Marooned on a skyland that crashed to the sea, young Joha Mender is slowly starving to death. His food stores exhausted, he must face his greatest fear and brave the deep waters. But the sky-peoples harbor old superstitions about the sea for a reason, and as Joha enters this alien world, he discovers that myths often contain an element of truth.

Waldron's Gate, capital of Alterra. A land powered by steam, but inspired by the power of dreams, and surrounded by the mysterious Fog.The Dream Engine explored this city. Now you are invited to go Beyond The Gate.Twenty-three authors will take you over, under, into, and beyond the Fog in this cross-genre compilation of short stories.From time travel to romance, young adult to horror, science fiction to historical fantasy, you'll discover tales that delight, intrigu...

Diplomacy by the payload.In the near future, combat drones exact America's foreign policy. Sleek and deadly, the drones require pilots with equally quick reflexes, a trait in short supply among the military. They need pilots weaned on video games. They need teenagers.But in this game there are no respawns.A science fiction short story.

Evil won't be swindled.In the frozen lands beyond the edge of civilization, charlatan Marten the Magnificent swindles villagers of their valuables in exchange for superstitious charms. But when faced with a true monster, Marten is forced to rely on his own useless trinkets, or risk losing his life.A dark fantasy short story.

After the prevention of a World War by a mysterious monopoly baron, a new industrial revolution roars to life. The manufacturing and design industry explodes with jobs and many young men are becoming wealthy overnight as corporations inflate to imperial sizes. In a post-1914 world, a young dame seeks her way into law school, but she can't wait to save up the tuition and boarding money. She plots to enter an industry overflowing with testosterone and a work environment not for the faint of ...

It just keeps getting better and better, all the time. Still grieving over the loss of her mother, a friend talks Jayne Dickson into the trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately, she won’t be going along, due to a last-minute case of boyfriend-itis. The final straw for Jayne is when a tour boat leaves without her and she must spend the night alone on a deserted island in a crumbling temple.

A world wide quake occurs when Black Matter condenses inside our planet with White Matter, causing the very mantle of the earth itself to begin breaking apart.The Eiffel Tower is destroyed.The Vatican is gone forever, a smoking pit.The White House and most of Washington D.C. are beneath the waves.London is demolished as if it never existed.Milions die within minutes of each other as cities collapse, damns break, waters rise and flood the inland coast...

When humans die, their souls are transformed into living skeletons on an extraterrestrial planet called Ghostia. After four hundred years of military preparation, Lord Ghost, the leader of the skeletons decides to wage war against man in order to conquer earth and subjugate the human race.The skeletons decide to carry out two preliminary raids on earth before the final day of attack. The first raid occurs at the CIA Headquarters in Langley, Virginia where a group of highly trained s...

A WomanTompa Lee is a homeless 'street meat' who has clawed her way up to the bottom-most rung of the Space Navy . . . but her dream job plummets into a nightmare when she's framed for mass murder on an alien planet.A ManDante Roussel is the Navy policemen who surrenders Tompa to the Shons . . . but he is horrified to learn that their justice requires trial-by-combat, so Tompa must conquer three hundred accusers.AN ALIENAwmit is an old, lower-class Shon...

A former member of Saddam Hussein's Special Security Force arrives in Richmond, Virginia. Under the name of Ari Ciminon, he sets up house on the James River. The house was purchased for him by the U.S. Marshals Service, which is responsible for watching over him while he supplies intelligence to CENTCOM. Because he is fluent in Italian (as well as a host of other languages) he is presented to his new neighbors as an Italian of Arab descent. Ari learns on his first day that the previous occ...

Sometimes to save a world, you must destroy it.The witches of Etlantium are charged with keeping the children of Liliah safe, but when an oracle accuses the ruler of seeking to destroy his own city through civil war, there is only one witch brave enough to do what must be done.Readers of Water Witch will find this background story full of historical intrigue, enchantment, and old world mythology and legends with just a dose of reincarnation theory thrown in...

Humans by themselves could only fail. Society is splintered after allowing an evolving artificial intelligence, calling itself Makr run the planet's resources, saving humankind the trouble. Not all people have accepted the illusion of a perfectly run society or PerSoc. The lazy and frustrated ones did. Some even worship Makr as a god. Makr has armies of mobile cyberts constantly seeking out human malcontents to delete. Had the human race rebelled or unified in some way there might ...