The sky is not the limit. From an alley in New York to an interstellar wormhole, the path to the future looks different for everyone. These cosmic short stories from some of today’s most influential Black authors reveal a universe of possibilities.

On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favored by fate, everyone develops a current gift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their current gifts, Akos and Cyra do not - their gifts make them vulnerable to others' control. Can they reclaim their gifts, their fates, and their lives and reset the balance of power in this world?

The New Arilion Knights contains books 1-3 of the series. Emma’s problems go far beyond carb-counting mean girls. With nonhuman-like pointed ears and a stuttering problem brought on by anxiety, she’s one of the few who know Earth’s about to be blindsided with annihilation. What if the only way to save her home is to secretly join the academy of intergalactic warriors? And the only way to save her dad is to betray him? It’s up to this wallflower to stop bullying from going extraterrestrial.

Seventeen-year-old Rogue has always classified herself as socially awkward, preferring video games over a trip to the mall. When she wakes up in a forest, she finds that life as she knew it has changed forever, and she cannot remember how. In fact, she can't remember the last six months at all. As she navigates this new world she soon discovers a talent for combat and survival she'd never had before. A handy ability in a world where humans compete in a game governed by rules she can't remember.

Firstborns rule society. Secondborns are the property of the government. Thirdborns are not tolerated. Long live the Fates Republic. On Transition Day, the second child in every family is taken by the government and forced into servitude. Roselle St. Sismode's eighteenth birthday arrives with harsh realizations: she's to become a soldier for the Fate of Swords military arm of the Republic during the bloodiest rebellion in history, and her elite firstborn mother is happy to see her go.

Rhoma Grace is a 16-year-old student from House Cancer with an unusual way of reading the stars. While her classmates use measurements to make accurate astrological predictions, she looks up at the night sky and makes up stories.

You know the invasion has begun. You know we are all that stands in their way. You think we are alone. You will see we have hidden allies. They think they have won. They are wrong. They do not have our power. They do not know the truth. We have a secret weapon.

It’s been decades since the deadly GM virus decimated humanity, but the world continues to hold out for a cure. Hidden underground in the dark, GEOs remain, what’s left of the population as Farrow Corp works tirelessly in their never-ending search for a miracle. For seventeen-year-old Tylia Coder, survival is all she knows. With virus mutations continuing to spread, Tylia must either watch her ailing mother be ravaged by illness or hack her way into the terrifying Acceptance trials and face the infected world above to save her family.

Colton Beck has six months to live. He works for the Angor near Los Angeles, aware that any day could be his last. The Angor arrived twenty years ago, resolved to help mankind survive, but not everyone believes their motives are honorable. When the Angor offer humanity a colony world, Colton is determined to see another planet before his final breath. He's been diagnosed with Xeno, a rare disorder that surfaced with the Angor's arrival, but he won't let this stop him.

In a desperate attempt to escape destruction decades earlier, humankind was forced underground into the depths of the Earth, creating a new society called the Tri-Realms. After her parents and sister are abducted by the Enforcers, 17-year-old Adele, a member of the middle-class moon dwellers, is unjustly sentenced to life in prison for her parents' crimes of treason.

Though the ragtag group of misfits known as the Black Star Renegades won a decisive battle by destroying Ga Halle’s War Hammer, the war is far from over. In response to losing the crown jewel of its fleet, the Praxis empire has vengefully reinforced its tyranny across the galaxy - but its rule won't be had so easily. Led by hotshot pilot Kira Sen, a growing rebel force stands in the way of Praxis’ might. Not only do they possess the will to fight for galactic freedom, they also possess the ultimate ace in the hole: the mythical Rokura, the most powerful weapon ever known.

When Jyn Erso was five years old, her mother was murdered and her father taken from her to serve the Empire. But despite the loss of her parents, she is not completely alone - Saw Gerrera, a man willing to go to any extremes necessary in order to resist Imperial tyranny, takes her in as his own and gives her not only a home but all the abilities and resources she needs to become a rebel herself.

Syd Chambers grew up on Earth with his human mother and barely remembers his alien father from Denza, who left on a mission when Syd was very young. After leaving Earth, Syd learned the truth of his father’s disappearance on the planet Ashfall—his father had died protecting a devastating secret about the history between humans and Denzans.

Max Tyco is a truck driver on the road more days than he's home. Events are about to transpire that will lead this everyday Joe on an adventure of a lifetime. Things like traveling through space, starships, alien monsters, and blasters have all been daydreams...until now. The Rowki is a fraternity of intergalactic guardians tasked with keeping the balance between the light and the darkness. A call for help from the oldest galaxy in the universe and the central planet in that galaxy will uncover an ancient secret that could mean the end of the universe as we know it.

Sometimes to save a recruit, he’s got to break them. A pragmatic, battle-tested Knight recalls the savage fallout of the Chaos War. Sergeant Claymore leads his recruits through a brutal boot camp training and to an unexpected, bloody battle. They will admire him. They will fear him. And when it’s all over, they will remember him for the rest of their lives.