Contemporary Science Fiction

The city is abuzz with an international sorcerer's conference, and the mayor is cracking down hard on anything that might make him look bad. But Vince is out to get that bag. That means fulfilling his enforcer contract for the mob, police crackdown be damned.

Jack was told that, one day, he'd have to fight to protect what he and the others have built. That day just knocked on his door and said it was time to retire. Men representing a real-world corporation have shown up in the game, and they are all but demanding Jack sell All Trades, Inc. for a fraction of what it's worth. Not realizing how big his operation is, Jack has to figure out who they are and what they're planning before they realize just how much he's worth...and what he has to lose.

An unabridged audio collection spotlighting the "best of the best" hard science fiction stories published in 2016 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster, as narrated by top voice talents.

Clive Barker has made his mark on modern fiction by exposing all that is surreal and magical in the ordinary world - and exploring the profound and overwhelming terror that results. With its volatile mix of the fantastical and the contemporary, the everyday and the otherworldly, Weaveworld is an epic work of dark fantasy and horror - a tour de force from one of today's most forceful and imaginative artists.

For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats small and large - and, in some cases, very, very large. Now, join us as MHI opens their archives for the first time. From experienced hunters on their toughest cases, to total newbies' initial encounters with the supernatural, The Monster Hunter Files reveals the secret history of the world's most elite monster fighting force.

FitzChevalerie, l'assassin royal, vient tout juste d'arracher l'héritier ou trône des Six-Duchés, le prince Devoir, des griffes de la famille Pie. Reprenant son identité d'emprunt de Tom Blaireau, Fitz aspire enfin au repos : pour clarifier sa relation avec Jinna, la sorcière des Haies ; pour voir grandir Heur, son fils adoptif ; et pour pleurer la mort de son compagnon de toujours, le loup œil-de-nuit. Hélas, les fiançailles annoncées du prince Devoir avec la Narcheska Elliania vont brusquement réclamer toute son attention.

Initiateur de la fuite de Kettricken, d'Umbre et du Fou, laissé pour mort et enterré, FitzChevalerie ne doit son salut qu'à sa maîtrise du Vif. Plus loup que jamais, il n'a plus qu'une ambition: se venger du prince Royal. C'est ainsi qu'il prend la route de Gué-de-Négoce, lieu de naissance de l'usurpateur où la cour a été déplacée. Royal a en effet choisi de délaisser les duchés côtiers, dès lors abandonnés aux attaques dévastatrices des Pirates rouges.

Some places are too good to be true. Under a pink moon, there is a perfect little town not found on any map. In that town, there are quiet streets lined with pretty houses, houses that conceal the strangest things. After a couple years of hard traveling, ex-cop Mona Bright inherits her long-dead mother's home in Wink, New Mexico. And the closer Mona gets to her mother's past, the more she understands that the people of Wink are very, very different....

Mattie and Brewster are normal, typical 16-year-old twins who live with their normal, boring parents: Martin and Gwen Banks. Normal and boring, that is, until the day their father's best friend shows up at their house - dressed in what appears to be a bathrobe. The next thing Mattie and Brewster know, their parents are frozen like human statues in their living room, the guy in the bathrobe has vanished, and they need to find answers - fast.

In 1984, Derek Reilly was just another spotty teenage dungeon master growing up in middle England. But then a secret government agency tasked with suppressing magical intrusions received a tip-off—and one midnight raid later, his life was turned upside down by the Satanic D&D Panic. Decades later Derek, now middle-aged and institutionalized, is a long-term inmate at Camp Sunshine, a center for deprogramming captured Elder God cultists. After 25 years, Derek finally has reason to escape: a nearby D&D convention.

Et si de simples rêves n'étaient autre que les souvenirs d'une vie passée ? 1692. Salem, État du Massachusetts aux États-Unis. Accusées de pratiques magiques, de nombreuses personnes sont alors mises à mort. Innocentes ou coupables ? Qui méritait réellement la potence ? De nos jours, alors que Max évite de peu la mort, la voilà sous l'emprise de songes qui semblent tous venir d'une époque lointaine où la sorcellerie et les démons hantaient l'imaginaire du commun des mortels.

Benedict Aaron Rodney had a terrible life for eighteen years. Then, something miraculous happened: the Heavens stepped in, granting him a Sphere. Spontaneous manifestation of a Sphere was very rare, but it happened on occasion. Benedict, while being beaten unconscious and having his bones broken, was suddenly the Holder of a Sphere of Regeneration.

Thread: deadly silver strands that fall from the sky like rain, devouring every organic thing in their path - animals, plants, and people alike. Who could believe that such a horrible thing could exist? After all, it's been 200 years since Thread supposedly fell on Pern. No one alive remembers that first onslaught. There's no sign of it anywhere in the world.

Rosemary Thorn's life takes another surreal turn as she prepares to host the most unlikely event of the season, while her daughter Athena juggles exam stress and organizing the town's Imbolc ritual. Darkness is stirring in the nearby forest, and a hunger-driven force threatens to consume everything in its path. With vampire politics, fae realm adventures, and cantankerous deities in the mix, Rosemary and Athena must confront both external dangers and their own inner demons.

When Mage Alex Verus ends up with a position on the Light Council, no one is happy, least of all him. But Alex is starting to realize that if he wants to protect his friends, he'll need to become a power player himself. His first order of business is to track down dangerous magical items unleashed into the world by Dark Mages.

Ian just wanted a job as a quality control tech for the biggest virtual reality game online. Instead, he met the woman of his dreams, who just happens to be a demoness from hell. Ian starts off as a Level 1 Warlock, and after summoning a mischievous imp named Stig as his first servant, goes on a series of quests to win the ultimate prize: a sexy, smoldering succubus who will fulfill his every wish. But Alaria has a mind of her own. When she’s not playfully seducing Ian and then driving him crazy, she’s plotting revenge against shadowy figures from her past.

James Stark, a.k.a. Sandman Slim, crawled out of Hell, took bloody revenge for his girlfriend’s murder, and saved the world along the way. After that, what do you do for an encore? You take a lousy job tracking down monsters for money. It’s a depressing gig, but it pays for your beer and cigarettes. But in L.A., things can always get worse. Like when Lucifer comes to town to supervise his movie biography and drafts Stark as his bodyguard.

Nothing sucks the romance out of world travel like a boyfriend who may or may not have broken up with you in a hotel room in Brussels. Jane Jameson's sexy sire Gabriel has always been unpredictable, but the seductive, anonymous notes that await him at each stop of their international vacation, coupled with his evasive behavior over the past few months, finally push Jane onto the next flight home to Half Moon Hollow -- alone, upset, and unsure whether Gabriel just ended their relationship without actually telling her.

TGIF used to mean happy hour drinks or curling up with delivery pizza. But when you live in an inn for paranormal beings, the end of the week often signals the beginning of chaos. And this Friday? A banshee has invaded the basement, I've shifted from human to cat three times in one day (a personal record I never wanted to set), and my confidential files at SPA headquarters have mysteriously vanished. Getting rid of the shrieking banshee is priority number one, and all we have to do is solve a local murder.

Once upon a time, in an alleyway in the slums of the City of Lockes, a young and somewhat lonely boy named Sam Haversford turns a group of teenage douchebags into stone completely by accident. Of course, this catches the attention of a higher power, and Sam's pulled from the only world he knows to become an apprentice to the king's wizard, Morgan of Shadows.