Contemporary Science Fiction

Taryn Cornick believes that the past - her sister's violent death, and her own ill-conceived revenge - is behind her, and she can get on with her life. She has written a successful book about the things that threaten libraries: insects, damp, light, fire, carelessness and uncaring...but not all of the attention it brings her is good.

"The city of San Francisco is being stalked by a huge shaved vampyre cat named Chet, and only I, Abby Normal, emergency backup mistress of the Greater Bay Area night, and my manga-haired love monkey, Foo Dog, stand between the ravenous monster and a bloody massacre of the general public. Whoa. And this is a love story? Yup."

Mack begins her training at the mages' academy in the hope that, by complying, the stasis spell will be lifted from her old friend Mrs. Alcoon. However, once there, she finds herself surrounded by unfriendly adults and petulant teenagers, the majority of whom seem determined to see her fail. Feeling attacked on all fronts, Mack finds it harder and harder to keep a rein on her temper. Forced to attend anger management classes and deal with the predatory attentions of Corrigan, the Lord Alpha of the shapeshifter world, her emotions start to unravel.

Jane, a shapeshifting vampire-hunter-for-hire, crosses paths with a stranger who has arrived in New Orleans, enlisted to hunt vampires who have gone insane - or so he says.

With the successful conclusion of the monster subjugation campaign, Eizo returns home with a new addition to the family—Lidy! However, his days of battling beasts aren't quite over. During a chance encounter with Samya's childhood friend, Jolanda, the family learns of another corrupted bear that's stalking around the Black Forest. Jolanda also mentions a tantalizing rumor about a magical knife, which Rike and Eizo are eager to investigate. Could this be a new product to add to Forge Eizo's lineup?

Top Gun heads to outer space in this throwback to the classic science fiction of Asimov, Clarke, and Heinlein. Strapped in to artificial wings spanning 25 feet across, your arms push a tenth of your body weight with each pump as you propel yourself at frightening speeds through the air. Inside a pressurized dome on the Moon, subject to one-sixth Earth's gravity, there are swarms of chiseled, fearless, superbly trained flyers all around you, jostling for air space like peregrine falcons racing for the prize.

Patrick Hayward is a shell of the man he once was. Cursing at love after the only woman he ever let himself fall for wound up marrying his older brother, Patrick enrolls himself at Stanford, hoping college life will get him back to his ladies'-man-extraordinaire self. Just when Patrick feels the shadow of himself returning, Emma Scarlett enters his life, calling him on his crap. Intrigued by this fascinating creature who is ignorant to his charm, Patrick gravitates to Emma, knowing she's everything he shouldn't fall for.

Rockland Barkclay has had a rough year. On top of everything else, his father has just passed, and Rocky has to go it alone on their annual trip. But his plans for drinking alone in Algonquin Park are rudely interrupted by a sea of cosmic energy that governs the universe...With the awakening of the very planet they reside on, humans are in a desperate fight to survive in an evolving world. If only Gaia hadn’t woken up so very...very...unhinged.

Danny North is the first Gate Mage to be born on Earth in nearly 2,000 years, or at least the first to survive and claim his power, for families of Westil in exile on Earth have a treaty that requires the death of any suspected Gate Mage. The wars between the families had been terrible until at last they realized it was their own survival in question. But a Gate Mage, one who could build a Great Gate back to Westil, would give his own family a terrible advantage over all the others and reignite the wars. So it was decided that they all had to die.

Danny North knew from early childhood that his family was different - and that he was different from them. While his cousins were learning how to create the things that commoners called fairies, ghosts, golems, trolls, werewolves, and other such miracles that were the heritage of the North family, Danny worried that he would never show a talent, never form an "outself"....

I Am Number Four: The Lost Files: Secret Histories is the second collection of action-packed novellas from Pittacus Lore. Initially published separately as digital originals, these three stories are now together in one volume.

Even better, no one suspects she is human. Masquerading as a goblin Traveler, she roams Reality in her glittering van pulled by her two trusty world walking birds, Warp and Weft. But when a storm of cosmic chaos strands her in an outer thread, the only refuge in sight is the legendary Darkhouse of Doom. Goblin legend says it is cursed; that the appearance of the wandering darkhouse foretells the appearance of world-devouring monsters and the death of all who see it.

À la suite du tremblement de terre qui a détruit la cité des Anciens, Malta, le Gouverneur et sa compagne dérivent sur le fleuve du Désert des Pluies jusqu'à ce qu'ils soient recueillis par un vaisseau chalcidien qui les emmène vers une destination inconnue. Pendant ce temps, à Terrilville, la situation demeure très confuse : les navires chalcidiens font le blocus du port, la guerre civile réduit à néant l'unité de la cité, l'interruption du commerce, les incendies et les pillages ruinent la ville.

Farmer Giles of Ham did not look like a hero. He was fat and red-bearded and enjoyed a slow, comfortable life. Then one day a rather deaf and short-sighted giant blundered on to his land. More by luck than skill, Farmer Giles managed to scare him away. The people of the village cheered: Farmer Giles was a hero. His reputation spread far and wide across the kingdom. So it was natural that when the dragon Chrysophylax visited the area it was Farmer Giles who was expected to do battle with it!

Out of all the mysterious boarders who call Sanctuary home, no one is more antisocial or withdrawn than Maxis Drago. But then, it's hard to blend in with the modern world when you have a fifty-foot wingspan. Centuries ago, he was cursed by an enemy who swore to see him fall. An enemy who took everything from him and left him forever secluded. But Fate is a bitch, with a wicked sense of humor. And when she throws old enemies together and threatens the wife he thought had died centuries ago, he comes back with a vengeance

Long ago, homo nocturnus ruled the Earth, able to manipulate the forces of nature at their most basic level. Before the dawn of recorded history they were overthrown, leaving behind them only legends---our legends of shapeshifters and blood-drinkers, of cruel gods and evil magicians, of ogres and goblins, succubi and incubi.

When Eddie Brock becomes biologically linked to a bizarre alien symbiote, the two share a common goal. At first, they seek to squash their arch-foe Spider-Man. But after repeated attempts, Venom reaches an uneasy truce with the web-spinner. Brock leaves New York and heads west to San Francisco, the city of his birth, eager to put trouble behind him, but trouble has different ideas. Brock commits himself to becoming a defender of the innocent, but he's a six-foot-three-inch, 260 lb. figure with bulging muscles and fangs like a shark. Venom quickly draws attention.

A few hours ago, Sherry Carne would have sworn that vampires didn't exist. That's before rogue immortals rampage through her store, leaving bloody chaos (literally) in their wake. The kicker comes when Sherry learns that one of the vamps on the bad guys' trail may be her life mate. Her head says it's impossible. The rest of her takes one look at Basileios Argeneau and has much more interesting ideas.

The Library of the Unwritten in Hell was saved from total devastation, but hundreds of potential books were destroyed. Former librarian Claire and Brevity the muse feel the loss of those stories and are trying to adjust to their new roles within the Arcane Wing and Library, respectively. But when the remains of those books begin to leak a strange ink, Claire realizes that the Library has kept secrets from Hell - and from its own librarians.

Nouvelles inédites dans l'univers de "Blood Song" ! Assoiffée de vengeance, Derla - une personnalité des bas-fonds de Castelvarin - n'a d'autre choix que d'entrer au service du machiavélique roi Janus. Chargée de protéger Sentes Mustor, illustre ivrogne et joueur invétéré, Derla engage une partie à haut risque avec le tristement célèbre Borgne, chef en devenir de la pègre castelvarine.