Book Three of the Union of WorldsDave Crowell and his partner Tem Forno take on a case to help a retired Envoy find someone from Crowell's immediate past. The connection to the previous Ultra scares makes the case extremely important, but the results could create political unrest on several of the eight worlds of the Union. Crowell is asked to not only find this person, but also to bring him death.With the help of Dorie Senall—now governor of the domed city of New Venasaill...

Book One of the Union of WorldsIn the twenty-second century, when mortaline wire controls the weather on the settled planets and entire refugee camps drowse in drug-induced slumber, no one―alive or dead, human or alien―is quite what they seem. When terrorists crash Coral, the moon, into its home planet, it's up to Dave Crowell and Alan Brindos, contract detectives for the Network Intelligence Organization, to solve a case of interplanetary consequences. Crowell's a...

Book Two of the Union of WorldsDave Crowell is a hero of the eight worlds of the Union, but he doesn't want fame or fortune. These days he just wants to run his private detective business with his alien partner Tem Forno and forget about the Ultras, the mysterious aliens that attacked the Union, then vanished.But when a client's husband turns up dead under mysterious circumstances, Crowell knows the Ultras have not gone away. With the help of an alien who shows him the conc...

A man is found murdered and brutally impaled near the Seattle waterfront, and during the investigation, private detectives Dave Crowell and Alan Brindos come face to face with an alien drug known as RuBy. It’s a dangerous prototype that’s bound to cause problems for the eight worlds of the Union. The murder case itself would be easy enough to solve—that is, if the suspects weren’t already dead, and the Seattle Authority cop sharing the case wasn’t Crowell’s disgruntled ex-partner....

There's magic in the forest and it sings . . .Truman Starkey heard it once, there in the ancient rain forest. A song that could raise the dead, a song that could bend time to its will. A song that might finally solve the puzzle of what Truman has lost—his ability to compose music.But every magic needs fuel, and this magic, this song, demands a soul, a heart, or the most dangerous drug ever invented: Moss.Kat Gregory is a bar singer who hopes there's no such thing as...

The Best of Talebones collects 42 of the best and most beloved stories from Talebones magazine. Taken from 39 issues published over 14 years, this anthology includes such writers as Jack Cady, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Marie Brennan, Barb Hendee, Carrie Vaughn, Kay Kenyon, Ken Scholes, James Van Pelt, James Sallis, Paul Melko, Louise Marley, Mary Robinette Kowal, Anne Harris, James C. Glass, Alan DeNiro . . . and many, many more!

Dave Crowell is a hero of the eight worlds of the Union, but he doesn’t want fame or fortune. These days he just wants to run his private detective business with his partner and forget about the Ultras, the insidious aliens that attacked the Union, then vanished. But a client turns up dead under mysterious circumstances, and Crowell knows the Ultras have not gone away. With the help of a beautiful alien, he uncovers fragments of memory that might lead to his missing father. When it becomes...

From the editor of the award-winning anthology Unfettered comes the newest installment in the science fiction and fantasy series, Unfettered III.Lacking health insurance when he was diagnosed with cancer, Shawn Speakman asked friends in the science fiction and fantasy writing community to donate short stories he could use to counter mounting medical debt. The result was Unfettered, an anthology offering tales from some of the best authors...

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...

A powerful collection of twenty-one SF&F short stories by an amazing list of contributors—all of whom were in attendance at Seattle Worldcon 2025!In partnership with Seattle Worldcon, Grim Oak Press is proud to present the third Grimoire for readers who enjoy SF&F stories of the magical and the future. Escape the country through Las Vegas beside Laura Anne Gilman. Regain the time you never know you could with Megan Lindholm. Fight back against a book thief...

A child redefines identity and belonging in post-Soviet Hungary. A girl blossoming to adult awareness exchanges life for death in rural Canada. A college student chooses between the magic of ancient spirits and the magic of daily happiness in modern Japan. In futuristic India, a mother finds joy in the balance between family and career. Under the Andalusian sun, a mathematician consults his older self in affairs of love. In alternate Tanzania, a husband and wife discover wisdom in memory l...

Published in 1719, Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe is one of those extraordinary literary works whose importance lies not only in the text itself but in its persistently lively afterlife. German author Johann Gottfried Schnabel—who in 1731 penned his own island narrative—coined the term “Robinsonade” to characterize the genre bred by this classic, and today hundreds of examples can be identified worldwide. This celebratory collection of tercentenary essays testifies to the Robinsonade’s e...