In the classic noir tradition of "Have Gun, Will Travel," Rachel Pollack--one of the world's foremost authorities on the Tarot--gives us the tale of Jack Shade, an occult shaman for hire. Jack Shade has a secret, and this hidden part of his past sends him on a journey through time and space and a great number of metaphysical doorways. From the cosy poker table in the eleventh floor apartment of the Hotel de Reve Noire to the ethereal Forest of Souls to the faded houses along the Gold River, Jack flows in and out of this world. Even when his own duplicate hires him to kill himself, Jack is mercury in motion. Jack the Nimble. Jack the Quick. The Fissure King: A Novel in Fire Stories collects the four existing Jack Shades novellas and shows us Jack's final trick--one last story that finally reveals Jack's true nature. Only Rachel Pollack, one of the world's greatest authorities of tarot and an award-winning novelist and comic book writer, could dream of someone as mischievous and mythopoeic as Jack Shade. The King is dead. Long live the King.

When thief and swindler Nacky Patcher and orphaned eleven-year-old Teedie Flinn discover a huge wrecked boat in a small mountain lake near their town, they try to unite all the inhabitants to help rebuild the vessel--an endeavor that forever changes all of their lives.

"A moving, thoughtful feminist novel set in a gritty and believable dystopian future."-- Kirkus Reviews In Book One of the Holdfast Chronicles, Aldera the Messenger, along with all other women, is a slave. In Book Two, Aldera the Runner lives in two worlds, both consisting entirely of women. Now In Book Three, The Furies, Aldera the Conqueror leads an army back over the mountains, hoping to end the tyranny and free the salves she left behind.

The third novel in the original saga based on the movie Willow From the story by George Lucas, creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones , and Chris Claremont, author of the bestselling X-Men adventures, comes the thrilling and unforgettable climax to an epic saga of myth, magic, and legend. Elora Danan has in her possession two last dragon eggs . . . and the last hope of the world. To protect them, Elora spellbinds herself to her faithful companions Thron Drumheller, the sorcerer and her sworn guardian, and Khory Bannefin, the woman warrior inhabited by a demon's offspring. It is a dire spell that ensures none of them will betray their cause . . . even at the cost of their lives. Meanwhile, Elora and her allies are being relentlessly pursued by the dreaded Black Rose, the Deceiver's commando assassins. But the greatest enemy lies within Elora herself. For the Deceiver is her own dark twin from a potential future of unimaginable evil. And the only way Elora can stop that future is to befriend an enemy whose insatiable appetite for destruction could destroy all of creation. Or is that, too, part of the Deceiver's plan?

Run away with me is a profoundly romantic YA novel about two teenage boys finding each other and falling in love over one summer in Rome.

From the editor of the award-winning anthology Unfettered comes the newest installment in the science fiction and fantasy series, Unfettered III. Lacking health insurance when he was diagnosed with cancer, Shawn Speakman asked friends in the science fiction and fantasy writing community to donate short stories he could use to counter mounting medical debt. The result was Unfettered, an anthology offering tales from some of the best authors working today. Now, in Unfettered III, Speakman continues to pay forward the aid he received, raising money to combat medical debt for SF&F artists and authors. He has gathered together a great mix of new and favorite writers--free to write what they like--the result a powerful new anthology perfect for all readers. Be haunted by the chilling ghost story of Megan Lindholm. Revisit the Magicians world with Lev Grossman. Return to Osten Ard in an epic first look at Tad Williams's Empire of Grass. Callie Bates shares a heartfelt story of loss and gain. Cross the sands of the desert planet Dune with Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson. Travel the Ways in a new Wheel of Time novella with Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson. And many more stories, all wondrous alongside beautiful art by Todd Lockwood! Katherine Arden Callie Bates Terry Brooks Delilah S. Dawson Jason Denzel David Anthony Durham Lev Grossman John Gwynne Brian Herbert & Kevin J. Anderson Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson Mark Lawrence Megan Lindholm (Robin Hobb) Seanan McGuire Naomi Novik Peter Orullian Cat Rambo Robert V.S. Redick Ken Scholes Scott Sigler Anna Smith Spark Shawn Speakman Anna Stephens Patrick Swenson Ramon Terrell Marc Turner Carrie Vaughn Tad Williams Deborah A. Wolf Unfettered III is sure to astound with the magic bound within its pages. All the while raising money for a charitable cause. Because protecting our artists and authors is as important as the stories they tell.

Paul Dear is a good and clever boy, but he’s special in ways that even his adoring parents could never have imagined. For by day, in London’s Kensington Gardens, he walks and talks with the pixies and sprites and other magical creatures that dwell among the living–but are unseen by most. Then everything changes when tragedy strikes–and a quest begins that will lead Paul to a curio shop where a magical ally awaits him and launches him into the starry skies, bound for a realm where anything is possible. Far from home, Paul will run with fierce Indian warriors, cross swords with fearsome pirates, befriend a magnificent white tiger, and soar beside an extraordinary, ageless boy who reigns in a boundless world of imagination.

The legendary debut novel from "New York Times" bestselling author Peter David has been expanded and updated into a brand new edition. King Arthur, the once and future King, has been called forth by the wizard Merlin to lead a land in turmoil-the United States of America. But with no throne to sit upon, Arthur must run for elective office-starting with the Mayorship of New York City...

"The Three Kingdoms" is an epic Chinese novel written over six centuries ago. This second volume introduces Liu Bei's greatest ally, his advisor Zhuge Lian a master strategist whose clever strategies allows Liu Bei to claim many victories in the never-ending battle for dominance during the Warring States period in Chinese history.

This is the long-awaited new novel in the bestselling series Guardians of the Flame. All Jason Cullinane--swordsman, baron and son of a warrior--knew was that he had to find and stop his friend Mikyn, who had gone off on a wild killing spree. What Jason didn't know was that the search for Mikyn would force him into a perilous pact that might prove his own ruin.

An extraordinary novel of an alternate America by the author of The Guns of the South. Can it be called slavery if the slaves are ape-men, little more than animals? Slavery had come to this New World in a manner totally different from our own--but when the Sims learn to speak, matters become more complicated.

"Although the wombat is real and the dragon is not, nobody knows what a wombat looks like and everyone knows what a dragon looks like."Not a novel, not a book of short stories, Adventures in Unhistory is a book of the fantastic-a compendium of magisterial examinations of Mermaids, Mandrakes, and Mammoths; Dragons, Werewolves, and Unicorns; the Phoenix and the Roc; about places such as Sicily, Siberia, and the Moon; about heroic, sinister, and legendary persons such as Sindbad, and Aleister Crowley, and Prester John; and-revealed at last-the Secret of Hyperborea.

All-new stories of the wise, the wicked, and the wizards in between are collected from today's masters of modern fantasy, including Neil Gaiman, Eoin Colfer, and Garth Nix.

Dracula! Vampires! The blood runs red under the moon! In late summer of 2009, Moonstone follows up its fang-favorite monster anthology, Werewolves: Dead Moon Rising , with this second installment in the Moonstone Monsters series, this time focusing on those enigmatic creatures of the night, Vampires! Two extra-sized special Dracula stories serve to open and close this collection of ten all-new vampire tales by some of the industry's favorite horror writers. Vampire stories are timeless and continue to dominate horror-fiction in books, as well as the big screen and television. L.A. Banks, P.N. Elrod, and Elaine Bergstrom are all celebrated for the runs of popular Vampire novels, Martin Powell demonstrates his intimate familiarity with the mythos of Count Dracula... these and other stories contained in this gruesome horror anthology are sure to appeal to an audience that can't get enough of these ages-old bloodsuckers!

Love has 10,000 names, a million faces. America's most destructive contribution to 20th century living has been that damaged product plastic romance. It twists & savages us. After a lifetime of lies about what love's supposed to be, are you finally angry & depressed enough to be part of a recall on that shabby, mildewed merchandise? If so, join Ellison as he dissects the soul & body of love in our time. In 16 scalpel-sharp stories ranging from legalized Nevada whorehouses to steaming Georgian lynch towns, from Tijuana abortion mills to Hollywood sound stages, the one whom Oui magazine charmingly named "the perpetually angry young punk of the bizarre" rips the Saran-Wrap off love, hate, sin & twittering passion--to disclose the raw meat beneath. Here are 16 poisoned arrows from fantasy's improbable Cupid in which he presents a world of hearts & flowers guaranteed to revise thinking about where love's found & how it looks.New Having an Affair with a Troll (1976) essayIntroduction to 1st Edition (1976) essayNeither Your Jenny nor Mine (1964) storyThe Universe of Robert Blake (1962) storyG.B.K.-A Many-flavored Bird (1962) story Riding the Dark Train Out (1961) A True Memoir (1972) essayThe Resurgence of Miss Ankle-strap Wedgie (1968) novellaDaniel White for the Greater Good (1961) storyBlind Bird, Blind Bird, Go Away from Me! (1963) storyWhat I Did on My Vacation This Summer by Little Bobby Hirschhorn, Age 27 (1964) story Mona at Her Windows (1962) story When I Was a Hired Gun (1973) essay A Path Through the Darkness (1963) noveletteBattle Without Banners (1964) story A Prayer for No One's Enemy (1966) novelettePunky & the Yale Men (1966) novelette I Curse the Lesson & Bless the Knowledge (1976)

Armchair fiction presents extra large paperback editions of the best in classic science fiction novels. "Search the Sky" is by two of science fiction's best known authors--Frederik Pohl and C. M. Kornbluth. Ross wanted off. He had been born and had spent his life on Halsey's Planet, far beyond our universe. But something was wrong with the society there, something he couldn't quite name--a feeling of breakdown and detrition. Then one of the rare spaceships came through from Earth, after a journey of several hundred years. When the descendents of the original crew stepped out and told their story, the spark was provided and Ross was off on a mission. Other planets in these outer reaches--also peopled by colonists from Earth--had failed to respond to the spaceship's signals. Maybe the breakdown on Halsey had already affected them. Ross was given the chance to find out. It was an odd mission. He didn't even know what he was looking for. But he had to go.

The Wooden Sea is the final novel in The Crane's View Trilogy from award-winning British fantasy author Jonathan Carrol. From the moment a three-legged dog limps into the life of Police Chief Frannie McCabe and drops dead at his feet, McCabe finds himself in a new world of disturbing miracles. His small town of Crane's View, New York has long been a haven of harmony and comfort--but now he finds himself afflicted by the inexplicable, by omens that converge to throw his life into doubt. And what he does over the next few days may have consequences for the whole world . . . .

Jachin-Boaz is a maker and seller of maps. In his shop are maps that will lead you to whatever it is you most desire: love, inspiration, wealth. But his greatest achievement is a master-map showing the location of everything that has ever been found in the world, which he intends to give to his son, Boaz-Jachin. There is only one thing missing from the map: lions - for there are no more lions left. Or are there? When Jachin-Boaz sets out on a quest to find a lion for his son, Boaz-Jachin will follow in search of his father, and both will discover something wholly unexpected ... Russell Hoban's first novel for adults, The Lion of Boaz-Jachin and Jachin-Boaz (1973) was widely acclaimed by critics and earned comparisons to Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Both a humorous and light-hearted fantasy and an insightful meditation on the sometimes difficult relationships between fathers and sons, it is a perfect introduction to the work of this brilliant writer. 'A piece of invention as original as any of Tolkien's or C.S. Lewis's.' - New Statesman 'Magic at work ... Funny as well as beautiful.' - Irish Times 'Mr. Hoban is unclassifiable, thank goodness. His narrative is so minutely and compellingly realistic that after a time you cease to notice that he has stood reality on its head.' - Sunday Times 'Of outstanding quality ... unusually vivid imagination ... immensely striking use of words.' - Auberon Waugh, The Spectator

From Harry Turtledove, the master of alternate history, comes After the Downfall, a novel of magic, epic warfare, and desperate choices. 1945: Russian troops have entered Berlin, and are engaged in a violent orgy of robbery, rape, and revenge. Wehrmacht officer Hasso Pemsel, a career soldier on the losing end of the greatest war in history, flees from a sniper's bullet, finding himself hurled into a mysterious, fantastic world of wizards, dragons, and unicorns. There he allies himself with the blond-haired, blue-eyed Lenelli, and Velona, their goddess in human form, offering them his knowledge of warfare and weaponry in their genocidal struggle against a race of diminutive, swarthy barbarians known as Grenye. But soon, the savagery of the Lenelli begins to eat at Hasso Pemsel's soul, causing him to question everything he has long believed about race and Reich, right and wrong, Ubermenschen and Untermenschen. Hasso Pemsel will learn the difference between following orders... and following his conscience. Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors.

Beagle's novella, set in the world of 1991's The Innkeeper's Song, is an intimate take on the relatively common fantasy conceit of a powerful band of recluses. Following an encounter with three assassins, the wanderer Soukyan decides it is time to return to the monastery from which he had long ago escaped and take revenge on those who sent the killers. Beagle hints that Soukyan's world stretches far and wide but mostly focuses on a small area where various organizations have institutionalized murder and torture. Thoughtful, well-rounded characters make an intriguing contrast to scenes of bloody brutality. Readers familiar with The Innkeeper's Song will love this tie-in, while newcomers will both enjoy the tight focus and find plenty of incentive to seek out related works that further explore this complex, fully realized setting. --Publisher's Weekly.