A. Lafferty295 • Blind Shemmy • (1983) • novelette by Jack Dann316 • In the Islands • (1983) • shortstory by Pat Murphy329 • Nunc Dimittis • (1983) • novelette by Tanith Lee348 • Blood Music • (1983) • novelette by Greg Bear371 • Her Furry Face • (1983) • shortstory by Leigh Kennedy387 • Knight of Shallows • (1983) • novelette by Rand B. Lee419 • The Cat • [Solar Cycle] • (1983) • shortstory by Gene Wolfe426 • The Monkey Treatment • (1983) • novelette by George R. R. Martin452 • Nearly Departed • [Deadpan Allie] • (1983) • shortstory by Pat Cadigan467 • Hearts Do Not in Eyes Shine • (1983) • novelette by John Kessel486 • Carrion Comfort • (1983) • novelette by Dan Simmons522 • Gemstone • (1983) • novelette by Vernor Vinge546 • Black Air • (1983) • novelette by Kim Stanley Robinson571 • Honorable Mentions: 1983 • essay by Gardner Dozois

    Initially created by H. P. Lovecraft and a group of his amorphous contemporaries (the so-called "Lovecraft Circle"), The Cthulhu Mythos story cycle has taken on a convoluted, cyclopean life of its own. Some of the most prodigious writers of the 20th century, and some of the most astounding writers of the 21st century have planted their seeds in this fertile soil. The Book of Cthulhu harvests the weirdest and most corpulent crop of these modern mythos tales. From weird fiction masters to enigmatic rising stars, The Book of Cthulhu demonstrates how Mythos fiction has been a major cultural meme throughout the 20th century, and how this type of story is still salient, and terribly powerful today.Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

    Where tinkerers and dreamers craft and re-craft a world of automatons, clockworks, calculating machines, and other marvels that never were. Where scientists and schoolgirls, fair folk and Romans, intergalactic bandits, utopian revolutionaries, and intrepid orphans solve crimes, escape from monstrous predicaments, consult oracles, and hover over volcanoes in steam-powered airships.

    Over two dozen authors, ranging from NYT-bestsellers and award winners to debut writers, chose a tired trope or cliche to challenge and surprise readers through their work.Read stories inspired by tropes such as the Chainmaille Bikini, Love at First Sight, Damsels in Distress, Yellow Peril, The Black Man Dies First, The Villain Had a Crappy Childhood, The Singularity Will Cause the Apocalypse, and many more...then discover what these tropes mean to each author to find out what inspired them.Join Maurice Broaddus, Adam Troy-Castro, Delilah S. Dawson, Shanna Germain, Sara M. Harvey, John Hornor Jacobs, Rahul Kanakia, Alethea Kontis, Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Haralmbi Markov, Sunil Patel, Kat Richardson, Nisi Shawl, Ferrett Steinmetz, Anton Strout, Michael Underwood, Alyssa Wong and many other authors as they take well-worn tropes and cliches and flip them upside down.

    Included here are the works of masters of the form and of bright new talents, including:Stephen Baxter, M.Shayne Bell, Rick Cook, Albert E. Cowdrey, Tananarive Due, Greg Egan, Eliot Fintushel, Peter F. Hamilton, Earnest Hogan, John Kessel, Nancy Kress, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul J. McAuley, Ian McDonald, Susan Palwick, Severna Park, Alastair Reynolds, Lucius Shepard, Brian Stableford, Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Steven Utley, Robert Charles WilsonSupplementing the stories is the editor's insightful summation of the year's events and lengthy list of honorable mentions, making this book a valuable resource in addition to serving as the single best place in the universe to find stories that stir the imagination and the heart.

    Includes the first collaboration between father/son Stephen King and Joe Hill. Also includes work by Whitley Strieber, F. Paul Wilson, Joe Lansdale, John Shirley as well as a collaboration between Matheson and the late Charles Beaumont ("Conjure Wife").

    His powerful dark fantasy, The Physiognomy, was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year; his novel, The Girl in the Glass, won the Edgar® Award, mystery and crime fiction’s most prestigious prize. Crackpot Palace is Ford’s fourth superb collection of short fiction, and in it, his prodigious talent shines as brightly as ever. Here are twenty tales both strange and wonderful, filled with mad scientists, vampires, lost souls, and Native American secrets, from an author who has been glowingly compared to Kafka, Dante, and Caleb Carr (The Alienist).

    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

    Eleven Doctors, eleven stories, eleven unique interpretations of the Doctor, his terrifying alien enemies and his time-travelling adventures.

    The document was lost, or destroyed, almost immediately.(It included more monsters than you might think.)Hundreds of years ago, Fanny and Mary ran away from London with a debauched poet and his sister.(If it was the poet you are thinking of, the story would have ended far more happily, and with fewer people having their throats bitten out.)Sometime in the near future, a community will live in a replica Roman city built in the Australian bush. It’s a sight to behold.(Shame about the manticores.)Further in the future, the last man who guards the secret history of the world will discover that the past has a way of coming around to bite you.(He didn’t even know she had a thing for pointy teeth.)The world is in greater danger than you ever suspected. Women named Julia are stronger than they appear. Don’t let your little brother make out with silver-eyed blondes. Immortal heroes really don’t fancy teenage girls. When love dies, there’s still opera. Family is everything. Monsters are everywhere. Yes, you do have to wear the damned toga.History is not what you think it is.LOVE AND ROMANPUNK.TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroductionJulia Agrippina’s Secret Family BestiaryLamia VictorianaThe PatricianRomanpunksAfterword

    From ghosts of mind and spirit to exotic paranormal tales, each story in this volume has never before appeared in an anthology. Included are:The Silent Man, by Henry Fothergill ChorleyThe Strange Ormonds, by Leitch RitchieThe Mysterious Wedding: A Danish Story, by Heinrich SteffansThe Burial by Fire, by Louisa Medina HamblinThe Vampyre, by Elizabeth ElletThe Sleepless Woman, by William JerdanA Peep At Death, by Peter Von GeistKillcrop the Changeling, by Richard ThompsonCarl Bluven and the Strange Mariner, by Henry David InglisThe Prediction, by George Henry BorrowThe Story of the Unfinished Picture, by Charles HootenEule: The Emperor’s Dwarf, by John Rutter ChorleyThe Green Huntsman, by Joseph Holt IngrahamA Revelation of a Previous Life, by Nathaniel Parker WillisMoods of the Mind: The Old Portrait, by Emma EmburyA Night on the Enchanted Mountain, by Charles Fenno HoffmanThe Living Apparition, by G.P.R. JamesThe Three Souls, by Alexander Chatrian and Emile ErckmannThe Death Watch, by Luise MuhlbackAn Evening of Lucy Ashton’s, by Letitia Elizabeth LandonThe Haunted Homestead, by Henry William HerbertThe Withered Man, by William Leete StoneLa Malroche, by Louisa Stuart CostelloThe Three Visits, by Auguste VituLieutenant Castenac, by Erckman-ChatrianTorture by Hope, by Villiers de L’isle-AdamsThe Black Cupid, by Lafcadio HearnThe Bundle of Letters, by Moritz JokaiNissa, by Albert DelpitThe Dream, by John GaltAnd don't forget to search for "Megapack" in this ebook store for other volumes in the series, covering such subjects as ghost stories, vampire stories, science fiction, horror, adventure, and much, much more!

    Howard (famous for Conan the Barbarian), and Clarence E. Mulford (creator of Hopalong Cassidy), and many more!HIS KIND OF HELLION, by Johnston McCulleyTEXAS JOHN ALDEN, by Robert E. HowardTHE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT, by Bret HarteTHIEVES OF BLACK ROCK DESERT, by Bill AnsonTHE RATTLER ROUNDUP, by Lee BondLEFT FER THE BUZZARDS, by Allan R. BosworthHORSESHOES AREN’T ALWAYS LUCKY, by Sam BrantGUN-WHIPPED! by Carmony GoveA 22-GUN RANGER WALKS, by Raymond S. SpearsRANGER STYLE, by J. Allan DunnPLUMB AMUSING, by Jackson ColeNO REPORT, by S. Omar BarkerEL TIRO DI GRACIA, by Colin CameronTHE PHILOSOPHY OF GRAY EACLE, by Wolcott LeClear BeardSIXGUNS TO BOWIE, by Robert J. HoganDESERT JUDGMENT, by E. Hoffmann PriceTHE TRAIL TRAP, by T.W. FordGUN-QUEEN OF THE SPANISH GRANT, by Joseph ChadwickHOPALONG’S HOP, by Clarence E. MulfordDEMONS OF DISASTER, by Johnston McCulleyWAR ON BEAR CREEK, by Robert E. HowardBRAND OF THE RED WARRIOR, by Ike BooneFETCH ME BRANNON’S EARS, by Seven AndertonTHE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP, by Bret HarteINVITATION BY BULLET, by Ernest HaycoxAnd don't forget to check out all the other volumes in the "Megapack" series! Search on "Megapack" in the ebook store to see the complete list...covering adventure stories, military, fantasy, ghost stories, and more!

    Contributors include: Jeff VanderMeer, Caitlín Kiernan, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Lake, Cherie Priest, Cat Rambo, Catherynne M. Valente, Genevieve Valentine, and many more.Contents:Steampunk : looking to the future through the lens of the past / Ekaterina Sedia --Fixing Hanover / Jeff VanderMeer --The Steam Dancer (1896) / Caitlin R. Kierman --Icebreaker / E. Catherine Tobler --Tom Edison and his amazing telegraphic harpoon / Jay Lake --The Zeppelin Conductors' Society Annual Gentlemen's Ball / Genevieve Valentine Clockwork fairies / Cat Rambo --The mechanical aviary of Emperor Jala-ud-din Muhammad Akbar / Shweta Narayan --Prayers of forges and furnaces / Aliette de Bodard --The effluent engine / N.K. Jemisin --The clockwork goat and the smokestack magi / Peter M. Ball --The armature of flight / Sharon Mock --The anachronist's cookbook / Catherynne M. Valente --Numismatics in the reigns of Naranh and Viu / Alex Dally MacFarlane --Zeppelin City / Eileen Gunn & Michael Swanwick --The people's machine / Tobias S. Buckell --The hands that feed / Matthew Kressel --Machine maid / Margo Lanagan --To follow the waves / Amal El-Mohtar --Clockmaker's requiem / Barth Anderson --Dr Lash remembers / Jeffrey Ford --Lady Witherspoon's solution / James Morrow --Reluctance / Cherie Priest --A serpent in the gears / Margaret Ronald --The celebrated carousel of the Margravine of Blois / Megan Arkenberg --Biographical notes to ''A discourse on the nature of causality, with air-planes'' by Benjamin Rosenbaum / Benjamin Rosenbaum --Clockwork chickadee / Mary Robinette Kowal --Cinderella suicide / Samantha Henderson --Arbeitskraft / Nick Mamatas --To seek her fortune / Nicole Kornher-Stace --The ballad of the last human / Lavie Tidhar.

    Peter Hamilton takes us on a journey from a murder mystery in an alternative Oxford in the 1800s to a story featuring Paula Myo, Deputy Director of the Intersolar Commonwealth's Serious Crimes Directorate.

    Making sure not to waste a single bullet.Lost in the shadows, low on ammo; only edged weapons; wounded, fighting to survive, the last remnants of the mission team trying to make sense of where they had gone wrong, and how to make it out alive with next-to-no resources.Survival horror, where every bullet counts.TABLE OF CONTENTS:Badlands – S.D. PerryOf Storms and Flame – Tim Marquitz & J. M. MartinIn Vaulted Halls Entombed – Alan BaxterThey Own the Night – B. Michael RadburnFallen Lion – Jack HansonSucker of Souls – Kirsten CrossCold War Gothic II: The Bohemian Grove – Weston OchseAfter the Red Rain Fell – Matt HiltonThe Slog – Neal F. LitherlandShow of Force – Jeremy Robinson & Kane Gilmour