In these twenty-four stories, Daniel Marcus ranges from the distant past to the end of time itself, from contemporary fantasy to space opera, as his characters—saints and scoundrels, sinners and seekers—navigate the treacherous passages of the human heart. Sometimes funny, sometimes dark and edgy, these stories showcase Marcus’s original voice and scrupulous attention to detail, crafting worlds that are both alien and achingly familiar.

With an introduction by Nebula, Philip K. Dick, and World Fantasy Award-winning author, Pat Murphy.

A BRILLIANT BLEND OF MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION AND ARTHUR C. CLARKE-LEVEL SPECULATIVE WONDER BY A WORKING SPACE SCIENTIST!

NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT

Humanity has finally made it to the stars. Colony worlds thrive and there is general peace among the settled systems. Until now. Matte black ships of an advanced design appear in colonial systems. Their drives and weapons are not extremely advanced beyond their Terran counterparts—just superior enough to be utterly devastating. Colonies and their populations are obliterated. Once settled worlds are rendered radioactive wastelands. Earth herself lies defenseless before the marauding enemy.

DEFEND THE SKIES OF EARTH

Standing against the invasion are British Space Navy Captain Winslow Price and Anika Ahuja of the Indian Space Forces. Compatriots. Fierce competitors. Former lovers. They are the best of the best when it comes to military starship captains. Now they are on a quest that will plumb the scientific wells of existence itself, where the primordial knot of spacetime may be unraveling. Price and Ajuja are sworn to do whatever it takes to defend Earth and humanity from ultimate obliteration by an enemy that will not even speak its name. Even if it pushes each to the brink of life and death in battle. Even if it leads each beyond space and time—and to edge of ultimate possibility!

TAKE THE BATTLE TO THE STARS

SPACE BATTLES AND GRIT FROM MASTER OF STARFARING ADVENTURE AND MILITARY SCIENCE FICTION DAVE BARA, AUTHOR OF THE LIGHTSHIP CHRONICLES SERIES.

REDEMPTION AT TRINITY

The Rim rebellion was glorious—and doomed from the start. Brilliant Rim Confederation Navy space ship captain Jared Clement skuttled his career and professional life by joining the rebels against the overwhelming force of the 5 Suns Alliance. The rebel cause was just. That didn’t matter. Ten years later, Clement regrets nothing, but would prefer to be left alone to his thoughts and drink. But a new chance to command a ship of incredible potential is thrust in his lap—humanity’s first truly faster-than-light vessel. The destination: Trinity, a newly discovered star system where strange signs of possible space farers may lead to humanity’s first alien encounter. Or to interstellar war. Humanity is on the brink of a new age, and everything depends on one crusty star ship captain, his gritty crew, and the Beauregard, a ship that was never meant to wage war turned into a weapon-bristling battleship that will either propel humanity to ultimate destruction—or into a new starfaring age of exploration and conflict. And along the way, a noble lost cause—one Captain Jared Clement—may finally get his revenge. And find his redemption.

The most popular alternate history series of all continues. When a cosmic disturbance hurls your town from twentieth-century West Virginia back to seventeenth-century Europe—and into the middle of the Thirty Years War—you have to adapt to survive. And the natives of that time period, faced with American technology and politics, need to be equally adaptable. Here’s a generous helping of more stories of Grantville, the American town lost in time, and its impact on the people and societies of a tumultuous age.

Featuring stories by Eric Flint, Tim Sayeau, Robert Noxon, Griffin Barber, Bjorn Hasseler, Clair Kiernan, Margo Ryor, Mark Huston, Robert Waters, Phillip Riviezzo, Jack Carroll, Terry Howard, Tim Roesch, Sarah Hays, Mike Watson, Iver P. Cooper, Kerryn Offord, Rick Boatright, Brad Banner, Anne Keener, Jackie Britton Lopatin, Bjorn Hasseler, and David Carrico.

Jon of Dun Add has created a civilization where before there had only been isolated pockets of humanity in a shattered cosmos.

Young knight Pal is one of the most respected members of Lord Jon’s Hall of Champions. But Pal’s greatest talent lies not on the field of battle, though he’s no slouch there. He is also a Maker, one who can repair the tools the Ancients had left—sometimes. Moreover, he has learned to use his warrior dog’s ability to predict motion better than any human could, an ability that has saved his skin and won the day more than once.

Now, Pal will need all his talent—as a fighter, as a Maker, and as a Champion—to deal with the monsters the Waste throws at him—and to deal with his fellow humans. For there are those who would destroy Dun Add and Lord Jon’s vision of a humanity united in peace from within . . .

A novel of transcendental horror and vengeance from the author of The Well and The Jonah Watch. In the heart of the deep south, where memories of a war long over still simmer, Dan McDowell is pursued by a chilling apparition—the spectral image of his great-grandfather . . . a family horror almost too awful to comprehend. Destined to learn the secret of his family’s past, McDowell is constrained to repeat—in the name of honor and Southern chivalry—the heinous crime of his ancestor, an act required, demanded by his ghost . . .

Decades ago, the Visitors descended on Earth. They claimed to bring peace and prosperity. Their real goal was the total subjugation of humankind. But humanity did not give up its only home without a fight. After a devastating war, the Visitors were driven back to Mars. Their millions of willing human collaborators were left behind. The task of hunting down these former alien collaborators and bringing them to justice falls to Federal Recovery Agents like Nathan Foster.

Now, Nathan Foster is tasked with bringing to justice Emmogene Anderson. As a teenager, Emmogene was experimented on by the Visitors and implated with a device that allows her to control other people. With her is her obsessive ex-lover, who was also a former commando of the Visitors’ forces. It’s an easy enough job—but Emmogene has been implanted with something else, something much more important.

Nathan and Ben must decide what is right in a largely lawless world— and the fate of the planet hangs in the balance.

Mayflies

by Kevin O'Donnell, Jr.

Exiles of Tabat

by Cat Rambo

From the Earth to the Moon and Round the Moon

by Jules Verne
edited by Matt Wright

One Stormy Night: A Story Challenge That Created the Gothic Horror Genre

by Mary Shelley, John William Polidori, and Lord Byron
edited by Kelly Adams

We: 100th Anniversary Edition

by Yevgeny Zamyatin
edited by Erekson Holt

Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires: 25th Anniversary Author Revised Edition

by Steven-Elliot Altman

How to control the bloodlust?

The Way of the Wooden Stake

One man rises in a SoHo alleyway to find his lover dead and his own body terribly transformed  . . .

He strains to overcome his murderous instincts through Zen meditation and blood deprivation.

He is reclaimed by the Ministry, an underground society waging war with the undead.

Again and again he will find his will tested, and his thirst tempted, by the killers who demand his allegiance  . . . and the Zen masters who will burn him down at his first missed step  . . .

He must walk a tightrope between the living and the dead  . . . to master himself and his hunger. And the way of the wooden stake. . . .

The 25th Anniversary Revised Author Edition of LA Times Best-selling Author Steven-Elliot Altman’s controversial Zen in the Art of Slaying Vampires. Foreword by New York Times best seller Nancy Holder, author of multiple vampire novels and Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels.

Before Orwell, before Huxley, there was Zamyatin.

When society has programmed you to sleep  . . . 

How do you wake yourself up?

The One State is a world where people are merely numbers, and free will itself is a disease. Most are happy in their role as cogs in a huge machine, controlled by the ever-watchful Benefactor.

However, on the eve of the launch of the Integral—the spacecraft that will impose the One State’s way of life everywhere—starship architect D-503 meets I-330, a female number as irreverent as she is beautiful.

The Benefactor has quantified human experience, circumscribed it, reduced it to nothing but a series of mathematical equations—that is, until one man factors back in the ultimate unknown: love.

This is We, the groundbreaking novel that inspired 1984 and Brave New World, the two towering dystopian works of the twentieth century.

Discover it for yourself today.

What happens when writers vacation together in a gloomy, cold summer in Lake Geneva, Switzerland . . . And challenge each other to write ghost stories?

On a stormy night in 1816, the writers Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Godwin (whom the world knows as Mary Shelley), John William Polidori, and Lord Byron undertook a challenge that would change literary history and create a new genre of fiction—Gothic horror.

This book contains the result of their challenge on that windswept evening—three chilling tales of monsters, vampires, and murder. Some of the first written works of their kind.

Lord Byron’s A Fragment is of historical importance as it is one of the very first vampire stories. Does it stand the test of time?

The Vampyre, by John Polidori, recounts the story of Aubrey and Lord Ruthven. What dark secret lies between them?

In Frankenstein, a university student unleashes a monster upon the world. Or is he the real monster?

If you love Gothic horror, you’ll love One Stormy Night.

One Stormy Night: A Story Challenge That Created the Gothic Horror Genre

by Lord Byron, Dr. John Polidori; and Mary Shelley

Jules Verne’s classic science fiction adventure of mankind’s first trip to the Moon!

The Civil War was over . . .

. . . the Gun Club was finished.

What if they changed history?

When Barbicane had the idea to repurpose weapons of war for science, his friends laughed at him. His rival, Captain Nicholl, ridiculed him for his ideas. But he didn’t let it deter him.

Would they be ready in time?

Philosophers had dreamed of setting foot on the Moon for thousands of years. Would the Gun Club have what it takes to man the first mission? Or would technology prove too limited?

What dangers awaited them in space?

Barbicane’s infectious enthusiasm inspired enemies and adventurers across the world. Would it be enough to get him and his friends safely back to Earth?

Would they let their differences divide? . . . or unite them?

Sometimes, humanity’s search for knowledge is worth all the risks.

From Jules Verne, the Father of Science Fiction, who inspired you with Around the World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. You’ll love this classic because of the humor, breath-taking adventure, and ingenuity a hundred years ahead of its time.

Includes an original foreword by Russell Davis.

Former Gladiator Bella Kanto has been exiled from her beloved city of Tabat, finding herself aboard a hostile ship bound for a frontier town, her only friend a puppy. She’s lost the magic that kept her young and vital, and for the first time is suffering the depredations of age. When she encounters an old lover along the way, she has a chance to escape—but does she really want to take it? And who is the mysterious woman Selene, who keeps appearing to Bella?

Meanwhile, former printer’s apprentice Lucy and her friend Maz, a student from the College of Mages, have been kidnapped from Tabat and are being taken to the Southern Isles in search of ancient magic in a place called the Coral Tower. They fear what will happen when they get there, particularly when their kidnapper realizes he’s wrong about Lucy’s identity.

Dragons, oracular turtles, steam dirigibles, magical artifacts, and more combine in a kaleidoscopic tale that continues the saga of the city of Tabat and its inhabitants.

Return to a beautifully wrought and immersive world where intelligent magical creatures fight for their right to be free in a system that makes use of their work—and sometimes their very bodies—in a city full of revolution and riot, ready for the return of its lost Champion: the reluctant Bella Kanto.

A NEW MASTERPIECE OF MACABRE HUMOR AND ACTION FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR OF ROBIN HOOD, PRINCE OF THIEVES, THE NATIONALLY BEST-SELLING NIGHTSIDE SERIES, THE DEATHSTALKER CHRONICLES, THE ISHMAEL JONES PARANORMAL MYSTERIES, AND MORE!

HYDE IN THE SHADOWS

Daniel Carter was a London cop who just wanted to do the right thing. But during a raid on an organ-selling chop shop, he is almost torn to pieces by monsters. And no one believes him. Hurt and crippled, his career over and his life in ruins, Daniel is suddenly presented with a chance at redemption. And revenge. It seems that more than two centuries ago, the monsters of the world disappeared—into the underworld of crime. Guildlike Clans now have control over all the dark and illegal trades, from the awful surgeries of the Frankenstein Clan, to the shadowy and seductive Vampire Clan, to the dreaded purveyors of drugs and death, the Clan of Mummies. And there’s always the Werewolf Clan, to keep order.

Only one force stands opposed to the monster Clans: the superstrong, extremely sexy, quick-witted Hydes! Now Daniel is just one sip of Dr. Jekyll’s Elixir away from joining their company. At Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

Transient. Ethereal. Delicate.

Insignificant. Mere insects . . . 

Like all the human beings trapped aboard a vast starship on a generations-long journey to a new home.

The Mayflower is run by an immortal captain who views himself as a god.

Gerard Metaclura was just a normal man until a terrible accident left him near dead, his body destroyed. But his brain was installed as the sentient command core of the generation ship.

At first Gerard was confused by what had happened to him. Then angry. Then bored.

Now he is the ship, controlling everything on board . . .  including 25,000 helpless human passengers.

These mayflies . . . 

Transient. Ethereal. Delicate.

But maybe they’re not willing to be so helpless and insignificant after all . . . 

Mayflies

A 17th-century alchemist confronts modern science with unintended and amusing results. Another sparkling addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire alternate history series created by Eric Flint.

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE VS. FLIM-FLAMMERY

Thomas "the Great Stoner" Stone once performed miraculous surgery upon Phillip Theophrastus Gribbleflotz, the World’s Greatest Alchemist, using his bare hands, no anesthesia, producing no pain, and leaving no scar. It would have been wonderful if it was real.

But Dr. Tom Stone, the face of modern medicine, has been engaging in fake treatments—bringing all modern medicine into question. Phillip, who has learned a thing or two about actual science from those up-time elopers from Grantville, West Virginia, decides to go to Padua and turn his problems into Tom Stone's problems.

Meanwhile, the wily Bernardo Ponzi has assembled a team to support his evangelical touring roadshow featuring a light show, faith healing and yet more psychic surgery. Now Gribbleflotz and Stone are on a collision course with the Magnificent Ponzi, who has moved beyond showman-like fakery to causing actual harm to many people. It’s time for Gribbleflotz and Stone to resolve their differences, debunk one of history’s greatest bunko artists, and save the reputation of modern science and medicine from ruin!

The world has been brought to its knees by the “zombie virus.” Nations have fallen, cities have been overrun by the infected, and the human race has come perilously close to extinction. But with the first winter come and gone, the infected have been reduced to not much more than a background nuisance, and survivors around the world are taking stock and vowing to rebuild and rise up stronger, better, and unafraid.

All-new stories from New York Times best-selling author John Ringo’s “Black Tide Rising” series:

Kevin J. Anderson
Brendon DuBois
Jody Lynn Nye
Michael Z. Williamson
Kacey Ezell
Mike Massa
Christoper L. Smith
Lydia Sherrer
Jason Cordova
Brian Trent
Patrick Vanner
Jamie Ibson

For more than fifty years, the Terran Republic and the Terran League have been killing one another. The death toll has climbed ever higher, year after year, with no end in sight. But the members of the Five Hundred, the social elite of the Republic’s Heart Worlds, don’t care.

Rear Admiral Terrence Murphy is a Heart Worlder. His family is part of the Five Hundred. His wife is the daughter of one of the Five Hundred’s wealthiest, most powerful industrialists. His sons and his daughter can easily avoid military service, and political power is his for the taking. There is no end to how high he can rise in the Republic’s power structure.

All he has to do is successfully complete a risk-free military “governorship” in the backwater Fringe System of New Dublin without rocking the boat. But the people sending him to New Dublin have miscalculated, because Terrence Murphy is a man who believes in honor. Who believes in duty—in common decency and responsibility. Who believes there are dark and dangerous secrets behind the façade of what “everyone knows.”

Terrence Murphy intends to meet those responsibilities, to unearth those secrets, and he doesn’t much care what the Five Hundred want. He intends to put a stop to the killing.

Terrence Murphy is coming for whoever has orchestrated fifty-six years of bloodshed and slaughter, and Hell itself is coming with him.

Marshall Hunter only wanted to fly: the faster, the higher, the better. But a life of rescuing wayward spacefarers and derelict satellites in the cislunar cruiser U.S.S. Borman is far from the adventure he’d imagined. But his fortunes change when a billionaire couple goes missing on their way to a near-Earth asteroid. Out of contact and on a course that will eventually send them crashing into Mars, the nuclear-powered Borman is dispatched on an audacious, high-speed interplanetary run to bring the couple home. As they approach the asteroid, however, the Borman itself becomes hopelessly disabled.

With the Borman suddenly out of commission and far beyond reach, cislunar space begins falling into chaos as critical satellites fail and valuable lunar mineral shipments begin disappearing in transit. Nothing is as it seems, and Marshall Hunter and the rest of the crew suspect none of it is by coincidence.

Cliffs

by Kevin O'Donnell, Jr.

Rise, Do Not Be Afraid

by aaron a. abeyta

The Sleeper Awakes and Men Like Gods

by H.G. Wells

The Jewel of Seven Stars

by Bram Stoker

The Lost World

by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle