All Detective Sergeant Peter Grant wanted was a nice holiday up in Scotland. He'll need one once this is over...Sea: check. Sand: some. Sun: sort of - but that's not the only thing in the sky...

Cayce has brought his army of displaced Americans and their indigenous allies into the heart of the loathsome, blood-drenched Dominion's stronghold. But no matter how good of a soldier he is, Cayce is ruled by reason, and the madness and seemingly suicidal treachery of his adversaries, not to mention the sheer titanic scope of the force arrayed against him, might finally be more than he can cope with.

Immortal demigod Rosie Fox has been patrolling Tanria for decades, but lately, the job has been losing its luster. Now Rosie has died (again) by electrocution (again) after poking around inside a portal choked with shadowy thorns. The portal's uptight creator, Adam Lee, must come in person to repair the damage. But when all the portals break down at once, Rosie and Adam wind up trapped inside the Mist. And the reticent inventor in his bespoke menswear seems to know a lot more about what's happening than he lets on.

The Jedi are reeling from Qui-Gon Jinn's sudden death at the hands of a Sith. Jedi Master Mace Windu is surprised to receive a final message from Qui-Gon, marked to be delivered to Mace in the event of Qui-Gon's death. The message contains a last request: a plea to help the Outer Rim planet Metagos. As a young Jedi, Qui-Gon protected the Sa'ad farming clan from the planet's less-scrupulous factions. And now the Sa'ad's leader has begged for the Jedi's help in freeing Metagos from the crime lords who threaten to eradicate her people's way of life.

Inquisitor Lorelei Aurelius is traveling from the mountain city of Ancris to the Holt in search of a legendary witch whom she hopes can help prevent the trickster god, Faedryn, from escaping his woodland prison. But her mission is stalled, and it's becoming clear that the destruction in Ancris was but a taste of Faedryn's power. Dragon singer Rylan Holbrooke is working toward the same goal, but when news leaks about an artifact he's stolen--the fabled Heartstone shard--everyone from the empire's dragon legions to the ruthless members of the Red Knives are on his tail. Forced underground, Rylan gains an ally in his sister, the Holt's new imperator.

Mische and Asar must travel the treacherous path to the underworld, facing trials, beasts, and the vengeful ghosts of their pasts. Yet, most dangerous of all is the alluring call of the darkness - and her forbidden attraction to Asar, a burgeoning bond that risks invoking the wrath of gods.As her betrayal looms, the underworld closes in and angry gods are growing restless. Mische will be forced to choose between the redemption of the sun or the damnation of the darkness.

The only way to travel across the Wastelands is 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.

A Filipino-inspired fantasy of unruly magic and pirates, moon-eating dragons and sizzling Sapphic romance. When Inez hears a rumour that her sister Catalina is living among a group of missionaries on a nearby island, she embarks on a dangerous journey over the sea. Aboard a pirate ship, she meets Umali, the boat's fierce fire-tender captain. Umali has never been gentle, and she burns brighter than anyone Inez has ever known. Lunurin and Alon are desperate to follow Inez, but the Codicians are closing in with a powerful armada to retake Aynila.

Imogen Nel is in hiding from a cruel kingdom that believes Sirens are monstrous, blood-hungry creatures, in hiding from a king and his captain who viciously hunt her kind, in hiding from her own alluring abilities. But when a neighbouring king comes to visit, Imogen can no longer hide. He knows precisely what she is, and he believes she can save both their kingdoms from an even greater monster. But Imogen's power threatens to violently reveal itself, and the two must form a blood bond that will protect them both.

Everything is relative. Einstein said so. After years of traversing the galaxy as an emergency medic, Melanie Mooney is learning this in a personal way. With each run to a far-flung star system, she is taken ever farther from her former life, and not only in distance. The penalty for zipping around the galaxy at light speed means time is moving slower for her than it is back home, and the difference is adding up. If Melanie ever hopes to return, she must do so before the Earth she knew becomes as unrecognizable to her as the alien worlds of the Galactic Union.

Nine stories from some of the top authors in military science fiction will tell the tale of poor, hapless soldiers and an apex predator in hot pursuit. Featuring stories from David Weber & Marisa Wolf, Nick Cole & Jason Anspach, Kacey Ezell, Jacob Holo & Edie Skye, Rick Partlow, Joelle Presby, Blaine Pardoe, Nick Steverson & Melissa Olthoff, and Jason Cordova.

The most dangerous liars in the four realms have one last mission - return to Yusan and finish what they started. But now a usurper sits on the serpent throne. And he may be more dangerous than the god-king. With three relics of the Dragon Lord in their possession, the Blades will face the might of the four realms.

Bannan, returning from his sister's home in Vorkoun, steps through Jenn's special crossing to find Marrowdell has disappeared. Something is deeply wrong within the edge--and with the Verge. Soon the youngling dragon Imp returns from that magical realm with a dire message: turn-born are missing. Deep in the mines of Ansnor, turn-born are being trapped and killed. The rest are in hiding, as each crossing destabilizes the Verge, releasing chaos even the sei cannot control.

Sarah Carpenter is leaving behind her unsupportive, narcissistic ex-boyfriend and alcoholic, abusive mother - and is headed for a new beginning at Tranquil Falls, a secluded artists' colony on the grounds of a closed hotel. There, with no cell signal or internet to distract her, she hopes to rediscover her love for pottery and put the broken pieces of her life back together. But when Sarah uncovers the body of a young woman while digging a hole for a pit kiln, things start to fall apart.

The coven is reunited - but broken. Niamh is back from the dead...but she hasn't come back alone. Elle mourns a son she never had. Ciara languishes in a prison for witches, and Leonie reels from a very unexpected surprise. Meanwhile, Lucifer offers fledgling witch Theo a deal: if she helps him, her coven - her family - will be spared. But the magic he asks for will take her out of London - out of time, entirely.

Just beyond the waking edges of Luceria, an 18th-century town in the kingdom of Naples, lies the Night: an enigmatic fiefdom governed by seven immortals and fueled by Moira, the power to reshape one's destiny. On this porous border separating Day from Night, Oriana spends her time fantasizing about becoming a smith in her father's forge and eavesdropping on whispered tales of beasts and men who roam the nocturnal realm. But in the Night, these stories come alive, as Oriana saw for herself after she inadvertently trespassed into the Secret Market of the Dead, where vendors hawk Moira to those desperate enough to accept its immeasurably steep price.

[Canadian author]. 1998: Lily Lawlor and Drake Morgan form a punk band. Drake inspires faith in some. Fear in others. Lily is a believer. 1999: A Battle of the Bands ends in a shocking death, and a riot that claims the lives of three teenagers. 2009: At the height of her stardom, Lily walks into a police station and confesses to murder. Now: The band has refused to talk to the press about the night of the riot, Lily's confession, or anything else, but Lily has finally agreed to an interview.

As a punishment for casting a spell and creating a magically sentiet spider plant, Terlu Perna was turned into a wooden statue. Then, one day, Terlu wakes in the cold of winter on a nearly-deserted island full of hundreds of magical greenhouses. She's starving and freezing, and the only other human on the island is a grumpy gardener. When she learns that the magic that sustains the greenhouses is failing - causing the death of everything within them - Terlu knows she must help. Even if that means breaking the law again.

Arla Reinhart, personal assassin to the King of Hadalyn, doesn't believe in the gods and their dragons who once served the people - not after they abandoned her when she needed them most. But when shipments start going missing and the kingdoms begin to crumble, they may be the only ones who can help. Forced into working with the arrogant - yet unmistakably handsome - ambassador of the kingdom that killed her parents, Arla must place her hatred for Hark Stappen to one side as they journey across kingdoms...

Running through the many universes is the fabled Well, a fissure in existence into which horrors have been flung for millions of years. Draebol Naeglis Zet Thurn, a hapless explorer in the service of an unknown patron, has charted more than seventeen thousand realities. Somewhere in his maps is the key to the Well, a map so valuable that a kaleidoscope of aliens will cross every universe to reach it. Racing, quite possibly, to their deaths.

Discover the unmissable story of Elspeth, Ravyn, and The Monster in this 2 volume boxed set.

At the edge of the Salton Sea, in the blistering borderlands, something is out hunting... Malamar Veracruz has never left the dust-choked town of El Valle where she's raised two children, worked hard, and tried to forget the painful, unexplained disappearance of her sister, Elena. When another local girl goes missing, Mal plunges into a fresh yet familiar nightmare - tangled with inscrutable visions of a horse-headed woman, a local legend who Mal feels compelled to follow.

A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot at the Round Table, only to find that he's too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive as the kingdom falls into chaos. In order to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world and make it whole again, Collum and his comrades must learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell.

As the daughter of an ambitious merchant, Guinevere's path has been predetermined: marry into a noble house of the Dwendalian Empire, raise her family's station, and live quietly as a lordling's obedient wife. But after her caravan is beset by bandits, leaving her guards slain and Guinevere stranded alone on the dangerous Amber Road, her only chance of survival is to travel alongside Oskar, the aloof half-orc who saved her during the attack.

This box set contains the completed trilogy in trade paperback: The Shadow of the Gods,The Hunger of the Gods, andThe Fury of the Gods.

A sapphic SF action adventure novella. With nothing but a limping ship and an outdated mask to her name, Wylla needs a big pay day. When the call goes out that a lucrative piece of tech is waiting on a nearby planet, she relies on all the swiftness of her prey-animal instincts to beat other hunters to it. The woman inside the MARK I HAWK, the tech, is real, and she sees Wylla in a way no one ever has. Sees her, and doesn't find her wanting or unwhole. Armed with military-grade tech and a lifetime of staying one step ahead of the hunters, Wylla and HAWK set off to get answers from the man who discarded HAWK once before: her ex-husband.

Lizbeth Rose's sister Felicia attends the Grand Wizards' Ball, and as one of the most powerful - and beautiful - death wizards in a generation, she is highly sought after as one of the belles of the ball. However, war and violence are on the rise in Europe as German and Japanese wizards are also courting Felicia...and some are refusing to take no for an answer.

War is inevitable, but Sylvia cannot abandon her people again. The Urabi plan to raise the Jasadi fortress, and it will either kill Sylvia or destroy the humanity she's fought so hard to protect. For the first time in her life Sylvia doesn't just want to survive. She wants to win. The fugitive queen is ready to reign.

Years ago, someone cast twin curses on ink-and-sigil sorcerer Al MacBharrais that killed off his apprentices and drove away loved ones who heard him speak, leaving him bereft and isolated. As Al works to solve this mystery, his friends draw him into their own eccentric dramas. For example, Morrigan, a former Irish death goddess, has decided she wants not only to live as an ordinary woman but also to face the most perilous challenge of the mortal world: online dating.

A Saga Double: two novels. THE BABYSITTER LIVES. High school senior Charlotte has agreed to babysit the Wilbanks twins. But the house is filled with mysterious noises and secrets that only the twins understand, echoes of horrors that Charlotte gradually realizes took place in the house eleven years ago. THE KILLER ON THE ROAD. 16 year old Harper has decided to run away from home after she has another blow-out argument with her mother. However, her two best friends, little sister, and ex-boyfriend all stop her from hitchhiking her way up Route 80 in Wyoming by joining her on an intervention disguised as a road trip. Now all are in the sights of a serial killer who has been trolling the highway for the past three years.

The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the dangerously powerful: the Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers. Hellebore promises redemption, acceptance, and a normal life after graduation. At least, that's what Alessa Li is told after she's kidnapped and forcibly enrolled. But the Institute is more than just a haven for monsters. On graduation day, the faculty embark on a ravenous rampage, feasting on their students. Trapped in the school's cavernous library, Alessa and her surviving classmates must do something they were never taught: work together.If not, this school will eat them alive...

More, Laudna's little voice reminds her, is dangerous. From Tal'Dorei to Marquet, the world is infested with heroes destined to rid their kingdoms of creatures like Laudna.The little voice is right, she knows. But still, she thinks of more. And when she reaches for that dream, what reaches back will change everything.

When Penny Dahl calls the Finders Keepers detective agency hoping for help locating her missing daughter, Holly reluctantly accepts the case. Mere blocks from where Bonnie Dahl disappeared live Professors Rodney and Emily Harris. They are the picture of bourgeois respectability - married octogenarians, devoted to each other, and semi-retired lifelong academics. But they are harbouring an unholy secret in the basement of their well-kept, book-lined home, one that may be related to Bonnie's disappearance.

Cordelia knows her mother is ... unusual. Other mothers aren't sorcerers. After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia's mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia's mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.

[Vancouver author]. 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.

Carter Bennett pushes on, following the trail left by Gavin, the son of Robert Livingstone. What he finds will change the course of the wolves forever. Because Gavin's history with the Bennett pack goes back further than anyone knows, a secret kept hidden by Carter's father, Thomas Bennett. And with this knowledge comes a price: the sins of the fathers now rest upon the shoulders of their sons.

When Osric Mordaunt, member of the Fyren Order of assassins, falls ill, he realizes he needs the expertise of a very specific healer. And Aurienne Fairhrim and her fellow Haelan are inundated by sick children suffering from an outbreak of a long-forgotten Pox. The Haelan Order is desperate for money - and so Aurienne is forced to accept Osric's offer. But as the two work together to solve not only Osric's illness but the mysterious reoccurrence of the Pox, they find themselves ardently denying their attraction which only fuels the tension between them.

Clara Graysword has survived the underworld of Eclipse City through thievery, luck, and a whole lot of illegal magic. After a job gone awry, Clara is sentenced to a lifetime in prison for inking tarot cards - a rare power reserved for practitioners at the elite Arcana Academy. Just when it seems her luck has run dry, the academy's enigmatic headmaster, Prince Kaelis, offers her an escape - for a price. Kaelis believes that Clara is the perfect tool to help him steal a tarot card from the king and use it to re-create an all-powerful card long lost to time.

Drawn into uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel de Leon must now deliver the Holy Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone. But pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.

The Dread Sorceress Oneira has retired. But she's bored. On a whim, or perhaps at the behest of fate, she makes an unlikely trip to the most extensive library in existence: the home of her most powerful rival, the sorcerer Stearanos. By recklessly stealing a book from him, Oneira inadvertently initiates a forbidden correspondence. Taunting notes and clever retorts reveal a connection neither has found - nor could ever find - in any other. But a relationship with him is far too dangerous to pursue despite their mutual desire - and yet, Oneira can't seem to stay away.

Married with a child and presiding over a period of peace and stability in Aquilonia, Conan's sword has been sheathed for too long. When Baht Tann arrives in Aquilonia, he is wounded, his wife has been murdered and his two children kidnapped. He asks Conan to save his children and avenge his wife. Soon Conan is beset by assassins and learns there is a price on his head. Violence and vengeance ensue as Conan takes on his mysterious foes and attempts to fulfil his promise.

Following the summons of a strange dream, a scattering of adventurers, degenerates, and children find themselves drawn toward the same place: the vast underground Keep. They will discover there that they have been called for a purpose - and that purpose could be the destruction of everything they love. For below the Keep, imprisoned in the greatest cage ever built by magicians and gods, lies the buried Giant.

Benedict captains the Red Tempest, a lawless ship of deserters and corrupted mages in search of an Usti spy with incendiary stolen documents. Benedict is determined to make the truth known, consequences be damned. As rumours spread of a new Ghistwold sprouting in the Mereish South Isles, Mary and Sam sail once more into intrigue, espionage and an ocean on the brink of exploding into conflict.

After the Soundfield arrived, twenty years ago, people have been forced to live at night due to the deadly heat of the day. Food and water are scarce, and everyday life is punctuated by the constant and disconcerting hum from the Field. A brilliant scientist, Hannah spent her early career working on the enigma of the Soundfield, looking for answers. Now resigned, she has focused all her energies on keeping on her son Isaac living, not just alive.

Artist Tom Kidd brings us the landscapes and castles of Westeros as never seen before, inspired by the adventures of Dunk and Egg in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms - 90 years before the time of Game of Thrones - with twelve stunning calendar illustrations, plus a thirteenth bonus fold-out poster.

Aileana Kameron is on the run in a broken world. The fae realm spit her back out just in time to watch her city burn and the human world fall. Survivors cower in the shadows, dreading the next attack. Relentless, the fae hunt Aileana, determined to possess the secrets locked in her mind. Nowhere is safe. Her only refuge is with Kiaran MacKay, her lethal fae consort.

Nina Harrow and Patrick Colson are twelve years old when they are whisked away from the shadows of their disenfranchised mining towns to dazzling Belavere City to discover their magical potential. In the years that follow, a Craftsman revolution ignites, thrusting Nina and Patrick into opposing factions of a brewing war. Now an elite Artisan with the very rare talent for charming earth, Nina has turned her back on the fight, haunted by the loss of her found family. But fate intervenes when she is captured by Patrick's rebel group.

While war rages within the Imperium, few comprehend the inhuman instigators at the heart of the conflict or their genocidal ambitions, but Saef and his counterpart, Inga, draw a surprising coterie of allies to their campaign of desperate resistance, including spy master Winter Yung, former Molo Ranger Kyle Whiteside, and even Erik Sturmsohn, a Thorsworld war chieftain sworn to overthrow the emperor.

The Joker is dead, but not forgotten. Even after death, the Clown Prince of Crime's imprint can be seen in more than just the pavement. Remnants from the Joker's gang are leading wannabes fascinated by his bizarre mystique on a campaign of arson that threatens the city - even as it serves greedy opportunists, including millionaire Max Shreck.

Minerva has become a graduate student focused on the history of horror literature and is researching the life of Beatrice Tremblay, an obscure author of macabre tales. But her work finds that during the Great Depression, Tremblay attended the same university where Minerva is now studying and became obsessed with her beautiful and otherworldly roommate, who then disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

When the heir to the British throne suddenly dies under mysterious circumstances, Checquy operative and reluctant aristocrat Alix is assigned to be lady-in-waiting/personal bodyguard to the new Crown Princess, and must navigate the halls of power and privilege while investigating the supernatural murder of the Prince of Wales.

Nohra Zultama has no fear of the infamous warlord Bataar Rhah who marches on her country. She and her sisters are Harpy Knights, goddess-blessed and lethal. But as deceit and betrayal swirl through her father's court, she soon learns the price of complacency. With Dumakra under Bataar's rule, Nohra vows to take revenge - yet her growing closeness to the rhah's wife, Qaira, threatens to undo her resolve.

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian and none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast.

Silent film star Venita Rost's malevolent spirit lurks spider-like in her cliffside mansion, a once-beautiful home that's claimed countless unlucky souls. And she's not alone. Snared in her terrible web, Inspector Bartholomew Sloan - her eternal nemesis - watches her wreak havoc in helpless horror, shackled by his own guilt and Venita's unrelenting wrath. Now the house has yet another new owner. This time it's Ronnie Mitchell, a grieving woman who buys the run-down place sight unseen.

When Saphira opens her cafe welcoming pet baby dragons, she isn't expecting it to be quite so hard to keep the fires burning. But her young dragon patrons keep incinerating her furniture, which means selling coffee isn't covering all her costs. Local heart-throb Aiden is a gardener, though his disobedient baby dragon is a major distraction from his beloved plants. However, Saphira's cafe gives him an idea - he'll ask Saphira to train his dragon, and pay her enough to keep the cafe afloat. They know they're the answer to each other's problems, but happy-go-lucky Saphira and gorgeous-but-grumpy Aiden couldn't be more different. Can they find a way to work together - and maybe even ignite some fire of their own?

Saoirse yearns to be powerless, to be rid of her volatile powers. On the eve of her wedding, she seeks out the legendary Wolf of the Wild--Faolan, a feral, silver-tongued pirate. He swears to help rid her of the deadly magic if she'll use it to locate a lost mythical isle. But Saoirse knows better than to trust a pirate's word. With the wrath of her disgraced father and scorned betrothed chasing them, Saoirse adds one last condition to protect herself. If Faolan wants her on his ship, he'll have to marry her first.

There have always been whispers. Legends. The warrior who cannot be killed. Who has seen a thousand civilizations rise and fall. He has had many names: Unute, Child of Lightning, Death himself. These days, he's known simply as "B." And he wants to be able to die. In the present day, a U.S. black-ops group has promised him they can help with that. And all he needs to do is help them in return. But when an all-too-mortal soldier comes back to life, the impossible event ultimately points toward a force even more mysterious than B himself. One at least as strong. And one with a plan all its own.

The Starship SA Niro and the Starship SB Oubliette were in orbit around a black hole, one afternoon... by the end of the day, the crews of both starships were dead, victims of a single killer, Captain Alpha Raine. Raine claims he's acting under the command of a voice emanating from the black hole, Mr Modo. No one believes him. Everyone knows that things go into black holes; nothing comes out. But something inexplicable has been happening to Raine, and whatever it is seems to be spreading.

With Hitler's army rampaging across Europe, the witches of Britain have joined the war effort, and Lydia Polk is key to the cause. She must use her magic to track down magical relics before Hitler and his sycophants can. In the heart of occupied France she finds allies in Rebecca Gagne - a fierce French resistance fighter chockful of secrets - and Henry Boudreaux - a handsome Haitian-American art historian with a little magic of his own.

Lore Alemeyu wakes up to discover she's on a ship in the middle of the ocean. Held prisoner and with no way to escape, she's faced with a dire set of circumstances...a crew that's distrustful of Lore's magic capabilities...her betrayal by a Fae she thought she could trust...a dangerous quest for the sun book, which, if placed in the wrong hands, will make the Alytherian Fae even more powerful.

AD 61. Boudica and her remaining warriors are still at large. With them is the eagle standard of the Ninth Legion, taken in ambush. And for Centurion Macro, there is the scarring knowledge that his mother perished in the attack on Londinium. As Macro's heart burns for revenge, he and his comrade-in-arms Prefect Cato are tasked with hunting down the remnants of the enemy army. There can be no peace until the queen is captured or killed, and the eagle standard recovered.

As boys, best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell went missing in a vast West Virginia state forest, only to mysteriously reappear six months later with no explanation for where they'd gone or how they'd survived. Rafe has no memory of what happened, but Jeremy remembers the magical realm they entered. Now, 15 years later, he is a famed missing persons investigator -- and he is convinced that his new client's sister has disappeared into that same beautiful and dangerous world.

Meek, play-it-safe Marsh has just turned forty-five, and is convinced she's missed her chance at everything - romance, professional fulfillment, and adventure - and is desperate for a do-over. Then she is selected to be the star of the global sensation All This and More, a show that uses quantum technology to allow contestants the chance to revise their pasts and change their present lives. But even as she rises to become a famous lawyer, gets back together with her high school sweetheart, and travels the world, she begins to worry that All This and More's promises might be too good to be true.

The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin's father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father's place. In the army, Meilin's relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship - and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another?

The devious god Kluehnn will restore the world to its former glory, but at a price so steep it would keep the mortals indebted to him for eternity. And, as each land was transformed, so too were its people changed into strange new forms - if they survived at all. Hakara is not willing to pay such a price. Desperate to protect herself, and her sister Rasha, she flees her homeland for the safety of a neighboring kingdom. But when tragedy separates them, Hakara is forced to abandon her beloved sister to an unknown fate.

Years after their groundbreaking journey into the past, Artorius and his team stumble upon a devastating revelation: the Chinese government has dispatched five time-travelers and a trove of advanced technology back to 165 CE, during the waning days of the Han dynasty. While believed they were guiding Rome toward a new era of modernization and unity, the emergence of Chinese influence threatens to unravel everything they have fought for.

When an ammonia leak threatens the astronauts on the International Space Station, NASA directs Lucy Poplasky, one of the ISS's first female commanders, to investigate the cause. Russia has just invaded Ukraine and tensions are running high - could the leak be a brazen act of sabotage? The Russian cosmonauts aboard deny tampering with the ship's systems and insist the issue stems from the American side. As levels of the poisonous gas rise, Lucy's investigation shatters trust between the Russian and Western crews, exposing deep fissures in the partnership thousands of miles below.

Fifth in a series of hardcover boxed sets celebrating the literary achievement of Christopher Tolkien, featuring double-sided dustjackets. This slipcase contains Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun, The Fall of Arthur, and Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary.

In a city ravaged by a mysterious plague, a woman tries to understand why her world is falling apart. An algae bloom has poisoned the previously pristine air that blows in from the sea. Inland, a secretive corporation churns out the only food anyone can afford - a revolting pink paste, made of an unknown substance.

Ethike is an Ogisi, one of the City's many historians, who has devoted his life to studying a little-known figure named Osi. He ventures into the Forever Desert in search of the Lost Tomb of Osi. If he can find it, he will finally be able to prove his worth to the City's elders and, more importantly, cement Osi's role in history. But history is a tale told by those with power. What Ethike uncovers beneath the sand is far beyond anything he could have expected....and it is extremely angry.

San Francisco, once Emiko Soong's sanctuary from Jiaren intrigues, turns into her living nightmare. Clan wars erupt and her life becomes a treacherous quicksand of friend and foe. Unsure of who to trust, Emiko finds herself more alone than ever. When an ancient power rips through the Realm to land in her city, the General will stop at nothing to take it for his own. Emiko must face her past, present, and future, as she races to stop the General.

As a storyteller awaits judgment for a murder he definitely commited, stories and legends spread across a sun drenched land... Ari the Binder's legend spans continents and eras. Moving in and out of myths as easy as the wind. But what is truth and what is a man if not a liar? As the telling of the storyteller's past grows, so do mysteries and the list of enemies.

When Sciona finally passes the qualifying exam and becomes a highmage, she finds her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues are determined to make her feel unwelcome - and, instead of a qualified lab assistant, they give her a janitor. What neither Sciona nor her peers realize is that her taciturn assistant was not always a janitor. Ten years ago, he was a nomadic hunter who lost his family on their perilous journey from the wild plains to the city.

Banished to the Burnt Isles, Lore must use every skill she earned on the streets of Dellaire to survive the prison colony and figure out a way to defeat the power that's captured everything and everyone she holds dear. When a surprise ally joins her on the Burnt Isles she realizes the way forward may lie on the island itself. Somehow, her friends must help her collect the far-scattered pieces of the broken Fount - the source of all the god's powers - and bring them back together on the Burnt Isles, returning all magic to its source and destroying, once and for all, the gods corrupting the land.

Interstellar con artist Levi is forced to surrender to surrender his ship as loan collateral to the most dangerous gang in his current quadrant. Desperate to get it back, he swindles a valuable antimatter-tech blueprint from an alien diplomat. Planning to sell it for millions, Levi hires Vera to decode it. But Vera, a programmer whose inherited debt keeps her trapped on an asteroid in the galactic backwaters, she plans to steal the blueprint for her creditors and finally gain her freedom.

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.

Jamie is basically your average New England academic-in-training. She has a strong queer relationship, an esoteric dissertation proposal, and inherited generational trauma. But she's also a powerful witch. Her mother Serena has been hiding from the world in an old one-room schoolhouse for several years, grieving the death of her wife and the simultaneous explosion in her professional life. So Jamie's busy digging into a 300 year old magical book, but she still finds time to teach Serena to cast spells and help her come out of her shell.

The eternal light keeping demons at bay has been extinguished and Eidyn's last bastion is under brutal siege. Aranok and his allies draw the final battle lines as the war for the kingdom nears its end. With death threatening from every shadow and truth itself at stake, Eidyn's defenders must put aside their grudges and come together. But is it possible to save everyone when some prefer the lie?

For years, Erik, the scarred king of the Ever Kingdom, has thought of nothing but vengeance against the man who killed his father and trapped him beneath the waves, making him a prisoner in his own realm.Until his enemy's daughter unintentionally breaks the chains on the Ever, and Erik makes her the unwitting pawn in his vicious game of revenge. She's innocent. He's vicious. But he will take back what he lost, no matter the price.Unless she steals his heart first.

After witnessing the massacre of everyone he's ever known and loved, M'Kuru Mukundi, the sole surviving member of the High Noble House Mukundi of Madada, flees to a small village where he hides under the guise of farm boy Khalil Rausi... unaware that the real Khalil's father is the bloodthirsty general of Zenzele's army, and under the direction of the King's scheming son, Prince Effiom, was responsible for the murder of M'kuru's people. And now, when an imposter claiming to be M'kuru shows up in the village, the real M'kuru - now Khalil - must bide his time amongst his enemies, pretending to be everything that he hates in order to get vengeance.

England, 1881. Hereford Cathedral stands sentinel over the city, keeping its secrets, holding long forgotten souls in its stony embrace. Hecate Cavendish speeds through the cobbled streets on her bicycle, skirts hitched daringly high, heading for her new life as Assistant Librarian. The cathedral houses an ancient chained library, wisdom guarded for centuries, mysteries and stories locked onto its worn, humble shelves.

When a goddess offers them a final path to redemption - and back to each other - Asar and Mische embark on an extraordinary mission. Together, they must seize the power of the god of death so Asar may do the impossible: ascend to true divinity. But as the underworld teeters on the brink of collapse and the gods prepare for a war, Asar and Mische must decide what they are willing to sacrifice for the power to defy death.

The three current members of a secret society meet every six months in the basement of a bookshop in London, pledged to protect their archive of magical items hidden away, safe from the outside world - and the world safe from them. But when Frank Simpson, the longest-standing member of the Society of Unknowable Objects, hears of a new artifact coming to light in Hong Kong, he sends Magda Sparks - author by day and newest member - to investigate. Within hours of arriving in Hong Kong, Magda is facing death and danger.

On a clear October day, the American skies empty after hundreds of pilots refuse to fly, triggering a complete ground stop. The pilots all received disturbing, middle-of-the-night calls from their mothers, and each mother had a simple and urgent request: do not fly today. There are a few concerning elements to the calls. None of the mothers remember making them - and some of the mothers are dead. While the nation's military chiefs and artificial intelligence experts mobilize in search of answers, a 16 year old girl named Charlie on the coast of Maine watches a strange, silvery balloon drift across the water and toward her home - a place she loathes.

All Kembral Thorne wants is to finish her maternity leave in peace. But when her best friend asks for help, she can't say no, even if it means a visit to a run-down mansion on an isolated island for a will reading. She arrives to find an unexpected reunion of her childhood friends - plus her once-rival, now-girlfriend Rika Nonesuch, there on a mysterious job. Then the will is read, and everything goes sideways. Eight potential heirs, half of them Kem's oldest friends. Three cursed relics. The rules: one by one, the heirs will die.

When four isolated elderly people die back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn't understand why she's the only one at her precinct that seems to care. But her colleagues at the police force dismiss the case as a series of unfortunate suicides due to the patients' loneliness. But Su-Yeon runs into a mysterious woman named Wanda at the crime scene, who claims to be a vampire hunter.

Eleanor, once a lowly English maid, is now a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel. Eleanor and the League are investigating the disappearance of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, the notorious French statesman and diplomat. But they soon uncover two vampire parties feuding for power, and learn that Talleyrand's disappearance is part of a bigger, more dangerous scheme - one that threatens to throw France into bloody chaos.

1794. Eleanor, once a lowly English maid, is now a member of the League of the Scarlet Pimpernel and a promising conjuror. With a vampire plot thwarted in Paris, the League's next daring rescue is of the Pimpernel's beloved wife, Lady Marguerite, imprisoned in her London townhouse on unjust charges of treason and espionage. But Lady Marguerite's captivity is only the first threat from the League's vampiric enemy.

The Carryx - part empire, part hive - have waged wars of conquest for centuries, destroying or enslaving species across the galaxy. Now, they are facing a great and deathless enemy. The key to their survival may rest with the humans of Anjiin. Caught up in academic intrigue and affairs of the heart, Dafyd Alkhor is pleased just to be an assistant to a brilliant scientist and his celebrated research team. Then the Carryx ships descend, decimating the human population and taking the best and brightest of Anjiin society away to serve on the Carryx homeworld, and Dafyd is swept along with them.

At the edge of Chicago, nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan, there is a waystation for the dead. Every night, the newly-departed travel through the city to the Station, guided by its lighthouse. There, they reckon with their lives, before stepping aboard a boat to go beyond. Nera has spent decades watching her father, the ferryman of the dead, sail across the lake, each night just like the last. But tonight, something is wrong. The Station's lighthouse has started to flicker out.

Aspeth decides she'll join the Royal Artifactual Guild and the adventurers who explore ancient underground ruins to retrieve the coveted arcane items. But the guild won't let her train because she's a woman. She will need to marry someone who will let her become an apprentice - and who better than a surly guild member who requires a favor of his own? He's a minotaur (it's fine) who is her teacher (also fine)... and he's about to go into rut (which is where it gets tricky).

Aya has gone missing, and no one has heard whisper of her - not even Will. Desperately searching the continent for some sign of his lost love, he's soon joined by Aidon, recently on the run after showing forbidden power at the battle of Dunmeaden...throwing his own kingdom head-first into civil war. Time isn't on their side. They have to find Aya soon, or all the realm will fracture.

Meet Thorn Scarhart, a thirty-nine-year-old witch who is having trouble finding love in the 17th century. Despite the local matchmaker's efforts and Thorn's arsenal of powerful love potions, she has yet to fall in love. But, when one of her potion brews backfires spectacularly, Thorn is hurled 350 years into the future, landing in a bustling city where her once-isolated cottage is now a historical museum. While this unexpected leap through time may seem daunting, modern life does have its perks: indoor plumbing, electric kettles, and the world of online dating.

Crushed by the knowledge that he can never change things from within, Samuel broke from Shan, turning to her rebellious brother to help him rescue the disgraced Isaac de la Cruz from the King's dungeons. But despite his newfound freedom, all is not well with Isaac. His actions have consequences, the dangerous magic he experimented with changing him from man to monster. But a monster might just be the only thing that can stand up to the Eternal King.

In the chaos of a raid gone wrong, Rakada scout Sayana finds herself on the back of a rampaging araatan - a fire-breathing lizard the size of an elephant. But, in a panic, she discovers she can steer it, like you would a horse. Now she has a doozy of an idea: what if the Rakada could swap their horses for araatan? Train the lizards to act as mounts? That would even the odds against the High Chieftain, no?

Hunter, Tech, Wrecker, and Omega have found a sanctuary: Pabu. But their potential new island home is in desperate need of resources if there is any hope for the fledgling community to recover from a devastating sea wave. That's where Phee Goena, self-proclaimed liberator of treasures, comes in, with a couple of jobs she swears will get them the funds they need.

All-new stories set during and after (and some perhaps long after) the events of The Stand. Contributors include Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus, Poppy Z. Brite, Somer Canon, C. Robert Cargill, Nat Cassidy, V. Castro, Richard Chizmar, S. A. Cosby, Tananarive Due and Steven Barnes, Meg Gardiner, Gabino Iglesias, Jonathan Janz, Alma Katsu, Caroline Kepnes, Michael Koryta, Sarah Langan, Joe R. Lansdale, Tim Lebbon, Josh Malerman, Ronald Malfi, Usman T. Malik, Premee Mohamed, Cynthia Pelayo, Hailey Piper, David J. Schow, Alex Segura, Bryan Smith, Paul Tremblay, Catherynne M. Valente, Bev Vincent, Catriona Ward, Chuck Wendig, Wrath James White, and Rio Youers.

Seven years ago, Quinn finally dared to transform from a seal into a human and took her first steps on land. As a selkie, she is both a daughter of land and sea. But when a human stole her pelt, he stole her freedom as well, forcing Quinn to become his wife and bear his children. Then one day, her eldest daughter hands Quinn her pelt and without a second thought, Quinn snatches it and escapes to the sea. But she's no longer used to swimming and doesn't know where her herd has gone. She finds herself taking shelter on a nearby island with a lighthouse and three lighthouse keepers.

The world has been divided by the Barrier. For 115 years this extraterrestrial, epidimensional entity has divided the earth into warring zones. Power-hungry politicians, gangsters, and spiritual fundamentalists are determined to thwart a potential treaty to end the internal wars. When the treaty's architect is assassinated, her protegee, Elleni, a talented renegade and one of the few able to negotiate the Barrier, is forced to take up her mantle. Now Elleni and a motley crew of allies risk their lives to make the treaty work.

Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch being - three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving - who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended.

Jessamine was raised to be a leader for her people, but when the land is overrun by an incurable plague, she must enter a political marriage to save them all. A union that should have brought hope only brings death as her new husband murders her at the wedding altar and seizes the throne. But her death is just the beginning. Her spirit is met by the Deathless One, a god of death yearning to return to the mortal plane, and he needs her help. The two of them make a deal - her life and the return of her kingdom in exchange for his resurrection.

What's the reward for a job well done? For the Roman general Belisarius, it was a trial and conviction. Thomas Quinn, sorcerer, after having just saved the world this side of the veil, is hoping for a gentler fate from the tribunal called to pass judgment on him. But after centuries of putting his life on the line for humanity, he just doesn't have a lot of patience with protocol. In fact, he's never been known for tact or subtlety, and one of these days that may get him trouble. Again. For the time being, the reward for doing his job? It's back to Philadelphia, back to his little shop of esoteric goods - and back to the range, just in case he's needed to save the world one more time.

Lennon Carter has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself. So she is invited to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. As Lennon continues in her studies, her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College.

Beatrice Barnard doesn't believe in magic. She definitely doesn't believe the predictions of the celebrity psychic who claims that she will experience seven miracles and soon after she will die. When she discovers her husband is cheating on her, Bea flees to Skerry Island, off the Pacific Northwest coast. There she discovers a twin sister she never knew she had and learns that she (there given the name Beatrix) is a powerful witch.

[Vancouver author]. Veycosi, in training as a griot (an historian and musician), hopes to sail off to examine the rare Alamat Book of Light and thus secure a spot for himself on Chynchin's Colloquium of scholars. But when 15 Ymisen galleons arrive in the harbour to force a trade agreement on Chynchin, Veycosi tries to help, but quickly finds himself in way over his head. Then pickens (children) begin disappearing and an ancient invading army, long frozen into piche (tar) statues by island witches is stirring to life - led by the fearsome demon known as the Blackheart Man.

1943, El Paso, Texas: teenager Nena prays for help with the worsening premonitions and fainting spells she has endured since childhood. When the mysterious Sister Benedicta arrives late one night, Nena follows her across the borders of space and time, to colonial Mexico. In the present day, her grandniece, Marta, is caring for the now 93-year-old Nena. Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past as her own supernatural powers emerge.

The Fallbacks might not be Faerun's first choice for saving the day, but if the money's right they'll get the job done. In this ragtag band of adventurers, each member plays a vital role. Squint a little and they're the heroes Faerun needs. Fresh off a harrowing journey into the infinite dungeon of Undermountain and the defeat of a powerful undead lich (with the help of a giant hungry worm or two), the adventurers are now ready for a new adventure.

As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered at the whim of a fire god. Now, Kissen makes a living killing gods, and she enjoys it. Then she discovers a god she cannot kill. Skedi, a small god of white lies, has somehow bound his life to that of a young noble girl, and they desperately need Kissen's help. Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the trio must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour.

Healer Anja regularly drinks poison. Not to die, but to save - seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on. But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja's unorthodox methods can save her. Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror.

Cursed with the knowledge that his destiny as the hero of Estis is a lie, Raul still tries his best to lead a small rebellion. But after several defeats in battle, low morale, and people leaving left and right, he's almost ready to give up his claim to throne and let what's left of his rebellion fend for themselves. Then his mother returns with this story of an ancient dagger that could return hope to their cause. Raul leaves with only Valens, Prisca, and Yasmi in tow to search the mountains for the dagger that could save them. After all, prophecies are never wrong...

Private Cyril Bagger has managed to survive the unspeakable horrors of the Great War through his wits and deception, swindling fellow soldiers at every opportunity. But his survival instincts are put to the ultimate test when he and four other grunts are given a deadly mission: venture into the perilous No Man's Land to euthanize a wounded comrade. What they find amid the ruined battlefield, however, is not a man in need of mercy but a fallen angel, seemingly struck down by artillery fire. This celestial being may hold the key to ending the brutal conflict, but only if the soldiers can suppress their individual desires and work together.

Peace in Mexico City is fragile. Rebellion brews in the North, and when the people's safety is at risk, Pantera must once again become the demure vice regent Leonora to stop a war before it begins. But her friends are scattered, Tezca is gone, and one wrong move could seal her fate. Caution is her ally, for the real Prince of Asturias - her former betrothed - has arrived at court, reigniting rumors that Leonora and Pantera are one.

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.

After years of separation, Havinger Lilley has finally reunited with his lover, Janan. He now hopes to heal from the experience that changed his life forever: being bonded to the soul of a king dragon and to the man Raka who died to save it. But this bond is consuming him, making his thoughts and feelings not his own. Compelled by this to return to the frozen north that was once Raka's home, Lilley and his companions Janan and Meka make the arduous journey toward a confrontation with the power-hungry Kattakans that could result in another devastating war.

In the grisly aftermath of a botched bank heist, career criminal Anne Heller has no choice but to retreat to a secluded shack in Colorado's San Luis Valley. Along for the ride are Jessup, Anne's badly wounded partner, and Dutch, the police officer she's taken hostage. Then Jessup goes missing, only to turn up dead. Anne and Dutch bury her friend, but that night, he comes back and knocks at the cabin door. Not a dream, not a hallucination, but not exactly Jessup, either.

In a far-off future ruled by the Qin Empire, every citizen is fitted with an intracranial device capable of recording and transmitting memories between minds. After the death of his mother, an unnamed narrator inherits a collection of banned memories from her Mindbank. Determined to release his mother's memories before they are destroyed forever,the narrator will risk everything - even if the cost is his own life.

Fionamara is a smuggler. Antal is the reason her people fear the dark. Fi ferries contraband between worlds, stockpiling funds and stolen magic to keep her village self-sufficient - free from the blood sacrifices humans have paid to Antal's immortal species for centuries. When Fi gets planted with a stash of smuggled energy, a long-lost flame recruits her for a reckless heist that escalates into a terrorist bombing - and a coup against the reigning immortals, with Fi's home caught in the crossfire.

Evie Sage didn't mean to become the right-hand woman to the kingdom's most terrifying villain. One minute, she was applying for an entry-level position that promised "light paperwork and occasional beheadings," and the next, she was knee-deep in magical mayhem, murder plots, and an entirely inappropriate crush on her brooding, sharp-jawed, walking disaster of a boss. Now, with a magical prophecy unraveling, assassins showing up in the break room, and a suspicious amount of frogs wearing crowns, Evie has to figure out how to survive her job without setting the kingdom on fire.

Imperial Russia-inspired dark fantasy. When Galina was a child her village was decimated in a battle between the alurea, a ruling class possessed by gods imprisoned in human bodies. A stranger offers her shelter - and justice against the empress who slaughtered her family. The bargain is simple, Galina will become a vessel for a deity of her own. And when the time comes, she will be a weapon used to take control of the throne.

At the bottom of the Chasm, Dawsyn and her followers traipse through the darkness to find their long-awaited home. But there are whispers all around them and safety is never guaranteed. With her powers much depleted, and food supplies running low, will they even survive the journey? Above, the Queen and the new King of Glacia still bay for Dawsyn's blood, and they will not stop in their quest to destroy her.

Myung and her sister Laleh are the sole inhabitants of the whale of babel. They roam within its cosmic chambers, speak folktales of themselves, and pray to their creator, the Great Wisa. For Laleh, this is everything. For Myung, it is not enough.When Myung flees the whale, she stumbles into a new universe full of people, shapeshifting islands, and argumentative ghosts.

Alyiakal, overcaptain in the Mirror Lancers of Cyador, has completed his tour of duty as officer-in-charge of a small, remote post. He just wants to finish and see his best friend consorted and assume his next post assignment. If only it were that easy. He discovers corruption in the Merchanter Clans of Cyador, but investigating Mirror Lancer officers end up dead. Before he can go on leave, he has to replace one of these officers, close a post, dodge an attempt on his life, and an investigation from Magi-i.

Novella. When a group of deactivated robots come back online in an abandoned ghost kitchen, they decide to make their own way doing what they know: making food - the tastiest hand-pulled noodles around - for the humans of San Francisco, who are recovering from a devastating war. But when their robot-run business starts causing a stir, a targeted wave of one-star reviews threatens to boil over into a crisis.

A kink-fixated couple, Carmen and Blanca, have been in a rut. That is until Blanca discovers the enigmatic Smoke in an under-street drug den, who holds pages to a strange play, The King in Yellow. Read too much, and you'll fall into madness. But read just a little and pull back, and it gives you the adrenaline rush of survivor's euphoria, leading Carmen to fall into a game of lust at a nightmare's edge. As the line blurs between the world Carmen knows and the one that she visits after reading from the play, she begins to desire more time in this other world no matter what horrors she brings back with her.

Goat Valley Campground has killed generations of Kate's family. The land is old, passed down through generations, but the campground's reputation doesn't just draw campers year after year. Creatures from folklore and horror have made Goat Valley not just their home, but their hunting ground. As campground manager, Kate has rules to protect her campers - if the man with the skull cup offers you a drink, accept it or you will die a gruesome death; don't buy ice from the children with no wagon; and of course, never ever follow the lights.

The crew of the You Sexy Thing have laid a course for Coralind Station, hoping the station's famed gardens will provide an opportunity to regroup, recoup, and mourn their losses while finding a way to track down their enemy, pirate king Tubal Last. All Niko wants to do is pry their insurance money from the bank and see if an old friend might be able to help them find Last...

When Lynn Raven set out to win the championship for groundbreaking augmented reality game TransDimensional Hunter, the worst she thought she'd face was sunburn, mosquito bites, and annoying spectators. The more she plays, though, the higher the stakes become - and the stranger the obstacles she has to face. From dodging fans-turned-stalkers to managing inter-team sabotage to surviving the increasingly bizarre antics of a game algorithm that seems to have it out for her, Lynn isn't sure how much more she can take.

Sofia travels to el Carnaval de Bestias in search of her twin brother, who disappeared five years ago. There's a world of wonder waiting for her on the shores of this legendary island, one wherein conquerors profit from Sofia's ancestral lands and her people's labour. But surrounded by her former enslavers, she finds something familiar in the performances - whispers of the island's native tongue, music and stories from her Taike'ri ancestors...

Princess Tullia's father has arranged a marriage between her and an odious prince. However, one month before the "wedding of the century," Tullia falls in love with a lowly apprentice scribe. The king turns to Anatole, his much-maligned magician. When the king orders Anatole to brew a potion that will ensure Tullia agrees to the wedding, Anatole is faced with an impossible choice. With one chance to save the marriage, the kingdom, and, of most importance to him, his reputation, will he betray the princess - or risk ruin?

Ododo's hometown of Timbuktu has been conquered by the warrior king of Yorubaland. Already shunned as social pariahs, living conditions for Ododo and the other women in her blacksmith guild grow even worse under Yoruba rule. Then Ododo is abducted. She is whisked across the Sahara to the capital city of Sangote, where she is shocked to discover that her kidnapper is none other than the vagrant who had visited her guild just days prior.

When twenty-something coder Seven Jones goes back to school at a community college in San Diego, the last thing she wants is to join some stupid club. And the last thing she expects is to walk into an underground magic club. Like, actual wizards and shit. Seven reluctantly joins the motley crew of magic weirdos and discovers her own power. But she struggles to control it...until she figures out how to channel her magic through an artificially intelligent computer program. Unfortunately, there is literally nothing Seven's new friends hate more than AI, and when a student mysteriously turns up dead, blame falls on Seven.

In spite of securing victory for the kingdom of Anlai, Meilin is imprisoned upon her return. But beyond the imperial walls, the legend of the woman warrior has taken on a life of its own. Both a new rebel leader and a former enemy prince want her help. And Liu Sky, Meilin's commander and first love, requires Meilin by his side in his bid for the throne.

The oni have invaded Pittsburgh on Elfhome. And, so far, it looks like they are winning. All this is according to prophecy. But the prophecy is big on symbols and light on specifics. Tinker and her allies are doing the best they can to defend the city and the civilians caught in the crossfire of a war between elves that's been brewing for centuries. But the enemy has no hesitation whatsoever in involving innocents.

Two decades ago, the Bloodmoons ruthlessly murdered Saffron Killoran's parents, destroying her idyllic childhood. Hell-bent on revenge, she lies her way into Silvercloak Academy - the training ground for her city's elite order of detectives - with the single goal of bringing the Bloodmoons to justice. But when Saff's deception is exposed, rather than being cast out, she's given the rare opportunity to go undercover and tear the Bloodmoons down from the inside.

Following the remarkable adventures in "The Sky People" and "In the Courts of the Crimson Kings," this third installment is set to weave the intricate tales of a habitable Venus and Mars, each with their own unique civilizations and ecosystems.

Meet Lady Amelia Smallhope, for whom there is no problem that can't be solved by a drink and a think. And Pennyroyal, for whom there is no problem. Ever. Everyone's favourite bounty hunters. Sorry - recovery agents. No bad guy they can't handle. No expense account too flexible. No adventure too outrageous. Join them as they settle scores, break every rule in the book and take the world by storm.

Amri was a Rabbit, one of a tribe of survivors scratching out an existence in the blasted landscape of a shattered, poisoned world. The Seagull fight, the Pigeon trade and the Cockroach scavenge, but the Rabbit had one rule. If you want to see tomorrow, you run. But they didn't run fast enough when a weapon fell from the sky and consumed their home, and now Amri is alone, in the company of a fallen god named Guy Vesten. A god who promises revenge against the three gods who turned against him, and who killed Amri's tribe.

We follow Miranda Richardson, a highly strung, highly driven member of the covens who discovers a mysterious, unopenable box in her parents' loft. The novella takes place between events in THREADNEEDLE and SHADOWSTITCH.

On the night of her kidnapping, all Reyna wanted was a relaxing cup of tea. She didn't expect to be dropped in a hidden prison cell, but what the hells. She's flexible. With appropriate fanfare, Kianthe "rescues" her wife... but Reyna's actually a terrible damsel in distress. Even worse, Reyna's cell was booby trapped with a mysterious alchemy circle. What does a radical alchemist want with the Arcandor's wife? And why did they think they could get away with this?

Vera is a survivor of a global catastrophe known as the Low Probability Event, but she definitely isn't thriving. Once a passionate professor of statistics, she no longer finds meaning in anything at all. But when problematic government agent Layne knocks on her door, she's the only one who can help him uncover the connection between deadly spates of absurdity and an improbably lucky casino. What's happening in Vegas isn't staying there, and the world is at risk of another disaster.

The sixth and final set in the Christopher Tolkien Centenary series presents hardback editions of the three 'Great Tales' of Middle-earth: THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, BEREN AND LUTHIEN and THE FALL OF GONDOLIN, printed in full colour and with new art in each, and housed in a matching slipcase decorated with stunning new artwork by the books' artist, Alan Lee.

13 Alan Lee illustrations inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's three 'Great Tales' of Middle-earth: THE CHILDREN OF HURIN, BEREN AND LUTHIEN and THE FALL OF GONDOLIN.

Cassie Beckett's life is anything but magical. With a wild younger sister, three unruly kids, and an absent husband, she's really not looking forward to the witching month of October. At least the gorgeous, foggy Prince Edward Island is always quiet. That is, until the vampires arrive. As the creatures sink their teeth into Cassie's tenuous grip on normalcy, she's forced to come face-to-face with long - disregarded family secrets.

2050: The nations of the world decide to elect a global leader to steer humanity through the climate apocalypse. The final two candidates: a former U.S. president - and Solomon, the first Artificial Intellect to hold political office. But as election day races closer, Solomon's creator is murdered, and it's up to investigative journalist Marcus Tully to find the culprit. Soon Tully is unraveling a conspiracy that goes to the highest levels.

Queen Miriamele hurries to save the Hayholt and capture the treacherous noble Pasevalles, but arrives to discover the traitor has escaped. And inside Tanakiru, Vale of Mists, the bond between Prince Morgan and Nezeru, a renegade Norn, has become something deeper and stranger than either of them could have anticipated. They journey ever deeper to the heart of the valley's mystery, encountering wonder and horror, and come face to face at last with the ancient secret that has kindled the Norn Queen's war - a secret that will destroy immortals and humans alike.

In the wild chaos of a post-apocalyptic Florida panhandle, a reluctant hero navigates a zombie-infested hellscape, battling madmen and hurricanes, all while reluctantly donning the crown of the Narco King - because when the world goes mad, someone's got to rule the freak show!

High above them all, in the kingdom of Heaven, a goddess with no memory lies imprisoned and helpless whilst a faint voice on the wind whispers a name... Inanna. And, wandering between the realms, a lost and lonely spirit named Ninshubar desperately tries to find her lost mistress. But as their search for one another begins to draw them closer, Tiamat, the many-headed dragon-queen of Heaven, is preparing for an assault on the realm of light that could crush all life on Earth.

When her mother becomes gravely ill, Alma agrees to sacrifice her left arm and bind herself to the dread deity known as the Beast. But her mother dies anyway. Now vengeance is the only thing that keeps Alma going. That, and the strange connection she has with her god - a monster who is constantly by her side, an eldritch being taking the form of a beautiful prince with starlit hair that only she can see. He tells Alma that she has been chosen to bring change upon their world...

Thirteen daring tales of fantasy heists and high-stakes capers - where charm is as sharp as steel, and the score of a lifetime is just one misstep away. With stories by Christopher Ruocchio, Wen Spencer, A. Lee Martinez, Edward M. Erdelac, Jim Zub, John C. Hocking, James Enge, Tim Akers, Mark Finn, Bill Willingham, Adrian Simmons, Tracy S. Morris, and Stephen Aryan.

William Thorn's heart is broken when his long-term boyfriend Archie cheats. Distraught, William kicks him out of their home, whereupon Archie is killed instantly in a car accident. And William is shocked to learn that he's inherited a manor in the quaint village of Stonewall, left to him in Archie's will. But the unwelcoming villagers want him gone, and a malevolent spirit roams the manor, one that seeks to drive William out for good.

Planetary courier Captain Tova Lir begins mentoring baby bots, juvenile AI who are developmentally in their teens, and trains them how to interact within society, essentially becoming their foster mom. Her latest charge, Agatha Panza von Sparkles, named herself on their first run from Luna to Phoebe station. But on their return, they encounter a derelict spaceship and a lurking assassin, igniting a thrilling chase across the solar system.

13 authors explore heritage and horror, featuring stories from Gabino Iglesias, Ramsey Campbell, V Castro, Hailey Piper and many more.

Eloran is a world of imperious elves, fractious human realms, and the hated, skeletal kaul - with each nation poised to grasp at any advantage over the others. When Latanna Forgrym's despised father tries to engage her to the youngest son of a powerful, manipulative family, she forges a new path by marrying instead a man she respects but doesn't love. A chance encounter with a pair of mercenaries leads Latanna to a lost crown, a relic of forces the world has tried desperately to forget, and gives her the means to break free from her corrupt family - but at a terrible price.

Major Bhaajan and her gang of Dust Knights act as guides and bodyguards to a member of the Imperial family on a mission of good will in the Undercity. But what awaits them in the Down Deep may ruin the chance at peace forever.

Standalone set in the same universe as the OWNER TRILOGY. When Ottanger is thrown from his timeline to the far future he meets the Fenris, humanity's future form. Ottanger is a survivor of the Fenris' altruistic experiment to create world walkers, their goal to help humanity escape their decaying version of Earth. But there is a form of humanity, anathema to the Fenris, that functions as one mind, and the trillion-strong hive has noticed the Fenris' experiments with world walkers and wants that technology.

When a famous artist dies under suspicious circumstances, Isolde finds herself investigating a murder that may not have happened, and a crime scene that seems to shift beneath her feet. Not one to be easily thwarted, Isolde is compelled to take greater and greater risks in pursuit of her elusive answers. Meanwhile, the laws that govern magic appear to be breaking, and those cracks are spreading to the everyday world.

A sequel to Shelley's Frankenstein, written in the same style. 1842. Folklorist Nathaniel Greene escapes to the country to finish his latest book, along with his wife, Alice. Yearning for a family, and yet finding herself without, Alice watches as Greene grows ever more distant with her, fraying their already tense bonds. When a mysterious stranger arrives on their doorstep, bedraggled and delirious, Alice welcomes him in, finding herself seduced by the promises he makes. 1850. In Newgate prison, Nathaniel Greene stands accused of murder.

When once-renowned police detective Julia Torgrimsen is brought out of forced retirement to investigate the murder of Bruno Donaldson, a billionaire she worked with whilst undercover, she doesn't expect to find two bodies. Both are Bruno - identical down to the fingerprints - and both have been shot. When she finally catches up with her quarry, she unveils an entire world of secrets: impossible documents about future stock market crashes, photographs of dead clones, and a clandestine time-travelling conspiracy so insidious it might just mean the extinction of the entire human race.

In the whimsical world of Tangleroot Valley, magic flows like the seasons, and every witch has her cat dragon - except Aloysia Papplewick. She's far from bonding with her fiery feline familiar, and with her magical farm in chaos, her prattling pumpkin patch meddling in her life and the annual Harvest Festival to prepare for, Aloysia has enough to handle - even before her best friend's insufferable brother, Hollis, brings danger and distraction to her door.

There had always been something wrong with Charlie Hall. Crooked from the day she was born. Never met a bad decision she wasn't willing to double down on. She may be good enough to steal a shadow from a tower, but will she be good enough to steal back a heart?

In honor of the 40th anniversary of RETURN OF THE JEDI, forty storytellers re-create an iconic scene from the film through the eyes of a supporting character - from Olivie Blake's Palpatine to Mary Kenney's Wicket the Ewok.

There has never yet been a crisis that Scottish governess Miss Leda Cassidy hasn't been able to fix. When she arrives at her new employer's Singapore home and discovers the family is being terrorized by a vampiric spirit, she sets about righting the situation without delay. But it seems that as soon as she puts one supernatural creature to rest, another appears to take its place.

Sydney has been transformed by rising sea levels, soaring temperatures and increasingly intense social division and unrest. When a child on the margins goes missing from the area of the city known as the Floodline, Senior Detective Sadiya Azad is assigned to find her. But when a woman's body is found not far from where the girl disappeared she stumbles into a web of lies and corruption.

When investment banker Miri is purposely trapped in Faerie by her client, the Princeling of the Faerie realm, she does what any 20-something would do: cries, eats cake, and worries loudly about her cat, Doctor Kitten. Instead of rescuing her, her boss simply confirms that she has solid internet access, leaving Miri stranded in a strange land with only a warning that the quality of her work should not decrease because of a change of address.

The official novelization of the 2025 reboot of a beloved cult classic. When a struggling janitor is pushed into a vat of toxic waste, he is transformed into a mutant freak who must go from shunned outcast to underdog hero as he races to save his son, his friends, and his community from the forces of corruption and greed.

Ruying and her crush Baihu have united in secret against the Romans. Both are highly placed inside the Roman hierarchy, and trusted by their respective princes. So who better than they to curtail Rome's power by assassinating all three Roman princes at a welcoming party for the newly arrived Cassius? With the magic of Death at her fingertips, Ruying will either save her world or die in the attempt. But there are other forces at play, ones that she knows nothing about.

After a very different outcome to WWII than the one history recorded, 1979 England is a country ruled by a government whose aims have sinister underpinnings and alliances. In the Hampshire countryside, 13-year-old triplets Vincent, Lawrence and William are the last remaining residents at the Captain Scott Home for Boys, where every day they must take medicine to protect themselves from a mysterious illness to which many of their friends have succumbed.

With war on the horizon--and rumors of the Khan's return brewing--a band of unlikely allies are also on their own missions. There's Sali, a gruff warrior who is also forging a path different from the one her culture created for her, and Qisami, an assassin whose cold heart might actually be made of gold. And Taishi has gathered a band of other elderly grandmasters to help Jian live up to his destiny. Because some heroes aren't simply born legends--they choose to become legendary. And great heroes do not stand alone, but are stronger together.

Henry has created an artificially intelligent consciousness that he's named William. His agoraphobia keeps him in the attic, away from everyone, including his pregnant wife, Lily. When Lily's coworkers show up, wanting to finally meet Henry and see the new house - the smartest of smart homes - Henry decides to introduce them to William, and things go from strange to much worse.

The human crew sent to prepare the first colony on Mars arrives to find the new base half-destroyed and the three robots sent to set it up in disarray - the machines have formed alliances, chosen their own names, and picked up some disturbing beliefs. Each must be interrogated. But one of them is missing. In this barren, hostile landscape where even machines have nightmares, the astronauts will need to examine all the stories - especially their own - to get to the truth.

An unlikely group of supernatural creatures terrorizes the sleepy village of Lychford. Okay, they're gnomes. That's not a spoiler. You worked it out from the title. When an ancient prophecy clashes with an unfortunate modern design aesthetic, the people of Lychford must band together to put out fires (both literal and metaphorical) to save their town before the king of the Gnomes (King Greg, and it's dangerous to laugh at a gnome) calls in the terms of an old promise. Trouble is, no one knows what the promise is, nor how to fulfil it.

WITCHES OF LYCHFORD, THE LOST CHILD OF LYCHFORD, and A LONG DAY IN LYCHFORD in one omnibus volume.

On a sunny morning in June, Margaret Carpenter wakes up to find a new iPhone on her doorstep. She switches it on and is greeted by a text from her best friend, Charity Atwater. The problem is, Charity's been missing for over a month. Most people in town - even the police - think she's dead. And now Charity wants Margaret to know her story - the real story.

Eleazar Starson, prince of Splendour and heir to the Great Throne of Honor, has been cast out of heaven into the world of humans. He is a god struggling in the muck, his only allies a pair of atheist siblings who would sooner worship a burnt ghoul than show him proper obeisance and the closest gateway back to Splendour is half a world away through a wild and daunting landscape of chaos, monsters and men.

Two horror anthologies from Ellen Datlow, one featuring stories about what haunts the night while the other side showcases the terrors that can exist in the light of day in this new addition to the Saga Doubles series.

Thrift fashionista Dez Lane accepts Patrick Ruskin's invitation to his family's big Easter reunion at their ancestral home hoping to ask his mother, editor of Nouveau magazine, for an internship. But once all the family members are on the island and the ferry has departed, things take a dark turn. For decades, the Ruskins have made their servants sign contracts that are basically indentured servitude, and with nothing to lose, the servants have decided their only route to freedom is to get rid of the Ruskins for good...

Angelina Yves is a struggling singer/songwriter offered the chance of a lifetime to be tutored by reclusive rock star Jesper Idyll and his band Black Idyll, at an experimental luxury compound. But this paradise has a haunted underbelly heralded by screaming horses, mysterious figures in the night, and dreams too twisted to be real. When people start to disappear and Jesper's ex turns up dead and hideously mutilated, Angelina begins to suspect that something malevolent lurks behind the cult that's grown around the band...

Vancouver author. Cade Ombra, former Glorian Justiciar turned mercenary wonderist, leads a band of emotionally unstable mages in a desperate bid to prevent the impending clash of divine and diabolical titans. Failure will leave humanity to be conscripted into an eternal war, serving as foot soldiers doomed to oblivion. The mission seems impossible, but Cade and the Malevolent Seven aren't exactly pacifists, so they're determined to bring peace no matter how many people they have to kill first.

A sharp-tongued barmaid and an infuriatingly handsome prince agree to a fake engagement to forge an ancient treaty between kingdoms and stop a deadly magic power.

Aedlynn is a lethal weapon forged in darkness. She feels no pity, no guilt . . . no love. So when a beautiful spy finds a hidden way into Aedlynn's heart, even the gods won't stand in her way. As Fate weaves its intricate tapestry, betrayal and revelation collide, plunging them all into a maelstrom of passion and peril, and a battle for power will threaten to consume them all.

Nine armies enter, led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. The winning team must capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. It all makes for great fun and even greater television. But thanks to Carl, Donut, and Katia, this season will be different.

Gwenna's focus is on being a fledgling, a trainee for the Royal Artifactual Guild. But Raptor won't go away. He's on a secret mission for the guild to find an artifact thief. Problem is, he thinks the thief is Gwenna. How can she convince Raptor that he's got the wrong girl when all the signs point to her? And how do you tell a Taurian you can't date him because you hear dead people and it might cost you your life?

Was the Hereditas Expedition doomed from the start? Led by Pontifex Bilrach, the Mahjarrat must find the artifacts of the dead god Tumeken and complete the Ritual of Rejuvenation, otherwise they face extinction. Forced to work together by Zaros, the Mahjarrat form an uneasy alliance, though they all have their own ambitions. Having found only sand and false hope wandering through the Kharidian Desert, the search is becoming ever more frustrating and the casualties mount as the humans die for the Mahjarrat cause.

Sapphic fantasy. Ten years ago, Sephre left behind her life as a war hero and took holy vows to seek redemption for her crimes, wielding the flames of the Phoenix to purify the dead. But as corpses rise, a long-dead god stirs, and shadowy serpents creep from the underworld, she has no choice but to draw on the very past she's been trying so hard to forget.

Kinsey has the perfect job as the team leader in a remote research outpost. But when her crew discovers a mysterious specimen buried deep in the sand, Kinsey breaks quarantine and brings it into the hab. But the longer it's inside, the more her carefully controlled life begins to unravel. One by one, Kinsey's team realizes the thing they're studying is in search of a new host - and one of them is the perfect candidate....

Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor's stories are just fiction. There isn't a man in Hollywood who you can call to find out the time you'll die. There's not a haunted hotel bar in Los Angeles that the devil likes to frequent. There's no such thing as magic. But - most students don't have the same tragic past as Holland St. James.

Calla Tuoleimi now serves as royal advisor to Kasa's adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne. Only Calla knows it isn't really August. Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla's betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August's body to survive and has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a years long coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy's authority over Talin, chaos erupts.

When Scarlett Melrose receives a call from her estranged sisters, she immediately knows something is wrong. The magic at their mother's inn - and in fact, the whole of Oak Haven - has gone awry, and they need her help to save it. As the conflicted middle-child, returning home has given Scarlett the heebie jeebies. And to make matters worse, she's just come face-to-face with charming old flame and handyman, Nate. When her spell to fix the magic goes horribly wrong, all Scarlett wants to do is flee back to the peace and quiet of her San Francisco flat.

Kenna Heron is best known in her village for being a little wild - some say half feral - but she'll need every ounce of that ferocity to survive captivity in the cruel Fae court. Trapped as a servant in the faeries' underground kingdom of Mistei, Kenna must help her new mistress undertake six deadly trials, one for each branch of magic.

Everyone's favorite 16-year-old ghostalker Ropa is back in Edinburgh. And so is the dreaded Tall Man. He returns with one nefarious purpose: to merge Edinburgh with the EveryThere, setting the worlds of the living and the dead on a terrible collision course. Ropa and Sir Callander must try to stop him before he comes into his full power, or else watch their city descend into chaos.

Petty thief Page scrounges to survive on a backwater outpost - until she's kidnapped by one of her marks. The cruel, self-serving Zhak and the tough maverick Maelle plan to pass Page off as a monk from an ancient, isolated planet to help them capture a treasure-filled ship. If Page is willing to play along, they all stand to become richer than they can imagine.

Struggling painter Lewis Dixon is shocked when the British Museum shows an unusual interest in his art. But, as Lewis soon learns, he has not been invited to participate in a curated show, but it is rather a test to see if the fugue-like exhilaration he experiences when painting is actually magic, a power that allows him to enter nine very special paintings - paintings made by his great-grandfather. Spread across the globe, these paintings have unbelievable eldritch abilities...and not necessarily beneficial ones.

Sub-tropical Bellworth is founded on floodplains and root-bound secrets. And Charlie, remarkable only for vanished friends and a successful sister, plans to leave for good, just as soon as he deals with his dead aunt's house. Then Grace arrives, desperate, with roses pressing up through her skin, and drags Charlie into the ghost-choked mysteries of Bellworth, uncovering the impossible consequences of loss and desire - and a choice Charlie made when he was a boy.

Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous...especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it's her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. And when Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior.

Ford and Neuland are paranormal mercenaries - one living, one undead. One of them kills the undead, the other kills the living. When a job goes bad in New York, they head west to wait for the heat to cool down. There, a young woman named Tilda Rosenbloom hires them on behalf of wealthy landowner, Shepherd Mansfield, to track and kill a demon haunting a mansion in remote northern California. As Ford and Neuland investigate the creature they uncover a legacy of blood, sacrifice and slavery in the house.

They call it the King's Breakfast. One bite and you can understand the full scope of the universe; one bite and you can commune with forgotten gods beyond human comprehension. Sarah is a trans woman who makes her living growing mushrooms. When a bad harvest leaves her in a desperate fix, the lure of the King's Breakfast has her journeying into those vast uncharted woods. Her only guide is the most annoying man in the world, and he's convinced there's no danger.

In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest. Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark fate. But when the voice of a long-dead sorcerer begins to speak inside her head, she listens. There may be another future for her, if she's willing to fight for it.

12 short stories, dark, some never before published.

Aliens have landed on the moon. They are watching Earth and earthlings. What is their plan? With the arrival of the aliens, ordinary life is upended in ways that are both hilarious and revealing. While some people fear the aliens' three-part mandate to save the planet (which might have been written by a grade 9 student in the US), others think the arrival of the aliens is a golden opportunity for a deep discount weekend at Costco that could possibly rival Amazon's Black Friday.

Arthur Parnassus is the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six magical and so-called dangerous children who live there. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight. And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home - one who finds power in calling himself monster, Arthur knows they're at a breaking point.

As kids, outcasts Rebecca, Bobby, Spencer, and Ernie were inseparable friends in the idyllic town of Maple Grove. Three left to pursue lofty dreams - and achieved them. Only Ernie never left. When he falls into a coma, his three amigos feel an urgent need to return home. But as Ernie sinks deeper into darkness, something strange awaits any friend who tries to save him.

Anyone who thinks that, at an early age, they can plan their entire life is mistaken. Nancy Kress has been exploring the possibilities of genetic engineering, human evolution, alien contact, artificial intelligence, and the future of the species for over forty years, with one eye on the bleeding edge of science and the other on the human soul and what makes it bleed. These stories, and the essays that explain her own history and worldview, compose a brief tourist's guide for the world to come.

Alice Law has sacrificed everything to work with Professor Jacob Grimes at Cambridge, the greatest magician in the world. That is, until he dies in a magical accident that could possibly be her fault. Grimes is now in Hell, and she's going in after him. Even death is not going to stop the pursuit of her dreams.... nor will the fact that her rival, Peter Murdoch, has come to the very same conclusion. With nothing but the tales of Orpheus and Dante to guide them, enough chalk to draw the Pentagrams necessary for their spells, and the burning desire to make all the academic trauma mean anything, they set off across Hell to save a man they don't even like.

After neurosurgeon Caro Soames-Watkins's career has gone down in flames, she receives a strange job offer from Nobel Prize-winning scientist Sam Watkins, a great uncle she barely knows, and desperation overcomes any suspicions. Watkins's mysterious medical facility conducts research into the nature of consciousness, reality, and life after death. Two obstacles stand in his way: an intel leak and his failing body may not last long enough for the tech to be ready. As danger mounts, Caro finds more than she bargained for. Murder, love, and a deep disturbing look into the nature of reality.

Keane knows two things - he doesn't like other people, and he is going to take down the de Medicis' human trafficking ring. Alone, as in by himself. It's safer that way. But the truth is the de Medicis are a seriously evil coalition of male lion shifters who are not only snatching innocent humans for fun and profit, but who also killed his father. And their combined power means that Keane's going to have to let long-legged, jet-setting Nelle join the fight. And getting close to Nelle is suddenly bringing out his roar...

When Jodi, BB and Matt decide to burgle a derelict country home as a thrilling dare, they become embroiled in a twisted legacy of supernatural terror. There are rumours of a bizarre curse hanging over the hoard of antiques and jewellery within the house. And unbeknownst to the others, one member of the trio has darker motives for breaking into the property.

A virus is spreading across America, transforming the infected and making them feral with lust. Sophie, a good Catholic girl, must traverse the hellscape of the midwest to try to find her family while the world around her burns. Along the way she discovers there are far worse fates than dying a virgin... The end times are coming.

Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father's overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother's place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra. Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.

In exchange for her brother's freedom, thief Lyta strikes a daring bargain with the king -she will steal the infamous Book of Gold: a mysterious manuscript reputed to be hiding vast magical power within. It's just the kind of challenge Lyta relishes, but she didn't bargain for a secretive scholar, her brother's interference, or the return of handsome and brooding Captain Sylvian Chant, once her lover and partner in crime, now an incorruptible royal bodyguard...

Nineteen stories of cursed and haunted books featuring malevolent second-hand books, cursed novelizations, unsettling journals and the end of the world. From award-winning authors including Eric LaRocca, Charlie Higson, Kim Newman and A. G. Slatter.

Mattinesh Jay, dutiful heir to his struggling family business, needs to hire an experienced swordsman to serve as best man for his arranged marriage. But all he can afford, unfortunately, is part-time con artist and full-time charming menace Luca Piere. Luca, for his part, didn't plan on being blackmailed into giving sword lessons to a chronically responsible - and inconveniently handsome - wool merchant like Matti.

As the healer's daughter, Malka has seen how the Wood's curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to protect heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka's mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings the monster out, he will spare her mother from execution. When she ventures into the shadowed woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only if Malka helps her fulfill a promise first and free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.

Thora Grieve finds herself destitute and an outcast after the sudden death of her husband, but a glimmer of hope arrives when a family friend offers her the chance to study botany under a famed professor. Once at the university, Thora becomes entranced by a mysterious young woman, Olea, who emerges each night to tend to the plants in the private garden below her window. Hungry for connection, Thora befriends Olea through the garden gate and their relationship quickly and intensely blossoms. Intoxicated, Thora throws herself into finding a cure for Olea's ailment and sinks deeper into a world of beauty, poison and obsession.

Seven years ago, Jen Monroe left behind her hometown of Barrow, Washington after her father, a forest ranger passionate about protecting old trees from the aggressive logging business that runs their small town, seemingly vanished into thin air. She vowed never to return...until she gets a text from her estranged mother. Her father's remains have been found.It seems impossible to Jen who has always believed her father is still alive, and she returns home, determined to find out what really happened. When her ex-boyfriend proposes a camping trip into the woods in her father's memory, it feels like the opportunity Jen had been hoping for to find her father. To find the truth.

Alyiakal, a sub-majer in the Mirror Lancers of Cyador, the Empire of Light, is serving the last year of his tour as commanding officer of a remote border post. Rumours hint that the Cerlynese Duke, in retaliation for Alyiakal's success in a border skirmish, is readying an even larger attack. Against terrible odds, Alyiakal gains victory and a promotion. He takes leave only to discover his courtship of Saelora is opposed by her mother. Disappointed and reposted to the remote Pemedra Post - again - Alyiakal must navigate a rapidly developing war.

To the other priestesses of the Nine, a powerful council at the Lady's Temple, Morgana is haughty and arrogant as she performs feats of magic no human should be capable of. Rumours start that she must be a fearsome fae. To King Arthur, Morgana is a trusted and devoted advisor, but his court is wary of her and her prodigious talent at divination. But his wife sees Morgana as a rival and a malevolent witch. To Braithe, Morgana's faithful acolyte, she is simply the most powerful priestess Camelot has seen.

Ambrose, a young vampire, lives a life secreted away from the modern world with the rest of his clan, all of them under the spell of the charismatic Regina, who spins stories of salvation for their kind. Their grand plan? To build makeshift wings and fly to the moon where a safe haven awaits for all vampires. But Ambrose harbours a secret. He is not ready to abandon the earth, and he is in contact with a human who believes he can be saved. However the Royal Diurnal Society - a group with sinister plans for vampires - are closing in.

Murakami's first novel in six years, revisits a town his readers will remember, a place where a Dream Reader reviews dreams and where our shadows become untethered from our selves. A love story, a quest, an ode to books and to the libraries that house them, and a parable for these strange post-pandemic times...

Moscow has resurrected the mammoth. Dr. Damira Khismatullina, an expert in elephant behavior, was brutally murdered trying to defend the world's last elephants from the brutal ivory trade. Now, her digitized consciousness has been downloaded into the mind of a mammoth. As the herd's new matriarch, can Damira help fend off poachers long enough for the species to take hold? Or will her own ghosts, and Moscow's real reason for bringing the mammoth back, doom them to a new extinction?

Novella. Celia discovered her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother, Argent, left home. Furious at him for abandoning her in a war-torn land, she lashed out, not realizing her childish, angry words would become imbued with the power of prophecy, dooming him to a life without love. While Argent wanders the world, forced to seek only fame and glory instead of the love and belonging he truly desires, Celia attempts to undo the curse she placed on him.

A collection of 12 more dark academia short stories from masters of the genre, including Olivie Blake, Genevieve Cogman, MK Lobb and more!

Seeking war with his neighbour, the tyrannical ruler of Aelia convenes several of his kingdom's professors for a chat. First Citizen Gyges only just invaded Aelia a few years back and, naturally, his public image can't take the hit of another unjustified assault. His totally sane solution? Simple, really. These scholars must construct a fake ancient city from scratch to verify Gyges's apocryphal claims. Now these academics must put their heads together to make history. Because if they don't, they'll lose their heads altogether.

James is a man broken after his relationship with the love of his life, Mary, ends. When a mysterious letter from her calls him back to Silent Hill, he finds a once-recognizable place transformed by an unknown evil. While James desperately searches for Mary he encounters terrifying creatures and begins to unravel the mystery of what happened to the town.

Astraea is a prisoner of her own mind, the past sliding from her grasp like water. But she knows she must escape the tyrannical king who holds her captive and find her clouded memories once again. This quest leads her to the Libertatem, a succession of trials hosted by the king in which five human lands compete for a cycle of safety from the vampires seeking blood, claiming souls, and savaging after dark.

13 coming-of-rage stories.

32 stories featuring the author's most celebrated tales alongside all new material.

Lavinia has it all. A loving family (complete with adorable pet baby dragon). A place at university training to be a magical animal vet. And a part-time job at the enchanting Baby Dragon Cafe. The only thing she doesn't have is her one true love: Theo, the local baker and her best friend. It's clear to everyone that they're meant to be. Everyone except Theo. Because when Lavinia finally makes her move, he pulls away.

Sebastian Walsh: Evocation Department. Human. The first of his family to pick college over the military. Elethior Tourael: Conjuration Department. Half-elf. Pretentious asshole. The latest legacy Tourael at Lesiara U. Both: Mageus Research Grant finalists. Sebastian refuses to let anyone snatch this away, least of all a snob riding on old money. But what's worse than a nemesis stealing your grant? You could both get it. Under the condition you work together.

Forced into a deadly alliance with the Virohi, Ahilya alone can communicate with the cosmic creatures - but she is growing weaker with every encounter. Equally revered and feared by her council, Ahilya desperately tries to balance the needs of her people with the untameable desires of the trapped Virohi. Iravan does not believe reconciliation is possible. All he sees is a crumbling bastion being eaten from the inside out. Answering to no law, he would destroy the Virohi before they can destroy humanity.

This is volume 1 of the complete collection of short stories set in the Revelation Space universe, in chronological order. Included here are Dilation Sleep, A Spy in Europa, Galactic North, Great Wall of Mars, Glacial and Diamond Dogs.

This is volume 2 of the complete collection of short stories set in the Revelation Space universe. Included are Turquoise Days, Weather, Grafenwalder's Bestiary, Nightingale, Monkey Suit, The Last Log of the Lachrimosa, Night Passage, Open and Shut and Plague Music.

Lucky enough to have been adopted as an infant by a wonderful, loving couple, Neri's affinity for the water is often a teasing point for her non-biological twin, Nelle, both born during Hurricane Gaston's landfall in South Carolina, some twenty years past. While the latter prefers to collect sea glass along the beach, the ocean depths call to Neri. After a near-drowning and rescue by a mysterious lifeguard, Iluka, something awakens in Neri that will explain her yearning for the sea and reveal long-hidden secrets submerged in her past.

Born in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic. But in a land where gods often kill each other to steal power and alliances break as quickly as they are forged, Matilda must come of age sooner than most. She may be known to carry words and letters through the realms, but she holds a secret she must hide from even her dearest of allies to ensure her survival. And to complicate matters . . . there is a mortal boy who dreams of her, despite the fact they have never met in the waking world.

When someone in Dymitr's family dies, he's called back home for the Empty Night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay. The secret Dymitr is keeping from them makes returning home downright dangerous, but if he wants to get his hands on a book of curses that might appease Baba Jaga's blood lust, he has no choice. And when that same funeral brings Niko, a ferocious creature of legend, to town for his own bloody purposes, Dymitr's charade becomes impossible to maintain.

The standalone story "The Lightning Tree" is expanded to twice its previous length and lavishly illustrated by Nate Taylor. When Bast accepts a gift, taking something for nothing, his whole world is knocked askew, for he knows how to bargain - but not how to owe. From dawn to midnight over the course of a single day, the Kingkiller Chronicle's most charming fae schemes and sneaks, dancing into trouble and back out again with uncanny grace.

Thera has secured the Outer Islands, but her loyalist forces alone cannot liberate Skar Magnol. She must seek allies to have any chance of defeating the Nihlvarian threat. But her greater challenge will be to overcome her own doubts and become the leader she needs to be. If she fails, Ascarlia will fall. And far away across the ocean, Felnir embarks on a bloody path towards kingship whilst to the north, Ruhlin seeks escape from the tyrannical realm of Nihlvar where the mysterious Vortigurn holds sway.

The Consu, the most advanced intelligent species humans have ever met, are on the cusp of a species-defining civil war. This war is between Consu factions... but nothing the Consu ever do is just about them. Gretchen Trujillo is a mid-level diplomat, working in an unimportant part of the Colonial Union bureaucracy. But when she is called to take part in a secret mission involving representatives from every powerful faction in space, what she finds there has the chance to redefine the destinies of humans and aliens alike... or destroy them forever.

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner - of war and of her own mind. To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena's fight - to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self - is just beginning.

Red Sonja, the famous, fiery She-Devil and barbarian of Hyrkania has taken what she wanted, from treasure to drink to the companionship of bedfellows. She's fought who deserved it (and sometimes those who didn't). And she's never looked back. But when rumours start bubbling up from her homeland - rumours of unknown horrors emerging from the ground and pulling their unsuspecting victims to their deaths, she realizes she may have to return to the country that abandoned her.

Cornelia's money is running out. Estranged from her family, furious at her parents following recent revelations, the Broadwick heir finds herself living on her own resources for the first time. Meanwhile two crimes are rocking the Apparent community. The Wrackton Digger is stealing bodies from the cemetery, and a new serial killer - the Wickermere Reaper - has emerged. But when the Reaper snatches their next victims - Cornelia's twin sisters - she must return to her family's home, and seat of the Ghoul Council, to conduct the search.

In early 2102, Psi-Judge Cassandra Anderson sacrificed herself to trap the spirit of the terrible Judge Death, holding him in her mind as her fellow Judge Joe Dredd encased her in an impenetrable polymer. Her comatose body was laid in a place of honour in the Justice Department's famed Hall of Heroes, to be remembered forever for her supreme sacrifice. For eighteen months, Anderson lay trapped, sharing her tomb with the monster she had defeated. For eighteen months, an epic battle raged silently within the Psi-Judge's skull, between her and an ancient avatar of hate and decay.

Joshua Tatterskein's life has been strange. He's become a werewolf, lives with a three-hundred-year-old vampire named Silas Decker and a ginger kitten called Trouble. Then things get even weirder when he encounters a talking penguin who wants to hire him for a job. Joshua just wants to graduate from his new high school. The school is owned by Boston's werewolf pack, and while the teachers might not realize the owners are wolves, all the kids with special abilities - the Goths - know. The good news is the Goths are happy to help Joshua, but the bad news is one of them has gone missing.

Recently divorced art history grad student Hanna Harvey has just fibbed her way into a job as the assistant to dangerously drool-worthy art gallery owner Mark Abernathy. But when her boss's lady friends start turning up dead, Hanna finds herself in the crosshairs of a murder investigation. Even worse, hunky homicide detective James Morrison fears hers might be the next body he discovers. With the "help" of the gallery's quirky cast of resident artists, Hanna will have to hunt down the truth about Abernathy's dark secret - before it hunts her.

Shigidi is a disgruntled and demotivated nightmare god in the Orisha spirit company, reluctantly answering prayers of his few remaining believers to maintain his existence long enough to find his next drink. When he meets Nneoma, a sort-of succubus with a long and secretive past, everything changes for him...

Life in the Iron Mountains is harsh and unforgiving. After the death of her beloved uncle, Yining has survived by becoming a skilled thief and an even better liar. When she acquires an enchanted ring that holds the key to a brighter future, it is stolen by her step-aunt, and Yining must venture into the imperial heart of the kingdom to seize it back.

Christopher Tolkien's masterly translation of the Icelandic Heidrek's Saga, including the dramatic Battle of the Goths and the Huns, the lyrical Waking of Angantyr, and the unique riddle-contest between King Heidrek and the god Odin.

From the terrible plagues of Edgar Allan Poe to the religious terror of May Sinclair and on to the awful, tentacle-faced mythos of H.P. Lovecraft, this anthology celebrates the very best of Weird Fiction.

The central palace of Crysth is overrun by an invading army led by Wilhelmina Ming. But the invaders can no longer control their divine power source--a being they worship as god--and now both invader and the invaded are trapped inside the palace with no way to rein in the eldritch force that has taken over, and no choice but to join together against it. Ming's last hope is Speaker, the slain emperor's twin and former imperial steward who is somehow bonded with the deity.

Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. Among his hive's followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won't destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But then Levi gets Crane pregnant - and the hive demands the child's birth, no matter the cost.

Aoileann has never left this windswept craggy isle off the coast of Ireland. Her mother is cursed: a silent wreck Aoileann calls the "bed-thing." Alongside her grandmother, Aoileann's days are an endless monotony of feeding, changing, and caring for the bed-thing. Then Rachel, a vivacious artist from the mainland, arrives with her colicky newborn. Rachel arouses yearnings Aoileann cannot fully comprehend. Soon, the unfolding of her mother's secret tragedy and Aoileann's pursuit of her own dark desires are both destined to unleash a maelstrom upon all three of their lives.

Two fugitives, a man and a child, drive across a stony desert. As dawn breaks, they roll into an abandoned mine site. They're exhausted, traumatized, desperate now, and this is a forsaken place, but as a refuge it's the most promising they've seen. The child peers at the field of desolation. The man thinks to himself, this could work. The only problem is, they're not alone...

Novella. In the distant future, when mortals mingle with the gods in deep space, an out-of-date automaton, a recovering addict, and an angel race to solve the Pope's murder in an abandoned corner of the galaxy.

When Cima's life choices limit her gang's avenues for making a profit, they're forced to scavenge in a haunted corner of the city, where they unearth what they believe to be life-changing loot. Then it all comes apart. The hoard they've recovered is something more than material treasure, it's potent magic from before the cataclysm that brought the old world to ruin. Will the plague of magic they've unleashed destroy her chosen family, her city, and the world? Or will the recovery of the items fenced by her gang lead Cima to become the guardian of a new age?

When Annie's coven tasks her with guiding an orphan teenage witch through the process of getting her blossoming magical powers under control, Annie is excited for the chance to please and to prove herself. But the ramshackle cabin they'll be housed in isn't quite the staycation of Annie's dreams - and she and Maeve, the headstrong teen, couldn't be more different. Just when they're starting to understand each other, the owner of the cabin unexpectedly returns - and this quietly gruff and handsome warlock is not pleased to find that the coven volunteered his house to a high-maintenance witch and her angsty teen companion.

When Ree and Javani stumble across a lone traveller under bandit attack, they make the mistake of lending a hand. Forced to take refuge in the traveller's village, they quickly find allies among the lush, wooded hills. But then the true nature of the bandits is revealed. With winter approaching and a vengeful company of mercenaries circling like wolves, Ree and Javani must uncover the secrets of this peaceful valley ... or risk the ruin of it all.