Centuries in the past, mankind fought a seemingly unbeatable adversary from sector to sector across the Spiral Arm until the war ground to a standstill and the Enemy withdrew. Believing that they had won, the citizens of the galaxy rebuilt. The Inner Worlds, which had escaped the worst of the war's ravages, became even more insular, while the Rim worlds adopted a free and easy way with law and order. Now, hundreds of years after their withdrawal, the Enemy is back - and this time they'll be satisfied with nothing less than the extinction of the galaxy.

Inventor, girl genius Tinker lives in a near-future Pittsburgh which now exists mostly in the land of the elves. She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour.

Rose McKenzie may be far from Earth with no way back, but she's made a powerful ally - a fellow prisoner with whom she's formed a strong bond. Sazo's an artificial intelligence. He's saved her from captivity and torture, but he's also put her in the middle of a conflict, leaving Rose with her loyalties divided. Captain Dav Jallan doesn't know why he and his crew have stumbled across an almost legendary Class 5 battleship, but he's not going to complain. The only problem is, all its crew are dead - all except for one strange, new alien being.

Stephanie Harrington had always expected to be a forest ranger on her homeworld of Meyerdahl until her parents relocated to the frontier planet of Sphinx in the far distant Star Kingdom of Manticore. It should have been the perfect new home - a virgin wilderness full of new species of every sort, just waiting to be discovered. But Sphinx is a far more dangerous place than ultra-civilized Meyerdahl, and Stephanie's explorations come to a sudden halt when her parents lay down the law: no trips into the bush without adult supervision!

Born to a Magical Fantasy Princess and a nine-to-five Supervillain in the most superhero riddled city in the world, Perry's never felt...adequate. He's got no talent for magic, and not a scrap of superpowers to his name. When The System boots and unlocks his powers, it forces him to follow in his father's footsteps, but he'd rather take after his mother... Maybe there's a way he can do both...

In a single ruthless blow, Commander Lorraine Adamant’s favorite uncle murders everyone ahead of him in the succession for the Star Kingdom of Adamant. Only luck and the paranoia of her bodyguard, Vigo Jarret, saves Lorraine’s life. On the run in a single starship Lorraine should never have commanded, with a crew she can not trust, she swiftly learns her uncle’s hounds are hot on her heels. She must gather every skill, every trick, she has ever learned if she is to survive—and pray the uncle who taught her those tricks is a step behind.

Bob thought he was doing fine on his own. Then the love of his life fell out of the sky. Can he get her back in the air with auto parts and a cutting torch? If he does, will she ever come back? Nikki took a job before she saw the equipment. Can she keep her passengers alive on a strange planet? Are the natives friendly?

Someone once asked: What is stronger? Martial arts or Magic? I answered: Why not simply use both? In a new world brimming with possibilities—Levels, Classes, Skills, Dungeons, and Monsters—I found myself reborn as a noble family’s troublemaker son. As a gamer, a magical world and a lazy life as a rich noble's son should have been a dream come true. But there was a massive catch. An absurd quest threw everything into chaos.

Welcome to the Changing Land, the last, and some would say, the least of six linked, magical, worlds. Archers Beach, Maine, is one of those places in the Changing Land where the weird crosses into the mundane. Where the sea isn't the only magic working, and the Guardian just the first of many spirits of small places who partake of and protect the Land. Here for the first time, are all of the Archers Beach short stories, collected into one volume.

Ilea likes punching things. And eating. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many career options for hungry brawlers. Instead, the plan is to quit her crappy fast-food job, go to college, and become a fully functioning member of society. Essentially—a fate worse than death.

When a Demonic Assault occurs, most people stuck inside of a Fracture end up hiding inside of a bunker in the hopes that they don’t get killed by a demon. Others might even hope for the slightest possible chance at signing a contract with a spirit and becoming a Guardian. So when Scarlet was caught in a Fracture, the last thing she expected was to become a demon herself. Exactly two centuries ago, humanity was struck with their very first Demonic Assault.

Maxwell Carter works a maintenance job at a government research facility. The research lab he works at has an accident, more energy coming through the wormhole than anticipated, enough to completely rupture the shields that were supposed to contain it until they finished determining how to convert the energy into electricity. Previously harmless animals are changed to nightmare threats and people are dying, seemingly due to incidents related directly to their interests.

Raised and marked as a bastard human, she is as surprised as the rest when blood tells and her dragon roars. Trin has been raised with the knowledge that her parentage was unknown and she was human. Those two items were the cornerstone of her existence. An altercation at a baby shower leads to her discovering another side to herself. That side was big, crystalline, and caused the other dragons in her vicinity to bow their heads. Defending her friend had led her into this new shape, and now, she was stuck with it.

An irresistible compilation of five previously published stories by the NYT bestselling author of the Kate Daniels series; including Kate’s very first meeting with Saiman, some related adventures, two unforgettable “outside” excursions, and additional material from both Curran and Jim’s point of view.

Imara has lived a life separate from her family. She wasn’t shunned, just never acknowledged. The seventh child of a seventh child, she had had the bad taste to be born a girl. Her father’s family had no use for a girl, so she was sent to a city where the populace didn’t use magic. Now that she is grown and entering college, she has chosen the best magical college in the country. It just happens to be located in her birth city.

Inventor, girl genius Tinker lives in a near-future Pittsburgh which now exists mostly in the land of the elves. She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour.

Silas Decker had his world destroyed when he was attacked by vampires outside of New Amsterdam. He has rebuilt his life a dozen times in the last 300 years - each time less and less successfully. Now he lives alone, buried under a hoarding habit, struggling to find some reason to wake up with the setting of the sun.

It isn't easy being the oldest boy in a house run by women - especially for Jerin Whistler. The grand-matriarchs of his clan are descended from soldiers, spies, and thieves. That's partly what's kept their family alive in the wilderness. But it also means Jerin's doomed to marry the girls next door - a fate he's convinced is worse than death. But Jerin gets in even worse trouble when, in the process of a daring rescue, he falls in love with a royal princess who's as high above his station as it's possible to be.

Everyone could see it coming. But one man could do something about it. Oh, he couldn't avert the nuclear holocaust, but a scientist in Austria, ruthlessly using billions of research dollars for his own purposes, set himself up and out: he created a time machine, and filled a warehouse with low-tech survival gear. Too bad he didn't get to use it himself. Instead, a team of American grad students, led by their professor, is sent back to the late Roman Empire. Even though they are experts in this time and place, they are about to realize that books and actual experience are very different things.

Most people come to Destiny Park for entertainment. They come to have their cards read to tell them a bit about their future. They come to walk through a beautiful park and to eat at the hotel’s restaurant. They come in the hope of catching a glimpse of the Arcana, the paranormal beings who rule the Isle of Wyrd. But some people come to make a bargain with the Arcana—to change their fate. And some people come for dark purposes.

Nikki is a horror novelist. Her choice of career is dictated by an obsessive compulsive disorder that forces her to write stories of death and destruction. She can't control it, doesn't understand it, but can use it to make money anywhere in the world. Currently "anywhere" is in Japan, hiding from her mother who sees Nikki's OCD as proof she's mentally unstable. Nikki's fragile peace starts to fall apart when the police arrest her for the murder of an American expatriate. Someone killed him with a blender.

Being a last-year high-schooler who is four feet, eight inches (142 cm) in height is one thing, but having the muscles of a bodybuilder and the face of a middle-aged biker at the same time is another. And don't you dare to bring up shaving in front of him. Did I mention that the boy's favorite hobby is smithing?

It is known as the Day of Awakening. Across the continent, the Heavenly Interface appears, presenting each being with a system to track their skills and quests in the name of achieving their goals. Bandits rise to power, forgotten masters come out of seclusion, and spirit beasts arise from their slumber, drawn to the promise of a new era. Little do any of them know, it is Kai, a young herbalist from a small village, who was the cause of the Heavenly Interface's introduction.

The Krysfelt Academy for Girls is the most prestigious academy in the Magocracy, and it’s about to get its first male student… Like most guys, I never expected to see the inside of that fabled place. But when I’m assigned the Enchanter class—previously reserved for girls—an invitation to Krysfelt is part of the deal. To earn my place, I’ll have to win over the fiery headmistress and the monster girl students—catgirls, orcs, wolfgirls, dryads, goblins—you name it… And that’s not even mentioning the pretty (but slightly insane) tiefling girl who believes she and I are destined to bond…

When Nick Barnette is pulled through a mysterious portal into the Kingdom of Lhasa, his life becomes a fight for survival. Separated from his friends and hunted by powerful forces, Nick discovers he’s been gifted a strange ability—the power to slow time. But mastering it is no simple task, and to stand a chance of reuniting with his friends and returning home, he must walk the ancient Way of the Immortals.

It was a dark and stormy knight, and nine dark defenders embarked upon a most perilous quest. They're the ultimate defenders of humanity, modern day knights who do dark deeds for all the right reasons. In this all-star collection, nine of today's hottest paranormal authors bring us thrilling, all-new stories of supernatural knights that are brimming with magic mystery and mayhem.

Ralph could be described as a rogue on a good day. A bad day involved a lot of cursing, calling him a pirate, or sometimes even having a shoot-out. It wasn't really his fault of course, or so he would have you believe. It was the fault of those who wanted to get in his way of making as much money as possible as a smuggler. His family had been gifted with a letter of marque for the Terran Confed, one that is inherited and has been passed down to him. Essentially, it gives him a lot of loopholes and ways through regulations to be a fantastic smuggler. Or as a legal pirate, a Privateer.

I was the most powerful healer in my world—the best, having devoted my entire life to mastering the art of healing. And yet, for whatever reason, my brother feared that I sought to claim his throne, and he marshaled his forces against me.

Sylvas Vail is a big fish in a small pond, the most powerful mage on his planet. But when the doors to the cosmos come crashing open and all the untold wonders and terrors of the universe come pouring in, he is left with only two options: Ascend or die.

One captain’s death might turn out to be humanity’s best chance at survival. As humanity expands into the stars, it discovers the universe is a hostile place. When Captain Slater of the USS Franklin is assigned to a deep-space reconnaissance mission, his ship is destroyed by an unknown alien race.