Fantasy Adventure

In this fourth installment of the Minecraft Gamer's Adventure series, Steve receives a distress call from his friends Max, Lucy, and Henry. They have found an abundance of treasure in a temple, but they can't get out! He immediately sets off for the desert to help his friends. Once Steve gets to them, they will all be rewarded with a supply of emeralds, gold ingots, and many other rare treasures.

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.

The Jaeger squad has finally tracked down Griff’s kidnapped daughter. The problem? She’s locked away in the deadliest dungeon in the wasteland—the Supermax. A magical prison for the mobs and Incants too dangerous to go free, but too valuable to kill off. None of the magical prisoners who have disappeared into the dungeon turned prison have ever been heard from again, but the Jaeger squad is looking to be the first. It’s time for a jailbreak in the IZ. But the Supermax is hiding a deep, dark secret. One that just might get the Jaegers killed. Or worse.

Lin “The Silent One” Vu is a gangster and sometime private investigator living in Chinese-occupied Hanoi, in the steaming, paranoid alleyways of the 36 Streets. Born in Vietnam, raised in Australia, everywhere she is an outsider. Through grit and courage Lin has carved a place for herself in the Vietnamese underworld where Hanoi’s crime boss, Bao Nguyen, is training her to fight and lead. Bao drives her hard; on the streets there are no second chances. Meanwhile the people of Hanoi are succumbing to Fat Victory - a dangerously addictive immersive simulation.

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.

Yager's an exceptional soldier in a kingdom that just achieved peace. Downsizing hits the entire army, but there's word on the frontier for those bold enough to adventure. He plans for a quiet life outside of kingdom lands, earning enough to keep himself fed and happy. Turns out, the frontier is filled with dangers, a threatening invasion, and a whole lot of battle. Thankfully, Yager is not alone, finding a powerful mage to aid him and lost lover to help make his new home welcoming. Together, they'll build, battle, and uncover some of the mysteries that beset a Frontier Lord.

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.

Twenty years ago, the Merge brought armies of monsters flooding into the West Coast. Dungeons popped up in shopping malls, airports, and Starbucks. Walls were built to contain the spread, but the promise of priceless loot dropped by the creatures inspired a new type of gold rush. Clay Jaeger has nothing left outside the walls. Civilization took everything he worked for, chewed it up, and spat it out. Now Clay, his wife Alex, and his beer-loving, chainsaw-toting brother, Joe, are going west to try their hand at monster killing.

Grey and his friend have gone up in ranks and are learning how to build structures to improve their tactics. While they're not at the top by any means, they are solidly in the middle of the pack. They aspire to be like the top player, who has been unbeatable for 15 games in a row. No one knows how he does it, but everyone is chasing him. Before Grey can aspire to beat the top player, though, he has to get through the rival players who are just above him. These players are threatened by him and his friend and hunt them down in every battle.

My name is Simon Jackson: former soldier in the Elynese Special Forces and current fixer for mob boss Krahmin the voidtouched. Myan Station is my home. Dwarves, goblins, gnomes, grays, fey, even humans make up the melting pot that is Myan Station. When Malak the half-ork and I stole an ancient starship, we set off a chain of events that could spell the end of Myan Station.

Imprisoned for a crime he barely remembers, Gunnar is forced to labor in an underground prison camp. But if he works hard, he earns time in a beta test for the first fully immersive online RPG. Pantheon Online is beyond anything Gunnar has ever experienced, but the game is inextricably linked to his reality as a prisoner. He may not be the best or the brightest criminal, but if he fails to perform...things are not going to go well for him. Gunnar must quickly learn to navigate a cutthroat city of thieves and assassins.

Kumandra’s first-ever Talent Showcase is only a week away, and Raya, her friend Boun and his siblings are determined to win the Grand Prize with their delicious new dishes! The key ingredient is the fabled dragon spice that makes everything taste magical. The only problem—no humans have ever found it. Raya and her friends set sail on the Shimporium in search of the mysterious spice. But will they survive their mission to find what the dragons have kept secret for centuries?

Rupert didn't especially want to be a prince. And he certainly never asked to be the second son of a royal line that really didn't need a spare. So he was sent out to slay a dragon and prove himself - a quest straight out of legend. But he also discovered the kinds of things legends tend to leave out, as well as the usual demons, goblins, the dreaded Night Witch - and even worse terrors hidden in the shadows of Darkwood. Rupert did find a fiery dragon - and a beautiful princess to rescue.

The year is 2380. The Intersolar Commonwealth, a sphere of stars some 400 light-years in diameter, contains more than 600 worlds, interconnected by a web of transport "tunnels" known as wormholes. At the farthest edge of the Commonwealth, astronomer Dudley Bose observes the impossible: Over 1,000 light-years away, a star...vanishes. It does not go supernova. It does not collapse into a black hole. It simply disappears.

Gameknight999's best friend in Minecraft is dying, and only the User-that-is-not-a-user can save him! Herobrine, the artificially intelligent virus intent on escaping Minecraft and infecting the Internet with his evil, was captured after an epic showdown on the shores of Minecraft. Gameknight999, having trapped the virus in an unlikely prison, saved the lives of his friends in the game and was finally able to return to the physical world.

Blade & Sheath is a fully immersive VRMMORPG game where some folks complete quests, while others develop their magic and battle monsters. Then there are players like Josh. He needs to earn some cash, so when he gets a job as a town builder for Blade & Sheath, he can't believe his luck. However, it won't be easy. The land he needs to build on is as untamed as the critters that prowl it. That's not all—he also starts with no skills and no resources.

There is a nest of Drows living in hidden caves just outside of Los Angeles. The dark side of LaLa Land knows them well. Young Drows come out of the shadows at nightfall, looking for trouble and it always finds them. But then there's Ellis Burton. Half Drow, half human and searching for an identity in either world. Her father, Connor Burton is the leader of the Drow clan and the overseer in their underground drug traffic. It's all medicinal mushrooms. Nothing to see here. Now her mother, that's a different story.

The kids in the third grade at Bailey Elementary are so hard to handle that all of their teachers have quit. But their new teacher, Mrs. Jeepers, is different, to say the least. She's just moved from the Transylvanian Alps, and she seems to have some strange powers that help her deal with these mischief-makers. Her methods may be a little unconventional, but, then again, Mrs. Jeepers may be just what the Bailey School kids need.

Traveling the Road of Bones was only the start of Hekla's troubles. The Bloodaxe Crew has arrived at the village of Istré—beleaguered and missing three of their members. They might be down in numbers, but Hekla "Rib Smasher" is determined that they'll complete their job all the same: defeat the monstrous, sentient mist and keep the citizens of Istré safe. What she didn't expect was for Istré's bullheaded chieftain to block her every move.

Montana Coggeshall, freshly returned from the high society world of galas, birthrights, and the odd doomsday cult, doesn't have much time to settle back into normal life. He's promised to protect everyone who calls Coggeshall home, and one terrified family is caught in the wrong place at the worst time. But what starts as a simple rescue mission quickly unravels into a web of strange disappearances, secret tunnels, and whispered warnings. A new monster may be stalking the valley. And it’s one that doesn’t just kill—it plays with its food.