Science Fiction City

It should have been an easy job—deliver the ID chip, get paid, and get out. But when Drakkal sees a beautiful human in his client’s private zoo and instantly recognizes her as his mate, the situation gets complicated.

An ancient fundamentalist organization executes several attacks simultaneously across the globe. A deadly viral compound is unleashed in the Pentagon, and the airborne virus turns the building's population into zombies. A Secret Service agent, coerced by the terrorists to assassinate several heads of state, sends the world into chaos.

On an Earth where chimps are the psychic slaves of the human race, he has begun to rattle the cage. Follow Victory Chimp as he moves from adolescence to adolescence to adolescence across the multiverse. Victory Chimp and Occula battle the immortal Chon as wave upon wave of illusion and pain conspire to imprison them within time's dominion. One Earth awaits Victory Chimp's return. Will he survive?

Samazzar and his family have moved to the city of Vereton to continue his magic studies. There, he is introduced to a dizzying array of culture, technology, and magic. The caves he grew up in as a kobold fade into memory as Sam throws himself into his new life studying and adventuring under the mentorship of Wind Master Pothas.

April 1927 finds adventurer-pilot Jack McGraw and occult expert Dorothy "Doc" Starr extracting a priceless Celtic artifact from a long-sealed tomb on a windswept Scottish island. Following a shootout with Silver Star commandos and a desperate dogfight into the eye of a storm, the airship Daedalus limps back to London - only to discover a former crewmate has gone missing, along with his own airship and its crew!

Inner-city Black America is often stereotyped as a place of random violence; in fact, violence in the inner city is regulated through an informal but well-known code of the street. How you dress, talk, and behave can have life-or-death consequences, with young people particularly at risk. The most powerful force counteracting this code and its reign of terror is the strong, loving, decent family, and we meet many heroic figures in the course of this narrative.

Urban fantasy offers a diverse playground for some extremely powerful stories. Professional writer and editor Kerrie L. Hughes pulled some fantastic tales out of 14 top writers for this fifth installment of Fiction River. Set in urban lands from modern Portland, to a future Detroit, to a wild Washington, D.C., and ending the tour in London, these top writers take the idea of "Hex" and stretch and twist it into stories with a magickal grip on the imagination.

After a failed attempt to end her life, Alia Carter leaves her childhood home to become a waitress in the state's most prominent hotel. Traumatized after her mother’s death, she silently grapples with her pain until she saves the life of a mysterious man who reveals to her a world of true magic, and terrifying wonder. Eric Wynter is a vampire Ward sworn to protect the creatures of the city. After centuries of heartache and loneliness, he is finally ready to end his existence.

Saint City has always been Dante Valentine's home. It's where she grew up, it's where her dead are buried, and it's where she learned to hunt. Now, one call from an old friend will bring her back to investigate a murder too close to home for anyone's comfort. But the one person she trusted has just betrayed her.

The city of Mera is a fortress hidden from the rest of humanity, a sanctuary for the diverse group of people rescued from death by the Oraclethat rules the city. The Oracle has brought together the citizens of Merafrom every land and every time period, protecting them from the ravages oftime, death and the evil demon forces that howl outside the city at night.

Crimson Twill is a little witch, but you might not know it. She lives in the country and loves polka dots and puppies instead of pointy shoes and black dresses. She even wears a big bow on her hat—which is crimson, just like her name. Tonight, for the very first time, Crimson is riding on her mother’s broom all the way to New Wart City to go shopping at Broomingdale’s! The huge department store has everything a witch could itch for. For Crimson, each floor (hats! cats! brooms!) is a new adventure. But is Broomingdale’s ready for a witch as unique as Crimson?

Among the dark streets of the city move thieves and cutthroats. And they don't like independent operators like Lhasha Moonsliver. But when she hires the town drunk as a bodyguard, she gets more than she bargained for. Together they'll have to battle the thieves' guild, the Cult of the Dragon, and other, darker foes. And a fallen man will have to remember the proud warrior he once was.

War makes monsters and corpses of us all. For generations the blooded have ruled the Wilds, cultivating a lawless frontier and bleeding the good folk dry. The Black Thorn, once the most wanted outlaw the world has ever seen, is set on stopping them, and bringing an end to the great game that oppresses them all.

Lily Harper narrowly survived her first mission as a Soul Retriever in the first level of the Underground City. After that harrowing trip, she wants nothing more than some downtime, but as with most things involving the afterlife, nothing ever quite works out the way Lily wants it to. Her newest mission will see her traveling to the sewer aqueduct of the Underground City and later, the prison. But, luckily for Lily, she’s got the hunky yet antisocial bladesmith Tallis Black by her side. And quite possibly unluckily for her, she’s also got her guardian angel, Bill, who’s up to his old, foul-mouthed antics.

Preserving the balance of nature is a way of life for Haarn Brightoak, no matter what the cost, but even his dedication to the customs of the druid is put to the test when a long-dead evil returns to the world of the living. As this vile creature gathers its undead army, Haarn must decide if he will compromise his way of life to defend the city that has never welcomed him.

Mars: the skull of a planet picked clean by the wind of time.... Beyond the desert of Meroe, past the ancient cliffs of the dust-locked continents, past the dry wharts of a city that was old when Earth was new, the caravan crept into the unmapped wasted called Umbra. It was into this shadowed land that the lost nation of the People had ridden - and vanished - in a tme beyond memory. And it was here that the outworlder Ryker followed the golden-eyes of Valarda and found the Child-of-Stars.

The staff at Salem, Massachusetts's local station, WICH-TV, is looking forward to the wedding of their program director, Lee Barrett. But when Lee heads off on her Maine honeymoon, she'll be haunted by the ghosts of her own past. Lee and Detective Sergeant Pete Mondello are finally tying the knot - and Lee is tying up loose ends before the big day. After the celebration, complete with a cake made by the station magician, there should be time to relax—but the Maine island happens to be near the site of the crash that killed Lee's parents, a mystery she's never been able to solve.

All Sophia Fontanelle wanted was to be left alone. On the run from New Orleans and its vampire council, she heads to Los Angeles to start a new life. But when the Caballero, the ancient peacekeeper rumored to be the great Zorro himself, is murdered, Sophia finds herself caught up in a fight to clear her name. Threatened by a 1950s-era gangster turned vamp by the Caballero himself, can she survive in Vamp City?

When the god of free will declares war on the gods of fate and destiny, the battleground isn’t the heavens; it’s Earth. And the weapon is a child. Chelise never asked to be chosen. Struggling through the fractures of a broken family, she suddenly finds herself at the heart of a cosmic wager. Is life ruled by destiny, or can it truly be shaped by choice? Guided by guardian angels and hunted by forces beyond her understanding, Chelise is thrust into a dangerous journey where every decision carries divine weight.

When Maddy finally killed her father, Azazel, she thought his depraved experiment died with him. But now Chicago has been infested with vampires immune to the effects of the sun, and the bloodbath is worse than she could have ever imagined. While the Agency refuses to interfere with other supernatural courts, Maddy is determined to do everything within her power to save her city - wings or no wings.