The world is a recognizable place: there's a rich Nigerian boy who lounges around the family pool; a foster kid whose religious parents hide their true nature; an ambitious American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But then a vital new force takes root and flourishes, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power - they can cause agonizing pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world drastically resets.

Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are searching for answers - and for someone to blame. Vasya finds herself alone, beset on all sides. The Grand Prince is in a rage, choosing allies that will lead him on a path to war and ruin. A wicked demon returns, stronger than ever and determined to spread chaos. Caught at the center of the conflict is Vasya, who finds the fate of two worlds resting on her shoulders.

Summoned by no less than the Ruby Pharaoh herself, Major Bhaajan is tasked with finding a killer. But this is no ordinary murderer. The Ruby Pharaoh witnessed a Jagernaut cut down Assembly Councilor Tap Benton - which shouldn't have been possible. The Jagernauts are the elite of the elite soldiers in the Imperial Space Command. What's more, the spinal node implanted in all Jagernauts should have prevented the murder.

A human team sent to scout a few hundred lightyears in front of the death wave encounters an advanced civilization of machine intelligences. The machines are certain that the death wave gamma burst from the galactic core will not harm them. But now that the humans have discovered them, they refuse to allow them to leave their planet, reasoning that other humans will inevitably follow if they learn of their existence.

Young Arkad is the only human on a distant world. His struggle to survive on the lawless streets of an alien city is disrupted by the arrival of three humans: an eccentric historian named Jacob, a superhuman cyborg girl called Baichi, and a mysterious ex-spy known as Ree. They seek a priceless treasure which might free Earth from alien domination. Arkad risks everything to join them on an incredible quest halfway across the planet.

Sequel to THE CITY OF BRASS. As a new century approaches and the djinn gather within Daevabad's towering brass walls for celebrations, a threat brews unseen in the desolate north. It's a force that would bring a storm of fire straight to the city's gates - and one that seeks the aid of a warrior trapped between worlds, torn between a violent duty he can never escape and a peace he fears he will never deserve.

[Vancouver author]. When Kincaid's roommate, Nathan Cade - the ghost of a grunge-rocker with a pathological lack of self-control - comes home bound to a dead body, it's up to Kincaid to figure out how to free him. Ideally before her new mentor, Gideon, a powerful sorcerer's ghost, discovers that Nate is trapped in the body he'd coveted for himself.

Alpha station receives news of an incoming ship with no identification. Ross and Fallon, crew members of the Galway, believe the ship belongs to Pell, which has an interest in the Rights of Man, another massive ship docked at Alpha. It is under the command of the Earth Company, but it is not quite ready, and its true purpose is shrouded in mystery.

The 5000 human refugees that crowd Alpha Station must be relocated down to the planet, and soon. But not to the atevi mainland, rather to the territory reserved for humans, the island of Mospheira. Tabini-aiji, the powerful political head of the atevi, tasks his brilliant human diplomat, Bren Cameron, to negotiate with the Mospheiran government. For the Alpha Station refugees represent a political faction that the people of Mospheira broke from two centuries ago, and these Mospheirans are not enthusiastic about welcoming these immigrants from space.

For Ella Patel, sharing her mind with the alien, Io, has been tough, but they're beginning to trust each other. But their enemies, the Genjix, are a constant threat, and it looks like the alien Prophus may have seriously underestimated them. Someone should really do something about that - but are Ella and Io the right agents for the job?

Russian President Boris Lebed, the charismatic successor to Vladimir Putin, wants to turn an asteroid hurtling toward Earth into a superweapon to use against the US. He is holding the asteroid's billionaire owner hostage in Moscow until the man agrees to help. Former Senator and National Security Advisor Sean Falcone leads a dangerous off-the-books operation to derail Lebed's disastrous plan.

Isabelle des Zephyrs is unfairly convicted of breaking the treaty she helped write and has her political rank and status taken away. Now bereft, she nevertheless finds herself drawn into mystery when her faithful musketeer Jean-Claude uncovers a series of gruesome murders by someone calling itself the Harvest King. As panic swells, the capital descends into chaos, when the emperor is usurped from the throne by a rival noble.

Jon, the Leader, needs Champions to face the powers of chaos which will not listen to any argument but force. Lord Pal of Beune is one of those Champions. But now Guntram, the man who transformed Pal from an ignorant rube into a bulwark of the Commonwealth, has disappeared. Pal must locate his friend and mentor - and then he must battle an entity which may be at the core of the splintered universe!

All clans are agreed - tattoos are the only law on the Island of the Free, and there can never be a king. But a returning exile has smuggled something across the water that could send the old ways up in flames. Elias wants revenge on the men who severed his oaths and made him an outlaw. But, if his wealth and honour are to be restored, he'll need help from the most unlikely quarter - a mysterious woman, landed unwontedly on Newfoundland's rocky shore.

Deep in the Mississippi bayou, a half-wild child is dragged from the waters. She has no memories, no family and is covered in mysterious markings. Adopted by the policeman who rescued her, Luce Boudreau follows him onto the force, determined to prove herself in the eyes of those who are still suspicious. But she may be an orphan without a past, but no one - including Luce herself - could ever be prepared for the truth of her dark, powerful destiny.

Idle Hands is an ancient disease that once tore through the Discard, and if Wild Alan doesn't find a way into the Black Pyramid to administer the cure to his son, Billy, it will soon be stalking Gleam once again. Even with Bloody Nora's help, there's only one way in - and that's through the Sump, which was sealed long ago to contain the horrors within.

Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school - and her reputation - behind to follow her mother's trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted. But her one lead, the name Levi Glaisyer, belongs to a street lord and con man running a rapidly unraveling investment scheme.

In 48 hours, the Earth will be hit by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the Sun, a "Carrington Event" that has the power to shut down and possibly destroy the world's electrical infrastructure. In order to avert permanent damage, everything goes dark prior to the hit. But will that be enough?

As he fled the legendary city of Ildakar, capricious Wizard Commander Maxim dissolved the petrification spell that had turned to stone the invading army of General Utros fifteen centuries earlier. Now, hundreds of thousands of half-stone soldiers from the ancient past have awakened, led by one of the greatest enemy commanders in history. Nicci, Nathan, and Bannon have to help Ildakar survive this unbreakable siege.

On a far future Earth, Dust is the luckiest person alive. This doesn't keep her from being an orphan, a prize chased by the greedy and violent of many worlds, or a little girl in desperate need of friends. But it does make her very hard to kill. [Vancouver author].

Unchained from fate, the Norse gods Loki and Hel are ready to unleash Ragnarok. They've made allies on the darker side of many pantheons, and there's a globe-spanning battle brewing that ancient Druid Atticus O'Sullivan will be hard-pressed to survive, much less win. Atticus recruits the aid of a tyromancer, an Indian witch, and a trickster god in hopes that they'll give him just enough leverage to both save Gaia and see another sunrise. There is a hound named Oberon who deserves a snack, after all.

Every autumn John Pentecost returns to the Endlands, in Lancashire, as the families gather their sheep and bring them down from the moors for the winter to keep them safe from the Devil. This year his grandfather has died and he brings his wife Kat for the funeral. All kinds of mishaps and misfortunes seem to indicate evil at work, and Kat begins to learn the kind of action needed to defeat the Devil.

The old world has been ravaged by war and disease, and for seven years, the McBrides have eked out an existence in the still, white wilderness of the Yukon. Now they face threats, including the enigmatic fugitive Jax, who holds secrets about the past and, possibly, keys to a better future. And then there's Immunity, the pre-war organization that was supposed to save humankind from the flu. They're still out there, enforcing order and conducting experiments - but is their work for the good of humankind or is something much more sinister at play?

Summer, 1936. In England, an assassin is loose. Someone is killing young people who possess Talents. As terror overtakes Britain, Kim Tavistock, now officially employed by England's Secret Intelligence Service, is sent on her first mission. She travels to the remote Sulcliffe Castle in Wales to use her cover as a journalist to infiltrate a spiritualist cult that may have ties to the murders.

A post-dystopian society hopes to salvage the technology of a lost generation through a mysterious missing boy who can open doors no one else can, and a scribe who must piece together the past to determine humanity's future.

London is suffering from the German Blitz, but for one immortal werewolf, the war means little. He knows he will soon have to give up his identity once more, begin a new life. Before the wolf emerges. But a chance conversation leads him to the scene of a gruesome murder, and the realization that another war is being fought. The runes want to be together, and when they are the wolf's story will end.

The collected best of Ursula K. Le Guin's blog presents perfectly crystallized dispatches on what mattered to her late in life, her concerns with the world, and her wonder at it.

1954. In South America, Anja Kernova hunts fugitive Nazi sorcerers with the help of a powerful magickal tome known as the Iron Codex. In an ever-more dangerous world, a chance encounter sparks an international race to find Anja and steal the Iron Codex. The Vatican, Russians, Jewish Kabbalists, and shadowy players working all angles covet the Codex for the power it promises whoever wields it.

An all-new, adventurous jaunt along one of America's greatest rivers, featuring many beloved Wild Cards characters and the writing talents of Stephen Leigh, David D. Levine, John Joseph Miller, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Cherie Priest, and Carrie Vaughn.

The Langsariks' Hilton Shires has forged a coalition to bring Gonebeyond slavers to justice. The criminal cartels that have profited from the freedom of Gonebeyond for so long aren't having any of it, and they know the key to taking down Shires is to get rid of renegade Fleet Inquisitor Andrej Koscuisko. So torturer Danyo Pefisct has come to Gonebeyond to enslave Andrej Koscuisko himself.

Lundy is a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well. 208 pages.

Raging gods have laid waste to the Five Kingdoms. Only Torema remains, swollen with millions of refugees. Brogan and his warriors must fight the He-Kisshi to reach the Gateway, the sole portal for gods to enter the mortal world - and the only place where they can be killed. But the forces of creation have been unleashed, and they'll destroy the world to reshape it.

The evil Praxis kingdom is on the cusp of having every star system under its control, and if that happens, there'll be no contesting their cruel reign. Especially if its fanatical overlord, Ga Halle, manages to capture Cade Sura and snag his all-powerful weapon for herself. With some help from his friends - rebels and scoundrels alike - Cade's going to use this weapon to chart a new destiny for the galaxy, and for himself. He just has to do so before everyone around him discovers that he's a complete and total fraud.

In a future of near-instantaneous global travel and abundant provision for the needs of all, a future in which no one living can remember an actual war - war has finally come. The Hives' facade of solidity was their only hope for maintaining order. But as their secret program of assassination becomes more widely known, the facade slips away. Now everyone scrambles to prepare for the inevitable conflict.

Three original stories set in Alagaesia. It's been a year since Eragon departed in search of the perfect home to train a new generation of Dragon Riders. Now he is struggling with an endless sea of tasks: constructing a vast dragonhold, wrangling with suppliers, guarding dragon eggs, and dealing with belligerent Urgals and haughty elves. Then a vision from the Eldunari, unexpected visitors, and an exciting Urgal legend offer a much-needed distraction and a new perspective.

Sixteen tales of science fiction and fantasy from the two-time World Fantasy and Philip K. Dick Award winning author of ANUBIS GATES and ON STRANGER TIDES.

What if Alan Turing, founder of the modern computer age, faked his suicide to escape assassination by the secret service? What if he then became the lover of Beat author William Burroughs? And what if they then mutated into giant shapeshifting slugs, fled the FBI agents tracking them, raised Burroughs's wife - killed in a tragic drunken mishap - from the dead, and, finally, tweaked the H-bombs of Los Alamos to use them for a very different purpose?

When three thieves - an orphan, a ghoul, and a cursed man - are betrayed by the master of the thieves guild, their quest for revenge uncovers dark truths about their city and exposes a dangerous conspiracy, the seeds of which were sown long before they were born. Chance has brought them together, but their friendship could be all that stands in the way of total armageddon.

As the Blood Moon rises high upon the mountain of the Usgar a demon hunts. But this is not the demon's story. This is the story of a young woman, the daughter of a witch, born under the Blood Moon, how she finds herself alone in a tribe of vicious barbarians, and how she came to know the world.

A new take on BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, taking the Beast's side of the story.

Detective Dana Rohan has an excellent arrest and conviction rate. But she has kept secret the Mark she bears that allows her to walk into alternate pasts and futures and see any crime as it's being committed. And then she is assaulted by a ragged old man babbling an incoherent warning that "the Shadows are coming," right before he is killed by an armoured monstrosity out of another century.

18 year old Grace now knows that everything she believed about the Revelations is a lie - a myth constructed by the government of the Prophets to force its citizens into model behavior - and one that led to her mother's death. After insinuating herself into Prophet Joshua's inner circle, she comes ever closer to destroying his mind-influencing nanotechnology. But a shocking discovery has her questioning her path, and sends her hunting for answers about her past.

It's up to officers like Travis Long and Lisa Donnelly to defend the Star Kingdom and the Royal Manticoran Navy, but the challenge is greater than any they have faced before. Weakened but not defeated, the mercenary forces and their mysterious employer could return at any time, and the anti-Navy faction within Parliament is growing. The situation becomes even more dire when fresh tragedy strikes the Star Kingdom.

Despite the end of the war, Safefold is a broken world. As international alliances shift and Charis charges on with its precarious mission of global industrialization, the shifting plates of the new world order are bound to clash. Yet, an uncertain future isn't the only danger Safehold faces. Long-buried secrets and prophetic promises come to light, proving time is a merciless warden who never forgets.

Still reeling from the events of THE RAPTOR AND THE WREN, Miriam must confront two terrifying discoveries: the Trespasser now has the power to inhabit the living as well as the dead, and Miriam is pregnant. As she once again finds herself on the hunt for a serial killer and in need of an elusive physic, she can feel the threads of her past coming together - and the pattern they're forming is deadly.

In the lower wards of Kahnzoka, the great port city of the Blessed Empire, eighteen-year-old ward boss Isoka enforces the will of her criminal masters with the power of Melos, the Well of Combat. When her magic is discovered by the government, she's arrested and brought to the Emperor's spymaster, who sends her on an impossible mission: steal Soliton, a legendary ghost ship - a ship from which no one has ever returned.

In the wake of the Storm King's fall, Ineluki's loyal minions, the Norns, dark cousins to the Sithi, choose to flee the lands of men and retreat north to Nakkiga, their ancient citadel within the hollow heart of the mountain called Stormspike. But as the defeated Norns make their way to this last haven, the mortal Rimmersman Duke Isgrimnur leads an army in pursuit, determined to end the Norns' attacks and defeat their ageless Queen Utuk ku for all time.

The product of the Lange-Tur technology confiscated from the Germans after World War II occupies a chamber of steel-reinforced ballistic glass 50 feet below the Lakehurst Naval Air Station. Humans with special abilities have been secretly collected - abilities that can only have come from whatever occupies the underground bunker in Lakehurst. And so it sits, sequestered on the edge of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, slowly changing the world.

The Feed is accessible everywhere, by everyone, at any time. It instantaneously links us to all information and global events as they break. When a horrific tragedy ends the Feed, people are left scavenging to survive. Finding food is truly a matter of life and death. Tom and Kate have managed to protect themselves and their family. But then their six-year-old daughter, Bea, goes missing. How do you begin to look for someone in a world without technology?

In the Golden State, knowingly contradicting the truth is the greatest crime - and stopping those crimes is Laz's job. As a Speculator he is one of the few individuals permitted to harbor untruths, to "speculate" on what might have happened. But the Golden State is less a paradise than its name might suggest. To monitor, verify, and enforce the truth requires a veritable panopticon of surveillance and recording. And when those in control of the facts twist them for nefarious means, the Speculators are the only ones with the power to fight back.

Humanity clings to life on the dying planet January, spread across two archaic cities built in the sliver of habitable dusk. Sophie, a student and reluctant revolutionary, is supposed to be dead, after being exiled into the night. Saved only by forming an unusual bond with the enigmatic beasts who roam the ice, Sophie vows to stay hidden from the world, hoping she can heal. But fate has other plans - and Sophie's ensuing odyssey and the ragtag family she finds will change the entire world.

Every day a dark magic grows stronger within the young king Nikolai Lantsov, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha Squaller, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him.

As Elanna exhausts her powers restoring a ravaged land, news that the emperor is readying an invasion spurs Jahan on a desperate mission to establish peace. Yet going back to Paladis proves to be anything but peaceful. As magic is a crime in the empire, punishable by death, Jahan must hide his abilities. Nonetheless, the grand inquisitor's hunters suspect him of sorcery, and mysterious, urgent messages from the witch who secretly trained Jahan only increase his danger of being exposed.

The United States. 2030. John McDean executive produces "Vigilance," a reality game show designed to make sure American citizens stay alert to foreign and domestic threats. Shooters are introduced into a "game environment," and the survivors get a cash prize. The TV audience is not the only one that's watching though, and McDean soon finds out what it's like to be on the other side of the camera. 192 pages.

After her divorce, Vicki DeVine took over a rustic resort near Lake Silence, in a human town that is not human controlled. She was hoping to find a new career and a new life. But when her lodger, Aggie Crowe - one of the shape-shifting Others - discovers a murdered man, Vicki finds trouble instead. The detectives want to pin the death on her, despite the evidence that nothing human could have killed the victim. As Vicki and her friends search for answers, ancient forces are roused by the disturbance in their domain.

Werewolves too damaged to live safely among their own kind are exiled to the outskirts of Aspen Creek, Montana. Charles and Anna are on call when an SOS comes in from the fae mate of one such wildling. Heading into the mountainous wilderness, they interrupt the abduction of the wolf - but can't stop blood from being shed. Now Charles and Anna must use their skills - his as enforcer, hers as peacemaker - to track down the attackers, reopening a painful chapter in the past that springs from the darkest magic of the witchborn...

Lysander au Lune, the heir in exile, has returned to the Core. Determined to bring peace back to mankind at the edge of his sword, he must overcome or unite the treacherous Gold families of the Core and face down Darrow over the skies of war-torn Mercury. But theirs are not the only fates hanging in the balance. As alliances shift, break, and re-form - and power is seized, lost, and reclaimed - every player is at risk in a game of conquest that could turn the Rising into a new Dark Age.

Sarah Calhoun now rides north into the Ohio and her father's kingdom, Cahokia. To win the Serpent Throne, she'll have to defeat seven other candidates, win over the kingdom's regent, and learn the will of a hidden goddess - while mastering her people's inscrutable ways and watching her own back.

A collection of Cargill's short fiction, including a novella, "The Soul Thief's Son" that continues the story of Colby Stevens.

All alone in Singapore, proper Miss Primrose Tunstell must steal helium to save her airship, the Spotted Custard, in a scheme involving a lovesick werecat and a fake fish tail. When she uncovers rumours of a new kind of vampire, Prim and the Custard crew embark on a mission to Peru. There, they encounter airship pirates and strange atmospheric phenomena, and are mistaken for representatives of the Spanish Inquisition.

Stranded in suburban San Francisco since the 1990s after a botched mission, Kin Stewart has kept his past as a time-traveling secret agent from 2142 hidden from everyone around him, despite the increasing blackouts and memory loss affecting his time-traveler's brain. Then one afternoon his "rescue" team arrives - 18 years too late - to return him to 2142, where he's only been gone weeks, not years, and where another family is waiting for him. A family he can't remember.

A shapeshifting wizard with designs on her powers of precognition has spirited Thera away. He holds her prisoner in the House of Assassins. Ashok Vadal and the Sons of the Black Sword march to rescue Thera. But now, Ashok must fight without the aid of his magic blade for the first time.

EVE OF DARKNESS, EVE OF DESTRUCTION and EVE OF CHAOS in one volume, an urban fantasy series that tells the story of Evangeline Hollis, a heavenly bounty hunter, who is cursed by God, hunted by demons, and desired by none other than Cain and Abel.

Bloodwitch Aeduan has teamed up with the Threadwitch Iseult and the magical girl Owl to stop a bloodthirsty horde of raiders preparing to destroy a monastery that holds more than just faith. But to do so, he must confront his own father, and his past.

Now, with the powerful Queen Naelin ruling by her side, Daleina believes that her dream of ushering in a new era can be realized, even in a land plagued by malevolent nature spirits who thirst for the end of human life. And then Naelin's children are kidnapped by spirits. Blaming the defeated Queen Merecot of Semo for the kidnapping, Naelin is ready to start a war - and has the power to do it.

Courtier, explorer, thief: Leaper is a man of many skills, but none of his talents satisfy the yearning in his heart for the Queen of Airakland, the ruler of a thunder-clashed kingdom. Their affair is cut too short, however, when she is murdered. But who was the assassin? A political rival? The jealous king? Or, perhaps, the god of thunder who oversees them all?

Life as a cop in Canton Town, Mississippi, is never dull - particularly when hiding deep within you is a demon bent on the apocalypse. Luce is doing her best to pretend her two worlds aren't crashing into each other, but what should be a routine arson investigation takes a shocking turn when Luce discovers a link between the suspects and her own dark secrets.

The Free Lord Baron Daylon Dumarch found and hid the infant heir of the slain Firemane. Daylon sends him to be raised on the Island of Coaltachin, home of the so-called Kingdom of Night, where the powerful and lethal Nocusara, the "Hidden Warriors," legendary assassins and spies, are trained. Years later, another young man, Declan, unlocks the secret to forging King's Steel, the apex of a weapon maker's trade known by very few. Soon, the two young men - an unknowing rightful heir to a throne and a brilliantly talented young swordsmith - will discover that their fates, and that of Garn, are entwined

Every Winter the human population hibernates. Except the Winter Consuls, whose job is to keep the sleeping masses safe during those bitterly cold four months. It is Charlie Worthing's first season with the Consuls, and he is investigating an outbreak of viral dreams. The dreams start to kill people, and then they start to come true. Charlie's investigation must navigate through the Villains and their penchant for murder, kidnapping, and stamp collecting, through the Nightwalkers, whose thirst for human flesh can only be satisfied by comfort food, and through the increasingly less-than-mythical WinterVolk.

Time shatters into shards of the past, present, and future. A group of survivors dodges threats from across history to locate the source and repair the damage before it's too late.

In the supernatural war between angels and daimons Diago has chosen Los Nefilim, the sons and daughters of angels who possess the power to harness music and light. He must locate the Key, the special chord that will unite the nefilim's voices, giving them the power to avert the coming civil war between the Republicans and Franco's Nationalists.

When Turalon arrives in orbit around Donovan, Supervisor Kalico Aguila discovers a failing colony, its government overthrown, and the few colonists left now gone wild. For Kalico, Donovan offers the chance of a lifetime. One desperate spin of the wheel that will leave her the most powerful woman in the solar system. Or dead.

Now, twenty years after the Rising, a team of scrappy underdog reporters relentlessly pursue the facts while competing against the brother-and-sister blog superstars, the Masons. Surrounded by the infected, and facing more insidious forces working in the shadows, they must hit the presidential campaign trail and uncover dangerous truths. Or die trying.

Mops learns of a secret Krakau laboratory on Earth working to create a new weapon, one that could bring victory over the Prodryans ... or drown the galaxy in chaos. To discover the truth, Mops and her rogue cleaning crew will have to do the one thing she fears most: return to Earth, a world overrun by feral apes, wild dogs, savage humans, and worse.

The city of Athanor has accumulated cultures, citizens and species into a vast, unmappable metropolis. Isten and her gang of half-starved political exiles live off petty crime and gangland warfare in Athanor's seediest alleys. Though they dream of returning home to lead a glorious revolution, Isten's downward spiral drags them into a mire of addiction and violence. Isten must find a way to save the exiles and herself if they are ever to build a better, fairer world for the people of their distant homeland.

Skilled hunter Tracker is engaged by a mysterious slave trader to find a boy who disappeared three years earlier. He find himself a member of a group that includes a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard. As Tracker follows the boy's scent - from one ancient city to the next, through dense forests and across deep rivers - the band is set upon by creatures intent on destroying Tracker and his cohorts.

The king of the Naor horde believes that the great sword in Darassus is doomed to kill him, and consequently Darassus has seen peace for seven years. But when squire Elenai's aging mentor uncovers evidence that the sword in their hall is a forgery she's forced to flee Darassus for her life, her only ally the reckless, disillusioned Kyrkenall the archer. They race to recover the real sword.

Winner of the British Fantasy Award. Sixteen rare terror tales not to be read at night, from Hugh B. Cave's 1930s "shudder pulp" tale to Ramsey Campbell's stunning novella of barely concealed hysteria and grim black humour, with contributions from Poppy Z. Brite, Basil Copper, Harlan Ellison, Neil Gaiman, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Tanith Lee, and Michael Marshall Smith, among others.

A selection of Kiernan's best work from her output of 250 short stories.

Talia Krycek, Zander's daughter and a member of the very council that had him exiled, has come to ask her father for his help bringing Ithaca back from the abject poverty and civil war into which it has descended. Seeing a chance to repair his legacy - and his relationship with Talia - Zander agrees. But in order to sneak Zander back into Ithaca safely, they'll need a ship and a crew with smuggling experience. Enter privateer Captain Catherine Blackwood and the Andromeda.

25 speculative stories that challenge oppression and envision new futures for America - from N. K. Jemisin, Charles Yu, Charlie Jane Anders, Hugh Howey, Tobias S. Buckell, Seanan McGuire, Catherynne M. Valente, Daniel H. Wilson and more.

Ravaged by barbarian Scalda forces, the last hope for Eirlandia lies with the island's warring tribes. Wrongly cast out of his tribe, Conor, the first-born son of the Celtic king, embarks on a dangerous mission to prove his innocence. What he discovers will change Eirlandia forever. For the Scalda have captured the mystical Fae to use as an ultimate weapon. And Conor's own people have joined in the invasion.

The interviews collected here - covering everything from her Berkeley childhood to her process of world-building; from her earliest experiments with genre to envisioning the end of capitalism - highlight her unique perspective, which conjured some of the most prescient and lasting books in modern literature.

Along with familiar subgenres, there are stories that feature alternate Chinese history, chuanyue time travel, satire with historical and contemporary allusions that are likely unknown to the average Western reader. In addition, three essays at the end of the book explore the history of Chinese science fiction publishing, the state of contemporary Chinese fandom, and how the growing interest in science fiction in China has impacted writers who had long laboured in obscurity.

Kihrin grew up in the slums of Quur, a thief and a minstrel's son raised on tales of long-lost princes and magnificent quests. When he is claimed against his will as the misisng son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds himself at the mercy of his new family's ruthless power plays and political ambitions. Practically a prisoner, Kihrin discovers that being a long-lost prince is nothing like what the storybooks promised.

First there is the 16 year old Princess Katerina who comes to the lush, tropical island of Laut Besar to obtain the vast wealth and power she needs to claim the Empire for herself. Next there is Prince Arjun, who seeks the malignant sorcerer who invaded his small island kingdom, slaughtered his people and stole his ancestral sword. And lastly there is the sorcerer himself, who with Arjun's ancient sword, has claimed the first of the Seven Keys needed to unlock the Seven Hells.

Carol Evers falls into comas, waking slumbers indistinguishable from death, each lasting days. Only two people know of Carol's condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and - when she lapses into another coma - plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie, who will ride the Trail again to save her from an early, unnatural grave.

Though the Shadari managed to oust the Norlander regime through uprising, internal strife and rumors of an approaching plague are lending new terror, and their old enemy's ships have been seen back on the horizon. A leader is denounced for his failures, and an old Asha is installed in place - but is she planning on using her powers to help the Shadari, or just in service of an old, hidden vengeance?

Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins finds herself as a famous interstellar pilot with little to do, until a message from an alien race arrives, a piece of music from an unexplored area. Though this alien race could pose great danger and though the message may have taken several thousand years to travel, the last interstellar ship is prepared for the journey. As the general paranoia grows, Hutch and her crew make an early escape - but what they find at the other end of the galaxy is completely unexpected.

In the shifting sands of the desert, near an unnamed metropolis, there is an institute where various fellows come to undertake projects of great significance. But when our sort-of hero, Percy Frobisher, arrives, surrounded by the simulated environment of the glass-enclosed dome of the Institute, his mind goes completely blank. When he spills something on his uniform - a major faux pas - he learns about a mysterious shop where you can take something, utter the command "same same," and receive a replica even better than the original.

Ada von Hasenberg's attempts to defy her father and avoid an arranged wedding with a scion of House Rockhurst have come to an end. The fiery princess has been thrown into a prison cell with Marcus Loch. Loch is rumored to have killed his entire chain of command during the Fornax Rebellion, and the Consortium wants his head. Then the ship returning them to Earth is attacked by a Rockhurst battle cruiser. Ada's only hope is to strike a deal with the dangerous fugitive: a fortune if he helps her escape. But when you make a deal with an irresistibly attractive Devil, you may lose more than you bargained for . . .

The Great War is on. 18 year old Robert Weekes is a practitioner of empirical philosophy - an arcane, female-dominated branch of science used to summon the wind, shape clouds of smoke, heal the injured, and even fly. When a deadly accident puts his philosophical abilities to the test, Robert rises to the occasion and wins a scholarship to study at Radcliffe College, an all-women's school. There he falls hard for Danielle Hardin, a disillusioned young war hero turned political radical.

Solidar is in chaos. Charyn, the young and untested ruler of Solidar, has survived assassination, and he struggles to gain control of a realm in the grip of social upheaval, war, and rioting. Solidar cannot be allowed to slide into social and political turmoil that will leave the High Holders with their ancient power and privilege, and the common people with nothing. But the stakes are even higher than he realizes.

Beautiful Remorse is the hot new band on the scene, releasing one track a day for ten days straight. Each track has a mysterious name and a strangely powerful effect on the band's fans. A curious music blogger decides to investigate the phenomenon up close by following Beautiful Remorse on tour across Texas and Kansas, realizing along the way that the band's lead singer, is hiding an incredible, impossible secret. 128 pages.

Sequel to ONE WAY. XO, the greedy - and ultimately murderous - corporate architects of humanity's first Mars base made a costly mistake when they left Frank Kittredge there: they left him alive. He's going to find a way back home even if it kills him. Little does he know that just over the mountain, there's another XO base where things are going terribly, catastrophically wrong. And when the survivors of that mission find Frank, they're going to want to take even the little he has away from him.

In the aftermath of a devastating clash between gods and men, two unlikely allies - one immortal and one human - must band together to survive in the sequel to THE SONG OF ALL.

Britain, the not-too-distant future. Idir is sitting the British Citizenship Test. He wants his family to belong. Twenty-five questions to determine their fate. Twenty-five chances to impress. When the test takes an unexpected and tragic turn, Idir is handed the power of life and death. How do you value a life when all you have is multiple choice?

New stories of the war between humanity and the catlike Kzin from Brad R. Torgersen, Brendan DuBois, Martin L. Shoemaker, and more!

Binti is a young Himba girl taking an interstellar journey to attend a prestigious university. Then the jellyfish-like Medusae attack Binti's spaceship, leaving her the only survivor. Now, Binti must fend for herself, alone on a ship full of the beings who murdered her crew, with five days until she reaches her destination.

The warship Trouble Dog renounces her military past and is refitted. But, stripped of her weaponry and emptied of her officers, she struggles in the new role she's chosen for herself. When a ship goes missing in a disputed system, Trouble Dog and her new crew of misfits and loners, captained by Sal Konstanz, an ex-captain of a medical frigate who once fought against Trouble Dog, are assigned to investigate and save whoever they can.

The former warship Trouble Dog and her crew of misfits is called upon by the House of Reclamation to investigate a distress call from the human starship the Lucy's Ghost. Her crew abandon their crippled ship and seek refuge abroad an abandoned, slower-than-light generation ship launched ten thousand years before by an alien race. As the Trouble Dog and her crew fight to save the crew of the Lucy's Ghost, the ship finds herself caught between chaotic alien monsters on one side, and on the other, destruction at the hands of the Marble Armada.

Sequel to REVENGER. Adrana and Fura Ness have finally been reunited, but both have changed beyond recognition. Now Adrana is haunted by her enslavement on the feared pirate Bosa Sennen's ship. And rumours of Bosa Sennen's hidden cache of treasure have ensnared her sister, Fura, into single-minded obsession. Neither is safe; because the galaxy wants Bosa Sennen dead and they don't care if she's already been killed. They'll happily take whoever is flying her ship.

A private Barrani Hell, built of Shadow and malice, exists beneath the High Halls. It is the High Court's duty to jail the creature at its heart - even if it means that Barrani victims are locked in the cage with it. The Consort is willing to do almost anything to free the trapped and end their eternal torment. And she needs the help of Kaylin's houseguests - and Kaylin herself.

Aoelyn risked her life to save the trader Talmadge and it cost her everything that is dear to her, but Talmadge survived and can't forget the amazing woman that killed a god. Little do they realize, war is coming to the mountain. Far to the west, a fallen empire stirs. One that sees a solar eclipse as a call to war. Their empire once dominated the known world and they want it back.

After the events in THE SISTERS MEDEROS, the Merchants Guild hires Abel Fresnel, a detective with special powers of his own, to find out what happened. Tesara and Yvienne Mederos have to avoid his probing questions and keep mum about their role in the events of that dark night. Everything's more or less under control until a dead man turns up in the dumbwaiter.

Egyptologist Rom Hardy joins his old friend, the bounty-hunting sniper Rex McTroy, to hunt a bloodthirsty creature on the loose in the mountains of New Mexcio. Awaiting them are blizzards, cold-blooded trappers, remorseless hunters, a mad doctor, wild animals and a monster so fearsome and terrifying, it must be a legend come to life.

Persephone keeps the human clans from turning on one another through her iron will and a compassionate heart. The arrogant Fhrey are barely held in check by their leader, Nyphron, who seeks to advance his own nefarious agenda through a loveless marriage that will result in the betrayal of the person Persephone loves most: Raithe, the God Killer.

1997. Shannon Moss is assigned by the Navy to solve the murder of a SEAL's family - and to locate his teenage daughter, who has disappeared. She learns that the missing SEAL was an astronaut aboard the spaceship U.S.S. Libra - a ship assumed lost to the darkest currents of Deep Time. Moss travels ahead in time to explore possible versions of the future, seeking evidence or insight that will crack the present-day case and makes an appalling discovery.

Despite unprecedented victories on the part of humanity, the war with the alien Chiata Horde drags on. Intelligence suggests that the Chiata Invasion is at hand, and with numbers sure to overwhelm humankind. But hope has come from an unlikely source: the Thgreet, long-dead inhabitants of a world ground under the heels of the Chiata millennia ago. In the crumbled ruins of their homeworld is a map - and it may lead to victory.

Jewel has given Carver the single, blue leaf that came from the wilderness and the dreaming combined, though its purpose is a mystery. With Ellerson by his side, Carver intends to traverse the wild Winter in an attempt to reach home - and the people who are waiting for him. But the Lord of these lands is waking from his ancient slumber. Moreover, Firstborn, demons, and wild elementals are swirling around two mortal men in a storm that threatens to end the only chance the city of Averalaan has of surviving what is to follow.

Four years have passed since the five royal sisters - daughters of the king - worked together to restore their father to health and to the throne while fracturing the bonds among themselves almost irreparably. Only Bluebell remains at home, dutifully serving as heir to her father's kingdom - the others, Rose, Ash and Ivy, have left. And as for Willow, she hides the most dangerous secret of all - one that could destroy all that the sisters once sought to save.

West African inspired young adult fantasy. 17 year old Zaelie, her older brother Tzain and rogue princess Amari fight to restore magic to the land and activate a new generation of magi, but they are ruthlessly pursued by the crown prince, who believes the return of magic will end the monarchy.

Salvage operators Halmey Dz and her partner Connla Kurucz pilot their tiny ship into the scars left by unsuccessful White Transitions, searching for the relics of lost human and alien vessels. But when they make a shocking discovery about an alien species that has been long thought dead, it may be the thing that could tip the perilous peace mankind has found into full-out war.

Ceda hatches a plan to return to Sharakhai and free the asirim, the kings' powerful, immortal slaves. The kings, however, have sent their greatest tactician, the King of Swords, to bring Ceda to justice for her crimes. But the surviving kings vie quietly against one another, maneuvering for control over Sharakhai. Ceda hopes to use that to her advantage, but whom to trust?

Petra Dee may be adept when it comes to the uncanny, but as a reasoned geologist, she still can't fathom the wildfires suddenly engulfing Yellowstone National Park, or why Gabe claims to have seen the sky explode in flames. The answers could lie in the past, in the dreadful night in 1862 when Lascaris went harvesting for souls, only to be set upon by townsfolk determined to eliminate the root of all evil in a trial by fire.

Bennett is a town in the Elder Hills where humans and Others are attempting to live and work together. But the town of Bennett has attracted the attention of other humans looking for profit. And the arrival of the outlaw Blackstone Clan will either unite Others and humans -- or pitch them against one another.

Mercy Thompson is a car mechanic, a coyote shapeshifter, and mate of the Alpha of the Columbia Basin werewolf pack. Her territory is viewed as neutral ground, a place where humans would feel safe to come and treat with the fae. But now, as generals and politicians face off with the Gray Lords of the fae, a storm is coming and her name is Death.

Green Rider Karigan G'ladheon, accompanied by one of the immortal race of Eletians, is sent to find the legendary creatures called p'ehdrosian in the northern wilds. She hopes to renew an alliance of old in the face of current threats from enemies who seek to destroy Sacoridia. Each step on their journey northward grows more perilous with attacks from groundmites, and encounters with ghosts, and ultimately the threat of the necromancer and leader of Second Empire, Grandmother, as they approach the enemy encampment in the Lone Forest.

Dar Leah, once the High Druid's Blade, knows that if any hope exists against the invincible invaders, it rests in the hands of the Druid Drisker Arc, now trapped inside vanished Paranor. As Drisker races to find the ancient knowledge that could free him, Dar goes in search of Tarsha Kaynin, the young woman blessed with the formidable gift of the wishsong, whose magic could draw Drisker back into the world of the living.

Colonists from Earth wanted the perfect home, but they'll have to survive on the one they found. They don't realize another life form watches - and waits. Only mutual communication can forge an alliance with the planet's sentient species and prove that humans are more than tools.

When sisters Muna and Sakti wake up on the island of Janda Baik, they can't remember anything, except that they are bound as only sisters can be. They have been cursed by an unknown enchanter, and slowly Sakti starts to fade away. To save her Muna travels to distant Britain, where the Sorceress Royal has established an academy to train women in magic. There, while navigating high society, she must trick the English magicians into believing she is a magical prodigy.

Devin Eveson is a Soulkeeper, traveling through remote villages as a preacher and healer. But when a mysterious black water washes over the world, the veil is torn, flooding the land with ancient magic and forgotten races. As the land grows more dangerous and more chaotic, Soulkeepers are turning up dead, their bodies transformed into macabre works of art. Devin must set aside his words of peace and accept his new role: slayer of monsters and protector of the human race.

The two HOKA books in one volume. Alexander Jones is agent for the Interbeing League to the teddy-bear-like aliens known as the Hoka. The Hoka are enthusiastic emulators of Human culture--but are a bit confused as to the distinction between fact and fiction. Jones finds his grip on reality weakening as the Hoka throw themselves wholeheartedly into progressively wilder worlds from Terran history and fiction.

They call it the plague -- a generation of children born with extreme genetic mutations. They call it a home -- but it's a place of neglect and forced labour. They call him Dog -- but Enoch is just a boy who wants to be normal. They call them freaks -- they might be right.

Scarlett Winter has been hiding superhuman powers she doesn't yet understand. Recruited by a secret West Point unit for cadets with extraordinary abilities she and her fellow students are learning to hone their skills - from telekinetic combat to running recon missions through strangers' dreamscapes. At the Point, Scarlett discovers that she may be the most powerful cadet of all, and so still feels very much the outsider. But when a threat arises from the school's dark past that endangers the other cadets, duty calls and Scarlett must make a choice between being herself and becoming something even greater: a hero.

Four urgent novellas connected by social, technological, and economic visions of today and what America could be in the near, near future.

Amastan, a new assassin in the Basbowen family, unexpectedly finds the body of a very important drum chief. And then, impossibly, Basbowen's finest start showing up dead, with their murderous jaan running wild in the dusty streets of Ghadid. So, inevitably, Amastan is ordered to solve these murders, before the family gets blamed.

Gardner Dozois made his selection of the finest short stories of the last 35 years.

16 year old Vaela Sun is given the chance to tour the Continent, a cold, desolate land where two nations remain perpetually locked in combat. As a talented apprentice cartographer, she sees the journey as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to improve upon the maps she's drawn of this vast, frozen land. But then a tragic accident leaves her stranded on the Continent. Starving, alone and lost, Vaela must try to find a way home - but first, she must survive.

Mayara, one the island's oyster divers, has found happiness in love. But on the day of her wedding to the artist Kelo, a spirit-driven storm hits the island with deadly force, and her secret power to control the spirits is uncovered. She is taken by the Queen's soldiers, along with other women like her, to an island filled with bloodthirsty nature spirits, and left without food, water, shelter, or any tools except their own instincts and magic. Whoever survives the Island of Testing will be declared heirs to the queen. But no matter if she wins or loses, Mayara knows that the life she dreamed of is gone.

In an interdimensional city full of gods, living concepts and weirder things, an unnamed gumshoe is hired to investigate an explosion at a casino. But what seemed like a simple heist turned into a race to stop the apocalypse, pitting the detective against the ancient Greek Titans, an interdimensional spider god and a mysterious creature known as the Fool.

In a world ruled by a totalitarian government, where history has been erased and individual identity is replaced by the machinations of the state, an old soldier in exile embarks on a desperate journey to find his dying son. A young woman trapped in an abusive marriage with a government official finds hope in an illicit love. A female scientist uncovers a mysterious technology that reveals that her world is more fragile than she believed.

May, 1636 It's spring in Burgundy, and the cardinals of Pope Urban's renegade papacy are now on the run from the Vatican's would-be usurper Borja. Most of the Church's senior leaders have converged upon the city of Besancon, where the Pope plans to offer an ecumenical olive branch to the other Christian denominations with which Rome has been at war. Fortunately, Urban has up-time help.

Jackal is proud to be a Grey Bastard. He and his fellow half-orcs patrol the barren wastes of the Lot Lands, spilling their own damned blood to keep civilized folk safe. But the fallout from a deadly showdown makes Jackal start investigating the Lot Lands for himself. In a quest for answers that takes him from decaying dungeons to the frontlines of an ancient feud, Jackal finds himself battling invading orcs, rampaging centaurs, and grubby human conspiracies alike - along with a host of dark magics so terrifying they'd give even the heartiest Bastard pause.

Henry Thompson is a proud employee of the United States Municipal Survey. When the agency comes under attack, he is sent to visit Metropolis to investigate. But he is teamed with a day-drinking know-it-all named OWEN, who also turns out to be the projected embodiment of the agency's supercomputer. Soon, Henry and OWEN are fighting to save not only their own lives and those of the city's millions of inhabitants, but also the soul of Metropolis.

When a nobleman's first duty is to produce a male heir, women are treated like possessions and bargaining chips. But as the after effects of a world-altering spell ripple out physically and culturally, women at last have a bargaining chip of their own. And two women in particular find themselves at the liberating crossroads of change.

A young woman of stunning ambition, Princess Phela refuses to allow a few obstacles - including her mother the queen and her brother, the heir apparent - stand in the way of claiming ultimate power and glory for herself. This desire for power will disrupt the realm's order, setting into motion a series of events that will end with her becoming a goddess in her own right - or ultimately destroying Quandis and all its inhabitants.

Rajasthan, 769 AD. The evil sorcerer-king, Ravindra-Raj, attempts to gain the powers of the Demon-King Ravana by burning himself and his seven queens on his funeral pyre. But the court poet rescues one, Darya, and ruins the ritual. Rajasthan, 2010 AD. Vikram, Amanjit, Deepika and Rasita meet - and are forced to accept that this is not the first time they have come together to fight the deathless king. Now Ravindra and his ghostly brides are hunting them down.

In the land of Pell a plucky farm boy will find more than he's bargained for on his quest to awaken the sleeping princess in her cursed tower. First there's the Dark Lord, who wishes for the boy's untimely death - and also very fine cheese. Then there's a bard without a song in her heart but with a very adorable and fuzzy tail, an assassin who fears not the night but is terrified of chickens, and a mighty fighter more frightened of her sword than of her chain-mail bikini. This journey will lead to sinister umlauts, a trash-talking goat, the Dread Necromancer Steve, and a strange and wondrous journey to the most peculiar "happily ever after" that ever once-upon-a-timed.

As World War I rages across Europe, a great and terrible vision sweeps over Violet, offering powers heralded by the Muses of antiquity. The ability to impact people's memories, even shape their thoughts. To guide their souls. To pass between the world of the living and that of the dead and to bring others through that passage. These and other gifts once belonged to people Violet loved. Now they are hers, and she must use them to attempt to stop death itself.

Following the death of his daughter Martha, Remi flees the north of England for London. Here he tries to rebuild his life as a cycle courier, delivering subversive documents under the nose of an all-seeing state. But when a driverless car attempts to run him over, Remi soon discovers that his old life will not let him move on so easily. Someone is leaving coded messages for Remi across the city, and they seem to suggest that Martha is not dead at all.

PsyLED Head agent Rick LaFleur shifts into a panther when the moon calls him, but this time, something has gone wrong. Rick calls Nell from a riverbank - he's naked, with no memory of how he came to be there, and there's a dead black cat, sacrificed in a witch circle and killed by black magic, lying next to him.

Soldiers fighting the war against Mars are broken down into light and beamed to interplanetary battlefronts. But Dietz, a fresh recruit in the infantry, begins to experience combat drops that don't sync up with the platoon's. And Dietz's bad drops tell a story of the war that's not at all what the corporate brass want the soldiers to think is going on.

2065. Chris Holt, working in his office at the Space Resources Corporation, discovers that one of the asteroids he is surveying for mining is actually not an asteroid at all but a derelict spaceship. The AI resident in the derelict has been in our solar system since before the dawn of human civilization, watching, waiting and keeping quiet lest a galaxy-wide war return and wipe out the sentient race that now resides there - humanity. And that war might soon be again coming to our front door. The truth can only be discovered on Methone, a tiny, egg-shaped moon of the planet Saturn. Who will get there first?

Tanis Barlas, snake-woman assassin. Cason Cole, the killer of gods. Louie Fitzsimmons, the last known Prophet. And Rupert Wong, a chef who just wants to eat his instant noodles and stay home. The Greek Pantheon has been obliterated, and gods and monsters across the globe are looking to fill the vacuum. But Rupert, Case, Fitz, and Tanis have bigger problems to deal with. It's time to answer the biggest question of all: Where did the father gods go?

Novice Nona Grey has begun to learn the secrets of the universe. But before she leaves the Convent of Sweet Mercy, she must choose which order to dedicate herself to - and whether her path will lead to a life of prayer and service or one of the blade and the fist. All that stands between her and these choices are the pride of a thwarted assassin, the designs of a would-be empress wielding the Inquisition like a knife, and the vengeance of the empire's richest lord.

In London Angela encountered the Kin - satyrs and centaurs, Nephilim and wraiths, they are hunted and slaughtered for their body parts. Fleeing back to the United States, Angela discovers that the Kin are everywhere, and they are tired of being prey. When her niece Sammi is struck by lightning, she is drawn toward the mysterious Folded Land, and its powerful and deadly ruler. Helped by her lover Vince, caught in the midst of a Kin uprising, Angela must locate Sammi before the girl is lost forever.

The god known as the Raven has watched over Iraden for centuries from atop a tower in the port of Vastai. His will is enacted through the Raven's Lease, a human ruler chosen by the god himself. His magic is sustained via the blood sacrifice that every Lease must offer. But the power of the Raven is weakening. A usurper has claimed the throne. The warrior Eolo, aide to the true Lease Mawat, discovers that the foundations to the Raven's Tower conceal a dark history that has been waiting to reveal itself...and to set in motion a chain of events that could destroy Iraden forever.

The crossroads want James Smith dead and they want Annie to do the dirty deed. She owes them, after all. And that's before Leonard Cunningham, aka, "the next leader of the Covenant," shows up... It's going to take everything Annie has and a little bit more to get out of this one. If she succeeds, she gets to go home. If she fails, she becomes one more cautionary tale about the dangers of bargaining with the crossroads.

A young female assassin must confront the man who slaughtered her family, risk her heart, and come to terms with her identity as a warrior and as a woman.

Intelligence operative Simon Kovalic barely escapes his latest mission with a broken arm. But intel suggests the Imperium is cozying up to the Bayern Corporation, a planet-sized bank. Because of his injury, his undercover team is handed over to his ex-wife, Lt Commander Natalie Taylor. Then it is learned that the Imperium are ready and waiting, and it's up to the wounded spy to rescue his team and complete the mission before they're all caught and executed.

Barrie Anne Blythe and her aunt Charlotte have concealed their strange and dangerous family secret from the other residents of their small coastal community. Now their quiet lives are threatend by first the arrival of a mysterious abandoned baby with a hint of power like their own. And, second, Barrie Anne's long-lost husband suddenly reappears. Together, Barrie Anne and Charlotte must decide how far they are willing to go to protect themselves - and the child they think of as their own - from suspicious neighbors, the government, and even their own family.

The opening of New York's newest subway line turns out to be less than auspicious. As the first train pulls in, all the cars are empty, their interiors drenched in blood. High levels of deadly methane begin to fill the tunnels. The structure begins to flood. For those who don't drown, choke or spark an explosion, another terrifying danger awaits - the thing that killed all those people on the train.

Lin, newly initiated in the art of otherwordly enchantments, is sent to aid her homeland's allies against vicious attacks from the Fire Dancers, mysterious practitioners of strange and deadly magic. Forced to step into a dangerous waltz of tradition, treachery, and palace secrets, Lin must also race the ticking clock of her own rapidly dwindling life to learn the truth of the Fire Dancers' war, and how she might prevent death on a scale too terrifying to contemplate.

Jinnifer Blue opens her eyes to find herself in a nightmare. Her plan to expose the horrific truth behind the government's secret Second Species programme has failed, and now she's being turned into a weapon by her worst enemy - her mother. Jinn has only one chance - to go to Sittan and find Dax before his mind is completely destroyed.

2080. A group of scientists, engineers and physicians gather to make a tiny alteration to the past in order to avert a global catastrophe and yet leave recorded history intact. To make the experiment work, they just need one last recruit: an ageing schoolteacher whose late mother was the foremost expert on the mathematics of paradox.

The zombie apocalypse is here in these all-new stories from John Ringo, Sarah A. Hoyt, Michael Z. Williamson, Jody Lynn Nye, Travis S. Taylor, and many more.

One of the world's four richest people may be dead - but nobody is sure which one. Hired to discover the truth behind the increasingly bizarre behaviour of the ultra-rich, PI Alma must juggle treating her terminally ill lover with a case which may not have a victim.

To save everyone she loves, Bo Bonitez is touring Zant, home of the murderous, shark-toothed aliens who so recently tried to eat her. In the midst of her stint as Galactic paparazzi princess, she discovers that Earth has been exporting tainted chocolate to the galaxy, and getting aliens hooked on cocoa. Bo must choose whether to go public, or just smile for the cameras and make it home alive.

Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction - but assassins are getting closer to her door. Ead Duryan has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting but, loyal to a hidden society of mages, she is secretly protecting Sabrian with forbidden magic. Meanwhile, across the dark sea, Tane has trained all her life to be a dragonrider, but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Includes stories by Kathleen Alcala, Minsoo Kang, Anil Menon, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Alex Jennings, Alberto Yanez, Steven Barnes, Jaymee Goh, Karin Lowachee, E. Lily Yu, Andrea Hairston, Tobias Buckell, Hiromi Goto, Rebecca Roanhorse, Indrapramit Das, Chinelo Onwualu and Darcie Little Badger.

Alzheimer's victim Mildred has the full-time assistance of an android, Carey. Carey cares for her, but also acts as her memory, bringing yesterday into today by becoming a copy. But not merely a copy of a physical person. A copy from the inside out. But when Mildred dies, the android must find a new purpose. And, for a time, that purpose will be Mildred's family.

The Bastards must protect a bunch of colonists in the Epsilon Eridani system, whose moon had become a war zone as megacorp-backed mercenaries fought a brutal proxy war. But something goes wrong, and a hundred headless corpses are hard to explain. Now the Bastard Legion is on the run, abandoned by their allies, and hunted by their most dangerous foe yet.

Carter's a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It's also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city's future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs. But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat.

Among humans, none have power like mages. And among mages, none have will like Sal the Cacophony. Once revered, now vagrant, she walks a wasteland scarred by generations of magical warfare. The Scar, a land torn between powerful empires, is where rogue mages go to disappear, disgraced soldiers go to die and Sal went with a blade, a gun and a list of names she intended to use both on. But vengeance is a flame swift extinguished.

All is quiet in the city of Rosewater as it expands on the back of the gargantuan alien Wormwood. Those who know the truth of the invasion keep the secret. The government agent Aminat, the lover of the retired sensitive Kaaro, is at the forefront of the cold, silent conflict. She must capture a woman who is the key to the survival of the human race. But Aminat is stymied by the machinations of the Mayor of Rosewater and the emergence of an old enemy of Wormwood.

30 years have passed. Now the realm is threatened by divisive forces, even as old allies are lost, and others are lured down darker paths. Perhaps most terrifying of all, the Norns - the long-vanquished elvish foe - are stirring once again, preparing to reclaim the mortal-ruled lands that once were theirs...

Fatima is a concubine in the royal court of Granada, the last emirate of Muslim Spain. Her dearest friend Hassan, the palace mapmaker, has a secret - he can draw maps of places he's never seen and bend the shape of reality. But as the newly formed Spanish monarchy arrive to negotiate the sultan's surrender, Fatima discovers that Hassan's gift is considered sorcery by the Christians. With the help of a clever jinn, the two must travel across Spain seeking safety.

Jian begins a brutal and bloody climb up the ranks of the Daechen as the Emperor's long plans near fruition. Sulema is likewise initiated into the ways of Atualon and the power of Atulfah, and finds that her father's bright city is built on a foundation of dark and terrible secrets.

The alien Troft are again planning an attack. Before, they came to conquer. This time they've come to annihilate. If the Cobras are to survive, they may have to do the unthinkable: align themselves with the hated Dominion. Cobras are not known for taking the easy path - but this may be the hardest path of all.

The official novelization to the highly anticipated science fiction movie, Alita: Battle Angel, based on the manga series.In the twenty-sixth century, a female cyborg is rescued from the scrap heap by a scientist...

A mystery exploring the intersections of faith and science, the growing relationship between two young people who want desperately to trust each other, and the terrifying, toothy power of the Smiling God.

Movie tie-in edition. Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery, so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

The untold story of the past of Starfleet cadet Sylvia Tilly. Her parents were Federation luminaries who are pressing the 16 year old to attend one of the best schools that the Federation has to offer. But this year, everything will change for Tilly, as she about to embark upon the adventure of a lifetime - an adventure that will take her ever closer to the stars....

Summer, 1969. Indiana college student Terry Ives signs on as a test subject for a government project. Unmarked vans, a remote lab deep in the woods, mind-altering substances administered by tight-lipped researchers - and a mystery she is determined to uncover. But behind the walls of Hawkins National Laboratory - and the piercing gaze of its director, Dr. Martin Brenner - lurks a conspiracy greater than Terry could have ever imagined.

For years, the Joker has been caught in a dance of violence with his greatest nemesis, the Batman. Escaping Arkham Asylum, he plots his most lethal caper. This will be the ultimate punch line... his KILLING JOKE.

A collection of all John French's tales from Tallarn..

Salvager Rion Forge's recent discovery of a Forerunner debris field at the edge of human-occupied space has now put her squarely in the crosshairs of the Office of Naval Intelligence and the violent remains of the Covenant. Each faction has a desire to lay claim to the spoils of ancient technology, whatever the cost, sending Rion and the crew of the Ace of Spades on a perilous venture.

2033 A.D. In a time of widespread poverty, inequality and political unrest, Special Prosecutor Eustace Fargo's controversial new justice laws have come into effect. Protests and violence meet the first Judges as they hit the street to enforce the Law; the cure, it's clear, is far worse than the disease. Is this a sign of things to come?

Following the Fall of Acre, Landry, Godfrey and the other survivors of the siege flee in a sailboat across the Mediterranean. Trying to land on the coastline of Turkey, they are ambushed by pirates and taken captive. Incarcerated on a remote island compound, Landry, Godfrey and the other Templars must plan their escape before all hope is lost...

For millennia, the Librarians have secretly protected the world by keeping watch over dangerous magical relics. Cataloging and safeguarding everything from Excalibur to Pandora's Box, they stand between humanity and those who would use the relics for evil.

When the Serenity crew land at a hardscrabble desert outpost called Coogan's Bluff, they discover two things: an outlaw gang with an almost fanatical devotion to their leader who will stop at nothing to get what they want, and that Temperance is singlehandedly raising a teenage daughter, born less than a year after Temperance and Jayne broke up. A daughter by the name of Jane McCloud...

Grand Admiral Thrawn and Darth Vader unite to deal with a threat to the Empire, sent by Emperor Palpatine to Batuu, at the edges of the Unknown Regions. There they will be doubly challenged - by a test of their allegiance to the Empire - and an enemy that threatens even their combined might.