Science Fiction Mystery

The only thing Cassie enjoys is the volunteer work she does at her local library with her classmate and kind-of friend Joe. After a very intense storm, they discover an abandoned kitten. Figuring the kitten needs a friend just as much as she does, Cassie names him Albert and takes him home with her. Soon Cassie begins to notice that Albert is acting . . . strange. He seems to have impossible strength. Cassie swears she sees plumes of smoke rising from his water bowl. And one day, while Albert is in the room, a unique symbol appears on Cassie's closet door.

Tuesday West had a charmed life—until a tragic accident changed everything. In an instant, Tuesday's life is altered when she is left paralyzed from the waist down. What should be a crushing blow, however, does not break her spirit. Living in the enchanting town of Middle Falls, Oregon—where second chances are not just a possibility but a promise—Tuesday discovers she is uniquely equipped to face every challenge. With an unending supply of determination, she refuses to let her accident define her.

An ancient secret lies buried in Earth’s religions. Magical beings once ruled our planet. Man has forgotten them, but they are coming back. Their plan for mankind? Enslavement. An ancient curse banished them from the realm of man...now that curse grows weak, and they are finding their way back.

A mysterious wave of light has swept across the globe, erasing all animal life from the planet in an instant. Now, two survivors are all that remain—one stranded on a ravaged Earth and the other newly rescued from the decaying International Space Station. Their struggle for survival and reunion soon spirals into something much larger, plunging them into a cosmic battle that transcends time, space, and even reality itself.

Doing Time: For the prison writers whose work is included in this anthology, it means more than "serving a sentence"; it means staying alive and sane, preserving dignity, reinventing oneself, and somehow retaining one's humanity. For the last quarter century the prestigious writers' organization PEN has sponsored a contest for writers behind bars to help prisoners face these challenges. The contest honors the best short stories, plays, essays, and poems among hundreds submitted annually by men and women nationwide.

In Atlanta, Dr. Peyton Shaw is awakened by the phone call she has dreaded for years. As the CDC's leading epidemiologist, she's among the first responders to outbreaks around the world. It's a lonely and dangerous job, but it's her life - and she's good at it. This time she may have met her match. In Kenya, an Ebola-like pathogen has infected two Americans. One lies at death's door. With the clock ticking, Peyton assembles her team and joins personnel from the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the WHO.

Sidelined by his war injuries in 1916, Captain Hastings travels to his friend’s estate at Styles Court to recover from his wounds. As the summer heats up, a tragic murder occurs, and Hastings calls upon the services of his old acquaintance Hercule Poirot. With seemingly unrelated clues - a scrap of a burned will, a false beard, and an empty packet of bromide - the brilliant detective launches his first investigation on English soil and forges an enduring friendship.

Moonshadow Bay . . . where magic lurks in the moonlight, and danger hides in the shadows. One month before January Jaxson turns forty-one, her husband ditches her for a trophy wife. Adding insult to injury, he steals the business she helped build, and kicks her out during the holidays. So when her best friend Ari suggests she move back to Moonshadow Bay—a quirky magical town near Bellingham, Washington—January decides to take the plunge.

At first, high school freshmen Rex McClendon and Leif Nelson believe what they’ve been told - that local students’ strange demises at Whitewood, a local reformatory, were all tragic accidents. But when the shoot for their low-budget horror masterpiece, PolterDog, goes horribly awry - and their best friend, Alicia Boykins, is sent to Whitewood - Rex and Leif are forced to question everything they know about their unassuming hometown and its cherished school for delinquents.

Alone since her father's murder, Aurora has spent years hunting his killers. Battle-weary she's ready to start over where no one knows who or what she is, she just has one last mission to complete. Everything is going to plan until she discovers the beautiful winged girl caged underground. Her decision to rescue Evie and to help her get home safely, despite avians being infamous for selling out shapeshifters like Aurora to cutters and black-market flesh dealers, will put her on a perilous path.

In retreat from a devastating loss and crushing injustice, Katie lives alone in a fortresslike stone house on Jacob’s Ladder island. Once a rising star in the art world, she finds refuge in her painting. The neighboring island of Ringrock houses a secret: a government research facility. And now two agents have arrived on Jacob’s Ladder in search of someone—or something—they refuse to identify. Although an air of menace hangs over these men, an infinitely greater threat has arrived, one so strange even the island animals are in a state of high alarm.

The battle of the dead was won, but at a great cost. Sion, leader of the Mist Village, was left with only pain and regret as Richter was claimed by the abyss. What no one but the abandoned chaos seed knows is that he narrowly avoided the curse of the lich Singh, a curse that still hangs above his head. Now, surrounded by miles of darkness and tons of crushing rock, Richter has to find his way back into the light.

Harriet, Jack, and Toby are treasure hunters, searching the Minecraft world for its most valuable hidden secrets. In an abandoned mineshaft, they discovered the first of three lost journals that once belonged to William, a legendary explorer who has gone missing. The journals have taken them on a daring adventure to a secret temple deep within a desert biome, then into the perilous depths of the Nether. Now the treasure hunters are facing their greatest challenge yet.

Still reeling from her last case, Detective Isobel "Bel" Emerson finds comfort in both her dog and her newfound friendships. But when she and her new partner, Detective Gold, are called to the site of a bear attack, they discover something far more horrifying: the body of a young woman posed inside a cabin where the furniture is all too big. And to make matters worse, the cabin is located on Eamon Stone's property.

Eighteen years have passed since Jonas Taylor last crossed paths with Carcharodon megalodon. Now a middle-aged father of two, he is overwhelmed by mountains of bills and the daily strife of raising a family. But life is about to change. A Hollywood television producer wants Jonas to join his new survival series: Daredevils. For the next six weeks, two teams of crazy daredevils on a South Pacific Ocean voyage will try to outperform one another in front of the cameras.

When a stranger attempting to deliver a cryptic message is shot dead at his dinner table, Richard Ames is thrown headfirst into danger, intrigue, and other dimensions where Lazarus Long still thrives, where Jubal Harshaw lives surrounded by beautiful women, and where a daring plot to rescue the sentient computer called Mike can change the direction of all human history.

Most witches don't work for police departments, but Michelle isn't your average witch. She's clanless, looking for a warlock who isn't offended by her lack of family connections, and in danger of losing her job if she can't find the eight escaped trolls before they start eating the local residents. Trolls, angry police, and misbehaving spells are the least of her problems. Statues attacking homeowners might be problematic for your average witch, but to Michelle it's another day at the office.

Fairy Tale Survival Rule number 32: If you find yourself at the mercy of a wicked witch, sing a romantic ballad and wait for your Prince Charming to save the day. Yeah, no thanks. Dorthea is completely princed out. Sure, being the crown princess of Emerald has its perks - like Glenda Original ball gowns and Hans Christian Louboutin heels. But a forced marriage to the not-so-charming prince Kato is so not what Dorthea had in mind for her enchanted future. Talk about unhappily ever after.

Bob Howard is a computer-hacker desk jockey, who has more than enough trouble keeping up with the endless paperwork he has to do on a daily basis. He should never be called on to do anything remotely heroic. But for some reason, he is.

Dead in Days. Emily Glass will be dead in days unless she can overcome destiny. An overlord of Hell has a price on Emily's head and every demon in the underworld wants to claim the prize. She might be the Great Banisher, but even she can't fight off an army of demons. The only way to survive might be to trust an enigmatic Seraphim, and to find the source of her powers. Where does her demon banishing power come from? How can she rip the powers from vampires?