A variety of short stories written by these amazing science fiction authors: Mike Rusetsky, L.A. Selby, John Grover, Billy Todd, L.N. Hunter, Arindam Kalita, Albert N Katz, S. E. Forsberg. Jake Russell, Kari Kilgore, Jezza Deep, Diana Parrilla, Kay Hanifen, Christopher R. Muscato, and Thomas Lanthripp

You're sitting around the campfire; it's dark, the moon is high in the sky, the wind is whistling through the trees, and the sense of isolation is pervasive. You hear a twig snap in the darkness, everyone is tense. What's the story you tell your friends to terrify them? What's in the dark, stalking the camp: an ax murderer, a werewolf, or something so far beyond our mortal understanding that just the sight of it will drive each of us insane?

There are many ways to be a heroine.Princess and swordswoman, lawyer and motorcyclist, scholar and barbarian: there are many ways to be a heroine. In this anthology, seventeen authors find new ways to pair one weapon-wielding woman and one whose strengths lie in softer skills.“Which is more powerful, the warrior or the gentlewoman?” these stories ask. And the answer is inevitably, “Both, working together!”Herein, you’ll find duels and smugglers, dan...

Unlucky thieves invade a house where Home Alone seems like a playground romp. An antique bookseller and a mob enforcer join forces to retrieve the Atlas of Hell. Postapocalyptic survivors cannot decide which is worse: demon women haunting the skies or maddened extremists patrolling the earth.In this chilling twenty-first-century companion to the cult classic Darkness: Two Decades of Modern Horror, Ellen Datlow again proves herself the most masterful editor of the ...

She's a space pirate with vital information. He's a wanted fugitive with enemies hot on his afterburner. Will their unexpected attraction survive escaping a dangerous asteroid mine in time to avert disaster?Trouble is arising across the galaxy, and space pirate Julke Defayensdytr has vital information for her clan. She's almost given up trying to escape the hidden rogue asteroid mine she's been imprisoned in for over a year. But a new batc...

LARRY NIVEN’S KNOWN SPACE IS AFLAME WITH WAR!Once upon a time, in the very earliest days ofinterplanetary exploration, an unarmed humanvessel was set upon by a warship from theplanet Kzin—home of the fiercest warriors inKnown Space. This was a fatal mistake for theKzinti, of course; they learned the hard way thatthe reason humanity had decided to study warno more was that humans were so very, verygood at it.And thus began THE MAN-KZIN WARS. Now,several centuries later, the ...

Macabre meetings, sinister excursions, and deadly relationships; uncanny encounters; a classic ghost story featuring an American god; a historical murderer revived in a frightening new iteration; innovative Lovecraftian turns; shadowy fairy tales and weird myths; strange children, the unexpected, the supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while invent...

He is called the Ellimist. A being with the ability to alter space and time. A being with a power that will never be fully understood. He is the reason Elfangor came to Earth. He is the reason the Earth now has a fighting chance. And though his actions never seem quite right or wrong, you can be certain they are never, ever what anyone expects.This is the beginning and the middle of the story. A story that needs to be told in order to understand what might happen to the future. The...

Werewolves rule the night in urban fantasy, but everyone knows there are other were-creatures out there just as dangerous and deadly, if not as common, each with their own issues as they struggle to fit into—or prey upon—society. What about the were-goats? The were-crows and were-wasps?Here are seventeen stories of urban fantasy by today’s leading science fiction and fantasy authors that introduce you to some of those other were-creatures, the ones hiding in the dark background sha...

Your passage to unforgettable worlds of imagination and escapism. From the farthest reaches of the universe to the innermost workings of the human heart and mind... Let tomorrow's masters of science fiction and fantasy books take you on a journey that will capture your imagination.A peaceful warrior tries to impose peace on warring alien races, even if that means destroying the world to save it.From survivors on a sky city to salvage specialists hunted by space pirates...bi...

Jessie Stern's life has taken a turn to the weird. It started out great. On her 13th birthday she discovered she was going on a scientific expedition with her dad to document the death of a star and rescue the priestess that waits for them on the planet Shilona. But before they even leave Earth Jessie is chased by beings she never thought existed – the Time Shifters – a race that can control time. She learns she has a mission to stop the Time Shifters from killing the priestess. She also l...

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our May 2025 issue (#224) contains:Fiction* "Brainstem Disco, 2191" by Angela Liu* "The Library of the Apocalypse" by Rati Mehrotra* "We, the Fleet" by Alex T. Singer* "Descent" by Wole Talabi* "Oh Time Thy Pyramids" by Ann LeBlanc* "Proxima One" by Caryanna Reuven* "Yarn...