Science Fiction Anthology Short Stories

When a storm reveals a mysterious cave behind a waterfall, the young mystic’s apprentice and her wolf investigate. Inside, she discovers a secret place containing a pile of human bones and the young girl makes what could be a fatal mistake. In this Legends of the First Empire prequel, we witness the events that helped shape the woman who would one day become Suri the Mystic, the first Rhune Artist, and a hero to a generation

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.

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.

Santa. Zombies. The HOA. Life in the suburbs isn’t all birthday parties and bounce houses.

"Superiority" was first published in the August 1951 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. 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.

Adventure calls! Reality and fantasy finally collide when a new member joins Azure's party. A dangerous encounter with a mimic makes him think twice about touching large chests. And learning magic proves to be a bigger pain than he could have ever imagined. The adventure continues in books 4-6 of the popular LitRPG series The Realm Between!

If you’re a fan of fiction that is more than just black and white, this latest story collection from number-one New York Times best-selling author George R. R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R. R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.

An anthology celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Predator franchise, If It Bleeds includes 17 brand new, never-before-seen or heard stories featuring the Predators throughout space and time. Based entirely on the original films, novels, and comics, Predator: If It Bleeds reveals the Predators stalking prey in 12th-century Japan, ninth-century Viking Norway, World War I, Vietnam, the Civil War, Hurricane Katrina, and the modern day, as well as across the far reaches of future space.

"Before Eden" was first published in the June 1961 issue of Amazing. 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.

Viewed by many as the greatest science fiction writer on any planet, Philip K. Dick has written some of the most intriguing, original, and thought-provoking fiction of our time. This collection includes "The Minority Report," "We Can Remember It For You Wholesale," "Paycheck," "Second Variety," and "The Eyes Have It."

Julian never thought that graduating from the Ironfist Academy would be the easy part. He returns to his ancestral manor and is greeted by crumbling walls, growing debts, and a father who’s conveniently disappeared. To top it all off, someone is intent on making his new role as lord of the estate as difficult as possible. Armed with magic and a purpose, Julian must juggle the ancient art of estate management. Luckily, he's not alone.

One minute I’m in a tree, pointing my camera at a tiger, the next I’m on my back in a medieval fantasy world, while a skittish blonde hovers over me, hoping I’m not dead. I’ve never felt more alive.

In a Tibetan lamasery, the monks seek to list all of the names of God. They believe the Universe was created for this purpose, and that once this naming is completed, God will bring the Universe to an end. Three centuries ago, the monks created an alphabet in which they calculated they could encode all the possible names of God, numbering about 9,000,000,000 ("nine billion") and each having no more than nine characters. They rent a computer capable of printing all the possible permutations, and hire two Westerners to install and program the machine.

"Superiority" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1951. It depicts an arms race, and shows how the side which is more technologically advanced can be defeated, despite its apparent superiority, because of its own organizational flaws and its willingness to discard old technology without having fully perfected the new.

What if the world's society as you know it fractured? We call it civilization – a sturdy house built of habit, law, and the quiet consensus of generations. Its walls are papered with sacred norms, its foundations sunk deep in shared belief. But what happens when that bedrock shatters, not with a single quake, but through the insidious creep of new ideas, unforeseen scarcities, or the chilling dawn of intelligences that judge their creators? The paper shreds. The foundations liquefy. The scaffolding of our days collapses into bewildering ruin.

"Armaments Race" is a science fiction short story by Arthur C. Clarke, first published in 1954, and later anthologized in Tales from the White Hart. Purvis tells of Hollywood special effects man Solly Blumberg, who is hired to create mock weapons as set pieces for a science-fiction serial named "Captain Zoom". Blumberg becomes involved in an arms race as he creates increasingly elaborate weapons for both the protagonist and his adversaries, until he accidentally creates a functional weapon and "makes the studio disappear".

"Into the Comet" is a science fiction short story by British writer Arthur C. Clarke. It was originally published in Fantasy & Science Fiction in October 1960. It is one of several stories by many science fiction authors in which problems are solved by reverting to 'primitive' technology. The story was also published as "Inside the Comet".

Dave has been wandering through life for a long time. His day job bores him, and he never seems to be able to meet his family's expectations. The only escape he's ever had is his love of MMORPGs. But when he becomes the subject of a test without even knowing it, he's transported into a game-world called Eloria with no escape.

New York Times best seller, master-class alternate historian, and creator of the Ring of Fire saga Eric Flint delivers an explosion of tales filled with well-turned action, wit, and wonder.

In a post-apocalyptic America, range rider Deaver Teague is trying to get to the town of Moab to replace his dead horse. Along the way, he's picked up by the Aal family’s pageant wagon. When Deaver decides to help them set up their next show, he becomes embroiled in a family crisis.

This story is included in Orson Scott Card's collection The Folk of the Fringe.