A clever architect designs a house in the shape of the shadow of a tesseract, but it collapses (through the 4th dimension) when an earthquake shakes it into a more stable form (which takes up very little room in our 3-dimensional space.)

     Carl Ramsey has a heist to run and the crew to pull it off. All he’s missing is a specialized computer and the tech to run it. But when an unrelated robbery loses him both, the prospects for a successful job look grim. Unfortunately the one who hired them won’t take excuses, and the owners of the computer come looking for their stolen gear. Caught between a local crime lord and thugs from a galaxy-spanning syndicate, Carl needs to come up with a plan that doesn’t get them all killed. His assets: his retired marine ex-wife, a drunkard mechanic, a feline security chief, and an old family friend who happens to be a wizard. His liabilities: a missing computer, a hospitalized tech, two ruthless criminal organizations looking for answers, and about two hours to sort it all out. …no problem. Tech, Lies, and Wizardry is the free short story prequel to Black Ocean, a science fiction fantasy series set in the 26th century. Do you wish there had been a second season of Firefly? Do you love the irreverent fun of Guardians of the Galaxy? Have you ever wondered how Star Wars would have turned out if Luke and Obi-wan had ditched the rebellion to become smugglers with Han and Chewie? Then Black Ocean is the series for you! Pick up your copy of Tech, Lies, and Wizardry. You don’t even have to steal it! Interview with the Author Q - So, what made you decide to write the Black Ocean series? A – After rewatching Firefly, I wondered why no one since had made a series that recaptured the edge-of-the-law, outlaws-in-space feeling. Then it dawned on me that even though I’m not a TV producer, I could still write one of my own. Black Ocean isn’t meant to be a successor to Firefly, or a clone, but I wanted to put together a “miscreants in space” series to fill that void the show left.   Since I’m a fantasy writer at heart, I added wizards. Q – How do wizards fit in a sci-fi series? A – Anyone who follows science fiction knows that a lot of hand-waving goes on. Faster than light (FTL) travel probably isn’t possible. Artificial gravity would be more 2001: a Space Odyssey than the “we just walk on the floor” sort that Star Trek or Star Wars use. Those and a host of others I just left alone. Instead of waving my hand and having phony science appear, I just let wizards handle it with actual magic.   Arthur C. Clarke said that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” but I wanted to have magic be magic, science be science, and for the two not get along at the office holiday party. Q - So, what genre is this? Does it have a name? A – There’s really no consensus that I’ve found on what to call a mix of space opera and high fantasy. I’ve heard it called science fantasy, futuristic fantasy, sci-fantasy, and sword and laser. There’s always just plain old space opera fantasy. I’ve found that it isn’t easy finding books like Black Ocean because no two people seem to call it the same thing.

    Murphy (Walker Papers), Steven Savile (Glasstown), Caitlin Kittredge (the Hellhound Chronicles and the Black London series), Jeffrey Somers (The Ustari Cycle), Sam Witt (Pitchfork County), Craig Schaefer (Daniel Faust), Jon F. Merz (Lawson Vampire), Faith Hunter (Jane Yellowrock), and Diana Pharaoh Francis (Horngate Witches).“Even Hand” copyright © 2017 by Jim Butcher and previously published by St. Martin’s Press in the Dark and Stormy Nights collection“Hounded” copyright © 2017 by Kelley Armstrong“Nigsu Ga Tesgu” copyright © 2017 by Jeffrey Somers“Sixty-Six Seconds” copyright © 2017 by Craig Schaefer“Kiss” copyright © 2017 by Lilith Saintcrow“The Naughtiest Cherub” copyright © 2017 by Kevin Hearne“The Resurrectionist” copyright © 2017 by Caitlin KittredgeCompilation and “Down Where the Darkness Dwells” copyright © 2017 by Joseph Nassise“Bellum Romanum” copyright ©2017 by Carrie Vaughn“Altar Boy” copyright © 2017 by Jonathan Maberry“Make It Snappy” copyright © 2017 by Faith Hunter“Chase the Fire” copyright © 2017 by Jon F. Merz“Unexpected Choices” copyright © 2017 by Diana Pharaoh Francis“Reel Life: A Glass Town Story” copyright © 2017 by Steven Savile“The Difference Between Deceit and Delusion” copyright © 2017 by Domino Finn“Balance” copyright © 2017 by Seanan McGuire“Everywhere” copyright © 2017 by Sam Witt

    Marshal will be the first to show you hers in this sweet and sexy story of celebration and connection from #1 New York Times bestselling author Laurell K. Hamilton. Anita attends the wedding of her close friend but finds that even on the happiest of days there are wounds that need healing. She and the wereleopards Micah and Nathaniel are asked to talk to the bride’s thirteen-year-old brother, Tomas, who is struggling to recover from a recent gunshot wound. Depressed and demoralized, Tomas isn’t doing his physical therapy and could spend the rest of his life in a wheelchair… How can Anita, Micah, and Nathaniel convince Tomas that he can heal when he’s given up? They tell him about their own scars and how they took back their own lives after they were wounded. And Anita will realize how lucky they are to have not only survived their pasts, but to now be able to make their own formal commitment to each other— and the vampire in her life…

    Reanimated ahead of schedule, Adam Hassler, former Delta Force officer and special agent, leads the first expedition out of David Pilcher's mountain superstructure. His mission is simple. Guide and protect a team of surveyors and scientists, while they study the landscape and collect data for the reconstruction of Wayward Pines. A few hours into the trek, Hassler suspects that the operation has been compromised--by the very people that ordered it.With daylight fading, Hassler's team faces an unknown threat, on unfamiliar ground--in front of an impatient audience.First Contact is Part One of The Genesis Series, a planned trilogy of novellas set in the early days of Blake Crouch's Wayward Pines. Part Two will be released during the summer of 2014, followed shortly by Part Three.

    When daughter Allie finds herself knee-deep in demons, Demon Hunter Kate Connor must come to the rescue in this first short story featuring not only Kate, but fourteen year old Allie, too!

    K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season, the winner of this year's Hugo Award for Best Novel, New York City is about to go through a few changes.Like all great metropolises before it, when a city gets big enough, old enough, it must be born; but there are ancient enemies who cannot tolerate new life. Thus New York will live or die by the efforts of a reluctant midwife...and how well he can learn to sing the city's mighty song.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    Turns out Prosper's great-great-great-great-great-something grandfather made — and then broke — a contract with a malefactor, a demon who exchanges fortune for eternal servitude. And, weirdly enough, four-thousand-year-old Alastor isn't exactly the forgiving type. The fiend has reawakened with one purpose — to destroy the family whose success he ensured and who then betrayed him. With only days to break the curse and banish Alastor back to the demon realm, Prosper is playing unwilling host to the fiend, who delights in tormenting him with nasty insults and constant attempts trick him into a contract. Yeah, Prosper will take his future without a side of eternal servitude, thanks. Little does Prosper know, the malefactor's control over his body grows stronger with each passing night, and there's a lot Alastor isn't telling his dim-witted (but admittedly strong-willed) human host.

    But they do watch over us. They watch our lives unfold, analyzing us for repeating patterns and redundancies. When they find them, the angels simplify those patterns, they remove the redundancies, and the problem that is you gets solved.Carey doesn’t much like that idea. As a punk living in New York City, 1977, Carey is sick and tired of watching the strange kids with the unnoticeable faces abduct his friends. He doesn’t care about the rumors of tarmonsters in the sewers, or unkillable psychopaths invading the punk scene—all he wants is drink cheap beer and dispense asskickings.Kaitlyn isn’t sure what she’s doing with her life. She came to Hollywood in 2013 to be a stunt woman, but last night a former teen heartthrob tried to eat her, her best friend has just gone missing, and there’s an angel outside her apartment.Whatever she plans on doing with her life, it should probably happen in the few remaining minutes she has left of it.There are angels. There are demons. They are the same thing. It’s up to Carey and Kaitlyn to stop them. The survival of the human race is in their hands.We are, all of us, well and truly screwed.

    And while Alex's own powers aren't as showy as some mages, he does have the advantage of foreseeing the possible future--allowing him to pull off operations that have a million-to-one-chance of success. But when Alex is approached by multiple factions to crack open a relic from a long-ago mage war, he knows that whatever's inside must be beyond powerful. And thanks to his abilities, Alex can predict that by taking the job, his odds of survival are about to go from slim to none...

    But when Dory Basarab is called to a crime scene in a smelly basement in Queens, she discovers that that may no longer be the case. Somebody has developed a new weapon, a vamp killer, and left her plenty of clues to follow. One of them leads her to the other side of the world, and to a city like no other, where the paranormal is normal and where death stalks the streets. Can she defeat a clever killer before he kills again, and on an unprecedented scale?

    Her world is suddenly upturned when Maanik, the daughter of India’s ambassador to the United Nations, starts speaking in tongues and having violent visions. Caitlin is sure that her fits have something to do with the recent assassination attempt on her father—a shooting that has escalated nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan to dangerous levels—but when teenagers around the world start having similar outbursts, Caitlin begins to think that there’s a more sinister force at work. In Haiti, a student claws at her throat, drowning on dry land. In Iran, a boy suddenly and inexplicably sets himself on fire. Animals, too, are acting irrationally, from rats in New York City to birds in South America to ordinary house pets. With Asia on the cusp of nuclear war, Caitlin must race across the globe to uncover the mystical links among these seemingly unrelated incidents in order to save her patient—and perhaps the world.

    Her best friend, Karou, calls her "rabid fairy," her "voodoo eyes" are said to freeze blood, and even her older brother fears her wrath. But when it comes to the simple matter of talking to Mik, or "Violin Boy," her courage deserts her. Now, enough is enough. Zuzana is determined to make the first move, and she has a fistful of magic and a plan. It's a wonderfully elaborate treasure hunt of a plan that will take Mik all over Prague on a cold winter's night before leading him to the treasure: herself! Violin Boy is not going to know what hit him.New York Times bestselling author Laini Taylor brings to life a night only hinted at in the Daughter of Smoke & Bone trilogy—the magical first date of fan-favorites Zuzana and Mik. Originally published as an ebook, this new print edition will include breathtaking black and white illustrations, plus bonus content in a gorgeous package perfect for new and current fans of the series.

    

    Clarke award-winning Adrian TchaikovskyMy name is Gary Rendell. I’m an astronaut. When they asked me as a kid what I wanted to be when I grew up, I said, “astronaut, please!” I dreamed astronaut, I worked astronaut, I studied astronaut.I got lucky; when a probe sent out to explore the Oort Cloud found a strange alien rock and an international team of scientists was put together to go and look at it, I made the draw.I got even luckier. When disaster hit and our team was split up, scattered through the endless cold tunnels, I somehow survived.Now I’m lost, and alone, and scared, and there’s something horrible in here.Lucky me.Lucky, lucky, lucky.