Apocalyptic Fantasy

Dungeons suddnly popped up across the planet, summoning invaders and monsters from alternate realities. Ancient gods slumbering beneath the Earth were woken. And all humans were empowered with Levels and Classes gained by, among other things, killing monsters and other humans.

Hugh Howey is known for crafting riveting and immersive tales of boundless imagination. Now comes Machine Learning, an impressive collection of Howey's science fiction and fantasy short fiction, including three stories set in the world of Wool, two never-before-published tales written exclusively for this volume, and 15 additional stories collected here for the first time. These stories explore everything from artificial intelligence to parallel universes to video games, and each story is accompanied by an author's note.

Killing the sadistic warlord known as the Dog Tongue took everything Gus Berry had, including the woman he loved. Now, all he wants is to get away from the bloody scene of their final showdown. But when he heads west in a stolen truck, a brutal snowstorm forces him to turn back—and seek refuge in the Dog Tongue’s former headquarters. Though it’s littered with human carnage, the abandoned luxury hotel has a lot to offer a guy like Gus. But in addition to soft beds and working toilets, he encounters still-lurking dangers both living and undead.

It begins with cicadas. It will end with the swarm. When a bizarre murder case lands on the desk of Detective Vicky Paterson, it's just the start of her nightmare. On the same day, her young daughter, Sadie, is swarmed by cicadas emerging off-cycle from their seventeen-year pattern. Sadie barely survives, and her condition is critical. Across town, Will and Alicia, two dysfunctional private investigators, are on the trail of a missing girl and the shadowy cult involved in her disappearance.

The long years of near-utopia have come to an abrupt end. Peace and order are now figments of the past. Corruption, deception, and insurgency humwithin the once steadfast leadership of the Hives, nations without fixed location.

The secret location of the Vanguard Islands is no longer a secret … Tired from years of fighting, Xavier passes the crown to a younger Hell Diver, Kade Long, and then sets off on the Sea Wolf with Magnolia to find Michael and his family. But the journey will push them both to their limit. On the damaged airship Vanguard, Michael and crew are running out of water and must dive to a new location before attempting the perilous voyage across the Atlantic to a new home.

Working at the local processing plant, Marcos is in the business of slaughtering humans - though no one calls them that anymore. His wife has left him, his father is sinking into dementia, and Marcos tries not to think too hard about how he makes a living. After all, it happened so quickly. First, it was reported that an infectious virus has made all animal meat poisonous to humans. Then governments initiated the "Transition". Now, eating human meat - "special meat" - is legal. Marcos tries to stick to numbers, consignments, processing.

The scattered worlds of the Elara's Veil nebula were once protected by the oath of unity sworn by three mighty Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. The Star Scorpions were undone by flaws in their genetic coding. The Celestial Lions were ravaged by the Inquisition for sins they did not commit. Now, after hundreds of years, only the Emperor's Spears still keep their vigil. They are barbarian watchmen against the Outer Dark, bloodied but unbroken in their long duty.

Melanie is a very special girl. Dr. Caldwell calls her "our little genius". Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She thinks they don't like her. She jokes that she won't bite, but they don't laugh. Melanie loves school. She loves learning about spelling and sums and the world outside the classroom and the children's cells. She tells her favorite teacher all the things she'll do when she grows up.

The cabin had always been a special retreat for Isherwood Williams, a haven from the demands of society. But one day while hiking, Ish was bitten by a rattlesnake, and the solitude he had so desired took on dire new significance. Ish headed home when he finally felt himself again—and noticed the strangeness almost immediately. No cars passed him on the road; the gas station not far from his cabin looked abandoned; and he was shocked to see the body of a man on the roadside near a small town. Without a radio or phone, Ish had no idea of humanity’s abrupt demise.

For dinosaurs, it was a big rock. For humans: Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). When the Earth is hit by the greatest CME in recorded history (several times larger than the Carrington Event of 1859), the combined societies of the planet's most developed nations struggle to adapt to a life thrust back into the Dark Ages. In the United States, the military scrambles to speed the nation's recovery on multiple fronts including putting down riots, establishing relief camps, delivering medical aid, and bringing communication and travel back on line. Just as a real foothold is established in retaking the skies (utilizing existing commercial aircraft supplemented by military resources and ground control systems), a mysterious virus takes hold of the population, spreading globally over the very flight routes that the survivors fought so hard to rebuild.

Accused of domestic terrorism, Emilio Vega was on his way to a Department of Global Security death camp when the mega-quake hit. The streets beneath his transport vehicle buckled, tossing the van in the air like a toy. He survived the crash, but the world is now in ruins. However, for a condemned man, this disaster may be just the lucky break he needed. Emilio has been left behind! Six detainees were in the van prior to the quake. However, only Emilio and one other prisoner were still around when he regained consciousness.

Boxford High pranksters cause a chemistry lab to go wrong and students are forced to face something far worse than S.A.T.’s and cafeteria lunches - an infection that turns students into zombies scouring the halls for survivors. A group of unlikely companions; an artistic goth, star-athlete jock, disgruntled loner, would-be marine, sassy cheerleader, and angry Asian, must fend off the living dead. As they fight through locker rooms and dance their way across the theater, they will find surviving zombies is more complicated than puberty.

When Sean is called upon to enter a Nebula Challenge to save his new home, he doesn't exactly leap into the opportunity. But knowing that he's humanity's best chance at salvation and with loose ends to tie up in terms of Eike's dad, he chooses to once again go into the chaos with Aggi and Jeff. Instead of a simple challenge that he can understand, Sean finds himself caught in the rapid deterioration of the system as he knew it.

Not too long from today, a new, highly contagious virus makes its way across the globe. Most who get sick experience nothing worse than flu, fever, and headaches. But for the unlucky one percent - and nearly five million souls in the United States alone - the disease causes "Lock In": Victims fully awake and aware, but unable to move or respond to stimulus. The disease affects young, old, rich, poor, people of every color and creed. The world changes to meet the challenge.

Shana wakes up one morning to discover her little sister in the grip of a strange malady. She appears to be sleepwalking. She cannot talk and cannot be woken up. And she is heading with inexorable determination to a destination that only she knows. But Shana and her sister are not alone. Soon, they are joined by a flock of sleepwalkers from across America, on the same mysterious journey. And like Shana, there are other "shepherds" who follow the flock to protect their friends and family on the long dark road ahead.

A magic apocalypse. A new world. Elves, orcs, dragons. And at the center of it all: the Dragon Mage. Earth is doomed and mankind has been exiled to Overworld, a strange world ruled by the Trials. Jamie Sinclair is a young man with unique gifts, and it falls to him to find a way for humanity to survive Earth’s destruction and build a new home in Overworld. Can Jamie save mankind? The Trials is no game. Join Jamie as he struggles through its brutal challenges while wrestling with his new magics and Overworld’s game-like dynamics.

In the middle of the coldest winter on record, a super EMP destroys the power grid. No electricity. No cars or phones. Worst of all, no heat. The country is plunged into instant chaos. But for 26-year-old Hannah Sheridan, it's the best day of her life. For the last five years, she's been held captive by a sadistic psychopath, until the EMP releases the lock of her prison. Hannah emerges from her underground cell into a hostile winter landscape with no way to call for help, no vehicle that will drive, armed with nothing but the clothes on her back and her own determination to survive.

Ransom and Britt attempt to settle into a new life, but a dreadful threat is constantly hanging over their heads. The settlers in Tucson know their time is limited. An invasion is underway. Peggy is adamant they can destroy the Glass, but it will take a trip to another time and place to ensure it remains off. Cedric, under a cloud of doubt, must decide where his true allegiance leans. There is hope—a military base with something that could change the tides of their future. No one seems to have remembered the base exists, but they search for their salvation.

When Lilith lyapo wakes from a centuries-long sleep, she finds herself aboard the vast spaceship of the Oankali. She discovers that the Oankali—a seemingly benevolent alien race—intervened in the fate of the humanity hundreds of years ago, saving everyone who survived a nuclear war from a dying, ruined Earth and then putting them into a deep sleep. After learning all they could about Earth and its beings, the Oankali healed the planet, cured cancer, increased human strength, and they now want Lilith to lead her people back to Earth—but salvation comes at a price.