Fantasy Adventure

Published in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S. Hilger excavated the still-existing manuscripts, letters and various published versions of the stories, creating a definitive "preferred text" for Smith's entire body of work. This second volume of the series brings together 20 of his fantasy stories.

Gilgamesh is no longer a slave, but freedom comes with a price. Still adapting to the savage world of Gesthe, he is tasked with escorting a secretive half-elf to Al-Lazar, the City of Dust. To complete his quest, he joins a caravan bound for the Whispering Wastes, a land of blistering heat where colossal sandworms reign. There, Gilgamesh will have to fight once more to survive ambushes, behemoths, and a growing power he barely understands. But the gods of this world are not finished with him, and neither are their zealous servants.

Sophie Arundel is stranded in history, stuck in a grand house in 1925 England. Thankfully, she has her faithful dog with her. Oh, and fellow student Hugo, fit, privileged, and annoying. Baffled by upper-class rules, courted by boring suitors, Sophie is desperate to get back to the twenty-first century. But the only way home is through a hidden portal — and to unlock its secrets, she must work with Hugo.

2182. A bord d'arches géantes, les humains fuient une Terre sur le déclin. Leur destination ? Sinisyys, une autre planète bleue découverte aux confins du système Eridani. Parmi ceux qui rêvent de la rejoindre, Eric et Johanna. Or, après avoir émergé du sommeil cryogénique, ils comprennent qu'ils n'ont pas atteint Sinisyys mais une structure artificielle si grande que l'esprit humain ne réussit même pas à en imaginer les limites. Où sont-ils ? Comment sont-ils arrivés là ?

Emma has just taken her first step as a knight. Emma's new job? Commander of a squad of useless layabouts. Just as her efforts start to change minds, a pirate base is discovered on Alias. What will happen when an elite force is sent in from the home planet to eliminate them?! An epic new tale of a failure's rise to glory in the Intergalactic Empire begins!

John Birmingham is the master of alternate history adventure - and now he's mastered a new genre with the volcanically fast-paced and wildly inventive Dave Hooper urban fantasy series. The series is anchored by a thrilling high concept: An oil rig opens a rift deep in the ocean that unleashes terrifying monsters into the world. But perhaps its coolest asset is its hero, Dave Hooper, a tough, bleakly funny, down-on-his luck oil rig worker with an unlikely destiny as a monster-slayer and world savior.

For almost half a century, Elijah had kept his Core sealed. It allowed him to stay in the shadows, to run his little alchemy shop on the outskirts of the slums without fear, but it also limited him. It made him weak. When he finds two people half-dead in an alley, both too young to have had a chance at life, he removes the chains from his magic to help them. The time to step into the light—to feel the call of the world—has come once more.

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.

On the brink of the sea stood an antique lighthouse in a little town where cobblestone paths curled between clusters of houses and roofs slanted like soft waves. For as long as anybody could remember, its golden light has been there, leading wayward sailors gently to land. Few people, however, realized that the lighthouse was kept alive by a man called Elias, the Lantern Keeper; it was not only composed of bricks and glass. Elias had spent as long as the village chiefs could remember living in the lighthouse. He seldom visited town; he only dropped down for groceries or fresh bread.

On the edge of a war-weary and devastated galaxy, charismatic Lewis Orne has landed on Hamal. His assignment: To detect any signs of latent aggression in this planet's population. To his astonishment, he finds that his own latent extrasensory powers have suddenly blossomed, and he is invited to join the company of "gods" on this planet - and the people here place certain expectations on their gods.

Tian, a Cultivator at the precipice of ascension, is thwarted in her quest for immortality. Defeated, she escapes to another world with Levels, Classes, magic, and monsters. She becomes a Lost Soul. Her core begins to dwindle, but she does not abandon her goal. Working with a group of rebels in this new world, she opposes the unkillable tyrant Galgom to learn his secrets. Against his army of machines wielding laser guns and laser swords, she will cultivate her new powers, achieving Feats as she seeks her antidote: immortality.

Following Reyna Diaz’s death at the hands of the Swarm (in Gears of War 4), Kait seals her mother’s tomb and swears revenge. As she, JD, Del, Marcus, Cole, Samantha, and Baird lick their wounds and resupply, First Minister Jinn summons them to New Ephyra, promising that the “crimes” they committed will be forgiven. Before they can rejoin the Coalition, however, Jinn demands proof of their loyalty, and of the threat of the Swarm. Promised a new command, JD and Del agree. Plagued by nightmares, Kait rebels and refuses.

Je suis Arthur Wills Holmes, l'inspecteur Traqueur le plus badass d'Infernum. Avec une classe magistrale, j'élimine les criminels en un claquement de griffes et me lave les pattes des dommages collatéraux. Néanmoins, mes missions ne sont pas à la hauteur de ma puissance de super-hybride. Côté privé, mes parents ne me lâchent pas d'une écaille : Myrina me reproche mes vices qui engendrent quelques bavures, Kelen critique ma conscience morale. Satané dilemme !

Ever since Arwin was summoned as a child, all he has known is war. And now, to claim the demon queen's life and end the war, he has to sacrifice himself. But, as he deals the final blow, the Hero of Mankind is betrayed. Caught in a magical explosion thought to end him, Arwin awakens a month later to find that everyone has already moved on. His [Hero] class has changed to a unique blacksmith Class called [The Living Forge] that is empowered by consuming magical items, but some of his old passive [Titles] remain, giving him the power to forge his new future exactly the way he wants to.

Being a cog in the machine of an uncaring corporation has dulled Shawn's desire to see his dreams come true. He has accepted that he will never be a park ranger, fire watch, or anything fun. Instead, he works his keyboard to clean up other people's messes. Working late one night, Shawn is visited by a strange woman... With wolf ears and samurai armor. She says his soul belongs to her, but the last time he checked, his company didn't have a LARPing department. He watches the clock as the time of his prescribed death draws sooner. Turns out, she was right.

I wanted to be an adventurer. I ended up the pack mule for a psychopathic hammer. My name is Ash. I’m a scavenger, a blacksmith’s apprentice, and, according to the voice in my head, a "calcium-based biped with poor taste in pillows." All I wanted was to clear my family’s debt and secure a future in Dawnwatch, the frontier town guarding the rift. Maybe even become an adventurer. But when a dungeon run went wrong, I didn’t just find loot. I found the motherload. A Soul Gem worth a kingdom.

Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding. It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans - except Katniss.

Ben, Joel, and Ed find themselves in the belly of the beast. During a heroic mission to find Emma’s much needed medicine, the trio, and Max, Ed’s highly trained canine companion learn that, sometimes, the person you’d take a bullet for is standing behind the trigger. They must find a way to escape. The only thing standing in their way is a blood thirsty gang of lawless extremists. Now, they must face their biggest adversary yet, while at the same time struggling to come to terms with some hard truths about the post-apocalyptic world they live in, and the people they trusted.

She looked at the stars from her observatory pod, not as a stargazer who was happy with how they looked, but as a dreamer who wanted to know why people had come so far yet were afraid to go farther. Eron-7, her guardian, was a sentient interface that used to mine the moon but was later given the job of teaching and acting as a father. He constantly admonished her not to dig up data without permission. Lyra, on the other hand, was able to get over boundaries and see restricted records because of her custom-coded neural sleeve.

Harry Potter's summer has included the worst birthday ever, doomy warnings from a house-elf called Dobby, and rescue from the Dursleys by his friend Ron Weasley in a magical flying car! Back at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year, Harry hears strange whispers echo through empty corridors - and then the attacks start. Students are found as though turned to stone... Dobby's sinister predictions seem to be coming true.