Sea Fiction

When a ghost ship is discovered, its crew presumed dead after trying to reach the storm-shrouded island Akina, Navani Kholin must send an expedition to make sure the island hasn't fallen into enemy hands. Knights Radiant who fly too near find their Stormlight suddenly drained, so the voyage must be by sea. Shipowner Rysn Ftori lost the use of her legs but gained the companionship of Chiri-Chiri, a Stormlight-ingesting winged larkin, a species once thought extinct. Now Rysn's pet is ill, and any hope for Chiri-Chiri’s recovery can be found only at the ancestral home of the larkin.

Rumors begin to spread of a species of hyperintelligent, dangerous octopus that may have developed its own language and culture. Marine biologist Dr. Ha Nguyen, who has spent her life researching cephalopod intelligence, will do anything for the chance to study them. The transnational tech corporation DIANIMA has sealed the remote Con Dao Archipelago, where the octopuses were discovered, off from the world. Dr. Nguyen joins DIANIMA’s team on the islands: a battle-scarred security agent and the world’s first android.

In the late 1930s, civil war grips Spain. When General Franco and his Fascists succeed in overthrowing the government, hundreds of thousands are forced to flee in a treacherous journey over the mountains to the French border. Among them is Roser, a pregnant young widow, who finds her life intertwined with that of Victor Dalmau, an army doctor and the brother of her deceased love. In order to survive, the two must unite in a marriage neither of them desires.

An unforgettable Regency romantic adventure, Captured by a Rogue Lord concerns the passionate exploits of a titled British lord and reluctant pirate endangered by his desire for an inquisitive beauty who's coming perilously close to uncovering his secret identity.

If you are not yet a Katharine Ashe fan, you will most assuredly be one after listening to this enthralling tale featuring pirates, smugglers, mistaken identities, British lords and ladies...and a beautiful, successful, yet shockingly unwed Regency miss who seeks help in a most perilous clandestine matter from a rogue English marquis, the only man she ever truly desired.

In July 1940, Gwen Collingwood drops her husband at the railway station, knowing she may never see him again. Two days later, her humdrum world is torn apart when her sleepy English seaside town is subjected to the first of many heavy bombing attacks. In Ontario, Canada, Jim Armstrong is uncertain whether to volunteer for the army. When he uncovers the secret his fiance has been keeping from him his decision is clear. A few weeks later he is on a ship bound for England.

After a devastating layoff, attorney Eric Nash heads back to the town where he grew up - only to discover that his childhood home is being transformed into a bed-and-breakfast. Instead of plotting his next career move in peace, he's constantly distracted by noise, chaos - and BJ Stevens, the attractive but prickly blonde architect and construction chief who's invaded the house with her motley crew.

On a beautiful spring morning on the island of Pellestrina, south of the Lido on the Venetian lagoon, a small fishing boat moored at the docks suddenly explodes. When it becomes clear that the fire was deliberately set and the boat’s owners brutally murdered, Commissario Brunetti tries to dig up information from Pellestrina’s close-knit - and closemouthed - citizenry. But it is with mixed feelings that he accepts Signorina Elettra’s offer to visit her relatives there and search for clues.

Contact tablets and teleportation circles across the world have stopped functioning. Now, Rudeus and his allies gather at the Superd village, where a powerful subjugation patrol aims to take them out. The third North God Kalman, the former Sword God Gal Farion, and the Ogre God Marta march among their ranks. Rudeus's team puts their lives on the line in this ultimate clash of the world's most mighty warriors!

World War II is drawing to a close in East Prussia and thousands of refugees are on a desperate trek toward freedom, many with something to hide. Among them are Joana, Emilia, and Florian, whose paths converge en route to the ship that promises salvation, the Wilhelm Gustloff. Forced by circumstance to unite, the three find their strength, courage, and trust in each other tested with each step closer to safety. Just when it seems freedom is within their grasp, tragedy strikes.

Moon, once a solitary wanderer, has become consort to Jade, sister queen of the Indigo Cloud court. Together, they travel with their people on a pair of flying ships in hopes of finding a new home for their colony. Moon finally feels like he’s found a tribe where he belongs. But when the travelers reach the ancestral home of Indigo Cloud, shrouded within the trunk of a mountain-sized tree, they discover a blight infecting its core.

When Sorcerer Adrien Danvers takes on a job that leads him into the slums of England, he never imagined he'd end up with not one but two apprentices. Despite his doubts about himself, he's the only chance the two pre-teens have to escape their hellish life. When Sir Hugh Quartermain contracts him to deal with the mysterious circumstances surrounding his home on the Isle of Man, Adrien finds the more time they spend together, the more his walls come down around the beguiling engineer—an unusual occurrence and a terrifying prospect.

Deep beneath the ice of the Arctic Circle, something has awakened. A primordial creature frozen in time, it is the oldest, largest, most efficient predator that nature has ever produced. And it is ravenously hungry.... Thirty-five miles off the Massachusetts coast, a small research ship is attacked. All but one of its crew is killed by the massive serpentine horror that rises from the sea. The creature likes this human prey. The chewy outer hide. The tender saltiness within. And it wants more....

Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable—she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods.

Successful but shy, Seattle art dealer Mattie Sharpe fell hard for handsome, outspoken, professional adventurer Hugh Abbott. When he broke her heart and returned to his South Sea island home, Mattie vowed she'd only meet him again over her - or better, his - dead body. When they do meet again, it's over someone else's dead body - and now they're running for their lives through a tropical paradise. Hugh's talking fast to make up for his mistake. Mattie's not listening...until his gentle touch ignites a white-hot fusion, and she gives in. But Hugh's past is catching up with them.

Sea Slayer Kelia Starling has grown up with one truth: Sea Shadows are vicious creatures that need to be eradicated. No exceptions. Not even for him. The Society's sole purpose is to protect the general population from supernatural monsters, and Kelia's their top Slayer. But when her father is murdered and her handler insists it's suicide, she starts to question whether the Society really has her best interests at heart.

The Consultant’s Guild has served the Aurelian Empire for over 1,000 years, working in the darkness to hunt dissension and eliminate traitors. Now, the Emperor is dead. For Shera, an assassin in the employ of the Consultants, the Emperor’s death is the beginning of a nightmare. Powerful forces hunt the Heart of Nakothi, a cursed artifact that can raise a second Emperor...and corrupt him in the process. But some desire power at any cost. The Guild of Navigators, an infamous collection of swindlers and pirates, has been paid a fortune to secure the Heart.

"The Road to the Sea" was first published in the spring 1951 issue of Two Complete Science-Adventure Books.

Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Growing up on the Bay of Fundy, Azuba Galloway dreams of going to sea. She watches magnificent ships slowly making their way into Whelan’s Cove, the sense of exoticism bursting from their holds along with foreign goods. As a young woman, Azuba marries a seasoned merchant sea captain, Nathaniel Bradstock. Unwilling to have him away at sea for most of their married life, and anxious to see far shores, she extracts a promise that he will take her with him. But Azuba becomes pregnant soon after they marry, and Nathaniel knows too well the perils of life on a ship.

Rudeus arrives at Irel City in Biheiril Kingdom to request Ruijerd's support in his battle against Geese. The road to Ruijerd is a bumpy one, but after ten long years apart they finally reunite. Will Rudeus's impassioned pleas for aid in the Laplace War reach Ruijerd's heart?