Not only did he let one of the targets live, he attacked the team sent to retrieve him. Now the Corporation wants answers and they bring in the brilliant robopsychologist Dr. Clarice Maven to get them—giving her the power to make sure Deacon never fails the Corporation ever again.As Deacon tries to keep his secrets and the doctor cuts through his defenses, a cunning game of cat-and-mouse begins. The question is: will Deacon be able to resist Dr. Maven’s power and protect the only thing that has ever truly mattered to him?With full-color art by Winona Nelson, Artifice deals with the classic sci-fi question: What does it really mean to be a "person"? And what would an Artificial Intelligence designed to be the perfect soldier ultimately choose: love... or honor? Artifice has got action, romance and even some moments of comedy. And you can read it for free right now over at artificecomic.com.

    Here’s the correct version, as published in Omni, 1990." -- Terry Bisson

    They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots. Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone. Then she meets Lucas, everything changes. Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race. It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what.And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.

    Geneticists rule, instituting a DNA-based caste system in their effort to restore the human genome.As a Zed, Will's a virtual slave who isn't allowed medical care. A tragic accident has left him crippled, awaiting death. Just before his time is up, Malcolm, an enigmatic Alpha with two differently colored eyes, sweeps in and buys him. Will becomes part of a family of freaks--other damaged Zeds who should be dead. Life seems ideal until Malcolm makes a request that could change Will's life.Malcolm harbors more secrets than his Zeds could imagine. His attraction to Will unravels his carefully cultivated control, and one secret escapes: he craves pain, not just as a sexual release, but as a way to atone for his past. Will may be the one person who can give him what he needs if Malcolm can only allow him into his heart.As they struggle to build trust, each secret Malcolm reveals threatens their relationship. In the end, their desire for each other may heal both men if they can unlearn the lessons of the past.In Distress is a dystopian, science-fiction love story and contains adult language and situations.

    After being burned in his last relationship, he wants nothing to do with the sensual, quill-haired creatures. It's just his luck that Ferran, one of the Perels, takes a distinct liking to him.Ferran is captivated by Jason's aloof nature, but for one who must return home to domestic obligation and impending marriage, lasting romance seems out of the question. Nevertheless, his charm begins to open Jason up, and the more time they spend together, the more difficult it becomes to say goodbye.

    From The Wizard of Oz to The Dark Tower, from Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass to C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia, there is a rich tradition of this kind of fiction, but never before have the best parallel world stories and portal fantasies been collected in a single volume—until now.

    So when she arrives in Stargazer with her head full of conspiracies and high-end hairspray, she isn’t entirely surprised to learn that instead of donating eggs for tuition money, she is being asked to make an alien fall in love with her, and become an ambassador for humankind. What she doesn’t expect is how irresistible Bond is, and how hard it will be not to lose her own heart to the man who plays her body like a violin.Bond is on Earth to fill one human female with as much pleasure as she can bear, a mission he’s finding very agreeable. But he’s not here to fall in love. Tasked with using his powers of human seduction to glean what he can about Earth and its inhabitants, Bond knows that if the planet’s resources are worthy and its residents aren’t, his days of pleasing Posey will soon be at an end.

    A soldier and a pilot are tasked to deliver a package. A messenger and a refugee decide to work together on a dying alien planet. A love letter is lost that could be the key to a new future. A dark comedy about the messages we carry in our bones.

    What he longs for is a life mate: someone who'll complete him, someone he can love who’ll love him back, someone who’ll ease the aching loneliness that haunts his life. So he leaves his world, takes on the Earth name Chris West, and makes a payment to Star Systems Unlimited for a life mate.When he bonds with Caitlyn Davis, he thinks life can't get any better. But she was married before, and memories of her deceased husband still linger around her home. Will he find a place in her heart or will he have to become like her first husband in order to get her love?

    It’s her chance to make a difference and make up for horrible past mistakes…despite the fact that its battle-hardened commander never wanted her on his team. When Hell Squad is tasked with destroying a strategic alien facility, Elle knows they need her skills in the field. But first she must go head to head with Marcus Steele and convince him she won’t be a liability. Marcus Steele is a warrior through and through. He fights to protect the innocent and give the human race a chance to survive. And that includes the beautiful, gutsy Elle who twists him up inside with a single look. The last thing he wants is to take her into a warzone, but soon they are thrown together battling both the alien invaders and their overwhelming attraction. And Marcus will learn just how much he’ll sacrifice to keep her safe.

    There is a separate entry if you have just the 1938 novella. Also published as 'The Thing and Other Stories'. 'The Thing from Another World' and 'The Thing from Outer Space'. All contained the seven short stories mentioned above.

    He thought living on the moon would keep him safe and a new accounting job boring enough not to draw attention. It was a great plan until he meets his sexy, bear boss.Lyon is actually a bear shifter. He likes his new employee Quinn too much. Lyon breaks all his rules with Quinn but some crazy stalker shows up and almost kills them. Now, he must protect the human that has grabbed both his heart and his balls.

    It's 2109, and the government has found a way to deal with the national debt. Indentured service. She might have been duped into debt, but she's not stupid. Jamie made sure to put a no-sex clause in her contract. There's just one problem. She can't stop thinking about her boss. Sexy and commanding, he's the face of her ultimate fantasy, and a nightmare employer. She's met every challenge he's thrown at her and refuses to drop, no matter how hard he works her.When Jamie does the wrong thing for the right reason, she assumes Talson will throw her in jail and not think twice. In an effort to escape, she ambushes him and flees, but not before taking a kiss and a bit more from the man.She hadn't counted on him getting free so quickly, that he might be half alien, or that he'd hunt her down with more than vengeance on his mind.Publisher's Note: This title was previously published elsewhere and has been revised for Ellora's Cave.

    But ammunition and medicine are essential to survival and they don’t grow on trees. Eve, as an elite defender of Eden, must go on a raid with a small team into the city for supplies that will keep their people alive. But this dangerous world is evolving and the rules that once kept them safe are changing.THE RAID is a 3,000 word short story in THE EDEN TRILOGY. Book one, THE BANE, will be available March 5, 2013.

    Only one ship survived.It only survived because it found a vast swath of alien planets, all terraformed, all utterly abandoned. Alien megastructures cold and lifeless. Alien vehicles left in panicked lines, sealed from the inside, no corpses within. Empty space stations, with no one to run them but the dust. Resources everywhere, ripe for the taking.But Fortune is different. Of all the planets colonized by humans after the chaos of Migration, this single, jungle-infested colony on the very edge of the known universe holds the key to the alien collapse…and to humanity’s survival. Everywhere else, advanced alien ruins mar every surface, every planetoid, every debris ring and asteroid, but of the creatures that made them, there is no sign. On Fortune, something survives…Unfortunately for humanity, while time is running out, a rebellion is brewing, one that could save our species—or consign it to dust like the aliens that came before us. Now, seven hundred years after our first brush with extinction, the fate of the human race once again rests on the shoulders of a few: a seven-year-old sociopath and her combat-gifted big sister, a man who’s dreamed of the future, an infamous smuggler, and a Coalition pilot sworn to destroy the rebel cause.This time, however, the stakes are higher. For lurking on Fortune is a secret.An epic, post-apocalyptic science fiction adventure that will make you hold your breath, cry, curse the powers that be, and in the end question what, exactly, it means to be human. *FOR CURRENT FANS OF THE OUTER BOUNDS SERIES: This is the THIRD edition of Outer Bounds 1: Fortune's Rising. To celebrate the return of the Outer Bounds' series to its creator, Sara King added a bonus 17,500 word novella to this edition detailing Anna's rescue of Milar from the Nephyrs, as well as some fantastic book-derived art by bestselling graphic artist Lance MacCarty. It also has timeline fixes and minor edits to better synch it with the rest of the series. Plus it just looks cooler.