The Book of Matthew: The End of Greatfall


Jason Gurley - 2014
     He's been hunted like a rat for longer than he can remember. But now he's come into the light. And the darkness is waiting.

City of Bones


Martha Wells - 1995
    And the greatest city of them all is Charisat: Imperial seat and wonder of wonders, a great monolithic structure towering over the desert. Charisat, a phantasmagorical place where silken courtesans and beggars weave lies side by side, where any man’s dreams can be fulfilled at the whisper of a genie, and where the tier that you live on determines how high up the food (or more importantly, water) chain you are. It is the goal of every schemer, treasure hunter, and madman intent on finding his heart’s content — a place that dazzles the senses, makes the most somber mind dizzy with its scents and sights — and where no one knows friend from foe when it comes to the desperate fight for dwindling resources.And where a beautiful woman and a handsome thief will try to unravel the mysteries of an age-old technology to stop a fanatical cult before they unleash an evil that will topple Charisat.And destroy all the water in the world.

How to Stop Time


Matt Haig - 2017
    I had existed whole years without her, but that was all it had been. An existence. A book with no words."Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society's watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can't have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages--and for the ages--about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.Soon to be a major motion picture starring Benedict Cumberbatch.

Beacon 23


Hugh Howey - 2015
    It is a lonely job, and a thankless one for the most part. Until something goes wrong. Until a ship is in distress. In the 23rd century, this job has moved into outer space. A network of beacons allows ships to travel across the Milky Way at many times the speed of light. These beacons are built to be robust. They never break down. They never fail. At least, they aren't supposed to.

Earth Blood


James Axler - 1993
    Mass starvation wipes out millions almost overnight. Society collapses, and those who survive must contend with renegade groups striving for naked power. A new currency comes into existence -- precious food, and the force of arms that helps get it at any cost.Returning from a deep space mission, the crew of the Aquila crash lands in the Nevada desert and finds that the world they knew no longer exists. Ten months ago they had friends, wives and children. Now they set out on an uncertain odyssey to find the survivors, an odyssey that uncovers a secret trail left by a man called General Zelig. But in this ravaged new world, no one knows who is friend or foe... and their quest will test the limits of endurance and the will to live.

Third Daughter


Susan Kaye Quinn - 2013
    But she’s the Third Daughter of the Queen of Dharia—zero responsibilities and zero royal duties. She’s just the backup daughter, in case her older sisters’ arranged marriages—to take the crown or broker an alliance—don’t quite work out. But once Aniri reaches her 18th birthday, she’ll be truly free… and then she can marry the charming fencing instructor she meets for fevered kisses in the forest. But then the impossible happens—a marriage proposal. From a barbarian prince in the north, no less. And if Aniri refuses, the threat of their new flying weapon might bring war. So she agrees to the young prince’s proposal, but only as a subterfuge to spy on him, find the weapon, and hopefully avoid both war and an arranged marriage to a man she doesn’t love. But once she arrives in the sweeping mountains of the north, she discovers the prince has his own secrets… and saving her country may end up breaking her heart. This Bollywood-style royal romance takes you to an alternate East Indian world filled with skyships, saber duels, and lots of royal intrigue. THIRD DAUGHTER is the first book in the Royals of Dharia trilogy.

Dunes Over Danvar


Michael Bunker - 2014
    The word is out that the legendary city of Danvar has been found, and every diver, brigand, and pirate with a sarfer is racing to find it. But out in the dunes there's only one inarguable fact... The sand don't care, and it never did. Dunes Over Danvar is a short story set in New York Times Bestselling Author Hugh Howey's world of SAND, and is written and published with the permission of Hugh Howey.

The Lead Cloak


Erik Hanberg - 2013
    Except the people who tried to kill him. By 2081, privacy no longer exists. The Lattice enables anyone to re-live any moment of your life. People can experience past and present events—or see into the mind of anyone, living or dead. Most people love it. Some want to destroy it. Colonel Byron Shaw has just saved the Lattice from the most dangerous attack in its history. Now he must find those responsible. But there’s a question nobody’s asking: does the Lattice deserve to be saved? The answer may cost him his life.

Ancient Future Trilogy


Traci Harding - 2014
    there she meets Prince Maelgwn of Gwynedd and his band of warriors, who initially brand her as a witch and are frightened by her strange appearance. they finally overcome their fears and soon the tales of her adventures, brave deeds and beauty spread across the land. twenty years later, tory Alexander, from the 20th century, has ruled as Queen in 6th century Britain. But dark forces are stirring... tory seeks the advice of the triple Goddess, and the women of the Otherworld send tory through time to Plato's City of the Golden Gates - Atlantis. Once there tory has to find her own way home, and a cure for the High King's sickness. In an epic climax, the Shining Ones and the Chosen, who are hiding within the circuits of times, gather to defeat the evil ones and bring about a new age of awareness to the world. Yet again, tory must draw on all of her courage, strength of character and resourcefulness.

Disenchanted


Robert Kroese - 2012
    He just didn’t expect it to be so damn fickle.Felled by an assassin’s blade, he should be spending eternity carousing in the Hall of Avandoor. Instead, his spirit is bound to his decaying body by the enchanted sword of Brakslaagt. And unless he can hunt down the mysterious Lord Brand, who gave him the weapon so long ago, he is cursed to wander the earth forever as an undead wraith.So begins Boric’s extraordinary journey across the Six Kingdoms of Dis as a walking corpse who wants nothing more than to be disenchanted and left in peace. His is not an easy quest: along the way he is burned, riddled with arrows, and nearly blown to bits. But when he finally comes face-to-face with Lord Brand, Boric will discover that nothing - in life, in death, or in between - is exactly what it seems.

Chosen Ones


Veronica Roth - 2020
    . . by destiny or by choice.A decade ago near Chicago, five teenagers defeated the otherworldly enemy known as the Dark One, whose reign of terror brought widespread destruction and death. The seemingly un-extraordinary teens—Sloane, Matt, Ines, Albie, and Esther—had been brought together by a clandestine government agency because one of them was fated to be the “Chosen One,” prophesized to save the world. With the goal achieved, humankind celebrated the victors and began to mourn their lost loved ones. Ten years later, though the champions remain celebrities, the world has moved forward and a whole, younger generation doesn’t seem to recall the days of endless fear. But Sloane remembers. It’s impossible for her to forget when the paparazzi haunt her every step just as the Dark One still haunts her dreams. Unlike everyone else, she hasn’t moved on; she’s adrift—no direction, no goals, no purpose. On the eve of the Ten Year Celebration of Peace, a new trauma hits the Chosen: the death of one of their own. And when they gather for the funeral at the enshrined site of their triumph, they discover to their horror that the Dark One’s reign never really ended.

Superteam (Raptors #2)


Jaime Castle - 2021
    Trust me.If you did…Wow. Who saw that coming? I know I didn’t.As you know, I’m the Red Raptor. Now that things have… changed, I’ve asked my friend Amy to help tell the story. No, seriously, she’s just a friend. I mean—I guess if it were up to me? But… no.Okay, so there’s a new threat—a bunch of punks called the Neon Knights. They’re causing mayhem, armed with some kind of plasma-photon-light weapons that I can’t even begin to understand, and as usual, I’ve gotta stop them.However, this time I’ve got help. That’s right, I formed my own superteam. One for the ages.But first, I’ve gotta do my shift at Big Frankie Junior’s. What? You like eating burgers, right? Well, someone has to cook them. We can’t be heroes all the time.From Washington Post Bestseller Jaime Castle and CJ Valin comes the next installment from the best new superhero universe, perfect for fans of both DC and Marvel. Actually, its for fans of anything superhero-related. You’re gonna like it. Promise.

The Last Boy On Earth


Thomas M. Burby - 2011
    As far as his eyes could see, he was the only one left alive. You might think he was pretty upset about the whole situation and he was, for awhile. There were dead bodies and nothing but desolation and it's true that he sat around a lot and wished that he was dead, too. For a long time he wondered why he remained and all the others were taken. Then he thought, it doesn't matter. It just is. Anyway, sitting around just got boring. So he equipped himself with tools and weapons and set out with his faithful sidekick so see what there was left to see and do what there was left to do. He wasn't disappointed, because since the fall of Humanity, the world had changed in a thousand different ways too small to notice at first and some so fantastic he couldn't believe it. As the days passed into weeks, he discovered something amazing: there really are monsters in the dark." What if a pandemic plague struck the planet and when you woke up one morning, everyone else was dead? What if you were a fourteen year old boy with an excellent imagination and the will to survive? What if you found that something else was out there, hunting you? This is the story of Brady, a teenager who quickly discovers that although people may be scarce in the world of the Abandonment, other things are arising to take their place. He is master of all he surveys but discovers that the world has changed and that he has gained some new exciting abilities. With no adults to tell him what to do and no peers to judge him, Brady discovers that he is capable of great deeds and this is a good thing, because things long quiet are waking up from the sleep of ages. With his faithful dog, Max, and a host of non-human assistants, Brady discovers that there are monsters in the dark and that deep within his own heart, a hero dwells. This post-apocalyptic novel straddles the line between fantasy and magic surrealism and is intended for teenage audiences and beyond. Half survival tale and half magical odyssey, this is a hero's journey into the darkness of the monster's lair and back out again. Action, horror, and mystery blend together with a sense of wonder and loss at a world gone forever. If the world ended tomorrow and you were still alive, then what? In this novel, the main character decides to survive and finds that, aside from food, water and a safe place to sleep, his most necessary tool for survival is imagination and a good, sharp sword! This novel is lavishly illustrated with 50 beautifully crafted drawings by Brian Estes. The story is set in the present-day cities of Bangor and Brewer in central Maine after the advent of an airborne virus has destroyed all but a few humans on earth. Unless these people can find each other, the species is doomed to extinction. This reconnection of the few straggling survivors becomes one of the central themes of the story. Perfect for readers looking for adventure, ghosts, werewolves, and things coming to life that were never meant to do so. A ripping good tale!

I Am Mech


Jonathan Yanez - 2020
    Instead, they get Jack.This ace mech pilot contends with legendary prophecies, ancient powers, and fickle companions as he sets out on an epic task to save his planet from a baddie hellbent on destruction.Has his positive self-talk got him in too deep or will he actually pull through to do some good this time?I Am Mech is a nonstop, rollercoaster ride of an adventure full of snarky humor and more than a few spit-out-your-drink moments.

Tideline


Elizabeth Bear - 2007
    This story was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction magazine in March 2007. It is available in The Best of Elizabeth Bear.