A whirlpool of crows Swirls above, justifying Our murderousness The world is a quiet place now. The streets are choked with dust and the ruins of civilization; the horizon is bleak in every direction. There are only a few survivors left. Occasionally, the silence is broken with cries of violence as the corrupted remains of humanity feed off the living. There is no longer any distinction between suffering and survival. The end came suddenly, followed by the agony of slow deterioration that now...

This collection of dark, Lovecraftian horror contains stories that would please Cthulhu and the rest of The Ancient Ones, and they're difficult to please.

A chilling short story prequel to Dean Koontz’s forthcoming full-length novel, INNOCENCE. Addison Goodheart is only eight years old, but he already knows he is not like other people.Addison Goodheart is a mystery even to himself. He was born in an isolated home surrounded by a deep forest, seeing no one but his mother, who barely accepts him. She is haunted by private demons and keeps many secrets – none of which she dreads more than the young son who adores her.Only in the...

Ula has hidden from her own people in an effort to cease pressure from local government to create weapons against the Nine. When a man with wings comes knocking, she slams the door in his face.Deniir has gotten as much information on the designer as he can, but seeing her taming some of the wild flying predators out back eases her rude dismissal of his presence. She is as wild as the beasts she uses to get airborne, and he sees the means to get her to follow him to the stars.

"A strange and surprisingly touching novel about how people find good and evil where they look for them" ( Booklist).In 1930s Russia, an eight-year-old boy named Vladimir is suddenly stricken with a chronic case of the hiccups. He soon finds himself spirited away to a Moscow hospital by the famous physician Sergei Namestikov, who puts him through a series of extraordinary—and often bizarre—treatments in an effort to find a cure.Then Sergei's chief ...

No matter your expectations, the dark is full of the unknown: grim futures, distorted pasts, invasions of the uncanny, paranormal fancies, weird dreams, unnerving nightmares, baffling enigmas, revelatory excursions, desperate adventures, spectral journeys, mundane terrors, and supernatural visions. You may stumble into obsession - or find redemption. Often disturbing, occasionally delightful, let The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror be your annual guide through the mysteries and wonders...

Every city contains secret places. Moscow in the tumultuous 1990s is no different, its citizens seeking safety in a world below the streets—a dark, cavernous world of magic, weeping trees, and albino jackdaws, where exiled pagan deities and faery-tale creatures whisper strange tales to those who would listen. Galina is a young woman caught, like her contemporaries, in the seeming lawlessness of the new Russia.In the midst of this chaos, her sister Maria turns into a jackdaw and fli...

It’s not unusual to work two jobs in this day and age, but sorcerer and former triad soldier Rupert Wong’s life is more complicated than most. By day, he makes human hors d’oeuvres for a dynasty of ghouls; by night, he pushes pencils for the Ten Chinese Hells. Of course, it never seems to be enough to buy him a new car—or his restless, flesh-eating-ghost girlfriend passage from the reincarnation cycle—until opportunity comes smashing through his window. In Kuala Lumpur, where deit...

Hand picked authors and a literary legacy...You may want to read it in one quick bite… or savor it slowly like fine swiss chocolate… one delicious prose at a time!For many years, SF lovers from around the world have enjoyed the stories and poems of the Tesseracts series, (Tesseracts One through Ten, and Tesseracts Q). This unique collection of books has featured the work of some of Canada's finest speculative fiction writers, selected and edited by ever changing combination...

The vampire-slaying hunter known only as “D,” with a reputation of taking care of business by way of the sword, is on another bounty run — this time to rescue the beautiful daughter of a wealthy village elder, kidnapped by the vampire Noble, Mayerling. But what happens when another group of bounty hunters have taken up the same assignment? Head of the notorious mercenary clan, the Marcus family, oldest brother Borgoff leads his not-so-merry band of ruthless renegades not only on a mission ...

Picking up after the conclusion of "The Final Evolution," this short story gives a glimpse of what the future holds for Cates in the grim world that exists in the wake of his epic battle with Cainnic Orel, the Angels, and the dehumanising avatar technology. As the System has collapsed under the pressure of war and a sort of "anti-singularity," Cates finds himself in unfamiliar environs - but as always, he's a quick learner.Mysterious inhuman figures. An abandoned prison. And The Ho...

An internationally acclaimed debut novel about war, family, love and belonging - and a talking cat Yugoslavia, 1980s: a 16-year-old Muslim girl named Emine is married off to a man she hardly knows. But what was meant to be a happy match soon goes terribly wrong. Her country is torn apart by war and she flees with her family. Decades later Emine's son, Bekim, has grown up a social outcast in Finland; both an immigrant in a country suspicious of foreigners, and a gay man in an unaccepting so...