Virtually unknown and only published in pulp magazines before he died in poverty, he is now regarded as one of the most significant 20th-century authors in his genre. Lovecraft was born in Providence, Rhode Island, where he spent most of his life. Among his most celebrated tales is "The Call of Cthulhu", canonical to the Cthulhu Mythos. Never able to support himself from earnings as author and editor, Lovecraft saw commercial success increasingly elude him in this latter period, partly because he lacked the confidence and drive to promote himself. He subsisted in progressively straitened circumstances in his last years; an inheritance was completely spent by the time he died at the age of 46.

     Includes: -Why Hank came to Belvaille -Hank's first job -Where Hank got his plasma pistol -Hank's first murder -Introduction of glocken -Where the Gentleman's Club and Athletic Club came from -Hank's first love -How and why Belvaille changed and became what it is today NOTE: while the stories are stand-alone, it contains many references to characters and events in Hard Luck Hank novels.

    Lost worlds where T-Rex and Velociraptors still roam and man is now on the menu. Laboratories at the forefront of cloning technology experiment with dinosaurs they do not understand or are able to contain. The deepest parts of the ocean where Megalodon, the largest and most ferocious predator to have ever existed is stalking new prey. Plus many more thrillers filled with extinct prehistoric monsters written by some of the best creature feature authors this side of the Jurassic period.

    The skies have gone rogue. Space can't be tamed. And magic is a law unto itself. Transport yourself to new worlds where dark magic clashes with witty witches, diabolic demons, feisty fae, and sexy shifters. Or travel through time and space with cosmic spies, space thieves, and telepathic pirates. Add in a dash of Victorian heroes and inhuman soldiers, and you have a one-of-a-kind science fiction and fantasy collection of intoxicating proportions. Fans of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, Anne McCaffrey, John Scalzi or Sarah J. Maas, Leigh Bardugo, Tamora Pierce, Lois Lowry, and Maria V. Snyder will find themselves transported to weird realms and epic otherworlds in this reality-optional boxset. Rogues and Rebels, Magic and Mayhem, Futures and Fantasy—there's no limit to the excitement that awaits when you turn the pages of this collection of spellbinding adventures from some of today's best-selling Science Fiction and Fantasy authors. 1-click ROGUE SKIES today! With stories by... Missy De Graff Bella Andrews Ashlee Nicole Bye Emma Jane Holloway Candace Sams Melinda Kucsera Jennifer Ellision Mirren Hogan USA Today bestselling author Suzanne Jenkins Brantwijn Serrah USA Today bestselling author Shereen Vedam C.L. Cannon S.A. McClure Karen M. Bryson & Candace Segar Rae Hendricks & Lianne Willowmoon Lee French Tamsin Baker Joynell Schultz Tracy Korn Shannon Pemrick Suzanne Hagelin Nadine Travers Cecilia Dominic Bill Hargenrader Jason J. Nugent

    V. Larson! This 60,000 word book is an Anthology of short stories. Most are Science Fiction mixed with Horror. Others might be called Dark Fantasy... Many have been published previously in various magazines.The Barrier – What does it take to go faster than light?Symptoms of Godhood – How far can you modify a body and still call the results human?Discharged – A long war and an even longer stay in an automated hospital.Teeth at Bedtime – Technology follows us everywhere.The Insect Requirement – Great sacrifices are required for Earth’s early colonists.Blind Eyes – If we can design our own children, how far will we go?TA96 – Do our genes belong to us?Zundra’s Movies – A future where video is created with the mind, and insanity is fun to watch.Pinball – A young man builds his own watchdog.Love Aboard the Kamadeva – A love triangle between two desperate souls and a digital mirage.Starplay – A window into the universe becomes a door.The One-Way Gang – Leaving Earth is easy, but you can never come back.Rusted Metal – What has spent the last century in the basement?Lunar Lotto – Death comes instantly to outlaws in vacuum.The Rollers – Crime has been mostly eliminated by removing all forms of cash... Mostly.

    This is the story of a man and murderer, Bando Nicos, who was condemned to Tartaros and became the planet's first police officer.

    As technology advances, the tools of battle - the strategies, the weaponry, the scope of destruction - also advance.Here are eleven riveting tales of the future's battlefields - the high-tech hardware of tomoorow's wars, the bare emotions of tomorrow's warriors - from the celebrated masters of science fiction.Contents: Contact! by David DrakeThe Warbots by Larry S. ToddThe Scapegoat by C.J. CherryhThe Last Crusade by George H. SmithHired Man by Richard C. MeredithEarly Model by Robert SheckleyIn the Bone by Gordon R. DicksonThe Chemically Pure Warriors by Allen Kim LangRight to Life by Thomas A. EastonOf Battle's Sound by Harry HarrisonHero by Joe Haldeman

    She’s also a mage. Carina would love to use her mage powers when she fights. If only life were that simple. In her part of the galaxy, mages live in fear of discovery. Slavery and torture are the best they can expect.So when a young boy is kidnapped and Carina embarks on a suicidal mission to save his life, she faces a terrible decision. For the rescue plan to succeed, she must Cast. But if she does, it could mean the end of everything for her.Star Mage Exile is the prequel to the dark, exciting space fantasy, Star Mage Saga.

    But that’s what happens when medical technology goes awry. Doctors said they could train her brain to interpret digital signals from the camera in her artificial eye. The module even has wi-fi so they can monitor signal traffic across her optic nerve. What they didn’t anticipate was that her brain would figure out how to use the wi-fi connection both ways. Asha can now see the Internet. ASHA'S INTELLIGENCE IS NOT ARTIFICIAL As her digital brain develops, she creates an online AI by copying part of her mind to the cloud. The AI she calls Abbot becomes her right hand as she goes to work for the FBI tracking down international terrorists. Unfortunately, she is so effective, the government believes she may be a co-conspirator. When they refuse to pay her, she walks out. IT'S NOT JUST THE FBI WHO SUSPECT HER When Asha crosses paths with Chinese military hackers, she stops them by taking out Shanghai’s electrical grid. Now the communist government wants to know who did it and how. Things go downhill after Asha gives a copy of Abbot to her husband’s company. When the Chinese military steals a copy of it, they immediately recognize its military significance. Their top priority, however, is to take out the woman who came up with it in the first place. CHINA FLEXES ITS NEW CYBER WARFARE TOOL Using her own technology against her, the Chinese suddenly become a serious threat to the US. The FBI calls Asha back and ask one last favor: stop the Chinese attack. She agrees, but this time there are conditions. Either they pay upfront, or she will take care of the Asian threat in her own way, and knowing Asha, that could mean World War Three.

    As tiny and inconspicuous as it may seem, That-Which-Had-Been exhibits an unexpected and varied gift for survival, as it journeys implacably toward its ultimate destination. Along the way, it meets a rich array of ordinary human beings, some of whom assist it along its way, others who impede its progress, none of whom have any idea of its existence.From whence comes the strange, but universal, experience of deja vu? Why do some people exhibit a wisdom far beyond their age and experience - persons reincarnationists refer to as 'old souls'? Joseph Wurtenbaugh in this short story offers a fascinating and tantalizingly plausible explanation for these phenomena, presented in a natural setting that brims with adventure and exhilarating possibility. Not to be missed by anyone who enjoys science fiction or thinking outside the box.

    89 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more – everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Diamond Age, or, Young Lady's Illustrated Primer.

     After the unfortunate events that took place in Britain, Jacob Hunter is no longer certain of many things, but this ill-fated truth is one he understands implicitly. Having spent months battling his addiction to the all-powerful blue orb, a device capable of traveling through time but equally adept at breaking a man’s mind, Jacob has finally succumbed to it. Once aided by loyal companions and the woman he loves, Jacob has abandoned everyone he has ever trusted, his mind warped by the orb’s influence. However, recently given new clues concerning the orb’s potential, Jacob departs for Rome, where he now knows a second orb lay hidden, waiting to be reunited with the orb he already possesses. Accompanied only by Rome’s manipulative empress, Agrippina the Younger, the pair journey to Rome where they hope to discover the secret to the orb’s power, but a destructive truth lies behind what they seek, one he may not be fully prepared to combat… But Jacob is not the only one about to embark on a daring quest. Having been abandoned and left without direction in the hinterlands of ancient Britain, Jacob’s sister, Diana, must find it in herself to rally Jacob’s jilted friends and corral an enraged Helena, the woman he loves, who carries her own mysterious secret after her life was miraculously saved at the brink of death. Unprepared for the responsibility suddenly thrust on her by Jacob's disappearance, Diana understands that she and her friends must find him before it's too late. Clouded and perverted though his mind may be, she knows her brother all too well. Jacob, tormented and driven beyond rationality, is prepared to sacrifice everything to find the lost orb. Including his life...

    Reincarnating as a worm in the madness that is Alamir, the man who spat in the face of a god turns and spits in the face of destiny.He ascends, from battle and bloodshed, to find favor in a Witch of the Night just as mad, if not far madder, than he. Baptized on the eve of the genocide of her people, he is bestowed the name Janus - and is reborn with the power to explore the road not travelled.The power to eat his cake and have it, to split the timeline as he desires, and pave his own path towards his chosen future.That chosen future, awaits his bony, skeletal hands.War cometh for the defiant. War between cosmic horrors and ubermensch, apocalypse seekers and twisted messiahs, reincarnated madmen and avatars of extinction -And the man who defied a god, stands in the center."Hero, villain, monster, savior, king, slave, good or evil - all irrelevant when the Nightmares of Alamir come midnight, wielding a dim lantern, rasping with a croaky voice as their unholy fingers rap against your door.""Now, tell the world... How shall you answer?"

    Harried by genestealers and Space Marines of the Salamanders Chapter, they must protect the traitor tech-priest Deltrian as he completes his mission. But something is hunting them through the shadows, a predator that is more than their match... A short story from the Fear the Alien anthology.

    Would you start kicking some ass? Of course you would!This is the story of Human superiority in the galaxy, a gritty, realistic profile of a young Navy SEAL who doesn't like aliens very much -- and he makes them pay for disrupting his happy life back on Earth!