The Sword of Goliath focuses primarily on a man named Jacob Stanton, who is spending his days in San Quentin Penitentiary for a crime he did not commit. Jake was wrongly accused, unfairly tried, and unreasonably sentenced for the murder of his wife, and he’s just lost his final appeal. As Jake begins to mentally prepare for life inside the walls of San Quentin, he’s assigned a new cell-mate, Stephen Stross, who convinces him that he is a member of the Shaddai.

“It happened fast. Thirty-two minutes for one world to die, another to be born". An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy - abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued, and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape - but he can’t stop society’s collapse.

Pak Jun Do is the haunted son of a lost mother - a singer “stolen” to Pyongyang - and an influential father who runs Long Tomorrows, a work camp for orphans. There the boy is given his first taste of power, picking which orphans eat first and which will be lent out for manual labor. Recognized for his loyalty and keen instincts, Jun Do comes to the attention of superiors in the state, rises in the ranks, and starts on a road from which there will be no return.

Pat Conroy is without doubt America's favorite storyteller, a writer who portrays the anguished truth of the human heart and the painful secrets of families in richly lyrical prose and unforgettable narratives. Now, in Beach Music, he tells of the dark memories that haunt generations, in a story that spans South Carolina and Rome and reaches back into the unutterable terrors of the Holocaust.

The best stories pull readers in and keep them turning the pages, eager to discover more—to find the answer to the question: "And then what happened?" The true hallmark of great literature is great imagination, and as Neil Gaiman and Al Sarrantonio prove with this outstanding collection, when it comes to great fiction, all genres are equal.

Fifteen-year-old Iggy never believed in prophecies or heroes, content to survive the battleground of high school. Yet, destiny is not content to leave him be. Plucked from the life he knows, Iggy is thrust into an ancient struggle, where ethereal beasts stir and sorcery lurks in the shadows. He must navigate a treacherous path, armed only with the fragile hope that he might be the one to turn the tide against the encroaching darkness.

When 17-year-old Bastion finds out that he was born into a race of magical beings called sages, his life gets turned upside down by the fact that he must carry out a long-ago foreseen prophecy and bring an end to the rule of the foul King Kale, a warlord that massacred his entire race with the exception of 10 small children 15 years prior; Now Bastion must locate the other sage children, bring them together, and convince them of their destiny and raise an army to bring peace to the land of Sola once more.

With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories.

St. Peter's Square, Rome. White smoke signals that a new Pope has been chosen. Is it possible that the new Pope...is a woman?The world is watching as massive crowds gather in Rome, waiting for news of a new pope, one who promises to be unlike any other in history. It's a turning point that may change the Church forever. Some followers are ecstatic that the movement reinvigorating the Church is about to reach the Vatican, but the leading candidate has made a legion of powerful enemies who aren't afraid to kill for their cause.

Matt has always been nothing but a clone - grown from a strip of old El Patron’s skin. Now, at age 14, he finds himself suddenly thrust into the position of ruling over his own country. The Land of Opium is the largest territory of the Dope Confederacy, which ranges on the map like an intestine from the ruins of San Diego to the ruins of Matamoros. But while Opium thrives, the rest of the world has been devastated by ecological disaster - and hidden in Opium is the cure.

In the five years since Julia last visited her aunt and uncle’s home in Malibu, her life has been turned upside down by her daughter’s death. She expects to find nothing more than peace and solitude as she house-sits with only her dog, Bonnie, for company. But she finds herself drawn to the handsome man who oversees the lemon orchard. Roberto expertly tends the trees, using the money to support his extended Mexican family. What connection could these two people share? The answer comes as Roberto reveals the heartbreaking story of his own loss – a pain Julia knows all too well, but for one striking difference: Roberto’s daughter was lost but never found. And despite the odds he cannot bear to give up hope.

In Mayfield, Delaware, the carnival is in town. Seventeen-year-old Lexi Cartwright, daughter of the local deputy sheriff and leading lady of her high school drama club, expects nothing more from her weekend than a few hours of fun, and perhaps a kiss from Eddie Ross. But for Lexi - and for the rest of the 11th Hour Players - the real monsters aren't in the Pavilion of the Unusuals, and the real terror isn't on the Ferris wheel. It's lurking in the Funhouse.

Tan Twan Eng's debut novel casts a powerful spell and has garnered comparisons to celebrated wartime storytellers Somerset Maugham and Graham Greene. Set during the tumult of World War II, on the lush Malayan island of Penang, The Gift of Rain tells a riveting and poignant tale about a young man caught in the tangle of wartime loyalties and deceits. In 1939, 16-year-old Philip Hutton - the half-Chinese, half-English youngest child of the head of one of Penang's great trading families - feels alienated from both the Chinese and British communities.

Brianna Hai runs an occult shop that sells useless trinkets to tourists - and real magic supplies to witches and warlocks. The magical painting that hangs in Brianna's apartment is the last portal between the fae and human worlds.

In 2003, Osama al-Kharrat returns to Beirut after many years in America to stand vigil at his father's deathbed. As the family gathers, stories begin to unfold: Osama's grandfather was a hakawati, or storyteller, and his bewitching tales are interwoven with classic stories of the Middle East. Here are Abraham and Isaac; Ishmael, father of the Arab tribes; the beautiful Fatima; Baybars, the slave prince who vanquished the Crusaders; and a host of mischievous imps.