Fantasy Adventure Short Stories

Earth is dying, and humanity is scrambling to set up colonies in other star systems. But the search process for habitable planets is not perfect, as the crew of the Ouroboros discover on arrival at their new home.

When DARPA builds the ultimate tactical weapon—a portal capable of instant travel across any distance—they recruit Marine Raider Captain Jackson Glover and his elite team to test it. But this isn’t just a new form of transport: it’s Pandora’s Box. Every time the portal opens, the team must pass through Other Earths—alternate realities filled with hostile environments, alien ecosystems, and threats that defy human comprehension. What should be a shortcut through space becomes a gauntlet of survival, where each “layover” could unleash horrors capable of annihilating our world.

As the crown prince of Lustburg, Sol Luxuria had the dream life: beautiful maids trained to please his slightest desires, a strict but gentle wolf girl serving him as a knight, a beautiful witch as a teacher and a mature Saintess with some very interesting tendencies. Once he awakened and truly inherited the crown, it would get even better... but first, he might have to put down a few pesky nobles with rebellious thoughts.

Magic is real—all the myths and legends of mankind come from a place that actually exists. And Jonathan is about to go there… The world of Skyhall awaits, unlocked by a mysterious inheritance from Jonathan’s eccentric, adventuring uncle. The threats are legion—dungeons, undead, wyverns, and beastfolk—but Jonathan has a unique class that will give him the power to expand and improve his own airship. In time, he will turn it into a veritable fortress and flying palace.

Stranded on the distant planet Tschai, young Adam Reith is the sole survivor of a space mission who discovers the world is inhabited - not only by warring alien cultures but by human slaves as well, taken early in Earth's history. Reith must find a way off the planet to warn Earth of Tschai's deadly existence.

The System Apocalypse has brought the clothing industry, and just about everything else, to a grinding halt. Now Lana Pearson intends to kickstart the local industry into gear to help Vancouver self-sustain itself. Key to her strategy are special teams of non-combat classes.

As Sol and Kyriel race back to the capital to warn the Sovereign about the growing Tirzak threat, an even darker force stirs within the ranks of the enemy. If the heroes can't convince the Great Houses to stand together behind their unlikely union, all of Lostrien will be consumed by the bloodthirsty swarm.

Alaria Hartwood vanquishes a legendary kraken, becoming a Tentacle Mage. Her newfound talents and wealth bring hope of a quiet retirement but fate has far different plans. While Alaria wants to turn her retirement dream location into a place where she can focus on enchanting, potion making, and spell crafting it won't be easy. She quickly finds herself having to vanquish orcs and demons with a vibrant assistant. Mia is a great student, and a gifted soul, but even with her help, it seems like Alaria's shop on Brighthill will have to wait for the brewing storm to calm.

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.

Zombie, Indiana explores the impact of an invading zombie horde on a trio of Hoosier protagonists…each of whom have some dark secrets to keep. When the governor’s daughter mysteriously disappears on a field trip, IMPD Special Sergeant James Nolan, scholarship student Kesha Washington, and Governor Hank Burleson must all come together not only to find the governor’s daughter, but also to undertake a quest to redeem the very soul of the state itself…all while under constant attack from the living dead.

Ethan didn’t believe in magical swords until one transported him to a fantasy world. A world with monsters, martial arts guilds, and elemental powers beyond imagining. In fact, it’s almost like he died and went to heaven. If heaven contained rivals bent on killing him, elf tutors who want to bed him, and a feisty spearmaiden with something to prove.

Quantum Hughes doesn't know how long he's been trapped in a cyber noir world known as The Loop. For each day that passes, Quantum adds an item to his inventory list, hoping that he'll one day be free. Has it really been nearly 550 days? Has he gone mad? Will Quantum ever be free?

Fonda Lee returns to the acclaimed Green Bone Saga with four prequel short stories that delve into the personal histories of the Kaul and Ayt families.

A classic tale featuring two of the most-memorable characters in sword and sorcery, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Over a span of 50 years, the late Fritz Leiber wrote dozens of adventures, set in the fictional city of Lankhmar, featuring the seven-foot-tall barbarian and the diminuitive thief. The stories were recognized with both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Deep in the elbow skin of the Fae Wilds, far from the teeming fortress of the Goblin King and the glittering palace of the King and Queen of the Elves, there lies a forgotten hideaway of crumbling single-wides and rusty Airstreams. A lonely clan of beautiful women, clad in tube tops, overall shorts, and tacky Asian-print house-dresses, yearn for a man who can unstop their sewer lines and get the internet working again. Torn from his mundane life on Earth, Colton Winchester could be that man.

Wolf of the North: It has been generations since the Northlands have seen a hero worthy of the title. Many have made the claim, but few have lived to defend it. Timid, weak, and bullied, Wulfric is as unlikely a candidate as there could be. Jorundyr's Path: Jorundyr's Path is walked only by the brave. As Wulfric pursues Adalhaid's Blood Debt, he soon learns that the path to revenge is never easy. The Blood Debt: A blade fit for a hero. An army for a tyrant. A reckoning long awaited, and a tale reaching its end.

After Dylan moves to Osaka, a strange interaction grants him the power to see demons and monsters from Japanese folklore. Burning with a desire to help the people being harmed by these terrible forces, Dylan finds an answer in the devastatingly beautiful and mysterious Ayane. Through her, Dylan learns there are more sinister and deadly monsters than anyone could imagine. Evil yokai have plagued Japan for centuries and the threat is escalating. But not all yokai are evil. Will his new-found power be enough to protect the innocents and vanquish the spawn of the abyss?

Royce Melborn, a cynical ex-assassin, and Hadrian Blackwater, an idealistic ex-mercenary, are a pair of rogues-for-hire known as Riyria (its elvish for two). This duo makes a living taking nefarious jobs for conspiring nobles. Doing so usually involves stealing something, but when a young heiress asks them to steal her . . . well, that is a first for the pair.

Follow a core group of characters known as the Trailblazers as they use alien technology and knowledge discovered in Antarctic ruins to obtain limited immortality and lead humanity out into the galaxy, encountering, befriending, and fighting hundreds of alien races all the while desperately trying to prepare Earth for the unbeatable threat at the core of the Milky Way that is destined to return and reclaim their lost colony...and their former human slaves.

From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre", through classic stories including "The Star", "Earthlight", "The Nine Billion Names of God", and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God", this comprehensive short story collection encapsulates one of the great science fiction careers of all time.