Fantasy Short Fiction

We have always fought. War is the furnace that forges new technologies and pushes humanity ever onward. We are the children of a battle that began with fists and sticks, and ended on the brink of atomic Armageddon. Beyond here lies another war, infinite in scope and scale. But who will fight the wars of tomorrow?

The Sentinel was first published in the spring 1951 issue of 10 Story Fantasy. It later served as the starting point for the film and novel, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

More than a hundred years into the future, as the US approaches its 400th anniversary, Tomas, a young graduate student, searches for the real identity of one of the cyborgs that maintained American homes. He has been haunted for years by an audio clip of a cyborg named Felipe and is intent on writing Felipe’s biography. In the clip, Felipe can only recite that he was made in America, but Tomas must find out: Where was the Self-made Man really from?

When the UN invaded the Freehold of Grainne, the intent was simple: Force a noncompliant star nation back into the collective. What the politicians hadn't accounted for was that the Freehold had spent 200 years as the haven for every independent, rebellious, self-reliant adventurer in human space. Its military are scattered remnants, its bases smoking ruins, its cities occupied. But Grainne and its space habitats have resources beyond measure.

Here is a story that goes beyond space and time. Isaac Asimov takes on a journey that explores the ultimate fate of the universe, along with the question, what will become of the human race? So take a journey into the outer twilight of your mind. Turn off the light, sit back and relax, close your eyes, and enter the infinite universe of your imagination.

"The Red House”, a story by Robert McCammon, was originally published in the 1985 anthology Greystone Bay and was selected for inclusion in The Year's Best Fantasy Stories 1985.

Imagine if you will, you have been underground during the day, and when you come up the world has changed. There is a man hanging from a telephone pole right on Main Street, and no one seems to notice or if they do, they don't indeed care. Life appears otherwise normal, but is it? Who do you tell? Who can you tell? Or is anything really wrong? Philip K. Dick takes us into that nightmare where we run and things seen so real, but perhaps you are the one that is confused.

"The First Kill" is a bit of backstory for the universe of The Shadow Campaigns. The Shadow Throne implies a connection between Andreas, Duke Orlanko's brutally efficient go-to killer, and Sothe, the Gray Rose, his best agent turned bitter enemy. In this story, we get to see these two at an earlier point in their careers, and take a look at how that relationship got started.

A princess flees a cruel tyrant only to face an enigmatic alien in Thornwood Marsh. Known evil or monstrous mystery? Her daring choice will shape her destiny. Princess Rosalind, on the brink of a coerced union with a cruel tyrant, fled into the heart of Thornwood Marsh. Pursued by relentless knights, her heart raced with fear and uncertainty. But instead of finding sanctuary amidst the murky shadows, she encountered a monstrous alien. Now, confronted with a choice between the known evil of her impending marriage and the enigmatic creature, she faces an uncertain future. Buy now to escape to...

More than 50 years after publishing his first story, Hugo Award-winning author Asimov remains one of the great names in science fiction. Almost single-handedly he transformed the field from the romantic and Gothic legacy of Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs into the rational, clear-minded genre that exists today. This selection of some of Asimov's most enduring and unforgettable stories is read by the author himself. These vintage tales encompass the full range of Asimov's versatility, while displaying his puckish sense of humor.

Fearful Rock and Other Precarious Locales is the third volume of Night Shade Books' five volume "Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman." This volume is made up of eight novella length stories. It includes Wellman's "Judge Pursivant" and "Sergeant Jaeger" stories, as well as a lost classic from Strange Stories (1939).

Society runs smoothly because a secret team adjusts it, stepping in occasionally to bring about changes by adjusting people and their attitudes unbeknownst to them. As you can imagine timing is of the utmost importance, because if one individual is not adjusted, that sets the whole thing out of balance.

A classic tale featuring two of the most-memorable characters in sword and sorcery, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Over a span of 50 years, the late Fritz Leiber wrote dozens of adventures, set in the fictional city of Lankhmar, featuring the seven-foot-tall barbarian and the diminuitive thief. The stories were recognized with both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.

While humans lost their knowledge of magic and monsters, the Ironwoods have been fighting against evil for centuries. While gods, fae, and magicians turned into tall tales and ghost stories, the Ironwoods became the stuff of legends themselves. Now, with Morrigan’s Generals free again in the world, the Ironwoods are going to need all their training—and their new fae brothers—to stop them. This box set collects all four stories of the Ironwood women as they get into plenty of trouble, slay their enemies, and find true love.

Space pirates! Words that conjure up rousing tales of adventure, derring-do, brave heroes battling the scurvy vermin of the galaxy. Those vermin have taken to pillaging cargo ships and, even worse, space liners, relieving the helpless passengers of their valuables, and worse with the comely women passengers, then spacing the lot - unless one or more of the aforementioned brave heroes arrive in the nick of time, and turn the tables, making the spaceways safe again for the innocent and helpless.

Emma Chavet and her father are winemakers who stubbornly cling to the old ways. But when an unwelcome offer comes to buy their business, they must face the new realities of a Green society. This story was originally published in the Audie Award-winning METAtropolis: Cascadia.

The only thing Benji lacks more than ambition is luck. And his new job has to be the lowest of the low. But something is stirring in the zero-footprint economy of New St. Louis. And Benji’s about to find himself chin deep in the muck! This story was originally published in the Hugo Award-nominated METAtropolis.

Experience the bundle of the first three volumes from the series Rise of the Weakest Summoner in one go! Jump straight into the vast world of Kraedorion and multiple other realms to explore them alongside Asterios and his adventuring party as they discover more about him and his life!

Spell-slinger. Vampire-slayer. Magical albino ferret-rescuer. Meet Jacqueline Denna Knight, the best wizard detective in the city. Jax turns vampires to ash and pain into magic. She also has a knack for finding things. So, when a distraught - and obscenely wealthy - elf calls Jax at midnight to hire her for an intriguing job, she grabs the opportunity with both hands. But what Jax doesn’t know is that this case is going to unravel her life.