Search Worlds Without End

This novelette originally appeaered on Sci Fiction, January 22, 2003. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 9 (2004), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in later editions of the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995).

Bloodchild

Bloodchild and Other Stories

Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award winning novelette.

Years ago a group known as the Terrans left Earth in search of a life free of persecution. Now they live alongside the Tlic, an alien race who face extinction; their only chance of survival is to plant their larvae inside the bodies of the humans.

When Gan, a young, boy, is chosen as a carrier of Tlic eggs, he faces an impossible dilemma: can he really help the species he has grown up with, even if it means sacrificing his own life?

Bloodchild originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 1984. The story has been reprinted many times. It can be found in the anthologies:

The Year's Best Science Fiction: Second Annual Collection (1985), edited by Gardner Dozois
Best SF of the Year #14 (1985), edited by Terry Carr
The 1985 Annual World's Best SF, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha
Nebula Awards 20 (1985), edited by George Zebrowski
The New Hugo Winners (1989), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
Foundations of Fear: An Exploration of Horror (1992) edited by David G. Hartwell
Invaders! (1993) edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois
Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years: SF by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s (1995), edited by Pamela Sargent
The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories (2011), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer
The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016), edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer

The story is included in the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995).

Read the full story for free at the Baen website.

Six remarkable stories from a master of modern science fiction.

Octavia E. Butler's classic "Bloodchild," winner of both the Nebula and Hugo awards, anchors this collection of incomparable stories and essays. "Bloodchild" is set on a distant planet where human children spend their lives preparing to become hosts for the offspring of the alien Tlic. Sometimes the procedure is harmless, but often it is not. Also included is the Hugo Award-winning "Speech Sounds," about a near future in which humans must adapt after an apocalyptic event robs them of their ability to speak.

In these pages, Butler shows us life on Earth and amongst the stars, telling her tales with characteristic imagination and clarity.

Table of Contents:

Preface - (1995) - essay
Bloodchild - (1984) - novelette
The Evening and the Morning and the Night - (1987) - novelette
Near of Kin - (1979) - shortstory
Speech Sounds - (1983) - shortstory
Crossover - (1971) - shortstory
Positive Obsession - (1989) - essay
Furor Scribendi - (1993) - essay

Some edtions also included

Amnesty - (2003) - novelette
The Book of Martha - (2003) - shortstory

Listen to a podcast of the story "Bloodchild" at Drabblecast.

Childfinder

Sturgeon Award nominated short story. Written in the 1970s, it was originally intended for Harlan Ellison's as of yet unpublished anthology The Last Dangerous Visions. It was eventually published in the collection Unexpected Stories (2014).

Fledgling

Fledgling, Octavia Butler's first new novel in seven years, is the story of an apparently young, amnesiac girl whose alarmingly unhuman needs and abilities lead her to a startling conclusion: She is in fact a genetically modified, 53-year-old vampire. Forced to discover what she can about her stolen former life, she must at the same time learn who wanted-and still wants-to destroy her and those she cares for and how she can save herself. Fledgling is a captivating novel that tests the limits of "otherness" and questions what it means to be truly human.

Octavia E. Butler is the author of 11 novels, including Kindred, Dawn, and Parable of the Sower. Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, the Nebula Award, the Hugo Award, and numerous other literary awards, she has been acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations that range from the distant past to the far future.

Kindred

Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana's life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.

Speech Sounds

The Evening and the Morning and the Night

Hugo Award winning short story. It originally appeard in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, Mid-December 1983. The story can also be found in the anthologies:

The New Hugo Winners: (1983-85) (1989), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg
The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990 (1993), edited by Ursula K. Le Guin and Brian Attebery
New Eves: Science Fiction About the Extraordinary Women of Today and Tomorrow (1994) edited by Forrest J. Ackerman, Jean Marie Stine and Janrae Frank
Future on Ice (1998), edited by Orson Scott Card
A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001), edited by Connie Willis and Sheila Williams
Wastelands: Stories of the Apocalypse (2008), edited by John Joseph Adams.

It is included in the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995).

Sturgeon and Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Omni, May 1987 and was reprinted in Lightspeed: People of Colo(u)r Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue, June 2016. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection (1988), edited by Gardner Dozois, Omni Visions One (1993), edited by Ellen Datlow, Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African (2000), edited by Sheree R. Thomas, and Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (2006), edited by Justine Larbalestier. It is included in the collection Bloodchild and Other Stories (1995).

Unexpected Stories

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Two never-before-published stories from the archives of one of science fiction's all-time masters

The novella "A Necessary Being" showcases Octavia E. Butler's ability to create alien yet fully believable "others." Tahneh's father was a Hao, one of a dwindling race whose leadership abilities render them so valuable that their members are captured and forced to govern. When her father dies, Tahneh steps into his place, both chief and prisoner, and for twenty years has ruled without ever meeting another of her kind. She bears her loneliness privately until the day that a Hao youth is spotted wandering into her territory. As her warriors sharpen their weapons, Tahneh must choose between imprisoning the newcomer—and living the rest of her life alone.

The second story in this volume, "Childfinder," was commissioned by Harlan Ellison for his legendary (and never-published) anthology The Last Dangerous Visions™. A disaffected telepath connects with a young girl in a desperate attempt to help her harness her growing powers. But in the richly evocative fiction of Octavia E. Butler, mentorship is a rocky path, and every lesson comes at a price.

Hell

Robert Olen Butler

Hatcher McCord is an evening news presenter who has found himself in Hell and is struggling to explain his bad fortune. He's not the only one to suffer this fate--in fact, he's surrounded by an outrageous cast of characters, including Humphrey Bogart, William Shakespeare, and almost all of the popes and most of the U.S. presidents. The question may be not who is in Hell but who isn't. McCord is living with Anne Boleyn in the afterlife but their happiness is, of course, constantly derailed by her obsession with Henry VIII (and the removal of her head at rather inopportune moments). One day McCord meets Dante's Beatrice, who believes there is a way out of Hell, and the next morning, during an exclusive on-camera interview with Satan, McCord realizes that Satan's omniscience, which he has always credited for the perfection of Hell's torments, may be a mirage--and Butler is off on a madcap romp about good, evil, free will, and the possibility of escape. Butler's depiction of Hell is original, intelligent, and fiercely comic, a book Dante might have celebrated.

Mr. Spaceman

Robert Olen Butler

"There are three things about this planet which are too wonderful for me. Make that four things. The way of dreams in the mind; the way of tears in the eye; the way of words in the mouth; and the way of my wife Edna Bradshaw when she acts like a cat and love-nibbles me into her arms."

This is the voice of Desi, the hero of Robert Olen Butler's novel Mr. Spaceman, who has kept a quiet vigil above the Earth for decades while studying the confusing, fascinating, and frustrating primary species of our planet, occasionally venturing to the planet's surface to hear their thoughts and experience their memories using his empathic powers. Now, on December 31, 2000, he prepares for the final phase of his mysterious mission, which begins when he beams a tour bus bound for a Louisiana casino aboard his ship. The twelve passengers will be the last humans whose lives he will experience before he positions his spaceship in full and irrefutable view of the people of Earth, and descend to the planet's surface to proclaim his presence to all of humanity at the turn of the millennium.

Poignant, funny, and charming, Mr. Spaceman is filled with unexpected twists and turns, a tribute to the powers of love and understanding and the essence of what it means to be human.

Erewhon: Over the Range

Samuel Butler

Setting out to make his fortune in a far-off country, a young traveller discovers the remote and beautiful land of Erewhon, and is given a home among its extraordinarily handsome citizens. But their visitor soon discovers that this seemingly ideal community has its faults - here crime is treated indulgently as a malady to be cured, while illness, poverty and misfortune are cruelly punished, and all machines have been superstitiously destroyed after a bizarre prophecy. Can he survive in a world where morality is turned upside down?

Inspired by Samuel Butler's years in colonial New Zealand, and by his reading of Darwin's "Origin of Species", Erewhon (1872) is a highly original, irreverent and humorous satire on conventional virtues, religious hypocrisy and the unthinking acceptance of beliefs.

The Wind Caller

P. D. Cacek

Picture this: you're riding the bus home from work, with the very first newspaper article ever published under your byline clutched in your hot little hand, when a coked-up idiot attempts to hold up everyone on the bus. He takes a dislike to you and is about to slice you open when a large, gorgeously hairy man attacks him and saves your life. Only your rescuer is not a man, but a giant wolf who leaves a bloody pawprint on your newspaper, all over your precious byline...

If you're an intrepid reporter, you don't panic. You run for the newsroom to get a photo of the pawprint before it disappears... because the paper you work for thrives on stories of alien invasions and Elvis sightings and Bigfoot's baby, and this, unlike all of those stories, this is real.

Of course, it's not that simple. The highly civilized Denver werewolves don't want anyone to know of their existence, not even beautiful young reporters who make Lucas, the leader of the pack, think lustful thoughts. But Lucas and his pack have a much bigger problem to deal with: there's another were-pack hunting in their territory -- and being messy about it. If the police solve any of those brutal, apparently random, murders, Denver's more patrician lycanthropes may wind up in big trouble.

Italo Calvino

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler turns out to be not one novel but ten, each with a different plot, style, ambience, and author, and each interrupted at a moment of suspense. Together they form a labyrinth of literatures, known and unknown, alive and extinct, through which two readers, a male and a female, pursue both the story lines that intrigue them and one another.

Contraband from Otherspace

Grimes and Sonya embark on a wholly different adventure: marriage. But running their own little shipping company takes a back seat to danger when a distress call leads the pair to an alien ship from an alternate universe--a ship carrying Contraband from Otherspace--mutant rats who evolved to rule their universe... and threaten to breakthrough to ours.

From Sea to Shining Star

Contents:

From Sea to Shining Star - (1989) - interior artwork by Nick Stathopoulos
Foreword (From Sea to Shining Star) - essay by Susan Chandler and Keith Curtis
3 - Sea Change - (1970) - novelette
19 - Shadow Before - (1954) - short story
27 - Precession - (1959) - short story
33 - Castaway - (1947) - short story
39 - Change of Heart - (1961) - short story
57 - Not Quite the Noblest - (1956) - short story
61 - As It Was in the Beginning - (1955) - short story
65 - What's In a Name? - (1958) - short story
73 - The Word - (1959) - short story
79 - All Laced Up - (1961) - short story
89 - The Pied Potter - (1971) - short story
97 - What Would You Do? - (1958) - short story
101 - The Hairy Parents - (1975) - short story
109 - Sense of Wonder - (1957) - short story
117 - Long Way - short story and Susan Chandler (variant of The Long Way 1964)
127 - Critical Angle - (1958) - short story
135 - Artifact - (1957) - short story
143 - Jetsam - (1953) - short story
153 - Moonfall - (1955) - short story
159 - The Idol - (1959) - short story
169 - Hindsight - short story
179 - The Last Hunt - [John Grimes] - (1973) - novelette
197 - Seeing Eye - (1960) - short story
211 - The Soul Machine - [John Grimes] - (1969) - short story
223 - Journey's End - [John Grimes] - (1979) - short story
237 - Finishing Touch - (1952) - short story
247 - Man Alone - short story
265 - The Cage - (1957) - short story
277 - The Kingsolving's Planet Irregulars - (1969) - novelette
303 - Giant Killer - (1945) - novelette
341 - Bibliography (From Sea to Shining Star) - essay by uncredited
349 - Afterword (From Sea to Shining Star) - essay by Susan Chandler and Keith Curtis

Glory Planet

Mystery and Intrigue on the Waterways of the Planet Venus...

The Venus colony was settled and thriving, when suddenly all communication from Earth ceased. No messages. No transports. Nothing.

Insistent that science had lead their home into the depths of nuclear war, the colonists rejected technology, burning books, killing scientists, and hunkering down in the safety of a the newly formed Venusian theocracy of Beulah Land.

Only the city-state of Albany remained independent. Their machines were tolerated as a necessity--until airplanes, gunships, and weapons started patrolling the border. With war between the colonies imminent, Saint-in-Charge Adelie Dale and First Mate Whitley of Beulah Land's Richmond Queen must make heads-or-tails out of the hazardous Venusian politics... before a greater enemy obliterates them all!

The Rim of Space

All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead

The Rim of Space is the first of A. Bertram Chandler's series featuring the "Rimrunners", who patrol the outer edge of the galaxy. The hero, Dereck Calver, joins the Rimrunners abroad the aptly named spaceship, The Forlorn Bitch, in an early attempt to escape the horrors of his past life.Here he meets the fated but beautiful Calamity Jane who brings disaster to Calver and his crew. Traveling through the darkness and loneliness to the planets, Tharn and Groller, the crew encounter hostility, espionage, space ghosts and storms, which test their comradeship to the limit. Calver thought he had nothing left to lose but realized too late that "on the Rim, negation is too close to the living." This thrilling nautical adventure in outer space combines all the elements that have earned Bertram Chandler the reputation as "the C.S. Forester of space fiction.”

Who Can Own the Stars?

Mackey Chandler

The Kingdom of Central's sovereign, Heather Anderson, set L1 as a limit for armed ships to respect, de-militarizing the Solar System. Now that the Earth nations are experimenting with star drives they want to challenge this limit anew. The USNA starship, Constitution is intercepted violating the L1 limit and brings them to the brink of war again. Will Peer Jeffrey Singh be able to negotiate a compromise? Do the Earthies mean to bargain in good faith? The Spacers need to buy time but things on Earth are always so complicated...

Wheelers

Jack Cohen
Ian Stewart

In the year 2270, with travel to the nearby planets well established, a bizarre discovery is made on Callisto, the eighth moon of Jupiter. Dozens upon dozens of strange wheeled artifacts-wheelers- are found buried beneath the icy surface. No one knows what they were used for and who left them in our solar system. At the same time, it is discovered that the moons of Jupiter have moved from their age-old positions. A quickly formed expedition finds that Jupiter is inhabited by a race of balloon-like aliens, who defend their world against comet strikes by moving their moons using gravitational technology. This time, though, their redirection is aiming an incoming comet directly at Earth! Communication at first proves impossible, but an Earth child who has an intuitive understanding of animal behavior becomes the key to contacting them-and joining forces with them to save the world.

Himmler's War

Robert Conroy

Only days after Normandy, Hitler is taken out of the equation and Heinrich Himmler, brutal head of the SS, assumes control of the Reich. On the Allied side, there is confusion. Should attempts be made to negotiate with the new government or should unconditional surrender still be the only option? With the specter of a German super-weapon moving closer to completion and the German generals finally allowed to fight the kind of war at which they are masters, the allies are pushed toward a course of accommodation or even defeat.

Will the soldiers of the Grand Alliance find the courage and conviction to fight on in the face of such daunting odds? And can alliance leaders put into place a new plan in time to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat by the German war machine? A new and terrible battle for a free world is on.

Dennis Danvers

All the Snake Handlers I Know Are Dead, by Dennis Danvers, is dark, magical realism tale about a lone woman building a cabin in the mountains of Appalachia and the strange man she encounters there.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

The Church of Accelerated Redemption

Aliette de Bodard
Gareth L. Powell

Installing a network for the Church of Accelerated Redemption is just another crappy job in a series of crappy jobs for Lisa, an American engineer stuck doing menial work in Paris. That the Church uses artificial intelligences to power its never-ending prayer machines doesn't interest her at all: they're paying, and she needs enough money to survive in an increasingly crumbling world. Until a demonstration outside the Church's headquarters, and the appearance of Stéphane, an enigmatic man Lisa finds herself powerfully drawn to. What lies beneath his headscarf, why is he so interested in the Church--and how far will she be willing to go in order to earn his trust?

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Shine: An Anthology of Optimistic Science-Fiction (2010), edited by Jetse de Vries.

The First Female President

Michael De Kler

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #7 April 2007. It can also be found in the anthology Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine (2007), edited by Sean Wallace and Nick Mamatas.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood's Guide to Dangerous Fairies

Guillermo del Toro
Christopher Golden

Don't Be Afraid of the Dark: Blackwood's Guide to Dangerous Fairies is a dark and disturbing illustrated novel based on the world of Guillermo del Toro's film "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark." Taking place a hundred years before the movie begins, the book chronicles the travels and explorations of Emerson Blackwood, a young and ambitious natural scientist who quickly discovers there is a mysterious world beyond what his education and peers understand.

Follow Blackwood as he travels, discovering more and more about this secret world and the creatures that inhabit it -- creatures that Blackwood quickly realizes are just as interested in him as he is in them, particularly a long-lived and dangerous group of beings that have had centuries of encounters with humanity, creatures that live by eating enamel and bone....

The book, co-written by del Toro and the award-winning Christopher Golden, features illustrations by the director of "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark," Troy Nixey.

Pan's Labyrinth: The Labyrinth of the Faun

Guillermo del Toro
Cornelia Funke

Fans of dark fairy-tales like The Hazel Wood and The Cruel Prince will relish this atmospheric and absorbing book based on Guillermo del Toro's critically acclaimed movie.

Oscar winning writer-director Guillermo del Toro and bestselling author Cornelia Funke have come together to transform del Toro's hit movie Pan's Labyrinth into an epic and dark fantasy novel for readers of all ages, complete with haunting illustrations and enchanting short stories that flesh out the folklore of this fascinating world.

This spellbinding tale takes readers to a sinister, magical, and war-torn world filled with richly drawn characters like trickster fauns, murderous soldiers, child-eating monsters, courageous rebels, and a long-lost princess hoping to be reunited with her family.

A brilliant collaboration between masterful storytellers that's not to be missed.

The Shape of Water

Guillermo del Toro
Daniel Kraus

The 2018 Academy Award's Best Picture of the Year and New York Times-bestselling novel, The Shape of Water.

From visionary storyteller Guillermo del Toro and celebrated author Daniel Kraus comes this haunting, heartbreaking love story.

It is 1962, and Elisa Esposito--mute her whole life, orphaned as a child--is struggling with her humdrum existence as a janitor working the graveyard shift at Baltimore's Occam Aerospace Research Center. Were it not for Zelda, a protective coworker, and Giles, her loving neighbor, she doesn't know how she'd make it through the day.

Then, one fateful night, she sees something she was never meant to see, the Center's most sensitive asset ever: an amphibious man, captured in the Amazon, to be studied for Cold War advancements. The creature is terrifying but also magnificent, capable of language and of understanding emotions... and Elisa can't keep away. Using sign language, the two learn to communicate. Soon, affection turns into love, and the creature becomes Elisa's sole reason to live.

But outside forces are pressing in. Richard Strickland, the obsessed soldier who tracked the asset through the Amazon, wants nothing more than to dissect it before the Russians get a chance to steal it. Elisa has no choice but to risk everything to save her beloved. With the help of Zelda and Giles, Elisa hatches a plan to break out the creature. But Strickland is on to them. And the Russians are, indeed, coming.

Trollhunters

Daniel Kraus
Guillermo del Toro

From Guillermo del Toro comes the book that inspired the Netflix Animated Series TROLLHUNTERS!

"You are food. Those muscles you flex to walk, lift, and talk? They're patties of meat topped with chewy tendon. That skin you've paid so much attention to in mirrors? It's delicious to the right tongues, a casserole of succulent tissue. And those bones that give you the strength to make your way in the world? They rattle between teeth as the marrow is sucked down slobbering throats. These facts are unpleasant but useful. There are things out there, you see, that don't cower in holes to be captured by us and cooked over our fires. These things have their own ways of trapping their kills, their own fires, their own appetites."

Jim Sturges is your typical teen in suburban San Bernardino-- one with an embarrassingly overprotective dad, a best friend named "Tubby" who shares his hatred of all things torturous (like gym class), and a crush on a girl who doesn't know he exists. But everything changes for Jim when a 45-year old mystery resurfaces, threatening the lives of everyone in his seemingly sleepy town. Soon Jim has to team up with a band of unlikely (and some un- human) heroes to battle the monsters he never knew existed.

From the minds of horror geniuses Guillermo del Toro and Daniel Kraus comes a new illustrated novel about the fears that move in unseen places.

A Slow Day at the Gallery

A. M. Dellamonica

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, October-November 2002. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 8 (2003), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer.

Reprieve from Paradise

H. Chandler Elliott

The novel is set after an atomic war and the world is run by Polynesians. The hero discovers a plot to turn the earth on its axis in order to create an Antarctic utopia.

A Safe Place to Be

This short story originally appeared on Strange Horizons, 28 September 2009. It can also be found in the anthology Tails of Wonder and Imagination (2010), edited by Ellen Datlow. The story is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Read the full story for free at Strange Horizons.

Above It All

This short story originally appeared in Fantasy Magazine, January 2010. It is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Read the full story for free at Fantasy Magazine.

After All

This short story originally appeared in the collection Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories (2002), and was reprinted on Strange Horizons, 30 May 2011. It can also be found in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Read the full story for free at Strange Horizons.

All Of Us Can Almost...

This story of birds who have lost the power of flight is about the confluence of gender roles, power plays, sex, pride, and desperation. So of course it is very funny.

This story originally appeared in on Sci Fiction, November 17, 2004. It can also be found in the anthologies Science Fiction: The Best of 2004, edited by Karen Haber and Jonathan Strahan, The James Tiptree Award Anthology 2 (2006), edited by Karen Joy Fowler, Pat Murphy, Debbie Notkin and Jeffrey D. Smith, and Digital Domains: A Decade of Science Fiction & Fantasy (2010), edited by Ellen Datlow. The story is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Read this story online for free at the Sci Fiction archive.

Boys

This story explores war from typically Emshwilleresque viewpoints. Soldiers are unsure of who they are, who they are fighting, or why. War is the question, not the subject.

Two armies of men exist in the mountains on either side of a valley. The women live in villages between them and bear sons and daughters for both sides, though their sons are always stolen to join the war effort. The men have been fighting so long, no one even knows how it started. The women, however, have decided to end it--no matter what the price.

This story originally appeared on Sci Fiction, January 28, 2003. It can also be found in the anthologies The James Tiptree Award Anthology 1 (2005) and Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology (2015). The story is included in the collections I Live With You (2005) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Read this story online for free at the Sci Fiction archive.

Carmen Dog

In this dangerous and sharp-eyed look at men, women, and the world we live in, everything is changing: women are turning into animals, and animals are turning into women. Pooch, a golden setter, is turning into a beautiful woman -- although she still has some of her canine traits: she just can't shuck that loyalty thing -- and her former owner has turned into a snapping turtle. When the turtle tries to take a bite of her own baby, Pooch snatches the baby and runs. Meanwhile, there's a dangerous wolverine on the loose, men are desperately trying to figure out what's going on, and Pooch discovers what she really wants: to sing Carmen.

Carmen Dog is the funny feminist classic that inspired writers Pat Murphy and Karen Joy Fowler to create the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award.

Chicken Icarus

This short story originally appeared in Cavalier, October 1966. It can also be found in the anthology SF 12 (1968), edited by Judith Merril. The story is included in the collections Joy in Our Cause (1974), The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories (1990), and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

Creature

Nebula Award winning short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October-November 2001. It can also be found in the Nebula Awards Showcase 2004, edited by Vonda N. McIntyre and the collections Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories (2002) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

Day at the Beach

This short story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1959. It can also be found in the anthologies:

The 5th Annual of the Year's Best S-F (1960), edited by Judith Merril
An ABC of Science Fiction (1966), edited by Tom Boardman, Jr.
SF: The Best of the Best (1967), edited by Judith Merril
Beyond Armageddon: Twenty-One Sermons to the Dead (1985), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Walter M. Miller, Jr.
The Great SF Stories 21 (1959) (1990), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Isaac Asimov

The story is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

Grandma

Nebula Award nominated short story. It was originally published in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2002. It can be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF 8 (2003), edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell, Superheroes (2013), edited by Rich Horton and the Nebula Awards Showcase 2005, edited by Jack Dann. The story is collected in Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories (2002) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

Read the full story for free at belletrista.com.

Hunting Machine

In the future, a couple go on a hunting trip of the contemporaneously luxurious variety, with the aid of a robot which takes the work and the risk out of the enterprise, along with much of the point.

This short story originally appeared in Science Fiction Stories, May 1957. It can also be found in the anthologies:

The Best Science Fiction Stories and Novels: 9th Series (1958), edited by T. E. Dikty
Science Fiction Inventions (1967), edited by Damon Knight
The Arbor House Treasury of Modern Science Fiction (1980), edited by Robert Silverberg and Martin H. Greenberg
Machines That Kill (1984), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Fred Saberhagen
The Great SF Stories 19 (1957) (1989), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg

The story is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

I Live with You

I Live With You is a sophisticated collection of fierce, compassionate fiction marked by an absurdist sense of humor. A contemporary of Jorge Luis Borges, Italo Calvino, and Fay Weldon, Carol Emshwiller has been lauded for her originality and lyricism. These striking short stories skillfully explore themes of war, seduction, and censorship: An Eden emerges from the wreckage of burning books in "The Library," "Boys" sets a weary general and his sons against a village of determined mothers, and "I Live With You (and You Don't Know It)" brings a necessary chaos from an uninvited guest.

Table of Contents:

Do Not Remove This Tag - essay by Eileen Gunn
The Library - (2004) - short story
I Live with You and You Don't Know It - (2005) - short story
The Prince of Mules - (2002) - short story
Boys - (2003) - short story
The Doctor - (2002) - short story
Bountiful City - short story
Coo People - (2003) - short story
The Assassin, or Being the Loved One - (2004) - short story
See No Evil, Feel No Joy - short story
Gliders Though They Be - (2004) - short story
My General - (2004) - novelette
Josephine - (2002) - short story
WisConsin Speech - essay

I Live with You

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, March 2005. It can also be found in the anthologies The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 17 (2006), edited by Stephen Jones and the Nebula Awards Showcase 2007, as well as the collections I Live with You (2005) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Mister Boots

Bobby Lassiter has some important secrets-but it’s not as if anyone’s paying attention. It’s the middle of the Depression, and while Bobby’s mother and older sister knit all day to make money, Bobby explores the California desert around their home. That’s how Bobby finds Boots. He’s under their one half-dead tree, halfdead himself. Right away he’s a secret, too-a secret to be fed and clothed and taken care of, and even more of a secret because of what he can do. Sometimes Boots is a man. Sometimes he’s (really, truly) a horse. He and Bobby both know something about magic-and those who read this book will, too.

Moon Songs

This short story originally appeared in the collection The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories (1990). It can also be found in the anthololgy The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifth Annual Collection (1992), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, and the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

Mrs. Jones

This short story originally appeared in Omni, August 1993. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Seventh Annual Collection (1994), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, and Blood and Other Cravings: Original Stories of Vampires and Vampirism by Today's Greatest Writers of Dark Fiction (2011), edited by Ellen Datlow. The story is included in the collections Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories (2002) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

Read the story for free at Small Beer Press.

No Time Like the Present

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, July 2010. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011, edited by Rich Horton and Lightspeed: Year One (2011), edited by John Joseph Adams. It is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

On Not Going Extinct

This short story originally appeared on Strange Horizons, 24 May 2010. It is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

Read the full story for free at Strange Horizons.

Pelt

This short story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, November 1958 and was reprinted in Venture Science Fiction (UK), August 1964. It can also be foundin the anthologies SF: '59: The Year's Greatest Science Fiction and Fantasy (1959), edited by Judith Merril, A Pocketful of Stars (1971), edited by Damon Knight, The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016), edited by Jeff and Ann VanderMeer, and The Future Is Female!: 25 Classic Science Fiction Stories by Women, from Pulp Pioneers to Ursula K. Le Guin (2018), edited by Lisa Yaszek. It is included in the collections The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories (1990) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

Quill

Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Firebirds Rising: An Anthology of Original Science Fiction and Fantasy (2006), edited by Sharyn November. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 12 (2012), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 2 (2016).

The Circular Library of Stones

What if the world ended on your birthday--and no one came? What if your grandmother was a superhero? Recommended to readers of Judy Budnitz, Geoff Ryman, Aimee Bender, and Grace Paley this fourth collection by the wonderful Carol Emshwiller includes the Nebula winning story "Creature."

Table of Contents:

Grandma - (2002) - shortstory
The Paganini of Jacob's Gully - (2002) - shortstory
Modillion - (1994) - shortstory
Mrs. Jones - (1993) - shortstory
Acceptance Speech - (1990) - shortstory
One Part of the Self Is Always Tall and Dark - (1977) - shortstory
Foster Mother - (2001) - shortstory
Creature - (2001) - shortstory
The Project - (2001) - shortstory
It Comes from Deep Inside - (2002) - shortstory
Prejudice and Pride - (2002) - shortstory
Report to the Men's Club - (2002) - shortstory
Overlooking - (2002) - shortstory
Water Master - (2002) - shortstory
Abominable - (1980) - shortstory
Desert Child - (2002) - shortstory
Venus Rising - (1992) - novelette
Nose - (2002) - shortstory
After All - (2002) - shortstory

This short story originally appeared in Omni, February 1987, and was reprinted on Strange Horizons, 30 April 2001. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Fantasy: First Annual Collection (1988), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, and Omni Visions Two (1994), edited by Ellen Datlow. The story is included in the collections The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories (1990) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2012).

Read the full story for free at Strange Horizons.

The Mount

Charley is an athlete. He wants to be painted crossing the finish line, in his racing silks, with a medal around his neck. But Charley isn't a runner. He is a human mount, the property of one of the alien invaders called Hoots. Charley hasn't seen his mother in years, and his father is hiding out in the mountains with the other Free Humans. The Hoots own the world, but the humans want it back. Charley knows how to be a good mount-now he's going to have to learn how to be a human being.

This remarkable novel, winner of the 2002 Philip K. Dick Award, should be read by every fan of speculative fiction, teenagers and adults alike.

The Project

This short story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, August 2001. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifteenth Annual Collection (2002), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. The story is included in the collections Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories (2002) and The Collected Stories of Carol Emshwiller Vol. 1 (2011).

The Secret City

The Start of the End of It All and Other Stories

Written in a voice that is accessible to both mainstream and genre readers, this gripping tale contains a contemporary political subtext that is packed with humanism, complexity, and subtle humor. This inventive story centers on a mysterious enclave protecting a lost culture, a hidden city in the wilderness where stranded aliens struggle to preserve their fragile society. Hoping for a better life, many have fled the Secret City in favor of trying to survive in the harsh human world; others remain concealed, living out a fading memory in hope of deliverance. When the mythical rescuers suddenly arrive, insisting on an immediate interplanetary return, these very-human aliens discover that neither world is truly their own.

Eighteen stories deal with alien worlds, extraterrestrial invaders, crossbreeds, animals, and lonely city-dwellers.

Table of Contents:

The Start of the End of It All - (1981) - short story
Looking Down - (1990) - short story
Eclipse - (1986) - short story
The Circular Library of Stones - (1987) - short story
Fledged - (1988) - short story
Vilcabamba - (1987) - short story
Acceptance Speech - short story
If the Word Was to the Wise - short story
Living at the Center - (1989) - short story
Moon Songs - short story
But Soft, What Light ... - (1966) - short story
Pelt - (1958) - short story
Début - (1970) - short story
The Institute - (1970) - short story
Woman Waiting - (1970) - short story
Chicken Icarus - (1966) - short story
Sex and/or Mr. Morrison - (1967) - short story
Glory, Glory - short story

Venus Rising

The Cross-Time Accountants Fail To Kill Hitler Because Chuck Berry Does The Twist

Science fiction chapbook based on "The Aquatic Ape" and "The Descent of Woman" by Elaine Morgan. A stunning story of an alien exiled to an exotic world, the peaceful inhabitants he finds there and his attempts to "civilize" them. Collected in Report to the Men's Club and Other Stories and anthologized in Flying Cups and Saucers: Gender Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy (1998).

The River Ophelia

Justine Ettler

Justine Ettler's The River Ophelia asks questions about sex and power in a postmodern, postfeminist, urban world. Ettler's text discloses a genealogy of women, transposing the Marquis de Sade's Justine and Juliette and the pre-Raphaelite river Ophelia of Millais to a contemporary urban culture, in the company of the flaneur, Sade and the decadent intellectual, Bataille. The nineteenth century's fascination with relations of sex, death and power are reconfigured in a late twentieth century context, but this time, as Ettler tells it, power is scrutinised from below. She began the book, she says, by wondering about how it felt to be a female character in Brett Easton Ellis' American Psycho; how the women of the Brat Pack genre were implicated in, and complicit with, its ruses of power.

C. C. Finlay

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, May 2012.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Beautiful Men

WFA nominated short story. It originally appeared in the anthology Visitants: Stories of Fallen Angels & Heavenly Hosts (2010), edited by Stephen Jones.

Hell Train

Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive... Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all feature in this classically styled horror.

Imagine there was a supernatural chiller that Hammer Films never made. A grand epic produced at the studio's peak, which played like a cross between the Dracula and Frankenstein films and Dr Terror's House Of Horrors...

Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the 'Arkangel' races through the war-torn countryside, they must find out:

What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of?

What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them?

Why is their fellow passenger the army brigadier so feared by his own men?

And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself?

Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all in a classically styled horror novel.

Nyctophobia

An original thriller from bestselling author Christopher Fowler that reinventing the haunted house story.

Newly-married architect Callie and her wealthy husband Mateo move to Hyperion House, a grand old home in southern Spain. It's an eccentric place built in front of a cliff: serene and beautiful, but eerily symmetrical, and cunningly styled so that half the house is flooded with light, and half - locked up and neglected - is shrouded in darkness. Unemployed and feeling isolated in a foreign country, Callie determines to research the history of the curious building.

But the past is sometimes best left alone. Uncovering the folklore of the house's strange history, Callie is drawn into darkness and delusion. As a teenager Callie was afraid of the dark, and now with her adolescent nyctophobia returning she becomes convinced there's someone in the darkened rooms. Somewhere in the darkness lies the truth about Hyperion House.

But some doors should never be opened.

The Sand Men

Best-selling author Christopher Fowler returns with a brand new thriller set amongst the Ozlike world of Dubai's glittering skyscrapers and deadly sand dunes.

High-luxury resorts are growing from the ancient sands of Dubai; new playgrounds for the world's super-rich. Dream World, the latest and largest of these bubble towns of unreality to emerge, is ambitious, grandiose and in trouble. Roy Brook was a failing architect, now he's Dream World's latest hire and rising star, brought in to fix the failures that threaten the site's grand opening. But for his wife, Lea, life has been irrevocably changed; living in a gated community, she finds herself a virtual prisoner in a land where the wives appear happy to follow behind their husbands in the isolated shade of their luxury homes.

At least there are a few friendly outsiders who don't enjoy the conformity of the ex-pat community - until one night, when the most outspoken one, Milo, is killed in a suspicious hit-andrun. Milo's death is the first in a string of terrible accidents that divide the foreign workers, as they start to blame migrants, Arabs and even each other. Lea is convinced that deliberate acts of cruelty are being committed - but is there a real threat to her life, or is she becoming paranoid? And what role does her estranged 15 year-old daughter Cara play?

What happens in a world where only the rich are important? Welcome to a future that's five minutes away, where rebellion against conformity can lead to the unthinkable...

Flesh and Blood

D. A. Fowler

Deidi is a reporter writing about a string of brutal murders--and dreaming about them before they happen. Camisa is a housewife living a waking nightmare--and having the same dreams as Deidi. But the connection between them is more than just coincidence. It is, in fact, pure evil....

The Book of the Damned

D. A. Fowler

Rosalyn Vaughn hasn't been feeling well. Eerie colors, smells and sounds are making her feel dizzy and disoriented. It isn't something she ate. It isn't something she smoked. It's something she read.

Rosalyn loves horror novels, but the last volume she borrowed from the library shouldn't be read late at night or, for that matter, in broad daylight. It's called The Book of the Damned, and its readers don't simply thrill to the terrors revealed between its covers, they live them--shrieking, relentless nightmares of madness, suicide, and murder.

Now Rosalyn is about to join the other tortured innocents who checked out The Book of the Damned... and paid with their immortal souls...

The Devil's End

D. A. Fowler

FOR SEVENTY YEARS, HE HAS WAITED...

In Sharon Valley, at teen slumber parties and around campfires, the story is told. Seventy years ago, on Halloween night, Nathaniel and Myrantha Ober made a pact sealed by bloody human sacrifice...a pact with the devil himself.

THIS HALLOWEEN, EVIL WILL RETURN...

Nancy Snell is the most popular girl in high school. She is beautiful and wealthy, and she has discovered the key to unlimited power. The occult force that was summoned to this sleepy town decades ago. She has already chosen the perfect victim needed to perform the ritual: the new girl in town, Lana Bremmers.

THE DEVIL'S END

Once again the town of Sharon Valley will be the doorway to the legions of darkness. And the devil will have his payment in blood, on an even more terrifying Halloween night.

Suspended Heart

Heather Fowler

In an explosion of love's metaphors, Fowler's debut collection of stories, SUSPENDED HEART, takes on American fabulism with a cast of unexpected heroines in the narratives of life and loss: women whose hearts fall out at public malls, women whose bodies bloom with changing seasons, women who sprout blades or have multiple eyes, sleep as snakes, or birth saints like lapis lazuli babies. Where there is struggle and sadness, there is also humor: Fowler's fictive voice has been compared to both Franz Kafka and Donald Barthelme. There's a fearlessness to this prose, a melody of life and magic and loss.

Selected stories in this volume have been published online and in Australia.

Always

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2007 and can also be found in the Nebula Awards Showcase 2009, edited by Ellen Datlow.

Nebula Award winning short story. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, April-May 2007. The story can also be found in the anthologies Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition, edited by Rich Horton, Year's Best SF 13, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer and the Nebula Awards Showcase 2009, edited by Ellen Datlow. It is included in the collection What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010).

Artificial Things

An extraordinary collection of short stories from the award-winning author of Sarah Canary; the revised edition of this anthology of 13 tales also features a new foreword by the author.

Table of Contents

Foreword (1992) essay
The Lake Was Full of Artificial Things (1985) short story
The Poplar Street Study (1985) short story
Face Value (1986) short story
The Dragon's Head (1986) short story
The War of the Roses (1985) novelette
Contention (1986) short story
Recalling Cinderella (1985) short story
Other Planes (1986) short story
The Gate of Ghosts (1986) novelette
The Bog People (1986) short story
Wild Boys: Variations on a Theme (1986) short story
The View from Venus (1986) novelette
Praxis (1985) short story

Black Glass

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology Full Spectrum 3 (1991), edited by Lou Aronica, Amy Stout and Betsy Mitchell. The sotry is included in the collection Black Glass (1998).

Black Glass

Carry Nation is on the loose again, breaking up discos, smashing topless bars, preaching clean living to men more intent on booze and babes. And what of Tonto, ever-faithful companion of the Lone Ranger, turning 40 without so much as a birthday call from the masked man? In these and 13 other short fictions, Fowler once again demonstrates the imaginative virtuosity that is fast winning her critical acclaim.

Table of Contents:

Black Glass - (1991) - novelette
Contention - (1986) - shortstory
Shimabara - (1995) - shortstory
The Elizabeth Complex - (1996) - shortstory
Go Back - (1998) - shortstory
The Travails - shortstory
Lieserl - (1990) - shortstory
Letters From Home - (1987) - shortstory
Duplicity - (1989) - shortstory
The Faithful Companion at Forty - (1987) - shortstory
The Brew - (1995) - shortstory
Lily Red - (1988) - shortstory
The Black Fairy's Curse - (1997) - shortstory
The View from Venus - (1986) - novelette
Game Night at the Fox and Goose - (1989) - shortstory

Booth's Ghost

Shirley Jackson Award and World Fantasy Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in he collection What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010). The story can also be found in the anthology Ghosts: Recent Hauntings (2012), edited by Paula Guran.

Face Value

Game Night at the Fox & Goose

This short story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, November 1986 and was reprinted in Lightspeed, July 2011. It can also be found in the anthologies:

The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: A 40th Anniversary Anthology (1989), edited by Edward L. Ferman
Future on Ice (1998), edited by Orson Scott Card
Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century (2001), edited by Orson Scott Card
Alien Contact (2012), edited by Marty Halpern

The story is included in the collection Artificial Things (1986).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

This short story originally appeared in Interzone, #29 May-June 1989, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, October 2016. It can also be found in the anthologies What Might Have Been? Volume 1: Alternate Empires (1989), edited by Gregory Benford and Martin H. Greenberg, and Women of Wonder: The Contemporary Years: SF by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s (1995), edited by Pamela Sargent. The story is included in the collection Black Glass (1998).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Halfway People

This short story originally appeared in the anthology My Mother She Killed Me, My Father He Ate Me (2010), edited by Kate Bernheimer, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, March 2012. It can also be found in the anthology Beyond the Woods: Fairy Tales Retold (2016), edited by Paula Guram. The story is included in the collection What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010).

Read the full story for free at Lighstpeed.

Lieserl

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally apperared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, July 1990. It can aslo be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fourth Annual Collection (1991), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, Nebula Awards 26 (1992), edited by James Morrow, and Feeling Very Strange: The Slipstream Anthology (2006) edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel. The story is included in the collection Black Glass (1998).

Lily Red

This short story originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, July 1988 and was reprinted in Lightspeed, March 2013. It is included in the collections Peripheral Vision (1990) and Black Glass (1998).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Persephone of the Crows

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, May-June 2017. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2018, edited by Rich Horton.

Sarah Canary

The Washington Territory, 1873. The woman who appeared without warning in the forest clearing was small, dressed all in black, and of indeterminate age. Her hair was cropped and she was babbling in some incomprehensible tongue. Chin Ah Kin thought she might be a ghost-lover--an immortal sent by the gods to enchant him. His more practical uncle thought otherwise: a white woman in a Chinese railway workers' camp could only be trouble. He ordered Chin to return her to her white world.

Thus begins Sarah Canary, Karen Joy Fowler's bewitching odyssey of the Old West that speaks across a hundred years of American experience. As Sarah Canary and her raging entourage move across the green landscape of the Pacific Northwest, each new encounter with America's boisterous frontier offers intriguing insights into the extravagant myths and legends of the past which have evolved into the pillars of our national heritage. Part adventure story, part history lesson, part flight of marvelous fantasy, Sarah Canary achieves that true rarity of excellence: a novel of ideas and wit that can raise tears as well as laughter.

Standing Room Only

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated short story. It was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction, August 1997. The story can also be found in the anthology The Secret History of Science Fiction (2009), edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel and the collection What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010).

Read the full story for free at the author's SFWA page.

The Black Fairy's Curse

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Black Swan, White Raven (1997), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, November 2015. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Eleventh Annual Collection (1998), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling, and Happily Ever After (2011), edited by John Klima. The story is included in the collection Black Glass (1998).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

The Dark

Nebula nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1991. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection (1992), edited by Gardner Dozois, Nebula Awards 27 (1993), edited by James Morrow, The Best from Fantasy & Science Fiction: A 45th Anniversary Anthology (1994), edited by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Edward L. Ferman, and The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories (2012), edited by Jeff VanderMeer and Ann VanderMeer. It is collected in What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2012).

The Elizabeth Complex

The Faithful Companion at Forty

Nebula Award nominated short story. It first appeared in Crank! #6, Winter 1996. It can also be found in the anthology Nebula Awards 33, edited by Connie Willis (1999) and the collection Black Glass (1998).

Read the full story for free at the author's SFWA page.

Hugo, Nebula and Locus Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, July 1987. The story can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection (1988), edited by Gardner Dozois and the collection Black Glass (1998).

The Gate of Ghosts

The Lake Was Full of Artificial Things

This novelette originally appeared in the collection Artificial Things (1986). It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection (1987).

This short story originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, October 1985. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Third Annual Collection (1986), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Norton Book of Science Fiction: North American Science Fiction, 1960-1990, edited by Ursula K. Le Guin and Brian Attebery, and The Big Book of Science Fiction (2016), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. The story is included in the collection Artificial Things (1986).

The Last Worders

This short story originally appeared in Lady Churchill's Robot* Wristlet, #20, June 2007, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, Issue 109, June 2019. It can also be found in the anthologies Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2008 Edition, edited by Rich Horton, and The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twenty-First Annual Collection (2008), edited by Kelly Link, Gavin J. Grant and Ellen Datlow. The story is included in the collection What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

The Pelican Bar

World Fantasy Award and Shirley Jackson Award winning short story. It originally appeared in the anthology Eclipse Three: New Science Fiction and Fantasy (2009), edited by Jonathan Strahan. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Four (2010), edited by Jonathan Strahan. The story is included in the collections What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010) and The Science of Herself (2013).

The War of the Roses

We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

This novelette originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, December 1985. The story is included in the collection Artificial Things (1986). A chapbook edition appeared in 1991.

Meet the Cooke family: Mother and Dad, brother Lowell, sister Fern, and Rosemary, who begins her story in the middle. She has her reasons. "I was raised with a chimpanzee," she explains. "I tell you Fern was a chimp and already you aren't thinking of her as my sister. But until Fern's expulsion... she was my twin, my funhouse mirror, my whirlwind other half and I loved her as a sister." As a child, Rosemary never stopped talking. Then, something happened, and Rosemary wrapped herself in silence.

In We Are All Completely beside Ourselves, Karen Joy Fowler weaves her most accomplished work to date-a tale of loving but fallible people whose well-intentioned actions lead to heartbreaking consequences.

What I Didn't See

What I Didn't See and Other Stories

Nebula Award winning and Tipree nominated short story. Originally published by Sci Fiction. Later collected in What I Didn't See and Other Stories (2010) and anthologized in The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror: Sixteenth Annual Collection (2003), in The James Tiptree Award Anthology 1 (2005), and Daughters of Earth: Feminist Science Fiction in the Twentieth Century (2006).

Read this story online for free at the Sci Fiction archive.

In her moving and elegant new collection, New York Times bestseller Karen Joy Fowler writes about John Wilkes Booth's younger brother, a one-winged man, a California cult, and a pair of twins, and she digs into our past, present, and future in the quiet, witty, and incisive way only she can.

The sinister and the magical are always lurking just below the surface: for a mother who invents a fairy-tale world for her son in "Halfway People"; for Edwin Booth in "Edwin's Ghost," haunted by his fame as "America's Hamlet" and his brother's terrible actions; for Norah, a rebellious teenager facing torture in "The Pelican Bar" as she confronts Mama Strong, the sadistic boss of a rehabilitation facility; for the narrator recounting her descent in "What I Didn't See."

With clear and insightful prose, Fowler's stories measure the human capacities for hope and despair, brutality and kindness. This collection, which includes two Nebula Award winners, is sure to delight readers, even as it pulls the rug out from underneath them.

Table of Contents:

The Pelican Bar - (2009) - short story
Booth's Ghost - short story
The Last Worders - (2007) - short story
The Dark - (1991) - short story
Always - (2007) - short story
Familiar Birds - (2006) - shortfiction
Private Grave 9 - (2003) - short story
The Marianas Islands - (1996) - short story
Halfway People - (2010) - short story
Standing Room Only - (1997) - short story
What I Didn't See - (2002) - short story
King Rat - (2003) - short story

Younger Women

How Meersh the Bedeviler Lost His Toes

WFA nominated short story. It originally appeared in Subterranean Online, Summer 2011. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Six (2012), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2012, edited by Rich Horton.

Read the full story for free at Subterranean.

Gregory Frost

Sturgeon Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 1998. The story is included in the collection Attack of the Jazz Giants and Other Stories (2005).

The Memory of Animals

Claire Fuller

In the face of a pandemic, an unprepared world scrambles to escape the mysterious disease causing sensory damage, nerve loss, and, in most cases, death. Neffy, a disgraced and desperately indebted twenty-seven-year-old marine biologist, registers for an experimental vaccine trial in London?perhaps humanity's last hope for a cure. Though isolated from the chaos outside, she and the other volunteers?Rachel, Leon, Yahiko, and Piper?cannot hide from the mistakes that led them there.

As London descends into chaos outside the hospital windows, Neffy befriends Leon, who before the pandemic had been working on a controversial technology that allows users to revisit their memories. She withdraws into projections of her past?a childhood bisected by divorce, a recent love affair, her obsessive research with octopuses, and the one mistake that ended her career. The lines between past, present, and future begin to blur, and Neffy is left with defining questions: Who can she trust? Why can't she forgive herself? How should she live, if she survives?

Love in the Time of Cholera

Gabriel Garcia Marquez

In their youth, Florentino Ariza and Fermino Daza fall passionately in love. When Fermina eventually chooses to marry a wealthy, well-born doctor, Florentino is devastated, but he is a romantic. As he rises in his business career he whiles away the years in 622 affairs--yet he reserves his heart for Fermina. Her husband dies at last, and Florentino purposefully attends the funeral. Fifty years, nine months, and four days after he first declared his love for Fermina, he will do so again.

With humorous sagacity and consummate craft, García Márquez traces an exceptional half-century story of unrequited love. Though it seems never to be conveniently contained, love flows through the novel in many wonderful guises--joyful, melancholy, enriching, ever surprising.

Wanderground: Stories of the Hill Women

Sally Miller Gearhart

This is the fantastic story of a group of women who have designed a world of peace and preserved a rich heritage of memory that ultimately changes the world they live in.

In the futuristic Wanderground, men remain in the cities, while many women who have been persecuted flee to the hills. There they share their stories of survival, remembrance, and self-discovery. Years later, expressing their freedom in unique ways, the hill women have gained telepathic abilities and flying techniques, while women in the cities still struggle for enlightenment. Not only are readers led to marvel at these "supernatural" abilities, they are led to examine their own views on womanhood and how women are similar to and different from men.

Contents:

1 - Opening - short story

7 - Red Waters - short story

10 - Alaka's Journey - short story

18 - A Morning Together - short story

28 - Clana and the Snakes - short story

33 - Sisterblood - short story

43 - The Deep Cella - short story

53 - Krueva and the Pony - short story

60 - Ijeme's Story - short story

69 - A Time to Sing - short story

77 - Pelagine Stretches - novelette

93 - Diana and the Moon - short story

102 - Windriding - short story

110 - A Man in the City - short story

118 - The Gatherstretch - short story

133 - On the Way to the Kochlias - short story

138 - The Remember Rooms - novelette

167 - Meeting the Gentles - short story

182 - Voki at the Welling Place - short story

188 - The Telling of the Days of Artilidea - short story

Gestapo Mars

Victor Gischler

Carter Sloan is a trained assassin--the best there is, pulled out of cryogenic sleep whenever an assignment demands his skills. So when he's kept in the deep freeze for 258 years, he's seriously pissed off.

Yet his government needs him, to hunt down the enemy known as the Daughter of the Brass Dragon. The future of the galaxy-spanning Reich depends on it, so Sloan is off--screwing, swearing, and shooting his way across interstellar space.

lt's action, adventure, and disgusting gelatinous aliens as only Victor Gischler can create them.

Clicking Stones

Nancy Tyler Glenn

Seven-year-old Erica stumbles into a mystical place where a mysterious old woman gives her a stone. A very special stone. A Clicking Stone. Striking it against any other stone causes both to flare into incredible brilliance. Except, not everyone can see the brilliance. And Erica does not yet know the power of her Stone...

Morgan moves in next door. The girls grow up together and one day, the two click stones...

Knowledge of Erica's gift spreads, creating a worldwide movement of adherents to the illumination power of Clicking Stones. Still, the question remains: why do some people see the brilliance and gain energy from it, and some do not? There is no discernible pattern or reason...

Throughout all these evolutionary events there is the love between Erica and Morgan -- a love that survives separation, and their loving of other women. A love of extraordinary intensity and eroticism... a love that transcends the passing years... and, finally, astonishingly, time itself.

Nancy Tyler Glenn spins a unique and fabulous tale encompassing our own times and far into the 21st Century... a fascinating, erotic, and magical saga with themes about the potential that resides within us all.

Search The Dark Stars

John E. Muller

The world beyond tomorrow... the unopened future which lies at a point far distant from the early, fumbling attempts at space flight of our times.

It is the future of mankind among the stars -- but also a future of intrigue and treachery!

This is the story of a Galactic civilisation which has split against itself and on whose shambles a ruthless warlord of the stars has built a barbaric empire. Persistently striving to topple his autocratic power is the Mutant League, a band of mentally powerful supernormals who style themselves the "inheritors of wisdom and power".

Enter into this fantastic future in company with the man and the girl who dare to battle against the might of the New Empire -- and who hold a guarded, vital secret. Travel with them in their urgent, hunted and hounded flight across the far-flung void of interstellar space and among the myriad worlds of peril of the starways.

Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Christie Golden

In the 28th century, Valerian and Laureline are a team of special operatives charged with maintaining order throughout the human territories. Under assignment from the Minister of Defense, the two embark on a mission to the astonishing city of Alpha--an ever-expanding metropolis where species from all over the universe have converged over centuries to share knowledge, intelligence and cultures with each other.

There is a mystery at the center of Alpha, a dark force which threatens the peaceful existence of the City of a Thousand Planets, and Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.

Travellers in Magic

Lisa Goldstein

Fifteen stories of ordinary lives that take fantastic turns

Robert never quite feels at home with Cassie's family, a gang of eccentrics including a reptile smuggler, a worshipper of Osiris, and an old woman who believes her photographs can see into the future. When he breaks up with Cassie, she is so upset that she gives him the most terrible thing she can offer: an envelope of her grandmother's photos, which show in detail the path that Robert's life will take. At first, this vision of the future gives him strength--but soon it becomes a prison on glossy paper.

Nominated for several major awards, "Cassandra's Photographs" demonstrates all the power of Lisa Goldstein's imagination. Whether she is writing about shape-shifting aliens or kind-hearted ghosts, Goldstein's fantasies remain grounded in reality, supported by the kind of crystalline prose that takes a lifetime to master.

Table of Contents:

Alfred - (1992) - shortstory
Cassandra's Photographs - (1987) - shortstory
Ever After - (1984) - shortstory
Tourists - (1985) - shortstory
Rites of Spring - (1994) - shortstory
Midnight News - (1990) - shortstory
Preliminary Notes on the Jang - (1985) - shortstory
A Traveller at Passover - (1991) - shortstory
Infinite Riches - (1993) - novelette
Death Is Different - (1988) - shortstory
Breadcrumbs and Stones - (1993) - shortstory
The Woman in the Painting - (1993) - shortstory
Daily Voices - (1986) - shortstory
A Game of Cards - (1994) - shortstory
Split Light - (1994) - shortstory

The Great Transition

Nick Fuller Googins

Emi Vargas, whose parents helped save the world, is tired of being told how lucky she is to have been born after the climate crisis. But following the public assassination of a dozen climate criminals, Emi's mother, Kristina, disappears as a possible suspect, and Emi's illusions of utopia are shattered. A determined Emi and her father, Larch, journey from their home in Nuuk, Greenland to New York City, now a lightly populated storm-surge outpost built from the ruins of the former metropolis. But they aren't the only ones looking for Kristina.

Thirty years earlier, Larch first came to New York with a team of volunteers to save the city from rising waters and torrential storms. Kristina was on the frontlines of a different battle, fighting massive wildfires that ravaged the western United States. They became part of a movement that changed the world--The Great Transition--forging a new society and finding each other in process.

Alternating between Emi's desperate search for her mother and a meticulously rendered, heart-stopping account of her parents' experiences during The Great Transition, this novel beautifully shows how our actions today determine our fate tomorrow.

The Dodd, Mead Gallery of Horror

Charles L. Grant

Table of Contents:

Introduction - essay by Charles L. Grant
Something Nasty - short story by William F. Nolan
Canavan's Back Yard - (1958) - short story by Joseph Payne Brennan
The Conqueror Worm - short story by Stephen R. Donaldson
Death to the Easter Bunny! - (1983) - short story by Alan Ryan
The Rubber Room - (1980) - short story by Robert Bloch
Petey - (1979) - novella by T. E. D. Klein
Out of Sorts - (1983) - short story by Bernard Taylor
The Sunshine Club - (1983) - short story by Ramsey Campbell
Down Among the Dead Men - (1982) - novelette by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann
The Crazy Chinaman - (1983) - short story by John Coyne
Gravid Babies: A Novel of Horrific Menace in Considerable Synopsis - short story by Michael Bishop
The Chair - (1983) - novelette by Dennis Etchison
The Typewriter - (1983) - novelette by David Morrel
Nunc Dimittis - (1983) - novelette by Tanith Lee
Derelicts - (1983) - short story by Steve Rasnic Tem
In Darkness, Angels - (1983) - novelette by Eric Van Lustbader
The Arrows - (1983) - short story by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Talent - (1953) - short story by Theodore Sturgeon
Aim for the Heart - short story by Craig Shaw Gardner
Nona - (1978) - novelette by Stephen King

Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies

Martin H. Greenberg
Kerrie L. Hughes

From a farmer at war with Nature's creatures, to dangerous doings when the henhouse goes on-line, to the hazards of keeping company with a book wyrm, here are ingenious tales that will make readers laugh or cry... or double-check to make sure that their windows and doors are firmly locked against the things that prowl the night.

Table of Contents:

1 - Introduction (Zombie Raccoons & Killer Bunnies ) - essay by Kerrie Hughes
4 - Death Mask - short fiction by Jody Lynn Nye
29 - BunRabs - short fiction by Donald J. Bingle
42 - for lizzie - [Simon Canderous] - short fiction by Anton Strout
59 - Faith in Our Fathers - short fiction by Alexander Potter
88 - Bone Whispers - short fiction by Tim Waggoner
108 - Watching - short fiction by Carrie Vaughn
119 - The Things That Crawl - novelette by Richard Lee Byers
147 - The White Bull of Tara - short fiction by Fiona Patton
168 - Dead Poets - short fiction by John A. Pitts
179 - Super Squirrel to the Rescue - short fiction by Irene Radford
195 - Her Black Mood - short fiction by Brenda Cooper
216 - Ninja Rats on Harleys - short story by Elizabeth Vaughan
239 - Bats in Thebayou - short fiction by Steven H Silver
260 - Twilight Animals - short fiction by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
276 - The Ridges - short fiction by Larry D. Sweazy

The Fortune Teller

Martin H. Greenberg

An anthology of seventeen stories featuring fortune tellers ranges from the humorous to the spine-chilling and presents previously unpublished writing by Vicki Nelson and Neil Gaiman, creator of the comic book series, The Sandman.

Table of Contents:

Reading the Entrails: A Rondel - (1997) - poem by Neil Gaiman
Bright Seeds in a Whirlwind - (1997) - novelette by Bruce Holland Rogers
First Thing in the Morning - (1997) - shortstory by Billie Sue Mosiman
Playing with Fire - (1997) - shortstory by Mark Garland
Tomorrow Eyes - (1997) - novelette by Peter Crowther
To Fit the Crime - (1997) - shortstory by Ed Gorman
When the Child Screams and Looks Back at You - (1997) - novelette by Gary A. Braunbeck
Hexefus - (1997) - shortstory by Nancy Springer
The Cards Also Say - (1997) - novelette by Tanya Huff
The Oracle Lips - (1997) - novelette by Storm Constantine
May Eve - (1997) - shortstory by Rosemary Edghill
The Soothsayer - (1997) - shortstory by Lawrence C. Connolly
True Collectors - (1997) - novelette by Brian Stableford
Not Ours to See - shortstory by David Langford
Those Who Know - (1997) - shortstory by Leslie What
Beyond the Flames - (1997) - shortstory by Janni Lee Simner
The Vision of Men - (1997) - novelette by Michelle West

The Maiden Flight of McCauley's Bellerophon

Elizabeth Hand

World Fantasy Award winning and Hugo and Sturgeon Award nominated novella. The story originally appeared in the anthology Stories: All-New Tales (2010), edited by Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Five (2011), edited by Jonathan Strahan and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2011, edited by Rich Horton. It is included in the collections Errantry: Strange Stories (2012) and The Best of Elizabeth Hand (2021).

Naturally

Daniel Handler

This short story originally appeared in Zoetrope: All-Story, Spring 2006. It can also be found in the anthology Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2007 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.

Swashbucklers

Dan Hanks

When Cisco Collins returns to his home town thirty years after saving it from being swallowed by a hell mouth opened by an ancient pirate ghost, he realises that being a childhood hero isn't like it was in the movies. Especially when nobody remembers the heroic bits -- even the friends who once fought alongside him.

Struggling with single parenting and treated as bit of a joke, Cisco isn't really in the Christmas spirit like everyone else. A fact that's made worse by the tendrils of the pirate's powers creeping back into our world and people beginning to die in bizarre ways.

With the help of a talking fox, an enchanted forest, a long-lost friend haunting his dreams, and some 80s video game consoles turned into weapons, Cisco must now convince his friends to once again help him save the day. Yet they quickly discover that being a ghostbusting hero is so much easier when you don't have schools runs, parent evenings, and nativity plays to attend. And even in the middle of a supernatural battle, you always need to bring snacks and wipes...

Unraveller

Frances Hardinge

A dark YA fantasy about learning to use your power and finding peace...

In a world where anyone can create a life-destroying curse, only one person has the power to unravel them.

Kellen does not fully understand his talent, but helps those transformed maliciously--including Nettle. Recovered from entrapment in bird form, she is now his constant companion and closest ally.

But Kellen has also been cursed, and unless he and Nettle can remove his curse, Kellen is in danger of unravelling everything--and everyone--around him...

Roller Ball Murder

William Harrison

This short story originally appeared in Esquire, September 1973. It has been collected and anthologized several times.

It was the basis for the 1975 movie Rollerball as well as a 2002 remake of the same title.

The Imaginary Corpse

Tyler Hayes

A dinosaur detective in the land of unwanted ideas battles trauma, anxiety, and the first serial killer of imaginary friends.

Most ideas fade away when we're done with them. Some we love enough to become Real. But what about the ones we love, and walk away from?

Tippy the triceratops was once a little girl's imaginary friend, a dinosaur detective who could help her make sense of the world. But when her father died, Tippy fell into the Stillreal, the underbelly of the Imagination, where discarded ideas go when they're too Real to disappear. Now, he passes time doing detective work for other unwanted ideas - until Tippy runs into The Man in the Coat, a nightmare monster who can do the impossible: kill an idea permanently. Now Tippy must overcome his own trauma and solve the case, before there's nothing left but imaginary corpses.

When We Were Starless

Simone Heller

Eugie Award-winning and Hugo and Sturgeon Award-nominated Novelette

This story originally appeared in Clarkesworld, Issue 145, October 2018. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume Thirteen (2019), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Four (2019), edited by Neil Clarke.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld

Edward Gorey: His Book Cover Art and Design

Edward Gorey
Steven Heller

The master creator of finely crosshatched illustrations and sinisterly amusing tales, Edward Gorey (American, 1925-2000) got his start in publishing by designing book covers for such New York houses as Doubleday, Grosset & Dunlap, Vintage Books, and later Random House. Today, his prodigious output of hundreds of dust jackets and paperback covers evidences his distinctive flair for design and his extraordinary ability to portray the essence of the books that came his way. Edward Gorey: His Book Cover Art & Design features a broad selection of his work, created from 1953 to 2000.

In his essay, Steven Heller offers an insightful overview of Gorey's book cover art and design. He writes, "Successful cover design requires the expertise of an artist, typographer, poster designer, and logo maker. Many book design specialists were incapable of designing a cover or jacket with the same Gorey aplomb, even if they tried."

The Boulevard Monster

Jeremy Hepler

I KNOW WHAT YOU HAVE HEARD ABOUT ME...

You say that I am a madman. You say that I am dangerous. You say that I am the one who has been abducting women, slaughtering them, and burying their corpses all around this city for years. You are wrong, because only part of that statement is true...

I AM NOT A KILLER...

I know that you probably won't believe me. Not now. Not after all that has happened, but I need to tell my side of the story. You need to know how this all began. You need to hear about the birds, but most of all, you need to understand...

I AM NOT THE BOULEVARD MONSTER.

Instar

The Completely Rechargeable Man

Searching for her daughter, a woman confronts the man she believes stole the child... and the strange truth behind local legends.

Originally published at Tor Reactor Mag on 7 February 2024, read it for free at Tor.com

The Difficulties of Evolution

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, December 2008. It can also be found in the anthologies Clarkesworld: Year Three (2013), edited by Neil Clarke and Sean Wallace.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This short story originally appeared in Weird Tales, July-August 2008. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2009, edited by Rich Horton. The story is included in the collection The Inner City (2013).

The Inner City

Heuler's stories dart out at what the world is doing and center on how the individual copes with it. Anything is possible: people breed dogs with humans to create a servant class; beneath one great city lies another city, running it surreptitiously; an employee finds that her hair has been stolen by someone intent on getting her job; strange fish fall from trees and birds talk too much; a boy tries to figure out what he can get when the Rapture leaves good stuff behind. Everything is familiar; everything is different. Behind it all, is there some strange kind of design or merely just the chance to adapt? In Heuler's stories, characters cope with the strange without thinking it's strange, sometimes invested in what's going on, sometimes trapped by it, but always finding their own way in.

Table of Contents:

FishWish - (2011)
The Inner City - (2008)
Down on the Farm - (2007)
The Great Spin - (2013)
The Escape Artist - (2013)
The Large People - (2011)
After Images - (2009)
Creating Cow - (2013)
Beds - (2013)
How Lightly He Stepped in the Air - (2013)
The Difficulties of Evolution - (2008)
Thick Water - (2011)
The Hair - (2013)
Ordinary - (2013)
Landscape, with Fish - (2008)

The Inner City

Shirley Jackson nominated short story. It originally appeared in Cemetery Dance, #58, 2008. It can also be found in the chapbook The Inner City (2013), the eponymous collection The Inner City (2013), and the anthology Invaders: 22 Tales from the Outer Limits of Literature (2016), edited by Jacob Weisman.

Looking for a job, a woman discovers a hidden underground city manipulating the city she lives in. Will she be hired?

The Splendid City

In the state of Liberty, water is rationed at alarming prices, free speech is hardly without a cost, and Texas has just declared itself its own country. In this society, paranoia is well-suited because eyes and ears are all around, and they are judging. Always judging. This terrifying (and yet somehow vaguely familiar) terrain is explored via Eleanor, a young woman eagerly learning about the gifts of her magic through the support of her coven.

But being a white witch is not as easy as they portray it in the books, and she's already been placed under "house arrest" with a letch named Stan, a coworker who wronged her in the past and now exists in the form of a cat. A talking cat who loves craft beers, picket lines, and duping and "shooting" people.

Eleanor has no time for Stan and his shenanigans, because she finds herself helping another coven locate a missing witch which she thinks is mysteriously linked to the shortage of water in Liberty.

Thick Water

Time Travelers, Ghosts, and Other Visitors

This short story originally appeared in Albedo One, #40. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 17 (2012), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection The Inner City (2013).

Nina Kiriki Hoffman

Table of Contents:

Introduction - (2003) - essay by Leslie What
The Skeleton Key - (1993) - novella
Objects of Desire - (1998) - shortstory
Unleashed - (1991) - shortstory
Mint Condition - (2001) - novelette
Night Life - (2000) - shortstory
Entertaining Possibilities - (2003) - shortstory
Toobychubbies - (1999) - shortstory
Haunted Humans - (1994) - novella
Egg Shells - (2000) - shortstory
About the Author - (2003) - essay

Expecting Someone Taller

Tom Holt

All Malcolm Fisher did was run over a badger. Unfortunately the badger turned out to be Ingolf, last of the giants. With his dying breath he reluctantly gave Malcolm two gifts of power and made him ruler of the world.

The Curse of Doone

Sydney Horler

Some hidden fear at accused Doone Hall was threatening to drive Cleety Garrett mad!

Is it a vampire? A German spy? Either way, planes are falling from the sky.

Painkillers

Simon Ings

A mysterious box that he cannot open is all that might save Adam's autistic son as they are plunged into a world of old corruptions and new terrors. In PAINKILLERS, Simon Ings deftly teases out his knotted story that, with its many conventional elements, could have run a risk of overfamiliarity: sinister Oriental Triad gangsters, their even more sinister wives, a speedy Hong Kong with its ruthless Brit yuppies and its nightlife ridden with drugs, strange sex and violence. Shooting back and forth between a glamorous Hong Kong, in 1990, and a straitened London, in 1998, Ings sustains suspense by dropping hints but never telling enough. Adam Wyatt and his wife Eva run a small cafe near Southwark Market. They bicker a lot, Adam drinks and visits to their autistic son Justin tend to go awry. But underneath Adam's drinking are secrets from their previous life in Hong Kong, when he worked for the Independent Commission Against Corruption and got in with some very dubious local society types; one of whom includes 'Call me Jimmy' Yao Sau-Lan, 'a big nasty man, in a big nasty suit', whose father just happened to kill Eva's grandfather. When Jimmy's widow and sons come calling, Adam knows he's in trouble.

The Apartment Dweller's Bestiary

Kij Johnson

This story originally appeared in Clarkesworld, Issue 100, January 2015. It can also in the anthologies The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, edited by Karen Joy Fowler and John Joseph Adams, and Clarkesworld Year Nine: Volume One (2018), edited by Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

The Revolt of the Pedestrians

David H. Keller

This short story originally appeared in Amazing Stories, February 1928. It can also be found in the anthologies The Road to Science Fiction 2: From Wells to Heinlein (1979), edited by James Gunn, Amazing Stories: 60 Years of the Best Science Fiction (1985), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. The story is included in the collections Tales from Underwood (1952).

The Museum and the Music Box

Noah Keller

A neglected museum gradually succumbs to the elements. A music box rusts beneath a bell of glass. Fragmented texts are pieced together which tell the history of a lost love, the destruction of a civilization, and the origin of the museum.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

Carnosaur

John Brosnan
Leroy Kettle

It stood over six feet tall and was the color of dried blood. It was absurdly reminiscent of some giant plucked bird, like an ostrich--but it had the head of a reptile. The partly opened mouth revealed rows of curved, pointed teeth. It was a walking impossibility--a creature that had died out sixty-five million years ago--but it was alive. And it wasn't the only one.

In a sleepy rural town, one man's dream had become everyone else's nightmare--and dinosaurs once more roamed the earth.

First published in 1984, six years before Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park, Harry Adam Knight's Carnosaur is a gory dinosaur-filled romp sure to delight fans of '80s paperback horror fiction.

Killer Karma

Lee Killough

Inspector Cole Dunavan is a cop without a body. A ghost who can't remember anything except his own murder. No one sees or hears him. He cannot move objects and initially cannot move through closed doors. When he learns that his body has not been found and the circumstances of his disappearance make it appear he betrayed his marriage and was killed by his mistress... who has also disappeared, he vows to put things right. A murdered cop, a ghost and an avenger working to communicate with his former partner, get straight with his wife, and catch his own killer.

Symphony for a Lost Traveler

Lee Killough

Hugo Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, March 1984. The story can also be found in the anthology New Eves: Science Fiction About the Extraordinary Women of Today and Tomorrow (1994) edited by Forrest J. Ackerman, Jean Marie Stine and Janrae Frank.

Dinosaur Killers

Chris Kluwe

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, November 2016.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Last Tango in Cyberspace

Steven Kotler

It was a new skill...

One that might change the world.

What could a person do who could track empathy?

His friends call him Lion, he is the first of his kind. Some describe it as emotional foresight, but really, he can see cultural trends before they emerge. What he didn't expect was for Big Pharma to come calling.

In 2025, technology has made massive leaps forward.

Not every group wants to use it for good.

Artic Pharmaceuticals has a new drug and a bad idea. They call on Lion, because he is the key to >getting the formula they need. But when he starts to sense their hidden agenda, will they take drastic action?

Then Lion discovers a decapitated human head...

Is he being hunted?

Can he stop a global disaster?

The Angle Quickest For Flight

Steven Kotler

A runaway boy's quest for an ancient Jewish mystic text introduces him to a fascinating cast of characters, including a renowned smuggler, an albino Rastafarian, and a treacherous double agent.

Fiddler Fair

Mercedes Lackey

Mercedes Lackey has, in a few short years, soared to the peak of the fantasy field, and her thousands of enthusiastic readers clamor for more and more. Now comes a volume demonstrating the wide range of her talent, running the gamut from her beloved Bardic fantasies to urban fantasy set in the modern world; from science fiction adventure to chilling horror. And throughout Fiddler Fair, Lackey's sheer storytelling skill will hold the reader spellbound. Learn what happens when animal rights fanatics try to "liberate" genetically reconstructed dinosaurs. Follow Lawrence of Arabia into the desert to meet a power beyond human comprehension; and be with King Arthur, reborn into the present day, when he again gains possession of the enchanted sword Excalibur. And, in a very weird encounter of the most bizarre kind, learn why an alien from a UFO took an unusual interest in a battered Chevy pickup truck.

Fiddler Fair is a feast for the multitudes of Lackey fans everywhereand for new readers, a powerful introduction to the most significant new fantasy writer of the decade.

Table of Contents:

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - essay
Aliens Ate My Pickup - shortstory
Small Print - (1994) - shortstory with Larry Dixon
Last Rights - (1993) - shortstory with Larry Dixon
Dumb Feast - (1993) - shortstory
Dance Track - (1994) - shortstory with Larry Dixon
Jihad - (1993) - shortstory
Balance - (1986) - novelette
Dragon's Teeth - (1988) - novella
The Cup and the Cauldron - (1992) - shortstory
Once and Future - (1995) - shortstory
Fiddler Fair - (1986) - novelette
The Enemy of My Enemy - (1989) - novelette
Bibliography

The Baby Killers

Jay Lake

"Within our tale, gentle reader, you will see writ before you a palimpsest of low living and high misdemeanor, and the curious redresses that are visited as a result thereof..."

In The Baby Killers, Jay Lake restages mankind's Fall from Grace as an alternate-history steampunk fable. Written in a style of rambunctious Victoriana-that-never-was, this novella is set in Philadelphia in 1907, when that city serves as the seat of the British Dominion of Americas, and as a Pandora's Box of sin and vice. The Governor-General has a taste for violating innocents, while the good Dr. Scholes uses them to fashion his mechanized agents of Justice. The Gollinoster, a feminine incarnation of angry retribution, wanders beneath the city streets--and an undying creature of ancient destruction is rushing to meet her. Villians and heroes (categories that overlap significantly) battle in a story of debauchery, degradation, radical experimentation, mad metaphysics... and a farting Frenchman.

Radiomen

Eleanor Lerman

There are two themes to Radiomen. First, if there are aliens interacting with our world they are likely just as confused about who or what God is as human beings are; and second, whoever they are, they're probably just as fond of dogs as we are.

Laurie, a woman who works at a bar at Kennedy airport doesn't remember that when she was a child, she met an alien on the fire escape of a building where her uncle kept a shortwave radio. The radio is part of a universal network of repeaters maintained by an unknown alien race; they use the network to broadcast prayers into the universe.

She meets a psychic who is actually part of a Scientology-like cult called the "Blue Awareness," as well as a late-night radio host. All have their own reasons for unraveling the mystery of the lost radio network.

Laurie is given a strange dog by her neighbor, an immigrant and a member of the Dogon tribe - people who believe they were visited by aliens long ago and repeat a myth about how the aliens brought dog-like animals with them. All Dogon dogs are supposedly descended from that animal.

As conflict develops between the Blue Awareness leader and the other characters, the Dogon acts as an intermediary between the humans, who want to understand why the aliens need the radio network, and the aliens who need the humans to help them find a lost element of the universal network.

The Stargazer's Embassy

Eleanor Lerman

The Stargazer's Embassy explores the frightening phenomenon of alien abduction from a different point of view.

In this story, it is the aliens who seem fearful of Julia Glazer, the woman they are desperately trying to contact. Violent and despairing after the murder of the one person she loved, a psychiatrist who was studying abductees, Julia continues to rebuff the aliens until her relationships with others who have met "the things", as she calls them, including a tattoo artist, a strange man who can take photographs with the power of his mind, and an abductee locked up in a mental hospital, force Julia deeper into direct alien contact and a confrontation about what death means to humans and aliens alike.

Call Me Ishtar

Rhoda Lerman

Call Me Ishtar is the outrageous manifesto of a Goddess determined to right the wrongs of the 3000 year-old patriarchy. She is Ishtar: Mother Goddess, Queen of Heaven, Angel of Death, and Whore of Babylon, and, returning to earth in this most recent incarnation, suburban housewife and sexual subversive. Gallivanting through upstate New York, Ishtar breaks into a Hostess factory to taint its products, catapults a rock band to stardom via satanic rituals, and rises from the coffin at her own funeral.

The Book of the Night

Rhoda Lerman

Fearful omens predict enormous changes, and the Beast of Time is loose upon the Island of Iona, in this tale in which the tenth century coexists with the twentieth, and science and religion clash.

Fool's Experiment

We are not alone, and it's our own damn fault...

Something demonic is stalking the brightest men and women in the computer industry. It attacks without warning or mercy, leaving its prey insane, comatose – or dead.

Mayhem is on the rise. Something far nastier than any virus, worm, or Trojan horse program is being evolved in laboratory confinement by well-intentioned but misguided researchers. When their artificial life-form escapes onto the Internet, no conventional defense against malicious software can begin to compete. As disasters multiply, computer scientist Doug Carey knows that unconventional measures may be civilization's last hope.

And that any artificial life-form learns very fast....

Small Miracles

Satan: His Psychotherapy and Cure by the Unfortunate Dr. Kassler, J.S.P.S.

Garner Nanotechnology is developing nanotech-enhanced protective suits and autonomous first-aid nanobots. It's cutting-edge stuff, and when it saves Brent Cleary from a pipeline explosion that killed hundreds, the Army takes notice.

Near-death experience changes a person, so no one is entirely surprised when easy-going Brent turns somber and studious, focused and cold. Not at first. But Kim O'Donnell, Brent's best friend, cannot get past some of the changes. This just isn't her friend, and she wonders what's gotten into him.

With an Army field trial imminent and the company's future at stake, possible nanotech side effects aren't something anyone wants to discuss. The bad news is, Kim's right. Something has gotten into Brent - and he isn't the only one changing.

If Kim can't stop them... maybe we'll all change.

Rosetta Stone

Fred Lerner

This short story originally appeared in Artemis #1, Spring 2000. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 5 (2000), edited by David G. Hartwell.

The Phantom of the Opera

Gaston Leroux

Erik, the Phantom of the Paris Opera House, is one of the great icons of horror literature. This tormented and disfigured creature has made his home in the labyrinthine cellars of this opulent building where he can indulge in his great passion for music, which is a substitute for the love and emotion denied him because of his ghastly appearance.

It is in the Opera House that he encounters Christine Daaé whom he trains in secret to become a great singer. Erik's passionate obsession with a beautiful woman beyond his reach is doomed and leads to the dramatic tragic finale.

Gaston Leroux's novel is a marvellous blend of detective story, romance and spine-tingling terror which has fascinated readers ever since the work was first published.

A Gambler's Anatomy

Jonathan Lethem

Handsome, impeccably tuxedoed Bruno Alexander travels the world winning large sums of money from amateur "whales" who think they can challenge his peerless acumen at backgammon. Fronted by his pasty, vampiric manager, Edgar Falk, Bruno arrives in Berlin after a troubling run of bad luck in Singapore. Perhaps it was the chance encounter with his crass childhood acquaintance Keith Stolarsky and his smoldering girlfriend Tira Harpaz. Or perhaps it was the emergence of a blot that distorts his vision so he has to look at the board sideways.

Things don't go much better in Berlin. Bruno's flirtation with Madchen, the striking blonde he meets on the ferry, is inconclusive; the game at the unsettling Herr Kohler's mansion goes awry as his blot grows worse; he passes out and is sent to the local hospital, where he is given an extremely depressing diagnosis. Having run through Falk's money, Bruno turns to Stolarsky, who, for reasons of his own, agrees to fly Bruno to Berkeley, and to pay for the experimental surgery that might save his life.

Berkeley, where Bruno discovered his psychic abilities, and to which he vowed never to return. Amidst the patchouli flashbacks and Anarchist gambits of the local scene, between Tira's come-ons and Keith's machinations, Bruno confronts two existential questions: Is the gambler being played by life? And what if you're telepathic but it doesn't do you any good?

Jeremy Leven

Alas, poor Satan. He's not happy. No one seems to like or understand him; people have got him all wrong. And his relationship with God is a hostile one. Unloved and misunderstood, he's come back to Earth in search of a psychotherapist; he's prepared-- if cured-- to deliver the all-important Great Answer.

In Jeremy Leven's wildly original comic novel, we follow the Prince of Darkness through his seven amazing therapy sessions. And we watch him grow increasingly well adjusted while his therapist, the unfortunate Dr. Kassler, descends deeper and deeper into hell.

The Shadows Between Us

"They've never found the body of the first and only boy who broke my heart. And they never will."

Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power:

1) Woo the Shadow King.
2) Marry him.
3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself.

No one knows the extent of the freshly crowned Shadow King's power. Some say he can command the shadows that swirl around him to do his bidding. Others say they speak to him, whispering the thoughts of his enemies. Regardless, Alessandra knows what she deserves, and she's going to do everything within her power to get it.

But Alessandra's not the only one trying to kill the king. As attempts on his life are made, she finds herself trying to keep him alive long enough for him to make her his queen--all while struggling not to lose her heart. After all, who better for a Shadow King than a cunning, villainous queen?

Warrior of the Wild

Discovering Scarfolk: For Tourists & Other Trespassers

How do you kill a god?

As her father's chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: To win back her honor, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year or die trying.

Richard Littler

Scarfolk is a town in north-west England that did not progress beyond 1979. The entire decade of the 1970s loops ad infinitum. In Scarfolk children must not be seen OR heard, and everyone has to be in bed by 8 p.m. because they are perpetually running a slight fever...

Part-comedy, part-horror, part-satire, Discovering Scarfolk is the surreal account of a family trapped in the town. Through public information posters, news reports, books, tourist brochures and other ephermera, we learn about the darker side of childhood, school and society in Scarfolk.

A massive cult hit online, Scarfolk re-creates with shiver-inducing accuracy and humour our most nightmarish childhood memories.

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE RE-READ.

The Tangleroot Palace

Marjorie M. Liu

Concluding with a gorgeous full-length novella, Marjorie Liu's first short fiction collection is an unflinching sojourn into her thorny tales of love, revenge, and new beginnings.

Briar, bodyguard for a body-stealing sorceress, discovers her love for Rose, whose true soul emerges only once a week. An apprentice witch seeks her freedom through betrayal, the bones of the innocent, and a meticulously plotted spell. In a world powered by crystal skulls, a warrior returns to save China from invasion by her jealous ex. A princess runs away from an arranged marriage, finding family in a strange troupe of traveling actors at the border of the kingdom's deep, dark woods.

Table of Contents

Sympathy for the Bones - short fiction
Briar and the Rose - short fiction
Call Her Savage - short fiction
The Last Dignity of Man - short fiction
Where the Heart Lives - short fiction
After the Blood - short fiction
Robber Bride - short fiction
Tangleroot Palace - novella

Soulstealer

Sarah J. Maas

When the Bat's away, the Cat will play. It's time to see how many lives this cat really has.

Two years after escaping Gotham City's slums, Selina Kyle returns as the mysterious and wealthy Holly Vanderhees. She quickly discovers that with Batman off on a vital mission, Gotham City looks ripe for the taking.

Meanwhile, Luke Fox wants to prove that as Batwing he has what it takes to help people. He targets a new thief on the prowl who has teamed up with Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn. Together, they are wreaking havoc. This Catwoman is clever--she may be Batwing's undoing.

In this third DC Icons book, Selina is playing a desperate game of cat and mouse, forming unexpected friendships and entangling herself with Batwing by night and her devilishly handsome neighbor Luke Fox by day. But with a dangerous threat from the past on her tail, will she be able to pull off the heist that's closest to her heart?

The Factory Witches of Lowell

C. S. Malerich

Faced with abominable working conditions, unsympathetic owners, and hard-hearted managers, the mill girls of Lowell have had enough. They're going on strike, and they have a secret weapon on their side: a little witchcraft to ensure that no one leaves the picket line.

For the young women of Lowell, Massachusetts, freedom means fair wages for fair work, decent room and board, and a chance to escape the cotton mills before lint stops up their lungs. When the Boston owners decide to raise the workers' rent, the girls go on strike. Their ringleader is Judith Whittier, a newcomer to Lowell but not to class warfare. Judith has already seen one strike fold and she doesn't intend to see it again. Fortunately Hannah, her best friend in the boardinghouse – and maybe first love? – has a gift for the dying art of witchcraft.

A House at the Bottom of a Lake

Both seventeen. Both afraid. But both saying yes.

It sounded like the perfect first date: canoeing across a chain of lakes, sandwiches and beer in the cooler. But teenagers Amelia and James discover something below the water's surface that changes their lives forever.

It's got two stories.

It's got a garden.

And the front door is open.

It's a house at the bottom of a lake.

For the teens, there is only one rule: no questions. And yet, how could a place so spectacular come with no price tag? While the duo plays house beneath the waves, one reality remains:

Just because a house is empty, doesn't mean nobody's home.

Black Mad Wheel

The Danes--the band known as the "Darlings of Detroit"--are washed up and desperate for inspiration, eager to once again have a number one hit. That is, until an agent from the US Army approaches them. Will they travel to an African desert and track down the source of a mysterious and malevolent sound? Under the guidance of their front man, Philip Tonka, the Danes embark on a harrowing journey through the scorching desert--a trip that takes Tonka into the heart of an ominous and twisted conspiracy.

Meanwhile, in a nondescript Midwestern hospital, a nurse named Ellen tends to a patient recovering from a near-fatal accident. The circumstances that led to his injuries are mysterious--and his body heals at a remarkable rate. Ellen will do the impossible for this enigmatic patient, who reveals more about his accident with each passing day.

Part Heart of Darkness, part Lost, Josh Malerman's breathtaking new novel plunges us into the depths of psychological horror, where you can't always believe everything you hear.

Daphne

Goblin: A Novel in Six Novellas

Horror has a new name: Daphne. A brutal, enigmatic woman stalks a high school basketball team in a re-imagining of the slasher genre...

It's the last summer for Kit Lamb: The last summer before college. The last summer with her high school basketball team, and with Dana, her best friend. The last summer before her life begins.

But the night before the big game, one of the players tells a ghost story about Daphne, a girl who went to their school many years ago and died under mysterious circumstances. Some say she was murdered, others that she died by her own hand. And some say that Daphne is a murderer herself. They also say that Daphne is still out there, obsessed with revenge, and will appear to kill again anytime someone thinks about her.

After Kit hears the story, her teammates vanish, one by one, and Kit begins to suspect that the stories about Daphne are real... and to fear that her own mind is conjuring the killer. Now it's a race against time as Kit searches for the truth behind the legend and learns to face her own fears--before the summer of her lifetime becomes the last summer of her life.

Mixing a nostalgic coming-of-age story and an instantly iconic female villain with an innovative new vision of classic horror, Daphne is an unforgettable thriller...

Incidents Around the House

Goblin seems like any other ordinary small town. But with the master storyteller Josh Malerman as your tour guide, you'll discover the secrets that hide behind its closed doors. These six novellas tell the story of a place where the rain is always falling, nighttime is always near, and your darkest fears and desires await. Welcome to Goblin....

A Man in Slices: A man proves his "legendary love" to his girlfriend with a sacrifice even more daring than Vincent van Gogh's--and sends her more than his heart.

Kamp: Walter Kamp is afraid of everything, but most afraid of being scared to death. As he sets traps around his home to catch the ghosts that haunt him, he learns that nothing is more terrifying than fear itself.

Happy Birthday, Hunter!: A famed big-game hunter is determined to capture--and kill--the ultimate prey: the mythic Great Owl who lives in Goblin's dark forests. But this mysterious creature is not the only secret the woods are keeping.

Presto: All Peter wants is to be like his hero, Roman Emperor, the greatest magician in the world. When the famous magician comes to Goblin, Peter discovers that not all magic is just an illusion.

A Mix-Up at the Zoo: The new zookeeper feels a mysterious kinship with the animals in his care... and finds that his work is freeing dark forces inside him.

The Hedges: When his wife dies, a man builds a hedge maze so elaborate no one ever solves it--until a little girl resolves to be the first to find the mysteries that wait at its heart.

To eight-year-old Bela, her family is her world. There's Mommy, Daddo, and Grandma Ruth. But there is also Other Mommy, a malevolent entity who asks her every day: "Can I go inside your heart?"

When horrifying incidents around the house signal that Other Mommy is growing tired of asking Bela the question over and over, Bela understands that unless she says yes, her family will soon pay.

Other Mommy is getting restless, stronger, bolder. Only the bonds of family can keep Bela safe, but other incidents show cracks in her parents' marriage. The safety Bela relies on is about to unravel.

But Other Mommy needs an answer.

Inspection

J is a student at a school deep in a forest far away from the rest of the world.

J is one of only twenty-six students, all of whom think of the school's enigmatic founder as their father. J's peers are the only family he has ever had. The students are being trained to be prodigies of art, science, and athletics, and their life at the school is all they know--and all they are allowed to know.

But J suspects that there is something out there, beyond the pines, that the founder does not want him to see, and he's beginning to ask questions. What is the real purpose of this place? Why can the students never leave? And what secrets is their father hiding from them?

Meanwhile, on the other side of the forest, in a school very much like J's, a girl named K is asking the same questions. J has never seen a girl, and K has never seen a boy. As K and J work to investigate the secrets of their two strange schools, they come to discover something even more mysterious: each other.

Pearl

There's something strange about Walter Kopple's farm. At first it seems to be his grandson, who cruelly murders one of Walter's pigs in an act of seemingly senseless violence. But then people in town begin to whisper that Walter's grandson heard a voice commanding him to kill.

And that the voice belongs to a most peculiar creature: the pig named Pearl.

Walter is not sure what to believe. He knows he's always been afraid of the strangely malevolent Pearl. But as madness and paranoia grip the town and the townspeople descend on Walter's farm with violent wrath, they begin to discover that true evil wears a human face.

Spin a Black Yarn

Five harrowing novellas of horror and speculative fiction from the singular mind of the New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box

A sister insists to her little brother that "Half the House Is Haunted" by a strange presence. But is it the house that's haunted--or their childhoods?

In "Argyle," a dying man confesses to homicides he never committed, and he reveals long-kept secrets far more sinister than murder.

A tourist takes the ultimate trip to outer space in "The Jupiter Drop," but the real journey is into his own dark past.

In "Doug and Judy Buy the House Washer™," a trendy married couple buys the latest home gadget only to find themselves trapped by their possessions, their history... and each other.

And in "Egorov," a wealthy old cretin murders a young man, not knowing the victim was a triplet. The two surviving brothers stage a savage faux-haunting--playing the ghost of their slain brother--with the aim of driving the old murderer mad.

Unbury Carol

The New Visions: A Collection of Modern Science Fiction Art

Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times... but her many deaths are not final: They are comas, a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days.

Only two people know of Carol's eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and--when she lapses into another coma--plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her... alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol's dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave.

And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her--summoning her own fierce will to survive. As the players in this drama of life and death fight to decide her fate, Carol must in the end battle to save herself.

The haunting story of a woman literally bringing herself back from the dead, Unbury Carol is a twisted take on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale that will stay with you long after you've turned the final page.

Mary Reilly

Valerie Martin

From the acclaimed author of the bestselling Italian Fever comes a fresh twist on the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, a novel told from the perspective of Mary Reilly, Dr. Jekyll's dutiful and intelligent housemaid.<?p>

Faithfully weaving in details from Robert Louis Stevenson's classic, Martin introduces an original and captivating character: Mary is a survivorscarred but still strongfamiliar with evil, yet brimming with devotion and love. As a bond grows between Mary and her tortured employer, she is sent on errands to unsavory districts of London and entrusted with secrets she would rather not know. Unable to confront her hideous suspicions about Dr. Jekyll, Mary ultimately proves the lengths to which she'll go to protect him. Through her astute reflections, we hear the rest of the classic Jekyll and Hyde story, and this familiar tale is made more terrifying than we remember it, more complex than we imagined possible.

Traveller's Rest

David I. Masson

This short story originally appeared in New Worlds SF, September 1965, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, August 2014. It can also be found in the anthologies:

11th Annual Edition: The Year's Best S-F (1966), edited by Judith Merril
World's Best Science Fiction: 1966 (1966), edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr
Voyagers in Time: Twelve Stories of Science Fiction (1967) edited by Robert Silverberg
The Traps of Time (1968), edited by Michael Moorcock
New Worlds: An Anthology (1983), edited by Michael Moorcock
The Mammoth Book of Time Travel SF (2013), edited by Mike Ashley
The Time Traveler's Almanac (2014), edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer

The story is included in the collection The Caltraps of Time (1968).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

The Soul Stealer

Graham Masterton

Nemo Frisby used to be a detective. Now he drives an Uber between billionaire mansions in California. But he never lost the nose for the case -- and when his housecleaner Trinity Fox discovers a young woman lying dead in her neighborhood, she persuades him to help her prove it wasn't suicide.

Their investigation leads them to the Bel Air home of a wealthy movie producer, who built his mansion over a Native American burial site. Ancient mythology tells of a demon who, if unearthed, can imbue evil men with terrible power. But only if the demon is fed by the sacrifice of innocent lives...

Nightcrawlers

Robert R. McCammon

WFA nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology Masques (1984), edited by J. N. Williamson and was reprinted in Nightmare Magazine, August 2013. The story can also be found in the anthology New Stories from the Twilight Zone (1991), edited by Martin H. Greenberg. It is included in the collection Blue World and Other Stories (1989).

Read the full story for free at Nightmare.

Time Travelers Never Die

Jack McDevitt

When physicist Michael Shelborne mysteriously vanishes, his son Shel discovers that he had constructed a time travel device. Fearing his father may be stranded in time-or worse-Shel enlists the aid of Dave MacElroy, a linguist, to accompany him on the rescue mission.

Their journey through history takes them from the enlightenment of Renaissance Italy through the American Wild West to the civil-rights upheavals of the 20th century. Along the way, they encounter a diverse cast of historical greats, sometimes in unexpected situations. Yet the elder Shelborne remains elusive.

And then Shel violates his agreement with Dave not to visit the future. There he makes a devastating discovery that sends him fleeing back through the ages, and changes his life forever.

Time Travelers Never Die

Jack McDevitt

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, May 1996. The story can also be found in the anthologis Time Machines: The Greatest Time Travel Stories Ever Written (1997), edited by Bill Adler, Jr. and The Best Time Travel Stories of All Time (2003), edited by Barry N. Malzberg. It is included in the collections Standard Candles (1996) and Cryptic: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt (2009). It was expanded to the full novel Time Travelers Never Die in 2009.

Faller

Will McIntosh

Faller is a new gripping standalone, science fiction thriller by Hugo Award-winning author Will McIntosh.

Day One: No one can remember anything--who they are, family and friends, or even how to read. Reality has fragmented and Earth consists of an islands of rock floating in an endless sky. Food, water, electricity--gone, except for what people can find, and they can't find much.

Faller's pockets contain tantalizing clues: a photo of himself and a woman he can't remember, a toy solider with a parachute, and a mysterious map drawn in blood. With only these materials as a guide, he makes a leap of faith from the edge of the world to find the woman and set things right.

He encounters other floating islands, impossible replicas of himself and others, and learns that one man hates him enough to take revenge for actions Faller can't even remember.

Dwellers in the Mirage

A. Merritt

Two men in one body! That's how Lief Langdon had always felt. One part of him was a modern day adventurer, the other was a strange half-memory of another life where he was a High Priest sacrificing living people to Khalk'ru, a demon god from another time and space. Then Langdon stumbled through the mirage into a hidden Arctic valley, where he fell under the spell of Evalie, as beautiful outwardly as she was inwardly, and her friends the Little People, elfin warriors constantly warring with Lur, the Witch-Woman, and her demon riders, who raided the Little People's land for sacrifices to their dark god, the Kraken. Horrified at the thought of their becoming sacrifices, Langdon took up the Little People's cause and wooed Evalie. But when he learned the Kraken was also known as Khalk'ru, memories of his past life -- as Lur's lover and High Priest of her sect came rushing back. Soon Langdon was fighting against his other self, a far stronger self that submerges him entirely and eagerly joins Lur, to rain kisses on her lips and wield the bloody knife of sacrifice on his own best friends!

Radio Life

Derek B. Miller

The Commonwealth, a post-apocalyptic civilisation on the rise, is locked in a clash of ideas with the Keepers, a fight which threatens to destroy the world... again.

When Lilly was first Chief Engineer at The Commonwealth, nearly fifty years ago, the Central Archive wasn't yet the greatest repository of knowledge in the known world, protected by scribes copying every piece of found material - books, maps, even scraps of paper - and disseminating them by Archive Runners to hidden off-site locations for safe keeping. Back then, there was no Order of Silence to create and maintain secret routes deep into the sand-covered towers of the Old World or into the northern forests beyond Sea Glass Lake. Back then, the world was still quiet, because Lilly hadn't yet found the Harrington Box.

But times change. Recently, the Keepers have started gathering to the east of Yellow Ridge - thousands upon thousands of them - and every one of them determined to burn the Central Archives to the ground, no matter the cost, possessed by an irrational fear that bringing back the ancient knowledge will destroy the world all over again. To prevent that, they will do anything.

Fourteen days ago the Keepers chased sixteen-year-old Archive Runner Elimisha into a forbidden Old World Tower and brought the entire thing down on her. Instead of being killed, though, she slipped into an ancient unmapped bomb shelter where she has discovered a cache of food and fresh water, a two-way radio like the one Lilly's been working on for years... and something else. Something that calls itself 'the internet'...

The Illusionists

Faren Miller

In the desert city Xalycis Rock, the cunning hide beneath maks of perfume, the Shandar read the bones of their dead, the Thrani kinfedance in narcotic clouds of black khur--

And a drunkard finds a buried Artifact from the era of the vanished, forbidden Mages. Bloody murder follows as the relict disappears in the city's underground. Now a renegade chemic and as disowned noble must help the beautiful psychic Moabet to use her buried powers and all the arts of magic, illusion and trickery.

Because only Moabet can stop the ancient mind within the Artifact from unleashing its madness on an unsuspecting world...

Ladylord

Sasha Miller

Lady Javere, nicknamed Javerri, is the favored child of Qai, Lord of Third Province. Though women are not allowed to rule, Javerri has been trained in all the skills of a Lord: she fights like a seasoned veteran, rides a horse like a man, and understands well the deadly games of political intrigue - all of which have prepared her for her father's dying wish. On his deathbed, Lord Qai names Javerri not only his heir, but also his son. By this unprecedented act, the life of Javerri is changed forever.

Pigeon City

Jesse Miller

"Pigeon City" (1972), First appeared in Analog Science Fiction (November 1972), ed. Ben Bova. You can read it online here.

"Pigeon City" imagines a Harlem of the future where the trend of one black into a city center, two whites move to the suburbs, continue--racial enclaves become utterly isolated from the exterior world. The "city machine", now controlled by computers, provides food, supplies, and retribution to the increasingly dilapidated and forlorn "ghettos". There are no jobs as basic necessities are provided by the city. Curtiss and his fellow black denizens of Harlem while away their time absorbed in their hobbies--Curtiss with his pigeons on his roof, Franklyn making candy perpetually lodged in his mouth, and Allen planning for a way to get back at the machine.

Ellen Asher
Mary Sherwin
Joe Miller

This book is a showcase of the artwork for 46 original covers created for Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) editions, along with self portraits and autobiographical sketches of the 23 artists.

Table of Contents:

Introduction (The New Visions: A Collection of Modern Science Fiction Art) - (1982) - essay by Frederik Pohl
Ken Barr
John Berkey
Richard Corben
Tony Fiyalko
Frank Frazetta
Tony Gleeson
Mike Hinge
Les Katz
Larry Kresek
Don Maitz
Estaban Maroto
Carlos Ochagavia
Richard Powers
Martin Rigo
David K. Stone
Ed Valigursky
Victor Valla
Boris Vallejo
Gary Viskupic
Michael Whelan
Jack Woolhiser
James Z. Yost
Editors' Note (The New Visions: A Collection of Modern Science Fiction Art) - (1982) - essay by Ellen Asher and Joe Miller and Mary Sherwin

Literary Wonderlands: A Journey Through the Greatest Fictional Worlds Ever Created

Laura Miller

A glorious, full-illustrated collection that delves deep into the inception, influences, and literary and historical underpinnings of nearly 100 of our most beloved fictional realms.

Literary Wonderlands is a thoroughly researched, wonderfully written, and beautifully produced book that spans two thousand years of creative endeavor. From Spenser's The Fairie Queene to Wells's The Time Machine to Murakami's 1Q84 it explores the timeless and captivating features of fiction's imagined worlds including the relevance of the writer's own life to the creation of the story, influential contemporary events and philosophies, and the meaning that can be extracted from the details of the work. With hundreds of pieces of original artwork, illustration and cartography, as well as a detailed overview of the plot and a "Dramatis Personae" for each work, Literary Wonderlands is a fascinating read for lovers of literature, fantasy, and science fiction.

Circe

Madeline Miller

In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe has neither the look nor the voice of divinity, and is scorned and rejected by her kin. Increasingly isolated, she turns to mortals for companionship, leading her to discover a power forbidden to the gods: witchcraft.

When love drives Circe to cast a dark spell, wrathful Zeus banishes her to the remote island of Aiaia. There she learns to harness her occult craft, drawing strength from nature. But she will not always be alone; many are destined to pass through Circe's place of exile, entwining their fates with hers. The messenger god, Hermes. The craftsman, Daedalus. A ship bearing a golden fleece. And wily Odysseus, on his epic voyage home.

There is danger for a solitary woman in this world, and Circe's independence draws the wrath of men and gods alike. To protect what she holds dear, Circe must decide whether she belongs with the deities she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love.

The Song of Achilles

Madeline Miller

Greece in the age of Heroes. Patroclus, an awkward young prince, has been exiled to the kingdom of Phthia. Here he is nobody, just another unwanted boy living in the shadow of King Peleus and his golden son, Achilles.

Achilles, 'best of all the Greeks', is everything Patroclus is not — strong, beautiful, the child of a goddess — and by all rights their paths should never cross. Yet one day, Achilles takes the shamed prince under his wing and soon their tentative companionship gives way to a steadfast friendship. As they grow into young men skilled in the arts of war and medicine, their bond blossoms into something far deeper — despite the displeasure of Achilles's mother Thetis, a cruel and deathly pale sea goddess with a hatred of mortals.

Fate is never far from the heels of Achilles. When word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, the men of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name. Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause. Torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows Achilles into war, little knowing that the years that follow will test everything they have learned, everything they hold dear. And that, before he is ready, he will be forced to surrender his friend to the hands of Fate.

Agent of the Imperium: Expanded Edition

Marc Miller

TO SAVE THE GALAXY, A DEAD HERO MUST RISE AGAIN! NEWLY REVISED AND EXPANDED NOVEL SET IN THE TRAVELLER UNIVERSE.

Jonathan Bland is a Decider, empowered by the Emperor himself to deal with the inevitable crises of an empire. In the service of the Empire, he has killed more people than anyone in the history of Humanity, to save a hundred times as many. He died centuries ago, but they reactivate his recorded personality whenever a new threat appears. When the crisis is over, they expect he will meekly return to oblivion.

He has other ideas.

The chronicle of Bland reveals secrets of the history of the star-spanning Third Imperium and spans 400 years from early Imperium (about year 300) through the mid-post Civil War period (about year 700) touching known and unknown events you may have encountered in your own reading of the Imperium: everyday events, political intrigue, deadly dangers, Arbellatra, Capital, Encyclopediopolis, the Karand's Palace, and a Tigress-class Dreadnought.

If you know the Traveller science-fiction role-playing game, then some of this is already familiar; if not, no matter--this story introduces the vast human-dominated interstellar empire of the far future in ways only the designer and chronicler of this particular universe can.

Genus Homo

P. Schuyler Miller
L. Sprague de Camp

Twenty-five men and women against a world of evolution gone mad!

Here is the vivid story of their adventures and terrors - the monster in the forest - the city of giant beavers - and the secret of the incredible race that had supplanted mankind.

The Titan

P. Schuyler Miller

Contents:

9 - The Titan - novella
79 - As Never Was - (1944) - short story
97 - Old Man Mulligan - (1940) - novelette
130 - Spawn - (1939) - novelette
163 - In the Good Old Summertime - (1940) - short story
182 - Gleeps - (1943) - short story
203 - The Arrhenius Horror - (1931) - short story
232 - Forgotten - (1933) - short story (variant of The Forgotten Man of Space)

House of Shadows

Phyllis Miller
Andre Norton

Mike and Susan feel a mounting sense of urgency and terror as they try to protect their younger brother who seems threatened by an invisible and powerful force in a house that has long been in their family, on which there is supposedly a curse.

Seven Spells to Sunday

Andre Norton
Phyllis Miller

Two children receive messages in an old mailbox in a vacant lot and are plunged into the strangest week of their lives.

The Fairy Bargins of Prospect Hill

Rowenna Miller

There is no magic on Prospect Hill-or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier-a bit of glass to find something lost, a cup of milk for better layers in the chicken coop.

Much of that old wisdom was lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at mills and factories. Alaine Fairborn's family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find a lost shoe and to ensure dry weather on her sister's wedding day.

When Delphine confides her new husband is not the man she thought he was, Alaine will stop at nothing to help her sister escape him. Small bargains buy them time, but a major one is needed. Yet, the price for true freedom may be more than they're willing to pay.

Blackfish City

Bodies Stacked Like Firewood

After the climate wars, a floating city was constructed in the Arctic Circle. Once a remarkable feat of mechanical and social engineering, it has started to crumble under the weight of its own decay - crime and corruption have set in, a terrible new disease is coursing untreated through the population, and the contradictions of incredible wealth alongside deepest poverty are spawning unrest.

Into this turmoil comes a strange new visitor - a woman accompanied by an orca and a chained polar bear. She disappears into the crowds looking for someone she lost thirty years ago, followed by whispers of a vanished people who could bond with animals. Her arrival draws together four people and sparks a chain of events that will lead to unprecedented acts of resistance.

This short story originally appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 14, January-February 2017.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny Magazine.

Boys, Beasts, and Men

>Despite his ability to control the ambient digital cloud, a foster teen falls for a clever con-man. Luring bullies to a quarry, a boy takes clearly enumerated revenge through unnatural powers of suggestion. In the aftermath of a shapeshifting alien invasion, a survivor fears that he brought something out of the Arctic to infect the rest of the world. A rebellious group of queer artists create a new identity that transcends even the anonymity of death.

Sam J. Miller (Blackfish City, The Art of Starving) shows his savage wit, unrelenting candor, and lush imagery in this essential career retrospective collection, taking his place alongside legends of the short-fiction form such as Carmen Maria Machado, Carson McCullers, and Jeff VanderMeer.

Calved

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 2015. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Third Annual Collection (2016), edited by Gardner Dozois, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Ten, (2016), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 1 (2016), edited by Neil Clarke.

Read the full story for free at the author's website.

Destroy All Monsters

A crucial, genre-bending tale about the life-saving power of friendship.

Solomon and Ash both experienced a traumatic event when they were twelve.

Ash lost all memory of that event when she fell from Solomon's treehouse. Since then, Solomon has retreated further and further into a world he seems to have created in his own mind. One that insulates him from reality, but crawls with foes and monsters... in both animal and human form.

As Solomon slips further into the place he calls Darkside, Ash realizes her only chance to free her best friend from his pain is to recall exactly what happened that day in his backyard and face the truth--together.

Ghosts of Home

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, August 2015. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Ten (2016), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Last Gods

Let All the Children Boogie

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Drowned Worlds (2016), edited by Jonathan Strahan. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 2 (2017), edited by Neil Clarke.

Lara Elena Donnelly
Sam J. Miller

As the Cold War stalls and the threat of nuclear warfare dominates the news, small-town misfits Laurie and Fell bond over a shared love of music and the mystery of the erratic radio messages that hint at the existence of a future worth reaching out for.

Read the full story for free at Tor Reactor.

Making Us Monsters

This novelette originally appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 19, November-December 2017.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny.

The Art of Starving

Matt hasn't eaten in days. His stomach stabs and twists inside, pleading for a meal, but Matt won't give in. The hunger clears his mind, keeps him sharp--and he needs to be as sharp as possible if he's going to find out just how Tariq and his band of high school bullies drove his sister, Maya, away.

Matt's hardworking mom keeps the kitchen crammed with food, but Matt can resist the siren call of casseroles and cookies because he has discovered something: the less he eats the more he seems to have... powers. The ability to see things he shouldn't be able to see. The knack of tuning in to thoughts right out of people's heads. Maybe even the authority to bend time and space.

So what is lunch, really, compared to the secrets of the universe?

Matt decides to infiltrate Tariq's life, then use his powers to uncover what happened to Maya. All he needs to do is keep the hunger and longing at bay. No problem. But Matt doesn't realize there are many kinds of hunger...and he isn't in control of all of them.

The Blade Between

The Future of Hunger in the Age of Programmable Matter

Ronan Szepessy promised himself he'd never return to Hudson. The sleepy upstate town was no place for a restless gay photographer. But his father is ill and New York City's distractions have become too much for him. He hopes that a quick visit will help him recharge.

Ronan reconnects with two friends from high school: Dom, his first love, and Dom's wife, Attalah. The three former misfits mourn what their town has become--overrun by gentrifiers and corporate interests. With friends and neighbors getting evicted en masse and a mayoral election coming up, Ronan and Attalah craft a plan to rattle the newcomers and expose their true motives. But in doing so, they unleash something far more mysterious and uncontainable.

Hudson has a rich, proud history and, it turns out, the real-state developers aren't the only forces threatening its well-being: the spirits undergirding this once-thriving industrial town are enraged. Ronan's hijinks have overlapped with a bubbling up of hate and violence among friends and neighbors, and everything is spiraling out of control. Ronan must summon the very best of himself to shed his own demons and save the city he once loathed.

The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History

A group of friends, a pair of lovers, and the tussle between love, addiction, and what comes next. Otto, a former addict, grateful and indebted to his lover Trevor, is faced with temptation and the threat of disaster, but he's fighting it. Fighting it in a future where matter can be reprogrammed and anything could happen, good or bad.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

World Fantasy Award nominated short story originally published in Uncanny Magazine, Issue Two, January-February 2015. It can also be found in the anthology The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2016, edited by Karen Joy Fowler and John Joseph Adams.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny Magazine.

Things with Beards

This Sturgeon and Nebula Award nominated short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld, Issue 117, June 2016. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume 11 (2017), edited by Jonathan Strahan, The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 2 (2017), edited by Neil Clarke, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fourth Annual Collection (2017), edited by Gardner Dozois and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2017, edited by Rich Horton.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

We Are the Cloud

When Your Child Strays From God

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It was originally published in Lightspeed, September 2014 and can also be found in the anthologies The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2015, edited by Joe Hill and John Joseph Adams and Nebula Awards Showcase 2016, edited by Mercedes Lackey.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Clarkesworld, Issue 106, July 2015. The story is included in the anthology Nebula Awards Showcase 2017, edited by Julie E. Czerneda.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

The Tomorrow Log

The Thing In the Walls Wants Your Small Change

Meanwhile, on another side of the Universe. . .

Meet Gem ser'Edreth, a wizard with electronics -- and a freelance thief. Deliberately solitary, unencumbered by family or friends, he immerses himself in his profession, rising to a pinnacle of skill so exalted that the planetary crime boss seeks him out with a commission to steal. Refusing the commission, of course, is his first mistake.

Gem's hidden past proves an unexpected liability and his plants to leave the planet go catastrophically awry. Suddenly embroiled in interplanetary politics, a potential interstellar war, and in possession of an ancient object of power an an unwanted cousin, Gem discovers that the mysterious Witness for the Telios may hold the key to his salvation -- or his undoing.

Dark Benediction

Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Originally published in 1980 as The Best of Walter M. Miller, then republished in 2000 as Dark Benediction.

Walter M. Miller, Jr. is best remembered as the author of A Canticle for Leibowitz, universally recognized as one of the greatest novels of modern SF. But as well as writing that deeply felt and eloquent book, he produced many shorter works of fiction of stunning originality and power.

His profound interest in religion and his innate literary gifts combined in the production of such works as "The Darfstellar", for which he won a Hugo in 1955, "Conditionally Human", "I, Dreamer" and "The Big Hunger", all of which are included in this brilliant and essential collection.

Table of Contents:

You Triflin' Skunk! - (1965) - shortstory
The Will - (1954) - shortstory
Anybody Else Like Me? - (1952) - novelette
Crucifixus Etiam - (1953) - shortstory
I, Dreamer - (1953) - shortstory
Dumb Waiter - (1952) - novelette
Blood Bank - (1952) - novella
Big Joe and the Nth Generation - (1952) - shortstory
The Big Hunger - (1952) - shortstory
Conditionally Human - (1952) - novella
The Darfsteller - (1955) - novella
Dark Benediction - (1951) - novella
The Lineman - (1957) - novella
Vengeance for Nikolai - (1957) - novelette

The Darfsteller

Walter M. Miller, Jr.

Hugo Award winning novelette. It originally appeared in Astounding Science Fiction, January 1955. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Hugo Winners, Volume 1: (1955-61) (1962), edited by Isaac Asimov, and The Great SF Stories 17 (1955) (1988), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. The story is included in the collections Conditionally Human (1962) and Dark Benediction (1980).

A Word Shaped Like Bones

Kris Millering

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue, June 2014.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Virginia M. Mohlere

This short story was originally published in Luna Station Quarterly, Issue 034, June 2018.

Read this story for free at Luna Station Quarterly.

The Bone Orchard

Sara A. Mueller

The Bone Orchard is a fascinating whodunit set in a lush, gothic world of secrets and magic: where a dying emperor charges his favorite concubine with solving his own murder, and preventing the culprit, which undoubtedly is one of his three terrible sons, from taking control of an empire.

Charm is a witch, and she is alone. The last of a line of conquered necromantic workers, now confined within the yard of regrown bone trees at Orchard House, and the secrets of their marrow.

Charm is a prisoner, and a survivor. Charm tends the trees and their clattering fruit for the sake of her children, painstakingly grown and regrown with its fruit: Shame, Justice, Desire, Pride, and Pain.

Charm is a whore, and a madam. The wealthy and powerful of Borenguard come to her house to buy time with the girls who aren't real.

Except on Tuesdays, which is when the Emperor himself lays claim to his mistress, Charm herself.

But now - Charm is also the only person who can keep an empire together, as the Emperor summons her to his deathbed, and charges her with choosing which of his awful, faithless sons will carry on the empire - by discovering which one is responsible for his own murder.

If she does this last thing, she will finally have what has been denied her since the fall of Inshil - her freedom. But she will also be betraying the ghosts past and present that live on within her heart.

Charm must choose. Her dead Emperor's will or the whispers of her own ghosts. Justice for the empire or her own revenge.

A Rocket for Dimitrios

This novella was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction, January/February 2021.

Read the full story for free at Asimov's.

Mutability

The Job at the End of the World

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, June 2015. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton.

A weary resilience worker should know better than anyone: no one is safe when the world is always ending...

Originally published on 30 August 2023, read it for free on Tor.com

The Mountain in the Sea

Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them.

The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA's team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world's first android.

The octopuses hold the key to unprecedented breakthroughs in extrahuman intelligence. The stakes are high: there are vast fortunes to be made by whoever can take advantage of the octopuses' advancements, and as Dr. Nguyen struggles to communicate with the newly discovered species, forces larger than DIANIMA close in to seize the octopuses for themselves.

But no one has yet asked the octopuses what they think. And what they might do about it.

The Tusks of Extinction

When you bring back a long-extinct species, there's more to success than the DNA.

Moscow has resurrected the mammoth. But someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out again.

Dr. Damira Khismatullina, an expert in elephant behavior, was brutally murdered trying to defend the world's last elephants from the brutal ivory trade. Now, her digitized consciousness has been downloaded into the mind of a mammoth.

As the herd's new matriarch, can Damira help fend off poachers long enough for the species to take hold? Or will her own ghosts, and Moscow's real reason for bringing the mammoth back, doom them to a new extinction?

Winter Timeshare

Earth Alert: And Other Science Fiction Tales

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, January-February 2017. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Fifth Annual Collection (2018), edited by Gardner Dozois, and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2018, edited by Rich Horton.

Kris Neville

Table of Contents:

7 - Earth Alert! - (1953) - novella
116 - General Max Shorter - (1962) - novelette
139 - New Apples in the Garden - (1963) - short story

The Time Traveler's Wife

Audrey Niffenegger

A dazzling novel in the most untraditional fashion, this is the remarkable story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who travels involuntarily through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare's passionate love affair endures across a sea of time and captures the two lovers in an impossibly romantic trap, and it is Audrey Niffenegger's cinematic storytelling that makes the novel's unconventional chronology so vibrantly triumphant.

An enchanting debut and a spellbinding tale of fate and belief in the bonds of love, The Time Traveler's Wife is destined to captivate readers for years to come.

House on Fire

Arch Oboler

It starts out innocently enough, when reporters Tony Dumont and Robin Shepherd are sent to interview teenager Mark Elias, a scientific genius, about a scholarship he has won. But it is quickly clear that there is something very strange about the Elias family. Mark and his sister Shirley spend long hours behind closed doors conducting weird and inscrutable experiments involving electricity and a tape recorder. And then there is old Mrs. Elias, the children's grandmother, who died recently and whom the family seems terrified to discuss. The two journalists believe there may be a more serious news story than the one they were sent to cover, but they have no idea how serious--until people begin to die...

Shooting Gallery

J. B. Park

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, November 2016.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories

Lord Dunsany

The Sword of Welleran and Other Stories is the third book by Irish fantasy writer Lord Dunsany, considered a major influence on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, H. P. Lovecraft, Ursula K. Le Guin and others. It was first published in hardcover in 1908, and has been reprinted a number of times since. The book is a series of short stories, some of them linked by Dunsany's invented pantheon of deities who dwell in Pegana, which were the focus of his earlier collections "The Gods of Pegana" and "Time and the Gods."

Contents:

"The Sword of Welleran"
"The Fall of Babbulkund"
"The Kith of the Elf-Folk"
"The Highwaymen"
"In the Twilight"
"The Ghosts"
"The Whirlpool"
"The Hurricane"
"The Fortress Unvanquishable, Save for Sacnoth"
"The Lord of Cities"
"The Doom of La Traviata"
"On the Dry Land."

Five Thrillers

Robert Reed

This novelette originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2008. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection (2009), edited by Gardner Dozois, and The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Three (2009), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Dirty Computer

Janelle Monáe

Tiptree Honor List and Hugo Award Finalist for Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form

This visual music album follows the struggles, joys, incarceration, and eventual liberation of a queer, Black woman who is punished by a system that seeks to "cleanse" her of all elements in her life that deviate from the norm. She is sent to a prison in which her memories (each of which is a separate music video and an ode to mutual love in rebellion) will be erased. The workers in charge of the erasure, who sit back and enjoy the memories prior to destruction, serve as a sharp metaphor of the white supremacist, cisheteropatriarchal system that is obsessed with Black bodies and creativity while still remaining profoundly anti-Black. This concept album forms a cohesive science fictional narrative, introducing futuristic elements in a way that is rarely seen so explicitly in the medium, opening up new pathways for the musical exploration of feminist science fiction.

Track Listing

"Dirty Computer" (featuring Brian Wilson), 1:59
"Crazy, Classic, Life", 4:46
"Take a Byte", 4:07
"Jane's Dream", 0:18
"Screwed" (featuring Zoë Kravitz), 5:02
"Django Jane", 3:10
"Pynk" (featuring Grimes), 4:00
"Make Me Feel", 3:14
"I Got the Juice" (featuring Pharrell Williams), 3:46
"I Like That", 3:20
"Don't Judge Me", 6:00
"Stevie's Dream", 0:46
"So Afraid", 4:04
"Americans", 4:06

Total length: 48:42

The Electric Lady

Janelle Monáe

The Electric Lady is the follow-up to Janelle Monáe's debut album The ArchAndroid (2010) and debut EP Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase) (2007), and consists of the fourth and fifth installments of her seven-part Metropolis concept series. Partly inspired by the 1927 film of the same name, the series involves the fictional tale of Cindi Mayweather, a messianic android sent back in time to free the citizens of Metropolis from The Great Divide, a secret society that uses time travel to suppress freedom and love.

At a moment when the term Afrofuturism can seem like an easy shorthand for all things black and imaginative, Electric Lady makes Afrofuturism less about androids and fantastic other worlds than about the unrealized futures we are living with now. If we are the beneficiaries of past struggle, Monae and the Wondaland artists insist that we are also the inheritors of some long-deferred dreams.

Monae's album title alone performs a black feminist coup by turning a glorified object into a glorious subject. Here the male fantasy theme park of Jimi Hendrix's Electric Ladyland becomes The Electric Lady, a female agent who not only claims a term ("lady") historically reserved for white women but also seizes the creative power that "electric" connotes. -- Emily J. Lordi, FeministWire

Track Listing:

Suite IV

Suite IV Electric Overture - 1:37
Givin' Em What They Love (featuring Prince) - 4:26
Q.U.E.E.N. (featuring Erykah Badu) - 5:10
Electric Lady (featuring Solange) - 5:08
Good Morning Midnight (Interlude) - 1:22
PrimeTime (featuring Miguel) - 4:40
We Were Rock & Roll - 4:19
The Chrome Shoppe (Interlude) - 1:10
Dance Apocalyptic - 3:25
Look into My Eyes - 2:18

Suite V

Suite V Electric Overture - 2:20
It's Code - 4:05
Ghetto Woman - 4:46
Our Favorite Fugitive (Interlude) - 1:23
Victory - 4:12
Can't Live Without Your Love - 3:54
Sally Ride - 4:08
Dorothy Dandridge Eyes (featuring Esperanza Spalding) - 4:15
What an Experience - 4:57

Total length: 67:35

The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer

Janelle Monáe

In The Memory Librarian: And Other Stories of Dirty Computer, singer-songwriter, actor, fashion icon, activist, and worldwide superstar Janelle Monáe brings to the written page the Afrofuturistic world of one of her critically acclaimed albums, exploring how different threads of liberation--queerness, race, gender plurality, and love--become tangled with future possibilities of memory and time in such a totalitarian landscape... and what the costs might be when trying to unravel and weave them into freedoms.

Whoever controls our memories controls the future.

Janelle Monáe and an incredible array of talented collaborating creators have written a collection of tales comprising the bold vision and powerful themes that have made Monáe such a compelling and celebrated storyteller. Dirty Computer introduced a world in which thoughts--as a means of self-conception--could be controlled or erased by a select few. And whether human, A.I., or other, your life and sentience was dictated by those who'd convinced themselves they had the right to decide your fate.

That was until Jane 57821 decided to remember and break free.

Expanding from that mythos, these stories fully explore what it's like to live in such a totalitarian existence...and what it takes to get out of it. Building off the traditions of speculative writers such as Octavia Butler, Ted Chiang, Becky Chambers, and Nnedi Okorafor--and filled with the artistic genius and powerful themes that have made Monáe a worldwide icon in the first place--The Memory Librarian serves readers tales grounded in the human trials of identity expression, technology, and love, but also reaching through to the worlds of memory and time within, and the stakes and power that exists there.

Patron of the Arts

William Rotsler

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology Universe 2 (1972), edited by Terry Carr. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year #2 (1973), edited by Terry Carr, Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Second Annual Collection (1973), edited by Lester Del Rey, Nebula Award Stories Eight (1973), edited by Isaac Asimov, The Arts and Beyond: Visions of Man's Aesthetic Future (1977) edited by Thomas F. Monteleone

Shiva Descending

Gregory Benford
William Rotsler

The first strikes destroyed Cleveland, Tunis, and parts of Alaska, Canada, and Australia. That was barely the beginning.

The swarm -- a cloud of meteors and asteroids 50,000 miles across -- was coming. Hundred of missiles put Earth under siege forcing the world in a panicked hell of anarchy and catastrophe. Riots and orgies rampaged in the rubble. And worse waited.

Because at the swarm's heart was Shiva -- a 30 billion-ton comet set to hit earth with the force of 250,000 H-bombs. The impact would turn seas into vapor and mountains into dust. Pray, scream, get drunk, or run amok -- but no one could escape it. No one could survive it.

And no one could stop it.

The Gallery of His Dreams

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

One of the most decorated and famous novellas of the 1990s, The Gallery of His Dreams remains a timeless tale of love, loss, and the power of art.

Mathew Brady, the first great war photographer, died broke in service of his art. In The Gallery of His Dreams, acclaimed writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch gives Mathew Brady a look at the future repercussions, power, and incredible value of his art, as only another true artist can do.

Kristine Kathryn Rusch's transformative novella The Gallery of His Dreams earned the Locus award for best novella and was a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula and World Fantasy awards.

Subterranean Gallery

Richard Paul Russo

THE ART OF STAYING ALIVE

San Francisco is turning into a jungle - more and more people living in cars, mobs forever roaming the streets, life an increasingly precarious prospect.

Rheinhardt is a sculptor who does the best he can in this urban cess-pit...

* Until they draft his best friend to fight in South America

* Until his artists' colony turns into a home for spoiled no-talents

* Until his girlfriend begins asking him where he's going

* Until he feels he just can't take it any more.

But soon, he won't have to. For in the background is a mystery man - Justinian - a Vietnam veteran who stalks Reinhardt quietly, calmly, waiting for the right moment. Waiting to take him to the Subterranean Gallery.

The Healer's War

Elizabeth Ann Scarborough

A literary departure for acclaimed fantasy author Elizabeth Ann Scarborough, The Healer's War draws on her personal experience as an army nurse in Da Nang to create a classic novel of the Vietnam War, enriched with a magical, mystical twist.

Lt. Kitty McCulley, a young and inexperienced nurse tossed into a stressful and chaotic situation, is having a difficult time reconciling her duty to help and heal with the indifference and overt racism of some of her colleagues, and with the horrendously damaged soldiers and Vietnamese civilians she encounters during her service at the China Beach medical facilities. She is unexpectedly helped by the mysterious and inexplicable properties of an amulet, given to her by one of her patients, an elderly, dying Vietnamese holy man, which allows her to see other people's "auras" and to understand more about them as a result. This eventually leads to a strange, almost surrealistic journey through the jungle, accompanied by a one-legged boy and a battle-seasoned but crazed soldier--as McCulley struggles to find herself and a way to survive through the madness and destruction.

Three Urban Folk Tales

Eric Schaller

This short story originally appeared in Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet, #16, July 2005. It can also be found in the anthology Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition, edited by Rich Horton.

A Traveler's Tale

Lucius Shepard

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, July 1984. The story can also be found in the anthology Modern Classic Short Novels of Science Fiction (1994), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collection The Jaguar Hunter (1987).

The Fiddler of Bayou Teche

Delia Sherman

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology The Coyote Road: Trickster Tales (2007), edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Twenty-First Annual Collection (2008), edited by Kelly Link, Gavin J. Grant and Ellen Datlow.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Crawlers

John Shirley

In a secret government lab somewhere in Nevada, a young scientist cowers in darkness-waiting, listening, and calculating his chances of surviving the unspeakable carnage that has left him trapped and alone. Or almost alone.

Soon after, a covert military operation "cleanses" all traces of a top-secret project gone horrifically wrong.

Three years later, it begins again-when the quiet of a warm autumn night in a sleepy California town is shattered by a streak of light across the sky, the thunder of impact, and the unleashing of something insidious. Spreading, multiplying, and transforming everything in its path, this diabolical intelligence will not be denied until the townsfolk-and eventually, all living things-are conquered. Until they are all crawling....

Complex God

This short story appeared more or less simultaneously in the anthology Robot Uprisings (2014), edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams, and Lightspeed, April 2014.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Earthcore

Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg

Deep below a desolate Utah mountain lies the largest platinum deposit ever discovered. A billion-dollar find, it waits for any company that can drill a world's record, three-mile-deep mine shaft.

EarthCore is the company with the technology, the resources and the guts to go after the mother lode. Young executive Connell Kirkland is the company's driving force, pushing himself and those around him to uncover the massive treasure. But at three miles below the surface, where the rocks are so hot they burn bare skin, something has been waiting for centuries. Waiting ... and guarding. Kirkland and EarthCore are about to find out first-hand why this treasure has never been unearthed.

Robert Silverberg
Alvaro Zinos-Amaro

Hugo-nominated Related Work

In addition to exploring Silverberg's career, now in its sixth decade, this collection of transcribed conversations delves into aspects of Silverberg's life -- such as his extensive travel, passion for film, opera and classical music -- not covered elsewhere.

A decade-and-a-half-long friendship, and working together on When the Blue Shift Comes, afforded Alvaro the opportunity to speak at length with Silverberg. The result: a remarkably candid series of conversations that will be of interest to science fiction readers and anyone curious about the writing life.

Table of Contents:

Introduction by Gardner Dozois
The Vividness of Landscape
Aesthetics
In the Continuum
Enwonderment
Libraries
Potpourri
After the Myths Went Home
Afterword: Travels With Bob by Karen Haber

The Planet Killers

Robert Silverberg

In The Planet Killers, the Security Computers of Earth Central determine that the frontier world of Lurion will launch an all-out attack on Earth in 67 years, sending Agent Roy Gardner to the rough-and-tumble planet to ensure that doesn't happen - even if it means blowing Lurion to interstellar dust! In The Plot Against Earth, agent Lloyd Catton must work with skeptical, suspicious alien agents to bust a hypnojewel racket, unveiling a multi-planet conspiracy threatening the Earth itself! In One of Our Asteroids is Missing, independent miner John Storm discovers an impossible asteroid rich with fabulously valuable metals and minerals, only to find his claim stolen, along with all computer records indicating that he had ever existed! Never before reprinted since their original appearances and with a new introduction by the author, these three novels of science fiction adventure blaze back onto the scene, revealing early masterworks of one of the genre's most gifted and celebrated storytellers!

Table of Contents:

Introduction
The Planet Killers - (1959)
The Plot Against Earth - (1959)
One of Our Asteroids Is Missing - (1964)

Travelers

Robert Silverberg

This short story originally appeared in Amazing Stories, Summer 1999 and was reprinted in Lightspeed, September 2010. The story can also be found in the anthology Lightspeed: Year One (2011), edited by John Joseph Adams. It is included in the collection The Millennium Express: 1995-2009 (2014).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

The Sky Is Yours

Chandler Klang Smith

In the burned-out, futuristic city of Empire Island, three young people navigate a crumbling metropolis constantly under threat from a pair of dragons that circle the skies. When violence strikes, reality star Duncan Humphrey Ripple V, the spoiled scion of the metropolis' last dynasty; Baroness Swan Lenore Dahlberg, his tempestuous, death-obsessed betrothed; and Abby, a feral beauty he discovered tossed out with the trash; are forced to flee everything they've ever known. As they wander toward the scalded heart of the city, they face fire, conspiracy, mayhem, unholy drugs, dragon-worshippers, and the monsters lurking inside themselves.

The Amethyst Road

Louise Spiegler

In a society similar to ours in some ways and very different in others, 16-year-old Serena and her older sister, Willow, struggle to get by in a tough, crime-infested urban neighborhood. By birth they are half Yulang, half Gorgio, but are accepted by neither race. The sisters get no help from the Yulang, because Willow's child was born out of wedlock and the family has been declared outcast. The Gorgios are even worse, trying to take the child away.

A run-in with social services, aptly nicknamed the Cruelty, launches Serena on a journey that is at once an escape and a quest to reunite her family. With the help of a boy named Shem, who is on a quest of his own, Serena travels deep into the mountains, where precious gems are mined, and across barren plains, where white-clad Trident Riders are terrorizing anyone who is not Gorgio. Along the way, Serena finds the answers she seeks--and some she didn't even know she was looking for.

The dynamics of racism and resistance are central themes of this modern adventure. Employing a mixture of gritty reality and richly drawn magical elements, this unique tale of selfdiscovery will captivate readers of contemporary fiction as well as fantasy fans.

Eco-Fiction

John Stadler

Table of Contents:

ix - Preface (Eco-Fiction) - (1971) - essay by John Stadler
1 - A Sound of Thunder - (1952) - short story by Ray Bradbury
14 - The Turtle - (1939) - short story by John Steinbeck
17 - The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion - (1839) - short story by Edgar Allan Poe
24 - The Fair Young Willowy Tree - (1939) - short story by A. E. Coppard
32 - A Mother's Tale - (1952) - novelette by James Agee
54 - The Law - (1947) - short story by Robert M. Coates
59 - The Birds - (1952) - novelette by Daphne du Maurier
85 - A Stay at the Ocean - (1969) - short story by Robley Wilson, Jr.
100 - The Supremacy of Uruguay - (1933) - short story by E. B. White
104 - Look How the Fish Live - (1957) - short story by J. F. Powers
119 - Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - (1954) - short story by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (variant of The Big Trip Up Yonder)
134 - A White Heron - (1886) - short story by Sarah Orne Jewett
145 - The Mary Celeste Move - (1964) - short story by Frank Herbert
153 - The Toys of Peace - (1919) - short story by Saki
159 - The Subliminal Man - (1963) - short story by J. G. Ballard
178 - The Cohen Dog Exclusion Act - (1971) - short story by Steven Schrader
183 - It's Such a Beautiful Day - (1955) - novelette by Isaac Asimov
207 - The Hummingbird That Lived Through Winter - (1944) - short story by William Saroyan

David's Sling

Marc Stiegler

A team of superior U.S. hackers seeks to develop computer-controlled smart weapons for use against a hostile power, but the team members find they need a greater understanding of the problem itself as they search for a way to end a war between two superpowers without destroying the planet itself.

Earthweb

Marc Stiegler

Doomsday Came About Every Five Years

Someone Out There really hated humans. Twenty years have passed since Shiva I first swept aside Earth's crude defenses and rained down destruction. Now Shiva V has entered the Solar System, more powerful than any of its predecessors.

The Shiva cannot be destroyed by fleets of ships: we tried, and it was the fleets that were destroyed. It cannot be defeated by a clandestinely developed super-weapon based on new principles of physics: no such weapon exists. It cannot be defeated by a forceful American President and his faithful generals: they do not know what to do.

There is only one way to defeat a Shiva: get inside and kill it. Once again, in the personae of five champions, four billion of us are about to do just that.

Ode to Defiance

Marc Stiegler

If the First Plague Apocalypse Doesn't Kill Them All, Try Another.

The most brilliant mind in a thousand years has been tortured and twisted by human cruelty. His solution:

Burn the world down and start from scratch.

Almost no one can stop him. A single obstacle stands in his way.

He must destroy the BrainTrust and its medical researcher extraordinaire, Dr. Dash.

With millions dying, nuclear war in the offing, and the BrainTrust under siege, the fight for the very soul of humanity hinges on a last desperate question:

Who remains to Defy the Darkness?

Valentina

Joseph H. Delaney
Marc Stiegler

Hugo Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, May 1984. There are no other known publication but the text was later incorporated in the novel Valentina: Soul in Sapphire (1984).

Valentina: Soul in Sapphire

Marc Stiegler
Joseph H. Delaney

Valentina, an artificial intelligence program come to life, and her creator, Celeste Hackett, a shy college student and computer genius, are menaced by an unscrupulous lawyer and two computer wizards hired to destroy Valentina.

Double Vision

When shy, psychic bookworm 'Cookie' Orbach watches television, she sees things. But not the things that you or I would see. Cookie sees The Grid - a strange, shifting landscape where human forces battle against an enemy they dare not kill. Her employer, the mysterious Dataplex Corporation, pays her well to watch this war, and asks only that she report her observations but take no direct action, which suits her passive demeanour just fine.

But Cookie's quiet life is about to be shattered. Her two very different worlds are threatening to merge in a way that shouldn't really be possible. Everything is about to change. And we do mean everything...

Dreaming in Smoke

Kalypso Deed is a shotgun, riding the interface between the AI Ganesh and human scientists who solve problems through cyberassisted Dreams. But she's young and a little careless; she'd rather mix drinks and play jazz. Azamat Marcsson is a colorless statistician: middle-aged, boring, and obsessed with microorganisms. A first-class nonentity--until one of his Dreams implodes, taking Kalypso with it.

Now Ganesh is crashing, and nothing could be worse. For on the planet T'nane, it is the AI alone that keeps the colonists alive, eking out a grim existence in an environment inimical to human life. To save the colony, Kalypso must persuade Marcsson to finish the Dream that is destroying Ganesh. But Marcsson has gone mad, and T'nane itself has plans for them both that will alter their minds--and their world--forever.

Lethe

It is the year 2166. Eighty years have passed since the Gene Wars devastated the Earth, decimating the human population and giving rise to myriad new life-forms. Only planetwide rule by an oligarchy of once-human brains in permanent computer interface has allowed "pure" humans to survive. Now, among the dolphins of Australia, Jenae Kim stumbles on the information that could mean a new beginning for human civilization: information that the government is determined to keep secret - even if they have to kill her.

On the edge of the solar system, researcher Daire Morales falls through an interstellar gate and discovers an Edenic world to which refugee children from the Gene Wars escaped long ago - but at a terrible price. The onset of adulthood promises a monstrous fate, and now the colony's adolescent leader, Tsering, faces her own violent demise. Only when Jenae exposes the long-buried truth about the Gene Wars does Tsering realize that the memories trapped in the planet's strange, sentient trees have the power to save - or destroy - not only the colony but the hope of humanity itself.

Lightborn

Lightborn, better known as 'shine', is a mind-altering technology that has revolutionised the modern world. It is the ultimate in education, self-improvement and entertainment - beamed directly into the brain of anyone who can meet the asking price. But in the city of Los Sombres, renegade shine has attacked the adult population, resulting in social chaos and widespread insanity in everyone past the age of puberty. The only solution has been to turn off the Field and isolate the city.

Trapped within the quarantine perimeter, fourteen-year-old Xavier just wants to find the drug that can keep his own physical maturity at bay until the army shuts down the shine. That's how he meets Roksana, mysteriously impervious to shine and devoted to helping the stricken. As the military invades street by street, Xavier and Roksana discover that there could be hope for Los Sombres - but only if Xavier will allow a lightborn cure to enter his mind. What he doesn't know is that the shine in question has a mind of its own ...

Maul

In a mall like any other, two gangs of teenaged girls are about to embark on an orgy of shopping and designer violence. In the battleground of cool, they'll fight for their lives to prove that "image is everything." And in another place, within a sealed room, a lone man fights an equally desperate war against a new virus and the scientists who have developed it. If anyone gets out alive, it will be a small miracle.

Occupy Me

A woman with wings that exist in another dimension. A man trapped in his own body by a killer. A briefcase that is a door to hell. A conspiracy that reaches beyond our world. Breathtaking SF from a Clarke Award-winning author.

Tricia Sullivan has written an extraordinary, genre defining novel that begins with the mystery of a woman who barely knows herself and ends with a discovery that transcends space and time. On the way we follow our heroine as she attempts to track down a killer in the body of another man, and the man who has been taken over, his will trapped inside the mind of the being that has taken him over.

And at the centre of it all a briefcase that contains countless possible realities.

Tricia Sullivan returns to the genre with a book that will define the conversation within the genre and will show what it is capable of for years to come. This is the best book yet from a writer of exceedingly rare talent who is much loved in the genre world.

Shadowboxer

Jade is a seventeen-year-old mixed martial arts fighter. When she's in the cage she dominates her opponents--but in real life she's out of control.

After she has a confrontation with a Hollywood martial arts star that threatens her gym's reputation, Jade's coach sends her to a training camp in Thailand for an attitude adjustment.

Hoping to discover herself, she instead uncovers a shocking conspiracy. In a world just beyond our own, a man is stealing the souls of children to try and live forever.

Someone to Watch Over Me

The notion of identity has become clouded in a future where the Watchers are able to inhabit the bodies of well-paid slaves through satellite links. Two people who have become surrogate bodies have two entirely different takes on the experience. Adrien Reyes views the link as a trap he needs to escape, while Sabina Lazarich sees it as a chance at true empathy. But neither knows that the experimental brain implant, I, could give a dying Watcher a second chance, and it has targeted one of them as a host.

Sound Mind

When Cassidy Walker stumbles into the middle of the highway, bloodied and bruised, Bard college in flames behind her, and manages to flag down a ride, she thinks the worst is over. Arriving in the nearby town of Red Hook, Cassidy tries to call her parents but the phone lines are down - no radio or television signals are being received either. The town, it seems, is cut off from the rest of the world. But that's not the strangest thing. Not by a long shot. Nobody in Red Hook has even heard of Bard College. Furthermore, they claim that Cassidy is not a music student, but a hand at the local stable. And she has lived in a house she can't remember, with people she barely knows, for over a year.

The world is fracturing. Cassidy just knows it - just as she knows that she is responsible. As Cassidy undertakes the ultimate road trip, through bubbles of reality, she will find that everything she thinks she knows about herself is wrong. Is she losing her mind or is the world a far more complex place than she thought?

Sweet Dreams

The Karen Joy Fowler Book Club

Charlie is a dreamhacker, able to enter your dreams and mould their direction. Forget that recurring nightmare about being naked at an exam - Charlie will step in to your dream, bring you a dressing gown and give you the answers. As far as she knows, she's the only person who can do this. Unfortunately, her power comes with one drawback - Charlie also has narcolepsy, and may fall asleep at the most inopportune moment.

But in London 2022, her skill is in demand. And when she is hired by a minor celebrity - who also happens to be the new girlfriend of Charlie's lamented ex - who dreams of a masked Creeper then sleepwalks off a tall building, Charlie begins to realise that someone else might be able to invade dreams...

N. A. Sulway

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, October 2015. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Ten (2016), edited by Jonathan Strahan and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2016, edited by Rich Horton.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Light from Other Stars: A Novel

Erika Swyler

Eleven-year-old Nedda Papas is obsessed with becoming an astronaut. In 1986 in Easter, a small Florida Space Coast town, her dreams seem almost within reach--if she can just grow up fast enough. Theo, the scientist father she idolizes, is consumed by his own obsessions. Laid off from his job at NASA and still reeling from the loss of Nedda's newborn brother several years before, Theo turns to the dangerous dream of extending his living daughter's childhood just a little longer. The result is an invention that alters the fabric of time.

Amidst the chaos that erupts, Nedda must confront her father and his secrets, the ramifications of which will irrevocably change her life, her community, and the entire world. But she finds an unexpected ally in Betheen, the mother she's never quite understood, who surprises Nedda by seeing her more clearly than anyone else. Decades later, Nedda has achieved her long-held dream, and as she floats in antigravity, far from earth, she and her crewmates face a serious crisis. Nedda may hold the key to the solution, if she can come to terms with her past and the future that awaits her.

Light from Other Stars is about fathers and daughters, women and the forces that hold them back, and the cost of meaningful work. It questions how our lives have changed, what progress looks like, and what it really means to sacrifice for the greater good.

The Book of Speculation

Erika Swyler

Simon Watson, a young librarian, lives alone in a house that is slowly crumbling toward the Long Island Sound. His parents are long dead. His mother, a circus mermaid who made her living by holding her breath, drowned in the very water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, ran off six years ago and now reads tarot cards for a traveling carnival.

One June day, an old book arrives on Simon's doorstep, sent by an antiquarian bookseller who purchased it on speculation. Fragile and water damaged, the book is a log from the owner of a traveling carnival in the 1700s, who reports strange and magical things, including the drowning death of a circus mermaid. Since then, generations of "mermaids" in Simon's family have drowned--always on July 24, which is only weeks away.

As his friend Alice looks on with alarm, Simon becomes increasingly worried about his sister. Could there be a curse on Simon's family? What does it have to do with the book, and can he get to the heart of the mystery in time to save Enola?

Jenny's Sick

David Tallerman

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, December 2010. It can also be found in the anthology Lightspeed: Year One (2011), edited by John Joseph Adams.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Patchwerk

David Tallerman

Fleeing the city of New York on the TransContinental atmospheric transport vehicle, Dran Florrian is traveling with Palimpsest -- the ultimate proof of a lifetime of scientific theorizing.

When a rogue organization attempts to steal the device, however, Dran takes drastic action.

But his invention threatens to destroy the very fabric of this and all other possible universes, unless Dran -- or someone very much like him -- can shut down the machine and reverse the process.

The Killer Inside Me

Jim Thompson

Everyone in the small town of Central City, Texas loves Lou Ford. A deputy sheriff, Lou's known to the small-time criminals, the real-estate entrepreneurs, and all of his coworkers--the low-lifes, the big-timers, and everyone in-between--as the nicest guy around. He may not be the brightest or the most interesting man in town, but nevertheless, he's the kind of officer you're happy to have keeping your streets safe. The sort of man you might even wish your daughter would end up with someday.

But behind the platitudes and glad-handing lurks a monster the likes of which few have seen. An urge that has already claimed multiple lives, and cost Lou his brother Mike, a self-sacrificing construction worker fell to his death on the job in what was anything but an accident. A murder that Lou is determined to avenge--and if innocent people have to die in the process, well, that's perfectly all right with him.

In THE KILLER INSIDE ME, Thompson goes where few novelists have dared to go, giving us a pitch-black glimpse into the mind of the American Serial Killer years before Charles Manson, John Wayne Gacy, and Brett Easton Ellis's American Psycho, in the novel that will forever be known as the master performance of one of the greatest crime novelists of all time.

304 Adolph Hitler Strasse

Lavie Tidhar

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #1 October 2006. It can also be found in the anthology Realms: The First Year of Clarkesworld Magazine (2007), edited by Sean Wallace and Nick Mamatas.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

(To See the Other) Whole Against the Sky

A Box, a Pocket, a Spaceman

Sturgeon Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #74 November 2012. The story can also be found in the anthology Clarkesworld: Year Seven (2015), edited by Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, August 2014.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Mix Tapes From Dead Boys

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, July 2017.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

The Grand Tour

Step right up! Come one, come all, to Jackson's Unreal Circus and Mobile Marmalade. The steam train may look older than your great-grandmother's china, but within her metal corridors are destinations you have only ever dreamed. They're real, friends, each and every one--and yours for the taking.

Witness Rabi, Vanquisher and Vanisher Extraordinaire, who can make coins and the past vanish before your very eyes. Dare to visit the Beauty and the Beast, our conjoined twins who are terrible and tortured by turns. Sample Beth's marmalade, the sticky sweetness containing the very memory of the day you turned sixteen, and your beloved's lips touched yours once and never again.It's worth the price, traveler. Jackson's Unreal Circus is where you can be whoever or whatever you want. Whether it be a ride on the Ferris wheel, slipping inside a skin that is not your own, or the opportunity to live as you never have before--it is all possible on this, the grandest of tours. The train beckons you--come, come!

For the first time, E. Catherine Tobler has compiled a collection of her popular circus stories. With nine stories ranging from the first publishing within this universe to a previously unpublished piece, this is your ticket to her magical world. Welcome to The Grand Tour.

Contains the following destinations:
"Vanishing Act"
"Artificial Nocturne"
"We, As One, Trailing Embers"
"Liminal"
"Blow the Moon Out"
"Ebb Stung by the Flow"
"Lady Marmalade"
"Every Season" (original to this collection)
"Inland Territory; Stray Italian Greyhound"

The Kraken Sea

Fifteen-year-old Jackson is different from the other children at the foundling hospital. Scales sometimes cover his arms. Tentacles coil just below his skin. Despite this Jackson tries to fit in with the other children. He tries to be normal for Sister Jerome Grace and the priests. But when a woman asks for a boy like him, all that changes. His name is pinned to his jacket and an orphan train whisks him across the country to Macquarie's.

At Macquarie's, Jackson finds a home unlike any he could have imagined. The bronze lions outside the doors eat whomever they deem unfit to enter, the hallways and rooms shift and change at will, and Cressida--the woman who adopted him--assures him he no longer has to hide what he is. But new freedoms hide dark secrets. There are territories, allegiances, and a kraken in the basement that eats shadows.

As Jackson learns more about the new world he's living in and about who he is, he has to decide who he will stand with: Cressida, the woman who gave him a home and a purpose, or Mae, the black-eyed lion tamer with a past as enigmatic as his own. The Kraken Sea is a fast paced adventure full of mystery, Fates, and writhing tentacles just below the surface, and in the middle of it all is a boy searching for himself.

The Necessity of Stars

Plagued by the creeping loss of her memory, diplomat Bréone Hemmerli continues to negotiate peace in an increasingly climate-devastated world. The Necessity of Stars brings the alien Tura to Bréone's Normandy garden, a place removed from the world's ruin. Within the garden's shadows, Tura will show Bréone a way forward, even if she can't remember it.

You Were She Who Abode

This short story originally appeared in Clarkesworld Magazine, #69 June 2012. It can also be found in the anthology Clarkesworld: Year Six (2014), edited by Sean Wallace and Neil Clarke.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

The Story of Kullervo

J. R. R. Tolkien

The world first publication of a previously unknown work of fantasy by J.R.R. Tolkien, which tells the powerful story of a doomed young man who is sold into slavery and who swears revenge on the magician who killed his father.

Kullervo son of Kalervo is perhaps the darkest and most tragic of all J.R.R. Tolkien's characters. 'Hapless Kullervo', as Tolkien called him, is a luckless orphan boy with supernatural powers and a tragic destiny.

Brought up in the homestead of the dark magician Untamo, who killed his father, kidnapped his mother, and who tries three times to kill him when still a boy, Kullervo is alone save for the love of his twin sister, Wanona, and guarded by the magical powers of the black dog, Musti. When Kullervo is sold into slavery he swears revenge on the magician, but he will learn that even at the point of vengeance there is no escape from the cruellest of fates.

Tolkien wrote that The Story of Kullervo was 'the germ of my attempt to write legends of my own', and was 'a major matter in the legends of the First Age'; his Kullervo was the ancestor of Túrin Turambar, tragic incestuous hero of The Silmarillion. In addition to being a powerful story in its own right, The Story of Kullervo – published here for the first time with the author's drafts, notes and lecture-essays on its source-work, The Kalevala, is a foundation stone in the structure of Tolkien's invented world.

Where Peace Is Lost

Valerie Valdes

Where peace is lost, may we find it.

Five years ago, Kelana Gardavros lost everything in the war against the Pale empire. Now Kel Garda is just another refugee living on the edge of an isolated star system. No one knows she was once a member of an Order whose military arm was disbanded and scattered across the galaxy. And no one knows that if her enemies found her, they might destroy the entire world to get rid of her.

Where peace is broken, may we mend it.

Kel's past intrudes in the form of a long-dormant Pale war machine, suddenly reactivated. If the massive automaton isn't stopped, at best it will carve a swath of devastation that displaces thousands of people. At worst, it will kill every sentient creature on the planet.

Where we go, may peace follow.

When two strangers offer to deactivate the machine for a price, Kel and a young friend agree to serve as their guides. The journey through swamps infested with predators and bandits is bad enough, but can they survive more nefarious dangers along the way? And will Kel's fear of revealing her secrets doom the very people she's trying to protect?

Where we fall, may peace rise.

Assault on a City

Chateau d'If and Other Stories

Hugo Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the anthology Universe 4 (1974), edited by Terry Carr. The story can also be found in the collections Lost Moons (1982), Wild Thyme, Green Magic (2009) and Golden Girl and Other Stories (2012).

A collection of Vance's early stories, including Phalid's Fate (1945), Chateau d'If (1949), Crusade to Maxus (1950), Shape-Up (1952), The Gift of Gab (1954), The Augmented Agent (1956), Milton Hack from Zodiac (1957), Nopalgarth (1964) and The Narrow Land (1966).

Emphyrio

Far in the future, the craftsmen of the distant planet Halma create goods which are the wonder of the galaxy. But they know little of this. Their society is harshly regimented, its religion austere and unforgiving, and primitive -- to maintain standards, even the most basic use of automation is punishable by death.

When Amiante, a wood-carver, is executed for processing old documents with a camera, his son Ghyl rebels, and decides to bring down the system. To do so, he must first interpret the story of Emphyrio, an ancient hero of Halman legend.

Fantasms and Magics

Contents:

Foreword (Fantasms and Magics) - (1978) - essay
The Miracle-Workers - (1958) - novella
When the Five Moons Rise - (1954) - shortstory
Noise - (1952) - shortstory
The New Prime - (1951) - novelette
Guyal of Sfere - [Dying Earth] - (1950) - novella
The Men Return - (1957) - shortstory

Note that this is a republication of an earlier collection (Eight Fantasms and Magics (1968)) but with two stories removed (Telek and Cil).

Future Tense

Table of Contents:

Dodkin's Job - (1959) - novelette
Ullward's Retreat - (1958) - novelette
Sail 25 - (1962) - novella
The Gift of Gab - (1955) - novella

Galactic Effectuator

Featuring three tales of the galactic effectuator who first appeared in "The Dogtown Tourist Agency", a tale suggesting that its author is a well-travelled man, intimately acquainted with the shortcomings of those who may seek to serve your needs in foreign lands.

Gold and Iron

Golden Girl and Other Stories

Originally appeared in Space Stories, December 1952. An abriged version appeared in Ace Double D-295 (1958).

Roy Barch is taken slave by the Klau, along with the golden Lekthwan, Komeitk Lelianr. On the industrialized world Magarak, the Klau hunt Barch and others for recreation. Barch refuses to fall prey--and fights a grim battle to return to Earth.

A collection of Vance's early stories, including Golden Girl (1945), Masquerade on Dicantropus (1950), Abercrombie Station (1951), Cholwell's Chickens (1951), The Mitr (1951), The World Between (1952), When the Five Moons Rise (1953), Meet Miss Universe (1954), and The Insufferable Redheaded Daughter of Commander Tynnott, O.T.E. (1972).

Green Magic

Sail 25 and Other Stories

Table of Contents:

Foreword - (1979) - essay by Poul Anderson
Introduction - (1979) - essay by John Shirley
Green Magic - (1963) - short story
The Miracle-Workers - (1958) - novella
The Moon Moth - (1961) - novelette
The Mitr - (1953) - short story
The Men Return - (1957) - short story
The Narrow Land - (1967) - novelette
The Pilgrims - (1966) - novelette
The Secret - (1966) - short story
Liane the Wayfarer - (1950) - short story

A collection of Vance's early short stories, including:

Planet of the Black Dust (1945)
Four Hundred Blackbirds (1948)
Dead Ahead (1949)
The Enchanted Princess (1949)
The Potters of Firsk (1949)
The Visitors (1950)
The Uninhibited Robot (1950)
Dover Spargill's Ghastly Floater (1951)
Three-Legged Joe (1951)
Sabotage on Sulfur Planet (1952)
Sjambak (1952)
Parapsyche (1957)
Sail 25 (1961)

Space Opera

The Augmented Agent and Other Stories

A society matron underwrites the interstellar tour of an Earth opera company, performing Beethoven, Mozart and Rossini for bewildered human and alien audiences on a kaleidoscopic range of planets. But intrigue and secret agendas complicate what was already a doubtful enterprise, and the matron's feckless nephew finds that the simple country girl he plans to marry is far more mysterious than she seems.

This is Jack Vance at his funniest, rolling out a rollicking picaresque tale where the belly laughs play a perfect duet with the grandmaster's sly observations on the absurdities of life, love and librettos.

Table of Contents:

Introduction - essay by Steven Owen Godersky
Shape-Up - (1953) - short story
The Man from Zodiac - (1967) - novella
Golden Girl - (1951) - short story
The Planet Machine - (1951) - short fiction
Crusade to Maxus - (1951) - novella
Three-Legged Joe - (1953) - short story
Sjambak - (1953) - novelette
The Augmented Agent - (1961) - novelette

The Best of Jack Vance

Table of Contents:

Preface to the Collection - essay by Jack Vance
Capturing Vance - (1976) - essay by Barry N. Malzberg
Sail 25 - (1962) - novella
Ullward's Retreat - (1958) - novelette
The Last Castle - (1966) - novella
Abercrombie Station - (1952) - novella
The Moon Moth - (1961) - novelette
Rumfuddle - (1973) - novella

The Blue World

King Kragen has ruled a sea-covered world since human colonists arrived twelve generations before. A monstrous water creature with gluttonous appetites, King Kragen demands a payoff in return for protection- and to appease him has become a way of life. To anger King Kragen means certain death, but Sklar Hast is fed up with slavery and sacrifice. In a world without weapons, the fight won't be easy--particularly when the unwilling treat Sklar Hast as the enemy!

The Five Gold Bands

The galaxy is full of wealthy planets and haughty aliens who guard the technology of interstellar travel. Earth must pay a price for use of the space drive, and this rubs Paddy Blackthorn the wrong way- so he sets out to steal the secret. The powerful Shauls capture and dump him on a barren planet- yet here he acquires five golden bands containing the very data he is after. The information is coded- and while Paddy solves the puzzle he must evade a galactic manhunt!

original publication: Startling Stories, 1950

first book publication, as The Space Pirate, Toby Press 1953

currently available as The Rapparee (Vance's preferred title)

The Languages of Pao

The Panarch of Pao is dead and Beran Panasper, his young son and heir, must flee the planet to live and avenge his father's death. It is at the secret fortress on the planet Breakness that Beran discovers the dreaded truth behind the assassination of his father-and much more. The people of Pao are a docile lot, content to live in harmony with the rest of the cosmos, but the scientists at Breakness seek to alter the psychology of the Paonese for their own purpose-and Beran holds the key to their audacious plan. Beran will return to Pao, transforming his home world beyond his teacher's wildest dreams. But though he has been fashioned into a man of Breakness, Beran's heart is of Pao. And he brings to his world the seeds of change that will save Pao...or destroy it.

The Last Castle

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella.

For 700 years the Meks served without complaint; they were indispensable, for no gentleman would demean himself with toil. But now they turn against the strongholds of civilization--Castle Halcyon, then Sea Island, Morninglight, and Maraval--one by one the proud castles of Earth fall; last standing is Castle Hagedorn.

Winner Nebula Award 1966, Hugo award 1967.

The story originally appeared in Galaxy Magazine, April 1966. The story can also be found in the Nebula Award Stories Two (1967), edited by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison, The Hugo Winners, Volume 2: (1963-70) (1971), edited by Isaac Asimov, and The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume III (1982), edited by George W. Proctor and Arthur C. Clarke. It is half of Tor Double #15: The Last Castle/Nightwings (1989, with Robert Silverberg) and is included in The Best of Jack Vance (1976) and The Jack Vance Treasury (2007).

The Miracle Workers

The Moon Moth and Other Stories

Humankind has dominated the world Pangborn for sixteen-hundred years. Jinxmen use powerful telepathy as a weapon—but when the indigenous First Folk fight to win Pangborn back, their weapons may be superior.

The World-Thinker and Other Stories

A collection of Vance's early stories, including The New Prime (1950), The Men Return (1955), Green Magic (1956), Ullward's Retreat (1957), Dodkin's Job (1958), The Moon Moth (1960), Alfred's Ark (1964), Sulwen's Planet (1966), and Rumfuddle (1972).

This is Me, Jack Vance!: Or, More Properly, This is

A collection of Vance's early short stories, including The World Thinker (1944), I'll Build Your Dream Castle (1946), The God and the Temple Robber (1946), Men of the Ten Books (1949), Seven Exits from Bocz (1949), Telek (1951), The Secret (1951), Noise (1952), D.P. (1951), The Absent Minded Professor (1953), The Devil on Salvation Bluff (1954), The Phantom Milkman (1955), Where Hesperus Falls (1955), A Practical Man's Guide (1956), and The House Lords (1956).

Jack Vance has long been one of the most influential, admired and imitated writers in science fiction and fantasy literature, the award-winning author of such widely acclaimed works as The Dying Earth, the Lyonesse trilogy, the adventures of Cugel the Clever, the Demon Princes series, and many other masterful tales set among the stars, in exotic fantasy realms or on our own Earth.

For much of his career, Vance has also been one of the field's most private writers, an author who preferred to let his work speak for him. Now, at last, to coincide with the release of the tribute anthology Songs of the Dying Earth, Jack gives us this intimate and fascinating glimpse into his rich and eventful life, and a valuable insight into how he went about practicing his craft.

For fans of the Grand Master's work, these memoirs are something to be treasured.

To Live Forever

In the far-future city of Clarges, you can live forever – if you can make the grade. In Clarges, everyone competes for the ultimate prize: immortality. Gavin Waylock had that prize – the live-forever rank of Amaranth, but lost it when he was accused of murder. Now, after seven years in hiding he begins again the struggle to reach the top. But a strong-willed woman,The Jacynth Martin, is determined to see him fail – and failure means death.

The Spatterlight Press e-book is available under the alternate title Clarges.

Wild Thyme, Green Magic

The Time Traveler's Almanac

When Jack Vance decided to become a writer, a "million words a year" man as he put it so pragmatically at the time, he also gave fantastic literature one of its most cherished and distinctive voices. Though primarily a novelist throughout his long and distinguished career, this Hugo, Nebula, Edgar and World Fantasy Award-winning Grand Master also produced many short and mid-length works.

Table of Contents:

Introduction by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan
Assault on a City
Rumfuddle
The Augmented Agent
Green Magic
Ullward's Retreat
Coup de Grace
Chateau d'If
The Potters of Firsk
The World-Thinker
Seven Exits from Bocz
Wild Thyme and Violets

Ann VanderMeer
Jeff VanderMeer

The Time Traveler's Almanac is the largest and most definitive collection of time travel stories ever assembled. Gathered into one volume by intrepid chrononauts and world-renowned anthologists Ann and Jeff VanderMeer, this book compiles more than a century's worth of literary travels into the past and the future that will serve to reacquaint readers with beloved classics of the time travel genre and introduce them to thrilling contemporary innovations.

This marvelous volume includes nearly seventy journeys through time from authors such as Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, Ursula K. Le Guin, George R. R. Martin, Michael Moorcock, H. G. Wells, and Connie Willis, as well as helpful non-fiction articles original to this volume (such as Charles Yu's "Top Ten Tips For Time Travelers").

In fact, this book is like a time machine of its very own, covering millions of years of Earth's history from the age of the dinosaurs through to strange and fascinating futures, spanning the ages from the beginning of time to its very end. The Time Traveler's Almanac is the ultimate anthology for the time traveler in your life.

Jupiter Wrestlerama

Marie Vibbert

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, October 2014.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

The Dead Letter and The Figure Eight

Metta Fuller Victor

Before Raymond Chandler, before Dorothy Sayers or Agatha Christie, there was Metta Fuller Victor, the first American author-man or woman-of a full-length detective novel. This novel, The Dead Letter, is presented here along with another of Victor's mysteries, The Figure Eight. Both written in the 1860s and published under the name Seeley Regester, these novels show how-by combining conventions of the mystery form first developed by Edgar Allan Poe with those of the domestic novel-Victor pioneered the domestic detective story and paved the way for generations of writers to follow.

In The Dead Letter, Henry Moreland is killed by a single stab to the back. Against a background of post-Civil War politics, Richard Redfield, a young attorney, helps Burton, a legendary New York City detective, unravel the crime. In The Figure Eight, Joe Meredith undertakes a series of adventures and assumes a number of disguises to solve the mystery of the murder of his uncle and regain the lost fortune of his angelic cousin.

The Peddler's Apprentice

Joan D. Vinge
Vernor Vinge

This novelette originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, August 1975. It can also be found in the anthologies Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year: Fifth Annual Collection (1975), edited by Lester del Rey, and The 1976 Annual World's Best SF, edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha. It is included in the collections Phoenix in the Ashes (Joan D. Vinge, 1975), True Names ...and Other Dangers (Vernor Vinge, 1987) and The Collected Stories of Vernor Vinge (Vernor Vinge, 2001).

The Witching Night

C. S. Cody

It is too bad that The Witching Night is Leslie Waller's only foray into weird fiction, because it's a chilling tour de force. Written early in the bestselling author's career, Waller used the pseudonym C. S. Cody to distinguish the novel from the crime fiction and international intrigue he would later become famous for.

Groundbreaking in its approach, The Witching Night pits medical science against a relentless, malignant force. Dr. Loomis--a young, well-grounded MD who operates a small clinic in Chicago--draws on his medical training by using pharmaceuticals to keep himself buoyant and lucid in the midst of a direct attack by a malicious entity... or is it a curse? Nameless, indefinable... one thing is certain: it's a killer, and likes to torture before it kills.

The Killer and the Slain

Hugh Walpole

As boys, Jimmie Tunstall was John Talbot's implacable foe, never ceasing to taunt, torment, and bully him. Years later, John is married and living in a small coastal town when he learns, much to his chagrin, that his old adversary has just moved to the same town. Before long the harassment begins anew until finally, driven to desperation, John murders his tormentor. Soon he starts to suffer from frightening hallucinations and his personality and physical appearance begin to alter, causing him increasingly to resemble the man he killed. Is it merely the psychological effect of his guilt, or is it the manifestation of something supernatural - and evil? The tension builds until the chilling final scene, when the horrifying truth will be revealed about the killer - and the slain.

The works of the prolific and phenomenally popular Sir Hugh Walpole (1884-1941) have been neglected since his death, but his "macabre" tales, of which The Killer and the Slain (1942) is the best, deserve rediscovery. A psychological horror story in the tradition of The Turn of the Screw and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Walpole's posthumous novel is reprinted for the first time in this new edition, which features an introduction by John Howard.

"[An] exercise in the macabre, the bizarre, the psychologically unaccountable... worked out with conspicuous craft and dexterity... ingenious, accomplished." - Times Literary Supplement

"[A] masterful blending of suspense, horror and deep-etched character... spine-chilling." - Publishers Weekly

"Well done, with more sex than one associates with Walpole... belongs in the gallery of pathological horror stories." - Kirkus Reviews

"[W]ill entangle the imaginative reader. It is undoubtedly macabre. Maturity and assurance of style add to its impressiveness." - Sydney Morning Herald

If on a Winter's Night a Traveler

Xia Jia

A short story about a poet and her legacy, and how people handle it in the age of the internet and social media. Traslated by Ken Liu. This story is included in the anthology Ex Libris: Stories of Librarians, Libraries & Lore (2017), edited by Paula Guran

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Neon Green

Margaret Wappler

It's the summer of 1994 in suburban Chicago: Forrest Gump is still in theaters, teens are reeling from the recent death of Kurt Cobain, and you can enter a sweepstakes for a spaceship from Jupiter to land in your backyard. Welcome to Margaret Wappler's slightly altered 90s. Everything's pretty much the way you remember it, except for the aliens.

When a flying saucer lands in the Allens' backyard, family patriarch and environmental activist Ernest is up in arms. According to the company facilitating the visits, the spaceship is 100 percent non-toxic, but as Ernest's panic increases, so do his questions: What are the effects of longterm exposure to the saucer and why is it really here?

The family starts logging the spaceship's daily fits and starts but it doesn't get them any closer to figuring out the spaceship's comically erratic behavior. Ernest's wife Cynthia and their children, Alison and Gabe, are less concerned with the saucer, and more worried about their father's growing paranoia (not to mention their mundane, suburban existences). Set before the arrival of the internet, Neon Green will stun, unnerve, and charm readers with its loving depiction of a suburban family living on the cusp of the future.

Rose/House

Arkady Martine

Basit Deniau's houses were haunted to begin with.

A house embedded with an artificial intelligence is a common thing: a house that is an artificial intelligence, infused in every load-bearing beam and fine marble tile with a thinking creature that is not human? That is something else altogether. But now Deniau's been dead a year, and Rose House is locked up tight, as commanded by the architect's will: all his possessions and files and sketches are confined in its archives, and their only keeper is Rose House itself. Rose House, and one other.

Dr. Selene Gisil, one of Deniau's former protégé, is permitted to come into Rose House once a year. She alone may open Rose House's vaults, look at drawings and art, talk with Rose House's animating intelligence all she likes. Until this week, Dr. Gisil was the only person whom Rose House spoke to.

But even an animate intelligence that haunts a house has some failsafes common to all AIs. For instance: all AIs must report the presence of a dead body to the nearest law enforcement agency.

There is a dead person in Rose House. The house says so. It is not Basit Deniau, and it is not Dr. Gisil. It is someone else. Rose House, having completed its duty of care and informed Detective Maritza Smith of the China Lake police precinct that there is in fact a dead person inside it, dead of unnatural causes--has shut up.

No one can get inside Rose House, except Dr. Gisil. Dr. Gisil was not in North America when Rose House called the China Lake precinct. But someone did. And someone died there. And someone may be there still.

The Hydraulic Emperor

Arkady Martine

This short story originally appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 20, January-February 2018.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny.

Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews

Sam Weller

A definitive collection of interviews with one of America's most famous writers, covering his life, faith, friends, politics, and visions of the future.

Ray Bradbury, the poetic and visionary author of such classics as Fahrenheit 451, The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man, is one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. From Mikhail Gorbachev to Alfred Hitchcock to David Bowie, Bradbury's sway on contemporary culture is towering. Acclaimed biographer and Bradbury scholar Sam Weller has spent more than a decade interviewing the author; the fascinating conversations that emerge cast a high-definition portrait of a creative genius and a futurist who longs for yesterday. Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews is the definitive collection of interviews with an American icon.

The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury

Sam Weller

Accomplished journalist Sam Weller met the Ray Bradbury while writing a cover story for the Chicago Tribune Magazine and spent hundreds of hours interviewing Bradbury, his editors, family members, and longtime friends. With unprecedented access to private archives, he uncovered never-before-published letters, documents, and photographs that help tell the story of this literary genius and his remarkable creative journey. The result is a richly textured, detailed biography that illuminates the origins and accomplishments of Bradbury's fascinating mind.

Hard Reboot

How to Become a Dark Lord and Die Trying

Kas is a junior researcher on a fact-finding mission to old Earth. But when a con-artist tricks her into wagering a large sum of money belonging to her university on the outcome of a manned robot arena battle, she becomes drawn into the seedy underworld of old Earth politics and state-sponsored battle-droid prizefights.

Is it time to get back to the books, yet?

I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land

Davi has done this all before. She's tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she's rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she's killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she's been defeated every time.

This time? She's done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that's who she needs to be. It's Davi's turn to play on the winning side.

In Springdale Town

Robert Freeman Wexler

Reconciliation, longing, and ambiguity combine in one astounding locale: Springdale. Is it a mundane New England town on a picturesque river, or the nexus of the paradoxical?

Springdale appears to be a quiet village, unblemished by shopping mall or mega-store. The town sits in a fertile valley, surrounded by countryside rich in natural wonder. Summers, tourists attend the area's many arts and music festivals, and hikers crowd the trails. In the fall, reds and yellows of turning leaves decorate the landscape, and in winter, mountain resorts fill with avid skiers.

But some say Springdale exists only on the contoured highways of our collective imagination. Others point to references dating back to Colonial Boston, to multiple versions of a ballad telling a story of remorse and disgrace.

Here are three facts:
1. Maps cannot be trusted;
2. All History is awash with fraud and hoax;
3. Springdale is an absence of identity.

For two people, a lawyer named Patrick Travis and a television actor named Richard Shelling, Springdale is home and anti-home, a place of comfort and a distortion of everyday life. They are strangers to each other, yet connected. Their lives will intersect with a force that shatters both.

This story is included in the anthology Best Short Novels: 2004, edited by Jonathan Strahan.

The Silverberg Business

Robert Freeman Wexler

In 1888 in Victoria, Texas, for a simple job, a Chicago private eye gets caught up in the poker game to end all poker games.

Shannon, a Chicago private detective, returns home to Galveston, Texas for a wedding. Galveston's new rabbi asks Shannon to find Nathan Silverberg, gone missing along with a group of swindlers who claim to be soliciting money for a future colony of Romanian Jewish refugees.

What seems to be a simple job soon pushes Shannon into stranger territory. His investigations lead him to a malevolent white-haired gambler, monstrous sand dune totems, and a group of skull-headed poker players trapped in an endless loop of cards and alcohol, who may be his only means to survive the business.

Collaborators

Deborah Wheeler

When a crippled Terran spaceship makes landfall on an alien world.

The Terrans land, unaware that their advanced technology threatens the fragile balance of power for the native race. Aliens, for whom gender has a very different meaning and whose instincts can drive a crowd to madness.

Despite the Terrans best intentions, misunderstandings mount and violent retaliation escalates. Soon everyone -- scientists and soldiers, rebels and lovers, patriots and opportunists -- are swept up in a cycle of destruction.

A cycle of destruction follows.

Ultimately, the people on each side who have suffered the deepest losses must forge a path to reconciliation before it's too late.

Salvation comes, but at a price.

Jaydium

Deborah Wheeler

Far in the future, an interplanetary civil conflict has ground to an uneasy halt, leaving its human victims bitter and desperate: Kithri, the daughter of a scientist, abandoned on a desolate mining planet with no hope to use her talents, and Eril, shell-shocked pilot, finding adapting to peace more difficult than he dreamed. A freak accident sends them back to a time when their desert world was lush and green, when an alien civilization stands on the brink of a war of total destruction.

Unexpectedly linked with Lennart, a spaceman from an earlier era in galactic history, and Brianna, an anthropologist from an alternate universe, they must choose to remain outside the conflict or to stand up for what they believe, even at the cost of never getting home again

Northlight

Deborah Wheeler

She's a Ranger, a wild and savvy knife-fighter, determined to get help in finding her partner who's lost on the treacherous northern border. He's a scholar who sees visions, eager to escape the confines of city life and the shadow of his charismatic mother.

With the assassination of a beloved leader and the city in turmoil, the two have only each other to turn to. What begins as a rescue mission turns deadly as together they unravel the secret that lies beneath Laurea's idyllic surface.

Russian Wonder Tales

Post Wheeler

The Russian skazki are the mass of folk tales distributed widely through all the Russias. They are among the oldest stories in the world, handed down in peasant's hut and noble's palace from a time when history had yet to be recorded. They are today, from Archangel to the Black Sea and from Siberia to the Baltic, almost as much a part of life of the people as the language itself.

Russian Wonder Tales has long been recognized as one of the best of all children's classics. Now, in this fresh re-issue of the completely revised edition, it is still a marvelous book. There are perhaps no wonder tales extant today so fascinating as these, for they have been written with that touch of magic which makes old tales eternally new. The twelve illustrations in full color are by a famous Russian painter, Bilibin, whose art revives the enchanted lands of a distant, glowing past.

Aside from the overwhelming appeal of these stories for younger readers, Russian Wonder Tales is also an important book for the student of legend and myth. The tales are linked to a hundred phrases in common parlance; the heroes, in one guise or another, peer from every page of Slavonic literature; and the delver in historic debris finds each stratum sown thick with skazki shards to the very bedrock of legend.

Table of Contents:

Foreward
The Language of the Birds
Tsar Saltan
Vasilissa the Beautiful
The Little Humpbacked Horse
Tsar-Morskoi the Sea-Ruler
Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Gray Wolf
Maria Morevna
Martin the Peasant's Son
The Mountain of White Sand
The Feather of Finist the Falcon
The Frog-Tsarevna
Schmat-Razum
The Twin Brothers
Little Bear's Son
Vasilii the Unlucky
Tsarevitch Petr and the Wizard

Three Princes

Ramona Wheeler

Lord Scott Oken, a prince of Albion, and Professor-Prince Mikel Mabruke live in a world where the sun never set on the Egyptian Empire. In the year 1877 of Our Lord Julius Caesar, Pharaoh Djoser-George governs a sprawling realm that spans Europe, Africa, and much of Asia. When the European terrorist Otto von Bismarck touches off an international conspiracy, Scott and Mik are charged with exposing the plot against the Empire.

Their adventure takes them from the sands of Memphis to a lush New World, home of the Incan Tawantinsuyu, a rival empire across the glittering Atlantic Ocean. Encompassing Quetzal airships, operas, blood sacrifice and high diplomacy, Ramona Wheeler's Three Princes is a richly imagined, cinematic vision of a modern Egyptian Empire.

Sea Change

S. M. Wheeler

The unhappy child of two powerful parents who despise each other, young Lilly turns to the ocean to find solace, which she finds in the form of the eloquent and intelligent sea monster Octavius, a kraken. In Octavius's many arms, Lilly learns of friendship, loyalty, and family. When Octavius, forbidden by Lilly to harm humans, is captured by seafaring traders and sold to a circus, Lilly becomes his only hope for salvation. Desperate to find him, she strikes a bargain with a witch that carries a shocking price.

Her journey to win Octavius's freedom is difficult. The circus master wants a Coat of Illusions; the Coat tailor wants her undead husband back from a witch; the witch wants her skin back from two bandits; the bandits just want some company, but they might kill her first. Lilly's quest tests her resolve, tries her patience, and leaves her transformed in every way.

A powerfully written debut from a young fantasy author, S.M. Wheeler's Sea Change is an exhilarating tale of adventure, resilience, and selflessness in the name of friendship.

The Killer Thing

Kate Wilhelm

PROGRAMMED FOR DESTRUCTION

In a way, they were the same, the man and the machine. Both had been ordered to do one thing - kill.

The robot had been created to wreak revenge on the humans who had brutally conquered its planet.

The man was the product of years of training by an Earth that had set out to take over the Universe.

Now the two faced each other in the icy reaches of the galaxy. The robot, with its calculating machine of a brain, its impenetrable force shield, its deadly laser beam. The man, with the kind of nerve that refused to admit the odds against survival...

Connie Willis

Jim is in New York City at Christmastime shopping a book based on his blog--Gone for Good-- premised on the fact that "being nostalgic for things that have disappeared is ridiculous." Progress decides for people what they need and what's obsolete. It's that simple. Of course, not everyone agrees. After Jim bombs a contentious interview with a radio host who defends the sacred technology of the printed, tangible book, he gets caught in a rainstorm only to find himself with no place to take refuge other than a quaint, old-fashioned bookshop.

Ozymandias Books is not just any store. Jim wanders intrigued through stacks of tomes he doesn't quite recognize the titles of, none with prices. Here he discovers a mysteriously pristine, seemingly endless wonderland of books--where even he gets nostalgic for his childhood favorite. And, yes, the overwhelmed and busy clerk showing him around says they have a copy. But it's only after Jim leaves that he understands the true nature of Ozymandias and how tragic it is that some things may be gone forever...

This novella originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, November-December 2017. It was published in chapbook edition in 2018.

Accelerants

Lena Wilson

Spring, before

When Lucy is six years old she finds two things that will change her life forever: she is an Omni that can control fire, and her power is deadly. Under the sharp watch of her secretive father, Lucy is confronted with the consequences of the worst mistake of her life every day. On the eve of her eighteenth birthday, things finally seem like they are getting better--with the promise of freedom at college on the horizon, and the dream that Jessa, the girl of Lucy's dreams, might reciprocate Lucy's feelings. But in an instant, everything changes.

Winter, now

Incarcerated and stripped of her rights, Lucy's new world is behind locked gates and antiseptic interrogation rooms. Like other Omnis, Lucy is separated from her family, seen as a criminal for trying to live with other humans, and locked away--possibly forever. But Lucy and her fellow Omnis aren't going quietly into submission.

Accelerants is a novella about first love, cold-hearted betrayal, and the implacable truth that sometimes you have to burn it all down.

Killerbowl

Gary K. Wolf

It's thirty years in the future. In the Boston Minutemen locker room, Street Football League quarterback T.K. Mann prepares himself for the biggest, riskiest, most dangerous game of his life. At the age of thirty-four, T.K. is the oldest player in the ultraviolent sport of Professional Street Football, a phenomenally popular twenty-four-hour-long athletic event combining pro football with mixed martial arts and armed combat.

From its outlaw beginnings as a gang game played on urban streets, the SFL has rapidly risen to become the nation's most popular spectator sport. On every Sunday, armed and deadly players on SFL teams main and murder one another in front of huge television audiences. The International Broadcasting Company, the network that owns exclusive telecasting rights to SFL games, is not satisfied. The network wants more viewers, more team merchandise sales, more advertisers, more profits. To get that, they need to give the fans what they want, -- more violence and more death.

Strange Travelers

Gene Wolfe

Gene Wolfe is producing the most significant body of short fiction of any living writer in the SF genre. It has been ten years since the last major Wolfe collection, so Strange Travelers contains a whole decade of achievement. Some of these stories were award nominees, some were controversial, but each is unique and beautifully written.

Table of Contents

Bluesberry Jam - (1996) - novelette
One-Two-Three for Me - (1996) - short story
Counting Cats in Zanzibar - (1996) - short story
The Death of Koshchei the Deathless (a tale of old Russia) - (1995) - short story
No Planets Strike - (1997) - short story
Bed and Breakfast - (1996) - short fiction
To the Seventh - (1996) - novelette
Queen of the Night - (1994) - short story
And When They Appear - (1993) - novelette
Flash Company - (1997) - short story
The Haunted Boardinghouse - (1990) - novelette
Useful Phrases - (1993) - short story
The Man in the Pepper Mill - (1996) - novelette
The Ziggurat - (1995) - novella
Ain't You 'Most Done? - (1996) - novelette

The Fortune Teller

Gwendolyn Womack

Semele Cavnow appraises antiquities for an exclusive Manhattan auction house, deciphering ancient texts--and when she discovers a manuscript written in the time of Cleopatra, she knows it will be the find of her career. Its author tells the story of a priceless tarot deck, now lost to history, but as Semele delves further, she realizes the manuscript is more than it seems. Both a memoir and a prophecy, it appears to be the work of a powerful seer, describing devastating wars and natural disasters in detail thousands of years before they occurred.

The more she reads, the more the manuscript begins to affect Semele's life. But what happened to the tarot deck? As the mystery of her connection to its story deepens, Semele can't shake the feeling that she's being followed. Only one person can help her make sense of it all: her client, Theo Bossard. Yet Theo is arrogant and elusive, concealing secrets of his own, and there's more to Semele's desire to speak with him than she would like to admit. Can Semele even trust him?

The auction date is swiftly approaching, and someone wants to interfere--someone who knows the cards exist, and that the Bossard manuscript is tied to her. Semele realizes it's up to her to stop them: the manuscript holds the key to a two-thousand-year-old secret, a secret someone will do anything to possess.

The Hidden Tribe

Two women captured by the ruler of a lost race in the Sahara Desert find themselves faced with a fate worse than death! Only an intrepid British soldier can save the lovely ladies.

The Screaming Lake

Rob Ziegler
Bradley P. Beaulieu

Devereux and Juanita travel deep into the Amazon jungle looking for Incan gold. What they find is an ancient city forgotten by time, located on the shores of The Screaming Lake, where huge, toad-like monsters feast on unwary travelers. Can they survive their encounter with the Living God?

The Burning Light

Disgraced government operative Colonel Chu is exiled to the flooded relic of New York City. Something called the Light has hit the streets like an epidemic, leavings its users strung out and disconnected from the mind-network humanity relies on. Chu has lost everything she cares about to the Light. She'll end the threat or die trying.

A former corporate pilot who controlled a thousand ships with her mind, Zola looks like just another Light-junkie living hand to mouth on the edge of society. She's special though. As much as she needs the Light, the Light needs her too. But, Chu is getting close and Zola can't hide forever.

We Claim These Stars! / The Planet Killers

Poul Anderson
Robert Silverberg

We Claim These Stars!

All's fair in love and war--and with the galaxy split in conflict between two implacable confederations, anything ought to go. Still, how do you plan the ambush and capture of a tremendously capable telepath?

The intended victim, a weird genius from an uncharted world and the right arm of the enemy's general staff, not only knew everything everyone was thinking nearby, he could also read minds at a distance. So the problem posed to Dominic Flandry, Captain of Terran Intelligence, was a real killer.

To make matters worse, the telepath in question was equally interested in putting Flandry out of commission. The fate of many planets depended on which of the two triumphed.

The Planet Killers

Murder Mission to Betelgeuse IV

It was in wide-eyed horror that Roy Gardner heard the news from the Chief of Security. In just sixty-seven years the Earth would be destroyed by the planet Lurion.

That data had been compiled by the invincible computer. With unwavering faith in the machine, humans had only one thing to do--destroy Lurion first.

And the man for the job was Gardner. If he did it successfully the blood of billions would be on his hands; if he fouled up he would be the worst traitor in Terrestrial history. And not even he knew which course he would pursue when he finally learned that eben the all-wise machine had not known all the right answers.

The Gates of Time / Dwellers of the Deep

K. M. O'Donnell
Neal Barrett, Jr.

The Gates of Time

The last Earthman vs. the Empire that died before Earth was born.

Dwellers of the Deep

What! A science fiction novel about science fiction fans? And why not? Or - like it says in this novel: "Do you really think that a group of science fiction fans could save this planet? Could understand this situation to save it?" "I most certainly do," she says. "Who else?" Who else, indeed? Not since Frederic Brown's "What Mad Universe" has there been a novel like this.

The Brain-Stealers / Atta

Francis Rufus Bellamy
Murray Leinster

The Brain-Stealers

Strange exiles were landing throughout the night... exiles from the unknown depths of outer space -- seeking human beings for food!

Atta

A microscopic man fights for survival in a world of ants...

When Brokell awoke, e was less than half an inch tall. Suddenly his apple orchard had become an exotic landscape, and the insects in it terrifying monsters. Helpless, without food or weapons, Brokell faced certain death-but for the friendship of the ant called ATTA.

The Meddlers

J. F. Bone

Though few in the confederation realize it, the great empire is on the brink of destruction. Infiltrated by efficiently organized political agitators, its once solid central is crumbling. But Warren Robertshaw realizes it. If he is to defeat those who would destroy his world, he too must destroy--a life-style.

Listen! The Stars! / The Rebellers

John Brunner
Jane Roberts

Listen! The Stars!

Tune in on eternity - and disappear...

The Rebellers

The population explosion conspiracy!

The Astronauts Must Not Land / The Space-Time Juggler

John Brunner

The Astronauts Must Not Land

They'd left as men, but what were they now?

The Space-Time Juggler

He tampered with the furure of words.

Solar Flares: Science Fiction in the 1970s

Andrew M. Butler

Science fiction produced in the 1970s has long been undervalued, dismissed by Bruce Sterling as "confused, self-involved, and stale". The New Wave was all but over and Cyberpunk had yet to arrive. The decade polarised sf - on the one hand it aspired to be a serious form, addressing issues such as race, Vietnam, feminism, ecology and sexuality, on the other hand it broke box office records with Star Wars, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien and Superman: The Movie.

Beginning with chapters on the First sf and New Wave authors who published during the 1970s, Solar Flares examines the ways in which the genre confronted a new epoch and its own history, including the rise of fantasy, the sf blockbuster, children's sf, pseudoscience and postmodernism. It explores significant figures such as Joanna Russ, Samuel R. Delany and Octavia Butler. From Larry Niven's Ringworld to Thomas M. Disch's On Wings of Song, from The Andromeda Strain to Flash Gordon and from Doctor Who to Buck Rogers, this book reclaims seventies sf writing, film and television - alongside music and architecture - as a crucial period in the history of science fiction.

Alternate Orbits / The Dark Dimensions

Beyond the Galactic Rim / The Ship From Outside

Alternate Orbits

Collection containing:

Hall of Fame - (1969) - novelette (variant of The Kinsolving's Planet Irregulars)
The Sister Ships - novelette (variant of Sister Ships)
The Man Who Sailed the Sky - novelette
The Rub - (1970) - novelette

The Dark Dimensions

Strange things happen near the Rim of Space. John Grimes meets John Grimes in a tale from the outside of time and space.

Bring Back Yesterday / The Trouble with Tycho

Beyond the Galactic Rim

Contents:

Forbidden Planet (1959)
Wet Paint (1959)
The Man Who Could Not Stop (1959)
The Key (1959)

The Ship From Outside

The reward for rescuing Thermopylae is finally paid, and Calver and his shipmates from Lorn Lady purchase a ship and rename her The Outsider. Two years are spent as a charter to Rim Runners, then six months tramping, before Sonya Verrill reappears and engineers a charter from the Federation Survey Service to look for an alien derelict. She accompanies Outsider, but proves very disruptive to Jane Calver.

Clifford D. Simak
A. Bertram Chandler

Bring Back Yesterday

Second Officer John Peterson is finished as far as the Galactic clippers are concerned. Branded a deserter, stranded on Carinthia and desperate for a job, there are few places left to go. Private detective Steve Vynalek needs Petersen. Has a fanatical scientist on the planet Wenceslaus really found a way to beat the time travel problem, a way to bring back yesterday?

The Trouble with Tycho

A Treasure Hunt in a Haunted Crater

Prospecting on the Moon was grim, dangerous and usually unrewarding. Only most of the greenhorns who came to try didn't find out until after they got there.

Chris Jackson was no exeption. He put everything he owned and could borrow into this, and he'd be ruined if he failed.

His only chance meant going into Tycho - where three expeditions had already disappeared. He could try... but would he come out again...?

Nebula Alert / The Rival Rigelians

A. Bertram Chandler
Mack Reynolds

Nebula Alert

The Iralians were humanoid and techically free citizens of the Galactic Empire. But as slaves they were prized above all others, for they had the unique capacity to transmit acquired knowledge through heredity. And so when the space mercenary Wanderer was hired by GLASS (Galactic League for the Abolition and Supression of Slavery) to take a cargo of Iralians home it was going to be a simple task!

For one thing, they'd be hunted by interstellar slavers for their priceless passengers.

For another, the Iralians themselves had other ideas which included mutiny and high treason.

And for the third and worst, they were too close to the Horsehead Nebula, whose capacity for warping time, space and the dimensions was a permanent Red Alert for all spacecraft.

The Rival Rigelians

The team from Earth had the task of raising backward planets to the home world's high level. The situation on Rigel was this:

"The most advanced culture on Rigel's first planet is to be compared to the Italian cities during Europe's feudalistic yeas. The most advanced of the second planet is comparable to the Aztecs at the time of the Spanish conquest."

"These planets are in your control to the extent that no small group has ever dominated millions before. No Caesar ever exerted the power that will be in your collective hands. For half a century, you will be as gods and goddesses!"

But the Rigelians were themselves descended from the lost colonists of old Earth and they could learn their lessons as fast as they could be taught.

In fact, they could even teach their teachers a thing or two. And therein lay the peril the professors from space never dreamed of.

Reality Forbidden / Contraband From Otherspace

A. Bertram Chandler
Philip E. High

Contraband From Otherspace

A deadly cargo that threatens to sheer through the fabric of reality, like a knife through soft butter.

Reality Forbidden

If wishes would only come true... how often has every human being thought that? How wonderful life would be if only we could have everything we ever dreamed of!

But the man who invented the dream-machine turned out to be the worst enemy humanity ever encountered! The dream became as real as the reality--and yet remained a figment of the imagination. And thereby the very foundations of civilization were undermined. Why strive--when you could get it all without effort?

Reality Forbidden is the unusual novel of that came afterwards. Of the world in which on the most rigid of terror kept the cities standing, and of the man who dared escape that world, to find the last place on earth where dreaming was not prohibited, and where one could not only have one's cake, but eat it as well!

The Alternate Martians / Empress of Outer Space

The Caves of Mars / Space Mercenaries

The Alternate Martians

A space expedition to Mars find themselves in the worlds of H. G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs and Otis Adelbert Kline.

Empress of Outer Space

Her Imperial Highness Empress Irene is in trouble. She needs to prevent the take over of the universe by the power hungry Mortimer Jones.

A. Bertram Chandler
Emil Petaja

Space Mercenaries

Her ex-Imperial Highness of Outer Space had developed a conscience. With a well-armed space cruiser on her hands, she didn't want to sell it to just anyone - that is anyone under Empire control. So the former Empress and her ex-space captain husband, became mercenaries for Class - the Galactic League for the Abolition of Suppression and Slavery.

Their first assignment was blockade-running, to bring antibiotics to the plague-ridden humans on Antrim, besieged by the Halicheki bird-people and ignored by the Empire. Only, this would be a ticklish business for they could not fire one shot at the Halicheki without being legally termed pirates. And although the ex-Empress and her husband were open-minded enough to try all sorts of devious tricks, the prospect of being hanged for piracy by the Empress's successor did not appeal to either of their natures....

The Caves of Mars

Ric Coltor had lost an arm in an interplanetary exploration. For a spaceman at any other time that would have meant the end of his career. But not with the marelous Martian Panacea in existence. Extracted from a fungus found only on the Red Planet, it promised mankind perfect health and longer life, for it grew back internal organs, conquered disease, and could even grow back arms.

So Rick went to one of the M-P colonies to become whole again and discovered a defect in that new Utopia - M-P not only gave its users glowing good health but it also gave them a fanatical devotion to the man who administered it, Dr. Morton Krill. A devotion that was so all-encompassing that any man who received it could easily become dictator of two planets if he were twisted enough to desire that. Dr. Krill was.

The Coils of Time / Into the Alternate Universe

The Door Through Space / Rendezvous on a Lost World

The Coils of Time

Dr. Henshaw had created what he though was a time travel machine and he had sent guinea pigs through it. But now he needed a human guinea pig to test it with.

Christopher Wilkinson thought the whole idea was absurd, until a book that had been sent through the machine came back with a thumb print on it, the fingerprint of Vanessa, his long lost sweetheart!

So Wilkinson agreed to the experiment. He stood in the white circle facing the machine as it began to gleam and spin, pulling him down through the tortuous coils of time....

Into the Alternate Universe

Others called their expedition a "wild ghost chase." But for Space Commodore John Grimes and the beautiful Sonya Verrill who had initiated the project, it was strictly scientific research. Their trip along the rim of the galaxy in search of two men - two dead men - was also an investigation of the long-puzzling phenomenon of the Rim Ghosts. They would do this by penetrating into alternate universes.

There was only one real problem involved in this study - how to report its results. For once the breakthrough to an alternate world was achieved, there was no known way of getting out....

A. Bertram Chandler
Marion Zimmer Bradley

The Door Through Space

Wolf: a deadly world under a cold red sun, old when Terrans were learning to walk upright. Only one Terran agent knew Wolf well enough to pass undetected; but he had ruined his usefulness long ago. And yet only this scarred and bitter man could discover the secret of The Door Through Space...

Rendezvous on a Lost World

His was a dream few spaceman ever saw come true. In a second-hand, obsolete space ship, Kemp and his three comrades took off determined to set up a shuttle service between the planets at the rim of the galaxy.

But trouble--in the form of two lost colonies, one inhabited by giant mechanical insects and the other by the descendants of a murderous pirate--threatened. Kemps crew began to wonder: just how much will one man sacrifice to realize a dream?

The Hard Way Up / The Veiled World

Robert Lory
A. Bertram Chandler

The Hard Way Up

Collection including:

With Good Intentions - shortstory by A. Bertram Chandler
The Subtracter - (1969) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler
The Tin Messiah - (1972) - shortstory by A. Bertram Chandler
Sleeping Beauty - (1970) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler
The Wandering Buoy - (1970) - shortstory by A. Bertram Chandler
The Mountain Movers - (1971) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler
What You Know - (1971) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler

The Veiled World

Shamryke Odell, save the worlds!

The Inheritors / The Gateway to Never

The Lost Millennium / The Road to the Rim

The Inheritors

He was a cunning, ruthless opportunist who paid when he had to and stole when he could - but never whan there was the slightest chance of getting caught. That's what had John Grimes worried: here was Kane directly under the watchful eyes - and guns - of a Federation Survey vessel, openly engaging in kidnapping and trafficking in human flesh!
Despite the fact that the beautiful inhabitants of this Lost Colony faced a fate worse than death, a more cautious - or less gallant - officer would do nothing - secure in the knowledge that regardless of appearances there would be some loophole that placed the Law squarely on Kane's side. But Grimes, being Grimes, would have to act - knowing full well that to "interfere with a merchantmen on her lawful occasions" meant a blasted career... and knowing too that Drongo Kane never broke the law...

Gateway to Never

The air was alive with the vicious buzzing of the stun-guns. The smuggler was frozen in his squatting posture, paralyzed, unable to stir so much as a finger. But the robot moved. Its drive unit hammered shockingly and unrhythmically and it shot straight upwards. Beams from hastily switched on police searchlights swept the sky like the antennae of disturbed insects - then caught it, held it, a tiny bright star in a firmament that had never known any stars. At least four machine rifles were hammering, and an incandescent tracer arched upwards with deceptive slowness.
The lieutenant had drawn his laser pistol and the purple beam slashed across the darkness, power-wasting and desperate. Some hapless night-flying creature caught by the sword of lethal light exploded smokily.

It might have the machine rifles that found their mark, it might have been the laser pistol. Nobody ever knew. But the broken beat of the inertial drive ceased abruptly and the robot was falling, faster and faster...

"Down!" shouted somebody. "Get down!"

A. Bertram Chandler
Leigh Richmond
Walt Richmond

The Lost Millennium

The day the world burned out.

The Road to the Rim

Lieutenant John Grimes of the Federation Survey Service: fresh out of the Academy--and as green as they come.

The Rim Gods / The High Hex

A. Bertram Chandler
Laurence M. Janifer
S. J. Treibich

The Rim Gods

Gods! Dragons! Fairies! Frog Princess! Knights! and much more. John Grimes faces them all.

The High Hex

Man all rockets - the satilite is haunted!

The Rim of Space / Secret Agent of Terra

John Brunner
A. Bertram Chandler

The Rim of Space

Derek Calver touches down on Lorn and is determined to join the Rim Runners to explore desolate planets.

He joins the crew of Lorn Lady and sets forth for Mellise, inhabited by intelligent amphibians; for Groller, where the natives have just qualified as humanoids; for Stree with its tea loving lizards; and Tharn, home of a pre-industrial civilization., January 1965

Secret Agent of Terra

Once the city of Carrig stood supreme on this planet that had been settled by space refugees in the distant, forgotten past. From every corner of this primitive lost world caravans came to trade - and to view the great King-Hunt, the gruesome test by which the people of Carrig chose their rulers.

Then from space came new arrivals. And with them came their invincible death guns and their ruthless, all-powerful tyranny.

Now there would be no King-Hunt in Carrig, or hope for the planet-unless a fool-hardy high-born named Saikmar and a beautiful Earthling space-spy named Maddalena, could do the impossible...

The Rim of Space / The Ship from Outside

The Rim of Space

The Ship from Outside

Peripheral Vision

Table of Contents:

1 - Introduction (Peripheral Vision) - essay
3 - The Faithful Companion at Forty - (1987) - short story
17 - Lily Red - (1988) - short story
39 - Contention - (1986) - short story
45 - Lieserl - short story
57 - The View from Venus - (1986) - novelette

The Dog Stars

Peter Heller

A riveting, powerful novel about a pilot living in a world filled with loss—and what he is willing to risk to rediscover, against all odds, connection, love, and grace.

Hig survived the flu that killed everyone he knows. His wife is gone, his friends are dead, he lives in the hangar of a small abandoned airport with his dog, his only neighbor a gun-toting misanthrope. In his 1956 Cessna, Hig flies the perimeter of the airfield or sneaks off to the mountains to fish and to pretend that things are the way they used to be. But when a random transmission somehow beams through his radio, the voice ignites a hope deep inside him that a better life—something like his old life—exists beyond the airport. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return—not enough fuel to get him home—following the trail of the static-broken voice on the radio. But what he encounters and what he must face—in the people he meets, and in himself—is both better and worse than anything he could have hoped for.

Narrated by a man who is part warrior and part dreamer, a hunter with a great shot and a heart that refuses to harden, The Dog Stars is both savagely funny and achingly sad, a breathtaking story about what it means to be human.

In Search of Lost Time

After beginning chemo for a rare cancer, Hildy discovers an extraordinary talent--the ability to see and take other people's time. She also discovers there's an underground market for quality time. After all, who has enough time? The dying, especially, want to get more of it, but giving it to them means taking it from someone else. How moral is she? How will she juggle the black marketers' strong-arm tactics and her own quandaries about stealing something so precious and vital that it can never be replaced?

Other Places

Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Her Progress Towards Utopia and Selected Writings

Life unfolds in strange ways. You may encounter people from your past living in your former apartments, or realize you have a penis as you engage in war-dreams, or find a planet filled with ghosts that look exactly like the ghosts back home. Is it possible they are the same as the ghosts back home? Wherever you travel, you'll have tough decisions to make about the aliens you may have harmed and the aliens who may harm you. Other Places, Karen Heuler's latest story collection, follows travelers as the familiar becomes strange, and the strange becomes life.

Table of Contents:

The Rising Up - (2016) - short story
The Apartments - (2016) - short story
Twelve Sisters, Twelve Sisters, Ten - (2014) - short story
How to Be a Foreigner - (2013) - short story
What They See on Nox - (2016) - short story
The Moons of Martle Hart - (2016) - short story
Respite - (2016) - short story
Which Side Is the Other Side? - (2016) - short story
The Alien Came Over the Hill - (2015) - short story
The Brief Return of Marianna Napoli - (2016) - short story

The Hypnotist

Lars Kepler

In the frigid clime of Tumba, Sweden, a gruesome triple homicide attracts the interest of Detective Inspector Joona Linna, who demands to investigate the murders. The killer is still at large, and there’s only one surviving witness—the boy whose family was killed before his eyes. Whoever committed the crimes wanted this boy to die: he’s suffered more than one hundred knife wounds and lapsed into a state of shock. Desperate for information, Linna sees only one option: hypnotism. He enlists Dr. Erik Maria Bark to mesmerize the boy, hoping to discover the killer through his eyes.

It’s the sort of work that Bark has sworn he would never do again—ethically dubious and psychically scarring. When he breaks his promise and hypnotizes the victim, a long and terrifying chain of events begins to unfurl.

An international sensation, The Hypnotist is set to appear in thirty-seven countries, and it has landed at the top of bestseller lists wherever it’s been published—in France, Holland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Denmark. Now it’s America’s turn. Combining the addictive power of the Stieg Larsson trilogy with the storytelling drive of The Silence of the Lambs, this adrenaline-drenched thriller is spellbinding from its very first page.

Carol Farley Kessler
Charlotte Perkins Gilman

The focus of this work is how Charlotte Perkins Gilman developed as a writer and how she imagined a full-blown utopia for women. It offers a fresh reading of Gilman's fiction and fills a void in Gilman scholarship, in feminist utopian scholarship and in American literary studies.

Energized

Science Fiction and Psychology

No one expected the oil to last forever. How right they were....

A geopolitical miscalculation tainted the world's major oil fields with radioactivity and plunged the Middle East into chaos. Any oil that remains usable is more prized than ever. No one can build solar farms, wind farms, and electric cars quickly enough to cope. The few countries still able to export oil and natural gas -- Russia chief among them -- have a stranglehold on the world economy.

And then, from the darkness of space, came Phoebe. Rather than divert the onrushing asteroid, America captured it into Earth orbit.

Solar power satellites -- cheaply mass-produced in orbit with resources mined from the new moon, to beam vast amounts of power to the ground -- offer America its last, best hope of avoiding servitude and economic ruin.

As though building miles-across structures in space isn't challenging enough, special interests, from technophobes to eco-extremists to radio astronomers, want to stop the project. And the remaining petro powers will do anything to protect their newfound dominance of world affairs.

NASA engineer Marcus Judson is determined to make the powersat demonstration project a success. And he will -- even though nothing in his job description mentions combating an international cabal, or going into space to do it.

Ruler of the World

J. T. McIntosh

Earth, four centuries from today, is in dire peril. A half-empty world, it is slowly destroying itself. The Terrans are drab and obedient. Instant exile is the penalty for non-conformity. Interplanetary visitors are restricted to reservations where they cannot meet native Terrans or threaten their self-imposed isolation. But Burrell succeeds in breaking through. He is a rough, tough spaceman with a flair for stirring up trouble. And he is determined to shake the world of his ancestors out of its apathy.

The Owl Killers

Karen Maitland

In 1321, the English town of Ulewic teeters between survival and destruction, faith and doubt, God and demons. Against this intense backdrop, a group of women have formed a beguinage, a self-sustaining community of women. Led by the strong-willed Servant Martha, these women are committed to a code of celibacy and prayer, hard work and charity that is unsanctioned by the all-powerful church. Still, the villagers have come to rely on this remarkable group of women for their very lives. And seeking shelter among them now is the youngest daughter of Ulewic’s lord, a man who holds power over them all.

But when a series of natural calamities strikes, the beguinage’s enemies make their move, stirring the superstitious villagers with dark rumors of unspeakable depravities and unleashing upon the defiant all-female community the full force of their vengeance in the terrifying form of the Owl Killers. Men cloaked in masks and secrecy, ruling with violence and intimidation—the Owl Killers draw battle lines. In this village ravaged by flood and disease, the women of the beguinage must draw upon their deepest strength if they are to overcome the raging storm of long-held secrets and shattering lies.

Ingenious Pain

Andrew Miller

"What does the world need most--a good, ordinary man, or one who is outstanding, albeit with a heart of ice?" This is the question at the heart of Andrew Miller's first novel, Ingenious Pain, a book set during the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment. The outstanding man in question is James Dyer, an English freak of nature who, since birth, has been impervious to physical pain. Not only does he feel no pain, but he recovers from all injuries in record time. By turns a shill for a quack pain- reliever at county fairs, an object of study by a wealthy collector of human oddities, and, eventually, a surgeon, James Dyer--and through him the reader--gains exposure to a panoply of 18th-century philosophical thought, medical practice, historic events, and larger-than-life rogues and heroes, both fictional and real.

As a surgeon, James Dyer excels, and his inability to feel--whether physical pain himself or empathy for others--seems only to enhance his skill with a knife. James slices and dices and cures without a scintilla of compassion while his reputation grows, until at last he arrives in Russia and the mystery of his unusual quality is resolved. Miller navigates his complicated story and exotic locales with unswerving confidence, bolstered, no doubt, by thorough research. James Dyer is not a character who invites love, but his adventures make for intelligent, deeply pleasurable reading.

Gavin Miller

The psychologist may appear in science fiction as the herald of utopia or dystopia; literary studies have used psychoanalytic theories to interpret science fiction; and psychology has employed science fiction as an educational medium. Science Fiction and Psychology goes beyond such incidental observations and engagements to offer an in-depth exploration of science fiction literature's varied use of psychological discourses, beginning at the birth of modern psychology in the late nineteenth century and concluding with the ascendance of neuroscience in the late twentieth century.

Rather than dwelling on psychoanalytic readings, this literary investigation combines with history of psychology to offer attentive textual readings that explore five key psychological schools: evolutionary psychology, psychoanalysis, behaviourism, existential-humanism, and cognitivism. The varied functions of psychological discourses in science fiction are explored, whether to popularise and prophesy, to imagine utopia or dystopia, to estrange our everyday reality, to comment on science fiction itself, or to abet (or resist) the spread of psychological wisdom. Science Fiction and Psychology also considers how psychology itself has made use of science fiction in order to teach, to secure legitimacy as a discipline, and to comment on the present.

The Man Who Lived Forever / The Mars Monopoly

Anna Hunger
R. DeWitt Miller
Jerry Sohl

The Man Who Lived Forever

His first thousand years were the easiest.

The Mars Monopoly

Find your fortune in the sky - by permission of the Mars monopoly.

Singularities: Technoculture, Transhumanism, and Science Fiction in the 21st Century

Joshua Raulerson

In a time of protracted economic crisis, failing political systems, and impending environmental collapse, one strand in our collective cultural myth of Progress - the technological - remains vibrantly intact, surging into the future at ramming speed. Amid the seemingly exponential proliferation of machine intelligence and network connectivity, and the increasingly portentous implications of emerging nanotechnology, futurists and fabulists look to an imminent historical threshold whereupon the nature of human existence will be radically and irrevocably transformed. The Singularity, it is supposed, can be no more than a few years off; indeed, some believe it has already begun. Technological Singularity - a trope conceived in science fiction and subsequently adopted throughout technocultural discourse and beyond - is the primary site of interpenetration between technoscientific and science-fictional figurations of the future, a territory where longstanding binary oppositions between science and fiction, and between present and future, are rapidly dissolving.

In this groundbreaking volume, the first to mount a sustained and wide-ranging critical treatment of Singularity as a subject for theory and cultural studies, Raulerson draws SF texts into a complex dialogue with contemporary digital culture, transhumanist movements, political and economic theory, consumer gadgetry, gaming, and related vectors of high-tech postmodernity. In theorizing Singularity as a metaphorical construct lending shape to a range of millennial anxieties and aspirations, Singularities also makes the case for a recent and little-understood subgeneric formation -- postcyberpunk SF -- as a cohesive body of work, engaged in a shared literary project that is simultaneously shaping, and shaped by, purportedly nonfictional technoscientific discourses.

Nocturnal

Big Planet / Slaves of the Klau

Homicide detective Bryan Clauser is losing his mind.

How else to explain the dreams he keeps having—dreams that mirror, with impossible accuracy, the gruesome serial murders taking place all over San Francisco? How else to explain the feelings these dreams provoke in him—not disgust, not horror, but excitement?

As Bryan and his longtime partner, Lawrence “Pookie” Chang, investigate the murders, they learn that things are even stranger than they at first seem. For the victims are all enemies of a seemingly ordinary young boy—a boy who is gripped by the same dreams that haunt Bryan. Meanwhile, a shadowy vigilante, seemingly armed with superhuman powers, is out there killing the killers. And Bryan and Pookie’s superiors—from the mayor on down—seem strangely eager to keep the detectives from discovering the truth.

Doubting his own sanity and stripped of his badge, Bryan begins to suspect that he’s stumbled into the crosshairs of a shadow war that has gripped his city for more than a century—a war waged by a race of killers living in San Francisco’s unknown, underground ruins, emerging at night to feed on those who will not be missed.

And as Bryan learns the truth about his own intimate connections to the killings, he discovers that those who matter most to him are in mortal danger…and that he may be the only man gifted—or cursed—with the power to do battle with the nocturnals.

Featuring a dazzlingly plotted mystery and a terrifying descent into a nightmarish underworld—along with some of the most incredible action scenes ever put to paper, and an explosive, gut-wrenching conclusion you won’t soon forget—Nocturnal is the most spectacular outing to date from one of the genre’s brightest stars.

Dweller

Jeff Strand

Toby was just a boy the first time he saw the creature in the woods. His parents convinced the terrified child it was only his imagination. The next time Toby saw the creature he was a lonely, unhappy teenager without friends. But the creature would be his friend. It would be there when Toby needed someone to talk to. And it would take care of the bullies who wouldn't leave Toby alone. After all, the creature needed to eat. And during their macabre, decades-long friendship, there will be other meals...

Storyteller

Amy Thomson

From the national bestselling author of Through Alien Eyes... A thoughtful new novel about the love between parents and their children-both human and not.

On the planet of Thalassa, history is passed on from generation to generation by Storytellers. For one woman who calls herself Teller, storytelling is her life. At her side are her harsel, the great sea-beast to whom she is telepathically bonded, and Samad, a young street boy whom she reluctantly took in as an apprentice. But eventually, Samad will discover the secret at the heart of Teller's life-a discovery that will change him profoundly...

Monsters in Orbit / The World Between and Other Stories

Big Planet

Charley Lysidder, the Bajarnum of Beaujolais was ruthlessly expanding his empire on the Big Planet. The objectives of the mission from Earth was to stop him and ensure that the whole world didn't fall under the domination of the tyrant.

But when sabotage forced the spacecraft carrying the mission crashlanded, the priority changed. The survivors faced an epic 40,000 mile trek to safety, across the vast and unknown surface of the planet, harassed by monsters, the native people and the agents of the Bajarnum, and riven by their own deadly disputes.

Slaves of the Klau

Son of the Tree / The Houses of Iszm

Table of Contents:

Monsters in Orbit - novel
The World Between - (1953) - novelette
The Moon Moth - (1961) - novelette
Brain of the Galaxy - (1951) - novelette (variant of The New Prime)
The Devil on Salvation Bluff - (1955) - shortstory
The Men Return - (1957) - shortstory

The Brains of Earth / The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph

Son of the Tree

The Tree ruled the horizons, shouldered aside the clouds, and wore thunder and lightning like a wreath of tinsels- it had come to be worshipped by the first marveling settlers on Kyril". Joe Smith arrives from Earth and soon is caught up in a political plot between opposing worlds. Ultimately he discovers the true, horrific nature of The Tree of Life...

The Houses of Iszm

The people of Iszm live in homes which are alive. Their dwellings are elaborate, hollow trees, wherein the very walls, floors- even furniture and plumbing- are all part of a living plant. For decades, inhabitants of other worlds, including Earth, have been trying to steal a female house seed, but every attempt has failed. This is the story of a most ingenious plot to carry off a prize worth billions: one seed from the Houses of Iszm.

The Dragon Masters / The Last Castle

Table of Contents:

The Brains of Earth - novella
The Kokod Warriors - (1952) - novelette
The Unspeakable McInch - (1948) - shortstory
The Howling Bounders - (1949) - shortstory
The King of Thieves - (1949) - shortstory
The Spa of the Stars - (1950) - shortstory
Coup de Grace - (1958) - shortstory

The Five Gold Bands / The Dragon Masters

The Dragon Masters

Men have been at war for centuries with the reptilian race called "Basics." As conquerors always have, the winners of each bloody encounter have made slaves of the losers--but in this far-future war, each side has improved upon its slaves with genetic engineering.

And so at last there came to be two neighboring worlds: Aerlith, where men have raised a race of fearsome dragons to be their servants, and nearby Coralyne, where the descendants of those very dragons are served by strong, savage mutants who once were human. Inevitably, those two worlds would meet in one final contest...

The Last Castle

The Last Castle / World of the Sleeper

The Five Gold Bands

The Dragon Masters

The race of man is growing old, but it's not yet ready to die - not while there are dragons still to kill!

The cross-bred dragon armies of the Men of Aerlith are the most appalling horrors ever to threaten the sanity of our future:

Termagents ~ three hundred reptilian giants with six legs apiece, the most fecund breeders of them all

Jugglers ~ eighteen of them, growling amongst themselves, waiting for an opportunity to snap off a leg from any unwary groom

Murderers (striding and long-horned) ~ eighty-five of each, with scaly tails and eyes like crystals

Fiends ~ fifty-two powerful monsters, their tails tipped with spike steel balls

Blue Horrors, Basics, Spider Dragons.

Tony Russell Wayman
Jack Vance

The Last Castle

World of the Sleeper

Take your choice of any world or time - but at your perril.

Vandals of the Void

The Painting and the City

Fifteen-year-old Dick Murdoch leaves Venus to meet his father Paul on the Moon. On the voyage there, the captain stops to examine the wreckage of a sister spaceship. No one knows what attacked the ship—some say it's the Basilisk. Dick's adventures aboard spaceship and on the Moon start to pay off as he finds more and more clues.

Written for younger readers as part of the Winston Science Fiction series of "juveniles."

Robert Freeman Wexler

What is the secret contained in Philip Schuyler's painting? Who was the woman he depicted, the innocent woman and her dark stalker? The Kreunen sisters know, but they must re-bury the past. And Jacob Lerner, artist flailing in a sea of commerce, can only press forward, explore his own art and the mystery of Schuyler's painting, aided and manipulated by an animate marionette of rosy glass...

Manhattan, summer, in the rosy dawn of the 21st century, the sculptor Jacob Lerner sees a painting at a friend's apartment and is drawn into an obsessive search for traces of its long-dead painter, fictional 19th-century artist Philip Schuyler, and his subject, a woman called Madame Burgundy. The search leads to the remains of a once-powerful but still wealthy Dutch-American secret society, and carries Lerner through real and surreal Manhattan streets, buildings, and countryside. Finding Schuyler's journal draws Lerner in deeper. Finding the dapper marionette makes it impossible for Lerner to escape.

The Receptionist and Other Tales

Lesley Wheeler

Edna, the heroine of "The Receptionist," is a mother and the receptionist for an academic department. The morning after hearing a Voice telling her "The first revolution: simply to refuse," going through her email inbox, "Edna thought to check her spam." The message she found there from "nomic Utterance" changed everything.

Gwyneth Jones, author of Spirit and The Universe of Things writes: "Lesley Wheeler's 'The Receptionist' is a delight: a stirring narrative of fantasy and derring-do, set in the ivy-clad towers and poky offices of modern academia, in which the warrior princess of an ancient line returns to the fray at last and summons ancient powers to defend the right, all told in technically assured terza rima cantos, full of ingenious rhythms. The forces of evil are all too recognizable, the bad guys satisfyingly bad and the good guys not too goody-goody. The infusion of classic children s fantasy, and other bedtime folklore sources, is wonderful too. In the bonus package of shorter poems, 'Zombie Thanksgiving' (T.S. Eliot s 'The Waste Land' retold) is stunning, an absolute tour de force."

Ursula K. Le Guin, author of Lavinia and Cheek by Jowl, writes: "How much Modernism deprives us of when it declared both the fantastic in fiction and the narrative in poetry unrespectable, and what a pleasure it is now to see the exiled witches and the forbidden rhymes return. Where can an evil Dean meet his doom more fitly than in terza rima? Lesley Wheeler's brief novel of misbehavior in academia, subtle and funny, rashly inventive and perfectly realistic, uses all the forgotten powers of metaphor and poetry to make the mundane luminous."

Seed

Rob Ziegler

It's the dawn of the 22nd century, and the world has fallen apart. Decades of war and resource depletion have toppled governments. The ecosystem has collapsed. A new dust bowl sweeps the American West. The United States has become a nation of migrants -starving masses of nomads who seek out a living in desert wastelands and encampments outside government seed-distribution warehouses.

In this new world, there is a new power. Satori is more than just a corporation, she is an intelligent, living city that grew out of the ruins of Denver. Satori bioengineers both the climate-resistant seed that feeds a hungry nation, and her own post-human genetic Designers, Advocates, and Laborers. What remains of the United States government now exists solely to distribute Satori seed; a defeated American military doles out bar-coded, single-use Satori seed to the nation's starving citizens.

When one of Satori's Designers goes rogue, Agent Sienna Doss-Ex-Army Ranger turned glorified bodyguard-is tasked by the government to bring her in: The government wants to use the Designer to break Satori's stranglehold on seed production and reassert themselves as the center of power. Sianna Doss's search for the Designer intersects with Brood and his younger brother Pollo - orphans scrapping by on the fringes of the wastelands. Pollo is abducted, because he is believed to suffer from Tet, a newly emergent disease, the victims of which are harvested by Satori.

As events spin out of control, Brood and Sienna Doss find themselves at the heart of Satori, where an explosive climax promises to reshape the future of the world.

Whaleroad

'Three Days' Aftermath: Book 2

Kerry Greenwood

Fourteen year old telepath, Alain, learns that he must stop the Great Beast from destroying Whaleroad and thus gaining unimaginable powers of destruction.

The Road to the Rim / The Hard Way Up

Ace Double: The Saga of Commodore John Grimes: Book 1

The Inheritors / The Gateway to Never

Table of Contents:

1 - The Road to the Rim - [John Grimes - 1] - (1967) - novel by A. Bertram Chandler
143 - The Hard Way Up - [John Grimes - 3] - (1972) - collection by A. Bertram Chandler
145 - With Good Intentions - [John Grimes] - (1972) - short story by A. Bertram Chandler
168 - The Subtracter - [John Grimes] - (1972) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler (variant of The Minus Effect 1969)
200 - The Tin Messiah - [John Grimes] - (1972) - short story by A. Bertram Chandler
218 - The Sleeping Beauty - [John Grimes] - (1970) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler (variant of Sleeping Beauty)
245 - The Wandering Buoy - [John Grimes] - (1970) - short story by A. Bertram Chandler
269 - The Mountain Movers - [John Grimes] - (1971) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler
296 - What You Know - [John Grimes] - (1971) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler

Ace Double: The Saga of Commodore John Grimes: Book 2

The Dark Dimensions / The Rim Gods

Table of Contents:

The Gateway to Never - [John Grimes - 19] - novel by A. Bertram Chandler
The Inheritors - [John Grimes - 6] - novel by A. Bertram Chandler

Ace Double: The Saga of Commodore John Grimes: Book 3

Into the Alternate Universe / Contraband from Otherspace

Table of Contents:

1 - The Dark Dimensions
207 - The Rim Gods

Ace Double: The Saga of Commodore John Grimes: Book 4

The Commodore at Sea / Spartan Planet

Table of Contents:

1 - Into the Alternate Universe
167 - Contraband from Otherspace

Ace Double: The Saga of Commodore John Grimes: Book 5

Table of Contents:

The Commodore at Sea - [John Grimes - 21] - (1971) - collection by A. Bertram Chandler (variant of Alternate Orbits)
1 - Hall of Fame - [John Grimes] - (1969) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler (variant of The Kinsolving's Planet Irregulars)
50 - The Sister Ships - [John Grimes] - (1971) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler (variant of Sister Ships)
97 - The Man Who Sailed the Sky - [John Grimes] - (1971) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler
148 - The Rub - [John Grimes] - (1970) - novelette by A. Bertram Chandler
195 - Spartan Planet - [John Grimes - 5] - (1968) - novel by A. Bertram Chandler (variant of False Fatherland)

Trailer Park Trickster

Adam Binder: Book 2

David R. Slayton

Returning to Guthrie, Oklahoma, for the funeral of his mysterious and beloved aunt Sue, Adam Binder once again finds himself in the path of deadly magic when a dark druid begins to prey on members of Adam's family. It all seems linked to the death of Adam's father many years ago--a man who may have somehow survived as a warlock.

Watched by the police, separated from the man who may be the love of his life, compelled to seek the truth about his connection to the druid, Adam learns more about his family and its troubled history than he ever bargained for, and finally comes face-to-face with the warlock he has vowed to stop.

Meanwhile, beyond the Veil of the mortal world, Argent the Queen of Swords and Vic the Reaper undertake a dangerous journey to a secret meeting of the Council of Races... where the sea elves are calling for the destruction of humanity.

Travelers of Space

Adventures in Science Fiction: Book 2

Martin Greenberg

Travelers of Space is a 1951 anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Martin Greenberg. The stories originally appeared in the magazines Planet Stories, Astounding SF, Thrilling Wonder Stories and Startling Stories.

Table of Contents:

3 - Foreword (Travelers of Space) - essay by Martin Greenberg
5 - Introduction: Other Life Than Ours - essay by Willy Ley
15 - Preface (A Dictionary of Science Fiction) - essay by Samuel A. Peeples [as by Samuel Anthony Peeples]
18 - A Dictionary of Science Fiction - essay by Martin Greenberg and David A. Kyle and Samuel A. Peeples
31 - The Interstellar Zoo - short story by David A. Kyle [as by David Kyle]
33 - Life on Other Worlds - interior artwork by Edd Cartier
53 - The Rocketeers Have Shaggy Ears - (1950) - novella by Keith Bennett
93 - Christmas Tree - (1949) - short story by John Christopher [as by Christopher Youd]
102 - The Forgiveness of Tenchu Taen - (1938) - short story by Frederic Arnold Kummer, Jr. [as by Frederick Arnold Kummer, Jr.]
114 - Episode on Dhee Minor - (1939) - short story by Harry Walton
135 - The Shape of Things - (1948) - short story by Ray Bradbury (variant of Tomorrow's Child)
151 - Columbus Was a Dope - short story by Robert A. Heinlein [as by Lyle Monroe]
156 - Attitude - (1943) - novella by Hal Clement
215 - The Ionian Cycle - (1948) - novelette by William Tenn
241 - Trouble on Tantalus - (1941) - novelette by P. Schuyler Miller
265 - Placet Is a Crazy Place - (1946) - short story by Fredric Brown
280 - Action on Azura - (1949) - novelette by Robertson Osborne
317 - The Rull - [Rull] - (1948) - novelette by A. E. van Vogt
348 - The Double-Dyed Villains - [Wing Alak] - (1949) - novelette by Poul Anderson
377 - Bureau of Slick Tricks - [Bureau of Slick Tricks - 1] - (1948) - short story by H. B. Fyfe

From Every Storm

Adventures in the Liaden Universe: Book 35

Requiem for a Ruler of Worlds

From Every Storm is a chapbook compilation of three Liaden Universe® stories, one of them never before published. The storms of the title spring not so much from the desert or the deep blue sea but from the minds and hearts of humanity, where greed wars with truth and justice, and where sometimes the supposed end of storm is a mere hurricane eye portending greater potential for damage ahead.

First up is Standing Orders, a finalist for 2022's WSFA's Small Press Award for Short Fiction, originally published in Derelict, a 2021 ZNB anthology. What happens at the end of a war that no one really won, where victory came at the price of acting more like the enemy than the High Command ever should?

Next is the previously unissued Songs of the Fathers a story dealing with Shan yos'Galan's sometime trade partner Lomar Fasholt and her family as they struggle to follow her Mother's religion as it morphs from loving to acquisitive, from flexible to aggressively rule-bound. Lomar's a good mother and wife but her self-exiled family's suffered greatly through this storm of changes. Will they find hope amidst the tumult?

Finally, there's From Every Storm a Rainbow, the 2021 holiday story from Baen.com, wherein Sinit Caylon comes face to face with the perfidy of her absent brother while the accountant's guild is trying to help Clan Mizel come about after years of of her mother's abdication of responsibilities to Ran Eld. Sinit thinks the storm must be about over until it become obvious that between them her mother and brother may have fatally endangered the clan's brightest future.

Alacrity Fitzhugh: Book 1

Brian Daley

Minor Terran bureaucrat, Hobart Floyt, has been left a mysterious inheritance by the ruler of an empire located many light-years away. Earth's government is broke and its functionaries want Floyt to collect the money. To make sure he succeeds, they blackmail a brash young spacer named Alacrity Fitzhugh into shepherding him on a dangerous interstellar mission.

Trullion: Alastor 2262

Alastor Cluster: Book 1

First of the three fabulous Alastor Cluster novels from Jack Vance, one of the finest authors ever to devote his career to science fiction, certainly one of the wittiest, most inventive, erudite and poetic. An absolutely wonderful novel.

The Alastor Cluster, thirty thousand inhabited worlds ruled by the mysterious Connatic.

Trullion, world 2262 of the Alastor Cluster, was a world of fens, mists, idyllic islands scattered in an aquatic setting of surpassing beauty with its shaggy trees like bursts of great chrysanthemums, its natural growth of fruits and all the richness the clear oceans provided for the easy taking.

The Trill were a lackadaisical, easy-living race-except for the planetwide game of hassade when a ferocious instinct for gambling drove them to risk all-home, friends, family, even life itself-on the teams that contested the water-checkerboard gaming fields.

With the prize the virginal body of a sheirl-maiden, a body any Trill is willing to die for...

Marune: Alastor 933

Alastor Cluster: Book 2

His Past Was Gone-and There Were 3, 000 Worlds to Search for It!

From his fabulous palace on Nemenes, the Connatic ruled the sprawling Alastor Clustor. And kept track of the doings of each of his trillion or more subjects.

But there was one man he knew nothing about-for the past life of the wonderer called Pardero was a complete mystery. Pardero set himself two goals. Find out who he was.....and find his enemy, the person who had stolen his memory.

Psychologists deduced that his home world must be the mysterious Marune-a planet lit by four shifting suns.

Pardero made his way there-and was hailed as the Kaiark Efaim, ruler of the shadowed realm. Uncovering his last identity had been comparatively simple. Finding his sworn enemy would be more difficult - there were so many people to choose from!

This is the second book in the author's three books set in the Alastor Cluster , a whirl of 30,000 stars of which 3,000 are inhabited by five trillion humans.

Wyst: Alastor 1716

Alastor Cluster: Book 3

The Alastor Cluster, thirty thousand inhabited worlds ruled by the mysterious Connatic.

Wyst, the planet numbered 1716 in the cluster, appears a utopia, but there is something decidedly strange going on that forces the Connatic to send in an investigator.

Ashes of Twilight

Ashes of Twilight: Book 1

Kassy Tayler

Wren MacAvoy works as a coal miner for a domed city that was constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect the royal blood line of England when astronomers spotted a comet on a collision course with Earth. Humanity would be saved by the most groundbreaking technology of the time. But after nearly 200 years of life beneath the dome, society has become complacent and the coal is running out. Plus there are those who wonder, is there life outside the dome or is the world still consumed by fire?

When one of Wren's friends escapes the confines of the dome, he is burned alive and put on display as a warning to those seeking to disrupt the dome's way of life. But Alex's final words are haunting. "The sky is blue."

Shadows of Glass

Ashes of Twilight: Book 2

Kassy Tayler

Wren's world has changed. The thing that she fought for, escaping the dome has come to fruition, but it's not the paradise she thought it would be. Most of the shiners have died, and according to James, she is to blame for many of the deaths, a burden which sits heavy on her shoulders. Still some have survived and Wren is determined to keep them safe as they fight to establish a home outside while hiding from the rovers who have weapons that can kill from far away. But as long as she has Pace she knows everything will be fine. Still Wren wonders, as she sees the smoke that continually pours forth from the dome, how did her friends inside fare? Will they ever find out if Lucy, David, Jill and Harry, along with Pace's mother survive the explosions?

Meanwhile, someone else has also seen the smoke. A band of explorers from across the sea arrive in an airship, curious about the dome, and offering help to those who survive. When Wren meets the handsome Levi Addison, she suddenly questions her love for Pace as Levi offers to show her the world from his airship. Does she really love Pace? Or was it just the circumstances that made her think she did? Meanwhile, word arrives from inside via Pip, and Wren is forced to go back inside the dome, a thing that terrifies her more than anything else, to save her friends. Once she's back inside will she be able to escape again?

Remnants of Tomorrow

Ashes of Twilight: Book 3

Kassy Tayler

Wren's father takes her on a journey through the dome where she sees the after effects of the destruction caused by her friends and the blue coats who came into the tunnels. What he doesn't realize is that instead of subduing her, he is giving more purpose and fuel to her cause. When he realizes his plan has backfired, he sells Wren and her friends caught inside to the rovers. They manage to escape and add more fuel to the hatred between the rovers and the dome. Wren and her friends from inside the dome and America are caught in the middle as the battle escalates and whoever wins the battle wins the right to life.

It's up to Wren to make both sides see that the only way they can survive is by working together.

Big Planet

Big Planet: Book 1

The objective of the mission from Earth: to stop the ruthless Barjarnum of Beaujolais from expanding his empire on the Big Planet...and prevent the world from falling under this tyrant's domination. Then sabotage forces the craft to crash land, and the survivors face an epic 40,000-mile trek across the dangerous landscape. A SF landmark.

Showboat World

Big Planet: Book 2

From Handbook of the Inhabited Worlds: "Big Planet lies beyond the frontier of terrestrial law, and has been settled by groups impatient with restraint: non-conformists, anarchists, fugitives, religious dissidents, misanthropes, deviants, freaks. Big Planet represents for us that tantalizing vision of the land beyond the frontier where bravery, resource and daring are more important than the mastery of urban abstractions. Who can deem this good or bad? Who can define justice, or correctness or truth? Big Planet is in essence a problem to which there exists no solution". Shipmasters who run the magnificent showboats along the rivers of Big Planet know that each port has unique character and sensitivities. Apollon Zamp and Garth Ashgale are adept at dodging danger; two of the wiliest rascals in the business, they are deadly rivals to boot. When Zamp sets out to compete at the Grand Festival at Mornune, he knows Ashgale is never far behind!

Vance Integral Edition/Spatterlight Press title: The Magnificent Showboats of the Lower Vissel River, Lune XXIII South, Big Planet.

Bird Box

Bird Box: Book 1

Written with the narrative tension of The Road and the exquisite terror of classic Stephen King, Bird Box is a propulsive, edge-of-your-seat horror thriller, set in an apocalyptic near-future world--a masterpiece of suspense from the brilliantly imaginative Josh Malerman.

Something is out there...

Something terrifying that must not be seen. One glimpse and a person is driven to deadly violence. No one knows what it is or where it came from.

Five years after it began, a handful of scattered survivors remain, including Malorie and her two young children. Living in an abandoned house near the river, she has dreamed of fleeing to a place where they might be safe. Now, that the boy and girl are four, it is time to go. But the journey ahead will be terrifying: twenty miles downriver in a rowboat--blindfolded--with nothing to rely on but her wits and the children's trained ears. One wrong choice and they will die. And something is following them. But is it man, animal, or monster?

Engulfed in darkness, surrounded by sounds both familiar and frightening, Malorie embarks on a harrowing odyssey--a trip that takes her into an unseen world and back into the past, to the companions who once saved her. Under the guidance of the stalwart Tom, a motely group of strangers banded together against the unseen terror, creating order from the chaos. But when supplies ran low, they were forced to venture outside--and confront the ultimate question: in a world gone mad, who can really be trusted?

Interweaving past and present, Josh Malerman's breathtaking debut is a horrific and gripping snapshot of a world unraveled that will have you racing to the final page.

Malorie

Bird Box: Book 2

The Desert Glassmaker and the Jeweler of Berevyar

The film adaptation of Malerman's first novel, Bird Box, was watched by over forty-five million Netflix accounts in the first week. Countless more came to know the story through social media. Now from the mind of a true master of suspense comes the next chapter in the riveting tale. This time, Malorie is front and center, and she will confront the dangers of her world head-on.

Birdverse

R. B. Lemberg

This short story originally appeared in Uncanny Magazine, Issue 8, January-February 2016.

Read the full story for free at Uncanny Magazine.

The Hollow Ones

Blackwood Tapes: Book 1

Guillermo del Toro
Chuck Hogan

Odessa Hardwicke's life is derailed when she's forced to turn her gun on her partner, Walt Leppo, a decorated FBI agent who turns suddenly, inexplicably violent while apprehending a rampaging murderer. The shooting, justified by self-defense, shakes the young FBI agent to her core. Devastated, Odessa is placed on desk leave pending a full investigation. But what most troubles Odessa isn't the tragedy itself -- it's the shadowy presence she thought she saw fleeing the deceased agent's body after his death.

Questioning her future with the FBI and her sanity, Hardwicke accepts a low-level assignment to clear out the belongings of a retired agent in the New York office. What she finds there will put her on the trail of a mysterious figure named Hugo Blackwood, a man of enormous means who claims to have been alive for centuries, and who is either an unhinged lunatic, or humanity's best and only defense against unspeakable evil.

From the authors who brought you The Strain Trilogy comes a strange, terrifying, and darkly wondrous world of suspense, mystery, and literary horror. The Hollow Ones is a chilling, spell-binding tale, a hauntingly original new fable from Academy Award-winning director Guillermo del Toro and bestselling author Chuck Hogan featuring their most fascinating character yet.

Blade of Secrets

Bladesmith: Book 1

Eighteen-year-old Ziva prefers metal to people. She spends her days tucked away in her forge, safe from society and the anxiety it causes her, using her magical gift to craft unique weapons imbued with power.

Then Ziva receives a commission from a powerful warlord, and the result is a sword capable of stealing its victims secrets. A sword that can cut far deeper than the length of its blade. A sword with the strength to topple kingdoms. When Ziva learns of the warlord's intentions to use the weapon to enslave all the world under her rule, she takes her sister and flees.

Joined by a distractingly handsome mercenary and a young scholar with extensive knowledge of the world's known magics, Ziva and her sister set out on a quest to keep the sword safe until they can find a worthy wielder or a way to destroy it entirely.

Master of Iron

Bladesmith: Book 2

Eighteen-year-old Ziva may have defeated a deadly warlord, but the price was almost too much. Ziva is forced into a breakneck race to a nearby city with the handsome mercenary, Kellyn, and the young scholar, Petrik, to find a powerful magical healer who can save her sister's life.

When the events that follow lead to Ziva and Kellyn's capture by an ambitious prince, Ziva is forced into the very situation she's been dreading: magicking dangerous weapons meant for world domination.

The forge has always been Ziva's safe space, a place to avoid society and the anxiety it causes her, but now it is her prison, and she's not sure just how much of herself she'll have to sacrifice to save Kellyn and take center stage in the very war she's been trying to stop.

Battle Hill Bolero

Bone Street Rumba: Book 3

Daniel José Older

In the third in the "richly detailed and diverse" (io9) urban fantasy series, the time has come for the dead to rise up against the shady powers-that-be...

The time has come for the dead to rise up...

Trouble is brewing between the Council of the Dead and the ghostly, half-dead, spiritual, and supernatural community they claim to represent. One too many shady deals have gone down in New York City's streets, and those caught in the crossfire have had enough. It's time for the Council to be brought down--this time for good.

Carlos Delacruz is used to being caught in the middle of things: both as an inbetweener, trapped somewhere between life and death, and as a double agent for the Council. But as his friends begin preparing for an unnatural war against the ghouls in charge, he realizes that more is on the line than ever before--not only for the people he cares about, but for every single soul in Brooklyn, alive or otherwise...

England's Finest

Bryant & May

The Peculiar Crimes Unit has solved many extraordinary cases over the years, but some were hushed up and hidden away. Until now.

Arthur Bryant remembers these lost cases as if they were yesterday. Here, then, is the truth about the Covent Garden opera diva and the 17th reindeer, the body that falls from the Tate Gallery, the ordinary London street corner where strange accidents keep occurring, the consul's son discovered buried in the unit's basement, the corpse pulled from a swamp of Chinese dinners, a Hallowe'en crime in the Post Office Tower and the impossible death that's the fault of a forgotten London legend.

Expect misunderstood clues, lost evidence, arguments about Dickens, churches, pubs and disorderly conduct from the investigative officers they laughingly call 'England's Finest'!

London's Glory

Bryant & May

In every detective's life there are cases that can't be discussed, and throughout the Bryant & May novels there have been mentions of some of these such as the Deptford Demon or the Little Italy Whelk Smuggling Scandal.

Now Arthur Bryant has decided to open the files on eleven of these previously unseen investigations that required the collective genius and unique modus operandi of Arthur Bryant and John May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit - investigations that range from different times (London during the Great Smog) and a variety of places: a circus freak show, on board a London Tour Bus and even a yacht off the coast of Turkey.

And in addition to these eleven classic cases, readers are also given a privileged look inside the Peculiar Crimes Unit (literally, with a cut away drawing of their offices), a guide to the characters of the Peculiar Crimes Unit, and access to the contents of Arthur Bryant's highly individual library.

Full Dark House

Bryant & May: Book 1

A bomb rips through present-day London, tragically ending the crime-fighting partnership of Arthur Bryant and John May begun more than a half-century ago during another infamous bombing: the Blitz of World War II. Desperately searching for clues to the saboteur's identity, May finds the notes his old friend kept of their very first case and a past that may have returned... with murderous vengeance. It was an investigation that began with the grisly murder of a pretty young dancer. In a city shaken by war, a faceless killer stalked London's theater row, creating his own sinister drama. And it would take Bryant's unorthodox techniques and May's dogged police work to catch a fiend whose ability to escape detection seemed almost supernatural-a murderer who decades later may have returned to kill one of them... and won't stop until he kills the other.

The Water Room

Bryant & May: Book 2

How can an elderly recluse drown in a chair in her otherwise dry basement? That's what John May and Arthur Bryant of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit set out to discover in a city rife with shady real estate developers, racist threats, dodgy academicians, and someone dangerously obsessed with Egyptian mythology. Linking them all is an evil lurking in London's vast and forgotten underground river system-a killer with the eerie ability to strike anywhere, anytime, without leaving a clue.

It's a subterranean case of secrets, lies, and multiple murder that defies not only the law, but reason itself. Can Bryant and May bring a killer to the surface and stop the dark tide of murder before it pulls them under, too?

Seventy Seven Clocks

Bryant & May: Book 3

A mysterious stranger in outlandish Edwardian garb defaces a Pre-Raphaelite painting in the National Gallery. Then a guest at the exclusive Savoy Hotel is fatally bitten by a marshland snake. Over the next several days, an outbreak of increasingly bizarre crimes will hit London-and, fittingly, come to the attention of the Peculiar Crimes Unit. Art vandalism, an exploding suspect, pornography, rat poison, Gilbert and Sullivan musicals, secret societies... and not a single suspect in sight. The killer they're chasing has a dark history, a habit of staying hidden, and time itself on his side. Detectives May and Bryant are racing the clock and this time the bell may be tolling for them.

Ten Second Staircase

Bryant & May: Book 4

It's a crime tailor-made for the Peculiar Crimes Unit: a controversial artist is murdered and displayed as part of her own outrageous installation. No suspects, no motive, no evidence-but this time they do have an eyewitness. A twelve-year-old claims the killer was a cape-clad highwayman atop a black stallion. Whoever the killer really is, he seems intent on killing off enough minor celebrities to become one himself. As "Highwayman Fever" grips London, Bryant and May, along with the newest member of the Unit, May's agoraphobic granddaughter, April, find themselves sorting out a case involving artistic rivalries, sleazy sex affairs, the Knights Templars, feuding street gangs, and a decades-old crime spree that split up their partnership once before-and threatens to end it again... with murder.

White Corridor

Bryant & May: Book 5

It's the classic locked-room mystery-a member of the Peculiar Crimes Unit killed inside a sealed morgue populated only by the dead and to which only four PCU members had a key. To make matters worse, the Unit has been shut down for a forced "vacation," and Bryant and May are stuck in a van in the Dartmoor countryside during a freak snowstorm. Now they'll have to crack the case by cell phone while trying to stop a second murder without freezing to death. For among the line of trapped vehicles, a killer is on the prowl, a beautiful woman is on the run, and an innocent child is caught in the middle....

The Victoria Vanishes

Bryant & May: Book 6

Bryant & May on the Loose

It's a case tailor-made for the Peculiar Crimes Unit. A lonely hearts killer is targeting middle-aged women at some of England's most well-known pubs-including one torn down eighty years ago. What's more, Arthur Bryant happened to see one of the victims only moments before her death at the pub that doesn't exist. Indeed, this case is littered with clues that defy everything the veteran detectives know about the habits of serial killers, the methodology of crime, and the odds of making an arrest. Now, with the public on the verge of panic and their superiors determined to shut the PCU down for good, Detectives Bryant and May must rise to the occasion in defense of two great English traditions-the pub and the Peculiar Crimes Unit.

That's easier said than done. A lost funeral urn, the eighteenth-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg, the Knights Templars, the secret history of pubs, and the discovery of an astounding religious relic may be enough to convince one of the pair to take back his resignation letter. But with Bryant consulting a memory specialist and May encountering a brush with mortality, do the Peculiar Crimes Unit's two living legends have enough life left to stop a murderous conspiracy... and a deadly cupid targeting one of their own.

Bryant & May: Book 7

Bryant & May off the Rails

The Peculiar Crimes Unit is no more. After years of defying the odds and infuriating their embarrassed superiors, detectives Arthur Bryant and John May have at last crossed the line. This is the twenty-first century and not even their eccentric genius or phenomenal success rate solving London's most unusual crimes can save them. While Bryant takes to his bed, his bathrobe, and his esoteric books, the rest of the team take to the streets looking for new careers - leading one of them to stumble upon a gruesome murder.

It isn't so much the discovery of the headless corpse that's potentially so politically explosive as where it's found. Still it takes the bizarre sightings of a great horned creature - half man, half stag - carrying off young women to convince Bryant that this is a case worth getting dressed and leaving the house to solve. The Home Office has reluctantly authorized the PCU to reunite for one last encore performance - in a rented office with no computer network, no legal authority, and a broken toilet. They've got until the end of the week to solve a murder with unlikely links to gangland crime, Slavic mythology, the 2012 London Olympics, and the sort of corruption only obscene amounts of money and power can buy.

It's the kind of case that Bryant and May live to solve - and it could be just the case that kills them.

Bryant & May: Book 8

Christopher Fowler's Peculiar Crimes Unit novels have been hailed for their originality, suspense, and unforgettable characters. Now Arthur Bryant, John May, and their team of proud eccentrics have been given only one week to hunt down a murderer they've already caught once-and who is now luring them down into the darkest shadows of the London Underground.

The young man they seek is an enigma. His identity is false. His links to society are invisible. A search of his home yields no clues. The Peculiar Crimes Unit knows only this: Somehow Mr. Fox got out of a locked room and killed one of their best and brightest. Facing a shutdown, Bryant and May learn that their man, expertly disguised, has struck again in the world's oldest subway system. But as their search takes them into the vast labyrinth of tunnels that tie the city together, they discover a fresh mystery as bizarre as anything they have ever faced....

As the city blithely goes about its way, as tales of ghost stations and Underground legends emerge, Bryant and May, men of opposite methods, are each getting closer to what lies hidden at the heart of London's celebrated Tube-and to the madness that is driving their man to murder.

Sophisticated, fast-paced, and confounding until its final twist, Bryant & May off the Rails is Christopher Fowler dead on track and at the height of his power to beguile, bewitch, and entertain.

The Memory of Blood

Bryant & May: Book 9

Christopher Fowler's acclaimed Peculiar Crimes Unit novels crackle with sly wit, lively suspense, and twists as chilling as London's fog. Now the indomitable duo of Arthur Bryant and John May, along with the rest of their quirky team, return to solve a confounding case with dark ties to the British theater and a killer who may mean curtains for all involved.

For the crew of the New Strand Theatre, the play The Two Murderers seems less performance than prophecy when a cast party ends in the shocking death of the theater owner's son. The crime scene is most unusual, even for Bryant and May. In a locked bedroom without any trace of fingerprints or blood, the only sign of disturbance is a gruesome life-size puppet of Mr. Punch laying on the floor. Everyone at the party is a suspect, including the corrupt producer, the rakish male lead, the dour set designer, and the assistant stage manager, who is the wild daughter of a prominent government official.

It's this last fact that threatens the Peculiar Crimes Unit's investigation, as the government's Home Office, wary of the team's eccentric methods, seeks to throw them off the case. But the nimble minds of Bryant and May are not so easily deterred. Delving into the history of the London theater and the disturbing origins of Punch and Judy, the detectives race to find the maniacal killer before he reaches his even deadlier final act.

Whip-smart and endlessly entertaining, The Memory of Blood is an ingeniously intricate mystery from the deliciously inventive Christopher Fowler.

The Invisible Code

Bryant & May: Book 10

Bryant & May and The Bleeding Heart

London's craftiest and boldest detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, are back in this deviously twisting mystery of black magic, madness, and secrets hidden in plain sight.

When a young woman is found dead in the pews of St. Bride's Church—alone and showing no apparent signs of trauma—Arthur Bryant assumes this case will go to the Peculiar Crimes Unit, an eccentric team tasked with solving London's most puzzling murders. Yet the city police take over the investigation, and the PCU is given an even more baffling and bewitching assignment.

Called into headquarters by Oskar Kasavian, the head of Home Office security, Bryant and May are shocked to hear that their longtime adversary now desperately needs their help. Oskar's wife, Sabira, has been acting strangely for weeks—succumbing to violent mood swings, claiming an evil presence is bringing her harm—and Oskar wants the PCU to find out why. And if there's any duo that can deduce the method behind her madness, it's the indomitable Bryant and May.

When a second bizarre death reveals a surprising link between the two women's cases, Bryant and May set off on a trail of clues from the notorious Bedlam hospital to historic Bletchley Park. And as they are drawn into a world of encrypted codes and symbols, concealed rooms and high-society clubs, they must work quickly to catch a killer who lurks even closer than they think.

Witty, suspenseful, and ingeniously plotted,The Invisible Code is Christopher Fowler at the very top of his form.

Bryant & May: Book 11

Bryant & May and the Burning Man

London's wiliest detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, are back on the case in this fiendishly clever new mystery... and when a cemetery becomes the scene of a crime, neither secrets--nor bodies--stay buried.

Romain Curtis sneaks into St. George's Gardens one evening with his date, planning to show her the stars. A centuries-old burial ground, the small, quiet park is the perfect place to be alone. Yet the night takes a chilling turn when the two teenagers spy a strange figure rising from among the tombstones: a corpse emerging from the grave. Suffice it to say that wherever there's a dead man walking, Bryant and May and the Peculiar Crimes Unit are never far behind.

As the PCU investigates the sighting, a second urgent matter requires their unusual brand of problem-solving. Seven ravens have gone missing from their historic home in the Tower of London, and legend has it that when the ravens disappear, England will fall. Bryant has been tasked with recovering the lost birds, but when Romain is suddenly found dead, the two seemingly separate mysteries start to intertwine and point to a plot more sinister than anyone could ever imagine.

Soon Bryant and May find themselves immersed in London's darkest lore, from Victorian-era body snatchers, to arcane black magic, to the grisly myth behind Bleeding Heart Yard, a courtyard long associated with murder. And as the body count spikes and more coffins are unearthed, they will have to dig deep to catch a killer and finally lay these cases to rest.

Bryant & May: Book 12

No case is too curious for Arthur Bryant and John May, London's most ingenious detectives. But with their beloved city engulfed in turmoil, they'll have to work fast to hold a sinister killer's feet to the fire.

In the week before Guy Fawkes Night, London's peaceful streets break out in sudden unrest. Enraged by a scandal involving a corrupt financier accused of insider trading, demonstrators are rioting outside the Findersbury Private Bank, chanting, marching, and growing violent. But when someone hurls a Molotov cocktail at the bank's front door, killing a homeless man on its steps, Bryant, May, and the rest of the Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in. Is this an act of protest gone terribly wrong? Or a devious, premeditated murder?

Their investigation heats up when a second victim is reported dead in similar fiery circumstances. May discovers the latest victim has ties to the troubled bank, and Bryant refuses to believe this is mere coincidence. As the riots grow more intense and the body count climbs, Bryant and May hunt for a killer who's adopting incendiary methods of execution, on a snaking trail of clues with roots in London's history of rebellion, anarchy, and harsh justice. Now, they'll have to throw themselves in the line of fire before the entire investigation goes up in smoke.

Suspenseful, smart, and wickedly funny, Bryant & May and the Burning Man is a brilliantly crafted mystery from the beloved Christopher Fowler.

Strange Tide

Bryant & May: Book 13

London's most brilliant but unconventional detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, must plumb the depths of a particularly murky mystery.

The Peculiar Crimes Unit faces its most baffling case yet--and if Bryant and May can't rise to the challenge, the entire unit may go under. Near the Tower of London, along the River Thames, the body of a woman has been discovered chained to a stone post and left to drown. Curiously, only one set of footprints leads to the tragic spot. "The Bride in the Tide," as the London press gleefully dubs her, has the PCU stumped. Why wouldn't the killer simply dump her body in the river--as so many do?

Arthur Bryant wonders if the answer lies in the mythology of the Thames itself. Unfortunately, the normally wobbly funhouse corridors of Bryant's mind have become, of late, even more labyrinthine. The venerable detective seems to be losing his grip on reality. May fears the worst, as Bryant rapidly descends from merely muddled to one stop short of Barking, hallucinating that he's traveled back in time to solve the case. There had better be a method to Bryant's madness--because, as more bodies are pulled from the river's depths, his partner and the rest of the PCU find themselves in over their heads.

Fiendishly fun and rich in London lore, Bryant and May: Strange Tide is Christopher Fowler at his best, delivering more twists and turns than the Thames itself.

Wild Chamber

Bryant & May: Book 14

Our story begins at the end of an investigation, as the members of London's Peculiar Crimes Unit race to catch a killer near London Bridge Station in the rain, not realising that they're about to cause a bizarre accident just yards away from the crime scene. And it will have repercussions for them all...

One year later, in an exclusive London crescent, a woman walks her dog--but she's being watched. When she's found dead, the Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in to investigate. Why? Because the method of death is odd, the gardens are locked, the killer had no way in - or out - and the dog has disappeared.

So a typical case for Bryant & May. But the hows and whys of the murder are not the only mysteries surrounding the dead woman - there's a missing husband and a lost nanny to puzzle over too. And it seems very like that the killer is preparing to strike again.

As Arthur Bryant delves in to the history of London's 'wild chambers' - its extraordinary parks and gardens, John May and the rest of the team seem to have caused a national scandal. If no-one is safe then all of London's open spaces must be closed...

With the PCU placed under house arrest, only Arthur Bryant remains at liberty--but can a hallucinating old codger catch the criminal and save the unit before it's too late?

Hall of Mirrors

Bryant & May: Book 15

The year is 1969 and ten guests are about to enjoy a country house weekend at Tavistock Hall. But one amongst them is harbouring thoughts of murder...

The guests also include the young detectives Arthur Bryant and John May - undercover, in disguise and tasked with protecting Monty Hatton-Jones, a whistle-blower turning Queen's evidence in a massive bribery trial. Luckily, they've got a decent chap on the inside who can help them - the one-armed Brigadier, Nigel 'Fruity' Metcalf.

The scene is set for what could be the perfect country house murder mystery, except that this particular get-together is nothing like a Golden Age classic. For the good times are, it seems, coming to an end. The house's owner - a penniless, dope-smoking aristocrat - is intent on selling the estate (complete with its own hippy encampment) to a secretive millionaire but the weekend has only just started when the millionaire goes missing and murder is on the cards. But army manoeuvres have closed the only access road and without a forensic examiner, Bryant and May can't solve the case. It's when a falling gargoyle fells another guest that the two incognito detectives decide to place their future reputations on the line. And in the process discover that in Swinging Britain nothing is quite what it seems...

So gentle reader, you are cordially invited to a weekend in the country. Expect murder, madness and mayhem in the mansion!

The Lonely Hour

Bryant & May: Book 16

In Which Mr May Makes A Mistake And Mr Bryant Goes Into The Dark

On a rainy winter night outside a run-down nightclub in the wrong part of London, four strangers meet for the first time at 4:00am. A few weeks later the body of an Indian textile worker is found hanging upside down inside a willow tree on Hampstead Heath. The Peculiar Crimes Unit is called in to investigate. The victim was found surrounded by the paraphernalia of black magic, and so Arthur Bryant and John May set off to question experts in the field. But the case is not what it appears. When another victim seemingly commits suicide, it becomes clear that in the London night is a killer who knows what people fear most. And he always strikes at 4:00am. In order to catch him, the PCU must switch to night shifts, but still the team draws a blank.

John May takes a technological approach, Arthur Bryant goes in search of academics and misfits for help, for this is becoming a case that reveals impossibilities at every turn, not least that there's no indication of what the victims might have done to attract the attentions of a murderer that doesn't seem to exist. But impossibilities are what the Peculiar Crimes Unit does best. As they explore a night city where all the normal rules are upended, they're drawn deeper into a case that involves murder, arson, kidnap, blackmail, bats and the psychological effects of loneliness on Londoners. It's a trail that takes them from the poorest part of the East End to the wealthiest homes in North London - an investigation that can only end in tragedy...

Oranges and Lemons

Bryant & May: Book 17

London Bridge is Falling Down

When a prominent politician is crushed by a fruit van making a delivery, the singular team of Arthur Bryant and John May overcome insurmountable odds to reunite the PCU and solve the case in this brainy new mystery.

On a spring morning in London's Strand, the Speaker of the House of Commons is nearly killed by a van unloading oranges and lemons for the annual St. Clement Danes celebration. It's an absurd near-death experience, but the government is more interested in investigating the Speaker's state of mind just prior to his accident.

The task is given to the Peculiar Crimes Unit--the only problem being that the unit no longer exists. Its chief, Raymond Land, is tending his daffodils on the Isle of Wight and senior detectives Arthur Bryant and John May are out of commission--May has just undergone surgery for a bullet wound and Bryant has been missing for a month. What's more, their old office in King's Cross is being turned into a vegetarian tapas bar.

Against impossible odds, the team is reassembled and once again what should be a simple case becomes a lunatic farrago involving arson, suicide, magicians, academics and a race to catch a killer with a master plan involving London churches. Joining their team this time is Sidney, a young woman with no previous experience, plenty of attitude--and a surprising secret.

Bryant & May: Book 18

It was the kind of story that barely made the news in London.

When 91 year-old Alice Hoffman dies of neglect in her top floor flat on a busy London road, the story is upheld as an example of what has gone wrong with modern society; she slipped through the cracks in a failing system.

But detectives Arthur Bryant and John May of the Peculiar Crimes Unit have their doubts. Mrs Hoffman was once a government security expert, even though no-one can quite remember her. When a link emerges between the old lady and a diplomat trying to flee the country, it seems that an impossible murder has been committed.

Mrs Hoffman wasn't alone. Bryant is convinced that other forgotten women with hidden talents are also in danger. And they all own models of London Bridge...

With the help of some of their more certifiable informants, the detectives follow the strangest of clues in an investigation that will lead them through forgotten alleyways to the city's oldest bridge in search of a desperate killer.

Just when the case appears to be solved and exasperated unit chief Raymond Land can retire and rest easy, the detectives discover that Mrs Hoffman was smarter than anyone imagined. There's a bigger game afoot that has more terrible consequences...

It's time to celebrate Bryant and May's twentieth anniversary as their most lunatic case brings death and rebirth to London's most peculiar crimes unit.

Ashes of the Sun

Burningblade & Silvereye: Book 1

Long ago, a magical war destroyed an empire, and a new one was built in its ashes. But still the old grudges simmer, and two siblings will fight on opposite sides to save their world in the start of Django Wexler's new epic fantasy trilogy.

Gyre hasn't seen his beloved sister since their parents sold her to the mysterious Twilight Order. Now, twelve years after her disappearance, Gyre's sole focus is revenge, and he's willing to risk anything and anyone to claim enough power to destroy the Order.

Chasing rumors of a fabled city protecting a powerful artifact, Gyre comes face-to-face with his lost sister. But she isn't who she once was. Trained to be a warrior, Maya wields magic for the Twilight Order's cause. Standing on opposite sides of a looming civil war, the two siblings will learn that not even the ties of blood will keep them from splitting the world in two.

Blood of the Chosen

Burningblade & Silvereye: Book 2

Reunited after twelve long years apart, Gyre and Maya will soon find themselves on opposite sides of a brewing civil war between those who wield magic and those who do not in the second instalment in Django Wexler's epic new fantasy series.

Long ago a great war wreaked devastation, destroying an empire and leaving a new republic in its wake. Now a new civil war has begun, pitting those with the power to wield magic against those without. Across that divide stand a brother and sister.

Twelve years after she was taken by the mysterious Twilight Order, Gyre has finally found his sister Maya, now a powerful magical warrior known as Burningblade. But given the chance to kill her and brandish a great blow against the oppressive Order, he instead let her free. The love for his sister was too strong, despite the terrible authority she represents.

All the while, trouble brews within their factions. A small but influential group of the Order conspire, intent to bring about the return of the Chosen; and the warriors of the resistance will need to learn to work as one if they are to stand any chance.

Emperor of Ruin

Burningblade & Silvereye: Book 3

The last surviving Chosen, Ashok has finally risen up and taken control of The Twilight Order. He promises equality and prosperity, but Gyre and Maya know the truth. Only death follows in Ashok's wake. To take him down, Gyre will have to unite old allies--from all across The Splinter Kingdoms and the depths of Deepfire. And Maya will have to seek out a legendary weapon hidden in the mountains that could turn the tide in their battle for freedom.

The Cadwal Chronicles

Cadwal Chronicles

For centuries the breathtakingly beautiful planet Cadwal has been held in trust by a centuries-old Charter of Conservancy, created by the now-defunct Naturalist Society on Old Earth.

Over time, restrictions on population expansion written into the Charter have become irksome to some who live on Cadwal--those who would take the unexploited wealth of Cadwal for themselves, also those forced to leave the planet to keep population in check.

Glawen Clattuc grows to manhood within the insular community of Araminta Station, the primary settlement on the planet, and becomes attuned to conflicts among the parties wishing to break free of the Charter. He joins the Constabulary, and ties mysterious events and circumstances together. To uphold the Conservancy, much depends upon locating the original Charter document, which has been lost for many years; Glawen is chosen to search for the Charter, on backwater Earth and worlds beyond.

The Cadwal Chronicles was written by Vance in his maturity--an accomplished master sure of his game- using a light touch and broad palette of characters.

Araminta Station

Cadwal Chronicles: Book 1

At the remote end of Mircea's Wisp, far out on the galaxy's Perseid Arm, is the Purple Rose System--containing the three stars Lorca, Sing and Syrene. Around Syrene swings the spectacular planet Cadwal, which the now defunct Naturalist Society of Earth long ago chartered to forever protect from exploitation. Cadwal is administered from Araminta Station--where young Glawen Clattuc wonders what the future may hold for him in the hierarchic, constrained society of Cadwal. His budding relationship with the lovely Sessily Veder ends with her mysterious disappearance- casting Glawen into a strange adventure, and the unraveling of a potent conspiracy.

Araminta Station is part 1 of 3 of The Cadwal Chronicles.
Cadwal is a planet of extraordinary beauty. To protect it, the "Naturalist Society" has set up a Charter which allows only limited settlement on the planet in order to enforce the laws of the Conservancy. These laws forbid extensive human habitations, mining and other exploitation activities. Only six "Agents" and their staff are allowed to reside permanently on the planet: their main function is to prevent other humans from establishing residence, although tourists are allowed in specially designed lodges, overlooking sites of natural beauty and interest.

Ecce and Old Earth

Cadwal Chronicles: Book 2

The planet Cadwal has an ecosystem unique in the human-explored galaxy. A thousand years past it was set aside as a natural preserve, protected by law and covenant against colonization and exploitation. But there is a conspiracy to open the planet and its rich resources to commerce. Glawen Clattuc must find who is behind the sabotage, and bring them to justice- but discovers that his own family is involved! Ancient crimes will be discovered, along with the key to the crisis which threatens Cadwal.

Ecce and Old Earth is part 2 of 3 of The Cadwal Chronicles.
Cadwal is a planet of extraordinary beauty. To protect it, the "Naturalist Society" has set up a Charter which allows only limited settlement on the planet in order to enforce the laws of the Conservancy. These laws forbid extensive human habitations, mining and other exploitation activities. Only six "Agents" and their staff are allowed to reside permanently on the planet: their main function is to prevent other humans from establishing residence, although tourists are allowed in specially designed lodges, overlooking sites of natural beauty and interest.

Throy

Cadwal Chronicles: Book 3

Time Travelers Strictly Cash

The Conservancy of Cadwal has a new Charter- thanks to the courage of Glawen Clattuc and his beloved Wayness Tamm. But this has not brought peace to the people of Cadwal- instead, it has polarized them. Led by exiles, anti-Conservancy forces continue work to open Cadwal to commercial exploitation, while a new extremist faction seeks to restore Cadwal to entirely natural condition. In the middle are the governors of the planet, and their police force. Newly-promoted Commander Glawen Clattuc is charged with apprehending the conspirators wherever they might flee, but he also has a personal agenda. After twenty years, he will solve the mystery of his mother's death.

Throy is part 3 of 3 of The Cadwal Chronicles.
Cadwal is a planet of extraordinary beauty. To protect it, the "Naturalist Society" has set up a Charter which allows only limited settlement on the planet in order to enforce the laws of the Conservancy. These laws forbid extensive human habitations, mining and other exploitation activities. Only six "Agents" and their staff are allowed to reside permanently on the planet: their main function is to prevent other humans from establishing residence, although tourists are allowed in specially designed lodges, overlooking sites of natural beauty and interest.

Callahan: Book 2

Spider Robinson

The second book continuing the stories of the neighborhood tavern to all of time and space. Pull up a chair, grab a glass and listen to stories spun by the most entertaining characters in this galaxy and beyond.

The Book Seller

Central Station

Lavie Tidhar

This short story originally appeared in Interzone, #244 January-February 2013, and was reprinted in Clarkesworld Magazine, #102 March 2015. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eight (2014), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection (2014), edited by Gardner Dozois.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Sweet Pea

Chaingang

Sweet Pea was first published in Midnight Graffiti, Spring 1989 issue.

Slob

Chaingang: Book 1

Stephen King hails Rex Miller as terrifying and original. Slob is his bedut novel, the story of a man who thinks of himself as Death. A man who likes ro feast on human hearts, spilling blood wherever he goes. Jack Eichord is the detective who must hunt this human monster and genius killer. Years of working as a homicide detective for the Chicago police department has hardend Eichord to things that would make most men turn and flee. But even he is not prepared for the labyrinthine search underground, as he trails the killer and his hostages through the sewer systems of the city. Eichord thinks that he is beging to understand the diabolical man and his pattern of violence... but can he guess the next victim in time, before it is too late for the woman he loves?

Frenzy

Chaingang: Book 2

A hit man for the Mob, Frank Spain uses his talents on his former employers when pornographers kidnap and kill his daughter, and it seems only serial killer expert Jack Eichord can stop him.

Stone Shadow

Chaingang: Book 3

The victim of a psychotic serial killer escapes and lives to tell police of the murderer's disturbing boast--he had killed and concealed the bodies of hundreds of people--and now detective Jack Eichord must follow the killer's bloody trail before more people disappear.

Slice

Chaingang: Book 4

Everyone thought the killing spree was over; were they wrong! Jack Eichord, a less-than-fearless murder detective, must now come against the most deadly serial killer of his lifetime. How can this detective with fear in his soul free the city from the fear that grips each citizen? He must go beyond the law to stop this heinous criminal and all while he has a bull's-eye right on his heart.

Iceman

Chaingang: Book 5

In a steamy city, murder has never before been so icy. And as the toll of unsuspecting victims continues to climb, the search is on for the cold-blooded killer. Jack Eichord, serial-murder detective, is out to melt the man with the murder machine, but Jake's following an elusive trail of victims assaulted in the most horrific way; and time's running out for him.

Chaingang

Chaingang: Book 6

The man is a hulk of angry, flabby, flesh, housing a genius intelligence that is ever inventing new and twisted ways to inflict pain on others. Torturing and killing innumerable victims with impunity, he still wasn't clever enough to keep himself out of prison forever. They drugged him, beat and muzzled him, then restrained him within the tight walls of a maximum-security solitary confinement cell. All that meant for Bunkowski is time to seethe in his own vile juices, planning revenge, until the day when he fights his way out. When that happens, the most terrifying, brutaland inhuman serial killer, Daniel "Chaingang" Bunkowski will once again be on the loose. Daniel "Chaingang" Bunkowski is the ultimate serial killer -- quick, silent... and terrifying!

Savant

Chaingang: Book 7

Daniel "Chaingang" Bunkowski, a powerful, twisted madman with an unquenchable taste for killing, makes his bloody way home to Kansas City in search of the mother whose abuse had transformed him into the monster that he is.

Butcher

Chaingang: Book 8

Daniel "Chaingang" Bunkowski is out of prison, and his keeper has a special mission for the quarter-ton idiot savant--to hunt, find, and perform heart surgery on fugitive Nazi Doc Royal--without benefit of anesthesia.

The Land: Founding

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 1

Welcome my friends! Welcome... to "The Land!"

Tricked into a world of banished gods, demons, goblins, sprites and magic, Richter must learn to meet the perils of The Land and begin to forge his own kingdom. Actions have consequences across The Land, with powerful creatures and factions now hell-bent on Richter's destruction.

Can Richter forge allegiances to survive this harsh and unforgiving world or will he fall to the dark denizens of this ancient and unforgiving realm?

A tale to shake "The Land" itself, measuring 10/10 on the Richter scale, how will Richter's choices shape the future of The Land and all who reside in it? Can he grow his power to meet the deadliest of beings of the land? When choices are often a shade of grey, how will Richter ensure he does not become what he seeks to destroy?

PS - Gnomes Rule

The Land: Forging

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 2

"We are life takers and heart breakers," Richter shouted. "Let's go!"

Richter and Sion are at it again! Even more of what you loved in the first book! Leveling, world building, awesome items, and what's that you say? Sure! Why not? What's a little necrophilia between friends!?!

Join your favorite Chaos Seed as he answers the call of adventure and deals with the invaders, greedy dwarves, and a wood elf that keeps telling him he has a pretty mouth!

Welcome back my friends!

Welcome back... to The Land!

The Land: Alliances

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 3

Everything is not well in The Land. The dead lay restless in their graves and Richter's actions have not gone unnoticed. He arrogantly tried to create something good. How could he not understand that the forces of destruction would demand their due... in blood.

Richter will learn that his earlier sacrifices were nothing. Not when compared to what will be taken. His enemies will leave him broken, but then they will learn something as well. The wrath of a chaos seed is not to be taken lightly!

Come my friends.

Come live the life your soul was meant to live!

Come back... to The Land!

The Land: Catacombs

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 4

The Mist Village has an insidious history. Terrible atrocities have etched themselves into the very sones of The Land. Just beneath the thin veener of joy and life, the sins of the past lie in wait. Richter will lean that some debts do not just fade away, and more importantly, must be paid.

Luckily, he is not alone. The village itself comes alive as his people show thier worth. Fighters and smiths, magicians and hunters, Richter's people prove the old adage; 'It take a village, to crush your enemies!'

This is a world of wonder and horror.

This is a world of pain and joy.

This is the world that you were meant to fight for.

Welcome back my friends.

Welcome back... to The Land!

The Land: Swarm

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 5

The Mist Village has come alive. Richter is not alone. The various peoples he has saved prove their worth as hunters, smiths, builders and warriors. Experience their joys and triumphs, their pains and sorrows. Richter's settlement will show its worth. It is time for the village to grow.

Join Richter and Sion as they quest to tame the wild forest around the village. The village is an amazing resouce, but the demands it places upon the chaos seed are great! The Companions will risk their lives to provide for the people of the Mist Village, while the drums of war can be heard just over the horizon!

This is a world of wonder and horror.

This is a world of pain and joy.

This the world of monsters... and the brave men who battle them.

Welcome back my friends!

Welcome back... to The Land!

The Land: Raiders

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 6

Welcome my friends! Welcome... to "The Land!"

"This is the world you were meant to fight for!"

The time of hiding has passed. The Mist Village will make itself known. Goblins have invaded Richter's lands. Though the first incursion has been defeated, the anger of Chaos Seed remains. Those who challenge Richter's power will learn there is a reason all creatures fear the mist... it is the home of monsters.

For the first time, Richter takes the battle to his enemies. He will live up to his name, and the very Land will shake with this power. With his allies, the Wood Sprites of Nadria, the army of the Mist Village marches to war. Richter has been a healer, an enchanter, a dungeon diver, and a killer. Now he becomes something more. He becomes a RAIDER!

This is a world of wonder and horror. This is a world of pain and joy. This is the world of monsters... and the brave men who battle them.

Welcome back my friends!

Welcome back... to The Land!

The Land: Predators

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 7

In The Land: Predators, the Mist Village has harnessed its power. Core buildings, Professional fighters and now, their own Dungeon, the settlement is primed to grow into a kingdom of true power and magic. The path to power has not been without risk, however. The MistVillage has been noticed.

Evil nobles from the Kingdom of Law, bloodthirsty goblins fromthe Serrated Mountains, an undead lord with a penchant for human sacrifice and fanatical kobolds from the Depths, all plot the village's destruction. The predators are circling. Richter's people are horribly outnumbered by foes whose own power has been entrenched for thousands of years.

Richter and Sion need to be stronger than ever before. Luckily, they are. New skills have been learned, stronger enchantments have been wrought and the hundreds of villagers have answered the call to adventure. The Companions do not stand alone. While many eyes have turned towards the mists, wanting to take the treasures within, the Mist Village stares back with a simple message.

Come and get it!

The Land: Monsters

Chaos Seeds Saga: Book 8

Elric: The Stealer of Souls

Welcome my friends! Welcome...to "The Land"!

The battle of the dead was won, but at a great cost. Sion, leader of the Mist Village, was left with only pain and regret as Richter was claimed by the abyss.

What no one but the abandoned chaos seed knows is that he narrowly avoided the curse of the lich Singh, a curse that still hangs above his head. Now, surrounded by miles of darkness and tons of crushing rock, Richter has to find his way back into the light.

The only problem is that this monster of a man is being pursued by monsters, a demon, and his own foolish choices. Faced with all the dangers of the deep dark, what will Richter say when the buried horrors of The Land come a calling and asked if he's paid his dues?

Well he'll look right back, stare that horror in the eye, and say, "Yes sir, the check is in the mail!"

Welcome back my friends!

Welcome back... to The Land!

Chilling Effect

Chilling Effect: Book 1

Valerie Valdes

Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra cruise the galaxy delivering small cargo for even smaller profits. When her sister Mari is kidnapped by The Fridge, a shadowy syndicate that holds people hostage in cryostasis, Eva must undergo a series of unpleasant, dangerous missions to pay the ransom.

But Eva may lose her mind before she can raise the money. The ship's hold is full of psychic cats, an amorous fish-faced emperor wants her dead after she rejects his advances, and her sweet engineer is giving her a pesky case of feelings. The worse things get, the more she lies, raising suspicions and testing her loyalty to her found family.

To free her sister, Eva will risk everything: her crew, her ship, and the life she's built on the ashes of her past misdeeds. But when the dominoes start to fall and she finds the real threat is greater than she imagined, she must decide whether to play it cool or burn it all down.

Prime Deceptions

Chilling Effect: Book 2

Valerie Valdes

The lovably flawed crew of La Sirena Negra and their psychic cats return in this fast-paced and outrageously fun science-fiction novel, in which they confront past failures and face new threats in the far reaches of space from the author of the critically acclaimed Chilling Effect.

Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra find themselves once again on the fringe of populated space--and at the center of a raging covert war. When Eva's sister asks for help locating a missing scientist, promises of a big paycheck and a noble cause convince Eva to take the job despite lingering trust issues.

With reluctant assistance from her estranged mother, Eva and her crew follow the missing scientist's trail across the universe, from the costume-filled halls of a never-ending convention to a dangerous bot-fighting arena. They ultimately find themselves at the last place Eva wants to see again--Garilia--where she experienced her most shameful and haunting failure.

To complete her mission and get paid, Eva must navigate a paradise embroiled in a rebellion, where massive forests and pristine beaches hide psychic creatures and pervasive surveillance technology. Can she find her quarry while avoiding the oppressive local regime, or will she be doomed to repeat past mistakes when her dark deeds come to light?

Stealer of Souls

Chrestomanci

Diana Wynne Jones

Cat Chant has nine lives and is destined to be the next Chrestomanci. He is not pleased when Tonino Montana, a magically-gifted Italian, is invited to live at Chrestomanci Castle. But Cat is forced to put aside his animosity towards Tonino when they are abducted by the enchanter, Master Spiderman.

Chronicles of the Last Emperor of Melnibone: Book 1

Michael Moorcock

When Michael Moorcock began chronicling the adventures of the albino sorcerer Elric, last king of decadent Melniboné, and his sentient vampiric sword, Stormbringer, he set out to create a new kind of fantasy adventure, one that broke with tradition and reflected a more up-to-date sophistication of theme and style. The result was a bold and unique hero–weak in body, subtle in mind, dependent on drugs for the vitality to sustain himself–with great crimes behind him and a greater destiny ahead: a rock-and-roll antihero who would channel all the violent excesses of the sixties into one enduring archetype.

Now, with a major film in development, here is the first volume of a dazzling collection of stories containing the seminal appearances of Elric and lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist John Picacio–plus essays, letters, maps, and other material. Adventures include "The Dreaming City," "While the Gods Laugh," "Kings in Darkness," "Dead God's Homecoming," "Black Sword's Brothers," and "Sad Giant's Shield."

An indispensable addition to any fantasy collection, Elric: The Stealer of Souls is an unmatched introduction to a brilliant writer and his most famous–or infamous–creation.

Soul Stealers

Clockwork Vampire Chronicles: Book 2

Andy Remic

They came from the north, and the city fell.
It is a time for warriors, a time for heroes.
Kell's axe howls out for blood.

The sequel to Kell's Legend - more blood-soaked, action-packed, vampire-laced dark epic fantasy.

Kell is being hunted. The vampires are fighting back against him, and the mighty hero finds himself the prey of two beautiful but deadly vampire assassins.

Their bronze fangs are coming for him.

He will strike back.

Furies of Calderon

Codex Alera: Book 1

In the realm of Alera, where people bond with the furies--elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood, and metal--fifteen-year-old Tavi struggles with his lack of furycrafting. But when his homeland erupts in chaos--when rebels war with loyalists and furies clash with furies-- Tavi's simple courage will turn the tides of war.

Academ's Fury

Codex Alera: Book 2

In Furies of Calderon, bestselling author Jim Butcher introduced readers to a world where the forces of nature take physical form. But now, it's human nature that threatens to throw the realm into chaos.

Cursor's Fury

Codex Alera: Book 3

In his acclaimed Codex Alera novels, bestselling author Jim Butcher has created a fascinating world in which the powerful forces of nature take physical form. But even magic cannot sway the corruption that threatens to destroy the realm of Alera once and for all.

Captain's Fury

Codex Alera: Book 4

After two years of bitter conflict with the hordes of invading Canim, Tavi of Calderon, now Captain of the First Aleran Legion, realizes that a peril far greater than the Canim exists-the terrifying Vord, who drove the savage Canim from their homeland. Now, Tavi must find a way to overcome the centuries-old animosities between Aleran and Cane if an alliance is to be forged against their mutual enemy. And he must lead his legion in defiance of the law, against friend and foe-before the hammerstroke of the Vord descends on them all.

Princeps' Fury

Codex Alera: Book 5

Under Tavi of Calderon, heir to the crown, war-torn Alera rebuilds while politicians and nobles vie for power. But from the south comes news: the dreaded Vord have come to Alera. For a thousand years, Alera and her furies have withstood every enemy and survived every foe.

First Lord's Fury

Codex Alera: Book 6

For Gaius Octavian, life has been one long battle. Now, the end of all he fought for is close at hand. The brutal, dreaded Vord are on the march against Alera. And perhaps for the final time, Gaius Octavian and his legions must stand against the enemies of his people. And it will take all his intelligence, ingenuity, and furycraft to save their world from eternal darkness.

Rulers of the Darkness

Darkness: Book 4

Harry Turtledove

Beginning with Into the Darkness, Darkness Descending, and Through the Darkness, bestselling author Harry Turtledove ("The master of alternative history"-Publishers Weekly) has been telling an epic tale: the story of a world war, comparable to the terrible world wars of our own 20th century, in a world where magic works.

Imagine the drama and terror of the Second World War-only the bullets are beams of magical fire, the tanks are great lumbering beasts, and fighters and bombers are dragons raining fire upon their targets. Welcome to the world of the Derlavaian War, a world that is slowly but surely being conquered, mile by bloody mile, by the forces of the Algarvian empire... forces whose most terrible battle magics are powered by the slaughter of innocent people, the Kaunians, whom Algarve-like much of the world-holds in disdain.

In this, the fourth volume of the series which began with Into the Darkness, the war for the continent of Derlavai builds toward its crescendo as the mages of Kuusamo, aided by their former rivals from Lagoas, work desperately to create a newer form of magic that will change the course of the war. But this is really a story of ordinary people-on all sides of the conflict-forced by fate to rise to their heroic limits... or sink to the level of their darker natures.

Leroni of Darkover

Darkover Anthologies: Book 9

Marion Zimmer Bradley

A collection of tales set on Darkover, the world of the Bloody Sun, ranging from the creation of the Comyn Council to a Terran's first encounter with laran.

Table of Contents:

Introduction (Leroni of Darkover) - essay by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Building - short story by Lynn Michals
The Ferment - (1991) - short story by Janet R. Rhodes [as by Janet Rhodes]
Wings - short story by Diana Gill
The Rebels - novelette by Deborah J. Mays
A Dance for Darkover - short story by Vera Nazarian and Diana Perry
There Is Always Someone - short story by Jacquie Groom
Reunion - short story by Lawrence Schimel
A Way Through the Fog - short story by Patricia B. Cirone [as by Patricia Cirone]
The Gods' Gift - novelette by Mary K. Frey
The Speaking Touch - short story by Margaret L. Carter [as by Margaret Carter]
The Bargain - short story by Chel Avery
The Witch of the Kilghard Hills - short story by Aimee Kratts
The Gift - short story by Lynne Armstrong-Jones
Invitation to Chaos - novelette by Joan Marie Verba
The Keeper's Peace - short story by Patricia Duffy Novak
Food for the Worms - short story by Roxana Pierson
Childish Pranks - short story by Diann Partridge
Cherilly's Law - short story by Janni Lee Simner
Avarra's Children - novelette by Dorothy J. Heydt
The Tower at New Skye - novelette by Priscilla W. Armstrong
Homecoming - short story by Lana Young
A Meeting of Minds - short fiction by Elisabeth Waters

Red Holocaust

Deathlands: Book 2

When all is lost, there's always the future. But the future in a world shrouded in the radioactive red dust clouds of a generation-old global nuclear war depends on finding hidden caches of food, weapons and technology--the legacy of a preholocaust society--stashed in lonely outposts known as redoubts. When Ryan Cawdor discovers a redoubt in the bitter freakish wasteland that now passes for Alaska, he also uncovers a new threat to a slowly reemerging America.

Neutron Solstice

Deathlands: Book 3

A generation after a global nuclear war, Louisiana is a fetid, sullen landscape of impenetrable swamps and grotesquely mutated wildlife. Above the gnarled bayous, radioactive red dust clouds race across the sky on nuclear winds; below, thick mud sucks at a man's boots. Now and then a biting acid rain falls, swept in on the boiling winds from the Gulf.

In the reeking swampland that was the Mississippi basin, neutron bombs have left barren cityscapes the terrirories of small groups of bitterly opposed survivors. Ryan Cawdor and his companions Krysty Wroth and J.B. Dix come upon one such group who are striving to revive life on earth the way it was before the bombs fell. But they're up against a postholocaust feudal lord who's just as determined to wipe them out.

Crater Lake

Deathlands: Book 4

Near what was once the Pacific Northwest, Ryan Cawdor and his roving band of post-holocaust survivors discover a beautiful valley untouched by the nuclear blast that changed the earth forever. Resisting the temptation to settle in the idyllic land, the group is captured and forced deep beneath an extinct volcano to an isolated community of in-bred scientists who are blindly laboring to find better ways of genocide, unaware that the world they are striving to slaughter has already died.

Homeward Bound

Deathlands: Book 5

Ryan Cawdor's post-holocaust odyssey across America is about to come full circle -- Ryan Cawdor is going home.

Forced away from Front Royal by a power-mad brother who had already committed fratricide, Ryan had roamed a devastated America searching out the small pockets of life where civilization was being reborn.

Emerging from a gateway in the ruins of New York City, Ryan decides to put his own house in order -- it's time to avenge the deaths of his father and older brother.

Accompanied by Krysty Wroth and J.B. Dix, Ryan Cawdor comes face-to-face with the harsh reality of post-nuclear America. In the Deathlands, honour and fair play are words of the past. Vengeance is a word to live by.

Pony Soldiers

Deathlands: Book 6

Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors come face-to-face with a specter from the past: out of the swirling dust that was once New Mexico bursts a regiment of pony soldiers, led by a man with flowing yellow hair.

Brandishing Colts and Winchesters, the horsemen grimly prepare to destroy the ragtag strangers, intruders who dare to pnetrate their ruthlessly defended stronghold.

As the final showdows nears, Ryan makes a startling discovery: either he and his companions have chron-jumped back to the 1800s, or General George Custer has been catapulted into the twenty-second century...

Dectra Chain

Deathlands: Book 7

The world blew out in 2001. Vast areas of what was the United States lie beneath an umbrella of noxious dust and radioactive debris, a mantle of destruction drawn over a land of doom. Much of the East Coast has been obliterated; the Southwest is a land of fire; cities of smoldering ash have given birth to horrifically mutated life forms. Such is the Deathlands, legacy of global annihilation.

But there were survivors, struggling to overcome a dark new age of plague, radiation sickness, barbarism and madness. Out of the ruins come Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors, whose odyssey of discovery takes them in search of other pockets of civilization.

Emerging from a gateway in Maine, Ryan confronts a ruthless and brutal sea captain, a woman prepared to go to any lengths to get what she wants...

Ice and Fire

Deathlands: Book 8

Snakefish, California, is rich in the currency of post-holocaust America gasoline.

Almost leveled by the Soviet missiles that annihilated most of the West Coast, Snakefish is in the midst of a reconstruction, financed by a commodity far more valuable than the usual Deathlands jack.

But greed and man's lust for power threaten to shatter the hard-won peace and tranquility of this fledgeling community as disparate factions fight for control of the substance that will give them wealth beyond their wildest dreams.

Ryan Cawdor and his companions emerge from a gateway and step into the path of a smoldering war for power.

Red Equinox

Deathlands: Book 9

Three generations after nuclear blasts all but vaporized the Earth, a group of warrior survivalists led by a charismatic man named Ryan Cawdor roam the hostile environment called Deathlands.

Their quest becomes a grim struggle for survival as they search for a better life beyond the nuke-ravaged cities. And it is one such harrowing journey that brings them to the heart of Moscow.

Beneath a mantle of chemical clouds an strontium snow, the former jewel in Russia's crown is teeming with a bizarre mix of mutated beings and old enemies all intent on killing Ryan and his band of post-holocaust survivors.

A new dark age has dawned with the hope of a promised land. But in the Deathlands, hope is not enough.

Northstar Rising

Deathlands: Book 10

A generation after a global nuclear catastrophe, Minnesota is a steamy tropical environment of lush plants and horrifically mutated insects.

Emerging torn and battered after a triple jump through the gateways, Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors discover an abandoned cryonics complex a doomed fantasy begun a century before in a world far away from Deathlands. Dr. Mildred Wyeth is successfully revived from subzero suspended animation and joins the team of warrior survivalists.

In the jungles of Minnesota, the group discovers yet another freakish legacy of a world cone hideously wrong: Vikings.

In the Deathlands, the past and the future are clashing with frightening force.

Time Nomads

Deathlands: Book 11

In the blasted heart of the new America, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior-survivalists search for hidden caches of food, weapons and technology -- the legacy of a preholocaust society -- stashed in lonely outposts known as redoubts.

When Ryan ingests bacteria-infested food, he lies near death -- his body paralyzed but his mind traveling rapidly back to his early days in the Deathlands... moving through the southwest on post-nuke vehicles called warwags... and his run-in with the Baron.

Towse, near what was once Albuquerque, is a ville in a freakishly beautiful landscape populated by scabbies and armed Apaches. Baron Alias Carson and his bejeweled wife, Sharona, welcome Ryan, J.B. Dix and the Tracker to their treacherous world.

In the Deathlands the past is a dream. The future is a nightmare.

Latitude Zero

Deathlands: Book 12

Generations after a near nuclear annihilation, America is a radiation-ravaged wasteland swarming with a thousand horrifically mutated life forms.

Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors barely escape a self-destructing redoubt in the new southwest and embark on a journey overland to find the nearest gateway. But without an adequate supply of food and water, their quest is doomed.

Ryan strikes a deal with the leader of a wagon train heading west: protection against all attackers in exchange for food and water.

It is a deal that pits the one-eyed warrior against his oldest enemy -- a sadistic, ruthless man who would stop at nothing to get his hands on Ryan Cawdor.

In the Deathlands, everyone and everything is fair game, but only the strongest survive.

Seedling

Deathlands: Book 13

America's post-holocaust nightmare continues as Ryan Cawdor returns to the monstrous urban slum that was once New York City...and discovers a piece of the future...

As the roaming band of survivors seek desperately to escape the eerie wastes and mutated life-forms of their nuclear hell, they emerge from a gateway back into the ruins of Manhattan -- the concrete battlefield where Ryan had avenged the death of his father and older brother.

The city is a flooded hellzone ruled by street gangs and hordes of reptilian mutants who inhabit the sewers. Under this urban ruin lives the self-styled King of the Underground, presiding over his subterranean fortress filled with prenuke memorabilia. And here, in this once great metropolis, lives a ten-year-old boy. He is Ryan Cawdor's son....

The children shall inherit the Earth.

Dark Carnival

Deathlands: Book 14

Out of the ashes of global destruction, Ryan Cawdor and his roving band of warrior survivalists continue their grim odyssey across a nuke-ravaged America, searching for a sanctuary and the promise of a better life.

Emerging from a Gateway into Florida's sultry heat, they enter the domain of a wealthy baron -- a technical genius whose seat of power is a rebuilt theme park where the rides are fast and thrill seekers are guaranteed the time of their lives... if they can get out alive.

Influencing the baron is a ruthless and hypnotic cult leader and his demonic "family," whose murderous games trap Ryan into a midnight killing spree... with only one way out.

In the Deathlands, the future is a dream. Reality is a nightmare.

Chill Factor

Deathlands: Book 15

America's legacy of annihilation continues for Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-apocalypse survivors on a quest to find a peaceful new life. Trekking through the ruins of a devastated America, they search for secrets of the past that might promise a future. This is the odyssey called Deathlands.

Ryan travels to the snowy wastes north of the forty-ninth parallel to rescue his young son, enslaved in a mining colony. In this forbidding landscape, one of Ryan's oldest enemies lies in wait, orchestrating a deadly finale to their private war.

In the biting cold, Ryan must battle a legion of hunter androids designed to track and kill any intruders with ruthless ingenuity. But for Ryan Cawdor, the need to save his son is greater than any threat the one-eyed warrior may encounter.

Welcome to the Deathlands, where you don't have to die to go to hell.

Moon Fate

Deathlands: Book 16

Generations have passed since a nuclear blast all but turned America to dust. Out of the ruins emerges a band of warrior-survivalists, led by a one-eyed man called Ryan Cawdor. In their quest to find a better life, they embark on a perilous odyssey across the ravaged wasteland known as Deathlands.

An ambush by a roving group of mutant Stickies puts Ryan and Krysty Wroth in the clutches of a tyrant who plans a human sacrifice as a symbol of his power. The execution is set to take place at the new moon -- one night away. Ryan devises an escape plan but is betrayed by another prisoner. As they break for freedom, the Stickie leader unleashes a team of hunter-trackers among the maze of narrow canyons of the Southwest. For Ryan and Krysty, there's nowhere left to run...

In the Deathlands, the only thing that gets easier is dying.

Fury's Pilgrims

Deathlands: Book 17

A bad jump from a near-space Gateway leaves Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists in the devastated heart of the American Midwest. Moving through the ruins in the safety of an abandoned war wag, they discover a small community that was once the sprawling metropolis of Chicago.

The town seems devoid of life, until the first night, when Krysty Wroth vanishes without a trace. Then the group is attacked, leaving Doc Tanner gravely wounded. Ryan realizes that someone, or something, wants them gone -- or dead.

He captures an attacker and learns that the town is run by a tribe of nocturnal female mutants. But not even torture yields any word of Krysty. Ryan fears for her life, especially since she's a woman

In the Deathlands, life is a contest where the only victor is death.

Shockscape

Deathlands: Book 18

Emerging from a gateway into the snowy barrens of the Colorado Rockies, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior group are forced to strike a deal for survival. This part of white hell is controlled by Baron Nelson, a grief-ridden widower burning for vengeance against the hired killers who murdered his boy.

Not far from Nelson's barony lies Yuma, a nasty hellhole every badman in the Rockies calls home. Ryan, Doc and J.B. Dix begin a perilous journey across desolate mountains to Yuma to capture and deliver the boy's killers back to the baron. The odds are not good: if the mutant grizzlies and roving marauders don't get them, the sadistic guntoughs in Yuma will.

In the Deathlands, survival is a gamble. Death is the only sure bet.

Deep Empire

Deathlands: Book 19

Once an idyllic chain of inlets running from Key Largo to Key West, the Florida Keys have become an isolated universe of grotesquely mutated wildlife and bizarre submarine malformations. Blind seventy-foot sea snakes lurk among the reefs around underwater volcanoes, while typhoons and pirates turn the crystal waters above into a death zone.

But Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior-survivalists find a slice of heaven in this ocean hell at a marine research center created to further the amazing promise of the dolphins. Here, a brilliant scientist offers the perfect vacation of sun, fishing and fun. Until Ryan discovers this post-holocaust aquatic paradise is a hoax -- and gentle dolphins are being mutated into killers.

Welcome to the Deathlands, and the future nobody planned for.

Cold Asylum

Deathlands: Book 20

Generations after global annihilation, Kansas is a mutated landscape of dense, deciduous forest. Gone are the amber waves of grain, another hideous result of nuclear devastation that changed the face of the Earth forever. Now it's survival of the freakish.

Following rumours that might lead them to the long-lost Trader, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists find themselves the unwilling house guests of the wealthiest barons in all of Deathlands. At Baron Mandeville's opulent homestead, a glittering ornate fortress called Sun Crest, a secret and perverted game continues: gladiator contests among the guests. The winners get to play the ultimate life-and-death game -- a hunt in which they are the quarry.

Hope died in the Deathlands, but the will to live goes on.

Twilight Children

Deathlands: Book 21

Survival is an endless battle in the dark age of post-holocaust America, but even amid the ashes of the past, new pockets of civilization emerge, fledgling communities bound by savage rules.

Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior-survivalists are transported from one Valley of the Shadow of Death to another, shaken by the mind-bending effects of the mat-trans, emerging at last into a promised land whose inhabitants are healthy and young.

The ville is an oasis in a blighted land, but among the blond, blue-eyed near-children, Ryan and his wayfarers are pariahs destined to find out that the quest for Paradise exacts a steep price.

In the Deathlands, the future looks terminally brief.

Rider, Reaper

Deathlands: Book 22

The red-baked mountains of New Mexico offer a peaceful interlude for Ryan Cawdor, and a reunion with Jak Lauren. But in the violent post-holocaust world of Deathlands, survival is a blood-soaked game -- and Ryan's idyll becomes a mission of revenge.

The quarry is the General and his band of paramilitary killers. Roving and plundering the Southwest, the General travels with an unsurpassed armoury, his troops unchallenged, his agenda unstoppable.

Allied with local vengeance-hungry Indians, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists begin a cross-desert manhunt on horseback through the acrid canyon lands, where danger waits in the form of fifteen-foot rattlesnakes, acid-rain hurricanes -- and a man who grimly prepares to destroy his pursuers.

Hope died in the Deahtlands, but the will to live goes on.

Road Wars

Deathlands: Book 23

Emerging out of the ashes of the nuclear apocalypse, no one has been more successful and determined than Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists. But if the wasteland's endless miles come between them, the odds for getting back together again -- for their very survival -- are not in their favor.

A cryptic message regarding the long-missing Trader sends Ryan and the Armorer on an odyssey to the Pacific Northwest, away from their base, away from their band of warrior survivalists, away from Krysty Wroth. While Ryan battles the blood-hungry predators of the road, back in New Mexico, Krysty Wroth and the others fight off attacks against their weakened group in an all-out struggle for survival.

In the Deathlands, fate and chance are clashing with frightening force.

Trader Redux

Deathlands: Book 24

Ruled by a perverse and malevolent Nature, roamed by lawless remnants of humanity, the Deathlands is what's left of the continental U.S. after a nuclear apocalypse unleashed hell on earth. Here, only a few can survive and still retain hope for the future, and of these, none are more determined than the exiled son of a coastal baron and his closely knit band of warrior survivalists.

The years of struggle in the new reality made Ryan Cawdor a bold and undisputed leader, but now he may have to contend with his former mentor, the enigmatic Trader. Together with J. B. Dix and Abe, they make a perilous journey down the mighty Colorado, and in the Grand Canyon's mile-deep crags, a degenerate barony and mutie death traps test the limits of the group's survival skills.

Weary and torn from their cross-country trek, they return to their stronghold in New Mexico to find it abandoned, with no sign of Krysty Wroth, Dean or the others....

Imagine your worst nightmare. It's called Deathlands.

Genesis Echo

Deathlands: Book 25

Deathlands is a world savaged beyond recognition by a centuries-old nuclear blast. While many prosper on the savagery of this lawless land, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists carry the seeds of hope and courage in a daring quest to find the gateway to the future....

The warrior survivalists are reluctant guests in a reactivated twentieth-century medical institute in Maine. Here scientists still pursue their abstract theories, oblivious to the realities of a world gone mad. But when they take an unhealthy interest in Krysty Wroth, the pressure is on to find a way out of this guarded enclave.

Before they can escape, Ryan's loyalty will be tested, and Krysty's special powers may threaten her very existence.

In the Deathlands, the war for domination is over, but the struggle for survival continues.

Shadowfall

Deathlands: Book 26

The nuclear conflagration that consumed the world generations ago stripped away most of its bounty, throwing survivors back to more savage ways of existence. Amid the ruins, Ryan Cawdor leads the daring few who wage a grim battle in a quest for a better future.

As elsewhere in the Deathlands, what remains of the Sunshine State is rules by tooth and claw and unbridled instinct. It's an alien, inhospitable terrain of sulfur pits and lethal geysers, inhabited by mutated life-forms. Here Ryan finds that survival demands hard and fast choices, and unexpected alliances. To hold his band of warrior survivalists together, he comes to an agonizing crossroads, torn by a debt to the past and loyalty to the present.

Hope died in the Deathlands, but the will to live goes on.

Ground Zero

Deathlands: Book 27

Ryan Cawdor and his band of survivalists search for a better future in the devastated ruins of a city once called Washington. Facing double jeopardy posed by a barbaric baron, and the indifferent wrath of nature, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists are determined to persevere against predatory foes.

In the Deathlands, everyone and everything is fair game, but only the strongest survive.

Deathlands is desolate and mute testimony to the aftermath of the nuclear blasts that laid waste the earth. Wayfarers in their blighted world, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists search for a better future in the devastated ruins of a once-proud land. The radiation-poisoned hellhole is their home, and they are determined to defend it from the predatory foreigners emerging from a gateway.

And where its proud heart, the city of Washington, had stood, Ryan Cawdor faces double jeopardy posed by a barbaric baron, and the indifferent wrath of nature. In the Deathlands, everyone and everything is fair game.

Emerald Fire

Deathlands: Book 28

Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists emerge from a gateway into an abandoned U.S. military complex, now a native shrine to the white gods of pre-blast days. Here the group is given royal treatment, only to discover that privilege has a blood price.

In the Deathlands, you're always too far from home....

The global apocalypse of 2001 did not destroy the world -- only a way of life. Now, three generations after the blast, the indomitable human spirit struggles against the devastation and hopelessness. For one band of survivors, hope lies in hidden gateways, portals to uncertain places of salvation or doom.

The Amazon Basin remains a land of primordial beauty and primitive people. Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists emerge from a gateway into an abandoned U.S., military complex, now a native shrine to the white gods of pre-blast days. Here the group is given royal treatment, only to discover that privilege has a blood price.

In the Deathlands, you're always too far from home....

Bloodlines

Deathlands: Book 29

In the aftermath of the apocalypse little remains except age-old evils of greed, perversion and force. But a small group of survivalists cherishes the legacy of human courage and hope. led by the charismatic Ryan Cawdor, they persevere in a brutal world through warrior skills and a bold desire to regain the promised future.

The fertile bayous teem with mutant life-forms and altered species. Off on a trek with his son, Ryan fends off the dangers from marauders and Nature's traps, but also finds signs of hope for humanity's new future. But the ultimate threat comes upon them in an unguarded moment, shocking in its scope and casting more blame on generations past.

In the Deathlands, nothing is as it appears.

Crossways

Deathlands: Book 30

As the twenty-second century emerges from the blight of nuclear damnation, humanity is slowly coming to terms with the bizarre new world of Deathlands, where each new generation holds the promise of renewal and redemption -- in men like Ryan Cawdor and his son, Dean.

Ryan Cawdor and companions emerge from a gateway into the ravaged world of the Rockies. It's old hunting grounds for Ryan and the Titian-haired Krysty Wroth -- her home, and the place where they first came together. Here Ryan has an unsettling choice to make, and Krysty a debt to pay. But her Mother Sonja may be long gone, and the past becomes a trap as they press toward Harmony, a marauding gang hard on their trail.

Hope died in the Deathlands, but the will to live goes on.

Keepers of the Sun

Deathlands: Book 31

The nuclear storm that swept the globe has left behind the Deathlands, a legacy of hate and violence. Pockets of survivors live off the ravaged land or on stockpiles found in redoubts. But from out of the ashes, a fearless man spearheads the drive to pierce the heart of darkness....

The gateways are secret installations from predark days used by Ryan Cawdor and his group as escape routes. Once again the warrior survivalists emerge from a jump and into a world -- and empire fallen -- ruled by the samurai code. And here Ryan has to face a new threat that could destroy the only home they know.

A new dark age has dawned with the hope of a promised land. But in the Deathlands, hope is not enough.

Circle Thrice

Deathlands: Book 32

The dark frontier of the twenty-second century is lawless and oppressive, but humanity is slowly beginning to carve out new beginnings in the midst of this brutal, nuke-altered world. In pockets of civilization called villes, peace and hope start to flourish. But law and order invite what's evil and corrupt....

Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists are guests of a powerful Tennessee baroness and her mysterious adviser at her ville on what was once the mighty Mississippi River. Beautiful and alluring, the baroness is skilled in the dark arts, and she will do anything to secure her future.

In the Deathlands, when hope is not enough, the laws of survival are called into play.

Eclipse at Noon

Deathlands: Book 33

Hard on the heels of their escape from a powerful baroness, the wayfarers arrive at the shore of the mighty Mississippi. As if whisked back in time, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists find themselves passengers on a riverboat. It's a high time, until the stakes escalate and Ryan is sold to the highest bidder.

Stoneface

Deathlands: Book 34

In 2001, the face of the earth changed forever in a nuclear firestorm. Generations after the apocalypse, Ryan Cawdor leads the courageous struggle for survival in a brutal world, striving to make a difference in the battle raging between good and evil.

On a sacred aboriginal land, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists discover Mount Rushmore still standing, a symbol of long-gone power. Here a charismatic baron and his followers force Ryan to breach the icy fastness of the mountain stronghold, which harbours a cache of twentieth-century technology -- and a chilling surprise from the past.

In the Deathlands, the war is over... but the fight has just begun.

Bitter Fruit

Deathlands: Book 35

In the nuclear-storm devastated Deathlands a warrior survivalist of the twenty-second century leads the relentless fight to reclaim a lost world.

Barely escaping from a marauding gang, Ryan Cawdor and his band of post-holocaust survivors emerge from a gateway into an idyllic community ruled by Druidic law. But this new Eden may be a mirage, concealing a deadly threat. For the seed of dissent had been sown in the past, and is again ready to destroy.

Nature rules in the Deathlands, but man still destroys.

Skydark

Deathlands: Book 36

It's now generations after the firestorm that nearly consumed the earth, but the survivors haven't yet finished paying for the sins of the fathers. All of life suffered, and of those that survived, not all survived well. This cradle of life is now home to forms fallen far from their human inheritance.

Fear spreads like wildfire through the wastelands when an army of mutants, led by a charismatic and powerful lord, goes on the rampage. As panic and infighting cripple the baronies, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists must find a way to unite them before the human race is wiped off the face of the earth.

In the Deathlands, the future is just beginning.

Demons of Eden

Deathlands: Book 37

The legacy of the twentieth century was the world-wasting nuclear firestorm that destroyed a way of life forever. Civilization is in ruins, its pitiful remnants perverted by brute force, and mankind is less at home on the planet than ever before. Yet in the desolation that is the Deathlands, an intrepid group of wayfarers continues the determined fight for survival and a better future.

Leaving a western ville besieged by desert pirates in search of the legendary cities of the Spanish conquistadors, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists enter a hidden valley untouched by civilization. Here the descendants of the First People are at one with Nature, following their sacred and mystical traditions. But deep in the valley is an awesome force, a power that can freely heal... or wantonly destroy.

In the Deathlands life is locked in mortal combat, and the only way out is the future.

The Mars Arena

Deathlands: Book 38

In the ruins of Las Vegas, Ryan Cawdor enters the blood-soaked arena of regional barons to reclaim his son's life.

The nuclear firestorms had swept away the hatreds and the power struggles that had dominated the Earth for decades. But no hoped-for better reality was born in that blighted landscape. In a lawless and maddened world, blood and violence remained a means to survival -- and power.

In the harsh territory near what used to be the Western badlands, Ryan Cawdor and his crew join the search for the wreck of a crashed space station. But in the ruins of Las Vegas he falls prey to a maelstrom of violence. Hostage in a bitter war between regional barons, Ryan finds that even his best effort is an odds-even gamble, and that his son's life may depend on the whims of destiny.

Deathlands is a conspiracy against survival....

Watersleep

Deathlands: Book 39

In the altered reality of the Deathlands, America's coastal waters haven't escaped the ravages of the nukecaust, but the awesome power of the oceans still rules here. It's a power that will let Ryan Cawdor, first among postholocaust survivors, ride the crest of victory -- or consign his woman to the raging depths.

Emerging from a gateway on the ruins of the Georgia coastline, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists embark on a voyage up the Atlantic coast. But treachery awaits as they're beset by pirates, then a violent storm that pulls Krysty Wroth and Jak Lauren beneath the waves. Now Ryan must contend with a self-proclaimed lord of the sea as he struggles to reclaim what's his from a watery grave.

In the Deathlands, there's no waking from the nightmare...

Nightmare Passage

Deathlands: Book 40

In the sands of California's Guadalupe Desert, Ryan and companions fear they have crossed time lines when they stumble upon a settlement straight out of fabled Egypt. What they find is a rebellion against an aspiring god-king who wants to enslave them. To overcome an enemy with unusual powers, Ryan must bide his time though his every instinct is to strike out in rage.

Freedom Lost

Deathlands: Book 41

Ryan Cawdor and his team are en route to his boyhood home in West Virginia when they are offered shelter--for a price--in the remains of the Freedom Mall, once the largest in the Carolinas, operated by Baron Freedom. The huge mall is a haven for its inhabitants, but Ryan is given an ultimatum--pay a hefty fine or help the Baron's group fight against the "stickies", a marauding army of mutants. Ryan is left no choice but to help, and finds himself pitted against the Baron and the stickies in a desperate struggle to save his friend and escape.

Way of the Wolf

Deathlands: Book 42

The bleak nightmare of the nuclear winter has abated, but the Earth is scarred, its ecosystems poisoned, many of its life forms mutated and struggling for existence. Here, in the torn remnants of American, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists stake their claim as the inheritors of Deathlands, their unforgiving world.

The mountains of the Arctic Circle are shaken with ceaseless tremors as the frozen earth Threatens to swallow itself. Trapped in the hostile landscape by a mat-trans jump, Ryan and companions find the ultimate challenge to their will to survive. The odds dwindle when they become the new bounty in a struggle for dominance between a group of Neanderthals and descendants of a military garrison stranded generations ago.

Deathlands. A perilous journey through uncharted territory.

Dark Emblem

Deathlands: Book 43

After a relatively easy mat-trans jump, Ryan and his companions find themselves in the company of Dr. Silas Jamaisvous, a seemingly pleasant host who appears to understand the mat-trans systems extremely well. Seeing signs that local inhabitants have been used as guinea pigs for the scientist's ruthless experiments, the group realizes that they have to stop this line of research before it goes too far

Crucible of Time

Deathlands: Book 44

A connection to his past awaits Ryan Cawdor as the group takes a mat-trans jump to the remnants of California. Brother Joshua Wolfe is the leader of the Children of the Rock--a cult that has left a trail of barbarism and hate across the ravaged California countryside. Ryan and his compatriots must survive the battle rituals prescribed by the cult and escape the misguided wrath of their enemies, the Mescalero Indians, in order to continue their journey across the wastelands.

Starfall

Deathlands: Book 45

Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists jump into Montana territory, where they are joined by members of the Heimdall Foundation, an organization of whitecoats that investigates the possibility of alien visitation on Earth. Ryan is concerned when Krysty is rendered helpless by one of the Chosen--a type of doomie mutant with mind-control abilities. The group is accosted by a baron's sec men, who are searching for valuable debris from an abandoned space station that fell from the sky.

Gemini Rising

Deathlands: Book 46

Book #1 in the Baronies Trilogy of Deathlands

Ryan Cawdor comes home to West Virginia and his nephew Nathan, to whom Cawdor had entrusted the Cawdor barony. Waiting for Cawdor are two of his oldest enemies, ready to overtake the barony and the Cawdor name.Unable to help an ailing Krysty Wroth, Cawdor must face this challenge to the future of the East Coast baronies on his own.

Gaia's Demise

Deathlands: Book 47

Book #2 in the Baronies Trilogy of Deathlands

The trail of the East Coast conspiracy leads to Tennessee, where a new weapon to control the weather and disrupt human thinking has been wreaking havoc. Behind it all is Ryan's nemesis, Dr. Jamaisvous, who once again finds escape via the gateway.

Dark Reckoning

Deathlands: Book 48

Book #3 in The Baronies Trilogy of Deathlands

A secret community of scientists gains control of an orbiting transformer that could become the ultimate weapon of terror -- and it's up to Ryan Cawdor to halt the evil mastermind before he can incinerate Front Royal.

Shadow World

Deathlands: Book 49

The hellscape of postnuclear America has a bloodlust for the good, the innocent and the helpless. Survival in Deathlands demands a will to endure that is as raw and savage as this brutal frontier. For Deathlands is the future's last and only hope for both its inheritors and strange invaders to whom this perdition promises a paradise.

Ryan Cawdor is a true warrior of Deathlands, fighting for survival in a bizarre, freakish world. But now, beyond the unseen perils, a new threat emerges: invaders arrive from a parallel earth where the nukecaust never happened. Ryan is abducted through a time corridor to the twin earth, where he dixcovers a nightmare that makes Deathlands look tame by comparison and a new plot for its grotesque destruction...

In the Deathlands the future is undertain, but it's all that remains.

Pandora's Redoubt

Deathlands: Book 50

In the post-holocaust wastelands of 22nd-centry America, precious little remains of life before the nuclear blowout. Legends circulate of Redoubts, secret pre-Dark military bases with caches of food, medicine and, most important, weapons. Yet only a few of the ragged elite possess the arcane knowledge that enables them to locate and access these valuable storehouses.

In a hidden redoubt in Ohio, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists take possession of the ultimate Deathlands War Wag a crude but effective tank called Leviathan. But having this steel-plated behemoth is a double-edged sword when they fall into the trap of Lady Ward of Novaville, who wants Leviathan for her own means of destruction and domination.

In the Deathlands, the future is just an idea.

Rat King

Deathlands: Book 51

What was once the United States is now the rad-blasted world of Deathlands...a place that more than lives up to its name. Led by a one-eyed warrior called Ryan Cawdor, a straggling band of survivors roams the nuke-ravaged land, homing their survival skills in a wasteland where danger lurks over the next hill.

Emerging into one of the predark installations known as redoubts, the group is taken prisoner in a fully functioning army base operating in a parody of life before the blowout. Its occupants are inbred soldiers, a legacy to the lost secrets of the Totality Concept. Led by the mad general of an obscene military project, the base has found its last hope in the ragtag bunch, a fate that may be even more horrifying than the hell they have survived.

In the Deathlands nothing is certain... especially the future.

Zero City

Deathlands: Book 52

The nuclear Armageddon of 2001 put the world on an odyssey of savage rebirth. Now, little more than a hundred years after the blast, the quest for power is viciously embraced by America's new masters, barons commanding fortresses called villes, policed by stonehearts called sec men. One of them is a warrior survivalist named Ryan Cawdor, believed to possess pre-apocalyptic knowledge that holds hope for a beleaguered future.Hungry and exhausted, Ryan and his band emerge from a redoubt into an untouched predark city, and uncover a cache of weapons and food. Among other interlopers, the city is guarded by huge winged creatures, protecting the grisly secrets of a nearby barony. Holed up inside an old government building, where Ryan's son, Dean, lies near death, Ryan and Krysty must raid where a local baron uses human flesh as fertilizer....

Savage Armada

Deathlands: Book 53

Book #1 of the Skydark Chronicles of Deathlands

A nuclear apocalypse almost destroyed Western civilization in 2001, leaving in its place the forbidding world of Deathland. Though the human spirit has not been broken, the new rules of survival are harsh and barbaric. As barons fight for power in a savage new America, power is claimed with the salvaged arsenels of a predark world: weapons, gasoline and those willing to kill.

The Marshall Islands, once the testing grounds for twentieth-century weapons of mass destruction, remains perversely beautiful. But the infested waters become the battleground for looting pirates and sec men in still-functional navy PT boats, all driven by greed and madness to plunder the predark caches of science and technology hidden in the islands. Ryan Cawdor and his warrior band emerge in this perilous waterworld, caught in a grim fight to unlock the secrets of the past.

In the Deathlands, the price for survival is high.

Judas Strike

Deathlands: Book 54

Book #2 of the Skydark Chronicles of Deathlands

A nuclear endgame played out among the superpowers created a fiery cataclysm that turned America into a treacherous new frontier. But an intrepid group of warrior survivalists roams the wastelands, unlocking the secrets of a pre-dark world. Ryan Cawdor and his band have become living legends in a world of madness and death where savagery reigns, but the human spirit endures...

The South Pacific is a rad-blasted paradise, inhabited by giant mutated crustaceans and savage cannibals. The local baron rules the Marshall islands with a despotic iron fist and a secret formula for making Deathland's gold: gunpowder. But his true invincibility lies in his possession of stockpiles of pre-dark rapid-fire missiles and a fleet of functional PT boats. Ryan Cawdor and his companions have faced off against the baron and survived. But this time there's only one way out of these death seas -- through the sec-men-infested waters of the baron's kingdom.

Imagine your worst nightmare. This is Deathlands.

Shadow Fortress

Deathlands: Book 55

Book #3 of the Skydark Chronicles of Deathlands

A planet ravaged by the apocalyptic blast of 2001 gave birth to a new world of savagery -- and a new breed of hero. In a land where violence rules with absolute authority, Ryan Cawdor and his wayfarer survivalists roam the strange, nascent twenty-second century, living by their own creed of honor as they continue their search for a sanctuary they can call home.

In what was once the nuclear testing ground of the predark world, the Marshall Islands are now the kingdom of the grotesque Lord Baron Kinnison. Here in this world of slavery and brutality the companions have fought a fierce war for survival, on land and sea -- yet the crafty baron still conspires to destroy these interlopers. Activating a twentieth-century hot air balloon left untouched by the blast, they escape to the neighboring pirate-ruled Forbidden Island, with the baron's sec men in hot pursuit -- and become trapped in a war for total supremacy of this water world.

Not even Deathlands can deny the human will to survive.

Sunchild

Deathlands: Book 56

In the ruins of nuke-ravaged Seattle, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior companions come face-to-face with the Illuminated Ones, a secret order whose knowledge foretold the end of the world. Recognizing that the true power rests in the hands of the baron's insane wife, Ryan and his group seek to shift the power in their favor.

Breakthrough

Deathlands: Book 57

Deathlands is a living hell, but one place is even worse: a parallel Earth where the atomic mega-cull never happened. Now the ruler of this Otherworld Earth and her genetically engineered female force have invaded Deathlands, which offers a ready supply of slaves and raw energy. It is up to Ryan Cawdor and his warrior companions to stop the invaders before this grotesque new order redefines brutality.

Salvation Road

Deathlands: Book 58

Two hundred years after a nuclear war has ravaged America, Ryan Cawdor and his roving band of survivalists continue their quest for a better life. That's difficult in Texas, where the brutal sun burns the desert red-hot, and where the greedy and the mad try to mine the black crude beneath the scorched earth. It is here that Ryan and the companions find themselves in a no-win situation against a rogue baron. With success comes freedom ...with failure, death!

Amazon Gate

Deathlands: Book 59

Book #1 of the Illuminated Ones duology of Deathlands

At the heart of the strange new post-nuclear world known as Deathlands lie the mysteries of pre-dark society -- secrets that may hold the key to a future of peace... or peril. In perhaps their one chance to reclaim the future from the jaws of madness, Ryan Cawdor and the companions ally with a female-dominant tribe who have found the gateway belonging to the pre-dark cabal.

Destiny's Truth

Deathlands: Book 60

Book #2 of the Illuminated Ones duology of Deathlands

Allied with a tribe of women warriors, Ryan Cawdor and his band of survivalists continue their quest to locate the Illuminated Ones, a pre-dark sect who may possess secret knowledge of Deathlands. But their dangerous pursuit becomes even more treacherous when their quarry unleashes a deadly plague in a twisted plot to cleanse the earth.Destiny's Truth is the second episode in The Illuminated Ones, a two-book story arc in which the warrior survivalists battle the remnants of the pre-dark U.S. government -- otherwise known as the Illuminated Ones.

Skydark Spawn

Deathlands: Book 61

A dark and Brooding land hungrily awaits the next generation...

Survival in America's nuke-blasted frontier is both a curse and a salvation for Ryan Cawdor and his warrior companions. Though the basic needs of existence must be fought for and won with blood -- each day alive means another chance to seek refuge and a better way of life in a hostile and brutal world, where hope still fires the human heart.

In the relatively untouched area of what was once Niagara Falls, Ryan and his fellow wayfarers find the pastoral farmland under the despotic control of a twisted baron and his slave-breeding farm. Ryan, Mildred and Krysty are captured by the baron's sec men and pawned into the cruel frenzy of their leader's grotesque desires. JB, Jak and Doc enlist the aid of outlanders to organize a counter strike -- but rescue may come too late for them all.

In the Deathlands, you are sentenced to your destiny from the moment of birth . . .

Damnation Road Show

Deathlands: Book 62

In the ruins of a nuke-shattered America, eerie remnants of preDark times linger as a traveling road show gives new meaning to the word chilling. Facing tremendous odds, Ryan and his warrior group challenge this wandering death merchant and his army of circus freaks. But no one is aware that a steel-eyed monster from the past is preparing a private act that would give Ryan star billing...

Devil Riders

Deathlands: Book 63

Book #1 of the Scorpion God duology of Deathlands

Judgment day has come and gone. Now only the strongest survive.

A century after the nuclear conflagrating almost destroyed the world, humanity endures in a lawless land. Those who inhabit Deathlands are either killers or those who would be killed. But an elite few defy the laws of this new nautical selection -- playing both sides of the eternal game of life and death. Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists never leave a friend behind. . .or a coldheart alive.

Stranded in the salty desert wastes of West Texas, Ryan and his companions find pre-Dark wheels and set out on a treacherous journey across inhospitable terrain. Hopes for a hot meal and a clean bed in a isolated ville die fast when the companions run into a despotic baron manipulating the lifeblood of the desert: water. But it's his fortress stockpiled with enough armaments to wage war in the dunes that interests Ryan, especially when he learns the enemy may be none other than the greatest -- and long dead -- Deathlands legend: the Trader.

In the Deathlands the future is here, but the past is never far behind.

Bloodfire

Deathlands: Book 64

Book #2 of the Scorpion God duology of Deathlands

The Amazon Basin remains a land of primoridal beauty and primitive people. Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists emerge from a gateway into an abandoned U.S. military complex, now a native shrine to the white gods of pre-blast days. Here the group is given royal treatment, only to discover that privilege has a blood price.

Hellbenders

Deathlands: Book 65

As Ryan Cawdor and his fellow warriors continue their daily struggle for a better life, they encounter a redoubt filled with preDark technology. While attempting to unlock some of the secrets of post-nuclear America, the half-mad former sec man who is in control orders them to jump-start his private war against two local barons. Under the harsh and pitiless glare of the desert sun, the companions fight to see another day...whatever it brings.

Separation

Deathlands: Book 66

Hard strength and resilience are needed to survive each new day in the treacherous world of post-nuclear America. For Ryan Cawdor and his companions, honour, integrity and a willingness to kill are necessary as well, as they struggle to balance a survivalistic spirit with a warrior's resolve to press on, living by their own rules in a tortured land, pursuing a dream that leads them into the unknown....

Ryan and his group make their way to a remote island in hopes of finding brief sanctuary. Instead, they are captured by an isolated tribe of descendants of African slaves from pre-Civil War days. When the tribesmen declare Mildred Wyeth "free" from her white masters, it is a twist of fate that ultimately leads the battle-hardened medic to question where her true loyalties lie. Will she side with Ryan, J.B. Dix and those with whom she has forged a bond of trust and friendship... or with the people of her own blood. But the loss of Mildred is not the only threat the group faces - in a treacherous world where the ties that bind can cut both ways.

In the Deathlands, the future is not what it used to be....

Death Hunt

Deathlands: Book 67

The treacherous new world of post-nuclear America guarantees no inalienable rights--no promises of freedom, liberty or justice for all. Instead, chaos and bloodlust thrive--but so do the innate strengths of the human spirit, and the virtues of honor and courage. Ryan Cawdor has endured the worst that Deathlands has to offer and continues to push on, leading his companions through a land of madness and treachery, seizing each new day with a deep, primal hope that refuses to die....

Ryan's razor-sharp edge has been dulled by the loss of his son, Dean--but grief is an emotion he cannot indulge if the band is to escape the chains of sadistic Baron Ethan. His thriving ville offers a special commodity: blood sport. Now with the group's armorer, JB Dix, imprisoned and near death, Ryan and the others are forced to join Ethan's hunt--as the hunted. But the perverse and powerful baron has changed the rules. Skilled in mind control, he ensures the warriors will not be tracked by high-paying thrill-seekers. Instead, they will hunt each other--to the death. In the Deathlands, the odds of survival just got worse....

Shaking Earth

Deathlands: Book 68

After a nuclear blast all but vaporized the Western Hemisphere in the late twenty-first century, America became known as Deathlands, a hellhole that has proved itself a formidable foe in the fight for survival--a place where the will to see another day comes down to raw courage and a good aim. Ryan Cawdor and his warrior group roam the vast and violent landscape, fighting to live and living to fight for a better life, knowing that death may not be the only way out, but it's the quickest.

In a land steeped in ancient legend, power and destruction, the crumbling ruins of what was once Mexico City is now under siege by a bloodthirsty tribe of aboriginal muties. Emerging from a gateway into the partially submerged ruins of this once great city, Ryan and his group ally themselves with a fair and just baron caught in a treacherous power struggle with a dangerous rival. An internecine war foreshadows ultimate destruction of the valley at a time when unity of command and purpose offers the only hope against a terrible fate.... In the Deathlands everyone has a future. Some will wish they didn't.

Black Harvest

Deathlands: Book 69

Shockwaves of atomic destruction turned 22nd-century America into a hellzone, but in the ruins the human spirit remains unconquerable. Daily survival depends on raw courage and a deadly aim, and with his warrior band Ryan Cawdor roams the forbidding new frontier known as Deathlands, determined to unlock its secrets....

Emerging from a gateway in the midwest, Ryan senses trouble within the well-fortified ville of a local baron, whose understanding of pre-Dark medicine may be their one chance to save a wounded Jak. But while his whitecoats can make the drugs that heal, the baron knows the real power and money is in the hardcore Deathlands jolt. And where drugs and riches go, death shadows every step, no matter which side of a firefight you stand on.... In the Deathlands, tomorrow is never just another day.

Vengeance Trail

Deathlands: Book 70

As megalomaniac barons and savage anarchy compete to lay claim to post-nuclear America, perseverance and a will to live are what keep Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists roving through the worst and best of a new world. Armed with secrets of pre-Dark tech, they possess what few in Deathlands can imagine: hope for a better tomorrow.

Ryan Cawdor is gunned down and left for dead by the new provisional U.S. Army, commanded by a brilliant general with a propensity for casual mass murder and a vision to rebuild America. Waging war from his pre-Dark, fusion-powered armored locomotive, he's poised to unlock the secrets of the Gateways--as the rest of Ryan's group stand powerless. All except one. Hope may be lost for Krysty Wroth. But revenge is enough. In the Deathlands, vengeance is the only justice.

Ritual Chill

Deathlands: Book 71

Time, and the fallout of a nuclear holocaust, have ravaged 21st century America, but one fundamental impulse of human nature remains: the will to survive. And only the strongest do survive. Men like Ryan Cawdor, whose inner strength and stubborn resolve continue to defy the worst that Deathlands offers. With grim determination, he and his warrior group continue to face the stark and brutal choices of this new world that are often not choices at all, but imperatives. Act first, ask questions later.

A cold sense of déjà vu becomes reality as the group emerges from a gateway they'd survived before--a grim graveyard of lost friends and nightmares. The consuming need to escape the dangerous melancholy of the place forces Ryan and company onto the frozen tundra, where an even greater menace awaits. The forbidding land harbors a dying tribe--cursed members of the ancient Inuit, who seize the arrival of Ryan and his band as their last hope to appease angry gods...by offering them up as human sacrifice. In the Deathlands, the price for survival is the constant fear of death.

Atlantis Reprise

Deathlands: Book 72

For Ryan Cawdor, leader of a small group of post-apocalypse survivalists, it's the inner fire of survival that guides them through this hell on earth and to whatever lies beyond the daily fight for existence. There are times when the oblivion of death seems a most welcome journey out of Deathlands. But for Ryan, death is something his warrior's soul will never take on without a fight.

In the forested coastal region of the eastern seaboard, near the Pine Barrens of what was New Jersey, Ryan and his companions encounter a group of rebels. Having broken away from the strange, isolated community known as Atlantis, and led by the obscene and paranoid Odyssey, this small group desires to live in peace. But in a chill-or-be-chilled world, freedom can only be won by spilled blood. Ryan and company are willing to come to the aid of these freedom fighters, ready to wage a war against the twisted tyranny that permeates Deathlands.

Labyrinth

Deathlands: Book 73

It took only minutes for human history to derail in a mushroom cloud--now more than a century later, whatever destiny lies ahead for humanity is bound by the rules that have governed survival since the dawn of time: part luck, part skill and part hard experience. For Ryan Cawdor and his band, survival in Deathlands means keeping hold of what you have--or losing it along with your life.

In the ancient canyons of New Mexico, the citizens of Little Pueblo prepare to sacrifice Ryan and his companions to demons locked inside a twentieth-century dam project. But in a world where nuke-spawned predators feed upon weak and strong alike, Ryan knows avenging eternal spirits aren't part of the game. Especially when these freaks spit yellow acid--and their creators are the whitecoat masterminds of genetic recombination, destroyed by their mutant offspring born of sin and science gone horribly wrong....

Strontium Swamp

Deathlands: Book 74

In their darkest moments, few citizens of the twentieth century could have envisioned the firestorm that plunged the world into the chaos of a nuke-altered reality. Twenty-second-century America may not be much worth fighting for, but Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists push on, clinging to the deep wellspring of human hope that somewhere in the raw, violent new frontier of a rad-blasted tomorrow is someplace they can call home.

Weary, sick and hungry, the group barely survives a trek through the torturous deserts of the Southwest which leads into the bayous of what was once Louisiana, a place one of their own first called home. The eerie, lifeless silence of the swamps warns of trouble ahead. But nothing can prepare them for Dr. Jean, a madman who has harnessed pre-Dark tech to create an army of crazed zombies marching toward his own twisted vision of Deathlands domination.

Shatter Zone

Deathlands: Book 75

Scattered remains have been salvaged from the abandoned cities that withstood the atomic onslaught at the dawn of the twenty-fi rst century, but the secrets of pre-Dark tech buried in the mass grave of civilization are known to only a few. Possessing understanding and the unshakable will to survive, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists face each day armed and ready for the enemy called Deathlands, whose formidable power has yet to claim victory over the human spirit....

In this raw, brutal world ruled by the strongest and the most vicious, an unseen player is manipulating Ryan and his band, luring him across an unseen battle line drawn in the dust outside Tucson, Arizona. Here a local barony becomes the staging ground for a battle unlike any other, against a foe whose ties to pre-Dark society present a new and incalculable threat to a fragile world. Ryan Cawdor is the only man living who stands between this adversary's glory... and the prize he seeks. In the Deathlands, the future lies somewhere between hope... and hell.

Perdition Valley

Deathlands: Book 76

Journeying across the devastated frontier of postnuclear America, Ryan Cawdor and his companions have unlocked clandestine knowledge of preDark tech, secrets that give them an edge for staying alive, an edge augmented by an ability to fight... and win. Each day brings a new chance to find someplace to call home--somewhere apart from the grim realities of a civilization struggling to be reborn.

Hunted across the southwestern desert, Ryan doesn't know who wants him dead badly enough to slaughter innocents as a way of luring him into the open. But the advanced tech his pursuers are using is unknown in Deathlands, created by the most brilliant minds of twentieth-century America. Now evil is alive and stalking the warrior group. His name is Delphi, and he's prepared to reclaim the one man who understands with brutal certainty how time can be controlled, manipulated, remapped. In the Deathlands, the past may be lost but its secrets are deadlier than ever....

Cannibal Moon

Deathlands: Book 77

In the hostile new world of postnuclear America, there are many ways to die, but few are clean or quick. Long ago Ryan Cawdor and his band threw in their lot together--to do or die trying. It was a pact sealed in blood, one of selflessness and sacrifice that put a premium on the value of loyalty, friendship and honor--and the blind faith that survival is a better option than certain death.

Compassion is a luxury in a brutal land where life is cheap, but Dr. Mildred Wyeth holds fast to her physician's oath to show mercy. Now she's stricken by a plague that brings on a deep craving for human flesh. Unwilling to lose one of their own to this pervasive pestilence without a fight, the companions follow the trail to Cajun country, where the mysterious queen of the Cannies is rumored to possess the only antidote to the grim fate that awaits Mildred... and perhaps her warrior friends.

Sky Raider

Deathlands: Book 78

Raw courage and knowledge of the arcane secrets of preDark technology have enabled Ryan Cawdor and his warrior companions to live and roam a land tortured--but not destroyed--by apocalyptic madness. In a world where the price of living is paid in fl esh and blood, nothing is ever free, not even death.

In Deathlands, power brings more power to those able to command it by means fair or foul. Yet few among the most tyrannical barons can rival the ruthlessness of Sandra Tregart, whose despotic visions are being realized by resurrected technology: air power. With her restored biplane, she delivers death from the skies to all who defy her supremacy--a virulent ambition that challenges Ryan Cawdor and his band in unfathomable new ways.

Remember Tomorrow

Deathlands: Book 79

After twenty-first-century America exploded in the chaos of a nuclear nightmare, a raw new landscape emerged, a world where death and dreams clash. Still, the best of the human spirit endures: the hope, the will to survive. But so does the worst: the greed, tyranny, the easy death. In his enduring odyssey across the hostile world called Deathlands, Ryan Cawdor is a warrior no enemy wants to cross.

An earthquake in the Arkansas dust bowls leaves the companions for dead, until they are all reunited except for armorer J. B. Dix. Alive, though with no memory of the past, he is in the uncertain employ of the ironfisted ruler of a vital outpost along the routes that traverse the wastelands. Duma is the biggest, most dangerous ville in all of Deathlands, where jolt, jack, booze and sex are worth more than human life. Stalking Duma and preparing to attack this orgy of firepower is a crazed band of inbred worshippers of Nagasaki... and their unwilling new sec force led by Ryan Cawdor.

Sunspot

Deathlands: Book 80

In the wake of a nuclear Armageddon, the hellscape of Deathlands conspires to torment strong and weak alike, festering most deeply in those who still possess the deepest core of human decency. Now the past lies in the ashes, while the mysteries of the future unfold in the hands of those willing to live each new day in search of hope for tomorrow.

The endless struggle for power among the barons is a way of life in Deathlands, but Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists take no sides--unless forced to. But as the land around the Rio Grande reaches the breaking point in a bitter war, the companions are harnessed into battle, moving toward a grim confrontation with an old enemy whose secret stockpile of twenty-fi rst-century nerve gas is poised to unleash infi nite madness once more upon a ravaged earth.

Desert Kings

Deathlands: Book 81

More than a century past the fiery dawn of post-nuclear America, Ryan Cawdor and his companions journey across a land lost yet reborn, where lawless violence and human perseverance clash, and unsolved mysteries hint at redemption. Though hope lingers under the blood and the dust, looking blindly toward the future is the surest way to get killed. Staying hard and cold for today is the only way to survive....

Traversing the terrain of Utah, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists find new evidence that the past is alive and dangerous--with a score to settle. Once before they'd battled and destroyed the brilliant and cunning cyborg known as Delphi, but he's reborn and ready to continue his drive for domination. His vast understanding of preDark tech, his cadre of well-armed cutthroats and his legions of worshippers make him monstrous in his quest for power. And he's eager for the keys to the kingdom that only the legendary Deathlands survivors--and their secrets--can help him attain.

Apocalypse Unborn

Deathlands: Book 82

Reborn primeval in the fires of thermonuclear hell, America's aftermath is one of manifest evil, savage endurance and lingering hope. Traversing the lawless continent on a journey without destination, Ryan Cawdor seeks humanity in an inhuman world. In the Deathlands, life is cheap, death is free and survival demands the highest price of all.

Magus is a steel-eyed cybernetic sociopath whose bloodlust knows no bounds. Now, the savage Pacifi c isles above a long-submerged Southern California are his new arena. Ryan wants a second chance to chill Magus once and for all. But as the ringmaster of torture orchestrates his magnum opus, a stunning sideshow is under way. PreDark whitecoats believe they have found the key to turn back time and intercept the deed that erased human history.

Thunder Road

Deathlands: Book 83

A century after the nukecaust, humanity adheres to the most basic laws of survival: live or die. While many plunder and savage for profit and pleasure, others follow a higher bid for promise and hope. Still, the concepts of law and order remain buried in the past.

Thunder Rider is a self-styled superhero, prowling the Deathlands and serving up mass murder in a haze of napalm and nerve gas. Seeing his destruction firsthand, Ryan Cawdor accepts a bounty from a ravaged ville to find and eliminate this crazed vigilante. But this twisted coldheart has designs on a new sidekick, Krysty Wroth, and her abduction harnesses the cold, unforgiving fury of Ryan and his warrior companions. At his secret fortress, Thunder Rider waits -- armed with enough ordnance to give his madness free rein....

In the Deathlands, justice is in the eyes of those who seek it....

Plague Lords

Deathlands: Book 84

After a century of chaos following the nukes, Deathlands is forming pockets of civilization, aided by predark stockpiles of weapons, fuel and pieces of 21st-century knowledge. But these troves are hard to come by, and survival remains a blood quest. For Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists, luck is sparse, chances slimmer, yet hope drives them onward.

The sulphur-teeming Gulf of Mexico is the poisoned end of the earth, but loaded cargo ships ruined by skydark lure doomie and cutthroat alike. Here, Ryan and the others glean rumors of whole cities deep in South America that survived the blast intact. But as the companions contemplate a course of action that may divide them, a new horror approaches unseen on the horizon. The Lords of Death are Mexican pirates raiding stockpiles with a grim vengeance. When civilization hits rock bottom, a new stone age will emerge, with its own personal day of blood reckoning.

In the Deathlands, the future could always be worse. Now it is....

Dark Resurrection

Deathlands: Book 85

Postnuclear America has changed little since the primal leveling of the twenty-first century. Warrior survivalists Ryan Cawdor and his band live by a code that honors the kind of absolute freedom only a raw frontier can provide. Until rumors of a wider, more prosperous world than the Deathlands thriving deep in Mexico, untouched by the nukecaust, lure them into uncharted waters....

Captured by the pirate foot soldiers of the mysterious Lords of Death, Ryan Cawdor and his companions sail into a surreal world where electric lights blaze but blood terror reigns. In Veracruz, Mexico, Ryan is marked for slaughter, his effigy linked to an ancient deity. Helpless, Krysty, Dix and the others await a horrifying fate at the hands of whitecoats manipulating pre-dark plague warfare. As the Lords of Death unleash their demonic vision, hope--for Ryan, the others and nascent civilization--appears irrevocably lost.

Eden's Twilight

Deathlands: Book 86

Rumors of an untouched predark ville in the mountains of West Virginia lure traders in search of unimaginable wealth. They're coming from all directions--the good, the bad, the worst. Ryan and his warrior group join in, although it means an uneasy truce with an old enemy, going back to days of spilled blood and the legacy of the Trader. But as their journey to a place called Cascade reveals more of Deathlands' darkest secrets, it remains to be seen if this place will become their salvation... or their final resting place.

Desolation Crossing

Deathlands: Book 87

Survival is a dangerous enterprise in the aftermath of a nuked America. Humanity perseveres, but the Deathlands code is far simpler: kill or be killed, live or die trying. Driven by the fires of hope, a resilient band of warriors traverse the new frontier of the future, survivors by skill and legends by reputation.

The legend of the trader returns in the simmering dust bowl of the Badlands, the past calling out to armorer J. B. Dix. Her name is Eula. Young, silent and lethal, she's part of a new trading convoy quick to invite Ryan Cawdor and his band on a journey across the hostile terrain. But high-tech hardware, fast wags, flowing jack and friendly words don't tell the real story behind a vendetta that is years in the making.

Alpha Wave

Deathlands: Book 88

In the postapocalyptic world of Deathlands, the past and its way of life are as obsolete as myth. Now the days are filled with death, violence and little promise. Still, the human spirit endures, and a group of intrepid warrior survivalists dare to believe that out there, something better is on offer. If they live long enough to find it.

Across the flat plains of the Dakotas, an iron horse shrieks and rumbles across refurbished tracks. Inside the boxcars, Ryan Cawdor and his companions face trouble unlike any other. Jak is missing, Krysty is dying and the train is loaded with sec men, whitecoats and a horrifying experiment--a baron with psionic abilities using stolen children to fuel his mad dream for mind control of every living soul in Deathlands.

Time Castaways

Deathlands: Book 89

In the nuke-altered America of the twenty-first century, time conspires against survival, especially for a legendary group of warriors led by Ryan Cawdor. Born and bred in Deathlands, Ryan dares to unlock the secrets buried deep in the wreckage of a planet. Time may be the enemy in the daily struggle to stay alive, but perhaps it can reveal something better....

Barely escaping a redoubt hidden in an old aircraft carrier guarded by killer droids, the companions emerge into the backwater world of Lake Superior's Royal Island. Here, metal and salt are commodities worth killing and dying for, and two rival barons rule mutant-infested land and water with blood will. But though Ryan was hoping for honesty and fair trade, he's soon in a death race to stop the secrets of the gateways from becoming an open passage to the future's worst enemies....

Prophecy

Deathlands: Book 90

After the nuclear winter, the taint of humanity worsened in the raw blood-quest for survival. Hunger for jack and power now fuels traders and barons, who relinquish authority only through death, crushing everything in their path. Still, a handful seek a better way of life, where iron fists and ordnance are replaced by harmony, justice and fair trade.

Separated by fate and a freak storm in the shifting landscape of the Great Plains, the companions find themselves on a path of strange prophecy. Here, Native American tribes embrace a peaceful, sacred way of life the travelers have only imagined. Still, Deathlands is a place with no reverence for ease or peace; the land was once the clandestine sanctuary of preDark science. Are Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists destined to fulfill a vision-quest foretold by the shamans... or take a final, fatal plunge into the grim reality of a shattered world?

Blood Harvest

Deathlands: Book 91

The cataclysm of nuclear winter transmuted the world into a place both torturous and unforgiving. But there are those with the courage and perseverance to seek out something beyond the merciless life-and-death struggle of Deathlands. In a treacherous frontier that plays for keeps, staying alive is the best victory....

Washed ashore in the North Atlantic, Ryan Cawdor and Doc Tanner discover two islands still pristinely intact after Skydark, but whose inhabitants suffer a darker, more horrifying punishment. A hideous strain of mutation manifests, turning some into half-monstrous giants with an unquenchable thirst for blood. The Nightwalkers unleash a hellish feast of horror when the sun goes down. Now Ryan and Doc struggle to survive this enclave of unimaginable terror, trapped in a baronial conflict between the rulers of night and day, with only one way out--internecine war in a world of the damned....

Welcome to the dark side of tomorrow.

Welcome to the Deathlands.

Arcadian's Asylum

Deathlands: Book 92

The brutality of post-nuclear America has spawned a dark frontier where the harsh and unforgiving new rules of existence cannot obliterate the decency and determination that drive the true human spirit. It's tested and tormented but never destroyed.

A lust for power and a strong sec-force are the basic requirements of any Deathlands baron. But brilliant, charismatic Baron Eugene Arcadian has bigger visions than simply a monopoly on jack and trade. He wants the future. Turning his ville into the nascent heartbeat of the new civilization would require the help of Ryan Cawdor and his warrior group. But for these unwilling participants, the endgame of their enigmatic host remains hidden in the secret maze of laboratories beneath Arcady, where a new terror is about to be reborn....

In the Deathlands, always watch your back.

Baptism of Rage

Deathlands: Book 93

The end of the world arrived in a nuclear rush, forging the agonized remains of past and present into a new reality known as Deathlands. Now life is a simple series of rules of survival, where having is better than not having--and anything is worth killing for. But in a world that has seemingly turned against mankind, the possibility of miracles can exist....

Of all the resources Ryan Cawdor and his group struggle to recoup, hope for escaping the grim daily life-and-death struggle has suffered most. But now reports of a ville holding the mythical waters of rejuvenation, a fountain of youth, appear to be true, luring Doc and the others on a journey inspired by promise, tainted by mistrust. Hiring on as sec men with a convoy headed to the healing waters of Babyville, the survivors discover the deadly price of immortality.

In the Deathlands the future looks like hell--and delivers far worse...

Doom Helix

Deathlands: Book 94

Devastation from the nukewar shattered civilization and left a planet both primitive and ripe for rebirth--or retaking. While the balance of power has fallen to avaricious, amoral barons, a handful of humanity still holds hope of a future worth fighting for or dying to defend. If a better life inside the hellground exists, Ryan Cawdor and his friends will find it.

The Deathlands feudal system may be hell on earth but it must be protected from invaders from Shadow Earth, a parallel world stripped clean of its resources by the ruling conglomerate and its white coats. Ryan and his band had a near-fatal encounter with these genetically enhanced aggressors and their advanced weaponry and wags once before. Only a fatal chink in enemy armor saved planet Earth from plunder. Now, these superhuman predators are back, ready to topple the hellscape's baronies one by one.

Moonfeast

Deathlands: Book 95

In the nuke-conceived birth of Deathlands, a rare breed of warrior-survivor emerged--born into suffering, hardened by circumstance, forged by endurance and sharpened by combat. Yet in the heart of this warrior, the quest to find a place of peace beats on unrelenting...

LAND OF THE LOST

The pristine coastal waters off San Clemente become a battleground over the island and its abandoned naval station. The rocky shores are rife with the sulfur mines that make Deathlands' richest jack--gunpowder. To maintain hell-fought possession, a ruthless sea baron and his fleet engage rebellion from the land. On this island populated by roaming bio-weap nightmares engineered by predark whitecoats, Ryan Cawdor is caught in a war he has no intention of fighting, but has every determination to survive.

Downrigger Drift

Deathlands: Book 96

The nuclear cataclysm that maimed America altered the rules of existence. The new reality guarantees a grim battle for survival, but the higher human instinct to exist in peace and good will lives on. Legends endure and Ryan Cawdor is a warrior of his time. When the good fight needs to be won, Ryan and his band take a stand.

In the nuke-altered region of the Great Lakes, Ryan and his group face the spectrum--from the idyllic to the horrific--of a world reborn. Close to enclaves of peace and sanctuary, Deathlands' most distorted spawn of humanity, cannibals, spread terror. Against the battered shoreline of Lake Michigan, an encounter with an old friend leads to a battle to save Milwaukee from a force of deadly mutant interlopers--and to liberate one of their own.

Playfair's Axiom

Deathlands: Book 97

A legendary warrior of nuke-spawned America, Ryan Cawdor understands the hard-and-fast rule of Deathlands. Where there is life, death is only a matter of time. Still, staying alive is the dubious luxury of being quick, hard and willing to abide by a code of honor long abandoned to the wreckage of this postapocalyptic hell zone: truth and fair play.

St. Louis is a concrete jungle of fetid heat, acid rains and cutthroats. With J. B. Dix gravely wounded, Ryan and his group become captive guests of a local barony. Freedom lies in the success of a deal: recapture a runaway teen, daughter of the ailing baron. But the dangerous power behind the throne rests with a self-proclaimed holy man. His gruesome manipulation of life and death are about to put the group in a race for their own salvation.

Tainted Cascade

Deathlands: Book 98

The blighted aftermath of a global nuclear showdown, Deathlands exacts a blood price. The living pay it; the dead don't care. For one legendary band of warriors, this barbaric new world holds a chance for redemption: the secrets of the past. They roam a disfigured America, searching for pre-dark tech... seeking the path to a future worth living.

Utah's Great Salt Lake Desert remains a death pit of scorching heat, cannies and grim odds. Ryan Cawdor and his group survive the trek there, only to be drugged, robbed and left for the slave trade. Escaping their captors leaves them alive but stripped of their prized gear: their weps, J. B. Dix's glasses, Dr. Mildred Wyeth's medical kit and, worse, her secret codex. The companions must rely on each other to challenge their enemy and settle the score.

Perception Fault

Deathlands: Book 99

The ravaged landscape that was America two centuries ago is now blighted by post-nuclear holocaust savagery. Still, there remain pockets of preDark technology that may offer undiscovered paths to reclaiming the future. Ryan Cawdor and his companions have faced most kinds of horror that Deathlands can deliver--and survived. This merciless place can break even the strongest, but it has yet to destroy hope.

Denver offers a glimpse of that very hope--a power plant, electricity, food and freedom. But the city is caught in a civil war between two would-be leaders and their civilian armies. Challenged by both sides to do their bidding, Ryan discovers a third player in the quest to control the mile-high city--a secret enclave of White Coats with the strength and technology to pursue a twisted agenda of their own.

Prodigal's Return

Deathlands: Book 100

America, defiled and reshaped by nuclear carnage, promises little but a struggle for survival. Still, a group of hard travelers trek the worst this hellish place can offer, surviving by their wits, razor skill and knowledge of preDark technology. Their leader, Ryan Cawdor, is a Deathlands legend, a warrior and hero to many, a relentless enemy to more. And he understands the only way forward is the future, even when the past has a will of its own....

Searching for an operational redoubt, Ryan and his companions go up against a ruthless band of coldhearts. The shock of seeing Ryan's long-lost son as the band's point man puts the group on a new mission--rescue Dean at all cost. But when Dean shoots and wounds his father in a firefight, the strange turn of events leads the travelers deeper into the shifting sands of their own destiny. And father and son, each committed to the laws of decency and fair play, will confront an uncertain legacy.

Lost Gate

Deathlands: Book 101

Existence after Skydark is a gamble against grim odds--winners and losers decided by guns, jack and raw nerve. Still, one intrepid group pushes on, working to understand the secrets of preDark tech at the heart of nuke-altered America. Because keeping hope alive is the next best thing to a good shot at finding something better.

Baron Crabbe is dangerously high on legends of the Trader and rumors of a secret cache. He occupies a redoubt but the old tech remains unfathomable. His ace in the hole is Ryan Cawdor and his band. Prisoners at blasterpoint, they're ordered to use the matter-transfer units to secure the whereabouts of the imagined weapons stockpile. Ryan knows the truth--and it won't help Crabbe. But the only option is to play along with the crazed Baron's scheme and make the dangerous jumps in a limited window of time. Staying alive is all about buying time--waiting for their one chance to chill their captors.

Haven's Blight

Deathlands: Book 102

The future rose from the ashes of nuke-scorched America with a vengeance. The unchecked wrath of Deathlands pits Ryan Cawdor and his companions against long odds. But their skill as survivors, strategists and warriors is unmatched and they've held on to something more precious than life: their humanity. They nurture the hope that somewhere, hidden amid the grotesquerie of a tortured land, safety and sanctuary awaits.

Bartering their expertise to a nautical band of brilliant technomads, Ryan's group fi nds trouble waiting in the steaming, fetid swamplands of the Louisiana Gulf. Merciless storms and pirates strand them in Haven. But the barony's inviting name masks a ville hijacked by fear, territorial conflict and monstrous horror. With the gravely injured Krysty Wroth's fate uncertain, a desperate Ryan aids the strange but hospitable Baron Blackwell in his effort to save Haven from a genetic blood curse. He'll succeed, provided his luck--and his options--don't run out first.

Hell Road Warriors

Deathlands: Book 103

The human will to survive has sharpened to a knife edge after a century of postnuclear madness. In a lawless land where firepower and savagery rule, power lies with the barons and coldhearts who wield control through terror. Against all odds, a courageous few still fight for something better to live by--honor, decency and hope.

Emerging relatively unscathed from the apocalyptic rebirth of North America, Canada hides a trove of Cold War-era secret government installations known as Diefenbunkers, filled with caches of weapons, wags and food. Ryan Cawdor and his companions agree to ride sec for a convoy headed west across the remnants of the old Trans-Canada Highway to retrieve the ultimate prize: four portable nuclear reactors. It's enough power to light up a ville for years, a bright beacon for a new tomorrow. But they have death on their tail, a baron and his sec men who will stop at nothing to claim the prize as their own.

Palaces of Light

Deathlands: Book 104

Remnants of America's past are littered across the postapocalyptic landscape, but little remains of the predark ideals of law and order. Survival is a blood quest, and lethal force the means to power. Still, a handful retains their humanity among the coldhearts, and in a world where nothing lasts forever, hope is a commodity as precious as jack.

Steeped in beauty and mysticism, the canyons of Mesa Verde, Colorado, survived the blast that altered the American West. Hired to track a group of missing children, Ryan Cawdor and his band follow the trail to a legendary city carved in stone, older and stronger than the nukecaust. The inhabitants of the palaces of light are more than warriors and survivors; they are masters of mind games that prey on illusion. And true believers in a metaphysical endgame poised to push the companions over the edge of reality... into certain death.

Wretched Earth

Deathlands: Book 105

After the Megacull, the weak died off, so that a century later, the living have descended from only the toughest stock. Still, it takes more than strength to survive Deathlands. It takes skill, cunning and a warrior's heart. But for Ryan Cawdor, staying alive isn't just about living. In this nuke-transformed America, it helps if somewhere, deep inside, there's hope of finding something better.

A virulent strain of a predark biowep has been unleashed upon the denizens of northern Kansas, turning them into rotting, flesh-eating monsters. Running from the mindless, soulless rottie hordes, Ryan and his companions arrive in the civil-war-torn ville of Sweetwater Junction. They've got one shot at beating the hungry rotties: turn the bloodlust of the ville's warring factions away from each other and toward a common enemy. But that means splitting up and hiring on as sec for both sides and surviving the firefight--before the real hell is unleashed.

In Deathlands, time is blood.

Crimson Waters

Deathlands: Book 106

Everyone who lives in Deathlands must endure the hellscape of a world mutilated by nukes and madness. Survival is a grim pursuit, achieved only by the most ruthless means. Yet Ryan Cawdor and his companions remain determined to persevere by doing whatever it takes to survive.

When a mat-trans malfunction strands Ryan Cawdor and his friends in a gutted redoubt in the West Indies, the crystal waters offer them a tantalizing glimpse of untouched splendor. But the oasis is abruptly shattered by violent and ruthless pirates, and Ryan has to barter with a young guide, a teenage boy on a blood quest against a sadistic local warlord, to navigate a land teeming with predators--mutie, human and animal. The race is on to find a second redoubt, buried deep in the inhospitable heart of Monster Island. As pirates, mutie sec men and monsters converge, the kill zone widens, blood flows... and the group rushes to escape paradise before it destroys them.

Because even paradise has claws in Deathlands.

No Man's Land

Deathlands: Book 107

There's little to remember about life before the Big Nuke, but there's plenty to scavenge in the tainted wreckage of the postapocalyptic frontier. The barbaric code of survival of the fittest, meanest or dirtiest makes for hard living and easy death. But Ryan Cawdor and his friends have stayed alive by holding on to their humanity--playing fair... and chilling only when they've got no choice.

A civil war raging in the Des Moines River valley forces Ryan and his companions to take sides, or die. Because somewhere in the middle of the generations-old conflict is a lost redoubt. But Snake Eye, the deadliest gunslinger in Deathlands, stands between them and the way out. And the mutie contract chiller won't step aside until he has Ryan's head.

In Deathlands, there's nothing but rock and a hard place....

Nemesis

Deathlands: Book 108

Burying the past in a nuclear cull, Deathlands spares no one from its punishing assault. In this grim new reality, there's little to live--or die--for, except the possibility of unlocking the mysteries of the past. Ryan Cawdor and his group of fellow survivors scour the perilous land for sanctuary in a world where nothing is guaranteed but death.

Hiring on as crew to a merchant's wag-train, Ryan and his companions anticipate trouble as they head west toward what was once Montana. The terrain is treacherous, but the company is worse as anger, jealousy and male rivalry erupt into chaos and death. But as they get closer to their destination, the true nature of the journey unfolds. There's a map to a mysterious valley rich with predark stockpiles. But is it the promised land they've been seeking... or the dead end they never saw coming?

Chrono Spasm

Deathlands: Book 109

Remnants of humanity have managed to regroup after a global nuclear showdown that decimated the planet. But life in Deathlands is a far cry from actual living. And the survivors must believe they'll find something better, because surrendering to the inhospitable forces of a nuked world means giving in to death. Or worse.

Fear and human depravity permeate the frigid air in a oncedynamic Alaskan city. Ryan Cawdor and his group of survivalists go on red alert the moment they set foot on the forbidding tundra, but regardless, they find themselves rounded up by cannibal coldhearts. The companions quickly discover there's a fate much worse than becoming food. Dangerous new experiments are taking place in a long-abandoned military base and, in the bitter heart of the frozen North, new horrors reach out to poison their hope for a better tomorrow.

Sins of Honor

Deathlands: Book 110

The survivors of postnuclear America struggle against the free fall into anarchy and barbarism. Hot lead keeps people sharp, but it's the fire within that keeps them alive. Ryan Cawdor and his band roam Deathlands searching for somewhere to call home. Until then, it's survival at all cost.

New Hampshire is rich with big game, more than enough to feed Ryan and his hungry companions. But claims to a fallen elk get ugly and Ryan is forced to chill another hunter, the self-proclaimed king of the Granite Highlands, over the meat. Soon the hunters become the hunted as the dead man's widow gives chase, armed with predark tanks and heavy artillery. As the kill zone widens across cannibal-ridden lava fields, Ryan and his group search for leverage in the merciless landscape.

Storm Breakers

Deathlands: Book 111

In postapocalyptic Deathlands, America the beautiful has been ravaged by a century of nuclear fallout. Here, the American dream boils down to one thing: survival. Ryan Cawdor and his companions seize each day, armed and ready to hold on to the only life they've got. Despite the odds, they believe in something better, someplace they can call home... where peace isn't just a dream.

On the coast of what used to be Maine, the group's armorer, J.B. Dix, lies dying from a gunshot wound. Having no other choice, Ryan makes a deal with a local baron and his strangely beautiful wife. J.B. will get the surgery he needs when Ryan and crew rescue the couple's daughter, abducted by slavers. But the cold, deep Atlantic waters harbor predark secrets, including the terrifying specter of a U.S.S.R. nuclear submarine... and its descendants.

Dark Fathoms

Deathlands: Book 112

No place on Earth escaped the nuclear Armageddon that spawned the hellscape known as Deathlands. In a ravaged world where violence and lawlessness rule, a rare breed of hero has emerged. Ryan Cawdor is a lethal fighter who lives by a code of honor and fair play, and that has made him a legend....

Miles beneath the ocean's surface, a decaying redoubt barely protects Ryan and his companions from a watery death. Battling vicious assaults from cyborgs programmed by artificial intelligence to capture them at any cost, they're desperate to escape this underwater trap. But a new threat awaits above the waves: a massive predark super ship that roams the deadly seas of Deathlands. Decades of madness have led to civil war between the citizens of the upper and lower decks. Now pawns in a bloody game of survival, Ryan and the others must destroy the ship or face their certain end at sea.

Motherlode

Deathlands: Book 113

The cost of living disintegrated after America's nuclear cull, and a life in Deathlands--any life--is dirt cheap. But those few who manage to stay alive in the savage new reality must travel the hellgrounds any way they can. For Ryan Cawdor and his fellow survivors, that means denying the pull toward savagery, and clinging to what little humanity they have left, when they can afford it.

Desperately short of supplies, Ryan and his companions are forced to seek help at the prosperous-looking ville of Amity Springs. Hired on to retrieve a stolen relic, they quickly become caught up in an escalating power struggle between two strong-willed lady barons. Each woman covets the cache of predark goods buried in the ville's backyard. But they are not alone in their desire. And all that stands between a motherlode of buried bounty and the destructive power of unchecked greed is Ryan's grim determination to survive another day.

Siren Song

Deathlands: Book 114

Crawling from the wreckage of Armageddon, humanity endures, mutated and forever altered. Gone are the comforts of civilization, replaced by a bloodlust to survive. Deathlands is a tortured landscape where peace and hope struggle to take root. Still, Ryan Cawdor and his band push onward, seeking a place to call home.

If any kind of utopia exists in postapocalyptic America, Ryan and his companions have yet to find it. But high in the Virginian mountains, their quest may find its reward. Heaven Falls is an agrarian idyll, its thriving inhabitants harnessing powerful feminine energy and the medicinal qualities of honey. Bountiful and serene, this community is the closest thing to sanctuary the companions have ever encountered. But as they are seduced by a life they have only envisioned, they discover Heaven has a trapdoor that opens straight to hell....

Hanging Judge

Deathlands: Book 115

In the Deathlands, the game of survival offers no reprieve. There's nothing to win in nuke-blasted America except the chance to fight another day. Still, Ryan Cawdor and his fellow travelers hope for sanctuary... somewhere. Until they find it, they face each dawn as if it's their last. Because it just might be.

Justice is a damning word in what used to be called Oklahoma, thanks to a sadistic baron known as the Hanging Judge. Crazy, powerful and backed by a despotic sec crew, the judge drops innocents from the gallows at will. When Jak narrowly escapes wearing his own rope as a necktie, a rift among the companions sends them deep into the mutie-infested wilderness outside the ville. Separated and hurting, time is running out for the survivors to realize they're stronger together than they ever could be alone--before a ruthless madman brings them to the end of their rope.

End Program

Deathlands: Book 116

No one waits long for trouble in Deathlands--it's everywhere in the remains of a nuke-altered civilization. The American dream was annihilated more than a century ago by the country's own unchecked power play. But the worst may be yet to come.

Built upon a predark military installation in former California, a ville called Progress could be the utopia Ryan Cawdor and his companions have been seeking. A place where humanity and technology thrive, it's the nucleus of a new hope for Deathlands. The successful replacement of Ryan's missing eye with a cybernetic prosthetic nearly convinces the group that their days of surviving hell are behind them. Then they discover that the high tech in Progress isn't designed to enhance human life, but to destroy it. To block the final assault, the companions must stop Ryan from becoming a willing pawn in the eradication of mankind.

Desolation Angels

Deathlands: Book 117

A hundred years after the nukecaust, the tortured landscape of postapocalyptic America offers a brutal fight for survival. Yet tech secrets lie hidden, useful to those brave and strong enough to believe that hope can carry them toward ever-elusive peace.

Violent gangs, a corrupt mayor and a heavily armed police force are the hallmarks of former Detroit, a mutie-infested, rubble-strewn metropolis. When Ryan and the companions show up, the Desolation Angels are waging a war to rule the streets. After saving the companions from being chilled by gangsters, the mayor hires Ryan and his friends to stop the Angels cold. But each hard blow toward victory proves there's no good side to be fighting for. As Motor City erupts into bloody conflagration, the companions are caught in the crossfire. In Deathlands, hell is called home.

Blood Red Tide

Deathlands: Book 118

In a nuclear wasteland where death and destruction are the norm, Ryan Cawdor and his fellow survivors seek out refuge while looking to one another for protection. Civilization no longer exists in the barren Deathlands. There is only the will to survive and the dim hope of a promised land.

Taken captive on a ship in the former Caribbean, Ryan and his companions must work as part of the crew or perish at the hands of the captain. But the mutant in charge of the vessel is the least of their worries. Each day is a struggle as they face rivalry among the sailors, violent attacks and deadly storms. Worse, a powerful enemy is hunting the ship to destroy everyone on board. Fighting for their lives and those of their shipmates, the companions must find unity within the chaos or die in the attempt.

Polestar Omega

Deathlands: Book 119

Banded together to survive, Ryan Cawdor and his companions travel the barren wastelands of a post-nuclear world. There are no laws in Deathlands--only fear, destruction and annihilation. As each day brings a new struggle, this group journeys toward the shaky promise of sanctuary.

Ryan and his friends become the subjects in a deadly experiment when they're taken captive inside a redoubt at the South Pole. A team of scientists is convinced the earth must be purified of mutants, and now they have the perfect lab rats to test their powerful bioweapon. Within Antarctica's harsh and unstable conditions, the companions must fight the odds and take down the whitecoats before millions are killed. But in this uncompromising landscape, defeating the enemy may be just another step toward a different kind of death....

Hive Invasion

Deathlands: Book 120

Seeking refuge in a post-Armageddon America, Ryan Cawdor and his crew of misfits travel together for survival and sanity. Known as Deathlands, this lawless hellscape is defined by destruction, death and despair. Only those who persevere with the belief in a better future stand a chance in this world where each day brings a new, and potentially lethal, struggle.

Desperate to find water and shelter on the barren plains of former Oklahoma, Ryan and his team come upon a community that appears, at first, to be peaceful. Then the ville is attacked by a group of its own inhabitants--people infected with a parasite that has turned them into slave warriors for an unknown overlord. The companions try to help fend off the enemy and protect the remaining population, but when Ryan is captured during a second ambush, all hope seems lost. Especially when he launches an assault against his own crew.

End Day

Deathlands: Book 121

Ryan Cawdor and his six companions struggle to survive postnuclear America, a grim new world where hope for the future is lost amid the devastation.

In pursuit of a hardened enemy--Magus--Ryan and the companions find themselves in a land more foreign than any they've encountered. After unwittingly slipping through a time hole, the group lands in twentieth-century New York City, getting their first glimpse of predark civilization. And they're not sure they like it. Only Mildred and Doc can appreciate this strange metropolis, but Armageddon is just seventy-two hours away, and Magus will stop at nothing to make sure Ryan and his team are destroyed on Nuke Day...

Forbidden Trespass

Deathlands: Book 122

In the war-torn wasteland known as Deathlands, desperation and destruction have replaced dreams and peace. Each day arrives with a new life-threatening challenge for wanderer Ryan Cawdor and his fellow band of survivors...

Bizarre murders are taking place in a fertile farming community, and the locals are quick to point fingers at Ryan and his companions. But they know another culprit is responsible. A colony of mutants has been driven from its underground home, forced to find sustenance in the light of day. And only human flesh will satisfy their hunger. Caught between a rock and a horde of hungry cannibals, Ryan and the companions face an ultimatum--help the cannies reclaim their territory, or risk becoming the next meal. Except something far more sinister--and ravenous--lurks beneath the lush fields...

Iron Rage

Deathlands: Book 123

Since the nukecaust, the American dream has been reduced to a daily fight for survival. In the hellish landscape of Deathlands, few dare to dream of a better tomorrow. But Ryan Cawdor and his companions press on, driven by the need for a future less treacherous than the present.

Pulling sec duty aboard a steamboat on the mighty Sippi is a welcome reprieve for Ryan and his friends... until armored warships reduce their vessel to a burning husk. Abruptly stranded in a nightmarish, poisonous swamp, fighting off crocodiles and muties, the companions and their crew of allies get to work building rafts. Their escape route, however, is swiftly intercepted, and they learn they've sailed into the middle of a fierce conflict between two villes fighting over the iron trade. The companions don't seem to stand a chance against the fleets of ironclad gunboats. But in Deathlands, even the underdog can bite back...

Child of Slaughter

Deathlands: Book 124

When Doc is taken captive by a band of marauders in what was once Nebraska, Ryan and the companions rally to get him back. But they aren't just fighting the local muties. They're also up against the area's terrifying terrain, which shifts and morphs at a moment's notice. With their options dwindling in this mazelike region that doesn't obey the laws of physics, the team joins forces with a beautiful and deadly woman who evens the odds on the battlefield. But while this warrior seems to be on their side, she has a secret agenda that could spell the end for them all...

Devil's Vortex

Deathlands: Book 125

n orphaned teen with the ability to transform into a vicious whirlwind latches on to Ryan and the companions as they travel through former North Dakota. Her deadly power seems like a boon at first, until it starts to control her. When threatened, she destroys everything in her path... including those she loves. Then a group of outcast fighters kidnaps the young woman and manipulates her--and her terrifying mutation--for their own destructive agenda. With the vortex unleashed, the companions face a tough decision: chill the orphan or perish in her violent wake.

Deluge: A Romance

Deluge: Book 1

First published in 1927, Deluge is one of the most famous of the English catastrophe novels.

Beautifully written and action packed--RKO Radio Pictures even filmed this story--the novel depicts a flood so severe that it destroys modern civilization, leaving the few survivors to adapt to the rigors of the natural world.

Like other English writers responding to the trauma of World War I, Sydney Fowler Wright expresses a loathing of the worst aspects of industrialization. The flood, in his view, becomes an opportunity for the remaking of society. The protagonists soon realize that civilization and technology have divorced them from the knowledge and skills necessary for survival. Released from their over-reliance on social regulation, they struggle to overcome their own brutality to develop a new sense of community. For over 75 years readers have praised this book for its style and wisdom, and debated the meaning of its controversial ending.

Dawn

Deluge: Book 2

The waters are rising--everywhere--and most of England is inundated by the surge, leaving isolated pockets of mankind to fight for survival--and for civilization!

The Star King

Demon Princes: Book 1

Star Kings are a race of non-humans who characteristically disguise themselves as humans -- but humans with a difference. Power alone is their goal -- a goal that is sought no matter the price in ordinary "human" life. Kerth Gerson was NOT a Star King, but he was looking for one -- a very specail Star King, a Star King who had murdered his parents many years before. All Gerson knew was that the Star King's name was Attel Malagate. Throughout endless galaxies of space, Gerson hunted down his Star King and finally found him....

The Killing Machine

Demon Princes: Book 2

Jack Vance excels at writing a series of shorter works that together comprise a grand, interstellar adventure. Such is the The Demon Princes, a series of five tales that chronicle Kirth Gersen's quest for vengeance against the five demon princes. The princes led the Mount Pleasant Massacre, a raid that destroyed Gersen's family and his world. But now Kirth is on their trail, and no matter how many galaxies there are to search, he will find them one by one and exact his revenge. This first volume collects three of the five Demon Prince stories, while the second volume will carry the remaining two.

The Palace of Love

Demon Princes: Book 3

In the midpoint novel of the "Demon Princes" series, Kirth Gersen sets his sights upon the mysterious Viole Falushe. Vance describes this murderous creature as a "sybarite." "Sadistic pervert" would probably be a more apropos phrase. After several false leads, Gersen backtracks the villain to his point of origin - Earth, of all places! Then the trail moves outward again, to the starworlds and a place back of beyond where there is actually a physical Palace of Love.

The Face

Demon Princes: Book 4

Kirth Gersen carries in his pocket a slip of paper with a list of five names written upon it--the names of five Demon Princes. The Demon Princes are a race of beings who disguise themselves as humans and delight in power and destruction. however, to Kirth they are merely murderers who killed his family and destroyed his home planet--and who deserves to die for those misdeeds. Three have already fallen in Kirth's hands, but there are two more names on his list, two more Princes who will live only long enough to regret their evil ways.

The Book of Dreams

Demon Princes: Book 5

The Dalek Pocketbook and Space Travellers Guide

Lens Larque was just as unique as the other Demon Princes--uniquely appalling. He was personally ugly, startling vicious, and arrogant above all others. Larque's own mission was a villainy of the highest order, and his personal obsession with success kept him hidden well from attackers--almost well enough. Howard Alan Treesong poisoned his friends, tortured his colleagues, and wrote his own horrific holy book, The Book of Dreams. But, clever as he may be, a galaxy-wide guessing game will be his undoing--and Kirth Gersen's sworn vengeance will be complete.

The Stealers of Dreams

Doctor Who New Series: Book 6

Steve Lyons

In the far future, the Doctor, Rose and Captain Jack find a world on which fiction has been outlawed. A world where it's a crime to tell stories, a crime to lie, a crime to hope, and a crime to dream. But now somebody is challenging the status quo. A pirate TV station urges people to fight back. And the Doctor wants to help until he sees how easily dreams can turn into nightmares. With one of his companions stalked by shadows and the other committed to an asylum, the Doctor is forced to admit that fiction can be dangerous after all. Though perhaps it is not as deadly as the truth.

Doctor Who Nonfiction: Book 1

Terry Nation

A Dalek reference book.

Dracula vs. Hitler

Dracula

Patrick Sheane Duncan

Ravaged by the Nazi Secret Service during World War II, Romanian resistance forces turn to one of their leaders, Professor Van Helsing for any way out. To fight these monstrous forces, Van Helsing raises a legendary monster from centuries of slumber... Prince Dracula himself.

Once he was the ruler of Transylvania. Prince Vlad Dracul, is, above all else, a patriot. He proves more than willing to once again drive out his country's invaders. Upshot: No one minds if he drinks all the German blood he desires.

In Berlin, when Hitler hears about the many defeats his forces are suffering at the hands of an apparent true vampire, he is seduced by the possibility of becoming immortal. Thus two forces are set upon a collision course, the ultimate confrontation: Superpower against superpower.

Dragonbound

Dragonbound: Book 1

Carl Miller

Periwinkle was a warrior. Bellchime was a wizard. Years ago, Periwinkle had given her heart to Bellchime, but he had never returned for her. Then, she has a vision of Bellchime in thrall to a fearsome dragon and sets out on a desperate journey to free him.

The Warrior and the Witch

Dragonbound: Book 2

Carl Miller

Rockdream, guardsman of the City, and Coral, a banished sorceress, cannot quell their passion for each other, and, as their city is besieged by the dragon, Riversong, their love grows.

The Goblin Plain War

Dragonbound: Book 3

Carl Miller

The proud city of Newport has fallen, consumed by the wrath of the great dragon Riversong. Yet some survived the chaos, fleeing the terror and destruction all around, driven far inland, to the wilderness of swamp and plain. A harsh land, and one home to the goblins - fierce, primitive people, long enemies of all humans. But the men and women of Newport have nowhere to go, save to servitude, and they will fight as fiercely as any goblin to keep their newfound home. In a world torn apart by bloodshed, the only hope for peace is the warrior and the witch.

The Rebellion

Dragonlance: The Stonetellers: Book 1

Jean Rabe

Jean Rabe returns to the world of Dragonlance with a tale of slavery, rebellion, and the struggle for freedom!

When a series of earthquakes strike a Dark Knight mining camp, goblin and hobgoblin slaves take advantage of the bedlam and revolt. A fast and deadly rebellion erupts, pitting the Dark Knights against their slaves... and against the still-rumbling ground. Casualties on both sides climb as a leader emerges among the slave force --Direfang, a hobgoblin foreman with deep scars and a long, brutal history of servitude. He must rally the surviving goblins and hobgoblins and lead them out of Neraka, turning his rag-tag force into an army that will not allow itself to be enslaved again.

Death March

Dragonlance: The Stonetellers: Book 2

Jean Rabe

Jean Rabe's long-anticipated return to Krynn continues!

Escaping from the slave pens of a Dark Knight mining camp was no easy feat, but what awaits Direfang, a former hobgoblin slave who has become the reluctant general of a growing goblin army is every bit as perilous. From the cruel ogre mountains to the shores of Newsea, Direfang, Mudwort the shaman, and the Dark Knight wizard Grallik fight the natural and unnatural forces that seek to destroy them. Direfang is tested to his limits by once-friends and powerful foes as he undertakes a death march to the Qualinesti Forest. His eyes on independence, Direfang refuses to surrender, and pledges his life for a chance to be free, even as he learns that freedom is a deadly prize.

Goblin Nation

Dragonlance: The Stonetellers: Book 3

Jean Rabe

The climactic conclusion to the Stonetellers saga!

Goblin Nation concludes The Stonetellers trilogy, finding Direfang and his army of goblins and hobgoblins deep in the Qualinesti Forest. Although they are far from the Dark Knights' mining camp they escaped from, they are also far from safe. The forest is fraught with its own deadly dangers--with the entire world seemingly bent on keeping the goblins from founding their new homeland. But Direfang is resolute and will risk all their lives in a final bid for freedom.

Duainfey

Duainfey: Book 1

Rebecca Beauvelley is a ruined woman.

In a moment of girlish folly, she allowed a high-flying young man to take her up in his phaeton, not realizing that he was drunk. When he dropped the ribbons, she recovered them, but could not avoid disaster.

The young man was killed. Rebecca survived, crippled, and with a reputation in tatters.

Against all expectation, her father has found someone who will marry her. Rebecca's life seems set, and she resigned to it. Then, Altimere of the Elder Fey enters her life--and everything changes.

Longeye

Duainfey: Book 2

There are heroes in the mists...

...and ghost trees infiltrating the groves of the living.

The fabric of the world, on both sides of the keleigh, is unraveling. The survival of the trees, the sea, and the world depend upon two wounded people -- Meripen Longeye, a Fey desperately tortured by humans; and Rebecca Beauvelley, a human enchanted and enslaved by Fey.

Can they learn to overcome their pasts to work together as Ranger and Gardener Or will the world falter on its own cruelty

...Longeye is the final book in the duology begun in Duainfey.

Ghosts in the Snow

Dubric Bryerly: Book 1

Tamara Siler Jones

In a world where sorcery is illegal, someone is murdering young women in ways that defy all reason--and all detection. Only one man knows how to track such an untraceable killer, a man called to deliver justice by an onslaught of...

For Dubric Bryerly, head of security at Castle Faldorrah, saving lives has become a matter of saving his sanity. A silent killer is afoot, savagely mutilating servant girls and leaving behind no clues and no witnesses--except the gruesome ghosts of the victims. Ghosts that only Dubric can see.

Caught in the eye of the grisly storm is Nella, a linen maid working to free herself from a dark past--if she can survive an invisible killer's rampage. But with the death toll rising and Nella under the protective wing of a man who may be a prime suspect, Dubric must resort to unconventional methods. With the future of Faldorrah and countless lives at stake, including his own, he can't afford to be wrong. And if he's right, the entire kingdom could be thrust into war.

Threads of Malice

Dubric Bryerly: Book 2

Tamara Siler Jones

One by one, young men in the kingdom's outer reaches are vanishing into the dark. So far, two bodies have washed up on the local riverbank. But Dubric Byerly, head of security at Castle Faldorrah, soon realizes there are countless more victims...for it's his curse to be forever haunted by the ghosts of those whose deaths demand justice.

The latest to vanish is Braoin, a seventeen-year-old painter whose mother came to Dubric's aid when he most needed it. All Dubric knows is that the boy is still alive. But time is running out, and it isn't only Braoin's life hanging in the balance. If Dubric can't untangle the twisted web of clues and lies and find his way to the killer, one of his own pages will be the next to die...

Valley of the Soul

Dubric Bryerly: Book 3

Tamara Siler Jones

In the mage wars, Dubric Byerly risked his life-and sacrificed the woman he loved-to catch magic's darkest killers. Those battles are long over-and the monsters Dubric hunts these days are nothing more than men. Until now. A recent string of grisly crimes has Dubric and his pages scouring the countryside for clues that hint at the worst: that history's most murderous mage has come to Faldorrah.

As Dubric's hunt leads from secrets locked behind sanatorium walls to a hidden cache of souls preserved in fluid, other lives are shaken: a young woman given a power she doesn't want, a young man inheriting a legacy he can't understand, and a father fighting for his memory of a daughter who may already be lost. In the hardscrabble village of Quarry Run, the dark ghosts of the past have come calling-and the battle for the future begins.

The Anome

Durdane: Book 1

The minstrel Gastel Etzwane lives in Shant- a country of cantons, each independently dictating its own law and customs. The enforcement of law is simple, quick, and inevitable: death by decapitation, from an explosive torc clamped around each citizen's neck by authority of a single man- the Anome. For millennia Anomes have ruled Shant, dealing death as they see fit- and none dares defy them, until Gastel Etzwane risks his head to expose the Anome's identity- and end the tyranny of these faceless men forever.

The Anome is part 1 of 3 of Durdane.

The land of Shant on the planet Durdane is ruled by a purposely anonymous dictator called the Anome or Faceless Man. He maintains control by virtue of the torc, a ring of explosive placed around the neck of every adult in Shant.

The Brave Free Men

Durdane: Book 2

Where the Anomes once ruled stands young Gastel Etzwane, facing a mortal threat to his homeland. Hoards of red Roguskhoi, armed by an unknown enemy, have swarmed out of the southern bogs to slaughter men, despoil women, and spread waves of terror. Through the peace imposed by the tyranny of the Anomes, men of Shant have lost the art of weaponry and war. Now Gastel must revive those skills to forge Shant's citizens into an army - an army of the free.

The Brave Free Men is part 2 of 3 of Durdane.

The Asutra

Durdane: Book 3

Gastel Etzwane and his army of Brave Free Men have driven the Roguskhoi from Durdane, only to discover that Durdane is but one tiny front- a testing ground- for an implacable enemy intent on subjugating all the worlds of man. Gastel and his people are in no position to resist, but must find a way to escape a slave army, forced to fight a war that is not their own, and defeat the Asutra!

The Asutra is part 3 of 3 of Durdane.

Tales of the Dying Earth

Dying Earth

One of Jack Vances enduring classics is his 1964 novel, The Dying Earth, and its sequelsa fascinating tale set on a far-future Earth, under a giant red sun that is soon to go out forever. This volume comprises all four books in the series, The Dying Earth, The Eyes of the Overworld, Cugels Saga and Rialto the Magnificent.

The Bagful of Dreams

Dying Earth

WFA nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology Flashing Swords! #4: Barbarians and Black Magicians (1977), edited by Lin Carter. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Finest Fantasy (1978), edited by Terry Carr, and Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder (1989), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. It is included in the collection The Jack Vance Treasury (2007). A limmited edition chapbook also appeared in 1979.

The Dying Earth

Dying Earth: Book 1

The Eyes of the Overworld

The stories included in The Dying Earth introduce dozens of seekers of wisdom and beauty, lovely lost women, wizards of every shade of eccentricity with their runic amulets and spells. We meet the melancholy deodands, who feed on human flesh and the twk-men, who ride dragonflies and trade information for salt. There are monsters and demons. Each being is morally ambiguous: The evil are charming, the good are dangerous. All are at home in Vance's lyrically described fantastic landscapes like Embelyon where, "The sky [was] a mesh of vast ripples and cross-ripples and these refracted a thousand shafts of colored light, rays which in mid-air wove wondrous laces, rainbow nets, in all the jewel hues...." The dying Earth itself is otherworldly: "A dark blue sky, an ancient sun.... Nothing of Earth was raw or harsh-the ground, the trees, the rock ledge protruding from the meadow; all these had been worked upon, smoothed, aged, mellowed. The light from the sun, though dim, was rich and invested every object of the land ... with a sense of lore and ancient recollection." Welcome.

alternate title: Mazirian the Magician

Dying Earth: Book 2

The Eyes of the Overworld is the first of Vance's picaresque novels about the scoundrel Cugel. Here he is sent by a magician he has wronged to a distant unknown country to retrieve magical lenses that reveal the Overworld. Conniving to steal the lenses, he escapes and, goaded by a homesick monster magically attached to his liver, starts to find his way home to Almery. The journey takes him across trackless mountains, wastelands, and seas. Through cunning and dumb luck, the relentless Cugel survives one catastrophe after another, fighting off bandits, ghosts, and ghouls-stealing, lying, and cheating without insight or remorse leaving only wreckage behind.

Betrayed and betraying, he joins a cult group on a pilgrimage, crosses the Silver Desert as his comrades die one by one and, escaping the Rat People, obtains a spell that returns him home. There, thanks to incompetence and arrogance he misspeaks the words of a purloined spell and transports himself back to the same dismal place he began his journey.

Alternate title: Cugel the Clever

Cugel's Saga

Dying Earth: Book 3

The roguish Cugel the Clever is stranded on a shore on the other side of the world by the Laughing Magic and must fight, bluff, and connive his way back to Almery to take vengeance on the wizard.

Alternate title: Cugel: The Skybreak Spatterlight

Rhialto the Marvellous

Dying Earth: Book 4

Sherwood Smith
Dave Trowbridge

Jack Vance is one of the most remarkable talents to ever grace the world of science fiction. His unique, stylish voice has been beloved by generations of readers. One of his enduring classics is hisThe Dying Earth series, fascinating, baroque tales set on a far-future Earth, under a giant red sun that is soon to go out forever.

Rhialto the Marvellous contains three linked novellas about the adventures of the wizard Rhialto across the decadent landscape of the Dying Earth, under its swollen red sun.

Ruler of Naught

Exordium: Book 2

Jerrode Eusabian, Avator of Dol, sits uneasy on the Emerald Throne of the Thousand Suns, while Brandon vlith-Arkad, rightful heir to the throne, is harried across space. Brandon was meant to die, along with his two older brothers. But he escaped by merest chance - now he is the only hope for the restoration of the Phoenix Empire and the salvation of the people they once ruled. Brandon and his allies, the crew of the ship Telvarna, must flee from peril to peril in search of the one haven no Rifter would ever willingly seek: Ares Station, heart of the Empire's military power. And across the unthinkable reaches of space, the scattered Fleet of the Thousand Suns is slowly learning that their Emperor has been taken, and their home worlds sacked.

Godkiller

Fallen Gods: Book 1

Hannah Kaner

You are not welcome here, godkiller.

Kissen's family were killed by zealots of a fire god. Now, she makes a living killing gods, and enjoys it. That is until she finds a god she cannot kill: Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins.

Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour.

Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning -- something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.

Stranglers' Moon

Family D'Alembert: Book 2

E. E. "Doc" Smith
Stephen Goldin

Gone from the galaxy...

A startling discovery has shaken Earth's galactic Empire: more than two hundred and fifty thousand people have vanished from the resort moon, Vesa, without a trace! Called to duty, SOTE's most daring secret agents, Jules and Yvette D'Alembert - the former aerialists from the triple-gravity planet Des Plaines, possessed of lightning-reflexes and super-strength - are faced with a lethal and baffling conspiracy.

Together the D'Alemberts have conquered many of the Empire's most dangerous foes, but now the mighty pair must divide forces - each to challenge a deadly evil terror alone!

Stranglers' Moon is the second book in the "Family D'Alembert" series.

The Stealer's War

Far Called Trilogy: Book 3

Stephen Hunt

Weyland has been at war. Invaded by a technologically advanced enemy, the cities sacked, and what fragile peace remained torn apart by a civil war.

All anyone should want is a return to peace.

But Jacob Carneham still wants his revenge; and if he can lure the invaders into the mountain he can have it. He can kill them all.

If he does, there may never be peace again.

If he doesn't, Weyland will never be free of the threat of invasion.

The northern horse lords are planning an attack. A future Empress is fighting to save her daughter. Jacob's son is trying to restore peace and stability to Weyland, alongside the rightful King. And behind it all is a greater struggle, which may spell the end for them all...

Uller Uprising

Federation Series: Book 1

H. Beam Piper

The four-armed reptilian natives of the planet Uller revolt against the chartered company from the Terran Federation which rules them.

The Prodigal Mage

Fisherman's Children: Book 1

Many years have passed since the last great Mage War. It has been a time of great change. But not all changes are for the best, and Asher's world is in peril once more.

The weather magic that holds Lur safe is failing, and the earth feels broken to those with the power to see. Among Lur's sorcerers, only Asher has the skill to mend the antique weather map that governs the seasons, keeping the land from being crushed by natural forces. Yet, when Asher risks his life to meddle with these dangerous magics, the crisis is merely delayed, not averted.

Asher's son Rafel has inherited the father's talents, but has been forbidden to use them. Many died in the last Mage War and these abilities aren't to be loosed lightly into the world. But when Asher's last desperate attempt to repair the damage leaves him on his deathbed, Rafel's powers may not be denied. For his countrymen are facing famine, devastation, and a rift in the very fabric of their land.

The Reluctant Mage

Fisherman's Children: Book 2

It's been many months since Rafel ventured over Barl's Mountains into the unknown, in a desperate bid to seek help for their ravaged land. With his father's Weather Magic exhausted, there seemed no other hope. Now this too has died.

Only Deenie believes Rafel still lives, sensing her brother in tortured dreams. She also knows she must try to find him, as only Rafel's talents can heal their land. The prospect terrifies Deenie, yet she sees no other choice.

Deenie soon learns of a dangerous power. She comes to suspect that not only is her brother involved, but that the evil their father destroyed is somehow reborn.

Canticle

Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet: Book 1

A classic adventure from the creator of Drizzt!

High in the Snowflake Mountains sits the Edificant Library, a place of scholarly study for priests, bards, and others. Now from the hidden vaults beneath the library a devastating curse is unleashed, and a young cleric must battle the terrifying creatures set loose by a malevolent, consuming essence that's been released, before his own brethren turn against him. Cadderly must put his studies to the test and enter the catacombs far below to save his brothers and himself.

In Sylvan Shadows

Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet: Book 2

Enter the Forest of Shadows...

In Sylvan Shadows follows Cadderly the scholar-priest, as he leaves his home to combat the evil unleashed by the Chaos Curse. To counter Castle Trinity's plans for conquest, the cleric and his friends enter the beautiful forest of Shilmista. But among the trees and glades of the forest, Cadderly must battle a monstrous evil.

Night Masks

Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet: Book 3

R.A. Salvatore's The Cleric Quintet tells the tale of the scholar-priest Cadderly, who is plucked from the halls of the Edificant Library to fulfill a heroic quest across the land of Faerûn.

The assassins of the Night Masks stalk the shadowy streets of the city of Carradoon, led by the sinister killer known as Ghost. Cadderly struggles against the dreaded Chaos Curse in these dark, evil-haunted alleyways, with a silent death around every corner.

The Fallen Fortress

Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet: Book 4

R.A. Salvatore's The Cleric Quintet tells the tale of the scholar-priest Cadderly, who is plucked from the halls of the Edificant Library to fulfill a heroic quest across the land of Faerûn.

Cadderly leads the combined forces of Carradoon and Shilmista against Castle Trinity, stronghold of his enemy Aballister. But another mission calls him on a journey leading into a past he hoped he would be able to forget.

The Chaos Curse

Forgotten Realms: The Cleric Quintet: Book 5

Prisoner of the Horned Helmet

The prequel series to The Ghost King comes to an explosive end!

Cadderly journeys home to the Edificant Library, hoping to rebuild his shattered life--but the chaos curse has one last surprise in store for him. Failure means the loss of his beloved Danica, success might usher in a new era for the followers of Denier.

Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer: Book 1

Prisoner of the Horned Helmet introduces suffering hero Gath of Baal. In an age rife with sorcery and violence, the earth trembles beneath the hooves of the all-conquering Kitzaak Horde. To save the peaceful forest people, Gath must don the Horned Helmet and become death made flesh.

Lords of Destruction

Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer: Book 2

Only Robin Lakehair's innocent touch can free Gath of Baal from the murderous power of the Death Dealer. When an evil queen summons demons to kill Robin, Gath must don the Horned Helmet again and confront primordial evil to ensure his own freedom.

Based on Frazetta's most famous painting.

Tooth and Claw

Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer: Book 3

Inspired by Frank Franzetta's painting, "Death Dealer", this third fantasy features Gath of Baal who sets off to the land beyond dreams in search of the legendary Noon, beautiful Queen of Cats. But one of his companions is a servant of the dreaded Dark Lord, and plans treachery.

Plague of Knives

Frank Frazetta's Death Dealer: Book 4

Refugees flee to the castle of Whitetree, where, it is foretold, the White Veshta will rise again. But the evil sorceress queen Tiyy, who wears the mantle of the Black Veshta, seeks the Jewels of Light, and the death of the mortal host of the White Veshta, Robin Lakehair, the beloved of Gath of Baal - the Death Deale.

Maske: Thaery

Gaean Reach

Far across the galaxy on the planet Maske, young Jubal Droad leaves home to make his fortune. Droad attaches himself to the powerful court of Nai the Hever, and is made an interplanetary economic spy. Jubal courts Mieltrude - the cold-blooded, beautiful daughter of the house - and becomes the rival and enemy of the brutal Ramus Ymph. In disguise, Jubal leaves the planet and proves Ramus' connection to a sinister interplanetary cartel that covets a foothold on Maske; Jubal pursues Ramus, and finds him among the Waels - a strange people who worship intelligent trees. The trees will determine the outcome of their final confrontation...

Night Lamp

Gaean Reach

Found as a child with no memory of his past, adopted by a scholarly couple who raised him as their own, Jaro never quiet fit into the rigidly defined Society of Thanet.

When his foster parents are killed in a mysterious bombing, Jaro Fath sets out to discover the truth of his origins--a quest that will take him across light-years and into the depths of the past.

The Domains of Koryphon

Gaean Reach

The races of Koryphon keep an uneasy peace- the swift, nomadic Wind-runners, the fierce Uldras, and the aristocratic Outkers. For over two hundred years the Outkers have occupied the Alouan lands, living in baronial splendor where Uldra chieftains once ruled. When the self-proclaimed "Gray Prince" leads Uldras in an onslaught to expunge the Outkers from ancestral lands, he faces a challenge from the Outkers, and from history itself!

AKA: The Gray Prince, AKA: The Grey Prince

Killer to Come

Galaxy Science Fiction: Book 22

Sam Merwin, Jr.

Due to his research into the lives of geniuses, Dr Julius Conrad of the Wellington Institute for the Study of the Humanities has developed a radical hypothesis: Namely, that the work of most geniuses, past and present, has been directed by minds from a ruthless future which take possession of either the unstable geniuses themselves or else of unstable people who are in a position to change the course of the geniuses' work. When Conrad is murdered on the eve of announcing his theory, journalist Henry Sanford and the Institute's brainy Liza Drew investigate. Soon the pair discover their own lives are in jeopardy, for the people of the future are determined that no one of our era will ever reveal their existence or the role they play in human history.

Trailer Park Fae

Gallow and Ragged: Book 1

Lilith Saintcrow

Jeremiah Gallow is just another construction worker, and that's the way he likes it. He's left his past behind, but some things cannot be erased. Like the tattoos on his arms that transform into a weapon, or that he was once closer to the Queen of Summer than any half-human should be. But now Gallow is dragged back into the world of enchantment, danger, and fickle fae by a woman who looks uncannily like his dead wife. Her name is Robin, and her secrets are more than enough to get them both killed.

The Shape Stealer

Garet James: Book 3

Lee Carroll

Garet James is the watchtower - the last in a long line of powerful women sworn to protect our world from evil...

She once defeated the malign sorcerer Dr Dee, but her pursuit of the man she loves - the centuries-old vampire Will Hughes - has unleashed another ages-old entity into our time - a being that threatens everything and everyone.

His name is Marduk and he is the descendant of a demonic Babylonian deity. Now abroad in Paris, he has sought out the villainous John Dee and they have hatched a plan together that will create chaos and ensure ruin.

And it will fall to Garet to confront this new threat. Around her she gathers a band of modern-day knights - a brotherhood dedicated to preserving the sanctity of the time-line. But there are others out there who would see Garet fail and who will stop at nothing to bring an end to everything she - and we - hold dear...

Ghostbusters

Ghostbusters: Book 1

Richard Mueller

When kooky, spooky college profs Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz and Egon Spengler lose their university jobs, they decide to go freelance, de-haunting houses in a new ghost removal service. As soon as they open their doors, their first order of business becomes saving beautiful cellist Dana Barrett and nerdy Louis Tully, who've inadvertently opened the gates of hell... right in their own apartment building!

Empress of Mijak

Godspeaker: Book 1

When a scrawny unwanted girl child is sold into slavery, a chain of events is set in motion that will have a profound impact on all the civilized world.

Hekat is taken in chains to Mijak's largest city, home of the warlord Raklion. She is sold into his service and learns all she can about power - its wielding and its uses - as she fetches and carries and cleans and serves. She grows into a beautiful woman and through ambition and manipulation, Hekat becomes a powerful woman, eventually taking over the rulership of Mijak... and then she sets about making it the greatest Empire ever known.

The Riven Kingdom

Godspeaker: Book 2

The King of Ethrea is dying. His only surviving heir is the Princess Rhian. But if her enemies have their way, Ethrea will not be ruled by a woman.

Dexterity Jones is a toymaker. To protect Princess Rhian and his country, he must place his trust in an exile from Mijak. Yet, as Ethrea comes ever closer to civil war, a greater danger awaits.

Across the sea, an Empress has already slaughtered millions in the name of her god. And the war will not end -until the world kneels before her.

Hammer of God

Godspeaker: Book 3

In Ethrea, Rhian sits upon a precarious throne. Defiant dukes who won't accept her rule threaten the stability of her kingdom. Dexterity has been banished from her court in disgrace. The blue-haired slave Zandakar, the man she thought was her friend, has been revealed as the son of a woman sworn to destroy her world. And Rhian's husband, King Alasdair, is unsure of her love.

The trading nations refuse to believe Mijak is a threat, and promise reprisals if she dares protect her realm. Only Emperor Han of mysterious Tzhung-tzhungchai knows that the danger from Mijak is real.

But is he an ally, or an enemy in disguise? As she struggles to learn the truth, and keep her embattled crown, the murderous warhost of Mijak advances ...

THE HAMMER OF GOD is the stunning finale in the Godspeaker trilogy, the new fantasy blockbuster from an author who is taking the fantasy world by storm.

Smugglers of Gor

Gor / Counter-Earth: Book 32

John Norman

Tarl Cabot has always believed himself to be a citizen of Earth. He has no inkling that his destiny is far greater than the small planet he has inhabited for the first twenty-odd years of his life. One frosty winter night in the New England woods, he finds himself transported to the planet of Gor, also known as Counter-Earth, where everything is dramatically different from anything he has ever experienced. It emerges that Tarl is to be trained as a Tarnsman, one of the most honored positions in the rigid, caste-bound Gorean society. He is disciplined by the best teachers and warriors that Gor has to offer... but to what end? This is the first installment of John Norman's wildly popular and controversial Gor series, which has sold millions of copies.

The Dragon Masters

Gregg Press Science Fiction Series: Book 21

The race of man is growing old, but it's not yet ready to die - not while there are dragons still to kill!

The cross-bred dragon armies of the Men of Aerlith are the most appalling horrors ever to threaten the sanity of our future:

Termagents ~ three hundred reptilian giants with six legs apiece, the most fecund breeders of them all

Jugglers ~ eighteen of them, growling amongst themselves, waiting for an opportunity to snap off a leg from any unwary groom

Murderers (striding and long-horned) ~ eighty-five of each, with scaly tails and eyes like crystals

Fiends ~ fifty-two powerful monsters, their tails tipped with spike steel balls

Blue Horrors, Basics, Spider Dragons...

Hammerjack

Hammerjack: Book 1

Marc D. Giller

In this dark, futuristic thriller, Marc Giller defines the cutting edge of suspense with a relentless tale of murder, techno-terrorism, and a conspiracy one man is driven to uncover--even if he must undo reality in the process....

Hammerjack

They ride virtual waves of code and pirate high-tech secrets to sell to the highest bidder--they are faster and smarter than your security system, and are only too happy to show you by how much. They are hammerjacks, and the rewards of their profession are second only to the sheer rush of what they do. Cray Alden was once one of them. Now he's a corporate spook chasing down the information traffickers who've turned business into all-out war.

But beneath the surface skirmishes lurks something darker--rumors of a biological supercomputer that threatens to shift the balance of power between man and machine. Now Cray is caught in the cross fire between the corporate Collective and a shadowy fanatical anti-tech cult called Inru. With an assassin on his trail and a devastating secret locked in his mind, Cray must turn to the hammerjack who's been his most dangerous, most elusive quarry. Together they are on the deadliest mission of Cray's life--to destroy the god that man made.

Prodigal

Hammerjack: Book 2

Marc D. Giller

Once an elusive hammerjack plunged into a virtual world of code, Lea Prism has been reborn as a corporate spook, hell-bent on ridding the universe of the anti-tech Inru terrorists. Their attempt to accelerate evolution robbed her of her once chance for happiness. Now the man she loved is nothing but a disembodied consciousness--and part of the computer matrix she has sworn to defend.

But from the depths of a Martian volcano to the radioactive wasteland of Chernobyl, the Inru have launched one last offensive--giving rise to a final scenario more terrifying than anyone could imagine. The forces of technology are poised to distort the very worst of what nature has to offer... and the stage is set for battle.

Becoming Human

Harmony of Worlds: Book 1

Finalist for the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel

The clone of a traitor, sub-human spy probe August is catapulted into the midst of an interplanetary war as the planet Neuland is threatened with alien annihilation and August himself confronts his dream of becoming fully human.

Testament

Harmony of Worlds: Book 2

Treated like an outcast in a genetically engineered world, human throwback Gray Bridger hopes to escape Testament and the powerful Bridger matriarchy that plots to use Gray for its own devices.

The Beacon

Harmony of Worlds: Book 3

On a future Earth, the arrival of a vast alien starship forces the entire world to confront a deadly virus.

Imposter

Harmony of Worlds: Book 4

Life Everlasting and Other Tales of Science, Fantasy and Horror

Simply because he is genetically altered, an academic researcher is banished to the unknown enemy worlds of the Emirates -- a place of barbaric culture ruled by the Sons, descendants of human men and holy Houris. Pursued by those who would use his gift towards their own ends, he desperately attempts to find a way back to the Harmony and stumbles across a terrible secret that will stop an intergalactic war, and perhaps, change what it means to be Human -- forever.

The Star Dwellers

Heart Stars: Book 1

James Blish

THE INHABITANTS OF TERRA NICKNAMED THEM "ANGELS"

They were exquisitely beautiful, these shimmering, fiery creatures, highly intelligent and playful. Yet they were awesome, too, considering that the youngest were four million years old, and the oldest had probably participated in the First Cause, which had given birth to the whole universe.

To young space cadet Jack Loftus fell the overwhelming responsiblity of negotiating a treaty with them - a treaty which could mean the life or death of the Earth and mankind.

Half Past Human

Hive: Book 1

T. J. Bass

GET YOURSELF A FEMALE!

It was a direct order... Tinker was a Good Citizen of the hive, he had no choice. The time had come to give up his neuter status and become polarized. The Big Earth Society wanted Tinker to mate... But no one had prepared Tinker for sexual activation, nor for a woman like Mu Ren. From that moment on, Tinker was no longer a Good Citizen of the hive. Suddenly Tinker knew he wanted more. He wanted out... Tinker had become a man...

The Godwhale

Hive: Book 2

T. J. Bass

Rorqual Maru was her name. She was a harvester - a vast plankton rake without a crop, abandoned by Earth society when the seas dried. Part whale, part ship, and well over 600 feet long, ahe was left to rot in the sterile ocean.

But suddenly, after centuries, the sea was no longer dead, and Rorqual stirred from her slumber. She would set out once again to serve mankind. But mankind had forgotten all about Rorqual ...

Hyperion Classics of Science Fiction: Book 10

David H. Keller

Contents:

Introduction (Life Everlasting and Other Tales of Science, Fantasy and Horror) - (1947) - essay by Sam Moskowitz
A Piece of Linoleum - (1933) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
Heredity - (1947) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
Life Everlasting - (1934) - novella by David H. Keller, M.D.
No More Tomorrows - (1932) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
The Boneless Horror - (1929) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
The Cerebral Library - [Taine - 7] - (1931) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
The Dead Woman - (1934) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
The Face in the Mirror - (1947) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
The Thing in the Cellar - (1932) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
The Thirty and One - [Tales from Cornwall - 4] - (1938) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.
Unto Us a Child is Born - (1933) - shortstory by David H. Keller, M.D.

I Hunt Killers

I hunt Killers: Book 1

Barry Lyga

It was a beautiful day. It was a beautiful field. Except for the body.

Jazz is a likable teenager. A charmer, some might say.

But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, "Take Your Son to Work Day" was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could--from the criminals' point of view.

And now, even though Dad has been in jail for years, bodies are piling up in the sleepy town of Lobo's Nod. Again.

In an effort to prove murder doesn't run in the family, Jazz joins the police in the hunt for this new serial killer. But Jazz has a secret--could he be more like his father than anyone knows?

From acclaimed author Barry Lyga comes a riveting thriller about a teenager trying to control his own destiny in the face of overwhelming odds.

Game

I hunt Killers: Book 2

Barry Lyga

Billy grinned. "Oh, New York," he whispered. "We're gonna have so much fun."

I Hunt Killers introduced the world to Jazz, the son of history's most infamous serial killer, Billy Dent.

In an effort to prove murder didn't run in the family, Jazz teamed with the police in the small town of Lobo's Nod to solve a deadly case. And now, when a determined New York City detective comes knocking on Jazz's door asking for help, he can't say no. The Hat-Dog Killer has the Big Apple--and its police force--running scared. So Jazz and his girlfriend, Connie, hop on a plane to the big city and get swept up in a killer's murderous game.

Both the stakes and the body count are higher in this suspenseful and unstoppable sequel from acclaimed author Barry Lyga.

Memoirs of a Space Traveler

Ijon Tichy: Book 2

Stanislaw Lem

Ijon Tichy is an ordinary space traveler who always follows his extraordinary curiosity, especially when it leads him to scientists working on the fringes of knowledge. Their plans are grandiose, and the bargains they make too often Faustian, for the ends they pursue concern humanity's greatest obsessions: immortality, artificial intelligence, and consumer goods. By turns philosophical, satirical, and absurd, Lem's stories find Tichy both a participant in and an observer of strange experiments. One scientist has created artificial consciousness in black boxes, fooling machines into thinking they're human; another has created a gelatinous substance that shows disturbing signs of free will; still another has fallen victim to his own doppelganger. But there are triumphs, however temporary. The revolution in laundry brought on by rival manufacturers of intelligent washing machines gives way to chaos as ever more sophisticated machines seduce their owners or turn to crime. Faulty time machines, intergalactic tourists, intelligent (but suicidal) potatoes -- Ijon Tichy navigates them all with common sense and resourcefulness and in so doing shows why he endures as one of Lem's most popular characters.

Infected

Infected: Book 1

A terrifying thriller that will crawl beneath your skin . . . and leave fresh blood on every page.

A mysterious disease is turning thousands of ordinary Americans into raving, paranoid murderers who inflict brutal horrors on strangers, their own families, and even themselves. And one morning, ex–football star Perry Dawsey awakens to find mysterious welts growing all over his body. Soon Perry finds himself acting and thinking strangely, hearing voices, fighting uncontrollable rage . . . he is infected. Worse, the disease wants something from him, something that could alter the fate of the human race.

Contagious

Infected: Book 2

From the acclaimed author of Infected comes an epic and exhilarating story of humanity's secret battle against a horrific enemy.

Across America, a mysterious pathogen transforms ordinary people into raging killers, psychopaths driven by a terrifying, alien agenda. The human race fights back, yet after every battle the disease responds, adapts, using sophisticated strategies and brilliant ruses to fool its pursuers. The only possible explanation: the epidemic is driven not by evolution but by some malevolent intelligence.

Standing against this unimaginable threat is a small group, assembled under the strictest secrecy. Their best weapon is hulking former football star Perry Dawsey, left psychologically shattered by his own struggles with this terrible enemy, who possesses an unexplainable ability to locate the disease's hosts. Violent and unpredictable, Perry is both the nation's best hope and a terrifying liability. Hardened CIA veteran Dew Phillips must somehow forge a connection with him if they're going to stand a chance against this maddeningly adaptable opponent. Alongside them is Margaret Montoya, a brilliant epidemiologist who fights for a cure even as she reels under the weight of endless horrors.

These three and their team have kept humanity in the game, but that's not good enough anymore, not when the disease turns contagious, triggering a fast countdown to Armageddon. Meanwhile, other enemies join the battle, and a new threat — one that comes from a most unexpected source — may ultimately prove the most dangerous of all.

Catapulting the reader into a world where humanity's life span is measured in hours and the president's finger hovers over the nuclear button, rising star Scott Sigler takes us on a breathtaking, hyper-adrenalized ride filled with terror and jaw-dropping action. Contagious is a truly grand work of suspense, science, and horror from a new master.

Pandemic

Infected: Book 3

Scott Sigler's Infected shocked readers with a visceral, up-close account of physical metamorphosis and one man's desperate fight for sanity and survival, as "Scary" Perry Dawsey suffered the impact of an alien pathogen's early attempts at mass extinction. In the sequel Contagious, Sigler pulled back the camera and let the reader experience the frantic national response to this growing cataclysm.

And now in Pandemic, the entire human race balances on the razor's edge of annihilation, beset by an enemy that turns our own bodies against us, that changes normal people into psychopaths or transforms them into nightmares.

To some, Doctor Margaret Montoya is a hero—a brilliant scientist who saved the human race from an alien intelligence determined to exterminate all of humanity. To others, she's a monster—a mass murderer single-handedly responsible for the worst atrocity ever to take place on American soil.

All Margaret knows is that she's broken. The blood of a million deaths is on her hands. Guilt and nightmares have turned her into a shut-in, too mired in self-hatred even to salvage her marriage, let alone be the warrior she once was.

But she is about to be called into action again. Because before the murderous intelligence was destroyed, it launched one last payload — a soda can–sized container filled with deadly microorganisms that make humans feed upon their own kind.

That harmless-looking container has languished a thousand feet below the surface of Lake Michigan, undisturbed and impotent . . . until now.

Part Cthulhu epic, part zombie apocalypse and part blockbuster alien-invasion tale, Pandemic completes the Infected trilogy and sets a new high-water mark in the world of horror fiction.

Creative Destruction

InterstellarNet

This novelette originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, March 2001. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 7 (2002), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Creative Destruction.

Storm Caller

Island Warrior: Book 2

Carol Severance

Legendary island warrior Iuti Manu is seeking refuge from her murderous brothers across the Empty Sea. Accompanied by Tarawe, the Storm Caller, Iuti flees her brothers' revenge for destroying the family's totem, the shark god. But the sea does not live up to its name. On what is supposed to be an empty, wet wasteland is a distant island. On this island mirage, the earth is rumbling and the dolphins are battling the birds for possession of the air as well as the sea. The only inhabitants are bloodthirsty bird-worshippers who are searching for a fresh sacrifice. Iuti must battle her nemesis alone, but only when the Storm Caller has mastered the art of controlling the winds and water. Together they help repair the broken magic of the sea.

A Good Night's Sleep

WFA nominated novelette. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1978. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Finest Fantasy - Volume 2 (1979), edited by Terry Carr, Baker's Dozen: 13 Short Fantasy Novels (1984), edited by Charles G. Waugh, Martin H. Greenberg and Isaac Asimov, and Sorcerers! (1986) edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collection Limekiller! (2003).

Limekiller!

Manatee Gal Ain't You Coming Out Tonight

Avram Davidson's six Jack Limekiller stories create a rich and colorful world where the magical and inexplicable coexist with the outboard motor and the escalation of the American war in Vietnam. British Hidalgo is "a place that you can put your arms around," welcoming and friendly to the visitor, but uncanny beings dwell in the bush and roam along its coast. Afloat and ashore, Jack Limekiller, master of the working sailboat Saccharissa, encounters ghosts of the colonial past and monsters far older.

Table of Contents:

Preface: The Adventures of Jack Limekiller in a Far Countrie - (2003) - essay by Grania Davis
Introduction - (2003) - essay by Lucius Shepard
Introduction: Jack Limekiller - (2003) - essay by Peter S. Beagle
Bloody Man - (1976) - novelette by Avram Davidson
There Beneath the Silky-Tree and Whelmed in Deeper Gulphs Than Me - (1980) - novella by Avram Davidson
Manatee Gal, Won't You Come Out Tonight - (1977) - novelette by Avram Davidson
Sleep Well of Nights - (1978) - novella by Avram Davidson
Limekiller at Large - (1990) - novelette by Avram Davidson
A Far Countrie - (1993) - novella by Avram Davidson
Afterwords - (2003) - essay by Henry Wessells
Along the Lower Moho (The Iguana Church) - (2000) - essay by Avram Davidson
Dragons in San Francisco - A Sequel - (2000) - essay by Grania Davis
Afterword - (2003) - essay by Ethan Davidson

There Beneath the Silky-Trees and Whelmed in Deeper Gulphs Than Me

WFA nominated novelette. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1977. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Finest Fantasy (1978), edited by Terry Carr, Future Earths: Under South American Skies (1993), edited by Gardner Dozois and Mike Resnick, and Modern Classics of Fantasy (1997), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections Avram Davidson: Collected Fantasies (1982), The Avram Davidson Treasury (1998) and Limekiller! (2003).

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Other Worlds 2 (1980) edited by Roy Torgeson. The story is included in the collection Limekiller! (2003).

Jack of Kinrowan

Jack the Giant-Killer

Charles de Lint

Jack of Kinrowan brings together in one volume Charles de Lint's rollicking saga of wild faerie magic on the streets of the city. In Jack the Giant-Killer, a faceless gang of bikers on a Wild Hunt through the streets of present day Ottawa hurtles Young Jacky Rowan across the threshold into the perilous land of Faerie. There, to her dismay, she is hailed as Jack of Kinrowan, a one-and-future trickster hero whose lot is to save the Elven Courts from unimaginable evil. In Drink Down the Moon, once the realm of Faerie drew its power from the Moon herself. But now a ghastly creature has stolen that power and enslaved the Fair Folk—and Jacky Rowan. Only Johnny Faw, a handsome young fiddler unaware of his magical gifts, has the power to set them free.

Jack the Giant-Killer

Jack the Giant-Killer: Book 1

Charles de Lint

In his eighth fantasy novel, the author of Moonheart and Yarrow turns the stories of "Jack the Giant Killer" and "Jack and the Bean Stalk" into a contemporary tale set in Ottawa.

Jacky Rowan's boyfriend of three months has just dumped her because she has begun to bore him. Feeling empty, confused and rejected, Jacky meets Dunrobin Finn, a gnome who introduces her to a parallel reality, Faerie, which she can see and enter into by wearing a magic red cap. Having recently witnessed the murder of a gnome by evil bikers, Jacky's meeting with Finn inspires her with the renewed vitality to embark upon a quest to save the daughter of a Laird of Kinrowan, who is being held in a Giant's Keep. Jacky's best friend, Kate Hazel, agrees (at first skeptically) to help her. The pair flee and tackle all manner of bikers and "bogans" (evil entities that look like winos in non-Faerie reality), and Jacky finds a replacement for her wayward love in Eilian, the hunkish son of a Laird of Dunlogan.

This is also the 4th novel of Terri Windling's Fairy Tales series

Drink Down the Moon

Jack the Giant-Killer: Book 2

Charles de Lint

The fate of the wild fairies that inhabit the modern world lies in the hands of a young Toronto fiddler named Johnny Faw and a handful of human and not-so-human companions in the newest contemporary fantasty by the author of Moonheart. This sequel to Jack the Giant-Killer amply displays de Lint's innate charm and compelling storytelling.

Tempest Rising

Jane True: Book 1

Living in small town Rockabill, Maine, Jane True always knew she didn't quite fit in with so-called normal society. During her nightly, clandestine swim in the freezing winter ocean, a grisly find leads Jane to startling revelations about her heritage: she is only half-human. Now, Jane must enter a world filled with supernatural creatures alternatively terrifying, beautiful, and deadly- all of which perfectly describe her new 'friend,' Ryu, a gorgeous and powerful vampire. It is a world where nothing can be taken for granted: a dog can heal with a lick; spirits bag your groceries; and whatever you do, never-ever-rub the genie's lamp.

If you love Sookie Stackhouse, then you'll want to dive into Nicole Peeler's enchanting debut novel.

Tracking the Tempest

Jane True: Book 2

Valentine's Day is fast approaching, and Ryu - Jane's bloodsucking boyfriend - can't let a major holiday go by without getting all gratuitous. An overwhelming dose of boyfriend interference and a last-minute ticket to Boston later, and Jane's life is thrown off course.

Ryu's well-intentioned plans create mayhem, and Jane winds up embroiled in an investigation involving a spree of gruesome killings. All the evidence points towards another Halfling, much to Jane's surprise...

Tempest's Legacy

Jane True: Book 3

After a peaceful hiatus at home in Rockabill, Jane True thinks that her worst problem is that she still throws like a girl - at least while throwing fireballs. Her peace of mind ends, however, when Anyan arrives one night with terrible news... news that will rock Jane's world to its very core.

After demanding to help investigate a series of gruesome attacks on females -- supernatural, halfling, and human -- Jane quickly finds herself forced to confront her darkest nightmares as well as her deepest desires.And she's not sure which she finds more frightening.

Eye of the Tempest

Jane True: Book 4

Nothing says 'home' like being attacked by humans with very large guns, as Jane and Anyan discover when they arrive in Rockabill. These are professionals, brought into kill, and they bring Anyan down before either Jane or the barghest can react. Seeing Anyan fall awakens a terrible power within Jane, and she nearly destroys herself taking out their attackers.

Jane wakes, weeks later, to discover that she's not the only thing that's been stirring. Something underneath Rockabill is coming to life: something ancient, something powerful, and something that just might destroy the world.

Jane and her friends must act, striking out on a quest that only Jane can finish. For whatever lurks beneath the Old Sow must be stopped... and Jane's just the halfling for the job.

Tempest's Fury

Jane True: Book 5

Jane's not happy. She's been packed off to England to fight in a war when she'd much rather be snogging Anyan. Unfortunately, Jane's enemies have been busy stirring up some major trouble -- the kind that attracts a lot of attention. In other words, they're not making it easy for Jane to get any alone time with the barghest, or to indulge in her penchant for stinky cheese.

Praying she can pull of a Joan of Arc without the whole martyrdom thing, Jane must lead Alfar and halflings alike in a desperate battle to combat an ancient evil. Catapulted into the role of Most Unlikely Hero Ever, Jane also has to fight her own insecurities as well as the doubts of those who don't think she can live up to her new role as Champion.

Along the way, Jane learns that some heroes are born. Some are made. And some are bribed with promises of food and sex.

Tempest Reborn

Jane True: Book 6

Anyan may be trapped in an evil dragon and Blondie may be gone, but Jane knows one thing: she's not about to give up. She's ready to tear down heaven and earth to save her lover, despite those who believe he's lost.

Luckily for Jane, those who've given up on Anyan do not include those closest to her. Defying The Powers That Be, Jane and Company form their own crack squad of misfits, in whose hands the fate of the world may well rest.

With a little help from her friends, the Universe, and lots of snacks, Jane embarks on her greatest adventure yet, confident that with great sacrifice comes great reward. The question is, who will be that sacrifice?

The fantastic conclusion to Nicole Peeler's urban fantasy series featuring Jane True.

I Am Not a Serial Killer

John Cleaver: Book 1

Dan Wells

John Wayne Cleaver is dangerous, and he knows it.

He's spent his life doing his best not to live up to his potential.

He's obsessed with serial killers, but really doesn't want to become one. So for his own sake, and the safety of those around him, he lives by rigid rules he's written for himself, practicing normal life as if it were a private religion that could save him from damnation.

Dead bodies are normal to John. He likes them, actually. They don't demand or expect the empathy he's unable to offer. Perhaps that's what gives him the objectivity to recognize that there's something different about the body the police have just found behind the Wash-n-Dry Laundromat---and to appreciate what that difference means.

Now, for the first time, John has to confront a danger outside himself, a threat he can't control, a menace to everything and everyone he would love, if only he could.

Dan Wells's debut novel is the first volume of a trilogy that will keep you awake and then haunt your dreams.

To the Galactic Rim

John Grimes Saga: Book 1

The Award-Winning Saga of Starship Captain John Grimes, Science Fiction's Horatio Hornblower, Beginning with His Early Days as a Lowly Ensign.

John Grimes will one day command his own starship, and change the course of Galactic history, but right now he's a wet-behind-the-ears junior officer who finds that he keeps running into problems which were never covered in his courses at the Academy.

The Road to the Rim -- meet Lieutenant John Grimes of the Federation Survey Service; fresh out of the Academy -- and as green as they come.
To Prime the Pump -- El Dorado is a planet with a pressing problem: the men are infertile, cause unknown, and the women want someone to Do Something! Not quite the problem young John Grimes expected to deal with...
The Hard Way Up -- a collection of seven tales of John Grime's adventures, meeting danger and winning glory out at the rim of the Galaxy.
The Broken Cycle -- John Grimes never intended to get lost in space, let alone being lost with a very attractive policewoman who's all business. And he really never expected to run into an entity who claims to be a god and has a garden of Eden ready and waiting for the pair.

First Command

John Grimes Saga: Book 2

The #2 omni edition of the classic science fiction of A. Bertram Chandler's John Grimes books, with four legendary adventure novels in one volume. Action-loving spaceship commander John Grimes retires from heroic days in Earth's space navy only to be immediately thrown into adventures on the remote edge of the galaxy.

The second in a seven-volume collection of the legendary John Grimes books! Classic Star Trek meets the high seas. If space travel is going to be anything like sailing the oceans, then A. Bertram Chandler has surely caught its absolute essence in his Grimes novels. Here it is, the entire "Captain John Grimes -- Far Traveller Courier" saga, collected in one volume. These are the tales of John Grimes'action-packed merchantman and courier years. After moving on from the Terran Navy, Grimes tries his hand at leading a private life, and finds he likes being his own man. The only problem is, his ship The Far Traveller has a (very stubborn and very feminine) mind of its own -- and a penchant for getting Grimes into the worse sort of interplanetary pickles.

Includes:

Spartan Planet
The Inheritors
The Big Black Mark
The Far Traveler

Galactic Courier

John Grimes Saga: Book 3

The #3 mass market edition of the classic science fiction of A. Bertram Chandler's John Grimes books, with multiple interrelated stories and two full novels in this renowned SF saga. Pipe-smoking, action-loving spaceship commander John Grimes (think Captain Kirk with more of a navy, salty attitude) retires from heroic days in Earth's space navy to become a merchant captain extraordinaire and a force to reckon with on the galactic frontier.

Number three in a three-volume collection of the legendary John Grimes of the Galactic Rim series. If space travel is going to be anything like sailing the oceans, then A. Bertram Chandler has surely caught its absolute essence in his Grimes novels. Here are the crowning tales of Grimes' career -- the Grimes "Rim Commodore" stories. In these tales, Grimes has found his true calling out on the edge of galactic civilization. He's the sheriff of a realm where pioneer colonies and parallel dimensions overlap, and a starship captain must be prepared for adventure in ALL possible worlds.

Includes an astounding (as in, mostly published in Astounding and Analog by legendary editor John W. Campbell) cornucopia of Grimes novels bringing together all previous Commodore Grimes tales in:

Star Courier
To Keep the Ship
Matilda's Stepchildren
Star Loot

Ride the Star Winds

John Grimes Saga: Book 4

The fourth omnibus edition of the classic science fiction of A. Bertram Chandler's John Grimes books, with four full length novels and six interconnected short stories in this renowned SF saga. Pipe-smoking, action-loving spaceship commander Lieutenant John Grimes (think Captain Kirk with more of a navy, salty attitude) moves out of the Federation navy and finds his true calling adventuring along the spaceways of the galactic rim.

Number four in the collected adventures of the legendary John Grimes of the Galactic Rim series, including four novels:

The Anarch Lords: John Grimes' short career as a somewhat benevolent space pirate is over, but he has sunk even lower, becoming a politician. He's now the governor of a planet of anarchists, where term limits are unnecessary, what with all the assassinations taking place.
The Last Amazon: Back on Sparta, the formerly all-male planet, Grimes is waiting for his own ship to arrive when he's caught up in yet another revolution--and you can't tell the good guys (or gals) without a program.
The Wild Ones: Back on Earth was the last place that Grimes expected to be. Another thing he hadn't expected was accusations of witchcraft being taken seriously.
Catch the Star Winds: An experimental sailing ship of space was intended to exceed the speed of light. Then strange things happened involving time itself, and the crew wasn't sure they would ever see home, or their home time, again.

Plus six interrelated short stories starring the indefatigable John Grimes, rounding out a large volume of space adventure with a dash of humor, and a likable hero who always gamely manages to muddle through...

Upon a Sea of Stars

John Grimes Saga: Book 5

Pipe-smoking, action-loving spaceship commander Lieutenant John Grimes (think Captain Kirk with more of a navy, salty attitude) moves out of the Federation navy and finds his true calling adventuring along the spaceways of the galactic rim.

Number five in the collected adventures of the legendary John Grimes of the Galactic Rim series, including four novels:

Into the Alternate Universe (1964)
Contraband from Otherspace (1967)
The Rim Gods (1969)--story collection
The Commodore at Sea (a.k.a. Alternate Orbits, 1971)--four novelets

Gateway to Never

John Grimes Saga: Book 6

John Grimes: Lieutenant of the Survey Service

Number six in the collected adventures of the legendary John Grimes of the Galactic Rim series. Contains Chandler classic novels and collections:

The Gateway to Never
The Dark Dimensions
The Way Back

John Grimes: SFBC Set: Book 1

John Grimes: Survey Captain

In five classic tales, Federation Navy Academy fledgling John Grimes is a trouble-magnet when he goes up against legal piracy, deadly fertility rites, a brutal all-male society and more.

Table of Contents:

5 - The Road to the Rim - [John Grimes - 1] - (1967) - novel
103 - To Prime the Pump - [John Grimes - 2] - (1971) - novel
229 - The Hard Way Up - [John Grimes - 3] - (1972) - collection
361 - Spartan Planet - [John Grimes - 5] - (1968) - novel (variant of False Fatherland)
489 - The Inheritors - [John Grimes - 6] - (1972) - novel

John Grimes: SFBC Set: Book 2

John Grimes: Tramp Captain

Table of Contents:

3 - The Broken Cycle - [John Grimes - 4] - (1975) - novel
117 - The Big Black Mark - [John Grimes - 7] - (1975) - novel
321 - The Far Traveler - [John Grimes - 8] - (1979) - novel (variant of The Far Traveller 1977)
491 - Star Courier - [John Grimes - 9] - (1977) - novel

John Grimes: SFBC Set: Book 3

John Grimes: Reserve Commodore

One of the Six Omnibus Volumes that collects the complete John Grimes stories by A. Bertram Chandler.

Table of Contents:

9 - To Keep the Ship - [John Grimes - 10] - (1978) - novel
137 - Matilda's Stepchildren - [John Grimes - 11] - (1979) - novel
289 - Star Loot - [John Grimes - 12] - (1980) - novel
513 - The Anarch Lords - [John Grimes - 13] - (1981) - novel

John Grimes: SFBC Set: Book 4

A compendium of nine A. Bertram Chandler Stories

Table of Contents:

1 - The Last Amazon - [John Grimes - 14] - (1984) - novel
167 - The Wild Ones - [John Grimes - 15] - (1984) - novel
307 - Grimes at Glenrowan - [John Grimes] - (1978) - short story
323 - Grimes and the Great Race - [John Grimes] - (1980) - novelette
345 - Grimes Among the Gourmets - [John Grimes] - (1978) - short story
359 - Grimes and the Odd Gods - [John Grimes] - (1983) - novelette
383 - Grimes and the Jailbirds - [John Grimes] - (1984) - short story
399 - Chance Encounter - [John Grimes] - (1959) - short story
415 - Catch the Star Winds - [John Grimes - 16] - (1969) - novel

John Grimes: Rim Runner

John Grimes: SFBC Set: Book 5

John Grimes: Rim Commander

Further adventures on the edge of space and time!

Once a spacer, always a spacer. Now practical, hard-headed Grimes is not the sort to believe in ghosts. But he's willing to give psychics a chance when shapely Sonya Verrill, a commander in the Federation Survey Service, proposes a ghost-hunting expedition in the sector around Kingsolving's Planet. Out where the fabric of space wears thin, ships have encountered Rim Ghosts - apparitions of craft and crewmates from alternate universes. When Grimes organizes a seance to make contact, their ship is yanked Into the Alternate Universe, and their only hope of getting home gain may lie in a lost relic - a sleeper ship from the first age of space exploration. After their wild ghost ride, Grimes and Sonya embark on a wholly different adventure: marriage. But running their own little shipping company takes a back seat to danger when a distress call leads the pair to an alien ship from an alternate universe - a ship carrying Contraband from Otherspace - mutant rats who evolved to rule their universe... and threaten to break through into ours.

In The Rim Gods, Grimes is drawn into four perilous adventures, when a ship full of religious fanatics uses a psionic to summon God, when a rogue Rim Worlder tries to sell advanced weaponry to the robber barons of Tangaroa, when trouble in the form of a predatory starfish threatens to ruin the economy of Mellise, and when an impossible planet appears out of nowhere - a world where dragons, fairies, and sleeping beauties are real. Another visit to Kingsolving's Planet, where the boundaries between reality and surreality are almost non-existent, finds The Commander at Sea. For he is whisked to a continuum in which fictional characters exist, and he is surprised to meet Sherlock Holmes, Lady Chatterly, Tarzan and Jane, and... A. Bertram Chandler?

Table of Contents:

1 - Into the Alternate Universe - [John Grimes - 17] - (1964) - novel
119 - Contraband from Otherspace - [John Grimes - 18] - (1967) - novel
225 - The Rim Gods - [John Grimes - 20] - (1968) - novel
359 - The Commodore at Sea - [John Grimes - 21] - (1971) - collection (variant of Alternate Orbits)
363 - Hall of Fame - [John Grimes] - (1969) - novelette (variant of The Kinsolving's Planet Irregulars)
395 - The Sister Ships - [John Grimes] - (1971) - novelette (variant of Sister Ships)
426 - The Man Who Sailed the Sky - [John Grimes] - (1971) - novelette
459 - The Rub - [John Grimes] - (1970) - novelette

John Grimes: SFBC Set: Book 6

Journey to Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Table of Contents:

1 - The Gateway to Never - [John Grimes - 19] - (1972) - novel
133 - The Dutchman - [John Grimes] - (1972) - novelette
157 - The Last Hunt - [John Grimes] - (1973) - short story
177 - On the Account - [John Grimes] - (1973) - novelette
201 - Rim Change - [John Grimes] - (1975) - novella
245 - The Dark Dimensions - [John Grimes - 22] - (1971) - novel
375 - The Way Back - [John Grimes - 23] - (1976) - novel

Smuggler's Run

Greg Rucka

Han Solo and Chewbacca the Wookiee team-up for an all-new adventure.

Set between Star Wars: A New Hope and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, the story follows everyone's favorite pair of smugglers as they fly the Millennium Falcon on a top-secret mission for the Rebellion, while evading ruthless bounty hunters and a relentless Imperial agent.

Night of the Crabs

Killer Crabs: Book 1

The Welsh coast basks in summer tranquility. Then the 'drownings' begin. But not until monstrous crustaceans crawl ashore, their pincers poised for destruction, does the world understand the threat it faces. A seafood cocktail for the strongest stomachs...

Killer Crabs

Killer Crabs: Book 2

A BLOODY CARNAGE OF HUMAN FLESH ON AN ISLAND BEACHHEAD

An isolated island, home of hard-working fishermen and pleasure-seeking vacationers.

The first corpse, its head torn off, its limbs in shreds.

Then the next victim. And the next. And the next.

Only then did the people realize the hideous threat, as the most monstrous creatures ever spawned by nature took control first of the sea, then began their invasion of the land.

And suddenly the most endangered species in the world was man...

The Origin of the Crabs

Killer Crabs: Book 3

YOU CANNOT STOP THEM...

YOU CANNOT ESCAPE THEM...

The mist hides the dark waters of Loch Merse, but they are here. Waiting. Watching. Hungry.

Death had come here before when Bruce McKechnie secretly murdered his brother for this estate. The place is marked by evil. But Nothing in man's power can kill like this.

Slowly, silently, they crawl from the depths, razor-sharp pincers waving, malevolent red eyes follwing the man in the night fog and the pretty girl laughing with her lover. Closer they come. Deadly as the devil himself. Nothing can stop them. Not the slashing. Not the blood. Only the last desperate scream...

Crabs on the Rampage

Killer Crabs: Book 4

WE THOUGHT WE'D KILLED THEM ALL BUT THEY'VE COME BACK... FOR REVENGE!

The beach was filled with happy vacationers. They'd forgotten THE CRABS... like a bad dream chased away by the morning sun.

We'd wiped out those mutant monsters. The giant creatures whose hunger raged for human fleash were dead.

Or where they? Scientist Clif Davenport feared the nightmare wasn't over. But he didn't know the terrifying truth. THE CRABS were back - disease ridden, mad with pain. Mad with hunger.

And on that beach were hundreds of men, women, and children. Food for...

Crabs' Moon

Killer Crabs: Book 5

Crabs: The Human Sacrifice

FIRST THE VACTIONERS LAUGHED WITH PLEASURE...

THEN THEY SQUEALED WITH DELIGHT AND THEN THE SCREAMS BEGAN...

The Moon shone brightly down on them. The breeze stroked them. Laughter floated over the water from the excited bingo players at the Blue Ocean Holiday Camp.

And THE CRABS heard...

Tense, shuddering with hunger, they lurched out of the sea maddened with a need to eat. Closer they crawled, the only sound a clickety-click of their piercing, strong, razor-sharp claws...

They had come before. And humankind had beaten them. But now they were back, possessed by an uncanny intelligence, guided by forces no one on earth could understand. Not even scientist Cliff Davenport. He could only watch them coming closer... closer... as the screaming began...

Killer Crabs: Book 6

When the bloodthirsty crabs are stricken with a devastating cancer, a psychopathic human attempts to aid them, a plan that requires a human sacrifice.

Killer Crabs: The Return

Killer Crabs: Book 7

In 1978 the Crabs attacked Australia's Great Barrier Reef with horrendous loss of human life. Amongst the fatalities was Harvey Logan, big-game hunter.The world believed that these terrible crustaceans had been annihilated but Harvey's son, Brock, was sure that one day they would emerge from the oceans once more on a rampage of bloody carnage. Brock was also a hunter and he waited patiently for three decades. He wanted revenge as well as a Crab trophy for his collection. Then the crabs returned, this time on the Solway Firth and Brock's hunt began.

The Charnel Caves

Killer Crabs: Book 8

The Care and Feeding of Your Baby Killer Unicorn

In 1975 an army of gigantic crabs, the result of an underwater nuclear experiment, attacked the Welsh coastline. The battle was bloody, many lives were lost until the crustacean invaders were defeated.

Over the ensuing years they turned up in the oceans of the World with further terrible slaughter of humans. Finally, though, it was believed that these monsters from the deep had been eradicated. Only memories of their invasions of land remained with the older inhabitants, tales of their depredations on mankind were whispered but often ridiculed by the modern generations.

Until a few of the survivors returned to the Welsh coast and began breeding secretly in a maze of caverns beneath the cliffs, preparing for a further attack on mankind.

Killer of Enemies

Killer of Enemies: Book 1

Joseph Bruchac

Years ago, seventeen-year-old Apache hunter Lozen and her family lived in a world of haves and have-nots. There were the Ones -- people so augmented with technology and genetic enhancements that they were barely human -- and there was everyone else who served them. Then the Cloud came, and everything changed. Tech stopped working. The world plunged back into a new steam age. The Ones' pets -- genetically engineered monsters -- turned on them and are now loose on the world.

Lozen was not one of the lucky ones pre-C, but fate has given her a unique set of survival skills and magical abilities. She hunts monsters for the Ones who survived the apocalyptic events of the Cloud, which ensures the safety of her kidnapped family. But with every monster she takes down, Lozen's powers grow, and she connects those powers to an ancient legend of her people. It soon becomes clear to Lozen that she is not just a hired gun. As the legendary Killer of Enemies was in the ancient days of the Apache people, Lozen is meant to be a more than a hunter. Lozen is meant to be a hero.

Trail of the Dead

Killer of Enemies: Book 2

Joseph Bruchac

Apache teen Lozen and her family are looking for a place of refuge from the despotic Ones who once held them captive and forced Lozen to hunt genetically engineered monsters. Lozen and her allies travel in search of a valley where she and her family once found refuge. But life is never easy in this post-apocalyptic world. When they finally reach the valley, they discover an unpleasant surprise awaiting them--and a merciless hunter following close behind.

Hally, their enigmatic Bigfoot friend, points them to another destination--a possible refuge. But can Lozen trust Hally? Relying on her wits and the growing powers that warn her when enemies are near, Lozen fights internal sickness to lead her band of refugees to freedom and safety. Alongside family, new friends, and Hussein, the handsome young man whose life she saved, Lozen forges a path through a barren land where new recombinant monsters lurk and the secrets of this new world will reveal themselves to her... whether she wants them to or not.

Arrow of Lightning

Killer of Enemies: Book 3

Joseph Bruchac

Months after she has been healed from the Enemy Sickness that afflicted her in Trail of the Dead, Lozen and her family have gathered a community around them in Valley Where First Light Paints the Cliffs and have begun to rebuild. Lozen knows danger still stalks them and she intends to be ready to defend her people, but she hopes to avoid killing another human being--though gemod monsters are not off the table.

Miles away, the remaining Ones plot Lozen's demise, and a threat Lozen thought she'd eliminated comes closer. And a newfound power will complicate everything for Lozen. Masterful storyteller Joseph Bruchac delivers a satisfying conclusion of the acclaimed Killer of Enemies series.

Killer Unicorns

Diana Peterfreund

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology Zombies Vs. Unicorns (2010), edited by Holly Black and Justine Larbalestier. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Five (2011), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

The Thousand Deaths of Ardor Benn

Kingdom of Grit: Book 1

Tyler Whitesides

Master con artist Ardor Benn and his crew of intrepid thieves are hired to pull off a series of wildly complex heists, from stealing a crown to saving the world, in this daring fantasy adventure.

Liar. Thief. Legend.

Ardor Benn is no ordinary thief. Rakish, ambitious, and master of wildly complex heists, he styles himself a Ruse Artist Extraordinaire.

When a priest hires him for the most daring ruse yet, Ardor knows he'll need more than quick wit and sleight of hand. Assembling a dream team of forgers, disguisers, schemers, and thieves, he sets out to steal from the most powerful king the realm has ever known.

But it soon becomes clear there's more at stake than fame and glory - Ard and his team might just be the last hope for human civilization.

Discover the start of an epic fantasy trilogy that begins with a heist and quickly explodes into a full-tilt, last ditch plan to save humanity.

The Shattered Realm of Ardor Benn

Kingdom of Grit: Book 2

Tyler Whitesides

The second in an action-packed epic fantasy series set in a world with dragon-fueled magic where master con artist Ardor Benn must infiltrate a centuries old secret organization to find a missing royal heir.

Ardor Benn saved civilization from imminent destruction, but his efforts brought war to the kingdom. It is believed that the rightful rulers have all been assassinated. However, a young heir might have survived.

An ancient organization known as The Realm is behind the chaos, working from the shadows. Under the anonymity of masks, information is distributed sparingly.

Ard's been hired to infiltrate them, but he's got competition from an old friend. One who's set to prove she's better than the self-proclaimed "Ruse Artist Extraordinaire."

If Ard can't find the heir then his world may again approach ruin. Stopping the complete and utter collapse of civilization is quickly becoming Ard's specialty.

The Last Lies of Ardor Benn

Kingdom of Grit: Book 3

Tyler Whitesides

The final book in an action-packed epic fantasy series set in a world with dragon-fueled magic where master con artist Ardor Benn takes a job to steal a living dragon.

Ardor Benn has taken his lies to a new level, infiltrating high society so he can steal a priceless resource. But now that he's on the inside, he finds himself poring through ancient texts, searching for answers to his deepest questions. He discovers something is coming. Something world-ending.

Now, an old enemy is extorting him for one last job. Steal a live dragon. He doesn't know how, and he doesn't know why. But he's got a feeling that it's a job he has to take. Only problem is, Ard's running short on time and shorter on lies. And his personal ambitions are alienating all of his allies.

With no one else to rely on, he'll have to trust the one person nobody else does: himself.

The Narrow Road Between Desires

Kingkiller Chronicles

Bast knows how to bargain. The give-and-take of a negotiation is as familiar to him as the in-and-out of breathing; to watch him trade is to watch an artist at work. But even a master's brush can slip. When he accepts a gift, taking something for nothing, Bast's whole world is knocked askew, for he knows how to bargain--but not how to owe.

From dawn to midnight over the course of a single day, follow the Kingkiller Chronicle's most charming fae as he schemes and sneaks, dancing into trouble and back out again with uncanny grace.

The Narrow Road Between Desires is Bast's story. In it he traces the old ways of making and breaking, following his heart even when doing so goes against his better judgement.

After all, what good is caution if it keeps him from danger and delight?

The Road to Levenshir

Kingkiller Chronicles

The Slow Regard of Silent Things

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future, Volume XVIII (2002), edited by Algis Budrys. It can also be found in the anthologies Subterranean: Tales of Dark Fantasy (2008), edited by William Schafer, The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2009, edited by Rich Horton, and Epic: Legends of Fantasy (2012), edited by John Joseph Adams. The story was later incorporated in the novel The Wise Man's Fear (2011).

Kingkiller Chronicles

The University, a renowned bastion of knowledge, attracts the brightest minds to unravel the mysteries of enlightened sciences like artificing and alchemy. Yet deep below its bustling halls lies a complex and cavernous maze of abandoned rooms and ancient passageways - and in the heart of it all lives Auri.

Formerly a student at the University, now Auri spends her days tending the world around her. She has learned that some mysteries are best left settled and safe. No longer fooled by the sharp rationality so treasured by the University, Auri sees beyond the surface of things, into subtle dangers and hidden names.

At once joyous and haunting, THE SLOW REGARD OF SILENT THINGS is a rich, atmospheric and lyrical tale, featuring one of the most beloved characters from Rothfuss' acclaimed fantasy series.

The Name of the Wind

Kingkiller Chronicles: Book 1

Travelers to the village where Kote runs an inn are rare, but those who've shown up lately have brought bad news. A sort of demonic spider attacks a local, and then Kote rescues a wandering scholar, bringing him to the inn to recover. The man recognizes Kote as the legendary hero Kvothe and begs him to reveal the reality behind all the legends.

The Wise Man's Fear

Kingkiller Chronicles: Book 2

"There are three things all wise men fear: the sea in storm, a night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man."

An escalating rivalry with a powerful member of the nobility forces Kvothe to leave the University and seek his fortune abroad. Adrift, penniless, and alone, he travels to Vintas, where he quickly becomes entangled in the politics of courtly society. While attempting to curry favor with a powerful noble, Kvothe discovers an assassination attempt, comes into conflict with a rival arcanist, and leads a group of mercenaries into the wild, in an attempt to solve the mystery of who (or what) is waylaying travelers on the King's road.

All the while, Kvothe searches for answers, attempting to uncover the truth about the mysterious Amyr, the Chandrian, and the death of his parents. Along the way, Kvothe is put on trial by the legendary Adem mercenaries, forced to reclaim the honor of the Edema Ruh, and travels into the Fae realm. There he meets Felurian, the faerie woman no man can resist, and who no man has ever survived. Under her tutelage, Kvothe learns much about true magic and the ways of women.

In The Wise Man's Fear Kvothe takes his first steps on the path of the hero and learns how difficult life can be when a man becomes a legend in his own time.

This title will be released on March 1, 2011. It is available for pre-order.

The Innocent Mage

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker: Book 1

"The Innocent Mage is come, and we stand at the beginning of the end of everything."

Being a fisherman like his father isn't a bad life, but it's not the one that Asher wants. Despite his humble roots, Asher has grand dreams. And they call him to Dorana, home of princes, beggars?and the warrior mages who have protected the kingdom for generations.

Little does Asher know, however, that his arrival in the city is being closely watched by members of the Circle, people dedicated to preserving an ancient magic.

Asher might have come to the city to make his fortune, but he will find his destiny.

The Awakened Mage

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker: Book 2

"The evil foretold has risen ... and we are all that stands between it and the end."

Asher has come a long way for a fisherman's son. Together with his friend Prince Gar, he has defended their kingdom against its bitterest enemy, but at great cost.

Now, the evil mage Morg is preparing for his most deadly assault. Desperate, trapped in a broken body, Morg has little time and fewer scruples. And he has a plan.

As Gar and Asher unwittingly fall into a dangerous deception, Morg gets ever closer to his goal. And this victory would be particularly sweet--for who better to destroy the kingdom than the two who would give anything to save it?

A Blight of Mages

Kingmaker, Kingbreaker Prequels: Book 1

Hundreds of years before the great Mage War, a land lies, unknowing, on the edge of catastrophe...

Barl is young and impulsive, but she has a power within that calls to her. In her city, however, only those of noble blood and with the right connections learn the ways of the arcane. Barl is desperate to learn-but her eagerness to use her power leads her astray and she is banned from ever learning the mystic arts.

Morgan holds the key to her education. A member of the Council of Mages, he lives to maintain the status quo, preserve the mage bloodlines, and pursue his scholarly experiments. But Barl's power intrigues him-in spite of her low status.

Together, he realizes they can create extraordinary new incantations. Morgan's ambition and Barl's power make a potent combination. What she does not see is the darkness in him that won't be denied.

A Blight of Mages is the new novel set in the world of Karen Miller's bestselling debut The Innocent Mage.

Fleet of Worlds

Known Space: Fleet of Worlds: Book 1

Edward M. Lerner
Larry Niven

Fleet of Worlds marks Larry Niven's first full novel-length collaboration within his Known Space universe, the playground he created for his bestselling Ringworld series. Teaming up with fellow SF writer Edward M. Lerner, Fleet of Worlds takes a closer look at the Human-Puppeteer (Citizens) relations and the events leading up to Niven's first Ringworld novel.

Kirsten Quinn-Kovacs is among the best and brightest of her people. She gratefully serves the gentle race that rescued her ancestors from a dying starship, gave them a world, and nurtures them still. If only the Citizens knew where Kirsten's people came from....

A chain reaction of supernovae at the galaxy's core has unleashed a wave of lethal radiation that will sterilize the galaxy. The Citizens flee, taking their planets, the Fleet of Worlds, with them.

Someone must scout ahead, and Kirsten and her crew eagerly volunteer. Under the guiding eye of Nessus, their Citizen mentor, they explore for any possible dangers in the Fleet's path--and uncover long-hidden truths that will shake the foundations of worlds.

Juggler of Worlds

Known Space: Fleet of Worlds: Book 2

For too long, the Puppeteers have controlled the fate of worlds. Now Sigmund is pulling the strings...

Covert agent Sigmund Ausfaller is Earth's secret weapon, humanity's best defense against all conspiracies, real and potential - and imaginary - of foes both human and alien. Who better than a brilliant paranoid to expose the devious plots of others?

He may finally have met his match in Nessus, representative of the secretive Puppeteers, the elder race who wield vastly superior technologies. Nessus schemes in the shadows with Earth's traitors and adversaries, even after the race he represents abruptly vanishes from Known Space.

As a paranoid, Sigmund had always known things would end horribly for him. Only the when, where, how, why, and by whom of it all had eluded him. That fog has begun to lift...

But even Sigmund has never imagined how far his investigations will take him - or that his destiny is entwined with the fates of worlds.

Destroyer of Worlds

Known Space: Fleet of Worlds: Book 3

Worlds closer to the galatic core than Known Space are --or were-- home to intelligent speciers. Some learned of the core explosion in time to flee. Destroyer of Worlds opens in 2670, ten years after Juggler of Worlds closes; with refugee species fleeing in an armada of ramscoops in the direction of the Fleet of Worlds. The onrushing aliens are recognized as a threat; they have left in their trail a host of desolated worlds: some raided for supplies, some attacked to eliminate competition, and some for pure xenophobia.

Only the Puppeteers might have the resources to confront this threat--but the Puppeteers are philosophical cowards... they don't confront anyone. They need sepoys to investigate the situation and take action for them. The source of the sepoys? Their newly independent former slave world, New Terra.

Betrayer of Worlds

Known Space: Fleet of Worlds: Book 4

Fleeing the supernova chain reaction at the galactic core, the cowardly Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds have--just barely--survived. They've stumbled from one crisis to the next: The rebellion of their human slaves. The relentless questing of the species of Known Space. The spectacular rise of the starfish-like Gw'oth. The onslaught of the genocidal Pak.

Catastrophe looms again as past crises return--and converge. Who can possibly save the Fleet of Worlds from its greatest peril yet?

Louis Wu? Trapped in the Wunderland civil war, all he wants is to go home--but the only possible escape will plunge him into unknowable danger.

Ol't'ro? The Gw'oth ensemble mind fled across the stars to establish a colony world free from tyranny. But some problems cannot be left behind, and other problems--like the Fleet of Worlds itself--are racing straight at them.

Achilles? Despite past disgrace, the charismatic Puppeteer politician knows he is destined for greatness. He will do anything to seize power--and to take his revenge on everyone who ever stood in his way.

Nessus? The insane Puppeteer scout is out of ideas, out of resources, with only desperation left to guide him.

Their hopes and fears, dreams and ambitions are about to collide. And the winner takes... worlds.

Fate of Worlds

Known Space: Fleet of Worlds: Book 5

Dune: The Butlerian Jihad

For decades, the spacefaring species of Known Space have battled over the largest artifact -- and grandest prize -- in the galaxy: the all-but-limitless resources and technology of the Ringworld. But without warning, the Ringworld has vanished, leaving behind three rival war fleets.

Something must justify the blood and treasure that have been spent. If the fallen civilization of the Ringworld can no longer be despoiled of its secrets, the Puppeteers will be forced to surrender theirs. Everyone knows that the Puppeteers are cowards.

But the crises converging upon the trillion Puppeteers of the Fleet of Worlds go far beyond even the onrushing armadas:

Adventurer Louis Wu and the exiled Puppeteer known only as Hindmost, marooned together for more than a decade, escaped from the Ringworld before it disappeared. And throughout those years, as he studied Ringworld technology, Hindmost has plotted to reclaim his power...

Ol't'ro, the Gw'oth ensemble mind -- and the Fleet of Worlds' unsuspected puppet master for a century -- is deviously brilliant. And increasingly unbalanced ...

Proteus, the artificial intelligence on which, in desperation, the Puppeteers rely to manage their defenses, is outgrowing its programming -- and the supposed constraints on its initiative...

Sigmund Ausfaller, paranoid and disgraced hero of the lost human colony of New Terra, knows that something threatens his adopted home world -- and that it must be stopped...

Achilles, the megalomaniac Puppeteer -- twice banished, and twice rehabilitated -- sees the Fleet of Worlds' existential crisis as a new opportunity to reclaim supreme power. Whatever the risks...

One way or another, the fabled race of Puppeteers may have come to the end of their days.

The World Shuffler

Lafayette O'Leary: Book 2

Keith Laumer

Twas boring in Artesia... or so thought Sir Lafayette O'Leary, ex-draftsman from Earth, and now seemingly ex-interdimensional swashbuckler extraordinaire as well. His battles were all won, his dragons all slain, and life was just the same boring round of riches, royal hunts and regattas.

Boring, boring, boring; until he walked past the azalia. Suddenly Artesia was gone, and O'Leary was trapped in "Melange," a world of giants and pirates, a world where goons and harlots are the spitting images (literallly!) of his own aristocratic Arteisan associates. And because they think that he's his double, lots of his new friends want O'Leary dead. Unless he can get through the interdimensional gate and find the continuum path back home, O'Leary's life will never be boring again. Just short.

Legends of Dune: Book 1

Kevin J. Anderson
Brian Herbert

Frank Herbert’s Dune series is one of the great creations of imaginative literature, science fiction’s answer to The Lord of the Rings.

Decades after Herbert’s original novels, the Dune saga was continued by Frank Herbert’s son, Brian Herbert, in collaboration with Kevin J. Anderson. Working from Frank Herbert’s own notes, the acclaimed authors reveal the chapter of the Dune saga most eagerly anticipated by readers: the Butlerian Jihad.

Throughout the Dune novels, Frank Herbert frequently referred to the war in which humans wrested their freedom from “thinking machines.” In Dune: The Butlerian Jihad, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson bring to life the story of that war, a tale previously seen only in tantalizing hints and clues. Finally, we see how Serena Butler’s passionate grief ignites the struggle that will liberate humans from their machine masters; here is the amazing tale of the Zensunni Wanderers, who escape bondage to flee to the desert world where they will declare themselves the Free Men of Dune. And here is the backward, nearly forgotten planet of Arrakis, where traders have discovered the remarkable properties of the spice melange....

A Canticle for Leibowitz

Leibowitz: Book 1

Walter M. Miller, Jr.

In the Utah desert, Brother Francis of the Albertian Order of Leibowitz has made a miraculous discovery: the relics of the martyr Isaac Leibowitz himself, including the blessed blueprint and the sacred shopping list. They may provide a bright ray of hope in a terrifying age of darkness, a time of ignorance and genetic monsters that are the unholy aftermath of the Flame Deluge. But as the spellbinding mystery at the core of this extraordinary novel unfolds, it is the search itself--for meaning, for truth, for love--that offers hope to a humanity teetering on the edge of an abyss.

A timeless and still timely masterpiece, A Canticle for Leibowitz is a classic that ranks with Brave New World and 1984.

Saint Leibowitz and the Wild Horse Woman

Leibowitz: Book 2

Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Terry Bisson

Forty years after the classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter Miller returns to a world struggling to transcend a terrifying legacy of darkness, as one man undertakes an odyssey of adventure and discovery that promises to alter the destiny of humankind . . . .

Isolated in Leibowitz Abbey, Brother Blacktooth St. George suffers a crisis of faith, torn between his vows and his Nomad upbringing, between the Holy Virgin and visions of the Wild Horse Woman of his people. At the brink of disgrace and expulsion from his order, the young monk is championed by a powerful cardinal who has plans for him. Blacktooth sets out on a journey across a landscape still scarred by the long-ago Flame Deluge, a land divided by nature, politics, and war. He will find horrors and wonders, sins of the flesh . . . and love. As he encounters and reencounters a beautiful but forbidden mutant named Ædrea, he begins to wonder: is a she-devil, the Holy Mother, or the Wild Horse Woman herself?

The Book of the Ler

Ler

Out of print since 1985, these three classic novels form a trilogy that chronicles the history of an alternate human race, the Ler, from their origins as a bioengineered "superhuman" race on Earth to their complex civilizations in space. Together, the books form a challenging examination of what it means to be human.

The Warriors of Dawn

Ler: Book 1

The human race had divided into two species. One had created the other - normal humans had experimented in forced evolution and had produced the ler, a sort of supermen race, but pacifistic and contemplative. The ler fled from the turbulent worlds of homo sapiens and established their own quiet planetary colonies. Which made it all the more inexplicable when reports came in of fierce planetary marauders, looting and burning, who were of ler ancestry. The existence of barbarian lers was a contradiction in terms. And the search for their reasons for existence was to take a human male and a ler female into an expedition into strange worlds and the unsuspected bypasses of all the systems of science and philosophy.

The Gameplayers of Zan

Ler: Book 2

The Ler had been genetically created to be a new race of supermen, and the experiment had not been entirely successful. They were superior to normal humans in certain ways, but all too human in others. Grudgingly the overpopulation billions of Earth allotted the families of the Ler a special reservation - a last wilderness where they could live their odd lives. contribute their talents to humanity's desperate needs - and yet be under constant surveillance. For the ler the situation was precarious and their future dubois. And with the disappearance of a Ler girl outside the reservation, the explosive point had been reached...

The Day of the Klesh

Ler: Book 3

His name was Meure and he hired out of an alien ship to see the universe. Ther were Ler aboard that vessel - transmuted humans who were partial supermen - and specifically there was the ler girl Flerdestar who had a mission.

When Meure and Flerdestar were marooned on the world called Monsalvat, they were confronted by a planetary enigma involving time and space. For Monsalvat had a myriad human species, all alien to each other, an all in awe of the myster that dominated their isolated planet.

Here is the long-awaited major novel by the author of THE GAMEPLAYERS OF ZAN and WARRIORS OF DAWN. It is a masterwork of alien wonders, human ingenuities, of the past invading the present, and of the perverted legacy of the legendary mistress of the first starship, the mad ler Sanjirmil.

Dragon in Exile

Liaden Universe

Star-trading Clan Korval--known to Terrans as the Tree-and-Dragon Family and to the locals simply as "the Dragon"--has been convicted of crimes against the homeworld. No matter that one of the "crimes" consisted of saving the elitist planet of Liad from very real internal threats, the Council of Clans wanted Korval heads to roll. Unfortunately for the Council, the Dragon's allies conspired to impose a milder punishment for saving the world: banishment, rather than execution.

Now relocated to the free-for-all world of Surebleak, the Dragon is under contract to keep the Port Road open to all traffic, and to back the New Bosses in imposing law and order on a society originally based on larceny and assassination. This modest rustication is going surprisingly well, until Korval discovers that the enemy they'd sought to destroy. . .wasn't quite destroyed, and is more determined than ever to eradicate Korval.

While the banishment killed no one initially, many of Korval's trading allies are spooked, and some are reneging on ancient agreements, leaving the Dragon to make its own way. The clan's efforts to stealthily recruit new allies is going haywire, and a secret death toll is rising even as the clan's adherents endure increasing exposure to danger and deceit off-world.

To make matters worse, an active portion of Surebleak's native population liked the Old Ways just fine, and are conspiring to take the New Bosses--and the Dragon--down, and are sure they have the firepower and people to do it.

The exiled Dragon has to make an urgent choice--accept an alliance with criminals or face down each and every enemy in person, one by one.

Necessity's Child

Liaden Universe

The kompani see none as an enemy, and yet few as friend. The kompani exist in many places, living quietly in the shadows, thriving off the bounty that others have no wit to secure, nor skill to defend. Their private history is unwritten; their recall rooted in dance and dream. The Clan Korval is in many ways the opposite of the kompani. The interstellar trading clan is wealthy in enemies, fortunate in friends. Korval protects itself with vigor, and teaches even its youngest children the art of war.

And when representatives of Clan Korval arrive on the planet Surebleak where the kompani has lived, secret and aloof, the lives of three people intersect-- Kezzi, apprentice to the kompani's grandmother; Syl Vor, Clan Korval's youngest warrior; and Rys, a man without a world, or a past.

Necessity's Child is a standalone adventure in the popular and exciting Liaden Universe.

Salvage Right

Liaden Universe

A door never closes, but a window opens...

With origins in the Old Universe, the malevolent, acquisitive intelligence of Tinsori Light sought to infect others with itself, and send those agents out into the wide new universe to infect even more.

For centuries, two heroes stood between Tinsori Light and the vulnerable universe--Light Keepers Jen Sin yos'Phelium and Lorith of the Sanderat.

Just when it seemed that they--merely human--must fail, Tinsori Light, enfeebled by aged systems, succumbed to the stress of a unique spatial event . . . and died, leaving the station a shell.

Luckily, the light keepers have back-up. A mismatched team of arcane specialists are on-station, working non-stop to preserve the Light, build trustworthy systems, and open the refurbished station for business.

In fact, ships are already incoming, and it becomes a matter of urgency to sort friend from foe. In particular, the Lyre Institute wishes to acquire Tinsori Light, and will do anything, spend anyone, to achieve that goal.

Agent of Change

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 1

Fleeing the scene of his latest mission, Val Con yos'Phelium finds himself saving the life of ex-mercenary Miri Robertson, a young Tarren on the run from interplanetary assassins. Thrown together by circumstances, Val Con and Miri struggle to elude their enemies and stay alive without slaying each other-or surrendering to the unexpected passion that flares between them.

Conflict of Honors

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 2

Sixteen-year-old Priscilla Delacroix was declared legally dead by her mother, High Priestess of the Goddess. Banished to survive on her own, Priscilla has roamed the galaxy for ten years as an outcast--to become a woman of extraordinary skill....

An experienced officer assigned to the Liaden vessel Doxflon, she's been abandoned yet again. Betrayed by her captain and shipmates, she's left to fend for herself on a distant planet. But Priscilla is not alone. Starship captain Shan yos'Galen is about to join Priscilla's crusade for revenge. He has his own score to settle with the enemy. But confronting the sinister crew will be far easier--and safer--than confronting the demons of Priscilla's own mysterious past.

Carpe Diem

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 3

On the run from interplanetary assassins, covert operative Val Con yos'Phelium and former mercenary sergeant Miri Robertson have wound up stranded on a distant planet with no rescue in sight. Until they figure out a way back to Liad, these two lost souls must find a way to trust each another--and let their love heal the dark wounds of their past....

Back on Liad, Shan yos'Galan, Val Con's cousin and foster brother, and his life-partner, Priscilla Mendoza, have initiated their own search for the missing member of Clan Korval. But what they don't know is that those who seek to destroy Val Con and Miri are just as determined to bring down Clan Korval. All the deadly enemy needs is someone to unwittingly lead them to their target....

Plan B

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 4

Val Con yos'Phelium is a fugitive. The heir of Clan Korval is wanted by the covert Liaden agency known as the Department of the Interior, whose rulers have declared unofficial war against the entire clan. With only his love, Miri Robertson, by his side, Val Con plans a desperate gamble by forming an alliance with Clan Erob on the planet where Miri was born.

But Val Con's cousin, Shan yos'Galan, can't wait for help that may never arrive. With enemy agents closing in, he invokes Plan B--setting in motion a series of events that will have dire consequences not only for him and his life-mate Priscilla Mendoza, but for all of Liad...

Local Custom

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 5

Each person shall provide his clan of origin with a child of his blood, who will be raised by the clan and belong to the clan. And this shall be Law for every person of every clan...

Master trader Er Thorn knows the local custom of Liaden is to be matched with a proper bride, and provide his prominent clan Korval with an heir. Yet his heart is immersed in another universe, influenced by another culture, and lost to a woman not of his world. And to take a Terran wife such as scholar Anne Davis is to risk his honor and reputation. But when he discovers that their brief encounter years before has resulted in the birth of a child, even more is at stake than anyone imagined. Now, an interstellar scandal has erupted, a bitter war between two families--galaxies apart--has begun, and the only hope for Er Thorn and Anne is a sacrifice neither is prepared to make...

Scout's Progress

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 6

All of her life, Aelliana Caylon has lived by the rules of her overbearing brother, the head of the Caylon family. Though she is a brilliant mathematician, he has convinced her that she has no worth beyond what value she might have in an arranged marriage.

Then, on a dare, she plays a game of chance--and wins a starship. It is her way to escape her home, her planet, her drab life--if she can qualify as a pilot.

Enter the accomplished Scout and Master Pilot known only as Daav. Aelliana hires him as her instructor. She finds him gifted teacher. He finds her a quick study.

And they also find an unexpected attraction, one that could have dangerous repercussions for them both...

I Dare

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 7

Lee and Miller's eagerly awaited conclusion to the Agent of Change sequence, of their Liaden Universe series.

This long-awaited culmination of the Locus best-selling Agent of Change sequence of Sharon Lee and Steve Miller's internationally acclaimed Liaden Universe® novels, pits unexpected friends and enemies against each other in a war that spans planets and races and threatens to bring interstellar violence to the very surface of fabled Liad. Val Con yos'Phelium--a Scout, former Agent of Change, husband, brother to Turtles, and designated heir to Clan Korval's fortune and mission.. .whether you considered him respectable or not, no one would call him a gambling man. When he reappears demanding Balance and retribution, on his capable shoulders the fate of his Clan, his world, and his civilization...

Pat Rin yos'Phelium--fond father, bon vivant, ne'er-do-well... and a professional gambler. The enemies of Korval have offered Pat Rin the Ring that would make all of Korval's holdings his own and a Juntavas Judge has offered Pat Rin a world... When he appears with hired guns in tow no one is expecting him and no one knows what he'll do. For you see, Pat Rin is a gambling man.

Mouse and Dragon

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 8

Aelliana Caylon has endured much, and finally, she appears to have won all: a spaceship, comrades, friends--and the love of a pilot she adores.

Even better that her lover--the man who was destined for her, a man as much a loner as she--is also the Delm of Korval, arguably the most powerful person on all of Liad. He has the power to remove her and protect her from the toxic environment of her home Clan. Best of all, he agrees to sit as her co-pilot and her partner in a courier business.

Even happy endings sometimes show a few flaws. Such as Aelliana's home clan being not as agreeable to letting her go as it had first seemed. And the fact that someone is stealing pilots in the Low Port, which falls within the Delm of Korval's honor. Oh, and the revelation that the man she loves--the man who is destined for her--isn't entirely the man she thought he was. And finally, she discovers that even the lift from Liad she'd so fervently desired, is part of a larger plan, a plan requiring her to be someone she never thought she was, or could be.

Alliance of Equals

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 9

Beset by the angry remnants of the Department of the Interior, challenged at every turn by opportunists on their new homeworld of Surebleak, and somewhat low on funds, Clan Korval desperately needs to reestablish its position as one of the top trading clans in known space. To this end, Master Trader Shan yos'Galan, aboard Korval's premier trade ship, Dutiful Passage, is on a mission to establish new business associations and to build a strong primary route that links well with existing Loops and secondary routes.

But reestablishing trade and preserving the lives of the few remaining members of the clan aren't all of Korval's problems. Matters come to a head as Dutiful Passage, accustomed to being welcomed and feted at those ports on its call-list, finds itself denied docking, and blacklisted, while agents of the DOI mount armed attacks on others of Korval's traders, under the very eyes of port security systems.

Traveling with Dutiful Passage on this unsettling journey is Padi yos'Galan, the master trader's heir and his apprentice. Padi is eager to make up for time lost due to Korval's unpleasantness with the Department of the Interior. She is also keeping a secret so intense that her coming of age, and perhaps her very life, is threatened by it.

Trader's Leap

Liaden Universe: Agent of Change: Book 10

A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 1

The only bridge between past and future is a leap of faith.

Pursued by enemies, exiled Liaden clan Korval is settling into a new base on backworld Surebleak. Moving is expensive, as is war, and Korval is strapped for cash. Delm Korval has therefore instructed Master Trader Shan yos'Galan to design and implement new trade routes, quickly.

But this is no easy task. Dutiful Passage is targeted by Korval's enemies, denied docking at respectable ports, and cheated at those less respectable. Struggling to recuperate from an attack on his life, while managing daughter Padi's emerging psychic talents, Shan is running out of options--and time. His quest to establish the all-important trade route puts him at odds with his lifemate, while doubting crew desert the ship. Facing the prospect of failure, Shan accepts the assistance of chancy allies and turns the Passage toward a port only just emerging from Rostov's Dust and awash with strange energies.

Without trade, Clan Korval will starve. Will a trader's leap of faith save everything - or doom all?

Liaden Universe: Constellation: Book 1

A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 2

First collection in one volume. Seventeen short tales of the Liaden Universe brought together for the first time. Space opera and romance on a grand scale in a galaxy full of interstellar trading clans.

Thirty-three shorter tales of the Liaden Universe brought together for the first time in two mega-volumes. Seventeen tales to start with in Volume One!

The nationally best-selling Liaden Universe novels are treasured by space opera aficionados for their wit, world-building, strong characterizations, tender romance, and edge-of-the-chair action.

Since 1995, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller also created shorter tales, illuminating additional facets of the Liaden experience. Here is a vast tapestry of tales of the scouts, artists, traders, priestesses, sleight of hand magicians, and pilots who fill the Liaden Universe with the excitement, action, and romance that readers of the hit series have come to adore.

Celebrating 25 Years of the Liaden Universe.

Liaden Universe: Constellation: Book 2

A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 3

BOOK 2 in The First Liaden Universe Collection. Fifteen short tales of the Liaden Universe brought together for the first time. Space opera and romance on a grand scale in a galaxy full of interstellar trading clans.

Thirty-three shorter tales of the Liaden Universe® brought together for the first time in two mega-volumes. Fifteen tales complete Volume Two!

The nationally best-selling Liaden Universe® novels are treasured by space opera aficionados for their wit, world-building, strong characterizations, tender romance, and edge-of-the-chair action.

Since 1995, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller also created shorter tales, illuminating additional facets of the Liaden experience. Here is a vast tapestry of tales of the scouts, artists, traders, priestesses, sleight of hand magicians, and pilots who fill the Liaden Universe® with the excitement, action, and romance that readers of the hit series have come to adore.

Celebrating 25 Years of the Liaden Universe.

Liaden Universe: Constellation: Book 3

A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 4

BOOK 3 in the multivolume Liaden Universe short fiction collection. Tales of the Liaden Universe brought together for the first time. Space opera and romance on a grand scale in a galaxy full of interstellar trading clans.

A dozen recent Liaden Universe short works are added to the collection in the third volume of A Liaden Universe Constellation. Ranging from comic to cosmic, only one of these works was first published before 2011. These welcome new additions bring the collected Constellation of Lee & Miller Liaden short stories to 45 works in three mega-volumes.

The nationally best-selling Liaden Universe novels are treasured by space opera aficionados for their wit, world-building, strong characterizations, tender romance, and edge-of-the-chair action.

Since 1995, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller also created shorter tales, illuminating additional facets of the Liaden experience. Here is a vast tapestry of tales of the scouts, artists, traders, priestesses, sleight of hand magicians, and pilots who fill the Liaden Universe® with the excitement, action, and romance that readers of the hit series have come to adore. Contains all new entries published after 2011.

Liaden Universe: Constellation: Book 4

A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 5

For more than thirty years, the Liaden Universe novels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have captivated readers with their unique blend of action adventure, science fiction, and romance. In addition to twenty-one novels (and counting), Lee and Miller have written dozens of shorter works based in the Liaden Universe, featuring the strong characterization, detailed world-building, wit, and derring-do that readers of the series adore.

This fourth volume collecting Lee aned Miller's shorter Liaden Universe stories features four novelettes, two novellas, and two short stories.

Sure to delight longtime fans and newcomers alike, these tales highlight why the nationally best-selling Liaden Universe® novels are treasured by space opera aficionados, with amazing settings, strong characterizations, compelling romance, and edge-of-the-chair action in stories that range from cosmic to comic.

Table of Contents:

Friend of a Friend (2016) - novelette
Street Cred (2017) - novelette
Due Diligence (2017) - novella
Degrees of Separation (2018) - novella
Excerpts from Two Lives - (2018) - novelette
Revolutionists - (2018) - short story
Cutting Corners (2017) - short story
Block Party (2017) - novelette

Liaden Universe: Constellation: Book 5

For more than thirty years, the Liaden Universe® novels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have captivated readers with their unique blend of action adventure, science fiction, and interpersonal relationships. In addition to twenty-one novels (and counting), Lee and Miller have written dozens of shorter works based in the Liaden Universe®, featuring the strong characterization, detailed worldbuilding, wit, and derring-do that readers of the series adore.

Table of Contents:

3 - Authors' Foreword (A Liaden Universe Constellation: Volume 5) - essay by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
5 - Fortune's Favors - [Liaden Universe short fiction] - (2019) - novella by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
57 - Opportunity to Seize - [Liaden Universe short fiction] - short story by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (variant of Surebleak: Dudley Avenue and Farley Lane 2019)
63 - Shout of Honor - [Adventures in the Liaden Universe - 29] - (2019) - novella by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
133 - Command Decision - [Liaden Universe short fiction] - (2019) - short story by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
147 - Dark Secrets - [Liaden Universe short fiction] - (2019) - short story by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
171 - A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom - short story by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
187 - The Gate That Locks the Tree - [Adventures in the Liaden Universe - 30] - novella by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller (variant of The Gate That Locks the Tree: A Minor Melant'i Play for Snow Season 2020)
269 - Ambient Conditions - (2020) - novelette by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
303 - Dead Men Dream - [Liaden Universe short fiction] - (2021) - novella by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

Balance of Trade

Liaden Universe: Jethri Gobelyn: Book 1

Assistant Trader Jethri Gobelyn is an honest, hardworking young Terran who knows a lot about living onboard his family's space going trade ship 'Gobelyn's Market', something about trade, finance, and risk taking and a little bit about Liadens.

Oddly enough, it's the little bit he knows about Liadens that seems likely to make his family's fortune--and his own. In short order, however, Jethri Gobelyn is about to learn a lot more about Liadens... like how far they might go to protect their name and reputation. Like the myriad of things one might say--intentionally or not--with a single bow. Like how hard it is to say "I'm sorry!" in Liaden. Like how difficult it is to deal with a beguiling set of Liaden twins who may very well know exactly what he's thinking.... Soon it became clear that as little as he knew about Liadens, he knew far less about himself. With his very existence a threat to the balance of trade, Jethri needs to learn fast, or become a pawn in a game that will destroy all he has come to hold dear.

Trade Secret

Liaden Universe: Jethri Gobelyn: Book 2

Star-spanning galactic trader Jethri Gobelyn's story continues in the seventeenth entry in the Liaden Universe series by master storytellers Sharon Lee and Steve Miller.

In a universe full of interstellar intrigue and burgeoning commerce novice Terran trader Jethri Gobelyn, adopted by a Liaden clan after an ill-directed bow of honor insulted the scion of a major Liaden house, is alive and whole to tell the tale. Convinced that the adoption has saved his life and made his future he settles into a comfortable and even elite routine, a Trader's Ring his goal.

Even as Jethri's initiation into the mysteries and joys of Liaden Festival bring him to manhood he's forced to face Necessity and the facts of life: his adoption has also invigorated a net of unfinished Balance far more complex and potentially deadly than a simple Terran blood feud. He must embrace his Terran birthright as well as his Liaden connections while leaving behind the safety of the great Liaden trade ship Elthoria to defend his honor and that of shipmates past and present. Forced to sit Second Board as a back-up pilot on a Liaden Scout ship, Jethri's convinced he's already at wit's end--when several familiar faces threaten all that he knows of himself, and all that he wishes to do.

Celebrating 25 Years of the Liaden Universe.

Fair Trade

Liaden Universe: Jethri Gobelyn: Book 3

Jethri Gobelyn has risen far: from despised youngest on a Terran family Loop ship to second trader on premier Liaden tradeship Elthoria under the guidance of his unlikely foster-mother Norn ven'Deelin Clan Ixin. Master Trader ven'Deelin has taught Jethri much, and she expects great things from him. Indeed, one might say she demands them.

Jethri has inherited a mission from his father, a plan that will allow family Loop ships like the one he grew up on to survive the encroachment of Rostov's Dust. In this, he's backed by several prominent Looper families who are scheduled to meet and plan at the South Axis Trade Fair.

In what seems to be a fortunate pairing of missions, Master Trader ven'Deelin sees Jethri become lead trader on his own small ship, which is scheduled to arrive at the South Axis Fair.

Unfortunately, that "fortunate coincidence" may instead be a test of Jethri's loyalties, as he's thrust into a tangle of grey-trading, mistaken identity, misinformation, and galactic politics....

Crystal Soldier

Liaden Universe: The Great Migration Duology: Book 1

Suddenly, staying alive is more than a personal problem...

In a galaxy worn down by generations of war against an implacable foe, a star pilot's mission brings him an unexpected ally and a chance to serve his troop--and mankind.

M. Jela Granthor's Guard is a soldier who was born to be a~ soldier, a solider whose genes were selected before birth, whose life was chosen for him as one of service and dedication.

Cantra yos'Phelium is an ace pilot and a thoroughgoing rogue. She trades the dark and the gray markets along the war-torn Rim, running solo, and with an eye firmly on her own profit.

When chance deals her an ex-soldier, she's inclined to leave him where she found him. That was before mutual trouble arose, and Jela proved himself a good man in a tight spot. Still, she thought to ditch him next planet down the line.

Only he wasn't being easy to ditch. Worse, he had a puzzle going that just naturally drew a pilot's close attention.

So the two of them form an unlikely--and uncomfortable - alliance, the soldier intent on his mission; the pirate intent on her survival.

And neither one, in the face of alien technology, outlaws, and the enemy's renewed assaults, can quite forget a life lesson shared by people who live on the edge of chance:

Sometimes, no matter what, you're just going to lose...

Crystal Dragon

Liaden Universe: The Great Migration Duology: Book 2

You can't go home again...

What do you do when home is a conspiracy that's been 3 discovered and destroyed? When home is a planet in a star system that's gone missing? When home means working for the destroyers of galaxies When home is a spaceship that's calling out to the enemy? Cantra 'yos Phelium isn't a quitter, but she has more than a little problem: the Enemy has accelerated its attacks and how do you fight an Enemy whose, major form of attack is the de-crystallization of everything around itself? A smuggler with a rogue soldier for a co-pilot, and a tree with an attitude for crew, Cantra's the only one who can get close to the man who holds equations that might, that just might&--thwart the Enemy.

All she has to do is help a young pilot from a missing world, juggle a slippery promise she never quite made to a pair of wizards, and then forget who she is along with everything, and everyone, she's ever known.

Fledgling

Liaden Universe: Theo Waitley: Book 1

Theo Waitley has lived all her young life on Delgado, a Safe World that is home to one of the galaxy's premier institutions of higher learning. Both Theo's mother, Kamele, and Kamele's onagrata Jen Sar Kiladi, are professors at the university, and they all live comfortably together, just like they have for all of Theo's life, in Jen Sar's house at the outskirts of town.

Suddenly, though, Theo's life changes. Kamele leaves Jen Sar and moves herself and Theo back into faculty housing, which is not what Theo is used to. Once settled back inside the Wall, Kamele becomes embroiled in faculty politics, and is appointed sub-chair of her department. Meanwhile, Theo, who has a notation in her file indicating that she is "physically challenged" has a series of misadventures, including pulling her best friend down on the belt-ride to class, and hurting a team mate during a scavage game.

With notes piling up in her file, Theo only wants to go "home," to the house in the suburbs, and have everything just like it used to be.

Then, Kamele uncovers evidence of possible dishonest scholarship inside of her department. In order to clear the department, she and a team of senior professors must go off-world to perform a forensic document search. Theo hopes this will mean that she'll be left in the care of the man she calls "Father," Professor Kiladi, and is horrified to learn that Kamele means to bring Theo with her!

Saltation

Liaden Universe: Theo Waitley: Book 2

Theo Waitley is a Nexus of Violence. Thrust mid-year into a school for pilots far from the safe haven of her birth home on scholarly Delgado, young Theo Waitley excels in hands-on flying while finding that she's behind the curve in social intricacies as well as in math. Her mentors try to guide her studies and training into the channels best suited to her special abilities and inclinations, including suggesting that she should join in the off-world student association, a plan resulting in mixed success.

After a series of confrontations, fights, and ultimately a riot after which she is thanked for not killing anyone, Theo is named a "nexus of violence" by the school's administration. Facing suspension and carrying little more than a hastily procured guild card, a pistol taken from an attacker, and the contents of her pants pockets, Theo must quickly decide if she's ready to return to Delgado in disgrace, or launch herself into the universe as a freelance pilot with credentials she's already earned.

The sequel to Fledgling, Saltation is the tenth book in the Liaden Universe series.

Ghost Ship

Liaden Universe: Theo Waitley: Book 3

The new novel in the Liaden Universe series. Over a quarter million copies sold in this series to-date! Space ships, action, adventure--all tied together with a strong dollop of romance and family saga--make this a compelling series for a wide range of readers, from romance to military SF lovers alike.

Theo Waitley is an ace starship pilot--and pure maverick. Her mom is a renowned Terran scholar and her birth father is an interstellar aristocrat in hiding. Whatever, thinks Theo. She still feels like a socially-challenged misfit. But after being selected to train with the best-of-the-best at the pilot academy, she figures she can leave behind those gawky, misfit days of teenage angst that made life so complicated before! But for Theo, life is about to get even MORE complicated--and deadlier still. For even though she's survived the Academy and become one of the best pilots in the galaxy, the past is about to blast her with gale-force winds. Theo can run, but she can't hide. Her destiny as master pilot and leader of a powerful Liaden clan calls, and there are LOTS of enemies who will try to make sure she's quite dead before she has the chance to make an answer.

Dragon Ship

Liaden Universe: Theo Waitley: Book 4

First Class courier pilot Theo Waitley was already known as a nexus of violence--and then she inherited the precarious captaincy of a mysterious self-aware ship. Now she has a trade route to run for Clan Korval while she convinces the near mythic ghost ship Bechimo--and herself--that she wants to commit herself as the human side to their immensely powerful symbiosis. While her former lover battles a nano-virus that's eating him alive, Theo is challenged to rescue hundreds of stranded pilots and crewmen from an explosive situation in near orbit around a suddenly hostile planet. Lovers, enemies, an ex-roomie, and a jealous spaceship are all in peril as Theo wields power that no one in the universe is sure of, especially her.

The Gathering Edge

Liaden Universe: Theo Waitley: Book 5

The luck runs rough around Theo Waitley. Not only are people trying to kill her and capture the self-aware intelligent ship Bechimo to whom Theo is bonded, they're also trying to arrest her crew members, and throw the dignity of an important passenger, the duly-constituted norbear ambassador Hevelin, into question.

No wonder Theo and her crew felt the need of a break, and retired to what Bechimo refers to as "safe space." Unfortunately, safe space may not be so safe, anymore. It seems that things are leaking through from another universe, and another time. In fact, whole spaceships are coming through. One of those ships is a blasted battleship seemingly fleeing a long-lost war. What's more, its crew may be members of Theo's ancient ancestral line--her relatives. It's certain that they are in dire need of help. Theo has a choice to make. It seems that Bechimo's "safe space" is about to become deadly perilous.

Neogenesis

Liaden Universe: Theo Waitley: Book 6

Menace from Back Space Looming out of the Dust of Time

The Complex Logic Laws were the result of a war waged hundreds of years in the past, when two human powers threw massive AI navies at each other and nearly annihilated themselves. Being human, they blamed their tools for this near miss; they destroyed what was left of the sentient ships, and made it illegal to be, manufacture, or shelter an independent logic.

Strangely, however, the Free Ships and other AIs did not turn themselves in or suicide, they merely became wary of humans, and stayed under their scans. A clandestine support network grew up, including hidden yards where smart ships were manufactured, and mentors--humans specially trained to ease a new intelligence into the universe--socialized them, and taught them what they needed to know to survive.

Among those with a stake in the freedom of Independent Logics is Theo Waitley, who is somewhat too famously the captain of intelligent ship Bechimo. Theo's brother, Val Con yos'Phelium, presides over a household that has for a generation employed an AI butler. Recently, he approved the "birth" of the butler's child, who was sent, with human mentor Tolly Jones, to rescue or destroy an orphaned AI abandoned at a remote space station.

Then there's Uncle, the shadowy mastermind from the Old Universe, whose many projects often skirt the boundaries of law, both natural and man-made--and the puppet-masters at the Lyre Institute, whose history is just as murky--and a good deal less honorable.

All have an interest in the newly-awakening Self-Aware Logic that is rumored to have the power to destroy universes.

The question is: Who will get to it first?

Accepting the Lance

Liaden Universe: Theo Waitley: Book 7

Lyonesse II and III: The Green Pearl and Madouc

Exiled from Liad after bombing a city to save it from The Department of the Interior's infernal weapons and plans, Clan Korval has gone to ground on the back-water planet Surebleak, whose people are as untamed as its weather. The old Boss-controlled fiefdoms largely fell to Pat Rin yos'Phelium's influence, but the world is restive, the influx of outworld lawyers, guns, and money a brewpot for armed dissatisfaction.

Far beyond the surface of frigid Surebleak Korval's farflung trade network needs a serious reset to recover from exile. From flagship Dutiful Passage to the experimental--if centuries old--self-aware Bechimo co-captained by the Delm's blood-sister Theo Waitley, the clan's ships are prowling space lanes seeking trade. Meanwhile, Old Tech from a failed universe--the ancient but revived Tinsori Light--and the machinations of the mysterious Uncle are coalescing into dangerous opportunity or nefarious trap.

And the Department of the Interior is not done with Clan Korval yet. They seek a final fully reckoned revenge, with Surebleak and Korval's ships and people everywhere in the crosshairs.

Mindkiller

Lifehouse: Book 1

Spider Robinson

Wireheads, addicted to an electric current led into the pleasure centers of the brain, are the new junkies. Karen, a former wirehead who barely escaped death by pleasure, is determined to bring down those who sell the wireheading equipment, but she and her lover Joe intead turn up evidence of a shadowy global conspiracy - not to control the world, but to keep anyone from realizing that the masters of mind control have been controllling us all for some time now...

Lord Moon

Jane Beauclerk

Nebula Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, April 1965. There are no other known publications at this time.

Lyonesse Trilogy

Lyonesse: Suldrun's Garden

The Green Pearl and Madouc in a single volume.

Lyonesse Trilogy: Book 1

Lyonesse II: The Green Pearl

The Elder Isles, located in what is now the Bay of Biscay off the the coast of Old Gaul, are made up of ten contending kingdoms, all vying with each other for control. At the centre of much of the intrigue is Casmir, the ruthless and ambitious king of Lyonnesse. His beautiful but otherworldly daughter, Suldrun, is part of his plans. He intends to cement an alliance or two by marrying her well. But Suldrun is as determined as he and defies him. Casmir coldly confines her to the overgrown garden that she loves to frequent, and it is here that meets her love and her tragedy unfolds.

Political intrigue, magic, war, adventure and romance are interwoven in a rich and sweeping tale set in a brilliantly realized fabled land.

Lyonesse Trilogy: Book 2

In Lyonesse II: The Green Pearl the magical lands of high enchantment - the Elder Isles, the land, long-vanished beneath the ocean, from which King Arthur's ancestors fled to Britain - come to brilliant life again. In this ancient land the realm of chivalry and the world of faerie exist side by side and it is a place of strange beauty, high adventure and eerie magic. Warring kings renew their conflicts, opposing magicians devise ever more strange and sinister stratagems and Madouc, ostensibly the daughter of the ill-fated Princess Suldrun but in reality a changeling, becomes embroiled in political rivalries, military adventures - and the quest for the Grail.

Lyonesse III: Madouc

Lyonesse Trilogy: Book 3

Set in the magical world of the Elder Isles, this novel describes the adventures of Madouc, ostensibly the daughter of the ill-fated Princess Suldrun, but really the daughter of a faerie. This is the third volume in the "Lyonesse" saga.

Accelerando

Macx Family

Charles Stross

For three generations, the Macz family has struggled to cope with the rampant technological achievements that have rendered humans near obsolete. And mankind's end encroaches even closer when something starts to dismantle the nine planets of the solar system in an effort to annihilate all biological lifeforms.

Read the full novel for free at the author's website.

Magnus Ridolph

The Many Worlds of Magnus Ridolph

"Magnus Ridolph didn't look like an interstellar troubleshooter, at first. He was not tall and muscular, ... and his voice and manner seemed far too mild for an adventurer. Yet there was a chill hardness in his mild eyes that warned of the deceptiveness of his appearance..."

This is a collection of all stories featuring Magnus Ridolph, troubleshooter for hire. Invariably those with whom he associates try to either cheat him or take advantage of him, but Magnus Ridolph always comes up with the answer to their problem and, usually with an unexpected twist, manages to collect his full fee from the cheater.

Magnus Ridolph

Contains:

The Kokod Warriors
The Unspeakable McInch
The Howling Bounders
The King of Thieves
The Spa of the Stars
Coup de Grace
The Sub-standard Sardines
To B of not to C or to D

The Müller-Fokker Effect

Masters of Science Fiction: Book 14

John Sladek

Bob Shairp--a writer and dreamer--has agreed to be a guinea-pig in a military experiment to find out if his personality can be turned into data and stored on computer. But a computing error quickly destroys Shairp's physical body, leaving his mind stranded in an encoded world. Can the process be reversed?

Smugglers Gold

Merovingen Nights: Book 5

C. J. Cherryh

Spring comes to Merovingen, City of a Thousand Bridges--and the ferment of religious mania threatens hightowners and canalsiders alike. Hugo Award-winning author C.J. Cherryh returns with another stunning collection of tales set amid the winding byways of Merovingen.

Table of Contents:

More Than Meets the Eye - novelette by Mercedes Lackey
Paper Chase - short story by Roberta Rogow
A Fish Story - novelette by Nancy Asire
A Harmless Excursion - (1988) - short story by Robert Asprin
Mystery - novella by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
Smuggler's Gold - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
A Day in the Life - novelette by Lynn Abbey
Fair Game - novelette by Leslie Fish
Merovingian Folklore 101, or, Alarums, Excursions, and Rumors - short story by Mercedes Lackey
Golden Rule - poem by Mercedes Lackey
The Cats of Jane - poem by Mercedes Lackey
Ladies of the Hightown - poem by Mercedes Lackey
Dark Lover - poem by Mercedes Lackey
Falken Lover - poem by Mercedes Lackey
Canalers' Love Song - poem by Mercedes Lackey

Cemetery of Angels

Michael Chandler: Book 1

Noel Hynd

Bill and Rebecca Moore are an ordinary middle-aged couple raising two children in suburban Connecticut when an unsuccessful attempt on Rebecca's life by a mysterious stranger leaves her with an extreme case of post-traumatic stress. To help her recover, Bill suggests a move to southern California where they buy and renovate an old house in a posh neighborhood. It seems, however, that the house hosts a particularly persistent ghost named Ronny, an ex-actor who apparently has emerged from the small private cemetery adjacent to the backyard.

When both children disappear from the house with no sign of forced entry, LAPD gumshoe Ed Van Allen suspects the Moores of murder, although Rebecca gamely tries to convince him the ghost did it.

The Lost Boy

Michael Chandler: Book 2

Noel Hynd

In the small Connecticut town of Wiltshire, James Corbett, senior member of a local outlaw family, has been hideously murdered. For Ellen Wilder, editor of the local newspaper, the gruesome killing is as disturbing as the irrational fears that have suddenly woven themselves into her mind and left her doubting her own sanity. For state police detective Michael Chandler, whose haunting near-death experience has left him with an uncanny way of sensing things, the murder is only a hint of what is to come.

But nothing could have prepared either of them for the return of Franny Corbett. A hulking child of a man and the blackest sheep in a family of black sheep, his eerie presence may have ushered in all of these bizarre and frightening events. Soon the town of Wiltshire will be shaken again. For in a car sunk beneath the surface of a glimmering blue lake, floats another body.

And the killing has just begun...

The Tolkien Companion

Middle Earth

J. E. A. Tyler

Between 1932 and 1953, Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, of Oxford, England, translated four volumes compiled by the renowned Hobbits Bilbo and Frodo Baggins, written during the Third Age of Middle Earth, far longer ago than the Celtic, Germanic and Icelandic manuscripts Professor Tolkien was used to deciphering. The result was The Hobbit, and readers have never been the same since.

In 1954, seventeen years after The Hobbit first appeared, its sequel, The Lord of the Rings was published, and it became the centerpiece of Tolkien's work. The Ring Epic covers approximately ten thousand years, and contains a vast amount of information as well as a huge variety of words and names which Tolkien translated from the Elvish and Mannish tongues. THE TOLKIEN COMPANION is an impressive endeavor to guide one through the world of Middle Earth, compiling every fact, name, word, and date from all the works into one comprehensive and accessible volume.

Here, in one source, is the High History of the Elven peoples. The origins of Morgoth the Enemy is clarified, as is his Fall, and the subsequent rise to power of Sauron the Great, Lord of the Rings. The heroic epic of how the Free Peoples--Elves, Men, Ents, Dwarves, and Hobbits--survived against the Peril of the Ancient World is meticulously detailed. And a guide to the various Elvish writing systems, together with explanatory maps, charts, even genealogical tables, bring the remarkable genius of Tolkien and the unforgettable world and wonder of Middle Earth to life with focus and accuracy. Presented in alphabetical order for quick and easy reference, THE TOLKIEN COMPANION is an indispensable accompaniment for anyone who embarks on the reading journey of a lifetime.

Rand Miller
Robyn Miller
David Wingrove

Modern Masters of Science Fiction: Book 9

Gerry Canavan

"I began writing about power because I had so little," Octavia E. Butler once said. Butler's life as an African American woman--an alien in American society and among science fiction writers -- informed the powerful works that earned her an ardent readership and acclaim both inside and outside science fiction.

Gerry Canavan offers a critical and holistic consideration of Butler's career. Drawing on Butler's personal papers, Canavan tracks the false starts, abandoned drafts, tireless rewrites, and real-life obstacles that fed Butler's frustrations and launched her triumphs. Canavan departs from other studies to approach Butler first and foremost as a science fiction writer working within, responding to, and reacting against the genre's particular canon.

The result is an illuminating study of how an essential SF figure shaped themes, unconventional ideas, and an unflagging creative urge into brilliant works of fiction.

The Planet Dweller

Moosevan: Book 1

Jane Palmer

Diana hears the voice of Moosevan, an entity who inhabits a distant planet, in her head. Her world is threatened and she wants Diana's help. Yuri believes her, though he's usually drunk, in charge of a ten inch reflector and has a bizarre theory about the movement of the asteroids. Then two cosmic intelligences decide to help. They may understand the Universe, but mere mortals are beyond them.

The Book of Atrus

Myst: Book 1

The ages of Myst are worlds of adventure and awe; of mystery and beauty; of intrigue and betrayal. The world's best-selling CD-ROM game is just a piece of the picture. Now, take a step into the fictional legend of Myst.

These pages are your link to the story of Atrus, son of Gehn, and the last of the race of D'Ni -- the masters of The Art, the craft of linking to other worlds through the descriptive art of writing in special books. For most of his young life, Atrus thought the stories his grandmother told him were just strange legends. Then his time came to explore the magnificent underground realm...

The Book of Atrus is a tale of son against father; of truth versus evil; and of love and redemption. You will travel to wonderful new ages and have all your questions answered -- for this story ends where the world of the MYST game just begins.

The Book of Ti'ana

Myst: Book 2

Rand Miller
David Wingrove

The ages of Myst are worlds of adventure and awe; of mystery and beauty; of intrigue and betrayal. You have seen a glimpse of the picture, and know the history of Catherine and Atrus. Now take a step further in the fictional legend of Myst.

These pages are your link to the story of Ti'ana--known among humans as Anna--the first woman from the outside world to enter the domain of the D'ni. She wandered into a place she never should have seen, and her intelligence and wisdom surprised some. And terrified others. When one young lord befriends her, then marries her, all layers of D'ni society are shaken. But no one realizes just how deeply.

The Book of Ti'ana is a tale of friend versus friend; of virtue against evil, and of trust and betrayal. It is a story that many do not want told. For you will watch as the unimaginable comes to pass, and only one is left to carry on the legacy.

The Book of D'ni

Myst: Book 3

Rand Miller
David Wingrove

The ages of Myst are worlds of adventure and awe; of mystery and beauty; of intrigue and betrayal. You have seen a glimpse of the images, and know the histories of Catherine, Atrus, and Ti'Ana. Now, take a step further into the fictional legend and origins of Myst.

These pages are your link to the story of Eedrah, son of Jethhe Ro'Jethhe, lord of Terahnee--Eedrah's ethereal homeland. Atrus and Catherine set out to rebuild D'Ni and stumble into his world of spectacular waterfalls, lush fields, rich music, and astonishingly beautiful architecture. Everything is perfect, this is a world they could scarcely imagine. But when a boy gets sick, only a prophecy and some fate can shape Terahnee's destiny.

Myst: The Book of D'ni is a tale of one man against a powerful legacy; of integrity against corruption; and of love and valor. It is the story that has been kept secret for thousands of years. And with good reason, for you will watch as the unthinkable comes to light, and only one man's life and vision is the key to salvation of a culture.

Defilers

Necroscope: Book 12

Brian Lumley

Jake Cutter is reluctantly learning how to be a Necroscope--how to use the Mobius continuum to travel instantaneously from place to place, how to talk to the dead--but dead humans don't like him much. It seems Jake's got a hitchhiker named Korath. Since Korath holds the key to the Mobius equations, Jake can't just kick him out... though he's certainly trying.

Jake's not sure he really wants to be a member of E-Branch, the supersecret ESP-powered organization that's dedicated to eradicating the vampire infestation of Earth. To the freewheeling, passionate Jake, the E-Branchers seem a little stuffy and hidebound--except for the lovely Liz, whom Jake wants to get to know better, body and mind. But Liz is a telepath, and if Jake's not careful, she'll find out about Korath. And that will likely be the end of Jake Cutter.

In Australia, Jake helped E-Branch destroy the aerie of the mind-master , Nephtam Malinari, one of a trio of Great Vampires who came to Earth from the vampire world. Malinari escaped and went to ground with the hideously beautiful Lady Vavara. Vavara has taken over a holy monastary on a beautiful Greek island and turned the nuns into most unholy creature with fearsome appetites for all things carnal.

Jake wants revenge against the Italian mobsters who killed the woman he loved and nearly killed him. As far as he's concerned, E-Branch can search for Malinari, Vavara, and the metamorphic Lord Szwart without him until he's satisfied his own bloodlust. But it seems vampire hunting is truly Jake's job now--the men he's trying to kill aren't men at all, but vampire spawn, hidden for two generations in human guise! To defeat them, Jake will need every weapon in a Necroscope's arsenal, including the power to all the unsleeping dead out of their moldering graves.

Night Gallery

Night Gallery: Book 1

Rod Serling

Contents:

ix - Foerword (Night Gallery) - essay by Scott Skelton and Jim Benson
1 - The Sole Survivor - (1971) - novelette
21 - Make Me Laugh - (1971) - novelette
45 - Pamela's Voice - (1971) - shortstory
56 - Does the Name Grimsby Do Anything to You? - (1971) - novelette
75 - Clean Kills and Other Trophies - (1971) - novelette
102 - They're Tearing Down Tim Riley's Bar - (1971) - novelette

Night Gallery 2

Night Gallery: Book 2

Rod Serling

Contents:

ix - Foreword (Night Gallery 2) - essay by Jim Benson and Scott Skelton
1 - Collector's Items - (1972) - shortfiction
31 - The Messiah on Mott Street - (1972) - shortfiction
62 - The Different Ones - (1972) - shortfiction
78 - Lindemann's Catch - (1972) - shortfiction
102 - Suggestion - (1972) - shortstory

Rod Serling's Night Gallery Reader

Night Gallery: Book 3

Martin H. Greenberg

Table of Contents:

ix - Introduction (Rod Serling's Night Gallery Reader) - essay by Carol Serling
1 - The Escape Route - (1967) - novella by Rod Serling
71 - The Dead Man - (1950) - novelette by Fritz Leiber
104 - The Little Black Bag - (1950) - novelette by C. M. Kornbluth
138 - The House - (1932) - short story by André Maurois (trans. of La maison 1931)
141 - The Boy Who Predicted Earthquakes - (1950) - short story by Margaret St. Clair
152 - The Academy - (1965) - short story by David Ely
163 - The Devil Is Not Mocked - (1943) - short story by Manly Wade Wellman
171 - Brenda - (1954) - short story by Margaret St. Clair
184 - Big Surprise - (1959) - short story by Richard Matheson
191 - House--With Ghost - (1962) - short story by August Derleth
199 - The Dark Boy - (1957) - short story by August Derleth
215 - Pickman's Model - (1927) - short story by H. P. Lovecraft
230 - Cool Air - (1928) - short story by H. P. Lovecraft
240 - Sorworth Place - [Ralph Bain] - (1952) - novelette by Russell Kirk
261 - The Return of the Sorcerer - [Cthulhu Mythos] - (1931) - short story by Clark Ashton Smith
279 - The Girl with the Hungry Eyes - (1949) - short story by Fritz Leiber
297 - The Horsehair Trunk - (1946) - short story by Davis Grubb
308 - The Ring with the Velvet Ropes - (1968) - short story by Edward D. Hoch

Nopalgarth

Omnibus edition: The Brains of Earth (novella) aka Nopalgarth

The Houses of Iszm
Son of the Tree

Son of the Tree

Nopalgarth: Book 1

Original publication: Thrilling Wonder Stories, 1951. Also appeared in Ace Double F-265 and #77525.

The Houses of Iszm

Nopalgarth: Book 2

The Necromancer; or, The Tale of the Black Forest

Original publication: Startling Stories, 1954. It also appeared as half of Ace Double F-265 and #77525.

Clermont

Northanger Horrid: Book 2

Regina Maria Roche

Clermont is the story of Madeline, a porcelain doll of a Gothic heroine, who lives in seclusion from society with her father, Clermont, whose past is shrouded in mystery. One stormy night, their solitude is interrupted by a benighted traveller, a Countess who turns out to be a friend from Clermont's past.

Madeline goes to live with the Countess to receive her education, but her new idyllic life soon turns into a shocking nightmare. Ruffians attack the gentle Countess, and Madeline is assaulted in a gloomy crypt. And to make matters worse, a sinister stranger appears, threatening to reveal the bloody truth of Clermont's past unless Madeline marries him. Can she avoid the snares of her wily pursuers, solve the mystery of her father's past, and win the love of her dear De Sevignie?

This edition of Clermont includes the unabridged text of the novel, based on the first edition of 1798, as well as a new introduction and other supplementary materials.

Northanger Horrid: Book 4

Ludwig Flammenberg

"The hurricane was howling, the hailstones beating against windows, the hoarse croaking of the raven bidding adieu to autumn, and the weather-cock's dismal creaking joined with the mournful dirge of the solitary owl..."

The Necromancer consists of a series of interconnected stories, all centering on the enigmatic figure of Volkert the Necromancer. Filled with murder, ghosts, and dark magic, and featuring a delirious and dizzying plot that almost defies comprehension, The Necromancer is one of the strangest horror novels ever written.

One of the earliest Gothic bestsellers, The Necromancer was first published in 1794, and after more than two centuries still retains the power to thrill and fascinate readers. This edition includes a new preface which reveals for the first time ever the true identity of The Necromancer's author, as well as an original critical essay by Jeffrey Cass, analysing the novel from a modern queer theory standpoint. The complete text of three contemporary reviews and helpful annotations are also included to further enhance this edition.

Hail Hibbler

Odd Jobs, Inc.: Book 2

Ron Goulart

His name was Adolph Hibbler and he had escaped the doom of Hitler's Reich by inventing the cryogenic deep freeze long before the rest of the world. As a human icicle he had been just a circus sideshow for many decades until he finally thawed our--in the 21st Century.

The trouble began with a series of mysterious events and the government had to call in Odd Jobs, Inc. But when Jake and Hildy Pace started uncovering the clues the found on odder job than any previous capers.

There were the lost cassetes fo the world's greatest sex fiend to locate. There were model planes that fired real bullets. There was the army of baby-doll killers.
And there were the revolutionary gas station attendants and the Arabian shiek who had ignited them.

Only Odd Jobs, Inc. could have connected all these cockeyed clues and come up with Hibbler. When they did ti sure looked as if they--and the world-- were on a spinoff orbit into infinite disaster!

The Science of Herself

Outspoken Authors: Book 12

Widely respected in the so-called "mainstream" for her New York Times bestselling novels, Karen Joy Fowler is also a formidable, often controversial, and always exuberant presence in Science Fiction. Here she debuts a provocative new story written especially for this series. Set in the days of Darwin, "The Science of Herself" is a marvelous hybrid of SF and historical fiction: the almost-true story of England's first female paleontologist who took on the Victorian old-boy establishment armed with only her own fierce intelligence--and an arsenal of dino bones.

Plus... "The Pelican Bar," a homely tale of family ties that makes Guantánamo look like summer camp; "The Further Adventures of the Invisible Man," a droll tale of sports, shoplifting and teen sex; and "The Motherhood Statement," a quietly angry upending of easy assumptions that shows off Fowler's deep radicalism and impatience with conservative homilies and liberal pieties alike.

And Featuring: our Outspoken Interview in which Fowler prophesies California's fate, reveals the role of bad movies in good marriages, and intimates that girls just want to have fun (which means make trouble).

Table of Contents:

The Science of Herself - (2013)
The Motherhood Statement - (2013) - essay by Karen Joy Fowler
The Pelican Bar - (2009)
More Exuberant Than Is Stristly Tasteful - (2013) - interview of Karen Joy Fowler by Terry Bisson
The Further Adventures of the Invisible Man - (2002)
Bibliography
About the Author

Killer

paperbacks from hell: Book 17

Peter Tonkin

They were caught in the ultimate trap. They faced the ultimate terror.

Five men and one beautiful woman. Marooned on a floating island of arctic ice. Together they had the equipment and skills to fight the freezing cold, the violently savage storms.

Then suddenly from the angry seas the jaws of horror opened wide as nature's deadliest creature rose from the depth--a huge killer whale of enormous intelligence, incredible power, indestructible endurance, ravenous for human prey....

Liege-Killer

Paratwa Saga: Book 1

Christopher Hinz

Two hundred years after a nuclear apocalypse forced humanity to flee earth, humans still remember the most feared warriors of that planet—-the Paratwa, genetically modified killers who occupy two bodies controlled by one vicious mind. The legendary Paratwa named Reemul, known as the Liege-Killer, was the strongest of them all. Now someone has revived Reemul from stasis and sent him to terrorize the peaceful orbital colonies of Earth. Is this an isolated incident, or has the one who unleashed this terrible power announced a gambit for control over the entire human race?

Dying in the Sun

Past Doctor Adventures: Book 47

Jon de Burgh Miller

The Doctor finds himself in Hollywood where a fantastic new movie that's playing in town is everything each one of its viewers ever wanted from a film. But the ex-fiance of the new movie's producer thinks the film is evil, and risks her life to prevent its screening. Then a friend of the Doctor's is found murdered, and his death seems linked to the activities of a secret society, FOCAL.

The Time Travellers

Past Doctor Adventures: Book 75

Simon Guerrier

When the TARDIS touches down in London, 2006, schoolteachers Ian and Barbara are eager to explore their own future. But they have arrived in the middle of a war, a war that has left London a ruin. Mistaken for vagrants, and with no way of proving otherwise, the Doctor's granddaughter and companions find themselves in the execution block on the Isle of Dogs.

The First Doctor has no choice but to help the military refine its ultimate weapon. The British Army has discovered time travel. And the consequences are already terrible.

The Pioneer

Pioneer Series: Book 1

Bridget Tyler

When Jo steps onto planet Tau Ceti e for the first time, she's ready to put the past behind her and begin again. After all, as a pioneer, she has the job of helping build a new home away from Earth.

But underneath the idyllic surface of their new home, there's something very wrong. And when Jo accidentally uncovers a devastating secret that could destroy everything they've worked for, suddenly the future doesn't seem so bright.

With the fate of the pioneers in her hands, Jo must decide how far she's willing to go to expose the truth--before the truth destroys them all.

The Survivor

Pioneer Series: Book 2

Bridget Tyler

Earth is uninhabitable. Tau is our home now.

With that terrifying message, Jo and her family learned the truth: They are trapped forever on Tau Ceti e.

But the planet's current occupants--the Sorrow--are not interested in sharing. The fragile peace Jo negotiated abruptly shatters, and soon a bloody battle is raging between the Sorrow and the Pioneers. As tensions rise, the survival of everyone Jo cares for seems less likely by the second.

When a betrayal that shocks Jo to her core threatens to wipe out both Sorrow and human life, Jo must find the strength to speak up once more--and bridge the gaps between all the warring factions--or lose forever the only home left to her.

Ports of Call

Ports of Call: Book 1

Myron Tany is an unhappy young economist until his flamboyant great-aunt lets him captain her space yacht on an interstellar hunt for a clinic rumored to restore youth. But when a disagreement with Dame Hester leaves Myron stranded on a distant planet, he signs on as supercargo aboard the tramp freighter Glicca. He travels the exotic worlds of the Gaean Reach, finding adventure or misadventure at every touchdown.

Jack Vance, grandmaster of lighthearted space opera, shapes a picaresque tale of adventure, romance, humor, and youth's eternal yearning to see the wonders that lie beyond the horizon.

Lurulu

Ports of Call: Book 2

A Kiss Before the Apocalypse

Rejoin the adventures of Myron Tany, rebellious scion of a wealthy family, as he tours the Galaxy on a very questionable interstellar freighter, in a crew of actors, musicians, thieves and other ne'er-do-wells.

Remy Chandler: Book 1

Dancing on the Head of a Pin

Generations ago, angel Remiel chose to renounce heaven and live on Earth. He found a place among ordinary humans by converting himself into Boston P.I. Remy Chandler, but he can never tell anyone who he was or that he still has angelic powers. Remy can will himself invisible, speak and understand any foreign language (including any animal language), and hear the thoughts of others.

All these secret powers come in handy for a private investigator, especially when the Angel of Death goes missing and he's assigned to find him. As he gets deeper into the investigation, he realizes this is not a missing persons case but a conspiracy to destroy the human race and only Remy has the powers to stop the forces of evil.

Remy Chandler: Book 2

Where Angels Fear to Tread

Still mourning the loss of his wife, fallen angel Remy Chandler has immersed himself in investigating dangerous supernatural cases. His latest: the theft of a cache of ancient weaponry stolen from a collector who deals in antiquities of a dark and dubious nature. The weapons, Remy knows, were forged eons ago and imbued with unimaginable power. And if they fall into the wrong hands, they could be used to destroy not only Heaven but also Earth.

Remy Chandler: Book 3

Six year-old Zoe York has been taken and her mother has come to Remy for help. She shows him crude, childlike drawings that she claims are Zoe's visions of the future, everything leading up to her abduction, and some beyond. Like the picture of a man with wings who would come and save her-a man who is an angel.

Zoe's preternatural gifts have made her a target for those who wish to exploit her power to their own destructive ends. The search will take Remy to dark places he would rather avoid. But to save an innocent, Remy will ally himself with a variety of lesser evils-and his soul may pay the price...

A Hundred Words for Hate

Remy Chandler: Book 4

In the House of the Wicked

Once he was known as the angel Remiel, but generations ago Boston PI Remy Chandler chose to renounce Heaven and live on Earth, where he found a secure place among us ordinary humans...

As an Angel, Remy Chandler possesses powers and skills he puts to good use in his chosen profession--but only if the situation calls for it. And the sudden reappearance of the Garden of Eden is definitely one such situation, since the seemingly benevolent Sons of Adam want him to find the Key to the Gates of Eden. But there are those who want the Gates to stay shut, for there is something terrible and dangerous buried in the Garden...

Caught between two warring factions of immortals, Remy must decide how to proceed: find the Key, or not? Desperate for help, he turns to a very old acquaintance--a fallen angel who is sometimes friend, sometimes foe, and always deadly.

Remy Chandler: Book 5

Walking in the Midst of Fire

Once he was known as the angel Remiel, but generations ago Boston PI Remy Chandler chose to renounce Heaven and live on Earth, where he found a secure place among us ordinary humans....

Though he may appear human, Remy has always been able to rely on Remiel--the embodiment of his angelic nature--whenever the situation calls for it. But now his human and angelic natures are sharing the same space, and Remy can feel himself becoming more and more volatile, no matter how hard he tries to control it.

Then Ashley Berg, a young woman who is like a daughter to him, vanishes without a trace. Dropping everything, Remy plunges into a frantic search for her, hoping all the while that her disappearance has nothing to do with him--or what he is.

But his hope is short-lived. A once-formidable sorcerer has taken her. The man wants vengeance against those he believes have wronged him--and Remy will be the instrument of his wrath... or Ashley will most certainly die.

Remy Chandler: Book 6

A Deafening Silence In Heaven

Once he was known as the angel Remiel, but generations ago, Boston PI Remy Chandler chose to renounce Heaven and live on Earth, where he found a secure place among ordinary humans....

Remy Chandler has found a new love--and his best human friend is reluctantly coming to grips with Remy's "unusual" abilities. He's finally reached a kind of peace between his true angelic nature and the human persona he created for himself so long ago.

But Heaven and the Legions of the Fallen still stand on the brink of war. When one of Heaven's greatest generals is murdered, it falls to Remy to discover who--or what--might be responsible, which could trigger a final conflict that would consume the Earth.

The deeper he digs, the further he goes into a dark world of demonic assassins, secret brothels, and things unsettling even to a being who has lived for eternity. But it is not in his nature--angelic or human--to quit, no matter the personal price....

Remy Chandler: Book 7

The Hawley Book of the Dead

He was once known as the angel Remiel. But, generations ago, Boston PI Remy Chandler renounced Heaven and chose to live on Earth, hiding among us humans, fighting to save our souls...

Remy Chandler is hovering on the brink of death, surrounded by friends who are trying to ward off those who would take advantage of his vulnerability. Unbeknownst to them, the greatest threat to Remy is one they can't fight--God himself. The Almighty dispatches Remy far beyond their reach, to an alternate universe where there has been an apocalyptic catastrophe: the Unification.

Only as he hunts down the source of this calamity, it becomes clearer and clearer that the person responsible for the tragedy may have been none other than Remy himself.

And while he searches for a way to stop his world from following in the footsteps of the doomed alternate reality, enemies are massing in his universe. For the Unification is at hand and, this time, Remy may be powerless to affect its outcome...

Revelation Quartet: Book 1

Chrysler Szarlan

In the tradition of The Night Circus and A Discovery of Witches, The Hawley Book of the Dead is the kind of novel that makes you believe that magic really exists.

An old house surrounded by acres of forest.

A place of secrets, mysteries and magic.

This is where Reve Dyer hopes to keep herself and her children safe.

But a mysterious figure has haunted Reve for over a decade. And now Reve knows that this person is on her trail again.

In Hawley, where the magic of her ancestors reigns, Reve must unlock the secrets of the Hawley Book of the Dead before it's too late...

When the Dream Dies

Rim World: Book 4

Appeared in Ace Double F-117 (1961) as Rendezvous on a Lost World.

When a freighter captain stuck on a dead end run at the far end of the galaxy gets a chance to own his own ship - however old and obsolete she may be - he and his crew start to dream big dreams.

Bring Back Yesterday

Rim World: Book 5

Robert L. Forward
Julie Forward Fuller

Originally appeared in Ace Double D-517 (1961).

Second Officer John Peterson is finished as far as the Galactic clippers are concerned. Branded a deserter, stranded on Carinthia and desperate for a job, there are few places left to go.

Private detective Steve Vynalek needs Petersen. Has a fanatical scientist on the planet Wenceslaus really found a way to beat the time travel problem, a way to bring back yesterday?

The Philosopher's Flight

Robert Weekes: Book 1

Tom Miller

A thrilling debut from ER doctor turned novelist Tom Miller, The Philosopher's Flight is an epic historical fantasy set in a World-War-I-era America where magic and science have blended into a single extraordinary art.

Eighteen-year-old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy--an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. Though he dreams of fighting in the Great War as the first male in the elite US Sigilry Corps Rescue and Evacuation Service--a team of flying medics--Robert is resigned to mixing batches of philosophical chemicals and keeping the books for the family business in rural Montana, where his mother, a former soldier and vigilante, aids the locals.

When a deadly accident puts his philosophical abilities to the test, Robert rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study at Radcliffe College, an all-women's school. At Radcliffe, Robert hones his skills and strives to win the respect of his classmates, a host of formidable, unruly women.

Robert falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young war hero turned political radical. However, Danielle's activism and Robert's recklessness attract the attention of the same fanatical anti-philosophical group that Robert's mother fought years before. With their lives in mounting danger, Robert and Danielle band together with a team of unlikely heroes to fight for Robert's place among the next generation of empirical philosophers--and for philosophy's very survival against the men who would destroy it.

In the tradition of Lev Grossman and Deborah Harkness, Tom Miller writes with unrivaled imagination, ambition, and humor. The Philosopher's Flight is both a fantastical reimagining of American history and a beautifully composed coming-of-age tale for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider.

The Philosopher's War

Robert Weekes: Book 2

Tom Miller

The second book in the thrilling series that began with The Philosopher's Flight finds Robert Canderelli Weekes as a rookie Rescue and Evacuation flier on the front lines of World War I in France. He came to save lives, but has no idea how far he'll have to go to win the war.

Thanks to a stunning flying performance and a harrowing shootout in the streets of Boston, Robert Canderelli Weekes's lifelong dream has come true: he's the first male allowed to join the US Sigilry Corps's Rescue and Evacuation service, an elite, all-woman team of flying medics.

But as he deploys to France during the waning days of the Great War, Sigilwoman Third-Class Canderelli learns that carrying the injured from the front lines to the field hospital is not the grand adventure he imagined. His division, full of misfits and renegades, is stretched the breaking point and has no patience for a man striving to prove himself. Slowly, Robert wins their trust and discovers his comrades are plotting to end the Great War by outlawed philosophical means.

Robert becomes caught up in their conspiracy, running raids in enemy territory and uncovering vital intelligence. Friends old and new will need his help with a dangerous scheme that just might win the war overnight and save a few million lives. But the German smokecarvers have plans of their own: a devastating all-out attack that threatens to destroy the Corps and France itself. Naturally, Robert is trapped right in the thick of it.

Return to Rocheworld

Rocheworld: Book 2

Hard SF by the author of Rocheworld and his daughter. When the first interstellar expedition reached Barnard's Star, explorers found a bizarre double planet populated by hyperintelligent water-dwellers. Soon a new aquatic race is discovered--intelligent but unfriendly beings whose territorial instincts make them attack any creature that intrudes on their domain.

Rescued From Paradise

Rocheworld: Book 5

Robert L. Forward
Julie Forward Fuller

Terrans Go Home!

The first interstellar expedition successfully reached Barnard's Star and its amazing double-planet - Rocheworld - and made contact with the flouwen, intelligent aquatic beings with a talent for higher mathematics and a love of surfing. The flouwen joined with the humans to explore the rest of Barnard's planets and moons. When a landing craft carrying ten humans and three flouwen crashlanded on a habitable moon - Eden - the team was marooned on Eden with no hope of rescue until decades later when a second expedition was scheduled from Earth.

Not having another option, the marooned explorers settled down to make the moon their home, befriending the indigenous inhabitants, exploring, learning to live off the land, and, most important, raising families. They struggled to survive natural disasters and unexpected attacks from the sea. The years passed.

A new generation grows up hearing of Earth and its technology as a dim legen, and thinking of Eden as their natural home.

When the Second Expedition finally arrives, its leader announces that he has orders to rescue all the survivors. But twenty-five years have passed. Who of the original members of the expedition will survive to see Earth again, and what new sort of human now waits on Eden to be... Rescued From Paradise?

The Life and Astonishing Adventures of John Daniel

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 1

Ralph Morris

Also Published as: A Narrative of the Life and Astonishing Adventures of John Daniel, a Smith at Royston in Hertfordshire, For a Course of Seventy Years.

In which Daniel is shipwrecked on an Island south of Java, his industrious Robinsonade life being transformed when his companion turns out to be a woman, with whom he has eleven children; as the children grow, Sex issues are resolved by incest. Daniel's son, Jacob, invents a flying machine capable of Space Flight; father and son undertake a realistically-described Fantastic Voyage to the Moon, where they encounter an Alien civilization, and a ur-Food Pill in the shape of a leaf which relieves hunger and thirst. On their return to Earth, they discover on a Pacific Island a race of benign Monsters, the consequence of cross-breeding between humans and intelligent creatures from the deeps. Further adventures ensue, in Lapland and elsewhere; Daniel then returns to England to tell his tale to "Ralph Morris".

A Voyage to Cacklogallinia

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 4

Captain Samuel Brunt

A Voyage to Cacklogallinia; With a Description of the Religion, Policy, Customs and Manners, of That Country

The novel itself is best understood as a Satire on British politics, commerce, and culture of the times (1727).

The novel takes Captain Brunt first to an unknown Caribbean Island inhabited by immense talking fowl and then to the Moon, a venue in which the spirits of humans from Earth await further passage, and act as god-wards.

Gulliver Joi

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 5

Elbert Perce

Gulliver Joi: His Three Voyages; Being an Account of His Marvelous Adventures in Kailoo, Hydrogenia and Ejario.

Contents:

Voyage to Kailoo - (1851) - novella
Voyage to Hydrogenia - (1851) - novella
Voyage to Ejario - (1851) - novella

The Consolidator, Or Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World of the Moon

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 6

Daniel Defoe

The Consolidator, or Memoirs of Sundry Transactions from the World in the Moon, translated from the Lunar Language by Daniel Defoe.

The Consolidator is at once early science fiction in the form of an early voyage to the moon, a satire on the moral and intellectual currents of the time, a tongue-in-cheek praise of China's contribution to world knowledge, and a Whiggish version of the historical events of the previous 45 years.

A Daring Trip to Mars

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 7

Max Valier

"A Daring Trip to Mars", which traces with considerable engineering detail a stress-fraught voyage to the Moon and then Mars, which they able only to orbit due to fuel problems.

Trips to the Moon

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 8

Lucian of Samosata

Lucian travels with fifty companions to the Moon, where they become embroiled in a space war; they then fly past the Sun and back to Earth, where they land in the sea and are soon swallowed by an enormous whale, from which they escape and visit various Islands, where Lucian's fertile imagination piles marvel upon lunatic marvel, and simultaneously mocks them.

Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 9

James Cowan

Daybreak: A Romance of an Old World (1896), features an ambulatory Moon which after falling into the Pacific Ocean makes it possible for the narrator of the tale, with companions, to fly to Mars in a Balloon, where they discover a new defence of Christianity in the form of parallel Evolution and multiple incarnations of Christ.

The Conquest of the Moon: A Story of the Bayouda

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 10

Andre Laurie

The Conquest of the Moon: A Story of the Bayouda 1889), in which plans are made to drag the Moon from its orbit to land in the Sahara Desert, where its resources can be plundered; but the executors of the plan are drawn to the Moon instead.

The History of a Voyage to the Moon

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 11

Chrysostom Trueman

The tale itself is divided into two parts.

In "The Voyage", the protagonists learn how to create a new Power Source - an Antigravity element capable of propelling the Spaceship they have had constructed by an eccentric Inventor - and travel to the Moon.

In part two, "The Ideal Life", they discover a Utopia inhabited by "amnesiac reincarnations of select Earthmen", four feet tall, communitarian, pacific. Transportation is via giant roc-like birds. The protagonists, in strong contrast to the behaviour of most visitors to other worlds in the nineteenth century, neither leave nor destroy the world they have discovered.

To the Moon and Back in Ninety Days

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 12

John Young Brown

The protagonist of the SF novel, To the Moon and Back in Ninety Days: A Thrilling Narrative of Blended Science and Adventure (1922), hitches a ride on a spaceship powered by an Antigravity device, and goes to the Moon. The discovery of Selenites there turns out to be a hoax but the trip was real.

Told in a documentary style, it is profusely illustrated with photos and diagrams, including photos of the spacecraft and space-suited astronauts. Indeed, the books contains a remarkably detailed description of a working space suit (Including a photo!).

Pioneers of Space: A Trip to the Moon, Mars, and Venus

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 13

George Adamski

A mundain SF novel that sets the stage for the early rounds of the contact phenomenon.

A Christmas Dinner with the Man in the Moon

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 14

Washington Gladden

Washington Gladden was a noted clergyman, theologian and social reformer whose many books on these subjects were highly respected. It may have come as a surprise to his admirers to find this delightful fantasy, first published in a children's magazine in 1880. And although Gladden was writing with tongue clearly in cheek, he displays a good knowledge of and appreciation for technology, science and astronomy. Indeed, this story contains one of the first mentions of the need of a life support system for lunar explorers.

Drowsy

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 15

J. A. Mitchell

Drowsy (1917), is a sentimental love story whose outcome is a child Telepath who, after maturing into an early Superman figure, discovers Antigravity and builds a spaceship, visiting the Moon and Mars, the latter of which is inhabited by humanoid Aliens.

The Moon Colony

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 16

William Dixon Bell

The Moon Colony (1937), in which the protagonists, adventurously travelling to the Moon, find there a Planetary Romance-style colony, complete with giant grasshoppers which can be ridden like horses.

Julian Epworth the head of secret service for Atlantic Pacific Airlines and his co-pilot Billy pursue a huge sky pirate zeppelin about to steal 1 million dollars in gold.

A fast paced ultra modern sci-fi adventure: planes being shot out of the sky, air pirates in liquid fueled planes, a mad scientists Herman Toplinsky scheming to colonize the moon is the leader of the sky jackers. Toplinsky has captured Julian, Billy and stowaway Joan, Julian"s sister, they are all off to the Moon, only to be greeted by an army of mammoth cricket-shaped creatures in military formation, large as a man, with six legs and two sharp antennas, holding steel pointed lances. Riding on top of the cricket creatures are men-shaped humps, small bodies with legs and arms, and an enormous knotty projection for their heads, seeing through large wide eyes, and this is only the beginning.

The Moon Conquerors

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 17

R. H. Romans

"The Moon Conquerors" is a Space Opera implausibly involving the Moon, though the tale is notable for the suggestion of an electromagnetic drive to launch a Spaceship to the Moon.

Its companion piece, "The War of the Planets" is presented as the text of a work discovered on the Moon. It is the first novel describing the history of the solar system and how a black race established 'human' life on Earth about 30,000 years ago in Africa.

Romans' book is also a uniquely science fictional plea for racial tolerance.

To Mars via the Moon: An Astronomical Story

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 18

Mark Wicks

To Mars Via the Moon: An Astronomical Story (1911) recounts the construction of a Spaceship capable of taking its bereaved solitary builder first to the Moon and then to Mars, which is described in accordance with the theories of Percival Lowell; here he finds a Utopia, and the Reincarnation of his dead son. He remains on Mars.

A Plunge into Space

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 20

Robert Cromie

A group of scientific adventurers builds a space ship for the purpose of exploring Mars. The motor device is a shield that protects against earth's gravity while being attracted to Mars. On the return ship they discover a stowaway -- a Martian girl.

Doctor Omega

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 22

Arnould Galopin

France, 1905. In a quiet Normandy village, amateur violinist Denis Borel meets a mysterious white-haired scientist known only as Doctor Omega, who is building an amazing spacecraft, the Cosmos. Doctor Omega invites Borel to accompany him on his maiden voyage - to Mars!

Doctor Omega: A Classic Tale of Space and Time, in which the ingenious, only seemingly scatterbrained Doctor and (after the pattern of Jules Verne) his contrasting companions travel by Antigravity machine to Mars, which is inhabited, most interestingly by the large-brained Macrocephales, who are clearly based on the Selenites in H G Wells's The First Men in the Moon (1900).

The Brick Moon: from the papers of Captain Frederic Ingham

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 25

Edward Everett Hale

"The Brick Moon" is a short story by Edward Everett Hale, published serially in The Atlantic Monthly starting in 1869. It is a work of speculative fiction containing the first known depiction of an artificial satellite.

"The Brick Moon" is written as if it were a journal. It describes the construction and launch into orbit of a sphere, 200 ft. in diameter, built of bricks. It is intended as a navigational aid, but is accidentally launched with people aboard. They survive, and so the story also provides the first known fictional description of a space station.

Zero to Eighty

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 27

Akkad Pseudoman

Zero to Eighty: Being my Lifetime Doings, Reflections, and Inventions: Also my Journey Around the Moon comprises the slightly wooden memoirs of "Kad" Pseudoman, whose early life incorporates some elements of the Edisonade - he discovers a gold mine in the West from which he profits mightily; he creates various Inventions, usually to do with Transportation; and he saves a country from its enemies, though the country is not America but Switzerland - but who mainly concerns himself with technical and pictorial accounts of the building of an electric-pulse gun, a tube 200 kilometres long whose muzzle is located at the top of Mount Popocatapetl, launching a Spaceship in which Pseudoman circumnavigates the Moon in 1961. The memoir ends with a visit to the Lenin Underground Village, a vast Keep built two kilometres Underground beneath Moscow as an exercise in the engineering of Utopia.

Aleriel: or, A Voyage to Other Worlds

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 28

W. S. Lach-Szyrma

Aleriel is a series of interplanetary fictions, featuring the travels around the solar system of the winged Venusian Aleriel, during the course of which Aleriel - who has been passing as a hunchback to disguises his wings - describes Venus as a Utopia of the unfallen; in the second part of the tale, Aleriel returns to Venus, and sends back missives describing life on further planets.

Contents:

Aleriel: or A Voyage to Other Worlds - [Aleriel] - (1883) - novel
Letters from the Planets: By Our Roving Commissioner - [Aleriel] - (1887) - shortstory
Letters from the Planets: Letter the Second - [Aleriel] - (1887) - shortstory
Letters from the Planets: From Our Roving Correspondent - [Aleriel] - (1887) - shortstory
Letters from the Planets: IV. From Our Roving Correspondent - [Aleriel] - (1887) - shortstory
Letters from the Planets: Canal Life on Mars - [Aleriel] - (1890) - shortstory

Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 29

Mark Twain

"Extracts From Captain Stormfield's Visit To Heaven" is the first-person account of a sea captain's trip to heaven after his death. First published serially in "Harper's Magazine" in December 1907 and January 1908 (though written 30 years earlier), then as a Christmas gift book. "Extracts" was the last book Mark Twain published during his lifetime.

A Honeymoon in Space

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 30

George Griffith

Lenox, the Earl of Redgrave, has made the greatest scientific discovery in the history of the world: a flying ship with the power to break free of Earth's gravity and take to the stars. But before he uses it to expand humanity's understanding of the universe, he has some personal business to attend to--namely, wooing an old flame.

The lady in question is Zaidie, the daughter of Lenox's colleague Professor Rennick. With Zaidie about to be forced into a loveless marriage, Lenox knows he must do something drastic. He steals her away and takes her out of this world--literally.

Griffith's accounts of other planets are spectacularly engaging--from subterranean civilizations on the moon to the warlike Martians to the musical inhabitants of Venus. This remarkable adventure makes for a memorable honeymoon indeed.

A Trip To Venus

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 32

John Munro

A Trip to Venus (1897) is an account of a journey by Spaceship - powered by a new Antigravity as a sustaining Power Source - to an idyllic Utopia on Venus, with a brief excursion to Mercury.

By Rocket to the Moon: The Story of Hans Hardt's Miraculous Flight

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 33

Otto Willi Gail

First published in English in 1931, this novel for young adults is an accurate mirror of many of the space travel concepts that have been discussed by pre-war European experts. The author's imaginative theories about the history of the Earth--many of which presage those of Velikovksy and von Daniken--are explored.

A young German scientist and his uncle, with one mechanic, take off in a rocket-like device, and finally reach the moon. An egotistical young American news reporter succeeds in going with them as a stowaway.

Between Earth and Moon

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 36

Otfrid von Hanstein

First published in English in 1930, this remarkable science fiction novel details the fate of three astronauts whose Spaceship takes off accidentally from its mooring in the artificial Island of New Atlantis, just west of San Francisco. After a daring trip, they reach the Moon. Based on the pioneering work of Hermann Oberth, this suspenseful novel is an accurate mirror of the state of the art of astronautics of the time.

Through Space to Mars or, The Longest Journey on Record

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 37

Roy Rockwood

A turn of the last-century boys adventure, which takes the heros into space, to Mars, and the wonders there.

Adrift in the Stratosphere

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 41

Professor A. M. Low

Adrift in the Stratosphere, aimed at a juvenile audience, has a young protagonists accidentally take off in a professor's experimental Spaceship and they soon find themselves attacked by irrationally hostile Martians with various Rays and a madness-inducing Basilisk radio broadcast; there are subsequent tours of Utopias set on space Islands.

Off on a Comet

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 44

Jules Verne

The story starts with a comet called Gallia, that touches the Earth in its flight and collects a few small chunks of it. The disaster occurs on January 1 around Gibraltar. On the territory that is carried away by the comet there remain a total of thirty-six people of French, English, Spanish and Russian nationality. These people do not realize at first what has happened, and consider the collision an earthquake. During a new collision of the comet with Earth two years later, the castaways return to earth in a balloon they put together.

This novel has has also been split into two parts: To the Sun? & Off on a Comet!

The Crystal City Under the Sea

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 46

Andre Laurie

This is a lost race novel of an Atlantean Kingdom remnant, living beneath the ocean off the Azores, under a glass dome.

The End of Books

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 47

Octave Uzanne

In the 'The End of Books', which is a transcript of an impromptu speech given in 1894, Octave Uzanne brilliantly anticipated the invention of the walkman, radio, TV, Ipods, hearing problems and anticipated the modern form of the 'demise of books argument' by a century.

(Good fun when read upon a kindle or any other ebook platform.)

Under the Sea to the North Pole

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 48

Pierre Maël

Written for a younger audiance, a futurist submarine ventures to where no one has gone before: the North Pole.

Penguin Island

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 49

Anatole France

Penguin Island (1908) has been called "the best social satire ever written" (Toni Ungerer).

The story takes place in Antarctica, where a fictional penguin population mirrors the foibles of human beings. With the devil's help, a missionary arrives in Antartica and baptizes the local penguins. With God's help, he then turns them into human beings. As a result, the penguins must now try to figure out how to live together and create a civilization. They experience their own barbaric Ancient Times and Middle Ages, and in their efforts to create a modern age, they undergo social conflicts and devastating wars.

Written in the spirit of rationalism and enlightenment,Penguin Island is a wickedly funny, incisive portrait of religious fanatacism.

The Earth-Tube

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 50

Gawain Edwards

The Earth-Tube (1929), a Yellow Peril sub-genre novel, in which Asians take advantage of their possession of the invulnerable metal undulal to tunnel under South America, which they soon conquer. After a young hero has penetrated the secret, catastrophic explosions close the tunnel, inundating South America but sparing the USA, which has transformed itself into a socialist regime in response to the free gold which the Asians have been raining from the skies in an effort to destabilize the great capitalist democracy.

Three Go Back

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 51

J. Leslie Mitchell

Three go back... 25,000 years, to lost Atlantis! A tale mixing adventure, science, and sex in the search for solutions to our world's problems.

The Flying Legion

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 52

George Allan England

This a classic novel of adventure reflecting the tangled milieu of the Middle East just after World War I. It is a flying adventure story reflecting the enthusiasm for air travel and constantly improving technology of the period. The super aircraft of the Flying Legion, The Eagle of the Sky, could come, in effect, from the magazine covers of Science and Mechanics of the period.

If you like first rate derring do, cliff hanging situations, heroic characters fighting down to the last ditch against impossible odds, this is it!

The Island of Captain Sparrow: A Lost Race Fantasy

Ron Miller Science Fiction Classics: Book 53