Giant fireblasts tear across the earth as the Gates of Hell are ripped open. In an instant, billions are killed. Human technology becomes utterly worthless in the face of the end of the world. Fortunately for Jaco, he barely survives the opening act of the Apocalypse. Unfortunately for him, he has to live through what comes next. Those who died in the initial blast are reincarnated as undead monsters. Massive fiery pits swallow up the center of every major city across the world.

Brought to life with the assistance of Brandon Sanderson's Dragonsteel Productions, as well as the backing of over 130 other Fantasy and Sci-fi enthusiasts! From editor Dustin Bilyk, we bring you Summer of Sci-Fi & Fantasy: a treasure trove of speculative fiction that is sure to excite and captivate even the fussiest of goblins. Dragons, AI, gods, parasitic wyrms, hellhounds, aquatic dinosaurs, aliens, and energy monsters…

Sorry... Really? Thrust? Anyway, Danny Kendrick was a down-on-his luck performer who always struggled to find his place. He certainly never wanted to be a hero. He just hoped to earn a living doing what he loved. That all changes when he pisses off the wrong guy and gets sucked into a fantasy realm straight out of a Renaissance Fair. Getting used to a new world is tough. It's even tougher when you're surrounded by axe-wielding barbarians, super hot elf assassins, strange magic, and a jaded System that doesn't appear interested in being charged with yet another companion.

An animatronic clown is more than what it seems, a terrible bedbug infestation, a film project between brothers gone wrong and beloved pet turtle taken. These are a few of the spooky creepypasta stories you'll find here. Inside this debut collection you'll find over 20 concise and creepy horror stories straight from the famous Nosleep forum on Reddit. Some you may have read before...some you haven't. Turn the lights down, immerse yourself, and enjoy!

Hamelin, a village separated from the rest of the world, has a deadly problem. Fierce, flying beasts ravage and cull the sparse human population, forcing Hamelins citizens to live within the safety of her boundaries. With no help in sight, the village leaders look to their god, the Provider, for salvation, and they unearth a chilling answer to their problem. The Tournament of the Kindred—a much-celebrated, barbaric event that pits four gladiators against each other in deadly combat.

In a galaxy filled with terrors, the brave men and women of the Union Special Services stand ever ready to defend humanity and those races under its protection from the dark. Listen for yourself the now declassified experience of one agent, codenamed “Friend”, on their mission to discover any possible threats to the Union within the Empire. And see through alien eyes how humanity’s meteoric rise to power is viewed in the broader galaxy.

Decades ago, a band of neural-augmented rebels, the Seventy-Seven, and their leader, Arthur Lannius, helped liberate a remote mountain town from the Perpetual Corporation in a great machine war. Eventually defeated, the Seventy-Seven scattered, and Lannius went into exile without a trace...except for a child.

Vaguely remembering the accident that might have killed him, retired Navy captain Craig Larson is offered a chance at a new life. Choosing the body of a half-man, half-serpent creature called a naga, Larson must fight to secure a place for himself in this new world. Soon, he finds himself in a fight against pirates, thieves, and terrors of the deep, all of which seek to end his new life before it truly begins. But Larson is not easily deterred.

Larson has returned victorious from his battle with the pirates, but his quest to carve out his place in this new world is far from over. His respite from battle will be a short one as politics, creatures from the deep, pirates, and more will push him, the Sea Venom, and his crew to their limits.

Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson ( Pulp Fiction) rocks this mock bedtime story, capturing a hilarious range of emotions as the voice of a father struggling to get his child to sleep. Go the F**k to Sleep is a bedtime book for parents who live in the real world, where a few snoozing kitties and cutesy rhymes don’t always send a toddler sailing blissfully off to dreamland.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.