Welcome to CROOKED V.2, the second volume of sci-fi crime stories edited by Jessie Kwak.In this volume you'll find 18 stories of mayhem and tangled loyalties. Bounty hunters chase targets who aren't what they seem. Private eyes hunt wrongdoers in mean, futuristic streets—and are hunted in return. Easy jobs go wrong. Hunted bounties get wily. Mysteries are solved, only to lead to more horrifying mysteries.Sometimes the bad guys win, sometimes the good guys do. And, hey. It's...

At the end, when the last star dies and the cold begins to seep in, what will be the totality of our accomplishments? What will have been the point? And will anyone notice that we're gone? If the true terror at the center of cosmic horror is the vast indifference the universe has for us, does that mean the closest thing we have to any sort of compassionate connection is . . . our cats? Ah, we may be doomed.But, in the interim, perhaps there may still be some spark that can illumina...