Search Worlds Without End

Within the concealing walls of an elegant forty-storey tower block, the affluent tenants are hell-bent on an orgy of destruction. Cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on 'enemy' floors and the once-luxurious amenities become an arena for technological mayhem!In this classic visionary tale, human society slips into violent reverse as the inhabitants of the high-rise, driven by primal urges, recreate a world ruled by the laws of the jungle.

Charles is an ugly, potbellied, acne-scarred line chef with a deformed left hand that triggers massive seizures. After a run-in with a cop and his dog, Charles is thrust into death, only to be risen again with the newfound ability to kill people simply by touching them.

His mission, of course, is to annihilate the human race.

Annabelle is a fiery redhead, physically blind, with a serious appetite for apocalyptic mayhem. She is charged with guiding and orchestrating Charles on his journey to "save" humanity.

Relishing the opportunity to make the world suffer, Charles embraces his bloody destiny, but as his killing touch spreads death and destruction, self-doubt and self-loathing plague him as he falls for Annabelle.

As his feelings deepen, Charles wonders if he has been shunned by society for most of his existence or if his loneliness is a by-product of his own ignorance. As realization flowers and regrets begin to surface, he must make a choice between the screams of the dead and the pleas of the living.

Does all of humanity really deserve to perish at his hands? Is it too late for Charles to defy death, escape meat-cleaver-wielding pro-human maniacs, prevent zombie hordes from rising, and stop the cataclysmic forces raging inside his body?

Or does the human virus need to be destroyed once and for all?

Science fiction novel, first serialized in Vertex Magazine (October and December 1974). First novel about a commune in post technological California -- a setting in which animals and plants have acquired intelligence and many humans have somehow acquired esp ability. An intriguing, successful debut.

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in the October and December 1974 editions of Vertex: The Magazine of Science Fiction. There are no other know publications but the novella was later expanded to the full novel Sunrise West (1981).

Billy Scawen and his son, Jack are local fisherman of the sleepy coastal, Cornish village of Bosbradoe.

This season, the fishing has been particularly bad.

What could be causing this shortage of fish?

Twenty-five years ago, Billy had skippered a trawler out of Penzance. That had been in the days when the Cornish fishing fleet was a force to be reckoned with.

Without protection for native fishermen, the Cornish seas were being farmed bare by the factory trawlers from upcountry, from France and even from the Soviet Union.

This meant the locals had to go further and further afield just to make their living.

While out to sea, aboard their ship, Ysolt IV, Billy and Jack have no choice but to explore further to find a decent haul.

Suddenly, something hard seemed to smash into the underside of the boat. The waters around them seemed to erupt. Billy Scawen's mouth dropped open in horror, the briar pipe falling to the boards and smashing to pieces.

Then young Jack Scawen gave one long, piercing shriek of terror...

Jasper Fforde's first stand-alone novel - full of the imagination, wit and intelligence that has made Fforde a number one best seller.

Every Winter, the human population hibernates.

During those bitterly cold four months, the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness and devoid of human activity.

Well, not quite.

Your name is Charlie Worthing, and it's your first season with the Winter Consuls, the committed but mildly unhinged group of misfits who are responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses.

You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams which you dismiss as nonsense - nothing more than a quirky artefact born of the sleeping mind.

When the dreams start to kill people, it's unsettling.

When you get the dreams too, it's weird.

When they start to come true, you begin to doubt your sanity.

But teasing truth from Winter is never easy: You have to avoid the Villains and their penchant for murder, kidnapping and stamp collecting, ensure you aren't eaten by Nightwalkers, whose thirst for human flesh can be satisfied only by comfort food, and sidestep the increasingly less-than-mythical WinterVolk.

But so long as you remember to wrap up warmly, you'll be fine.

When Melisande Stokes, an expert in linguistics and languages, accidently meets military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons in a hallway at Harvard University, it is the beginning of a chain of events that will alter their lives and human history itself. The young man from a shadowy government entity approaches Mel, a low-level faculty member, with an incredible offer. The only condition: she must sign a nondisclosure agreement in return for the rather large sum of money.

Tristan needs Mel to translate some very old documents, which, if authentic, are earth-shattering. They prove that magic actually existed and was practiced for centuries. But the arrival of the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment weakened its power and endangered its practitioners. Magic stopped working altogether in 1851, at the time of the Great Exhibition at London's Crystal Palace -- the world's fair celebrating the rise of industrial technology and commerce. Something about the modern world "jams" the "frequencies" used by magic, and it's up to Tristan to find out why.

And so the Department of Diachronic Operations -- D.O.D.O. -- gets cracking on its real mission: to develop a device that can bring magic back, and send Diachronic Operatives back in time to keep it alive... and meddle with a little history at the same time. But while Tristan and his expanding operation master the science and build the technology, they overlook the mercurial -- and treacherous -- nature of the human heart.

Shaw had a breakdown, but he's getting himself back together. He has a single room, a job on a decaying London barge, and an on-off affair with a doctor's daughter called Victoria, who claims to have seen her first corpse at age fourteen.

It's not ideal, but it's a life. Or it would be if Shaw hadn't got himself involved in a conspiracy theory that, on dark nights by the river, seems less and less theoretical...

Meanwhile, Victoria is up in the Midlands, renovating her dead mother's house, trying to make new friends. But what, exactly, happened to her mother? Why has the local waitress disappeared into a shallow pool in a field behind the house? And why is the town so obsessed with that old Victorian morality tale, The Water Babies?

As Shaw and Victoria struggle to maintain their relationship, the sunken lands are rising up again, unnoticed in the shadows around them.

Nebula- and Sidewise-winning, Sturgeon-nominated Novella

In her compelling novella about the Incan empire, Vylar treats us to an alternate look at the history of the New World.

"What if the Incas had held off Pizarro's initial Conquistador attack (he only had 168 men), and figured out how to hold off smallpox through public health and hygiene measures? In this story, they would have been able to sort out how to hold on to their empire in the face of European imperialism. That makes for many changes in the Western world - the Americans come to visit in 1806 with a proposal to sell them the technique of vaccination. And so hangs the tale. We get a good exposition of Incan culture as Kaftan speculates it would develop. It's not a whitewash - it has plenty to say about the shortcomings of both Incan and American culture."
(synopsis from Happiness is Free SF)

Read this story online for free at the author's website.

WFA nominated short story. It originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January 1986.

Dino is a documentary filmmaker, haunted by the ghost of his ex-girlfriend who was killed in a car crash while with another man. As Dino shoots his latest documentaryon the vandalism occurring in the woods of his hometown, he tries to move on from her unexpected death. But when his life starts to look up, the ghost encroaches on his property. The focus of the film begins to blur as the lens of the camera shifts onto Dino, the director succumbing to his ghostly obsession.

This novelette originally appeared in Interzone, #217 August 2008. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 14 (2009), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Never Never Stories (2011).

This short story originally appeared in Realms of Fantasy, August 2006, and was reprinted in Lightspeed, April 2016. It is included in the collection Long Walks, Last Flights & Other Strange Journeys (2008).

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

An anthology of short stories on the theme of outlaw bodies: how will bodies be controlled in the future? What kinds of bodies, modifications, choices will be repressed (or compulsory)? How does transgressing the norms of body-identity make us who we are? Nine authors explore these themes through speculative stories that touch on gender, sexuality, sexual identity, disability, self-image, prosthetics and robotics.

• Emily Capettini, "Elmer Bank"
• Anna Caro, "Millie"
• Fabio Fernandes, "The Remaker"
• Vylar Kaftan, "She Called me Baby"
• Lori Selke, "Frankenstein Unraveled"
• Stacy Sinclair, "Winds: NW 20 km/hr"
• M. Svairini, "Mouth"
• Jo Thomas, "Good Form"
• Tracie Welser, "Her Bones, Those of the Dead"

Plus introduction by Lori Selke and afterword by Kathryn Allan.

It begins with the sound of a voice...

Derek Nilsson is an elite programmer toiling away at BitJockey.com while he spends all of his available time in pursuit of an enigmatic and possibly world-altering trove of data that has disappeared off the grid. When a message comes through his computer claiming to have all of the answers Derek seeks, he has no choice but to go where the voice leads him.

Where it leads him is far beyond the comforts of his console. To a world of ancient goddesses and ageless mysteries he was never aware of. To an encounter with a past that Derek believed was long gone. To a woman who engages his mind and spirit in unprecedented ways. And to a spirit that motivates him, seduces him, and puts everything that matters to him at risk. This spirit that might literally lead him to move mountains -- if it doesn't kill him first.

In the jungles of South America, on the ice fields of Alaska, the plains of the Midwest, and the streets of San Francisco, a fearsome battle rages. The insects are vying for world domination; the inventors of electricity stand in evil opposition. Bug, a young man, rebels against his own kind and joins forces with the insects. Wayne, a thug, allies himself with the malevolent forces of electricity and vows to assassinate the praying mantis who tends bar in Oregon.

In Echo Hill, Ohio, the dead begin to reappear, manifesting in various forms, from classic ghosts and poltergeists, to physical undead and bizarre apparitions for which there is no name. These malign spirits attack the living, tormenting and ultimately killing them in order to add more recruits to their spectral ranks.

A group of survivors come together after the initial attack, all plagued by different ghostly apparitions of their own. Can they make it out of Echo Hill alive? And if so, will they still be sane? Or will they die and join the ranks of the vengeful dead?

The cathedral's mistrustful gargoyles convince the angels to test Griselle, a gentle lacemaker, by sending her an ugly, mean boy to care for.

The Rise of the Cyberzines concludes Mike Ashley's five-volume series, which has tracked the evolution of the science-fiction magazine from its earliest days in the 1920s to its current explosion via the internet. This series has traced the ways in which the science-fiction magazine has reacted to the times and often led the way in breaking down barriers, for example in encouraging a greater contribution by women writers and stimulating science fiction globally. Magazines have continued to build upon past revolutions such as the 'new wave' and 'cyberpunk', producing a blend of high-tech science fiction and expansive speculative fiction that has broadened the understanding of science and its impact on society. This final volume, which covers the years 1991-2020, shows how the online magazine has superseded the print magazine and has continued to break down barriers, especially for the LGBTQ community and for writers of colour.

As the witch-pyres of the Spanish Inquisition blanket Renaissance Europe in a moral haze, a young African slave finds herself the unwilling apprentice of an ancient necromancer. Unfortunately, quitting his company proves even more hazardous than remaining his pupil when she is afflicted with a terrible curse. Yet salvation may lie in a mysterious tome her tutor has hidden somewhere on the war-torn continent.

She sets out on a seemingly impossible journey to find the book, never suspecting her fate is tied to three strangers: the artist Niklaus Manuel Deutsch, the alchemist Dr. Paracelsus, and a gun-slinging Dutch mercenary. As Manuel paints her macabre story on canvas, plank, and church wall, the young apprentice becomes increasingly aware that death might be the least of her concerns.

An original adventure from the author of the Philip K. Dick Award–winning Burton & Swinburne series

A tale of good and evil, where neither is what it seems!

Aiden Fleischer, a bookish priest, finds himself transported to an alien world. With him is Miss Clarissa Stark, a crippled hunchback of exceptional ability, wronged by an aristocrat and cast out from society.

On the planet Ptallaya, under two bright yellow suns, they encounter the Yatsill, a race of enthusiastic mimics who shape their society after impressions picked up from Clarissa's mind. Creating a faux London, the alien creatures enroll Clarissa in their Council of Magicians and Aiden in the City Guard. But why does the peaceful city require guards? After a day that, in earthly terms, has lasted for months, the answer comes, for on this planet without night, a red sun also rises, and brings with it a destructive evil.

The Blood Gods! Hideous creatures, they cause Aiden to confront his own internal darkness while trying to protect his friend and his new home.

With a sharp eye for period detail and a rich imagination, Mark Hodder establishes a weirdly twisted version of Victorian London on a convincingly realized alien world, and employs them to tackle a profound psychological and moral question. A Red Sun Also Rises breaks new ground by combining the sword & planet genre with Victorian steampunk while adding an edgy psychological twist.

New York Times bestselling author Christopher Rice brilliantly conjures the shadowed terrors of the Louisiana bayou—where three friends confront a deadly, ancient evil rising to the surface—in this intense and atmospheric new supernatural thriller.

It's been a decade since the Delongpre family vanished near Bayou Rabineaux, and still no one can explain the events of that dark and sweltering night. No one except Niquette Delongpre, the survivor who ran away from the mangled stretch of guardrail on Highway 22 where the impossible occurred... and kept on running. Who left behind her best friends, Ben and Anthem, to save them from her newfound capacity for destruction... and who alone knows the source of her very bizarre—and very deadly—abilities: an isolated strip of swampland called Elysium.

An accomplished surgeon, Niquette's father dreamed of transforming the dense acreage surrounded by murky waters into a palatial compound befitting the name his beloved wife gave to it, Elysium: "the final resting place for the heroic and virtuous." Then, ten years ago, construction workers dug into a long-hidden well, one that snaked down into the deep, black waters of the Louisiana swamp and stirred something that had been there for centuries—a microscopic parasite that perverts the mind and corrupts the body.

Niquette is living proof that things done can't be undone. Nothing will put her family back together again. And nothing can save her. But as Niquette, Ben, and Anthem uncover the truth of a devastating parasite that has the potential to alter the future of humankind, Niquette grasps the most chilling truths of all: someone else has been infected too. And unlike her, this man is not content to live in the shadows. He is intent to use his newfound powers for one reason only: revenge.

Why Are There No Women in Black?

Jyn, an Asian-American lesbian, makes her living stripping in clubs in San Francisco. But stripping is only her day job. Her true vocation is UFO hunting. One night, working at her day job, she sights a Man in Black and realizes he is stalking her.

Jyn's "not entirely orthodox theories" involve the origins and history of the XY chromosome pair. The next day, Jyn packs up her car and sets off on an extended road trip--part "serious UFO tourism" and part flight from the MIB--that takes her though a variety of western states, stripping in clubs and bars as she goes, drawn, inexorably, to New Mexico...

Meet Naema Bradshaw: a beautiful Eloko, once Portland-famous, now infamous, as she navigates a personal and public reckoning where confronting the limits of her privilege will show Naema what her magic really is, and who it makes her.

Teen influencer Naema Bradshaw has it all: She's famous, stylish, gorgeous - and she's an Eloko, a charismatic person gifted with a melody that people adore. Everyone loves her until she's cast as the villain who exposed a Siren to the whole world.

Dragged by the media, and canceled by her fans, no one understands her side: not her boyfriend, not her friends, not even her fellow Eloko. Vilified by those closest to her, Naema heads to the Southwest where she is determined to stage a comeback...to her family, her real self, and the truth about her magic. What she finds is a new community in a flourishing group of online fans who support her.

At first, it feels like it used to - the fandom, the adoration, the community that takes her side - but when her online advocates start targeting other Black girls, Naema will realize that - for Black girls like her - even the privilege of fame has its limits. And only Naema can discover the true purpose of her power, and how to use it.

Mage Alex Verus has gone from a Camden shopkeeper to one of the most powerful mages in Britain. Now his last and most dangerous battle lies before him. His lover, the life mage Anne, has fallen fully under the control of the deadly creature she made a bargain with, and it is preparing to create an army of mages subject to its every whim.

Alex, the Council, and the Dark mage Richard Drakh agree to call a truce in their war, and plans are made for a joint attack. But Alex knows that it's only a matter of time before Drakh and the Council turn on each other... and neither cares about keeping Anne alive. Can Alex figure out a way to stop Anne and to free her from possession before time runs out?

Thomas Chase wakes up from cryosleep to his first day at a new job - as a pilot for a contraband drug company dropping a shipment on Fantasia, a rock-planet terraformed to hide an elaborate drug manufacturing operation. Everything from synthetic heroin to MX7 is cooked here, in protected caves guard-dogged by the savage Aliens. When Chase's craft touches down on Fantasia, a chain of events begins that can not be stopped.

As criminals and competitors try to take over the drug-empire from the dangerous kingpin, Chase and his brother Pete are caught in the crossfire... with the Aliens adding blood to the mix.

The Yellowstone supervolcano nearly wiped out the human race. Now, almost a year after the eruption, the survivors seem determined to finish the job. Communities wage war on each other, gangs of cannibals roam the countryside, and what little government survived the eruption has collapsed completely. The ham radio has gone silent. Sickness, cold, and starvation are the survivors' constant companions. When it becomes apparent that their home is no longer safe and adults are not facing the stark realities, Alex and Darla must create a community that can survive the ongoing disaster, an almost impossible task requiring even more guts and more smarts than ever--and unthinkable sacrifice.

If they fail... they, their loved ones, and the few remaining survivors will perish. This epic finale has the heart of Ashfall, the action of Ashen Winter, and a depth all its own, examining questions of responsibility and bravery, civilization and society, illuminated by the story of an unshakable love that transcends a post-apocalyptic world and even life itself.

Contents:

• ix - Foreword (We Shall Rise) - essay by Gary Poole
• 1 - Social Distance - novelette by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta
• 37 - Liberation Day - short story by Brendan DuBois
• 53 - Appalachia Rex - short story by Jason Cordova
• 79 - Maligator Country - novelette by Lydia Sherrer
• 117 - Fire in the Sky - short story by Stephanie Osborn and Michael Z. Williamson
• 139 - Just Like Home - short story by Jody Lynn Nye
• 163 - Chase the Sunset - short story by Jamie Ibson
• 187 - Descent into the Underworld - short story by Brian Trent
• 215 - A Thing or Two - short story by Kacey Ezell
• 233 - Ex Fide Absurdo - short story by Brent Roeder and Christopher L. Smith
• 261 - The Best Part of Waking Up - short story by Mike Massa
• 288 - About the Editors and Authors - essay by uncredited

Trout St. Kroix can't believe that his half-human/half-robot father is the leader of the Meta-Rise, the robot civil rights movement. Trout can't even enjoy being a Bot Territory celebrity, because it also puts his whole family in danger. Ratch, a robot and former friend, has found a way to take control of robot Thinkchips, and under Ratch's control, all bots -- including Trout's dad -- would become Ratch's drones. Can Trout -- and his friends Vee and Tellie Rix, along with brother Po -- find a way to stop Ratch before Trout loses his father all over again?

Before the Apollo 11 mission succeeded in landing on the Moon in 1969, writers and visionaries were fascinated by how we might get there and what we might find. The Greeks and Romans speculated about the Moon almost 2000 years before H.G. Wells or Jules Verne wrote about it, but interest peaked from the late 1800s, when the prospect of lunar travel became more viable. This anthology presents 11 short stories from the most popular magazines of the golden age of SF, including The Strand Magazine, Astounding Science Fiction, and Amazing Stories, and features classic SF writers as well as lesser-known writers for dedicated fans of the genre to discover.

Contents:

• 7 - Introduction (Moonrise: The Golden Age of Lunar Adventures) - essay by Mike Ashley
• 31 - Dead Centre - novelette by Judith Merril (variant of Dead Center 1954)
• 67 - A Visit to the Moon - [Stories of Other Worlds - 1] - (1900) - short story by George Griffith
• 93 - Sunrise on the Moon - short fiction by John Munro (variant of Sun-Rise in the Moon 1894)
• 105 - First Men in the Moon (excerpt) - [Cavor] - short fiction by H. G. Wells
• 151 - Sub-Satellite - [Sub-Satellite - 1] - (1928) - short story by Charles Cloukey
• 175 - Lunar Lilliput - (1938) - novelette by William F. Temple
• 221 - Nothing Happens on the Moon - (1964) - short story by Paul Ernst (variant of "Nothing Happens on the Moon" 1939)
• 247 - Whatever Gods There Be - (1961) - short story by Gordon R. Dickson
• 269 - Idiot's Delight - [Troons] - (1958) - novelette by John Wyndham (variant of The Moon A.D. 2044)
• 317 - After a Judgement Day - (1963) - short story by Edmond Hamilton
• 335 - The Sentinel - [A Space Odyssey] - (1951) - short story by Arthur C. Clarke

Queen Aqreen of Aquila leaves her husband Jarsun and flees across the Red Desert. She is determined to keep her daughter from being used by Jarsun to stake his claim to the Burning Throne of Hastinaga, seat of the all-powerful Burnt Empire. But Jarsun is vengeful and can summon legions of demoniac forces at will. The Red Desert is vast, and the journey dangerous.

Aqreen and Krushita's caravan of ten thousand wagons will take several years to reach the only safe harbor, the queendom of Reygar. Jarsun's pursuit is relentless and his vengeance terrible, but hope shines from the growing powers of little Krushita herself, along with the four-armed, twin-bodied Vanjhani wagon train leader and their band of valiant desert militia. Fierce battles are in store.

There are other players in this great game of demigods and mortals, each pursuing their own agendas. The powerful seer-mage Vessa seeks to join Krushita's talents with that of Drishya, an avatar destined to confront and kill Tyrak, Jarsun's diabolical son-in-law. Ladislew the assassin aligns with Tyrak for her own reasons. All paths culminate in a feverish finale on the hot sands of Reygar, as father, mother, and daughter confront each other in one ultimate showdown.

Sir Richard Francis Burton's expedition has returned from the future, bringing with it knowledge of technologies that must remain secret if history is to proceed as it should. However, when one of his colleagues turns rogue, the secret falls into the hands of the very people most likely to misuse it.

Betrayed, Burton and Swinburne watch in horror as the Empire's elite employ the technology to secure their positions of privilege. When London's parks are transformed into concentration camps, artists and philosophers are declared enemies of the State, and propaganda proliferates, the king's agent finds himself on the wrong side of—the king!

Can Burton and his band of hunted revolutionaries overthrow an apparently indestructible and immortal autocrat... and if so, at what personal cost?

The Spring Heeled Jack saga reaches its explosive conclusion!

After the sickness known as the Doom destroyed civilization, magick has become commonplace, and Fallon Swift has spent her young years learning its ways. Fallon cannot live in peace until she frees those who have been preyed upon by the government or the fanatical Purity Warriors, endlessly hunted or locked up in laboratories, brutalized for years on end. She is determined to save even those who have been complicit with this evil out of fear or weakness?if, indeed, they can be saved.

Strengthened by the bond she shares with her fellow warrior, Duncan, Fallon has already succeeded in rescuing countless shifters and elves and ordinary humans. Now she must help them heal?and rediscover the light and faith within themselves. For although from the time of her birth, she has been The One, she is still only one. And as she faces down an old nemesis, sets her sights on the enemy's stronghold, and pursues her destiny?to finally restore the mystical shield that once protected them all?she will need an army behind her...

Also released as Wolf Star.

Abducted from her wedding to Argul, Claidi finds herself crossing an ocean to a strange land, menaced by giant flowers, mysterious animals, and the Rise. At dusk each night there is the rising of the flaming Wolf Star and the landscape becomes a-lurk with Vrabburrs. Is she lost to Argul forever?

Serroi - first a warrior woman, later a pawn of the most evil wizard her people had ever known, and finally a powerful worker of earth magic. For centuries self-imprisoned, Serroi has at last escaped her bonds to find herself in a changed land, a place of scattered city-states which have slowly been acquiring artifacts of technology. And with Serroi's return, magic, long-vanquished and vanished, seems at last to be reappearing.

Sixteen-year-old dock boy Will is on the run, pursued by the men who killed his mother. Then an old servant tells him of his destiny to fight beside the Stewards, who have sworn to protect humanity if the Dark King ever returns. Will is thrust into a world of magic, where he starts training for a vital role in the oncoming battle against the Dark.

As London is threatened and old enmities are awakened, Will must stand with the last heroes of the Light to prevent the fate that destroyed their world from returning to destroy his own.

For Ryan Cawdor, leader of a small group of post-apocalypse survivalists, it's the inner fire of survival that guides them through this hell on earth and to whatever lies beyond the daily fight for existence. There are times when the oblivion of death seems a most welcome journey out of Deathlands. But for Ryan, death is something his warrior's soul will never take on without a fight.

In the forested coastal region of the eastern seaboard, near the Pine Barrens of what was New Jersey, Ryan and his companions encounter a group of rebels. Having broken away from the strange, isolated community known as Atlantis, and led by the obscene and paranoid Odyssey, this small group desires to live in peace. But in a chill-or-be-chilled world, freedom can only be won by spilled blood. Ryan and company are willing to come to the aid of these freedom fighters, ready to wage a war against the twisted tyranny that permeates Deathlands.

War has come to Fireach Speur.

The once forgotten Xoconai Empire has declared war upon the humans west of the mountains, and their first target are the people of Loch Beag. Lead by the peerless general, Tzatzini, all that stands in the way of the God Emperor's grasp of power is Aoelyn, Talmadge, and their few remaining allies.

But not all hope is lost. Far away from Fireach Speuer, an ancient tomb is uncovered by Brother Thaddeus of the Abellican Church. Within it is the power to stop the onslaught of coming empire and, possibly, reshape the very world itself.

On the far side of the impassable Tolenka Mountains, where the countries of Rustannica and Shashida fight an endless War of Attrition, a turning point has come. Vespasian, emperor of Rustannica, is desperate. The relentless battle has left his country battered and the treasury all but empty. Unless he can achieve a breakthrough his armies will crumble and the cause of the Vagaries will go down in abject defeat. But if he gathers all his strength in one daring throw of the dice, Vespasian may yet prevail.

Meanwhile, in Eutracia, the wizards Faegan and Wigg make a startling discovery--a new form of magic that grants its users amazing powers. Among them may be an unforeseen method of crossing the Tolenka Mountains and entering directly into the War of Attrition, tilting the balance in favor of the Vigors... and bringing Tristan into full possession of the mystic endowments in his blood.

But a new threat has surfaced in Eutracia. An ancient Vagaries spell has borne its poisonous fruit: half-human, half-serpent monstrosities who live only to slay and are commanded by a hideously transformed sorcerer-demon known as the Viper Lord.

Now, as Tristan departs on a risky mission to cross into Rustannica and meet his destiny in an apocalyptic confrontation with Vespasian, Shailiha will remain behind to battle the Viper Lord and his murderous horde. Failure is unthinkable. But the cost of victory may be impossibly high.

As a nation thunders toward war, a series of events is played out on a vast international stage... events that will cast the destiny of anew age.

Bound together in the web of war, four people divided by hatred and hope embark on separate missions that could make the Confederacy an independent nation - or leave it in ruins. They are: Dorian Trozen, the white-skinned ex-slave, torn between two worlds and driven by his towering will to survive and thrive in the South he can never call home; Wyatt Crain, thrust by his success into a storm of international intrigue; Alexander Wallace, the Tidewater aristocrat whose search for his long-lost half brother would lead to a secret crusade to end slavery; and Grace MacHutcheon, the seductive Northern spy consumed by a dark, desperate passion for revenge.

Rise Defiant is the powerful epic of a nation caught between faith and honor, freedom and injustice, war and peace... an the unforgettable saga of the proud, passionate men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion in the struggle for love and liberty.

In this New York Times bestselling sequel to Dorothy Must Die, who is good--and who is actually Wicked? The Wicked Will Rise is perfect for fans of richly reimagined fairy tales and classic tales like Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles and Gregory Maguire's Wicked.

My name is Amy Gumm--and I'm the other girl from Kansas. After a tornado swept through my trailer park, I ended up in Oz. But it wasn't like the Oz I knew from books and movies. Dorothy had returned, but she was now a ruthless dictator. Glinda could no longer be called the Good Witch. And the Wicked Witches who were left? They'd joined forces as the Revolutionary Order of the Wicked, and they wanted to recruit me.

My mission? Kill Dorothy. Except my job as assassin didn't work out as planned. Dorothy is still alive. The Order has vanished. And the home I couldn't wait to leave behind might be in danger.

Somehow, across a twisted and divided land, I have to find the Order, protect the true ruler of Oz, take Dorothy and her henchmen down--and try to figure out what I'm really doing here.

Vlad III Dracula. A warleader in a warlike time: brilliant, charismatic, pious. But what became of him? What drove him to become a creature of darkness--Bram Stoker's cruel, ambitious "Un-Dead"--and what use did he make of this power, through the centuries?

More than a hundred years after the monster's death, the descendants of the survivors piece together the story-- dusty old manuscripts, court reports from the Holy Roman Empire at its height, stories of the Szgany Roma who once served the monster--trying to understand. Because the nightmare is far from over...

Five incredible fantasy authors come together to reveal a side to literature's greatest monster you've never seen before.

Table of Contents:

• 5 - Prologue - short fiction by uncredited
• 11 - The Souls of Those Gone Astray from the Path - novelette by Bogi Takács
• 67 - Noblesse Oblige - novella by Adrian Tchaikovsky
• 131 - A Stake Too Far - novella by Milena Benini
• 193 - Children of the Night - novelette by Emil Minchev
• 241 - The Women - novella by Caren Gussoff [as by Caren Gussoff Sumption]

First in an all-new trilogy from long-time Dragonlance author Douglas Niles.

This title kicks off a key new Dragonlance trilogy from popular Dragonlance author Douglas Niles. This series will explore the post-war era in Solamnia, a central region of the Dragonlance world, continuing key story elements from the New York Times best-selling War of Souls series.

During the dark years after the War of Souls, chaos threatens the once-mighty empire of Solamnia. Goblins raid even fortified cities, and bandits rule great sections of the countryside. The ruling dukes, lords, and knights bicker and backstab. Through this chaos, James Markham, aided by his steadfast dwarven companion and a beautiful white robed wizard, wields his flaming sword to uphold the principles on which Solamnia was founded.

Enjoy the final chapter in the sweeping tale of honor, glory, and battle that is the history of the kingdom and Knights of Solamnia.

The Elves have been driven out of their capital. The invading forces of Mankind, backed by the terrifying power of their mages have taken hundreds of elves as hostages and have now begun to plunder the sacred jungles of Calaius. The remaining free Elves have gathered, under the leadership of the Taigethan warrior Auum, in the jungles around the city and have begun a hopeless guerilla war to harass the invading forces.

But for every man killed dozens of captured Elves are slaughtered. There seems to be no hope. Even Takaar, Lord of the Taigethan, returned from self-imposed exile seems overwhelmed by madness. But perhaps salvation lies with him afterall. James Barclay's Elves are lethal warriors, skilled in bushcraft, mystically linked to nature. But now they face their sternest test: a magic that breaks all of natures rules. A magic that mankind uses without fear or discretion. Is this the end for the Elven race?

Rudi MacKenzie has grown up knowing that he will one day assume leadership over the survivors of the technological disaster known as the Change. But a prophecy made at his birth spoke of an even greater destiny-a destiny that is about to be fulfilled. A mysterious traveler from Nantucket, long rumored to be the source of the Change, arrives on a mission to bring Rudi back with him. And between him and his destiny lies the the cult of a madman determined to stop him...

When the planet of Moscow was annihilated, its few survivors launched a counter-attack against the most likely culprit: the neighboring system of New Dresden. But New Dresden wasn't responsible, and as the deadly missiles approach their target, Rachel Mansour, agent for the interests of Old Earth, is assigned to find out who was.

And the one person who knows is a disaffected teenager who calls herself Wednesday Shadowmist. But Wednesday has no idea what she knows...

In the chaotic aftermath of the Sundering, the orcs of Many-Arrows reignite their bloody feud with Bruenor Battlehammer

Having escaped Gauntlgrym, the Companions of the Hall are united in body and spirt--but not in ideals. As the Darkening casts its shadows upon the northern cities of the Shining White, portending war, the past rears its angry head. Old debts insist on payment and old wrongs demand to be set right. The bloody dwarf-orc feud reignites with disastrous consequences.

When drow Quenthel Baenre urges the orcs into war, a new and bloodthirsty king takes the throne of Many-Arrows. The savage orc hordes gather under his command, bringing an end to the decades of peace in the North. Dwarf steel meets ancient enemies, painting the Spine of the World in red.

In the middle of this chaos, the Companions march onwards--to rescue Pwent from his vampiric curse and to reclaim Bruenor's throne; to combat the treachery of the black-souled drow and to defeat the orcs. As the world repeats a deadly cycle of violence and hate, Drizzt Do'Urden is forced into a fight for his life, his loved ones, and his very soul.

Theodora, a university student, finds herself stranded on the world of Ivory, without money, connections, or a ticket home. Ivorans, however, use magic as we use technology, and our heroine finds herself hired by a very nice-looking young man who's a major player in the field. He says he needs somebody to read cards for him. He didn't mention how dangerous it could get...

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.

You marry into an Ivoran family, you have to accept your life is going to be complicated. Okay, your new sister-in-law has always been a little wild, but that's no reason she should be accused of murder. Or your husband either, dammit, and why is everyone looking at him that way? Don't they understand that he doesn't go around killing people? Or, well... not very often, anyway. In which our heroes turn detective to clear the family name.

On Earth, life held for him only the fate of a recluse--handicapped, confined to daydreams and the lore of ancient wonders, but apparently destined never to share them--until he found the formula that let him cross space to the world of the Green Star. There, appearing in the body of a fabled hero, he is to experience all that his heroic fantasies had yearned for. A princess to be saved... an invader to be thwarted... and otherworldly monsters to be faced! A thrilling adventure in the grand tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as only Lin Carter can tell it!

To him, Earth was a prison of the mind and body. Only on the world of the Green Star would he walk -- in the borrowed body of a primitive youth. A thrilling adventure in the grand tradition of Edgar Rice Burroughs, as only Lin Carter can tell it!

Miscast in the role of assassin, inhabiting the stolen body of a stalwart savage, the star-wanderer from Earth found himself in dangers beyond even his wildest imaginings.

His friends had fled, his princess with them, and awaiting him were the islands of the sky with their merciless masters, the prowlers of the dark tree bottoms with their horrible steeds, and the treachery of his comrades in captivity.

But this was what he had left his safe home on Earth for -- and his adventures BY THE LIGHT OF THE GREEN STAR, however knife-edge, were the very staff of life to him!

Roy Krenkel illustrates this third marvel adventure of Lin Carter's bestselling saga.

In the marvel-adventure sagas of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Otis Adelbert Kline, and John Norman has there ever been a situation such as befell the Earthling who found his way to the world under the Green Star?

For while his real body lay crippled and silent under the sun of old Earth, his mind occupied the vigorous body of a young primitive on that alien planet of mighty trees, floating cities, and unmapped limits. And in that guise he had found incredible friends, a royal love, and inhuman and superhuman enemies.

But no matter what predicament he was in -- and as this book starts he is alone, abandoned on an uncharted sea -- his courage never flagged though the greatest of risks would confront him AS THE GREEN STAR RISES.

He was Karn, the savage of the sky-high trees. He was protector and defender of the princess Niamh, whose very city was lost in the mapless jungles of the world under the Green Star.

But he was also an Earthling, whose helpless body lay in suspended animation in a guarded mansion in New England. It was his alien mind that drove Karn through perils that no other would dare.

But dare he must -- for though that alien planet was replete with dangers and treachery, with lost castles of forgotten science and armies of mindless monsters, there was a cause to be won and a love to be rescued.

It's Lin Carter in the grand climax of his best marvel-adventure series in the tradition of Burroughs and Merritt.

In The Half-Made World, Felix Gilman took readers deep into a world on the cusp of forging an identity. The Line, a cult of Industry, and the Gun, a mission of Chaos, were engaged in a war for dominance. The Line was winning city by city, enslaving the populations it conquered. A doctor of psychology, Liv Alverhuysen, was caught in the middle, unknowingly guarding a secret that both sides would do anything to have.

Now, in the amazing sequel Rise of Ransom City, Liv is lost on the edge of the world with Creedmor, an agent of the Gun, and the powerful Line will stop at nothing to find them. But Harry Ransom, half con man, half mad inventor, is setting the edge of the world aglow. Town by town he is building up a bankroll and leaving hope in his wake because one of his inventions is actually working. But his genius is not going unnoticed, and when he crosses paths with the two most wanted outlaws in the "unmade world," his stage becomes even larger and presents an opportunity more lucrative than any of his scams or inventions combined.

Charlaine Harris is already a star and a New York Times bestseller with her vampire mysteries starring Sookie Stackhouse and her Lily Bard mysteries. This second installment to her new supernatural mystery series might just be her biggest hit yet. Grave Sight's Harper Connelly is back, and her ability to find the dead and see their last moments is in higher demand than ever...

A college class gets more than it bargained for when Harper gives a demonstration of her uncanny talent. Instead of just finding one body in an old grave, she finds two: the original occupant and a recently deceased girl whom Harper had tried, and failed, to find two years previously. To dispel suspicions about her own innocence, Harper and her stepbrother Tolliver undertake their own hunt to find the killer-only to find yet another body in the same grave.

Where Haruhi goes, trouble follows!

The two storylines from The Disassociation of Haruhi Suzumiya continue, introducing a new inductee into the S.O.S. brigade who may be more than just the eager freshman she appears to be. As the two realities converge, the SOS Brigade learns that the new member may have the ability to bring the two story "timelines" together... and save the world in the process.

Ella Patel -- thief, con-artist and smuggler -- is in the wrong place at the wrong time. One night, on the border of a demilitarized zone run by the body-swapping alien invaders, she happens upon a man and woman being chased by a group of assailants. The man freezes, leaving the woman to fight off five attackers at once, before succumbing. As she dies, to both Ella and the man's surprise, the sparkling light that rises from the woman enters Ella, instead of the man. She soon realizes she's been inhabited by Io, a low-ranking Quasing who was involved in some of the worst decisions in history. Now Ella must now help the alien presence to complete her mission and investigate a rash of murders in the border states that maintain the frail peace.

With the Prophus assigned to help her seemingly wanting to stab her in the back, and the enemy Genjix hunting her, Ella must also deal with Io's annoying inferiority complex. To top it all off, Ella thinks the damn alien voice in her head is trying to get her killed. And if you can't trust the voices in your head, who can you trust?

Rise of the Iron Moon is the newest novel set in Stephen Hunt's fantastical steampunk universe

Born into captivity as a product of the Royal Breeding House, friendless orphan Purity Drake suddenly finds herself on the run with a foreign vagrant after accidentally killing one of her guards.

Her strange rescuer claims he is on the run himself from terrible forces who mean to enslave the Kingdom of Jackals much as they conquered his own nation. Purity doubts his story until reports of the terrible Army of Shadows, marching across the continent and sweeping all before them.

Purity has felt little love for her country but realizes that the bad acts of a government gone wrong aren't enough to condemn an entire people.

There's more to Purity than meets the eye. As Jackals girds itself for war against an army of near-unkillable beasts serving an ancient evil, it becomes clear that the country's only hope is a strange little royalist girl and the last, desperate plan of an escaped slave.

Kara's drastic ceasefire deal with the formidable demon Imperator Dekkak slowed the attacks on Earth to a trickle, but her troubles are far from over. The god-like demahnk are desperate to return to their own kind, but unless they can stabilize the demon realm, they'll be forever exiled--and they've subjugated Kara's beloved Mzatal to further their hellacious cause. One faction of demonic lords and demahnk has a plan to fix their world, yet their salvation would come at the expense of Earth.

Meanwhile, Kara is wrestling with government bureaucracy, backstabbing allies, enemy lords, as well as the powerful young demonic lord Ashava, who's packing the drama, angst, and rebellion of the terrible teen years into just a few months.

Kara's in a race to stop an apocalypse, but in order to prevail she'll have to make a terrible sacrifice or risk losing everything she holds dear.

Atlanta is a city plagued by magical problems. Kate Daniels will fight to solve them--no matter the cost.

Mercenary Kate Daniels and her mate, Curran, the Beast Lord, are struggling to solve a heartbreaking crisis. Unable to control their beasts, many of the Pack's shapeshifting children fail to survive to adulthood. While there is a medicine that can help, the secret to its making is closely guarded by the European packs, and there's little available in Atlanta.

Kate can't bear to watch innocents suffer, but the solution she and Curran have found threatens to be even more painful. The European shapeshifters who once outmaneuvered the Beast Lord have asked him to arbitrate a dispute--and they'll pay him in medicine. With the young people's survival and the Pack's future at stake, Kate and Curran know they must accept the offer--but they have little doubt that they're heading straight into a trap...

In Pittacus Lore's The Rise of Nine, the stakes are higher than ever as John, Six, and Seven try desperately to find the rest of the Garde before it's too late.

The Mogadorians who destroyed the planet Lorien continue to hunt down the Garde, the small group of Loric survivors who have taken refuge on Earth. The Garde must come together. They are Lorien and Earth's only hope.

During the dangerous mission at the Mogadorian base in West Virginia, John found and rescued Nine. But even with their combined powers, special abilities known as Legacies, the pair barely escaped with their lives--and they lost Sam in the process.

In order to save our world and their own, John and Nine must join forces with Six and Seven who have been battling the Mogadorians in Spain, and who are now trying to locate Number Eight in India.

Power in numbers will save us all.

Seventeen, dead, and in charge of heaven's dark angels—all itching to kill someone.

Madison Avery's dreams of ever fitting in at her new school died when she did. Especially since she was able to maintain the illusion of a body, deal with a pesky guardian angel, and oh yeah, bring the reaper who killed her to his untimely end. Not exactly in-crowd material. It's amazing that her crush, Josh, doesn't think she's totally nuts.

Now Madison has learned that she's the dark timekeeper, in charge of angels who follow the murky guidelines of fate. Never one to abide by the rules, she decides it's time for a major change to the system. With the help of some unlikely allies, Madison forms a rogue group of reapers who definitely don't adhere to the rules of the heavens.

But as she grapples with the terrifying new skills that come with being a timekeeper, Madison realizes she may not be prepared for what lies ahead—unless she gets some seriously divine intervention.

After nuclear weapons ravaged the Earth, only Skyholm, a huge solar-powered station floating above Europe, remains in possession of high technology. But as Skyholm is seized by a religious faction, a young noble escapes to the ground below and joins a group who conspire to use the power of the atom, outlawed for centuries, to regain the lost heritage of space flight.

When naturalist Tristam Flattery is summoned to save a plant species with magical, medicinal properties, he is drawn into a political struggle that spans generations, threatens civilization, and leads him to the ends of the known world.

Sent on a voyage halfway around the world, promising young naturalist Tristram Flattery is led by the spirit familiar of his late mage uncle to a remote island, where it has been foretold that he will open the gateway to a magical world.

Collected here for the first time is every piece of short fiction from New York Times Bestseller Mira Grant's acclaimed Newsflesh series, with two new never-before-published novellas and all eight short works available for the first time in one volume.

We had cured cancer. We had beaten the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, a man-made virus taking over bodies and minds, filling them with one, unstoppable command... FEED.

Mira Grant creates a chilling portrait of an America paralyzed with fear. No one leaves their houses and entire swaths of the country have been abandoned. And only the brave, the determined, or the very stupid venture out into the wild...

Contents:

• Countdown
• Everglades
• San Diego 2014
• How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea
• The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell
• Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus
• All the Pretty Little Horses (Never Before Published)
• Coming to You Live (Never Before Published)

The Last Thing They Expected Was First Contact

It's long ago been settled that humanity is all alone in the universe. All the centuries of searches for extra-terrestrial intelligence have turned up exactly nothing at all. And when humanity's first and only colony in another star system was invaded some years back, it was by unwanted human interlopers from Earth - interlopers calling themselves The Fruitful, who are sure that God himself is guiding them. The new arrivals cause the colony trouble enough that many of the original settlers have packed up and moved elsewhere on the planet - only to discover some very alarming signs that the first settlers aren't quite so alone as they thought.

Phil Bertrand and Hazel Castagna had striven for years to reach and settle their new world, but they found themselves on different sides when the Fruitful arrived and forced hard choices on everyone. Now, without quite intending it, they have become allies again, as well as the half-unwilling co-leaders of a group that must find a way to protect humans from aliens - and, perhaps, aliens from humans. But exactly who - and what - are the aliens?

This novel was originally serialized in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, July-November 2015.

Analog Anlab Readers Award Finalist Novella

This is a sequel in the setting of the author's serialized novel Night Ride and Sunrise, and is full of spoilers for that novel.

The humans from Earth and the inhabitants of the world they tried to colonize have ended their conflict with a peace treaty. One of the main proponents of the treaty attempts to defend that peace with the help of his son, in order to prevent the humans from being killed by members of their society who refuse to accept the peace settlement.

This novella originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, July-August 2020. Read it for free at the publisher's website.

Sixteen-year-old Nina Kane should be worrying about her immortal soul, but she's too busy trying to actually survive. Her town's population has been decimated by soul-consuming demons, and souls are in short supply. Watching over her younger sister, Mellie, and scraping together food and money are all that matters. The two of them are a family. They gave up on their deadbeat mom a long time ago.

When Nina discovers that Mellie is keeping a secret that threatens their very existence, she'll do anything to protect her. Because in New Temperance, sins are prosecuted as crimes by the brutal Church and its army of black-robed exorcists. And Mellie's sin has put her in serious trouble.

To keep them both alive, Nina will need to put her trust in Finn, a fugitive with deep green eyes who has already saved her life once and who might just be an exorcist. But what kind of exorcist wears a hoodie?

Wanted by the Church and hunted by dark forces, Nina knows she can't survive on her own. She needs Finn and his group of rogue friends just as much as they need her.

Love is a battlefield

For years, a great war has raged on between the scientifically advanced Empire and a paradise of witches known as the Nebulis Sovereignty. This age-old battle sets the scene for a fateful encounter between two young combatants: an imperial swordsman, Iska, and the witch princess, Aliceliese. As sworn enemies, they vow to cut each other down in order to unite their worlds, and yet Iska finds himself entranced by her beauty and righteousness, while Aliceliese is moved by his strength and resolve.

In the midst of a never-ending war that forbids them from being together, they have no choice but to destroy each other-or can they find another way?

May luck shine in your favor

The stars once aligned to grant a series of meetings between two fighters from enemy nations, but those ephemeral days have come to a close. Iska and Aliceliese must now take it into their own hands to scour the land in hopes of a rematch. Call it coincidence or predestination, but the pair manage to slip past each other at every turn, unaware they've been dispatched to the same battlefield. In their fight over a vortex of astral energy, they might just find that what brews and burbles in its abyss is more than magic...

Break free... if you can

Getting assigned to a special mission to infiltrate the Sovereignty was already more than Iska could handle, but with Captain Mismis becoming a witch, his list of problems just keeps getting longer. To make matters even worse, Iska finds himself dragged to the Sovereignty's prison block after an accident nobody bargained for. There, he's chained to Alice, giving him no chance of escape-and intimate insight into her true nature. But reality comes crashing down on them hard when the "transcendental" sorcerer manages to break out of his cell...

A SECRET NEVER TO BE TOLD...

To rest and recuperate from their set of life-threatening missions, Unit 907 is finally granted a much-needed break. And what better place to spend time off than at a distant resort where they can lounge in their bathing suits 24-7? Against all odds, the trip is going according to plan...until Iska bumps into a certain witch who instantly reminds him of Alice. In fact, it feels all too familiar when she demands he come to Nebulis-for reasons she simply cannot reveal. And she isn't the only one with a hidden motive: Alice has arrived to investigate why her sister has been spying on Iska... for months.

Two sisters with two distinctly different goals: Sisbell would do anything to get Iska to join her side, while Aliceliese sees him as a worthy opponent, regardless of their duties and convictions. As part of his agreement with Sisbell, Iska has accepted his fate to serve as her guard in Nebulis. When Alice catches them linking arms...her heart practically leaps out of her chest.

When Elletear finds out Sisbell's new guard is an Imperial solider, she holds this secret against her younger sister, caging Sisbell and Iska in the royal villa to prevent them from interrupting her plans. After all, Elletear is the one suspected of colluding with the House of Zoa to organize the coup unfolding in the palace. Afraid for Sisbell's life, Alice races over to the villa to put a stop to Elletear's deeds...forcing all three sisters to come together under one roof for the first time in a long while.

BURNING BRIDGES

The Nebulis Sovereignty is in flames. For the first time since its founding, the Paradise of Witches is raided by Imperial forces. It's Imperial solider versus Sovereign witch. Saint Disciples against Purebreds. Unit 907 toe-to-toe with the House of Hydra. While war indiscriminately obliterates all, Iska squares off against Alice. Finding each other on the battlefield, the two discover their circumstances have changed for the worse. As paradise falls, they face a choice that might alter the course of their relationship forever...

THE TRUTH LIES BENEATH THE SURFACE

As the night of the witch hunt ends, the Nebulis Sovereignty finds it's sustained nearly insurmountable damage. Its citizens are pointing fingers at the royal family, demanding they take responsibility for the chaos and accelerate the conclave to select a new queen. Meanwhile, Alice entrusts Iska with the task of rescuing Sisbell, the only one capable of revealing who is responsible for the Imperial raid. Iska's next destination? The research facility run by the House of Hydra! Just who is the blue-haired princess who awaits them there?

In their scheme to overthrow the government, Hydra abducts Third Princess Sisbell and spirits her away to the Empire. To rescue her, Rin takes it upon herself to tail Iska and company from the shadows and stage an infiltration! Little does she know that chaos brews in the land of witches...

Just as Iska and Unit 907 finally rescue Princess Sisbell, the Lord Yunmelngen abducts Rin and orders them back to the Imperial capital. Despite the obvious danger, Iska and company hurry to the heart of the Empire to both free their comrade and discover what transpired there a century ago during the creation of witches. But neither of these tasks will be easy, for the Eight Great Apostles are determined to end Iska's pursuit of the truth. Meanwhile, disaster brews in the Nebulis Sovereignty!

Iska and Unit 907 have defeated one of the Eight Great Apostles, Luclezeus, and arrived at the Imperial capital. There they meet Lord Yunmelngen, who asks Sisbell to use her astral power to help uncover the truth behind the tragedy that transpired a hundred years ago. At long last, the mystery behind the birth of the Founder Nebulis, of Lord Yunmelngen, and of the Black Steel Gladiator, Crossweil is revealed!

THE AWAKENING OF A TRUE WITCH

Alice pursues the Grand Witch Nebulis to the Empire to stop her rampage, but instead, she comes across her transformed older sister, Elletear. No longer human, Elletear has gained immense power from merging with the calamity at the planet's core, and she's set on destroying the Empire and the Sovereignty to achieve her dream of building a true paradise for witches. To prevent their nations from being reduced to ashes, Lord Yunmelngen, Iska, and Alice form a united front against Elletear and her knight, the traitorous Saint Disciple Joheim.

A DEADLY JOURNEY

In the aftermath of Elletear's attack, nothing is certain about the war between the Empire and the Sovereignty. Mizerhyby and the Hydra are rushing to beat Elletear to the center of the world in service of their ambitions. Meanwhile, Kissing surrenders to Iska to avenge her uncle, and the two join forces with Alice's entourage in order to travel to the forbidden land of Katalisk. There, they learn the truth of the astral swords, the monstrosity lurking in the planet's core, and the terrible future that awaits...

A GLIMPSE INTO THEIR PRIVATE LIVES

Iska's and Alice's day-to-day lives are riddled with troubles: Nene, Mismis, and Risya hold an unwelcome sleepover in Iska's room, while Queen Nebulis IIX is pressuring Alice to attend meetings with potential marriage partners. Escaping these predicaments might come with some unexpected consequences... But more importantly, how did Iska and Alice first meet when they were younger? Take a peek at the everyday adventures of these two rivals in this volume of short stories!

A GLIMPSE INTO THEIR PRIVATE LIVES

A simple art lesson escalates into a competition to determine which of the three princesses of the Nebulis Sovereignty is the most graceful. On the night of New Year's Eve, some of the highest authorities in the Heavenly Empire get caught up in a letter-delivering battle. In an anecdote from Jhin's childhood, Crossweil leaves the future Imperial sniper with some prescient words of wisdom. Take another peek into the everyday lives of the cast of Our Last Crusade in this second helping of short stories!

Perilous dawn... Major Perry Rhodan, commander of the spaceship "Stardust", found more than anyone had expected might exist on the moon - for he became the first man to make contact with another sentient race! The Arkonides had come from a distant star, and they possessed a knowledge of science and philosophy that dwarfed mankind's knowledge. But these enormously powerful alien beings refused to cooperate with the people of Earth - unless Perry Rhodan could pass the most difficult test any human being had ever faced...

Table of Contents:

• Introducing Perry Rhodan and His Electric Personality - essay by Forrest J. Ackerman
• Enterprise Stardust - [Perry Rhodan: The Third Power (German) - 1] - novella by K. H. Scheer
• The Third Power - [Perry Rhodan: The Third Power (German) - 2] - novella by Clark Darlton [as by Walter Ernsting]

Princess Charis Willowthorn is the dutiful sword of Calera. Raised to be ruthless and cunning, her only goal is to hold her war-torn kingdom together long enough to find a path toward peace with their ancient foe Montevallo, even if the cost is her own heart.

When violence erupts in the castle itself, nearly killing the queen, Charis must assume her mother's duties and manage both the war and her kingdom. But as an unseen enemy begins sinking Calera's ships, Charis realizes a threat much greater than Montevallo is coming for her people. So she forms a plan.

By day, she is Calera's formidable princess intent on forging an alliance with Montevallo. By night, she disguises herself as a smuggler and roams the sea with a trusted group of loyalists, hunting for their new enemies. And through it all, there's the one boy she can't have--who guards her life, but steals her heart.

But her enemies are much closer than Charis realizes, and her heart isn't the only thing she has left to lose.

Sequel to: Navigator's Syndrome and The Treasure in the Heart of the Maze

When the Republic of Cinnabar doesn't have enough battleships to deal with all the crises in its war with the Alliance, it sends the next best thing: Commander Daniel Leary and his friend, the spy Adele Mundy. This time they're off to help the Bagarian cluster in its rebellion against the Alliance, but they'll quickly find that the worst threats to the rebels are the treacherous politicians.

Leary and Mundy use electronic espionage, sub-machine guns, and shipkilling missiles to outwit political rivals, put down mutiny, and capture an Alliance fortress. When all else fails, they'll strike for the heart of the Alliance--and then throw their tiny corvette into a major fleet action.

A cascade of non-stop action as vivid as only David Drake can write it!

Nominated for the 2017 Dragon Award for Best SciFi Novel!

On a world brought to the brink of destruction, life now clings to the shattered remains of the planet's crust. These fragments are the Shells: fragile wastelands of desert and rock, protected from the cold of space by a water shield. In the struggle for survival, its people have depended on ancient technology, controlled by the omnipresent Network, to sustain the entire population

But the Network is breaking down, water is sparse, and a complete societal collapse is imminent. As the stakes become clear, the inhabitants of the Shells begin to turn on each other, and appear headed for all-out global war.

Now the paths of several strangers will converge at the opportune moment. From a woman who seeks to protect her family as it's ripped apart to a prison warden hiding from his past, this unlikely group has little in common?but together, they may hold the key to saving humanity from its worst enemy: itself.

Long-dormant magical forces are moving once again in Sartorias-deles. Agents of Norsunder, a mysterious bastion of incredible dark power, have reappeared in the world, amassing resources and sowing instability.

But with numerous nations led by young rulers brought too early to their thrones, the world is hardly ready to defend itself. Atan is still uncomfortable with her new queenship, gained after her country was freed from a Norsundrian enchantment that left it frozen outside time for a century. Senrid strives to establish rule of law, after deposing his brutal and cruel uncle, seeking to exert control over rebellious jarls and a distrustful military academy. Jilo never expected the responsibility of leading his nation, but when its dictator vanishes after a Norsundrian attack, Jilo finds himself stepping into the power void, taking the reins of a country so riddled with dark magic that its citizenry labors for mere survival. Clair and CJ lead a band of misfits against magical threats that overshadow their tiny country, including a direct incursion from the Norsundrians.

Those in power are not the only individuals working to subvert the plans of Norsunder. Liere, a young shopkeeper's daughter, battles her own debilitating insecurities to live up to her reputation as a former savior of the realm. Hibern, a mage's apprentice, must act as a liaison between national leaders, negotiating politics still foreign to her. Rel, a traveling warrior, stirs powerful allies to action encourages common folk to take up arms.

These leaders soon realize that any significant victory against Norsunder will require an alliance between their nations. Yet good intentions may fracture in the face of personal grudges, secrets, and inexperience. As the Norsundrian attacks become bolder, the members of this tenuous alliance must find ways to trust one another and bind themselves together--lest they fail to defend against a host that has crushed entire worlds.

Humanity, artificial intelligences, and monstrous aliens clash over control of deadly technology in this explosive beginning to Neal Asher's newest Polity series.

In a far corner of space, on the very borders between humanity's Polity worlds and the kingdom of the vicious crab-like prador, is an immediate threat to all sentient life: an accretion disc, a solar system designed by the long-dead Jain race and swarming with living technology powerful enough to destroy entire civilizations.

Neither the Polity or the prador want the other in full control of the disc, so they've placed an impartial third party in charge of the weapons platform guarding the technology from escaping into the galaxy: Orlandine, a part-human, part-AI haiman. She's assisted by Dragon, a mysterious, spaceship-sized alien entity who has long been suspicious of Jain technology and who suspects the disc is a trap lying-in-wait.

Meanwhile, the android Angel is planning an attack on the Polity, and is searching for a terrible weapon to carry out his plans--a Jain super-soldier. But what exactly the super-soldier is, and what it could be used for if it fell into the wrong hands, will bring Angel and Orlandine's missions to a head in a way that could forever change the balance of power in the Polity universe.

In The Soldier, British science fiction writer Neal Asher kicks off another Polity-based trilogy in signature fashion, concocting a mind-melting plot filled with far-future technology, lethal weaponry, and bizarre alien creations.

The dangers of ancient technology loom over the Polity in the sequel to The Soldier, Neal Asher's latest action-packed space opera series.

The haiman Orlandine, charged with safeguarding lethal Jain tech swirling inside an accretion disc located in the distant reaches of space, has weaponized a black hole to eliminate the threat. But others are suspicious of her motives, and both the Polity AIs and the leaders of the alien prador kingdom dispatch fleets of warships in anticipation of conflict.

As the black hole continues to eat its way through the planets in the accretion disc, making its way towards a dead sun, it becomes clear the disc has been hiding a larger secret. Nefarious forces with ulterior motives have manipulated Orlandine into deploying the black hole, triggering a series of larger events that will uncover a danger far older than even the Polity itself.

From British science fiction writer Neal Asher, The War Ship picks up right where its predecessor, The Soldier, left off, showcasing Asher's unique take on cutting-edge and fast-paced science fiction.

A Jain warship has risen from the depths of space, emerging with a deadly grudge and a wealth of ancient yet lethal technology. It is determined to hunt down the alien Client, and will annihilate all those who stand in its way. So Orlandine must prepare humanity's defense.

Both humanity and the Prador thought their ancient foe--the Jain--had perished in a past age. And they resolve to destroy these outliers at any cost. Orlandine wants the Client's inside knowledge to act, but the Client has her own agenda. Earth Central therefore looks to the Prador for alliance, after the Jain destroy their fleet. However, not everyone is happy with this, and some will do anything to shatter this fragile coalition.

As the Jain warship makes its way across the galaxy, it seems unstoppable. Human and Prador forces alike struggle to withstand its devastating weaponry. Orlandine's life work is to neutralize Jain technology, so if she can't triumph, no one can. But will she become what she's vowed to destroy?

Royce and Hadrian have been called upon to aid the struggling kingdom of Melengar as it alone stands in defiance against the newly formed empire. As war approaches a desperate gamble behind enemy lines is their only chance at forming an alliance with the Nationalists to the south.

But Royce has plans of his own and uses this opportunity to discover if an ancient wizard is using Riyria as pawns in his own bid for power. To find the truth, Royce must unravel Hadrian's hidden past. What he discovers will lead them to the end of the known world on a journey rife with treachery and intrigue.

And so continues the second tale of treachery and adventure, sword fighting and magic, myth and legend.

When author Michael J. Sullivan self-published the first books of his Riyria Revelations, they rapidly became ebook bestsellers. Now, Orbit is pleased to present the complete series for the first time in bookstores everywhere.

BOOKS IN THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS
Theft of Swords (The Crown Conspiracy & Avempartha)
Rise of Empire (Nyphron Rising & The Emerald Storm)
Heir of Novron (Wintertide & Percepliquis)

The concluding volume of the Rojan Dizon series where magic must save a city on the eve of its destruction.

The towering vertical city of Mahala is on the brink of war with its neighbouring countries. It might be his worst nightmare, but Rojan and the few remaining pain mages have been drafted in to help.

The city needs power in whatever form they can get it -- and fast. With alchemists readying a prototype electricity generator, and factories producing guns faster than ever, the city's best advantage is still the mages.

Leading the alchemists is Rojan's sister, with a risky plan to help tap the mages' strength and overcome the armies marching towards them. With food in the city running out and a battle brimming that no one is ready for, risky is the best they've got...

Two gods are dead. The Mother Goddess has returned. War is rising.

Fleeing the ruins of Deimos, Ash and Madoc sail across the ocean toward their only possible allies: the water and plant gods. But when Anathrasa attacks on the way, Ash leaps to the defense--by using a power she didn't know she had.

When Madoc made the fire and earth gods mortal, he inadvertently transferred their magic to Ash. Now, if Ash can get energeias from the other four gods, she will be powerful enough to end Anathrasa once and for all.

But not all the gods want the Mother Goddess defeated. To stop her, Madoc will have to become the obedient son his mother always wanted, and Ash will have to take a merciless place among the gods.

To defeat an immortal, Ash and Madoc must fight like gods--even if it means sacrificing their humanity.

With King Olin imprisoned and Prince Kendrick slain, the royal twins Barrick and Briony have been forced to flee their homeland. But both families and nations can hide dark and terrible secrets. Even if Barrick and Briony survive learning the astonishing truths at the heart of their own family and of Southmarch itself, they must find a way to reclaim their kingdom and rescue their home-from traitors, tyrants, a god-king, and even the angry gods themselves.

IN THE MIRROR UNIVERSE...

Miles "Smiley" O'Brien struggles to hold together his weary band of freedom fighters in their war against the overwhelming might of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance. Each day pushes the rebels on Terok Nor one step closer to defeat, but with nowhere left to run, the time has come to make their last stand.

Light-years away, Mac Calhoun and his Romulan allies harass Klingon forces with devious hit-and-run attacks. But Calhoun has a grander ambition: he intends to merge his fleet with the Terran Rebellion and lead it to victory--or die trying.

Meanwhile, a bitter feud threatens to shatter the Alliance from within. The old rivalry between the Klingons and the Cardassians erupts into open warfare as each vies for the upper hand in their partnership.

Manipulating events from its hidden redoubts, Memory Omega--the secret operation initiated by Spock a century earlier--sees its plans come to fruition sooner than expected. But striking early means risking everything--and if the revolution fails, Spock's vision for the future will be lost forever.

An all-new novel based upon the explosive Star Trek TV series!

A shattered ship, a divided crew--trapped in the infernal nightmare of conflict!