Showing results by author "Kevin Candela" in All Categories

Rada Dunn is used to the solitary life of the arid valley north of the little town of Peace. Nothing much happens there, and her bean and wheat crops provide her with just enough to keep her away from the rest of her kind...which is how she's come to like it. But when she comes upon human remains that have recently been burned so intensely that they are merely sticky black bones, her serenity is shattered.

The creator of The Krakenstein Chronicles follows up his first two SF/fantasy/horror/comedy short story collections, A Year in the Borderlands and Playing with Reality, with a third heaping helping of generally freakish tales from the other side of existence. Wild narratives of mystery, horror, awe - and even some laughs - are assembled here together for the first time. Lost Radio brings you the timelessly eerie and thrilling stories of things that very well could be - whether you want them to exist or not.

Months have passed, the trail has grown cold, and ZC has all but given up when out of the blue, a back road diversion leads him to the mystical, but apparently not mythical Bizarre - a place where all kinds of beings want all kinds of things...and barter and gamble to get them. He's about to meet some utterly strange new friends, including a dogman named Ekos, a human-like woman with a nest of serpents for a head, and a gigantic bat-dragon that doesn't like being referred to as either.

Here, for the first time, is the complete saga of Krakenstein, the titanic mutant who's out to save the world, whether humanity likes it or not. Noble environmental scientist Dr. Max Shepperton's bizarre transformation from nerdy human being to a 300-foot-tall squid-headed monster seems a great tragedy, until the world realizes that his Godzilla-sized new form might be the one thing that can prevent the Earth's vengeance against greedy corporate profiteers from bringing about the extinction of Shepperton's former species - the human race.

What if you had all kinds of superhero powers, but they only worked if you were stark naked? That's the world these days for Race Harleson, reluctant savior of humanity. One of Race's most unpleasant (and dangerous) nemeses, the shameless Space Invader, is at it again. But this time, the supervillain with the personal privacy issues has put everyone in an awkward position, for his terrifying misdeeds have awakened something deep beneath the ground - something so mighty and monstrous that even the arrogant baddie is in fear for his life.

The name actually means "greatest of sages," but let's face it: Sinbad is synonymous with adventure. His voyages are legendary, but only a few are really well-known. Here, then, are three consecutive tales brought to light for the first time, a trilogy of epic scope that spans not just the seven seas but the universe - and even time itself! Ride along with the sea captain as he heroically faces off against deadly sorcerers, fearsome creatures, and dark deities, most of them fiercely determined to either enslave humanity or destroy it.

In this wildly imaginative and bullet-fast tale of advanced warrior legions eager to escape their banishment in a parallel dimension, an unlikely band of heroic women, bold and reckless enough to stand in their way, are humanity’s only hope against an impending incursion by a highly advanced army of invisible, disc-riding warriors.

Here it is: the blood-and-sap-splattered epic of gritty, wisecracking survivors turned mutant warriors in a global apocalypse against gigantic man-eating...dandelions. One sunny morning, the world awoke to the revenge of their own well-manicured lawns: Seeded by chemtrails and radiated by black-ops satellites, innocent little weeds swelled to massive size and uprooted themselves from the broken earth and raced off hungrily toward their new menu - mankind!

Nakedman Race Harleson runs for US president - and runs interference between scoffing, scared humanity and an intervening alien race of contractor/mercenaries who have clamped down on the plutocratic pharaohs of the modern age. In the thrilling conclusion of Volume One of Nakedman: Uncomfortable Tales of Epic Adventure, Race and Ellen both end up having to risk everything for a mere outside chance to save the world...and not just from alien invaders.

In these two "inspired by actual accounts" but still entirely fictional tales, a pair of challengers of the unknown go one on one with two of the world's most famous mysterious legends. In "Beneath Still Waters", a lake-dwelling giant creature draws a devoted paranormal investigator into a staggering encounter that goes far beyond a blurry photo of something with a long neck and humps passing by a Loch Ness excursion boat.

Something ancient has awakened in the depths. So terrifying is this newly freed entity that sea slugs are driven onto resort beaches to climb hotel walls...and die. Yet the threat posed by the primal sentience is far less obvious to the world's dominant species, seemingly manifesting in the trance states of a couple rescued by Ben Miles and his celeb wife, Morna Belchek...and subsequently communicated to Morna as well.

Gigantic centipedes born of genetic engineering and experimental pesticides and fertilizers storm a small farming community, running down and devouring everything on two legs, in this exciting new tale of suburban terror and mayhem.

The sixth "drive-in double feature" in the Super SF Double Feature series spotlights alien invasion in both directions - coming and going - with two thrilling tales of science-fiction culture shock.

In Ghost in the Sky, the first installment in the Bob the Interdimensional Trucker series, Sam Gage has picked up an enigmatic motorist whose mere presence, it seems, is making Gage hear the sound of a small propeller-driven passenger airplane...or maybe even a crop duster. But whatever is really making the sound, which his rider can't hear, is not only keeping pace with Gage's truck at an impossibly slow speed for airplane flight - it's also invisible.

Working on the High-Altitude Atmospheric and Light Observatory research platform 16 miles above Earth's surface , Crystal Calhoun is used to an alien form of existence. But when she dreams through the waking eyes of a shipboard peer, the game changes, and when she learns that the same thing is happening to others, her paranoia kicks in and she seeks to understand what's happening. The problem is that even the people running the entire operation don't have a clue, and what's worse is that they're more confused and worried than she is. Crystal becomes determined to get to the truth.

A Year in the Borderlands writer Kevin Candela's wild second excursion into alternate realities includes 17 tales, twelve of which have appeared in previously released anthologies and are collected here for the first time. These short stories combine with five never before released works, including the novella It's Only Funny if You Laugh, to produce a wide-ranging panoramic view of the worlds and realities that exist beyond our own. Playing With Reality is another vividly detailed page in the Atlas of the Unknown.

On far distant Gavelin, Leks and Quinara - scrappy human survivors of a demonic plague that has all but wiped out their civilization - race against time in a perilous journey to the perceived safety of the cradle of their society: the great coastal city of Amaline on the Sandarine Sea. Along the way, they meet horrifying carnivorous mud monsters, sentient human-hunting thunderstorms and an outcast bio-alchemist with a warped sense of humor whose bizarre menagerie features a panther-like beast made of living metal.

The big squidheaded guy who's not Cthulhu is back - and this time, it's really, really personal, because the monster who's out to destroy him is his own brother! Twenty years after Krakenstein and Magenti saved humanity from itself, the giant monster battles are still going on. Towering "bug lady" Magenti may have disappeared of late, but Krakey is still patrolling the world. Tailed by the Moray 2 stealth sub, which is captained by none other than longtime Krakenstein "human friend" Shea Sanders, the titan isn't able to stop the latest problem by himself.

On distant Gavelin, Roman and Nikala face the daunting prospect of taking on the consolidated powers of most of Gavelin’s Howling Wind-infected tyrants without the aid of their Dragon Child friend Chalice Rayne. Meanwhile here on Earth, renegade conservative mouthpiece Carl Morrow’s stolen super-stealth blimp is quickly running out of corners to hide in as “Charlie Tomorrow” and his high-tech rebels work to put together a plan to expose the true darkness that has all but overtaken their society. But Charlie and his crew have no idea how truly outmatched they are.

Mars One by Kevin Candela: What do you do when cabin fever of the outer space variety drives one of your four-person crew to prank your commander…to death…leaving you and said pranker to “work things out” on the last half of your eight-month pioneering mission to colonize Mars? Homecoming by Roma Gray: An alien race decides to “punish” humanity by sending all their ships and military home unharmed. Are they being nice, or have they figured something out?