検索キーワード： 選集・短編小説

Imprisoned for a crime he barely remembers, Gunnar is forced to labor in an underground prison camp. But if he works hard, he earns time in a beta test for the first fully immersive online RPG. The realms of Pantheon are beyond anything Gunnar has ever experienced, but the virtual world is inextricably linked to his reality as a prisoner. He may not be the best or the brightest criminal, but if he fails to perform... things are not going to go well for him.

By 2194, years of wars, apocalypses and calamities gave way to a new world order known as the Accords. Governed by powerful magic, a pantheon of like-minded gods and the unified goal to preserve humankind from extinction, most magical beings are aligned within these rules. When Frode serves as a guard for his twin brothers' wedding negotiations, he never imagined his head would end up on the chopping block. Content Warning: This audiobook contains an explicit sex scene.

Finney ha tredici anni, è solo e in un terribile guaio. Da due anni a questa parte, qualcuno perseguita i ragazzi di Galesburg, li porta via, facendoli sparire per sempre. E ora, Finney rischia di fare la stessa fine: è rinchiuso nel seminterrato di uno psicopatico, un luogo macchiato dal sangue di una mezza dozzina di bambini uccisi. Con lui, in quella cella sotterranea, c'è un telefono antico, nero e da tempo disconnesso. Eppure, di notte squilla, e all'altro capo dell'apparecchio si sentono le voci delle precedenti vittime.

Jace Warin never wanted anything more than to attend the School of Swords and Serpents to escape the labor camps and restore his family's stained honor. But the determined young martial artist soon discovers the school he's always dreamed about is teeming with secret plots and sinister designs. To survive, he will have to master long-lost jinsei techniques, repair his wounded soul, and face down a most unexpected enemy: The Academy's ruthless headmaster and cunning professors.

Before she became the World Breaker, Kul'sheda was something far simpler: a woman who loved. For half a million years, she watched him die: Thir'yan, reborn into a thousand lifetimes, always hers for a few decades before death claimed him again. She was eternal. He was not. And the cycle that governs all existence refused them mercy. When the Myr'ides-masters of the magic known as Prismyr-gave her a chance to break the rules, she seized it, making him immortal like her. But immortality is a poison for one not made for it.

Este volume reúne contos em que Machado de Assis brinca com o limite entre o que parece normal e o que foge à lógica, trazendo histórias cheias de dúvida, mistério e surpresa. As narrativas colocam personagens diante de acontecimentos estranhos, coincidências inquietantes e situações difíceis de explicar, criando uma atmosfera em que certezas começam a ruir. Ideias como destino, fé, identidade e tempo atravessam os contos, sempre com ironia e tensão, conduzindo escolhas que escapam do controle racional.

Jason and his friends just wanted to spend a week at the lake house. Time to relax, hang out, and catch up on old times. Then the System arrived. It only took a few hours for their world to become a real-life roleplaying game; trading some downtime for the need to learn new skills and powers while trying to defend their new home, their families, and survive. They don’t know the rules. They don’t know what’s coming next. What they do know is; they need to reinforce and expand their fort while protecting it, keep leveling up, and explore a dangerous new world.

Als der Gaming-Nerd Charly überraschend einen der heiß begehrten Beta-Testplätze von Ascendreya ergattert, beginnt für ihn das Abenteuer seines Lebens. Zwei Jahre später kommt endlich der große Release – doch Charly steht draußen vor der Tür. Plötzlich kann er wieder nach Ascendreya zurückkehren – doch das vertraute Reich Uposia brennt. Intrigen zerreißen das Königreich, dunkle Kräfte steuern aus dem Schatten heraus jeden Konflikt, und Charly landet mitten in einer Verschwörung, die weit über ein simples Spiel hinausgeht.

Discover the next generation of science fiction and fantasy with twelve emerging authors and three powerhouse storytellers with unforgettable voices and world-class storytelling—narrated by Stefan Rudnicki, Kirby Heyborne, Taylor Meskimen, Tamra Meskimen, and Jim Meskimen.

To escape his mother’s relentless matchmaking, fire Dragon Prince Asante makes a desperate choice—he plucks a hard-headed baker from a small village and declares her his fiancée. It’s a harmless ruse, meant only to buy him time. After all, what threat could a woman with flour-dusted hands pose to the throne? But Kiala is no ordinary baker. She is the lost Ice Dragon Princess, a woman thought to have perished an avalanche. Hiding in plain sight, she has spent years concealing her identity, waiting for a day when she could truly be free.

Survival is no salvation. In the heart of a cursed desert, Sergeant Gideon Ward leads a doomed convoy escorting a mysterious VIP and a sealed briefcase. Their cargo? A celestial Key—capable of opening a gate between worlds. Their pursuer? Remiel, a fallen angel made of smoke and judgment, commanding an army of the possessed.

Um einem grausamen König zu entkommen, beschwöre ich einen Feenprinzen – und werde zu seiner Gefangenen. „Ich kann Gold spinnen“, lüge ich. Ich habe nur eine Chance, meine Lüge wahr zu machen, und bin schockiert, als es mir tatsächlich gelingt. Zu spät erkenne ich, dass mir dadurch ein Leben im goldenen Käfig droht: Der König will mich zu seiner Gemahlin machen. Ich soll sein Bett mit ihm teilen – und bis zu meinem letzten Atemzug in einen Turm eingesperrt werden, um dort Gold für ihn zu spinnen.

Find out what sort of game the Senior Girls Bayonet Drill Team play. Discover haunted toilets, strange beasts, the hungry dead, weird off-trail shops that sell unique hats and twisted dreams. Spend time with a courageous barber, meet a mythological being that may be part of all our myths, and is well-versed in the various games of shooting marbles. Ghostly cars, ghostly hotels, a shrinking world, gorillas in the yard, a brave and industrious mouse and a less than noble elephant are also here.

A collection of the year’s best science fiction and fantasy short fiction selected by Olivie Blake, author of the bestselling Atlas Series, and series editor John Joseph Adams. The Best American series, launched in 1915, is the premier annual showcase for the country’s finest short fiction...

Tuzin opowiadań Roberta J. Szmidta po raz pierwszy zebranych w jeden, niepowtarzalny tom. Prześmiewcze fantasy, akcyjne science fiction, horrory i oczywiście ponura postapokalipsa. Bohaterowie zmagają się z nieznanym, z własnymi demonami i kryzysami. Wyobraźnia autora nie zna granic. Przekracza je.

This is a New York rotten to its magical core. This is the Secret City, where gargoyles roost on fire escapes, were-rats work the night shift at hex-diners, and sorcery and circuitry sing the same siren song. Navigating these garish canyons is Nova Swann, a renegade urban druid and veil-walker who is part ghost, part spell-slinger, and all attitude. Her life of cynical solitude shatters when a cryptic message lures her into an impossible heist: to breach the impenetrable guild-fortress of Babylon. What she finds within is no treasure, but an ancient, dreaming consciousness.

Soldark. A city where stories are written, destinies ignited. Caz Coppersdown wants nothing to do but stay in Soldark and get a job as a journalist. But when her parents ship her off to her aunt’s country estate, she fears she won’t find anything newsworthy to write about. Until she realizes this small town is harboring a few surprises: Her aunt isn’t the fussy old lady Caz thought she was. The local air show is hiding a catastrophic secret. And soon fingers are being pointed at innocent people. Caz has found her story. But can she solve the mystery behind it?

Featuring the masterful prose of some of today's most accomplished writers, Forged in FIYAH is a celebration of Black speculative fiction unlike anything seen before! Forged in FIYAH showcases the extraordinary talent and innovation of contemporary Black science fiction and fantasy. Coinciding...

Ambientado en las desoladas regiones del Ártico, el texto presenta la figura de un anciano enigmático —el "matusalén"— que encarna la memoria de un mundo antiguo y olvidado. A través de una atmósfera gélida y melancólica, Blavatsky explora temas como el paso del tiempo, la soledad del conocimiento, la decadencia de las civilizaciones y la permanencia del espíritu frente a la materia. El hielo y el silencio del paisaje polar funcionan como metáforas de la eternidad y del olvido, convirtiendo el relato en una meditación sobre la condición humana y los ciclos de la existencia.

Michael Connelly, le roi du thriller contemporain écrit, dans son best-seller Le Poète : « Un des poèmes, Le Palais Hanté , figure dans une nouvelle, La Chute de la maison Usher , je suis sûr que vous l'avez tous lue. Ce poème est une description cachée du personnage principal, Rodrigue Usher » Preuve qu'à notre époque on considère encore cette œuvre comme une référence en matière de littérature étrange ou fantastique. Et d'Edgar Allan Poe, Jules Verne écrivait : « Un romancier américain de haute réputation ; vous connaissez son nom, beaucoup sans doute, mais peu ses ouvrages.