Accustomed to being an only child, adoptee Brian “Gumbo” Guillemot’s teenage hobby was searching for his birth parents. But when he finally finds his birth mother, Kim, he’s unprepared for the boisterous instant family that comes with her.Besides Kim, no one knows anything about Brian’s birth father. With Kim refusing to answer any questions about him, Brian must choose whether to continue the search, even if it means alienating his few friends and both his families. But the more h...

Desperation is the same in any language. Madness respects no borders. Greed and revenge transcend cultural differences.In this third collection of stories from Plan B Magazine, we find tales from all the corners of the crime world. From Cold War espionage to small town stick-ups, high-powered diplomacy to the opportunism of poverty, these are stories of the darkness of the human heart. And once in a while, how the light of our common humanity can transcend that darkness."Si...

Intergalactic civilization emerges from its war-torn ruins for the first time in generations to explore the galaxy, in this stunning new anthology from the bestselling world of Twilight ImperiumA terrible war destroyed a vast empire and left its survivors shattered and isolated. Millennia of history, technology, and the ever-expanding imperial grip were lost. From the secretive Naalu and the proud Hacan to the piratical Mentak Coalition, these factions and...

Ever wish things were different? Ivy Velasquez did, so she became someone else. In the 3D virtual world Marionette City, you can be anything you want — but everyone still knows who you are. Driven by her desire for a new life, Ivy takes her future in her hands when she makes another identity for herself. A brilliant designer, Ivy works for one of the huge multi-national firms which control the online system the world relies upon for both business and pleasure. But one day, Ivy tries to acc...

A near-future real-life society transitions to a post-capitalist, post-climate change reality.The Department Of What It (Really) Means To Be Human is a thoughtful, optimistic scifi novel set in a near-future Aotearoa New Zealand where an investigator navigates a newly post-capitalist world in their search for a missing artist.When the world changed, Emerald Hutson closed the door on their old life. Now they’re a freelance investigator for the Grant...

An anthology of speculative climate fiction and poetry by authors from around the world.Fishing for ghosts. Saving the Agassiz Icefield.A new North strong and sustainable. Robot mermaids with lasers.Teenage solar rogues. Activist archivists.The Queen of the May and the protean Lord of the Sea, struggling to cope with changes large and small.A future West both weird and wild.These greener futures hold all this and more.

Accustomed to being an only child, adoptee Brian “Gumbo” Guillemot’s teenage hobby was searching for his birth parents. After years without a lead, when he finally finds his birth mother, Kim, he’s unprepared for the boisterous instant family that comes with her.No one, besides Kim, knows anything about Gumbo's birth father. With Kim refusing to answer any questions, Gumbo must choose whether to continue the search, even if it means alienating his few friends and both his families....

Tropical adventures. A rag-tag sailing crew. Running off-grid data servers? Sounds legit.Devi Jones is nearly done her internship for Really Remote Desktop, a cloud data storage company that keeps their servers in odd places, like the bilge of the sailing vessel Byte Bucket. Like any sea voyage, her time on board has had its ups and downs, but she is finally starting to feel like she belongs — maybe too much.As the reality of returning to the munda...

This collection showcases a wide variety of plans gone sideways — private eyes getting stuck on cases they really don't want to take, petty criminals getting in over their heads, law enforcement professionals on the wrong side of the bars, and upstanding citizens finding themselves to be not so law-abiding after all.These stories are as varied as they are excellent — there are light-hearted tales to make you smile, literary pieces that challenge the definition of crime writing, and...

Taking something away from others — their possessions, their dignity, their liberty, their lives — is the root of taboo.All the stories in this, the fourth collection of tales from Plan B Magazine, touch on what happens when one person puts their will above that of others. Sometimes it's amusing, other times heartbreaking, but it no matter what, someone's day won't be going according to plan.Table of Contents"Old Friends" by Frank Byrns"Write Your Epitaph" by...

After settling into a new job, new home and new living arrangements, Andersson Dexter has finally found a comfortable life in both the physical and virtual worlds. But that sense of security is blown apart when an explosion rocks Dex's real-life Nice neighbourhood.He and his colleagues begin an investigation into a string of seemingly senseless and random vandalism attacks, that remind them all of similar assaults in the simulated world Marionette City. While at first the attacks s...

Alien detectives stumble across a mystery that could tear apart their patchwork planet, the Crucible, in this riotous science fantasy novel from the smash hit game, KeyForgeWibble & Pplimz, the Crucible's most unusual private investigators, must set off from their office in Hub City to clear the name of a former client. Along the way, their investigation broadens from a simple accusation of theft to include a missing person, a potential murder, and a highl...