Fantasy Short Stories

During the pandemic, our homes and apartments have transported us to new places, different experiences, and changed our understanding of ourselves and others. This collection of 12 tales explores those journeys through the lens of fantasy and science fiction, accentuating the strange and unexpected to reveal the relatable, human dimensions of our continuing migration from what’s normal to a new normal...or even paranormal.

From early work like "Rescue Party" and "The Lion of Comarre", through classic stories including "The Star", "Earthlight", "The Nine Billion Names of God", and "The Sentinel" (kernel of the later novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey), all the way to later work like "A Meeting with Medusa" and "The Hammer of God", this comprehensive short story collection encapsulates one of the great science fiction careers of all time.

A classic tale featuring two of the most-memorable characters in sword and sorcery, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Over a span of 50 years, the late Fritz Leiber wrote dozens of adventures, set in the fictional city of Lankhmar, featuring the seven-foot-tall barbarian and the diminuitive thief. The stories were recognized with both the Hugo and Nebula Awards.

Heart-pounding Fear. Chilling Anguish. Heartbreak. Priceless Love. The Ultimate Sacrifice. All in less than a minute. Sometimes precious moments is all there is. Between one heartbeat and the next, Susa is plunged into a devastating nightmare, wounded and broken, yet desperate hope filled her heart and soul. Nothing in her life had ever prepared her for this. Adam Manning arrives at a crime scene and quickly sees that not everything is as it seems. Unknown to the town’s small police force, neither is he. If you enjoy clean mystery romance and inspirational women’s fiction filled with ...

Tales of the Blade collects 9 heroic fantasy tales previously published by James Alderdice/David J. West. Take the weird adventure and journey to eldritch temples and witness strange rites among the barbaric splendor of elder days. Follow brave warriors and daring thieves as they defy the grip of monsters, wizards and terrible gods. Sword and sorcery is alive once more. Tales of the Blade is an action-packed heroic fantasy collection in the vein of classic pulp fiction and old school D&D. If you like gory battles, larger-than-life characters, and witty humor, then you’ll love James ...

The essential short story collection set in the universe of Ninefox Gambit. An ex-Kel art thief has to save the world from a galaxy-shattering prototype weapon.... A general outnumbered eight-to-one must outsmart his opponent.... A renegade returns from seclusion to bury an old comrade....

Music is Magic In the heart of New Orleans, Gabriel, son of the legendary Henri Moreau, prepares for his big break-- an audition to get into NOCCA and finally step out of his father's shadow. Everything about his life revolves around the man his father was, even living in a museum his mother Jasmine created to celebrate Henri's legacy.When Gabriel discovers a mysterious egg in Bayou St John he begins to discover how magical music can be. The Bayou Dragon is a middle grade fantasy novella set in New Orleans and Los Angeles. It centers around legacy, identity, family, and the power of music. ...

Determined to reevaluate her life, Jude Murray flees America to take refuge in Faerie Hill Cottage, immersing herself in the study of Irish folklore and discovering hope for the future of the magical past. Finally back home in Ireland after years of traveling, Aidan Gallagher possesses an uncommon understanding of his country’s haunting myths.

Step inside the room in Grandma's house. What if there was a locked room in our grandparents' house that gave you a glimpse into their past? A mysterious room that held their secrets, their hopes, and their dreams? When Tiffany Warren is sent to pack up her grandmother's house, she finds a locked room on the third floor, but where is the key? After searching the house from top to bottom, she finds the key and opens the door, and what happens next changes her life forever. The Room in Grandma's House is a short, fantasy story of about 12,000 words that can be read in under two hours.

Desert Storm. A mysterious figure half-seen in the heat rising from the hot sands of Kuwait. A series of supernatural events that leave the crewmen of an American IFV wondering if there is more to the legend of the djinn than they knew.

"I Scream Man”, a story by Robert McCammon, was originally published in the Winter 1984 edition of The Horror Show.

On Mars, a scientist experiments with a new engine that will one day become the drive that fuels humanity's journey into the stars. On an asteroid station, a group of prisoners are oblivious to the catastrophe that awaits them. On a future Earth beset by overpopulation, pollution, and poverty, a crime boss desperately seeks to find a way off planet. On an alien world, a human family struggles to establish a colony and make a new home. All these stories and more are featured in this unmissable collection of short fiction set in the hardscrabble world of The Expanse.

The world is rapidly changing. We surf future-shock every day, as the progress of technology races ever on. Increasingly we are asking: how do we change to live in the world to come? Multi-award-winning editor Jonathan Strahan brings us another incredible volume in his much praised science-fiction anthology series.

Marvin has lived through a lot in his life, and remembers all of it through his photographic memory. With his wife’s passing, and his daughter’s growing family, his memory is all he has left, until something awakens in the aisle of Fear. Everything he knows and loves is in jeopardy. He’s fighting for more than his life, he’s fighting for his mind. Without memory, we are without history.

Tanner and Mason have been friends forever. Now that they're living in the same dorm room at college, they abide by the Bro Code. Rule 1: always have your bro's back. Rule 2: always cover for your bro. Rule 3: always pay your bro back. As a ladies' man Mason is always calling on Tanner for help with Rule 1, but that means he owes Tanner a lot of favors. As a serious student, Tanner doesn't have a lot of time for the ladies, but he knows he's been stocking up on favors from Mason. Now that he has enough favors, he can call on the ultimate favor, a request that Mason can't refuse. Before ...

One Hour of fated mates erotica! ..scorching smut, just the way it should be! So hot they'll make you close the door to your own private lair! If you’ve ever wanted your own hard-muscled shifter, well-equipped gargoyle, alien overlord or a witchy encounter that will fulfill all your lustful warlock fantasies, this smutty collection of erotic fated mates stories will get you where you’re going, fast. Guaranteed to help you explode over and over again! These bite-sized stories are a bundle of eight fifteen-minute reads which include the Delazney Witches 1-4. Mated to the Enemy, Mated to ...

Young omega Gabriel’s effort to live entirely as a human has been mostly successful, but recently his nights have been filled with vivid dreams of two virile alpha werewolves. He’s been psychically marked for mating by alphas in heat, and now they’re coming to claim him – right in his college classroom! This smoking hot deal of a bundle contains all three chapters of The PROFESSORS and the OMEGA series, following Gabriel’s thrilling and sexy adventures with his two hunky alpha professors! This smoldering hot gay shifter paranormal romance story will satisfy all your naughty ...

China thought it would be a quick war, an easy war. But now, years later, as the insurgency on the streets of Los Angeles escalates but the propaganda never changes, a Chinese officer can’t keep silent any longer. Torn between loyalty to his country and loyalty to his troops, he writes a brutally honest—and possibly suicidal—letter home to unmask the truth. Brooks combines his signature meticulous research with unforgettable characters in this landmark work of speculative fiction.

If you like Twilight Zone, Night Gallery, Outer Limits, One Step Beyond, Thriller, Serials with Surprise Endings, and stories with a plot, Billy Wells Horror is for you. Billy Wells Horror's average review rating for all horror collections is 4.3! Twelve stories from the warped mind of Billy Wells. Scary Stories-Volume 5 is the eighth collection of short stories mostly in the horror genre with surprise endings by Billy Wells. Please be aware that some of these offerings are quite gruesome and not for those readers whose parents did not let them watch scary movies and TV shows as a child. ...

Brad and Jason had been stepbrothers for several years and never much got along. They were too different. Brad was an all-star quarterback in college and Jason more reserved and brainy. When Brad comes home for the summer, Jason is not looking forward to his visit, but he realizes quickly that something about Brad has changed. He is being nice to him and though he’s suspicious, he finds himself going on a camping trip with him and a friend of Jason’s. Disaster strikes and Brad steps up to save his stepbrother, staying with him through his recovery. Jason finds himself falling for him ...