The Winter Beast and other tales

Five stories of horror and dark fantasy by James R. Sanford:

"The Winter Beast" - In the wake of Napoleon's invasion, a Russian aristocrat's oath casts him into a living nightmare with a creature he cannot fight.

"The God Stone" - Two children play a game with an ancient power.

"Blood Bond" - A princess in medieval India must confront her brother's dark secret when she tries to rescue him from an evil alchemist.

"A Family Tradition" - A man's father has set him to a lifetime task of murder.

"The Exalted" - A man goes in search of his mother's foreign kin and finds that they are not quite human.