Inmate 5313 reached the end of his sentence after 10 grueling years. That is, until the wrong question led to a beating with an exclusive stay in the fridge. Before the badges manage to lock him into cryostorage for a nightmare-fueled nap, several explosions send the prison barge plummeting into a frozen planet in unclaimed space. This is the first day of Seb’s freedom, an ill-starred future that includes banding together with cutthroat mercenaries, bartering with sordid information brokers, and fighting against the galaxy's ruthless corporations.

In The Waste, every fantasy creature, fairytale demon, or mythological monster exists. From orcs, to neriads, ogres, trolls, wraiths, elves, harpies, and even beastmen. They all exist, and all despise humankind. In the ruins of the west and east coasts, new governments have arisen. With new jobs. Vince is a Ranger, a profession whose sole job duty is surviving in the waste, and taking missions from the Ranger Guild. Be it courier services, escorts, or simply exploring tombs and cities.

Sometimes in life, you feel like the world is out to get you. Nothing ever seems to work out the way you want it to, and everything just goes wrong all at the same time. But you have to bear up under the weight of life and just keep swinging. It can't stay bad forever, right? That is what Casey Sullivan believed when he spent his entire young life in an orphanage, fighting for scraps and doing his best to not get shanked by the youth gangs there. When he had the opportunity to make a difference, he seized it with both hands and did everything in his power to pass the police academy.

Andrew hunts monsters as a member of the Non-Human Investigative Corps, and he's very good at his job. Unfortunately, the skills he honed to keep the peace aren't much use in the cutthroat world of city politics, and a recent civil ruling is forcing the integration of the once exclusively human NHIC!

When Benjamin Nickels discovers he's the proud new owner of a derelict hobby farm, inherited from a crazy uncle he's never met, he's too excited to question his good fortune. He tells off his boss, quits his job, and heads out of town to Lucky Nickel Acres.

All of the incredibly powerful high mages died out centuries ago. Nobody expected one to return. I was just a simple blacksmith apprentice when a visit by the mages of Essalin confirmed what I’d long suspected—I could touch the aether. Destined to be a mage, I’m plucked from my village alongside a feisty redhead so we could journey to the fabled city of the high mages to learn how to control and wield the aether. The road there isn’t going to be easy though.

Damian's life turns upside down when his father is murdered, leaving a void nothing can fill. Moving to a new city for college is supposed to be a fresh start, but it never feels right. Just as things begin to settle, Damian comes home to find a demonic goatman waiting to kill him. Luckily, a badass angel with a sword saves him—except she isn’t an angel, and Damian isn’t as human as he thought. Now, with his mother missing, Damian is caught in the middle of a war between worlds. To find her, he must train, slay demons, decipher his father's journal, and master the weapons he left behind.

Deep in the elbow skin of the Fae Wilds, far from the teeming fortress of the Goblin King and the glittering palace of the King and Queen of the Elves, there lies a forgotten hideaway of crumbling single-wides and rusty Airstreams. A lonely clan of beautiful women, clad in tube tops, overall shorts, and tacky Asian-print house-dresses, yearn for a man who can unstop their sewer lines and get the internet working again.

The UEC has been fighting a losing battle against the demonic hordes, forced to surrender more ground every day. But aboard the U.S.S. Shotgun Opera, the Overmaiden—a sixth-generation Ghost AI—has just forged humanity’s perfect weapon and best hope: a supersoldier. The man he used to be is gone, lost with his family to demons on the mining world of Aonus. All that’s left is hate, rage, and unyielding power. Rip, crunch, gore, dismember—the unstoppable juggernaut will slaughter his way through Hell, driven by righteous fury and a singular drive.

Join Desmond as he learns to manipulate mana—a source of power that exists beyond the reach of most people in the universe—meets vastly different alien species, risks life and limb, all while trying to pass classes. If he’s lucky, he will find someone he can trust out here amongst the weird. If he's very lucky, maybe someone he can love.

Garth had been the favorite for the number-one draft pick in the next season of the USA's top sport. His college career was supposed to end on a high note… but it didn't. Sabotaged in his final game, he found himself shut out of the Dungeon League of America, forced to retire his jersey in shame. With no other options, he leaned on his university degree and became a licensed psychiatrist and therapist. That should have been the end of his dungeon-crawling days. But then, a new dungeon appeared in his city.

Mason the survivalist was always preparing for the end of the world. He just didn’t expect a god-like AI to transform it into a damn video game. Now he has to pick a ‘class’, survive a ‘tutorial’ (filled with monstrous creatures trying to murder him), and somehow find his brother Blake before the idiot gets himself killed. OK. Blake’s no idiot. He’s a charming, incredibly lucky, ambitious world-beater. But he was destined for corporate boardrooms, not monster filled forests, and Mason knows he needs to reach him before it’s too late.

The world changed the day the rifts happened. Trolls, elves, and other races from fantasy and myth emerged into a modern world, bringing magic with them. The world governments worked to segregate these new arrivals into refugee camps, which eventually became the nation of De’Vas. A nation of paranormals.

One sunny day, a routine airshow ended with me flying through a portal to another world. Here, warplanes aren’t the only thing in the sky. Oh, and my mind has a tendency to see what others are thinking. Now, amongst airships, beautiful beastkin, floating continents and telepathic powers, I’ll have to pick a side to fight for. When I do, I'll have to prove my loyalty, my skill, and play my part in saving this world from an evil that crossed from my world into this one. On the ground, I’m just a man, but in the air, I’m as powerful as a dragon.

Some inherit money. He inherited a farm, monsters and hot neighbours. Samuel West’s world turns upside down when his estranged father leaves him a mysterious farm in a secluded village. Thrust into a realm where creatures called GigaBeasts live, he finally finds the opportunity he's been looking for. Before long, he's delving into monster-filled dungeons, unlocking new skills, and transforming his humble farm into something extraordinary. But the rules of this strange new world are confusing, and failure could cost him everything. Luckily, he isn’t alone.

Andrew hunts monsters as a member of the Non-Human Investigative Corps, and he's very good at his job. Unfortunately, the skills he honed to keep the peace aren't much use in the cutthroat world of city politics, and a recent civil ruling is forcing the integration of the once exclusively human NHIC!

To Viggo, the veil was simply a landmark. Crossing it was considered suicide, and he'd never given much thought to what might lay beyond. Then, his life collapsed around him. Ejected from the military academy that was to have marked the start of his career, disowned by his family, passed over by the gods themselves, Viggo's last chance lay beyond the veil. Yet, from the very beginning, something was deeply troubling about the realm from whence the gods came. Its cities lay in ruins, its lands peopled by lunatics locked into tasks they could not escape.

When an invitation to try a cutting-edge game promising darkly sensual adventure drops in Abram's lap, it's an offer he can't refuse. After all, as an agoraphobe who never leaves his apartment, his social life is defined by, and limited to, games. Yet an interesting premise quickly shows its dark side as his mind is filled with memories of unspeakable torment, forcing him to rely on his meta-knowledge just to stay sane. The game is like nothing he's ever played: It has no tutorial, no HUD, no levels, no experience system, no respawns, and no mercy.

Can't win for losin'...As any gambler will tell you, luck runs hot and cold. For my many sins I've been forced to scrape a life out of poker games and side-jobs on the fringes of civil society. I thought I hit it big when I raked 50-grand off the table at a roadhouse in Texas. It is amazing what a win can cost you. Now, on the run from a drug cartel headed by an unstoppable juggernaut, pursued by a shape-shifting killer, and framed for attempted murder, I have to protect a girl with a bounty on her head.

John Cutter, a human man in a predominantly non-human metropolis, turns out to be not quite as human as he gave himself credit for. His daily life as dorm manager for Mythstone University gets turned upside down when he begins developing strange powers, and before you know it, he's spicily entangled with way too many girls.

Garth had been the favorite for the number-one draft pick in the next season of the USA's top sport. His college career was supposed to end on a high note… but it didn't. Sabotaged in his final game, he found himself shut out of the Dungeon League of America, forced to retire his jersey in shame. With no other options, he leaned on his university degree and became a licensed psychiatrist and therapist. That should have been the end of his dungeon-crawling days. But then, a new dungeon appeared in his city.

I thought I was destined for an early grave. Apparently, fate had other plans for me. My name is Jake. After twenty-three years of life, all I have to my name is a dead-end job and an undiagnosed metabolic disorder that has the doctors baffled. Everything changed on my birthday when I found a magical key that followed me home. It led me to the Halls of Magic, a multiversal repository of arcane knowledge that will allow me the chance to cure my broken body and unlock arcane power.

Asher Blackwood always dreamed of being a famous adventurer, but reality has a way of shattering dreams. With dungeons filled with deadly perils, quests that barely pay enough to survive, and a lack of fame and fortune, Asher is ready to give up on his aspirations. However, fate has other plans.

The UEC has been fighting a losing battle against the demonic hordes, forced to surrender more ground every day. But aboard the U.S.S. Shotgun Opera, the Overmaiden—a sixth-generation Ghost AI—has just forged humanity’s perfect weapon and best hope: a supersoldier. The man he used to be is gone, lost with his family to demons on the mining world of Aonus. All that’s left is hate, rage, and unyielding power. Rip, crunch, gore, dismember—the unstoppable juggernaut will slaughter his way through Hell, driven by righteous fury and a singular drive.

Dorian Hawke's daily routine was pretty straightforward. Wake up, pull his weight around the village, eat potatoes, go to bed. Not too shabby. Not very interesting, maybe, but it was honest work. Then a boat falls like a meteor from the sky. Next thing he knows, a gorgeous elf and stunning faun tell him that magical blood runs through his veins, and they need him to navigate their ship through space.

University life can be a real grind, and for twenty-two-year-old Dane Staley that means long hours in the library and not a lot of time for a social life. Not that he’s complaining. As a self-confessed bookworm, the library is a place of comfort for him. That is until he goes in search of research materials in a little used section of the lower level and his life changes forever.

Thrust into a new world, Reed must act fast to survive and secure his place. He helps a few villagers, defeats a feral goblin, and then somehow absorbs mana from a legendary scroll. Reed can now learn magic—blazing fireballs, shield wards, and more. But it comes with a cost—a mission leading him to dangerous dungeons and treacherous mountains, to take the artifact to its tower and defeat a centuries-old demonic threat.

Arthur Cain was a hero to his city, the most accomplished and respected of the firefighters in his entire district. But when a call comes in from the so-called "Halfbreed Heights", the monsterfolk part of the city, Arthur's life gets flip-turned upside down.

This anthology contains action, adventure, spicy tales, and some swishing tails. A rare treat of compiled stories in one place. Enjoy!

Life beneath the ashes of the old world has never been easy. For Ethan, though, it was simple in Refuge. Living in a small settlement inside a big cave and carving out a life with his little community was all he had ever known. It wasn’t a happy life, but there was little joy in a post-apocalyptic subterranean nightmare besides with the people you fought to survive with. And then he lost it all in the blink of an eye.