Fantasy Patrick

Enter the wizard duo of Croft and Wesson. That’s Professor Everson Croft, the bookish spellcaster from New York City, and James Wesson, the smooth-talking, skirt-chasing, wannabe cowboy. Confronted with everything from resurrected outlaws to ancient evils, two mages are better than one, right? Sure, if they can stop butting heads long enough to solve a case. And maybe—just maybe—not blow Grimstone off the map.

Harper Burns was just abducted from her house by four big, bad shifters. When she finds out her father traded her for his life to a wolf king, she’s ready to escape. Even more confusing is the fact Sebastian tells her she must have his baby. The craziest part is she’s actually considering it. Clearly, she lost her mind on the car ride to the castle.

Liam, the leprechaun, loves to fart! Sometimes, it makes him unpopular with the other leprechauns, and other times, it saves the day!

R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots) is a science-fiction drama that was first presented in Czech in 1921. It introduced the term "robot", which is derived from a Czech word meaning "worker," to international vocabulary. The action opens in a factory that has successfully produced thousands of robots, who are essentially mindless drones. An idealistic humanitarian activist launches a plan to imbue some of the robots with human traits. The robots which have been humanized then assume leadership over the other robots and seek to organize them in a revolution to take over the world.

With the Borman suddenly out of commission and far beyond reach, cislunar space begins falling into chaos as critical satellites fail and valuable lunar mineral shipments begin disappearing in transit. Nothing is as it seems, and Marshall Hunter and the rest of the crew suspect none of it is by coincidence.

A boy named Seth drowns, desperate and alone in his final moments, losing his life as the pounding sea claims him. But then he wakes. He is naked, thirsty, starving. But alive. How is that possible? He remembers dying, his bones breaking, his skull dashed upon the rocks. So how is he here? And where is this place? It looks like the suburban English town where he lived as a child, before an unthinkable tragedy happened and his family moved to America.

Edwin Windsor, Efficiency Consultant for Supervillains, attempts to tame a rage-fueled Crazy Psycho Murder Tree hell-bent to revenge itself on meat-kind. He delegates much of the job to his most recent hire, underdog, defense attorney, and literal little guy, Talmadge Haggleblat. But when Talmadge finds himself caught between the highly privileged social justice vigilante "The Lynx" and the Crazy Psycho Murder Tree itself, will he be crushed in the undergrowth, or will he find a way to succeed in evil?

Thousands of crew are reported dead, including the ship’s captain. Reluctantly, the young XO, Galvin Quintos, will be taking command of the fleet's crippled dreadnaught, the USS Hamilton, while doing his best to bring fleet survivors back to Earth. To make matters worse, there’s a murderer running loose on board the ship, critically low fuel levels, and the Grish are back, in fast pursuit and ready to finish what they’d started. Only by sheer luck - and a good measure of cagey smarts - will Quintos be able to rise to the challenge.

Jesus rescues a man named Hezekiah from the clutches of death. The man of God is not only saved, but chosen for a special mission: protect the city of Sodom from certain destruction. Eternal judgment looms over the metropolis as the son of God sends his final spokesman to tell people of God’s salvation. However, evil angels in Sodom seek to decimate the city and annihilate anyone who stands in their way.

The teacher, Patrick Healy, travelled around the world, talked with people in different places, and collected around half a thousand myths, legends, and folktales and their several alternative versions. His opinion and comments (directly or indirectly) are inevitable. This is the 12th volume of his work, 18 Romanian Tales, in his words. He retold the stories with his own opinion and approach to them. Patrick is an Australian writer who has an abiding interest in the folklore of different cultures.

With supplies running low and animals scarce, not even the freezing zombies can make the future look bright for Axl's group. And as the snow grows deeper, Vivian's concern for Hadley and Jon only becomes more intense. Each day seems to bring more challenges, and every week that passes with no sign of their friends makes it more difficult for the group to believe life can ever return to normal.

Cursed by a blind witch in a remote corner of Waristan, Special Ops Captain Jason Wolfe finds himself transforming into a creature of local legend, a lupine referred to in fearful whispers as Blue Wolf. Faster, stronger, and more lethal, he’s the perfect soldier - but not for the US military. To break the curse, Jason must join a war between ancient tribal foes: blue werewolves and the formidable White Dragon. In a battle spanning from the peaks of Central Asia to the valleys of Manhattan, Jason will push himself to the breaking point.

Barrett Bradshaw was living the life for a while. As the de facto leader of House Dragon at Nosferatu Academy, his peers and teachers alike held high hopes for him. That was largely because of who his rather famous father turned out to be. Sure, everyone at the academy was the scion of some family of demihumans or another, but only Barrett had an archangel for a parent.

I'm lost in the middle of nowhere on a freaking alien planet. Running away from the Hyrrokin mafia. It's as terrible as you can imagine. I haven't eaten in two days and it's raining in the wildlands. Lightning strikes overhead and thunder rumbles in the distance. I slip and fall in the mud. And then I sit at the bottom of a ravine, crying. There's a blur in the distance. Is that a mirage? No, its a deadly, satanic-looking male with a bare chest, huge black horns and a barbed tail racing right for me. I scream as this monster looms overhead.

Three years ago, Earth was attacked by an invading force so devastating, only one ship in the fleet survived. Their hard won victory came from the aid of an alliance of aliens long at war with an aggressive force. With the aid of advanced technology, humanity retrofitted their surviving vessel. The Behemoth became a shield against any future incursions.

In Radio Free Albemuth, his last novel, Philip K. Dick morphed and recombined themes that had informed his fiction from A Scanner Darkly to VALIS and produced a wild, impassioned work that sounds like a visionary alternate history of the United States. Agonizingly suspenseful, darkly hilarious, and filled with enough conspiracy theories to thrill the most hardened paranoid, Radio Free Albemuth is proof of Dick's stature as our century's greatest science fiction writer.

The Burning Lake Prefecture has declared war on the demon lands. The human invaders are mighty, and even Stargazer City’s new seer can’t stop them. Cha Ming would love to help, but his hands are tied. He has a death match to attend and only six months to prepare. To survive, he’ll need to awaken his divine blood using the Iridescent Phoenix’s inheritance. But such a precious treasure is not easy to obtain. Cha Ming’s competitors are strong and have been preparing all their lives.

From Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, here are the best stories of 2002, written by four of the most respected writers of our day: Robert Silverberg, James Patrick Kelly, Ian Watson, and Gregory Benford. Also try The Best of Analog Science Fiction and Fact Magazine and The Best of Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine 2002.

In The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone, Greg Keyes has crafted a brilliant saga of magic, adventure, and love set against a backdrop of clashing empires and an ancient, reawakened evil. Now, with The Born Queen, Keyes brings his epic to a masterly close, gathering the strands of plot and character into a stunning climax that both completes and transcends all that has gone before.

Vesta Colony has a problem: Aliens are snatching men until they disappear for good. Humanity's defensive forces are stretched too thin to help a distant outpost, and so, the desperate founders, as well as their investors, are given the bad option of recruiting the worst while bribing the rest.