Fiction by Hugo and Nebula award winners and nominees as well as talented newcomers. Stories were selected by the Unidentified Funny Objects series curator Alex Shvartsman.

    Agon, a megalomaniacal inventor with an arsenal of lethal gadgets. Motley, a wisecracking jewel thief with nothing left to lose. Chillpill, a cryogenic drug lord who just wants a normal life. Baelphegor, a demonic psychopath with an ugly score to settle. They're the most dangerous supervillains on Earth, and they're about to pull off the perfect crime. There's just one catch: if they succeed, they might accidentally save the world. From the skyscrapers of Apex City to the gates of Hell itself, the Antagonists are pursued by violent superheroes and billionaire vigilantes. But as loyalties are tested and old hatreds are rekindled, the line between friend and foe begins to blur...

    No job. No prospects. He lives in one of the most crime-ridden apartment blocks on the west coast. His girlfriend uses him for a place to stay. His father is on life support. Rent is due next week… Games are Nick’s passion. He's played them all - well, the old screen ones anyway. He's never been able to afford an Immersion tank and the amazing games that come with them, but he's seen the web casts. He knows the names of every superstar pixel runner. His heroes. So when he's picked out of the crowd to participate in a competitive, quest-driven dark fantasy RPG, his brain melts. Could this be his opportunity to get ahead? Or will he be chewed up by the machine, just another failed pixel runner by the side of the road? STRENGTH BUILD is a LitRPG serial. The Fields of Durandor is the first episode, with more to come in the coming weeks!

    Telling the story of humanity's first attempts to colonise distant planets, this is the tale of Kim and his companions and the strange creatures and perilous dangers they face in the unknown worlds.

    Two skeptical, modern engineers find their lives turned upside down when they accidentally stumble upon the legendary Western Isles, the mythical home of King Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon.

    These collected stories cover well known and loved characters, as well as some lesser seen NPCs. Into the Deadlands: Alistern, Grimgar, Almira, Stewart, and Flora take their first trip into the sands. The longest story in the anthology, and a harrowing tale of heroics. Lilith’s History: How did Lilith come to be with Alistern and raise five wonderful daughters? Bob’s Tale: Everyone’s favorite Imp is featured in this story. Stewart’s Upbringing: How does a Half-blood Infernal grow up in a city that despises his kind? Erin’s Story: How does the barmaid come to love a noble’s son? A story of love and acceptance. Deirdre’s Story: What is one to do when her sister’s are finding love? Find her own, of course. Marian’s Story: With the other three sisters having found love, Marian yearns to find her own soulmate. Demon Lord’s Armor: The tale of how the infamous Demon Lord Armor set was created. Skippy’s Tale: Simmer down, we know most people hate him. Understand him so you can hate him even more. Bob’s Tale Part two: Bob is back with more story to dig into. Magiblood: The story of Rolland and Kim, never before seen anywhere. I hope you will enjoy reading these stories as much as I did writing them.

    When an opportunity to join the Mechanized Infantry presents itself, Pete is first in line. He knows that he's going to get shot at one way or another, but the idea of sitting in a warm and more importantly, dry mechanized suit appeals to him almost beyond reason. While still training in the jungle, Pete's squad is called out to intervene in a skirmish in a nearby village. Of course, the Marines haven't seen fit to certify his squad with ordnance. The fact that they'll be up against a platoon of squishies doesn't convince him that's it's any better of an idea and things turn quickly to crap when they discover the squishies are protected by grav-tanks. Pete, Popeye and Olive is a fast paced, short-story with plenty of action.

     Dramatically raising the bar for realism and invention, his trademark battle-weary spacecraft, dramatic alien landscapes and crumbling brutalist architecture irrevocably changed the aesthetic of science fiction art and cinema. Featuring work for books by Isaac Asimov, E. E. ‘Doc’ Smith, Arthur C. Clarke, A. E. Van Vogt and Philip K. Dick, and film design for Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick, this volume brings together many rare and classic images that have never been seen or reprinted before. The first comprehensive retrospective of Chris Foss’s SF career. “Chris Foss’ name has become pre-eminent among sf artists... He is in love with the monstrous, with angular momentum, with inertia-free projectiles and irresistable objects.” — Brian Aldiss “[Foss’] creations are real machines, not just an artist’s dreams. They combine the two elements so essential to science fiction: realism and a sense of wonder... A medieval goldsmith of future eons.” — Alejandro Jodorowsky

    at $7 billion a bounty! What starts as a vendetta could become a lucrative business for Boxer... if he can live past day one!Duane Swierczynski and Simon Gane launch this ultimate action-movie blockbuster, ushering in a new era of monster battles!

    Astra has finished her training and is now a full-fledged Sentinel, but things are not going well. She suffers from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and the public revelation of her relationship with Atlas has caused her popularity to nose-dive.To complicate things, the Teatime Anarchist's intervention has changed the course of events--leaving her with lots of knowledge about the way the future was before the Big One, a complete future-history that is now out of date.And just when she thinks she's getting a handle on things, unfolding events (a bank-robbery and a horrific murder) show that one of the nastier pieces of the old future isn't so out of date after all; unless she solves a murder before it happens, Blackstone is going to die.

    Images from Ryden's acclaimed Japanese Snow Yak Show are reproduced in large 11" x 14" format, & include many detail images & drawings. Features all of the works, as well as photographs of the work on display.

    The Empire, the structure that held civilization together for a thousand years, is collapsing. Trying to hold things together is the Corps of Imperial Gladius, one of the pillars originally created to support and protect the Empire throughout its long life. A Gladius is a genetically bred ultimate soldier, the best soldier that ever existed. Despite that, the Emperor, a deeply paranoid sociopath, fears the Corps and is trying to destroy them, regardless of what that will do to the Empire's security.A surviving portion of a devastated Gladius legion arrives on the isolated and decadent world of Cauldwell to be confronted with the fact they must once again take up their ancestral trade, war. The appearance of the legion is probably the most newsworthy event on Cauldwell for the last century and star reporter Shana Ettranty decides to do a series of stories about them for her network. That decision radically changes her life when she decides to undergo Gladius recruit training to get a better perspective on the Corps. As she continues, Shana learns deeply buried secrets about Cauldwell... and about herself. Those secrets will change the course of human history. In the end, they destroy the Empire.This is a military science fiction book written by a retired Army officer whose viewpoint has ranged from being in the ranks to general staff, not just an action book. The story asks some very tough questions about survival and sacrifice made to let humanity survive. In it, the Corps and Shana are forced to make some hard decisions. Are their answers right or wrong? In the end, only the reader can decide.

    Men and women with abilities science cannot explain. Heroes and monsters. Both beloved and feared, the Titans are the new superpowers in the post-Wave world.Into this changed world are thrust Mercy Garner and her crew, trapped in time for fifty years and thought to be dead. They were the first to detect the Wave, the first to be hit by it, and the last to discover the changes the Wave brought to their world.

    Seek out a comfortable chair to marvel at the sight of two setting suns or revel in bloody battle on the Plains of Deadalon, destroying skeleton warriors with your devastating magic. Whatever your heart desires, Waara will provideeeeeeeeee Error304, Error 6799, Report! Critical Failure! Click here for customer support. That is unless your name is Hayden and you wake up in a pitch black mine, with no idea how you got there and are thrust into an unimaginable world of pain and heart attack inducing adventures/catastrophes. “Waara will provide ‘MY ASS’. Can you believe that PR ‘crap’? Come and find out what happened to me and we will see if you still want to play, ‘The Land of Waara,’ ” Hayden griped. “What the hell is that? Get it off me Spike. A little help would be nice.” Game Break is a LITRPG Series There is some swearing and a bit of nudity, but all in good taste, I hope.

    Steeple’s dream of a totalitarian America under his hand as benevolent dictator can now become a reality, even if it means making common cause with America’s mortal enemies. No treachery is too great to fulfill his ambitions, and those of his friends.But American patriotism doesn’t die that easily, and Steeple just might find out that men and women still exist to protect those who can’t protect themselves. Regardless of the odds, some people take their service oaths seriously, even unto death.Such courage always has a cost, though, and this time the cost is high.