Anthologies

For more than a decade, readers have turned to The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror to find the most rewarding fantastic short stories. Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling continue their critically acclaimed and award-winning tradition with another stunning collection of stories. The fiction and poetry here is culled from an exhaustive survey of the field, nearly four dozen stories ranging from fairy tales to gothic horror, from magical realism to dark tales in the Grand Guignol style. Rounding out the volume are the editors' invaluable overviews of the year in fantasy and horror, a new Year's Best section, on comics, by Charles Vess, and on anime and manga, by Joan D. Vinge, and a long list of Honorable Mentions, making this an indispensable reference as well as the best reading available in fantasy and horror.

The second volume in the acclaimed Jabberwocky series includes short stories by Jeannelle M. Ferreira, Megan Messinger, Richard Parks, Holly Phillips, Cassandra Phillips-Sears, Erzebet YellowBoy; and poetry by Mike Allen, Helena Bell, Constance Cooper, Jennifer Crow, Ainsley Dicks, Theodora Goss, Jaida Jones, Sarah Koplik, Yoon Ha Lee, Rio Le Moignan, Tim Pratt, Shirl Sazynski, Veronica Schanoes, Ann Schwader, Sarah Singleton, Sonya Taaffe, Catherynne M. Valente, JoSelle VanderHooft, Laurel Winter, and Jane Yolen.

Here is the latest edition of the world's premier annual showcase of horror and dark fantasy fiction. This collection features some of the very best short stories and novellas by today's masters of the macabre — including such writers as Neil Gaiman, Glen Hirshberg, tanith Lee, ramsey Campbell and Charles Coleman Finlay. The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror also features the most comprehensive yearly overview of horror around the world, lists of useful contact addresses, and a fascinating necrology. It is the one book that is required reading for every fan of macabre fiction.

“Delightful . . . A treat for dictionary hounds and vocabulary-challenged word lovers everywhere.”— Booklist For most of us, these prizewinning spelling bee words would be difficult to pronounce, let alone spell. We asked twenty-one of today’s most talented and inventive writers to go even further and pen an original tale inspired by one of dozens of obscure and fascinating championship words. The result is Logorrhea —a veritable dictionary of the weird, the fantastic, the haunting, and the indefinable that will have you spellbound from the very first page. Including twenty-one stories and the inscrutable words that inspired them: Chiaroscuro: “The Chiaroscurist” by Hal Duncan Lyceum: “Lyceum” by Liz Williams Vivisepulture: “Vivisepulture” by David Prill Eczema: “Eczema” by Clare Dudman Sacrilege, Semaphore: “Semaphore” by Alex Irvine Smaragdine: “The Smaragdine Knot” by Marly Youmans Insouciant: “A Portrait in Ivory” by Michael Moorcock Cambist: “The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics” by Daniel Abraham Logorrhea: “Logorrhea” by Michelle Richmond Pococurante: “Pococurante” by Anna Tambour Autochthonous: “From Around Here” by Tim Pratt Vignette: “Vignette” by Elizabeth Hand Sycophant: “Plight of the Sycophant” by Alan DeNiro Elegiacal: “The Last Elegy” by Matthew Cheney Eudaemonic: “Eudaemonic” by Jay Caselberg Macerate: “Softer” by Paolo Bacigalupi Transept: “Crossing the Seven” by Jay Lake Psoriasis: “Tsuris” by Leslie What Euonym: “The Euonymist” by Neil Williamson Dulcimer: “Singing of Mount Abora” by Theodora Goss Appoggiatura: “Appoggiatura” by Jeff VanderMeer “This book is a logophile’s dream—a left-field collection of stories inspired by winning words from the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Anyone who has ever spent an hour or two happily browsing the pages of a dictionary will find something to love here.”—Kevin Brockmeier, author of A Brief History of the Dead

For twenty years this award-winning compilation has been the nonpareil benchmark against which all other annual fantasy and horror collections are judged. Directed first by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling and for the past four years by Datlow and Kelly Link and Gavin J. Grant, it consistently presents the strangest, the funniest, the darkest, the sharpest, the most original—in short, the best fantasy and horror. The current collection, marking a score of years, offers more than forty stories and poems from almost as many sources. Summations of the field by the editors are complemented by articles by Edward Bryant, Charles de Lint, and Jeff VanderMeer, highlighting the best of the fantastic in, respectively, media, music, and comics, as well as honorable mentions—notable works that didn’t quite make the cut, but are nonetheless worthy of attention. The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Twentieth Annual Collection is a cornucopia of fantastic delights, an unparalleled resource and indispensable reference that captures the unique excitement and beauty of the fantastic in all its gloriously diverse forms, from the lightest fantasy to the darkest horror.

In extreme fantasy anything can happen . In Mike Ashley's breathtaking new anthology the only rules are those the writer makes - these are stories to liberate both the writers' and readers' imagination. They will take you to hell and back (literally - two of the stories involve hell in ways never explored before). For too long fantasy fiction has become synonymous with vast heroic-fantasy adventures in imitation of The Lord of the Rings , but the genre has always been far greater than dwarves and elves. Today many writers are rediscovering the wider world of fantasy and creating bold new ideas or magically reworking older arts. Ashley selects 25 stories by the likes of Orson Scott Card, Paul Di Filippo, A. A. Attanasio, Michael Swanwick, Christopher Priest and Peter Crowther, arranged in ascending order of 'extremeness'. The anthology opens with a story that takes us beyond Middle Earth in 'Senator Bilbo' by Andy Duncan - showing what happens when a radical descendant of his famous namesake tries to introduce immigration control - and reaches the ultimate in 'The Dark One' by A. A. Attanasio, a rite of passage story where you, the reader, discover you are being tested to become the successor to Satan. Other stories include: A man with a terminal disease looks for a cure in a world where Edward Lear meets Lewis Carroll. A man decides to banish all language. A tour of Hell by the boatman himself. The great comic stars of Hollywood find themselves seeking their lost world. A magical experiment recreates the Crucifixion. Suddenly all colour drains out of the world. A magical recreation of Chinese fantasy cinema where a magician and his adepts fight the flying dead.

The 2008 Edition of The Year's Best Science Fiction contains: INTRODUCTION, Rich Horton (Editor) DARK INTEGERS, Greg Egan A PLAIN TALE FROM OUR HILLS, Bruce Sterling AN EYE FOR AN EYE, Charles Coleman Finlay ALWAYS, Karen Joy Fowler AN OCEAN IS A SNOWFLAKE, FOUR BILLION MILES AWAY, John Barnes VIRUS CHANGES SKIN, Ekaterina Sedia WIKIWORLD, Paul Di Filippo ARTIFICE AND INTELLIGENCE, Tim Pratt JESUS CHRIST, REANIMATOR, Ken MacLeod NIGHT CALLS, Robert Reed EVERYONE BLEEDS THROUGH, Jack Skillingstead ART OF WAR, Nancy Kress THREE DAYS OF RAIN, Holly Phillips BRAIN RAID, Alexander Jablokov FOR SOLO CELLO, OP. 12, Mary Robinette Kowal PERFECT VIOLET, Will McIntosh VECTORING, Geoffrey Landis THE SKYSAILOR'S TALE, Michael Swanwick

An anthology of eighteen science fiction and fantasy stories collected from the InterGalatic Medicine Show online magazine, plus four new Ender Universe stories. Welcome to the first anthology of stories from Orson Scott Card’s online magazine, InterGalactic Medicine Show . The magazine has been at the forefront of publishing the work of new SF and fantasy talents, as well as many tales of wonder from well-known writers. Additionally, this anthology contains four stories by Orson Scott Card set in the Ender Universe. None of these stories has appeared anywhere except in InterGalactic Medicine Show , and are in print in this volume for the first time. Orson Scott Card’s InterGalactic Medicine Show is a true treasure for lovers of science fiction and fantasy, and a must-have for fans of Card’s bestselling novel Ender’s Game . Praise for Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show: An Anthology “Noteworthy SF and fantasy stories from a bumper crop of talented new authors. . . . If the quality of these stories is any indication, IGMS has as much promise as the newcomers it showcases.” — Publishers Weekly

This collection features the most comprehensive yearly overview of horror around the world in all its incarnations, an impressively researched necrology, and a list of indispensable contact addresses for the dedicated reader and budding writer alike. This is the very best of new short stories and novellas by today's masters of the macabre. Contributors include such names as Neil Gaiman, Gene Wolfe, Brian Keene, Michael Marshall Smith, Ramsey Campbell, Kim Newman, Elizabeth Massie, Glen Hirshberg, Peter Atkins, and Tanith Lee. This is required reading for any fan of ghoulish fiction.

The honorable mentions from Abyss & Apex. Imaginative stories and poetry by science fiction and fantasy's rising stars including Ken Scholes, Lisa Mantchev, Jude-Marie Green, Yoon Ha Lee, Jay Lake, Justin Stanchfield, and more. "The quality of the contents is consistently extraordinary." --BOOKLIST

Last Drink Bird Head is a variation on a surrealist writing game: we gave the phrase to over 70 writers and asked them “Who or what is Last Drink Bird Head?” The results run the gamut from the hilarious to the terrifying, with each writer bringing their signature style and voice to the enterprise. All proceeds on Last Drink go to ProLiteracy.org. WHAT IS PROLITERACY? Help promote worldwide literacy through the ProLiteracy organization. ProLiteracy “champions the power of literacy to improve the lives of adults and their families, communities, and societies. We envision a world in which everyone can read, write, compute, and use technology to lead healthy, productive, and fulfilling lives.” For more information, visit ProLiteracy.org. Contributors: Daniel Abraham, Michael Arnzen, Steve Aylett, KJ Bishop, Michael Bishop, Desirina Boskovich, Keith Brooke, Jesse Bullington, Richard Butner, Catherine Cheek, Matthew Cheney, Michael Cisco, Gio Clairval, Alan M. Clark, Brendan Connell, Paul Di Filippo, Stephen R. Donaldson, Rikki Ducornet, Clare Dudman, Hal Duncan, Scott Eagle, Brian Evenson, Eliot Fintushel, Jeffrey Ford, Richard Gehr, Felix Gilman, Jon Courtney Grimwood, Rhys Hughes, Paul Jessup, Antony Johnston, John Kaiine, Henry Kaiser, Caitlin R. Kiernan, Tessa Kum, Ellen Kushner, Jay Lake, Tanith Lee, Stina Leicht, Therese Littleton, Beth Adele Long, Dustin Long, Nick Mamatas, JM McDermott, Sarah Monette, Kari O’Connor, Ben Peek, Holly Phillips, Louis Phillips, Tim Pratt, Cat Rambo, Mark Rich, Bruce Holland Rogers, Nicholas Royle, G Eric Schaller, Ekaterina Sedia, Ramsey Shehadeh, Peter Straub, Victoria Strauss, Michael Swanwick, Mark Swartz, Alan Swirsky, Rachel Swirsky, Sonya Taaffe, Justin Taylor, Steve Rasnic Tem, Jeffrey Thomas, Scott Thomas, John Urbancik, Genevieve Valentine, Kim Westwood, Leslie What, Andrew Steiger White, Conrad Williams, Liz Williams, Neil Williamson, Caleb Wilson, Gene Wolfe, Jonathan Wood, Marly Youmans, and Catherine Zeidler

Selected from the Hugo award-nominated Clarkesworld Magazine , Realms collects the work of twenty-five visionary writers of short fiction, including such World Fantasy, Philip K. Dick, Tiptree, Hugo, and Campbell Award winners and finalists as Jeffrey Ford, Mary Robinette Kowal, Jay Lake, Cat Rambo, Tim Pratt, Robert Reed, Mike Resnick, and Catherynne M. Valente ― and amazing stories from up-and-comers like Karen Heuler, Paul Jessup, Yoon Ha Lee, Margaret Ronald, and many more!

The Devil is known by many names: Serpent, Tempter, Beast, Adversary, Wanderer, Dragon, Rebel. His traps and machinations are the stuff of legends. His faces are legion. No matter what face the devil wears, Sympathy for the Devil.

Power. We all want it, they've got it ― witches, warlocks, sorcerers, necromancers, those who peer beneath the veil of mundane reality and put their hands on the levers that move the universe. They see the future in a sheet of glass, summon fantastic beasts, and transform lead into gold... or you into a frog. From Gandalf to Harry Potter to the Last Airbender, wizardry has never been more exciting and popular. Enter a world where anything is possible, where imagination becomes reality. Experience the thrill of power, the way of the wizard. Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams ( The Living Dead ) brings you thirty-two of the most spellbinding tales ever written, by some of today's most magical talents, including Neil Gaiman, Simon R. Green, and George R. R. Martin.

Daily Science Fiction is an email magazine. Those who sign up (subscribe), receive a science fiction story in their email box for free each weekday. The stories are later published to the website. It's that simple. Nothing's that simple. By science fiction, we mean anything that would traditionally be found in the science fiction section of your local bookstore. While most of what we send falls easily into science fiction or fantasy, we also include slipstream, magical realism, and some stories that defy even these interstitial classifications. We have enjoyed the work the authors have shared with us. We hope you enjoy them, and subscribe at our website. www.dailysciencefiction.com. Featuring science fiction and fantasy stories by Barbara A. Barnett, David G. Blake, Bruce Boston, Jacob A. Boyd, Tom Cardamone, Gwendolyn Clare, Tim Pratt, Jenn Reese, Heather Shaw, Greg van Eekhout, K.G. Jewell, Thomas F Jolly, Andrew Kaye, Terra LeMay, David D. Levine, Jennifer Mason-Black, T.A. Pratt, Siobhan Shier, Allison Starkweather, Eric James Stone, Desmond Warzel, and Ed Wyrd.

Got Vampires? Ghosts? Monsters? We Can Help! Your one-stop-shop for Urban Fantasy’s finest anthology of the supernatural. 14 sleuths are gathered together for the first time in all-original tales of unusual cases which require services that go far beyond mere deduction! Featuring new stories by: Tanya Huff, C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp, Simon R. Green, T. A. Pratt, Chris Marie Green, Lilith Saintcrow, Rachel Caine, Jackie Kessler, Carrie L. Vaughn, Julie Kenner, C. J. Henderson, Laura Anne Gilman, Justin Gustainis and Caitlin Kittredge. Meet the Detectives: Danny Hendrickson - from Laura Anne Gilman’s Cosa Nostradamus series. Kate Connor - from Julie Kenner’s Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom series. John Taylor - from Simon R. Green’s Nightside series. Jill Kismet - from Lilith Saintcrow’s Jill Kismet series. Jessi Hardin - from Carrie Vaughn’s Kitty Norville series. Quincey Morris - from Justin Gustainis’ Morris/Chastain Investigations series. Marla Mason - from T. A. Pratt’s Marla Mason series. Tony Foster - from Tanya Huff’s Smoke and Shadows series. Dawn Madison - from Chris Marie Green’s Vampire Babylon series. Pete Caldecott - from Caitlin Kittredge’s Black London series. Tony Giodone - from C. T. Adams and Cathy Clamp’s Tales of the Sazi series. Jezebel - from Jackie Kessler’s Hell on Earth series. Piers Knight - from C. J. Henderson’s Brooklyn Knight series. Cassiel - from Rachel Caine’s Outcast Season series. Demons may lurk, werewolves may prowl, vampires may ride the wind. These are things that go bump in the night, but we are the ones who bump back! About the editor: Justin Gustainis has been an Army officer, speechwriter and professional bodyguard. He is currently a college professor living in upstate New York. He is the author of The Hades Project, Black Magic Woman, Evil Ways, Hard Spell and Sympathy for the Devil. He has also published a number of short stories, two of which won the Graverson Award for Horror in consecutive years. He is a graduate of the Odyssey Writing Workshop. Praise: "Urban fantasy has a special place in my heart, and the Occult Detective is perhaps the fundamental urban-fantasy archetype. An anthology of this kind is can serve two purposes: The first is to provide a taste of the genre to those that might otherwise be unfamiliar with it, and the second is to provide fans of the genre a chance to discover writers they may not have already come across. It was well worth the read and I would recommend it wholeheartedly for any fan of the urban fantasy/occult detective genre; even more so if you are unfamiliar with the genre and would like a taste as to what it’s all about." — Nick Bronson -- "Urban Fantasy readers will love this book, and it is a first-rate group of stories." — Paul Lappan, Reviewer

The Cthulhu Mythos is one of the 20th century''s most singularly recognizable literary creations. Initially created by H. P. Lovecraft and a group of his amorphous contemporaries (the so-called "Lovecraft Circle"), The Cthulhu Mythos story cycle has taken on a convoluted, cyclopean life of its own. Some of the most prodigious writers of the 20th century, and some of the most astounding writers of the 21st century have planted their seeds in this fertile soil. The Book of Cthulhu harvests the weirdest and most corpulent crop of these modern mythos tales. From weird fiction masters to enigmatic rising stars, The Book of Cthulhu demonstrates how Mythos fiction has been a major cultural meme throughout the 20th century, and how this type of story is still salient, and terribly powerful today. Table of Contents: Caitlin R. Kiernan - Andromeda among the Stones Ramsey Campbell - The Tugging Charles Stross - A Colder War Bruce Sterling - The Unthinkable Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Flash Frame W. H. Pugmire - Some Buried Memory Molly Tanzer - The Infernal History of the Ivybridge Twins Michael Shea - Fat Face Elizabeth Bear - Shoggoths in Bloom T. E. D. Klien - Black Man With A Horn David Drake - Than Curse the Darkness Charles Saunders - Jeroboam Henley''s Debt Thomas Ligotti - Nethescurial Kage Baker - Calamari Curls Edward Morris - Jihad over Innsmouth Cherie Priest - Bad Sushi John Hornor Jacobs - The Dream of the Fisherman''s Wife Brian McNaughton - The Doom that Came to Innsmouth Ann K. Schwader - Lost Stars Steve Duffy - The Oram County Whoosit Joe R. Lansdale - The Crawling Sky Brian Lumley - The Fairground Horror Tim Pratt - Cinderlands Gene Wolfe - Lord of the Land Joseph S. Pulver, Sr. - To Live and Die in Arkham John Langan - The Shallows Laird Barron - The Men from Porlock

For more than 80 years H.P. Lovecraft has inspired writers of supernatural fiction, artists, musicians, filmmakers, and gaming. His themes of cosmic indifference, the utter insignificance of humankind, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history ― written with a pervasive atmosphere of unexplainable dread ― remain not only viable motifs, but are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal and climatic change is overwhelming it. In the first decade of the twenty-first century the best supernatural writers no longer imitate Lovecraft, but they are profoundly influenced by the genre and the mythos he created. New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird presents some of the best of this new Lovecraftian fiction ― bizarre, subtle, atmospheric, metaphysical, psychological, filled with strange creatures and stranger characters ― eldritch, unsettling, evocative, and darkly appealing.

For more than eighty years H.P. Lovecraft has inspired writers of supernatural fiction, artists, musicians, filmmakers, and gaming. His themes of cosmic indifference, the utter insignificance of humankind, minds invaded by the alien, and the horrors of history — written with a pervasive atmosphere of unexplainable dread — remain not only viable motifs, but are more relevant than ever as we explore the mysteries of a universe in which our planet is infinitesimal and climatic change is overwhelming it. In the first decade of the twenty-first century the best supernatural writers no longer imitate Lovecraft, but they are profoundly influenced by the genre and the mythos he created. New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird presents some of the best of this new Lovecraftian fiction — bizarre, subtle, atmospheric, metaphysical, psychological, filled with strange creatures and stranger characters — eldritch, unsettling, evocative, and darkly appealing.

The best writers of our generation retell classic tales. From Sir Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops," literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these stories and boil them down to their bones, and reassemble them for a new generation of readers. Written from a twenty-first century perspective and set within the realms of science fiction, dystopian fiction, fantasy, and realistic fiction, these short stories are as moving and thought provoking as their originators. They pay homage to groundbreaking literary achievements of the past while celebrating each author's unique perception and innovative style.

George R. R. Martin's Wild Cards rampage through unrecorded history! Mike Mignola's Hellboy battles the fiendish Nuckelavee! Can Camille Alexa's Pinktastic prevent the end of the world? Will Jonathan Lethem's Dystopianist cause the end of the world? In these pages, you'll find the exploits, machinations, and epic mêlées of these superpowered aliens, undead crusaders, costumed crime fighters, unholy cabals, Amazon warriors, demon hunters, cyberpunk luchadores, nefarious megalomaniacs, daredevil sidekicks, atavistic avatars, adventuring aviators, gunslinging outlaws, love-struck adversaries, and supernatural detectives.In these twenty-eight astounding Super Stories, join larger-than-life heroes and villains in the never-ending battle of good versus evil!ContentsIntroduction: "The Return of the Super Story" by Claude Lalumière"Übermensch!" by Kim Newman"A Knight of Ghosts and Shadows" by Chris Roberson"Trickster" by Steven Barnes & Tananarive Due"They Fight Crime!" by Leah Bobet"The Rememberer" by J. Robert Lennon"The Nuckelavee: A Hellboy Story" by Christopher Golden & Mike Mignola"Faces of Gemini" by A.M. Dellamonica"Origin Story" by Kelly Link"Burning Sky" by Rachel Pollack"The Night Chicago Died" by James Lowder"Novaheads" by Ernest Hogan"Clash of Titans (A New York Romance)" by Kurt Busiek"The Super Man and the Bugout" by Cory Doctorow"Grandma" by Carol Emshwiller"The Dystopianist, Thinking of His Rival, Is Interrupted by a Knock on the Door" by Jonathan Lethem"Sex Devil" by Jack Pendarvis"The Death Trap of Dr. Nefario" by Benjamin Rosenbaum"Man oh Man - It's Manna Man" by George Singleton"The Jackdaw's Last Case" by Paul Di Filippo"The Biggest" by James Patrick Kelly"Philip José Farmer's Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke" by Win Scott Eckert"The Zeppelin Pulps" by Jess Nevins"Wild Cards: Prologue & Interludes" by George R.R. Martin"Wild Cards: Just Cause" by Carrie Vaughn"Bluebeard and the White Buffalo: A Rangergirl Yarn" by Tim Pratt"The Pentecostal Home for Flying Children" by Will Clarke"Pinktastic and the End of the World" by Camille Alexa "The Detective of Dreams" by Gene Wolfe

Welcome to Glitter & Mayhem, the most glamorous party in the multiverse. Step behind the velvet rope of these fabulous Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror tales of roller rinks, nightclubs, glam aliens, party monsters, drugs, sex, glitter, and debauchery. Dance through nightclubs, roller derby with cryptids and aliens, be seduced by otherworldly creatures, and ingest cocktails that will alter your existence forever. Your hosts are the Hugo Award-winning editors John Klima (Electric Velocipede) and Lynne M. Thomas (Apex Magazine), and the Hugo-nominated editor Michael Damian Thomas (Apex Magazine). Join glittery authors Christopher Barzak (One for Sorrow) and Daryl Gregory (Pandemonium) on the dance floor, drink cocktails with Maria Dahvana Headley (Queen of Kings: A Novel of Cleopatra, the Vampire) and Tim Pratt (Marla Mason series), and skate with Seanan McGuire (InCryptid series), Diana Rowland (Kara Gillian series), and Maurice Broaddus (The Knights of Breton Court series). The fantastic Amber Benson gets the party started with her floor-rattling introduction (Calliope Reaper-Jones series). We’re waiting. Table of Contents Introduction by Amber Benson Sister Twelve: Confessions of a Party Monster by Christopher Barzak Apex Jump by David J. Schwartz With Her Hundred Miles to Hell by Kat Howard Star Dancer by Jennifer Pelland Of Selkies, Disco Balls, and Anna Plane by Cat Rambo Sooner Than Gold by Cory Skerry Subterraneans by William Shunn & Laura Chavoen The Minotaur Girls by Tansy Rayner Roberts Unable to Reach You by Alan DeNiro Such & Such Said to So & So by Maria Dahvana Headley Revels in the Land of Ice by Tim Pratt Bess, the Landlord’s Daughter, Goes for Drinks with the Green Girl by Sofia Samatar Blood and Sequins by Diana Rowland Two-Minute Warning by Vylar Kaftan Inside Hides the Monster by Damien Angelica Walters (formerly known as Damien Walters Grintalis) Bad Dream Girl by Seanan McGuire A Hollow Play by Amal El-Mohtar Just Another Future Song by Daryl Gregory The Electric Spanking of the War Babies by Maurice Broaddus & Kyle S. Johnson All That Fairy Tale Crap by Rachel Swirsky

UFO2 is the second annual collection of humorous science fiction and fantasy short stories. Inside you'll find: - A golem on an interstellar cruise ship - Dragon-taunting for fun and profit - Time travel gone really wrong - Cubicle farm wizardry - Alien behemoths in Central Park

this is a solid anthology front to back… I would certainly recommend this anthology to anyone seeking to supplement their reading with an anthology of short bursts of horror. --Innsmouth Free Press On the subway, during lunch, or even under the fluorescent glow of your cubical—there is no escape! Now your slow descent into madness can follow you through the day, as well as the night. The WHISPERS FROM THE ABYSS ANTHOLOGY is the first ever H.P. Lovecraft inspired collection created specifically for readers on the go. All 33 spine-chilling tales are concentrated bites of terror which include works by Greg Stolze ( Delta Green ), Nick Mamatas ( Shotguns v. Cthulhu ), Tim Pratt ( Marla Mason ), Dennis Detwiller ( Delta Green ), Greg Van Eekhout ( The Boy at the End of the World ), A.C. Wise ( Future Lovecraft ), David Tallerman ( Giant Thief ), Silvia Moreno-Garcia ( Future Lovecraft ), John R. Fultz ( Seven Prince s), Chad Fifer ( The H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast ). "All about that moment I love, the moment where something approaches. The moment where you close your eyes and hope it goes away. It will. But there’ll be another story right behind it. And another. And another." -Alasdair Stuart, host of the PSEUDOPOD podcast. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction by Alasdair Stuart. "Iden-Inshi" by Greg Stolze "Pushing Back" by J.C. Hemphill "Nation of Disease: The Rise & Fall of a Canadian Legend" by Jonathan Sharp "When We Change" by Mason Ian Bundschuh "Nutmeat" by Martin Hill Ortiz "The Last Tweet" by Charles Black "Secrets In Storage" by Tim Pratt & Greg Van Eekhout "The Well" by Tim Jeffreys "The Neon Morgue" by Nathan Wunner "The Deep" by Corissa Baker "Fear And Loathing In Innsmouth: Richard Nixon's Revenge" by Jason Andrew "My Friend Fishfinger By Daisy, Age 7" by David Tallerman "Chasing Sunset" by A.C. Wise "The Thing With Onyx Eyes" by Stephen Brown "I Do The Work Of The Bone Queen" by John R. Fultz "Suck It Up, Get It Done" by Brandon Barrows "The Substance In The Sound" by W.B. Stickel "Stone City, Old As Immeasurable Time" by Kelda Crich "Hideous Interview With Brief Man" by Nick Mamatas "The Sea, Like Glass Unbroken" by Silvia Moreno-Garcia "The Decorative Water Feature Of Nameless Dread" by James Brogden "Henry" by Lance Axt "My Stalk" by Aaron J. French "Give Me That Old Time Religion" by Lee Finney "Afraid Of Dobermans" by Chad Fifer "Leviathan" by Nicholas Almand "Horrorscope" by Charles Black "The Jar Of Aten-Hor" by Kat Rocha "The Floor" by Jeff Provine "Waiting" by Dennis Detwiller "Other People's Houses" by Sarena Ulibarri "You Will Never Be The Same" by Erica Satifka "Death Wore Greasepaint" by Josh Finney

NIGHTMARE is an online horror and dark fantasy magazine. In NIGHTMARE's pages, you will find all kinds of horror fiction, from zombie stories and haunted house tales, to visceral psychological horror. This month, we have original fiction from Adam Howe (“The Mad Butcher of Plainfield’s Chariot of Death”) and Tim Pratt (“Ghostreaper, or, Life After Revenge”), along with reprints by Jonathan Maberry (“Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard”) and Lucy Taylor (“Walled”). We also have the latest installment of our column on horror, “The H Word,” plus author spotlights with our authors, a showcase on our cover artist, and a feature interview with bestselling author Christopher Golden. And, finally, as a bonus for our ebook readers, we have an excerpt from the novel HOAD'S GRIM by author (and Nightmare podcast host) Jack Kincaid.

SCIENCE FICTION. FANTASY. HUMOR. This is the third annual volume of Unidentified Funny Objects and it contains twenty-three humorous short stories from some of the genre's best-known authors, as well as talented up-and-comers. These are some of the unlikely characters you will encounter in the pages of this book: * Hobo Satan * Vampire novelist * Traveling robot salesman * Brain-in-a-jar superhero * Jinn trapped in a mattress

Seventeen of the funniest science fiction stories published in the past decade (2005-2015), featuring alien invasions, global conspiracies, time travel and even animal uprisings. Fiction by Hugo and Nebula award winners and nominees as well as talented newcomers. Stories were selected by the Unidentified Funny Objects series curator Alex Shvartsman.

The fourth volume of the annual Unidentified Funny Objects series features the theme of dark humor. What happens when you ask some of the genre's masters to interpret this theme? The enclosed twenty-three darkly humorous tales range from black comedy to biting satire to morbid irony and everything in between. Inside this book you'll find Faustian bargains gone awry, time-traveling ghosts, flawed supervillains, talking hamsters, and much more.

LIGHTSPEED is an online science fiction and fantasy magazine. In its pages, you will find science fiction: from near-future, sociological soft SF, to far-future, star-spanning hard SF--and fantasy: from epic fantasy, sword-and-sorcery, and contemporary urban tales, to magical realism, science-fantasy, and folktales. This month, we have original science fiction by An Owomoyela ("Three Points Masculine") and Mari Ness ("Deathlight"), along with SF reprints by Haris A. Durrani ("Tethered") and Tora Greve ("The Philosopher's Stone"). Plus, we have original fantasy by Seanan McGuire ("The Jaws that Bite, the Claws that Catch") and Wole Talabi ("Wednesday's Story"), and fantasy reprints by Tim Pratt ("North Over Empty Space") and Elizabeth Hand ("Hungerford Bridge"). All that, and of course we also have our usual assortment of author spotlights, along with our book and media review columns. For our ebook readers, we also have a reprint of Hugh Howey's "The Plagiarist" and a new excerpt from Paolo Bacigalupi's THE WATER KNIFE, which is out in trade paperback this month, from Vintage Books.

A brand-new collection of Sherlock Holmes stories from a variety of exciting voices in modern horror and steampunk, edited by respected anthologist George Mann. Stories are told from the point of view of famous associates of the great detective, including Lestrade, Mrs Hudson, Sherlock himself, Irene Adler, Langdale Pike, and of course, Professor Moriarty...

SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, HUMOR. * Aztec Astronauts * Punster Prophets * Apocalyptic Apps * Cantankerous Cryptids * and the Duck Knight The fifth annual volume of the Unidentified Funny Objects anthology series features eighteen lighthearted science fiction and fantasy tales from the masters of the genre. Read about planetary adoptions, secret agent princesses, alien cooking reality shows, rigged elections, magical insurance agents, and much more.

Strange California is twenty-five tales of strangeness, lavishly illustrated, that will pull you into another world, a world where migrant girls stand up to witches who live in orange groves, where trickster magpies try to steal souls from Russian sisters in the early days of Fort Bragg, where water is both currency and predator, and Gold Rush-era ghosts wander the streets of San Francisco alongside panther ladies.This anthology developed out of a love for the complexity and diversity of the state?features reflected in both the landscape and the people that inhabit them. California sprawls across a multitude of landscapes and has amassed a history full of the strange and unusual. There are secrets in the desert. Secrets in the cities. Strange and unusual happenings in the odd, dark places of the coastal state.

This flash fiction can be sipped or slammed, just like the booze it represents! A cocktail is like an excellent story—bitter and sweet and over too quickly, but the memory of it stays with you. From the Pimm’s Cup to Smoking Bishop, the Manhattan to the Moscow Mule, Mixed Up features not only more than two dozen classic recipes and hot tips on ingredients and preparations, but new cocktail-themed short stories from some of today’s most popular and acclaimed writers. Contributors include: •Maurice Broaddus •Nick Mamatas •Selena Chambers •Jim Nisbet •Jarret Kobek •Benjamin Percy •Libby Cudmore •Dominica Phetteplace •Gina Marie Guadignino •Tim Pratt •Elizabeth Hand •Robert Swartwood •Cara Hoffman •Jeff VanderMeer •Carrie Laben •Will Viharo •Carmen Machado

Featured in the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots A unique anthology of all-new stories that challenges authors to throw down the gauntlet in an epic genre battle and demands an answer to the age-old question: Who is more awesome—robots or fairies? Rampaging robots! Tricksy fairies! Facing off for the first time in an epic genre death match! People love pitting two awesome things against each other. Robots vs. Fairies is an anthology that pitches genre against genre, science fiction against fantasy, through an epic battle of two icons. On one side, robots continue to be the classic sci-fi phenomenon in literature and media, from Asimov to WALL-E , from Philip K. Dick to Terminator . On the other, fairies are the beloved icons and unquestionable rulers of fantastic fiction, from Tinkerbell to Tam Lin, from True Blood to Once Upon a Time . Both have proven to be infinitely fun, flexible, and challenging. But when you pit them against each other, which side will triumph as the greatest genre symbol of all time? There can only be one…or can there? Featuring an incredible line-up of authors including John Scalzi, Catherynne M. Valente, Ken Liu, Max Gladstone, Alyssa Wong, Jonathan Maberry, and many more, Robots vs. Fairies will take you on a glitterbombed journey of a techno-fantasy mash-up across genres.

Apex Magazine is a science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine featuring original, mind-bending short fiction from many of the top pros of the field. New issues are released on the first Tuesday of every other month. EDITORIAL Words from the Editor-in-Chief—Jason Sizemore FICTION Irregularity — Rachel Harrison We Are New(s) — Bentley A. Reese A Priest of Vast and Distant Places — Cassandra Khaw Three Petitions to the Queen of Hell — T.A. Pratt NONFICTION Interview with Rachel Harrison — Andrea Johnson Interview with Cover Artist Benedick Bana — Russell Dickerson A Wave on the Sea: Ursula K. Le Guin — Paul Jessup Persistence of Vision: Black Panther — ZZ Claybourne COLUMNS Between the Lines with Laura Zats and Erik Hane Page Advice with Mallory O'Meara and Brea Grant

War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength. George Orwell once wrote of a world where abuse of power begins with an abuse of language and a bastardization of truth. Some of today's most exciting voices in speculative fiction explore the ramifications of those ideas in IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. Edited bestselling author Hugh Howey and award-winning editors John Joseph Adams and Christie Yant, THE DYSTOPIA TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of dystopian fiction. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH—before the dystopia—focuses on society during its descent into absurdity and madness. BURN THE ASHES—during the dystopia—turns its attention to life during the strangest, most dire times. OR ELSE THE LIGHT—after the dystopia—concludes the saga with each author sharing their own vision of how we as a society might crawl back from the precipice of despair. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Sigler, Cadwell Turnbull, Karin Lowachee, Caroline M. Yoachim, Adam-Troy Castro, An Owomoyela, Tobias S. Buckell, Tim Pratt, Rich Larson, Alex Irvine, Darcie Little Badger, Violet Allen, and Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, plus a reprint by Dominica Phetteplace.NOTE: This title is a reissue of a previously-released book of the same name.

We burn them to ashes and then burn the ashes. In Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451, that's the motto of the Firemen who hunted down and burned books wherever they found them. Bradbury warned of a world where our literary history is taken from us. In BURN THE ASHES, some of the best science fiction authors working today continue to explore the dystopic worlds they introduced in IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.Edited bestselling author Hugh Howey and award-winning editors John Joseph Adams and Christie Yant, THE DYSTOPIA TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of dystopian fiction. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH—before the dystopia—focuses on society during its descent into absurdity and madness. BURN THE ASHES—during the dystopia—turns its attention to life during the strangest, most dire times. OR ELSE THE LIGHT—after the dystopia—concludes the saga with each author sharing their own vision of how we as a society might crawl back from the precipice of despair.BURN THE ASHES features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Sigler, Cadwell Turnbull, Karin Lowachee, Caroline M. Yoachim, Adam-Troy Castro, An Owomoyela, Tobias S. Buckell, Tim Pratt, Rich Larson, Alex Irvine, Darcie Little Badger, Violet Allen, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, and Dominica Phetteplace.NOTE: This title is a reissue of a previously-released book of the same name.

Into the darkness within; or else the light... When Margaret Atwood wrote these words, she left open the possibility that even our darkest tales may harbor a glimmer of hope. In OR ELSE THE LIGHT, the third and final entry of THE DYSTOPIA TRIPTYCH, over a dozen of the best minds in science fiction conclude their stories with a descent into darkness, or perhaps a ray of light.Edited bestselling author Hugh Howey and award-winning editors John Joseph Adams and Christie Yant, THE DYSTOPIA TRIPTYCH is a series of three anthologies of dystopian fiction. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH—before the dystopia—focuses on society during its descent into absurdity and madness. BURN THE ASHES—during the dystopia—turns its attention to life during the strangest, most dire times. OR ELSE THE LIGHT—after the dystopia—concludes the saga with each author sharing their own vision of how we as a society might crawl back from the precipice of despair.OR ELSE THE LIGHT features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Seanan McGuire, Carrie Vaughn, Scott Sigler, Cadwell Turnbull, Karin Lowachee, Caroline M. Yoachim, Adam-Troy Castro, An Owomoyela, Tobias S. Buckell, Tim Pratt, Rich Larson, Alex Irvine, Darcie Little Badger, Violet Allen, Merc Fenn Wolfmoor, and Dominica Phetteplace.NOTE: This title is a reissue of a previously-released book of the same name.

Explore twenty-four imaginative tales crafted by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its second year, including international bestsellers and winners of every major award in the field as well as newer authors just beginning what promise to be stellar careers. There are brand-new stories from Kelley Armstrong, Marie Brennan, Garth Nix, Candas Jane Dorsey, Jeremy Szal, Edward Willett, Bryan Thomas Schmidt, Lisa Foiles, Susan Forest, Matthew Hughes, Heli Kennedy, Helen Dale, Adria Laycraft, Edward Savio, Lisa Kessler, Ira Nayman, James Alan Gardner, and Tim Pratt, plus fiction by Jeffrey A. Carver, David D. Levine, Carrie Vaughn, Nancy Kress, Barbara Hambly, and S.M. Stirling. A woman seeking the power to see the evil hiding within others regrets receiving it. Letters written by a wizard in the past threaten a queen’s reign in the present. Competing for Earth, a human wrestler faces an alien shapeshifter in an interstellar tournament. A guide in Tibet must weigh the good of his people when asked to lead a westerner to the fabled realm of Shangri. An activist imprisoned for illegal genetic modification works with the materials at hand and the threads of the multiverse to make the world— a world, at least—a better place. A demonic agent sent to help a human turns the tables on his summoner. Like the “cabinets of curiosities” created by collectors of the sixteenth century, Shapers of Worlds Volume II displays a varied array of thought-provoking delights: tales of humour and sorrow, darkness and light, and hope and despair that are full of adventure, full of life, and sometimes full of regret. There are stories set in alternate histories, in possible futures, near and far, and in the here-and-now, taking place on Earth, on distant planets, or in fantastic realms. All arise from the innate need of human beings to create, to imagine . . . to shape worlds. Praise for Shapers of Worlds Volume I: “One of the most wide-ranging volumes I’ve encountered in terms of sub-genre. It’s rather like a speculative fiction buffet, offering steampunk, fantasy, military fiction, magic, space opera, post-apocalyptic, hard science fiction, and others . . . Inventive and varied, the collection has a lot to offer for those seeking an interesting, entertaining, and thought-provoking read.” – Lisa Timpf, The Future Fire

The seas spell freedom. Pirates and kraken, boats and submarines, deadly sirens, mermaids, and the women who face them all. These are our heroes. High seas adventure, fantasy, and magic weave together in this sapphic anthology focusing on the joy of the unbounded oceans. If you like diverse stories with lesbian and sapphic heroines exploring oceans, battling sea monsters, and seducing pirates, buy Farther Reefs today! With stories by: Sarah Day and Tim Pratt, Kim Pritekel, Kyoko M. Sara Codair, William C. Tracy, N.L. Bates, Robin C.M. Duncan, Vanessa Ricci-Thode, Margaret Adelle, and J.S. Fields Try all three amazing collections of sapphic science fiction and fantasy stories: Distant Gardens : Strange plants and New Worlds! Farther Reefs : Pirates, Mermaids, and Sea Creatures! Lofty Mountains : Cozy Adventure, Mountain Journeys, and Winged Things! Genres: Science Fiction / Fantasy / Adventure / Lesbian / LGBT and Non Binary Market: Adult