Fantasy World

Humanity is not extinct. It's the calm before the storm and the complacent survivors are ill prepared as the sleeping world is about to get a wake up call. Nowhere is safe. Nowhere will ever be.

Humanity is facing its greatest crisis yet, and there is only one frontier left for them to explore. Join John as he travels through time and space, though not together, to save all that he holds dear. There may also be a good deal of escaping reality involved as well. You have been warned!

Today’s fans of science fiction and fantasy have an appetite for stories that address a wide variety of voices, perspectives, and styles. There is an openness to experiment and pushing boundaries, combined with the classic desire to hear about spaceships and dragons, future technology and ancient magic, and the places where they intersect. With a diverse selection of stories chosen by series editor John Joseph Adams and Diana Gabaldon, The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2020 explores the ever-expanding and changing world of SFF today.

The Dungeon Beckons. The Secrets Deepen. Kaiden believed he was prepared for the dangers of dungeon diving—until he found himself in one he was never meant to enter. Dragged into a high-risk dungeon far beyond his level, Kaiden must fight to survive against deadly trials, powerful foes, and the shifting agendas of those around him. But the challenges he faces extend far beyond the dungeon itself. As new opportunities and greater dangers emerge, the real question isn’t just whether he’ll make it through—but how far he can rise if he does. With danger lurking behind every corner and ...

Consumed by guilt over the accidental death of his daughter’s husband and child, a disabled veteran, John Sheridan leaves Florida and returns to his small town in the Black Hills of South Dakota to finalize the sale of a remote mountain cabin once shared with his wife. With his vision failing, he now believes this will be the last time he will see it and get to enjoy the biggest motorcycle rally in the world. But when a dirty-looking local teenage girl seeking safety breaks in and the power goes out, he learns a disturbing story and must decide whose survival matters more.

Every night, I cross the Barrier to the demon realm to sling drinks at Hell on Earth, a bar on the edge of Darktown. I've always been fascinated by demons. It's a fascination I've never quite learned to control, and it just might get me killed. One fateful night, a darkly handsome, not-quite-human patron grabs my arm, leaving a magical mark burnt into my skin. Determined to find out what the mark means, I do the unthinkable: I venture alone into the demon realm. What I discover is terrifying.

Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of gold for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light. Meanwhile, far to the west, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat living in an idyllic mountain village with her adoptive family. But everything changes during one of their performances when they is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon.

For Franny, the end of everything is just the beginning of her adventure. The world as we know it is no more. Cities are mobile. Electricity is rare. Reading is a relic of the past. After an explosive encounter with a mysterious stranger, Franny, a 14-year-old orphan girl, embarks on an epic quest to find the mysterious pilots who steer the cities, hoping that if she finds them, she will get answers about her family's past - and the world's future.

Liam Chapman cannot believe his good fortune. He just bought a real, working time machine at a garage sale for $3. Sure, it’s labeled “World’s Worst Time Machine,” but how bad could it be? The time machine, as it turns out, is so much worse than Liam could have imagined. First, it summons Thomas Edison, but not that Thomas Edison. This Thomas Edison is a 10-year-old aspiring gangster from 1933 who demands to be called “Tommy Twinkles” and is also very interested in robbing a bank of the future.

Sandweaver is the sequel to the twistingly enjoyable Tau Ceti, first installment of the Forgotten Colony series. Readers receive some much awaited answers to questions raised in book 1. Yet as the drama grows, so does the grand mystery of the abandoned world. Tau Ceti 4 does not want to be reclaimed. The planet itself rebels against another proposed intrusion by human colonists. Mission security officer Kenzo Jaxson is now in survival mode. He must rely on his new friend the young desert witch Ciassi, to find the answers that may enable him to return to the solar system. Old friend turned ...

The unexpected happens in an instant. On her way to work, secretary Docia Waverley hurtles into a crashing crossroads, and she quickly begins to suspect that things will never be the same. Then, when a tall, blond, muscular stranger intervenes on her behalf, telling her it is his duty to protect her at all cost, what is just a feeling turns to proof positive. That is, as long as Docia's savior doesn't turn out to be a crazed kidnapper.... When Ram finds Docia, he has no doubt that she is his queen.

Lily Yu is a San Diego police detective investigating a series of grisly murders that appear to be the work of a werewolf. To hunt down the killer, she must infiltrate the clans. Only one man can help her - a were named Rule Turner, a prince of the lupi, whose charismatic presence disturbs Lily. Rule has his own reasons for helping the investigation - reasons he doesn't want to share with Lily. Logic and honor demand she keep her distance, but the attraction between them is immediate and devastating - and beyond human reason.

Adelaide—heiress to the wealthiest man in the Ceithren Empire—has felt a void since her sister's death. Just as she's resigned herself to the empty life her father chose for her, a relic from a world that shouldn't exist plunges her into chaos. Clark—son of the greatest terrorist the empire has ever known—is still reeling from his father's death. Since then, his life has boiled down to two things: his brothers and his next mission. When his mission to bring back a mystical artifact goes awry, he's forced to choose between getting the job done and saving the life of a spoiled socialite.

Varg is getting to know this world, and he likes it more and more, despite the dangers lurking around every corner. But what if the gnomes make an incursion and take everything and anything away to their world, including humans, whom they consider fair game? This book will include new tasks and new worlds into which the System will throw him. For example, a world inhabited by abominable snakes, or an elven world in which Varg will receive a valuable prize. Also appearing in our world will be necromancers.

Viv just wants work—any work. Well, not quite any work. But she's desperate enough to accept a job offer as personal assistant to Jasper Renner—the rich and mysterious owner of the Renner Tea House—even though odd things happen whenever he's around. She expects to deal with rich, entitled Melbournians and a full business schedule. Instead, Viv finds herself following Jasper into a strange new world where a murderous madman has been incarcerated in a secret floor at the old Kew Asylum that may or may not exist in the human world as she knows it.

Broken...Sold...Enslaved... Alistar trained from birth to fight for humanity, only to receive a unique class that's locked upon entering the dungeon. He has five years of fighting ahead of him with no way to level up and gain new skills. But when humanity falls, he quickly learns to only trust his familiar, Kale. The one perk of his class that he can use is rapid healing. Turns out, that's a curse in disguise when he's sold to the arena to fight to the death. Locked away...broken...defeated. His only dream is to see the sun again, but to do that, he must kill all those in his way and break ...

A dead man's quest is never over. Zane Lucas inherits more than his wildest dreams from a man he's never met. The same week, a mysterious cluster of drones appears before him during a random border patrol. Who sent them in the first place? Earth's alliance with the Gral is on the brink of collapse. The forty-three colonies are under duress, and an unknown entity is coming for them.

Twelve months after his change, Alec MacAidan is still getting used to his many vampire talents. While most vampires would give anything to have more than one supernatural power, Alec craves nothing more than peace and time alone with Cronin. But when Alec meets entities from outside this realm, he's left powerless in their presence. Zoan are half-lycan, half-dragon creatures that have slipped through time and reality, seemingly undetected by man and vampire. Or have they?

It has been a year and a half of living with the System. Jason and his friends are not just surviving, but are preparing for the future. Thanks to a new quest, they are establishing a kingdom in the former southwest portion of the United States. They are trying to protect humanity wherever possible and build a kingdom to defend their part of the world.

Thirteen-year-old Ethan should be practicing his skateboard moves, not watching his family members die, one by one. He knows he could become a victim of the evil infection at any minute. Scared and alone, he fills his backpack and goes in search of other survivors, hoping he lives long enough to find someone. Anyone.