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Summer Frost
Blake Crouch - 2019
Except the minor non-player character in the world Riley is building makes her own impossible decision—veering wildly off course and exploring the boundaries of the map. When the curious Riley extracts her code for closer examination, an emotional relationship develops between them. Soon Riley has all new plans for her spontaneous AI, including bringing Max into the real world. But what if Max has real-world plans of her own?Blake Crouch’s Summer Frost is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.
Scaring the Crows: 21 Tales for Noon or Midnight
Gregory Miller - 2009
A time machine's lesson comes too late. Christmas trees save a lost soul's life. Ten million people live in one man's breath. ...Or Midnight: Murder returns to an infamous moor. Asylum workers find what is worse than insanity. A shunned grave's secrets gain fatal exposure. Nighttime terrors turn all too real. These and other stories comprise a compilation of bittersweet warmth and creeping horror, subtle illumination and dark vistas. Gregory Miller's Scaring the Crows is a genre-spanning collection of short fiction at its finest. Read it at noon...or midnight.
Bloodchild
Octavia E. Butler - 1984
Butler’s shattering meditation on symbiosis, love, power and tough choices. It won the Hugo, Locus, Nebula and Science Fiction Chronicle awards and is widely regarded as one of her greatest works.Years ago, a group known as the Terrans left Earth in search of a life free of persecution. Now they live alongside the Tlic, an alien race who face extinction; their only chance of survival is to plant their larvae inside the bodies of the humans.When Gan, a young boy, is chosen as a carrier of Tlic eggs, he faces an impossible dilemma: can he really help the species he has grown up with, even if it means sacrificing his own life?Perfect for fans of the thrilling Arrival and the works of Ursula Le Guin.
Stranger Things Happen
Kelly Link - 2001
The girl detective must go to the underworld to solve the case of the tap-dancing bank robbers. A librarian falls in love with a girl whose father collects artificial noses. A dead man posts letters home to his estranged wife. Two women named Louise begin a series of consecutive love affairs with a string of cellists. A newly married couple become participants in an apocalyptic beauty pageant. Sexy blond aliens invade New York City. A young girl learns how to make herself disappear.These eleven extraordinary stories are quirky, spooky, and smart. They all have happy endings. Every story contains a secret prize. Each story was written especially for you.Stories from Stranger Things Happen have won the Nebula, Tiptree, and World Fantasy Award. Stranger Things Happen was a Salon Book of the Year, one of the Village Voice's 25 Favorite Books of 2001, and was nominated for the Firecracker Alternative Book Award.Contents:- Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose (1998)- Water Off a Black Dog's Back (1995)- The Specialist's Hat (1998)- Flying Lessons (1995)- Travels with the Snow Queen (1996/1997)- Vanishing Act (1996)- Survivor's Ball, or, The Donner Party (1998)- Shoe and Marriage (2000)- Most of My Friends Are Two-Thirds Water (2001)- Louise's Ghost (2001)- The Girl Detective (1999)Cover painting by Shelley Jackson
The Gateway
Glenn G. Thater - 2008
Thater transports us to an age of high adventure where knights battle supernatural horrors, magic is real but hidden, and the line between good and evil is all too thin.The Harbinger of Doom saga centers around one Lord Angle Theta, an enigmatic warrior of unknown origins and mystical power. No mortal man is his match in battle. No sorcery can contain or confound him. No scholar or sage can outwit him. But for all his skills, he is but one of us; a man, a human, who shares our faults, our dreams, and our ambitions. He boldly strides across the land, fearless, peerless, and cloaked in mystery; all his will bent on righting such wrongs as he deems fit.Until the day the Gateway opened and turned the world on its head. On that fateful day, Korrgonn came and washed away our dreams. And his outre' realm of Nifleheim set its unholy mark upon our world and claimed it for their own. Only Theta and his companions see the enemies aligning against us. Only they foresee our end coming- the end of civilization, the end of the world of man. Only they can hope to turn the tide of madness and preserve all that we hold dear. But no man, not even our greatest hero, can stand against the Lords of Nifleheim and the dark armies at their command. Fiends that infiltrate unseen within our ranks, that tear down our temples and our traditions; that devour us from within, unseen, unknown, unheralded, and unopposed until the hour grows far too late. Through the murk and mist that hangs before our eyes, one man only sees true. One man pierces the veil of magic that blinds us all and marks the world as it truly is, revealing secrets, secrets of Angle Theta, so horrifying as to shatter a man's mind and call into question the very nature of good and evil.When mad sorcerers open a gateway to the very pits of hell, releasing outre demons of darkest nightmare upon the world, only the intrepid knights of House Eotrus stand in their way. Claradon Eotrus takes up the mantle of his noble house to avenge his father and hold back the tide of chaos that threatens to engulf the world and destroy mankind. Claradon recruits Angle Theta and Gabriel Garn, mysterious knights of mystical power to stand with him. Theta and Garn take up their swords one last time against the coming darkness -- a darkness from which only one will emerge.BOOKS BY GLENN G. THATERTHE HARBINGER OF DOOM SAGAGATEWAY TO NIFLEHEIMTHE FALLEN ANGLEKNIGHT ETERNALDWELLERS OF THE DEEPVOLUME 5+ forthcomingHARBINGER OF DOOM(Combines The Gateway and The Fallen Angle into a single volume)THE HERO AND THE FIEND(A novelette set in the Harbinger of Doom universe)THE GATEWAY (A novella length version of Gateway to Nifleheim)
The Three O'Clock in the Morning Sessions
Angie Martin - 2014
This book also contains two short stories, "the door" and "brief love". All of the works deal with lost love or almost loves.
I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream
Harlan Ellison - 1967
This edition contains the original introduction by Theodore Sturgeon and the original foreword by Harlan Ellison, along with a brief update comment by Ellison that was added in the 1983 edition. Among Ellison's more famous stories, two consistently noted as among his very best ever are the title story and the volume's concluding one, Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes.Since Ellison himself strongly resists categorization of his work, we won't call them science fiction, or SF, or speculative fiction or horror or anything else except compelling reading experiences that are sui generis. They could only have been written by Harlan Ellison and they are incomparably original.CONTENTS"I Have No Mouth & I Must Scream""Big Sam Was My Friend""Eyes of Dust""World of the Myth""Lonelyache""Delusion for Dragonslayer""Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes"
Phoenix
Chuck Palahniuk - 2013
Palahniuk channels both Stephen King and John Cheever in this singularly sinister and hilarious short story, straight from the passive-aggressive front lines of modern marriage, where a wife's frustration, along with the family cat, become weapons of mass destruction.Rachel married Ted because he was uncomplicated and loyal. But he was also devoted to his wretched house (done up in black granite, black appliances, even black dishware) and his first love, an old, flatulent cat named Belinda Carlisle. Once Rachel becomes pregnant, Ted reluctantly agrees to move and give up the cat. But the house doesn't sell, and Belinda Carlisle still haunts their home: every day the creature becomes fatter and more malodorous. When the house burns to the ground in a freak conflagration and the couple's daughter, April, is born blind soon thereafter, the marriage is never the same again. Only on a business trip three years later does Rachel begin to reckon with the damage.In an Orlando motel room far from Ted and April, Rachel wonders: Is her simple-minded husband more vindictive and manipulative than even Rachel could have imagined? How far will she go to keep the upper hand—a bit of emotional and physical torture, perhaps? Will she win the battle, only to lose so much else?If all is fair in love and war, there are few contemporary writers better equipped than Palahniuk to travel the extremes, right to the chilling intersection of "I do" and "I'm damned."
Chiral Mad 3
Michael BaileyMeghan Arcuri - 2016
The anthology contains 45 illustrations by Glenn Chadbourne, over 20 stories by the likes of Stephen King, Jack Ketchum, Ramsey Campbell, Gary A. Braunbeck, Mort Castle, Josh Malerman, Scott Edelman, Richard Thomas, Richard Chizmar and Gene O’Neill, and with 20 intertwined poems by the likes of Elizabeth Massie, Marge Simon, Bruce Boston, Erik T. Johnson, Stephanie M. Wytovich, and also includes an introduction by the extraordinary Chuck Palahniuk.
Northwoods Deep
Joel Arnold - 2010
All are drawn to an old, dilapidated cabin. Inside lives an old man with awful urges, accompanied by a Rottweiler possessed by something...unnatural. But it's what resides beneath the cabin that they should really be worried about. Please join award-winning author Joel Arnold on a ride over the river and through the woods straight into terror in his newest novel, Northwoods Deep.
Buried Hope
X.J. Selman - 2013
and for a thousand years, they've hidden.The citizens claim they love Spes, the underground city where they evade the deadly toxins of the surface world, but the walls never end and the guards never cease to watch. There is a longing to escape, and a hope that someday the world might live again.But how do the people know what they are told is truth? How far will they go to trust the unknown, and how much will they fight for that they cannot have?
They Twinkled Like Jewels
Philip José Farmer - 1954
Now and then he moved a little to quiet the protest of cramped muscles and stagnant blood, but most of the time he was as motionless as the heap of rags he resembled. Not once did he hear or see a Bohas agent, or, for that matter, anyone. The predawn darkness had hidden his panting flight from the transie jungle, his dodging across backyards while whistles shrilled and voices shouted, and his crawling on hands and knees down an alley into the high grass and bushes which fringed a hidden garden. For a while his heart had knocked so loudly that he had been sure he would not be able to hear his pursuers if they did get close. It seemed inevitable that they would track him down. A buddy had told him that a new camp had just been built at a place only three hours drive away from the town. This meant that Bohas would be thick as hornets in the neighborhood.
Blood & Sawdust
Jason S. Ridler - 2012
But nothing prepared him for Milkwood: a fat, ugly bastard who could take a beating like a government mule, but never, ever won. So when Malcolm risks his life to discover Milkwood's secret, he convinces the fighter to stop being a punching bag and to go for broke in the local tournament. Only problem? A beautiful woman called Lash who needs Milkwood for her own purposes, and a fouler creature on her heels known only as Dizzy Colt. But for Malcolm and Milkwood? Hell, it’s just another day of Blood and SawdustPRAISE FOR BLOOD AND SAWDUST!"With wicked, playful prose that blends the best of pulp with the supernatural, Jason Ridler’s Blood and Sawdust creates an unholy, hell-raising hybrid, the kind of tale Christopher Moore and Jim Thompson might swap after a long night of drinking, trying to one-up one another with acerbic absurdity." Joe Clifford, Author of CHOICE CUTS and JUNKIE LOVEPRAISE FOR THE WORK OF JASON RIDLER!"An exciting new writer." Lucius Shepard, multiple-award-winning author of HANDBOOK OF AMERICAN PRAYER. “Jason Ridler is kind of like a bull rider who’s tossed a saddle on a Tiger tank, and he’s riding that bucking sucker for all he’s worth, because, hey, no one told him that he couldn’t do it, did they? So here he is, the Man in the Barbed-Wire Straitjacket." Norman Partridge, Award Winning Author of DARK HARVEST. "Jason Ridler’s work is intense and taut, with incredible characters and plots that keep your mind buzzing long after you’ve reached the final page." Trent Zelazny, author of TOO LATE TO CALL TEXAS, and FRACTAL DESPONDENCY. ABOUT THE AUTHORJason S. Ridler is the author of BLOOD AND SAWDUST, the Spar Battersea thrillers (DEATH MATCH, CON JOB and DICE ROLL), the short story collection KNOCKOUTS, and has published over fifty stories in such magazines and anthologies as Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Brain Harvest, Chilling Tales, and more. His popular non-fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Dark Scribe, and the Internet Review of Science Fiction. A former punk rock musician and cemetery groundskeeper, Mr. Ridler holds a Ph.D. in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada. Visit him at twitter at http://twitter.com/JayRidler, Facebook ,http://www.facebook.com/Ridlerville, or his writing blog, Ridlerville, atwww.jsridler.com
The Odd Thomas Series 7-Book Bundle: Odd Thomas, Forever Odd, Brother Odd, Odd Hours, Odd Interlude, Odd Apocalypse, Deeply Odd
Dean Koontz - 2014
He’s the “most likable creation” (The New York Times) of “one of the master storytellers of this or any age” (The Tampa Tribune). And he’s got one hell of a hidden talent. If you don’t know his name by now, you’re the odd one out. Now catch up with the first seven novels of Dean Koontz’s beloved series in one convenient eBook bundle: ODD THOMASFOREVER ODDBROTHER ODDODD HOURSODD APOCALYPSEODD INTERLUDEDEEPLY ODDAlso includes an excerpt from Dean Koontz’s riveting, soul-stirring novel, The City. “The dead don’t talk. I don’t know why.” But they do try to communicate, with a short-order cook in a small desert town serving as their reluctant confidant. Meet Odd Thomas, a gallant young sentinel at the crossroads of life and death who has won hearts on both sides of the divide. Sometimes the silent souls who seek out Odd want justice. Occasionally their otherworldly tips help him prevent a crime. You’re invited on an unforgettable journey through a world of terror and transcendence to wonders beyond imagining. And you can have no better guide than Odd Thomas. Acclaim for Dean Koontz and his Odd Thomas novels “This is Koontz working at his pinnacle, providing terrific entertainment that deals seriously with some of the deepest themes of human existence: the nature of evil, the grip of fate and the power of love.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Supernatural thrills with a side of laughs.”
—The Denver Post
“One would be hard-pressed to find a more satisfying read. . . . Not since Watchers has Dean Koontz created such an endearing and enduring character as Odd Thomas. . . . A superb story from one of our contemporary masters.”—San Antonio Express-News “An inventive . . . mix of suspense, whimsy and uplift.”—The Washington Post “Heartfelt and provocative . . . a wonderfully rich and entertaining story.”
—Chicago Sun-Times