The Long List Anthology Volume 3: More Stories From the Hugo Award Nomination List (The Long List Anthology Series)


David SteffenSarah Pinsker - 2017
    Every year, supporting members of WorldCon nominate their favorite stories first published during the previous year to determine the top five in each category for the final Hugo Award ballot. This is an anthology collecting more of the stories from that nomination list to get them to more readers The Long List Anthology Volume 3 collects 20 science fiction, fantasy, and horror stories from that nomination list, totaling over 500 pages of fiction by writers from all corners of the world. From intelligent appliances gone feral to Lovecraftian detective noir, from tech-enhanced wilderness races to Egyptian science fantasy steampunk, from hard science fiction to fairy tale to humor and more. There is a wide variety of styles and types of stories here, and something for everyone. The stories included are: "Red in Tooth and Cog" by Cat Rambo "A Salvaging of Ghosts" by Aliette de Bodard "Welcome to the Medical Clinic at the Interplanetary Relay Station | Hours Since the Last Patient Death: 0" by Caroline M. Yoachim "Razorback" by Ursula Vernon "We Have a Cultural Difference, Can I Taste You?" by Rebecca Ann Jordan "Lullaby for a Lost World" by Aliette de Bodard "Terminal" by Lavie Tidhar "Ye Highlands and Ye Lowlands" by Seanan McGuire "Things With Beards" by Sam J. Miller "The Venus Effect" by Joseph Allen Hill "The Visitor From Taured" by Ian R. MacLeod "Blood Grains Speak Through Memories" by Jason Sanford "Sooner or Later Everything Falls Into the Sea" by Sarah Pinsker "A Dead Djinn in Cairo" by P. Djèlí Clark "Red as Blood and White as Bone" by Theodora Goss "Foxfire, Foxfire" by Yoon Ha Lee "Forest of Memory" by Mary Robinette Kowal "Chimera" by Gu Shi, translated by S. Qiouyi Lu and Ken Liu "Hammers on Bone" by Cassandra Khaw "Runtime" by S.B. Divya

Wizards, Inc.


Martin H. GreenbergKristine Kathryn Rusch - 2007
    ColemanJamaica • novelette by Orson Scott CardAudition • short story by Steve PerryBack Door Magic • [A Witch & Familiar Situation • 1] • short story by Phaedra Weldon [as by Phaedra M. Weldon]Occupational Hazard • [Harry the Book] • short story by Mike ResnickTies That Bind • short story by Annie ReedHostile Takeover • short story by Nina Kiriki HoffmanA Different Way into the Life • short story by Jay LakeDisaster Relief • [Winston & Ruby] • short fiction by Kristine Kathryn RuschKidPro • short story by Laura Anne GilmanStocks and Bondage • novelette by Esther M. FriesnerThe Keeper of the Morals • novelette by Dean Wesley SmithCosmic Balances Inc. • short story by Kristine Kathryn Rusch [as by Kristine Grayson]Theobroma • juvenile • [Young Wizards] • novelette by Diane DuaneChocolate Alchemy • (2007) • short story by Lisa SilverthorneNo Rest for the Wicked • [Trick Molloy] • short story by Michael A. Stackpole

The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories


Jeff VanderMeerWilliam Gibson - 2010
    Together these stories form The Weird, and its practitioners include some of the greatest names in twentieth and twenty-first century literature.Exotic and esoteric, The Weird plunges you into dark domains and brings you face to face with surreal monstrosities. You won't find any elves or wizards here... but you will find the biggest, boldest, and downright most peculiar stories from the last hundred years bound together in the biggest Weird collection ever assembled. The Weird features 110 stories by an all-star cast, from literary legends to international bestsellers to Booker Prize winners: including William Gibson, George R. R. Martin, Stephen King, Angela Carter, Kelly Link, Franz Kafka, China Miéville, Clive Barker, Haruki Murakami, M. R. James, Neil Gaiman, Mervyn Peake, and Michael Chabon.

Mountain Magic


David Drake - 2004
    But first they'll have to overcome some very unusual residents of the hills and valleys. One is David Drake's unforgettable creation, Old Nathan the Wizard. He doesn't claim much for his magical powers, but they're real enough for what they are-and besides, he hasn't forgotten how to use his long flintlock rifle. Enter the gritty, realistic world of Old Nathan, a backwoodsman who talks to animals and says he'll face the Devil himself-and who in the end will have to face the Devil in very fact. A century later, very different interlopers, from criminals to snooping college professors, are poking around the hills, up to no good. But a very unusual family, the Hogbens, are likely to cause more trouble than unwelcome visitors can handle, as Henry Kuttner relates. They're a family of mutants, with very unusual powers, and city folk who cause trouble are likely to suddenly find unbelievable-and unpleasant-things happening to them. But not all of the trouble is caused by humans, as the Slade family find out when Eric Flint and Ryk E. Spoor relate how a Kentucky family finds itself caught in the middle of a struggle between battling groups of the creatures who live deep underground and are the basis from the old legends of gnomes. The Slades have to make sure that the right gnomes win-or an earthquake will wipe out everyone in at least four states. Magic, mutants, and mountain folk add up to an unusual volume, with adventure ranging from the grim and eerie to the wildly comic.

The Dragon Book


Jack DannLiz Williams - 2009
     Whether portrayed as fire-breathing reptilian beasts at war with humanity or as noble creatures capable of speech and mystically bonded to the warriors who ride them, dragons have been found in nearly every culture's mythology. In modern times, they can be found far from their medieval settings in locales as mundane as suburbia or as barren as post-apocalyptic landscapes—and in The Dragon Book, today's greatest fantasists reignite the fire with legendary tales that will consume readers' imaginations.Includes the following stories: Dragon’s Deep - Cecelia Holland Vici - Naomi Novik Bob Choi’s Last Job - Johnathan StroudAre You Afflicted with Dragons? - Kage BakerThe Tsar’s Dragons - Jane Yolen and Adam StempleThe Dragon of Direfell - Liz Williams Oakland Dragon Blues - Peter S. Beagle Humane Killer - Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Sykes Stop! - Garth NixUngentle Fire - Sean Williams A Stark and Wormy Knight - Tad Williams None So Blind - Harry Turtledove JoBoy - Diana Wynne JonesPuz_le - Gregory MaguireAfter the Third Kiss - Bruce CovilleThe War That Winter Is - Tanith LeeThe Dragon’s Tale - Tamore PierceDragon’s Storm - Mary RosenblumThe Dragaman’s Bride - Andy Duncan

Wizards: Magical Tales From the Masters of Modern Fantasy


Jack DannTad Williams - 2007
    Gone are the cartoon images of wizened gray-haired men in pointy caps creating magic with a wave of their wands. Today's wizards are more subtle in their powers, more discerning in their ways, and-in the hands of modern fantasists-more likely than ever to capture readers' imaginations.In Neil Gaiman's "The Witch's Headstone," a piece taken from his much-anticipated novel in progress, an eight-year-old boy learns the power of kindness from a long-dead sorceress. Only one woman possesses two kinds of magic-enough to unite two kingdoms-in Garth Nix's "Holly and Iron." Patricia A. McKillip's "Naming Day" gives a sorcery student a lesson in breaking the rules. And a famished dove spins a tale worthy of a meal, but perhaps not the truth, in "A Fowl Tale" by Eoin Colfer.

Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day


Ben Loory - 2011
    In his singular universe, televisions talk (and sometimes sing), animals live in small apartments where their nephews visit from the sea, and men and women and boys and girls fall down wells and fly through space and find love on Ferris wheels. In a voice full of fable, myth, and dream, Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day draws us into a world of delightfully wicked recognitions, and introduces us to a writer of uncommon talent and imagination.Contains 40 stories, including "The Duck," "The Man and the Moose," and "Death and the Fruits of the Tree," as heard on NPR's This American Life, "The Book," as heard on Selected Shorts, and "The TV," as found in The New Yorker.A selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program and the Starbucks Coffee Bookish Reading Club.Winner of the 2011 Nobbie Award for Best Book of the Year."This guy can write!" –Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451

Legends


Robert SilverbergOrson Scott Card - 1998
    Each of the writers was asked to write a new story based on one of his or her most famous series. Stephen King tells a tale of Roland, the Gunslinger, in the world of The Dark Tower, in "The Little Sisters of Eluria."Terry Pratchett relates an amusing incident in Discworld, of a magical contest and the witch Granny Weatherwax, in "The Sea and Little Fishes"Terry Goodkind tells of the origin of the Border between realms in the world of The Sword of Truth, in "Debt of Bones."Orson Scott Card spins a yarn of Alvin and his apprentice from the Tales of Alvin Maker, in "Grinning Man."Robert Silverberg returns to Majipoor and to Lord Valentine's adventure in an ancient tomb, in "the Seventh Shrine."Ursual K. Le Guin adds a sequel to her famous books of Earthsea, portraying a woman who wants to learn magic, in "Dragonfly."Tad Williams tells a dark and enthralling story of a great and haunted castle in the age before Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, in "The Burning Man."George R.R. Martin sets his piece a generation before his epic, A Song of Ice and Fire, in the adventure of "The Hedge Knight."Ann McCaffrey, the poet of Pern, returns once again to her world of romance and adventure in "Runner of Pern."Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Saga is the setting of the tale of "The Wood Boy."Robert Jordan, in "New Spring," tells of crucial events in the years leading up to The Wheel of Time, of the meeting of Lan and Moiraine and the beginning of the search for the child who must grow to lead in the Last Battle.

Blood Lite


Kevin J. AndersonJim Butcher - 2008
    NOTE: This story has been re-released in the Dark Bites anthology.Celebrity necromancer Jaime Vegas is headlining a sold-out séance tour, but behind the scenes, a disgruntled ghost has a bone to pick, in Kelley Armstrong's The Ungrateful Dead.Plus tales guaranteed to get under your skin - in a good way - from:* Janet Berliner* Don D'Ammassa* Nancy Holder* Nancy Kilpatrick* J. A. Konrath* F. Paul Wilson* Joe R. Lansdale* Will Ludwigsen* Sharyn McCrumb* Mark Onspaugh* Mike Resnick* Steven Savile* D. L. Snell* Eric James Stone* Jeff Strand* Lucien Soulban* Matt Venne* Christopher WelchSo let the blood flow and laughter reign - because when it comes to facing our deepest, darkest fears, a little humor goes a long way!

Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears


Ellen DatlowGahan Wilson - 1995
    Now, in their third critically acclaimed collection of original fairy tales for adults, World Fantasy Award-winning editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling bring us twenty-one new stories by some of the top names in literature today. Joyce Carol Oates, Gahan Wilson, Gene Wolfe, Tanith Lee, Neil Gaiman -- these are but a few of the accomplished literary sorcerers who have gathered here to remold our timeless myths into more sensuous and disturbing forms. Like the fabled ruby slippers, there is powerful magic here. Rich witches in trendy resorts cast evil spells ... beautiful princesses age and wither in sleeping worlds ... terrible beasts reside beneath flawless skin.Dark, disturbing, delightful, each story was written expressly for this superb collection of distinctly grown-up fantasy -- a brilliant companion volume to Datlow and Windling's acclaimed anthologies, "Snow White, Blood Red and "Black Thorn, White Rose. The "Snow White, Blood Red" Collection #1. Snow White, Blood Red #2. Black Thorn, White Rose #3. Ruby Slippers, Golden Tears #4. Black Swan, White Raven #5. Silver Birch, Blood Moon #6. Black Heart, Ivory Bones

The Sandman: Book of Dreams


Neil GaimanGeorge Alec Effinger - 1996
    He is Morpheus, the lord of story. Older than humankind itself, he inhabits -- along with Destiny, Death, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium, his Endless sisters and brothers -- the realm of human consciousness. His powers are myth and nightmare -- inspirations, pleasures, and punishments manifested beneath the blanketing mist of sleep.Surrender to him now.A stunning collection of visions, wonders, horrors, hallucinations, and revelations from Clive Barker, Barbara Hambly, Tad Williams, Gene Wolfe, Nancy A. Collins, and sixteen other incomparable dreamers -- inspired by the groundbreaking, bestselling graphic novel phenomenon by Neil Gaiman.

Death's Excellent Vacation


Charlaine HarrisChris Grabenstein - 2010
    P. Kelner return with an all-new story collection of postcards from the edge of the paranormal world...It really can be an endless summer - if you're immortal. Though a vampire would be ill-advised to take a cruise to Bermuda, the possibilities for getting away from it all - and maybe snacking on some unsuspecting tourist - are many...Sookie Stackhouse and her vampire friend Pam take a weekend getaway to Mississippi in #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "Two Blondes." And when they end up in a shady gentleman's club, to escape in one piece they need to do something that wasn't on their itinerary - something involving a stage, a pole, and very little clothing.New York Times bestselling author Katie MacAlister's "The Perils of Effrijim" follow a demon whose vacation in Paris is disrupted when he's banished to another plane, thus kicking off a crazy dimension-hopping road trip across Europe.Protecting an heiress from supernatural hit men isn't Cat and Bones's idea of a relaxing vacation in New York Times bestselling author Jeaniene Frost's "One for the Money," but it could get worse. And it does - when Cat's mother shows up.With ten more original tales, editors Harris and Kelner bring together a stellar collection of tour guides who offer vacations frightening, funny, and touching - for the fanged, the furry, the demonic, and the grotesque.

Men of the Otherworld


Kelley Armstrong - 2009
    But surviving as a lone child-werewolf was more than he could manage—until Jeremy came along and taught him how to straddle the human-werewolf worlds, gave him a home…and introduced him to the Pack. So begins this volume, featuring three of the members of the American Pack—a hierarchical founding family where bloodlines mean everything and each day presents a new, thrilling, and often deadly challenge. For as Clayton grows from a wild child to a clever teen who tests his beloved mentor at every turn, he must learn not only to control his animal instincts but to navigate Pack politics—including showing his brutal archnemesis, Malcolm, who the real Alpha is…Links to the individual short stories and novellas on Goodreads:"Infusion" (1946) Savage (1967) Ascension (1972)"Kitsunegari" (2007)

Legion and The Emperor's Soul


Brandon Sanderson - 2013
    Available for the first time in one volume, a publishing event for all his many fans.LEGIONStephen Leeds, AKA 'Legion', is a man whose unique mental condition allows him to generate a multitude of personae: hallucinatory entities with a wide variety of personal characteristics and a vast array of highly specialized skills. As the story begins, Leeds and his 'aspects' are drawn into the search for the missing Balubal Razon, inventor of a camera whose astonishing properties could alter our understanding of human history and change the very structure of society. The action ranges from the familiar environs of America to the ancient, divided city of Jerusalem. Along the way, Sanderson touches on a formidable assortment of complex questions: the nature of time, the mysteries of the human mind, the potential uses of technology, and the volatile connection between politics and faith.THE EMPEROR'S SOULWhen Shai is caught replacing the Moon Scepter with her nearly flawless forgery, she must bargain for her life. An assassin has left the Emperor Ashravan without consciousness, a circumstance concealed only by the death of his wife. If the emperor does not emerge after his hundred-day mourning period, the rule of the Heritage Faction will be forfeit and the empire will fall into chaos.Shai is given an impossible task: to create - to Forge - a new soul for the emperor in less than one hundred days. But her soul-Forgery is considered an abomination by her captors. She is confined to a tiny, dirty chamber, guarded by a man who hates her, spied upon by politicians, and trapped behind a door sealed in her own blood. Shai's only possible ally is the emperor's most loyal councillor, Gaotona, who struggles to understand her true talent.Time is running out for Shai. Forging, while deducing the motivations of her captors, she needs a perfect plan to escape...

Dracula in London


P.N. ElrodTanya Huff - 2001
    How did Dracula occupy his time in London when he wasn't stalking Lucy Westenra and Mina Harker? Today's top authors take the infamous nosferatu on a tour of 1890s London--in sixteen wonderfully inventive stories.