Search Worlds Without End

An omnibus collection featuring some of the finest works of a master of weird fiction...

One of the preeminent writers of weird fiction, Robert Aickman is celebrated for his unsettling and often ambiguous "strange stories," but he once wrote that "those, if any, who wish to know more about me, should plunge beneath the frivolous surface of The Late Breakfasters," his only novel, originally published in 1964.

In The Late Breakfasters, young Griselda de Reptonville is invited by Mrs. Hatch to a house party at her country estate, Beams (which, incidentally, is haunted). There, amidst an array of eccentric characters and bizarre happenings, she will meet the love of her life, Louise. But when their short-lived relationship is cruelly cut short, Griselda must embark on a quest to recapture the happiness she has lost.

Never before published in the United States and long unobtainable, Aickman's odd and whimsical novel is joined in this omnibus volume by six of his finest weird tales (three of them making their first-ever American appearance): "My Poor Friend", "The Visiting Star", "Larger Than Oneself", "A Roman Question", "Mark Ingestre: The Customer's Tale", and "Rosamund's Bower", as well as a new introduction by Philip Challinor.

The Strangers is a novella by Robert Aickman. It originally appeared in the collection The Strangers and Other Writings (2015).

First published in 1983 and long unavailable, Stories of the Strange and Sinister collects ten of Baker's short stories and displays the versatility of his work. Included are wonderfully macabre tales like 'The Chocolate Box', in which a discarded box found on a Cornish moor contains a gruesome surprise, and 'In the Steam Room', where a man enjoying a sauna believes he glimpses a horrible event through the steam, as well as more subtle tales of the fantastic like 'My Lady Sweet, Arise', in which a woman's compulsion to sing ends with strange consequences, and 'Quintin Claribel', the story of a rude young man who must - quite literally - eat his words.

Contents:

• Art Thou Languid? - (1947) - short story
• Coombe Morwen - (1983) - shortfiction
• Flowers I Leave You - (1983) - shortfiction
• In the Steam Room - (1966) - short story
• My Lady Sweet, Arise - (1983) - shortfiction
• Quintin Claribel - (1983) - shortfiction
• The Chocolate Box - (1973) - short story
• The Green Steps - (1951) - short story
• The Sack - (1977) - short story
• Tyme Tryeth Troth - (1950) - short story

Anabelle Crisp is fourteen when the Silence arrives, severing all communication between Earth and her new home on Mars. One evening, while she and her father are closing their diner in the colony of New Galveston, they are robbed at gunpoint.

Among the stolen items is a recording of her absent mother's voice. Driven by righteous fury and desperation to lift her father's broken spirits, Anabelle sets out to confront the thieves and bring back the sole vestige of her mother. Accompanied by her loyal robot, an outcast pilot and a hardened outlaw, Anabelle must travel through derelict mining towns where a mineral called the Strange has transformed its residents in bizarre ways, across the Martian desert and to the shadowy Peabody Crater where she will discover than New Galveston, once a safe haven, is nothing more than a guttering candle in a dark world.

When the Devil arrives in fin de siècle London in the form of the handsome and charming Prince Lucio Rimânez, his work promises to be easy. After all, in a world where science and materialism have replaced a belief in God, who will suspect Lucio of being Satan in disguise? Lucio sets his sights on Geoffrey Tempest, a starving novelist who has just inherited a fortune, and promises to guide him to power and fame. As the tragic story of Geoffrey's meteoric rise and fall unfolds, Marie Corelli lays bare the hypocrisy, immorality, and irreligiousness of modern life, satire which is as fresh and relevant today as ever.

The Sorrows of Satan (1895) is Corelli's masterpiece and the novel where her views on religion and society find their clearest and fullest expression. And on another level it is a savage and bitter riposte to her critics, who had vilified her previous novel, Barabbas(1893).

Marie Corelli (1855-1924) was one of the most popular and best-selling novelists of the late Victorian period, her books selling in the millions of copies worldwide. Although she saw herself as a female Shakespeare, critics have tended largely to dismiss her as a popular hack. This new edition of her most powerful novel allows twenty-first century readers to rediscover and reevaluate this fascinating writer. The Valancourt Books edition of The Sorrows of Satan includes the unabridged text of the first edition as well as a new introduction and notes by Julia Kuehn and an appendix containing rare contemporary reviews of Corelli's works.

A regular contributor to both Asimov's and Analog, and with stories in many other prestigious magazines and venues, Ian Creasey is one of genre fiction's most accomplished short story writers. This collection features some of his finest work to date.

From the chilling implications of cloning to the potential of alternative realities, from alien life encountered in unexpected ways to the pitfalls of relying too heavily on technology, these stories explore what may lie ahead for all of us.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• After the Atrocity
• The Equalisers
• No Strangers Any More
• The Language of Flowers
• An Exercise in Motivation
• My Time on Earth
• "I Was Nearly Your Mother"
• Shooting Grouse
• Memories of the Knacker's Yard
• The Dunschemin Retirement Home for
• Repentant Supervillains
• The Shapes of Wrath
• And Then They Were Gone
• Pincushion Pete
• Erosion
• About the Author

This short story first appeared in English in Asimov's Science Fiction, October-November 2004. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection (2005), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection The Emperor of Gondwanaland and Other Stories (2005).

A monk belonging to a sysadmin order tracks "An Anomaly" in the real world.

This novelette originally appeared on Tor.com, August 6, 2008. It can also be found in the anthologies Year's Best SF 14 (2009), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer, and Brave New Worlds: Dystopian Stories (2011), edited by John Joseph Adams. The story is included in the collection With a Little Help (2009).

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

In "Death by Dahlia," number-one New York Times best-selling author Charlaine Harris takes vampire Dahlia Lynley-Chivers to a lavish party that turns deadly. And with so many different creatures of the night in attendance, Dahlia will have a hard time identifying the most likely suspect.

Number-one New York Times best-selling author Patricia Briggs thrills in "In Red, with Pearls," as a werewolf P.I. races to crack a case involving zombies, witches, and the most horrifying creatures of them all: lawyers.

In "Lord John and the Plague of Zombies", New York Times best-selling author Diana Gabaldon follows Lord John as he journeys to the beautiful but faintly sinister island paradise of Jamaica, where he's soon investigating a mystery with no shortage of spiders, snakes, revolutionaries, and, of course, zombies.

With these and 13 more original tales, Down These Strange Streets takes you to the cities where fantasy and mystery collide and where private eyes who have seen it all find something lurking that is stranger still.

Table of Contents

• The Bastard Stepchild - (2011) - essay by George R. R. Martin
• Death by Dahlia - (2011) - novelette by Charlaine Harris
• The Bleeding Shadow - (2011) - novelette by Joe R. Lansdale
• Hungry Heart - [Nightside] - (2011) - shortstory by Simon R. Green
• Styx and Stones - (2011) - novelette by Steven Saylor
• Pain and Suffering - (2011) - novelette by S. M. Stirling
• It's Still the Same Old Story - (2011) - novelette by Carrie Vaughn
• The Lady Is a Screamer - (2011) - shortstory by Conn Iggulden
• Hellbender - (2011) - novelette by Laurie R. King
• Shadow Thieves - (2011) - novelette by Glen Cook
• No Mystery, No Miracle - (2011) - novelette by Melinda M. Snodgrass
• The Difference Between a Puzzle and a Mystery - (2011) - novelette by M. L. N. Hanover
• The Curious Affair of the Deodand - (2011) - novelette by Lisa Tuttle
• Lord John and the Plague of Zombies - (2011) - novella by Diana Gabaldon
• Beware the Snake - (2011) - shortstory by John Maddox Roberts
• In Red, with Pearls - (2011) - novelette by Patricia Briggs
• The Adakian Eagle - (2011) - novella by Bradley Denton

Peter - devoted pastor, dedicated missionary, and loving husband to his wife, Bea - has just accepted a demanding and perilous new job. He's to travel to a new planet, Oasis, to work for a mysterious corporation called USIC. He's tasked with reaching out to the indigenous race, to make sure they are as peaceful as they seem. Resolutely devout and strengthened by his letters from Bea at home, Peter undertakes his job with complete focus. The Oasans are shockingly open to his teachings, but things start to unravel when Bea's missives from Earth take a dark tone. Earth appears to be coming apart at the seams: typhoons and earthquakes are devastating whole countries and governments are crumbling. Even the hospital where she works has ceased to function. Their unearthly divide is testing Peter and Bea's relationship to a startlingly degree. Peter is thrown into crisis. USIC might be hiding its true motives in developing Oasis, and the Oasans themselves are frustratingly opaque. Bea's desperate letters are only fomenting his doubt. Peter is suddenly faced with an impossible-and dangerous-decision: to follow his faith, or follow his heart. His life depends on it.

Inspector Wilde is a rabid fan of tit-tat, the broadsheet arguments that get printed several times a day; the Chief Inspector thinks he's an idiot, but Wilde's strange reading habits may just crack this case wide open.

This story was anthologized in Steampunk II: Steampunk Reloaded (2010), edited by Ann VanderMeer and Jeff VanderMeer.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

Collection of 19 stories with an introduction by Kristine Kathryn Rusch.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Kiriki by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• "Voices in a Shelter Home"
• "Waiting for the Hunger"
• "The Glass Mountain"
• "Lost Lives"
• "The Open Air My Grave"
• "Variations on a Scream"
• "A Night Out"
• "The Black Knitting Needle"
• "Echoes and Mirrors"
• "A Step Into Darkness"
• "Housewife"
• "Compandroid"
• "Little Once"
• "Hushabye"
• "Family Tree"
• "Out of Hand"
• "Rumors of Greatness"
• "Exact Change"
• "Courting Disasters"

In Darkwater, being female doesn't amount to much. But Chelsea's luckier than most. She's the young lover of the town's feared leader, which she keeps telling herself is a good thing, what with food getting scarce and the wells drying up. She's secure and safe and can almost believe she's happy.

But when a stranger rides into town, gun on one hip, whip on the other, Chelsea can't look away. Especially when it turns out this stranger is a woman.

Nobody can say what the stranger is there for. But she brings talk of an outside perhaps no longer so chaotic, no longer something to hide away from - and she knows far too much about dark choices made in the town when the world outside was falling apart.

As the rumours fly about Darkwater's bloodied past and the murder of a woman twenty years earlier, Chelsea finds herself being drawn into someone else's terrifying quest for justice. Or is it merely deadly revenge?

In a place ruled by fear, Chelsea's going to have to decide whose side she's really on, and how far she's prepared to go to uncover the town's dirty secrets before more blood soaks the ground of Darkwater - this time, perhaps her own.

The Strange Case of John Kingman is a novella by Murray Leinster. It originally appeared in Astounding Stories, May 1948. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction Stories: 1949, edited by Everett F. Bleiler and T. E. Dikty, The Arbor House Treasury of Science Fiction Masterpieces (1983), edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Robert Silverberg, and The Great Science Fiction Stories Volume 10, 1948 (1983), edited by Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg. The story is included in the collections The Best of Murray Leinster (1978) and First Contacts: The Essential Murray Leinster (1998).

A therapist and self-help writer with all the answers, Sarah Slade has just bought a gorgeous Victorian in the community of her dreams. Turns out, you can get a killer deal on a house where someone was murdered. Plus, renovating Black Wood House makes for great blog content and a decent distraction from her failing marriage. Good thing nobody knows that her past is just as filthy as the bloodstain on her bedroom floor.

But the renovations are fast becoming a nightmare. Sarah imagined custom avocado wallpaper, massive profits, and an appreciative husband who wants to share her bed again. Instead, the neighbors hate her guts and her husband still sleeps on the couch. And though the builders attempt to cover up Black Wood's horrifying past, a series of bizarre accidents, threatening notes, and unexplained footsteps in the attic only confirms for Sarah what the rest of the town already knew: Something is very wrong in that house.

With every passing moment, Sarah's life spirals further out of control--and with it, her sense of reality. But as she peels back the curling wallpaper and discovers the house's secrets, she realizes that the deadly legacy of Black Wood House has only just begun.

A SAFARI INTO DANGER!

There are remote corners of the British Empire where the supernatural lurks and the shadows linger, where few dare go and fewer return.

A TIME FOR HEROES!

This is the world of the little-known Department of Antiquities--the so-called "Strange Brigade"--tasked with confronting ancient and terrible evils that threaten us all. But who are these mysterious adventurers?

EIGHT RIP-ROARING NEW ADVENTURES!

Join rising stars Cassandra Khaw, Gaie Sebold, Tauriq Moosa, Guy Adams, Jonathan L. Howard, Mimi Mondal, Patrick Lofgren and Joseph Guthrie as they delve into the hidden origins of some of the Brigade's finest, and marvel at these never-before-seen tales of our fearless and unflinching heroes...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (The True History of the Strange Brigade) - essay by David Thomas Moore
• And Was Jerusalem Builded Here? - short fiction by Cassandra Khaw
• Ripples in a Polluted Pool - short fiction by Jonathan L. Howard
• The Professor's Dilemma - short fiction by Tauriq Moosa
• Nalangu's Trials - short fiction by Gaie Sebold
• Where You Buy Things - short fiction by Guy Adams
• Peccavi, or If Thy Father - short fiction by Mimi Mondal
• The Island of Nightmares - short fiction by Patrick Lafgren
• Jessie's Song - short fiction by Joseph Guthrie

Nebula and Sturgeon Award nominated short story. It was originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2004. No other publications are known at this time.

A lonely boy, a mysterious girl, and a tormented sheep man plot their escape from the nightmarish library of internationally acclaimed, best-selling Haruki Murakami's wild imagination.

In the corner gas station, the local saloon, on the down-east farm, in the settings of EVERYDAY - there appear UNEXPECTEDLY THE ALIEN, THE WEIRD, THE MYSTERIOUS

The title story tells of one tearful stray from a herd of alien livestock which crushes most of Manhattan and causes apologetic herders to make amends. There is a shivery novelette about the abduction of a country wife by a hairy beast, and the story of a pickup truck full of mythical characters asking directions to Olympus. Then there are the ten-legged blue bugs from inner - or outer - space that can give you a dream - or a nightmare; the shadow-monkeys who have the absurd habit of following along and changing by what you think; the tiny angel that hatches from an egg; and the 'wrens' that hatch from Grandpa's beard the summer he was 106.

Table of Contents:

• Good Neighbors - (1960) - shortstory
• A Better Mousehole - (1965) - shortstory
• Longtooth -(1970) - novelette
• Maxwell's Monkey - (1964) - shortstory
• The Ponsonby Case - (1959) - shortstory
• Pickup for Olympus - (1953) - shortstory
• Darius - (1953) - shortstory
• Wogglebeast - (1965) - shortstory
• Angel's Egg - (1951) - novelette
• The Wrens in Grampa's Whiskers - (1960) - novelette

An inspiration to many for his style and prose, Lord Dunsany was a pioneer for fantasy fiction, inspiring such famous writers as H. P. Lovecraft, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Neil Gaiman to name a few. Over sixty years since its first publication, The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is now once again available to readers.

In this classic fantasy, a no-nonsense British officer, having offended an Indian swami in his club, finds his spirit lodged into a successful of animal bodies. Some of the animals the officer's spirit enters are a cat, goat, eel, fox, and many others. In his fantastic style, Dunsany captures the exact sentiments of each animal, making it believable that the office has, in fact, taken them as his own.

Out of print for over sixty years, The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is a fantastic tale that takes you to the core of fantasy writing and shows the skill of Lord Dunsany that many writers hold in the absolute highest regard. A lost classic, The Strange Journeys of Colonel Polders is finally available for readers of the beloved fantasy genre.

In this debut novel, acclaimed short-story author Tim Pratt delivers an exciting heroine with a hidden talent-and a secret duty. Witty and suspenseful, here is a contemporary love song to the West that was won and the myths that shape us....

As night manager of Santa Cruz's quirkiest coffeehouse, Marzi McCarty makes a mean espresso, but her first love is making comics. Her claim to fame: The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, a cowpunk neo-western yarn. Striding through an urban frontier peopled by Marzi's wild imagination, Rangergirl doles out her own brand of justice. But lately Marzi's imagination seems to be altering her reality. She's seeing the world through Rangergirl's eyes-literally--complete with her deadly nemesis, the Outlaw.

It all started when Marzi opened a hidden door in the coffeehouse storage room. There, imprisoned among the supplies, she saw the face of something unknown...and dangerous. And she unwittingly became its guard. But some primal darkness must've escaped, because Marzi hasn't been the same since. And neither have her customers, who are acting downright apocalyptic.

Now it's up to Marzi to stop this supervillainous superforce that's swaggered its way into her world. For Marzi, it's the showdown of her life. For Rangergirl, it's just another day...

Nebula Award nominated short storty. It originally appeared in the anthology Enchanted Forests (1995), edited by Katharine Kerr and Martin H. Greenberg and can also be found in the collection Wind Over Heaven and Other Dark Tales (2000).

Clark's Harbor was the perfect coastal haven, jealously guarded against outsiders. But now strangers have come to settle there. And a small boy is suddenly free of a frenzy that had gripped him since birth... His sister is haunted by fearful visions... And one by one, in violent, mysterious ways the strangers are dying. Never the townspeople. Only the strangers. Has a dark bargain been struck between the people of Clark's Harbor and some supernatural force? Or is it the sea itself calling out for a human sacrifice? A howling, deadly... Cry For The Strangers.

A vanished star. A haunted film. A mystery only love can unravel...

1968: Gemma Turner once dreamed of stardom. Now she's on the cusp of obscurity. When she's offered the lead in a radical new horror film, Gemma believes her luck has changed - but her dream is about to turn into a nightmare. One night, between the shadows of an alleyway, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet she's still alive. She's been pulled into the film. And the script - and the monsters within it - are coming to life. Gemma must play her role perfectly if she hopes to survive.

2007: Gemma Turner's disappearance is one of Hollywood's greatest mysteries - one that's haunted film student Christopher Kent ever since he saw L'Étrange Lune for the first time. The screenings only happen once a decade, and each time, there is new, impossible footage of Gemma that shouldn't exist. Curiosity drives Christopher to unravel the truth. But answers to the film's mystery may leave him trapped by it forever.

With these 17 tales, Ken Scholes invites you to his Imagination Forest. Youll find a toy bear of Little Brain tasked with a Very Long Walk and a mysterious metal man with the power to bring down a city and the heart to weep for it. Follow Meriwether Lewis west, seeking the source of a mysterious scrap of currency from the future. Laugh and cry as Andro Giantslayer recounts the highlights of his dungeon-crawling, dragon-slaying and diaper-changing career with Luendyl the Fierce and Fair. Learn exactly how Cain found himself a wife, see what superheroes get up to in their sunset years, and watch Hodgson and Houdini as they traverse the landscape of Hell in search of Michelangelos Crystalline Ear. And along the way, keep your eyes open. Youll meet alien babies, messianic Santas, typing chimps and maybe, if you look carefully, youll find some off-brand love and a little bit of hope in Drum Farrellys supply room. Buckle up. Hang on. A ride in the Imagination Forest is bound to be a strange journey.

New Angles on the Universe!

John Sladek is one of the most intelligent and versatile science fiction authors writing today. With sharp insight and wicked humor he opens his readers' minds to new angles on space, time, machines and men. In this brilliantly entertaining collection you will encounter galactic spies, nightmarishly benevolent computers, some extremely peculiar aliens, offbeat time machines -- not forgetting, of course, the Steam-Driven Boy itself...

In addition, John Sladek has included ten masterly parodies of the work of such all-time SF greats as Iclick As-i-move, Hitler I. E. Bonner, Barry DuBray, Carl Truhacker, Chipdip K. Kill and several others. Read them -- and experience a new high in outrage!

Table of Contents:

• 7 - The Secret of the Old Custard - (1966) - short story (variant of The Babe in the Oven)
• 14 - The Aggressor - (1969) - short story
• 22 - The Best-Seller - (1966) - short story
• 35 - Is There Death on Other Planets? - (1966) - short story
• 45 - The Happy Breed - (1967) - short story
• 64 - A Report on the Migrations of Educational Materials - (1968) - short story
• 71 - The Singular Visitor from Not-Yet - (1968) - short story
• 82 - The Short, Happy Wife of Mansard Eliot - (1971) - short story
• 89 - The Momster - (1969) - short story
• 97 - 1937 A.D.! - (1967) - short story
• 107 - Secret Identity - (1970) - short story
• 117 - The Transcendental Sandwich - (1973) - short story
• 124 - The Steam-Driven Boy - (1972) - short story
• 135 - The Purloined Butter...*dg*r *ll*n P** - (1972) - short story
• 138 - Pemberly's Start-Afresh Calliope or, The New Proteus...H.G. W*lls - (1971) - short story (variant of Pemberly's Start-Afresh Calliope or, The New Proteus)
• 147 - Ralph 4F...H*g* G*rnsb*ck (Hugogre N. Backs) - (1973) - short story
• 152 - Engineer to the Gods...R*b*rt H**nl**n (Hitler I.E. Bonner) - (1972) - short story
• 158 - Broot Force...*s**c *s*m*v (Iclick As-I-Move) - (1972) - short story
• 163 - Joy Ride...R*y Br*db*ry (Barry DuBray) - (1972) - short story
• 169 - The Moon Is Sixpence...*rth*r C. Cl*rk* (Carl Truhacker) - short story
• 172 - Solar Shoe-Salesman...Ph*l*p K. D*ck (Chipdip K. Kill) - (1973) - short story
• 180 - One Damned Thing After Another...C*rdw**n*r Sm*th (A Co-ordainer's Myth) - short story
• 186 - The Sublimation World...J.G. B*ll*rd (J.G. B-) - (1968) - short story (variant of The Sublimation World)

Bubbling potions can be bad for your health!Just ask Dr. Jekyll.By day, he's a kind doctor.But by night, he's the merciless kill Mr. Hyde.And all because of a magic formula.Will anybody find out the horrible secret of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde?

Miner James Starr, after receiving a letter from an old friend, leaves for the Aberfoyle mine. Although believed to be mined out a decade earlier, James Starr finds a mine overman, Simon Ford, along with his family living deep inside the mine. Simon Ford has found a large vein of coal but must deal with mysterious and unexplainable happenings in and around the mine.

Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga.

Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender. Ava -- in all other ways a normal girl -- is born with the wings of a bird. In a quest to understand her peculiar disposition and a growing desire to fit in with her peers, sixteen-year old Ava ventures into the wider world, ill-prepared for what she might discover and naive to the twisted motives of others.

Others like the pious Nathaniel Sorrows, who mistakes Ava for an angel and whose obsession with her grows until the night of the summer solstice celebration. That night, the skies open up, rain and feathers fill the air, and Ava's quest and her family's saga build to a devastating crescendo.

First-time author Leslye Walton has constructed a layered and unforgettable mythology of what it means to be born with hearts that are tragically, exquisitely human.

One post-war summer in rural Warwickshire, Dr. Faraday is called to a patient at lonely Hundreds Hall. Home to the Ayres family for over two centuries, the Georgian house, once impressive and handsome, is now in decline. Its owners-mother, son, and daughter-are struggling to keep pace with a changing society, as well as with conflicts of their own.

But are the Ayreses haunted by something more sinister than a dying way of life? Little does Dr. Faraday know how closely, and how terrifyingly, their story is about to become intimately entwined with his.

Contents:

• The Saliva Tree
• Danger: Religion!
• Day of the Doomed King
• Legends of Smith's Burst
• The Lonely Habit
• One Role With Relish
• Paternal Care
• A Pleasure Shared
• The Source
• Girl and Robot with Flowers

The Ship That Sailed the Time Stream

Ensign Joe Rate, captain of the experimental Navy yawl *Alice*, figured that everything that could happen to him in one day had already happened. First, after a freak electrical storm at sea the *Alice* had somehow been thrown a thousand years back in time, and it looked as if they were stranded in the past. They had provisions for two weeks at most. Then there was the voluptuous barbarian girl they'd saved from captivity--her presense on board a ship full of normal sailors wasn't likely to lessen the problems of the situation.

Then he saw the four Viking raiding ships bearing straight for him, and in a few minutes the first spear thunked into the *Alice*'s foredeck...

Stranger Than You Think

Contents:

• The Misfit
• From Caribou to Carry Nation
• The Galactic Calabash
• The Sign of the Goose
• The Country Boy
• The World Must Never Know
• The Third Bubble

The Strange Bird is a new kind of creature, built in a laboratory -- she is part bird, part human, part many other things. But now the lab in which she was created is under siege and the scientists have turned on their animal creations. Flying through tunnels, dodging bullets, and changing her colors and patterning to avoid capture, the Strange Bird manages to escape.

But she cannot just soar in peace above the earth. The sky itself is full of wildlife that rejects her as one of their own, and also full of technology -- satellites and drones and other detritus of the human civilization below that has all but destroyed itself. And the farther she flies, the deeper she finds herself in the orbit of the Company, a collapsed biotech firm that has populated the world with experiments both failed and successful that have outlived the corporation itself: a pack of networked foxes, a giant predatory bear. But of the many creatures she encounters with whom she bears some kind of kinship, it is the humans -- all of them now simply scrambling to survive -- who are the most insidious, who still see her as simply something to possess, to capture, to trade, to exploit. Never to understand, never to welcome home.

Sir Richard Francis Burton--explorer, linguist, scholar, and swordsman; his reputation tarnished; his career in tatters; his former partner missing and probably dead.

Algernon Charles Swinburne--unsuccessful poet and follower of de Sade; for whom pain is pleasure, and brandy is ruin!

They stand at a crossroads in their lives and are caught in the epicenter of an empire torn by conflicting forces: Engineers transform the landscape with bigger, faster, noisier, and dirtier technological wonders; Eugenicists develop specialist animals to provide unpaid labor; Libertines oppose repressive laws and demand a society based on beauty and creativity; while the Rakes push the boundaries of human behavior to the limits with magic, drugs, and anarchy.

The two men are sucked into the perilous depths of this moral and ethical vacuum when Lord Palmerston commissions Burton to investigate assaults on young women committed by a weird apparition known as Spring Heeled Jack, and to find out why werewolves are terrorizing London's East End.

Their investigations lead them to one of the defining events of the age, and the terrifying possibility that the world they inhabit shouldn t exist at all!

Contents:

• 11 - Author's Note (The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson) - essay
• 15 - Foreword (The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson) - shortfiction
• 19 - Feasters of the Dark - (2003) - shortstory
• 35 - The Transgression of Effram Harris - (2004) - shortstory
• 45 - Shadow of the Past - novelette
• 75 - The Whispering Dead - novelette
• 103 - The Haunted Horror - shortstory
• 115 - Harami - (2004) - shortstory
• 129 - The Missing Curiosity - novelette
• 159 - The Mysterious Millionaire - novelette
• 191 - An Ancient Summoning - shortstory
• 217 - Through the Eye of a Needle - (2006) - shortstory
• 237 - Afterword (The Strange Cases of Rudolph Pearson) - shortfiction

Britain Invaded at the Dawn of Time

Set in the grey, twilight world of the Stone Age, when the line between magic and reality was less easily drawn - and more easily crossed - than it is today, this novel tells of the 'Barley Dream', that web of ritual and human sacrifice without which the corn could not be made to grow.

Garroch, young chieftain of a primitive and taboo-ridden community, turns back for a while the invasion of the fair-haired strangers from the north. But when he falls under the spell of the sensual Isca, the princess who rides with them, the Barley Dream is threatened by the magic of the Sun...

But THE GOLDEN STRANGERS is no romance. Poetry and violence are equally matched in it: and through a stark and unmitigated realism Henry Treece conveys what it must have been like to 'believe in magic'.

Gathered here for the first time are Miles J. Breuer's first publication, "The Man with the Strange Head"; his neglected dystopian novel Paradise and Iron (appearing here in book form for the first time); stories such as "Gostak and the Doshes" and "Mechanocracy"; and Breuer's essay "The Future of Scientifiction," one of the early critical statements of the genre. Also included are some of the author's letters from the Discussions column of Amazing Stories.

Much of what we know as science fiction saw the light--and found its themes, styles, and modes--in the science fiction magazines of the early twentieth century. It was in these magazines of the 1920s and 1930s that Breuer often led the way. Breuer himself found his inspiration in the work of H. G. Wells and in turn influenced science fiction masters from Jack Williamson to Robert A. Heinlein. The Man with the Strange Head and Other Early Science Fiction Stories collects the best work of this pioneer of the genre.

Contents:

• ix - Miles J. Breuer Science Fiction Pioneer of the Nebraska Plains - essay by Michael R. Page
• 1 - The Man with the Strange Head - (1927) - shortstory
• 12 - The Appendix and the Spectacles - (1928) - shortstory
• 25 - The Gostak and the Doshes - (1930) - shortstory
• 44 - Paradise and Iron - (1930) - novel
• 257 - A Problem in Communication - (1930) - novelette
• 285 - On Board the Martian Liner - (1931) - novelette
• 312 - Mechanocracy - (1932) - novelette
• 339 - The Finger of the Past - (1932) - shortstory
• 350 - Millions for Defense - (1935) - shortstory
• 366 - Mars Colonizes - (1935) - novelette
• 394 - The Oversight - (1940) - shortstory
• 415 - The Future of Scientifiction - essay
• 419 - Selected Letters - essay
• 429 - Breuer's Science Fiction - essay by uncredited

Constable Elke Veraart and her cyber-dog Meisje are peace keepers, patrolling the Babylon Eye. It's a good job, but there must be more to life than chasing smugglers and settling domestic disputes.

Then three children ask Elke to find their mother, who's been missing for more than a year. The search attracts the wrong kind of attention. Elke and her young friends are in desperate danger.

Unable to resist the powers that have been unleashed against her, Elke is swept out of the Babylon Eye and into another world. While she struggles to regain her freedom, the children are unprotected. They must face, all alone, a new danger that stalks the corridors of the Babylon Eye.

The Syrena don't trust many humans. Rachel is one of them. The story of how Galen met her -- and how they bonded -- is both exciting and heartbreaking.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.

Based on some of literature's horror and science fiction classics, this is the story of a remarkable group of women who come together to solve the mystery of a series of gruesome murders--and the bigger mystery of their own origins.

Mary Jekyll, alone and penniless following her parents' death, is curious about the secrets of her father's mysterious past. One clue in particular hints that Edward Hyde, her father's former friend and a murderer, may be nearby, and there is a reward for information leading to his capture... a reward that would solve all of her immediate financial woes.

But her hunt leads her to Hyde's daughter, Diana, a feral child left to be raised by nuns. With the assistance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, Mary continues her search for the elusive Hyde, and soon befriends more women, all of whom have been created through terrifying experimentation: Beatrice Rappaccini, Catherin Moreau, and Justine Frankenstein.

When their investigations lead them to the discovery of a secret society of immoral and power-crazed scientists, the horrors of their past return. Now it is up to the monsters to finally triumph over the monstrous.

Max Frei's novels have been a literary sensation in Russia since their debut in 1996, and have swept the fantasy world over. Presented here in English for the first time, The Stranger will strike a chord with readers of all stripes. Part fantasy, part horror, part philosophy, part dark comedy, the writing is united by a sharp wit and a web of clues that will open up the imagination of every reader.

Max Frei was a twenty-something loser-a big sleeper (that is, during the day; at night he can't sleep a wink), a hardened smoker, and an uncomplicated glutton and loafer. But then he got lucky. He contacts a parallel world in his dreams, where magic is a daily practice. Once a social outcast, he's now known in his new world as the "unequalled Sir Max." He's a member of the Department of Absolute Order, formed by a species of enchanted secret agents; his job is to solve cases more extravagant and unreal than one could imagine-a journey that will take Max down the winding paths of this strange and unhinged universe.

Carter Morrison didn't want to kill his friends, or himself, but he had a good reason. It was them, or the end of all life on the planet.

Their sacrifice saved the world. Not that anyone knew it.

Until Katherine Manners stumbled over a melting man in a computer room clutching a message of doom from another world.

Follow Carter Morrison, Catherine Manners, Elandine the Queen of Hazurrium, and Jason Cole - also known as the Betrayer -- as they try to understand, survive, save, and in Jason's case, break free of the fictional worlds that insulate Earth from the dangers of the Strange, where world-eating monstrosities called planetovores lurk.

A weekly newspaper dedicated to the weird and the wonderful (but mostly the weird), it is the go-to publication for the unexplained and inexplicable.

At least that's their pitch. The reality is rather less auspicious. Their editor is a drunken, foul-tempered and foul-mouthed husk of a man who thinks little of the publication he edits. His staff are a ragtag group of misfits. And as for the assistant editor ... well, that job is a revolving door - and it has just revolved to reveal Hannah Willis, who's got problems of her own.

When tragedy strikes in her first week on the job The Stranger Times is forced to do some serious investigating. What they discover leads to a shocking realisation: some of the stories they'd previously dismissed as nonsense are in fact terrifyingly real. Soon they come face-to-face with darker forces than they could ever have imagined.

Vampires do not exist. Everyone knows this. So it's particularly annoying when they start popping up around Manchester...

Nobody is pleased about it. Not the Founders, the secret organization for whom vampires were invented as an allegory, nor the Folk, the magical people hidden in plain sight who only want a quiet life. And definitely not the people of Manchester, because there is nothing more irksome than being murdered by an allegory run amok. Somebody needs to sort this out fast before all Hell really breaks loose - step forward the staff of The Stranger Times.

It's not like they don't have enough to be dealing with. Assistant Editor Hannah has come back from getting messily divorced to discover that someone is trying to kidnap a member of their staff and while editor Vincent Banecroft would be delighted to see the back of any of his team, he doesn't like people touching his stuff - it's the principle of the thing.

Throw in a precarious plumbing situation, gambling debts, an entirely new way of swearing, and a certain detective inspector with what could be kindly referred to as 'a lot of baggage' and it all adds up to another hectic week in the life of the newspaper committed to reporting the truth that nobody else will touch.

Love can be a truly terrible thing.

Marriages are tricky at the best of times, especially when one of you is dead.

Vincent Banecroft, the irascible editor of The Stranger Times, has never believed his wife died despite emphatic evidence to the contrary. Now, against all odds, it seems he may actually be proved right; but what lengths will he go to in an attempt to rescue her?

With Banecroft distracted, the shock resignation of assistant editor, Hannah Willis, couldn't have come at a worse time. It speaks volumes that her decision to reconcile with her philandering ex-husband is only marginally less surprising than Banecroft and his wife getting back together. In this time of crisis, is her decision to swan off to a fancy new-age retreat run by a celebrity cult really the best thing for anyone?

As if that wasn't enough, one of the paper's ex-columnists has disappeared, a particularly impressive trick seeing as he never existed in the first place.

Floating statues, hijacked ghosts, homicidal cherubs, irate starlings, Reliant Robins and quite possibly several deeply sinister conspiracies; all-in-all, a typical week for the staff of The Stranger Times.

Some comebacks can be murder...

Stella is enjoying life as an almost student, or at least she is until a man falls from the sky right in front of her, leaving a big old hole in the pavement for Manchester Council to fill. The obvious question of how he ended up in the sky in the first place has no obvious answers, which is where The Stranger Times come in.

But this isn't just the hunt for another story. Dark powers think Stella might have been involved and the only way she and the team can prove her innocence is to find out what the hell is really going on. And what have dodgy gear, disturbed graves and a decommissioned rock star got to do with all this?

Vincent Banecroft has problems of his own in the form of a tall, dark but-definitely-not-handsome man dressed like a funeral who has been sent to make the paper's editor atone for his sins. Once he finds out exactly what that entails, Banecroft is not keen. Being banished to a Hellscape for all eternity looks like being no fun at all, not least because he has that pale Irish skin that burns really easily...

All that plus territorial ghouls, homicidal felines, eternal (and seemingly unstoppable) gnomes and a celebrity Who's Who that'd put a royal wedding to shame, and you're looking at a wild few days for The Stranger Times.

The Color of Neanderthal Eyes:

A space explorer finds a race of aquatic creatures that have no concept of war or fighting. He falls in love with one of their females. All is wonderful, until another species on the world begins attacking the peaceful creatures. The explorer has to teach them how to fight and how to wage a war, violating all his first-contact rules.

And Strange At Ecbatan the Trees:

A melancholic and allegorically inclined parable about a coming cataclysm that threatens a rigorously programmed (accomplished via genetic modification) and hierarchically rigid society.

Home is the Hangman::

A sentient space-exploration robot, lost years before, has apparently returned to Earth. One of its original designers has died under suspicious circumstances. Has the Hangman returned to kill its creators? The hero must find the Hangman and stop it, and time is running out.

We, In Some Strange Power's Employ, Move On A Rigorous Line:

This is the story of a group of futuristic outlaw bikers who don't want to join the world order symbolized by Global Power's electric grid.