5,000 words (16 pages).For Bafion, there is no farther to fall. Once a banneret, officer, and gentleman, he is none of those things now. He is a swordsman who has slipped through the cracks of society and is eking out an existence as a thug for hire.Bafion is presented with the opportunity to reclaim some of what was lost to him, but to do so will mean facing part of his past that he would rather forget.The Swordsman of Tanosa is a swashbuckling fantasy short story set in the same world as the Society of the Sword trilogy.

    Nick Antosca's THE GIRLFRIEND GAME is a tumble through the looking glass into a vortex of violence and desire. The 12 stories in the newest collection by the Shirley Jackson Award-winning author are brutal, urgent and unforgettable.In "Predator Bait," a decoy in a sex sting news show questions her job and the man who shares her bed. An undependable son watches his mother become a creature he hardly recognizes in "Amphibian." A young man plots the death of his girlfriend's killer in "Winter Was Hard."Antosca crafts surreal doomsday scenarios and otherworldly transformations alongside painfully articulate depictions of sexuality and animal impulse. The stories in THE GIRLFRIEND GAME are mesmerizing, leaving a haunting afterglow long after you close the book.

    A multinational expedition is launched to land on and explore these worlds, but political intrigue and natural disasters threaten the mission . . . and what they find may threaten Earth itself.

    They could spend the rest of their lives here in peace. But apparently there are many more people who, like them, have been sent to alien systems without a return ticket and without being asked - castaways with uncertain fates who need their help.Their alien rescuers generously offer to take them on a search in one of their spaceships. Although the trio doesn’t know whether their hosts are acting out of altruism, they embark on an odyssey with dangers so unpredictable that the saga is indeed written in the stars.The Proxima Logfiles is a multi-part series based on the Proxima Trilogy, but can be read independently. Star Trek meets Lost in Space – reimagined with the scientific and technical realism of hard science fiction.

    A little work, a little luck, and a kid goes home to his parents and Ray moves on to the next job. When the job becomes bigger than he realized, and bigger than he can handle, Ray is faced with horrors he'd never imagined, a world that by rights should not exist... and only one number to call.Thirteen.

     George Elder is a man torn between two worlds. In one, he’s a hard-working auto mechanic and wounded war veteran with a mysterious past. In the other he’s a young Weapons Master, just starting out in life. The problem is that he doesn’t know which is real. If either of them actually is. Regardless, if his home in either world is going to survive, George is going to have to become something that he’s never tried to be in either life. A hero.

    But they aren’t the only ones racing for the tools to do that – and their competitors don’t want to save the world at all.Join Seleska and Nasataa in this heart-warming adventure of friendship, determination, and resolve as they battle all odds for the sake of dragons and humans everywhere.Could they really be the ones to bring back magic to their world?Dragon Tide is the heart-warming underwater dragon rider series you don’t want to miss. Combining dramatic dragon battles, breath-taking adventures, magical creatures, and heart-pounding suspense, this tale will warm your heart and keep you flipping pages.This omnibus edition contains episodes 6-10 of the popular novella series:Dragon Tide: Tides of Change If they don’t find the keys first, then magic will be lost forever.Dragon Tide Keys of Power What do you do when everything seems to be slipping away?Dragon Tide: Rock Eaters Can you keep hoping when all hope seems lost?Dragon Tide: Underworld What happens if your memories are not your own?Dragon Tide: Chosen One What will it take to save the world?

    Powers Unlocked. An Alliance is Born.Ten thousand years ago, the Furies nearly exterminated all life in the universe before being defeated by a coalition of worlds led by the Olympians.Or so everyone thought.Now they're back, and a new reign of terror has begun.