Contemporary Science Fiction

Adam Binder has the Sight. It’s a power that runs in his bloodline: the ability to see beyond this world and into another, a realm of magic populated by elves, gnomes, and spirits of every kind. Years after his brother Bobby had him committed to a psych ward, Adam is ready to come to grips with who he is, to live his life on his terms, to find love, and maybe even use his magic to do some good. Hoping to track down his missing father, Adam follows a trail of cursed artifacts to Denver, only to discover that an ancient and horrifying spirit has taken possession of Bobby’s wife.

Once upon a time, there was a forgotten era of magic and monster. But the remnants—and all memory—of the old world have been replaced by the sane, the scientific, and the rational. But sometimes the magical past isn’t content to stay past. That’s where Jack Damian comes in. It’s his joy to protect our present from the supernatural remnants of an earlier time, a different history. It’s his job to make the past safe. Jack is called to the Tate Museum, where dozens of people have disappeared beneath the surface of a painting.

A walk around the block, a quick drive, before shutting down your PC ? these short story collections are perfect for when you only have a few minutes to listen."

The last in a proud line of witches, he’s come to test his small magic in the big city. Stealing enchanted artifacts pays the rent, but the competition is fierce. And handsome. And great at magic too.

Welcome to Newford: to the music clubs, the waterfront, and the alleyways where ancient myths and magic spill into the modern world. Gemmins live in abandoned cars and skells traverse the tunnels below, while mermaids swim in the gray harbor waters and fill the cold night with their song. Come meet Jilly, painting wonders in the rough city streets; and Geordie, playing fiddle while he dreams of a ghost; and the Angel of Grasso Street gathering the fey and the wild and the poor and the lost.

Crafting the first-ever Mythic-Grade piece of equipment should have made Sal a Legend. Instead, it might end up getting him killed. That's what happens when you use the most coveted demonic material known to man… to build an attack drone. Secrets are piling up, and Sal is tired of hiding his abilities. If he wants to live without fear, individual power won't be enough. It's time to establish the guild. Sal has the headquarters and the funds. All he needs are the right people to bring them up the rankings.

Ezri would give up her magic to solve her mother’s murder. When a series of brutal murders lands in her lap, newly-minted Detective Ezri Trenton sets out to prove to herself and her mundane partner she can handle the investigation. The deeper she digs; the more evidence mounts that dark magic is behind the killings. Ezri knows traditional police work won’t be enough to stop the spree, but she can’t risk revealing the magical world. As the clock ticks ever closer to the Vernal Equinox and the prophecy that’s plagued her since childhood, Ezri must greet her destiny head on.

A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by New York Times bestselling author of the Silo series Hugh Howey and series editor John Joseph Adams. “These are dangerous stories. The kind that warp reality and threaten to change the world” warns guest...

Harry Potter lives in a world that is both magical and historical. Hogwarts pupils ride an old-fashioned steam train to school, notes are taken on parchment with quill pens, and Muggle legends come to life in the form of werewolves, witches, and magical spells. This book is the first to explore the real history in which Harry's world is rooted. Did you know that bezoars and mandrakes were fashionable luxury items for centuries? Find out how Europeans first developed the potions, spells, and charms taught at Hogwarts, from Avada Kedavra to love charms.

The Youngbloods are a mafia-like demon family, sent as a sinister advance team to prepare Earth for an infernal invasion. But when something goes wrong, the demon invasion never comes and the Youngbloods are stuck on crappy Earth with the worst creatures in the world—each other. Petra Youngblood is the family’s hunter. Her job: to track and kill the annual human sacrifice that keeps the Youngbloods immortal. Otherwise, they will crumble to dust. But as Petra is hunting down this year’s sacrifice, a man named Killian Irons, she breaks the first demonic rule.

Violet has one job: protect humans from dangerous magical creatures. It's a job she's good at - until the cute human guy whose life she just saved follows her into the fae world. Now she's broken faerie law, risking her future at the Guild of Guardians. She needs to get Nate home and make him forget everything he's discovered. If only someone wasn't intent on hunting him down.

When alien warrior Kozien Lorrz left behind life as the heir to his planet's throne to run a team that hunts down missing things, his father swore he'd make him regret the decision. According to the king, leaving his duties behind was a mistake, and taking his brothers was an act of treason. Now, with business dwindling, Kozien is forced to send a message into the universe that his team is offering a pro-bono case—a move that could draw in new clients or alert their father to their whereabouts.

When bizarre magical disappearances disrupt shows around the city, Esther receives a mysterious warning not to go on with her off-Broadway show. Desperate to stay on stage rather than resort to waiting tables, Esther turns to her new BFF, Dr. Maximillian Zadok, a 350-year-old mage whose day job is protecting New York from Evil. Determined to get to the bottom of this mystery without losing her job, Esther and Max team up with a conjuring cowboy, a banker with stage aspirations, and a flock of fearless drag queens.

The Earth is dying. Humanity - over-breeding, over-consuming - is destroying the very planet they call home. Multinational corporations despoil the environment, market genetically modified crops to control the food supply, and use their wealth and influence and private armies to crush anything, and anyone, that gets in the way of their profits. Nothing human can stop them. But something unhuman might. Once they did not fear the sun. Once they could breathe the air and sleep where they chose.

A call from a distraught wife, and another from Lt. Murphy of the Chicago PD Special Investigation Unit makes Harry believe things are looking up, but they are about to get worse, much worse. Someone is harnessing immense supernatural forces to commit a series of grisly murders. Someone has violated the first law of magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. Tracking that someone takes Harry into the dangerous underbelly of Chicago, from mobsters to vampires....

Ryn Tyler didn't intend to kill a demon when she moved to Eagle Valley - or to become the hero of a divine race of angels. She just wants to be a normal teenager, but fate has other plans. As she prepares to attend Galen High, a magical school for angels, Ryn navigates a complicated relationship with Marek, the guy who can't stop saving her life. But Marek knows more about Ryn's magic than he's letting on. Only Ryn has the power to stop this age-old war. But there's a demon in Eagle Valley who wants that power for himself - and if Ryn wants to survive, she'll have to fight back.

Working as a quality-assurance grunt in the gaming industry sounds like fun, right? You get to play the coolest new games before anyone else. And all you have to do is to find, reproduce, and report bugs before the last pixel is locked in and the games are launched to an eager public. Sure, there’s the unpaid overtime, the office politics, and the ever-present threat of layoffs. But you get to game!

Something is happening to Morgan that she doesn’t understand. She sees things, feels things in a new way. She can do things normal people can’t do. Powerful things. Magical things. And it scares her. She never chose to learn witchcraft, but she’s starting to wonder if witchcraft is choosing her.

Daniel Carter was a London cop who just wanted to do the right thing. But during a raid on an organ-selling chop shop, he is almost torn to pieces by monsters. And no one believes him. Hurt and crippled, his career over, and his life in ruins, Daniel is suddenly presented with a chance at redemption. And revenge. It seems that more than two centuries ago, the monsters of the world disappeared - into the underworld of crime. Guild-like clans now have control over all the dark and illegal trades.

After a victory that came at too high of a cost, Ryn's sacrifices have paid off. Ryn has awakened Grace, the Davina who's prophesied to save them all...but she's not what Ryn expected. From the start, Ryn knows Grace is keeping secrets. But it's worse than she originally feared, for Grace is hiding something that could mean the end of the world. Ryn decides she has to discover the truth - even as war erupts in Eagle Valley. Everything Ryn thought she knew about the magical world is wrong, but somehow, she and her friends have to make it right again.