Collection of ten stories of science fiction, fantasy, and horror and the start of five series. 1. Shades of Gray #0 Aadea's Reawakening 2. Shades of Gray #1 Noir, City Shrouded By Darkness 3. Shades of Gray #2 From Moscow, With Love 4. AabiLynn's Dragon Rite #0 Dragon's Brood 5. Monster of Monsters #1 Part One: Mortem's Opening 6. Monster of Monsters #1 Part Two: Mortem's Contestant 7. Beauty of the Beast #0 Alba 8. Beauty of the Beast #1 The Mystic Rose: Part A: The Flower, The Sword, And The Kiss 9. AaBack's Grimm: Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale #1 Tale Of Two Worlds: The Wizard, The Battlemage, And The Werewolf 10. AaBack's Grimm: Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale #2 Friends Reunited: The Janus Beast, The Rose Beauty, And The Cursed Duckling Shades of Gray series: A doom was looming over the planet, a great darkness that could bring about the Closing of Days. Two women would be brought together... One was a legal assassin or Life Closer known as the Phoenix and the other was an experiment known as the Pandora Project who would either bring about a Twilight that would be the first rays of dawn or a Twilight that would usher in the darkness forever. Follow these women as their paths cross. Dragon Rite: Travel where dragons have been part of the world for millenniums. Enter a realm where riders are paired with dragon hatchlings to raise and care for them and to form a bond like no other. In the first story... Useless... Unwanted... Unloved... When those closest to you see you only as a useless crippled child with no hope of a future, where do you find the strength to prove them wrong? In the first story, candidates assemble to participate in the Dragon Rite, a ceremony to bond with a dragon hatchling. Cara has a chance to break free from her harsh life and bond with one of the dragon hatchlings only if fate will allow her. Monster of Monsters: Light and darkness... All Kein wanted was to be devoured. As an orphan, she had been told since joining her school that it was very important that a house or clan devour her so when she met a creature promising to devour her, she was confused at first but then she was consoled that someone wanted her. A world of monsters and a world of humans... Loneliness can be a very strong emotion but it can also be a very strong motivator so even when a creature of the darkness invited her to come to her, innocence heeded the call. Kein began an adventure of heartache and joy as she walked the paths of shadow and light. She would discover what it was to be devoured as a dangerous game drew her into a deadly realm of wishes, revenge, hope, desire, love, and horror. Beauty of the Beast: A new approach to the classic fairy tale. The story of Beauty and the Beast with a twist. What if the woman was the one turned into the creature? A realm of adventure and peril mingled with romance, friendship, and sword and sorcery. Join Pluck in this novella series as she travels through a strange land of danger and intrigue as she finds allies and foes alike in her search to lift her monstrous curse. A story like Beauty and the Beast but with more action and menacing darkness. AaBack's Grimm: The fairy tales you know with a wicked twist. Start this novella fantasy action adventure series with a short story and enter a deadly world that could use a little hope and love. A woman, Jane, who seems out of place in her own world is transported to a world of fairy tales. All is not happy endings for the world of AaBack's Grimm holds a dark and deadly secret for Jane. In our world, Jane has lived life as if a curse has been on her, her entire life. As an artist, she has created artwork of many fairy tale characters, but her favorite is the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. When she enters the World of Grimm, Jane comes across the Beast, and she's instantly struck with a need to help him. What Jane doesn't understand is that his curse is nothing like the ones in the fairy tales.

Join twenty-five masterful authors and talented newcomers with more than 400 pages of the disturbing, unnerving, haunting, and strange. This outstanding annual exploration of the year’s best dark fiction delivers tales of deathly possession, the weirdly surreal, mysterious melancholy, and frighteningly plausible futures. Confront your own humanity and the fears that stir you—from the darkly supernatural and painfully familiar to the disquieting terror of the unknown.

During the Silent Era, when most films dealt with dramatic or comedic takes on the "boy meets girl, boy loses girl" theme, other motion pictures dared to tackle such topics as rejuvenation, revivication, mesmerism, the supernatural and the grotesque. A Daughter of the Gods (1916), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), The Magician (1926) and Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) were among the unusual and startling films containing story elements that went far beyond the realm of "highly unlikely." Using surviving documentation and their combined expertise, the authors catalog and discuss these departures from the norm in this encyclopedic guide to American horror, science fiction and fantasy in the years from 1913 through 1929.

Connoisseurs of fantasy, science fiction, and horror have long recognized the important contributions of thousands of French authors, filmmakers, and artists. The volume is divided into two parts. Part I gives historical overviews, complete lists, descriptions, and summaries for works in film, television, radio, animation, comic books, and graphic novels. This section also includes interviews with animation director Rene Laloux and comic book artist Moebius, as well as comments from filmmaker Luc Besson. Biographies are provided for over 200 important contributors to television and graphic arts. Part II covers the major authors and literary trends of French science fiction, fantasy, and horror from the Middle Ages to the present day. (French-Canadians and Belgians are also examined.) There is a biographical dictionary of over 3,000 authors, a section on major French awards, and a complete bibliography. Many illustrations (!) illuminate this thorough presentation.

"Featuring speculative fiction-writing exercises from Harlan Ellison, Piers Anthony, Ramsey Campbell, Jack Ketchum, screenwriters of The Twilight Zone and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and many more. The fifth volume in the acclaimed Now Write! writing-guide series offers a full toolbox of advice and exercises for speculative fiction writers hoping to craft an engaging alternate reality, flesh out an enthralling fantasy quest, or dream up a bloodcurdling plot twist, including: -Harlan Ellison, on crafting the perfect story title -Jack Ketchum, on how economy of language helps create a truly frightening tale -Piers Antony, on making fantastical characters feel genuine and relatable This collection of storytelling secrets from top genre writers-including winners of Nebula, Hugo, Edgar, and Bram Stoker awards-is essential for any writer looking to take a leap beyond the ordinary"--

An annotated list of reference works in the fields of science fiction, fantasy, and horror fiction.

Take your shot at becoming the next Tolkien, Asimov, or King with this simple roadmap to transforming your fiction into works of art Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is your skeleton key to creating the kind of fiction that grips readers and compels them to keep turning pages (even if it's well past their bedtime!) You'll start with the basics of creative writing—including character, plot, and scene—and strategies for creating engaging stories in different forms, such as novels, short stories, scripts, and video games. After that, get beginner-friendly and straightforward advice on worldbuilding, before diving headfirst into genre-specific guidance for science fiction, horror, and fantasy writing. This book also offers: Strategies for editing and revising your next work to get it into tip-top shape for your audience Ways to seek out second opinions from editors, experts, and even sensitivity readers Techniques for marketing and publication, working with agents, and advice for writers going the self-publishing route The perfect beginner's guide for aspiring writers with an interest in horror, fantasy, or science fiction, Writing Sci-Fi, Fantasy, & Horror For Dummies is the first and last resource you need before you start building your next story about faraway lands, aliens, and fantastic adventures.

A librarian helps a desperate student find the door into a book; Sir Thomas Moore’s head is stolen and a messy rescue ensues; a mother sells a piece of her memory so her daughter can afford an education. Science fiction is the story of what if and what comes next. It’s more playful, more inclusive and more entertaining than it has ever been before and as the world falls apart around us, it offers us a chance to understand how things could be better, or just how a great story can get us through another night. The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Thirteen brings together the very best clashes between zombies and unicorns, robots and fairies, spaceships and more in a definitive volume that takes us everywhere from the distant future and the moons of our own solar system, to one last visit to Earthsea... Featuring stories from Kelly Barnhill // Elizabeth Bear // Brooke Bolander // Zen Cho // P. Djèlí Clark // John Crowley // Andy Duncan // Jeffrey Ford // Daryl Gregory // Alix E. Harrow // Maria Dahvana Headley // Simone Heller // S. L. Huang // Dave Hutchinson // N. K. Jemisin // T. Kingfisher // Naomi Kritzer // Rich Larson // Ursula K. Le Guin // Yoon Ha Lee // Ken Liu // Carmen Maria Machado // Annalee Newitz // Garth Nix // Naomi Novik // S. Qiouyi Lu // Kelly Robson // Vandana Singh // Tade Thompson // Alyssa Wong

The supernatural, the surreal, and the all-too real . . . tales of the dark. Such stories have always fascinated us, and modern authors carry on the disquieting traditions of the past while inventing imaginative new ways to unsettle us. Chosen from a wide variety of venues, these stories are as eclectic and varied as shadows. This volume of The Year's Best Dark Fantasy and Horror offers more than four hundred pages of tales from some of today’s finest writers of the fantastique?sure to delight as well as disturb!