All the environmental and communications systems are still running ... but their operation remains a mystery. When one member of the team tries to prove his crazy quantum black hole theory about how the alien communications unit works, he inadvertently unleashes an astrophysical time bomb that threatens the very existence of the Red Planet. Hugo Award Winner

    When he is kidnapped a second time, he realises he has been chosen to spearhead a vital crusade - to persuade the White House to take alien abduction seriously.

    From dark fairytales to alien skies, Monk's stories blend haunting yesterdays, forgotten todays and twisted tomorrows wherein:...A normal little girl in a city made of gears, takes on the world to save a toy.......A normal ancient monster living in Seattle, must decide if love is worth trusting a hero......A normal patchwork woman and her two-headed boyfriend stitch their life and farm together with needle, thread, and time......a normal vampire in a knitting shop must face sun-drenched secrets......a normal snow creature's wish changes a mad man's life......a normal man breaks reality with a hamster......and yes, a normal little robot, defines how extraordinary friendship can be.Poignant, bittersweet, frightening, and funny, these stories pour out worlds that are both lovely and odd, darkly strange and tantalizingly familiar, where no matter how fantastic the setting or situation, love, freedom, and hope find a way to take root and thrive.“Dusi” (Realms of Fantasy, Oct 1999)“Beer with a Hamster Chaser”(Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet #14, June 2004)“Probe” (Odyssey #5, 1998)“That Saturday” (Better off Dead, Daw Books, Nov 2008)“The Wishing Time” (First publication in the 1st edition, 2010)“Bearing Life” (Maiden, Matron, Crone, Daw Books, May 2005)“A Cup of Normal” (First publication in 2nd edition, 2015)“Stitchery” (Black Gate #2, 2001; Year’s Best Fantasy 2, Eos, 2002)“Last Tour of Duty” (Realms of Fantasy, Dec 2001)“Oldblade” (Talebones #19, Spring 2000)“Skein of Sunlight” (Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance 2, 2009)“Stringing Tomorrow” (Talebones #32, Spring 2006)“X-Day” (First publication in the 1st edition, 2010)“Menders” (First publication in the 1st edition, 2010)“Leeward to the Sky” (Realms of Fantasy, June 2002)“Fishing the Edge of the World” (Talebones #28, Summer 2004)“Moonlighting” (Fantasy Gone Wrong, Daw Books, Sept 2006)“Christmas Card” (First publication in the 1st edition, 2010)“Ducks in a Row” (Realms of Fantasy, April 2006)“Singing Down the Sun” (Fantastic Companions, May 2005)“Here After Life” (Realms of Fantasy, Feb 2003)“Falling with Wings” (Realms of Fantasy, Aug 2004)“When the Train Calls Lonely” (Realms of Fantasy, Oct 2007)

    Now they face extinction.For three hundred years, arks have carried the last remnants of humanity through dark space. The ships are old, failing, and every colonist must do their duty to ensure the fleet's survival.Maeve is a metalworker, toiling in the blistering sublevels of the London. She's lost friends and family to the hazardous work conditions and fears every job she's assigned could be her last. All she wants is a little control over her life, but the oppressive sublevel enforcers ensure that’s not an option.Now, after decades of traveling, the ships have finally reached their destination: Soren, a toxic planet that may have the resources they desperately need. But mining a planet comes at a price, and Maeve and the other workers will be expected to pay it with their lives.If a better world awaits, Maeve's sure to be dead long before the fleet finds it… unless she finds a way to control her destiny and change it.

    In eight tragi-comic stories, Einstein's Beach House: Stories features ordinary men and women rising to life's extraordinary challenges.

    wise, funny, and above all, human.' NEIL GAIMANAbducted from Earth as a baby by a well-meaning alien, Terra has grown up far across the galaxy on planet Fnrr. Terra has always known she was different. Her skin isn’t grey. Her eyes are a weird blue colour. She has ... ears.And now Terra is starting high school. A daunting prospect, even without being the only human in class.There’s lots to like about life on Fnrr. Society is ordered and peaceful; founded on reason, logic and the pursuit of knowledge. However, its inhabitants are blissfully unaware of the impending invasion that could destroy their way of life forever ...Before long, Terra will find herself propelled into a fierce battle to save the world she calls home.A story for young readers - or adults who remember being one - Mitch Benn’s Terra is a warm and witty coming-of-age Sci-Fi adventure for anyone who has ever felt like an outsider. Escape into a story of hope, discovery and the unbreakable bonds we naively refer to as ‘humanity’.PRAISE FOR TERRA:'Terra is delightful ... I found myself thinking of Roald Dahl, Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, but the voice and story are uniquely Mitch Benn’s. Wise, funny, and above all, human.' NEIL GAIMAN'Mitch Benn is a very fine writer and Terra is a very fine book.' THE INDEPENDENT'High-end deadpan Sci-Fi silliness ... with added warmth. For a story set light years away, it feels wonderfully human.' MATT HAIG

    Smart and funny illustrations by artist Jeffrey Brown give classic Star Wars moments a twist by bringing these iconic family relations together under one roof. From tea parties to teaching Leia how to fly a TIE fighter, regulating the time she spends talking with friends via R2-D2's hologram, and making sure Leia doesn't leave the house wearing only a skirted metal bikini, Vader's parenting skills are put hilariously to the test.

    A series of occult murders has led, Inspector Thomas James, to a crime scene similar to a murder committed 90 years ago in the once grand Aleris Hotel. A place where power barons of the early 20th Century engaged in witchcraft. And silent film stars indulged in the most wicked of sins.A place where no one questions the black smoke that rises from the hotel's incinerators in the middle of the night.

    From the maiden voyage of a home-built plane to the adventures of a young courier and his flying whale to a handful of stories about coming of age and letting things go, this first volume of Flight is full of memorable tales that will both amaze and inspire.

    What if you didn't know your own? One young man with latent supernatural abilities plus one street gang hell-bent on recruiting him equals... IA: Initiate. The most important thing in the world to thirteen-year-old orphan, "Naz" Andersen is keeping his little sister safe from the streets of a Chicago/Detroit-like urban ghetto known as the Exclave. Naz tries to stay out of the way at his foster parent's home, but he walks in his sleep. He is unable to keep the fact that he hears voices from his therapist. He attempts to go unnoticed at school and in the streets of the Exclave but attracts the attention of friends and bullies alike. Naz is ordinary, or so he thinks. He harbors a secret of which he is unaware. A seemingly random act of gang violence propels Naz on a path that leads to discoveries about his supernatural abilities, abilities that will ultimately decide whether he lives or dies. Now he must navigate his turbulent surroundings and face the full force of the world around him. The only way he can survive is to discover the supernatural world within. Pure science fiction, IA: Initiate is the first book in a YA supernatural thriller trilogy, an origin story, and a coming of age hero's journey set in the mean streets of America. It's like Anakin Skywalker growing up in a bad urban environment instead of a desert planet. Award-winning author, John Darryl Winston has penned a story about, and for, those living the real story. Pick it up. Pick it up! PICK IT UP ... today!

    . . .Duke and Earl are just passing through Rockwood county in their pick-up truck when they stop at the diner for a quick bite to eat. They aren't planning to stick around--until Loretta, the eatery's owner, offers them one hundred dollars to take care of her zombie problem. Given that Duke is a werewolf and Earl's a vampire, this looks right up their alley.But the shambling dead are just the tip of a particularly spiky iceberg. Seems someone's out to drive Loretta from the diner, and more than willing to raise a little hell on earth if that's what it takes. Before Duke and Earl get to the bottom of the diner's troubles, they'll run into such otherworldly complications as undead cattle, an amorous ghost, a jailbait sorceress, and the terrifying occult power of pig Latin.And maybe--just maybe--the End of the World, too.Gory, sexy, and flat-out hilarious, Gil's All Fright Diner will tickle your funny bone--before ripping it out of its socket!

    And sometimes…you and your troublemaking adopted brother find yourselves trapped in a scientific lab explosion that grants you $@&%ing awesome superpowers. As a result of their accident, Eric and Woody Henderson – aka Quantum and Woody – must “klang” their wristbands together every 24 hours or both dissipate into nothingness. Which makes superhero-ing pretty awkward when you’re not on speaking terms at the moment. See, Eric has been keeping a pretty big secret: He knows who Woody’s birth father really is…and where he’s been hiding all these years.With great power comes great sibling rivalry! This winter, you’ll believe two men and one goat can split a one bedroom apartment and still be a credible threat to evil and injustice everywhere when QUANTUM AND WOODY make headlines and take names!Starting right here, deeply alarming and untrustworthy writer Daniel Kibblesmith (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert) and eye-popping artist Kano (Daredevil) give the Valiant Universe the adjective-worthy superheroes it deserves: QUANTUM AND WOODY!Collecting QUANTUM AND WOODY (2017) #1–5.

    But Flower is a sentient ship that's been traveling the galaxy for 20,000 years and has her own opinions about how her inhabitants should conduct themselves.I wrote Independent Living because readers of my EarthCent Ambassador series were always asking what happens in the galaxy where the Stryx aren't around to watch every second. The answer is, about what you'd expect. In terms of the EarthCent universe, Independent Living would be the seventeenth book in the sequence, but it can be read as a standalone.

    His star has waned. The world is leaving him behind. His agent, the ruthless Minerva Cinch, convinces him that his only hope is to write a sword-and-sorcery blockbuster. Unfortunately, Philip—allergic to the faintest trace of Tolkien—is utterly unsuited to the task. In a dark hour, a dwarfish stranger comes to his rescue. But the deal he makes with Pocket Wellfair turns out to have Faustian consequences. The Murdstone Trilogy is a richly dark comedy described by one U.K. reviewer as "totally insane in the best way possible."

    Join her on this whimsical journey as she discovers the beauty of life and love on Earth.Author Ann Crawford's trademark optimism brings us a witty and wise book filled with memorable characters and insights into what makes us all so very human.