Science Fiction City

Shocked and distressed by a male writer's vilification of women, Christine de Pizan has a powerful dreamlike vision in which she is visited by three personified Virtues: Reason, Rectitude and Justice. They tell her she has been chosen to write a book which will be like a city, housing virtuous women and protecting them from feminist attack. Partly myth, partly fact, The Book of the City of Ladies is an extraordinary, pioneering and impassioned defense of women that set out to shatter misogynist cliches and serve to instill self-worth in its female listeners of the time.

In this action-packed sequel to City of Dark Magic, we find musicologist Sarah Weston in Vienna in search of a cure for her friend Pollina, who is now gravely ill and who may not have much time left. Meanwhile, Nicolas Pertusato, in London in search of an ancient alchemical cure for the girl, discovers an old enemy is one step ahead of him. In Prague, Prince Max tries to unravel the strange reappearance of a long-dead saint while being pursued by a seductive red-headed historian with dark motives of her own.

Haunted by mysterious images of hooded figures, Magdalen Lorne, chief Terran operative on Darkover, pursues a quest not only to the frozen ends of the physical world but also to the perilous limits of the spiritual world. And there she is tested by the evil sorcery of the Dark Sisterhood.

Henry Jekyll was a brilliant doctor, a passionate idealist who aimed to free mankind of selfishness and vice. He's also the man who carelessly created a race of monsters. Once shared secretly among the good doctor's inner circle, the Hyde drug was smuggled into mass-production - but in pill form, it corrupted its users at the genetic level, leaving them liable to transform without warning. A quarter of the population are now clandestine killers - ticking bombs that could detonate at any given moment.

In a city of the dead, long since ruined and far from human civilization, lives a single human child. His name is Will, and he's being raised by three undead: the hearty skeletal warrior, Blood; the graceful mummified priestess, Mary; and the crotchety spectral sorcerer, Gus. The three pour love into the boy, and teach him all they know. But one day, Will starts to wonder: "Who am I?"

There ain't no rest for the wicked. And new mods don't grow on trees. But it seems enemies do. Gaining power in Artem is hard, but keeping it can be harder. With their budding new corporation and expanding gang territory attracting covetous eyes, the battle is just beginning for Oshbob and Unara. And while it's sometimes hard for an orc to accept, violence isn't always the answer. Oshbob and his band of loyal followers are going to have to be smart and play the game if they're to survive what's coming.

"Doom City”, a story by Robert McCammon, was originally published in 1987 in Greystone Bay II.

OK, Reg. You’re a bouncer who’s barely eking out a meager existence in the decaying Wilds outside Detroit. So a little job tracking the Eddies on their patrols seems like easy money. Well, think again, Reg. Because a riot’s about to happen… and you’re going to be the cause…

This story was originally published in the Hugo Award-nominated METAtropolis.

In a near-future New York City ravaged by climate change and economic inequality, a superstorm hits, leaving behind only those who had nowhere else to go and no way to get out. Among those who remain are 24-year-old Makayla, and Jesse, an 18-year-old, genderqueer anarchist. In the aftermath of the storm, Jesse joins Makayla's group of remainders in an abandoned luxury condo building, carving out a small sanctuary in the midst of a destroyed city. Meanwhile, mysterious, colorful murals begin to appear throughout NYC, bringing hope to the forsaken and left-behind.

"The Magical City of Al-Qamar" is an enchanting tale that transports listeners to a mystical land, where reality intertwines with magic, and destiny is written in the sands. Tariq finds himself in the lands of Al-Madina, and learns of the magic and wonders intertwined in the lands. Through his adventures he tries to seek an understanding of the peoples of this land and the role of magic. His perceptions are intertwined with fascinations some being illusion and some real, but hard to decipher which is which in the mysterious deserts of Al-Madina.

Elliot graduates from college and needs to decide what his future holds. Kim has been missing for a few months, with only the rarest of phone calls, but surprises him on Bell Island for his celebratory dinner. When Elliot receives a bizarre letter from Buzz, he’s told to meet the soldier in Seattle. When they arrive, the clues dry up, and Buzz is nowhere to be found. As more homicides are reported in the city, the police think a serial killer is on the loose. But Elliot and his friends know its far worse than that. Someone is hunting Spheres....

Cass thinks she might have this ghost-hunting thing down. After all, she and her ghost best friend, Jacob, have survived two haunted cities while traveling for her parents' TV show. But nothing can prepare Cass for New Orleans, which wears all of its hauntings on its sleeve. In a city of ghost tours and tombs, raucous music and all kinds of magic, Cass could get lost in all the colorful, grisly local legends. And the city's biggest surprise is a foe Cass never expected to face: a servant of Death itself.

A missing family member sends Lawson on a trip to New York City only to run smack into vampire organized crime. Now they've got Lawson right where they want him - and they want him to switch sides and betray the Balance. But Lawson's got more than one play in his book, and if he has to go to the wall to rescue his cousin and stop the Syndicate from unleashing a new synthetic drug on the masses, that's just what he'll do.

Jessop, the first woman to join the Hunters, has finally been reunited with those who mean the most to her. In her quest for vengeance, she has left many embittered and betrayed, chief among them Kohl O'Hanlon, the Hunter who once loved her. Now, as the feared Falco Bane leads his forces into the Hunters' territory, Kohl attempts to retaliate, flooding their infamous Shadow City with his own followers. Jessop must fight a war on two fronts, testing her commitment to the ones she loves and challenging her abilities as the most elite warrior among the Hunters.

Alice wakes up in the Los Angeles Quake Zone in 2025 having no idea how she got there. As her memories slowly return, she finds she's being hunted by several armed groups intent on capturing her alive. At the same time, Este, a survivor of the quakes that destroyed Los Angeles, makes a living as a pathfinder for salvage teams in the city. Este rescues Alice from her pursuers and learns there is something not quite right about her - Alice is convinced it is 2003.

Death is inescapable in the wild. Blackthorn's army marches toward the Ancient City as power struggles ensue in Brighton. Several outcasts gather in the collapsed world of the Ancients. Will they find answers and survive, or will they perish?

Arnau de Vallbona and his fellow Templar Brother Ramon are bound for the Holy Land to take part in the great Crusade when fate intervenes. Delayed in Cyprus, they learn of a growing rift in Christendom: the crusading army has diverted from its course and threatens Rome's allies in the Byzantine Empire. Arnau and Ramon, alongside the irascible Preceptor Bochard, race to Constantinople, encountering a grand and crumbling world of alliances and betrayals, emperors and armies.

Clara is an Obligate—a human servant at the Court of Dawn. She doesn’t know why. She knows only that she broke the Pledge and must therefore spend her days obliging the every whim of a capricious fae princess. If she can keep her head down and follow the rules, she might survive to the end of her Obligation, spending her days working in the vast palace library.

Twenty years ago, a woman sought safety from the spinning ice and darkness that descended upon a small village. She was given shelter for the night by the local innkeepers but in the morning, she disappeared — leaving behind an infant. Now 19, Ulla Tulin is ready to find who abandoned her as a baby or why.

In this atmospheric horror story, the city of the title is the ruin of a primordial site in the Arabian desert, thought to be more ancient than the first human civilization. In its heyday, the city flourished on the edge of the ocean. The inhabitants were a species of reptile looking like a hybrid of crocodile and seal, but with horns and protruding foreheads. They moved by crawling, so the remaining buildings have low ceilings.