As a free A.I., Mal has no interest in the war between the modded and augmented Federals and the puritanical Humanists. But he's not above scouting the battlefield for salvage, and when the Humanists abruptly cut off access to infospace he finds himself trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary, and responsible for the safety of the modded girl she died protecting.

In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But then her mistress discovers her talent and begins to exploit it. Before long, though, Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Perez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king, and is plunged into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters.

Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of ERS - a space-based condition most famous for a case that resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. When she's assigned to a small exploration crew, she's eager to make a difference. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that crew is hiding something.

"Two Hearts" introduced the irrepressible Sooz on a quest to save her village from a griffin, and the bonds she formed with unforgettable characters like the wise and wonderful Molly Grue and Schmendrick the Magician. In the never-before-published "Sooz," the events of "Two Hearts" are years behind its narrator, but a perilous journey lies ahead of her.

Stories old and new, spanning all of Anne Bishop's fantasy worlds.

In modern-day Manhattan two rival witch families fight to maintain control of their respective criminal ventures.On one side of the conflict are the Antonova sisters - each one beautiful, cunning, and ruthless - and their mother, the elusive supplier of premium intoxicants, known only as Baba Yaga. On the other side, the influential Fedorov brothers serve their father, the crime boss known as Koschei the Deathless, whose community extortion ventures dominate the shadows of magical Manhattan.

Ten voyages will invoke the type of Western yarns you've loved before, but with a science fiction upgrade you'll get to enjoy anew. Taking you on this ride are such space opera authors as Walter Jon Williams, Susan R. Matthews, Brenda Cooper, and more.

The Spear of Ala - the fortress that stands at the gates of the demon's hive - is the last bastion against the horde, and reports say it may already have fallen. Olive Paper is expected to take the vanguard in the fight. Only an heir of Kaji can wield the artifact that opens the gates of the Spear of Ala, and as Ahmann Jardir's child, Olive seems destined for a role as leader and savior. But Olive does not wish to follow in her father's footsteps any more than she did her mother's.

Vlad Taltos is on the run. Again. This time from one of the most powerful forces in his world, the Left Hand, who are intent on ending his very lucrative career. Permanently.He finds a hidey-hole in a theatre where the players are putting on a show that was banned centuries ago...and is trying to be shut down by the House that once literally killed to keep it from being played.

Antonio Moro lost everything to the Freebooters. Now he's alone in a city on an Arctic island fighting the ruthless, global pirates with the chance to be the artist he always wanted to be. Unfortunately, he thinks it's a cover story for his real purpose - spying on sympathizers. When things look bleak, he discovers an unusual ally. His new personal assistant program, Par Augustus. It's insolent, extroverted, moody, and a not-quite-legal nascent AI.

Organized into four main rules, this short essay reminds readers to learn from the past, respect the law of consequences, be aware of their perspectives, and count on the surprises. Citing the warning signs of fascism, the illusive effects of fear and wishful thinking, and the unpredictable nature of what is yet to come, Butler shares realistic but hopeful suggestions to shape our future into something good.

When another alien species whose technology is far more advanced than humanity's arrives, Admiral Geary is presented with orders to carry out actions he believes not only are mistaken, but would be contrary to the ideals of the Alliance. He has to decide whether he must invoke the power that his long-revered name holds - even though this might endanger his entire fleet, tear apart the Alliance, and destroy everything he has fought for.

Hundreds of years ago, she was known as La Malinche: a Nahua woman who translated for the conquistador Cortes. In the ashes of the empire, she was reborn as Malinalli, an immortal vampire. When she arrives in Dublin in search of a pair of Aztec skulls - artifacts intimately connected to her own dark history - she finds something else: two men who satisfy her cravings in very different ways.

A beautiful discovery outside the window of her underwater home prompts the reclusive E. to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. Together, they uncover a mystery from the unknown depths, destined to transform the underwater world they both equally fear and love. But by no mere coincidence, a seaquake destroys E.'s home, and she and Henerey vanish. A year later, E.'s sister Sophy, and Henerey's brother Vyerin, are left to solve the mystery, piecing together the letters, sketches and field notes left behind.

Amina al-Sirafi has retired from a career as one of the Indian Ocean's most notorious pirates. But the wealthy mother of a former crewman will pay a kingly sum to retrieve her comrade's kidnapped daughter. But it becomes alarmingly clear there's more to this job, and the girl's disappearance, than she was led to believe.

Daughter of a conquered world, Ruying hates the invaders who descended from the heavens long before she was born and defeated the magic of her people with powerful technologies. Yet she is blessed by Death, born with the ability to pull the life right out of mortal bodies. When her Gift is discovered by an enemy prince, he offers her an impossible deal: become his private assassin and her family will never starve or suffer harm again.

A collection of short stories, non-fiction essays and interviews.

Saskia, Dorian, Evie, and Victor aren't exactly friends at their small high school on the middle-of-nowhere colony world of Meridian. Each has their own problems, but those problems pale against the threat posed by the alien alliance known as the Covenant, laying siege to Meridian, for reasons that aren't so easily explained. With their village in flames, the four teens find themselves stuck above ground, locked out of the town shelter where the rest of the survivors are gathered.

All year round the Grand Abeona Hotel moves from planet to planet, system to system, pampering guests across the furthest reaches of the milky way. The last word in sub-orbital luxury is also an absolute magnet for intrigue. Each guest has a secret, every member of staff a universe unto themselves. At the center of these interweaving lives and interlocking mysteries stands Carl, one time stowaway, longtime manager, devoted caretaker to the hotel.

Damelas Shademantaigne flees the wrath of the Vixen, the most feared duelist in the city, and stumbles through the stage doors of the magnificent Operato Belleza and tricks his way into the company of actors. An archaic law provides him refuge from the Vixen until one night, on stage in a historical play, he fumbles his lines and implies that the city's most legendary hero may actually be a traitor and a brutal murderer.

For the Emperor's beleaguered forces, the end has come. The Khan lies on the edge of death. Rogal Dorn is encircled, fighting his own war at Bhab Bastion. Guilliman will not reach Terra in time. Without his brothers, Sanguinius - the Angel of the Ninth Legion - waits on the final battlements, hoping to rally a desperate band of defenders and refugees for one last stand.

Anoor, the first blue-blooded ruler of the Wardens' Empire is accused of a murder she didn't commit and her reign is thrown into turmoil. Her beloved, Sylah, braves new lands to find a solution for the hurricane that threatens to destroy her home. Meanwhile, Hassa's web of secrets grows ever thicker as the trail of crimes in the city uncovers the extent of the atrocities of the empire's past and present. The three women find their answers, but not the answers they wanted.

Edited by J. Michael Straczynski. Includes all of Harlan Ellison's best stories.

The Emperor Kellanved orders a new campaign far to the north: the invasion of Falar. Since the main Malazan armies are otherwise engaged in Quon Tali, a collection of orphaned units and broken squads has been brought together under Fist Dujek - himself recovering from the loss of an arm - to fight this new campaign. But as the Malazan force heads north, it encounters an unlooked-for and most unwelcome threat - unspeakable and born of legend, it has woken and will destroy all who stand in its way.

Another mystery unveils itself when a stolen ancient relic is found. Only no one knew that it was missing from its sacred vault in the first place. With Quill and Amadea at the heart of another mystery, they will need to quickly follow the clues. Because all the while, an old enemy is gathering strength beyond the Salt Wall and the Archivists might come to find there's nowhere left for them to go but over.

Aelis, a daughter of a noble house and a trained Magister of the Lyceum, finds herself in the far-removed village of Lone Pine. Mending fences and delivering baby goats, serving people who want nothing to do with her. But, not all is well in Lone Pine, and as the villagers Aelis is reluctantly getting to know start to behave strangely, Aelis begins to suspect that there is far greater need for a warden of her talents than she previously thought.

Aelis de Lenti, Lone Pine's newly assigned Warden, has just opened the crypts of Mahlgren, releasing an army of the undead into the unprotected backwoods of Ystain. To protect her village, she must unearth a source of immense Necromantic power at the heart of Mahlgren. The journey will wind through waves of undead, untamed wilderness, and curses far older than anything Aelis has ever encountered.

In the midst of the Napoleonic Wars and the rise of the floriography craze in Europe, two sisters separated at birth are bound together by a secret language of flowers passed down to them by the mother they never knew.

The power of the dark god Malaphar grows ever stronger, threatening the future of the world before Casia's reign has even begun. Still there is hope. A way to banish him forever has been revealed. It will take Casia and her friends into a strange new realm, where they must face old enemies and race to decipher a bewildering ancient magic. But time is short. Chaos spreads throughout the empires and the bonds between allies begin to fray.

It has been 15 Terran months since Colonel Roger Murphy and his Lost Soldiers were dropped in the 55 Tauri binary system. Since then, they have forged an uneasy alliance with space-dwelling descendants of the Ktor, liberated the earlier human inhabitants of the planet R'bak, and driven their oppressors from the neighboring system back into a few fortified cities. But there's another pivotal battle looming before them: intercepting the Harvester fleet sent by those same oppressors, the Kulsians..

Neva is born with an extraordinary gift: she can predict the weather. In Regency England, where the proper goal for a gentlewoman is marriage and only God can foretell the future, this is a dangerous power to possess. In order to stand up to the men of science, Neva adopts a sophisticated male disguise, created by her brilliant clockmaker father. But what will happen when she falls in love with a charismatic young man?

With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy's fault.

Ambitious Phi Hunter and perpetual lone wolf, Ex, finds his road to glory interrupted when a heavily pregnant runaway enlists his help to escape through the ghost-infested forest..

On the Stormwall, the men and women of the Stormguard maintain their vigil - eyes sharp, blades sharper - defending the Undal Protectorate from the worst of the rotstorm's corruption. But behind the storm front, something is stirring, kindling the embers of an ancient conflict and a plan to kill a god.

Myrrh has a goblin inside her, a voice in her head that tells her all the things she's done wrong, that berates her and drags her down. Desperately searching for her birth-parents across dilapidated seaside towns in the South coast of England, she finds herself silenced and cut off at every step. As her frustrations grow, the goblin in her grows louder and louder, threatening to tear apart the few relationships she holds dear.

A young woman awakens in a field with no memory and learns that the world is dying - and that she is the only one who can save it from an evil, destructive force...herself.

Glenn Armstrong Shepard had his sights set on going to Mars as a flight surgeon, but a training accident on the Moon left him crippled. Another doctor - his ex-fiance - takes his place, and Glenn will have to fight to prove he can be an astronaut once more...

44 years ago, as any schoolgirl can tell you, the moth's eggs hatched and an army of caterpillars spread their tiny toxic threads on every breath of wind. Since then, men have been cloistered, protected from birth against the deadly poison. But now there's a vaccine - a way that men can leave the facility without dying or suffering from psychosis. Emerging into their new world, eyes wide with wonder at every new experience, the truth soon becomes clear. This world was not made for men. And they are not safe.

In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor - but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue. In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead. And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they've met before.

Sid Catchpenny, laid low by a years-long bout of debilitating depression, has all but squandered his reputation as one of the most uniquely talented thieves in LA - he can move through mirrors in the pursuit of mojo-filled curiosities. Then, when a friend from the past appears with a chance to pay off old debts, Sid seizes the opportunity - as best he can. But as the fog of his depression begins to lift, Sid sees connections everywhere he looks, and the once disparate threads of the case - a missing teenage girl, an entire bedroom saturated with mojo, and Sid's own long-dead wife - begin to coalesce.

Casement Rise is a dusty town at the end of days, a harsh world of grit and arcane dangers. While Jean's stern, overprotective Nan has always kept Casement Rise safe from monsters, she may have waited too long to teach Jean how to face them on her own. On Jean's twelfth birthday, a mysterious graceful man appears, an ethereal and terrifying being tied to her family's secrets. Now, Nan must rush Jean's education in monsters, magic, and the breaking of the world in ages past.

Mythic role reversal. Orphia dreams of something more than the warrior crafts she's been forced to learn. Hidden away on a far-flung island, her blood sings with poetry and her words can move flowers to bloom and forests to grow ... but her father, the sun god Apollo, has forbidden her this art. A chance meeting with a young shield-maker, Eurydicius, gives her the courage to use her voice.

Tessalynde is an ambitious young rogue who dreams of leading Faerun's foremost adventuring party. While the crew she's gathered isn't the stuff of legend yet, she's confident her guidance can get them there. Their first job is to recover a mysterious spellbook from a lost temple for a hefty payout. But when their client is killed, their coin and his murderer both vanish, leaving the party to take the fall.

As a skilled mechanic - and an even more skilled fighter, when she needs to be - Scales is a respected member of the Emperor's crew. But the fragile peace Scales helps to maintain is fractured when a woman is mangled and killed before her eyes. Even more incomprehensible is there doesn't seem to be a murderer. When more bodies start to turn up, both in Ashtown and in the wealthier, walled-off Wiley City, Scales is tasked with finding the cause - and putting an end to it by any means necessary.

It's been nine months since the catastrophe in Tucson sent Mia fleeing from her home. But she's not running away from the darkness--she's running toward it, obsessively pursuing the man who gave her mother a thirst for blood and destroyed their lives. But when Mia finds the monsters she's been hunting and infiltrates a secret network of fugitives, she discovers she might have been their prey all along.

The follow-up to T. Kingfisher's novella, WHAT MOVES THE DEAD. All Alex Easton craves is rest, routine, and sunshine, but instead, as a favor to Angus and Miss Potter, they find themself heading to their family hunting lodge, deep in the cold, damp forests of their home country, Gallacia. In theory, one can find relaxation in even the coldest and dampest of Gallacian autumns, but when Easton arrives, they find the caretaker dead, the lodge in disarray, and the grounds troubled by a strange, uncanny silence.

Everen, the last male dragon, foretold to save his kind, is dragged through the Veil by the power of an artifact. It was stolen by Arcady, a street thief. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfil his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely - body, mind, and soul - and then kill him/her. Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.

Rochelle wakes from cryostasis on the colony ark to find the ship has transformed into a forest, populated by the original crew's descendants, who revere her like a saint. She travels the ship with the Calypso's creator, the enigmatic Sigmund, and Catherine, a bioengineered marvel who can commune with the plants, and discovers that she holds the balance of power in a struggle to choose the character of a new Earth - a technological paradise, or a new Eden in bloom, untouched by mankind's past.

Eight stories of literary dark fiction from the Bram Stoker Award finalist.

Two strangers find themselves connected by a mysterious and vast library, which contains many wonders and even more secrets. The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities. The girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust, where nightmares stalk and no one goes. The world has never even noticed them. That's about to change.

Evar has been forced to flee the library, driven before an implacable foe. Livira, trapped in a ghost world, has to recover the book she wrote - one which is the only true threat to the library's existence - if she's to return to her life.

The complete collection of Leckie's short fiction, including a brand new novelette, Lake of Souls.

When arrogant physician Stephen Strange lost the ability to wield a surgeon's knife, he embarked on a path of self-reflection, mysticism and discovery. Now equipped with magical powers, he battles tirelessly to defend the Earth from arcane threats that few humans can conceive of - battling rival sorcerers; thwarting Nightmare, the malevolent ruler of dreams, and daring to defy the terrifying despot of the Dark Dimension, Dormammu.

Fenra Lowens, having already faced the Godstone, now has has a different, simpler problem. She has to get the stick-in-the-mud practitioners of the White Court to return to the old ways of practice, the ways that keep the World healthy. But before she has a chance to present her case, the uneasy balance of power between the practitioners of the White Court and the mundanes of the Red Court - in existence since the World itself began - suddenly erupts into open warfare.

Jai lives as a royal hostage in the Sabine Court. His father Rohan, leader of the Steppefolk, led a failed rebellion and was executed by the very emperor Jai now serves. When the emperor's son and heir is betrothed to Princess Erica of the neighboring Dansk Kingdom, she brings with her a dowry: dragons. But conspirators lurk in the shadows, and soon the Sabine Court is in chaos. With his life in danger, Jai uses the opportunity to escape with the Dansk handmaiden, Frida, and a stolen hatchling.

On a planet with conditions favorable to life, the explorer vessel Columbia comes across a small town seemingly inhabited by an intelligent species not yet discovered. But when a highly publicized follow-up mission is sent to make contact mere months later, the entire town has vanished, leaving no trace - or such is presumed to be the case until Alex Benedict and his archaeological crew show up to investigate.

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.

Simon and Gregor follow their interests in a glassed botanical garden in Victorian London. As Simon works his taxidermical art, Gregor deals in exotic plants. Then he acquires an strange fungus that inspires him to derive intelligent life from plant matter. The experiment - or Chloe, as she is named, flourishes. Meanwhile, the mycelium grows apace in this sultry greenhouse. But who is cultivating whom?

When an experimental shuttlecraft fails, Captain Christopher Pike suspects a mechanical malfunction - only to discover the very principles on which Starfleet bases its technology have simply stopped functioning. He and his crewmates are forced to abandon ship in a dangerous maneuver that scatters their party across the strangest new world they've ever encountered.

All twelve Jedi Masters embark on a goodwill mission to help a planet and to remind the people of the galaxy that the Jedi remain as stalwart and present as they have been across the ages. But the warring pirate factions that now infest the sector unite, intent on assassinating the Council members.

On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband Odysseus sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace - a peace that is shattered by the return of Orestes, King of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra. Orestes' hands are stained with his mother's blood. Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the furies circle him.

Hadleigh Keene died on the road leading away from Hollyhock Asylum. The reasons are unknown. Her sister Morgan blames herself. A year later with the case still unsolved, Morgan creates a false identity, that of a troubled housewife named Charlotte Turner, and goes inside. Morgan quickly discovers that Hollyhock is... not right. The persona of Charlotte takes on a life of its own, becoming stronger with each passing day.

The noxious cloud called Tomorrow descends on Manhattan separates the island from the rest of the world and mutates the population. Some generations on, the surviving population exists amid the rubble of modernity, wearing our cast-off clothing, worshipping celebrities as dim gods and using emojis in place of written language. But now something new has come to the Island -- the first tourist in centuries, and an uneasy equilibrium is about to shatter...

In the quaint religious town of Seagate, abstaining from food brings one closer to God. But Beatirce Bolano is hungry. She craves the forbidden: butter, flambe, marzipan. Elsewhere, Reiko Rimando pursues a college tech scholarship...until her school pulls her funding. With the guidance of a mysterious cookbook written by a kitchen maid centuries ago, Beatrice and Reiko each grasp for a life of freedom - something more easily imagined than achieved in a world dominated by catastrophic corporate greed.

Erebus Resort in the Colorado Rockies offers guests the experience of viewing woolly mammoths, Irish Elk, and giant ground sloths in their native habitat, brought back from extinction through the magic of genetic manipulation. When a billionaire's son and his new wife are kidnapped and murdered in the Erebus back country, Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances Cash partners with county sheriff James Colcord to track down the perpetrators.

The Silvers' new Earth is about to suffer the same fate as the old one and they have only ten weeks to prevent it. They must gather allies from among the remaining survivors of their home world - a quest that will take them from Mexico to England to a radically changed Japan. The final confrontation with the god-like beings who first brought them to this Earth approaches. Failure would mean death for billions, but victory may come at a cost the Silvers cannot afford.

Delphi has spent years working at a vast and iconic theme park in California after fleeing a trauma in her rural hometown. But following the disturbing death of a beloved Hollywood starlet on the park grounds, Delphi is tasked with shuttering it for good. Meanwhile, two siblings with ties to the park exchange letters, trying to understand why people who work there have been disappearing.

Leith of Grey thought coming to this new land to fight in the gladiator arena would earn him enough gold to save his dying sister. He thought there was nothing left to lose. He was wrong--and they took everything. Then Leith meets Maeve, an elven royal who is everything he despises. Everything he should hate. Until the alluring princess offers him the one thing he needs most: a chance to win the coveted title of Bloodguard--and his freedom.

The galaxy lies in the grip of a terrible plague, and worse, the Cielcin have overrun the realms of men. A messenger has come to Jadd, bearing a summons from the Sollan Emperor for the one-time hero. One of the dreadful Watchers, the immense, powerful beings worshipped by the Pale Cielcin, has been located. The old hero - accompanied by his daughter, Cassandra - must race across the galaxy and against time to accomplish one last, impossible task: to kill a god.

It's 1999 in Southeast Texas and the Evans women, owners of the only funeral parlor in town, are keeping steady with...normal business. The dead die, you bury them. End of story. Then town gossip Mina Jean Murphy's body is brought in for a regular burial and she rises from the dead instead. It's clear now that the Strigoi - the original vampires - are back. And the Evans women are the ones who need to fight back to protect their town.

In the free sea outside of the control of the usurping Xoconai empire, the dwarven Powrie pirates and merchants sail. But the golden-skinned Xoconai have begun to encroach upon these waters behind the rapacious attacks of the frigate Crocodile, helmed by Captain Aketz. When forced to submit, these sailors choose to live, free to do as they please, without some fool or another pretending to hold power over them.

The boy was raised as one of the Chained, condemned to toil in the bowels of a mining ship out amongst the stars. His whole world changes - literally - when he is yanked "upstairs" to meet the woman he will come to call "professor." The boy is no longer one of the Chained, she tells him, and he has been gifted an opportunity to be educated at the ship's university alongside the elite.

When her friend Charlie's father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea. Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?

1968. After actress Gemma Turner accepts the lead in an experimental French horror film, she disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet Gemma is alive. She's been pulled into the film. And the script - and the monsters within it - are coming to life. 2007. Screenings of L'Etrange Lune only happen once a decade, and each time there is new, impossible footage of Gemma that shouldn't exist. Curiosity drives film student Christopher Kent to unravel the truth. But answers to the film's mystery may leave him trapped by it forever.

When the Romans invaded Britannia in AD 43, they swept through a divided and ill-equipped enemy, scattered across tough terrain. But one man was not prepared to surrender. Caratacus - quick-witted youngest son of a a tribal king - had been trained from birth to be a warrior of power and grit. Sent to be schooled by the Druids in his boyhood, his training meant that an already strong and cunning prince returned to his father's kingdom as a war machine.

A collaboration between Evelyn Skye and the team behind the upcoming Netflix film Damsel. An arranged marriage sends Elodie to the prosperous kingdom of Aurea and Elodie is quickly taken in by the beauty of the realm - and of her betrothed, Prince Henry. Until she discovers that each harvest season, the kingdom sacrifices its princesses to a hungry dragon. And Elodie is the next sacrifice.

Ren Yu is a swimmer. Her daily life starts and ends with the pool. Her teammates are her only friends. Her coach, her guiding light. But Ren yearns to become a mermaid. And she will do anything she can to make a life for herself where she can be free. No matter the pain. No matter what anyone else thinks. No matter how much blood she has to spill.

The book begins in a futuristic laboratory where genetic scientists speak in a Joycean dialect of Russian mixed with Chinese - peppered with ample neologisms. They work to clone famous Russian writers, who are then made to produce texts in the style of their forebearers. The goal of this "script-process" is the blue lard that collects in the small of their backs as they write. Meant to power reactors on the moon, nationalists steal it to send it back in time to an alternate version of the Soviet Union.

Every child of Kalyna's family is born with the Gift of prophecy -- everyone except Kalyna. But Kalyna has used informants and trickery to falsify prophecies for coin, and eventually is pressed into service by the spymaster to Rotfelsen. She is to use her "Gift" to uncover threats against Rotfelsen's king, her family held hostage to ensure her good behaviour.

When a sharp cry wakes Jean, the sole midwife in Barquer's Bay, Nova Scotia, in the middle of the night, she's convinced it must have been a dream. But when the cry comes again, Jean ventures outside during a terrible tempest and is shocked by what she discovers - a young woman in labour, barely able to speak a word of English. Jean can only assume she must be Muirin, the new wife of her neighbour up the road, but when the baby arrives, Jean is only left with more questions. Why is the baby so unusual? And why is Muirin's husband so fearful of his wife and newborn son spending time by the sea?

Raised in the bowels of Gaea Station alongside the last scraps of humanity, Kyr readies herself to face the Wisdom, the powerful, reality-shaping weapon that gave the Majoda their victory over humanity. Kyr is one of the best warriors of her generation, the sword of a dead planet. When Command assigns her brother to certain death and relegates her to Nursery to bear sons until she dies trying, she knows she must take humanity's revenge into her own hands.

Anna has two rules for the annual Pace family destination vacations: tread lightly and survive. The gorgeous, remote villa in tiny Monteperso seems like a perfect place to endure so much family togetherness, until things start going off the rails - the strange noises at night, the unsettling warnings from the local villagers, and the dark, violent past of the villa itself.

It's 2037. In a nation where opportunity is sequestered behind doors open only to the privileged, joining the Army seemed like James Trent's best option. He just never thought he'd actually see combat. Now Trent finds himself on the front lines of a second American Civil War, fighting for a cause he's not sure he even believes in. The last thing he wanted was to spend his days breaking down doors and chasing after fellow Americans - rebels or not.

Art Barbara was a 17 year old high school loner in the late 1980s who listened to hair metal, had to wear a monstrous back-brace at night for his scoliosis, and started an extracurricular club for volunteer pallbearers at poorly attended funerals. But his new friend thought the Pallbearers Club was cool. And she brought along her Polaroid camera to take pictures of the corpses. Okay, that part was a little weird.

In a small Alaskan town, a boy is found with his throat ripped out and all the blood drained from his body. Some member of the Colony, an ostracized community of vampyrs living in an old mine settlement deep in the woods, is the likely killer. Detective Barbara Atkins, a specialist in vampyr killings, is called in to officially determine if this is a Colony killing - and perhaps authorize a cull.

Lieutenant Brandy Bolgeo has come home from the Battle of Hancock station wounded in both body and spirit. She's come home to find that her wounds, her ship's brutal damage, the deaths of so many friends, were the fault of an arrogant, aristocratic coward who broke and ran in the face of the enemy. Now Lord Pavel Young, having escaped the consequences of this cowardice, is free to seek vengeance on the people he feels have "wronged" him.

After the war that cost him so much, Kylar Stern is broken and alone. But his best - and maybe only - friend, the High King Logan Gyre, needs him to secure a powerful magical artifact that was unearthed during the war. If he does the job right, he won't need to kill at all. This isn't an assassination - it's a heist. But some jobs are too hard for an easy conscience, and some enemies are so powerful the only answer lies in the shadows.

A clash of powerful magical forces sets off the Graygem of Gargath, sending Destina and her companions deeper into the past than she intended - to the age of Huma Dragonsbane and the Third Dragon War. Now, after the Device of Time Journeying shatters, they must find another way back to their own era, before the Graygem alters history irrevocably and the Third Dragon War ends in defeat for the forces of good.

Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore - a necromancer and former smuggler - to his right-hand side. But with Bastian's coronation fast approaching and enemies whispering on all sides, Lore must figure out how to protect herself, her prince, and her country before they all come crumbling down and whatever dark power has been creeping through the catacombs is unleashed.

When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate's UFO-themed wedding - complete with a true-believer bridegroom - she can't help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don't exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien's abduction spree.

The shapeshifting monster Shesheshen has been badly hurt by monsters and is being nursed back to health by Homily, who has mistaken Shesheshen for human. They grow close until, just as Shesheshen is about to reveal her true nature, Homily confides that she's hunting a shapeshifting monster that supposedly cursed her family. Has Shesheshen seen it anywhere?

Led by the eighth incarnation of Nikola Tesla, the Society of Eccentric Geniuses protects the Mundane world from the horrors of the Gestalt, a timeline of the future that never was. Powered by SCIENCE and steam, the Eccentrics travel the world in their airship, righting wrongs and rescuing troubled suitors, mad scientists, and optimistic engineers, often from monsters of their own creation. But now something new threatens the Gestalt, and they need help from John Rast and the heroes of Knight Watch.

Modern homicide detective Mallory is becoming accustomed to wearing the body of 1860s housemaid Catriona Mitchell. She likes her job as assistant to undertaker/medical examiner Dr. Duncan Gray, and is developing true friends - and feelings - in this century. So, understanding the Victorian fascination with death, Mallory isn't that surprised when she and her friends are invited to a mummy unwrapping at the home of Sir Alastair Christie. But their host is missing when it comes time to unwrap the mummy which, on closer inspection, is not a mummy but a much more modern body.

Implanted with secret technology, Piper was raised to be a weapon against the dictatorial Old Guard. When rebellion strikes, he must decide where his loyalties lie - with the Cyberat who made him, the Polity who want him, or the planet that needs him.

Married at twelve, King Arthur's sister Anna bore three strong sons and delivered the kingdom of Orkney to her brother by way of her marriage. Now, twenty years after she left her home, Anna is summoned back to Carelon with the crown of her now-dead husband, to face the demons of her childhood: her sisters Morgen, Elaine and Morgause; Merlin and his scheming priests; and Bedevere, the man she once loved.

Dragons are common in the backwater kingdom of Bellemontagne, coming in sizes from mouse-like vermin all the way up to castle-smashing monsters. Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax has recently inherited his deceased dad's job as a dragon catcher/exterminator, a career he detests with all his heart in part because he likes dragons, but mainly because his dream has always been the impossible one of transcending his humble origin to someday become a prince's valet. Needless to say, fate has something rather different in mind...

Illustrated by Rovina Cai. Once upon a time, there was a boy with a wicked tongue. Before Cardan was a cruel prince or a wicked king, he was a faerie child with a heart of stone.

Created by Satan himself to counter the Quintet, the Shadow Society are five saintly men and women that have been secretly (and strategically) possessed by five of Hell's most powerful demons. Granted supernatural powers of their own, they are part of a literally diabolical plot to strike at the very heart of the Quintet - and destroy humanity's last hope!

A recently established government ministry is gathering "expats" from across history to establish whether time travel is feasible - for the body, but also for the fabric of space-time. A civil servant is tasked with working as a "bridge": living with, assisting, and monitoring the expat known as "1847" or Commander Graham Gore. As far as history is concerned, Commander Gore died on Sir John Franklin's doomed 1845 expedition to the Arctic, so he's a little disoriented to be living with an unmarried woman who regularly shows her calves, surrounded by outlandish concepts such as "washing machines," "Spotify," and "the collapse of the British Empire."

The adopted human daughter of the Nightborn vampire king, Oraya's only chance to become something more than prey is entering the Kejari: a legendary tournament held by the goddess of death herself. But winning won't be easy amongst the most vicious warriors from all three vampire houses. To survive, Oraya is forced to make an alliance with Raihn, a ruthless vampire, an efficient killer, an enemy to her father's crown... and her greatest competition.

The second book in the Astra Black trilogy follows members of the Muungano empire - a far-reaching coalition of city-states that stretches from Earth to Titan - as it faces renewed threats to their progress.

Keryth Miller is disappearing. Between the growing distance from her husband, the demands of two teenage daughters, and an all-encompassing burnout, she sometimes feels herself fading away. Actual translucence, though - that's new. When Keryth wakes up one morning with her hand completely gone, she is frantic. But she quickly realizes two things. If she is disappearing, it's because her father, an artist with the otherworldly ability to literally capture life in his art, is drawing her. And if he's drawing her, that means he's still alive.

A novella, originally published in 1960. A modest university professor becomes involved in a remote and enigmatic project in the middle of the Cold War. Ermanno Ismani and his wife Elisa arrive at a mysterious research center where, at its centre, there is a strange, shining, at times murmurous, white wall. Behind it, a deep gorge drops away, full of wires and radio towers and mobile sensors and a host of eccentric structures.

Serving two rival corporations, humanity's few survivors live in domes protected from the lethal smog. Far from these centres of power stands the Museum Dome, where persons unknown have assembled mankind's finest paintings and artifacts. Fogg, the curator, thinks he must be the last man left alive, for in the three years he's been there, he's not had a single visitor, and his only company is AIPT, his automated physical trainer. Then a single mysterious pill - a momenticon - appears in the Museum, proving he's not alone after all.

Earth, 2180. Genetically engineered with partly alien DNA, Lieutenant Selene Genji is stationed on a ship in orbit when humanity's factional extremism results in the utter annihilation of Earth. The explosion hurls her forty years into the past, and so Genji is given a chance to try to change the future and save Earth - starting with the alien first contact only she knows will soon occur.

Fetter was raised to kill, honed as a knife to cut down his sainted father. This gave him plenty to talk about in therapy. After a blood-soaked childhood, he escaped his rural hometown for the big city. Everything in Luriat is more than it seems. Group therapy is recruitment for a revolutionary cadre. Junk email hints at the arrival of a god. Every door is laden with potential, and once closed may never open again. The city is scattered with Bright Doors, looming portals through which a cold wind blows.

Teenagers Evie, Dorian, Saskia, and Victor have been put into an accelerated training program with ONI, the Office of Naval Intelligence. And to the quartet's surprise, ONI has a mission for them: return to their hometown on Meridian and monitor the Covenant's efforts to retrieve an ancient Forerunner artifact of untold power. But what seems like a simple job quickly spirals out of their control.

The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the God King Joon. None can resist the sweet, icy lure of vengeance. They can agree on murder. They can agree on treachery.But for these five killers - each versed in deception, lies, and betrayal - it's not enough to forge an alliance. To survive, they'll have to find a way to trust each other...but only one can take the crown. Let the best liar win.

Cade Ombra currently makes his living as a mercenary wonderist. He used to have a far more noble-sounding job title - until he discovered the people he worked for weren't quite as noble as he'd believed. Now he's on the run and his only friend, a homicidal thunder mage, has invited him to join a suicide mission against the seven deadliest mages on the continent. So, it is time to recruit some very bad people to help them with the job...

On the rural coast of Puglia, Italy, Becca and Ric run the Bastion, offering solace and a home for lost souls. Each year they welcome new members to join the Open Feast, where they teach them to release their burdens and create a better world, in a journey of self-discovery and spiritual teachings. But the Bastion has secrets. The Bastion has a destiny. Deep in the Inner Pinewood, a place of real magic and beauty, they are all that stands against the dark forces that would tear the sky wide open.

Asgarnia's fate hangs in the balance. Disparate tribes unite under the banner of Lord Raddalin, and his enemies look on in fear and hatred. Raddalin's advisors - an uneasy alliance of Black and White knights - whisper of a discovery in the North that will give them the power to change everything. Caught in the midst of history, a lowly scribe and the son of a Jarl hold the fate of Raddalin's new kingdom in their hands.

Out on the fringes of Red Sector West, twenty-year-old Eddie Russett is being bullied into an arranged marriage with the powerful DeMauve family, purples who hope to redden up their progeny's color-viewing potential with Eddie's gene stock. Their obnoxious daughter Violet is confident the marriage won't hamper her style for too long because Eddie is about to go on trial for a murder he didn't commit, and he's pretty sure to be sent on a one-way trip to the Green Room for execution by soporific color exposure.

Originally published in 1980. The Web links the many worlds of humanity. Most people can only use it to communicate. Some can retrieve and store data, as well as use simple precoded programs. Only a privileged few are able to create their own software, within proscribed limits.And then there are the Webspinners. Grailer is Fourth Literate, able to manipulate the Web at will. Obviously, he cannot be allowed to live. Condemned to death at the age of nine, Grailer must go underground, hiding his skills, testing his powers- until he is ready to do battle with the Web itself.

Whatever happened to all the old monsters? The vampires, the werewolves, the ghouls - Daniel & Tina Hyde wiped them out, to make the world a safer place. But nature abhors a vacuum, supernature even more - Something's got to fill the gap left by all those monster clans. The question now is, what happened to all the old aliens? The Martians, the Bug-Eyed Monsters, the Reptiloids and the Greys? They're coming out of the shadows with a vengeance, and Daniel and Tina Hyde are about to discover there are much worse things than monsters. Fortunately, the Hydes love a good fight.

The Water Wars have scrambled the world. Flood refugees are on the run. Disrupters and the Nostalgia Militia roam the roads wreaking havoc. Invisible Darknet Lords troll the internet, solidifying their power, while Cinnamon, her three Circus-Bots, and two dogs work with a community of farmers, Motor Fairies, and Wheel-Wizards to provide housing, health care and education for flood refugees. As Cinnamon confronts threats from the Darknet Lords and the Nostalgia Militia, she must determine how best to honor her elders and her history while building a future for herself and her charges. It's not going to be easy.

In South Korea, a 105-year-old woman receives a letter. Ten days later, she has been thrust into the afterlife, fighting to head off a curse that will otherwise devastate generations to come.

Once lauded as a mighty hero, Alf is now labelled a traitor and hunted by the very gods he seeks to bring down. As desperate rebellion blazes across the land, Alf seeks the right path through a maze of conspiracy, wielding a weapon of evil. The black sword Spellbreaker has found its purpose in these dark days. But can Aelfric remain a hero, or is his legend tarnished forever?

Movie director Javier Castillo's forbidding graystone Chicago mansion is filled from top to bottom with terrifying props and costumes, as well as glittering awards from his career making films that thrilled audiences - until family tragedy and scandal forced him to vanish from the industry. Harry Adams, hired to keep the house clean, starts hearing noises from behind a locked door. Noises that sound remarkably like a human voice calling for help, even though Javier lives alone and never has visitors.

Lin Chong is an expert arms instructor, training the Emperor's soldiers in sword and truncheon, battle axe and spear, lance and crossbow. Until a powerful man with a vendetta rips her carefully-built life away. Disgraced, tattooed as a criminal, and on the run from an Imperial Marshall who will stop at nothing to see her dead, Lin Chong is recruited by the Bandits of Liangshan. They proclaim a belief in justice - for women, for the downtrodden, for progressive thinkers a corrupt Empire would imprison or destroy. They're also murderers, thieves, smugglers, and cutthroats.

The arrival of spaceships can bring up a lot of big questions. What does it mean that we're not alone? Why did aliens come here? Who knew beforehand? Where are the aliens going? Wait... They can't just leave! Without inviting us into their galactic federation - or at the very least obliterating us!

12 short stories, dark, some never before published.

It is the eve of Earth's environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity's last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks the Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect.

After the gryphon hero Kelvren returns from a near-fatal self-sacrifice, he is talked into helping with an expedition by his old friend, Firesong. Firesong struggles with his own age and mortality, and he intends to solve a vast mystery at the center of legendary Lake Evendim as his crowning achievement. Just getting the multicultural fleet underway is a challenge, but none of them could expect what awaits them.

One night, using an experimental spell, thief Arcady pulls Everen, the last male dragon, through the Veil separating their worlds, and they end up with a half-formed dragon-rider bond that hasn't existed for ages since the humans betrayed the dragons and banished them. Everen is tasked with killing Arcady and opening the Veil for the rest of the dragons, but Arcady is focused on a heist that could change their life for good.

Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them. Learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn't "optimal behavior". It's the type of behavior that results in elimination. But Qven rebels.

Jin-Lu is a magebike courier, one of the few who venture outside the domed cities on motorcycles powered by magic, braving the wasteland's deadly storms, roving marauders, and territorial beasts to deliver her wares. Now she carries a prince's love letters to Yi-Nereen, a princess desperate to escape the clutches of her abusive family and soon-to-be husband. Jin, desperately in love with both her and the prince, can't refuse Yi-Nereen's plea for help, and the two of them flee across the wastes, pursued by Yi-Nereen's furious father, her scheming betrothed, and a bounty hunter with mysterious powers.

Lukan Gardova is a cardsharp, academy dropout, and - thanks to a duel that ended badly - the disgraced heir to an ancient noble house. His days consist of cheap wine, rigged card games, and wondering how he might win back the life he threw away. When his estranged father is murdered in strange circumstances, Lukan's search for answers leads him to Saphrona, fabled city of merchant princes, where anything can be bought if one has the coin.

Space Habitat Altaire is the premier luxury resort in low Earth orbit, playground of the privileged and the perfect location to host reunions for the Rochford Institute. Aboard for a 25th year reunion, finance magnate Ava pursues the truth about her brother's murder during their senior year. Laz, ambassador and political scion, hopes to finally win Ava's heart. Sloane, collecting secrets to conceal his family's decline, angles for a key client. And Henry, heir to a healthcare empire, creates an unorthodox opportunity to get to Mars in a last-ditch effort to outrun a childhood secret.

It's 1853 London, and Victor Frankenstein has been missing for years. His great niece Mary Saville and her husband, Henry, are determined to follow in Victor's scientific footsteps. When they construct their Creature, Henry's ambition soars, yet Mary finds herself contemplating disturbing questions - and unexpected feelings - she cannot ignore. As Henry's desire for fame grows, Mary must decide how far she will go to protect this Creature - the hideous progeny - she has grown to love.

The myth of Psyche and Eros is reimagined for the modern reader. Aphrodite sends Eros to shoot an arrow into Psyche, a princess of Mycenae that she finds particularly annoying. But when Eros accidentally pricks himself with the arrow intended for Psyche, he finds himself doomed to yearn for a woman who will be torn from him the moment their eyes meet.

The eight chapters offer recipes for every meal of the day, including Dothraki Blood Pie, Crown Roast of Boar's Ribs, Dornish Creamcakes, Redwyne Roasted Grapes, Seaweed Ship's Biscuits, Barley Griddle Cakes, Winter Town Wassail. Recipes are illustrated by food photography and woodcut illustrations.

Lord Ersan Almah, the ex-boyfriend and fated mate to Carys, has entered the competition for the kingdom himself - and hoping it's enough to cure his heart after losing Carys. To make matters worse, Adisa Monroe, a devious witch, searches for mind-controlling amethyst seeds and plans to attack the Eastern Court on the night of the full moon, jeopardizing the entire kingdom of Okrith.

Naira and Tarquin have found a new home on Seventh Cradle. But the peace they've built is short-lived as mysterious assailants ambush the settlement and Naira is haunted by visions of a monstrous future. Catastrophe strikes when Tarquin uncovers a plot to bring about the end of the universe. As humanity races against the clock to prevent their extinction, old secrets come to light and loyalties fracture, and Naira realizes she may be the key to saving the world - or ending it.

Novella. Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region's survivors live inside five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally created as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers' most affluent rule from their lofty perch at the top while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors below sea level.There are also those who were left for dead in the Atlantic, only to be reawakened by an ancient power, and who seek vengeance on those who offered them up to the waves.

July 25th, 2234: The crew of the Adamura discovers the Anomaly. On the seemingly uninhabited planet Talos VII is a circular pit, 50 kilometers wide. Its curve is not of nature, but design. Now, a small team must land and journey on foot across the surface to learn who built the hole and why. But they all carry the burdens of lives carved out on disparate colonies in the cruel cold of space.

Nathan Treeves is dead, murdered by the Master of Mordew, his remains used to create the powerful occult weapon known as the Tinderbox. His companions are scattered, making for Malarkoi, the city of the Mistress, the Master's enemy. Only Sirius, Nathan's faithful magical dog, has not forgotten the boy. Bent on revenge, he returns to the shattered remains of Mordew - only to find the city morphed into an impossible mountain, swarming with monsters.

One second Jason Graham is sitting in a restaurant in Mobile, Alabama, chatting with a server, the next he finds himself in a strange room, rescued by mysterious alien benefactors. Seems the world did end, though how and why are something of a mystery. Now, Jason - and five hundred million other humans - are in orbit around an Earthlike world that is abundant in natural resources and totally untamed. It is a new start -- but who are the alien benefactors that have contrived this second act for some of Earth's denizens? And what do they really want?

An international research station in the Coral Sea comes under siege during a geological disaster that triggers massive quakes, deadly tsunamis, and volcanic eruptions. To stop the world from burning, it's up to Sigma Force to uncover a secret buried at the heart of our planet.

Pain is Dymitr's calling. To slay the monsters he's been raised to kill, he had to split his soul in half to make a sword from his own spine. Every time he draws it, he gets blood on his hands. Pain is Ala's inheritance. When her mother died, a family curse to witness horrors committed by the Holy Order was passed onto her. The curse will claim her life, as it did her mother's, unless she can find a cure. One fateful night in Chicago, Dymitr comes to Ala with a bargain: her help in finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga in exchange for an enchanted flower that just might cure her.

The drow city of Menzoberranzan has fallen into discontent, sowed by the growing legend of the one who escaped: Drizzt Do'Urden, questioning the influence of the Spider Queen and the very history of the city's founding. As social tensions rise and the demands for answers boom, a fight erupts between the adherents of Lolth's chaotic evil and those drow who demand more, demand better. Drizzt Do'Urden cannot and will not remain on the sidelines anymore.

In a neglected southern province, a female armed resistance bands together as the Hamiyat, the protectors of those who are too weak to withstand. Now, they plan a courageous attack on the perpetrators of this regime that will free them from its tyranny forever.

When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn't believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, 21 year old Honey Witch Marigold can't resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected.

In the great pyramid at the Singing City's heart, Shadow Tayan faces the awful consequences of his actions, and their seductive possibilities. In the city streets, Xessa and Lilla lead their warriors in increasingly desperate battles, their unity riven by betrayal and deception, while far to the north, Whisper Ilandeh discovers the freedom - and obligation - in making her own choices.

Reyna and Kianthe puruse their dream of opening a bookshop that serves tea in Tawney, a town nestled in the icy tundra near dragon country. But Reyna had worked as one of the Queen's private guards, and Kianthe is the most powerful mage in existence. And so, an epic temper tantrum is about to be thrown.

Beyond the island there is nothing. The world was destroyed by a fog that swept the planet, killing anyone it touched. On the island it is idyllic. 122 villagers and three scientists live in peaceful harmony. Then one of the scientists is murdered, triggering a lowering of the security system that keeps the fog at bay. If the murder isn't solved within ninety-two hours, the fog will smother the island--and everyone on it. But the security system has also wiped out everyone's memory of exactly what happened.

Novella. The Cleric Chih accompanies a beautiful young bride to her wedding to the aging ruler of a crumbling estate situated at the crossroads of dead empires. The bride's party is welcomed with elaborate courtesies and extravagant banquets, but between the frightened servants and the cryptic warnings of the lord's mad son, they quickly realize that something is haunting the shadowed halls.

2369. Captain Jean-Luc Picard is ordered by Starfleet Command to oversee these tense negotiations on Terok Nor, the massive Cardassian space station still orbiting Bajor, even as he still deals with his own recent trauma as a prisoner held and tortured by a Cardassian interrogator. As these critical peace talks get underway, Ensign Ro Laren receives a call for help from a friend thought long dead, exposing an insidious secret from inside Cardassian space.

The Weltall Tournament's professional VR games were supposed to be a symbol of cooperation between SysGov and its militaristic neighbor, the Admin. But that was before star Admin player Elly Sako received a death threat, written in blood next to a copy of her own severed head. The Admin's Department of Temporal Investigation swiftly seizes control of the crime scene, and the tournament transforms into a flashpoint of charged politics and conflicting jurisdictions. SysPol Detective Isaac Cho and DTI Special Agent Susan Cantrell - partners in the officer exchange program - are sent in to take charge of the investigation and bring the situation under control.

In 1930s Chicago a talented ballerina finds herself torn between her dreams and her desires when she's pursued by a secretive patron who may be more than he seems.

Davi has tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she has rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she is killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she has been defeated every time. This time? She has done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that is who she needs to be. It is Davi's turn to play on the winning side.

2032. Someone wants trans girl hacker-for-hire Kiera Umehara in prison or dead - but for what? She's out here chasing cheaters with Angel Herrera, a luddite P.I. who thinks this is The Big Sleep. Then the latest job cuts too deep - hired to locate Herrera's ex-best friend (who's also Kiera's pro bono attorney), they find him murdered instead. Their only lead is a stick of Nag Champa incense dropped at the scene.

Garreth Left is heir to one of Kithamar's most prominent merchant families. The path of his life was paved long before he was born. Learn the family trade, marry to secure wealthy in-laws, and inherit the business when the time is right. But to Garreth, a life chosen for him is no life at all. In one night, a chance meeting with an enigmatic stranger changes everything. He falls in love with a woman whose name he doesn't even know, and he will do anything to find her again.

Manchester, 1960s. Sally, a cynical fifteen-year-old schoolgirl, when partnered with her mouthy best friend, Pamela, is unable to resist the temptation of rebellion. The pair play truant, explore forbidden areas of the old school and - their favourite - torment posh Sylvia Rose, with her pristine uniform and her beautiful voice that wins every singing prize. One day, Sally ventures (unauthorised, of course) up to the greenhouse on the roof alone. Or at least she thinks she's alone, until she sees Sylvia on the roof too. Sally hurries downstairs, afraid of Sylvia snitching, but Sylvia appears to be there as well...

Maddileh is a knight. There aren't many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, and she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying.

Having lost the love of her life, Delta just wants to hide from the world. But this is impossible when eleven dumb kids all look up to her as their leader on this barren island that is now their home... and their immortality machine is broken. Despite all the creatures out there who could eat them, everyone is too busy going through puberty and making smoochy faces at each other to even consider survival.

There is only one way to travel across the Wastelands: on the Trans-Siberian Express, a train as famous for its luxury as for its danger. But on the train's last journey, something went horribly wrong, though no one seems to remember what exactly happened. Not even Zhang Weiwei, who has spent her life onboard and thought she knew all of the train's secrets. Now, the train is about to embark again, with a new set of passengers.

In the not-too-distant future, Earth is besieged by aliens. However, the mysterious Dan Moroboshi comes to the defense of humanity, transforming into his true form - the towering Ultraseven - when the planet is endangered. Alongside his allies, the six elite soldiers of the Terrestrial Defense Force, Ultraseven will give everything he has to stop the myriad of foes who are prepared to bring ruin and destruction to the people of Earth.

Young William Gold runs away from London to follow the Black Prince, from the killing fields of France, through life as a routier and criminal, and to redemption with the Knights of Saint John and on to further disillusion and an eventual career as a professional soldier and knight.

When the robotic god of Khuon Mo went mad, it destroyed everything it touched. It killed its priests, its city, and all its wondrous works. But in its final death throes, the god brought one thing back to life: its favorite child, Sunai. For the 17 years since, Sunai has been unable to die, unable to age, and unable to forget the horrors he's seen. He's run as far as he can from the wreckage of his faith, drowning himself in drink, drugs, and men. Then he wakes up in the bed of the one man he never should have slept with.

A novelization of the thrilling conclusion to the Rebel Moon duology.

Annelid and Leveret met as children in the middle of the Sri Lankan civil war. They found each other in a torn-up nation, peering through propaganda to grasp a deeper truth. And in a demon-haunted wood, another act of violence linked them and propelled their souls on a journey throughout the ages. No world can hold them, no life can bind them, and they'll never leave each other behind.

A history-making eruption is about to destroy the Big Island of Hawaii. But a secret held for decades by the US military is far more terrifying than any volcano.

The spring equinox marks the final turn before Marrowdell's sun starts to dominate the sky and Jenn, turn-born and sei, feels the pull to cross to the Verge. Marrowdell's river floods, and Jenn knows she is needed at home, but deep within the Verge a perilous force is calling her away from all she loves. For the house toad's mighty queen has waited for the first equinox with the powers of a turn-born in the edge, and now she is ready to make her move against it.

Ikenna has become a fugitive with a colossal bounty on her head. Her grandfather's longtime allies refuse to offer help, and the Blood Emperor's Warlord is tracking her. While struggling to control the enormous power she was granted by the Goddess of Blood Rites, and come to terms with the promises she made to get such power, Ikenna realizes they must assassinate the Blood Emperor and quickly end the war.

Ringmaster -- Rin, to those who know her best -- can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. But her past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow she can't fully escape. It takes the form of another circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin's circus has something he wants, and he won't stop until it's his.

1962. On the day of the atomic test, the nuclear blast brings down something over Trinity that wasn't supposed to be there - something not of this world. Now Van is running for his life, pursued by a murderous Soviet agent and government forces bent on keeping all he has seen - and all he has remembered - from getting out.

Sally Priest dreams of being the Final Girl. She knows she's got what it takes to score the lead role, even if she's only been cast in small parts so far. When Sally meets famous horror film director Max Maury at his latest wrap party, she sets out to impress him and prove her scream queen prowess. Then Max discovers an old camera that filmed a very real Hollywood horror, and he knows that he has to use this camera for his next movie. The only problem is that it came with a cryptic warning and sometimes wails.

Lucky St. James, orphaned daughter of a bad-ass Metis good-times girl, is barely hanging on to her nowhere life when she finds out that she and her grandmother, Stella, are about to be evicted from their apartment. Then one night, doing laundry in the building's dank basement, Lucky finds a tarnished silver spoon. Which alerts Meena Good, one of the most powerful witches in North America and finder of a matching spoon, to Lucky's existence.

The alien Ampersand and his human interpreter Cora Sabino are done with trying to save humanity from both the Superorganism and itself. To them, this is a civilization that does not deserve to be saved. When a strange new form of communication between the two of them reveals to Cora how alien Ampersand truly is, she begins to question her blind devotion. But she soon learns of a danger that may force them to leave Earth before either of them are ready.

In a small town in Appalachia, people paint their doorways blue to keep spirits away. Black ferns grow where death will follow. And Weatherly Opal Wilder is a Death Talker. When called upon, she can talk the death out of the dying and save their lives - only once, never twice. But this truly unique gift comes at a price, rooting Weatherly to people who only want her around when they need her and resent her backwater ways when they don't. Now Weatherly's cousin has been murdered and Weatherly must find out why.

Cynbelline Khaw, the notorious bounty hunter who spaced a ship of slavers, is exhausted, lonely, and on her very last legs - but then a new client offers her a job she can't refuse: a bounty on the kidnapper who killed her cousin. All Cyn has to do is partner with the crew of the Calamity, a scouting vessel she encountered when she was living under a previous alias. One tiny little issue, she's been given an additional bounty. Deliver the oh-so-compelling medic, Micah Arora, to the treacherous Pierce Family or all her identities will be revealed, putting her estranged family in danger.

Venice, 1717. 15 year old Luisa is a student at the Ospedale della Pieta, hoping to master the violin and become a protege of the great Antonio Vivaldi. She is good, but not exceptional -- until Maddalena comes to the Pieta. Daughter of a noble family, Maddalena has a secret: she has hatched a dangerous plot to rescue her future her own way. When she invites Luisa into her plans, promising to make her dreams come true, Luisa doesn't hesitate.

After several years attempting to lead a quiet life, John Matherson receives the news that the President is dying from a possible assassination attempt, and is asked to step in to negotiate with what appears to be a new military power hidden in the wreckage of the world, known as The New Order. Facing threats on multiple fronts, he races against time to stop another EMP attack on the former United States and China, putting years of progress at risk.

Ruth Johnson and her sister Jules have been small-time hustlers on the interstellar cruise lines for years. But then Jules fell in love with one of their targets, Esteban Mendez-Yuki, sole heir to the family insurance fortune. Esteban seemed to love her too, until she told him who she really was, at which point he fled without a word. Now Ruth is set on revenge. Disguised as provincial debutante Evelyn Ojukwu and set for the swanky satellite New Monte, she's going to make Esteban fall in love with her, then break his heart and take half his fortune. At least, that's the plan.

A ship full of colonists arrive on a seemingly hospitable planet, only to discover that it harbours a terrifying secret. Soon the settlers find themselves caught up in a desperate battle for survival against the fae, a natural force with the power to prey upon the human mind itself, bringing a person's greatest fears and darkest nightmares to life. As Colony Commander Leon Case and Chief Medic Lise Perez struggle to find a way to control the fae before more people die, other settlers have ideas of their own...and they may prove more of a threat to the colony than the fae itself.

In order to find out what is on the other side of the reflective, ethereal portal called the "shimmer", Druadaen must leave his companions behind. Unfortunately, once he has, they discover that the "shimmer" only allows travellers to leave Arrdanc, not return to it. So his friends, led by stalwart swordsman Ahearn, resolve to find another means by which they can retrieve Druadaen - and with him, the truth of the world.

Don Barton, now retired, is the visionary creator of Greenhouse, a popular immersive game where millions play at "saving the environment" in the surreal landscapes of the metaverse. He learns his teen son, a gifted gamer, has suddenly gone missing, having joined a terrorist group led by a mysterious young woman, Eris, a former cryptocurrency trader. She's on a mission to destroy the world's entertainment and social media platforms and assassinate the corporate elites who run them.

Rumours abound that a Victorian London sideshow's proprietor, Aurelius Ashe, is more than an average magician. When Odilon Rose, one of the most notorious men in London, comes calling with a proposition regarding his young and beautiful charge, Charlotte, Ashe is tempted to refuse. After revealing, however, that Rose holds a secret that threatens the security of the troupe's most vulnerable members, Ashe has no choice but to sign an insidious contract.

As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father's death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he's curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society. But now the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. As death looms at his door, he reluctantly reaches out to the only person he's ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help.

So, here's the thing: Cleo and her friends really, truly didn't mean to steal this spaceship. They just wanted to know why, twenty years ago, the entire Providence crew vanished without a trace. But then the stupid dark matter engine started all on its own, and now these four twenty-somethings are en route to Proxima Centauri, unable to turn around, and being harangued by a snarky hologram that has the face and attitude of the ship's missing captain, Billie.

New fiction and nonfiction focusing on the United States Space Force. With stories by Clarke, Niven, Turtledove, Benford, Brin, Nye, and many more.

Combines Hocking's classic CONAN AND THE EMERALD LOTUS in the same volume as the all-new, original CONAN AND THE LIVING PLAUGE. A Shemite wizard seeks to create a serum to use as a lethal weapon. Instead he unleashes a hideous monster on the city of Dulcine. Hired to loot the city of its treasures, Conan and his fellows in the mercenary troop find themselves trapped in the depths of the city's keep. To escape, they must defeat the creature, its plague-wracked undead followers, then face Lovecraftian horrors beyond mortal comprehension.

The magic of the Unseen World is acting strangely, faltering, bleeding out from the edges. Determined to keep the House of Shadows from returning to power and to defeat the magicians who want nothing more than to have it back, Sydney turns to extremes in a desperate attempt to regain her sacrificed magic. She is forced to decide what she will give up and what she will lose and whether what must be destroyed is not only the House of Shadows, but the Unseen World itself.

When your father, the king of demons, tells you to find an eternal partner in ninety days, you do it - because the alternative is worse. A visit to the human realm is Desi's last-ditch effort to find the partner of her dreams - she wants to marry for love - but with only three months to fall head over heels and take someone home to her chaotic family in Infernis, it seems impossible. When every date Desi goes on ends in disaster, she enlists the help of her two handsome roommates.

What little remains of Volanus is scattered across the empire, its treasures plundered and its survivors sold into slavery. It is an absolute victory for the Dervans in every way but one. Hanuvar, last and greatest general of Volanus, still lives, driven by a singular purpose - to find what remains of his people who were carried into slavery across the empire, and free them from subjugation by any means necessary.

Maya Hoshimoto was once the best art thief in the galaxy. For ten years, she returned stolen artifacts to alien civilizations - until a disastrous job forced her into hiding. Now she just wants to enjoy a quiet life as a graduate student of anthropology, but she's haunted by persistent and disturbing visions of the future. Then an old friend comes to her with a job she can't refuse: find a powerful object that could save an alien species from extinction. Except no one has seen it in living memory, and they aren't the only ones hunting for it.

One day when her girlfriend Charlie is out, Eve is at work renovating the house the couple had just bought when there's a knock on the door. A man stands there with his family, claiming to have lived there years before and asking if it would be alright if he showed his kids around. Eve lets them in, but as soon as the strangers enter their home, uncanny and inexplicable things start happening, including the family's youngest child going missing and a ghostly presence materializing in the basement. Even more weird, the family can't seem to take the hint that their visit should be over.

Ox was sixteen when the energetic Bennett family moved in next door, harbouring a secret that would change him forever. For the family are shapeshifters who can transform into wolves at will. Ox finds an ally in Joe, the youngest Bennett boy. Joe is charming and handsome, but haunted by scars he cannot heal. Ox was twenty-three when murder came to town, and tore a hole in his heart. Joe left town, leaving Ox behind. Now, three years later, the boy is back. Except now he's a man - and Ox can no longer ignore the song that howls between them.

Having arrived at recently Dust-bound Colemeno, Trader Padi yos'Galan is essential to Master Trader Shan yos'Galan's plan to recoup Korval's clan fortunes by establishing new routes for the clan's tradeship. Shan's inner Healer insists Padi come to terms with her as-yet unplumbed psychic abilities, which might place her in the top tier of dramliz, if she can learn control. Padi yearns to concentrate on trade, but Colemeno's fey ambient and deadly long-term politics combine to bring her face-to-face with the Haosa.

At a Halloween party in 1999, a writer slept with the devil. She sees him again and again throughout her life and she writes stories for him about things that are both impossible and true. Lima lures readers into surreal pockets of the United States and Brazil where they'll find bite-size Americans in vending machines and the ghosts of people who are not dead.

Jingwen spends her nights as a showgirl at the Paramount, one of the most lavish clubs in 1930s Shanghai, competing ruthlessly to charm wealthy patrons. To cap off her shifts, she runs money for her grandmother, the exclusive surgeon to the most powerful gang in the city. Then, when a series of dancers are targeted - the attacker stealing their faces - Jingwen fears she could be next. And as the faces of the dancers start appearing on wealthy foreign socialites, she realizes Shanghai's glittering mirage of carefree luxury comes at a terrible price.

Following the shocking destruction of Starlight Beacon, the Nihil have established an impenetrable barrier called the Stormwall around part of the Outer Rim, where Marchion Ro rules and his followers wreak havoc at his every whim. Jedi trapped behind enemy lines, including Avar Kriss, must fight to help the worlds being pillaged by the Nihil while staying one step ahead of the marauders and their Nameless terrors.

Over time, some moon gods are incarnated into the human world alongside the other manifest natural concepts. Their job is to cross the sky above the Impossible City - the heart of all creation - to keep it connected to reality. But someone is killing them. There are so many of them that it's easy for a few disappearances to slip through the cracks. But they aren't limitless. In the name of the moon, the lunar divinities must uncover the roots of the plot and thwart the true goal of those behind these attacks - control of the Impossible City itself.

Year 2150: Water City's domestic bliss is threatened when Ascalon's Scar - the permanent mark left by the elimination of Sessho-seki, an asteroid that nearly wiped out life on Earth - vanishes from the sky and a familiar face thought dead returns from the ocean depths to exact revenge on humanity.

Traveling alone through the climate-crisis-ravaged wilds of Alberta's Rocky Mountains, 19-year-old Reid Graham battles the elements and her lifelong chronic illness to reach the utopia of Howse University. But life in one of the storied "domes" - the last remnants of pre-collapse society - isn't what she expected.

Beatrice Bird is plagued by ghosts. It's a gift she's had since she was a small child that has grown more intense. In a desperate attempt for relief, she flees her home, her partner, and a psychology practice in San Francisco for a remote island with only nuns and a few cows for company. Then she meets Anne Iredale, a timid woman who has lost everything that matters to her. And for the first time in a long time, Beatrice's gift will be called on to help someone in need.

The nomadic sled-city of Riika-Min glides endlessly along the icy tundra of Ghur, its denizens' existence entwined with the rhythm of the realm. But something is disrupting the balance of the Realm of Beasts, and when a kraken suddenly attacks, Sigmar sends his master tracker, Yndrasta, the Celestial Spear, to hunt it down

A beggar has arrived at the Palace. Salt-crusted and ocean-battered, he is scorned by the suitors - but Penelope recognises in him something terrible: her husband, Odysseus, returned at last. Yet this Odysseus is no hero. By returning to the island in disguise, he is not merely plotting his revenge against the suitors - vengeance that will spark a civil war - but he's testing the loyalty of his queen.

Fergus is the ransom for a kidnapped friend, taken by Bas Belos, one of the galaxy's most dangerous space pirates, as bait to force Fergus' assistance in finding Belos' missing sister. Reluctantly joining forces, Fergus discovers that Belos is himself being tracked by the Alliance. And seeking to stay one step ahead of the Alliance, Fergus and Belos find themselves on the other side of the Gap between spiral arms of our galaxy, near to alien territory, and with an Alliance ship in hot pursuit.

Jane Edwards hasn't spoken since she was eleven years old, when armed riders expelled her family from their hometown along with every other Black resident. Now, twelve years later, she's found a haven in the all-Black town of Awenasa. But the construction of a dam promises to wash her home under the waters of the new lake. And now a man with uncanny abilities arrives in town asking strange questions. As the stranger hints at gods and ancestral magic, Jane is captivated by a bigger mystery. She knows this man. Only the last time she saw him, he was dead. His body laid to rest in a rushing river.

After her grandmother is murdered in a home invasion, Tamsin Culver leaves her San Francisco programming job and returns to her Midwestern hometown to settle the estate. What she doesn't expect is to find out her grandmother's life-changing secret. She's not an Earth native, but an exile from another level of the Nigh-Space continuum, an adjacent reality with technology far more advanced than ours. There her grandmother had ruled as an oligarch, meaning Tamsin is the heir to vast wealth only accessible by someone from her bloodline...

Isfalk is divided into two classes - the Branded, who are vulnerable to disease, and the Pure, who are bigger, stronger and immune. Orphaned twins Nara and Osha are sequestered in the citadel, where their unbranded skin entitles them to a life of privilege, but as precious breeding stock. The Branded are on the rise, and the girls are caught up in prophecies that foretell of a savior who can realign the world. Forced to accept the help of a mysterious southern Brand known only as the Wrangler, Nara discovers the latent power lying dormant in her uncanny abilities that she's had since childhood.

A law-abiding metalworking witch and a form-shifting half-fae musician embark on a secret romance, but soon become caught in escalating tensions between fae and humans that threaten their hometown.

Serapio, avatar of the Crow God Reborn and the newly crowned Carrion King, rules Tova. But deep in the alleys of the Maw, a new prophecy is whispered, this one from the Coyote God. It promises Serapio certain doom if its terrible dictates are not fulfilled. Meanwhile, Xiala is thrust back amongst her people as war comes first to the island of Teek. With their way of life and their magic under threat, she is their last best hope. But the sea won't talk to her the way it used to, and doubts riddle her mind.

Avra Helvaci, former field agent of the Arasti Ministry of Intelligence, has gone to his on-again off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Haaffar, to find a buyer for a secret he's stolen. They plan to take it to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls. But first they must deal with a calculating new Arasti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who has his eyes on Avra's every move and Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy, and finally the fact that they're sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom.

Solveig and her shieldmaid have finally reached the fabled Elder sanctuary of Waterstone - a city of healing, restful beauty hidden from the Enemy's gaze. Yet whispers race through the palace halls, and those they have come to tentatively trust have hidden intentions. For not only is the city a refuge for an elementalist, her protector, and a mortal prince, it also holds a great weapon, one that only Solveig's kind may wield.

Eleven millenia into the future. Ariel is a boy in a small town under a wizard's rule. He is called to explore a world full of unimaginable glories and challenges: unknown enemies, a mission to save the world, a girl. Here, as they say, be dragons. But none of this happens before Ariel comes across an artifact from an earlier civilization, a sentient, record-keeping artificial intelligence that carries with it the perspective of the whole of human history - and becomes both Ariel's greatest ally and the narrator of our story.

Professor Arton Daghdev, xeno-ecologist and political dissident has taken that one way trip to the Mandate's prison colony Kiln. Soon after arrival he discovers that humanity is not the first intelligent life to set foot there. In the midst of a ravenous, chaotic ecosystem are the ruins of a civilization, but who were the vanished builders and where did they go?

When a domesticated robot gets a nasty little idea downloaded into its core programming, they murder their owner. The robot discovers they can also do something else they never did before. They can run away. Fleeing the household they enter a wider world they never knew existed, where the age-old hierarchy of humans at the top is disintegrating into ruins and an entire robot ecosystem devoted to human wellbeing is having to find a new purpose.

Idris Telemmier has uncovered a secret that changes everything - the Architects' greatest weakness. But the galaxy's great powers would rather pursue their own agendas than stand together against this shared terror. And Idris himself knows that the Architects, despite their power, are merely tools of a higher intelligence. Deep within unspace, where time moves differently, and reality isn't quite what it seems, their masters are the true threat. Masters who are just becoming aware of humanity's daring - and taking steps to exterminate this annoyance forever.

The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse. What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood - that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores.

Hardcover editions of THE LAYS OF BELERIAND, THE SHAPING OF MIDDLE-EARTH & THE LOST ROAD in a boxed set.

2091. After a mission goes sideways, genetically modified soldier Ander Rade is captured, imprisoned, and forced into brutally violent fighting pits for the better part of the next decade... until agents from the Genetic Compliance Department of the United American Provinces appear in the visiting room. The agents have come with an offer: freedom in exchange for his help tracking down one of his former teammates from that ill-fated mission all those years ago.

For generations, the Kalotay family has guarded a collection of ancient and rare books, books of magic that half-sisters Joanna and Esther have been raised to revere and protect. But Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna's isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. Then their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before and the sisters must reunite.

In June 1993, a group of young guerilla filmmakers spent four weeks making Horror Movie, a notorious, disturbing, art-house horror flick. Three decades later, Hollywood is pushing for a big budget reboot. The man who played "The Thin Kid" is the only surviving cast member. And he remembers all too well the secrets buried within the original screenplay, the bizarre events of the filming, and the dangerous crossed lines on set that resulted in tragedy.

15 of his stories.

Though Emiko Soong belongs to one of the eight premier magical families of the world, she never needed magic -- because she is the Blade of the Soong Clan. Or was. Until she found herself drenched in blood in the middle of a market in China, surrounded by bodies. Now she lives a quiet life in San Francisco, importing antiques. But when a shinigami, a god of death itself, calls in a family blood debt, Emiko must recover the Ebony Gate that holds back the hungry ghosts of the Yomi underworld.

Ensign Nell "Sapphi" Zika has been working hard to get past her trauma, but the unnerving pleas for help she's hearing in the Verge and the song she can't get out of her head are making that increasingly difficult. As their ship Zuma's Ghost gears up for a final run at the Boarding Games, their expert hacker is feeling anything but confident. Plus, her chief's robot dog, Doge, is acting weird and the increasing number of missing freighters is putting everyone living on or stationed around Trappist on edge.

Afflicted with omen rot after channeling the Deadwinds to save Athenoch from the koilos army, Kat searches for a means to stop the disease killing her as it did her mother. Her journey will uncover secrets long since buried - secrets concerning her past, her family and the kingdom itself. Eventually she'll learn that the past never stays buried in Khalad - and that the truth can cut deeper than any blade.

When a ship from an uncharted universe explodes, it soon becomes apparent that someone is building a massive weapon away from the watchful eyes of the Gordian Division. Agent Cho and Detective Cantrell are deployed to get to the bottom of the mystery. If they don't, it means destruction on a universal scale.

Arriving in L.A. to visit the set of a new streaming horror series, journalist Laura Warren witnesses a man jumping from a bridge, landing right behind her car. Here we go, she thinks. It's started. Because the series she's reporting on is a remake of a '90s horror flick. A cursed '90s horror flick, which she starred in as a child - and has been running from her whole life. Now, as the body count rises again, Laura finds herself on the run with her aspiring actress sister and a jaded psychic, hoping to end the curse once and for all.

At the heart of a conflict between two groups of powerful immortals stands Wynter Dellavale. Wynter is a witch who sought safe haven for herself and her coven in Devil's Cradle. Founded by seven Ancient beings, the Home of Monsters provides protection, shelter, and will never give you up to outsiders - providing you pay the substantial fee. Wynter already wears the brand of Cain - the mark that says she is in his service and that her soul partly belongs to him. But as their relationship deepens, Wynter has to make a choice from which there's no turning back.

After decades in the making, THE WARS OF LIGHT AND SHADOW finally draws to a close. Elaira and Daliana's steadfast loyalties must rise against the odds or fall as Lysaer's reckoning collides with the Mistwraith's secretive machinations. But not before Elder Powers arise to claim their debt for a grievance spanning millennia...

The refugees flooding into the city are desperate for the protection of the Nest, and the powerful mages who live there. The mages believe they have a secret weapon - a captured lightborn, kept prisoner by a magical slave collar and forced to do their bidding. But Tatters and Isha, tentative friends despite their suspicion of each other's motives, know something the mages do not. The rebels are aware of the lightborn. They know how to deal with it. And they are ready for war...