Science Fiction City

Here is Old Man's War author John Scalzi's sendup of the heroic fantasy genre, now a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

After escaping the Beast Origin Realm, Li Wei enters Five Firmament City to participate in the Heavenly Firmament Sect’s disciple selection with the hope that following his previous life's path will bring him some peace. But Li Wei and peace are not compatible things. With the ghosts of his past coming back to haunt him, he is faced with mounting difficulties that will test his patience and tenacity. Join for some auction fun, dangerous fights, alchemy, arrays and more system shenanigans.

Nineteen-year-old Ness used to have a vehement terror of Nightmares—people who’d been turned into their worst fears while they slept. Through two assassination attempts, an explosion, and a faustian bargain with a dream demon, she’s finally working through those fears.

In the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of the Street, ordinary citizens are turning up dead, their bodies drained of blood. What seems at first like a string of vampire attacks is soon revealed to be something even more frightening. But in the dayside world of the city's upper levels, no one notices what happens to a few dead street rats. Kathryn Kitaen, a magic affairs detective for the Metamor City Police Department, isn't supposed to be on this case or any other. Judged unfit for duty after a recent shooting, Kate is on indefinite leave.

Joey is a Reality Controller in near future Delhi. Her job is to supervise the multimedia multi-reality livestreams of Indi, one of South Asia’s fastest rising online celebrities—who also happens to be her college ex. Joey’s job gives her considerable culture-power, but she’s too caught up in day-to-day crisis-handling to see this, or to figure out what she wants from her life.

Zinzi December has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit, and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she’s forced to take on her least favourite kind of job: missing persons.

Настало время «Праздника голубой луны», самого осмурфительного дня в году, и все смурфики радуются предстоящему веселью! Но, из-за одного небольшой промаха Растяпы, в Смурфидоле вдруг появляется злобный колдун Гаргамель. Смурфикам приходится спасаться бегством, но магия голубой луны уже действует вовсю, и внезапно смурфики проваливаются в самый настоящий портал. Они оказываются в новом, очень странном мире – но по пятам за ними гонятся колдун Гаргамель и его верный помощник, кот Азраэль.

India, 1855. There are two kinds of magic in Chompa's world. The kind her mother favours: writing-magic, which anyone can do if they take the time. Write a spell in Farsi, and wait. It's calm, controlled, safe, says Ammi. It's slow, frustrating, boring, thinks Chompa. Then there's finger-magic, which only those descended from ancient djinn are born with. Immediate, powerful - and dangerous, for every act of finger-magic leaves a trace, and comes at a price.

Having gotten clear of the country determined to exterminate his kind, Yynnc sets his sights on creating a new life for himself in the magnificent city of Grayshoal. While there are dangers, opportunities abound for a kobold trying to carve out a new and exciting life for himself. The problem is that trouble is determined to find him in return. Whether by happenstance or from his own insatiable curiosity, it seems wherever he sticks his nose in, all he finds is a nest of hornets. He soon finds himself entangled in matters he probably should have left alone.

The only thing Gryph wanted when he entered the Realms was to find his missing sister. Then he pissed off a power-hungry god, got stuck in the undead hell dungeon known as the Barrow and nearly had his soul consumed. Then things trended upwards, and with the help of a ragtag group of companions, Gryph escaped to a verdant paradise of magic and wonder. But when his exposed secrets lead to betrayal and murder, Gryph is forced to accept an insane quest or his new friends will face the headsman's axe.

Thirty years ago the world as we know it was lost. Now humans live like rats, desperate for food and safety. The wall towers before us as a mocking reminder of what happened. The wall that keeps the monsters locked away from us. The wall that keeps us safe. The wall that every day I sneak through. I thought I was safe in the light beyond its scarred concrete. I thought I knew the way of the world. Then, night falls and I’m trapped beyond the wall. Monsters come out to play in an explosion of shadows, claws, and tails. Their black eyes track me like prey until he comes—their leader....

I was there the day the wall fell from the sky. The day they gunned down my mother and permanently separated the rich from the poor. I was there the day my father decided he could force utopia on a certain half of the population and leave the rest to rot. Pragmapax was once a great city, the only remaining outpost of civilization in our part of the world. But now, divided by an impossible wall, we've become two cities. Two peoples that despise each other. Two different ways of life—one idyllic and peaceful, the other savage and lawless. Civil war seethes in the air, breathing down our necks.

A series of ritualistic murders are discovered six months after Max Elliot turned in his badge. Victims of the media-dubbed “Chinatown Surgeon” are little more than piles of flayed skin. The bones of each body were stolen. This torturous method of execution had only been seen once before and that case remained unsolved.

Hidden truths have surfaced, and I'm forced to question some of the people closest to me. Instead of turning into the shadow form of a demon, I'm a wolf shifter with the same dark fur as my enemies. My fated mate, a sexy silver wolf, should be standing by my side as we face a frightening new enemy, but he was kidnapped along with four other shifters. Saving them could cost my life, but it’ll bring me closer to finding out who...or rather what I am and why I'm being hunted. Everything is falling apart, but I'll do anything to protect my mate and my newfound family.

After the attack on Zynon, our beloved group is on the run. They all know that Byron will kill them the moment he finds them. With nowhere to hide, as Byron has spies everywhere, Gabe has decided to come out and tell everyone the truth of who he is—the son of the Silurian monarch.

Still coming to terms with their unexpected partnership, Augustine and Harlow have a tentative truce. Although with Harlow slowly working to accept being fae, Augustine still learning how to be Guardian, and feelings growing on both sides, they do not have an easy road ahead. But when a young girl is stolen from the Mardi Gras Exemplar Ball - the biggest fae event of the year - Harlow and Augustine must put all their issues aside to bring her home alive.

Dunkle Tunnel, mysteriöse Unfälle, eine Stadt voller Geister. Cassidy Blake (und ihrem Geisterfreund Jacob) bleibt keine Zeit, sich von den Ereignissen in Edinburgh zu erholen, denn die Geister-Fernsehshow ihrer Eltern führt sie direkt zum nächsten Drehort: nach Paris. Klar macht es Spaß, Croissants zu essen und den Eiffelturm zu erklimmen, doch tief unter der Stadt wartet in den Katakomben auf Cassidy eine besonders unheimliche Gefahr.

It has been three years since Elvira "Ellie" Ryder was betrayed by her ex-boyfriend Cor, which caused the destruction of her people by invaders from a different Zone. Now she will do anything to find him and make him pay.

Now that Kal has become chipless and The City's tyrants have turned against their own people, the time for action has come. Amber receives news of her father's faltering health and can no longer put off her plans to rescue him from the High Professor's captivity. Together with two New City survivors, Kal and Amber embark on a long and dangerous journey. But their plan to penetrate The City and expose how the High Professor manipulates the citizens he had sworn to protect runs into a string of obstacles that threaten to end their mission before it starts.

Over two decades ago, forty-eight young, gifted superheroes fell to Earth and were eventually marketed as opposing brands: heroes and villains. Now, one exceptionally gruff bad guy is looking to hop teams. Hello, PR director Vanessa Theriot. His real name is Roland Casteel a.k.a. the Pyro. First, swap that with the less incinerating the Wyvern. Next, put him in spandex to highlight that near-godlike body. Finally, give that hero in training a heroine—if Vanessa will play the part in a pretend romance guaranteed to make the city swoon. She’s game.