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When Valor Must Hold

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When Valor Must Hold
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Fifteen tremendous authors. Fourteen extraordinary stories. One outstanding anthology.

It is a time of high adventure! A time for noble men and women to say “No!” to the evils that will befall their families and friends if they don’t rise to the task at hand. If their valor doesn’t hold, civilization will fall.

Fifteen authors have spun fourteen tales of hateful wizards, treacherous seas, and scheming foes. Of times when ancient evils roamed the Earth, looking for souls to claim, and dark prophecies foretold what would happen if the Evil Ones were allowed to succeed. This anthology has all of this and more.

When Valor Must Hold focuses on heroes worthy of facing such enemies. A tiny brownie stands up to a massive ogre. A mother races to protect her children. A hunter chases raiders. A guardian serves his king. Heroes lead forces into battle against overwhelming odds. There’s even a goblin trying to save his people by stealing dwarven rum.

Inside are fourteen fantastic stories of enemies testing the valor of heroes great and small. If their valor should fail, they will lose far more than their lives.

Will their swords shatter shields? Will their magic shine forth? Or will they see their homes and families perish when they fail? Step inside and find out!

Footfall by Larry Niven

Footfall by Larry Niven
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Considered by many readers the best alien invasion novel to date, FOOTFALL was called “thought-provoking and exciting” by Library Journal and “the best of its genre” by The New York Times.

An alien craft is approaching Earth. Attempts to communicate go unanswered. The welcoming committee of Americans and Russians at a space station is blasted, its occupants killed or captured. Soon the entire Earth, with special emphasis on the United States, is bombarded by asteroids, destroying dams, highways, and infrastructure. The message to humans: total surrender or death to all. A giant rock, the “footfall”, is launched towards Earth, causing even more damage. The aliens land, determined to conquer or utterly eliminate the human race. Understanding a truly “alien” culture and learning how to confront such an overwhelming power make FOOTFALL stand out as an exciting and truly original novel.
“Niven and Pournelle keep the outcome up in the air right up to the last pages.”
– Newsday

“FOOTFALL is simply the best science fiction adventure story I’ve read in a long time.”
– The Providence Sunday Journal

“This nuclear age update of THE WAR OF THE WORLDS is highly recommended.”
– Library Journal

Paternus: Rise of Gods (The Paternus Trilogy)

Paternus: Rise of Gods (The Paternus Trilogy)
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Described as American Gods meets The Avengers and Supernatural meets The Lord of the Rings, Paternus combines myths from around the world in a modern story of action and intrigue that is “urban fantasy on the surface, but so much more at its core!”

“Epic, innovative urban fantasy. A great read!” –Mark Lawrence, Gemmell Award Winner and international bestselling author of Prince of Thorns and Red Sister

“Wow! Ashton’s story is a crucible in which myths are melted and remade to thrilling effect.” –M. R. (Mike) Carey, author of The Girl with All the Gifts and the Felix Castor series

Even myths have legends. And not all legends are myth.

When a local hospital is attacked by strange and frightening men, Fiona Patterson and Zeke Prisco save a catatonic old man named Peter—and find themselves running for their lives with creatures beyond imagination hounding their every step.

With nowhere else to turn, they seek out Fi’s enigmatic Uncle Edgar. But the more their questions are answered, the more they discover that nothing is what it seems—not Peter, not Edgar, perhaps not even themselves.

The gods and monsters, heroes and villains of lore—they’re real. And now they’ve come out of hiding to hunt their own. In order to survive, Fi and Zeke must join up with powerful allies against an ancient evil that’s been known by many names and feared by all. The final battle of the world’s oldest war has begun.

*****

“Terrific! Paternus is intelligent, intricate, suspenseful, and epic.” –Nicholas Eames, Gemmell Award winning author of Kings of the Wyld and Bloody Rose

“Paternus is an imaginative, exhilarating ride. A refreshing take on contemporary fantasy.” –Anthony Ryan, NYT Bestselling author of Blood Song and The Legion of Flame

“Probably the most imaginative idea for a fantasy series I’ve ever encountered. Don’t miss this, it’s brilliant.” –Alan Grant, Inkpot award winning writer on Batman, Judge Dredd, and Lobo

Clockwork Cairo: Steampunk Tales of Egypt

Clockwork Cairo: Steampunk Tales of Egypt
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Clockwork mummies, thieving deities, airship pirates, psychic queens, mechanical scarabs, unrepentant scoundrels, mysterious museums, trickster djinns, suspicious werewolves, abducted scientists, fearless spies, and vengeful gods…

All this and more wait inside the pages of Clockwork Cairo. Featuring stories from: George Mann, Gail Carriger, Nisi Shawl, Tee Morris & Pip Ballantine, David Barnett, Rod Duncan, Tiffany Trent, P. Djeli Clark, Jonathan Green, E. Catherine Tobler, Chaz Brenchley, K. Tempest Bradford, Benjanun Sriduangkaew and others…

The Sword Defiant (Lands of the Firstborn)

The Sword Defiant (Lands of the Firstborn)
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THE SWORD CARES NOT WHO IT CUTS

Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord’s cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part.

Now, when Aelfric – keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker – learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again. But they are wandering adventurers no longer. Yesterday’s eager heroes are today’s weary leaders – and some have turned to the darkness, becoming monsters themselves.

If there’s one thing Aelfric knows, it’s slaying monsters. Even if they used to be his friends.

Set in a world of dark myth and dangerous prophecy, The Sword Defiant launches an epic tale of daring warriors, living weapons and bloodthirsty vengeance.

‘The front runner for my book of the year . . . The Sword Defiant is a love letter to roleplaying games, to Tolkien, to what epic fantasy has been about for me through my whole life. I adored this book from the first page to the last. Hanrahan has taken the best of the old, the best of the last two decades, and then brought it screaming into the modern era. Fans of Gemmell and Abercrombie need this on their shelves’
Ed McDonald, author of Blackwing

Middletown Apocalypse

Middletown Apocalypse
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What happens when you give eleven of the best modern-day apocalyptic writers the same idea for a story and allow their twisted imaginations to go wild?

Middletown Apocalypse… that’s what.

Set in America’s heartland, these stories begin with chemistry student Charlie Noble and wind their way through the infected landscape of middletown America.

Abel, Chesser, Evans, McKinney, O’Brien, Rosamilia, Shelman, Stallcup, Tufo, Wallen, Wilburn.

Are you ready this?

Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories with S&S Attitude

Neither Beg Nor Yield: Stories with S&S Attitude
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Can you handle the truth?

Sword & Sorcery has always been about the attitude.

Stop seeking elaborate definitions. Cease arguing over semantics and accoutrements. Quit making it more difficult than necessary. Learn the fundamental immutability of the S&S Riddle: Protagonists with nonchalant mercenary motivations & indomitable wills. It’s all in their attitude.

The definition of S&S has never been clearer.

Sword & Sorcery warriors are very, very dangerous people, considered barbaric, who act according to their own codes of honor in pursuit of their own ends. Brothers (and sisters) to THE WILD BUNCH, comrades of the SEVEN SAMURAI, partners of every MAN IN BLACK, and riders in every WILD HUNT. They don’t just seize the day—they seize Life itself by the throat and squeeze until it begs. They don’t falter in the dark or before the unknown—they spit in the face of Death itself and stomp it into the dirt until it yields.

“Life is not breath but action.” ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau

“Fear won’t stop you from dying, but it can stop you from living.” ~ James Norbury

“We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.”
~ Charles Bukowski

“Laugh or die.”
~ Angélique Kidjo

NEITHER BEG NOR YIELD: STORIES WITH S&S ATTITUDE is filled with over 180,000 words in 20 stories! This is THE BOOK OF SWORD & SORCERY that will define the genre for generations. Reading the powerful tales from these storytellers will permanently answer the question: WHAT IS SWORD & SORCERY?

It’s always been its attitude!

Discover the truth as Eadwine Brown, Adrian Cole, Glen Cook, Steve Dilks, Chuck Dixon, Phil Emery, Steven Erikson, John R. Fultz, Steve Goble, John C. Hocking, Howard Andrew Jones, William King, Joe R. Lansdale, David C. Smith, Jeff Stewart, Keith J. Taylor, Frederick Tor, Eric Turowski, Bill Ward, Lawrence A. Weinstein, and C.L. Werner share it!

Beyond the Aquila Rift

Beyond the Aquila Rift
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The Guardian called Alastair Reynolds’ work “a turbulent, wildly entertaining ride” and The Times acclaimed him as “the mastersinger of space opera”.

With a career stretching back more than 25 years and across fourteen novels, including the classic ‘Revelation Space’ series, the bestselling ‘Poseidon’s Children’ series, Century Rain, Pushing Ice, and most recently The Medusa Chronicles (with Stephen Baxter), Reynolds has established himself as one of the best and most beloved writers of hard science fiction and space opera working today.

A brilliant novelist, he has also been recognized as one of our best writers of short fiction. His short stories have been nominated for the Hugo, British Fantasy, British Science Fiction, Theodore Sturgeon Memorial, Locus, Italia, Seiun, and Sidewise Awards, and have won the Seiun and Sidewise Awards.

The very best of his more than sixty published short stories are gathered in Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds, a sweeping 250,000 word career retrospective which features the very best stories from the ‘Revelation Space’ universe like “Galactic North”, “Great Wall of Mars”, “Weather”, “Diamond Dogs”, and “The Last Log of the Lachrimosa” alongside thrilling hard science fiction stories like Hugo Award nominee “Troika”, “Thousandth Night”, and “The Star Surgeon’s Apprentice”. Spanning more than fifteen years, the book also collects more recent stories like environmental SF tale “The Water Thief”, powerful and moving YA “The Old Man and the Martian Sea” and the brilliant “In Babelsberg”.

Beyond the Aquila Rift: The Best of Alastair Reynolds has something for every reader of science fiction, and easily meets the challenge of delivering stories that are the hardest of hard science fiction and great entertainment.

Dangerous Women

Dangerous Women
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The World Fantasy Award-winning collection of stories featuring the best and the bravest females across genre fiction.

All new and original to this volume, the 21 stories in Dangerous Women include work by twelve New York Times bestsellers, and seven stories set in the authors’ bestselling continuities-including a new Outlander story by Diana Gabaldon, a tale of Harry Dresden’s world by Jim Butcher, a story from Lev Grossman set in the world of The Magicians, and a 35,000-word novella by George R. R. Martin about the Dance of the Dragons, the vast civil war that tore Westeros apart nearly two centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones.

Also included are original stories of dangerous women–heroines and villains alike–by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Lawrence Block, Carrie Vaughn, S. M. Stirling, Sharon Kay Penman, and many others.

Writes Gardner Dozois in his Introduction, “Here you’ll find no hapless victims who stand by whimpering in dread while the male hero fights the monster or clashes swords with the villain, and if you want to tie these women to the railroad tracks, you’ll find you have a real fight on your hands.

Instead, you will find sword-wielding women warriors, intrepid women fighter pilots and far-ranging spacewomen, deadly female serial killers, formidable female superheroes,

sly and seductive femmes fatale, female wizards, hard-living Bad Girls, female bandits and rebels, embattled survivors in Post-Apocalyptic futures, female Private Investigators, stern female hanging judges, haughty queens who rule nations and whose jealousies and ambitions send thousands to grisly deaths, daring dragonriders, and many more.”

The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year’s Best Science Fiction

The Very Best of the Best: 35 Years of The Year's Best Science Fiction
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A 2020 LOCUS AWARD FINALIST FOR BEST ANTHOLOGY

For the first time in a decade, a compilation of the very best in science fiction, from a world authority on the genre.

For decades, the Year’s Best Science Fiction has been the most widely read short science fiction anthology of its kind. Now, after thirty-five annual collections comes the ultimate in science fiction anthologies.

In The Very Best of the Best, legendary editor Gardner Dozois selects the finest short stories for this landmark collection, including short fiction from authors such as Charles Stross, Michael Swanwick, Nancy Kress, Greg Egan, Stephen Baxter, Pat Cadigan, and many many more.