Fantasy Science Fiction Adventure

Bob Howard is a special operative for the British agency called The Laundry, and his task is to stop a rogue billionaire from using an artifact, known as Gravedust, with the power to reanimate the dead. The U.S. Black Agency sends the lethal Ramona Random to aid Bob’s mission, but she seems to have a different agenda.

With The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume 3, award-winning editor Neil Clarke provides a year-in-review and 27 of the best stories published by both new and established authors in 2017.

A troubled young woman is recruited by a race of ancient alien explorers to be their emissary to save the human race from extinction. The problem is that not everyone believes the world is doomed, and not everyone trusts the aliens' motives. Holly Burton will have to overcome opposition from world leaders, attacks by religious zealots, assassination attempts, intractable bureaucracies, and her own fears and doubts if she is to save the human race, not just from the coming apocalypse, but from itself.

When our transport crash-lands on a hostile world full of monsters and death, it's up to me, the only man on the planet, to use my strength and wits to keep the women alive. With danger lurking around every bend and the world itself against us, what am I supposed to do with five very different, but very beautiful women?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes. Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

Mysterious and tragic, Madame Tan’s menagerie is the only home I’ve ever known. It’s a place where two worlds merge; a twilight zone between Earth and the magical Kingdom of Nerifir. The menagerie is filled with fantastic animals, but I discover that Madame captures and displays sentient beings too. One of them is locked in a crate day and night, not seen by anyone, and one day I learn why—looking at him kills. Even talking to Kyllen is forbidden, but I break that rule. I break many rules for him.

Deep within the Congo, a team of scientists prepares for the greatest event in the history of humanity, making first contact with an intelligent extraterrestrial species. Only the jungle is no place for doubts. Could first contact be our last?

Marine archaeologist Jack Howard has stumbled upon the keys to an ancient puzzle. With a crack team of scientific experts and ex–Special Forces commandos, he is heading for what he believes could be the greatest archaeological find of all time - the site of fabled Atlantis - while a ruthless adversary watches his every move and prepares to strike. But neither Jack nor his adversary could have imagined what awaits them in the murky depths - not only a shocking truth about a lost world but an explosive secret that could have devastating consequences today.

On Tempris, time magic is outlawed, and suspected time mages are hunted. Humans are second-class citizens, shunned by the immortal fey that live on the island. They even have a name for their kind: Shardless. Taly is one of the lucky humans. Taken in by a fey noble and his family, she's lived a good life, surrounded by people she loves. But when an accidental brush with magic causes her to see things - ghostly apparitions that give her small glimpses into the future - it has deadly consequences. The Sanctorum has returned to the island, and if they find her, they'll kill her.

Life for Cha Ming is a daily grind. A rat race where people don’t make any real decisions. When he asks the universe for something more, fate itself answers his prayer. A talisman brush older than time itself sends him to another world, where magic, fortune, and danger await. Now, the world is at his fingertips. He has a new life, a new body, and can wield the five elements. It’s too bad his new home is a place where might makes right, and immortal cultivators and demons fight at the drop of a hat. But where the divine brush goes, danger follows.

Two years after an attack brought down the electrical grid across the United States, the recovery effort is well underway. A new network of armored trains carry supplies and industrial equipment crucial to rebuilding the country. But along the rails, one area of America is still mired in darkness, violence, and danger. Some call it the Badlands. Others the Wild West. The government simply refers to it as the New Frontier.

In a scarred and brutal future, The United Commonwealth teeters on the brink of all-out civil war. The rebel resistance plots against a government that rules with cruelty and cunning. Gifted student and Testing survivor Cia Vale vows to fight. But she can't do it alone. This is the chance to lead that Cia has trained for - but who will follow? Plunging through layers of danger and deception, Cia must risk the lives of those she loves - and gamble on the loyalty of her lethal classmates.

Clyde Hatchett has known he's had a corpse-king inside him, slowly trying to take over his body and raise an army of undead for a while now. And while that may seem like a rather, um, urgent matter to attend to, it's only now, after being forced out of Glaton by his best friends and then having to rescue someone's sister from a bad marriage, that he's actually in a place to deal with it. And he better deal with it quickly, since his entire left hand is starting to look like it belongs to the Crypt-Keeper.

This omnibus edition contains the trio of books that introduced the world to Mike Callahan, Jake Stonebender, Doc Webster, Mickey Finn, Fast Eddie Costigan, Long-Drink McGonnigle, Ralph Von Wau Wau, and the rest of the regulars of Callahan's Place, in the stories that helped Spider Robinson to win both a John W. Campbell Award and a legion of fans.

When a mysterious event leaves nearly every human being on the planet frozen and unaware, a desperate few will do whatever it takes to prevent the AI from controlling the fate of humanity. In New York, one of DELIO’s creators joins forces with a washed-up suicidal detective and a young film maker with a dark past, while in London convicted drug dealer Alfie is saved by an abused young woman trafficked into London – together, only they can stop DELIO. But can they do it before it’s too late?

Tian, a Cultivator at the precipice of ascension, is thwarted in her quest for immortality. Defeated, she escapes to another world with Levels, Classes, magic, and monsters. She becomes a Lost Soul. Her core begins to dwindle, but she does not abandon her goal. Working with a group of rebels in this new world, she opposes the unkillable tyrant Galgom to learn his secrets. Against his army of machines wielding laser guns and laser swords, she will cultivate her new powers, achieving Feats as she seeks her antidote: immortality.

When I found myself facing down the scariest black-magic felon in the city, practically daring him to abduct me, I had to wonder exactly how I ended up here. It all started when I accidentally landed a job as a bartender - but not at a bar. At a guild, populated by mages, sorcerers, alchemists, witches, and psychics. Good thing this lame-o human is adaptable, right? Then my favorite guild members - three sexy, powerful, and intermittently charming mages - asked for my help. Did they want access to my encyclopedic knowledge of cocktails? Oh no.

Titan was one of the nation's most loved and respected Heroes, until an infidelity scandal tore his image and family apart. After decades spent out of the limelight, Owen Daniels has decided to take up the mantle of Titan once again to try and make amends for his years away. Unfortunately, the Titan Scandal is still common knowledge, and no Hero team wants such a polarizing figure.

In Neo Babylon, your neural implant is your identity. You use it as your credit card, to surf the Altnet, to chat with friends, to login to work or school, and to be pestered by advertisements. Anyone without one is cut off from society. Nick can’t get a neural implant. That fact turns his daily life into hell, but the city's underworld has its plans for him. Being invisible to the city’s omnipresent tracking has its perks. Without a neural presence, he’s someone who is felt but not seen—a wraith.

In one of the most well-known and well-loved fantasy epics of the 20th century, Elric is the brooding, albino emperor of the dying Kingdom of Melnibone. After defeating his nefarious cousin and gaining control over the epic sword, Stormbringer, Elric, prince of ruins, must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice in a fight against Armageddon. Stormbringer is the second in Michael Moorcock’s incredible series, which has transformed the fantasy genre for generations.