The Year's Best Military and Adventure SF, Volume 4


Book Description

The Year's Best Military and Adventure SF series roars into its fourth year, with more stories of derring-do, military combat, and edge of your seat suspense. Thrilling tales of grand science fiction adventure and military action. Selected from the top print and digital markets, these stories are guaranteedd to challenge, provoke, and entertain. Plus, you be the judge! INTERACTIVE READER VOTING. One story from this anthology will be chosen via proctored online voting for The Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction Reader's Choice Award, presented at DragonCon in Summer 2018. For more information, go to Baen.com. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction 2015: “Baen’s fan-guided anthology series roars into its second year with a collection of stories just as eclectic as the first. . . . Afsharirad has put together a refreshing military and SF anthology that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) About The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera Volume 1: “This intriguing anthology explores the human race’s violent potential [but] also bends toward exploration and the triumph of the human spirit, with brave tales [that] take the reader on a fascinating, thought-provoking, enjoyable journey . . . ”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[A] nice eclectic mix of magazines—hardcopy and digital—and original anthologies. Afsharirad seems to have cast his nets admirably wide. . . . The variety of styles and topics and themes, and the high level of craft in this assemblage, prove that this subgenre is flourishing. . . . [The collection] should be welcome by raw recruits and veterans alike.”—Locus




The Year's Best Military & Adventure SF, Volume 5


Book Description

The Year's Best Military and Adventure SF series roars into its fifth year, with more stories of derring-do, military combat, and edge of your seat suspense. Thrilling tales of grand science fiction adventure and military action. Selected from the top print and digital markets, these stories are guaranteed to challenge, provoke, and entertain. Plus, you be the judge! INTERACTIVE READER VOTING. One story from this anthology will be chosen via proctored online voting for The Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction Reader's Choice Award, presented at DragonCon in Summer 2019. For more information, go to Baen.com. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction 2015: “Baen’s fan-guided anthology series roars into its second year with a collection of stories just as eclectic as the first. . . . Afsharirad has put together a refreshing military and SF anthology that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) About The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera Volume 1: “This intriguing anthology explores the human race’s violent potential [but] also bends toward exploration and the triumph of the human spirit, with brave tales [that] take the reader on a fascinating, thought-provoking, enjoyable journey . . . ”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[A] nice eclectic mix of magazines—hardcopy and digital—and original anthologies. Afsharirad seems to have cast his nets admirably wide. . . . The variety of styles and topics and themes, and the high level of craft in this assemblage, prove that this subgenre is flourishing. . . . [The collection] should be welcome by raw recruits and veterans alike.”—Locus




The Chronicles of Davids


Book Description

STORIES FROM THE FIRST NAME IN SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY! Fifteen stories spanning the SF/F genres—all by a David. Includes stories by David Drake, David Weber, Gregory Benford & David Brin, D.J. Butler—and more! Science Fiction and Fantasy with Maximum Dave The history of science fiction and fantasy is littered with stories by Davids of distinction. Now, for the first time, an anthology by people named David, for everyone. Read along as editor David Afsharirad guides you through the strange, wonderous imaginations of the great Davids of the field, past and present. Fifteen tales by David Weber, David Drake, Gregory Benford & David Brin, David B. Coe, D.J. Butler, Avram Davidson, David H. Keller, and many more. Herein you will find: a Depression-era magic man who comes face-to-face with an ancient evil. A once-promising filmmaker whose fate depends on a movie-producing AI. A shape-shifting detective on the trail of a pack of werewolves. A sentient tank who must confront one of its own. And a diner regular who gets more than he bargained for when he orders the soup du jour. Featuring David-inspired cover art by celebrated artist David Mattingly, The Chronicles of Davids delivers maximum Dave! Remember: with a name like David, it has to be good! Contributors: David Weber David Drake D.J. Butler Gregory Benford & David Brin David B. Coe Barry N. Malzberg Dave Freer Avram Davidson D.L. Young David Boop Hank Davis Dave Bara David H. Keller David Carrico David Hardy At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About The Chronicles of Davids: “Afsharirad brings together some of the genre's most beloved authors with David as their first name in a collection that covers time travel…space opera…AI trouble.. and military sf…a fun collection of imaginative Davids.”—Booklist About The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction series, edited by David Afsharirad: “Baen’s fan-guided anthology series roars into its second year with a collection of stories just as eclectic as the first. . . . Afsharirad has put together a refreshing military and SF anthology that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “This intriguing anthology explores the human race’s violent potential [but] also bends toward exploration and the triumph of the human spirit, with brave tales [that] take the reader on a fascinating, thought-provoking, enjoyable journey . . . ”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[A] nice eclectic mix of magazines—hardcopy and digital—and original anthologies. Afsharirad seems to have cast his nets admirably wide. . . . The variety of styles and topics and themes, and the high level of craft in this assemblage, prove that this subgenre is flourishing. . . . [The collection] should be welcome by raw recruits and veterans alike.”—Locus




Tomorrow's Troopers


Book Description

Classic stories of science fiction featuring powered armor: Tales from the Golden Age through the current era featuring military, police, and civilians utilizing powered armor. Stories by Joe Haldeman, Christopher Ruocchio, Jason Cordova, and more! MEN, MACHINES, AND TOMORROW’S BATTLEFIELDS War is planned violence . . . or, at least, it starts out that way. And even if plans go awry, the violence is indispensable. Today’s soldiers have far more firepower on a per-man basis than the doughboys of a century ago, and there is no reason to believe that this trend will not extend into the future. Imagine a revival of suits of armor, but with structural strength undreamed of by medieval knights, and powered by built-in motors, giving each soldier the invulnerability of a tank, but even more mobility, and mechanical muscle strong enough to carry light artillery, rocket launchers, laser cannon, and weapons not even on the drawing boards yet. Add on the ability to fly, or at least jump for a kilometer at a time, using rocket boosters, or even powerful leg motors, or a combination of both. The stuff that superheroes are made of, hanging in every fighting man or woman’s closet, ready to wear. If it’s possible, history teaches us, it will be done. But don’t expect a nation or planet possessing such battalions of super-powered soldiers to not worry about attack by an enemy . . . there’s no reason why the enemy won’t have its own armored infantry. Keep the midnight oil burning and the R&D rolling. In the meantime, here’s a sneak peek by expert dreamers putting the battle-hardened reader at the sharp end of tomorrow. At the publisher’s request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for anthologies edited by Hank Davis and David Afsharirad: “This intriguing anthology explores the human race’s violent potential [but] also bends toward exploration and the triumph of the human spirit, with brave tales [that] take the reader on a fascinating, thoughtprovoking, enjoyable journey . . . ” —Publishers Weekly on The Year’s Best Military SF and Space Opera, starred review




The Best Science Fiction of the Year


Book Description

From Hugo Award-winning editor Neil Clarke, the best science fiction stories of the year are collected in a single paperback volume. Keeping up-to-date with the most buzzworthy and cutting-edge science fiction requires sifting through countless magazines, e-zines, websites, blogs, original anthologies, single-author collections, and more―a task accomplishable by only the most determined and voracious readers. For everyone else, Night Shade Books is proud to introduce the latest volume of The Best Science Fiction of the Year, a yearly anthology compiled by Hugo and World Fantasy Award–winning editor Neil Clarke, collecting the finest that the genre has to offer, from the biggest names in the field to the most exciting new writers. The best science fiction scrutinizes our culture and politics, examines the limits of the human condition, and zooms across galaxies at faster-than-light speeds, moving from the very near future to the far-flung worlds of tomorrow in the space of a single sentence. Clarke, publisher and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed and award-winning magazine Clarkesworld, has selected the short science fiction (and only science fiction) best representing the previous year’s writing, showcasing the talent, variety, and awesome “sensawunda” that the genre has to offer.




The Year's Best Military & Adventure SF Volume 3


Book Description

The Year's Best Military and Adventure SF series continues! Selected from the top print and online markets, these stories represent the best in modern military sf, space opera, and adventure sf. Tales of brave military men and women, thrilling derring-do, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. Selected from the top markets, both print and digital, The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF Volume 3 offers up the cream of the crop in short science fiction today. Stories to get your blood racing, your heart pounding, and your fingers turning the pages. Stories to challenge, provoke, thrill, and entertain. Stories that prove the new Golden Age is now! Plus, you be the judge! INTERACTIVE READER VOTING. One story from this anthology will be chosen via proctored online voting for The Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction Reader's Choice Award, presented at DragonCon in Summer 2017. For more information, go to Baen.com. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction 2015: “Baen’s fan-guided anthology series roars into its second year with a collection of stories just as eclectic as the first. . . . Afsharirad has put together a refreshing military and SF anthology that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) About The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera Volume 1: “This intriguing anthology explores the human race’s violent potential [but] also bends toward exploration and the triumph of the human spirit, with brave tales [that] take the reader on a fascinating, thought-provoking, enjoyable journey . . . ”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[A] nice eclectic mix of magazines—hardcopy and digital—and original anthologies. Afsharirad seems to have cast his nets admirably wide. . . . The variety of styles and topics and themes, and the high level of craft in this assemblage, prove that this subgenre is flourishing. . . . [The collection] should be welcome by raw recruits and veterans alike.”—Locus




Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 6


Book Description

WELCOME TO THE MASQUERADE 2020 was a reality horror show. And like most obnoxious entertainment reality shows, this one had its own idiosyncratic rules and penalties. Call it The Big Lockdown. We were forced to go to ground, to hide in our holes. Some went underground and never came back. Uncertainty ruled because the rules kept changing. Were we following the science or the mad scientists? Was the light at the end of the tunnel the fiery mouth of hell? We couldn’t say for sure, so we ventured out for food, booze and sundries like scavengers in a slow-motion apocalypse, keeping our distance from fellow human beings because you never knew who might be carrying that heavy viral load. And everywhere we went, we went behind the mask. So, it became obvious: The theme of our offering of extreme horror tales from 2020 had to be Masquerade. Our masquerading storytellers nevertheless did what they do best. They went deep into the belly of the beast and sent up fictions reflective of these “trying” times. Their stories peel away the masks (or in some cases, the skin) to reveal the inner workings of darkest hearts and minds and deeper fears. TABLE OF CONTENTS The Nipples In Dad’s Tool Box - Ronald Kelly Going Green - Christine Morgan Whiskey To The Wound - Rachel Nussbaum /thestrangethingwebecome - Eric LaRocca Hey Valentine - Amanda Cecelia Lang In Subspace, No One Can Hear You Scream - Hailey Piper The Pogonip Fog - Sean Patrick Hazlett Gunfire And Brimstone - Alicia Hilton The Happiest Man In The World - Matthew Brockmeyer Synaesthete - Melanie Harding-Shaw Full Moon Shindig - Patrick C. Harrison Iii The Drinking-Horn - Christine Morgan Otto Hahn Speaks To The Dead - Octavia Cade All The Stars In Her Eyes - Deborah Sheldon The Village - Matias F. Travieso-Diaz The Smell Of Night In The Basement - Wendy N. Wagner The Saint - Alessandro Manzetti Her Wounded Eyes - Robert Guffey




Freehold: Resistance


Book Description

NEW STORIES IN THE BEST-SELLING FREEHOLD SERIES, CREATED BY MICHAEL Z. WILLIAMSON. Featuring all-new stories by Larry Correia, Michael Z. Williamson, Brad R. Torgersen, Mike Massa, Kacey Ezell, and more! When the UN invaded the Freehold of Grainne, the intent was simple: Force a noncompliant star nation back into the collective. What the politicians hadn't accounted for was that the Freehold had spent 200 years as the haven for every independent, rebellious, self-reliant adventurer in human space. Its military are scattered remnants, its bases smoking ruins, its cities occupied. But Grainne and its space habitats have resources beyond measure. Retired intelligence agents, disabled veterans, animal handlers, petty smugglers, half-lame computer specialists, research scientists, planetary engineers, all have one goal in mind: Make the invaders suffer for their presumption. This isn't just resistance. It's vengeance. Stories by: Larry Correia Michael Z. Williamson Brad R. Torgersen Mike Massa Kacey Ezell Robert E. Hampson Aaron Haskins John F. Holmes Marisa Wolf Justin Watson Jason Cordova Jamie Ibson Jessica Schlenker Christopher Dinote Rob Reed Chris Smith Jaime DiNote Philip Wohlrab At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). Praise for Forged in Blood: “The anthology celebrates soldiers and their tools. . . . Most of all, it celebrates warriors and the stuff that makes them so—the mettle more than the metal.”—Tangent "Fans of combat science fiction will find this collection irresistible…an entertaining and engaging book."—The Daily News of Galveston County About Michael Z. Williamson: “A fast-paced, compulsive read . . . will appeal to fans of John Ringo, David Drake, Lois McMaster Bujold, and David Weber.”—Kliatt “Williamson's military expertise is impressive.”—SF Reviews Novels of Michael Z. Williamson's Freehold Universe: Freehold series Freehold The Weapon The Rogue Contact with Chaos Angeleyes Freehold: Forged in Blood Ripple Creek series Better to Beg Forgiveness . . . Do Unto Others . . . When Diplomacy Fails . . . Standalone A Long Time Until Now




Year's Best Hardcore Horror Volume 5


Book Description

2019. The year certainly made its mark on the world—and more than its share of scars. It also made for a bounty of good horror stories of the extreme kind, the best of which the tales herein serve to illustrate. 2019 was the year Year's Best Hardcore Horror went global. Not by design but because the stories inside just happened to have been written by authors hailing from various parts of the globe. From Australia by way of South Africa, to Italy, Scotland, Norway, Taiwan, North America and India--the common denominator being that their tales come from darkest regions of imagination. TABLE OF CONTENTS GOING GLOBAL: INTRODUCTION by Randy Chandler & Cheryl Mullenax FEAST FOR SMALL PIECES by Hailey Piper GODDESS OF GALLOWS by Kristopher Triana LATE NIGHT INCIDENT AT THE WHITE TRASH MOTEL by Duane Bradley A NEW MOTHER’S GUIDE TO RAISING AN ABOMINATION by Gwendolyn Kiste UPPER CRUST by Michael Paul Gonzalez REDLESS by Annie Neugebauer A TOUCH OF MADNESS by Tim Waggoner PARADISUM VOLUPTATIS by Joanna Koch RADIX MALORUM by Sean Patrick Hazlett LACKERS by Leo X. Roberson WHY DO BIRDS SUDDENLY APPEAR? by Rajiv Moté DARJEELING by Syon Das MRSA ME by Alicia Hilton WHAT DID YOU DO TO THE CHILDREN? by David L Tamarin HAVE A HEART by Matthew V. Brockmeyer SWINGS AND SUSPENSIONS by D.A. Xiaolin Spires KIRTI by Alessandro Manzetti THE TEA AND SUGAR TRAIN by DEBORAH SHELDON SCREAMS FOR STARGIRL by Ben Pienaar QUEER WEATHER by Scáth Beorh




The Year's Best Military & Adventure SF 2015


Book Description

The year’s best military SF, space opera, and adventure SF stories. The second of a new series featuring the best stories of the year from the top magazines and online venues with a military and adventure science fiction theme. The new Golden Age of short science fiction has arrived! Selected from the premier print and online markets in the field, here are stories to challenge, provoke, thrill, and entertain. Stories of future military men and women, space opera on a grand scale, and edge-of-your-seat adventure science fiction in the grand pulp tradition. The second volume in an on-going series, The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction, features stories by giants of the genre and the hottest new voices. Plus, you be the judge! INTERACTIVE READER VOTING. One story from this anthology will be chosen via proctored online voting for The Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction Reader's Choice Award, presented at DragonCon in Summer 2016. For more information, go to Baen.com. At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About The Year’s Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction 2015: “Baen’s fan-guided anthology series roars into its second year with a collection of stories just as eclectic as the first. . . . Afsharirad has put together a refreshing military and SF anthology that will be enjoyed by a wide range of readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) About The Year's Best Military SF and Space Opera Volume 1: “This intriguing anthology explores the human race’s violent potential [but] also bends toward exploration and the triumph of the human spirit, with brave tales [that] take the reader on a fascinating, thought-provoking, enjoyable journey . . . ”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “[A] nice eclectic mix of magazines—hardcopy and digital—and original anthologies. Afsharirad seems to have cast his nets admirably wide. . . . The variety of styles and topics and themes, and the high level of craft in this assemblage, prove that this subgenre is flourishing. . . . [The collection] should be welcome by raw recruits and veterans alike.”—Locus