Fantasy Patrick

From the critically acclaimed author of Sea of Rust and Queen of the Dark Things comes a hair-raising collection of short fiction that illuminates the strange, humorous, fantastical, and downright diabolical that tantalize and terrorize us: demons, monsters, zombie dinosaurs, and Death itself.

Staff Sergeant Markus ‘Spartan’ Nicolos is one of the Intelligence Department’s best. A hacker who can beat any code, he’s in charge of communications intercepts for the Golden Horde’s Computer Operations section. Spartan used to be a frontline CASPer pilot - until he lost his entire squad in an ambush. He also lost his edge in the attack, and he swore he would never pilot a CASPer in combat again. Everything changed, though, when he came up with an idea for a new type of scout CASPer - one that would prevent what happened to him from ever happening again.

Taylor Van Zant has a lot on his mind. Like everyone in Jacksonville, North Florida, the early-20s bartender from Riverside saw his world upended when his brother, Terry, an interstellar mercenary and local hero, died suddenly in a freak starship accident. Five years later, having been stonewalled for answers, Taylor faced a choice: Honor his mother’s wish that he never go merc or defy it to save her life by resurrecting Terry’s company. That was 13 months ago. Now the newly reformed Eagles stand on the verge of a major milestone: owning their own flagship.

Best-selling author Patrick Carman delivers his first novel for teens with a compelling story that explores the dark side of having a superpower. In Thirteen Days to Midnight, Carman presents a close circle of friends who find themselves facing intriguing questions: Can a life really be saved? Or is it a fool’s game to deny death’s insistence? And even if possible, would saving one life mean bringing doom upon another—or creating a harmful rift in the fabric of the world?

This riveting adventure is set in a satellite world created as a refuge from a dying Earth. Edgar, a gifted climber, is a lonely boy scaling the perilous cliffs that separate the three realms of Atherton, including a vast wasteland where he must confront an unspeakable danger that could destroy his people. When Edgar discovers a book containing the history of Atherton's origins and ultimate apocalypse, his world quite literally begins to turn inside out.

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.

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.

The theft of a whetstone from a Welsh museum and the murder of a curate during a grave robbery seem, at first, like random crimes. But the troubling deeds are linked by a precarious thread. An unusual collection of rare and scattered British antiquities has become a target — and the relics' value lies in something much more dangerous than money....

Deep in an archaeological dig in England's Midlands, Annja locates a braided necklace around a mummified king's neck. Made of an unusual material - not quite obsidian, but gleaming with multihued color - the torc is an astonishing find. But someone knows exactly what the torc means. And he will do anything to get his hands on the Tear of the Gods. When the dig is compromised and innocent archaeologists are slain, even Annja herself is left for dead. Now she is fleeing for her life, not knowing the terrifying truth about the relic she risks everything to protect.

In the last few months, Alex and his family have survived a rampaging alien attack and a murderous plot on behalf of the hardened criminal Lucius Serrano. Throughout that turmoil, the colony of Vesta has seen the return of peaceful days, but peace is an increasingly fleeting idea, especially when two representatives from the Directorate of Interstellar Research arrive in Vesta.

My name is Darcy Anderson, and I am cursed with a dark power: Whenever my life is in danger, something inside me summons elemental fire to protect me. I cannot control this. One night, I was attacked in my home. The fire ... it raged out of control. I survived the inferno, but my house burned to the ground - with my parents inside. I was at a loss to explain to the courts what happened, and so they sent me to prison for 10 years for manslaughter.

For millennia, they have stared through the invisible force separating their world from ours, and grew hungry. Now, they've found a way through. Darkness from their side swallows our skies, their diseases eat through our human bodies, leaving behind soulless husks... and worse. Only two things can save us: a mysterious power locked in a small chest covered with undecipherable glyphs, and the seven-year-old girl it chose as its protector.

Derek McMillan has been managing his farm and renting out a few holiday cottages on his own for years now. He deals with the occasional tourist for some extra money but mostly keeps to himself. When he first lays eyes on the curvy beauty, Clarice, he immediately regrets accepting her booking. Lightning strikes, and as much as he tries to deny it, his inner bear knows that she's his mate. But he's a shifter, and she's a human, and the two can't ever mix, can they?

The current-day city of Fort Brazos, Texas, and the nearby Joint Reserve Base awaken to find that they have been abducted — scooped up whole and deposited inside a vast 4000-mile-long hollow alien world. Thousands have been killed in the wake of this harrowing event, leaving those who remain to fend for themselves in the absence of any outside aid. In the midst of this chaos, a power struggle between military and civilian leadership threatens to further complicate the situation.

Seventeen-year-old Lad knows the law of his people all too well: Don't get careless and don't get caught. It's allowed his race to live undetected in this world for thousands of years, mentioned only in flawed and fading folklore...Lad's never been able to forget about Ryann since that night 10 years ago. When he sees her again, his fascination re-ignites and becomes a growing desire that tempts him to break all the rules. He's not even supposed to talk to a human, much less fall in love with one.

Jonah Miller is a Reviver, able to temporarily revive the dead so they can say goodbye to their loved ones - or tell the police who killed them. Jonah works in a department of forensics created specifically for Revivers, and he’s the best in the business. For every high-profile corpse pushing daisies, it’s Jonah’s job to find justice for them. But while reviving the victim of a brutal murder, he encounters a terrifying presence. Something is on the other side watching. Waiting.

When three probes sent to Mars suffer suspicious catastrophic failures, a clandestine manned mission is dispatched to investigate the probes’ wreckage for clues to explain their demise. The manned mission is led by Lieutenant Colonel Avery Lockett. He is joined by flight engineer, Captain Nick Reed, and mission specialist, Dr. Christine Baker. Together they embark on a dangerous journey aboard the spaceship Cetus Prime - dangerous because they know what awaits them around Mars. UMOs, or unidentified magnetic objects.

A harrowing tale of space exploration turned survival nightmare. Filled with aliens, science, and suspense; Magwave blends the futuristic science fiction of Arthur C. Clarke with the twists and intrigue of a Tom Clancy thriller. Fresh off their historic discoveries on the Jupiter moon Callisto, the crew of the Rorschach Explorer and their colleagues in Mission Control should have known better. Space is not a lifeless vacuum. Dark and forbidding, it is a jungle where the rules of survival are no different than those on Earth: Keep your head on a swivel. Trust nothing you think you know.

Ryann and Lad are together and in love but not yet bonded. Wedding plans are underway, but they cannot marry until the mourning period for his father, the murdered king, ends. Waiting is sweet torture and gets harder all the time. Nox and Vancia are touring the world with his band, The Hidden, and enjoying their honeymoon. They’re also working to convince the holdout tribes in Europe, Asia, and Australia to disband their fan pods and sign the new peace treaty between the Dark and Light Courts. It’s the only way to ensure the safety of humans worldwide.

The Claxton Lore and Apparition Warehouse is located on a remote private property in the deep swamps of Louisiana, and overseen by a robot designed by Mr. Claxton, called CLAW. The warehouse is filled with a maze of crates labeled with things like The Beast, Mr. Mason’s Jars, Snap, The Atomic Ants, which are filled with the things of legend, and it is CLAW’s job to make sure the objects don’t get out. But CLAW is a curious robot, and what lay inside these crates just may make their way out and haunt the imaginations of listeners everywhere.