Short Science Fiction Fantasy Stories

Join the Librarian as he does his best to make the post-apocalyptic world a better place by protecting the weak, fighting injustice, squaring off against a group of former renaissance fair workers who have established a kingdom in the Rocky Mountains, and so on. Can one man make a difference in the face of such murderous cannibals and super smart bears? Probably not.

There is a book that is shrouded in mystery. Some even say it's a myth. Within its pages is a play - one that brings madness and despair to all who read it. It is the play of the King in Yellow, and it will haunt you for the rest of your days. The King in Yellow is a collection of stories interwoven loosely by the elements of the play, including the central figure himself.

This boxed set contains the first three books in C. J. Archer's popular Ministry of Curiosities series. Titles in the set include The Last Necromancer, Her Majesty's Necromancer, and Beyond the Grave. Description of The Last Necromancer: For five years, Charlotte (Charlie) Holloway has lived as a boy in the slums. But when one theft too many gets her arrested, her only means of escape lies with a dead man.

Nate is the hardworking CEO of SouthernCool, an AC company in Florida. After years of toiling to get rich, he finally takes a well-deserved vacation to Australia. A chance encounter ties him to a gorgeous gal named Senna. Right as things between the two are heating up on the Great Barrier Reef, pesky aliens intervene. Humanity is doomed, they tell him, destined to become extinct in the not-too-distant future. Nate and Senna are forced to compete for a spot on a human preserve.

When Mrs. Sorensen's husband dies, she rekindles a long-dormant love with an unsuitable mate in "Mrs. Sorensen and the Sasquatch". In "Open the Door and the Light Pours Through", a young man wrestles with grief and his sexuality in an exchange of letters with his faraway beloved. "Dreadful Young Ladies" demonstrates the strength and power - known and unknown - of the imagination. The World Fantasy Award-winning novella The Unlicensed Magician introduces the secret, magical life of an invisible girl once left for dead.

Wolf of the North: It has been generations since the Northlands have seen a hero worthy of the title. Many have made the claim, but few have lived to defend it. Timid, weak, and bullied, Wulfric is as unlikely a candidate as there could be. Jorundyr's Path: Jorundyr's Path is walked only by the brave. As Wulfric pursues Adalhaid's Blood Debt, he soon learns that the path to revenge is never easy. The Blood Debt: A blade fit for a hero. An army for a tyrant. A reckoning long awaited, and a tale reaching its end.

With his debut novel, The Grace of Kings, taking the literary world by storm, Ken Liu now shares his finest short fiction in The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories. This mesmerizing collection features all of Ken's award-winning and award-finalist stories.

Molly Everhart Trueblood and Jane Yellowrock try to discover if a local house is indeed haunted. But the problem that they discover is far worse than a ghostly haunting, and far more difficult to solve.

Tackling some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine, these stories will change the way you think, feel, and see the world. They are Ted Chiang at his best: profound, sympathetic, revelatory. Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions along with new quandaries only he could imagine.

During a time of political and social unrest in Egypt, a god-like force, Nyarlathotep, emerges. He travels the land dazzling people with electricity and psychology. While witnesses of this god-like creature encourage others to see him, afterwards, people seem terrified. As the narrator recounts his experiences, he becomes disoriented. By the end of the story, the narrator and the other viewers of Nyarlathotep begin to lose touch with reality.

Sympathy with the sea, with the weird, and with monsters fills the stories of Imperfect Commentaries. Ruthanna Emrys' collection offers listeners feminist and #ownvoices Neo-Lovecraftian fiction, anthropological science fiction, and fantasies of belonging, plus miscellaneous deleted scenes, poems, and secret story origins. Listeners familiar with her novels (Winter Tide and Deep Roots) will see the first appearance of Aphra Marsh, an Innsmouth survivor, still recovering from her losses and making a life for herself in late-1940s San Francisco.

A definitive new collection featuring all of the previously published Sookie Stackhouse stories, along with a new introduction from the number one New York Times best-selling author of the series. Return to Bon Temps, Louisiana, with these listener favorites featuring spunky telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse and her paranormal friends.

Return to the world of Wicked Lovely! Listen to an all-new Dark Court short story. "Love Hurts" catches up with Irial, Niall, and Leslie - and offers clues about the Wicked Lovely prequel novel, Cold Iron Heart. Tales of Folk & Fey also includes "Old Habits" and "Stopping Time" (previously published Wicked Lovely Dark Court stories) and two previously published selchie short stories ("Awakened" and "Love Struck"). As a bonus, the collection also includes "Carnival of Lies", a prequel story to the 2012 novel, Carnival of Secrets.

"The Secret" is set in the world where the Broken Empire and Red Queen's War trilogies take place. I've been writing short stories based on the various members of Jorg Ancrath's brotherhood of the road, exploring their origins. When I saw that the Blackguards anthology was seeking tales of assassins, I thought it was time to write about Brother Sim.

This volume is the definitive collection of the best science fiction novellas published between 1929 and 1964, containing 11 great classics. No anthology better captures the birth of science fiction as a literary field. Published in 1973 to honor stories that had appeared before the institution of the Nebula Awards, The Science Fiction Hall of Fame introduced tens of thousands to the wonders of science fiction and was a favorite of libraries across the country.

Zombie, Indiana explores the impact of an invading zombie horde on a trio of Hoosier protagonists…each of whom have some dark secrets to keep. When the governor’s daughter mysteriously disappears on a field trip, IMPD Special Sergeant James Nolan, scholarship student Kesha Washington, and Governor Hank Burleson must all come together not only to find the governor’s daughter, but also to undertake a quest to redeem the very soul of the state itself…all while under constant attack from the living dead.

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

When Molly Everhart Trueblood doesn’t show up for her shift at Seven Sassy Sisters Herb Shop and Café, Jane Yellowrock goes to the house to check on her. There Jane discovers a black cloud of wild, out of control magic attacking the small home. How can Jane save the small family?

Linx Maxwell is on the verge of greatness. She's finally graduated from street fairs and hopping chain link to making art that pays the bills. Her family life is...not dull. And it looks like her van might just be able to exist on hope and duct tape. If only she could get rid of the ghost who's plagued her since the eighth grade.

A vengeful ghost trapped in a goblin's ear...a flaming spider who must help stop a goddess from conquering a science-fiction convention...a goblin nursery worker who finds herself trapped in the middle of a war. This collection features six humorous short stories that explore the fantasy realm from the perspective of the lowest of the low, the unlikeliest of unheroes: the goblins.