Stop right there!If you like your fantasy filled with fellowships and noble quests, this anthology is not for you. And if you love lengthy tales of politics and power, then it won’t be to your taste either. But if you like a little intimacy with your evil, and your vengeance short and sweet, with perhaps a pinch of silliness in the witchcraft, then these fourteen delicious sweetmeats of sword and sorcery will prove right up your alley. And it will be a dank, twisting, fetid alley, ...

PORTALS: What mysteries…or horrors…await you on the other side?The lure of an open doorway is hard to resist. What lies beyond? Where will it take you—and how will you be transformed? Will it lead to paradise…or a living hell? You’ll never know, unless you have the courage to take that first step.In this anthology you will find sixteen stories of portals to exotic destinations, whether it’s a doorway in the desert that appears out of thin air, a fairy ring of mushrooms in t...

Who doesn’t love a good apocalyptic story? They come in all kinds, from the nightmare terrors of superflus and zombie invasions to quieter, more reflective tales of loss and survival. Stories that feature people struggling through the end of the world or fighting to survive in what little bits of civilization still remain are always compelling. What better way for readers to safely explore the extremes of the human condition without actually having to fight off the ravening hordes themselv...

Old Moon Quarterly is a magazine of weird sword-and-sorcery fantasy. In the tradition of Clark Ashton Smith, Tanith Lee and Karl Edward Wagner, it contains stories of strange vistas, eldritch beings, and the bloody dispute thereof by swordsmen and swordswomen both.Issue 3 contains the following stories:"Evil Honey" by James Enge."Knife, Lace, Prayer" by T.R. Siebert."Singing the Long Retreat" by R.K. Duncan."The Feast of Saint Ottmer...

Their conquest was measured not in miles but in degrees of longitude. They smashed the gates of empires, overthrew kingdoms, diverted rivers, and depopulated entire countries. They were the Mongols of Genghis Khan, swift and merciless but also resourceful, bold, and cunning. Their tale has seldom been told in the West, and never by an author with the acumen of Harold Lamb.Ride with young Temujin as he outwits schemers and assassins and rises to conquer Asia as Genghis Khan. Venture...

Within these pages lie eighteen stories, from eighteen worlds shaped by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its first year. Some are international bestsellers. Among them are winners and nominees for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, Aurealis, Ditmar, British Science Fiction Association, and Dragon Awards. Some have been writing for decades, others are at the beginning ...

Tanya Huff’s darkly thrilling Blood novels introduced readers to vampiric P.I. Victoria Nelson and her life amongst the paranormal. Here are some of Tanya’s best short stories featuring Vicki and other unforgettable characters from her world…In Quid Pro Quo, Vicki’s policeman lover, Mike, has been kidnapped by a man who wants her to turn him into a vampire. But she’s about to show him just how terrifying that can be…In Songs Sung Red, Vick...

What might we run into as we expand beyond Earth and into the stars? As we explore our own solar system and beyond, it seems inevitable that we’ll run into aliens … and what they’ve left behind. Alien artifacts: what might they reveal about us as we try to unlock their secrets? What might they reveal about the universe?In this anthology, nineteen of today’s leading science fiction and fantasy authors explore how discovering long lost relics of alien civilizations might change human...

Tanya Huff’s darkly thrilling Blood novels introduced readers to vampiric P.I. Victoria Nelson. Here are Tanya’s best short stories featuring Vicki and other unforgettable characters from her world…Note: This ebook consists of 9 short stories previously published as the 2008 collection, Blood Bank.In Another Fine Nest, something sinister lurks in the subway, preying on travelers and sucking their blood. Vicki thinks she kn...

Explore twenty-four imaginative tales crafted by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its second year, and including several international bestsellers and winners of every major award in the field, as well as newer authors just beginning what promise to be stellar careers.A woman seeking the power to see the evil hiding within others regrets receiving it. Letters written by a wizard in th...

From outer space to inner space, from realms of magic to the here-and-now, from the distant past to the far future, the twenty-one stories and poems in this third collection of science fiction and fantasy by authors featured on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers will take you on incredible adventures in the company of unforgettable characters.A pampered, overweight cat from the present saves the world from alien invasion in Ancient Egypt. A musician whose sp...

From the farthest reaches of our galaxy to the cozy-yet-mysterious spaces under beds and behind sofa cushions, from mystical realms of fantasy to the here-and-now and the very near future, the nineteen authors in this fourth collection of science fiction and fantasy by authors featured on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers offer readers a kaleidoscope of fantastical adventures in the company of unforgettable characters.The editor of a tyrannical bestselling ...