Historical fantasy. At the behest of his patron, a medieval scribe narrates his journey as an inquisitive, puzzled six-year-old on tour with his family troupe of players. Performing their farces across a landscape of war, plague, religious strife and feral cats, they transport a hamper of curse-bearing masks that intrude themselves into the boy's dreams and the troupe's reality, culminating in a Nordic Armageddon.Though set in Late Antiquity, it's based on the authors' own experienc...

A house of haunted ghosts: it's horror in a sense, but not so much of the "horror genre" as of the small daily torments to which our choices lead us.Based on the enticing legend of the Winchester "Mystery" House—a labyrinthine edifice built by a guilt-ridden armaments heiress—the story is seen through a blind man's eyes. Raymond Smolett, a veteran tour guide on the verge of retirement, leads his final hour's gaggle of gawkers through the monstrous maze. For the first time in thirty...

The Promise, the Promise, the Promise . . .A casual bar-stool conversation with a mystery man—perhaps a Las Vegas bigwig, perhaps a sociopath—hooks chronic loser Vern McGurren on the chance of a lifetime, requiring a road trip from Chico CA across Yosemite and Death Valley to the monumental stone outcrop of New Mexico's Shiprock. It's a chance to bridge the gap between a desperate father, a suicidal son, and an exiled firstborn who know each other too well, while leaving the gritty ...

A year after the death of his co-creator and soul mate Lainie, a grizzled puppeteer struggles to build a solo show. But what Albert Fisher intends as a lightweight spoof turns sharply personal, and he labors to birth a raw myth of love and loss.His aging, pot-bellied Sir Galahad launches a second mad quest for the Holy Grail. To follow him, his lady secretly changes guises with their frail, androgynous Fool. As his play evolves, Albert finds kinship with Galahad's despair and dogged...

A cross-genre comic tale with a fantasy tinge in the Vonnegut vein: as a third of America goes clinically insane, hot-tempered Eddie sparks up an edgy romance with Pepper, a tough single mom from Oklahoma. His complaint about a phone bill targets the duo as terrorists, and a motley group of losers, loners, and seekers are tangled with their fate. Can love survive the gnashing teeth of Armageddon?The War on Drugs has morphed into a War on Dreams (escapist! pornographic! traumatic to...

This "wondrous" collection of fantasy tales from Neil Gaiman, Patricia A. McKillip, and others "is a treasure chest. Open it and revel in its riches" ( Kirkus Reviews, starred review).For this enchanting anthology—a World Fantasy Award finalist—editors Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling "asked their contributors to reimagine Fäerie" in the present day, or "search its more dimly lit pathways," and the authors have responded with bountiful imagination. The titl...

Nick Heller is tough, smart, and stubborn. And in his line of work, it's essential. Trained in the Special Forces, Nick is a high-powered intelligence investigator--exposing secrets that powerful people would rather keep hidden. He's a guy you don't want to mess with. He's also the man you call when you need a problem fixed.Desperate, with nowhere else to run, Nick's nephew, Gabe makes that call one night. After being attacked in Georgetown, his mother, Lauren, lies in a coma, and ...

This volume assembles 25 tales by Darrell Schweitzer, modern and alternate-world fantasy and horror tales in the "Weird Tales" vein. Included in this volume are some of his very finest works, including "Pennies from Hell," "Peeling It Off," "Kind Yvorian's Wager," and many more! Complete contents:TRANSIENTSA LANTERN MAKER OF AI HANLOTHE STORY OF A DADARREFUGEES FROM AN IMAGINARY COUNTRYTHE SORCERER EVORAGDOUTHE MYSTERIES OF THE FACELESS KING...

With his bestselling blend of nail-biting intensity, daring artistry, and storytelling magic, Dean Koontz returns with an emotional roller coaster of a tale filled with enough twists, turns, shocks, and surprises for ten ordinary novels. Here is the story of five days in the life of an ordinary man born to an extraordinary legacy—a story that will challenge the way you look at good and evil, life and death, and everything in between.Jimmy Tock comes into the world ...

Here, in the third volume of the Wild Cards series, seven of science fiction's most gifted writers take you on a journey of wonder and excitement.September 15th is Wild Card Day, which commemorates the date the Wild card virus was released, spreading a wave of mutations around the globe. And 1986—the fortieth anniversary—promises to be the biggest Wild Card Day ever. But in New York City, not everyone is celebrating.The Astronomer, a twisted, powerful geniu...

Darweena must choose to fight for the Forest Folk in an epic battle against the beasts. Will she choose love over her home? A short story of 3700 words.

With heart, intelligence and a rare ability to illuminate the struggles inherent in ordinary lives, Tom Perrotta's The Leftovers—now adapted into an HBO series—is a startling, thought-provoking novel about love, connection and loss.What if—whoosh, right now, with no explanation—a number of us simply vanished? Would some of us collapse? Would others of us go on, one foot in front of the other, as we did before the world tur...