Short Science Fiction Fantasy Stories

New York Times Notable Book author Charles Yu wrote the best-selling novel How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe. In his stunning, often humorous, collection Sorry Please Thank You, Yu draws on pop culture and science to make incisive observations about society - and offer touching insight into the human condition. In two of Yu’s remarkable stories, he focuses on a big-box-store night-shift employee with girl trouble and a company that outsources grief for profit.

Be ready for some action, humor, and mystery in this anthology with short stories. You’ll listen about gangsters, witches, magic potions, interrogations, werewolves, and murder. Several stories have a murder victim, while others are all about theft or robberies. But in many cases, they spark the imagination and make up for a great way to sit back, relax, and read or listen to stories from a completely different world.

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.

Magic powers? His own mech? A whole airship of gorgeous women desperate for his genes? Yes, please! Paralyzed by a drunk driver, let go from his job, and stuck in a sad, stagnant town in the middle of nowhere, Joseph Locke was having the worst day of his life. And then he died. But considering that he wakes up with a brand new body, in the cockpit of a badass steampunk robot, on an airship of nothing but hot babes, his next life may not be all that bad. Especially when he learns that he’s a void mage—the rarest and most powerful of all mages on the world of Haven.

In a post-apocalyptic America, Deaver Teague makes a living salvaging things left behind from before the war. When he hears some truck drivers talking about a hidden cache of gold in a Mormon temple in flooded Salt Lake City, he enlists some friends to look for it.

This story is included in Orson Scott Card's collection The Folk of the Fringe.

A garrison on asteroid Y-3, a beautiful place actually. First published in 1953 by Philip K. Dick, this science fiction short story proposes that if you're overworked, become a plant, and that is just what the personnel on asteroid Y-3 are doing. The problem becomes how does Dr. Henry Harris who has been sent to resolve the problem avoided becoming one of them and taking root?

Santa. Zombies. The HOA. Life in the suburbs isn’t all birthday parties and bounce houses.

Dog Star was first published in the April 1962 issue of Galaxy. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Fearful Rock and Other Precarious Locales is the third volume of Night Shade Books' five volume "Selected Stories of Manly Wade Wellman." This volume is made up of eight novella length stories. It includes Wellman's "Judge Pursivant" and "Sergeant Jaeger" stories, as well as a lost classic from Strange Stories (1939).

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real...tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows.

A man becomes targeted by witches after he inherits some very special real estate.

"Who is Sylvia? What is she?" In this little novella by Philip K Dick, we meet Sylvia. But wait until Sylvia meets Sylvia.

Jensen, Finn, Christian, and Rhys. One is my protector, another my best friend, the third my betrothed, and the fourth...something else entirely. And I want them all. I never thought I'd fall for more than one man, but then again, I didn't think I would wake up on my birthday the queen of the Shadow Court, hunted, in danger, and unable to control my newfound fae powers. Which seem to get stronger the more I give in to my need for these men. In order to claim my title, I have to complete a set of trials with my men at my side. But a dark force is out to kill me.

As the Emperor travels the galaxy at the head of his Great Crusade, few events are as important as rediscovering his scattered sons, the Primarchs, and bestowing them as the masters of their Legions. United, a Legion becomes a reflection of its Primarch, both in his strengths and his flaws. For the Twelfth Legion, once the War Hounds and now the World Eaters, the line between strength and flaw is almost impossible to separate.

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.

In her new collection, Story Prize finalist Maureen F. McHugh delves into the dark heart of contemporary life and life five minutes from now and how easy it is to mix up one with the other. Her stories are post-bird flu, in the middle of medical trials, wondering if our computers are smarter than us, wondering when our jobs are going to be outsourced overseas, wondering if we are who we say we are, and not sure what we'd do to survive the coming zombie plague.

Pirate captain Torius Vin’s navigator, Celeste, isn’t your typical crew member. She’s a naga - half woman, half serpent - and can read the night skies like an open book. When Celeste is kidnapped during a trade run to legendary Katapesh, Torius and his crew must race to unravel a web of betrayal and evil magic in the bazaars of the dangerous City of Trade.

"Hide-and-Seek" was first published in the September 1949 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

"Crusade" was first published in 1968 in The Farthest Reaches. Sir Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008) is regarded as one of the most-influential science fiction writers of all time. He was named a Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame.

Summoners are born, not made. For Bran of Ealdor, this is the one thing stopping him from becoming a member of the legendary warriors known as summoners. They are gods among men who can call monsters into battle to fight alongside them. Mages, Rangers, Beastmasters, Protectors, Hunters, and Lancers. These are the six classes of summoners. None of which Bran can become.