A short story to be read after Outage 5: The Change due to spoilers A year after The Great Storm has ended, two survivors cope with the aftermath.

    An astonishing debut." —Alan Moore, creator of Watchmen and V for Vendetta"Epic . . . Sequoia Nagamatsu is a writer whose imagination is matched only by his compassion, the kind we need to light our way through the dark." —Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The ImmortalistsRecommended by New York Times Book Review • Los Angeles Times • Entertainment Weekly • Esquire • Good Housekeeping • NBC News • Buzzfeed • Business Insider • Bustle • Goodreads • The Millions • The Philadelphia Inquirer • Minneapolis Star-Tribune • San Francisco Chronicle • The Guardian • PopSugar • Literary Hub • and many more!For fans of Cloud Atlas and Station Eleven, a spellbinding and profoundly prescient debut that follows a cast of intricately linked characters over hundreds of years as humanity struggles to rebuild itself in the aftermath of a climate plague—a daring and deeply heartfelt work of mind-bending imagination from a singular new voice.Beginning in 2030, a grieving archeologist arrives in the Arctic Circle to continue the work of his recently deceased daughter at the Batagaika crater, where researchers are studying long-buried secrets now revealed in melting permafrost, including the perfectly preserved remains of a girl who appears to have died of an ancient virus.Once unleashed, the Arctic Plague will reshape life on earth for generations to come, quickly traversing the globe, forcing humanity to devise a myriad of moving and inventive ways to embrace possibility in the face of tragedy. In a theme park designed for terminally ill children, a cynical employee falls in love with a mother desperate to hold on to her infected son. A heartbroken scientist searching for a cure finds a second chance at fatherhood when one of his test subjects—a pig—develops the capacity for human speech. A widowed painter and her teenaged granddaughter embark on a cosmic quest to locate a new home planet. From funerary skyscrapers to hotels for the dead to interstellar starships, Sequoia Nagamatsu takes readers on a wildly original and compassionate journey, spanning continents, centuries, and even celestial bodies to tell a story about the resiliency of the human spirit, our infinite capacity to dream, and the connective threads that tie us all together in the universe."Wondrous, and not just in the feats of imagination, which are so numerous it makes me dizzy to recall them, but also in the humanity and tenderness with which Sequoia Nagamatsu helps us navigate this landscape. . . . This is a truly amazing book, one to keep close as we imagine the uncertain future." —Kevin Wilson, New York Times bestselling author of Nothing to See Here

    In a profoundly strange country called Inner Horner, large enough for only one resident at a time, citizens waiting to enter the country fall under the rule of the power-hungry and tyrannical Phil, setting off a chain of injustice and mass hysteria.An Animal Farm for the 21st century, this is an incendiary political satire of unprecedented imagination, spiky humor, and cautionary appreciation for the hysteric in everyone.

    Mary is doing her best to protect her younger brother, Barney, as the island’s sons are mysteriously disappearing. Morgan is scheming to escape the prison her parents have made of their home. The two girls unite, each on a desperate mission in which secrets will be revealed and lives changed forever.

    The land crests the Orme, a buried, sleeping dragon that dreams resentment, jealousy, estrangement, death. Or so the folklore says. Growing up in a house that hates him, Gideon finds his only comforts in the land. Gideon will live or die by the Orme, as all his family has.

    Featuring the conclusions to Issue 57's cliffhanger stories by Booker Prize nominee Oyinkan Braithwaite, Brian Evanson, and Mona Awad.

    We attach no manacles to the word truth to bind it to our visions. Instead we free it to find its own way through the minds of the two dozen writers who have shared their vision of the future in either sensitively written allegorical tales such as Relics by Louise Marley, a woman who grew up bucking hay in Montana and moved on to a talented musical performer and successful novelist; or the raw humor of Adam Troy-Castro in his Q & A, which takes on the verbal veracity of Donald J. Trump. Jim Wright (of Stonekettle Station) imagines Trump giving the Gettysburg Address. Blaze Ward, Daniel Kimmel, Janka Hobbs and I explore dystopias. Marleen Barr and Adam Troy-Castro envision humorous, kinky, and scatological endings. What can I say? It rocks.

    Returning to the Paris hotel where he spent his honeymoon six years earlier, he decides to take what seems like the only way out - suicide. But a chance encounter with a Russian in a similar predicament leaves Nick with an unlikely obligation to fulfil, one that will take him to Italy, and offer him a chance at something like redemption. www.kevinwignall.com

    Until the world we knew went up in sweltering, viral flames. Despite our differences, I couldn’t leave Loren for dead after hearing her petrified screams, and with no one else to turn to, that left us tied to one another as the apocalypse continued to unfold. Fast forward one year later, and there’s only thing I now desire more than our survival... Her. Getting her beneath me has become an obsession, an infection rooted deep within me like the very virus meant to kill us. I’m falling for her at the worst time possible, I know this, but she is, too. It was inevitable, really. Whether we supersede the Z’s or not, one thing’s for certain—in the end, Loren will be mine. *NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Snare is a 20k novella originally part of the Black Hearts anthology. It is SHORT, steamy, and straight to the point.

    As sea levels rise and livable landmasses shrink, the Reorganized United States of America has instituted population control measures to ensure there are sufficient resources and food to sustain the growing population. Birth authorization must be paid for and obtained prior to having a child. Someone must die before another can be born, keeping the country in a population neutral position at what experts consider to be the optimal population. The new laws are enforced by a ruthless government organization known as Pop Con, responsible for terminating any children resulting from unauthorized births, and any illegals who manage to survive past their second birthday, at which point they are designated a national security threat and given the name Slip. But what if one child slipped through the cracks? What if someone knew all the loopholes and how to exploit them? Would it change anything? Would the delicate resource balance be thrown into a tailspin, threatening the lives of everyone? And how far would the government go to find and terminate the Slip? In a gripping story of a family torn apart by a single choice, Slip is a reminder of the sanctity of a single life and the value of the lives we so often take for granted.

    *** His parents are legends. He craves adventure. He may just get more than he bargained for… Theo Kane has lived in the shadows his entire life. Son to two legendary parents, all he’s ever wanted is to follow in their footsteps and have adventures of his own. When they were 16, they were taking on and defeating evil in the shape of High Chancellor Augustus Knight. Theo, at the same age, finds himself stuck in the quiet wooded region of Lignum, a fire raging inside him that yearns to be unleashed. Because Theo isn’t just any young man. Along with his best friend, Ajax, son to great heroes himself, he has a power locked deep down inside, one that both of them have been trying to set free. But with their parents warning against it, they’ve had to act in secret, sneaking off into the woods at night to hunt the beasts that prowl there. Night after night, they test themselves against the worst threats they can find. But none compare to what’s brewing in the darkness. One evening, however, their quiet world erupts into life. When heroes start falling around the country, Theo and Ajax find themselves on a path neither of them could have predicted. Someone is taking out those involved in the war 20 years ago, and the two young men are about to find themselves right in the centre of the action. Soon enough, their desire for adventure will be realised. Only, they might just have bitten off more than they can chew. And in time, maybe they’ll start to understand what their parents have always told them: that their power isn’t a gift, it’s a curse. One that will change their lives forever. This is Book One in the Seekers Trilogy, sequel to the Watchers Trilogy. If you haven't already, it's best to read the Watchers Trilogy first, starting with The Watchers of Eden, which you can download for free here on the Kindle store. Previous books in the Watchers Trilogy: The Watchers of Eden (Book One) City of Stone (Book Two) War at the Wall (Book Three)

     Way out in the sea, impossible to reach. It rises gray and bare, up and up, and then out of sight. As if the sea gave birth to something meant to connect it to the sky. I’ve never seen the top. Maze says she’s not convinced it has one. And I’ve always taken its impossible presence for what the Fathers say it is: a relic from before the Wipe. The hubris of pre-Wipe man, and a reminder for us all as to why it is God’s Will that we never return to technology. But Maze suddenly has it in her head that the tower means something else, something different than the history the Fathers have given us. I think she’s a conspiracy theorist. Until she shows me the map. Just the word mirror scribbled in red ink, next to a marking, and she expects me to go into the Deadlands with her. As long as I’ve known of her recklessness, and as much of a bad influence as she is on me, I can’t say no. Because while she doesn’t know they exist, I can’t stop my feelings for her. And I start to realize, when we first pass over the rotting gates, into the ruin that was a city, that it will take something much more than either of us ever knew we had in order to survive the truth.

    Like all children, they exist in an eternal present; time is imminent, and the adults of the street live in their assorted houses like numbers on a clock. Meanwhile, ominous rumors circulate, and the increasing agitation of the neighbors points to a future in which all will be lost. Soon a sorcerer's car will speed down Mary's street, and as past and future fold into each other, the resonant parenthesis of her girlhood will close forever. Beyond is adulthood, a world of robots and sorcerers, slaves and masters, bodies without souls. In Duplex, Kathryn Davis, whom the Chicago Tribune has called "one of the most inventive novelists at work today," has created a coming-of-age story like no other. Once you enter the duplex—that magical hinge between past and future, human and robot, space and time—there's no telling where you might come out.

    Unshakably content. Or is he? One warm summer night, Max’s overactive imagination conjures up a beautiful woman, Mrs. Zeno, who steps out of the moonlit rhododendrons and into his life. Max is certain that Mrs. Zeno is imaginary until she manages to seduce him into a passionate affair, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, between wanting and having. Max Lakeman and the Beautiful Stranger brings rich attention to the emotional life of an ordinary man with remarkable insight into the longings of the human heart.

     The Tree of Penance is the third installment of the post-apocalyptic and dystopian thrill ride of the Society Lost Series! If you like SHTF, TEOTWAWKI, vigilante justice, prepper, dystopian, post-apocalyptic tales filled with action, adventure, tragedy, and triumph, join former Sheriff Jessie Townsend as his journey takes him across a nation that is a mere shell of its former self after suffering numerous devastating blows from an orchestrated collapse and the attacks that followed. Along the way, Jessie encounters both friend and foe in a world that has become as lawless as the old-west frontier. Join him as he continues his quest in, The Tree of Penance. . Other works from this author include: The Last Layover: The New Homefront, Volume One The Guardians: The New Homefront, Volume Two The Blue Ridge Resistance: The New Homefront, Volume Three The Resolution: The New Homefront, Volume Four Viking One: A New Homefront Novel The Shepherd: Society Lost, Volume One Betrayal: Society Lost, Volume Two Erebus: An Apocalyptic Thriller JET: Dangerous Prey The Edge of Civility