Fantasy Short Fiction

Deep in the forest, a cop-for-hire investigates a gruesome murder – as she tries to forget an operation gone so wrong that her marriage, to her partner, lies in ruins. She teams with an Interpol agent tracking an exotic species smuggling operation tied to the killing. What they find leads them to a hidden compound - and two rather unusual children. This story was originally published in the Audie Award-winning METAtropolis: Cascadia.

OK, Reg. You’re a bouncer who’s barely eking out a meager existence in the decaying Wilds outside Detroit. So a little job tracking the Eddies on their patrols seems like easy money. Well, think again, Reg. Because a riot’s about to happen… and you’re going to be the cause…

This story was originally published in the Hugo Award-nominated METAtropolis.

Once, Jayachand toiled in the vertical farms of India. Now, he finds himself searching for a lost data cache in the forbidding Amazon rainforest. Can he stay one step ahead of a shadowy corporation whose interests may not be what they seem? This story was first published in METAtropolis: Green Space, the third entry in Audible's original series.

They say only fools enter the tower… Dive into the complete box set of the best-selling Tower Climber series with over 2,500 pages of epic LitRPG adventure. All Max wants is to become a climber and search for his long lost sister. But citizens aren’t allowed to climb, they aren’t even allowed remotely in the vicinity of the mysterious and magical tower. Plus, even if citizens could enter, it didn’t change the fact that Max’s body is paralyzed from the waist down, confined to a wheelchair. No way would anyone let him enter the tower. Ever.

City of elegance and squalor. Of religious fervor and wanton lusts. And everywhere, on the walls of courtyards and churches, an incandescent fungus of mysterious and ominous origin. In Ambergris, a would-be suitor discovers that a sunlit street can become a killing ground in the blink of an eye. An artist receives an invitation to a beheading - and finds himself enchanted. And a patient in a mental institution is convinced he has made up a city called Ambergris, imagined its every last detail, and that he’s really from a place called Chicago.

Have you ever wondered how lone wolf Clayton Danvers finally got bitten by the last thing he ever expected: love? Or how the hot-blooded bad-girl witch Eve Levine managed to ensnare the cold, ruthless corporate sorcerer, Kristof Nast in one of the Otherworld’s most unlikely pairings? Now, Otherworld readers can share these moments with some of their favorite characters—as well as catching welcome glimpses into the minds of some of the lesser-known players

Surviving the first days of the apocalypse, William is a wreck and hiding in an attic. The daily acid storms, floating elementals, and bizarre mutated animals are the least of his problems. The reality-warping apocalypse has rules and a system much like those in video games. To survive, he must learn how the new uncooperative system works, choose a class without any real knowledge of what it does and create a place safe from the spawning horrors.

Monster Hunter International may have had its roots in the United States of America, but there are plenty of monsters in the big old world. And wherever there are monsters, humans will need monster hunters. Here then, stories of the things that go bump in the night and the men and women who bump back—focusing on the myths, legends, and folklore of Czechia, by Czech authors. Includes a new short story by Larry Correia.

From best-selling authors Ilona Andrews, Yasmine Galenorn, Allyson James, and Jeanne C. Stein comes an anthology of four all-new novellas featuring powerful women who know how to handle a hex or two. In "Double Hexed" from Allyson James, a novella of the Stormwalker series, Janet and her friends find themselves locked in her hotel, victims of a hex cast by a very powerful sorcerer.

Notes from the author: The following is a short story I wrote in the Elantris world back in January of 2006. There were always a few holes in Elantris where I decided not to include viewpoints or sections of explanation in the name of streamlining, particularly at the end. In the back of my mind, I knew what happened. This story talks about one of those holes; it is meant to be heard after you’ve finished the novel and takes place during the events of the climax.

What will become of our self-destructed planet? The answer shatters all expectations in this subversive speculation from the Hugo Award - winning author of the Broken Earth trilogy. An explorer returns to gather information from a climate-ravaged Earth that his ancestors, and others among the planet’s finest, fled centuries ago. The mission comes with a warning: A graveyard world awaits him. But so do those left behind - hopeless and unbeautiful wastes of humanity who should have died out ages ago.

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.

Jack Pritcher has hit rock bottom, losing his home and job. Just when he believes his sanity might be next, he's presented with an opportunity that sounds utterly unbelievable. The offer on the table is to become a guardian of a Portal, a doorway to another world. But there's a twist–he must keep it a secret. Portals, it turns out, are alive in some way. They possess sentience and dictate their own set of rules that guardians must follow, under the penalty of death.

This volume collects, for the first time, the entire Dream Cycle created by H. P. Lovecraft, the master of twentieth-century horror, including some of his most fantastic tales.

The great Star League general, Aleksandr Kerensky. Colonel Archer Christifori, a man with a score to settle. Nelson Geist, on Christmas patrol. MechWarrior Joanna of Clan Jade Falcon. A Sandoval scion. An eleven-year-old girl. Northwind Highlanders. A prisoner of war. They all have two things in common: A universe torn apart by unending warfare. A mission to stand up against the darkness.

A collection of thrilling tales from H. P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos by one of horror's biggest legends, this volume contains the very best of Brian Lumley's Mythos short stories.

Catch up with the original monster-human couple, Danny and Wyn, in their Wastes-style adventures. Witness Moth and Wyn's blossoming and potentially concerning friendship. Find out all the new ways Edin has been frustrating Hunter (lovingly) since their story ended. And join Lor and Jugs in welcoming a new furry addition to their monster-world family.

The successor Chapters of the Space Marines number in the hundreds, founded to fight for the survival of the Imperium. Across 13 short stories by 10 different authors, discover the history, customs and stories of 12 different successor Chapters, from famed warriors to unsung heroes.

A terrifying, thrilling collection of must-listen horror stories chock-full of nightmarish supernatural beings and the murderously disturbed that are sure to keep you up all night long.

"A Song For Sadye" is a tale of the DemonWars, and offers new insights into the life of the bard, Sadye.