Search Worlds Without End

Ren lives alone on the remote frontier of a country devastated by a coup. High on the forested slopes, she survives by hunting and trading--and forgetting.

But when a young soldier comes to the mountains in search of a local myth, Ren is inexorably drawn into her impossible mission. As their lives entwine, unravel and erupt--as myths merge with reality--both Ren and the soldier are forced to confront what they regret, what they love, and what they fear.

"The opening chapter defies description. Imagine one of those 1930s screwball comedies with the crazy situations, but substitute malevolence for humor."-Karl Edward Wagner

"Doctor, I'm losing my mind." So begins John Franklin Bardin's unconventional crime thriller in which a psychiatrist attempts to help his patient lead to a dead-end world of amnesia and social outcasts. The Deadly Percheron is a murder mystery, poignant love story, and an unsettling and hallucinatory voyage into memory, madness, and despair.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, February 2013. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eight (2014), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

In this short story collection of courage, adventure, and magic, heroes--ordinary people who do the right thing--bravely step forward.

But running toward danger might cost them everything....

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher's "Little Things," the pixie Toot-Toot discovers an invader unbeknownst to the wizard Harry Dresden... and in order to defeat it, he'll have to team up with the dread cat Mister.

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs's "Dating Terrors," the werewolf Asil finds an online date might just turn into something more--if she can escape the dark magic binding her.

In #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris's "The Return of the Mage," the Britlingen mercenaries will discover more than they've bargained for when they answer the call of a distress beacon on a strange and remote world.

And in #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong's "Comfort Zone," the necromancer Chloe Saunders and the werewolf Derek Souza are just trying to get through college. But they can't refuse a ghost pleading for help.

ALSO INCLUDES STORIES BY

• Annie Bellet
• Anne Bishop
• Jennifer Brozek
• Kevin Hearne
• Nancy Holder
• Kerrie L. Hughes
• Chloe Neill
• R. R. Virdi

Joseph Campbell's classic cross-cultural study of the hero's journey has inspired millions and opened up new areas of research and exploration. Originally published in 1949, the book hit the New York Times best-seller list in 1988 when it became the subject of The Power of Myth, a PBS television special.

The first popular work to combine the spiritual and psychological insights of modern psychoanalysis with the archetypes of world mythology, the book creates a roadmap for navigating the frustrating path of contemporary life. Examining heroic myths in the light of modern psychology, it considers not only the patterns and stages of mythology but also its relevance to our lives today--and to the life of any person seeking a fully realized existence.

Myth, according to Campbell, is the projection of a culture's dreams onto a large screen; Campbell's book, like Star Wars, the film it helped inspire, is an exploration of the big-picture moments from the stage that is our world. It is a must-have resource for both experienced students of mythology and the explorer just beginning to approach myth as a source of knowledge.

Sharp-eyed Marianne lives in a white tower made of steel and concrete with her father and the other Professors. Outside, where the land is thickly wooded and wild beasts roam, live the Barbarians, who raid and pillage in order to survive. Marianne is strictly forbidden to leave her civilized world but, fascinated by these savage outsiders, decides to escape. There, beyond the wire fences, she will discover a decaying paradise, encounter the tattooed Barbarian boy Jewel and go beyond the darkest limits of her imagination.

Playful, sensuous, violent and gripping, "Heroes and Villains" is an ambiguous and deliriously rich blend of post-apocalyptic fiction, gothic fantasy, literary allusion and twisted romance.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, Issue 108, May 2019.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Jamie woke up in an empty apartment with no memory and only a few clues to his identity, but with the ability to read and erase other people's memories – a power he uses to hold up banks to buy coffee, cat food and books.

Zoe is also searching for her past, and using her abilities of speed and strength... to deliver fast food. And she'll occasionally put on a cool suit and beat up bad guys, if she feels like it.

When the archrivals meet in a memory-loss support group, they realize the only way to reveal their hidden pasts might be through each other. As they uncover an ongoing threat, suddenly much more is at stake than their fragile friendship. With countless people at risk, Zoe and Jamie will have to recognize that sometimes being a hero starts with trusting someone else – and yourself.

Sixteen year-old Ewan Mao knows one thing for certain: according to prophecy, it's his destiny to kill the evil tyrant whose dark reign has terrorized Britain for as long as he can remember. Although he's just a normal boy, deep down Ewan is confident that he has exactly what it takes to be a hero. But when Ewan's big moment comes and his best friend, the clever and talented Oliver Abrams, defeats the villain for him, Ewan's bright future crumbles before his eyes.

Five years later, while Ewan is living at home and working a minimum wage job, Oliver has a job as an Unusual in the government's Serious Magical Crimes Agency, the life he and Ewan always dreamed of. A routine investigation leads him and his partner, Sophie Stuart, to uncover a dangerous and powerful cult... one that seems to have drawn his former best friend into a plot to end the world.

A deftly plotted, hysterically funny journey through magical London and beyond, A Hero at the End of the World expertly walks the fine line between satire and sincerity. Its sensitive depiction of a broken friendship and wry takedown of unfairly great expectations will appeal to all readers of modern fantasy.

This novelette originally appeared in Lightspeed: Women Destroy Science Fiction! Special Issue, June 2014.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Once there was a Hero who confronted the dreaded Daggertooth and slew it. Unfortunately he was also slain by it - but the legend persisted. If it could be done once, then another Hero could be raised to do it again. Because the Daggertooth was dangerous to hibernating humanity. All people - all that anyone knew of - lived far underground in tunnels built for safety and hibernation. The Daggertooth was a mass killer - more so even than the hideous Oddlies, the outcasts of the darker tunnels.

So this is the story of John-A, the "vatkid" who was trained to be a second Hero. And the story of "trukid" Shirl who taught John-A what to do. And Threesum, the Oddlies' leader, who scoffed at heroes. And the Elders who frowned at all the risky goings-on. This is the story of a mighty strange world and a mighty strange future...

Our story begins in 1902, at The Brookhants School for Girls. Flo and Clara, two impressionable students, are obsessed with each other and with a daring young writer named Mary MacLane, the author of a scandalous bestselling memoir. To show their devotion to Mary, the girls establish their own private club and call it The Plain Bad Heroine Society. They meet in secret in a nearby apple orchard, the setting of their wildest happiness and, ultimately, of their macabre deaths. This is where their bodies are later discovered with a copy of Mary's book splayed beside them, the victims of a swarm of stinging, angry yellow jackets. Less than five years later, The Brookhants School for Girls closes its doors forever--but not before three more people mysteriously die on the property, each in a most troubling way.

Over a century later, the now abandoned and crumbling Brookhants is back in the news when wunderkind writer, Merritt Emmons, publishes a breakout book celebrating the queer, feminist history surrounding the "haunted and cursed" Gilded-Age institution. Her bestselling book inspires a controversial horror film adaptation starring celebrity actor and lesbian it girl Harper Harper playing the ill-fated heroine Flo, opposite B-list actress and former child star Audrey Wells as Clara. But as Brookhants opens its gates once again, and our three modern heroines arrive on set to begin filming, past and present become grimly entangled--or perhaps just grimly exploited--and soon it's impossible to tell where the curse leaves off and Hollywood begins.

The Bronze Age. The era of Troy, of Gilgamesh, of the dawning of human mastery over the earth. For decades, fantasists have set tales of heroism and adventure in imagined worlds based on the real Bronze Age, from the "Hyborean Age" of the Conan stories to the Third Age of Middle-earth.

Now bestselling science fiction and fantasy author Harry Turtledove, a noted expert on the ancient world, teams up with author and Egyptologist Noreen Doyle to present fourteen new tales of the real Bronze Age from some of the best writers in science fiction.

In The First Heroes: here is Gene Wolfe's mock-journal of a man from the future who travels with figures out of history and mythology; Judith Tarr's tale of a a town that sends its resident goddess to try to learn the secrets of the morose God of Chariots; Harry Turtledove's story about mythological beings witnessing the devastating effect of the first humans on the Earth's natural order; and a poignant new story from the late Poul Anderson, in which a modern scholar is sent to the late Bronze Age to witness the end of an era, emerging with memories from the past as vibrant and intact as those from his accustomed life.

Table of Contents:

• Definition - essay
• Introduction - essay by Harry Turtledove and Noreen Doyle
• The Lost Pilgrim - (2004) - novelette by Gene Wolfe
• How the Bells Came from Yang to Hubei - shortstory by B. W. Clough
• The Gods of Chariots - novelette by Judith Tarr
• The Horse of Bronze - novella by Harry Turtledove
• A Hero for the Gods - shortstory by Josepha Sherman
• Blood Wolf - novelette by S. M. Stirling
• Ankhtifi the Brave is dying - novelette by Noreen Doyle
• The God Voice - shortstory by Katharine Kerr and Debra Doyle
• Orqo Afloat on the Willkamayu - novelette by Karen Jordan Allen
• The Myrmidons - shortstory by Larry Hammer
• Giliad - novella by Gregory Feeley
• The Sea Mother's Gift - shortstory by Laura Frankos
• The Matter of the Ahhiyans - shortstory by Lois Tilton
• The Bog Sword - novelette by Poul Anderson

In HEROICS, Irene-- like everyone in the future-- struggles with boredom. Food, clothing, all the necessities of human life have been taken care of. But, what does that leave of life itself? At eighty-two, Irene sets out on a pilgrimage across America hoping to find the answer. Along the way, she becomes transformed, both physically and by her interations with other civilians all trying to cope with this new world.

Filled with humor and fantastic symbolism, HEROICS mixes adventure and philosophy in a way both engrossing and entertaining. Of this book, friend and fellow writer Harlan Ellison said, "It is the best Effinger yet...and for those of us who have been watching with amazement that is about as rich a compliment as you can expect from other envious authors. Damn him, he's good!"

ORDINARY PEOPLE. EXTRAORDINARY HEROES...

This all-new fantasy anthology features thirteen original stories about ordinary or inexperienced people learning to become extraordinary heroes. From the shape shifter Esen-alit-Quar who is forced unexpectedly into her first solo mission to the young man sworn to defeat a pack of lycanthropes, these heroes in training are thrown into exciting adventures that demand nothing short of all that is in them.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Jim C. Hines
• Roomies - novelette by Esther M. Friesner
• Three Names of the Hidden God - novelette by Vera Nazarian
• The Princess, the Page, and the Master Cook's Son - novelette by Sherwood Smith
• The Children's Crusade - (2007) - novelette by Robin Wayne Bailey
• The Apprentice - novelette by Catherine H. Shaffer
• Beneath the Skin - shortstory by James Lowder
• Giantkiller - novelette by G. Scott Huggins
• Drinker - novelette by Michael Jasper
• King Harrowhelm - shortstory by Ed Greenwood
• Honor Is a Game Mortals Play - novelette by Eugie Foster
• The Wizard's Legacy - novelette by Michael A. Burstein
• A Touch of Blue - novelette by Julie E. Czerneda
• Sir Apropos of Nothing and The Adventure of the Receding Heir - novelette by Peter David
• About the Authors - essay by uncredited

This short story originally appeared in Mothership Zeta, April 2016. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2017, edited by Rich Horton.

Read to the story for free at Mothership Zeta.

Hugo Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, June 1972. The story can also be found in the anthologies Best SF: 1972, edtidt by Brian W. Aldiss and Harry Harrison, The Best Science Fiction of the Year #2 (1973), edited by Terry Carr, Analog 9 (1973), edited by Ben Bova, and The Best Military Science Fiction of the 20th Century (2001), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Harry Turtledove. It is included in the collection The Best of Joe Haldeman. The story was incororated in the novel The Forever War (1975).

This is the story of Jane who finds the novel she is working on starts to write back. She's already realized novel writing isn't such a piece of cake after all, and the world of fiction is a far more complicated place than she ever imagined.

Modern gods and goddesses, remote, revered--and like the pantheon of heroes and heroines of ancient myth--possessing great power tempered with flaws. Now, find within this anthology great tales by gifted and award-winning authors who move superheroes from the four-color panels of comic books to the fantastic pages of fiction, stories that will remind anyone who ever wanted to wear a cape or don a cowl of the extraordinary powers of the imagination!

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (2013) - essay by Rich Horton
• Sunlight Society - (2012) - shortstory by Margaret Ronald
• Secret Identity - (2009) - novelette by Kelly Link
• The Illustrated Biography of Lord Grimm - (2008) - novelette by Daryl Gregory
• Tonight We Fly - (2010) - shortstory by Ian McDonald
• Wild Card - (2013) - shortfiction by Leah Bobet
• Heroic Measures - (2006) - shortstory by Matthew Johnson
• The Biggest - (2012) - shortfiction by James Patrick Kelly
• Dr. Death vs. The Vampire - (2010) - novelette by Aaron Schutz
• Superhero Girl - (2009) - shortstory by Jessica J. Lee
• Super. Family. - (2010) - shortfiction by Ian Donald Keeling
• The Strange Desserts of Professor Natalie Doom - (2005) - shortstory by Kat Beyer
• Downfall - (2010) - novelette by Joseph Mallozzi
• Dirae - (2010) - novelette by Peter S. Beagle
• Grandma - (2002) - shortstory by Carol Emshwiller
• The Los Angeles Women's Auxiliary Superhero League - (2013) - shortfiction by Elana Fortin
• Wonjjang and the Madman of Pyongyang - (2008) - novella by Gord Sellar

This story originally appeared on Patreon.com, April 30, 2016, and was later reprinted in Lightspeed, August 2016.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Sturgeon Award nominated short story.

Mike has it all: a loving wife, a bright son, a steady job, and a house on a lake. Then why does he feel as though he had locked himself in and thrown away the key? And what is the meaning of the disturbing dream that haunts him night after night, the one in which he is revealed to be a coward? In a horrifying moment that shatters his tranquil life, his courage will be put to the ultimate test.

Heroics originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, November 1987. It is included in the collection Think Like a Dinosaur and Other Stories (1997).

Save the World... With Pizza?!

After being struck and killed by a delivery bike, Kaito is given the opportunity to be reborn in an alternate world as one of three "hero" classes:

1. A swordsman
2. A magician
3. A hero who saves the world with pizza

When the first two options are quickly taken, Kaito is forced to live his second life as a hero endowed with the power of pizza in a land of herbivorous elves...one of whom happens to be his new wife! What kinds of pizza-related adventures lie ahead for our High-Calorie Hero and his food-obsessed elf bride?

THE CONQUERING HERO

Mankind was at war with the hideous Gool... and losing. Then, beyond Ganymead, one man fought the searing brain probe of an alien spy...and won. He mastered the power of its telepathic mind-control, captured the secret of its matter transmitters, and learned how to destroy the Gool Overlords. He called intelligence with news of the victory and headed home.

Straight into a barrage of Terran nuclear warheads.

Past missiles, shells, and assassins, he made it home -- alone, badly wounded, and branded a traitor by conventional Terran wisdom that said no one could survive the Gool brain probe. No one, that is, except a brainwashed puppet deliberately allowed to survive to serve the Goos as a spy.

But he must survive Earth's attempts to kill him -- because no matter how much his fellow humans want him dead, he knows that he is the only one who can lead them against the Gool and have a chance at victory.

Locus Award nominated short story.

The story originally appeared in the anthology Fellowship of the Stars (1974), edited by Terry Carr. It has been reprinted many times and can be found in the anthologies:

• The Best Science Fiction of the Year #4 (1974), edited by Terry Carr
• The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces (1983), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Robert Silverberg
• The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF (1994), edited by Kathryn Cramer and David G. Hartwell

The story is included in the collections:

• The Compas Rose (1982)
• Buffalo Gals and Other Animal Presences (1990)
• Outer Space, Inner Lands (2012)
• The Wind's Twelve Quarters and The Compass Rose (2015)
• The Unreal and the Real: The Selected Short Stories of Ursula K. Le Guin (2016)

In Victoria on a former prison colony, two exiled groups--the farmers of Shantih and the City dwellers--live in apparent harmony. All is not as it seems, however. While the peace-loving farmers labor endlessly to provide food for the City, the City Bosses rule the Shantih with an iron fist. When a group of farmers decide to from a new settlement further away, the Bosses retaliate by threatening to crush the "rebellion."

Luz understands what it means to have no choices. Her father is a Boss and he has ruled over her life with the same iron fist. Luz wonders what it might be like to make her own choices. To be free to choose her own destiny.

When the crisis over the new settlement reaches a flash point, Luz will have her chance.

The fortune teller had spoken the words, shown her the cards that predicted she would become the focal point of great events. But now, a captive of those who had invaded her land, Ara could only wait, hoping to discover the true path of her destiny. But in a world ruled by the war, what chance did Ara have to attain her heart's desire? Carried far from her home, alone among strangers, only the will of the goddess, the Lady Volmardra, could protect and guide her.

Yet the path the Lady had set her upon would lead Ara to the very heart of conflict. And through she might gain great wealth or lose it, become both pawn and player in the power games of princes and warlords, there was only one for whom she would risk everything, a soldier who some named traitor and others liberator, the man for whom she would strive to become-A HEROINE OF THE WORLD.

Table of Contents:

• Preface - (1978) - essay by Stuart David Schiff
• Fritz Leiber: An Appreciation - (1978) - essay by John Jakes
• Sea Magic - (1977) - shortstory
• The Mer She - (1978) - novelette
• A Bit of the Dark World - (1962) - novelette
• Belsen Express - (1975) - shortstory
• Midnight in the Mirror World - (1964) - shortstory
• Richmond, Late September, 1849 - (1969) - shortstory
• Midnight by the Morphy Watch - (1974) - shortstory
• The Terror from the Depths - (1976) - novelette
• Dark Wings - (1976) - novelette

After a warlord slaughters her patients, Sister Alessia quits the cloister and strikes out on her own to heal the victims of a brutal dynastic conflict. Her roaming forest camp unwittingly becomes the center of a vengeful peasant insurgency, raiding the forces of both sides to survive. Alessia struggles to temper their fury as well as tend wounds, consenting to ever greater violence to keep her new charges safe. When they uncover proof of a foreign conspiracy prolonging the bloodshed, Alessia risks the very lives she's saved to expose the truth and bring the war to an end.

Jonathan Herovit is a science fiction writer in a state of deep personal and professional crisis. Whilst struggling to deal with his wife's post-partum depression, his own alcoholism and a long-overdue novel that he has no motivation to write, the pseudonym under which he writes begins talking to him?

Even though Thom Creed's a basketball star, his high school classmates keep their distance. They've picked up on something different about Thom. Plus, his father, Hal Creed, was one of the greatest and most beloved superheroes of his time until a catastrophic event left him disfigured and an outcast. The last thing in the world Thom wants is to add to his father's pain, so he keeps secrets. Like that he has special powers. And he's been asked to join the League -- the very organization of superheroes that disowned Hal. But joining the League opens up a new world to Thom. There, he connects with a misfit group of aspiring heroes:

* Scarlett, who can control fire but not her anger
* Typhoid Larry, who can make anyone sick with his touch
* Ruth, a wise old woman who can see the future

Together these unlikely heroes become friends and begin to uncover a plot to kill the superheroes.

This groundbreaking and widely acclaimed novel tells an unforgettable story about love, loss, and redemption.

The fantastic has always been at the edges of Heather O'Neill's work. In her bestselling novels, Lullabies for Little Criminals and The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, she transforms the shabbiest streets of Montreal with her beautiful, freewheeling metaphors. She describes the smallest of things?a stray cat or a secondhand coat?with an intensity that makes them otherworldly.

In Daydreams of Angels, O'Neill's first collection of short stories, she gives free rein to her imaginative gifts. In "Swan Lake for Beginners," generations of Nureyev clones live out their lives in a grand Soviet experiment. In "The Holy Dove Parade," a teenage cult follower writes a letter to explain the motivation behind her crime. And in another tale, a grandmother reveals where babies come from: the beach, where young mothers-to-be hunt for infants in the surf. Each of these beguiling stories twists the beloved narratives of childhood?fairy tales, fables, Bible parables?to uncover the deepest truths of family life.

The Lonely Hearts Hotel is a love story with the power of legend. An unparalleled tale of charismatic pianos, invisible dance partners, radicalized chorus girls, drug-addicted musicians, brooding clowns, and an underworld whose economy hinges on the price of a kiss. In a landscape like this, it takes great creative gifts to thwart one's origins. It might also take true love.

Two babies are abandoned in a Montreal orphanage in the winter of 1914. Before long, their talents emerge: Pierrot is a piano prodigy; Rose lights up even the dreariest room with her dancing and comedy. As they travel around the city performing clown routines, the children fall in love with each other and dream up a plan for the most extraordinary and seductive circus show the world has ever seen.

Separated as teenagers, sent off to work as servants during the Great Depression, both descend into the city's underworld, dabbling in sex, drugs and theft in order to survive. But when Rose and Pierrot finally reunite beneath the snowflakes--after years of searching and desperate poverty--the possibilities of their childhood dreams are renewed, and they'll go to extreme lengths to make them come true. Soon, Rose, Pierrot and their troupe of clowns and chorus girls have hit New York, commanding the stage as well as the alleys, and neither the theater nor the underworld will ever look the same.

With her musical language and extravagantly realized world, Heather O'Neill enchants us with a novel so magical there is no escaping its spell.

Contents:

• 7 - Editor's Introduction (Heroic Fantasy) - essay by Gerald W. Page and Hank Reinhardt
• 11 - Sand Sister - [Witch World Universe] - novella by Andre Norton
• 58 - The Valley of the Sorrows - short story by Galad Elflandsson
• 69 - Ghoul's-Head - short story by Donald J. Walsh [as by Donald J. Walsh, Jr.]
• 81 - Commentary on Swords and Swordplay - essay by Hank Reinhardt
• 86 - Astral Stray - [The Voidal] - novelette by Adrian Cole
• 105 - Blood in the Mist - novelette by E. C. Tubb
• 134 - Commentary on Armor - essay by Hank Reinhardt
• 138 - The Murderous Dove - [Cyrion] - short story by Tanith Lee
• 153 - Death in Jukun - [Imaro] - short story by Charles R. Saunders
• 169 - The De Pertriche Ring - novelette by H. Warner Munn
• 206 - Commentary on Courage and Heroism - essay by Hank Reinhardt
• 211 - The Hero Who Returned - novelette by Gerald W. Page
• 235 - The Riddle of the Horn - [Julian - 10] - short story by Darrell Schweitzer
• 251 - The Age of the Warrior - short story by Hank Reinhardt
• 266 - The Mistaken Oracle - short story by A. E. Silas
• 280 - Demonsong - [The Secret History of the World] - short story by F. Paul Wilson
• 299 - The Seeker in the Fortress - [Kardios] - novelette by Manly Wade Wellman

Tales of adventure and suspense:

• Five stage magicians set out to topple Hitler in 1934
• A middle-aged lawyer finds himself battling new, predatory species
• A hate-filled demagogue threatens the peaceful existence of the cats and dogs at the city dump
• A secret agent in 1963 Egypt must stop a madman bent on world domination

The four long pieces in this volume show Lewis Shiner writing "hard edged, often political genre fiction at its finest," as Publishers Weekly said about his Collected Stories. These are some of the most accessible stories Shiner has ever written, featuring, as he says in his introduction, "car chases, ticking clocks, and things blowing up in slow motion." At the same time, all four stories deal with the abuse of power in a way that has never been more timely.

For those new to Shiner's work, Heroes and Villains is an ideal starting point, offering the complex characters and moral issues of his acclaimed novels in condensed and action-packed form. For Shiner's many fans, who include George R. R. Martin, Jonathan Lethem, and Karen Joy Fowler, no further incentive is required.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• The Black Sun
• The Next
• Doglandia
• Doctor Helios
• Story Notes

An over-the-hill rock star, a Puerto Rican street kid, and two children of the electronic age discover strength in numbers when they take on the power of Musik, Inc., in a war of nerves, passion, and rock 'n' roll. Spinrad uses the violent, sexually explicit language of new wave SF to communicate an ultimately touching message of courage and humanity that breaks through the high-tech glitter of his medium.

Half a millennium ago Neil Elfward, a legendary human warrior, fought alongside his Elven friend Aarundel for the freedom of mankind against the tyranny of the sorcerous Reithrese empire. But Neal's victory began a genocidal war that cost him dearly.

Now the future he hoped for is unraveling. Count Berengar has invited the lovely Genevera, Aarundel's granddaughter, to join in a quest to bring stability to the land. Pressed to accomplish the impossible, Genevera suggests the unthinkable--raising Neal from the dead. But what is true in legend is not always true in reality. A hero from yesteryear may be a hero still, but is Neal the hero they want?

Whatever this is, it started when Nicholas Slopen came back from the dead.

In a locked ward of a notorious psychiatric hospital sits a man who insists that he is Dr. Nicholas Slopen, failed husband and impoverished Samuel Johnson scholar. Slopen has been dead for months, yet nothing can make this man change his story. What begins as a tale of apparent forgery involving unknown letters by the great Dr. Johnson grows to encompass a conspiracy between a Silicon Valley mogul and his Russian allies to exploit the darkest secret of Soviet technology: the Malevin Procedure.

With echoes of Jorge Luis Borges and Philip K. Dick, Marcel Theroux's Strange Bodies takes the reader on a dizzying speculative journey that poses questions about identity, authenticity, and what it means to be truly human.

This novella was first published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, July/August 2021.

Read the full story for free at Analog.

"The Hero as Werwolf" combines SF, surrealism, and horror tropes, producing an unusual and unique concoction. Wolfe uses the original spelling of werwolf because that spelling describes a man who is to be feared because he became like a wolf, rather than someone who literally transforms into a wolf.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology The New Improved Sun (1975), edited by Thomas M. Disch. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year #5 (1976), edited by Terry Carr, Aliens Among Us (2000), edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann, and Supermen: Tales of the Posthuman Future (2002), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories (1980) and The Best of Gene Wolfe (2009). A chapbook editon appeared in 1991.

Sir Rupert Triumff. Adventurer. Fighter. Drinker. Saviour? Pratchett goes swashbuckling in the hotly anticipated original fiction debut of the multi-million selling Warhammer star. Triumff is a ribald historical fantasy set in a warped clockwork-powered version of our present day ! a new Elizabethan age, not of Elizabeth II but in the style of the original Virgin Queen. Throughout its rollicking pages, Sir Rupert Triumff drinks, dines and duels his way into a new Brass Age of Exploration and Adventure.

Dark Planet

Planned death vs. unwanted birth in the Overpop Era.

The Herod Men

Step Two was Space Navy's Siberia - until one man learned of a third step.

Heroines is a collection of 4 stories and 4 poems by author James Patrick Kelly.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Heroines) - essay
• The Cruelest Month - (1983) - short story
• Lepidopteran - (1988) - poem
• Crow - (1984) - short story
• Turning into Animals - (1989) - poem
• The Last - (1985) - short story
• Afterlife - (1989) - poem
• Faith - (1989) - novelette
• Spellbound - poem

No Time for Heroes

Survival technique for a one-man planet team-run!

Alice's World

Terra through the science fiction looking glass.

Halli Sveinsson has grown up in the House of Svein, listening to the legends of the heroes as all his forefathers did. His is a peaceful society where the violence of the past has been outlawed and disputes are settled by the Council. But young Halli has never quite seemed to fit in with the others. For starters, he was not at all handsome or tall, like his attractive blond siblings. He's stumpy and swarthy, with a quick mind and aptitude for getting in trouble. Bored with the everyday chores and sheep herding, he can't help himself from playing practical jokes on everyone, from Eyjolf the old servant, to his brother and sister.

But when he plays a trick on Ragnor of the House of Hakonsson, he goes too far, setting in motion a chain of events that will forever alter his destiny. Because of it, Halli will have to leave home and go on a hero's quest. Along the way, he will encounter highway robbers, terrifying monsters, and a girl who may finally be his match. In the end, he will discover the truth about the legends, his family, and himself. Jonathan Stroud's new novel is a hero's saga and coming-of-age--as well as a surprising look at what bravery really means.

2009 National Book Award Finalist

My father had an expression for a thing that turned out bad. He’d say it had gone west. But going west always sounded pretty good to me. After all, westwards is the path of the sun. And through as much history as I know of, people have moved west to settle and find freedom. But our world had gone north, truly gone north, and just how far north I was beginning to learn.

Out on the frontier of a failed state, Makepeace—sheriff and perhaps last citizen—patrols a city’s ruins, salvaging books but keeping the guns in good repair.

Into this cold land comes shocking evidence that life might be flourishing elsewhere: a refugee emerges from the vast emptiness of forest, whose existence inspires Makepeace to reconnect with human society and take to the road, armed with rough humor and an unlikely ration of optimism.

What Makepeace finds is a world unraveling: stockaded villages enforcing an uncertain justice and hidden work camps laboring to harness the little-understood technologies of a vanished civilization. But Makepeace’s journey—rife with danger—also leads to an unexpected redemption.

Far North takes the reader on a quest through an unforgettable arctic landscape, from humanity’s origins to its possible end. Haunting, spare, yet stubbornly hopeful, the novel is suffused with an ecstatic awareness of the world’s fragility and beauty, and its ability to recover from our worst trespasses.

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appaered in the February and March 2007 issues of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. There are no other known publications available at this time.

Oxford police detective Arthur Wallace is no hero. He's a good cop, but prefers for action and heroics remain on the screen, safely performed by professionals. But then, secretive government agency MI37 comes calling, hoping to recruit Arthur in their struggle against horrors from another dimension known as the Progeny. Can an everyman stand against sanity-ripping cosmic horrors?

Another day, another zombie T-Rex to put down. All part of the routine for Arthur Wallace and MI37--the government department devoted to defending Britain from threats magical, supernatural, extraterrestrial, and generally odd. But a zombie T-Rex is only the first of Arthur's problems, as Russian cyborg wizards threaten his life, and his coworkers threaten his sanity.

When it rains it pours... monster machines. That attack during a funeral and ruin everyone's day. MI317--the government department devoted to defending Britain from cosmic horrors--is under siege, so Arthur Wallace and his team must travel to Area 51, ably--and oddly--assisted by Agent Gran. But their travels don't end there, not when there's an Arctic town populated entirely by spore zombies and the 2.0 version of Clyde has some funny ideas about how to save the world.

How's a secret agent meant to catch a break? If it's not a demi-god going through puberty, it's a renegade Nazi clockwork army going senile. Or a death cult in Nepal. Or a battery-chewing wizard's relationship problems. Arthur Wallace, agent of MI37--Britain's agency for dealing with the supernatural, the extraterrestrial, and the generally odd--has to pull everything together, and he has to do it before a magical bomb tears reality apart...

A glowing anthology of gems from the ancient writers, including excerpts from:

The Volsunga Saga
Beowulf
The Mabinogion
The Shah-Namah
The Kalevala
and many, many more.

The companion volume to "The Young Magicians." Edited and with introduction and notes by Lin Carter

Contents:

• 1 - Introduction: Over the Hills and Far Away - essay by Lin Carter
• 10 - The Ogre - (1961) - short story by unknown
• 30 - The High History of the Sword Gram - [Volsungs] - (1870) - short story by unknown
• 54 - Manawyddan Son of the Boundless - (1930) - short story by Kenneth Morris
• 64 - Puck's Song - (1905) - poem by Rudyard Kipling
• 67 - Barrow-Wight - juvenile - (1890) - short story by Sabine Baring-Gould [as by S. Baring-Gould]
• 73 - Fingal at the Siege of Carric-Thura - poem by James Macpherson
• 83 - The Sword of Avalon (excerpt from Le Morte d'Arthur) - short fiction by Sir Thomas Malory
• 98 - Tom O'Bedlam's Song - poem by Anonymous
• 102 - The Last Giant of the Elder Age - (1886) - short story by unknown (variant of Ilya of Murom the Peasant Hero, and Hero Svyatogor)
• 112 - The Lost Words of Power - poem by unknown
• 125 - Wonderful Things Beyond Cathay - (1895) - short story by unknown
• 135 - Prospero Evokes the Air Spirits (excerpt from The Tempest) - poem by William Shakespeare
• 138 - The Lords of Faerie (excerpt from The Faerie Queen) - (1953) - short fiction by Edmund Spenser
• 144 - Tales of the Wisdom of the Ancients - (1959) - short story by unknown
• 160 - The Magical Palace of Darkness (excerpt from Palmerin of England) - [Amadis de Gaula] - (1807) - short story by Francisco de Moraes
• 178 - Rustum Against the City of Demons - short story by Firdausi
• 197 - Childe Rolande to the Dark Tower Came - (1855) - poem by Robert Browning
• 203 - The Princess of Babylon (abridged) - (1885) - novella by Voltaire
• 275 - The Horns of Elfland - (1909) - poem by Alfred Tennyson [as by Alfred Lord Tennyson]

A heroic and mighty adventurer dreams of... opening a pharmacy?

Red was once a member of the Hero's party, a powerful group destined to save the world from the evil forces of Taraxon, the Raging Demon Lord. That is, until one of his comrades kicked him out. Hoping to live the easy life on the frontier, Red's new goal is to open an apothecary. However, keeping the secret of his former life may not be as simple as he thinks. Especially when the beautiful Rit, an adventurer from his past, shows up and asks to move in with him!

"I DON'T WANT TO BE A HERO"

Red and Rit's cozy life is interrupted as a strange new drug called False Prophet begins spreading among the people of Zoltan. Word is that it can make you into an entirely new person, but all it seems to be doing is changing folks into murderers! Tensions mount when a poor half-elf family is attacked. With the situation moving toward mass turmoil, Red and Rit?'s slow and easy days may have come to an end...

A cold snap in winter leaves the usually warm Zoltan blanketed in snow, providing Red and Rit with the perfect excuse to get cozy with each other. At the same time, Ruti, having found a way to free herself from the restraints of her blessing, makes her way to Zoltan in search of Red. Will this powerful little sister finally reunite with her beloved older brother?

THE END OF THE HERO!

Ruti never wanted to be the Hero, forced into a life of constant battle. When at last it seems she's found a way to escape this terrible fate and spend her days happily with her big brother, Ares arrives to drag the young woman back. Red isn't about to let his little sister be taken without a fight, though! The resulting deadly conflict among former allies reveals strange, new secrets about the nature of Divine Blessings and the Hero's purpose in the world. Is it truly possible to defy destiny and live a quiet life?

A ring's the thing

Red is prepared to take the next step with Rit and wants to propose. Determined to find the perfect stone for the engagement ring, he plans a trip to a mountain range known as the Wall at the End of the World. Meanwhile, a former member of the Hero's party, Yarandrala, shows up in Zoltan looking for Rit. Although she causes a bit of trouble after a misunderstanding, her presence may be fortuitous as all is not well up on the peaks. What started as a simple excursion for a ring quickly becomes a struggle for survival with all life on the mountains hanging in the balance.'

The Search For The Missing Queen

When a powerful warship from the Kingdom of Veronia arrives it Zoltan's waters, it sends the city into chaos. A prince aboard the vessel believes his long lost mother is hiding somewhere in the area, and he refuses to leave until he finds her. Red and his friends begin the search while handling the problems caused by the imposing warship's presence but are beset by a group of honorless assassins. Apparently, not everyone is looking forward to the queen's return...

War in Zoltan!

Just as things with the single Veronian warship look settled, more arrive led by the wicked Queen Leonor. Not only is the sadistic woman Mistorm's sister, but she's also an old acquaintance of Red's. Worse, she's still bitter that he rejected her years ago. Leonor demands that Mistorm surrender herself, threatening Zoltan's safety if she refuses to comply. Clearly outmatched, the lazy people of the city have every reason to accede to the foreign queen's demand. However, while Zoltanis are world-class procrastinators, they're also fiercely protective of their own! They're not about to give up Mistorm without a fight, but even with the Hero on their side, do they really stand a chance against such a conniving foe?

A new Hero named Van has appeared, and he's headed for Zoltan. This naive and innocent boy possesses incredible strength, and he obeys the church's every word. When an old enemy turned friend brings news of this other Hero, Red, Rit, and Ruti decide to avoid him completely by heading off on a vacation?! A confrontation with this unprecedented second savior of the world does sound like a lot of work, after all. But will they really be able to evade Van forever? Despite his Divine Blessing, he doesn't seem like much of a hero...

HOW DO YOU STOP A HERO?

Van must be convinced to leave Zoltan before he brings greater harm to this peaceful corner of the world. Changing the mind of one so zealously devoted to twisted beliefs won't be easy, though. Red and the others decide to start by swaying Van's companions, Lavender and Ljubo, hoping the Hero will listen to his allies. But will that be enough? Van needs someone who will get him to question his decisions and guide him to a better path...

The Secret of the Hero!

After an intense battle, Red has finally managed to convince Van there's more to being the Hero than mindlessly following his Divine Blessing. This has left Van questioning his life's purpose, and who better to help than Red the Guide? To find answers, the two delve into the ancient elf ruins, where they come face-to-face with the truth about humanity's strongest blessing and what happens when people stray too far from the god Demis's chosen paths for them.

You can flee responsibility, but what about destiny? Summer has arrived in Zoltan, which means no one feels like doing anything. So what better time for a little vacation on a tropical island? Even Tanta and his family come along for the fun. However, things don't seem quite as peaceful on the isle as everyone hoped. The local people are nice, but there's a strange hermit living nearby who's obsessed with Divine Blessings. Worse yet, she's taken a strong interest in a member of Red's group. Could this sunny holiday be in for some stormy weather?

Melissa Steiner's assassination ignited the fires of civil war, and now secessionist factions clamor for rebellion against the Federal Commonwealth. The rebels' plans hinge on gaining control of Skye March, and thus controlling the crucial Terran Corridor. Throughout the March, civil and military leaders plot the take up arms against Prince Vector Steiner-Davion.

WINNER TAKE ALL

Colonel Felix Blucher's orders from the Archon were simple enough: quash the Davion Loyalist uprising on Thorin. But Blucher never planned on facing the fearless Archer Christifori, local militia leader and decorated MechWarrior in the Clan Wars. As tensions rise between Blucher's Lyran Alliance and the Davion Loyalist population, Archer is torn between obedience to the Archon or allegiance to his people.

But when Blucher's forces go too far, Archer takes up the Loyalist cause and becomes commander of the rebel army. The final confrontation looms and the rebels face long odds -- but it takes more than 'Mechs to win Thorin's freedom. It takes a hero....

It was the highest honor to defend the Empire against the dreaded Chingers, an enemy race of seven-foot-tall lizards. But Bill, a Technical Fertilizer Operator from a planet of farmers, wasn't interested in honor-he was only interested in two things: his chosen career, and the shapely curves of Inga-Maria Calyphigia. Then a recruiting robot shanghaied him with knockout drops, and he came to in deep space, aboard the Empire warship Christine Keeler. And from there, things got even worse.

A sequel to the author's "Bill, the Galactic Hero", published over 20 years ago, this book is the first of a new series of novels featuring Bill. With two right arms, an artificial foot, and a set of surgically-implanted tusks, Bill sets out to find the source of Chinger-controlled metal dragons.

Bill, the galactic hero, is sent on a suicide mission to a planet from which no one has ever returned. En-route, he must cope with the likes of Captain Dirk of the starship Gumption. Harry Harrison's previous books include "Bill, the Galactic Hero", while Robert Sheckley's include "Mindswap".

Bill's in trouble again. A hideous outer-space infection has transformed one of his feet into a satyr's hoof; he has two right hands; the nurses at the hospital where he lies recovering from his last escapade are steel robots. But soon he's off again in search of science fiction's greatest cliches.

When Bill is assigned as an MP on a prison ship, the crew revolts against the captain and brings vampires on board in an attempt to maroon the skipper…

Bill is the perfect starship trooper: big, strong and completely brainwashed. He'll also do almost anything to save his neck. Now he's been sent to Barworld, home planet of the finest beverages in the universe. But can Bill survive an entire planet of blondes, booze and bathtubs of champagne?

Also published as Bill, the Galactic Hero on the Planet of Ten Thousand Bars.

Recruited by Captain Kadaffi (a.k.a., Captain Cadaver) for a suicide mission to the planet Eyerack, Bill, a big, strong, and completely brainwashed galactic hero must complete the mission or die trying.

In the war torn future of the 41st Millennium Commissar Ciaphas Cain, hero of the Imperium, is respected by his peers and an inspiration to his men - at least that's what the propaganda would have you believe. The reality is very different, for Ciaphas is simply looking for an easy life and a way to stay out of peril. However, fate has a habit of throwing him into the deadliest situations, and luck (mixed with self preservation) always manages to pull him through and onto the loftiest of pedestals. To survive Commissar Cain must dodge, bluff and trick his way out of trouble, even if it increases his status beyond his control!

Written by Sandy Mitchell. This omnibus edition contains the novels:

• For the Emperor
• Caves of Ice
• The Traitor's Hand

Along with the short stories

• 'Fight or Flight'
• 'Echoes of the Tomb'
• 'The Beguiling'

HE'S DONE FIGHTING EVIL... NOW IT'S TIME TO MAKE FRIENDS!

When the Hero Blade defeated the Overlord, he lost all his powers. For him, this should be a dream come true--he can finally experience life as a normal student. Unfortunately, as a veteran Hero at a school meant to train future Heroes, he has little chance of blending in. What's more, the students Blade meets there, like him, have a rather skewed view of what's "normal." He'll have to contend with the school's overbearing Empress and her icy glares, his own way-too-flashy attacks, and even an escaped dragon! Despite it all, can Blade manage to make friends and enjoy school life without exposing his true identity?

THE EXCITEMENT NEVER ENDS AT ROSEWOOD ACADEMY!

Retired Hero Blade is enjoying his time at school to the fullest. Now that he's made one hundred friends, he plans to relax and take in the "normal" life. But that may not be possible, what with the Overlord's daughter showing up, the students taking part in a battle royale--style training session, and monster birds attacking the capital. Plus, Earnest attempts a fiery diet, and it turns out Blade never learned to swim. Each school day brings a new adventure and a new chance for Blade to make even more friends!

You know about Batman, Superman, and Spiderman, but have you heard of Doll Man, Doctor Hormone, or Spider Queen? In The League of Regrettable Superheroes, you'll meet one hundred of the strangest superheroes ever to see print, complete with backstories, vintage art, and colorful commentary. So prepare yourself for such not-ready-for-prime-time heroes as Bee Man (Batman, but with bees), the Clown (circus-themed crimebuster), the Eye (a giant, floating eyeball; just accept it), and many other oddballs and oddities.

Drawing on the entire history of the medium, The League of Regrettable Superheroes will appeal to die-hard comics fans, casual comics readers, and anyone who enjoys peering into the stranger corners of pop culture.

In the steaming jungles of Venji, Conan of Cimmeria fights in a war seemingly without end, a war against drug-crazed raiders who strike without warning and vanish like smoke, a war against the implacable wizard, Mojourna. Yet his enemies are not only those he can see.

The intrigues of the powerful court eunuchs reach south from Imperial Aghrapur, and the plottings of generals who would sit on the throne, and even the conjurings of his own mind, will be turned against him.

Only one man could survive. Only one man could triumph. Only Conan the Hero.

From the award-winning author of Cookie Cutter Superhero and Kid Dark Against the Machinecomes a brand new novella about girl reporters, superheroes, and interdimensional travel

In a world of superheroes, supervillains, and a machine that can create them all, millennial vlogger and girl reporter Friday Valentina has no shortage of material to cover. Every lottery cycle, a new superhero is created and quite literally steps into the shoes of the hero before them--displacing the previous hero. While Fry may not be super-powered herself, she understands the power of legacy: her mother is none other than the infamous reporter Tina Valentina, renowned worldwide for her legendary interviews with the True Blue Aussie Beaut Superheroes and her tendency to go to extraordinary lengths to get her story.

This time, Tina Valentina may have ventured too far. Alongside Australia's greatest superheroes--including the powerful Astra, dazzling Solar, and The Dark in his full brooding glory--Friday will go to another dimension in the hopes of finding her mother, saving the day, maybe even getting the story of a lifetime out of the adventure. (And possibly a new girlfriend, too.)

Who is the Hero of Ages?

To end the Final Empire and restore freedom, Vin killed the Lord Ruler. But as a result, the Deepness---the lethal form of the ubiquitous mists--is back, along with increasingly heavy ashfalls and ever more powerful earthquakes. Humanity appears to be doomed.

Having escaped death at the climax of The Well of Ascension only by becoming a Mistborn himself, Emperor Elend Venture hopes to find clues left behind by the Lord Ruler that will allow him to save the world. Vin is consumed with guilt at having been tricked into releasing the mystic force known as Ruin from the Well. Ruin wants to end the world, and its near omniscience and ability to warp reality make stopping it seem impossible. She can't even discuss it with Elend lest Ruin learn their plans!

The conclusion of the Mistborn trilogy fulfills all the promise of the first two books. Revelations abound, connections rooted in early chapters of the series click into place, and surprises, as satisfying as they are stunning, blossom like fireworks to dazzle and delight. It all leads up to a finale unmatched for originality and audacity that will leave readers rubbing their eyes in wonder, as if awaking from an amazing dream.

From childhood, Aerin had been haunted by the story of her mother - a "witchwoman" who enspelled the king and then died in childbirth, leaving behind a newborn daughter and an heirless land. Left to her own devices, Aerin grew up wild, doing her best to live up to her reputation as the disappointment of the realm. But little did the young princess know the long-dormant powers of her mother would wield their own destiny, and leave Aerin with a duty to her scornful homeland that she couldn't refuse.

Cohen the Barbarian.

He's been a legend in his own lifetime. He can remember the good old days of high adventure, when being a Hero meant one didn't have to worry about aching backs and lawyers and civilization.

But these days, he can't always remember just where he put his teeth...

So now, with his ancient (yet still trusty) sword and new walking stick in hand, Cohen gathers a group of his old -- very old -- friends to embark on one final quest. He's going to climb the highest mountain of Discworld and meet the gods.

It's time the Last Hero in the world returns what the first hero stole. Trouble is, that'll mean the end of the world, if no one stops him in time.

The Legend of Huma title is the only Dragonlance novel not written by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman to hit the New York Times best-seller list.

A shaft of argent starlight touched by the Forge of Reorx

Hilted and gemmed in the blood of heroes

Unite! Mountain dwarves of Thorbardin

A kingsword at last, at last.

Deep in the cavern kingdom of Thorbardin, the powerful Stormblade is secretly crafted by an elderly dwarf-master. A Kingsword, it is intended to break the deadlock among the ruling council of Thanes.

When Stormblade is stolen and turns up years later, a series of exciting and deadly events are set in motion. Only a heroic dwarf knows the magic of the legendary blade, and he sets out to recover the lost weapon. To do so, he must travel to a land rife with war and treachery.

This attractive new re-release of Weasel's Luck showcases a new look for the Heroes series.

The Sign of the Weasel is tunnel on tunnel,
enchantment on enchantment.
He digs beneath himself, and in digging
discovers all roads into nothing.
-- The Calantina, IX:IX

Weasel's luck was not always good.

Galen Pathwarden, known unaffectionately as "the Weasel," would give anything to stay clear of adventure, danger, or heroism.

But that is before young Galen is pitch-forked into the center of a centuries-old curse, one family blood-feud too many, and a knightly tournament unto death.

Together, Galen, the great Solamnic Knight, Sir Bayard Brightblade, and a non-too-bright centaur Agion must overcome the schemes and traps of a sinister illusionist known only as the Scorpion.

But, the beast-man, scorned and hunted, knows,
Without honor there is nothing, not even death.
So, driven by the only ghosts that matter, Huma and himself, Kaz alone faces the scourge.

After the defeat of the Dark Queen and the death of Huma Dragonbane, the most famous of the Knights of Solamnia, Kaz, the renegade minotaur, wanders throught Krynn, telling the true tale of the land's most legendary hero, stalked by his enemies -- a haunted soul, an outcast, a hero. But when Kaz hears rumors of evil incidents, he returns to warn the Knights of Solamnia -- and is plunged into a dark nightmare of magic, danger and deja-vu.

Magic and Peril Under the Earth

Deep beneath the mountain fortress of Skullcap, legend has it, are the remains of the dark wizard Fistandantilus and the path to the gates of the dwarven kingdom of Thorbardin. Buried somewhere along that perilous path is the magical helm of Grallen, son of King Duncan, tragic hero of the Dwarfgate War. The finder of Grallen's helm, it is prophesized, will be rewarded and honored by a united Thorbardin -- but he will also open the gates of the realm to fresh horror and chaos.

In The Gates of Thorbardin, Dan Parkinson, author of Starsong, continues the history of the dwarves of Krynn in the tradition of Nancy Varian Berberick's best-selling Dragonlance novel, Stormblade.

The Reluctant Knight Returns

Becoming a knight has changed the Weasel very little. Galen Pathwarden is still reluctant to adventure, still out to save his own skin at virtually any cost. But when his brother Brithelm vanishes mysteriously, Galen sets aside his better judgement and embarks on a quest that leads under the earth, deep into a conspiracy of darkness, and to the end of his courage.

Galen returns to imperiled Solamnia in this exciting sequel to the top-sellling Weasel's Luck, also by Michael Williams, the bard of the Dragonlance saga.

Heroes and Fools

A submarine trip to an island of ghosts. A band of fugitive actors. A deadly draconian who has had too much holiday punch. And veritable onslaught of dryads, shadow wights, and that rarest of all monsters, the dread forest boojum.

Also, from the team of Margaret Weis and Don Perrin, the latest adventure of Kang and his wayward troop of draconians.

In the proud tradition of the best-selling Dragonlance anthologies, Heroes and Fools promises a sometimes heroic -- sometimes foolish -- visit to the world of Krynn.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (1999) - essay by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
• Boojum, Boojum - (1999) - shortstory by Janet Pack
• Tree of Life - (1999) - shortstory by Miranda Horner
• Songsayer - (1999) - novelette by Todd Fahnestock and Giles Custer
• Gnomebody - (1999) - novelette by Jeff Grubb
• The Road Home - (1999) - novelette by Nancy Varian Berberick
• Nobless Oblige - (1999) - novelette by Paul B. Thompson
• Much Ado About Magic - (1999) - novelette by Kevin James Kage
• A Pinch of This, A Dash of That - (1999) - novelette by Nick O'Donohoe
• A Perfect Plan - (1999) - novelette by Linda P. Baker
• The Thief in the Mirror - (1999) - novelette by Richard A. Knaak
• Reorx Steps Out - (1999) - novelette by Jean Rabe
• The Bridge - (1999) - shortstory by Douglas Niles
• Gone - (1999) - novelette by Roger E. Moore
• To Convince the Righteous of the Right - (1999) - novelette by Don Perrin and Margaret Weis

The final title in the latest trilogy from Dragonlance author team Thompson & Cook. Writing team Thompson and Cook once again explore the history of the ancient Dragonlance world in A Hero's Justice. Considered the historical specialists of the setting, the authors take their storytelling skills to a colorful and violent era of its history that has not been chronicled in any previous novel series.

A young boy stood on the dock of his fishing village and watched the minotaur war barge approach. It would change his life from a lad who would have grown to follow in the footsteps of his father, to the greatest weaponsmith in the history of Krynn.

As a boy, Theros Ironfeld was captured and pressed to service under the minotaurs. As a man, he first fought draconians to a standstill in Solace, and later, by mysterious means, acquired a silver arm. And when the evil dragons came to conquer, he was the only man who could forge the fabled dragonlances necessary to defeat them.

The Warriors series details the exploits of the heroes and villains of the War of the Lance.

The Drenai stronghold had fallen. Now blood-hungry Nadir hordes spread desolation and despair across all the lands...

...even tiny Gothir, where slavers seized a young girl while the villagers looked the other way--all but the peasant boy Kiall. His unlikely rescue attempt would lead across the savage steppes and on through the Halls of Hell. The youth would face ferocious beasts, deadly warriors, and demons of the dark; he would emerge a man--or not emerge at all.

But Kiall would not face these dangers alone. Heroes out of legend joined his quest: Chareos the Blademaster, Beltzer the Axeman, and the bowmen Finn and Maggrig. And one among their company hid a secret that could free the world of Nadir domination. That one was the Nadir Bane, the hope of the Drenai. That one was the Earl of Bronze.

Thus did a search for a stolen slave girl become a quest that would shake the very world.

The ruined city of Kuan Hador reeks of dark mystery. Shunned by brigands and merchants alike, it is home to fearsome wild things and legends that freeze the blood--tales that speak of slavering white beasts, locked behind a powerful wall of spells, who possess an insatiable appetite for death. Millennia have passed since they were bound, and the spell of imprisonment has begun to fade. Soon the foul minions will be free to wreak a horrible vengeance against all that lives.

But no army waits to oppose them, only a ragtag group of unlikely heroes. Leading them is the mysterious Gray Man, an enigmatic figure with a blood-drenched past who has killed for principle and for payment--a man of destiny known throughout the lands of the Drenai as Waylander the Slayer . . .

The first novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series.

Stealth. Gorgon. Regenerator. Cerberus. Zzzap. The Mighty Dragon. They were heroes, using their superhuman abilities to make Los Angeles a better place.

Then the plague of living death spread around the globe. Billions died, civilization fell, and the city of angels was left a desolate zombie wasteland.

Now, a year later, the Mighty Dragon and his companions protect a last few thousand survivors in their film-studio-turned-fortress, the Mount. Scarred and traumatized by the horrors they've endured, the heroes fight the armies of ravenous ex-humans at their citadel's gates, lead teams out to scavenge for supplies--and struggle to be the symbols of strength and hope the survivors so desperately need.

But the hungry ex-humans aren't the only threats the heroes face.Former allies, their powers and psyches hideously twisted, lurk in the city's ruins. And just a few miles away, another group is slowly amassing power... led by an enemy with the most terrifying ability of all.

The second novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series.

It's been two years since the plague of ex-humans decimated mankind. Two years since the superheroes St. George, Cerberus, Zzzap, and Stealth gathered Los Angeles's survivors behind the walls of their fortress, the Mount.

Since then, the heroes have been fighting to give the Mount's citizens hope, and something like a real life. But now supplies are growing scarce, the zombies are pressing in... and the heroes are wondering how much longer they can hold out.

Then hope arrives in the form of a surviving US Army battalion--and not just any battalion. The men and women of the Army's Project Krypton survived the outbreak because they are super-soldiers, created before mankind's fall to be better, stronger, faster than normal humans--and their secure base in Arizona beckons as a much needed refuge for the beleaguered heroes and their charges.

But a dark secret lies at the heart of Project Krypton, and those behind it wield an awesome and terrifying power.

The third novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series.

"All of us try to cheat death. I was just better prepared to do it than most folks."

In the years since the wave of living death swept the globe, St George and his fellow heroes haven't just kept Los Angeles' last humans alive--they've created a real community, a bustling town that's spreading beyond its original walls and swelling with new refugees.

But now one of the heroes, perhaps the most powerful among them, seems to be losing his mind. The implacable enemy known as Legion has found terrifying new ways of using zombies as pawns in his attacks. And outside the Mount, something ancient and monstrous is hell-bent on revenge.

As Peter Clines weaves these elements together in yet another masterful, shocking climax, St. George, Stealth, Captain Freedom, and the rest of the heroes find that even in a city overrun by millions of ex-humans...

...there's more than one way to come back from the dead.

The fourth novel in Peter Clines' bestselling Ex series.

When he's awake, George Bailey is just an ordinary man. Five days a week he coaxes his old Hyundai to life, curses the Los Angeles traffic, and clocks in at his job as a handyman at the local college.

But when he sleeps, George dreams of something more.

George dreams of flying. He dreams of fighting monsters. He dreams of a man made of pure lightning, an armored robot, a giant in an army uniform, a beautiful woman who moves like a ninja.

Then one day as he's walking from one fix-it job to the next, a pale girl in a wheelchair tells George of another world, one in which civilization fell to a plague that animates the dead... and in which George is no longer a glorified janitor, but one of humanity's last heroes.

Her tale sounds like madness, of course. But as George's dreams and his waking life begin bleeding together, he starts to wonder--which is the real world, and which is just fantasy?

The spectacular fifth adventure in the genre-busting Ex-Heroes series

The heroes are overjoyed when they discover another group of survivors, living on a man-made island in the middle of the Pacific ocean. But there's something very, very wrong with this isolated community and its mysterious leader--a secret that could put every survivor in the world at risk.

Despite her family's military history, Esme Suisa believes herself satisfied without the prospect of commanding her own ship, until she finds herself the senior surviving officer in the middle of a vital space battle.

The Battle of Serenity Valley was the turning point that led the Independents to their defeat at the hands of the Alliance. Yet the Browncoats had held the valley for weeks against all odds, before being ordered to lay down their arms. Command stated they refused to send in airpower because the ground war was "too hot." But the soldiers who were there insist that was not true...

While picking up a new cargo on Persephone, Captain Malcolm Reynolds is kidnapped by a bunch of embittered veteran Browncoats who suspect him of sabotaging the Independents during the war. As the rest of the crew struggle to locate him, Mal is placed on trial for his life, fighting compelling evidence that someone did indeed betray them to the Alliance all those years ago. As old comrades and old rivals crawl out of the woodwork, Mal must prove his innocence, but his captors are desperate and destitute, and will settle for nothing less than the culprit's blood.

The flame of rebellion burns across the solar system in this dazzling conclusion to Linden A. Lewis's stunning First Sister trilogy perfect for fans of Red Rising, The Handmaid's Tale, and The Expanse.

Astrid is finally free of the Sisterhood, yet her name carries on. She's called the Unchained by those she's inspired and the Heretic by those who want her voiceless once more. Now Astrid uses knowledge of the Sisterhood's inner workings against them, aiding the moonborn in raids against abbeys and Cathedrals, all the while exploring the mysteries of her forgotten past.

However, the Sisterhood thrives under the newly appointed Mother Lilian I, who's engaged in high-stakes politics among the Warlords and the Aunts to rebuild the Sisterhood in her own image. But the evil of the Sisterhood can't be purged with anything less than fire....

Meanwhile, Hiro val Akira is a rebel without an army, a Dagger without a Rapier. As protests rock the streets of Cytherea, Hiro moves in the shadows, driven by grief and vengeance, as they hunt the man responsible for all their pain: their father....

Transformed by the Genekey virus, Luce navigates the growing schism within the Asters on Ceres. Hurting in her new body, she works to bridge two worlds seemingly intent on mutual destruction. All while mourning her fallen brother, though Lito sol Lucius's memory may yet live on.

Yet Souji val Akira stands in judgment on them all, plotting the future for all of humanity, and running out of time before war erupts between the Icarii and Geans. But can even the greatest human intellect outwit the Synthetics?

The emotional First Sister trilogy comes to a sensational climax in this final installment, and is a must-listen for science fiction fans everywhere.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr's first major work was a trilogy of SF adventure novels published as paperback originals in the 1980s: Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, and In Endless Twilight. Together they form The Forever Hero.

Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a desolate ruin. The first human ship to return in millennia discovers an abandoned wasteland inhabited only by a few degenerate or mutated human outcasts. But among them is a boy of immense native intelligence and determination who is captured, taken in, and educated, and disappears--to grow up to become the force behind a plan to make Earth flower again. He is, if not immortal, at least very long-lived, and he plans to build an independent power base out in the galaxy and force the galactic empire to devote centuries and immense resources to the restoration of the ecology of Earth.

L. E. Modesitt, Jr's first major work was The Forever Hero trilogy of SF adventure novels published as paperback originals in the 1980s, of which Dawn for a Distant Earth was the first title in the series.

Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a desolate ruin. The first human ship to return in millennia discovers an abandoned wasteland inhabited only by a few degenerate or mutated human outcasts. But among them is a boy of immense native intelligence and determination who is captured, taken in, and educated, and disappears--to grow up to become the force behind a plan to make Earth flower again. He is, if not immortal, at least very long-lived, and he plans to build an independent power base out in the galaxy and force the galactic empire to devote centuries and immense resources to the restoration of the ecology of Earth.

Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a desolate ruin. The first human ship to return in millennia discovers an abandoned wasteland inhabited only by a few degenerate or mutated human outcasts. But among them is a boy of immense native intelligence and determination who is captured, taken in, and educated, and disappears--to grow up to become the force behind a plan to make Earth flower again. He is, if not immortal, at least very long-lived, and he plans to build an independent power base out in the galaxy and force the galactic empire to devote centuries and immense resources to the restoration of the ecology of Earth.

L.E. Modesitt, Jr.s first major work was a trilogy of SF adventure novels published as paperback originals in the 1980s: Dawn for a Distant Earth, The Silent Warrior, and In Endless Twilight. Together they form The Forever Hero.

Thousands of years in the future, Earth is a desolate ruin. The first human ship to return in millennia discovers primitive remnants of humanity. And among them is a boy of immense native intelligence and determination who grows up to become the force behind a plan to make Earth flower again.

A possessed dragon commands the undead armies of Valhingen Graveyard and the beasts from the ruins of Phlan. In the midst of this chaos stand three heroes: Shal Bal, a spellcaster, seeks to avenge the death of her wizard master, while Ren - a ranger thief - sets out on a revenge quest of his own, intent on evening the score between himself and the assassin who murdered his beloved Tempest. And then there's Tarl Desanea, a cleric-warrior who has seen just what kind of devastation the army of Valhingen Graveyard can wreak. He has witnessed far too many friends die at the hands of the undead horde.

When fate brings the trio together at the Laughing Goblin Inn, they are brought before the head of the Council of Ten. Under the command of Porphyrys Cadorna, they embark on dangerous missions throughout the realm, only to discover their newfound advisor is not who they presumed him to be. Now, it's up to Shal, Ren, and Tarl to deliver Phlan - and the entire Moonsea - from the possession of evil reincarnate: Tyranthraxus.

The entire city of Phlan has vanished, ripped from the surface of Toril by dire creatures and magical forces. While the minions of the evil god Bane bicker over the spoils, the brave citizens of Phlan mount a stubborn defense.

A ranger-thief named Ren seeks his missing friends, Shal Bal and Tarl Desanea, spellcasters nonpareil. But to do so, Ren must band together with a mysterious sorceress and her intrepid shapershifter cat, as well as a couple of droll druids and a fearful knight who is absolutely, positively dead.

The holy hammer of the Church of Tyr was captured by the evil god Bane and his dark minion, Hammerwarder, two decades ago. When Bane was destroyed, the relic vanished. The legacy of recovering the lost item was granted to a young paladin just before his birth: Kern Desanea, the son of Phlan's two great heroes and spellcasters, Shal and Tarl.

Now, the young warrior must fulfill his destiny, find the Warhammer, and return it to the forces of good in the land of the Moonsea. Danger, deception, and loyal friends will accompany him on his fateful journey - a journey that will lead him to the ultimate pool.

The saga of dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden has become a fixture in the fantasy genre, with a string of New York Times best-selling novels going back to 1988. Hero is the follow-up to Maestro and Archmage, and final book in the Homecoming trilogy.

Something akin to "peace" has come to the Underdark. The demon hordes have receded, and now the matron mothers argue over the fate of Drizzt Do'Urden. Even so, it becomes clear to one matriarch after another that while the renegade drow may come and go Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders will crawl forever on.

And so Drizzt is free to return to his home on the surface once again. Scores are settled as lives are cut short, yet other lives move on. For the lone drow there is only a single final quest: a search for peace, for family, for home--for the future.

Hero picks up where Maestro left off, in a sweeping climax to an epic tale.

A thrilling new adventure of Theodora and Ran from the author of The Gate of Ivory. Drawn back to Ivory both by her love for Ran and her fascination with magic, Theodora leaves with Ran on an investigation for a noble family, and their mission gets them trapped between the Emperor's troops and a dangerous band of outlaws.

The only alien fighter pilot of the Pit Bull Squadron, Indiw disobeys orders after an attack to escort Commander Falstaff's crippled fighter through hostile territory. It is an action that brands Indiw a hero to humans--but a monster to his own people.

Indiw, an alien pilot, had repressed his natural hunting instincts serving with humans in the Pit Bull Squadron, but now, while protecting his own planet, he is free to kill any invaders, until the arrival of a human intruder threatens his mission.

Heroes bristle with the power that can protect and save everyone, and these young men and women battle monsters in their dreams, doing their glorious Goddess’s bidding. …Never realizing that the monsters they fight are actually humans. Infested by the mysterious being known simply as the Goddess and transformed into unthinking creatures of havoc and slaughter, these heroes of destruction wage an endless war of blind justice. Only Charon, an elite unit led by a young man known as Azuma, stand a chance against these terrifying enemies. So what might happen when a young scientist named Kaguya who joins their ranks wants to save the heroes rather than defeat them...?

History's leading figures, including Caesar and Cleopatra, Alexander of Macedon, and Judah Macabee, Che Guevara, and Yuri Andropov, meet the devil in a strange shared universe.

Contents:

• Son of the Morning - (1986) - short story by Chris Morris
• Newton Sleep - (1986) - novelette by Gregory Benford
• The Prince - (1986) - novella by C. J. Cherryh
• A Walk in the Park - (1986) - novelette by Nancy Asire
• The Hand of Providence - (1986) - novelette by David Drake
• Basileus - (1985) - novelette by C. J. Cherryh and Janet Morris
• To Reign in Hell - (1986) - novelette by Janet Morris
• The Gates of Hell (excerpt) - (1986) - short fiction by C. J. Cherryh and Janet Morris
• The Frankenstein Papers (excerpt) - (1986) - short fiction by Fred Saberhagen

Alexander of Macedon, Julius Caesar, the Pharaohs Hatshepsut and Cleopatra, Niccolo Machiavelli, Judah Macabee, and other damned adventurers brave the River of Fire and the River of Forgetfulness on a daring journey back to the land of the living.

All of Hell is in revolt as Gilgamesh, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and the other damned, turn rebel, in this collection of stories by such science fiction masters as Robert Silverberg, Janet Morris, C.J. Cherryh, David Drake, Martin Caidin, and Bill Kerby.

Contents:

• Undercover Angel - short fiction by Chris Morris
• Hell's Gate - short fiction by Bill Kerby
• Gilgamesh in the Outback - [Gilgamesh] - novella by Robert Silverberg
• Marking Time - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• Table with a View - novelette by Nancy Asire
• There Are No Fighter Pilots Down in Hell - novella by Martin Caidin
• 'Cause I Served My Time in Hell - short story by David Drake
• Monday Morning - short story by C. J. Cherryh
• Graveyard Shift - short fiction by Janet Morris

As the Second Trojan War begins, history's greatest champions and villains, including Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Hatshepsut, Cleopatra, Brutus, and Machiavelli, fight the Battle of the Ages.

Contents:

• The Nature of Hell - short fiction by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Gilgamesh Redux - short fiction by Janet Morris
• Crusaders in Love - short fiction by Bill Kerby
• Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea - novelette by Michael Armstrong
• Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• By Invitation Only - novelette by Nancy Asire
• The Gods of the Gaps - novella by Gregory Benford
• Springs Eternal - novelette by David Drake
• Snowballs in Hell - short fiction by Chris Morris

Julius Caesar gathers his legions in an alternate universe in order to defeat the devil and conquer hell.

Altos, Hell's only Unfallen Angel, tours the nether regions and observes as Genghis Khan teaches a military historian a lesson, Marilyn Monroe kisses the Devil, Stalin rewrites the Bible, and Napoleon's lover ponders an offer to enter Heaven.

Contents:

• Handmaids in Hell - short story by Chris Morris
• The Fascination of the Abomination - [Gilgamesh] - (1987) - novella by Robert Silverberg
• The Price of an Egg - novelette by Alexandra Sokolov
• Reaching for Paradise - novelette by Brad Miner
• The Ex-Khan - short story by Robert Asprin [as by Robert L. Asprin]
• The Conscience of the King - novella by Nancy Asire and C. J. Cherryh
• Learning Curve - novelette by David Drake
• Sea of Stiffs - novelette by Janet Morris

Nine stories describe the experiences of Jeb Stuart, Copernicus, Richard Burton, Napoleon, Yuri Andropov, and Augustus try to adapt to the alternate world known as Hell.

Contents:

• The Ransom of Hellcat - novelette by Chris Morris
• Take Two - novelette by Bill Kerby
• Hellbike - short story by George Foy
• Houseguests - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Spitting in the Wind - novelette by Lynn Abbey
• God's Eyes - novelette by Michael Armstrong
• Bargain - novelette by David Drake
• Pawn in Play - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• Sea Change - novelette by Janet Morris

In an alternate world that appears to be Hell, Homer, the ancient Greek poet, is commanded by the Devil to write a chronicle of Hell.

Contents:

• [...] Is Hell - short story by Janet Morris
• Wisdom - short story by David Drake
• Fallout - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Gilgamesh in Uruk - [Gilgamesh] - (1988) - novella by Robert Silverberg
• An Appropriate Hell - novelette by Diana L. Paxson
• The Man in the Black Cape Turns - novelette by Michael Armstrong
• Giving Hell a Shot - novelette by Bill Kerby
• Rook's Move - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• Sign On - short story by Chris Morris

When all that is not false is chaos, how can there be prophets in Hell? In the Domain of Darkness, Chaos wars with Good and Evil until even the Father of Lies cannot distinguish between honest deceit, malicious truthtelling, and mere vituperative gibberish--so what's a poor devil to do?

Contents:

• Eye of a Needle - short story by Chris Morris
• Exile - novelette by David Drake
• The Garden of Blood Narcissus - novella by Brad Miner
• Death Freaks - (1989) - novella by Robert Sheckley
• Profits in Hell - short story by Bill Kerby
• Terminal - novelette by George Alec Effinger
• I, Hermes Trismegistus - poem by Richard Groller
• Fast Food - novelette by Nancy Asire
• The Sibylline Affair - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• Moving Day - novelette by Janet Morris

A multitude of histories finest (and worst) explorers find plenty to do in the new Hell novel.

Heaven lays down the law and Hell gets more hellish as the greatest shared universe of all time makes its malevolent return. Souls you hate to love and souls you love to hate reunite for Lawyers in Hell, in twenty-two infernal tales from the underworlds, where Injustice must be served.

Contents:

• Interview with the Devil - short fiction by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Tribe of Hell - novelette by Janet Morris
• The Rapture Elevator - short story by Michael H. Hanson [as by Michael Hanson]
• Out of Court Settlement - novelette by C. J. Cherryh
• Revolutionary Justice - novelette by Leo Champion
• Tale of a Tail - novelette by Nancy Asire
• And Injustice for All - short story by Jason Cordova
• Measure of a Man - novelette by Deborah Koren
• The Adjudication of Hetty Green - short story by Allan Gilbreath
• Plains of Hell - novelette by Bruce Durham
• The Register - short story by Michael H. Hanson
• Island out of Time - novella by Richard Groller
• Appellate Angel - short story by Edward McKeown
• With Enemies Like These - novelette by David L. Burkhead
• The Dark Arts - short story by Kimberly Richardson
• Heads You Lose - novelette by Michael Z. Williamson
• Check and Mate - short story by Bradley H. Sinor
• Disclaimer - novelette by John Manning
• Orientation Day - short story by Sarah Hulcy
• Remember, Remember, Hell in November - novelette by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• Theo Khthonios - novelette by Scott Oden
• Erra and the Seven - short story by Chris Morris

ROGUES IN HELL... The war heats up, Satan antes up, and rogues go adventuring as Hell's landlord faces off with Heaven's auditors.

Contents:

• Babe in Hell - short story by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Which Way I Fly is Hell - novelette by Janet Morris
• Downtown Run - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Madly Meeting Logically - novelette by Michael Armstrong
• Library Redux - short story by Sarah Hulcy
• A Hatful of Dynamite - novelette by Deborah Koren
• Colony - short story by Bruce Durham
• Searcher - novelette by Edward McKeown
• The Miraculous Roadside Attraction - short story by Jack William Finley
• BDA - novelette by Richard Groller
• Hell Road Truckers - novelette by Michael H. Hanson
• If Necessary - short story by Bradley H. Sinor
• Pursued by the Tauwu - short story by Shirley Meier
• Ragnarok & Roll - novelette by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• Scent of a Weapon - novelette by Bill Snider
• Showdown at Brimstone Arsenal - novelette by John Manning
• The Place of Fear - novelette by David L. Burkhead
• Chasing the Key - short story by H. David Blalock
• A Hard Day at the Office - short story by Michael Z. Williamson
• An Unholy Grail - novelette by Julie Cochrane
• Battle of Tartaros - novelette by Chris Morris

In hell, all souls believe they don't belong there. To sweeten their torment, Satan offers the damned the illusion of escape. Job, the Ombudsman, has the bitter job of trying to be their advocate. If no soul gets saved, the illusion shatters, so Satan gives Job the almost impossible task: help a soul escape from hell. With the help of the poets Hart Crane, Emily Dickinson, and Ezra Pound, and through the magic of the Brooklyn Bridge, they seek to redeem the soul of Washington A. Roebling, the builder of the bridge.

Seven million years on the New Hell Sinday Times bestseller list... The damned are revolting! The underworld explodes with excitement as Satan himself rebels against forces from on high. Or does he? Dreams are dashed and strongholds topple as the greatest shared universe of all times convulses with mystery and mayhem.

Shakespeare and Marlowe begin a new play to please the Devil.... Satan and Samael plot to expose the unrepentant damned... Before Napoleon's eyes, Caesar's villa explodes in chaos... Goethe finds out that hell is all around him... Isadora Duncan forgets that dreams can be hell... Hell's librarian throws a bash and the damned party down... and down... and down... All over the netherworlds, worse comes to worst as Hell's Most Unwanted try assaulting heaven's gates and raise more hell than they bargained for....

Contents:

• Fools in Hell - short story by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Alms for Oblivion - short story by Janet Morris
• The Unholy Hole - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Essence Helliance - novelette by Yelle Hughes
• Barefoot, on Brimstone - short story by Sara M. Harvey
• Ophie and the Undertaker - short story by Shebat Legion
• Just Dessert - novelette by John Manning
• Hell, I Must Be Going - short story by Michael A. Ventrella
• Blood and Ash - short story by Thomas Barczak [as by Tom Barczak]
• Hellexandria the Great - short story by Sarah Hulcy
• The Knife-Edged Bridge - novelette by David L. Burkhead
• The Wager - short story by Deborah Koren
• More Light! - novelette by Bettina S. Meister
• In the Shadow of Paradise - novelette by Jason Cordova
• Zero Sum Game - novelette by Richard Groller
• And the Truth Shall Set You Free - short story by Jack William Finley
• The ITTT - short story by Michael H. Hanson
• Siegfried's Blade - [Die Nibelungen] - short story by Petra Jorns
• Stairway to Heaven - novelette by Edward McKeown [as by Ed McKeown]
• Knocking on Heaven's Gates - novelette by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• Hell Bent - short story by Janet Morris

The best, the worst, and ugliest bards in perdition vie for Satan's favor as poets slam one another, Satan's Fallen Angels smirk up their sleeves, and the illiterati have their day. Find out why the damned deserve their fates as Hell's hacks sink to new poetical depths!

Shakespeare and Marlowe write a new play for Satan and find out that in hell you can't always save your skin. The first Bible writer drafts a deal with the Devil. Attila the Hun learns his punishment's just begun. Mary Shelley and Victor Frankenstein make a monstrous mistake. Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp get their unjust deserts. Hell's Undertaker goes on holiday. The Damned Poets Society slams away. A nameless soul shows Dorothy Parker that fame is a bitch.

In the underworlds, injustice always reigns: Join us and our damnedest poets for the crookedest poetry festival in perdition where language comes to die and no rhyme goes unpunished.

Contents:

• Words - short story by Chris Morris
• Seven Against Hell - short story by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• Reunion - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Hell-hounds - short story by Bruce Durham
• The Kid with No Name - short story by Jack William Finley
• All Hell to Pay - short story by Deborah Koren
• Poetic Injustice - short story by Larry Atchley, Jr.
• When You Gaze Into An Abyss - short story by Matthew Kirshenblatt
• Pride and Penance - short story by Thomas Barczak [as by Tom Barczak]
• Grand Slam - novelette by pdmac
• Undertaker's Holiday - short story by Joe Bonadonna and Shebat Legion
• Red Tail's Corner - short story by Yelle Hughes
• Faust III - short story by Richard Groller
• Tapestry of Sorrows and Sighs - short story by Bill Snider
• Haiku d'Etat - short story by Beth W. Patterson
• A Mother's Heart - short story by Bill Barnhill
• We the Furious - novelette by Joe Bonadonna
• Damned Poets Society - short story by Michael H. Hanson
• All We Need of Hell - short story by Michael Armstrong [as by Michael A. Armstrong]
• Dress Rehearsal - short story by Janet Morris

Damned souls wail as plagues wreak havoc, doctors up their fees, snake-oil salesmen make a killing, and Satan turns his hit-man loose. Be there when Erra, the Babylonian plague god, and his seven personified weapons, spread terror throughout the underverse! Rookie authors write prescriptions for perdition, while veteran hellions diagnose the damned: Deborah Koren, Andrew P. Weston, Janet Morris, Joe Bonadonna, Matthew Kirshenblatt, Chris Morris, Michael H. Hanson, Rob Hinkle, Jack William Finley, Bill Snider, Richard Groller, Paul Freeman, Nancy Asire.

Victor Frankenstein and Quasimodo develop a vaccine -- with diabolical results... Satan looses Daemon Grim, the Devil's personal hit man, and damned souls cower... Bat Masterson finds himself caught between plague victims and Wyatt Earp... Judas learns you can't teach an old dog new sins... Calamity Jane and her Sinchester carbine defend hell's last uninfected outpost... Nietzsche and Lilith, Adam's first wife, face the Beast and come to fiendish accord... Doc Holliday tries one last gambit, and unleashes all hell's fury... And there's worse to come, even an excerpt from bestselling author Andrew P. Weston's forthcoming Heroes in Hell novel! If you think life is tough, try the afterlife, where the doctor is always wrong, sinners never win, misery runs amok, and all hell's damned get their just deserts -- eternally.

Contents:

• The Wager - short fiction by Chris Morris and Janet Morris
• The Cure - short fiction by Chris Morris
• Grim - short fiction by Andrew P. Weston
• The Right Man for the Job - short fiction by Deborah Koren
• Memory - short fiction by Nancy Asire
• What Price Oblivion? - short fiction by R. E. Hinkle
• In the Shadowlands - short fiction by Richard Groller
• Let Us Kill the Spirit of Gravity - short fiction by Matthew Kirshenblatt
• Pavlovian Slip - short fiction by Bill Snider
• Hell On a Technicality - short fiction by Joe Bonadonna
• Convalescence - short fiction by Michael H. Hanson
• Hell Noon - short fiction by Paul Freeman
• The Judas Book - short fiction by Jack William Finley
• Writer's Block - short fiction by Janet Morris
• A Moment of Clarity - short fiction by Andrew P. Weston

In hell, everyone can hear you scream... HELL BOUND, Andrew P. Weston's diabolical and horrific new novel of the underverse from Perseid Press... Frederic Chopin, Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, and the most despicable souls ever cast into hell face Daemon Grim, Satan's bounty hunter in HELL BOUND, the Heroes in Hell novel by bestselling author of The IX, Andrew P. Weston. Perseid Press invites you to meet Daemon Grim, if you dare... "You should know by now how dark my soul is. Even in the best of times... I can't be tempted or reasoned with. I don't feel sorrow or remorse. And never express a shred of sympathy for anyone I'm sent to reap."

Avast, ye readers! Here be Pyrates! Feast yer eyes on the cursed treasures before you! Hoist the skull 'n' crossbones! Walk the plank with hell's sorest losers! Join the damnedest buccaneers and privateers ever to sail infernal seas. The depths of hell chill the boldest sinner as damned souls learn why the deeper in hell you go, the colder it gets.

Table of Contents:

• Bitter Business - Janet Morris and Chris Morris
• Pieces of Hate - Andrew P. Weston
• Evil Angel - Janet Morris and Chris Morris
• Who's a Pirate Now? - Nancy Asire
• Curse of the Pharaohs - S.E. Lindberg
• Lir's Children - Paul Freeman
• Unholiest Grail - Larry Atchley, Jr.
• The Bitter Taste of Hell's Injustice - Jack William Finley
• Serial Recall and Beautiful Tortures - Michael H. Hanson
• Drink and the Devil - Rob Hinkle
• The Pirates of Penance - Joe Bonadonna
• Muse of Fire - Janet Morris and Chris Morris
• Hell Hounds (excerpt) - Andrew P. Weston

Bangsian fantasy at its best... In hell, we reap what you sow. . Meet DAEMON GRIM; A FORCE FOR EVIL, Satan's personal Reaper... While an insane angel causes a hell of a ruckus, Tesla and Chopin orchestrate the Reaper's doom... How do Grim and his rabid pack of bounty hunters respond? Baying for blood only begins to describe the carnage... Andrew P. Weston's second Daemon Grim novel from Janet Morris' critically acclaimed and award-winning Heroes in Hell series will scare you spitless.

Only fools fall in love, and hell is filled with fools. Our damned lovers include: Christopher Marlowe and Will Shakespeare, Napoleon and Wellington, Orpheus and Eurydice, Hatshepsut and Senenmut, Abelard and Heloise, Helen and Penelope, Saint Teresa and Satan's Reaper, Madge Kendall and the Elephant Man, and more... -- all of whom pay a hellish price for indulging their affections. Shakespeare said "To be wise and love exceeds man's might," and in Lovers in Hell, the damned in hell exceed all bounds as they search for their true loves, punish the perfidious, and avoid getting caught up in Satan's snares. In ten stories of misery and madness, hell's most loveless seek to slake the thirst that can never be quenched, and find true love amid the lies of ages.

Contents:

• Love in the Afterlife, Part I; or, Never Doubt I Love - serial by Chris Morris and Janet Morris (book publication as Love in the Afterlife)
• Love Interrupted - novelette by Nancy Asire
• Lovers Sans Phalli - novelette by S. E. Lindberg
• Love in the Afterlife, Part II; or, Fume of Sighs - serial by Chris Morris and Janet Morris (book publication as Love in the Afterlife)
• Calamity - novelette by Michael E. Dellert
• Love Triangle - novelette by Michael H. Hanson
• A Hand of Four Queens - novelette by A. L. Butcher
• The Devil's Trull - novelette by Andrew P. Weston
• Withering Blights - novelette by Joe Bonadonna
• Love in the Afterlife, Part III; or, Wrath of Love - serial by Chris Morris and Janet Morris (book publication as Love in the Afterlife)
• Hell Gate (excerpt) - short fiction by Andrew P. Weston

If hell were real it would be peopled with all sorts of damned souls and their keepers, like Daemon Grim, the Devil's elite henchman. Daemon likes nothing more than a job well done for the Prince of Lies, with attention to every detail no matter how insidious.

In HELL GATE, the third and climactic volume of Andrew P. Weston's murderous chronicles of infernal intrigue, Daemon is out to tie up Satan's loose ends and settle some of the underworld's outstanding accounts. Meanwhile, even Daemon has only so much license and the Boss is waiting...

Frank Herbert's Dune ended with Paul Muad’Dib in control of the planet Dune. Herbert’s next Dune book, Dune Messiah, picked up the story several years later after Paul’s armies had conquered the galaxy. But what happened between Dune and Dune Messiah? How did Paul create his empire and become the Messiah? Following in the footsteps of Frank Herbert, New York Times bestselling authors Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson are answering these questions in Paul of Dune.

The Muad’Dib’s jihad is in full swing. His warrior legions march from victory to victory. But beneath the joy of victory there are dangerous undercurrents. Paul, like nearly every great conqueror, has enemies--those who would betray him to steal the awesome power he commands. . . .

And Paul himself begins to have doubts: Is the jihad getting out of his control? Has he created anarchy? Has he been betrayed by those he loves and trusts the most? And most of all, he wonders: Am I going mad?

Paul of Dune is a novel everyone will want to read and no one will be able to forget.

With their usual skill, Brian Herbert and Kevin Anderson have taken ideas left behind by Frank Herbert and filled them with living characters and a true sense of wonder. Where Paul of Dune picked up the saga directly after the events of Dune, The Winds of Dune begins after the events of Dune Messiah.

Paul has walked off into the sand, blind, and is presumed dead. Jessica and Gurney are on Caladan; Alia is trying to hold the Imperial government together with Duncan; Mohiam dead at the hands of Stilgar; Irulan imprisoned. Paul’s former friend, Bronso of Ix, now seems to be leading opposition to the House of Atreides. Herbert and Anderson’s newest book in this landmark series will concentrate on these characters as well the growing battle between Jessica, and her daughter, Alia.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• The Curse of the Smalls and the Stars - novella by Fritz Leiber
• Sister Light, Sister Dark - short story by Jane Yolen
• Tales Told to a Toymaker - short story by Phyllis Ann Karr
• Prophecy of the Dragon - novelette by Charles E. Karpuk
• Before the Seas Came - short story by F. M. Busby
• Thunder Mother - short story by Alan Dean Foster
• Dancers in the Time-Flux - short story by Robert Silverberg
• Sword Blades and Poppy Seed - short story by Joanna Russ
• The Nun and the Demon - short story by Grania Davis
• Vovko - short story by Gordon Derevanchuk
• The Monkey's Bride - novelette by Michael Bishop

Table of Contents:

• Masterpieces of Heroic Fantasy: An Introduction - essay by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• The Inn at the World's End - short story by Keith Roberts
• Voices - novelette by Michael Bishop
• Lazarus - short story by Ellen Kushner
• La Strega - short story by Richard A. Russo
• Honor - short story by Jody Scott
• The Lingering Minstrel - short story by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
• The Head of Shemesh the Eshurian - novelette by Avram Davidson
• The Lion of Elirhom's Anger - short story by Michael Nicholas Richard
• Eammon's Banshee - short story by Gillian Fitzgerald
• The Slaughter of the Gods - short story by Manly Wade Wellman
• Cohen the Clam-Killer - short story by Steven Bryan Bieler
• The Word-Woman of Dza - short story by Grania Davis
• Masquerade of a Dead Sword - short story by Thomas Ligotti

Being a superheroine is hard. Working for one is even harder.

Evie Tanaka is the put-upon personal assistant to Aveda Jupiter, her childhood best friend and San Francisco's most beloved superheroine. She's great at her job--blending into the background, handling her boss's epic diva tantrums, and getting demon blood out of leather pants.

Unfortunately, she's not nearly as together when it comes to running her own life, standing up for herself, or raising her tempestuous teenage sister, Bea.

But everything changes when Evie's forced to pose as her glamorous boss for one night, and her darkest secret comes out: she has powers, too. Now it's up to her to contend with murderous cupcakes, nosy gossip bloggers, and supernatural karaoke battles--all while juggling unexpected romance and Aveda's increasingly outrageous demands. And when a larger threat emerges, Evie must finally take charge and become a superheroine in her own right... or see her city fall to a full-on demonic invasion.

Once upon a time, Aveda Jupiter (aka Annie Chang) was demon-infested San Francisco's most beloved superheroine, a beacon of hope and strength and really awesome outfits. But all that changed the day she agreed to share the spotlight with her best friend and former assistant Evie Tanaka--who's now a badass, fire-wielding superheroine in her own right. They were supposed to be a dynamic duo, but more and more, Aveda finds herself shoved into the sidekick role. Where, it must be said, she is not at all comfortable.

It doesn't help that Aveda's finally being forced to deal with fallout from her diva behavior--and the fact that she's been a less than stellar friend to Evie. Or that Scott Cameron--the man Aveda's loved for nearly a decade--is suddenly giving her the cold shoulder after what seemed to be some promising steps toward friendship. Or that the city has been demon-free for three months in the wake of Evie and Aveda's apocalypse-preventing battle against the evil forces of the Otherworld, leaving Aveda without the one thing she craves most in life: a mission.

Bea Tanaka joins her sister, Evie, and diva Aveda Jupiter in their quest to free San Francisco from its demon portal problem...

If there's one thing Beatrice Tanaka never wanted to be, it's normal. But somehow, her life has unfolded as a series of "should haves." Her powers of emotional projection should have made her one of the most formidable superheroes of all time. And she should have been allowed to join her older sister Evie as a full-fledged protector of San Francisco, pulverizing the city's plethora of demon threats.

But Evie and her superheroing partner, Aveda Jupiter, insist on seeing Bea as the impulsive, tempestuous teenager she used to be--even though she's now a responsible adult. And that means Bea is currently living a thoroughly normal life. She works as a bookstore lackey, hangs out with best friends Sam Fujikawa and Leah Kim, and calms her workplace's more difficult customers. Sure, she's not technically supposed to be playing with people's mental states. But given the mundanity of her existence, who can blame her?

When a mysterious being starts communicating with Bea, hinting at an evil that's about to overtake the city, she seizes the opportunity, hoping to turn her "should haves" into the fabulous heroic life she's always wanted. But gaining that life may mean sacrificing everything--and everyone--she holds dear...

Evie Tanaka, Aveda Jupiter, and Bea Tanaka combat a new supernatural threat...

Everything in Evie Tanaka's life is finally perfect. As a badass superheroine, she defends San Francisco from demon invasion on the regular. Her relationships with superhero partner Aveda Jupiter, little sister Bea, and hot, half-demon husband Nate have never been stronger. Maybe it's possible for a grad school dropout turned put-upon personal assistant turned superhero to have it all?

Just when she thinks life can't get any better, Evie learns she's pregnant. Everyone around her is overjoyed...but Evie has major doubts about whether she's cut out for motherhood. Before she can dwell on her dilemma, a local women's college reports a string of mysterious "hauntings," and Evie and Aveda are called in to investigate, going undercover as grad students during the creepiest time of the year: Halloween.

As she confronts terrifying ghosts and lives out a bizarre version of the grad school life she left behind, Evie can't help but wonder about the road not taken: what would her life be like if she'd stayed here instead of pursuing superheroing with Aveda? And can an overwhelmed pregnant superhero truly have it all?

She's about to find out.

Over the years, the adventures of superheroines Aveda Jupiter and Evie Tanaka have become the stuff of legend--and now they'll be immortalized in their very own TV show!

The pair head to LA for filming, but Aveda struggles to get truly excited. Instead, she's preoccupied wondering about the fate of the world and her role in it. You know, the usual. Now that Otherworld activity has been detected outside the Bay Area, Aveda can't help but wonder if the demon threat will ever be eradicated.

When the drama on set takes a turn for the supernatural, Evie and Aveda must balance their celebrity commitments with donning their superhero capes again to investigate. And when the evil they battle reveals a larger, more nefarious plot, it's time for the indomitable Aveda Jupiter to rise to the occasion and become the leader she was meant to be on a more global scale--and hopefully keep some semblance of a personal life while doing so.

Nobody loves Christmas like Bea Tanaka--so when her family visits her for a special holiday celebration, she's beside herself with joy.

After years of chaos, questionable decisions, and flirtations with the supervillain path, Bea is finally thriving. She's got a sweet, new gig hunting demons in Maui, she's working hard to hone her powers, and her big sister Evie is proud of her at last. In fact, everyone is soproud of her that she can't tell them the truth: she's feeling lost and adrift. She and her boyfriend Sam Fujikawa are struggling to make their long-distance love work, and her powers are displaying some intriguing new elements--elements that could lead her down an evil, mind-controlling path once more.

When her family's holiday visit is disrupted by otherworldly monsters rising out of the Maui ocean, Bea throws herself into the battle--until she's suddenly and mysteriously transported to the perfect Christmas back in San Francisco, surrounded by her family and an excess of merrymaking.

As she finds herself trapped in the bizarre holiday rom-com of her nightmares, Bea must unravel a treacherous demon plot, save the world from unspeakable evil, and resist the siren song of a supervillain destiny. And hey, maybe she'll find time for a little holiday cheer after all....

It's Hiccup's birthday, but that's not going to keep him from getting into trouble. To save his dragon, Toothless, from being banished, Hiccup must sneak into the Meathead Public Library and steal the Viking's most sacred book. But the Vikings see books as a dangerous influence, and keep them locked up and under heavy guard. To save his friend, Hiccup must brave the Hairy Scary Librarian and his dreadful army of Meathead Warriors and face off against the formidable Driller-Dragons. Will he make it out and live to see his next birthday?

In Hiccup the Viking's misadventures, the stakes have never been higher, and it's friend versus foe to decide the fate of the world. In this, the penultimate title in the amazing story arc that began with How to Train Your Dragon, Hiccup is faced with a personal dilemma against the backdrop of an impending battle and the possible destruction of everything he knows.

When Jiana of the city of Bay Bay talks... nobody listens. After all, she's foreign, she enjoys outlandish fighting techniques and, worst of all, she's a woman. Refused permission to join the quest for the World's Dream, Jiana sets out on a quest behind the quest--and discovers the truth about heroes.

After barely surviving an adventure he never wanted, the scrawny little nearsighted goblin called Jig is now known as Jig Dragonslayer, and has the power of healing, thanks to the forgotten god he worships. But being a hero isn't all it's cracked up to be. Not when the goblin leader wants him dead, and everyone else actually expects him to keep doing heroic-and incredibly dangerous-things.

A dark lord will rise. Such is the prophecy that dogs Ringil Eskiath—Gil, for short—a washed-up mercenary and onetime war hero whose cynicism is surpassed only by the speed of his sword. Gil is estranged from his aristocratic family, but when his mother enlists his help in freeing a cousin sold into slavery, Gil sets out to track her down. But it soon becomes apparent that more is at stake than the fate of one young woman. Grim sorceries are awakening in the land. Some speak in whispers of the return of the Aldrain, a race of widely feared, cruel yet beautiful demons. Now Gil and two old comrades are all that stand in the way of a prophecy whose fulfillment will drown an entire world in blood. But with heroes like these, the cure is likely to be worse than the disease.

With The Steel Remains, award-winning science fiction writer Richard K. Morgan turned his talents to sword and sorcery. The result: a genre-busting masterwork hailed as a milestone in contemporary epic fantasy. Now Morgan continues the riveting saga of Ringil Eskiath-Gil, for short-a peerless warrior whose love for other men has made him an outcast and pariah.

Only a select few have earned the right to call Gil friend. One is Egar, the Dragonbane, a fierce Majak fighter who comes to respect a heart as savage and loyal as his own. Another is Archeth, the last remaining daughter of an otherworldly race called the Kiriath, who once used their advanced technology to save the world from the dark magic of the Aldrain-only to depart for reasons as mysterious as their arrival. Yet even Egar and Archeth have learned to fear the doom that clings to their friend like a grim shadow... or the curse of a bitter god.

Now one of the Kiriath's uncanny machine intelligences has fallen from orbit-with a message that humanity faces a grave new danger (or, rather, an ancient one): a creature called the Illwrack Changeling, a boy raised to manhood in the ghostly between-world realm of the Grey Places, home to the Aldrain. A human raised as one of them-and, some say, the lover of one of their greatest warriors-until, in a time lost to legend, he was vanquished. Wrapped in sorcerous slumber, hidden away on an island that drifts between this world and the Grey Places, the Illwrack Changeling is stirring. And when he wakes, the Aldrain will rally to him and return in force-this time without the Kiriath to stop them.

An expedition is outfitted for the long and arduous sea journey to find the lost island of the Illwrack Changeling. Aboard are Gil, Egar, and Archeth: each fleeing from ghosts of the past, each seeking redemption in whatever lies ahead. But redemption doesn't come cheap these days. Nor, for that matter, does survival. Not even for Ringil Eskiath. Or anyone-god or mortal-who would seek to use him as a pawn.

Ringil Eskiath, a reluctant hero viewed as a corrupt degenerate by the very people who demand his help, has traveled far in search of the Illwrack Changeling, a deathless human sorcerer-warrior raised by the bloodthirsty Aldrain, former rulers of the world. Separated from his companions - Egar the Dragonbane and Archeth - Ringil risks his soul to master a deadly magic that alone can challenge the might of the Changeling. While Archeth and the Dragonbane embark on a trail of blood and tears that ends up exposing long-buried secrets, Ringil finds himself tested as never before, with his life and all existence hanging in the balance.

"The Hero of the Five Points" is a rollicking short adventure set in 1853 in the world of the League of Seven fantasy series for middle-grade readers by acclaimed author Alan Gratz. Grab your aether pistol and your favorite stovepipe hat and join Dalton Dent as he tracks down the foul creature known as Mose.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

"The Golden Brat" Reinhard von Lohengramm, a military prodigy and admiral of the Galactic Empire, has ambitions beyond protecting the borders or even defeating the Empire's enemies. He seeks to overthrow the old order and become a truly absolute--yet benevolent--dictator. His rival, the humble Yang Wen-li of the Free Planets Alliance, wishes to preserve democracy even if he must sacrifice his political ideals to defeat the Empire. Their political and military battles play out over a galactic chessboard in an epic saga fifteen centuries in the making!

In the thirty-sixth century humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

After a coup d'etat erupts in the Free Planets Alliance, military strategist Yang Wen-li is ordered to use his tactical wizardry put down the rebellion, but the ringleader holding the capital is someone he had once trusted deeply. Meanwhile in the Empire, Reinhard will soon face a new trial as in the wake of the Emperor's death he stands amidst an intensifying power struggle among the aristocracy. The unbeatable magician and the unstoppable genius: the decisions these heroes make will send shockwaves across the galaxy.

It's the master tactician of the ruthless Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

A grand scheme for retaking Iserlohn is delivered to Reinhard, who with renewed determination seeks to become ruler of the galaxy and to fulfill the oath he made with a dear, departed friend. But what are the aims of Phezzan, the third force at work behind the scenes? Meanwhile, no sooner is Yang breathing a sigh of relief when Julian returns from his first combat mission than he is summoned to an inquest and departs for the capital of the alliance. As if waiting for this opportunity to strike, however, the imperial military's fortress appears right at the gates of Iserlohn. The battle between two gigantic fortresses begins!

It's the Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

Remnants of the high nobility, manipulated by the "third power" of Phezzan, abduct the seven-year-old emperor and, with the cooperation of the Free Planets Alliance, declare the establishment of a traditional imperial government. Reinhard, however, has turned the tables by making a secret pact with Phezzan's high officials and plans a grand invasion of the alliance by way of the Phezzan Corridor. So begins an epic battle between Yang--who, despite surmising Reinhard's true intentions, must defend Iserlohn--and the Imperial Navy's peerless fighter, von Reuentahl.

It's the Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

Imperial forces have captured the Phezzan Dominion and draw ever closer to the Free Planets Alliance capital of Heinessen. Yang hurriedly abandons Iserlohn Fortress and heads for the capital to protect countless civilians. Taking out Reinhard is the alliance's only path to victory. Despite the empire's superior numbers, Yang continues to outwit its most resourceful generals via tactical wizardry. Reinhard, on the other hand, seeing through Yang's devices, opts for all-out war. And so, the "invincible" and "undefeated" once again clash swords. Who will emerge victorious?

It's the Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

After donning the emperor's crown, Reinhard becomes aware of an assassination plot against him. Knowing that the Church of Terra has its scheming hands in all places, he deploys his troops to the church's sacred homeland of Terra. Meanwhile, Yang's leisurely retirement is tempered by the surveillance networks from both sides watching his every move. And when he is one day visited by a group of men dressed in black, the galaxy, too, relinquishes peace to become embroiled in upheaval once again.

It's the Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

Reinhard, under his Golden Lion banner, is setting out to bend history and the universe to his will. Meanwhile, with no flag of their own to raise, Yang and his compatriots have escaped the murderous hands of the Free Planets Alliance's government and dubbed themselves the "Irregulars." Yang receives word that an Imperial fleet is closing in on the capital of Heinessen, and in a daring move, recaptures Iserlohn Fortress. In the meantime, Reinhard's invasion of the Free Planets Alliance proceeds steadily apace. Standing in the path of the Imperial fleet is a fleet of FPA Navy vessels commanded by the elderly Admiral Bucock. An old lion roars out a life-or-death challenge, and a young lion answers it--the final battle of the Free Planets Alliance now begins!

It's the master tactician of the ruthless Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

After utterly defeating the Free Planets Alliance, Kaiser Reinhard has brought 99 percent of inhabited space under his control. Still, dissatisfaction and unease coil within his breast, for the galaxy's last remaining sliver of territory is defended by none other than Yang Wen-li. Seeking decisive battle, the Imperial Navy moves to attack Iserlohn Fortress, but due to Yang's unexpected plan, the battle has already begun before Reinhard arrives. The Yang Fleet must overcome an enormous difference in force strength--while at the same time, a trap laid by the Church of Terra is closing in around Yang...

It's the master tactician of the ruthless Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

The irregulars of the Iserlohn Republic, still loyal to the ideals of their former leader Yang Wen-li, rally around Yang's successor Julian as he strives to live up to his inherited responsibilities. Meanwhile, in the empire, Kaiser Reinhard survives an attempt on his life only to be confronted with the devastating sins of his past when he learns the true identity of his would-be assassin. Despite rumors of treason on the part of Neue Land governor-general Oskar von Reuentahl, the kaiser pays a personal visit to that territory, where an even greater shock lies in store.

It's the master tactician of the ruthless Galactic Empire versus the Free Planets Alliance in Japan's greatest space opera epic!

In the thirty-sixth century, humanity has conquered the galaxy and colonized countless star systems. The Galactic Empire, modeled along Prussian lines, and the democratic Free Planets Alliance are at war, and the fate of every human being in the universe hangs in the balance. This classic Japanese space opera, adapted into a legendary anime, is finally available in English for the first time.

Having taken his devoted confidant Hildegard von Lohengramm as his empress, Kaiser Reinhard awaits the birth of his heir. Much remains to trouble him, from the ongoing campaign of terror by Church of Terra diehards to the machinations of an erstwhile landesherr, and there are ominous signs that his own condition may be graver than anyone suspects. Nevertheless, it seems that peace has finally come to the New Galactic Empire. Meanwhile, in the Iserlohn Republic, Julian Mintz, successor to Yang the Magician, resolves to begin the first and final battle fought on the republic's terms--the world-shaking conclusion to the Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Translated from the Chinese by Anna Holmwood

China: 1200 A.D.

The Song Empire has been invaded by its warlike Jurchen neighbours from the north. Half its territory and its historic capital lie in enemy hands; the peasants toil under the burden of the annual tribute demanded by the victors. Meanwhile, on the Mongolian steppe, a disparate nation of great warriors is about to be united by a warlord whose name will endure for eternity: Genghis Khan.

Guo Jing, son of a murdered Song patriot, grew up with Genghis Khan's army. He is humble, loyal, perhaps not altogether wise, and is fated from birth to one day confront an opponent who is the opposite of him in every way: privileged, cunning and flawlessly trained in the martial arts.

Guided by his faithful shifus, The Seven Heroes of the South, Guo Jing must return to China - to the Garden of the Drunken Immortals in Jiaxing - to fulfil his destiny. But in a divided land riven by war and betrayal, his courage and his loyalties will be tested at every turn.

Translated from the Chinese by Gigi Chang

In the Jin capital of Zhongdu, Guo Jing learns the truth of his father's death and finds he is now betrothed, against his will, to two women. Neither of them is his sweetheart Lotus Huang.

Torn between following his heart and fulfilling his filial duty, he journeys through the country of his parents with Lotus, encountering mysterious martial heroes and becoming drawn into the struggle for the supreme martial text, the Nine Yin Manual. But his past is catching up with him. The widow of an evil man he accidentally killed as a child has tracked him down, intent on revenge.

Meanwhile, his true parentage at last revealed, Yang Kang, the young prince Guo Jing must face in the Garden of the Eight Drunken Immortals, is forced to choose his destiny. Will he continue to enjoy the life of wealth and privilege afforded to him by the invader of his homeland, or give up all he has known to avenge his parents?

A lazy and wussy ex-gamer, Phil becomes one of the few humans who receive a mysterious alien piece of wetware which allows them to see the world through an augmented-reality interface very similar to those used in a MMORPG game. Guided by its stats and messages, Phil begins to level up, gradually transforming himself and his life. He even opens his own business in order to help his friends and complete strangers who acquire a newfound respect for him, assisting him in his travails.

As Phil continues on the road to self-improvement, guided by his own conscience rather than system messages, he tries to find out more about the mysterious third party which has bestowed such superhuman abilities upon him.

Metzada is an inhospitable planet of Epsilon Indi whose inhabitants -- most descendants from refugees forced to leave Israel -- can survive only because its men are highly skilled mercenaries, Metzada's one export that brings in revenue. When young Ari Hanavi freezes in combat twice, he has one last chance to survive and even become a "hero". Scenes of battle, military command and operations are expertly portrayed in this novel about a young man who must overcome his terror while dealing with his fellow soldiers and fighting an enemy force.

Set in the same world as Not for Glroy, which David Drake called "a swift-paced, brutal, excellent political novel about the soldier of the future".

Harry Keogh: Necroscope and Other Weird Heroes! is a collection of eight long short stories featuring Brian Lumley's most popular characters and includes three brand-new stories of Harry Keogh, the original Necroscope!

Titus Crow: Psychic detective, master magician, destroyer of the ancient Chthulian gods. In "Inception," we see the infant Titus at the moment his destiny falls upon him. In "Lord of the Worms," a simple secretarial job lands Crow on a sacrificial altar. And in "Name and Number," Henri Laurent de Marigny details a battle between Titus Crow and malevolent, occult winds which can rip living flesh from bone.

David Hero and Eldin the Wanderer: once men of the waking world, now agents for King Kuranes of the Dreamlands. Sips of "The Weird Wines of Naxas Niss" send the pair on a tumultuous journey from a buxom beauty's bed to the depths of a wizard's dungeon. Then, seeking his missing friend, David Hero boards an ill-fated airship that is home to "The Stealer of Dreams."

Harry Keogh, Necroscope: vampire killer without peer, capable of conversing with the dead. A sudden windfall brings Harry to Las Vegas, where he meets "Dead Eddie," a gambler who can't resist trying for one last big win from beyond the grave. In "Dinosaur Dreams, Harry's interest in fossils leads him to uncover the truth behind the death of a young amateur paleontologist... and to discover that it's not just dead people he can call on in a crisis.... Harry's undying love for his mother leads him down a dangerous path in "Resurrection."

Four of Lumley's greatest heroes. Three of his most popular worlds. Tales to chill and to delight. Open the book and be swept away.

The demigods of Ancient Greek myth are alive and well and ready for war.

Except the demigods of Ancient Greek myth are alive and, well... dying.

Heracles, Perseus, Theseus, Orpheus, Achilles, Hippolyta, Aeneas, King Minos, Helen of Troy--for centuries they have survived on Earth, doing their best to fit in among ordinary humans. The offspring of liaisons between god and mortal, they are blessed, or perhaps cursed, with eternal life. They cannot be killed.

But someone has figured out how to do just that. One by one, the demigods are meeting gory, violent ends.

Now it's up to Theseus, comfortably ensconced in New York and making his living as a crime fiction writer, to investigate the deaths. His search for the culprit draws him back into the lives of his extended family of cousins and half-siblings, and into a world of tragedy and long-held grudges that he thought, and hoped, he'd put behind him.

Fifteen-year-old Boaz is the new Zar, freshly ascended to his throne. In the turmoil following the old Zar's death, courtiers jostle and conspire to secure their positions - not least his scheming mother, the new Valide. It seems his only genuine friends are his late father's mad jester; Spur Lazar, head of Percheron's security; and a golden beauty - a new odalisque purchased in the foothills as a slave for the harem.

But can a madman, a soldier and a concubine be trusted to keep him safe from the Byzantine manoeuvres of his father's ambitious entourage?

Without Lazar's guiding hand and presence, the Stone Palace of Percheron has become a different place. Young Zar Boaz, mistrusting of his mother, Herezah, but too inexperienced to stand on his own, seeks counsel from the suddenly changed and secretive Vizier, who has a sinister agenda of his own.

As Herezah privately grieves for Lazar, she hatches an audacious plot to destroy the odalisque Ana, who flouts the rules of the harem but has found a measure of protection in having caught the eye of Zar Boaz. And Ana shoulders a tremendous burden of guilt as she matures from a beautiful girl into a stunning young woman... and fears what her future in the harem might hold.

Yet Lazar, unbeknownst to nearly everyone in the palace, is slowly recovering on a secret island. As he struggles to return to health, war from a distant realm threatens Percheron, and, as the cyclical battle of the gods continues to build, the first of the Goddess's disciples falls into the grip of the demon Maliz. Success or failure - for both Percheron and Lyana - hinges on Lazar, whose illness has left him with a new gift he fears is a curse, and if he cannot take action soon, all may well be lost.

The city-state of Percheron is in crisis. Zaradine Ana has been captured by the mysterious Arafanz and his desert warriors and is being held in their isolated fort. It is also suspected that she is pregnant with Zar Boaz's son, the heir to the throne...

Though Lazar has made it out of the desert, his heroics in bringing the Valide and Grand Vizier to safety have cost him. Afflicted with the drezden illness that befalls him when he is weak, he is too sick to move from his bed, when help comes from an unexpected source...

Zar Boaz finds himself trapped by both his heart and his head. Though he can think of nothing but Ana, imprisoned in the desert, his country is on the brink of war and his Spur is helpless. Hatching a daring plan, he calls for Percheron's strongest to make one more pilgrimage into the desert, even as warships threaten Percheron's harbor, and the Goddess reaches the crest of her ascent, throwing all parties - mortal and divine - into a perilous battle for their hearts, their lives, and their souls.

Who will take up the mantle and slay the evil in the Frozen North, saving all from death and destruction? Not Kell Kressia, he's done his part...

Kell Kressia is a legend, a celebrity, a hero. Aged just seventeen he set out on an epic quest with a band of wizened fighters to slay the Ice Lich and save the world, but only he returned victorious. The Lich was dead, the ice receded and the Five Kingdoms were safe.

Ten years have passed Kell lives a quiet farmer's life, while stories about his heroism are told in every tavern across the length and breadth of the land. But now a new terror has arisen in the north. Beyond the frozen circle, north of the Frostrunner clans, something has taken up residence in the Lich's abandoned castle. And the ice is beginning to creep south once more.

For the second time, Kell is called upon to take up his famous sword, Slayer, and battle the forces of darkness. But he has a terrible secret that nobody knows. He's not a hero - he was just lucky. Everyone puts their faith in Kell the Legend, but he's a coward who has no intention of risking his life for anyone...

Kell, two time saviour of the Five Kingdoms, is now the King of Algany. He has fame, power, respect, and has never been more miserable...

Bound, by duty and responsibility, Kell is King only in name. Trapped in a loveless marriage, he leaves affairs of state to his wife, Sigrid. When his old friend, Willow, turns up asking him to go on a journey to her homeland he can't wait to leave.

The Malice, a malevolent poison that alters everything it infects, runs rampant across Willow's homeland. Desperate to find a cure her cousin, Ravvi, is willing to try a dark ritual which could damn her people forever. Journeying to a distant land, Kell and his companions must stop Ravvi before it's too late.While Kell is away Reverend Mother Britak's plans come to a head. Queen Sigrid must find a way to protect her family and her nation, but against such a ruthless opponent, something has to give...

Once, in the desert country of Miraji, there was a Sultan without an heir.

The heir had been killed by his own brother, the treacherous Rebel Prince, who was consumed by jealousy and sought the throne for himself.

Or so it was said by some. There were others who said that the Rebel Prince was not a traitor but a hero...

In the final battle for the throne, Amani must fight for everything she believes in, but with the rebellion in pieces, and the Sultan's armies advancing across the desert plains, who will lead, who will triumph, who will live and who will die?

The Coalition platoon continues to pursue the Army of the New Order in Maryland, as the ANO retools with the aid of demons and mercenaries. Other factors revolve around the platoon, as supernatural elements and independent warriors.

Meanwhile, some of the soldiers under Greg Merrick, including Merrick himself, are beginning to question their motives and beliefs, doubting the role of the Coalition's rigid views.

Sidewise award nominated novelette. It originally appreared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October-November 1999. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventeenth Annual Collection (2000), edited by Gardner Dozois, and One Lamp: Alternate History Stories from The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (2003), edited by Gordon Van Gelder.

NO ONE WANTS TO BE A HERO!

Heroism - a punishment for only the worst criminals. Those sentenced to the fate of a hero are forced to fight on the front lines against deadly centers of contagion that rot the land and turn its creatures into roving armies of violent beasts. And if a hero dies, their only reward is being brought back to life so they can continue the never-ending battle. But when Xylo Forbartz, a member of Penal Hero Unit 9004 and a convicted goddess killer, comes face-to-face with a new goddess, the pact they forge might just be enough to change the world...

NO REST FOR THE WICKED!

Xylo and his unit of penal heroes may have defeated the immortal demon lord Iblis and saved Mureed Fortress, but their punishment goes on. New enemies emerge--demon lord with the ability to don a human disguise and a band of assassins bent on killing Teoritta--plunging the city of Ioff into chaos and destruction. With the addition of a dragon knight who couldn't care less about human life and a mysterious artilleryman, Penal Hero Unit 9004 finds itself sinking ever deeper into a vortex of combat and conspiracy!

RACE TO RECLAIM THE CAPITAL!

The Second Capital has fallen to the Demon Blight, and it's up to the combined forces of the Noble Alliance, the Ninth Order of the Holy Knights, and Penal Hero Unit 9004 to retake it. But first, they must establish a base on snowy Mount Tujin, facing legions of faeries along the way. And once again, the heroes take the most dangerous role--serving as decoys! Meanwhile, as things on the battlefield take a grim turn, a pair of refugees stumble through the freezing wilderness, holding an important key to winning the war ahead.

When a troop of alien warriors demands the return of an imprisoned comrade -- a prisoner no one on Deep Space Nine knows anything about -- Commander Benjamin Sisko has a deadly fight on his hands. Under sudden attack from the heavily armed warriors, Sisko and his crew struggle desperately to repel the invaders and save the lives of everyone on board. Meanwhile, a strange device from the Gamma Quadrant has shifted Ferengi barkeeper Quark and Security Chief Odo three days into the future to a silent Deep Space Nine. To save the station they must discover what caused the invasion to take place, and find a pathway back through time itself.

Continuing the milestone 50th anniversary celebration of Star Trek--an epic new trilogy that stretches from the events of The Original Series movie The Search for Spock to The Next Generation!

The Klingon Empire stands on the precipice. In the wake of violence from the cult known as the Unsung, paranoia threatens to break Chancellor Martok's regime. Klingons increasingly call for a stronger hand to take control...one that Lord Korgh, master manipulator, is only too willing to offer.

But other forces are now in motion. Assisted by a wily agent, the Empire's enemies secretly conspire to take full advantage of the situation. Aboard the USS Titan, Admiral William T. Riker realizes far more than the Federation's alliance with the Klingons is in danger. With the Empire a wounded animal, it could either become an attacker--or a target.

Yet even as hostilities increase, Commander Worf returns to the USS Enterprise and Captain Jean-Luc Picard with a daring plan of his own. The preservation of both the Empire and the Federation alliance may hinge on an improbable savior leading a most unlikely force....

The third mass market paperback original in our brand-new Star Wars spin-off series, THE NEW JEDI ORDER - which launched in hardcover in October 1999 with VECTOR PRIME. HERO'S TRIAL is the first of a two-part adventure called Agents of Chaos, featuring Han Solo and is written by the co-author of the bestselling Robotech novels. Merciless attacks by an invincible alien have left the New Republic reeling. Dozens of worlds have succumbed to occupation or annihilation, and even the Jedi Knights have tasted defeat. In these darkest of times, the noble Chewbacca is laid to rest, having died as heroically as he lived - and a grief-stricken Han Solo is left to fit the pieces of his shattered life back together before he loses everything: friends, family and faith. Refusing help from Leia or Luke, Han becomes the loner he once was, seeking to escape the pain of his partner's death in adventure and revenge.

A dazzling epic of warfare and sacrifice, passionate revenge, treacherous betrayal, and unconquerable love, The Harsh Cry of the Heron takes the storytelling achievement of Lian Hearn's fantastic medieval Japanese world to startling new heights of drama and action. Fifteen years of peace and prosperity under the rule of Lord Otori Takeo and his wife Kaede is threatened by a rogue network of assassins, the resurgence of old rivalries, the arrival of foreigners bearing new weapons and religion, and an unfulfilled prophecy that Lord Takeo will die at the hand of a member of his own family.

The Harsh Cry of the Heron is the rich and stirring finale to a series whose imaginative vision has enthralled millions of readers worldwide, and an extraordinary novel that stands as a thrilling achievement in its own right.

THE EARTH HAS BEEN COLONISED.

Ben Mason fought the war and lost. The Earth has been taken by an implacable alien intelligence: our cities terraformed, our people broken.

Now Mason -- back in the arms of task force OMBRA -- needs answers to the most desperate questions. Can nothing be done? What do the invaders want with Earth?

When all hope of survival is gone, all that's left is to seek revenge...

Two worlds. One killer.

Renowned throughout the land of Ankhana, the assassin Caine has killed his share of monarchs and commoners, villains and heroes. He is relentless, unstoppable, the best at what he does.

At home in the real world, Caine is Hari Michaelson, a superstar whose adventures in Ankhana command an audience of billions. Yet he's shackled by a rigid caste society, bound to ignore the grim fact that he kills men on a far-off world for the entertainment of his own planet.

But now Michaelson has crossed the line. His estranged wife has disappeared in the slums of Ankhana. To save her, he must confront the greatest challenge of his life: a lethal game of cat and mouse with the most treacherous rulers of two worlds.

Welcome to the world of Caine: Assassin. Hero. Superstar...

When her brother Hiroki disappears after a violent altercation with school bullies, the young Yukiro finds a magical book in his room. The book leads her to another world where she learns that Hiroki has been possessed b a spirit from the Book of Heroes. She visits the magical Nameless Land, where she is told how to save her brother, and is sent back to Earth with a young monk named Sora and the magical book, now a mouse named Azu. Yuri has to piece together the mystery of Horiko, and has a library of pwerful magic books at her disposal to do so!

A series of murders shocks Tokyo's Shinjuku ward, but Shigenori, a retired police detective, is instead obsessed with a gargoyle that seems to move. College freshman Kotaro launches a web-based investigation of the killer, and comes to find that answers may lie within an abandoned building in the center of Japan's busiest neighborhood, and beyond the Gate of Sorrows. In this New Adult sequel to Miyabe's The Book of Heroes, you will meet monsters from other worlds and ordinary horrors that surpass even supernatural threats.

Shinichi Sotoyama might just be the world's most average high schooler. That is, until he finds himself summoned by the Blue Demon King to a fantasy world-just like his favorite RPG games! Except this Demon King is pathetically begging at his feet, lamenting the arrival of some "heroes"... who apparently, have infinite lives and respawn over and over again?!

Unlike his hysterical summoner, Shinichi coolly takes on the challenge of fending off these pesky heroes, literally shaking hands with the devil. But the demon clan is about to find out that his twisted mind is darker than the worst of them!

After defeating the heroes, Shinichi is ready to live out his happily ever after--until a powerful light spell blasts through the sky, marking the arrival of his newest enemy, the Saint! Shinichi is all too eager to take down this adversary, but when he realizes she's surrounded by holy warriors around the clock and won't fall for his sweet nothings, he scrambles to come up with another plan. The latest rendition of his genius scheme somehow involves the daughter of the Demon King and a dirty way to make her official debut... as an idol?!

Two new developments have emboldened Shinichi to storm the Holy City with Celes.

First: Saint Sanctina's officially joined his crew.

And second: he's got more supporters than ever rallying to unite humans and demons.

His next target? The Holy Mother Cardinal, Vermeita, who plays a critical role in the church. With a perfect plan to bring her down, Shinichi's got a real shot at human-demon harmony-until a certain man with the Goddess's blessing threatens to mess it all up, commanding an army of ten thousand heroes...

With all dirty schemes successfully deployed, Shinichi and his friends have finally gotten the church to agree to a temporary truce. Next up is... taking on the Goddess herself! Easier said than done, since they still have no leads on who she is or where she could be hiding. Their only hope is to locate a forest at the top of the Goddess's hit list, known for housing the Elven Tomb. But Shinichi will need to tread carefully: The elves protecting the sacred monument are so hostile toward humans that even the undying heroes are no match for them!

After escaping the Goddess's attacks by going deep into the Demon World, Shinichi is desperate to find a way to counterattack. But even when he scans the ancient texts to get a leg up on her, he doesn't come up with any leads. That's when he finds where the red dragon has been slumbering all this time. In this climactic volume, Shinichi realizes he needs to act now--if he wants a shot at taking the Goddess down for good!

Who knew life without the goddess could be so peaceful...? Just kidding! With nothing to believe in, the humans are in total chaos. Trouble is around every corner-no immortal heroes and too many demons, scheming government officials, and corrupt clergy members. As if that isn't enough, Shinichi needs to deliver on his promises and tie up all the loose ends... including picking a primary love interest to conclude the final volume of the series!

The return of Sorahb?

Legend has it that when Farsala most needs a warrior to lead it, Sorahb will be restored by the god Azura. That time has come. After a devastating loss to the army of the Hrum, Farsala has all but fallen. Only the walled city of Mazad and a few of the more uninhabitable regions remain free of Hrum rule, and they seem destined to fall as well. Farsala needs a champion now.

Three young people are waging battle as best they can. Soraya, Jiaan, and Kavi, their lives decimated by the Hrum, are each in a personal fight against their common enemy.

Apart, their chances are slim, as none of them are Sorahb reborn. United, perhaps they can succeed. But only Time's Wheel can bring them together -- if it turns the right way. If it doesn't, Farsala is surely doomed.

They say Black Dow's killed more men than winter, and clawed his way to the throne of the North up a hill of skulls. The King of the Union, ever a jealous neighbour, is not about to stand smiling by while he claws his way any higher. The orders have been given and the armies are toiling through the northern mud. Thousands of men are converging on a forgotten ring of stones, on a worthless hill, in an unimportant valley, and they've brought a lot of sharpened metal with them.

Bremer dan Gorst, disgraced master swordsman, has sworn to reclaim his stolen honour on the battlefield. Obsessed with redemption and addicted to violence, he's far past caring how much blood gets spilled in the attempt. Even if it's his own.

Prince Calder isn't interested in honour, and still less in getting himself killed. All he wants is power, and he'll tell any lie, use any trick, and betray any friend to get it. Just as long as he doesn't have to fight for it himself.

Curnden Craw, the last honest man in the North, has gained nothing from a life of warfare but swollen knees and frayed nerves. He hardly even cares who wins any more, he just wants to do the right thing. But can he even tell what that is with the world burning down around him?

Over three bloody days of battle, the fate of the North will be decided. But with both sides riddled by intrigues, follies, feuds and petty jealousies, it is unlikely to be the noblest hearts, or even the strongest arms that prevail. Three men. One battle. No Heroes.

There's no such thing as too much preparation!

The fate of the S-ranked world Gaeabrande rests with the novice goddess Ristarte. As she thumbs through the piles of duller-than-dull résumés for potential Heroes to summon, she hits the jackpot with Seiya Ryuuguuin, whose stats are so high for a level-1 Hero that he's practically cheating! (He's also pretty easy on the eyes.) But there's a catch. Seiya is cautious to a fault. If he goes to a weapons and armor shop, he asks for three sets of armor: one to wear, a spare, and a spare for the spare. Just in case. He always buys ridiculous amounts of supplies, trains like he's racing to max level, and won't hesitate to use his strongest skills even on a simple slime. With a Hero like Seiya on the job, which will run out first-the Demon Lord's forces or Ristarte's sanity...? The tale of the overpowered yet overly cautious Hero and the goddess who can't decide if she wants to kiss him or smack him begins!

Everything's gonna be okay...

The difficulty ramps up as Gaeabrande proves just how tough an S-ranked world can be! But whether his foe is a gargantuan lord of the flies boasting unparalleled speed and agility or an invulnerable god of death who makes all previous enemies seem like jokes, Seiya does what he does best... He retreats to the spirit world and trains like there's no tomorrow. Along his never-ending road to self-improvement, he encounters a new deity with a certain... quirk, masters an ability so far beyond overpowered that it's completely broken, and makes Rista extremely upset! Again! The kid gloves (and weighted bracelets) come off as the battle with the Demon Lord looms just beyond the horizon. But for all the training he's done, will Seiya be perfectly prepared this time...?

When the going gets tough, the tough get tougher!

Well, this isn't the homecoming anyone expected... After liberating Gaeabrande from the tyranny of the Demon Lord, Seiya and Rista are rewarded (punished, really) with a return trip to Ixphoria. But due to the pair's failure to save the B-ranked world, the baddies have leveled up and plunged Ixphoria into chaos, transforming it into an SS-ranked hellscape! With the added penalty of Rista's healing being sealed and no access to the Hero class, Seiya must now save the world as... a Jolly Piper...?

Robots versus Golems!

>Rampaging past his limits in his new Berserk Mode, Seiya emerges victorious from the battle with the Beast Emperor, Grandleon! But his struggles in the revamped world of Ixphoria have only just begun... Next on the chopping block is the Machine Emperor, Oxerio. His high-tech arsenal, replete with tens of thousands of killing machines, threatens to wipe Termine Kingdom off the map! Fortunately, Seiya's got a secret weapon! ...Sort of.

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN...

Beast Emperor Grandleon, Machine Emperor Oxerio, and Vengeful Empress Celemonic have all been defeated by the cautious Hero. As Seiya, Rista, Kiriko, and Jonde travel to the west to face the Death Emperor, the last of the Demon Lord's generals, though, they are wholly unprepared for what they find: a town full of happy people, all living peaceful lives. And why wouldn't they be? Accordingto them, the Demon Lord was defeated over a year ago by none other than Seiya Ryuuguuin himself! As the party's heads flood with questions, a familiar silhouette appears on the horizon...

The invasion of a malevolent deity has brought the spirit world to its knees!

Rista falls unconscious amid the turmoil, and when she next opens her eyes, she finds herself in a distorted version of Gaeabrande. Here, humans and demons have joined forces against a much greater foe, forging alliances as bizarre as Rosalie Roseguard and Chaos Machina! Nothing makes sense anymore, so why not double down on the madness? In order to save the spirit world, Seiya is summoned once again, and this time, his base of operations will be... the underworld!

I'M SORRY.

Feeling ill-prepared for the looming battle against his former pupil, Seiya returns to the underworld to acquire some new skills. But every boon gained from this realm comes at a cost--Rista's dignity. First, his group hones their stealth abilities by learning invisibility magic. Then, Seiya ventures to the Infinite Corridor to harness the powers of darkness! They'll need more than a couple new tricks to defeat Mash, the Dragon Lord, though. To gain an edge in the fight to come, they will have to peer into the past and learn the tragic origins of Warped Gaeabrande...

LIFE AFTER DEATH

Kaito Ukei was destined for greatness in his new world, landing himself the role of a hero and defeating the evil sorceress alongside a band of noble adventurers. When he's double crossed, though, and brutally murdered by his former allies, something inside him snaps. Death brings Kaito neither peace nor salvation. Rather, it instills in him a singular desire--to squeeze the life out of his blasted betrayers in the cruellest manner possible...! The strange twist of fate that gives him a second chance in the world with all his memories intact provides opportunity to do just that, and so begins his quest to stalk and torture the members of his former party in the bloodiest, unholiest, most sadistic ways imaginable!

COME HELL OR HIGH WATER

Now that Kaito Ukei's been given another shot at life, he has set out on his journey to exact revenge on the party members who brutally murdered him. He walks this path of vengeance with the beastfolk girl Minnalis, inching toward the capital to carry out his plan. Their first stop along the way? The City of Learning, Elmia. There, he brushes shoulders with the band of adventurers who purged the place most precious to him...as well as the damned Eumis--the traitorous spellcaster who turned her back on him in his time of need!

WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND

As Kaito plots his revenge against Eumis, he discovers that the spellcaster has bolstered her powers by selling her sister Shuria's soul to a demon. Not one to let an opportunity to humiliate his foes go to waste, Kaito saves the girl from the brink of death and invites her to join him and Minnalis on their quest for vengeance. Now the stage is set for the three partners in crime to corner their common enemy and strip her of everything she holds dear in a spectacular act of retribution...

The next target on Kaito's quest for vengeance is Grond the merchant, a money-hungry villain who goes as far as murder to satisfy his greed. But when Kaito finally gets Grond in his clutches, he forces the corrupt magnate to make an impossible choice: Would he rather part with his money or his life?

Sights set on their next target, Kaito, Minnalis, and Shuria travel to the magical city of Karvanheim, where they find Minnalis's traitorous childhood friends leading carefree lives. But soon, the partners in crime come across an obstacle not even Kaito could have foreseen: a merchant woman named Leone who was also summoned from Japan and remembers the world of Kaito's first life. Still possessed of her morals, Leone attempts to interfere with the trio's rampage of revenge... but there's no stopping Minnalis from exacting hellish reprisal on the people who doomed her to slavery and killed her mother.

A DEVASTATING HOMECOMING

Metelia ambushes Kaito just after he completes his latest feat of vengeance, forcing him through a portal to his home of present-day Japan. Stripped of his memories, Kaito comes to terms with his tragic new reality - a world where almost everyone he knows is dead, having been sacrificed when he was summoned as a hero the first time, and the few survivors of the incident are being hunted by a group of conspiracy theorists. Even this fragile status quo is disrupted when an assassin nearly succeeds in taking his life. But the brush with death restores Kaito's memories and powers, giving him the perfect opportunity to take revenge on his assailants and chart a course back to his partners in crime...

NO GOOD DEED GOES UNPUNISHED

After successfully coming back to the other world, Kaito happens upon Leticia, only to discover that she doesn't recognize him. From there, he and his two newest accomplices, Mai and Yuuto, travel to the town of Zolkia and start climbing the ranks at the Adventurers Guild. Don't think they've turned over a new leaf, however--it's all in service of drawing the attention of their next targets: a prince of the beast lands named Leon and Leticia's elder sister Lilia. In the past, this accomplished duo betrayed Kaito out of a conviction that it would save their realm.

But Kaito couldn't care less about their motivations; the only thing he's concerned with is returning the pain they inflicted on him, a thousand times over.

Jason has a problem. He doesn't remember anything before waking up on a school bus holding hands with a girl. Apparently she's his girlfriend Piper, his best friend is a kid named Leo, and they're all students in the Wilderness School, a boarding school for "bad kids." What he did to end up here, Jason has no idea - except that everything seems very wrong.

Piper has a secret. Her father has been missing for three days, and her vivid nightmares reveal that he's in terrible danger. Now her boyfriend doesn't recognize her, and when a freak storm and strange creatures attack during a school field trip, she, Jason, and Leo are whisked away to someplace called Camp Half-Blood. What is going on?

Leo has a way with tools. His new cabin at Camp Half-Blood is filled with them. Seriously, the place beats Wilderness School hands down, with its weapons training, monsters, and fine-looking girls. What's troubling is the curse everyone keeps talking about, and that a camper's gone missing. Weirdest of all, his bunkmates insist they are all - including Leo - related to a god.

Percy is confused. When he awoke after his long sleep, he didn't know much more than his name. His brain-fuzz is lingering, even after the wolf Lupa told him he is a demigod and trained him to fight. Somehow Percy managed to make it to the camp for half-bloods, despite the fact that he had to continually kill monsters that, annoyingly, would not stay dead. But the camp doesn't ring any bells with him.

Hazel is supposed to be dead. When she lived before, she didn't do a very good job of it. When the Voice took over her mother and commanded Hazel to use her "gift" for an evil purpose, Hazel couldn't say no. Now, because of her mistake, the future of the world is at risk.

Frank is a klutz. His grandmother claims he is descended from ancient heroes, but he doesn't even know who his father is. He keeps hoping Apollo will claim him, because the only thing he is good at is archery. His big and bulky physique makes him feel like a clumsy ox, especially in front of Hazel, his closest friend at camp. He trusts her completely?enough, even, to share the secret he holds close to his heart.

ONE FATAL PROPHECY
SEVEN BRAVE DEMIGODS
A QUEST TO FIND - AND CLOSE - THE DOORS OF DEATH

Percy, Hazel, and Frank met in Camp Jupiter, the Roman equivalent of Camp Halfblood, and traveled to the land beyond the gods to complete a dangerous quest. Now they will unite with Jason, Piper, and Leo. But they number only six - who will complete the Prophecy of Seven?

The Greek and Roman demigods will have to cooperate in order to defeat the giants released by the Earth Mother, Gaea. Then they will have to sail together to the ancient land to find the Doors of Death. What exactly are the Doors of Death? Much of the prophecy remains a mystery...

The stakes have never been higher. If Percy Jackson and Annabeth fail in their quest, there'll be hell on Earth. Literally.

Wandering the deadly realm of Tartarus, every step leads them further into danger. And, if by some miracle they do make it to the Doors of Death, there's a legion of bloodthirsty monsters waiting for them.

Meanwhile, Hazel and the crew of the Argo II have a choice: to stop a war or save their friends. Whichever road they take one thing is certain - in the Underworld, evil is inescapable.

Though the Greek and Roman crew members of the Argo II have made progress in their many quests, they still seem no closer to defeating the earth mother, Gaea. Her giants have risen - all of them - and they're stronger than ever.

They must be stopped before the Feast of Spes, when Gaea plans to have two demigods sacrificed in Athens. She needs their blood -the blood of Olympus - in order to wake. The demigods are having more frequent visions of a terrible battle at Camp Half-Blood. The Roman legion from Camp Jupiter, led by Octavian, is almost within striking distance. Though it is tempting to take the Athena Parthenos to Athens to use as a secret weapon, the friends know that the statue belongs back on Long Island, where it might be able to stop a war between the two camps. The Athena Parthenos will go west; the Argo II will go east.

The gods, still suffering from multiple personality disorder, are useless. How can a handful of young demigods hope to persevere against Gaea's army of powerful giants? As dangerous as it is to head to Athens, they have no other option. They have sacrificed too much already. And if Gaea wakes, it is game over...

Summoned to another world to serve as the Spear Hero, Motoyasu Kitamura is a pitiful young man who eventually finds himself only able to love filolials. But after being fatally injured in battle, Motoyasu wakes up yet again in the exact circumstances of when he was first summoned. It turns out that his spear possesses an ability known as Time Reversal! With his stats unaffected by the reset, Motoyasu decides to fight once more. His motivation: to once again see the smile of Filo, the filolial that he loves more than any other! Could this be considered the start of a new game in god mode?! The long-awaited otherworldly redemption fantasy begins!

Having obtained the ability Time Reversal, the Spear Hero Motoyasu Kitamura uses his power to change the past in his quest for world peace and to fulfill the wishes of his beloved Filo. In order to achieve his goal, he must protect the life of Naofumi Iwatani, whose safety is one of the conditions of the time loop. Under the belief that Naofumi's life is in danger in Melromarc, Motoyasu and Naofumi travel to Siltvelt. But even in Siltvelt, what disasters will befall them? Though Motoyasu finds Naofumi's plan to overcome their treacherous circumstances unbearable, he still proclaims: "I, Motoyasu Kitamura, shall guarantee victory no matter the odds!" Let the second chapter of this epic redemption fantasy begin!

Back to the beginning all over again. Can our heroes finally create a better future?

Armed with the ability to turn back time, Motoyasu Kitamura has reset the time loop again and again as he gropes around blindly for a way to meet his beloved Filo. Along the way, the waves of destruction hit Melromarc, and history repeats itself. The Bow Hero, Itsuki, is tricked by the king into a duel with Naofumi! Motoyasu declares, "Well, there isn't any problem with me fighting Itsuki as Father's representative, is there, now?"

In a world that keeps getting reset, will the effects of changing roles finally become clear? The much anticipated third installment of this otherworldly fantasy adventure begins now!

Naofumi Iwatani, an uncharismatic Otaku who spends his days on games and manga, suddenly finds himself summoned to a parallel universe! He discovers he is one of four heroes equipped with legendary weapons and tasked with saving the world from its prophesied destruction. As the Shield Hero, the weakest of the heroes, all is not as it seems. Naofumi is soon alone, penniless, and betrayed. With no one to turn to, and nowhere to run, he is left with only his shield. Now, Naofumi must rise to become the legendary Shield Hero and save the world!

Naofumi Iwatani continues his adventure in this second volume. But his task is not yet complete and obstacles mount as the increasingly ominous waves of destruction approach. He finds a new friend and new powerful abilities that may prove to be too dangerous for the companionship. Will Naofumi live up to his role as the Shield Hero and save the world from its prophesized destruction? Or will his dark side consume him?

Naofumi Iwatani, still beset by enemies, continues to adventure and battle his way through a fantasy world--a world he was suddenly thrown into without warning. In the third volume of this epic series, he encounters new friends and foes. A powerful threat revels herself in the midst of an epic battle. A new companion with a penchant for magical birds, and tied to the royal family, appears at his side. And once again we find Naofumi plotted against, set up, and betrayed. Will Naofumi escape his pursuers and help the poor people of this strange world? Or is he forever doomed by the aggression that threatens to overcome him from all sides--and from within?

Naofumi is on the run. Relentlessly pursued by Motoyasu and the others, Naofumi turns to a new friend for help--but things are not as they seem. A corrupt nobleman from Raphtalia's past returns to unleash an ancient beast. Too large and ferocious for Naofumi to handle, the party seems to have met its match when yet another mysterious character makes her debut. Soon later, the mastermind behind Naofumi's troubles is revealed. Enemies come out into the open as an epic battle for the fate of the heroes unfolds--just in time for the long-missing queen to arrive. The truth behind Naofumi's betrayal, the secret of the Church of the Three Heroes, and reasons for the mounting tensions of war are finally brought to light, just as newer, deeper mysteries come to the surface!

Naofumi is off to the Cal Mira islands, where he plans to continue leveling up. Soon after arriving he meets a mysterious young man named L'Arc Berg. But how will this curious new character impact Naofumi's adventures? Surrounded by mystery and intrigue, Glass makes her second appearance. Aneko Yusagi's epic fantasy continues in volume 5!

After their battle with Glass, Naofumi and the other heroes have a meeting with the queen and Naofumi is shocked to learn about the seven star heroes. Still reeling from this revelation, more drama unfolds on the islands before Naofumi and his party can return to Melromarc. He meets Rishia, who is betrayed by Itsuki and his party members. Naofumi sympathizes with her and invites her to join his party. Eventually, Naofumi discovers that she has a talent for magic, but before they can develop her powers, they are needed elsewhere. A massive monster bearing the appearance of a giant tortoise must be defeated. The monster is so powerful that even the mightiest adventurers cannot defeat him--so what hope is there for Naofumi?

Naofumi and his friends defeat the Spirit Tortoise after it rampages across the country. They leave in search of the other missing heroes and meet Ost along the way, who says she is one of the Spirit Tortoise's servants. She tells Naofumi that the Spirit Tortoise is still alive and that someone is pulling the strings to use the tortoise to destroy the world! Can Naofumi protect those he loves from this new danger?

At a critical moment, Naofumi and the others are saved by a young girl. Ost's sacrifice is enough to save them from their battle to the death with Kyo, but Kyo's able to escape to another world. Naofumi attempts to follow him, but he awakens to find himself in prison! His friends are scattered and he finds himself back at level one. How will Naofumi survive the new challenges that await him?

"I will see to your punishment. Come at me!"

Yomogi, a female samurai, attacks Naofumi and his team. The Shield Hero, Naofumi, finds himself separated from his companions--and reduced to level one! With the help of Kizuna, one of the holy heroes from the new world, he is able to reunite with his friends.

Naofumi prepares to battle their enemy Kyo, but then Yomogi attacks, declaring she is acting on Kyo's behalf. In the middle of battle, Naofumi notices something strange about her powerful weapon--but what is it?

Finishing the battle with Kyo, Naofumi and his friends return safely to their world. The queen of Melromarc wishes to reward Naofumi for saving the world from the Spirit Tortoise.

"Then can I have my own land?"

After thinking about what he could do for his friend and partner, Raphtalia, Naofumi decides the best thing for their future would be the establishment of their own settlement-and he decides to build it on the ruins of Raphtalia's old hometown! The start of a whole new chapter in our hero's life begins here, in volume ten of this otherworld revenge fantasy!

Having claimed his victory at the coliseum tournament, Naofumi successfully frees the demi-human slaves to return to their village. When they arrive back at the village, Naofumi receives news on the whereabouts of Motoyasu, the Spear Hero. In order to capture him, Naofumi organizes a manhunt, but it leads him to a scene of carnage involving the Sword Hero, Motoyasu, and Bitch.

"If that's all you can say to your friends that believed in you... You're not worthy of being called a hero. You're not even worthy of being called a human!"

Faced with an unchanged Sword and Spear Hero, Naofumi completely loses it! In the midst of all of this, assassins after Naofumi's life suddenly appear, and everything spirals out of control! The time to cut past ties has finally come in volume eleven of this otherworld revenge fantasy!?

After defeating seemingly immortal invaders from another world, Naofumi finally manages to convince the Sword Hero, Ren Amaki, to reconsider his ways. Having reclaimed their peaceful day-to-day lives, Naofumi and his slaves head back to the colosseum to hone their skills in battle. But once there, they are confronted by an unbelievable sight: the Bow Hero has assumed an alias and is completely absorbed in earning fight purses in blind pursuit of his own sense of justice!

With the Bow Hero being manipulated by the wicked Witch and consumed by a curse, will Naofumi be able to bring him to his senses?! Will the quest to reform the heroes finally come to a conclusion?! Find out in volume twelve of this otherworldly revenge fantasy!

After they were summoned to another world, the other three heroes persist in behaving as if they are playing a game. But the Shield Hero, Naofumi Iwatani, finally convinces them to change their ways and make them face reality. Later, after a journey riddled with difficulties, Naofumi and crew finally arrive in Q'ten Lo, a country that has made repeated attempts on Raphtalia's life.

They initially infiltrate the country with the intention of making its inhabitants pay for its tyrannical actions, but it turns out that even its own citizens are suffering as a result of incompetent rulers. "We'll start by bringing assistance from Siltvelt to the town, and then it's a charge to victory!" They start a rebellion to overthrow the government.

But right in the middle of it, Naofumi and his crew's abilities are nullified by mysterious weapons designed for use against the heroes! What will their fate be?! What will become of their raid on this uncharted land?! Find out in volume thirteen of this otherworldly revenge fantasy!

The Heavenly Emperor of Q'ten Lo is after Raphtalia's life! To ensure her saftey, Naofumi must team up with the country's revolutionaries to overthrow him! But when they go about fixing the problems of the country's misrule, it drives the emperor even further into a corner. Nevertheless, Naofumi decides to add fuel to the fire by capturing the country's former capital! But he learns that someone is pulling the strings from behind the curtain.

"Whatever. Our only choice is to keep pushing forward. There's no stopping now."

After the successful revolt in Q'ten Lo, Naofumi returns to his village headquarters. Meanwhile, things in Melromarc continue to deteriorate, so he sets out to restore public order before strengthening his village residents. Now, with more allies than ever, Naofumi is faced with deciding who will participate in the battle against the Phoenix. Not everyone agrees with his choices.

"I can't guarantee I'll be able to protect all of you. Knowing that, if you're not confident you can make it back alive, then don't come!"

A difference of opinion causes friends to butt heads, but their bonds only grow stronger as a result. And then the day that everyone has so painstakingly prepared for arrives?the Phoenix finally appears! But a completely unexpected turn of events awaits. Naofumi is doomed to experience unthinkable grief in volume fifteen of this otherworldly fantasy!

After traveling to Faubrey to meet the country's seven star hero, Naofumi finds himself faced with Takt, the Whip Hero. It was this same Takt, along with his disdainful attitude, that ultimately caused the death of Atla in the battle against the Phoenix. Fueled by rage, Naofumi tries to fight Takt, but Takt steals the shield that Naofumi thought was permanently attached to his arm. With his defenses weakened, Naofumi suffers a critical injury and finds himself in a mysterious, unfamiliar world. There, he finds a reassuring ally waiting for him. But once again, Naofumi is forced to make an impossibly difficult decision.

"It really was more baggage than anyone should be forced to carry. But actually, I couldn't say I minded."

Naofumi's rise to glory continues in volume sixteen of this otherworldly fantasy!

A return to Kizuna's world! Now the party must face a horde of traitors?!

At a request for aid from Ethnobalt, Naofumi heads back to Kizuna's world. There he is safely reunited with Raphtalia, as well as other friends including L'Arc. They tell him that enemies, presumably a vanguard for the waves, have defeated the Heroes in this world and completely taken over. Naofumi and his party hurry to confront these foes, both to rescue the captured Kizuna and finally discover the adversary behind the waves. However, among their opponents they see a number of familiar faces!

"If it's revenge you're after, I'll lend a hand! I despise all liars and traitors."

Time for payback! Get ready for the seventeenth volume of this still rising otherworld fantasy!

Naofumi obtains the mirror vassal weapon from Kizuna's world, which can enhance abilities through food. Now Naofumi and his allies start stuffing their faces for the sake of getting stronger! But there's a limit to how much volume they can stomach. Seeking food that can better boost their abilities in smaller servings, the party heads to a town inhabited by a famous chef. However, after a trivial comment, Naofumi finds himself facing down the chef in an all-out cooking battle!

"There's nothing fair, and no rules in this place! That means only a master of foul play and cunning will be the victor!"

How will Naofumi's cooking skills, so praised by his allies, fare in this culinary challenge amid unknown surroundings? Get ready to feast on the eighteenth volume of this still rising otherworld fantasy!

Returning to the well of forbidden power?! Time to unleash some inner wrath!

After his cooking battle escalated to open warfare, the Shield Hero Naofumi has finally obtained the truth about the Vanguards of the Waves. After the Demon Dragon takes a liking to Naofumi, she proposes heading to a castle located on the continent that she once ruled. Once there Naofumi and his party are attacked by thugs pretending to be treasure hunters, but they swiftly deal with this threat. However, this encounter causes a chain reaction that leads to Naofumi squaring off with S'yne's sister and Witch herself. Faced with foes wielding both holy and vassal weapons obtained by illicit means, the Demon Dragon makes an alarming suggestion?for Naofumi to unleash the power of his rage!

"Never! I made a promise to myself that I would never rely on that anger?on the power of rage again."

When Naofumi's rage is forcibly unleashed, what will happen to him and everyone he cares for? Find out in the nineteenth volume of this still rising otherworld fantasy!

Naofumi and his companions have had their entire village transported to an unfamiliar location. Who should they find waiting for them... but the Shield Hero?!

The Shield Hero Naofumi and his allies have returned home from Kizuna's world. Paying heed to S'yne's sister's warnings, Naofumi remains alert while dealing with all the reports and incidents from his absence. However, after returning to the village that acts as his base of operations, he is suddenly enveloped in a mysteriously blinding light?and the entire village is transported into unfamiliar surroundings!

"You have to decide for yourselves whether our words are true or not. But first, tell me something. Who are you?"

A youth appears in front of Naofumi and his friends?a youth claiming to be the Shield Hero!

The Shield Hero Naofumi and his allies have been caught up in a strange phenomenon and sent flying back into the past, village and all.

Naofumi enters into an uneasy alliance with Mamoru, the Shield Hero of the past, but Naofumi remains unable to completely trust him, suspicious of his actions.

One night, one of the orphans under Mamoru's care comes to find Naofumi. The child proceeds to lead him to a chamber below Siltran Castle.

"What kind of facility is this?"

Just what has Mamoru been gathering up these orphans for? The action continues in the twenty-first volume of this still rising otherworld fantasy!

The minor nation of Siltran, with the aid of the Naofumi's village, has managed to drive off the assault of the massive nation of Piensa. But Piensa then begins to invade the nations that have come seeking an alliance with Siltran. Some of Naofumi's allies who are scouting Piensa get caught up in the chaos and are badly injured as a result?and to make matters worse, the injuries as marked as incurable, unable to be treated even by the Shield Hero no matter what Naofumi tries.

"I'll do whatever it takes to save my friends!"

Could Naofumi's brave determination lead to the discovery of new powers?! The healing begins in the twenty-second volume of this still rising otherworld fantasy!

Gil Tyner has plans for the future: he's going to be a computer programmer in the bustling technology Mecca of Silicon Valley. And as his 21st birthday approaches, he's on the cusp of realizing his goals.

But fate has other plans. A note from his mother on his birthday propels Gil into The Buffer Zone, seven magical kingdoms that stand between our world and the realm of the immortal elves.

Gil's about to learn that plans can change. When destiny calls, he'll discover that the life he'd imagined and the life he'll lead will be very different.

On his 21st birthday, Gil Tyner stepped through a portal into the magical Buffer Zone between our world and the land of the fairies, leaving his life as a college student behind. Torn from everything he'd ever known, Gil rose to the challenge and mastered his new surroundings, becoming a slayer of both elves and dragons.

But now the Buffer Zone faces a threat that will push even Gil to his limits, a menace that could propel rampaging dragons into the world Gil left behind.

To stop it, Gil will need to seek a treasure, but its recovery may prove more dangerous than even the dragons themselves...

When seven moons rise, the world will end.

So the prophecy says, and so it is being carried out. In the magical world of Varay, more and more moons rise. On earth, nuclear war lays the planet to waste.

Gil Tyner, Hero of Varay, must make common cause with his sworn enemy, the Elflord, to avert the end of everything.

As the boundaries between earth and the realm of magic begin to blur, Gil must brave dangers in both worlds, until he finally stands against an entity so mighty that their battle will either avert Armageddon, or destroy everything we've ever known.

In the time of the Ancients the universe was united--but that was so far in the past that not even memory remains, only the broken artifacts that a few Makers can reshape into their original uses. What survives is shattered into enclaves--some tiny, some ruined, some wild.

Into the gaps between settlements, and onto the Road that connects all human reality and the reality that is not human and may never have been human, have crept monsters. Some creatures are men, twisted into inhuman evil; some of them are alien to Mankind--

And there are things which are hostile to all life, things which will raven and kill until they are stopped.

A Leader has arisen, welding the scattered human settlements together in peace and safety and smashing the enemies of order with an iron fist. In his capital, Dun Add, the Leader provides law and justice. In the universe beyond, his Champions advance--and enforce--the return of civilization.

Pal, a youth from the sticks, has come to Dun Add to become a Champion. Pal is a bit of a Maker, and in his rural home he's been able to think of himself as a warrior because he can wield the weapons of the Ancient civilization.

Pal has no idea of what he's really getting into in Dun Add. On the other hand, the Leader and Dun Add have no real idea of what might be inside this hayseed with high hopes.

THE SPARK: A story of hope and violence and courage. And especially, a story of determination.

THE THRILLING RE-TELLING OF ARTHURIAN LEGEND FROM MASTER OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY DAVID DRAKE CONTINUES! A young Champion must rescue a friend and battle an enemy at the heart of a chaotic world.

The universe has shattered into chaos and monsters. Jon, the Leader, is dedicating his life to reuniting the scattered hamlets into a Commonwealth where all humans can live protected against the darkness and the things that live in that darkness.

But no man can reshape the universe by himself. Jon has Makers to build weapons and clerks to handle the business of government--but he also needs Champions to face the powers of chaos which will not listen to any argument but force.

Lord Pal of Beune is one of those Champions. He has fought monsters and evil on behalf of Mankind, and he will fight them again. But now Guntram, the man who transformed Pal from an ignorant rube into a bulwark of the Commonwealth, has disappeared. Pal must locate his friend and mentor--and then he must battle an entity which may be at the core of the splintered universe!

Pal of Beune: A humane man in a universe full of inhumanity.

Pal of Beune: A strong man in a universe where some recognize only strength.

Pal of Beune: A hero who will keep going until something stops him--and who hasn't been stopped yet!

Jon of Dun Add has created a civilization where before there had only been isolated pockets of humanity in a shattered cosmos.

Young knight Pal is one of the most respected members of Lord Jon's Hall of Champions. But Pal's greatest talent lies not on the field of battle, though he's no slouch there. He is also a Maker, one who can repair the tools the Ancients had left--sometimes. Moreover, he has learned to use his warrior dog's ability to predict motion better than any human could, an ability that has saved his skin and won the day more than once.

Now, Pal will need all his talent--as a fighter, as a Maker, and as a Champion--to deal with the monsters the Waste throws at him--and to deal with his fellow humans. For there are those who would destroy Dun Add and Lord Jon's vision of a humanity united in peace from within...

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology Eclipse Two: New Science Fiction and Fantasy (2008), edited by Jonathan Strahan. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection (2009), edited by Gardner Dozois.

A vicious scourge emerges to claim the Old World

Warlord Queek Headtaker is unlike other skaven, a fearless warrior, a general who leads from the front and the grim victor of many great battles. When King Kazador begins to gather an army at Karak Azul it falls to Queek to lead a surprise attack on the hold, but even one as cunning as he cannot resist the chance to face such a renowned hero of the dwarfs in single combat. With old enemies moving against him on both sides of the conflict, he musters his stormvermin for war...

Demoness of the Warhammer Fantasy world

Warrior-maiden and consort of the blood god Khorne, the name of Valkia the Bloody is feared among all the tribes of the north - friend and foe alike. From her earliest days as a shield bearer for her father King Merroc, she has known nothing but unending warfare and the brutal politics of the tribal leaders, and soon reaches out to seize power for herself. Though her feral beauty might attract unlikely suitors and her enemies may plot against her in secret, Valkia holds the patronage of the Ruinous Powers, and Khorne will not allow his chosen queen to fall...

The latest Warhammer Heroes book from an old favorite of BL fans

Egrimm van Horstmann is the most promising wizard the College of Light has ever seen. Surpassing his mentors and reaching new heights of magical power, he seems destined to lead the College into a bright new future. But van Horstmann's true motives are sinister - he plans to unleash an ancient dragon imprisoned beneath the college and bring ruin to the Empire, in the name of the Dark Gods.

The rise of the goblin king

The goblin chieftain Skarsnik's name is known and feared throughout the Old World. When a greenskin horde threatens the borders of the Empire, the greatest military minds in Altdorf seek assistance from a most unlikely source - the disgraced poet Jeremiah Bickenstadt. Though long since consumed by madness, he claims to have spent a great deal of time in the company of the feared Warlord of the Eight Peaks, and can offer a unique insight into what it is that drives and motivates him. From humble beginnings, a monstrous legend is born.

Prince Sigvald the Magnificent has struck a pact with his Slaaneshi masters that bestows incredible power and beauty, but drives him to ever greater acts of hedonism. Despite his pre-eminence, the champion of Chaos is tricked into an impossible war with the promise of a powerful artefact to slake his dark desires. After centuries of debauchery, Sigvald rouses his army and leads them to battle against the legions of the Blood God Khorne. Obsessed with the Brass Skull, the object of his misguided yearnings, Sigvald is unaware his enemies are closing in around him. In a hellish quest that drives him across the twisted landscape of the Chaos Wastes and culminates in an epic confrontation, he realise that the lures of Slaanesh can never be sated.

Bloodthirsty vampire lord the Red Duke is resurrected from his ancient slumber to terrorise the lands of Bretonnia.

Emerging from the mists, Wulfrik the Wanderer brings destruction and death everywhere he treads. Cursed by the Ruinous Powers, the champion must seek prizes to appease the forces of Chaos. His unholy quest takes him to distant lands and pits him against foes no mortal man could defeat, but his blade is inescapable and his determination unrelenting. With the gift of tongues, he challenges any who stand in his way, an invitation to battle that cannot be refused. But now dark forces plot against Wulfrik, and he must discover the enemy within or else his soul will be lost to the Dark Gods forever.

A great hero of the Warhammer world who is both warrior and priest fights against evil in the old world.

Few warrior priests are as devout - or as feared - as Luthor Huss. When dark forces rise in the Drakwald forest, Huss unleashes the fury of Sigmar on the corrupt servants of Chaos.

Witch hunter Lukas Eichmann investigates a series of bizarre murders, which ultimately lead him into the haunted depths of the Empire at the head of an army of fanatical warriors. In the Drakwald forest, Luthor Huss, warrior priest of Sigmar, battles to free the denizens of the forest from a plague of the walking dead. As their fates entwine, the two warriors confront a threat that will decide their future, while Huss must face a secret from his past if he is to survive and embrace his destiny as the Hammer of Sigmar.

Fresh from the slaughter of the Emperor's enemies in the north, Ludwig Schwarzhelm, Emperor's Champion, is sent to Averland to oversee the inauguration of a new elector count. Beset by greenskins, and hampered on all sides by the ambitions of rival magnates, he is soon fighting to keep the fractious province together. But the rot runs deep. Powerful forces in Altdorf seem determined to see him fail, and suspicion falls on even his most trusted allies. When all is at its bleakest, the mark of Chaos and the full horror of his task is finally revealed. Alone, doubted by those closest to him, this will be Schwarzhelm's greatest ever challenge, one on which the destiny of the Empire itself depends.

Averland burns. An army of cultists rises in the corrupted city of Averheim. The Grand Theogonist Volkmar marches towards the capital in a race to snuff out the rebellion before it grows too widespread to defeat.

Once there was a slink-chunk, slam-dunk band called The Goat Guys

Cherokee Bat danced and sang. Witch Baby, Cherokee's almost-sister, pounded the beat on her drums. Raphael played the guitar, and Angel Juan kept the rhythm on his bass. They made music that sparkled like fireworks, and audiences loved them.

But with success came power, and power was a dangerous thing. Cherokee and The Goat Guys were swept up in it-and soon it was threatening to destroy them.

Until Cherokee realized that it was up to her to save them all...

What would have happened if history had been different - if the major events that shaped our times had occurred in a different way...or not at all? In this intriguing volume, fifteen of science fiction's most imaginative minds alter the past to create a present of startling posibilities. From a Confederacy that won the Civil War to a Europe converted to Viking paganism, from Albert Einstein as a frustrated violin teacher to a Christian Genghis Khan, these bold excursions in time depict bizarre new worlds - oddly familiar, yet disturbingly different.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Gregory Benford
• A Sleep and a Forgetting - (1989) - shortstory by Robert Silverberg
• The Old Man and C - (1989) - shortstory by Sheila Finch
• The Last Article - (1988) - novelette by Harry Turtledove
• Mules in Horses' Harness - novelette by Michael Cassutt
• Lenin in Odessa - shortstory by George Zebrowski
• Abe Lincoln in McDonald's - (1989) - shortstory by James Morrow
• Another Goddamned Showboat - shortstory by Barry N. Malzberg
• Loose Cannon - novelette by Susan Shwartz
• A Letter from the Pope - novelette by Harry Harrison and Tom Shippey
• Roncesvalles - novelette by Judith Tarr
• His Powder'd Wig, His Crown of Thornes - (1989) - shortstory by Marc Laidlaw
• Departures - (1989) - shortstory by Harry Turtledove
• Instability - (1988) - shortstory by Rudy Rucker and Paul Di Filippo
• No Spot of Ground - (1989) - novella by Walter Jon Williams

George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards multi-author shared-world universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. Now, in addition to overseeing the ongoing publication of new Wild Cards books (like 2011's Fort Freak), Martin is also commissioning and editing new Wild Cards stories for publication on Tor.com. Daniel Abraham's "When We Were Heroes" is an affecting examination of celebrity, privacy, and the different ways people deal with notoriety and fame--problems not made easier when what you're famous for are superpowers that even you don't fully understand.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

Rough-and-tumble Saturday Woodcutter thinks she's the only one of her sisters without any magic--until the day she accidentally conjures an ocean in the backyard. With her sword in tow, Saturday sets sail on a pirate ship, only to find herself kidnapped and whisked off to the top of the world. Is Saturday powerful enough to kill the mountain witch who holds her captive and save the world from sure destruction? And, as she wonders grumpily, "Did romance have to be part of the adventure?" As in Enchanted, readers will revel in the fragments of fairy tales that embellish this action-packed story of adventure and, yes, romance.