Darfur, Sudan. 2009. Two doctors employed by NGOs stumble across a strange metallic cylinder, which has been embedded for perhaps millions of years in desert rock. Mystified by the object, they gather four of the world’s leading experts in science and technology a computer scientist, a physicist, a biochemist, and a genetic researcher and head to London to study it thoroughly. The six have barely begun running tests on the cylinder, when they suddenly disappear telling family members not t...

Specialist Amanda Sumner is one of the first to make contact on the Earth-like planet Harp and discovers she's the only Earthling, who can hear the trees sing in the strange forest. Determined to remain and learn more of the planet’s secrets, Amanda sets out to become part of the elite Guild there...But there is a secret involving some Guild members–one that could get her killed.Shifter Rhodry de Mendoza wants the Earthlings off his planet before they destroy it—even if tha...

In her debut collection, Theresa Braun explores the inner workings of the human heart and what it is we most desire—forgiveness, acceptance, love, fame, or merely to escape who we really are. Whether we are battling ghosts, demons, mythical monsters, the past, or other dimensions, we are really facing the deepest parts of ourselves. These thirteen tales of horror and dark fantasy may appear to be a matter of good versus evil, but they are all a reflection of the hidden corners of the soul ...

For the first time ever, Found Audio presents a complete transcription of the unsettling audio recordings of a mysterious unnamed adventure journalist and his decades-long pursuit of the Borgesian "City of Dreams," alongside analysis from audio expert, Amrapali Anna Singh* A Best Book of 2017 —Writer's Bone"[A] mysterious work of metafiction... dizzying, arresting and defiantly bold."—Laura Pearson, Chicago TribuneAmrapali Anna Singh is an historian and anal...

Dylan Thomas, a former Maine State Police officer who obtained a private investigator license to support himself while attending law school, receives a phone call from his sister, Caitlin, telling him that her youngest daughter, Sandra, has gone missing.Caitlin’s husband, Oreille Dufore, is the wealthy heir to a large Maine logging and land development corporation. Dylan’s relationship with his brother-in-law has been strained at best. However, in times of crisis, Dylan knows that ...

A lively tour through the history of US cemeteries that explores how, where, and why we bury our deadThe summer before his senior year in college, Greg Melville worked at the cemetery in his hometown, and thanks to hour upon hour of pushing a mower over the grassy acres, he came to realize what a rich story the place told of his town and its history. Thus was born Melville’s lifelong curiosity with how, where, and why we bury and commemorate our dead.Melville’s Over My Dead...

Rachel Fortier is a much sought-after expert when it comes to exotic planets—especially the deadly kind. So when she’s hired by Earth Fleet’s most respected scientist to join a mission to the tightly closed planet Harp, it’s a dream come true. Until she discovers their mission is to capture shifters and sell them to the Military.Shifter Aidan Devlin is on patrol far from his clan when he sees a shuttlecraft landing where it definitely shouldn’t be. As the invaders emerge, he’s surp...

A vivid account of the political triumphs and domestic tragedies of the Jewish king Herod the Great during the turmoil of the Roman revolutionHerod the Great (73–4 BCE) was a phenomenally energetic ruler who took advantage of the chaos of the Roman revolution to establish himself as a major figure in a changing Roman world and transform the landscape of Judaea. Both Jews and Christians developed myths about his cruelty and rashness: in Christian tradition he was ca...

The Secretary of Defense is dead, and none is more shocked than defense policy undersecretary Colt Garrett when he’s appointed by the President to the second-most powerful job in the world. While onboard USS Ronald Reagan in the Western Pacific, he must find and recover missing biological warheads hidden in South Korea before U.S. efforts to bring peace to the region are derailed. Colt’s son is a Navy pilot onboard the Reagan, and they struggle to repair their severely st...

A smart, well-constructed sci-fi first contact thrillerIn 2017, a mysterious interstellar object transited the Solar System bound for deep space. By the time it was noticed, it had already passed Earth. It was soon forgotten, dismissed as a comet or planetary fragment. Earth's scientists turned to more pressing matters.But it was no mere rock. An alien spaceship looking for habitable planets, it sent a machine probe to Earth, containing a sentient quantum c...

From a plague in Athens during the Peloponnesian War in 430 BCE, to another in 540 that wiped out half the population of the Roman empire, down through the Black Death in the Middle Ages and on through the 1918 flu epidemic (which killed between 50 and 100 million people) and this century's deadly SARS outbreak, plagues have been a much more relentless fact of life than many realize.The legacy of epidemics, Brian Michael Jenkins observes, is not only one of lives lost but of devast...

A collection of the year’s best short stories, selected by National Book Award finalist Min Jin Lee and series editor Heidi Pitlor.“Without stories, we cannot live well,” shares guest editor Min Jin Lee, describing how storytelling affects and nurtures readers. The Best American Short Stories 2023 features twenty pieces of short fiction that reflect a world full of fractured relationships, but also wondrous hope. A lifelong friendship may become a casualty...