Eric

My son eats people. He doesn’t translate languages or shut off trash chutes. He doesn’t transform into a truck or a fighter jet. He doesn’t morph into liquid and seep through sewer grates. He eats people - my son eats people. Well, yeah, that's what he was designed to do. You see, my son is a robot. And me? I'm a sworn pacifist, raising him as best I can. So when a stranger came knocking one day, well, some stuff happened...

But Jason Asano is settling into his new life. Now, a contest draws young elites to the city of Greenstone to compete for a grand prize. Jason must gather a band of companions if he is to stand a chance against the best the world has to offer. While the young adventurers are caught up in competition, the city leaders deal with revelations of betrayal as a vast and terrible enemy is revealed. Although Jason seems uninvolved, he has unknowingly crossed the enemy’s path before.

Curses, wards, and endless hordes prevent the casual adventurer from getting very far. At least, not without employing a Ranger...and their services do not come cheap. A young knight undertakes an impossible quest deep into the fabled and perilous Fenrirfang in order to protect his sister from a conspiracy that involves the Church that he has sworn to serve. A seasoned Ranger who believes she has seen everything the wilds have to offer soon discovers that she faces something altogether different with this journey.

What power awaits those who collect the three Runestones of Tritinakh? With Kodai and the Shinigami tracking their every move, the best guild this side of Porthos takes the ultimate quest, pitting them against shamans, ice goddesses, stinky giants, and dangerous bugbears. In real world Tokyo, FeeTwix and Sophia arrive to join Ryuk in uncovering the truth of his hallucinations. What they discover is something is a game changer, to say the least.

Daniel Mahan, the legendary Shaman of the Barliona game world, has served his sentence in virtual reality. Eleven months of adventures and battles in exchange for eight years in prison isn't a bad trade-off. And yet Barliona refuses to relinquish its grip on the Shaman so easily, erasing the boundary between his two realities. It turns out that it's not so simple to leave the capsule - the Way must be completed....

When virtual reality becomes real enough that people feel as if they're being transported to another world, Valia Online arrives. A man running from his past joins the game to forget it all. Calling himself Jack Thorn, he chooses an undead race, Deathlord. A mage by choice, and a swordsman by necessity, he soon finds out that he'll need to use much more than magic and steel to survive; strategy, creativity, and carefully chosen words can often accomplish what simple attacks can't.

The immortal sorcerers - three legendary figures that toppled the empire of Xixis. Each has lived for over a hundred years, leaving a powerful legacy in their wake. But their children do not share their renowned immortality, and when the firstborn son of Edrick Theas is killed, sorceress Lydia Hastings is called to investigate the murder. When she discovers a sorcerous trail left by a creature of unfathomable power, she quickly realizes she needs outside help.

Across the ages roams an immortal troupe of actors, gifted with fantastical powers and led by a mysterious artiste with a penchant for meddling. Wherever they roam, they encounter magic and monsters and evil that requires taming.This is the first anthology based on characters from the extraordinary novella The Travelling Players of Gilean, by Margaret Weis and Aron Eisenberg, which was featured in The Best of Tales, Volume One.