When a stranger stops in for a cup of coffee, they can’t help but be suspicious. He’s shaky, surly, and looks to be teetering on the edge of a breakdown. As tensions rise and violence erupts, reality crumbles—and everyone in the diner bears witness to the horror of a veteran terrorized by gruesome memories of war.

    With a prize on his head and his life in danger, trust is a luxury he can't afford. Hirald, pale and deadly in the blistering heat, is an ambiguous presence. But who is she? What does she want from him? Mankind has sought Snow's secret for thousands of years, and blood will flow in the desert before it's revealed.This short tale is compelling, brutal and lingers long after the final word: the perfect introduction to Neal Asher's Polity universe fiction.Snow is an albino, immortal, very dangerous, and someone wants his bollocks. Spectrum SF 8 (2002), David G Hartwell’s & Kathryn Cramer’s Year’s Best SF 8 (June 2003), and to be published in the Czech SF magazine Ikarie.

    Then the aliens give him an ultimatum: The world will end in 144 days, and all Henry has to do to stop it is push a big red button. Now, in Shaun David Hutchinson’s new short story, What We Pretend to Be, fans can glimpse some of the impossible decisions other characters have faced at the hands of the aliens, and even see Henry’s very first abduction . . .

    

    With "The Mongolian Wizard," Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Michael Swanwick launches a new fiction series -- beginning with this story of a very unusual international conference in a fractured Europe that never was.

    Founded on the worship of the God-Emperor of Mankind, it guards the sanctity of the Imperial Creed and protects the celestial truth of the Emperor’s divinity. Its ideals are enforced by the bolters and flamers of the Orders Militant of the Adepta Sororitas – the Sisters of Battle. After two millennia, the warp storms raging around the Hollos star system have abated, allowing the isolated planet of Hollos to reconnect with the Imperium. When a mysterious messenger contacts the Orders Militant, Celestian Miriya must travel to Hollos and pass judgement on the world. Will she find a world embracing the Emperor’s truth or one in need of cleansing? Her decision will liberate or condemn an entire planet.

    

    What happened to Benny Imura and his friends after they reached Sanctuary—and discovered that it was far from the miracle they had thought it would be? Jonathan Maberry shares a glimpse into a formative moment in an exclusive e-short story that also features Joe Ledger (Patient Zero, Extinction Machine) and Iron Mike Sweeney (The Pine Deep Trilogy).

    

    in Ian McDonald's Tor.com Original short story The Guile.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    Not everyone can. Who decides? Desperate to save his daughter from a mysterious sickness, Daniel applies for the Methuselah Treatment. If she gets it, his daughter won’t just recover, she’ll live forever. But the drug is tightly controlled, and only the special, the talented, and the truly deserving ever receive it. There is nothing special about Daniel’s destitute ten- year-old girl—or is there?

    K. Jemisin“Soul’s Bargain” by Juliette Wade“The Halfway House at the Heart of Darkness” by William Browning Spencer“Gold Mountain” by Chris RobersonNON-FICTION“The Issue of Gender in Genre Fiction: Publications from Slush” by Susan E. Connolly“The Issue of Gender in Genre Fiction: The Math Behind the Slush” by Susan E. Connolly“Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance: An Interview with Jeff VanderMeer” by Ben Fry“Another Word: Reclaiming the Tie-In Novel” by James L. Sutter“Editor’s Desk: Adding Some Color” by Neil Clarke

    This lovely little volume featured stories by Kate Elliott, Kelley Armstrong, C.E. Murhphy and myself. It sold out in a heartbeat.Since then, I’ve heard from a number of readers asking if there is any way to get a copy of the story. I am pleased to say that “Words Like Coins” is now available as a lovely e-book with literally fantastic illustrations by Tom Kidd."

    A short story written for Halloween

    In the late Sixties a fireball struck the town of Pederson, Illnois granting fantastic powers to the 113 children who were in utero at the time of impact. They grew up as the world watched. Labeled the Specials by the Media, their powers were monitored and catalogued by the United States Government. Public perception of them changed often. Were they the future of mankind? A scourge? A random occurrence? Heroes? Villains? Role models or simply caricatures? What would be their impact on culture and society? They were a waried as kids and adults ever are; some were more powerful, some less. As adults they became many things: a policeman, a corporate symbol, a singer, an assassin, a writer, a painter, a thief, a preacher. Some found celebrity, some notoriety, while others simply went to work and raised families like everyone else. But they all carried inside them a seed of something great. Something special. Something that made them stars. As their epic stories unfolded, there were other stories as well...of their lives and the lives of those around them. This book is about those stories. Collected here are the short stories about the Specials, a bit about their beginnings, a bit about their middles and just a little bit about their end.