Epic Sorcery

All is not well in the Letherii Empire. Rhulad Sengar, the Emperor of a Thousand Deaths, spirals into madness, surrounded by sycophants and agents of his Machiavellian chancellor, while the Letherii secret police conduct a campaign of terror against their own people. The Errant, once a far-seeing god, is suddenly blind to the future. Conspiracies seethe throughout the palace as the empire edges closer to all-out war with the neighboring kingdoms.

The Seven Cities Rebellion has been crushed. Sha’ik is dead. One last rebel force remains, holed up in the city of Y’Ghatan and under the fanatical command of Leoman of the Flails. The prospect of laying siege to this ancient fortress makes the battle-weary Malazan Fourteenth Army uneasy. For it was here that the Empire’s greatest champion, Dassem Ultor, was slain and a tide of Malazan blood spilled. A place of foreboding, its smell is of death. But elsewhere, agents of a far greater conflict have made their opening moves.

The five most dangerous liars in the land have been mysteriously summoned to work together for a single objective: to kill the god king Joon. He has it coming. Under his merciless immortal hand, the nobles flourish, while the poor and innocent are imprisoned, ruined … or sold. And now each of the five blades will come for him. Each has tasted bitterness—from the hired hit man seeking atonement, a lovely assassin who seeks freedom, or even the prince banished for his cruel crimes.

Hall had played the VRMMORPG, Sky Realms Online, since beta. During one gaming session, a freak accident traps Hall and other players in the game. They awaken to find out their bodies are comatose and they have been downloaded fully into the virtual world. Even worse, the rules have changed, they've been forced back to level 1, and permadeath might be possible. Join Hall and his growing circle of friends and enemies, both Players and NPCs, as they discover that Sky Realms Online is not the same game they knew. New lands, new foes, and new mysteries.

Alana has not had an easy second life. Ever since she was reborn in the Kingdom of Bergond after meeting her untimely demise on Earth, she’s struggled—first, as the poor daughter of a peasant farmer; next, as an orphan on the run from the war; then, as a formidable novice mage with skills well beyond most of those her age. Now, she’s facing a challenge unlike any she’s had to confront in this world before: school. Within the hallowed halls of the Bergond Academy of Mages, Alana must contend with an entirely new set of political and personal struggles.

Lou has spent her whole life running. Now, after a crushing blow from Morgane, the time has come to go home - and claim what is rightfully hers. But this is no longer the Lou her friends knew. No longer the Lou who captured a chasseur’s heart. A darkness has settled over her, and this time it will take more than love to drive it out.

The scales have tipped. The battle for Namdhor, the north, and the entire realm of man was a sure victory for the orcs. But they lost. Now, under the rule of a would-be-king, the armies of man fuel the war when they should be bolstering their defenses. Only a few understand that time is against them, yet these few must fight alone if the dawn is to rise over Illian once more. The heroes of the realm have banded together, but they cannot fight side by side. There is only one way they can win, seen by the oldest dragon and preserved inside the broken mind of a ranger.

A ruthless enemy has conquered Augum's kingdom. Sheltered beneath a protective dome, the Academy of Arcane Arts stands as the sole remaining stronghold. And Augum and his friends are about to abandon it. Little does he know, escaping will be the easy part, for a harrowing adventure awaits. Along the way, he'll have to evade an enemy that always seems one step ahead - while dealing with an ally questioning his leadership.

A U.S. Army Ranger sniper finds himself on his own and on the move far downrange and beyond the wire in an epic fantasy world filled with deadly monsters and dangerous foes in a total battle royale for glory, hoard—and flat-out survival. Adrift on the Sea of Riddles and lost in a dangerous world of epic fables, Sgt. Thor and his anti-materiel sniper rifle, Mjölnir, must survive brutal pirates, the darkest sorcery, and a catastrophic shipwreck on a strange island steeped in arcane mystery and containing the remains of a lost civilization guarding an ancient artifact of great and terrible power.

A strange darkness grows in Allward. Even Corayne an-Amarat can feel it, tucked away in her small town at the edge of the sea. She soon discovers the truth: She is the last of an ancient lineage—and the last hope to save the world from destruction. But she won't be alone. Even as darkness falls, she is joined by a band of unlikely companions. Together they stand against a vicious opponent, invincible and determined to burn all kingdoms to ash, and an army unlike anything the realm has ever witnessed.

Having discovered her true heritage, young Gatina is embracing her evolving role as an apprentice shadowthief. It turns out procuring things that don’t actually belong to you can be rather exciting. But the first thing a good thief must learn is how to not get caught. If the evil usurper Count Vichetral snares Gatina or her beloved family, a truly unpleasant fate awaits. So her defiant father has deposited Gatina and her brother in the last place Vichetral’s men would think to look for them: stately Palomar Abbey.

The battlefield realm: a realm where sects rise and fall. Where the ground trembles under the feet of fighters from the higher realms. Where riches are gained and empires lost. This is where Erik and Rugrat must go, if they want to increase their strength and the strength of Alva. They say that fortune favors the bold. This is the ten realms. To the victor go the spoils. The fourth realm will change their lives...or end them.

Humanity thought the war with demonkind was over. Now, after humanity has had less than a generation to rebuild, the demon corelings have returned with a vengeance. The Spear of Ala—the fortress that stands at the gates of the demon’s hive—is the last bastion against the horde, and reports say it may already have fallen.

In the aftermath of the war between Pendrath and its neighbors, peace has finally come to Camelot. For Morgan Le Fay and her friends, the calm is short-lived. A storm grows on the horizon. As a terrible evil that has been waiting hundreds of years begins to sweep through the land, Morgan and Draven must race to the aid of their allies, leaving their youngest and most vulnerable new family member in the care of trusted friends.

A broken nation in need of a savior. Ravaged by plague, decimated by dark magic, and infiltrated by a foreign evil seeking to dominate from within, Brynth is on the eve of its dissolution.

On Earth, Hari Michaelson was a superstar. But on Overworld, he was the assassin Caine. Real monarchs lived and died at his hands and entire governments were overthrown...all for the entertainment of millions back on Earth. But now Hari, stripped of his identity as Caine, must fight his greatest battle: against the powerful corporate masters of Earth and the faceless masses who are killing everything he loves.

Author Mark Lawrence has won over audiences everywhere with Prince of Thorns, his exciting debut novel. Nine-year-old Prince Jorg is forced to watch as his mother and brother are slaughtered. Fleeing the palace, Jorg joins a bloodthirsty band of thugs. But he’s determined to take back what’s rightfully his, so he returns to the castle a few years later - unaware of the dark and powerful magic that awaits.

Training at the Shelter, led by the Mother Specialist and tutored by the four Elder Specialists, is turning out to be more intense than any of them had expected. The proficiency test will determine their future, and they will have to prepare and practice harder then ever if they want to graduate with the highly valued elite specialties.

In The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and best-selling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters - many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do.

King Uthar has been defeated in the Frozen Continent. Wounded, he retreats to Norghania to regroup his forces and shield himself behind the walls of the capital. Lasgol and his friends will try to pass the fourth and final year of instruction and graduate as Rangers on their own merits. To do this they will have to take part in deeply dangerous missions and help the king against the invaders.