Science Fiction Western

Alex was willing to do whatever it took to beat the tumors overwhelming his body. Even if it meant being frozen alive. And if his cortex got uploaded into a digital universe filled with countless worlds to explore until a cure could be found for his cancer, all the better. The last thing he expected was to wake up naked and alone in the bowels of an ancient ship filled with raiders carrying enough poison to kill an entire city!

Alex’s last clear memory was of racing into battle, on a desperate mission of mercy. Before waking up with a collar of steel about his neck, stripped of all weapons and armor, soon to be sold at auction. Never had Alex faced such steep hurdles to achieving his dreams. Never had he been more determined to make those dreams come true. So marks the beginning of a perilous journey that would see Alex facing down vile slavers, corrupt merchants, ferocious spirit beasts, and bloodthirsty cultivators eager to see him fall.

Alex gazed at the golden steps before him, pretending he was just another cultivator eager to attend Royal Phoenix Academy, and not the most wanted man in the entire province. His fellow aspirants mocked him with their smiles. They expected him to plummet to his death the moment they began their climb, washed away by the flood of spiritual energy pouring down those steps.

Wyoming Territory, 1873. Tim Colter and his trusted guide, mountain man Jed Reno, are on the trail of a vicious gang of train robbers when they happen upon a bloody and shocking scene. Lying on the ground, barely breathing, a Secret Service agent has been left for dead in the wake of a brutal ambush. His final words: "President Grant . . . assassination . . . Dugan . . . trust nobody."

To the Last Man is Zane Grey's archetypal tale of a bitter feud between two unforgiving factions: the ranchers led by Jean Isbel and, on the other side, Lee Jorth and his band of cattle rustlers. In the grip of a relentless code of loyalty to their own people, they fight the war of the Tonto Basin, desperately, doggedly, to the last man, neither side seeing the futility of it until it is too late.

The five children have grown up, and World War I has begun in earnest. The sand fairy has become a creature of stories...until, for the first time in 10 years, he suddenly reappears. Before this last adventure ends, all will be changed; the two younger children will have seen the Great War from every possible viewpoint, and the war's impact will be felt right at the heart of their family.

A gunslinger with four affinities is a myth. It's the kind of story whispered in frontier saloons one drink before closing and around campfires in the dead of night. For the heroes and villains in those tales, that impossible power is a boon, a gift. For Mr. Jones, it's a curse. Of course, that's not his real name. He's had many. Changing names is necessary when you possess a power that every lawman and outlaw would kill to obtain. To survive, you keep your head down, kill when you must, and never stay in one place too long.

The man called Gunner has been many things: lawman, soldier, outlaw, fugitive. In pursuit of a Man with Crimson Eyes, he's bushwacked by a gang of bandits. After being robbed and left for dead, he's nursed back to health by a kindly preacher. When he enters a dusty old mining town to get payback, he discovers a community divided by rival factions: the Judge and the Baron. A good situation for making quick money. A bad situation for getting out alive, especially when his preacher friend is caged up in the town square.

Voices stars the people of Ansul, a town of scholars and traders conquered by the marauding Alds 17 years ago. When poet Orrec arrives in town, however, the people begin to garner the courage to rebel against their overlords.

With Clare's health fading, she and her partner - the love of her life - detective Zach Slade, head to Manitou Springs, Colorado, in search of the only healer who can help them: the ghost of Sister Juliana Emmanuel, whose healing skills live on in the afterlife. Unfortunately for Clare, the nun's ghost is elusive, and the town is teeming with spirits who all want to speak with Clare - newer ones, street kids who've been killed and want their bodies found and their murders avenged.

In the wild space of the Deadlands, Taurus Station is where miners and tourists come to play, and the ravager gangs follow close behind. Out here, far from the civilized world, the Law has a name. Gage Walker is the son of hard-nosed asteroid miners. Brash, rough, and crude, he's one of the few deputies working the station. Still a rookie, Walker is tasked with the security of a mining magnate's daughter, an easy job that quickly takes a turn for the worst.

In the aftermath of a chaotic gold rush and the resulting war, a mega-corporation emerges, seizing control of the nation’s gold and the technology produced from it. Those defeated scattered to the coasts, left to fend for themselves. The once vibrant California now contends with radiation, harsh elements, and bandits. Cassidy moves to one of California’s last two surviving towns for one thing: to save her life. Suffering from a mysterious illness, Bell Valley is her last chance at finding a cure. Despite her best efforts to keep her distance, she’s drawn to the town and its locals.

Nevada, 1869: Beyond the pitiless 40-Mile Desert lies Golgotha, a cattle town that hides unnatural secrets. The sheriff bears the mark of the noose around his neck; some say he is a dead man whose time has not yet come. His half-human deputy is kin to coyotes. The mayor guards a hoard of mythical treasures. A banker's wife belongs to a secret order of assassins. And a shady saloon owner, whose fingers are in everyone's business, may know more about the town's true origins than he's letting on. Meanwhile, in an abandoned silver mine, an ancient evil is spilling into the world....

In the summer of 2257, the asteroid Wormwood was closing in to strike Earth a glancing blow. Even a glancing blow would be catastrophic. Earth's governments and militaries united to try to shift Wormwood's path. Earth launched every nuclear missile she had and succeeded in changing its path, just enough to miss her surface. In doing so, shards from the asteroid, caused by the nuclear blasts, struck the earth.

Young Gavie sometimes "remembers" the future. But as a slave living among those who feel threatened by the powers of the Marsh people, Gavie must hide his abilities. And then tragic events force the grief-stricken Gavie to flee the only world he's ever known. In his perilous quest for freedom, Gavie must learn to harness his unique gifts, or he may never find a place he can call home.

Van Delano is still determined to free his sister from the clutches of Nine-Fingered Nan, whatever it takes. So, when the outlaw queen suggests an exchange, he’s all too eager to agree. Doesn’t matter the stagecoach he’s supposed to find is traveling a route that don’t make no sense toward the one town he never wanted to step foot into again. Doesn’t matter the lockbox he’s supposed to steal off it just might be Old World tech.

Orphaned young, Ming Tsu, the son of Chinese immigrants, is raised by the notorious leader of a California crime syndicate, who trains him to be his deadly enforcer. But when Ming falls in love with Ada, the daughter of a powerful railroad magnate, and the two elope, he seizes the opportunity to escape to a different life. Soon after, in a violent raid, the tycoon's henchmen kidnap Ada and conscript Ming into service for the Central Pacific Railroad. Battered and yet defiant, Ming partners with a blind clairvoyant. Together the two set out to rescue his wife and to exact revenge.

Abandoned by their father for the gold rush, Gentry and her siblings labor to survive alone in the inhospitable West. When bizarre natural disasters begin wreaking havoc on the land, Gentry discovers a world of magic. Desperate for help, she accepts aid from a mysterious stranger. Winn not only sees the magic, but controls its hunger by feeding it gold - the very thing Gentry's father left to acquire. But the earth's unrest only grows worse, and Gentry's fear leads her to a terrible choice: marry a wealthy man she does not love or trust in Winn's unpredictable power to save her family.

On August 10, 1632, five men in flowing black robes convened in a somber Roman palazzo to pass judgment on a deceptively simple proposition: that a continuous line is composed of distinct and infinitely tiny parts. With the stroke of a pen the Jesuit fathers banned the doctrine of infinitesimals, announcing that it could never be taught or even mentioned. The concept was deemed dangerous and subversive, a threat to the belief that the world was an orderly place, governed by a strict and unchanging set of rules.

This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So listen on, for after all, magic has no borders.