Modern Science Fiction

Four sci-fi short stories where you'll find good computers, people who regret their past, and an explanation for something you're familiar with.

Fantasy fans rejoice! Seven years after writer and editor Robert Silverberg made publishing history with Legends, the acclaimed anthology of original short novels by some of the greatest writers in fantasy fiction, the long-awaited second volume is here.

After Colin cuts off their connection to Underhill, the high Fae lose their position of magical supremacy. Sensing a shift in the balance of power, an unknown faction begins a brutal assault on the Fae. Incensed by the injustice of their actions, Colin embarks on a one-man quest to find the persons responsible...so he can mete out some Druid Justice.

This collection includes all three novels in The Shadow Changeling Series, a Colin McCool Junkyard Druid spin-off series set in M.D. Massey's Druidverse® urban fantasy setting. If you enjoy dark urban fantasy books featuring haunted antiheroes in the tradition of Snape, Walker Boh, and Constantine, you'll love this story about a shadow wizard who's searching for his long lost human family.

One druid against the apocalypse. Hell on earth doesn’t stand a chance. Now that I’ve dealt with Badb and proven to the Celtic gods that I’m a force to be reckoned with, it’s time to address some unfinished business....

In Einstein's Compass: A YA Time Traveler Adventure, a young Albert is gifted a supernatural compass that allows him to travel through time and space. He finds wisdom in other dimensions, like the lost city of Atlantis, but evil forces seek the power of the compass, including a monstrous, shape-shifting dragon from a different age. Can the compass protect Albert from such villainy?

Cinderella married the man of her dreams - the perfect ending she deserved after diligently following all the fairy-tale rules. Yet now, 13 and a half years later, things have gone badly wrong, and her life is far from perfect. One night, fed up and exhausted, she sneaks out of the palace to get help from the witch who, for a price, offers love potions to disgruntled housewives. But as the old hag flings the last ingredients into the cauldron, Cinderella doesn't ask for a love spell to win back her Prince Charming. Instead, she wants him dead.

The Reveries of the Solitary Walker was one of the last works written by the French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) and was, in fact, not quite complete. It was published four years after his death and came quickly to be regarded as one of his most poetic works. It consists of 10 Walks (only the final ‘Walk’ was unfinished) during which he muses on a variety of topics including thoughts on issues which featured strongly in his notable life as a philosopher and commentator, including education and political philosophy.

Beat the game. Get the girls. Stop the bad guy. My name's Ethan Riley. Just your typical dude with a bartending gig and an outdated Subaru, and if that wasn't boring enough...I'm from Ohio. Or at least I was boring...until I died. No, seriously. I died. But thanks to the magic of unethical medical practices, I was kitted out with a microchip in my head and some hush money in my pocket. Now, I’m suddenly seeing everything like a dating simulator, including some of the hottest gamer girls in the industry.

I go by Crowley, no last name. The Fae took that from me when they tore me from my crib and turned me into a creature of blood and shadow. My kidnappers raised me, taught me magic, and made me their Hound. For years I served them, but a cur can only be brought to heel for so long. I've broken my chains by betraying my adoptive mother, the powerful sorceress Fuamnach. Since then, her assassins have been hunting me - but I’ll cut a swathe of destruction through them if it means gaining back a piece of the humanity they stole from me. Vengeance will have to do.

Lucian is a Dragon Prince of the House of Smoke...and he's dying. He has to spawn a dragonling to uphold the treaty that keeps the mortal world safe from the immortal Dark Fae, but a dragon's mate rarely survives the birth of a young dragon, and he can't face the horror of another woman's death on his hands. When he rescues a beautiful woman from a demon roaming the streets of Seattle, he has to seduce her without losing his heart...and before he turns into a feral dragon and breaks the treaty forever.

As the pace of modern life accelerates, the old ways wither and die. But to the Society for Magickal Heritage, that just isn’t good enough.

It’s been only days since Rowan and her friends eliminated the immediate threat to magic users and vampires, but they’re already back on the hunt. Rowan’s out for vengeance, and she’s never been more driven - or angry. But she’s up against a being stronger than any she’s ever fought. To bring it down, she’ll need more than the powers the goddess, Brigid, gave her.... This time she’ll need her friends, too.

Old Gods never die…or so Athena thought. But then the feathers started sprouting beneath her skin, invading her lungs like a strange cancer, and Hermes showed up with a fever eating away his flesh. So much for living a quiet eternity in perpetual health.

Scratch Sullivan just wanted to survive the apocalypse in peace...but when the undead bring their war right to his doorstep, it's time to ranger up and rain hell down on his enemies! It's been eight years since the bombs fell and the dead rose, and the world has become a very dangerous place. But unlike most folks, former Army Ranger Scratch Sullivan is getting by just fine. Sure, it's hell on earth, but Scratch seems to fit in. He makes his living by hunting the dead, vampires and zombies alike, with the odd revenant thrown in for good measure.

Colin McCool here, everyone’s favorite druid master and trouble magnet extraordinaire. Everyone except the gods, that is, who seem to enjoy messing with me just a little too much. Which is how I ended up in an alternate timeline, trying to save humanity from a vampire apocalypse. After getting my tail kicked by the top leech in Dallas, I decided it was time to level up before round two. That’s why I’m headed to Underhill to bond with a druid oak in this timeline so I can win this war. To do that, I’ll need to recruit the help of the Dagda, leader of the Celtic pantheon....

Dr. Victor Frankenstein, an ambitious young scientist, is consumed by a fanatic desire to create a living being. He fashions an eight-foot-tall creature and succeeds in animating him, but, horrified by his visage, perceives his creation to be a monster and frightens him away. The monster, wandering in search of human companionship, is spurned and repulsed by all he approaches and learns to hate and to kill.

I'm Colin McCool, world-class trouble magnet and druid apprentice extraordinaire. I survived my final confrontation with the Dark Druid by the skin of my teeth. But that stunt attracted the attention of some extremely nasty gods who now consider me a threat to their very existence. Hashtag FML, amirite? Now, I'm in a race to master the ways of druid magic, all while staying one step ahead of the immortal assassins trying to kill me.

Each of the best-selling writers represented in Legends II return to the special universe of the imagination that its author has made famous throughout the world. Whether set before or after events already recounted elsewhere, whether featuring beloved characters or compelling new creations, these masterful short novels are both mesmerizing stand-alones (perfect introductions to the work of their authors) and indispensable additions to the epics on which they are based.

Leonidas: I am a Dragon Prince of the House of Smoke...and I am cursed. Falling in love was never in the cards for me. An angry witch made sure of that - if I lose my heart, I lose my life. Only now, a treaty guaranteeing peace will die with me, unless I convince some hapless human to fall in love with me and bear my child - a dragonling born of magic and a love that's true. But I know nothing of love. Five hundred years of guarding my heart and opening my bed mean I've got zero chance at this.