Growing up, she was the girl down the street. Even then, I knew she was different. She was tough, rough, and had the strength to stop a speeding car with her bare hands. We were as thick as thieves, sharing every adventure. Then one day she revealed a secret. She wasn't from Earth. She was from a distant place called the Arcadia Multiverse. Her people lived under the rule of a god-like entity known as the System. That System had its gaze fixed on Earth. And it was only a matter of time before it came for us.

Every year, the empire administers the rite of passage into adulthood. That rite serves to identify those blessed by Aether to become magi. The new magi are shipped to the academy to learn the arts of magic. The academy is a dangerous place; the tournaments held twice each year can cripple or kill the students, and the clans of the empire will go to great lengths to recruit the students they want. Gregory had one dream: to become a magi like the legends of old. Though he was ridiculed by the residents of the village and his unsupportive father, he never wavered from his dream.

Stealing from a mage was both the best and worst thing I had ever done. After being caught, I was named a criminal and sent to a prison known as the Jade Bastion. Located at the Edge of the World, this prison carries a secret. Those inmates who have magical abilities are trained in the most powerful magic known to the empire: battle magic. To survive, I will need to discover a secret I didn't know I possessed. I can become more powerful through bonding with the other beautiful, magically inclined inmates.

Unable to fully function in society, Kevin spends his time in virtual worlds to chase away reality and go on fantastic adventures. Despite his many adventures, he had never lived a life that truly spoke to his soul. A life that was taken away before it ever truly started. When the beta test for a new virtual MMO called Monstar Saga goes live, Kevin is one of many players lucky enough to gain an early access key. The game boasts a fantastic and epic adventure where players can be any kind of fantasy race - except human.

I was transported to a world of Cultivation and granted the power to make women into weapons. Women who were powerless before I came, but now they are capable of incredible magic. I won’t stop until my arsenal is a thousand strong and every other guild is beneath mine.

An experimental ASI with a terminal case of curiosity reached out and tampered with the universe in a way that it should not have, and unleashed a torrent of energy we would call magic into our galaxy. Humans, and every other intelligent lifeform for that matter, were ill-prepared, physically and mentally, for such an eventuality. In an effort to save itself, the ASI hastily created something it called the Framework to shape and codify this magical energy, and usher in a new world. A world of classes, levels, and extraordinary power. But also a world of monsters.

My name is James, but my mom’s the only person that can call me that. To everyone else, I’m JD — a struggling artist, working my fingers to the bone for my shot with one of the big comic book companies. Oh, and I work nights, managing a dive called Judson’s Bar and Grill. I know: the dream life. Things were boring, disappointing, even. Until one fateful night when everything changed.

As an intern at the Crest City Museum, I was studying an ancient artifact from a lost civilization. Little did I know this artifact would thrust me into a world of shifters, secret histories, and beautiful women. Now, with the power of the Primal Talisman, I can transform into beasts. I'm not the only one who wants the Talisman. And some people are willing to tear up the city to get it.

The surface world is a strange place for a young man who grew up in hell. Darren was just a boy when he and his mother were betrayed by paladins and chased beneath the Earth. There, with only his paladin's sigil and his quests to guide him, Darren grew from boy to man. Born in fire and blood, hell itself sculpted the perfect paladin.

Have you ever felt like there was something inside of you pushing your actions? A dormant beast, so to speak. I know it sounds crazy. But, that’s the best way I could describe how I’ve felt for a long time. I thought it was normal, some animal part of the human brain that lingered from evolution. But, this is the story of how I learned I wasn’t exactly human, and there was a world underneath our own where all the things that go bump in the night live. And, that my beast was very real indeed.

Justin Trimble's fantasies come to life when a couple of sexy, middle-aged professors give his virtual world a try and are transformed both in-game and out. As an AI researcher, Justin Trimble already has access to some of the most advanced technology on the planet. On his nights and weekends, he explores the capabilities of the virtual systems to invent an immersive game. To make the game more appealing, he modifies the immersion rigs to stimulate pleasure as reward for achievements.

As one of the downtrodden in Eden’s Meadow, TJ has led a life of scraping by as best he could. With little more to his name than a winning smile, his life takes a turn for the interesting as he befriends Serina, a rebellious young woman among the godlike Devas that control his realm. Being a test subject for her magic seems innocent enough, even if she occasionally tinkers with things she shouldn’t.

Kristjan's home was attacked. He was supposed to be sent through a portal with his guard to keep him safe until everything settled down, but things didn't go as planned.

Marvin toiled through endless work to achieve his dream of flipping properties. A strange man stalked him at his morning diner job, becoming a regular. When he unexpectedly follows him home from night shift, Marvin knows something isn't right. The next day he is offered a magical device. The emblem confirms the paranormal are real, people can partially shift into animals, and that Marvin isn't normal: he's something to be feared. As his life enters a whirlwind adventure, Marvin has to adapt as he becomes more than an ordinary man

One minute I’m in a tree, pointing my camera at a tiger, the next I’m on my back in a medieval fantasy world, while a skittish blonde hovers over me, hoping I’m not dead. I’ve never felt more alive.

Outcast and exiled, the demon Tarrik Nal-Valim has long been forgotten by the world of humans. At least, so he thinks. But when he is summoned as a last resort by a desperate sorcerer, it seems as though his past has caught up with him. The sorcerer is Serenity “Ren” Branwen, the daughter of Tarrik’s former master - and friend. Though she seems cold, driven, and ruthless, Tarrik can tell Ren has her back against a wall, and he is compelled by ferocious powers to obey her.

Blue fire sears the face of Faern, leaving the twisted and mutilated dead in its wake. But a rare few escape death - and suffer some mystical mutation. Raidon Kane is one of those who survives, the wake of blue fire burning the sigil of the amulet he wears into his chest and binding him with all the power and responsibility it entails. With everyone he knows and cares about dead, Raidon must find within himself the strength to lead the fight against the rise of an elder evil the likes of which would be the end of mortal kind.

For hundreds of years, the bestial Grol have clawed at the walls of Lathah without success. Now armed with O'hra, mystical weapons of great power, they have returned, to conquer. Witness to the Grol advance, Arrin can abide his exile no longer. He returns to Lathah, in defiance of death, with hopes to save his beloved princess and the child born of their illicit affair. He finds her unwilling to abandon her people.

The Gods are dead. The Magelord Salazar and his magically enhanced troops, the Augmentors, crush any dissent they find in the minds of the populace. On the other side of the Broken Sea, the White Lady plots the liberation of Dorminia, with her spymistresses, the Pale Women. Demons and abominations plague the Highlands. The world is desperately in need of heroes. But what they get instead are a ragtag band of old warriors, a crippled Halfmage, two orphans and an oddly capable manservant: the Grim Company.

Lupercalia burns, the might of the Traitor Legions reducing the last redoubt of the Sons of Horus to rubble. And through the ruins strides Apothecary Fabius of the Emperor's Children, with an army of vile genetic experiments. But what does the twisted Apothecary want in the temple to the fallen primarch Horus? And will he find it?

Five knights tell stories of ancient lands, madness, and terrifying monsters...but no one can top Knight Elric's tale of the Land of Hershel, a monstrous swamp filled with horrifying creatures and an ever-present threat. If you stop moving, you drown. "In the Land of Hershel" is a short story set in the thrilling world of SunRider.

In the bustling capital city of the Mahruse Empire, Felicienne Shyrise spends her days as a talented investigator, taking on stolen goods and missing person cases and the occasional murder the city guard are too incompetent - or too lazy - to resolve. During the nights she hones her skills playing Dominion, a board game almost as complicated as life itself. She dreams of making a name for herself and becoming the richest woman in the Empire.

Sacrifice. The single act capable of bringing both death and life simultaneously. Thannuel Kerr is handsome, young, and brash, fumbling through childhood toward his inevitable inheritance: the next Lord of the Western Province. He struggles to accept his arranged marriage and to grow into the man he must become. The journey toward that end, however, is fraught with more peril than he could possibly imagine.

Sam Ryder's life already sucks, and it's about to get worse when he's fired from his dead-end job as a programmer. He's about to head home to escape into his favorite RPG, Alien Civilization, when he's offered a thrill ride on a death machine by a gorgeous woman straight out of one of his games. Before Sam can say "WTF?", he's been whisked away to a dark world of monsters and goddesses, his body transformed from Outcast to Warrior, the second level on a ladder that may eventually carry him all the way to Demigod.

Renowned for his flawless kills, the Swordsman is one of the most lethal mages on Earth. His reputation for subtlety allows him to command a high price - despite his singular rule. He does not kill innocents. Recently, his employer has been a secretive group known as the Harbingers, whose latest target is not who he seems. Known only as Hawk, the man proves to be an elusive quarry.

After seven long years of conflict, the Horus Heresy nears its end. But now, as the Warmaster Horus marches on Terra to rip his father from the Throne, the seat of the arch-traitor’s power lies empty. Cthonia, a world once dominated by brutal murder-gangs, is occupied by the Emperor’s praetorians—the indomitable Imperial Fists. For the Sons of Horus, this outrage demands a reckoning.

This latest installment in New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore's beloved fantasy saga, The Companions moves Salvatore's signature hero Drizzt into a new era of the Forgotten Realms. As Drizzt's fate hangs in the balance, he reflects on the lives of the trusted allies who stood by his side throughout his early life - the friends now known as the Companions of the Hall. Meanwhile, the first stirrings of the Sundering begin.

Once he drove back the darkness. Once he loved with such passion his name was legend. Once, driven wild with grief over the murder of his beloved, the majestic Fey King Rain Tairen Soul had laid waste to the world before vanishing into the Fading Lands. Now, a thousand years later, a new threat draws him back into the world — and a new love reawakens the heart he thought long-dead. Ellysetta, a woodcarver’s daughter, calls to Rain in a way no other ever had.

Imprisoned in the void of a ruined universe by vengeful gods, Tharizdun - the Chained God, the Elder Elemental Eye - shares his exile with the Progenitor, a pool of liquid crystal that is all that remains of the Abyss that destroyed his universe. Enter our heroes Albanon, Shara and Uldane - all three adventurers readers will know from The Mark of Nerath. They thought their quests were over and done with, but danger still burns like the embers of a smoldering fire in the tall grass.

The humans have no magic and are hunted for sport, but that is about to change. War is coming.... The Sun Dragon spawned nine lesser dragons which devoured their parent for the power the elder possessed. These young dragons fought for choice bits of the Sun Dragon, but each only managed to eat a portion, thus giving them specific powers. Over time, these foul dragons were hunted down and slain by heroes of old.