Narrator: Bronson Pinchot

Weird Tales Magazine No. 368: Occult Detective Issue

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Weird Tales Magazine No. 368: Occult Detective Issue
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Weird Tales magazine is known for launching a number of sub-genres of fiction—cosmic horror, swords & sorcery, dark fantasy, and others. It has also greatly added to existing genres like science fiction, horror, and—a personal favorite of editor Jonathan Maberry—weird mystery stories. Or, as they became known—occult detective tales. Here are all-original tales about people who peer into the shadows in order to solve a mystery. Sometimes successfully … and sometimes the darkness wins. The stories range from nail-biting horror to very dark comedy, and there’s a generous mix of short stories, flash fiction (shorter works of about 1500 words), and poems. The lineup is killer, as you’ll discover, and the interpretations of what constitutes “occult fiction” is unique to each writer.

“The Eyrie” by Jonathan Maberry
“Dead Jack and the Mystery of Room 216” by James Aquilone
“Beneath the Scarred Pulpit” by Kenneth W. Cain
“Denizen of Deep Holler” by Jennifer Brody
“The Ephemera of Dreams” by Carina Bissett
“Forming Threads” by Jody Lynn Nye
“The Painted Unseen” by Taylor Grant
“Bull Runs” by Kevin J. Anderson
“Shimmer” by Keith Strunk
“Hold my Beer” by Jeff Strand
“La Silla Del Diablo” by Sofía Lapuente & Jarrod Shusterman
“The Three-Headed Problem” by Rachel Aukes
“Inception” by Brian Lumley
“Laurel Canyons” by Lisa Diane Kastner
“The Taxidermist” by Lyndsey Croal
“Within You, In Time” by Brian Keene and Steven L. Shrewsbury
“Your Sins Will Find You Out” by Cavan Scott
“Night’s Disease” by Colleen Anderson

Shapechangers (Cheysuli Book 1)

Shapechangers (Cheysuli Book 1)
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Exiled for more than two decades, a race of magical shapeshifting warriors wage a battle against the sorcerers who have threatened their very existence . . .

They were the Cheysuli, a race of magical warriors gifted with the ability to assume animal shape at will. For centuries, they had been allies to the King of Homana, treasured champions of the realm. Until a king’s daughter ran away with a Cheysuli liege man and caused a war of annihilation against the Cheysuli race.

Twenty-five years later, the Cheysuli were hunted exiles in their own land, feared for their sorcery, their shapeshifting.

This is the story of Alix, the daughter of that ill-fated union between Homanan princess and Cheysuli warrior, and her struggle to master the call of magic in her blood, and accept her place in an ancient prophecy she cannot deny.

Double Star

Double Star
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Many of Heinlein’s fans consider the novels he wrote in the fifties amongst the author’s strongest work; when he was at the peak of his talents. Double Star is considered by many to be the finest of his titles. Brian Aldiss called it his “most enjoyable novel.”
Whether it is the simplicity of a lively tale, the complexity of the situation, or the depth of characterization, the book has developed a loyal following. It also won Heinlein his first Hugo.

The story revolves around Lawrence Smith—also known as “Lorenzo the Great”—a down-and-out actor wasting the remainder of his life in bars.

When he encounters a space-pilot who offers him a drink, before he knows what is going on, he is on Mars involved in a deep conspiracy with global consequences. He is given a mission where failure would not only mean his own death, it would almost certainly mean an all-out planetary war.

“Heinlein’s novels of the 1940s and 50s shaped every single science fiction writer of my generation and everyone currently writing science fiction. Or making science fiction movies … and Double Star is an excellent example of all the reasons why.”—Connie Willis

Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein

Glory Road by Robert A. Heinlein
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Recovering from combat duty, E.C. “Scar” Gordon encounters a beautiful, sensual woman who sweeps him from this universe into another that seems far more dangerous… Dragons, hostile guards and strange customs are just some of the challenges confronting Gordon, who must respond with courage, skill and grace.

Heinlein’s wit, wisdom, social commentary and humor are on full display in this brilliant fantasy novel that presents other worlds to illuminate and evaluate our own.

Called “a triumph” by the Chicago Tribune, The Reader’s Guide to Fantasy wrote “GLORY ROAD is a tour de force performance that delights lovers of both fantasy and science fiction.”

The Years of Rice and Salt

The Years of Rice and Salt
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With the same unique vision that brought his now classic Mars trilogy to vivid life, bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson boldly imagines an alternate history of the last seven hundred years. In his grandest work yet, the acclaimed storyteller constructs a world vastly different from the one we know. . . .

“A thoughtful, magisterial alternate history from one of science fiction’s most important writers.”—The New York Times Book Review 

It is the fourteenth century and one of the most apocalyptic events in human history is set to occur—the coming of the Black Death. History teaches us that a third of Europe’s population was destroyed.  But what if the plague had killed 99 percent of the population instead? How would the world have changed? This is a look at the history that could have been—one that stretches across centuries, sees dynasties and nations rise and crumble, and spans horrible famine and magnificent innovation.

Through the eyes of soldiers and kings, explorers and philosophers, slaves and scholars, Robinson navigates a world where Buddhism and Islam are the most influential and practiced religions, while Christianity is merely a historical footnote. Probing the most profound questions as only he can, Robinson shines his extraordinary light on the place of religion, culture, power—and even love—in this bold New World.

The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson

The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson
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This acclaimed fantasy classic of men, elves, and gods is at once breathtakingly exciting and heartbreakingly tragic.

Published the same year as The Fellowship of the Ring, Poul Anderson’s novel The Broken Sword draws on similar Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon sources. In his greed for land and power, Orm the Strong slays the family of a Saxon witch—and for his sins, the Northman must pay with his newborn son. Stolen by elves and replaced by a changeling, Skafloc is raised to manhood unaware of his true heritage and treasured for his ability to handle the iron that the elven dare not touch. Meanwhile, the being who supplanted him as Orm’s son grows up angry and embittered by the humanity he has been denied. A pawn in a witch’s vengeance, the creature Valgard will never know love, and consumed by rage, he will commit a murderous act of unspeakable vileness.

It is their destiny to finally meet on the field of battle—the man-elf and his dark twin, the monster—when the long-simmering war between elves and trolls finally erupts with a devastating fury. And only the mighty sword Tyrfing, broken by Thor and presented to Skafloc in infancy, can turn the tide in a terrible clashing of faerie folk that will ultimately determine the fate of the old gods.

Along with such notables as Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury, multiple Hugo and Nebula Award winner Poul Anderson is considered one of the masters of speculative fiction.

Noir Fatale

Noir Fatale
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NEW SCIENCE FICTION, URBAN FANTASY, AND MYSTERY STORIES WITH A NOIR THEME FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHORS LAURELL K. HAMILTON delivering an Anita Blake series story, LARRY CORREIA, penning a Grimnoir series adventure, an original Honor Harrington series tale from DAVID WEBER, AND MORE.

The silky note of a saxophone. The echoes of a woman’s high heels down a deserted asphalt street. Steam rising from city vents to cloud the street-lit air. A man with a gun. A dame with a problem . . .

NOIR.

From the pulpy pages of Black Mask Magazine in the 1920s and 30s, through the film noir era of the 1940s, to today, noir fiction has lured many a reader and movie-goer away from the light and into the dark underbelly of society. Names such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain; titles like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice . . . these have inhabited our collective consciousness for decades. Humanity, it seems, loves the dark. And within the dark, one figure stands out: that of the femme fatale.

Here then, Noir Fatale an anthology containing the full spectrum of noir fiction, each incorporating the compelling femme fatale character archetype. From straightforward hardboiled detective story to dark urban fantasy to the dirty secrets of futuristic science fiction—all with a hard, gritty feel.

As Raymond Chandler said, “Down these mean streets, a man must walk who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.” Because, as these stories prove, doing the right thing doesn’t necessarily mean you get the big bucks or the girl. But you do the right thing anyway.

Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird

Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird
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Celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first issues of Weird Tales Magazine, 100 Years of Weird is a masterful compendium of new and classic stories, flash fiction, essays, and poems from the giants of speculative fiction, including R. L. Stine, Laurell K. Hamilton, Ray Bradbury, H. P. Lovecraft, Tennessee Williams, and Isaac Asimov.

Marking a century of uniquely peculiar storytelling, each part of this anthology features a different genre from Cosmic Horror, Sword and Sorcery, Space Opera, to the Truly Weird — things too strange to publish elsewhere, and the magazine’s raison d’etre. Landmark stories such as “The Call of Cthulhu”, “Worms of the Earth”, and “Legal Rites” stand beside original stories and insightful essays from today’s masters of speculative fiction.

This visually stunning hardcover edition is a collector’s dream, illustrated throughout with classic full color and black & white art from past issues of Weird Tales Magazine.

Dead Six by Larry Correia

Dead Six
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From the author of the New York Times bestselling Monster Hunter series and an Air Force weapons expert, a nonstop action, edge-of-your-seat military-political thriller in a dangerous Middle Eastern setting complete with a compelling double-viewpoint twist to pull readers along to the very last page.

Michael Valentine, veteran and former member of an elite private military company, has been recruited by the government to conduct a secret counter-terror operation in the Persian Gulf nation of Zubara. The unit is called Dead Six.

Their mission is to take the fight to the enemy and not get caught. Lorenzo, assassin and thief extraordinaire, is being blackmailed by the world’s most vicious crime lord. His team has to infiltrate the Zubaran terrorist network and pull off an impossible heist or his family will die.

When Dead Six compromises his objective, Lorenzo has a new job: Find and kill Valentine. As allegiances are betrayed and the nation descends into a bloody civil war, Lorenzo and Valentine must face off. Two men. Two missions. Only one will win.

 

Hard Magic: Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles

Hard Magic: Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles
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Jake Sullivan is a war hero, a private eye-and an ex-con. He’s free because he has a magical talent, being able to alter the force of gravity in himself and objects in his vicinity, and the Bureau of Investigation calls on him when they need his help in apprehending criminals with their own magical talents.

But the last operation he was sent along to help with went completely wrong, and Delilah Jones, the woman the G-men were after, who just happened to be an old friend of Jake’s in happier times, had a lot of magical muscle with her, too much muscle for the cops to handle, even with Jake’s help.

It got worse. Jake found out that the Feds had lied to him about Delilah being a murderer as well as a bank robber, and they had lied about this being his last job for them-he was too valuable for them to let him go. And things were even worse than Jake imagined. There was a secret war being waged by opposing forces of magic-users, and Jake had no idea that he had just attracted the attention of one side, whose ruthless leaders were of the opinion that Jake was far too dangerous to be permitted to live…