A Ranger comes to Earth looking for a missing resaercher and experiences severe culture shock. Earthlings are strange and deadly folk...In the depths of winter, Emery is digging. Two months after the conclusion of Mutt, he is building an underground highway into the walled city of Rittenhouse to smuggle food and medicine to those living in the wasteland outside. When the gateman Green comes to him with news of a secret shipment and plans to intercept it, Emery sees a chance at redemption for his past failings. But as the search pulls him into a broadening web of conspiracy, his closest friends worry he is in too deep, determined find the shipment--or lose everything.

Aelise Teronne was an assassin working for the Kandu Law Enforcement. She was part of a group of trained superhumans who were programmed into forced killing. Escaping from her controllers, Aelise goes to set things right and make up for what she had already done. Twisting herself into tangles of all things complicated, she learns to treat herself not as a violent assassin, but as a changed person.Aelise Teronne used to be an assassin working for the Kandu Law Enforcement. She was in the Wolf level of assassins, a collection of highly skilled and trained superhumans who were programmed into killing everyone they were told to. Aelise did that, but the programmed computer chip proved faulty, and she could resist the orders from the chip . . . only after killing everyone she could, and throwing her world into chaos. Now there's only one thing on her mind, to destroy her enemy. Her enemy who controlled her and made her their slave. Escaping from the KLE (Kandu Law Enforcement) was an easy task after her mind no longer belonged to them, and she goes out to set things right, kill someone one last time, and make up for what she had already done. Twisting herself into a complicated tangle of allies, danger, family, love, insanity, and self-doubt, she learns to treat herself not as a once violent assassin, but a changing person.

Michael Edwards lives on a hidden archipelago in the Atlantic where people known as Movers can manipulate matter with their minds. When he discovers that he is heir to an ancient line of kings who can actually Create matter, he finds himself at the center of a cosmic battle for power. Manipulated by friends, family, and an ominous prophecy, he fights to become Mover of his own destiny.Destiny is in the hands of those who Create it.On a hidden archipelago, people known as Movers manipulate matter with their minds while strange Folds in space transform the landscape into wondrous and often deadly anomalies. When a young Mover named Michael Edwards discovers that he is descended from a long line of kings who can not only Move matter, but actually Create it, he finds himself at the center of a cosmic struggle for power. Manipulated by friends, family, and an ominous prophecy, he allies himself with a host of strange creatures and characters as he fights to become Mover of his own destiny.“Brilliant! An imaginative and thought-provoking world.” -His mom“Please stop calling this office.” -New York Times“Who?" -A high school friend˃˃˃ Heartfelt, witty, and tense, The Creator’s Eye series shreds metaphysical clichés to reach a thrilling climax that blurs the line between good and evil, will and destiny, and even time and space.Scroll up and grab a copy today!

An assemblage of short stories in different genres; science fiction, crime, western and so-called real-life, Grey Mars and Other Stories is the first collection by Christopher J Young.These stories deal with the familiar theme of loss, be it the losing of a friend, or a home world, or even the will to live.Life isn't always good, but by the same token, it isn't always bad either...An assemblage of short stories in different genres; science fiction, crime, western and so-called real-life, Grey Mars and Other Stories is the first collection by Christopher J Young.Grey MarsA tale set in the near future concerning Mankind's falling dreams of colonisation and the entropy that inevitably follows. Elena Yoshino, losing her mind, strives to return home and leave her drab Martian existence behind. She is guided on her mission by Kundulu, the ghost of one of the original Martian natives, who she sees despite the fact that there never was life on Mars. Giving in to her madness, Elena sets off into the Martian desert...The AnniversaryTen years ago, Jim took his unfaithful wife out into the woods to kill her. Now he's back at the scene...An Ending in TokyoBronson is an American cop in Tokyo. He is concerned for the mental welfare of his Japanese partner Nakata, after Nakata shoots dead a killer on the run. Bronson feels an inner peace in Japan that he has never had before. He plans on staying, but does Nakata plan on staying too?FrankieTen-year old Frankie has been taken away from his family. And now the Family have caught up with his abductor.RetributionA tale set in the old west of America. James Finlay has spent a decade tracking down the friend who destroyed his life. Now he has found him, but both men are changed...Lesley's Death“If I hadn’t have shot Lesley, I would have married her.” When confronted by the ghost of Lesley, Danny would soon know what being haunted really meant.Mickey's WarEleven year old Mickey Sharp has a lot to deal with in life. His father is away at war, and he is bullied at school. He retires, for much of the time, into a fantasy world.GraveA short autobiographical piece on the loss of a dear friend.These stories deal with the familiar theme of loss, be it the losing of a friend, or a home world, or even the will to live.Life isn't always good, but by the same token, it isn't always bad either...

Things are finally looking good for Captain Frey and his crew. The Ketty Jay has been fixed up good as new. They've got their first taste of fortune and fame. And, just for once, nobody is trying to kill them. Even Trinica Dracken, Frey's ex-fiancee and long-time nemesis, has given up her quest for revenge. In fact, she's offered them a job - one that will take them deep into the desert heart of Samarla, the land of their ancient enemies. To a place where the secrets of the past lie in wait for the unwary. Secrets that might very well cost Frey everything. Join the crew of the Ketty Jay on their greatest adventure yet: a story of mayhem and mischief, roof-top chases and death-defying races, murderous daemons, psychopathic golems and a particularly cranky cat. The first time was to clear his name. The second time was for money. This time, Frey's in a race against the clock for the ultimate prize: to save his own life.

Sheriff Poole & The Mech Gang is set near de Lint's fictional desert town of Santo del Vado Viejo, where his novels The Mystery of Grace and The Painted Boy take place, and where some of his recent short fiction has been set. It is available here for the first time in any format. Dan Cutler lives with his wife Mason in the foothills of the Hierro Madera Mountains near the ruins of Showdown Ranch, his father's old amusement park. Although the ranch is now owned by developers, nothing has been done with it since the day Dan's father died there in a mysterious explosion. Four generations of Cutler men have worked with carnival machines called animatrons—large metal figures whose clockwork workings delight and captivate audiences. Ever since the explosion Dan has been salvaging parts of these mechanical men from the ruins and bringing them home to try to put them back in working order. But there is a greater reason to make these machine men operational once more—something that threatens the Cutlers' very existence.

The Captain peered into the eyepiece of the telescope. He adjusted the focus quickly. "It was an atomic fission we saw, all right," he said presently. He sighed and pushed the eyepiece away. "Any of you who wants to look may do so. But it's not a pretty sight." "Let me look," Tance the archeologist said. He bent down to look, squinting. "Good Lord!" He leaped violently back, knocking against Dorle, the Chief Navigator. But when they got there, nothing moved or stirred. Everything was silent, dead. Only the gun showed signs of life . . . and the trespassers had wrecked that for all time. The return journey to pick up the treasure would be a cinch . . .

A Ranger needs a little help dealing with a local disaster, and a little blue alien menace who seems intent on trying to get himself killed!Could you drive a knife into your loved ones' head to stop them from returning from the dead? Frank Collins Jnr sat in an empty apartment with his dead wife cradled on his lap. She was infected by a virus that swept through the city of New York and beyond - a virus that brought people back from the dead. But Frank had a knife. And Frank knows what to do to stop her from returning. But can he do it to the one he loves?

A riveting tale of a not-so-distant future in which who you are is what you eat. And loyalty depends on sharing, or refusing to share, blood. Literally. Dark Future, good reading.Well into adolescence, Dougal is finally doing his duty to the diet and marrying his allotted bride. They risk their lives by going abroad for the honeymoon. On their return, Dougal, his wife and the whole community face the biggest threat of all: heresy! A riveting tale of a not-so-distant future in which who you are is what you eat. And loyalty depends on sharing, or refusing to share blood. Literally. Dark Future, good reading.

Five murders on an untamed world. Two fugitives on the run. The hunt is on.Celebrated Omicron detective Ferrix Vaughn is called in to investigate a deadly breach on Hesperidia, a protected planet full of indigenous wildlife. He recruits Jan Corbija, the proprietor of an old safari tour, to help him. But nothing is what it seems in the alien wild, and no one is safe from a galaxy heading for war.Five murders on an untamed world. Two fugitives on the run. The hunt is on.When celebrated Omicron detective Ferrix Vaughn is called in to investigate a deadly breach on Hesperidia, a protected planet full of indigenous wildlife, he doesn’t know what to expect. The place used to be a tourist attraction, but the safari tours were discontinued long ago due to rampant poaching. Only a handful of researchers live there now, including Jan Corbija, the disfigured young woman who reported the breach.The deeper Vaughn digs, the more the evidence seems to point to a recent raid on a biotech facility in a nearby system. Whatever was stolen from there, it’s attracted the attention of major political players in a time of war across the colonies. Vaughn suspects the secret is on Hesperidia, in the hands of the two fugitives who fled the murder scene.If he wants to get to them first, he’s going to need Jan’s help. Her Alien Safari tour will have to reopen for this final excursion. But to survive it, they’ll both need to face their demons, for a predator far deadlier than man roams the wilds of Hesperidia. And this is its killing season.This way for the ride of your life.

This inaugural issue of the Fiction Vortex magazine is stuffed with incredible stories, tales that will take you through the verdant valley of coming-of-age-fantasy, over the jagged summit of hard science fiction, into the dark cavern of cerebral horror, and back out into the sunlit meadows of humorous satire. All stories and reviews were published on FictionVortex.com in May 2013This inaugural issue of the Fiction Vortex magazine is stuffed with incredible stories, tales that will take you through the verdant valley of coming-of-age-fantasy, over the jagged summit of hard science fiction, into the dark cavern of cerebral horror, and back out into the sunlit meadows of humorous satire. All stories and reviews were published on FictionVortex.com in May 2013.Fiction Vortex focuses on publishing speculative fiction. That means science fiction and fantasy (with a light smattering of horror and a few other subgenres), be it light, heavy, deep, flighty, spaceflighty, cerebral, visceral, epic, or mundane. But mundane in a my-local-gas-station-has-elf-mechanics-but-it’s-not-really-a-big-deal-around-here kind of way. Got it?Basically, we want imaginative stories that are well written, but not full of supercilious floridity.There’s a long-standing belief that science fiction and fantasy stories aren’t as good as purely literary fare. We want you to prove that mindset wrong (not just wrong, but a steaming pile of griffin dung wrong) with every story we publish. It’s almost like we’re saying, “I do not bite my thumb at you, literary snobs, but I do bite my thumb,” but in a completely polite and non-confrontational way.

Athletics are everything for eighth-grader KT Sutton. She’s a softball star, and she’s on track to get a college scholarship and achieve international fame. Then one day during a championship game—in the middle of an important play—she suddenly blacks out. When she wakes up, she’s in a different world. One where school is class after class of athletic drills, and after-school sports are replaced by popular academic competitions. One where KT is despised for her talent, and where her parents are fixated on her brother’s future mathletics career rather than KT’s softball hopes. KT is desperate to get back to reality as she knew it, but bits and pieces of disturbing memories and dreams make her wonder if something truly awful happened there. What if she’s lost something a lot more important than a softball game?

BEFORE THE MANSION. BEFORE THE DISASTER. EVIL IS BORN. Sent to investigate a series of grisly murders in Raccoon City, S. T. A. R. S. Bravo Team scrambles into action. On the way to the scene, Bravo's helicopter crashes. Although everyone survives, what they discover next is gruesome: an overturned military transport truck riddled with corpses -- and that's only the beginning of their nightmare. Bravo Team is about to discover the evil that is growing all around them, and rookie member Rebecca Chambers is beginning to wonder what she's gotten herself into.  

Captain "Black Jack" Geary slept for a century, but even that cryogenic slumber could not have prepared him for the planet-shattering conflict between the Alliance and the Syndicate Worlds. In this sixth and final installment of Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet, this great war comes thundering to an exhilarating, action-packed conclusion. Military sci-fi for true thrill seekers. A mass-market original.

The Empire of Twelve is at war with itself. An army of Xaosian invaders move forward with a plan to take the Empire for their own, targeting the planet Raan. But it is clear that the Xaosians are not working alone; something else is pulling the strings and its army grows every day.When the dust settles, nothing will be the same again.The Empire of Twelve is at war with itself. An army of Xaosian invaders move forward with a plan to take the Empire for their own, targeting the planet Raan. But it is clear that the Xaosians are not working alone; something else is pulling the strings and its army grows every day.The planet Narcsia is dying. Storms and quakes ravage the world, leading to a world-wide evacuation. However, when a few of the Scalimen natives look to the storm, they see strange gas creatures demolishing their world.The pits of Rat'hak are deadly fighting arenas. Accepting that he may never who he used to be, amnesiac Ash must fight in the pits in order to survive.Meanwhile, a survivor of a long-thought dead race clings to the hope that his race is alive, and vows to do anything it takes to find them once again. Even if it means helping the Xaosians build their world-crippling super-weapon.When the dust settles, the Empire will never be the same again.