guides at Pandora Tours, but she's biding her time around the Box, which she suspects is riddled with secrets-the one kept from her and the ones she hides from herself. Dina Watson is a former hooker who is...

Being Martian isn't easy. Many are hopeless dreamers-and most are drunks. Martians are pale, red-eyed humanoids; physically gifted, scientifically advanced, but culturally-backward. We built casinos on Mars, and view Martians with the same lack of regard displayed toward Native Americans. One Martian defied his racial stigma to rise to the position of homicide detective. His name is Bobby Haller, and he has problems galore. A local gangster is breathing down his neck. His fellow Martians are planning a revolt. He's dodging bullets on a daily basis. Staying alive in Los Angeles is part...

Doc Allman lives his life with precision, practicing medicine in the Deep South. He goes about his business, although he is both lonely and painfully inept with women. Tara Doyle limps into his exam room with a broken nose, delivered to her courtesy of her abusive husband. She presents herself to Doc as a sexual opportunity. Doc dives into the affair with no long-term expectations, wary of a scandal, but he soon begins to urge Tara to exit her marriage, which brings on unexpected complications. "Violent Delights" challenges the notions of love, marriage, and the crimes that both imprison and...

The Crescent Beach Mall transformed into a magical hot spot. Visitors step inside in order to live out their wildest dreams. It's a bad idea to brave Pandora's Box-as it is called-without the help of a third party, which is where Pandora Tours comes in. For a fee, Sebastian, Dina or Larry will lead you through The Box. The trouble is, things have been going wrong, and have been getting worse for a long time. Yet no matter how hard the guides try to dissuade tourists from taking the plunge, their instincts for self-preservation continue to be overcome by the hunger to experience something new....

The Crescent Beach Mall became a fantasy fulfillment center known to the world as Pandora's Box. Tourists entering the Box have a chance to live out their wildest dreams---or worst nightmares. Visitors flock from across the globe for a unique experience. The problem is, the place acts as cosmic litmus paper, essentially mirroring the moral core of each individual. For some, this means a living fantasy. For others, a tour becomes a one-way trip. This compilation of short stories includes contributions by guest writers Katherine Lato, Stephen Owen and Jay Ceron.