In the process, she learns something new about how to fight the alien invaders, but she must also remember that revenge is not the way of the Jedi - even which it seems the only way to fight the enemy.

    Experience the horror of Tade Thompson's The Murders of Molly Southbourne.The rule is simple: don't bleed.For as long as Molly Southbourne can remember, she's been watching herself die. Whenever she bleeds, another molly is born, identical to her in every way and intent on her destruction.Molly knows every way to kill herself, but she also knows that as long as she survives she'll be hunted. No matter how well she follows the rules, eventually the mollys will find her. Can Molly find a way to stop the tide of blood, or will she meet her end at the hand of a girl who looks just like her?

    See how it starts for Callie and Michael in this digital-only short story set in the STARTERS world, told from Michael's pov.

    And we're proud to be able to reprint the whole story, right here at io9. Here's your chance to find out what all the excitement is about, and discover one of science fiction's fastest rising stars.

    Homesick and worried about the upcoming year apart, Cara is desperate to make these final hours count. Worst of all, Cara is missing Christmas, stuck on board an alien spaceship. When Aelyx learns that Cara is forgoing her favorite holiday, he tries to recreate Christmas in space by researching traditional earth customs…but a few things get lost in translation.Coming December 23rd, this FREE short story will include multi-chapter excerpts of both ALIENATED and the sequel, INVADED.

    Intelligent, well-educated, perfectly isolated in his lofty rank, responsibilities, and privilege of the divine Imperial Dynasty. He's the most powerful boy on Atlantis and he's going into the real world for the very first time. . . .Now just another student in Fleet Cadet School, Aeson must learn everything normal people take for granted—including the basics of how to look after himself, how to interact with others his age, how to laugh, and how to make friends.As if that wasn't enough to boggle the mind of a confident but shy boy who's never had a real conversation with anyone but his mother, Aeson has one more lesson ahead . . . what it's like to fall in love.Get inside Aeson's mind and learn his story from the inside out as he forms the bonds that will change him forever—with Elikara, Xelio, Oalla, Keruvat, Erita, and other favorite Atlantean characters, long before they took to the stars as astra daimon! AESON: BLUE is the first in The Atlantis Grail Novella Series.

    . .Kindred Spirits is about Elena, who decides to queue to see the new Star Wars movie and meets Gabe, a fellow fan.Midnights was previously published as part of the My True Love Gave to Me anthology, edited by Stephanie Perkins and Kindred Spirits was previously published as a World Book Day title.

    Now a team of scientists is trapped in a world they were not prepared for and can never return from.Their only hope lies in quartet of former US Army Rangers willing to travel to prehistoric Nevada and face unknown horrors and impossibleodds bring them home from Bad Times. New York Times bestselling author Chuck Dixon presents the first in a new original science fiction series featuring the kind of action, breakneck pacing and suspense that millions of readers around the world have come to expect. Following up on his Kindle sensation series of SEAL Team 6 books, Chuck creates a new cast of characters and a new universe of adventure starting here with Cannibal Gold.

    Her surprise soon gives way to panic when they figure out that an employee gave her car to the wrong person and it is now five hundred miles away. All the Christmas gifts that she’d carefully budgeted out for her children since July were in the trunk.Zayden Crile can’t believe his employee made such a huge mistake. And of all people it had to be his former sister-in-law. She’s still upset that his brother ran off with the nurse, leaving her with two small children. She has struggled, and to make things a little easier Zayden takes care of her car as a favor. He certainly never intended to make a mistake which could ruin Christmas for his niece and nephew.Forced to ride together to get her car, Blythe starts to see Zayden in a new light and realizes that maybe she married the wrong brother. Could one honest mistake patch a new family together?

    As such, it contains HUGE SPOILERS for the books Mistborn (The Final Empire), The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. It also contains very minor spoilers for the book The Bands of Mourning. Mistborn: Secret History builds upon the characterization, events, and worldbuilding of the original trilogy. Reading it without that background will be a confusing process at best. In short, this isn’t the place to start your journey into Mistborn. (Though if you have read the trilogy—but it has been a while—you should be just fine, so long as you remember the characters and the general plot of the books.) Saying anything more here risks revealing too much. Even knowledge of this story’s existence is, in a way, a spoiler. There’s always another secret.

    These short stories examine the world of unwinding in a way we haven’t seen before, providing a fresh framework, new characters, and a different take on some events.With UnBound, Shusterman’s fans can continue to get caught up in the world he has created in this “gripping, brilliantly imagined futuristic thriller” (Publishers Weekly, starred review).

    Four stories. Each one set in the enchanting world of the South. These are the kinds of stories your grandmother told you from a front porch swing. Ice Melts in Spring by Linda W. Yezak When Kerry Graham's boss forces her to return to the Gulf of Mexico where her husband drowned years ago, she feels only spring's chill and not the warmth of the Texas sun. Can the joy of a reclusive author and the compassion of a shrimp-boat preacher thaw Kerry's frigid heart? Lillie Beth in Summer by Eva Marie Everson With the untimely death of his wife, Dr. James Gillespie believes God has abandoned him. He also believes he's never met anyone like the young widow Lillie Beth, whose beloved Granny lies dying at home, and who sees a God who sweeps hope through a farmhouse window. Can a young woman whose husband died in Vietnam restore a faith that is all but dead. Through an Autumn Window by Claire Fullerton Because her larger than life mother Daphne Goodwyn is dead, forty-year-old Cate returns to Memphis with one thought in mind: something always goes wrong at a Southern funeral. But surrounded by the well-mannered society that raised her, the nostalgic rites of a three-day, autumn mourning bring the unexpected gift of the end of sibling rivalry. A Magnolia Blooms in Winter by Ane Mulligan With Broadway stardom within her reach, Morgan James returns home in winter to help an old friend. Maybe it s just nostalgia, but when she sees him again, an old flame rekindles. When she s called back to NYC to take the lead in a new musical, will fame be worth losing the man she loves?

    From the pages of the best-selling Duck & Cover Adventures comes thirteen stories of those who survived the apocalypse. Some would go on to be heroes, others villains, some were dogs and will stay dogs, but they all must contend with the horrors of the new world and find a way to survive in the wasteland that was America. HOW TO HOST AN INTERVENTION Long before he was a knight in the apocalypse, Tommy was preparing for the end of the world. His friends grew concerned for his well-being and planned to intervene. It wasn’t so much that he was preparing, it was what he was preparing for. GONE TO THE DOGS Fidget and Sasquatch were loyal companions to the end. Now that the end has arrived, they must say goodbye to the only home they’ve ever known. If they can figure out how to open the door. BUNKED UP They took refuge in a homemade bomb shelter when the end of the world began. There they were safe from the bombs and the fallout. But they were never safe from each other. PACK HUNTERS Fidget and Sasquatch are on their own, a situation neither of them are really comfortable with. They decide to join a pack for safety, for food and for friends. Now all they have to do is find one. ANIMAL’S CALLING Before the world ended, Jackson drifted from job to job, never settling on anything that could be called a career path. But with the new world comes new opportunities. This is what he was born to do. LAST BAND OF THE APOCALYPSE Caught between county fair gigs during the apocalypse, the members of a cover band find themselves the last band left in the world. Getting gigs should be easy. Should be. PRISONER’S DILEMMA The Librarian has seen his fair share of “wasteland justice.” Now he’s chained to the floor of a grocery store with a man he must face in court. In a battle to the death. Naturally. ALPHA DOG Sergeant Satan was genetically enhanced to be the world’s best military scout. He was designed to be smarter, faster and more than a match for any dog this side of the apocalypse. Of course, his creators had never met Fidget. THE TRIAL OF HARMEGGEDON They’ve got a new name. They’ve got a new act. And they are ready to rock your face off. Now all the last band in the world needs is a gig. WILLIE AND COY RIDE AGAIN Willie and Coy aren’t the brightest. Or the best looking. Or very likeable. No one would ever accuse them of being hard workers. But the pair have found a way to make an honest living in the apocalypse. If they can get enough people to watch. IN A PERSON PACK Tired of looking for a pack to join, Sasquatch and Fidget reminisce about the joys and delights of life in a people pack. NO QUARTER Deep in the swamp of New Orleans awaits a terror many refuse to believe exists. It’s a monster of myth and rumor so horrible that it could not possibly be real. On the trail of a kidnapped woman, The Librarian must seek out and confront this monster of myth. EVE OF THE APOCALYPSE Man is the true monster. Unless there is a man who is a monster that also makes monsters. Then he’s the truest monster and only a post-apocalyptic nomadic warrior can bring this monster’s monster-making to an end.

    His redemption comes as he is recruited into the elite and secretive Scout Force. Follow Kelly’s adventures as an officer in the Galactic Republic Fleet’s Scout Force, protecting humanity’s frontiers from human treachery and an onslaught by the expansive, hostile K’rang Empire.

    Parker has established himself as one of the most original voices in contemporary fantasy. Through works ranging in scale from multi-volume epics (The Engineer Trilogy) to standalone novels (The Company) to a vivid assortment of stories and novellas, he has earned his reputation as an imaginative, consistently absorbing storyteller. His latest novella, My Beautiful Life, can only enhance that reputation.As the ironic title indicates, Parker’s latest tells the story of an individual life that takes extraordinary turns. As the story begins, the nameless, dying narrator takes us back to his childhood home in a remote corner of the ubiquitous Empire. The second of three sons, he lives there with his mother in a state of unrelieved poverty. Life eventually becomes so dire that the mother — who can only find work as a prostitute — is forced to sell one of her children. The oldest son, Nico, volunteers to be sold in order to protect his family, and that decision sets in motion everything that follows. Nico’s journey takes him, in time, to the heart of the Empire and the very center of power. Over time, he acquires considerable power of his own and uses it to bring his younger brothers into the circle of his influence, changing their lives forever. Under Nico’s guidance, the middle brother — our nameless narrator — achieves a destiny that will alter not only his own life, but the life of the Empire itself. Written with wit, economy, and considerable style, My Beautiful Life is at once a profoundly gripping narrative and a rueful meditation on the workings of fate. Equally suitable both for long-time fans and for newcomers to Parker’s fictional universe, it is an essential — and hugely enjoyable — addition to a distinguished body of work.Cover illustration by Vincent Chong