Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the Earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.

Compiled by intrepid journalist Neve Pride, this archive of recordings spans the months after dragons emerged on earth, chronicling the communities that sprang up amid the destruction, the scientists, military leaders, and experts searching for a defense, and those steadfastly seeking the missing. Neve and her young daughter Bex travel among the wreckage speaking to those left behind and surviving, against all odds. Neve records everything for history, and in the hopes of locating a clue as to where the dragons came from and how one might stop them.

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive - and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet.

Annie has always had high hopes for her future. But the reality of her life just isn’t measuring up. She loves her fiancé, Greg–doesn’t she? She’s going to get her degree and open her own business–won’t she? Then, a strange old woman shows up outside her house, and she seems to know a lot about Annie. An awful lot. Annie could tell the old woman to get lost. Yet there’s something about her Annie just can’t shake. And what she learns could change her life forever–but is it the life she envisioned?

Inheriting your uncle's supervillain business is more complicated than you might think. Particularly when you discover who's running the place. Charlie's life is going nowhere fast. A divorced substitute teacher living with his cat in a house his siblings want to sell, all he wants is to open a pub downtown, if only the bank will approve his loan. Then his long-lost uncle Jake dies and leaves his supervillain business (complete with island volcano lair) to Charlie. But becoming a supervillain isn't all giant laser death rays and lava pits.

Kirk—whose life is cut short in a car wreck on his way home from work—wakes up in a fantasy world… Middle aged Kirk has lost everything. Well, everything except his job. When he’s in a car accident on the way home from his job, it’s as if the universe has finally succeeded in taking everything from him. When he wakes, he’s in a fantasy land… in someone else’s body. Unexpectedly a child again in a new world, unlike the one he left, Kirk must make new friends, fit in, and learn to eke out a new existence. Disabled by the accident that led to the death of the child whose body ...

What happens when you suddenly find yourself in a reality of untold possibilities, in a place where technology and magic are indistinguishable? Every game location is a transformed physical world connected to others through an interstellar network of portals. Every player "avatar" is a living physical body with incredible survival traits. Once in this dreamscape, it would be unwise to not seize the moment! There are, however, a couple of catches.

Arktania is a virtual game with a steampunk style. It's a place where magic spells, enchanted artifacts, steam-powered machines, firearms, and mechanical golems are a part of everyday life. Gamer Andrew Falk begins his journey in a small village on the border of Orcish territory. The locals are the keepers of many secrets, but their behavior is too realistic for characters in a game; so realistic, in fact, that Andrew starts to treat them as if they were real people.

Modern times. Genius physicist Artyom Kuchaev found himself facing the darker side of the world we live in. Integrity is met with a laugh, the rat race instead full of people out to grab whatever they can. Where big money is on the line, no betrayal, even of loved ones, is a bridge too far. But Artyom couldn't bring himself to conform. Instead, he decided to make a change in himself if not in the world around him. His work, surroundings, country....

Conscription and death. That is the sword of Damocles hanging over every peasant's head. As the realm gets overrun by bloodthirsty Beasts, every family has to pitch in. And so, to spare his father and siblings, Ferren offers to be the one from their household to join the king's army. But during an escort mission, Ferren's convoy is attacked and his right arm ripped off by a ferocious monster.

Yesterday, Altai was a war hero. Today, he is a prisoner who chose exile to Rhapsody instead of death. This planet, the Range, knows no mercy. Here, thousands of prisoners fight each other for a place under the strange, cold sun. Here, the leftover alien biomechanisms and out-of-control Terran war machines roam in the ruins, and human life is measured in virtual experience that can be exchanged for armor and implants. Surviving in the Limbo slaughterhouse, upgrading to the 10th level, and getting into the Green Zone is all any dead man can hope for. Except not everyone succeeds.

You don't always get a second chance...unless you're a pawn for an eldritch horror that: A) can bend time, and B) is a sore loser. Justin Thyme is not a good man, nor one destined for glory. He was meant to die in obscurity, yet another level 82 Templar that was just about to get chewed up by a horde of skittering monstrosities clawing at humanity's last enclave. One short conversation with a time-splitting monstrosity later, and Justin finds himself flung five years into the past-right when the Earth was first chosen to host the 9,947th Gladiatorial Games.

The worst day of Eric's life was capped off by him being kicked through a gateway into a universe filled with magic and monsters. To make matters worse, he had to fight for his life the moment he arrived. Nothing could have prepared him for a world where everything either wants to kill him or eat him.

It was just another sunny day at the coast when a life was changed forever. What started as a prank for a young girl resulted in the elevation of a crab's existence. Now, wrenched from its happy life at the beach, the crab...HAS AWAKENED. Sir Crabby finds himself thrust into sapience. Into a world filled with creatures both mundane and magical, a world where evil lurks beneath the waves. Join Sir Crabby as he travels beneath the ocean, discovering power, adventuring forth and searching for his young friend as he's thrust into the Eternal Conflict of Arthos.

Era Gualtieri lives his life on permanent hard mode. His right leg is gone, his hometown was bombed into toxic waste, and he's elvish in an age when pointy ears are the mother of all "kick me" signs. He's spent the past four years hopping trains and shoplifting just to survive, with only his flying sword to keep him safe. Now, he's suddenly the only guy on the planet who's legally allowed to stop the new Dark Lord.