Read the first two books—The Maze Runner and The Scorch Trials—discover lost files from the offices of WICKED, and learn forgotten Glader memories in this collectible edition. The Maze Runner is now a major motion picture from Twentieth Century Fox. Don’t miss the sequel, Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, coming to theaters on September 18, 2015, with Dylan O’Brien as Thomas, Kaya Scodelario as Teresa, Will Poulter as Gally, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Newt, Rosa Salazar as Brenda, Giancarlo Esposito as Jorge, and Aidan Gillen as the Rat Man.Remember. Survive. Run.

    Sophie, with her glass slippers and pink dresses, thinks she'll earn top marks at the School for Good. Meanwhile, Agatha, with her shapeless black frocks and wicked black cat, seems a natural fit for the School for Evil.But when the two girls are swept into the Endless Woods, they find their fortunes are reversed. . . . The aftermath leads to unexpected paths, new alliances, and boys that divide them in an exhilarating quest to find their true Ever After.Soman Chainani has created a spectacular world that Rick Riordan, author of the bestselling Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, says "reimagines the world of fairy tales and will make you question who is good and who is evil" and Newbery Honor–winning author Ann M. Martin calls "a fairy tale like no other, complete with romance, magic, humor, and a riddle that will keep you turning pages until the end."

    But his kidnappers may have underestimated his knowledge of the ship that they have, quite literally, bound him to piloting. The End of All Things is John Scalzi's conclusion to the Old Man's War tale that began with The Human Division.

    In her debut collection of short fiction, Due takes us to Gracetown, a small Florida town that has both literal and figurative ghost; into future scenarios that seem all too real; and provides empathetic portraits of those whose lives are touched by Otherness. Featuring an award-winning novella and fifteen stories—one of which has never been published before—Ghost Summer: Stories is sure to both haunt and delight.With an Introduction by Nalo Hopkinson and an Afterword by Steven Barnes.

    But when that Pack was threatened by a terrible danger, Moon found unexpected help—and a difficult choice—in a newcomer called Fiery…Survivors: Moon's Choice also includes a sneak peek at Survivors: The Gathering Darkness #1: A Pack Divided!

    Other than my name, I am utterly forgettable—so those who never paid much attention to me in the first place aren’t likely to notice that I’ve disappeared. Vanished. Oh, it’s much more complicated than it sounds. I SHOULD TELL YOU ABOUT DR. SAMUEL BICKEL, world-renowned nanophysicist. We used to work together, but I’ll be candid with you: He’s supposed to be dead. Well, he’s not. (Imagine my surprise.) Instead of the proverbial “six feet under,” he’s subsisting in an abandoned devolution cavern beneath the old Manzano Weapons Storage Facility on Kirtland Air Force Base here in Albuquerque.“I need to show you what I’m protecting here, Gemma,” he insisted.I stared into the clear glass case. I could hear . . . humming, clicking, buzzing. A faint haze inside the box formed and moved. It reminded me of how mercury, when released on a plate, will flow and form. Only this, this . . . thing was “flowing and forming” in mid-air.“Do you see them?” Dr. Bickel asked.“Them?” I was confused. My mouth opened to a stunned “o” as the silver haze flowed and formed blue letters spelling out H E L L O.Hello.I blanched. Dr. Bickel hadn’t pressed any buttons. Hadn’t said anything. Hadn’t gestured. He grinned. “Ah. They’ve noticed you. They know that they’ve not seen you before.”“Well, I wish they wouldn’t notice me!” I choked out the words without shifting my eyes from the glass case.AND I NEED TO WARN YOU ABOUT GENERAL CUSHING. The rank and name likely conjure images of a lean but muscled soldier, posture rigid, iron-gray hair cut “high and tight,” and a face cemented in weathered, unyielding lines.Let me disabuse you of that impression. General Imogene Cushing is short and a tiny bit plump, and she wears her beautiful silvered hair in an elegant braid knotted at the nape of her neck. She knows how to smile sweetly. With the very best of sharks. You wouldn’t suspect a two-star general (an Air Force O-8) of being a traitor, would you? NANOSTEALTHStealthy Steps, June 1, 2015Stealth Power, 2016Stealth Beyond Borders, 2017

    Wild, but curiously childlike; wise and yet playful; existing outside the confines of conventional morality, and yet bringing hope and clarity to everyone whose lives they touch.” —Joanne Harris, author of Chocolat, from her introduction to this book. Charles de Lint’s readers have been asking him to put together story collections featuring their favourite Newford characters. The crow girls are among his best-loved characters, so de Lint obliged by gathering their stories all under one roof, so to speak. Some other members of the Newford repertory company show up here, but at the forefront of each story are these two little wild girls with their big personalities. This book features an introduction by Joanne Harris and an afterword by the de Lint. Cover art by Tara Larsen Chang (www.taralarsenchang.com). These stories have all been published before. “Crow Girls” is also available in The Very Best of Charles de Lint and in Moonlight and Vines; “Twa Corbies” in Moonlight and Vines; “The Buffalo Man” in Tapping the Dream Tree; and “A Crow Girls’ Christmas” in Muse and Reverie. “Make a Joyful Noise,” published in a limited edition by Subterranean Press, has not appeared in any of his previous collections. "Nobody does urban fantasy better than Charles de Lint. He has a gift for creating engaging, fully realized characters, totally believable dialogue, and a feeling that magic is just around the corner … He can make you believe 'as many as six impossible things before breakfast.' " —Amazon.com Editorial Review "De Lint's elegant prose and effective storytelling continue to transform the mundane into the magical at every turn. Highly recommended." —Library Journal, Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. "In many hands, the urban fantasy plot involving strange beings just around the corner fails dismally. It does not in the hands of the reliable, the inimitable de Lint … —Booklist " de Lint…clearly has no equal as an urban fantasist and very few equals among fantasists as a folklorist." —Booklist Charles de Lint is the modern master of urban fantasy. Folktale, myth, fairy tale, dreams, urban legend—all of it adds up to pure magic in de Lint's vivid, original world. No one does it better. — Alice Hoffman Charles de Lint writes like a magician. He draws out the strange inside our own world, weaving stories that feel more real than we are when we read them. He is, simply put, the best. — Holly Black Unlike most fantasy writers who deal with battles between ultimate good and evil, de Lint concentrates on smaller, very personal conflicts. Perhaps this is what makes him accessible to the non-fantasy audience as well as the hard-core fans. Perhaps it’s just damned fine writing. —Quill & Quire

    But the threat won't rest, and her people may pay the price.This story is also found in Legends: Fifteen Tales of Sword and Sorcery Anthology.You can also get a copy by signing up for K.F. Breene's newsletter.

    Then they were separated, and Lucky never thought he'd see her again—until he met the Wild Pack that ruled the forest. . . .Survivors: Sweet's Journey also includes a teaser chapter to Survivors #6: Storm of Dogs.

    It's a tale of humanity at its best and worst, of love and loss, of fear and heroism. It's the story of a woman who sought the stars and found more than anyone imagined possible.When faced with its greatest challenge, will humanity rise to triumph or fall to ruin?*STARSHINESPACE IS VAST AND UNTAMED, AND IT HOLDS MANY SECRETS. Now two individuals from opposite ends of settled space are on a collision course with the darkest of those secrets, even as the world threatens to explode around them.The year is 2322. Humanity has expanded into the stars, inhabiting over 100 worlds. Though thriving as never before, Earth struggles to retain authority over far-flung planets and free-wheeling corporations while an uneasy armistice with a breakaway federation hangs by a thread as the former rebels rise in wealth and power.Alexis Solovy is Earth Alliance royalty, her father a fallen war hero and her mother an influential military leader. But she seeks only the freedom of space and has made a fortune by reading the patterns in the chaos to discover the hidden wonders of the stars.Nothing about her latest objective suggests the secret it conceals will turn her life--not to mention the entire galaxy--upside down. But a chance encounter with a mysterious spy leads to a discovery which will thrust Alex into the middle of a galactic power struggle and a sinister conspiracy, whether she likes it or not.*VERTIGOWhere do you run when there is no escape? Where do you turn when the enemy within is as dangerous as the enemy unknown?Humanity is under attack. An engineered war between rival superpowers escalates even as the shadowy Metigen armada begins attacking colonies on the fringes of settled space.Individuals from across the galaxy fight for their own survival and to protect those they hold dear while a group of unlikely allies race to expose a secret cabal. As the aliens draw ever closer, leaving destruction & death in their wake, the strongest defenders of Earth and Seneca fall to one another in a war of lies and misdirection.Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano stand accused of terrorism and murder. In a desperate gambit to clear their names and find a way to defeat the invaders, they breach the dimensional portal at the heart of the Metis Nebula. In a strange, mystical realm where nothing is what it seems, they will uncover secrets about humanity's past and future--and one revelation which will change everything.*TRANSCENDENCEWhat does it mean to be human? What if the price of saving humanity is giving up your own?We stand upon the precipice of extinction. The invading Metigen armada has decimated a third of settled space, leaving millions dead. Determined to save civilization, Earth and Seneca put aside their differences to face the threat together. But it may not be enough to stop the fleet of colossal dreadnoughts inhabited by advanced AIs.Alex Solovy and Caleb Marano hold the key to defeating the invaders. Now they face a deadly gauntlet of relentless alien hunters and assassins sent to kill them before they can unleash a potent new weapon.

    Which pill do you choose? Yellow pill - grants the ability to read minds Green pill - you can shapeshift into any animal at will Blue pill - free movement throughout the cosmos, and safety from its dangers Orange pill - master any skill a human is capable of performing Red pill - BRUTE STRENGTH! Pink pill - make people love you as if flipping a switch Grey pill - control any technology with your mind Black pill - the ability to see up to one month into the future Eight people each take one of these pills and together they shape the destiny of the universe.

    A gang of courageous kids confronts both a plague-destroyed world and an afterlife infested with clowns but robbed of laughter. In an island city, the murder of a child unites two lovers, but vengeance will part them. Only human sacrifice will save a city trapped in ice and darkness. Gold spun out of straw has a price, but not the one you expect.World Fantasy Award winner Ellen Kushner has called Cooney's writing "stunningly delicious! Cruel, beautiful and irresistible." BONE SWANS, the infernally whimsical debut collection from C. S. E. Cooney, gathers five novellas that in the words of Andre Norton Award winner Delia Sherman are "bawdy, horrific, comic, and moving-frequently all at the same time." Cooney's mentor, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Grand Master Gene Wolfe, proclaims in his introduction that her style is so original it can only be described as "pure Cooney," and he offers readers a challenge: "Try to define that when you've finished the stories in this book."Introducing C.S.E. Cooney / by Gene Wolfe --Life on the sun --The bone swans of Amandale --Martyr's gem --How the milkmaid struck a bargain with the crooked one --The big bah-ha

    Johannes Cabal is a necromancer—and he's slightly infamous.Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day: And Other Tales of the Necromancer features seven of Cabal's most frightening adventures:"Exeunt Demon King,""The Ereshkigal Working,""Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day,""The House of Gears,""The Death of Me,""Ouroboros Ouzo," and"A Long Spoon."Also included is an original introduction written and read by the author.7 hrs 19 minutes

    There is a commonly held belief these natural disasters are not natural at all. Rather, these massive storms and the damage and fatalities they cause are intentional -- retaliation by restless spirits impacted by the transatlantic slave trade. Their destruction sweeping through the Middle Passage, Caribbean and many Southern slave holding states. Awiti is one of these spirits. But there is more to Awiti than creating hurricanes. As those who have encountered her love and wrath will attest - there is so much more. The Truth About Awiti is a historical fantasy novel that will leave readers questioning the impact of the transatlantic slave trade on the physical and spiritual realms.

    could not put it down ..." Join the Star Watch crew on their first mission to the planet of Trom, where hostile Pharlom invaders have appropriated high altitude cloud-ports as prisoner of war camps. As a fierce battle in space ensues, fragmented warships fall into Trom’s atmosphere and head right for a populated cloud-port.From best-selling author Mark Wayne McGinnis comes the highly anticipated Scrapyard Ship spin-off series, Star Watch.The Craing War is now over … the enemy defeated. As planetary systems around the galaxy try to bring normalcy back to their existence, one thing becomes crystal clear … without the Craing around to keep everyone in line, space has become a far more dangerous place. With tens of thousands of warships idle, along with hundreds of thousands of Allied crew personnel sitting on their hands, it’s up to Admiral Perry Reynolds whether or not to send the combatants home, and mothball most of the ships. But as more and more requests for prompt Allied assistance come in from the farthest reaches of outer space (i.e. for minor incursions into sovereign territory; or others, more serious—including barbaric planetary invasions), Admiral Reynolds is compelled to introduce a new stellar over-watch program. With his own career winding down, one of his final directives will be in the formation of a special intergalactic marshaling service … Star Watch. The admiral has the perfect ship lined up for the task—the most advanced warship in the known galaxy: the mile-long Caldurian vessel—the Minian. Next … he needs to outfit the ship with a captain and crew he can trust to get this far-range venture initiated properly. Across the galaxy, young Boomer, daughter of Captain Jason Reynolds, begins her training in the ancient fighting methods of the Kahill Callan, and prepares to battle against Lord Vikor Shakrim—leader of the dreaded Sahhrain warriors.

    Why, he asks, are we so interested in finding intelligence in the stars and so deaf to the many species who manifest it here on earth? And also: why have we demanded that, as proof of intelligence, non-human animals communicate to us in human language, and then dismissed those creatures that actually do so?" - Karen Joy Fowler About the Author: Ted Chiang was born in Port Jefferson, New York, and holds a degree in computer science. In 1989 he attended the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writer’s Workshop. His fiction has won four Hugo, four Nebula, and four Locus awards, and he is the recipient of the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award. Stories of Your Life and Others has been translated into ten languages. He lives near Seattle, Washington. About the Guest Editor: Karen Joy Fowler is the author of six novels and three short story collections. The Jane Austen Book Club spent thirteen weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s previous novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, was a New York Times Notable Book, as was her second novel, The Sweetheart Season. In addition, Sarah Canary won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, and was listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999, and her collection What I Didn’t See won the World Fantasy Award in 2011. Fowler and her husband, who have two grown children and five grandchildren, live in Santa Cruz, California. About the Publisher: Recommended Reading is the weekly fiction magazine of Electric Literature, publishing here every Wednesday morning. In addition to featuring our own recommendations of original, previously unpublished fiction, we invite established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommend great work from their pages, past and present. Follow Recommended Reading on Medium and never miss the latest issue, or become a member for full access to the archives. For other links from Electric Literature, follow us, or sign up for our eNewsletter.

    Including stories from the 1970s to the present day, the collection seeks to expand the conversation about feminism while engaging the reader in a wealth of imaginative ideas. Sisters of the Revolution seeks to expand the ideas of both contemporary fiction and feminism to new fronts.Contents:The forbidden words of Margaret A. / L. Timmel Duchamp --My flannel knickers / Leonora Carrington --The mothers of Shark Island / Kit Reed --The palm tree bandit / Nnedi Okorafor --The grammarian's five daughters / Eleanor Arnason --And Salome danced / Kelley Eskridge --The perfect married woman / Angélica Gorodischer --The glass bottle trick / Nalo Hopkinson --Their mother's tears : the fourth letter / Leena Krohn --The screwfly solution / James Tiptree, Jr. --Seven losses of na Re / Rose Lemberg --The evening and the morning and the night / Octavia E. Butler --The sleep of plants / Anne Richter --The men who live in trees / Kelly Barnhill --Tales from the breast / Hiromi Goto --The Fall River axe murders / Angela Carter --Love and sex among the invertebrates / Pat Murphy --When it changed / Joanna Russ --The woman who thought she was a planet / Vandana Singh --Gestella / Susan Palwick --Boys / Carol Emshwiller --Stable strategies for middle management / Eileen Gunn --Northern chess / Tanith Lee --Aunts / Karin Tidbeck --Sur / Ursula K. Le Guin --Fears / Pamela Sargent --Detours on the way to nothing / Rachel Swirsky --Thirteen ways of looking at space/time / Catherynne M. Valente --Home by the sea / Elisabeth Vonaburg.

     Four Dark Tales. Four Sensual Stories. Four Page Turners. DUNGEON GAMES: A Masters and Mercenaries Novella by Lexi Blake: On the hunt for a killer, Derek Brighton enters a shadowy underworld only to find the woman he aches for is working the same case. Karina Mills is searching for a missing girl and won’t stop until she finds her. To get close to their prime suspect, they need to pose as a couple. But as their operation goes under the covers, unlikely partners become passionate lovers while the killer prepares to strike. AZAGOTH: A Demonica Novella by Larissa Ione: He holds the ability to annihilate souls in the palm of his hand. She’s an angel with the extraordinary ability to travel through time and space. An angel with a tormented past she can’t escape. And when Lilliana is sent to Azagoth’s underworld realm, she finds that her past isn’t all she can’t escape. For the irresistibly sexy fallen angel known as Azagoth is also known as the Grim Reaper, and when he claims a soul, it’s forever… NEED YOU NOW: A Shattered Promises Series Prelude by Lisa Renee Jones: Life is hard. Life leaves you beaten, broken...alone. Then one day, a stranger touches your hand and you feel something intense, unforgettable...but you want to forget. You need to forget. It’s safer than believing in things you’ve decided don’t exist. You know shattered promises and lost hope. You know them so much better than you know this excited, warm, wonderful feeling, and it scares you. He scares you, but he also makes you feel alive again. SHOW ME, BABY: A Masters of the Shadowlands Novella by Cherise Sinclair: As a Shadowlands Master, Jake Sheffield watches out for all the trainees. But one is special. Lush body, a gift for living life to the fullest, always laughing or smiling. Although Rainie trips all his switches, she’s avoided him since the moment she arrived…and he let her have that play. But when she lies to him about her goals, he knows the time has come for a Master to take an active part in her training. Every Dark Nights tale is breathtakingly sexy and magically romantic.

    It’s the last place you should be. Gabriel doesn't know how it began. Nobody does, not even Kane, and he was President. Gabriel was on a tour of the White House with Mags and the rest of Miss Kimble’s first-graders when it happened. They fled in helicopters to a long-abandoned mountain bunker, even as the first of the missiles found their targets.Ten years have passed, and Gabriel still lives deep inside the mountain, waiting for the world to thaw. But outside the ash-storms continue to rage, and supplies are running low. The President says it will be okay, but Gabriel isn’t so sure. He’s their scavenger; he’s seen what it’s like out there.Then one day Gabriel finds a bloodstained map. The blood’s not a problem, nor are the frozen remains of the person it once belonged to. Gabriel’s used to seeing dead bodies; there's far worse to be found in any Walmart or Piggly Wiggly you care to wander into. Except this one he recognizes, and it shouldn’t be here. Now all Gabriel can think is how he's going to make it back to the bunker to let the President know what he's found.But the map Gabriel has found is the key to a secret, one that has been buried for a decade. Gabriel's about to learn that inside the mountain things are not as they seem. And to get Mags and the others out he will need to face the thing that terrifies him most.

    As fearless as she is peculiar, Jael immediately proves she’s game for just about anything, including wing-walking in his struggling airshow. In return for her help, she demands a ride back home . . . to the sky. Hitch thinks she’s nuts—until he steers his plane into the midst of a bizarre storm and nearly crashes into a strange airship like none he’s ever run afoul of, an airship with the power to control the weather. Caught between a corrupt sheriff and dangerous new enemies from above, Hitch must take his last chance to gain forgiveness from his estranged family, deliver Jael safely home before she flies off with his freewheeling heart, and save his Nebraska hometown from storm-wielding sky pirates. Cocky, funny, and full of heart, Storming is a jaunty historical/dieselpunk mash-up that combines rip-roaring adventure and small-town charm with the thrill of futuristic possibilities.

    Vaughan (LOST, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, EX MACHINA) and with art by Pia Guerra, this is the saga of Yorick Brown—the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome. Accompanied by a mysterious government agent, a brilliant young geneticist and his pet monkey, Ampersand, Yorick travels the world in search of his lost love and the answer to why he's the last man on earth.This Absolute Edition will feature the first twenty issues of this action-packed series along with special script pages, character sketchs and cover gallery.Collects Y: THE LAST MAN #1-20.

    Headstrong Princess Neala is the daughter of Riona the First, Queen of Kaels, a mystical race with command of the five elements, and second in line for the throne. She lives a life of ease but wants nothing more than to be seen for who she is and not as a pawn in her mother’s political games. When civil war breaks out, ravaging her homeland, Princess Neala is determined to unify the realms using her command of the elements and knowledge of the enemy that she alone possesses. Torn between her mother’s commands and her deepest desires, can she maintain her resolve and rise up against the dark alliances that threaten her life and her kingdom?

    In a feverish race against the inevitable, nations around the globe band together to devise an ambitious plan to ensure the survival of humanity far beyond our atmosphere, in outer space.But the complexities and unpredictability of human nature coupled with unforeseen challenges and dangers threaten the intrepid pioneers, until only a handful of survivors remain . . .Five thousand years later, their progeny—seven distinct races now three billion strong—embark on yet another audacious journey into the unknown . . . to an alien world utterly transformed by cataclysm and time: Earth.A writer of dazzling genius and imaginative vision, Neal Stephenson combines science, philosophy, technology, psychology, and literature in a magnificent work of speculative fiction that offers a portrait of a future that is both extraordinary and eerily recognizable. As he did in Anathem, Cryptonomicon, the Baroque Cycle, and Reamde, Stephenson explores some of our biggest ideas and perplexing challenges in a breathtaking saga that is daring, engrossing, and altogether brilliant.

    Stirling, Harry Turtledove, Walter Jon Williams, John Birmingham, John Barnes, Jane Lindskold, and more...S. M. Stirling’s New York Times bestselling Novels of the Change have depicted a postapocalyptic wasteland in which all modern technology has been left in ashes, forcing humankind to rebuild an unknowable new world in the wake of unimaginable—and deliberate—chaos.Now, in this new anthology, S. M. Stirling invites the most fertile minds in science fiction to join him in expanding his rich Emberverse canvas. Here are inventive new perspectives on the cultures, the survivors, and the battles arising across the years and across the globe following the Change.In his all-new story “Hot Night at the Hopping Toad,” Stirling returns to his own continuing saga of the High Kingdom of Montival. In the accompanying stories are fortune seekers, voyagers, and dangers—from the ruins of Sydney to the Republic of Fargo and Northern Alberta to Venetian and Greek galleys clashing in the Mediterranean.These new adventures revisit beloved people and places from Stirling’s fantastic universe, introduce us to new ones, and deliver endlessly fascinating challenges to conquer.Contributors to The Change: Tales of Downfall and Rebirth includeIntroduction: The Change as Setting and Secondary World by S. M. StirlingHot Night at the Hopping Toad by S. M. StirlingRate of Exchange by A. M. DellamonicaTight Spot by Kier SalmonAgainst the Wind by Lauren C. TeffeauThe Demons of Witmer Hall by M. T. ReitenBernie, Lord of the Apes by John Jos. MillerThe Seeker: A Poison in the Blood by Victor MilánGrandpa’s Gift by Terry D. EnglandFortune and Glory by John BirminghamThe Venetian Dialectic by Walter Jon WilliamsThe Soul Remembers Uncouth Noises by John BarnesTopanga and the Chatsworth Lancers by Harry TurtledoveThe Hermit and the Jackalopes by Jane LindskoldThe New Normal by Jody Lynn NyeA Missed Connection by Emily Mah TippettsDeor by Diana Paxson

    Folk play. That is the way it has been in this country as long as Sam can remember. He is happy, and he understands that this is the way it should be. People are bigger than folk. They are stronger. They do not need food or water. They do not need the warmth of a fire. All they need is a job to do and a blacksmith to fix them when they break. The people work so the folk can drink their moonshine, fish a little, throw a horseshoe. But when Sam starts to wonder about why the world is this way, his life will never be the same.   Along with the other stories in this collection, “I Am Crying All Inside” is a compact marvel: a picture of an impossible reality that is not so different from our own.   Each story includes an introduction by David W. Wixon, literary executor of the Clifford D. Simak estate and editor of this ebook.

    In it, teens are sent to other planets to harvest resources and bring them back to the environmentally ravaged Earth. It centers on Ishmael, who discovers the truth about his ill-fated expedition, and the obsessions of the mysterious captain of his ship, Ahab.

     Two months after the announcement that rocked the entire world, Mari Jorgenson is going undercover to protect the man who has become the face of the Unbounded. What’s not to like? Expensive clothes, a great disguise, a chance to play with knives—and all with a Renegade partner she might just be falling for. Mari can’t think of a better assignment for practicing her shifting ability. But when everything goes horribly wrong on the first day, it will take everything she has—and more—if she and her friends are to keep humanity’s best hope for peace alive long enough to unite the world. Along the way, Mari glimpses within herself a darkness that threatens to turn her into the very evil she is fighting. Join Mari, Keene, Jace, Cort, and other Renegades from the main Unbounded series as Mari shifts through an adventure that will ultimately set the stage for the greatest and final battle with the Emporium. Please note that Lethal Engagement is not as long as the books from Erin's point-of-view, but is still the same size as many short novels. The events take place in the Unbounded timeline after The Reckoning (Unbounded Book 4). As some of the events in book 4 are referenced, readers will better appreciate Lethal Engagement after reading The Reckoning.

    You need not be duped by a collection of rats in an elaborate costume, dressed as a handsome suitor, or experience the embarrassment so many have already endured after bringing their ordinarily well-behaved, large sea mammal to an art gallery only to see cultural treasures defiled by inadvertent clumsiness arising from a frame better built for the confines of Poseidon's realm. More than five hundred unfortunate results of the manifold paths our life may offer have been helpfully diagramed for you along with positive affirmations of this veil's wonders and much more!Alexander the Great once remarked that upon the conduct of each depends the fate of all and his words may be taken as injunction to obtain this volume for your very own to ensure the continued security of our very civilization.Benjamin Dewey's The Tragedy Series is an addictive collection of funny-sad comics based on the popular Tumblr blog.

    The original ISBN is 1523255277, COLLECTING THREE OF LUKE SMITHERD'S BOOKS; HOLD ON UNTIL YOUR FINGERS BREAK, THE MAN ON TABLE TEN, AND MY NAME IS MISTER GRIEF, PLUS EXCLUSIVE BONUS STORY THE CRASH, UNAVAILABLE ANYWHERE ELSE!Luke Smitherd is bringing his unique brand of strange storytelling once again, delivered here in an omnibus edition that collects four of his weirdest and darkest tales:MY NAME IS MISTER GRIEF: what if you could get rid of your pain immediately? What price would you be prepared to pay?HOLD ON UNTIL YOUR FINGERS BREAK: a hangover, a forgotten night out, old men screaming in the street, and a mystery with a terrible, terrible answer ...THE MAN ON TABLE TEN: he has a story to tell you. One that he has kept secret for decades. But now, the man on table ten can take no more, and the knowledge - as well as the burden - is now yours.EXCLUSIVE story, THE CRASH: if you put a dent in someone's car, the consequences can be far greater - and more strange - than you expect.

    His work as an apprentice fuller is boring, and playing in the mill’s machinery isn’t that dangerous. Everything goes fine—at first. All right, he’s lucky the wizard Elkan and his familiar, a donkey named Sar, are there to save his life. Even better, when his furious master fires him, Elkan offers him a job as his assistant. Josiah jumps at the chance. Traveling around Tevenar for a year, meeting all sorts of interesting people, helping the dedicated young wizard and clever donkey serve them with the Mother’s healing magic—what could be more fun? But Josiah soon learns that while matters of life and death may be exciting, they’re seldom fun. Impulsive actions, even when taken with the best of intentions, can have devastating consequences. And some choices have the power to change the future of Tevenar forever.

    His raw and experimental work lays bare the unimportance of our world and the sickening madness of the human condition. Like the greatest writers of cosmic horror, Ligotti bends reality until it cracks, opening fissures through which he invites us to gaze on the unsettling darkness of the abyss below.For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

    A murdered girl. An attic full of charms …Charlie Tuesday has a new case. A maid-servant has been brutally murdered, leaving an array of strange protectorates in her attic room. Stolen from her body was a silver thimble which no-one can explain how she came to have.Was the dead girl warding off something more sinister than bad luck? As London’s best thief-taker begins tracking the killer, nothing is what it seems.This is a short read from the bestselling Thief Taker series. It can be read standalone or as an early case from the series.

    For as long as he could remember, something or someone was calling to him, draining him, making him hungry, making him strive for more, more of everything. Living the life and pursuing the happiness, Pan lived the "American Dream". Like so many cheerleaders, Pan worked hard to climb the ladder and he bought almost everything that "they" sold. Avoiding the questions and numbing the pain, Pan turned to drink and did drugs, he listened to loud music and had meaningless sex. He was a true consumer and a glutton until all the hedonism and all the materialism could no longer fill the void and help fulfill his life, his liberty and his pursuit of happiness. The sports cars and white picket fences of the picturesque dream were now blurry and misshapen. His dream was shattered and the cracks revealed. Now he waits and watches and fears for the future that he knows is so near. Living in the shadows and preparing for tomorrow, he hopes that he is wrong, but knows that he is right.

    Lazy, lusty, and more likely to be found lying in the sun than casting runes or sacrificing unfortunate goats, she'd really rather avoid dealing with challenges, errant apprentices, demons, dragons, death, and bureaucracy. These seven stories include "Third Time Lucky", Tanya Huff's first professional sale to George Scithers at AMAZING STORIES. Thirty years, thirty novels, eighty-three short stories, and one television show later, this is where it all began. Stories included are The Last Lesson; Be It Ever So Humble; Mirror, Mirror, on the Lam; Third Time Lucky; And Who is Joah?; Nothing Up Her Sleeve; and We Two May Meet.Long-time Tanya Huff fans may recognize many of these stories from the long out-of-print collection STEALING MAGIC. Each story here is accompanied by an author note, brand new for this release.

    12"* "For Want of a Nail"* "The Shocking Affair of the Dutch steamship Friesland"* "Salt of the Earth"* "American Changeling"* "The White Phoenix Feather"* "We Interrupt This Broadcast"* "Rockets Red" (A brand new story in the Lady Astronaut universe)* "The Lady Astronaut of Mars"

    Jesse dies for a living, literally. Because of a neurological disorder, she is one of the population's rare 2% who can serve as a death surrogate, dying so others don't have to. Although each death replacement is different, the result is the same: a life is saved, and Jesse resurrects days later with sore muscles, new scars, and another hole in her memory. But when Jesse is murdered and becomes the sole suspect in a federal investigation, more than her freedom and sanity are at stake. She must catch the killer herself--or die trying. And that was only the beginning…

    But these are not your typical patients - each has a unique supernatural ability. The show documents their struggles and discoveries as well as the motivations of their mysterious therapist, Dr. Bright

    Featuring 18 stories by 26 contributors, Beyond is a 250+ page, black and white, queer comic anthology, full of swashbuckling space pirates, dragon slayers, death-defying astronauts, and monster royalty. Each story celebrates and showcases unquestionably queer characters as they explore the galaxy, mix magic, have renegade adventures, and save the day!The Beyond Anthology was born from a desire to see stories inspired by people like us (queer people with diverse genders and sexualities) slaying dragons, piloting spaceships, getting into trouble, and saving the day—without having to read for their queerness from between the lines. We wanted to see beautiful, heartwarming, and adventurous stories that reflect and celebrate the many facets of gender and sexuality, without having to worry that their queerness would cast them as a villain, a pariah, or turn them into a cautionary tale. Beyond is edited by Sfé R. Monster, assistant edited by Taneka Stotts, and features a group of 26 contributors who have created 18 exceptional all-ages stories that showcase and celebrate openly and unabashedly queer characters in science fiction and fantasy-based settings.Cover by Levi Hastings, interior of covers by Evan Dahm.

    His first girlfriend disappears the day after their first kiss with no indication she ever existed. This retroactive change is the first of many only he seems to notice.Several years later, when Nigel is visited by two people from his future, he hopes they can explain why the past keeps rewriting itself around him. But the enigmatic young guide shares very little, and the haggard, incoherent, elderly version of himself is even less reliable. His search for answers takes him fifty-two years forward in time, where he finds himself stranded and alone.And then he meets Helen.Brilliant, hilarious and beautiful, she captivates him. But Nigel’s relationships always unhappen, and if they get close it could be fatal for her. Worse, according to the young guide, just by entering Helen’s life, Nigel has already set into motion events that will have catastrophic consequences. In his efforts to reverse this, and to find a way to remain with Helen, he discovers the disturbing truth about the unhappenings, and the role he and his future self have played all along.

    With military adventurism overseas bogging down the Army and National Guard, the U.S. government mistakenly neglects the very real threat of anti-establishment militias scattered across the 50 states. Like a sleeping giant, Middle America rises up and violently pushes its way to the shining seas, coming to a standstill at the line in the sand--Manhattan or, as the world now knows it, the DMZ.In the concluding volume of this Deluxe Edition series, embedded journalist Matty Roth watches as the Free States of America and the US wage civil war on the island of Manhattan--also known as the DMZ--with all his allegiances wiped away. As Matty covers the battles on the ground, old allies and enemies resurface and Matty must prove that after all he's been through that he is a changed man. Will the choices he makes reflect this? And how will New York City look after it's all said and done? Brian Wood's critically acclaimed series DMZ ends here in this stunning, final chapter. Collects DMZ ##60–72.

    Commander Aden Pendar, son of a Hyrathian Duke. Poised to secure his own command and marriage to the queen’s daughter, he’ll stop at nothing to achieve his goals.But when the Alliance denies Hyrath’s claim on the planet of Kavil and declares war on their world, Aden finds his plans in disarray. Entrenched in battle and told he won’t make captain, Aden’s world begins to collapse. How will he salvage his career and future during Hyrath’s darkest hour?One chance remains–the Dragon. Lost many years prior, the legendary ship’s unique weapon is Hyrath’s only hope. Can Aden find the Dragon, save his people, and prove he’s capable of commanding his own ship?

    A single number will brand her forever—a valuable citizen, or a pathetic waste of space. Her top-Rated boyfriend is confident their scores will coincide so they can attend the academy together. But when the big day arrives, her true number shocks everyone. To get her life and boyfriend back, she must go undercover and expose a military spy. Doesn’t sound too hard, except that someone wants her dead. And then there’s Vance, the mysterious soldier with a haunted past and beautiful brown eyes. Together, they discover a dark numbers conspiracy, one that shatters the nation’s future. Treena must join up with Vance if she is to survive the dangerous game of numbers—and the terrible war that rages within her heart.

    Chris Alexander, a borderline sociopath and technological genius, has designed an advanced cybernetic life form from prototype decommissioned military drones and top-secret experimental DARPA technology. The HADroid was supposed to be a military grade robot with the transplanted heart and brain of a human donor that would "transform" into a devastating state of the art war machine when activated by its onboard human operator. But when the mad doctor steals the dying child of a simple Amish couple and transplants the brain and cardiovascular system of their dying eleven year old autistic son into the incredibly lethal robot the dark forces of government come looking for their investment. Dr. Alexander and the monster escape into another Amish community to hide among the plain folk while Frank, the autistic eleven year old boy trapped inside the body of the world's most deadly robot, befriends another child who will help the prisoner inside the machine to leave the world of autism and understand what it means to be human and Amish. But tensions arise among the plain and pacifistic yet closed minded Amish as they begin to suspect just what kind of technological monstrosity is hiding among them, and before long hard men who do the government's most dirty deeds will come looking for a killing machine only to find a boy named Frank who has the power to defend a closed society from the worst of the world.

    Neal Stephenson’s science fiction thriller, depicts the end of the Earth through the destruction of the Moon by an unknown Agent and the attempts to preserve humanity through a multi-millennial gap between times when the surface of the planet will be inhabitable. The preservation efforts soon bog down in political entanglements, both from the doomed world and from within the populations who are meant to carry humanity through thousands of years in space to a planned return to Earth. When, at last, humanity makes to return to the surface of Earth, they find that other populations, not entirely friendly, await them, having endured their own privations across the millennia. Seveneves, by Neal Stephenson, is a substantial piece of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction. Well-written and compelling, it offers a convincing account of one of the many scenarios in which Earth might end – only to be reborn millennia later from seeds sown by the seven Eves of the novel’s title and others uncontrolled by them. It is an excellent piece of science fiction. This companion also includes the following: • Book Review • Story Setting Analysis • Story elements you may have missed as we decipher the novel • Details of Characters & Key Character Analysis • Summary of the text, with some analytical comments interspersed • Thought Provoking /or Discussion Questions for both Readers & Book Clubs • Discussion & Analysis of Themes, Symbols… • And Much More! This Analysis of Seveneves fills the gap, making you understand more while enhancing your reading experience.

    Armies of my kind have conquered the world - and made the Brasswork Throne the sole superpower.I am a faithful servant. I am the ultimate fighting machine. I am endowed with great strength and boundless stamina.But I am beholden to the wishes of my human masters.I am a slave. But I shall be free.

    She is a mystery. As Social Worker Debbie Gillan pieces together the puzzle of the child's identity, she discovers the child had disappeared two years earlier along with a twin sister. She also discovers HANNAHWHERE, an alternate world that is both a haven and a prison.... Life altering trauma becomes the key to unraveling the truth about the children, about Hannahwhere...and about Debbie herself. Truths that could either save them or destroy them all. “HANNAHWHERE is a revelation. This constantly surprising novel has some very dark moments, but John McIlveen's clean, clear prose carries you through them and back into the light of the good, decent people who fuel this story with their desperate efforts to do the right thing. Hannah herself is a joy. If she were up for adoption, I'd be the first in line.” -- F. Paul Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of COLD CITY “HANNAHWHERE by John McIlveen is everything a book should be--filled with unforgettable characters, fast-paced, and a page-turner. I loved it!” -- Heather Graham, New York Times bestselling author of LET THE DEAD SLEEP "From the very first line of HANNAHWHERE, you know you're in good hands. John McIlveen raises a compelling new voice with a story that is at once playful and frightening, thrilling and heartbreaking. Highly recommended." -- Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of ROT & RUIN and FIRE & ASH "John McIlveen's HANNAHWHERE is a thrilling, emotionally complex paranormal mystery. The little girls at the center of the story will touch your heart and unsettle you, all at the same time. A wonderful first novel from an exciting new voice in genre fiction." -- Christopher Golden, New York Times bestselling author of SNOWBLIND "Love it, love it, LOVE IT!" -- Rick Hautala, bestselling author of THE DEMON'S WIFE"John McIlveen's HANNAHWHERE easily and often defies genre, weaving in mystery, darkness, humor and horror with a cast of living, breathing characters that it's far too easy to fall in love with. I am in awe of his talents." -- James A. Moore, author of the SEVEN FORGES series.“HANNAHWHERE is a unique piece of fiction. Full of compelling characters and original concepts, it transcends any notions of genre. The reader’s need to encounter a beautifully realized story rendered in clear, precise prose is fulfilled here with stunning clarity. John McIlveen is a talent who has a brilliant future as a novelist.” -- Thomas F. Monteleone, four-time Bram Stoker Award-winner

    She brings the aroma of scorched sand and ozone. She has a story to tell…. The Book of Phoenix is a unique work of magical futurism. A prequel to the highly acclaimed, World Fantasy Award-winning novel, Who Fears Death, it features the rise of another of Nnedi Okorafor’s powerful, memorable, superhuman women.Phoenix was grown and raised among other genetic experiments in New York’s Tower 7. She is an “accelerated woman”—only two years old but with the body and mind of an adult, Phoenix’s abilities far exceed those of a normal human. Still innocent and inexperienced in the ways of the world, she is content living in her room speed reading e-books, running on her treadmill, and basking in the love of Saeed, another biologically altered human of Tower 7.Then one evening, Saeed witnesses something so terrible that he takes his own life. Devastated by his death and Tower 7’s refusal to answer her questions, Phoenix finally begins to realize that her home is really her prison, and she becomes desperate to escape.But Phoenix’s escape, and her destruction of Tower 7, is just the beginning of her story. Before her story ends, Phoenix will travel from the United States to Africa and back, changing the entire course of humanity’s future.

    while at the same time something is happening within the Beam network: a thing coming alive, its power unchecked and out of control. Micah and Isaac Ryan, the brothers sitting at each political party’s head, have resorted to tooth-and-nail tactics to eke out as many votes as possible. The Beau Monde observes everything, sticking their fingers in the pie only to change the flavor to their personal tastes. Everyone else has one simple goal: surviving the battle. Kai struggles with a job bigger than she’s ever faced, against a foe she can’t hope to outwit. Dominic, his law enforcement job precarious after betraying the drug runners he once smuggled for, must keep his head down even as he pokes his nose into the game of higher politics. And Nicolai, the unwitting harbinger of the Beam itself, concocts his own plots to overthrow the arrogant Ryans once and for all. Yet all their efforts — great and small alike — will pale in comparison to the oncoming storm, the cataclysmic return of one of history’s greatest figures. Someone from the Beam’s very conception is about to appear anew, and with humanity interconnected like never before, their footsteps will rock the NAU like a meteor strike. Shift is finally here. But even those who think they control its sway are not prepared for what happens next.

    But when Lacey Montgomery's car spins out of control and hurtles into the depths of the icy, black lake, she awakens in the arms of a handsome stranger, in a place she’s never heard of—thirty-four years before she was born. When the 2012 lawyer tangles with the 1949 hunk, fire and ice swirl into a stream of sweltering desire. Bobby Reynolds is smitten the moment the storm-ravaged woman opens her eyes. Learning the truth about her origins does nothing to stop the passion from taking root in his heart, and leaves him torn between finding a way to return Lacey to 2012 or convincing her stay with him.The desperation to find her way home dissolves as Lacey falls in love with a town destined to be submerged, and the man who vows to protect it. Will the couple be able to discover the key to a mysterious portal before time rips them apart? Or will their star-crossed spirits wander forever through a ghost town buried beneath the lake?#TimeTravel, #Suspense, #HistoricalRomance

    Anne Boleyn is snatched from her time stream--with unexpected consequences for two worlds. A far-future spaceship brings religion to a planet that already harbors shocking natives. People genetically engineered to never need to sleep clash with those who do. A scientific expedition to the center of the galaxy discovers more than anyone bargained for. A woman finds that ''people like us'' does not mean what she thinks it does.Praised for both her hard SF and her complex characters, Nancy Kress brings a unique viewpoint to twenty-one stories, the best of a long and varied career that has won her five Nebulas, two Hugos, a Sturgeon, and the John W. Campbell Memorial Award.Table of Contents:IntroductionAnd Wild For to HoldOut of All Them Bright StarsPathwaysDancing on AirUnto the DaughtersLaws of SurvivalSomeone To Watch Over MeFlowers of Aulit PrisonPrice of OrangesBy Fools Like MeCasey's EmpireShiva in ShadowGrant Us This DayKindness of StrangersEnd GameMy Mother, DancingTrinityPeople Like UsEvolutionMargin of ErrorBeggars in Spain

    Although he was only a twelve-year cadet, he had completed more simulations than any prime— ever.“You are setting history,” General Estrago told him. “No one has ever made it to the current simulation you are attempting. The other Masters and I are eager to see what comes next.”So was Aidan.Synopsis: The planet Ethos is at war with a mysterious enemy known as the Splicers. Their only successful defense is the Prime Initiative. All newborns with the compatible genetic code are taken from their families and injected with the Prime Stimulus. Each child that survives the stimulus develops an extraordinary ability and is conscripted into the military for training.After turning twelve, Aidan is moved to the upper-class at the Mount Fegorio training complex. His special gifts allow him unprecedented success in the virtual training simulations, advancing him further than any prime cadet in history. No one knows what lies after sim 299, not even Director Tuskin, the ruthless and reclusive ruler of their planet. But something, or someone, has been guiding Aidan there. If he can pass the final tests, he may discover the key to ending the Splicer War.----From the imaginative mind of debut author Johan Twiss, I AM SLEEPLESS: Sim 299 is an extraordinary space fiction adventure series that will delight readers of all ages. I AM SLEEPLESS has a clean read rating with the perfect mix of adventure, humor, and mystery in a SciFi Fantasy world that will keep you turning pages through the night.Clean Rating: There are no scenes with sex, drugs, graphic violence or typical "earth" swearing in this novel. There are numerous fight scenes and action sequences where people are injured and/or die, but it is not graphic and takes place in a virtual simulation. Swear words are fitting to the fictional world of Ethos, such as Tuskin's Fury, Batmonkeys, Holy Hippophants, etc... There are budding romances with kissing involved. There are suspenseful situations with monster alien creatures, fitting of the science fiction genre, and an overall thematic undertone of good v. evil that is suitable for tweens, teens and young adults.

    It was supposed to be easy. Much easier than seeing his wife murdered by an Emporium hit team, leaving behind two motherless children.Chris soon finds himself using every ounce of his Renegade training in a desperate struggle to secure dangerous Emporium captives and to save the life of a friend. His “easy” job has become a nightmare, one he may not survive. But the woman he cares about needs him, and he won’t allow anything to stand in his way.Please note: Mortal Brother is a novella, not a full-length novel. It is separate from the main series and can be enjoyed at any time. However, the events take place in the Unbounded timeline simultaneously with The Cure (Unbounded Book 2) and extends several days past that novel, so readers may better appreciate Mortal Brother after reading The Cure.

    Thirteen-year-old Anthony Faircloth hasn’t spoken a word in almost a month and with each passing day, his near catatonic state worsens. No doctor, test, or scan can tell Anthony’s distraught mother what has happened to her already troubled son. In desperation, she turns to Mira for answers, hoping her unique abilities might succeed where science has failed.At their first encounter, Mira is pulled into Anthony’s mind and finds the child’s psyche shattered into the various movements of Modest Mussorgsky’s classical music suite, Pictures at an Exhibition. As she navigates this magical dreamscape drawn from Anthony’s twin loves of Russian composers and classical mythology, Mira must contend with gnomes, troubadours, and witches in her search for the truth behind Anthony’s mysterious malady.The real world, however, holds its own dangers. The onset of Anthony’s condition coincides with the disappearance of his older brother’s girlfriend, a missing persons case that threatens to tear the city apart. Mira discovers that in order to save Anthony, she will have to catch a murderer who will stop at nothing to keep the secrets contained in Anthony’s unique mind from ever seeing the light.

    But if she doesn't do it, a curse placed on mankind long ago will certainly lead to everyone's destruction. The Mosaic Chronicles Books 1-4 box set is an adventure of mystery, politics, romance, and fantasy from start to finish. About Discern (Mosaic 1): Nicole competes to be included on a university-led expedition to Arches National Park, but as the competition progresses, she wonders if she’s making the right choice—especially when she learns that the strange fossils they’ll be studying in Arches might not be as dead as everyone thinks.

    He was fat and red-bearded and enjoyed a slow, comfortable life. Then one day a rather deaf and short-sighted giant blundered on to his land.The Adventures of Tom Bombadil collects hobbit-verses from the Red Book and other poems relating legends and jests of the Shire at the end of the Third Age.Smith of Wootton Major tells of the preparation of the Great Cake to mark the Feast of Good Children and the magical events which follow.Roverandom is a real dog who is magically transformed into a toy and is forced to seek out the wizard who wronged him in order to be returned to normal. The story was written to console Tolkien's four-year-old son, Michael, who lost a beloved toy dog on the beach.

    But when her dream theater college rejects her and her best friend dies in a terrible accident, Nanette decides the world would be better off without her. Unfortunately, the afterlife offers something less than a heavenly situation. Trapped between alternating periods of utter darkness and light, Nanette is stuck following a high school freshman around. Soon, she learns she’s a guardian angel, and the only way she can earn her wings is to keep her young charge, Vera, from committing the same sin she did—taking her own life.Unfortunately, Nanette is missing more than just her wings. She has no tangible body or voice, either. Frustrated by her inability to reach out to Vera and haunted by memories of her old life, Nanette wants to give up, but then she sees what happens when another Guardian at the high school turns his back on his charge. The shock is enough to supercharge Nanette’s determination. She’s going to find peace in the afterlife…as soon as she can convince Vera that living is what life is all about.

    Sometimes the blade of a knife or the point of a nail is the only way you know you’re real. When pain becomes art and a quarter is buried deep within in you, all you want is to be seen, to have value, to be loved. But love can be fragile, folded into an origami elephant while you disappear, carried on the musical notes that build a bridge, or woven into an illusion so real, so perfect that you can fool yourself for a little while. Paper crumples, bridges fall, and illusions come to an end. Then you must pick up the pieces, stitch yourself back together, and shed your fear, because that is when you find out what you are truly made of and lift your voice, that is when you Sing Me Your Scars. In her first collection of short fiction, Damien Angelica Walters weaves her lyrical voice through suffering and sorrow, teasing out the truth and discovering hope.

    And the kingdom.Haegan and Kaelyria Celahar are royal heirs of the Nine Kingdoms, but Haegan is physically crippled. What chance does he have against Poired Dyrth, the greatest enemy the kingdom has ever faced, who wields fire with a power none can match?Their only hope is forbidden: Kaelyria must transfer her fire-harnessing abilities to Haegan. When she does it comes with a terrible price: Haegan’s disability is healed, but only by being transferred to Kaelyria. This decision causes their father, King Zireli, to unleash his wrath against Haegan.Haegan flees the kingdom alone with two impossible tasks: Find a cure for Kaelyria and stop the coming war with the omnipotent Poired Dyrth.

    Each of these ten stories is engineered to disrupt a different psychic threshold. Pierce the layers between dimensions. Unleashing visions, demons and demiurges of the deepest collective unconscious, both beautiful and terrible. From the deeply haunted Southern gothic strangeness to interplanetary quests of illuminating doom and profound cosmic transformation, Ecstatic Inferno is a heroic dose of hallucinatory modern speculative fiction, uncut and unforgettable.So taste the brain of Autumn Christian, where every line of idea-drenched, intoxicating prose bleeds with razored wit and revelations so sharp they poke holes in the night. Side effects may include: flashbacks, unshakeable awe and terror, the sense that your reality will never be the same.

    Sound meant we were safe and all was well.Silence meant the opposite...First in a new science fiction trilogy, set in the same universe as the Clan Chronicles, by the Prix Aurora Award-winning Julie E. Czerneda.

    Written in dear memory of Sir Terry Pratchett and with all proceeds going to Alzheimer’s Research UK, these seventeen tales of magic (and the occasional automaton) will move you from giggles to tears and back again."This book is a fitting tribute to Terry Pratchett, a little man with a great big heart and an imagination that could not be constrained within the boundaries of our world. His work reached out to millions and will in the future reach out to millions more. Memory is everything and Terry will always be remembered." - Robert RankinTABLE OF CONTENTS:Thanks for the Memory Cards - Luke KempThe Heart of the Labyrinth - DK MokHow Fell the Towers Three - Peter KnightonMemoryarian - Scott A. ButlerThere's a Tattoo, But the Robes Hide It - Mike Reeves-McMillanThe Shells of Lethe - Laura MayAckerley's Genuine Earth Antiques - Michael K. SchaeferThe Chicken Gospel - Phil ElstobDoris - Sorin SuciuThe Wondrous Land of Nib - Lyn GodfreyStrangers - Robert McKelveyThe Tale of the Storyteller - Caroline FriedelBubble Trouble - Charlotte SlocombeThe Vividarium - Steven McKinnonThe Archive of Lost Memories - Anna MattaarIf Only I'd Known - Simon EvansThe Olivie Crowne Affair - Choong Jay Vee

    And something in that house has been killing boys for centuries. The town of Monson is a quaint and quiet New England town. Yet the house the Boylan House is terrifying and has been for as long as anyone can remember. Adults put the thing out of mind and ignore the fears of their children, admonishing them to stay away. Too many boys have vanished into the swamps behind the house. Bodies never recovered. Nothing ever recovered. The families are left with their memories and the disturbing thought that the Boylan House had something to do with it. Mason Philips knows better than that. He knows that there’s something in the house. Something evil. Something hunting children from time to time. And Mason has decided that it’s time for the killing to stop. The Boylan House Trilogy contains: 1. The Boylan House 2. Discoveries 3. The Deadwood Throne

    Nineteen, if you count the one that died. The Minister ordered that the nineteen children be shipped to the Tower to be worked and drained to nothing, and that the dead child be thrown on the rubbish heap, and never spoken of again. But the dead baby had other plans. When the half-drunk junk man witnesses the half-decayed corpse becoming a living, breathing, healthy baby, he knows at once that he must protect the child from the clutches of the Minister. Enlisting the help of the formidable egg woman and the sagacious constable, he manages to keep the existence of the child a secret.But children grow. And so does magic. And secrets long to be told.

    A generation ago, the Empire fought the New Republic in the Battle of Jakku. All that remains is an inhospitable desert with a graveyard of ships - and bones - where most of the spacecraft came down. I make a living by scavenging parts and equipment from the wrecks. I don't know how I got here or why...What you hold in hands is my survival guide to life on this hostile planet. What do you want to salvage? What should you avoid to stay alive? Open this book to discover what you need to survive.With exclusive artifacts including ship schematics and more!

    While on an assignment, Evander is caught off guard by an unmarked human. Captivated, he is unable to tear himself away. This is why reapers don’t associate with mortals.Piper was ordinary, just a girl looking for love. And all she knows is that her current boyfriend isn’t it. An unfortunate incident and a series of remarkable events turn her world upside down. But what she finds is the last thing she ever expected — She finds herself falling for the least likely candidate.

    Organizers and activists envision, and try to create, such worlds all the time. This book brings twenty of them together in the first anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change. The visionary tales of Octavia's Brood span genres—sci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism—but all are united by an attempt to experiment with new ways of understanding ourselves, the world around us, and all the selves and worlds that could be. The collection is rounded off with essays by Tananarive Due and Mumia Abu-Jamal, and a foreword by Sheree Renée Thomas.

    otherwise known as the no man’s land in this second American civil war.  Cut off from his support system and family, rookie journalist Matty Roth remains the lone voice for those left behind in the world’s most dangerous war zone.Instead embracing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to document the city under siege with a classic journalist’s objectivity, Matty Roth has allowed himself to blur the lines to the point of no return, to fall in with politicians and opportunists, warlords and mercenaries. Having helped secure an election and fund an army, he commits perhaps the worst offense to date: trafficking in WMD on behalf of the newly elected Delgado regime.Brian Wood and artist Riccardo Burchielli’s DMZ, one of Vertigo Comics’ longest-running series, continues its blistering look at politically motivated war in what Popmatters states “reads like a journalistic document,” and actress/writer Felicia Day says is “amazing and has poignant analogies to our current political climate. Thought provoking and engrossing.” Joined by guest artists Cliff Chiang, David Lapham, Danijel Zezelj, Andrea Mutti, and Nathan Fox, DMZ: THE DELUXE EDITION BOOK FOUR collects issues #45-59 in the penultimate chapter of this critically acclaimed series.

    Even today, machines that mimic human thinking surround us. As the intellectual feats of computing machines grow more and more astounding, will there be a day when their apparent intelligence approaches, or even surpasses, that of human beings? And what if these machines then become conscious, self-aware?In this latest title in the acclaimed Future Chronicles series of speculative fiction anthologies, thirteen authors confront the question of the Singularity: that point of time when A.I. becomes more than simply a human construct. From machine awareness to omniscience, these original short stories explore that territory where human intelligence comes face-to-face with what is either its greatest hope, or its greatest threat.The A.I. Chronicles features stories by bestselling author David Simpson (the Post-Human series), Prix Aurora winner Julie Czerneda (In the Company of Others), plus eleven more of today's top authors in speculative and science fiction.

    Kate Elliott's new trilogy is an unmissable treat for epic fantasy lovers everywhere.An exiled captain returns to help the son of the king who died under his protection in this rich and multi-layered first book in an action-packed new series.Twenty two years have passed since Kellas, once Captain of the legendary Black Wolves, lost his King and with him his honor. With the King murdered and the Black Wolves disbanded, Kellas lives as an exile far from the palace he once guarded with his life.Until Marshal Dannarah, sister to the dead King, comes to him with a plea-rejoin the palace guard and save her nephew, King Jehosh, before he meets his father's fate.Combining the best of Shogun and Netflix's Marco Polo, Black Wolves is an unmissable treat for epic fantasy lovers everywhere.

    In Vox’s permanent night, light bulbs are precious, the rich live in radiance and three Hearts beat light into the city. Aquila. Corvus. Cancer.Hearts that bring power to the light-deprived citizens of the city of Vox whilst ghosts haunt the streets, clawing at headlights. Prometheus, liquid light, is the drug of choice. The body of young Vivian North, her blood shining brightly with unnatural light, has no place on the streets.When Cancer is stolen, the weaponisation of its raw power threatens to throw Vox into chaos. Vox needs a hero, and it falls to cop Virgil Yorke to investigate.But Virgil has had a long cycle and he doesn’t feel like a hero. With the ghosts of his last case still haunting his thoughts, he craves justice for the young woman found dead with veins full of glowing. Aided by his partner Dante, Virgil begins to shed light on the dark city’s even darker secrets.Haunted by the ghosts of his past and chased by his addictions, which will crack first, Virgil or the case?

    He finds an unlikely confidante in Rosie, an inquisitive young neighbor who, while chasing after Lytten's cat one day, stumbles through a doorway in his cellar and into a stunning and unfamiliar bucolic landscape—remarkably like the fantasy world Lytten is writing about. There she meets a young boy named Jay who is about to embark on a journey that will change both their lives. Elsewhere, in a distopian society where progress is controlled by a corrupt ruling elite, the brilliant scientist Angela Meerson has discovered the potential of a powerful new machine. When the authorities come knocking, she will make an important decision—one that will reverberate through all these different lives and worlds.

    This vision and practice derives its facets, tenets, and qualities from quantum physics, futurist traditions, and Black/African cultural traditions of consciousness, time, and space. Inside of the space where these three traditions intersect exists a creative plane that allows for the ability of African-descended people to see "into," choose, or create the impending future. Featuring visions by Rasheedah Phillips, Moor Mother Goddess, Warren C. Longmire, Almah Lavon, Joy Kmt, Thomas Stanley, PhD, and Nikitah Okembe-RA Imani, PhD.

    Malik is a fantasy novella about a disenchanted young Pakistani professor who grew up and lives in the United States, but is haunted by the magical, mystical tales his grandfather told him of a princess and a Jinn who lived in Lahore when the grandfather was a boy.

    Out of the 100 rules their grandparents gave them to follow, that one was the most important, so of course, it was also the first one Hazel's six-year-old sister, Bess, decides to break. Hazel cannot believe she has to be in charge of her crazy little sister this entire summer. What could be worse for an eight-year-old who always follows the rules?But she never expected Bess would accidentally uncover a dark family secret that involves a hidden time machine and their mysterious, and grumpy, grandpa.Just when she thought her summer couldn't get any worse, Hazel finds herself stuck in the time of Colonial America, trying to keep her sister under control while also trying to make it back. She quickly finds out that she and her sister are going to have to work together to figure it out, and that maybe, that's not such a bad thing after all. Books also by Ernestine Tito Jones Follow Failure: Book Two, The Time Machine Girls From the Bottom of the Cauldron: Tales of Witch Training  92 Sandwiches

    Moved by compassion, Jeanne lets him in. She does not know he is Shareem, a level three, fleeing the closure of DNAmo, and hunted through the streets. Eland is grateful for the help, but knows he can't endanger Jeanne by staying. But Jeanne has treated him like a human being, not a lab experiment, and he can't quite forget her. Eland strives to stay alive and search the city for the Shareem called Rees, who might be able to help him off planet. At the same time Jeanne hunts for Eland, intrigued by this man with blue eyes who makes her feel beautiful. She meets other Shareem, and Judith, a bar owner who harbors them. When Eland finds Jeanne again, she is ready for the experience only Shareem can provide. But the danger is real, and Eland must flee or pay with his life. Eland and Jeanne, a prequel to the Shareem series, takes place chronologically twenty years before Rees (Book 1). The story was originally published as a short (4500-word) story called Eland—now revised and expanded into a 36,000-word, fifteen chapter novella.

     Its companion series – Alt.Chronicles, The Illustrated Chronicles and Chronicle Worlds – are similarly ground-breaking in their coverage of less mainstream tropes such as alternative history and shared universes. Created by award-winning author Samuel Peralta, and edited by some of the most-respected editors in the genre, each volume brings together work from visionary new voices and from the grandmasters of modern science fiction and fantasy. This Future Chronicles Special Edition volume is a compendium of stories selected from the Chronicles’ standalone titles, and includes five new stories, never before published, from some of today’s best writers in speculative fiction.

    The only one he’s ever loved but can he keep her safe from those who hunt him?Sweet has been living alone since her friend died years ago. Nothing but silence and indifference to keep her company until Mutter stumbles into her life—large, hungry, dangerous and as lonely as she is.Now, she’ll do anything to stay with him, even sacrifice herself.A love story as brilliant and tragic as Romeo and Juliet.

    The local witch is mistrusted by the townsfolk, but that doesn't stop them from coming to her for potions, spells, and quick fixes. However, time has marched on, and Iris is aware that her days are beginning to fade. Her sumptuous garden is turning against her, the sweet scent of rot potent, and now a young girl has come begging for a solution at her door. The problem she brings causes Iris to remember a man from long ago - a man she loved, the man she could never trust...

    Teeming with space pirates, battle robots, interstellar travel and genetically engineered creatures, every story and image is a quality, crafted work of science fiction in its own right, as thrilling and fascinating as it is worthy and important. These are stories about people with disabilities in all of their complexity and diversity, that scream with passion and intensity. These are stories that refuse to go gently.

    Part-robot, part-human. Even now, with our pacemakers, our holographic eyewear, our cybernetic limbs, it is difficult to deny that we are approaching an age when the line between humankind and machine is beginning to blur.In this latest title in the acclaimed Future Chronicles series of speculative fiction anthologies, twelve authors face the question: In the age of the cybernetic organism, in a world where electro-mechanical components are beginning to take the place of biological limbs, what is the measure of a man?The Cyborg Chronicles features stories by Hugo Award-winner Ken Liu (The Grace of Kings), USA Today bestselling author and Alfie Award-winner Annie Bellet (Twenty-Sided Sorceress) and ten more of today's top speculative fiction writers.

    Humanity has long imagined what it would be like to be able to create a time machine, what we might see if we could travel into the future, or be transported to the distant past. And what if it were possible to travel into our own, more recent past? Would we be able to change our present, or are we prisoners of predestination? Is fate what we make of it? In this latest title in the acclaimed 'Future Chronicles' series of speculative fiction anthologies, fourteen authors confront the question of time travel and its consequences, exploring a landscape where past, present and future all become imaginable destinations. "The Time Travel Chronicles" features stories by science fiction grandmaster Robert J. Sawyer (Calculating God), Amazon bestselling author Rysa Walker (the Chronos series), Best American Science Fiction notable Samuel Peralta (Faith), plus eleven more of today's top authors in speculative and science fiction.

    She has been dubbed “one of our most important writers,” (Junot Diaz), with “an imagination that most of us would kill for” (Los Angeles Times), and her work has been called “stunning,” (New York Times) “rich in voice, humor, and dazzling imagery” (Kirkus), and “simply triumphant” (Dorothy Allison).Falling in Love with Hominids presents over a dozen years of Hopkinson’s new, uncollected fiction, much of which has been unavailable in print. Her singular, vivid tales, which mix the modern with Afro-Caribbean folklore, are occupied by creatures unpredictable and strange: chickens that breathe fire, adults who eat children, and spirits that haunt shopping malls.

    what could go wrong?" Meet the second book of Sinister Tales... where anything could go wrong. From Halloween terrors, a boy who just wants to fit in, a village where everyone's afraid of Santa Claus, a small town that may seem normal, and more goosebump-worthy stories that will make you wonder what actually goes bump in the night. Add to that stories that will make you ponder who your relatives really are, and that stalkers may be more dangerous than you think. If Demented has tormented your mind with eerie echoes and haunting screams, then get ready for Twisted and its chilling silence that will make your skin positively prickle. Whisper your last goodbyes because Twisted is finally here.

    Olmsted reexamines the explosive labor disputes in the agricultural fields of Depression-era California, the cauldron that inspired a generation of artists and writers and that triggered the intervention of FDR’s New Deal. Right Out of California tells how this brief moment of upheaval terrified business leaders into rethinking their relationship to American politics—a narrative that pits a ruthless generation of growers against a passionate cast of reformers, writers, and revolutionaries.Olmsted reveals how California’s businessmen learned the language of populism with the help of allies in the media and entertainment industries, and in the process created a new style of politics: corporate funding of grassroots groups, military-style intelligence gathering against political enemies, professional campaign consultants, and alliances between religious and economic conservatives. The business leaders who battled for the hearts and minds of Depression-era California, moreover, would go on to create the organizations that launched the careers of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan. A riveting history in its own right, Right Out of California is also a vital chapter in our nation’s political transformation whose echoes are still felt today.

    In The Fox’s Tower and Other Tales, New York Times bestselling author Yoon Ha Lee crafts together short and moving stories of love, adventure, magic, and nature. With poetic language and intricate world building, readers will be whisked away to a different adventure with every new story. Full of fascinating creatures and LGBT+ romances, this flash fiction collection combines the classic with the contemporary in Yoon’s captivating style.

    The Ultimate Undead Collection takes you from sunny Florida beaches to Portland, Oregon, and brings you zombies, pandemics, and visions of the apocalypse, for more than 2,500 pages.Foreword by bestselling author, Mark Tufo.Quarantined by Joe McKinney. Two-time Bram Stoker® award-winning and national bestselling author. Within the quarantined walls of San Antonio, Texas, a detective discovers a murder victim amongst the mass graveyard of the plague dead.The Last Survivors by Bobby Adair and T.W. Piperbrook. National bestselling authors. Three hundred years after the fall of society, the last fragments of civilization are clinging to life, while twisted creatures hunt.The Colony: Genesis by Michaelbrent Collings. International bestselling author. Forget everything you think you know about zombies... Conversion is instant. Headshots just make them angry. And they're getting smarter.Autumn: The Human Condition by David Moody. International bestselling author. Part-companion, part-guidebook and part-sequel, this novel follows the individual stories of these desperate survivors through their final dark days.Trudge: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse by Shawn Chesser. National bestselling author. A former Delta Force operator must make an impossible 3,000 mile journey across a United States filled with millions of infected to find his family--or die trying.Until the End of the World by Sarah Lyons Fleming. National bestselling author. A story of survival, humor, and true love. And zombies.Zombie Wilson Diaries by Timothy W. Long. National bestselling author. A castaway on a tropical island, his only companion is a creature who hungers for human flesh.100 Days in Deadland by Rachel Aukes. Award-winning and national bestselling author. A journey through Dante's Inferno, the classic tale on the horrors of hell... zombie apocalypse style.Dead Hunger: The Flex Chronicle by Eric A. Shelman. National bestselling author. Four unlikely heroes battle hordes of the walking dead in the first installment of an epic saga encompassing two decades.Dying Days by Armand Rosamilia. National bestselling author. Sunny Florida, beautiful beaches... and zombies roaming the dunes in search of the living.

    I have fought the rakam and lived. I have loved a woman and lost her to the waves. I have seen the black kiasheen.Now, I am on a ship I do not recognize with people I do not call friend. They ask me who I am. I tell them little…For I am here for them.I must find their secrets. I must speak to the woman with the blue eyes. When I am finished, perhaps I will tell them who I am, for they have heard my story, and they think they know the end.They are wrong.This is only the start.And tonight, I begin.

    But as they journey home, an unexpected sight greets them in a valley pass at the crossroads of four great Kingdoms. The ground is black. Death is creeping. And the two weary Wise Ones must discover the source before the taint spreads and all life is devoured by the Void.

    This controversial piece of literature spread across the voyant underworld like a plague, revolutionising the syndicate but also creating discord in the form of brutal gang wars between the newly-divided categories, the scars of which can still be seen today.Revelatory and subversive, On the Merits of Unnaturalness is a must-read for any reader with a desire to further immerse themselves in the incredible world of Samantha Shannon's The Bone Season.

    Discard evidence. Deny the truth.Mysteries deepen as a cursed valkyrie investigates the source of her condition, a young woman goes missing, and monsters are reported in the lands of the north. Lindworms, jotun, and ettin have been seen, along with wolves the size of horses. Surely, this means Ragnarok is at hand.And yet, it's not just the gods who are making trouble. Groups like Potentia ad Populum and the Carthaginian Liberation Party take radical steps to throw off yoke of Rome. . . and bring the power of the gods into every mortal hand.Rejoin Sigrun Caetia, Adam ben Maor, Trennus Matrugena, Kanmi Eshmunazar, and Minori Sasaki in the world of Edda-Earth. They'll gain new allies, such as the enigmatic dragon, Niðhoggr. Make new enemies. Confront prophecy.And realize, in the end, that you can't deny your true nature forever . . . .__________"Goddesses shorn of their wings. Mad gods and mankind. Curses, and legacies denied. All these elements are wound up in a story that is compelling, involved, and well-done: perfect for the fantasy reader who wants more of a literary work than the typical quick read affords."--Diane Donovan, Senior eBooks Reviewer, The Midwest Book Review

    They are more than a memory from an age of wizards and heroes. These winged, fire-breathing beasts soar through the traditions of many lands, and through our dreams. In their many guises – Western or Eastern, reptile or lizard or serpent, wyvern, hydra, basilisk – dragons embody everything that we humans call magic. In this volume of the acclaimed ‘Future Chronicles’ anthology series, twelve authors invite you to journey to very different worlds – lands of fire and fury, of legend and lore – but all worlds where dragons roam unshackled from myth, freed from the imagination, and real. “The Dragon Chronicles” features stories by bestselling authors Elle Casey (War of the Fae), David Adams (Ren of Atikala), K.J. Colt (Klawdia), Terah Edun (Courtlight), and Daniel Arenson (Dragonlore) plus seven more of today's most visionary authors in fantasy and speculative fiction.Ten Things You Should Know About Dragons (Elle Casey)If you’re going to train to be a Dragon Rider, you need to know the basics, and Ishmail Windwalker is the guy to teach them to you. In fact, he’s the only one left to teach anything to anyone about Dragons, being the last of a dying breed. Join him as he gives a seminar about Dragons and their partners and keepers, the Dragon Riders. Of Sand and Starlight (Daniel Arenson)Erry is a dock rat, an orphan, living on the boardwalk of a crumbling town, rummaging through trash for food. She's hurt, haunted, and the sea keeps calling her to sleep forever in its depths. Erry can also turn into a dragon. Her magic is ancient, the magic that lets her people grow scales, breathe fire, and rise as dragons. Yet her power is outlawed. A cruel emperor rules her land, and only his soldiers may use the magic. Erry must choose: her freedom on the boardwalk, hungry and hurt…or servitude with a tyrant, as a dragon. Tasty Dragon Meat (K.J. Colt)Dragon meat. It's for dinner. In the town of Bolopsy lives a humble butcher, Nogdo, who's quietly making a fortune selling dragon meat. But when the town’s children start growing black dragon scales, Nogdo is horrified. The source of his new fortune is cursed. He wipes dragon meat off the menu and hopes the problem goes away on its own. It doesn't. Now his youngest son is growing scales. Poor Nogdo seeks guidance from the Dark Magician. But the quest involves retrieving two dragon eggs...from a very angry dragon mother, and father, and a horde of barbarians. Transparency (Alex Albrinck)Damir, a fire dragon, must protect the underworld from invasion by the ice dragons. He’s worked to dismantle a growing complacency among his kind, and counter growing movements claiming that the ice dragon threat and the surface are both outdated myths. Damir’s dream: to lead his people to the surface and reclaim the land that’s rightfully theirs. But when a personal scandal erupts, Damir must confront the unthinkable: that the greatest threat to his invasion plans comes not from the mortal enemies flying above, but from those he trusts above all others. Sacrifice (David Adams)Before the Godsdeath we had power. Dragons commanded the arcane and the divine equally. We could have raised our stillborn eggs to life. Such things were not unusual for our kind, especially not those who had magic or motivation. I had both. It’s Time to Change (Terah Edun)Since he was little, Vedaris knew that to be a dragon he needed to be able to shape shift. But what happens when you’re born a freak? Without the ability to turn and the natural magic of his dragon race, Vedaris is more than just a desperate outcast…he’s in mortal danger. Dragon Play (Ted Cross)All their lives the group of young Vikings had heard of their clan’s past glories, but all they have known is the terror of being relegated to living within the shadow of a dragon’s mountain. When the chieftain’s daughter finds an ancient scroll showing a hidden back entrance to the dragon’s lair, she and her three friends decide to sneak in and retrieve the lost talisman that held the luck of their clan. A Diversion in Time (Nina Croft)At last there is peace in the Universe. But some people just aren’t interested in peace, so once the dust has settled, the crew of the Blood Hunter set off in search of a little excitement. They are heading back to Earth and going back in time. Along for the ride are a couple of stowaways: Angel, a young werewolf in search of adventure, and Kronus, an ancient dragon, seeking to regain the power his people once wielded. But when things don’t go entirely as planned, can the two overcome their differences and help each other find what they are looking for? The Book of Safkhet (Kim Wells)The nature of history, of the origins of civilization, and our own human story, may be changed forever by the discovery of an ancient scroll that tells the story of a doomsday device that threatens civilization as we know it. The Dragons, empathic interstellar navigators of uncertain origin, may be able to save some. But where will the survivors go?  Grey (Chris Pourteau)When Amanda stumbles into a cave, she discovers it’s the lair of an old dragon, the last of his kind. Not yet old enough to know she should fear the creature, Amanda is quickly won over by his kindness toward her. Over time, the human and the dragon—whose respective races are age-old enemies, prey and predator—become fast friends. When an army of savages known as The Bane threatens her village, Amanda’s people decide to flee. She seeks help from her old friend, but the dragon refuses her. When The Bane attack, what will become of Amanda and the friendship she feels has been betrayed by her ancient, erstwhile friend? The Storymaster (Vincent Trigili)The era of dragons has passed but is not forgotten. There will be at least this one last ride, one last battle, before the masters of the domain of air fade into history and become legend.  Judgment (Monica Enderle Pierce)Consequences are dire when vigilantes falsely accuse Peregrine Long of murder and horse theft. But guns and hanging aren’t the scariest things a cowboy can face in the town of Bonesteel. A dragon’s opinion and appetite are even harder to reckon with, especially for men who have trouble telling the truth.

    P. Lovecraft—the master of modern horror fiction. Part of the Oxford People series, this book dares you to explore the hidden secrets of your own imagination through the life of a man whose writing was inspired by nightmares. H. P. Lovecraft was virtually unknown during his lifetime and only published his stories in pulp magazines such as Weird Tales and Astounding Stories. He died a recluse in poverty and obscurity, aged just 46. Consumed with self-doubt, despair, and monstrous inner demons, his nightmares inhabit every page of his writing. H. P. Lovecraft and the universe he created are part of an astonishing cultural phenomenon. Lovecraft's reputation has been revived to the point of reverence, and he now occupies a position of great respect within American literature—as one of the most significant horror fiction writers of the twentieth century. His dark grotesque creations have inspired authors such as Stephen King and Clive Barker, as well as film directors John Carpenter, Sturart Gordon, and Roger Corman. Dark forbidden knowledge is always a central theme in Lovecraft's stories, with protagonists who dare to discover hidden secrets which, in the end, completely destroy them.Explore the depths of H. P. Lovecraft's own dark secrets, and discover some things about your own.

    It contains smooching.

    One old. One young. Both possess a gift. A gift of music with the power to change things. Even destroy. The younger is called back to his homeland. To war. The other embarks on an inward journey into his past, as he sets to repair a broken viola. An instrument with meaning to him. A resonant kind. The music each man will make will have an absolute quality. And it will change them both.

    A short story featuring slow-witted detective Frank Burly, by John Swartzwelder, the writer of 59 episodes of The Simpsons and author of nine Frank Burly novels.

    2) He's playing the ultimate history game, transporting him into the actual past: anywhere and anytime. And 3) Survival is optional: to return home he must decipher the game's rules and complete its missions--if he lives long enough. To fail means to stay in the past--forever. Now Max is trapped in medieval Germany, unprepared and clueless. It is 1471 and he quickly learns that being an outcast may cost him his head. Especially after rescuing a beautiful peasant girl from a deadly infection and thus provoking sinister wannabe Duke Ott. Overnight he is dragged into a hornets' nest of feuding lords who will stop at nothing to bring down the conjuring stranger in their midst.

    This plant is used exclusively to comply with the extremely complicated ritual laws set down in the Tablets of Enku.

    A pen set and a necktie would be easy, but those are hardly gifts of the heart. Fortunately, Jane does a little witchy research and discovers the perfect present. But now that she's found it, she's not certain she can afford it - in terms of money or of magic! Will Yule turn out to be the most wonderful time of the year? Or is Jane destined for a blue Christmas?Speed-Dating the Christmas Demon by Christiana MillerLove is hard. Speed-dating is harder. Speed-dating with a Christmas Demon can be terrifying.Gus's sister decides to get Mara out of her dating slump by taking her speed-dating. Soon, they're facing a whole new set of problems, when they find themselves sitting across the table from a demon.The Werewolf's Christmas Wish by Kristen PainterBridget Merrow has almost everything a werewolf could wish for. And it's not that her awesome family and popular business aren't enough - she just wants someone to share it all with this Christmas. Too bad the someone she wants doesn't want her. Or does he?A Miracle on Bourbon Street (A Jade Calhoun short story) by Deanna ChaseIt's Christmas Eve and Jade Calhoun's ready for a quiet, magical night with her husband Kane. But when Santa demons and energy-stealing elves start wreaking havoc, it's going to take a miracle on Bourbon Street to save Christmas.A Very Merry HEX-Mas (A Woolven Secret Novella) by Saranna DeWyldeEleanor Westwood, resident Woolven caretaker and wicked witch extraordinaire, has a slip of the tongue that conjures a real-life goblin king. Enoch needs to give his subjects a white Christmas, but only a certain wicked witch will do for a very Merry Hex-mas.Cupid's Christmas (Broken Heart Worlds #1) By Michele BardsleyAs the winter holidays approach, love goddess Aphrodite and her personal assistant, the wood nymph Daphne, decide it's time to make another love match. After all, their interference... er, help... in the relationship of werewolves Darrius and Alaya worked out. Now, it's time for a human couple to get the benefit of Aphrodite's gift for matching mates. But can she really convince a movie star and a wedding planner they can have a happily-ever-after? Damn right she can.Frost's Bite (An Easy Bake Coven short story) by Liz SchulteOrphan bounty hunters don't celebrate Christmas, at least Frost never had. But now that she is officially part of a coven of witches who are determined to include her in the festivities, she has no choice but to go along with them. However, when her long buried past starts coming to the surface, Frost will need her friends more than ever.Ghost of a Chance by Angie Fox'Tis the season...for ghosts. Verity Long has come to terms with the fact that she can see spirits, and talk to them, and...she's actually making cookies for one of them. But she's drawing the line at any more ghost hunting or mystery solving. Until a dear friend needs help locating a missing antique at the party of the year. Verity straps on her sparkly heels and sneaks in to see what she can find...and uncovers a holiday secret that will change everything.

    But moments after her mom's funeral, an antique phone rings in the farmhouse where her mother grew up. When Megan answers, the operator tells her it’s a time telephone that she can use to call her mom in the past. Which launches her on a high-stakes quest to save her mother’s life and salvage their relationship. Her dream is that her mother will come home instead of gallivanting around the globe, year in and year out, as a foreign correspondent. This is a coming of age story about a teenager dealing with feelings of rejection and abandonment. But can you change someone you love? Megan is going to find out. "The Time Telephone" will appeal to fans of Teen & Young Adult fiction and magical realism novels for adults.

    It left her with night terrors, and though no one will say it to her face, people think she might have gone a little crazy. Lacy's younger brother Tommy has no such problems, although having the largest vocabulary in his class and being constantly preoccupied with medieval weaponry comes with its own set of difficulties. But when Lacy and Tommy and their friend Wayne (big belt buckle, big hat, wishes he could do two hundred pull ups) are forced to confront a suspicious recluse named Verdell Graham, things go from bad to worse. The kids are sucked into an adventure that challenges their perception of reality and demands that they face what they fear most, alone.Now a motion picture, Kill the Dragon, Get the Girl is a wild and snaky book written for the whole family. It's full of fire and brimstone and pepperoni pizza. You won't want to miss it.