Showing results for "The Shadow" in Anthologies & Short Stories

A young man’s journey takes him to a dilapidated sea-front town, rife with deformed characters and ungodly secrets. Can he escape the terrifying town with his life, or will the sinister residents of Innsmouth and their hellish allies drag him down to a horrid fate beneath the waves?

Ian Cormac was raised to adulthood during the end of the war between the human Polity and the vicious arthropoid race the Prador. In Neal Asher's Shadow of the Scorpion, Cormac is haunted by childhood memories of a sinister scorpion-shaped war drone and the burden of losses he doesn't remember. In the years following the war, he signs up with Earth Central Security and is sent out to help either restore or simply maintain order on worlds devastated by Prador bombardment.

Five stories from the Powder Mage Universe, including the never-before-published "Green-Eyed Vipers".

Mercy Thompson’s world just got a whole lot bigger... A collection of all-new and previously published short stories featuring Mercy Thompson, “one of the best heroines in the urban fantasy genre today” (Fiction Vixen Book Reviews), and the characters she calls friends...

The Shadow Over Innsmouth and The Whisperer in Darkness are counted amongst H.P. Lovecraft's most popular stories. In the first we are transported to the decrepit coastal town of Innsmouth, whose amphibian-like citizens betray a dark and sinister secret. The second takes us to Vermont, where a university professor becomes embroiled in a mind-bending celestial mystery after strange things are seen floating in the rivers.

The Northern Alliance and its southern neighbor, Tressor, have been at war for generations. Almost since the war began an assassin has stalked the northern lands, quickly becoming a legend among the people for both its skill and its elusiveness.

"The First Kill" is a bit of backstory for the universe of The Shadow Campaigns. The Shadow Throne implies a connection between Andreas, Duke Orlanko's brutally efficient go-to killer, and Sothe, the Gray Rose, his best agent turned bitter enemy. In this story, we get to see these two at an earlier point in their careers, and take a look at how that relationship got started.

In the Shadow of the Towers compiles nearly 20 works of speculative fiction responding to and inspired by the events of 9/11, from writers seeking to confront, rebuild, and carry on, even in the face of overwhelming emotion.

In Shadow Lab, a brilliant roster of speculative fiction writers pulls listeners into a diverse and genre-bending collection of stories, each as irresistible as the last.

Ray Bradbury - peerless storyteller, poet of the impossible, and one of America's most beloved authors - is a literary giant whose remarkable career spanned seven decades. Now 26 of today's most diverse and celebrated authors offer new short works in honor of the master; stories of heart, intelligence, and dark wonder from a remarkable range of creative artists.

Out of the shadows and meaner than ever, volume three of this award-winning horror series packs international star power. Featuring 10 brand-new stories by the legendary Guy N. Smith, the prolific Adam Millard, master of horror Nicholas Paschall, and others, this collection is certain to keep you up at night. Take care as you reach into these dark places, for the things here bite, and you may withdraw a hand short of a few fingers.

Follow the saga of Ezekiel Aurora, a man that has built a reputation as one of the most reliable middle men in the criminal underworld. Using his quick wits, he uncovers a devastating secret that would shake the very pillars of the world, fights a deadly cyborg assassin, and goes on a rampage to protect those he loves. The entire Aurora Chronicles in one book: Like Shadows in the Night, Like Tears in Rain and Like Lightning on a Wire.

The End is Coming. An extinction-level asteroid is cannonballing toward Earth. In humanity’s final hours, a lucky few earn a one-way ticket to the brand-new, ultra-immersive, fantasy-based VRMMORPG, Viridian Gate Online. Making that leap of faith might mean survival, but it comes with a steep price tag: “Travelers” will forever be stranded as digital avatars inside a fantastical world filled with vicious monsters, all-powerful AIs, and cutthroat players. Let the games begin....

Here is Old Man's War author John Scalzi's sendup of the heroic fantasy genre, now a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

This is the story of a former assassin and royal bodyguard, Esmerelda-09B. After her world is destroyed in the war with the human race, Esmerelda sets out on a quest to locate the mythical Caliopa Door, the one thing that might reunite her with Kai-Althea, the love of her life, and the princess of Athelon, who died with their world. To reunite with her beloved, Esmerelda must travel across the universe, taking her thousands of years into the future.

In a future where Mother Earth has cast her children to the distant starts to begin anew and colonize the cosmos, the planet remains depleted of natural resources. Its air polluted by caustic iron and belching smoke, Earth faces her last desperate days in the grip of global environmental collapse. In one final and feeble effort, Earth’s Grand President Mankin musters the dregs of his fleet and sends three separate missions to the deepest reaches of space. Their mission: solicit help from far-flung colonial civilizations, or watch the planet die.

In the Year Without a Summer, a group of mad geniuses descended on Geneva. In an attempt to save the body and mind of George Byron, they performed a dreadful and forbidden experiment that forever changed history - and tore their own lives apart.Years later, Byron’s daughter Ada has inherited her father’s genius.

Shadow Conspiracy II revisits the shared Victorian world of transferable souls and intelligent machines. Judith Tarr’s irrepressible Emma Rigby prances through a new adventure with automata. Nancy Jane Moore brings us more missions for the mysterious warrior woman, Jane Freemantle. We have new characters to play with, too. Chris Dolley brings to life a wonderful parody reminiscent of P.G. Wodehouse. Then there are the historical characters who keep popping into our works of fiction.

Strange, haunting, bizarre, brilliant, and transcendent are some of the words that describe Visions in Light and Shadow, a collection of short stories from three-time Hugo nominee John L. Flynn.

James L. McCray, a hard-working farmer, and his son, Orson, seem like ordinary folks until a chilling discovery rocks their small community to its core. As darkness descends upon the once-peaceful town, Orson's experiment with a pheromone-laden cologne unleashes a wave of primal desire, turning the women of Honeyville into frenzied beasts driven by insatiable lust and violent impulses. In a terrifying twist of fate, the McCrays find themselves trapped in a nightmarish landscape where every corner hides a new threat, and trust becomes a luxury they can ill afford.