But when a terrified woman falls through his bathroom ceiling, he's forced back into a life of gunfights, double agents and paranormal research. The secret he's been keeping for nearly four decades might reunite him with his lost love, or kill millions.This new short story by John August falls into the genre of paranoid "spy-fi" popularized by writers like Jorge Luis Borges and shows like The Prisoner and The Man from U.N.C.L.E.== What Others Say =="I really dug the story. Gave it a glance just to see, got totally hooked, and blazed on through to the end."-- Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Yiddish Policemen's Union) "The Variant" is both a good, fun, smart story and an interesting experiment in indie self-publishing for fiction."-- John Gruber, daringfireball.net== About the Author ==An excerpt of The Variant is available at johnaugust.com/variant About the AuthorJohn August is the screenwriter of eight feature films, including Go, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride. He wrote and directed the 2007 movie The Nines.He can be found on Twitter, @johnaugust

    A deadly challenge. The fate of the world is on Astra’s shoulders.Twenty-five-year-old Astra Ching has never sought the spotlight. So when a mysterious black orb appears with a challenge for Earth and selects her to compete in its strange—and very public—game, she’s not pleased to find herself a sudden superstar.The rules are bewildering, and there are no second chances for losers. Yet while Astra fights to stay alive and save the world from imminent destruction, the people of Earth are more interested in tabloids and gossip, like whether or not she’s engaging in a scandalous love affair with a fellow contestant . . . or the mysterious alien known only as Eleven.In her struggle to survive, Astra forms tentative alliances with a handful of trustworthy friends. But as the global gossip seeps into the game and contestants are eliminated with each round, Astra’s celebrity threatens to become infamy and the line between friend and foe blurs.Will she emerge from the arena a hero, or just another headline?

    Collection of short fiction by the author of Résumé with Monsters• The Wedding Photographer in Crisis• Haunted by the Horror King• The Entomologists at Obala• The Return of Count Electric• Graven Images• Pep Talk• Looking Out for Eleanor• Snow• A Child's Christmas in Florida• Best Man• Daughter Doom

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

    The paperback version of this book will only be available online for a very short time: until December 30. After December 30, it will vanish into the Land of Wind and Ghosts, and only the digital edition will be available. This is why I call The Day After and Other Stories "A very short collection of very short stories, available for a very short time."

    "New York Times "bestselling authors Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Carrie Ryan, Beth Revis, and Jane Yolen are among the many popular and award-winning storytellers lending their talents to this original and spellbinding anthology. Introduction by Genevieve ValentineThe SegmentAfter the Cure by Carrie RyanValedictorian by N. K. JemisinVisiting Nelson by Katherine LangrishAll I Know of Freedom by Carol EmshwillerThe Other Elder by Beth RevisThe Great Game at the End of the World by Matthew KresselReunion by Susan Beth PfefferBlood Drive by Jeffrey FordReality Girl by Richard BowesHow Th’irth Wint Rong by Hapless Joey @ Homeskool.guv by Richard BowesRust with Wings by Steven GouldFaint Heart by Sarah Rees BrennanThe Easthound by Nalo HopkinsonGray by Jane YolenBefore by Carolyn DunnFake Plastic Trees by Caitlín R. KiernanYou Won’t Feel a Thing by Garth NixThe Marker by Cecil Castellucci

    DelanyEXPEDITER, by Mack ReynoldsONE-SHOT, by James BlishSHIPWRECK IN THE SKY, by Eando BinderZEN, by Jerome BixbyLANCELOT BIGGS COOKS A PIRATE, by Nelson BondSENTIMENT, INC., by Poul AndersonTHE ISSAHAR ARTIFACTS, by J. F. BoneTHE NEXT LOGICAL STEP, by Ben BovaYEAR OF THE BIG THAW, by Marion Zimmer BradleyEARTHMEN BEARING GIFTS, by Fredric BrownHAPPY ENDING, by Fredric Brown and Mack ReynoldsLIGHTER THAN YOU THINK, by Nelson BondRIYA'S FOUNDLING, by Algis BudrysACCIDENTAL DEATH, by Peter BailyAND ALL THE EARTH A GRAVE, by C. C. MacAppDEAD RINGER, by Lester del ReyTHE CRYSTAL CRYPT, by Philip K. DickTHE JUPITER WEAPON, by Charles L. FontenayTHE MAN WHO HATED MARS, by Randall GarrettNAVY DAY, by Harry HarrisonTHE JUDAS VALLEY, by Robert Silverberg & Randall GarrettNATIVE SON, by T. D. HammJUBILEE, by Richard A. LupoffFINAL CALL, by John Gregory BetancourtAnd don't forget to check out all the other volumes in the Megapack series! Search on "Wildside Megapack" in this ebook store to see the complete list...covering more science fiction volumes, plus adventure stories, military, fantasy, ghost stories, westerns, and much more!

    Dick’s best science fiction novels:The Man in the High Castle • The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch • Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? • Ubik • Martian Time-Slip • Dr. Bloodmoney • Now Wait for Last Year • Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said • A Scanner Darkly • A Maze of Death • VALIS • The Divine Invasion • The Transmigration of Timothy Archer

    Organizers and activists envision, and try to create, such worlds all the time. This book brings twenty of them together in the first anthology of short stories to explore the connections between radical speculative fiction and movements for social change. The visionary tales of Octavia's Brood span genres—sci-fi, fantasy, horror, magical realism—but all are united by an attempt to experiment with new ways of understanding ourselves, the world around us, and all the selves and worlds that could be. The collection is rounded off with essays by Tananarive Due and Mumia Abu-Jamal, and a foreword by Sheree Renée Thomas.

    Please note this is the only release of these titles in hardback, as the mass market release for all three title was done in PB only. Includes - The Joiner King, The Unseen Queen, and The Swarm War.

    Never before published stories about monsters, deadly combat tech, treachery, and honor:Big Plush by Aaron Allston—The Dollgangers, artificial people made in mankind's image, take up arms in a desperate bid to win their freedom.Comrades in Arms by Kevin J. Anderson—A damaged cyborg soldier and an enemy alien fighter turn their backs on the war and try to escape. But the human and alien governments can't tolerate the two deserters working together, so they join forces to hunt them down.Shores of the Infinite by Loren L. Coleman—Separated from command & control, Combat Assault Suit troopers force a beachhead to liberate a new planet from the cyborg threat.The Black Ship by B.V. Larson—A human settlement on the deadliest planet ever colonized clings to life … but today new invaders are coming down from the stars.Out There by Michael A. Stackpole—The Qian have discovered humanity and welcomed them into their star-spanning empire. The benefits they offer humanity are many, and they don't want much in return: just the best human pilots available to take apart a most diabolical enemy.

    It tells the story of a discussion between Death and a philosopher, in which the philosopher attempts to use the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics to argue death is not a certainty.

    Even Jake could be cruel, could be talked into cruelty, if it was presented properly. Or no, that wasn't right. No one could talk Jake into anything. He was serenely above the persuasive force of social pressure. And yet it was Jake's weakness, that he could talk himself into doing terrible things, if he felt some greater, probably illusory, good might be served.So it happened one day when she went with Jake and Niles and Charley to service the core, which wasn't its good old self these days. Every few months it would get stuck, just when it was shifting into an automated maintenance cycle, so that it couldn't restore software or optimize the system... or shut down the rods to dump heat. Which meant the cycle had to be completed manually."What happens if the rods overheat?" Jake asked Elaine once."About a third of the planet would go up in a flash of light bright enough to blind God," she told him.Welcome to Gunpowder, a 22,600-word novella from Joe Hill... set in the far reaches of space on a small planet that serves as a home for a very special band of children.

    Unfortunately, she’s going to find out that’s not quite enough…

    At the urging of Whorl’s religious leader, Patera Silk, the people left the ship for an uncertain future on Blue – a world already inhabited by the inhumi, blood-drinking aliens who take human form.Now The Book of the Short Sun carries the story forward to the years after the great exodus, to let Horn, narrator of the earlier work, tell his own story.Horn and his family have made a decent life for themselves on Blue, though crime, pollution and poverty have become so rampant in the city of New Viron that he is called upon to find Patera Silk. Horn must go to the still-orbiting Whorl and convince his old friend and mentor to return to Blue, for the legendary hero is the only one who can restore order and lead them to prosperity. But Horn isn’t even sure Silk still lives.Setting sail in a small boat, the aging Horn embarks on a long and difficult journey across the planet, trying to get to the Whorl. With the undine Seawrack, his adopted inhumi son, Krait, and his eldest son, Sinew, Horn makes it to the last working lander – only to be highjacked to the jungles of Green, where the inhumi imprison the passengers as slaves. There, he encounters the mysterious alien Neighbors who were once native to Blue, but whom the inhumi have all but exterminated. Horn joins their fight for freedom, is fatally wounded… and finds himself on another world, wearing a different body.As his inability to find Silk weighs heavily on his mind, Horn is further tormented by the fact that his new body bears a striking resemblance to the lost Caldé. In the end, he will have to answer a troubling question: has he truly failed in his sworn task, or has he become the very man he sought?Includes:On Blue's WatersIn Green's JunglesReturn To The Whorl