Members of the Assassins' Guild can be as honorable as anyone. They might be trained to kill, but they're just people with loved ones to protect and avenge.This short story is also included in "Saif&Kilig" and in the free anthology with various authors "Wyrd Worlds 2"‘The Scribe’ is a collection of twelve letters included in ‘The Archivist’ and is part of 'The Lost Spells of Egypt' series.Sepedet, a would be scribe, has kept secrets from her son, Ahmose. Now that he has been summoned to the temple of Amun in Thebes to begin his studies, she decides to tell him about the tragic events of the past, including the demise of her father, an archivist. She writes Ahmose a letter, one for every month of his absence. Sepedet believes that her letters will help her son find his rightful place in Thebes, but what she does not know, is that she is sending him into danger.

Behold, dear readers, my magnum opus. Girthir Norsethrust: The Trial of the Sex is an epic, rousing adventure tale set during the era of Beowulf, featuring brave warriors, mighty monsters and much sex. Girthir Norsethrust, mightiest hero in all of the Norselands, sets out to defeat monsters three. He must defeat them, not with the sword…But with the sex.Behold, dear readers, my magnum opus. Girthir Norsethrust: The Trial of the Sex is an epic, rousing adventure tale set during the era of Beowulf, featuring brave warriors, mighty monsters and much sex. Girthir Norsethrust, mightiest hero in all of the Norselands, sets out to defeat monsters three. To prove himself the greatest and manliest hero of them all he must defeat these beasts, not with the sword…But with the sex.As well as being a barnstorming adventure tale in its own right, Girthir Norsethrust: The Trial of the Sex is also a subversive, multi-layered deconstruction of masculinity, and an exploration of what it means to be a manly man in the modern day.

Laird of an ancient Scottish clan, Duncan Macrae also possesses the secret powers of the Guardians--humans with mystical abilities to control nature's forces and see into the hearts of others. Duncan has sworn to use his abilities for the greater good, but duty is eclipsed when he meets the dazzling, independent English widow Gwyneth Owens. Though Gwynne's father was a Guardian, she believes that she has inherited only her mother's beauty, not her father's power. Then one kiss from the dangerously alluring Duncan ignites a passion that shakes her to the soul--and reveals a looming catastrophe that threatens both their nations. Only by becoming Duncan's wife, and ultimately betraying the man she loves, can she avert disaster. As fate casts them onto opposing sides, Gwynne and Duncan must push their powers and passions beyond the most forbidden limits if they are to save their love--and secure the future.

Kethlun Warder was a gifted glassmaker until his world was shattered in a freak accident. Now his remaining glass-magic is mixed with lightning, and Tris must teach him to control it (if she can teach him to control his temper first). But there's more at stake than Keth's education. With his strange magic, he creates glass balls which reflect the immediate past and expose the work of a murderer. If he can harness his power properly, he'll be able to see the crimes as they take place. Keth and Tris race against time and the local authorities to identify a killer who's living in plain sight. Tris and her mage-student, a young man whose glassmaking magic has been amplified and mixed with lightning, team up to track a killer who may be nearer than they suspect.

Video games are a multi-billion dollar a year industry that has outpaced movies and books combined. The humble, pixelated games of the ‘70s and ‘80s have evolved into the vivid, realistic, and immersive form of entertainment that now rivals all other forms of media for dominance in the consumer marketplace. For many, video games have become the cultural icons around which pop culture revolves. PRESS START TO PLAY is an anthology of stories inspired by video games: stories that attempt to recreate the feel of a video game in prose form; stories that play with the concepts common (or exclusive) to video games; and stories about the creation of video games and/or about the video games—or the gamers—themselves. These stories will appeal to anyone who has interacted with games, from hardcore teenaged fanatics, to men and women who game after their children have gone to bed, to your well-meaning aunt who won’t stop inviting you to join her farm-based Facebook games. At the helm of this project are Daniel H. Wilson—bestselling novelist and expert in artificial intelligence—and John Joseph Adams—bestselling, Hugo Award-nominated editor of more than a dozen science fiction/fantasy anthologies and series editor of Best American Science Fiction & Fantasy (volume one forthcoming from Houghton Mifflin in 2015). Together, they have drawn on their wide-ranging contacts to assemble an incredibly talented group of authors who are eager to attack the topic of video games from startling and fascinating angles. Under the direction of an A.I. specialist and a veteran editor, the anthology will expose readers to a strategically chosen mix of stories that explore novel video game concepts in prose narratives, such as save points, kill screens, gold-farming, respawning, first-person shooters, unlocking achievements, and getting “pwned.” Likewise, each of our authors is an accomplished specialist in areas such as science fiction, fantasy, and techno-thrillers, and many have experience writing for video games professionally. Combining unique viewpoints and exacting realism, this anthology promises to thrill generations of readers, from those who grew up with Atari 2600s to the console and PC gamers of today.

Meet Shane. He’s sexy, arrogant, and ruthless. He’s used to women falling at his feet. Settling down has never been an option. But, fate has her own plans… For ten years, he has watched over her. He has vowed to protect Samantha…from the likes of him. He is not supposed to fall for the one girl he can never have. The girl who is off limits. The forbidden fruit. When Samantha suddenly disappears, Shane’s fury is unleashed as he fights for her life with fierce vengeance.

The people of Nightshade, California, are dying in their sleep, and fifteen-year-old paranormal warrior Jessica Walsh is determined to find the killer . . . or killers. Justice isn’t the only thing on Jessica’s mind, however. Some days she’s not sure which is worse—having a creepy clown lurking outside her window or having her rock star boyfriend’s hot ex-girlfriend drop by for a surprise visit. Could the ex be behind the dastardly doings in town? Or could the disturbing works of a strange painter somehow at the heart of the mystery? Jessica is losing sleep—but she’s got to figure out what's going on before the night terrors strike again.

Questor Thews is only a semi-competent wizard, but when High Lord Ben Holiday and his love Willow need use of his powers, he tries to comply. He tries, all right, but he doesn't have all that much faith in himself--not since he turned a terrier into an imp. Still, he'll do what he can.... From the Paperback edition.

Max Smith, a clockmaker's assistant, is far from Edwardian London, in a world destroyed by war - 100 years in his future! Held captive by the despicable Beau Riche, King of London, Max is caught up in the world-conquering machinations of Ben Landon, Envoy of the Protestant-Moslem Republic of Texas.Armed with the mysterious Eye of Time he must decide whether to save the world... or destroy it!Eight short stories covering the range from mythical through fantasy to inter-dimensional, and more! Thought-provoking commentary on altruism, greed and politics. Witty, pithy and pointed, these stories will please many different tastes. These previously unpublished stories include: Death and Taxes, Captive Audience, A Walk on the Wind, The Book of Fate, The Castle-O-Lantern, Catspaw, Hunting Licence, and Involunteer.

Something is killing all living things on Cloudfyre.Will Gargaron the giant have enough time to uncover the mystery before his world is lost?Cloudfyre holds a secretOne that is killing millions.The warning signs have been there for centuries. In ancient cave paintings. On stone tablets.But they have gone unheeded.Now it’s too late—mysterious shockwaves sweep across the world killing everything in their path. Strange monsters tear up anything left alive.There is one survivor.Gargaron the giant.His village has been annihilated. Everyone he knows has perished.With little more than the sword on his back and a pack of provisions, he sets off on a mission to unravel the mystery behind Cloudfyre’s demise.What he doesn’t know is that time is already running out.And to get the answers he seeks, he must travel to the end of the world to find them.

This is a metafictional preview of a metaphorical tale of a metrosexual angel trying to stop a metaphysical apocalypse.Gabriel is an iPod-totting archangel obsessed with crossword puzzles and human souls. God is the Creator of Everything who misquotes platitudes and who is set on destroying the world. You are a hot, large-breasted dear reader. Angels Don't Cry is a sacrilegiously satirical short story about divine disappointment and angelic hope.

Francis Mahkota had lost one box of sorcerers’ wands during he showed these off to his friends. The caretaker of these wands, Brady demanded him finding them back before one underground organization questioning these losses.The sorcerers’ wands were dead objects. Special charms had been stealthily casted on them by unknown sorcerer to grow out wings on those wands. To make them lively like birdies. It was believed that the wands had flown away into the Forbidden Forest where Francis needed to risk his life and intruded into the untrodden territory.

In a wonderfully loopy third episode, Nick and Maxine are surprised to meet Captain Noodlekugel, back from the sea with a somewhat untrainable bear. When their father decides to compete to be speed-knitting champion of the world, Nick and Maxine are happy to stay with their babysitter, Mrs. Noodlekugel, along with her talking cats and four mice who wear glasses. What they don’t expect is a dripping-wet, whiskered man in the kitchen the next morning! Captain Noodlekugel has left his seafaring life to train animals for the circus, and he’s even brought with him a hefty bear named Drooly for practice. But whenever he tries to teach Drooly to dance, the bear wobbles and falls asleep on the tulips. When Drooly goes missing, the siblings must try to figure out where a big clumsy bear might go!

Jay Lake's first trade novel is an astounding work of creation.  Lake has envisioned a clockwork solar system, where the planets move in a vast system of gears around the lamp of the Sun. It is a universe where the hand of the Creator is visible to anyone who simply looks up into the sky, and sees the track of the heavens, the wheels of the Moon, and the great Equatorial gears of the Earth itself. Mainspring is the story of a young clockmaker's apprentice, who is visited by the Archangel Gabriel. He is told that he must take the Key Perilous and rewind the Mainspring of the Earth. It is running down, and disaster to the planet will ensue if it's not rewound. From innocence and ignorance to power and self-knowledge, the young man will make the long and perilous journey to the South Polar Axis, to fulfill the commandment of his God.