System Fiction

My life took a turn I never expected on the day the world ended. Suddenly forced to fight in a bloody arena by a faceless System, I find the only way to survive is to win. I’m told that ten victories in the arena will give me my freedom, but if I’m going to get there, I’ll need a crack team of hardened allies to fight with me. What I got instead was a bratty college girl with a jealousy streak, a momma’s boy roommate who now inhabits the body of a piglet, and a devastatingly gorgeous teacher whose sword is as sharp as her tongue.

With more than 10 stories from exciting new voices and a few veterans of the universe, the second anthology highlights the lives and struggles of humanity's best and worst years after system advent.

Step into the golden era of imagination with Essential Golden Age Science Fiction Short Stories, a powerful collection of visionary tales from the masters who defined modern sci-fi. Featuring unforgettable stories by Ray Bradbury, Frank Herbert, John W. Campbell Jr., Robert Sheckley, Murray Leinster, and E. E. Smith, this anthology captures the bold ideas, cosmic wonder, and speculative brilliance that shaped an entire genre.

Knells plans have begun to come together. His crew grows larger and more powerful with every passing day, and rumors of Captain Sorfina's death have already started to spread but not all attention is beneficial. A group who have lurked in the shadows for centuries are moving once more, and their leaders motives are just as shrouded as their past. More pieces enter the board of looming war, and Knells crew finds itself at the center of everything, whether they want to be or not.

Step into the heart of the Canadian wilderness, where isolation and ancient folklore blur the line between sanity and terror. The Wendigo by Algernon Blackwood is a chilling early 20th-century supernatural tale that explores mankind’s most primal fears. When a hunting expedition veers into the unknown, whispers of an ancient spirit turn into a terrifying reality. Atmospheric and psychologically intense, this novella is a masterclass in slow-building horror that lingers long after the final page.

The Commander of Champions thrives in this environment. His powers can only grow stronger from here. Commander Jay Luckrun has a lot of names. One of those names is Beheader of the 72 Immortals. Everywhere he goes, many people and creatures are afraid of him for what he's achieved with his overpowered magic. Their fear is so great that Jay and his pantheon are facing the greatest fight Earth has ever witnessed—A war with the USA.

Thomas Grimshaw thought the hardest part of his day was going to be scaling a sheer wall in Yosemite on his climbing trip, but the inscrutable gods had other plans. In a flash, they terraformed the planet and imposed the rules of the Great Game. Why Earth? Why do the gods compete against each other? Do the human ‘players’ have free will, or are they mere pawns? Why was he given a special class option to select from?

A sliver of humanity abandons Earth, forced into the skies because genetically enhanced monsters rule the world. Four hundred years later, the Salvation Fleet returns, desperate to unload their overcrowded decks. Darcy—the AI mastermind who controls the fleet—uses competitions called the Reincarnation Trials to determine who becomes a council member and who earns the right to join the first colony.

Flushed with victory after our first Elite Eight round, my team of beautiful women and I are the talk of the System. Now that my warlord powers are coming into their own, we seem to be unstoppable. There’s even talks about expanding our team, and the addition of a curvy goth girl makes things *very* interesting.

Jake's monster girls just want to have fun, but success always brings new challenges. After his embarrassment in the Trials, an evil god wants vengeance, and he'll stop at nothing to get it. Despite his sound defeat, Apophis's plot is going to make it difficult for Jake's party to enjoy their hard-won freedom. Meanwhile, the true perils of the war with Tartarus loom on the horizon. Join Jake and his growing family as they face fresh challenges and summon a new ally that's a lot more than they can handle. The giant dark elf lamia proves to be as difficult to deal with as she is powerful.

After my last fight with Darius Windstorm, the Refuge has struck. With the Blobber world consumed by war, I know there’s only one place my team and I can find safety, and we start a frantic quest to find the runaway warriors in the deepest recesses of the dungeons. Even with a few new friends, the overbearing System won’t stay down for long. A reckoning is coming, and my status as a warlord means I’ll be at the forefront of any new strike against their world.

The Connected System has changed Earth forever. It has brought the apocalypse but also brought other stronger enemies from the wider universe. Lochlan Brady and his daughters have found shelter in a new and growing community. Loch has found himself put in charge of the fledgling Clan Brady. It is not a position he wanted, but with his greater power it is one he has the responsibility for. Together with a Council of knowledgeable and skilled people in the Clan, the Bradys work to set themselves up to survive through the coming winter and the dangers from the changes brought by the Connection.

A chilling collection of classic cosmic horror that explores humanity’s terrifying place in an indifferent universe. Essential Cosmic Horror Story Collection brings together three unforgettable tales of the unknown: “The Colour Out of Space” by H. P. Lovecraft, “The Damned Thing” by Ambrose Bierce, and “The Man Who Found Out” by Algernon Blackwood.

"So, what do you do?" Whenever people asked him, Eric Cash used to have a dozen answers. Artist, actor, screenwriter...But now he's thirty-five years old and he's still living on the Lower East Side, still in the restaurant business, still serving the people he always wanted to be. What does...

In a world upended by the whims of the [Admin], all of humanity has been forced into a brutal game of survival. Nick is more than just another man: he's a man who saw the ending and used a wish to travel back in time. His story has started over. Following his escape from the Manhattan Rooftops, he must next fight against the Ancient Mariner of Central Island and the hoard of undead that the Ancient Mariner commands. The survivors are under attack, and all eyes are on Nick to make sure they survive to see the next challenge.

To gain his Master Class, John Lee made a deal with the Erethran Empire. Now, the empire has come to collect on the debt, forcing him to appear in their capital after his last fight. Thrown into Galactic politics of a militarized, system-based society, John will have to weigh consequences of the decisions he's been asked to make and confront the warped reality of a system-created empire. When politics, self-interest, and a human's stubbornness collide, the very stars are threatened.

In an instant, life as it was known is gone, replaced by a System called The Connection. It doesn't come quietly as earthquakes rock the planet, the chosen survivors falling unconscious as the Connection takes their bodies and Adapts them. Lochlan Brady and his family were on their way home from a camping weekend when the Connection appears. He awakens with a new Adapted body, finding his wife missing. Now Loch must survive and thrive in this new world with his two teenage daughters, Harper and Piper. All Loch wants to do is protect his daughters and find his wife.

When the Doom System appeared, it shattered reality overnight. People took superhuman abilities, their only defense against a world that no longer made sense. But just as humanity began to adapt, the System changed the rules. Now, survival isn’t just a struggle. It’s a competition. For Hiro Johnson, staying alive has become a full-time job. The System twists the streets of New York into death traps, pitting survivors against monsters, hunters, and each other yet rewarding them with powerful skills and weapons.

En un futuro controlado por entidades corporativas donde el viaje espacial es posible, una compañía de seguros debe aprobar y abastecer todas las misiones planetarias. Los equipos de exploración tienen que ir acompañados de androides suministrados por las aseguradoras, por su propio bien. Pero en una sociedad donde los contratos se conceden al postor más bajo, la seguridad no es lo más importante.

End game. This is it—everything the humans have been working on will either save them… or lead to every last human being dying. Warren's good with that. What he's not good with is Ani, Raven, Andy, Louise, and Buck dying. Warren is not good with that. He's not fighting for the world—he's fighting for them. Lucky for the world… It's the same thing. Time to suit up and head out. The end of the world awaits!