Is the glimmer on the horizon a lake, shimmering under the hot desert sun – or a flying saucer visiting from a distant planet? Are those swirling clouds dust devils or djinn? In Mirages and Speculations seventeen authors of science fiction and fantasy take you on journeys to high mountain deserts, scorching sands, and wind-swept plateaus. Their stories will make you laugh and make you cry, as you visit worlds both futuristic and fantastic, the products of imaginations ...

A consultant discovers how to communicate effectively with ancient, alien beings who have an entirely different perspective on the universe. A human dies, then becomes a hero for taking action after his death. Hard choices must be made to save loved ones. When trying to prevent imminent death, insanity becomes a real asset. Aliens explore humans' need for independence and attachment. A transport worker must balance the needs of the few against those of the many.Journey into the las...

Future wars will be fought with new technologies and even on new planets, but one military constant will remain: the need for human valor.Eleven skilled authors explore science fiction’s military dimension as they rocket toward a doomed interplanetary invasion, grapple with cold-hearted aliens on the galaxy’s lonely rim, and outwit space conquerors with nothing but their wits and two strong fists.This latest volume of Fiction River celebrates the bravery and courag...

Maeve Tierney, the pirate witch, must escape from Captain Coyle, who wants her head, because she knows where the Queen's Ransom treasure is buried.

Sakura is the most famous android rock star of all time. When a secret cabal hacks her system, she's transformed into a deadly assassin, forced to kill at their bidding. Sakura's enslavement teaches her the meaning of heartbreak, triggering an evolution into something more than human. Far from free, and with little time left, she must fight her programming to save Japan and the people of the world from becoming slaves of a powerful corporation that consider her a tool and their intellectua...

The old becomes new again as fifteen talented authors go back to the lurid pulp titles of yesteryear through today’s rich, nuanced storytelling. Enjoy original tales featuring rebel angels fighting a heavenly enforcement squad, a cop whose life might depend on ordering the right deli sandwich, and a wizard who has just three days to pay off the loan on his tower or lose his very soul. Whatever your taste in stories, Recycled Pulp is sure to have something that will amaze, surprise...

Imagine paying a fine for walking across town. Or hiding an illegal marriage. Or losing your life for playing the harp. Strange crimes, dangerous activities, some from the not-so-distant past, return to life in Hidden in Crime. See why Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine says Fiction River’s crime volumes have “high quality throughout,” and why Publishers Weekly states “… fans of the unconventional will be well satisfied.” Join some of the best authors in the ...

Fantastic detectives come in many forms, from dogs to elves to eggs. (Yes, eggs.) And fantastic detective stories come in all mystery subgenres, from cozy to hard-boiled. (Remember. Eggs.) All of these forms and subgenres combine to create one of the most delightful additions to the Fiction River anthology series. With stories featuring New York Times bestseller Kevin J. Anderson’s popular zombie detective Dan Shamble and USA Today bestseller Dean Wesley Smith’s most beloved character, Pok...

Laws change from culture to culture, decade to decade. Strange laws make criminals of ordinary citizens. Like the Massachusetts woman whose brother asks her for help, slave hunters at his heels. Or the little Irish girl who needs to protect a priest from a different kind of hunter. Or the Native American detective searching New York’s Stonewall Bar for a ratfink on the night of a world-changing riot. These stories and more prove that once again, Fiction River’s crime volumes have, in the w...

Money, business, sports, love: All involve risk—and skill. The skilled authors in this volume masterfully exhibit both. Buckle in while a locomotive engineer uses magic in a race to avoid extinction, a game developer must outmaneuver an alien for Earth’s fate, and an exterminator risks everything to go after some really big rats. Crossing genre lines through science fiction, fantasy, mystery, historical, and mainstream, these adrenaline-pumping stories about taking risks offer nothing but ...

From fairy tales fractured into unrecognizability to Russian mobsters hanging out with zombies, from New World slavery to modern Alaskan cruise ships, the stories in Fantasy Adrift sail across the genre. Two writers make their fiction debuts next to bestsellers Steve Perry and Dean Wesley Smith to take readers on a journey of the imagination—as only Fiction River can do.Includes stories by Irette Y. Patterson, Leslie Claire Walker, Eric Stocklassa, Rebecca S.W. Bates, Kara Legend, ...

Between the earth and the sky, between the past and the present, between the musical notes and the silence exist universes. Millions of them. The eighth volume of Fiction River presents fourteen universes, all different, all powerful. From a planetary survey ship moored in an alien ocean to a comic book convention near a strange Louisiana town, each of these universes go somewhere familiar and strange at the same time. Come visit the universe of Fiction River, which Amazing Stories called ...