Fantasy Patrick

Mysteries abound in the new world: Who are the so-called architects that built the Menagerie System? Why are people being brought to Novus, and why is no one allowed to leave? With dozens of new arrivals appearing by the day, the abductees must hurry to organize themselves if they are to defend against the many dangers on Novus. Meanwhile, trouble is looming on Earth. With the discovery of Planet B’s healing water, superpowers are racing faster than ever to colonize the new world.

A violent storm sweeps through California, taking on a life of her own. Making her way from the Pacific Coast, she gains momentum as she approaches the Sierra and transforms into a blizzard of great strength, covering mountain ranges and roads with twenty feet of snow. Originally published in 1941, Storm is a rare combination of fiction and science by a master storyteller, drawing upon a deep knowledge of geography, meteorology, and human nature.

Alex Khan finished his military service and enrolled in college with the money he’d earned, ready to major in history. But when a nearby lightning strike activates an ancient stone portal, Alex is torn away from Earth. He finds himself on an alien world full of wonder and danger.

Professor Harak H'gin leads a peaceful life studying linguistics on his native planet of Plumeria. Until the day he stumbles across a bedraggled, beautiful human female. Dared by a colleague to transform the pitiful creature into a true member of their society, Harak takes on the challenge. Forced to eke out a meager living selling flowers, Liza is desperate to improve her situation. When a chance meeting offers the opportunity to become something more than a menial worker, she doesn't hesitate—even though it means moving in with the arrogant, handsome alien.

Max didn't ask to be created, but it was a case of mistaken identity and he had no say in the matter. Now he is without his flesh and blood body, in a strange new digital realm, and not taking it really well. However, his new existence comes with abilities that the regular humans can only dream about. If absolute power corrupts, can he avoid being corrupted? These are the logs he wrote for posterity. Written in his voice and not meant for the general public. Listen at your own discretion, but be warned—once you start, you may never go back to your mundane existence.

It has been over a decade since Andrew Keane's Union regiment was mysteriously pulled away from the Civil War and marooned in time on a hostile alien planet. But now it appears as if everything the Lost Regiment has fought and died for has been in vain.

I never wanted to lie to her, but I knew I couldn't keep her safe if she knew. I hurt her, more than I ever wanted to and I have to live with that each day that I'm away from her. But one day she'll know, that every day spent away from her was hell. Watching her move on. Watching her change. But it will all be worth it once she's safe. Even if she doesn't know it, she is my Rapture.

The Change occurred when an electrical storm centered over the island of Nantucket produced a blinding white flash that rendered all electronic devices and fuels inoperable - and plunged the world into a dark age humanity was unprepared to face....

I used to think my life would be common, boring even. My online guildies and my friends sure thought so. Yet everything I knew to be true in this world all changed drastically one fateful night... or should I say, it shifted. As it turns out, my father passed on more than his name to me. Something feral and mighty awoke within me, and I knew at once, I would never be the same again. Shortly after, I received an invitation that I didn't expect, a call to attend the mysterious Apex Academy.

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.

Before he joined the Armed Detective Agency, Osamu Dazai was the youngest-ever executive with the Port Mafia, the most notorious underground crime syndicate in all of Yokohama. Three of its members—Dazai, Odasaku, and Ango—formed a camaraderie despite their vast disparities in rank. When Ango suddenly goes missing, Odasaku, a lowly Mafia grunt, receives direct orders from their boss to find him…only for Ango’s trail to lead Odasaku to a mysterious, foreign criminal organization called Mimic.

Captain Galvin Quintos, along with his irreverent crew, is back and facing his most harrowing enemy yet. As the battle within the Eta Carinae Star System rages on with the Varapin, Quintos is forced to make a deal with the devil, one Commander Dunft Choob. Sure, Quintos has saved the pirate world of Haven—but at a heavy price. Oblivion, the most powerful warship in the known galaxy, will be reluctantly returned to the Varapin ghouls.

You know you really made someone raging mad—when they try to kill you with a nuke. Michael and those who follow him had reached a temporary safe base, but now those in power know his identity. His people are in a race against time, and it's no longer a question of if they are going to be discovered—but when. Opposing them are modern-day pirates, slavers, genocidal terrorists, drug cartels, and those who rule the Earth from the shadows. And every single one of them wants to see Michael dead.

When Fionn Boyle sets foot on Arranmore Island, it begins to stir beneath his feet.... Once in a generation, Arranmore Island chooses a new Storm Keeper to wield its power and keep its magic safe from enemies. The time has come for Fionn’s grandfather, a secretive and eccentric old man, to step down. Soon, a new Keeper will rise. But deep underground, someone has been waiting for Fionn. As the battle to become the island’s next champion rages, a more sinister magic is waking up, intent on rekindling an ancient war.

After the recent near-destruction of the USS Hamilton, Captain Galvin Quintos has been lying low, getting the USS Jefferson ready for service. In the midst of refurbishing the vessel, he gets a call for help from his former XO, new starship captain Gail Pristy. The Varapin have lured the Ninth Fleet into a devious trap, and it’s not long before Quintos has his orders to hurry to the rescue. But the Varapin have a colossal new warship - one that puts anything the US Space-Navy has to shame.

Apparently, someone tipped off the Sino-Koreans, because the moment his team lands they find themselves under attack. Separated from his men, he discovers the source of the disturbance, and witnesses the release of an ancient, alien power. When that power focuses its wrath on the colony's civilians, Rade must decide whether he will gather his platoon and intervene, or retreat to fight another day.

The situation is dire. The Alliance is crumbling. Thine, Pleidian, and Human civilizations are each at a crossroads for their very survival. Captain Galvin Quintos has a plan to defeat the Grish and the far more dangerous Varapin. But to pull this off, he’ll have to go it alone, cut ties with the US Space-Navy, and become a true outlaw - a full-fledged pirate. That and say goodbye to his loyal friend Derrota, Admiral Block, and Captain Gail Pristy. Feeling he may have just jumped from the frying pan into the fire, Quintos is forced to build new strategic alliances with the Pylors.

When a monstrous alien smashes into the deserted planet we're studying, it's with the raging force of a natural disaster. I'm not sure if he's a dragon, a god, or a man. He's massive and terrible, with scales like emeralds, glowing wings, and only one maddened eye left. In the rush to retreat from this berserk behemoth, my fellow humans leave me behind. But he doesn't. His burning eye lands on me, and it's like I'm the only thing left in the universe. When he comes for me, his body heaving with violence, I know that he will kill me.

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.

Gideon Gull leads a double life: one as a talented young bard at the Rhapsodic College, the other as a student of the Shadow School, where Taldor's infamous lion blades are trained to be master spies and assassins. When a magical fog starts turning ordinary people into murderous mobs along the border between Taldor and Gideon's home nation of Andoran, it's up to him and a crew of daring performers to solve the mystery before both nations fall to madness and slaughter.