Novella

Meghan Chase used to be an ordinary girl..until she discovered that she is really a faery princess. After escaping from the clutches of the deadly Iron fey, Meghan must follow through on her promise to return to the equally dangerous Winter Court with her forbidden love, Prince Ash. But first, Meghan has one request: that they visit Puck—Meghan's best friend and servant of her father, King Oberon—who was gravely injured defending Meghan from the Iron Fey. Yet Meghan and Ash's detour does not go unnoticed. They have caught the attention of an ancient, powerful hunter—a foe that even Ash may not be able to defeat.... An eBook exclusive story from Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.

In Cry Wolf, New York Times bestselling author Patricia Briggs started a new urban fantasy series set in the world of Mercy Thompson—but with rules of its own. Now, read "Alpha and Omega," the novella that inspired the new series, and see how it all began... Anna Latham never knew werewolves existed, until the night she survived a violent attack... and became one herself. After three years at the bottom of the Chicago pack, she's learned to keep her head down and never, ever trust dominant males. But when she discovers wrongdoing in her pack, she has to go above her Alpha's head to ask for help. Charles Cornick is the son—and enforcer—of the leader of the North American werewolves. Now his father has sent him to Chicago to clean up a problem there. Charles never expected to find Anna, a rare Omega wolf—and he certainly never expected to recognize her as his mate... This novella was originally published in the anthology, On the Prowl.

Darkness reigns unchallenged. For the villagers on the accursed Island, life has only one meaning - death. Bound to the Island by the curse, the villagers suffer beneath the iron claw of the Serpent, daily breathing the poison of his breath and dying to appease his insatiable appetite. When Marya’s parents are slain by the serpent for their belief in a legendary king, she becomes an outcast. Struggling to survive and avoid the vengeance of the Tribunal, Marya is torn between legend and the harsh reality of the Island. Yet when a forgotten promise springs to life, she cannot help wondering if the old stories might in fact be true. And if they are, will the promise prove stronger than the curse?

A New York Times bestselling author offers a brilliant reinvention of one of the best-known fairy tales of all time with Snow White as a gunslinger in the mythical Wild West. Forget the dark, enchanted forest. Picture instead a masterfully evoked Old West where you are more likely to find coyotes as the seven dwarves. Insert into this scene a plain-spoken, appealing narrator who relates the history of our heroine’s parents—a Nevada silver baron who forced the Crow people to give up one of their most beautiful daughters, Gun That Sings, in marriage to him. Although her mother’s life ended as hers began, so begins a remarkable tale: equal parts heartbreak and strength. This girl has been born into a world with no place for a half-native, half-white child. After being hidden for years, a very wicked stepmother finally gifts her with the name Snow White, referring to the pale skin she will never have. Filled with fascinating glimpses through the fabled looking glass and a close-up look at hard living in the gritty gun-slinging West, this is an utterly enchanting story…at once familiar and entirely new.

Also available in Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection. A heretic thief is the empire’s only hope in this fascinating tale that inhabits the same world as the popular novel, Elantris. Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor’s scepter, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Though her skill as a Forger is considered an abomination by her captors, Shai will attempt to create a new soul for the emperor, who is almost dead. Probing deeply into his life, she discovers Emperor Ashravan’s truest nature—and the opportunity to exploit it. Her only possible ally is one who is truly loyal to the emperor, but councilor Gaotona must overcome his prejudices to understand that Shai’s forgery is as much artistry as it is deception. Brimming with magic and political intrigue, this deftly woven fantasy delves into the essence of a living spirit.

From its launch in 2005 to its final issue in 2014, Subterranean magazine published stories by the leading lights of science fiction and fantasy literature. From Hugo and Nebula winners to Pulitzer and Booker Prize finalists to New York Times bestsellers, this anthology collects 30 pieces of Subterranean’s best, representing diverse, breathtaking short fiction from today’s modern masters. In “Last Breath” Joe Hill spins the tale of a man who collects the breaths of the dying for his haunting museum. Catherynne M. Valente’s “White Lines on a Green Field” chronicles what might happen if Coyote became a small town high school quarterback. Karen Joy Fowler’s “Younger Women” finds a woman confronting her daughter’s new boyfriend, who happens to be a vampire. Visit the Twilight Zone via George R.R. Martin in the script “The Toys of Caliban”. In Ted Chiang’s “The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling” the narratives of a journalist and a young man are told in contrast, both impacted by technology and literacy. And in Kelley Armstrong’s “The Screams of Dragons” a boy is declared a changeling and things only get stranger from there. Other pieces visit far-flung space and intimate sick rooms, the futuristic pyramids of the rich and a jungle where a man-eating tiger stalks a village. Contents: \- Perfidia (2004) by Lewis Shiner \- Game (2012) by Maria Dahvana Headley \- The Last Log of the Lachrimosa (2014) by Alastair Reynolds \- The Seventeenth Kind (2007) by Michael Marshall Smith \- Dispersed by the Sun, Melting in the Wind (2007) by Rachel Swirsky \- The Pile (2008) by Michael Bishop \- The Bohemian Astrobleme (2010) by Kage Baker \- Tanglefoot (2008) by Cherie Priest \- Hide and Horns (2009) by Joe R. Lansdale \- Balfour and Meriwether in The Vampire of Kabul (2011) by Daniel Abraham \- Last Breath (2005) by Joe Hill \- Younger Women (2011) by Karen Joy Fowler \- White Lines on a Green Field (2011) by Catherynne M. Valente \- The Least of the Deathly Arts (2012) by Kat Howard \- Water Can't Be Nervous (2012) by Jonathan Carroll \- Valley of the Girls (2011) by Kelly Link \- Sic Him, Hellhound! Kill! Kill! (2012) by Hal Duncan \- Troublesolving (2009) by Tim Pratt \- The Indelible Dark (2013) by William Browning Spencer \- The Prayer of Ninety Cats (2013) by Caitlín R. Kiernan \- The Crane Method (2011) by Ian R. MacLeod \- The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn (2011) by Robert Silverberg \- The Toys of Caliban (script) (2005) by George R.R. Martin \- The Secret History of the Lost Colony (2008) by John Scalzi \- The Screams of Dragons (2014) by Kelley Armstrong \- The Dry Spell (2009) by James P. Blaylock \- He Who Grew Up Reading Sherlock Holmes (2014) by Harlan Ellison \- A Small Price to Pay for Birdsong (2011) by K.J. Parker \- The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling (2013) by Ted Chiang \- A Long Walk Home (2011) by Jay Lake

Originally published in The Other Half of the Sky, 2013, edited by Athena Andreadis & Kay T. Holt. Reprinted in Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-First Annual Collection, and later in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue #129 ~~~ The derelict ship ward was in an isolated section of Outsider space, one of the numerous spots left blank on interstellar maps, no more or no less tantalising than its neighbouring quadrants. To most people, it would be just that: a boring part of a long journey to be avoided–skipped over by Mind-ships as they cut through deep space, passed around at low speeds by Outsider ships while their passengers slept in their hibernation cradles.

Thirty years ago, Elma York led the expedition that paved the way to life on Mars. For years she's been longing to go back up there, to once more explore the stars. But there are few opportunities for an aging astronaut, even the famous Lady Astronaut of Mars. When her chance finally comes, it may be too late. Elma must decide whether to stay with her sickening husband in what will surely be the final years of his life, or to have her final adventure and plunge deeper into the well of space.