Five years ago, Kelana Gardavros lost everything in the war against the Pale empire. Now Kel Garda is just another refugee living on the edge of an isolated star system. No one knows she was once a member of an Order whose military arm was disbanded and scattered across the galaxy. And no one knows that if her enemies found her, they might destroy the entire world to get rid of her. Kel’s past intrudes in the form of a long-dormant Pale war machine, suddenly reactivated. If the massive automaton isn’t stopped, at best it will carve a swath of devastation that displaces thousands of people.

The war against the AI was won but a new threat is rising. Hank Spears is content with his life as a scrapper until he unearths an artificial intelligence who warns him of a grave threat to all life in the universe. Since AI has long been outlawed and anyone caught harboring one is imprisoned or executed, the two must go on the run, fleeing into the far reaches of space. They must avoid capture, all for the sake of those who would imprison them. Looking for help from old friends to fight new enemies, Hank must find a way to save himself so that he can save the universe.

The Galactic Consensus arrived on ships as large as skyscrapers, crafted from glittering alloys that no human scientist could even begin to understand. They followed the trail of century old television transmissions to welcome us into the galactic community… only to recoil in horror at what they found.

Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city—and its darkened streets—will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity...and it isn’t always on our side.

From the ashes of a devastated Boston, a harrowing legend emerges. Thirteen years prior, the colossal kaiju, Nemesis, ravaged the city in her relentless pursuit of retribution. Today, mankind's survival teeters on the sacrificial offerings atop a chilling monolith known as The Altar, where the condemned pay the ultimate price to prevent Nemesis's wrath from consuming humanity.

After experimenting with an exploit, Vincent begins to develop new spells that will take him higher in the game than he ever thought possible. Unfortunately, he crosses paths with the last moderator, a young man named Lucas that uses his mod abilities to torture and subjugate other players. Lucas is willing to abuse his power to conquer the World-Tree, but Vincent’s exploit might just be the key to stopping him.

The Martian meets Gravity when Army Pilot Vaughn Singleton, Earth’s last man, rushes to Area 51 in search of a spaceplane after he discovers the last woman is stranded on the International Space Station and barely alive - thus beginning a race against time. The event that wiped life from the planet started at the supercollider. It created a rift in space-time. The astronaut stranded aboard the space station, Commander Angela Brown, is a theoretical physicist who used to work at the collider.

Knox wants nothing more than to escape his small-town life as a woodcutter. He finally gets his chance to delve deep into a dungeon, and his world is forever changed! When disaster strikes, even in his new life as an Adventurer, can he survive long enough to walk the mysterious Path of the Titans? In the realm of Premar, where magic is wild and unbound, rules are about to be set forth. The Path of the Titans will unlock the Titan System, forcing all magic to obey the laws and rules set forth by the powerful Titans themselves.

Dragons Riders: The last noble warriors in the realm. Only heroes can embolden the ordinary. For centuries, millennia, the Dragon Riders galvanized generation after generation, adding Riders to their ranks and birthing dragons from their eggs. But there are no more heroes. War with the Andarens is like nothing the Riders, nor the armies of Erador, have ever faced. In the place of heroes, there are only soldiers now. Fodder for the machine of war. This time of twilight is set to be the crowning hour of the dark when the light is losing its grip.

A supernatural swarm. A treacherous scheme. A tinker's apprentice may be the village's only hope. This collection includes Steamborn, Steamforged, and Steamsworn. Grab it and crank up a whimsical thrill-ride today!

Vampires and humans live side by side thanks to an uneasy peace maintained by the Assembly. As an Arbiter for the powerful organization, Miles Watson is authorized to act as judge, jury, and executioner for anyone—living or undead—who breaks the law. But now Miles is up against a threat more sinister than anything he's seen in his centuries as a vampire. A criminal network in London is offering wealthy humans the chance to become vampires without the Assembly's consent. When the process goes disastrously wrong, the Boss wants to eliminate any trace of the fiasco.

Adair Finch is the most powerful warlock in the world, and one of the best private investigators for hire. He has dealt with corporate vampires, murderous werewolves, and even fae royalty. Everything was perfect until he lost one case—the case where he also lost his brother. So Finch retired. From magic. From PI work. From everything. Bree Blackstone, a twelve-year-old witch, doesn’t know or care about any of that except Finch’s reputation. In the middle of the night, she bangs on Finch’s door. Her mother has been murdered, and now the assassin is after Bree as well.

A gunslinger with four affinities is a myth. It's the kind of story whispered in frontier saloons one drink before closing and around campfires in the dead of night. For the heroes and villains in those tales, that impossible power is a boon, a gift. For Mr. Jones, it's a curse. Of course, that's not his real name. He's had many. Changing names is necessary when you possess a power that every lawman and outlaw would kill to obtain. To survive, you keep your head down, kill when you must, and never stay in one place too long.

Colton Beck has six months to live. He works for the Angor near Los Angeles, aware that any day could be his last. The Angor arrived twenty years ago, resolved to help mankind survive, but not everyone believes their motives are honorable. When the Angor offer humanity a colony world, Colton is determined to see another planet before his final breath. He's been diagnosed with Xeno, a rare disorder that surfaced with the Angor's arrival, but he won't let this stop him.

My name is Cain Sthyldor, a former assassin for the fae. I've met Death in person, I'm cursed by Cthulhu, know a gorgon, and have a pet octopus named Fred. I may not be a wizard from Chicago, an iron druid on the run, a hot-tempered maker who hates Girl Scouts, or part of a destructive duo from New York City, but I guarantee you'll be entertained.

Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

It’s 1984, and life has changed beyond recognition. Airstrip One, formerly known as Great Britain, is a place where Big Brother is always watching, and nobody can hide. Except, perhaps, for Winston Smith. Whilst working at the Ministry of Truth, rewriting history, he secretly dreams of freedom. And in a world where love and sex are forbidden, where it’s hard to distinguish between friend and foe, he meets Julia and O’Brien and vows to rebel.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

Jazz Bashara is a criminal. Well, sort of. Life on Artemis, the first and only city on the moon, is tough if you're not a rich tourist or an eccentric billionaire. So smuggling in the occasional harmless bit of contraband barely counts, right? Not when you've got debts to pay and your job as a porter barely covers the rent. Everything changes when Jazz sees the chance to commit the perfect crime, with a reward too lucrative to turn down.

Having survived their journey into the Dark Heart, Arthur and his dragon, Brixaby, have a new goal: complete their Legendary card sets. Unfortunately, the next Legendary card is locked away in Blood Moon, a hive with a reputation for chaos, lawlessness, scourgling eruptions, and—rumor has it—dedicated dragon hunters. Still, Arthur and his retinue feel they have little to fear. Then again, they also don't have much knowledge of what actually lies ahead.

Lio Aetos is the Young Aristocrat and heir apparent to a legendary Greek sect, a prodigious talent born and bred for glory. Solus is a slave, a disgraced patrician from the fallen city of Rome with nothing to his name. They're as different as the East is from the West. Yet both of them hunger—to cast off the threads of Fate they’ve been given. To reach for a higher purpose. In this world of ruined empires and long-forgotten gods, the Young Aristocrat and the Son of Rome share an unyielding conviction.

Heath Shieldmire, written off as the "Talentless Prince," never thought his life would lead to the frontier of the Empire. With the Governor System at his command, he's the last chance for Hardhome, a settlement on the brink of collapse. But Heath won’t just cling to survival. He’s determined to turn the wasteland into a thriving town worth defending. Facing scarce resources, relentless monsters, and the political enemies that cast him aside, Heath must show he’s more than a discarded noble, he’s a Lord in his own right.

Jiran is just a child when he receives shattered, imperfect memories of a past life. Nestled inside these emotionless visions is a magic very different to the density and mana he knows, the magic of science. The empire stands alone against the relentless beasts of Madra. Their only means of survival is harnessing the density that saturates her surface, a magic they cannot possibly understand. Will Jiran realize he holds the key to unlocking humanity's infinite potential before they are all wiped out?

Herald Stone always built tank characters in every MMORPG he played. Being immortal—that was his first Goal ever, a simple childhood dream. However, the turbulent realities of life put an end to his gaming days. Years passed, and Herald Stone, now having attained success and stability, was presented with the opportunity to redeem himself...to fulfill his first Goal. Trivial? Childish? Others might think so.

The last thing Jonathan "Tilly" Tillman remembers is the thunderous crack of a flame-engulfed building collapsing as he tried to save a little girl . . . Until a system administrator offers him a new life on Nephesh, the realm where ideals, myths, and legends clash endlessly for supremacy in the hearts of men. Carrying all the trauma and regrets of his decades-long career as a first responder, Tilly must start from scratch—without a tutorial—in a system-governed universe. To make matters worse, on day one he finds himself facing off against a cosmic force bent on corrupting the entire realm.

Ah, Nyil, with its magic, its monsters, and its petty gods. A divine spat leaves French medic Viv stranded in the middle of an arcane disaster zone crawling with undead horrors. Thankfully, there are strange allies to be found, not least the mysterious interface that helps humans survive in this merciless world. Viv will have to progress fast to survive this calamity and find civilisation. She will also need a bit of luck. Unless, of course, she becomes the calamity herself. After all, luck is such a fickle thing.

Giant fireblasts tear across the earth as the Gates of Hell are ripped open. In an instant, billions are killed. Human technology becomes utterly worthless in the face of the end of the world. Fortunately for Jaco, he barely survives the opening act of the Apocalypse. Unfortunately for him, he has to live through what comes next. Those who died in the initial blast are reincarnated as undead monsters. Massive fiery pits swallow up the center of every major city across the world.

The son of a billionaire tech entrepreneur, Logan Specter spends his time—and his family's wealth—on artistic and altruistic pursuits. His indulgences have produced a pile of paintings and a string of failed charities. A rebel without a cause who defies his father's corporatist lifestyle while benefiting from the privileges it affords him, Logan lacks true ambition, unable to commit himself to his own potential. The only things in his life giving him any direction are his girlfriend, Freya, and her unconditional love.

Everyone becomes prey when Earth is swallowed up and transmuted to a bestial landscape, the first stage of induction into Elysium's multiverse and a new galaxy in the making. In the blink of any eye, the bloodthirsty creatures of Riven Thane's worst nightmares are unleashed as he; his sister, Allie; and his friend Jose scramble amid the carnage to live another hour. But on this nothing of a planet, Riven is more special than he knows. He's among a select few with a singular bloodline, and the Elysium system has its eye on Riven in particular.

Extreme sub-zero temperatures suffocate the surface. Frozen structures of bygone eras span across massive ice-wastes. And the survivors closely guard any technology rediscovered within them. The only escape from the deadly climate is beneath the surface, but that doesn't mean it's safe... Monstrous machines lurk in the depths. Unhinged demigods war against them, dying over and over, treating it all like a game. The depths themselves shift over time, more contraption than rock.

Nick was going to make something of himself. He was not going to be just another guy drifting through life. Then he died. Lucky for him he caught the attention of an eccentric god and gets to choose: reincarnation or travel beyond. Nick is reborn as a champion of Ki’darth people. He must learn their ways, stay alive, and work to understand the Titan system, one level at a time.

In the not too distant future, dinosaurs rule the world. Alan is deposited in a grassy field with all signs of humanity replaced. A few hundred of his peers are given a loincloth, spear, a few tools, and a mission: to integrate and survive... if they're not eaten first.

Karna was just like any other comic book fan. He dreamed of fighting alongside colourful heroes and taking down dastardly villains. In Titan Online, the most popular VR MMORPG going, he finally got the chance to live out his cape-donning fantasies. That is, right up until he was killed by the game’s number one ‘hero’. A man who serves only himself in a constant grind for money, fame and adoration. Forced to start from scratch due the harsh game mechanics, Karna finds a new mission: bringing balance back to Titan Online.

The Resistance has won, but it was Pyrrhic victory. With Sanctuary in flames and Nova missing, it's up to Magnus to turn the tides of war against the Legatus. But will it be enough? Amid this turmoil, Ubiquity Prime's subjugation fleet steadily approaches Kelruhn, promising total annihilation. Up against the greatest foes of his life, Magnus must lead his meager forces in a war where failure is not an option, and the fate of two worlds hinges on the actions of one man.