Science Fiction Western

This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So listen on, for after all, magic has no borders.

At the age of 48, film critic David Denby returned to his alma mater, Columbia University, to re-experience the core humanities courses he had taken as a freshman 30 years before. Facing the question of what he really knows, Denby re-examines the besieged Western classics, ranging from Homer, Sappho, and Sophocles to Dante, Nietzsche, and Woolf. What relevance do the writers and thinkers of the past have to our current life? The answer surprised Denby and will surprise and enlighten his listeners.

For hundreds of years, the Ironship Trading Syndicate was fueled by drake blood - and protected by the Blood-blessed, those few who could drink it and wield fearsome powers. But now the very thing that sustained the corporate world threatens to destroy it. A drake of unimaginable power has risen, and it commands an army of both beasts and men.

Kamet, a secretary and slave to his Mede master, has the ambition and the means to become one of the most powerful people in the Empire. But with a whispered warning the future he envisioned is wrenched away, and he is forced onto a very different path. Set in the world of the Queen's Thief, this epic adventure sees an ordinary hero take on an extraordinary mission.

Some terrifying things have happened to Olive in the old stone house, but none as scary as starting junior high. Or so she thinks. When she plummets through a hole in her backyard, though, she realizes two things that may change her mind: First, the wicked Annabelle McMartin is back. Second, there's a secret underground that unlocks not one but two of Elsewhere's biggest, most powerful, most dangerous forces yet. But with the house's guardian cats acting suspicious, her best friend threatening to move away, and her ally Morton starting to rebel, Olive isn't sure where to turn.

Just when I thought I'd overcome the biggest obstacles my fae mates and I could face, I find myself in the hands of their greatest enemies. Enemies who have far more power than we ever imagined. Enemies who hold so much more sway over my life than I want to believe. I have to escape, and not just to warn the men I love and defend the home I've made with them. The longer I remain, the more these villains can use me to destroy everything I care about. If I fail now, the entire faerie world will crumble.

Voices stars the people of Ansul, a town of scholars and traders conquered by the marauding Alds 17 years ago. When poet Orrec arrives in town, however, the people begin to garner the courage to rebel against their overlords.

Zoltan the wizard is now a Wizard Dragon! As a dragon, he plans to free the evil wizard Maldred. Drake and Worm meet Zoltan's son, Wolfgang, who wants to help stop his father! So Drake, Worm, and Wolfgang travel to Barga, where they meet an Earth Dragon named Kinguq and her Dragon Master Nanu. Kinguq and Nanu guard a secret door to the powerful Earthquake Dragon, called the Naga. It is also where Maldred is trapped.

In the Essalieyan empire, the armies are gathering, ready to champion the cause of Valedan kai di’Leonne, last survivor of the ruling clan of the Dominion. But, Valedan himself must take a different road to war, sealing what Dominion alliances he can claim without the empire’s backing. Yet, even before Valedan sets forth, Jewel of House Terafin has already journeyed beyond mortal realms with only her domicis Avandar to guard her back, walking through flame to join the Voyani on a trek they’ve been destined to make for centuries.

None fear death more than the damned, Samuel Blake has lived longer than any man has a right to by drinking the blood of the undead. He knows that this stolen vitality must damn him but it is also his only means to escape the final judgement he knows is coming. He must endure until he can find the gates of heaven itself. He is not alone in his quest though his victims share his longevity and they are also looking for a way out of a world that is becoming increasingly dangerous for them. Some of them even remember a time before the desert became all humanity knew. Sam must rediscover what ...

She doesn't need a hero. She is a hero. On a planet called Etheria, two forces battle for control. The Horde, with its skillfully trained soldiers and advanced technology, has one goal: to conquer all of Etheria in the name of Hordak. The other force, the Rebellion, is made up of princesses and has been fighting to maintain harmony and freedom for all of Etheria's people. Hidden among them all is a hero to be. Her destiny was written by the First Ones a thousand years ago. Now she is about to rise again.

Lilly and Brand's daughter, Caylin, saw her soul mate for the first time when she was 14 years old. After a simple exchange of smiles, she knew her life was set on a path which would lead Aiden back into her world forever. For three long years, Aiden keeps his distance from Caylin out of respect for her parents' wishes. Caylin learns that one of the princes of Hell, Baal, is out to kill her. With the help of her family and Aiden, she discovers why he wants her dead and what she needs to do to stop him.

Times are truly desperate within Averalaan's hundred holdings, and Jewel MArkess and her den are finding it hard to survive. Then suddenly their mentor, Rath, orders them to avoid the ancient Undercity beneath Averlaan's streets, cutting them off from their main source of income. Yet Rath himself refuses to heed the warnings of Jewel's seer dreams. Instead, he allies with the mages of the Order of Knowledge in a secret war against demonic foes, knowing he'll be targeted for death - or worse.

She is Ivory Malinov. Her only brethren, the wolves. Long ago betrayed by her people, abandoned by her family, and cast out by everyone she held dear, Ivory has lived centuries without companionship or love. She has sustained her sanity by preparing for one purpose—to destroy her greatest enemy. Until the night she picks up the scent of a man, her unexpected salvation. Her lifemate. The curse of all Carpathian women.

Van Delano is still determined to free his sister from the clutches of Nine-Fingered Nan, whatever it takes. So, when the outlaw queen suggests an exchange, he’s all too eager to agree. Doesn’t matter the stagecoach he’s supposed to find is traveling a route that don’t make no sense toward the one town he never wanted to step foot into again. Doesn’t matter the lockbox he’s supposed to steal off it just might be Old World tech.

The weeks since Jewel Markess ATerafin has been acclaimed ruler of her House have not been peaceful; four assassination attempts have been made on her life, and one of the most important members of her House Council has been forced to retire, leaving a seat empty at a time when she requires trusted allies. The war in the distant South has ended; the armies, victorious, have returned to Averalaan. During the victory parade of the Kings' armies, the fifth assassination attempt occurs - in full view of the Ten, the Kings, and thousands of spectators.

I'm doing my best to settle into life at the academy and keep my secret under wraps. After all, I'm training for a future as a warden for the Agency of Magical Forces. Can't have a mass-murdering evil father as part of my pedigree. I still can't tell a rune from a rock, but life is good. Until I discover a dead body in the river. Before I know it, I'm thrust into an investigation to find the killer, which means using magic outside of my comfort zone. The more magic I use, the more I worry about succumbing to the dark side like my father.

Neither accepted nor beloved, Eugenides is the uneasy linchpin of a truce on the Lesser Peninsula, where he has risen to be high king of Attolia, Eddis, and Sounis. As the treacherous Baron Erondites schemes anew and a prophecy appears to foretell the death of the king, the ruthless Mede empire prepares to strike.

In the finale of Caylin's Story, Caylin learns more about her descendent and why she will be so important to the future of the world. Together, Caylin and Aiden will face the challenges placed in their path by Lucifer and his men and show why faith, loyalty, and love can defeat even the princes of Hell.

Vika Andreyeva can summon the snow and turn ash into gold. Nikolai Karimov can see through walls and conjure bridges out of thin air. They are enchanters - the only two in Russia - and with the Ottoman Empire and the Kazakhs threatening, the tsar needs a powerful enchanter by his side.