When Kimball comes upon twelve-year-old Thayet, she's been stuck on a rock in a river of bugs for two days, no food, no water, and no way back.This is an excerpt from 7th Sigma.

    Now, years later, she has wings of her own. But an encounter in the woods forces her to reckon with her past—and the painful price her wings demanded.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    In the Cave of the Delicate Singers by Lucy Taylor is a horror story about a woman with a rare form of synesthesia who can feel sound waves and the dangerous rescue mission she undertakes in a cave with a nasty past.

    When he brings home three beautiful Masquerades, he's expecting that his mother will be proud of him. But when his mother begins asking favors of his Masquerades, he realizes that being a good son sometimes means disobeying.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    His son has trouble at school. And he has to keep his sharp teeth hidden.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    The mission comes with a warning: a graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind—hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out eons ago. After all this time, there’s no telling how they’ve devolved. Steel yourself, soldier. Get in. Get out. And try not to stare.N. K. Jemisin’s Emergency Skin is part of Forward, a collection of six stories of the near and far future from out-of-this-world authors. Each piece can be read or listened to in a single thought-provoking sitting.

    “My risk-assessment module predicts a 53 percent chance of a human-on-human massacre before the end of the contract.”A short story published in Wired.com magazine as part of a series "The Future of Work" on December 17, 2018.

    Life hurts. They drink. They talk:Nico's tired of hurting people. He wants out. Not suicide, not that - he'd just hurt everyone who loves him. But what if he could erase his whole life? Undo the fact of his birth? Wouldn't Dominga be having a better night, right now, if she didn't have to take care of him?And when Dominga finds a way to do just that, when she is gifted or armed with a terrible cosmic mercy, she still cares enough to say:I am not letting him have this. I am not letting Nico go without a fight.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    A short story set in the world of Ancillary Justice, published by Strange Horizons as part of their annual funding drive.

    Surely somewhere, in all the myriad crossings of the threads, there is a future in which all will be well. Marie Brennan offers an intriguing new spin on a classic tale.At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.

    It could be a trap…or a way out.

    New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every month. EDITORIAL Words from the Editor-in-Chief—Jason Sizemore FICTION A Witch's Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies — Alix Harrow Work, and Ye Shall Eat — Walker McKnight Ghost Marriage — P. Djeli Clark Excerpt: Return to the Lost Level — Brian Keene NONFICTION Interview with Alix Harrow — Andrea Johnson Interview with Cover Artist Justin Adams — Russell Dickerson A Discussion with Tal M. Klein, Author of The Punch Escrow — Lesley Conner COLUMNS Between the Lines with Laura Zats and Erik Hane Page Advice with Mallory O'Meara and Brea Grant

    Not everyone can. Who decides? Desperate to save his daughter from a mysterious sickness, Daniel applies for the Methuselah Treatment. If she gets it, his daughter won’t just recover, she’ll live forever. But the drug is tightly controlled, and only the special, the talented, and the truly deserving ever receive it. There is nothing special about Daniel’s destitute ten- year-old girl—or is there?

    A Human Stain by Kelly Robson is a disturbing horror novelette about a British expatriate at loose ends who is hired by her friend to temporarily care for his young, orphaned nephew in a remote castle-like structure in Germany.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

    This collection of stories is where robots stand in for us, where both we and they are disadvantaged, and where hope and optimism shines through.