For the post-singularity Confederation, manipulating the quantum foam the ability to alter the base code of the universe itself and achieve transcendence is the holy grail of science. But it seems an impossible dream until their scouts encounter Darius, a lost colony world whose inhabitants have apparently discarded the technology that brought them to the planet in order to adopt a virtually feudal culture. On Darius, the ruling elite exhibits abilities that defy the accepted laws of physi...

Fourteen years ago, the gateway to Faerie opened and the denizens spilled forth into our world, fleeing a war that was destroying their world. The Faerie, Elves, Imps, Goblins, Vampires, Werewolves, Dragons and thousands of other supernatural creatures infested our world, struggling to co-exist with humanity. And they brought back the magic. It's not a sane world any longer.When a child is kidnapped through magic, Guardian Glass is ordered to find her, by any means necessary. As he...

There is magic in the world, hiding in plain sight. If you search for it, you will find it, or it will find you. Welcome to the magical world.Having lived all her life in Edinburgh, the last thing 25-year old Dizzy expected was to see a man with a real (if tiny) dragon on his shoulder. Following him, she discovered that she had stumbled from her mundane world into a parallel magical world, an alternate reality where dragons flew through the sky and the Great Powers watched ...

Elaine is an orphan girl who has grown up in a world where magical ability brings power. Her limited talent was enough to ensure a magical training but she's very inexperienced and was lucky to get a position working in the Great Library. Now, the Grand Sorcerer - the most powerful magician of them all - is dying, although initially that makes little difference to Elaine; she certainly doesn't have the power to compete for higher status in the Golden City. But all that changes when she tri...

From distant planets to space-borne combat, from desperate attempts to win a race to the last hope of a beleaguered world, fifteen stories of Military SF and space opera, written to celebrate the 10th birthday of independent publisher NewCon Press.IntroductionThe Last Tank Commander – Allen StroudBetween Nine and Eleven – Adam RobertsTaking Flight – Una McCormackThe 10 Second War – Michael BrookesDecommissioned – Tade Thompson...

It's 1830, in an alternate Britain where the 'scientific' principles of magic were discovered sixty years previously, allowing the British to win the American War of Independence. Although Britain is now supreme among the Great Powers, the gulf between rich and poor in the Empire has widened and unrest is growing every day. Master Thomas, the King's Royal Sorcerer, is ageing and must find a successor to lead the Royal Sorcerers Corps. Most magicians can possess only one of the panoply of k...

It's 1831, and Lady Gwendolyn Crichton has been appointed Royal Sorceress following the tragic events known as the Swing. Although unleashed by the rebel master magician Jack in battle with Gwen's mentor Master Thomas, the popular press firmly laid the blame at the feet of the French. Now alone at the head of the Royal College of Sorcerers, Gwen must overcome prejudice against her gender and age if she is to exercise her authority and fulfil her responsibilities. Soon an unexpected respons...

Elaine is an orphan girl who has grown up in a world where magical ability brings power. Her limited talent was enough to ensure a magical training, but she's very inexperienced and was lucky to get a position working in the Great Library. Now, the Grand Sorcerer—the most powerful magician of them all—is dying, although initially that makes little difference to Elaine; she certainly doesn't have the power to compete for higher status in the Golden City. But all that changes when she trigge...

In the early twenty-second century, humanity has spread through the solar system—and their electromagnetic signals have traveled hundreds of light years. An alien race called the Oghaldzon has decided that mankind is dangerously insane . . . and must be forcibly taken under control.The invasion fleet's technology is decades ahead of Earth's best. They have more ships than the human fleets combined, and a seemingly-inexhaustible number of ground troops. And they're not afraid to kil...

In The Unwritten Words, Christopher Nuttall's story-telling mastery weaves a new epic which follows on from his bestselling Bookworm series and is set in that same world. In The Promised Lie, the first book of the new series, five years have passed since the earth-shattering events of Bookworm IV.The Golden City has fallen. The Grand Sorcerer and Court Wizards are dead. The Empire they ruled is nothing more than a memory, a golden age lost in the civil wars as kin...

"I know the words written . . . But the words unwritten? Those, I don't know."After the campaign in the Summer Isle, Isabella rides out the winter storms by studying the godly magic under Mother Lembu, in the process learning about the origins of the old gods.Crown Prince Reginald receives word that his father the King is ill and his sister Princess Sofia, acting as regent, is imposing a regime that is strangely similar to what had been happening on the Sum...

Not every ugly duckling becomes a swan . . .In the wake of the disastrous attack on the Golden City, Lady Light Spinner has become Grand Sorceress and Elaine, the Bookworm, has been settling into her positions as Head Librarian and Privy Councillor. But any hope of vanishing into her books is negated when a new magician of staggering power appears in the city, one whose abilities seem to defy the known laws of magic.Johan is a Powerless, a person born to a magical family ye...