"Venera Dreams is a mosaic novel, a surreal history of a fictional and fantastical European city-state off the shore of Italy, inspired in part by Venice, The Arabian Nights, and the architecture of Antoni Gaudai. It is divided in three sections. The first, The Lure of Vermilion, is a quartet of contemporary episodes describing the impact of Venera's lure on various characters: a love-sick teenage boy, an aimless young woman, lovers on a romantic vacation, and an arrogant writer. The second section, Adventures in Times Past, consists of six episodes ranging from the Roman Empire's invasion of Venera in Classical times, an intrigue involving a Veneran spy at the court of the Chinese Zhengde Emperor during the Renaissance, a Victorian pulp adventure revealing the secrets of Venera's espionage network, a tale of Salvador Dalai's ties to Venera, the bibliography of an author whose works describe the postwar history of Venera, and a metafictional exploration of Scheherazade's relationship to Venera from prehistory to modern times. The final section, The Secret Histories of Magus Amore, returns to the present to resolve, in four final episodes, the mysteries of Venera."--

Centered around a supernatural bookstore called the Lost Pages, a series of short stories describe how different customers use the store and its books to handle the problems each person faces in the outside world.

The second volume in the ground-breaking, genre-bending, boundary-pushing Clockwork Phoenix anthology series, now available in digital format. Includes critically-acclaimed and award-nominated stories by Claude Lalumière, Leah Bobet, Marie Brennan, Ian McHugh, Ann Leckie, Mary Robinette Kowal, Saladin Ahmed, Tanith Lee, Joanna Galbraith, Catherynne M. Valente, Forrest Aguirre, Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer, Kelly Barnhill, Barbara Krasnoff and Steve Rasnic Tem. With a whimsical introduction and new afterword by Nebula Award-nominated editor Mike Allen. "Sixteen unique voices that manage nevertheless to harmonize into a sort of choir of the uncanny singing in the key of beauty and strangeness ... Mike Allen has conducted it masterfully. I highly recommend it, and look forward with great anticipation to CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 3." — SF Site CONTENTS Three Friends • Claude Lalumière Six • Leah Bobet Once a Goddess • Marie Brennan Angel Dust • Ian McHugh The Endangered Camp • Ann Leckie At the Edge of Dying • Mary Robinette Kowal Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela • Saladin Ahmed The Pain of Glass: A Tale of the Flat Earth • Tanith Lee The Fish of Al-Kawthar's Fountain • Joanna Galbraith The Secret History of Mirrors • Catherynne M. Valente Never nor Ever • Forrest Aguirre each thing i show you is a piece of my death • Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer Open the Door and the Light Pours Through • Kelly Barnhill Rosemary, That's For Remembrance • Barbara Krasnoff When We Moved On • Steve Rasnic Tem Praise for CLOCKWORK PHOENIX 2 . . . . Allen finds his groove for this second annual anthology of weird stories, selecting 16 wonderfully evocative, well-written tales. Marie Brennan’s thought-provoking “Once a Goddess” considers the fate of a goddess abruptly returned to mortality. Tanith Lee puts a stunning twist in the story of a morose prince in “The Pain of Glass.” Mary Robinette Kowal’s “At the Edge of Dying” describes a world where magic comes only to those at death’s door. In “Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela,” Saladin Ahmed tells of a small village on the edge of a desert, a hermit and a woman who may be a witch. Each story fits neatly alongside the next, and the diversity of topics, perspectives and authors makes this cosmopolitan anthology a winner. — Publishers Weekly, Starred Review In this anthology of 15 original tales by some of fantasy’s most imaginative voices, Tanith Lee returns to her remarkable Flat Earth setting for a poignant and cutting tale of love, fate, and misfortune in “The Pain of Glass.” Other contributors include veteran and newer writers Forrest Aguirre, Steve Rasnic Tem, Joanna Galbraith, Saladin Ahmed, and others, each chosen for their unique perspective and stylistic grace. VERDICT: This second volume in a new annual anthology series will appeal to fantasy readers who enjoy short stories. — Library Journal CLOCKWORK PHOENIX is the most experimental and often the most interesting of the impressive stable of four anthologies published by Norilana. The second outing has a lot of strong work, including a nice ultra-romantic tale of a woman of glass by Tanith Lee (“The Pain of Glass”), a moving fairly traditional ghost story from Kelly Barnhill (“Open the Door and the Light Pours Through”), and a story I frankly didn’t think I’d like, but which seduced me, Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer’s “each thing i show you is a piece of my death,” about experimental film makers creating a sort of collage film, including what seems a very old clip of a man committing suicide. It’s queasy-making, odd, yet compelling. My favorite story is Ann Leckie’s “The Endangered Camp,” which she says resulted from a sort of challenge to combine dinosaurs, post-apocalyptic fiction, and Mars — and does so beautifully as the crew of the first spaceship to Mars witnesses the asteroid striking Earth and wonders what to do. — Locus

The thirteenth Tarot card is Death, and he is a symbol not of the end, but of transformation and rebirth. This is the genesis and root of Thirteen: Stories of Transformation. The twenty-eight authors of this collection are voices—new and old—who are not afraid to explore what comes next. Whether it be a life after death, a life without love, a life filled with hunger, or the life shared by a ghost. These are stories of the weird, the mythic, the fantastic, the futuristic, the supernatural, and the horrific. The ghosts of the past have been eaten by the children of the future: this endless cycle of birth, death, and renewal is the magic of thirteen. Do not fear change. Embrace it. Let Thirteen be the handbook for the new you. With stories from: Liz Argall M. David Blake Richard Bowes George Cotronis Amanda C. Davis Julie C. Day Jetse de Vries Jennifer Giesbrecht Daryl Gregory Rik Hoskin Rebecca Kuder Claude Lalumière Marc Levinthal Grá Linnaea Alex Dally MacFarlane Juli Mallett Lyn McConchie Fiona Moore Gregory L. Norris Adrienne J. Odasso Cat Rambo Andrew Penn Romine David Tallerman Tais Teng Richard Thomas Fran Wilde A. C. Wise Christie Yant

Twenty-five dark stories that span a daring breadth of genres – by the author of Objects of Worship and The Door to Lost Pages, which Publishers' Weekly calls “intensely memorable” and “insanely imaginative.” In these noir tales that unfold at the edge of realism, mythic nocturnes from impossible pasts, and disquietingly intimate stories of speculative fiction, Claude Lalumière explores our collective and intertwined obsessions with sex and death. “In Nocturnes and Other Nocturnes Claude Lalumière plumbs the deep trenches of yearning, fear and the agonies of unfulfilled need.” – from the introduction by Garry Kilworth “Claude Lalumière's stories are dark, mordant, precisely formed.” Lucius Shepard “Lalumière's protagonists exhibit the sorts of yearnings and proclivities that our most respected social institutions teach us to mistrust: erotic energy, artistic mania, idiosyncratic mysticism, impassioned empathy with the natural world.” James Morrow “Claude Lalumière's extravagant imagination is matched by only two other qualities: his compassion for his characters, and his sparkling facility with language.” Paul Di Filippo “Claude Lalumière has a poet's sensibility. He suggests; never overstates.” Richard Calder “Claude Lalumière's stories are delicious.” Anna Tambour “Montreal's own master of fantastic fiction.” RoverArts.com “Lalumière's fiction is indeed fueled by a rich inner psychology … it is potent, memorable stuff.” The New York Review of Science Fiction

New Authors and collections. Following the great success of 2015's Gothic Fantasy, deluxe edition short story compilations, this latest in the series is packed with tales set in bleak and paradisiacal worlds of boundless imagination from classic authors and exciting budding contemporary writers. New and notable writers featured are: Kim Antieau, Steve Carr, Carolyn Charron, Megan Dorei, Sarah Lyn Eaton, Michelle Kaseler, Claude Lalumière, Gerri Leen, Konstantine Paradias, Jeff Parsons, Kelsey Shannahan, Nidhi Singh, Jeremy Szal, J.M. Templet, Russ Thorne, M. Darusha Wehm, and Andrew J. Wilson. These appear alongside classic stories by authors such as Edward Bellamy, Samuel Butler, Robert W. Chambers, Jack London and Mary Shelley.

Qui veut voyager loin passe un concours du ministère des Affaires étrangères. Hélas le quai d'Orsay n'est pas toujours un quai d'embarquement et le narrateur se retrouve sur "le front russe", un bureau situé à Paris dans lequel l'administration relègue ses éléments problématiques. Entre amour, photocopies et papier peint, notre “héros” va tout mettre en oeuvre pour quitter ce placard.

A veces un pequeño detalle lo puede decidir todo: el que condiciona la carrera de un joven funcionario, un tanto ingenuo, del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores francés es el maletín que le ha regalado su madre por su primer trabajo. El día de su toma de posesión, el jefe de personal tropieza con él y destina a su dueño al departamento de «Países en vías de creación. Sección Europa del Este y Siberia»: el frente ruso. Utilizando este peculiar negociado como base de operaciones nuestro hombre intentará hacer carrera en el ministerio, aunque sus intentos no siempre tendrán éxito. El ambiente en el que desempeñará su trabajo está poblado por una peculiar fauna –una secretaria hippy a punto de jubilarse, un informático fantasmón, un jefe inepto o un compañero trepa- que le resultará familiar a todo el que haya trabajado en una oficina alguna vez. Publicada con gran éxito en Francia en el año 2010, esta desternillante sátira de la burocracia y el mundo empresarial tiene también un trasfondo amargo: el que deja la renuncia a toda ambición.

Fantascienza - racconti (27 pagine) - La Seconda Guerra Globale è ormai alle porte. Ora si gioca tutto sulla diplomazia, ma il destino del mondo sembra inevitabile. Chi è Halya Nazdratenko? L’incredibilmente carismatica Halya, che diventa amica quasi per caso di una studentessa serba destinata a un'importante carriera politica? Ha uno scopo o è solo una stidentessa a cui piace il cibo e il sesso? E perché a un certo punto sparisce? Mentre nella grigia europa sta per nascere una supernazione fascista, che riunirà tutti i paesi più grandi, nel Nordamerica si giocano le ultime carte su un trattato che segnerà il destino non solo dell'Ontario, ma forse anche degli imperi coinvolti, l'Impero Cinese Immortale e l'Alto Impero Azteco. Claude Lalumière continua a dipingere il suo incredibile affresco geopolitico di un mondo nel quale non esistono gli Stati Uniti d'America. Claude Lalumière, franco-canadese di Montréal, è un autore brillante ed eclettico che oscilla tra fantastico, weird e fantascienza, sempre sulle brevi lunghezze. Ha pubblicato diverse antologie, una delle quali, Sognando Venera, è uscita in Italia per Watson. Racconti sono usciti su Hypnos e su Robot. Per due volte è stato ospite di convention in Italia, alla Deepcon di Fiuggi e a Stranimondi a Milano. Tra i cicli più noti ci sono le Cronache della seconda guerra globale, serie ucronica che si apre proprio con La procedura di assemblaggio.

Depuis l'enfance, un mystère intrigue Thomas Poisson : la vente, dans les années vingt, de la tour Eiffel à son arrière-grand-père, ferrailleur de son état, par un certain Victor Lustig. Une arnaque mythique dont a été victime son aïeul, un déshonneur transmis de père en fils.Sa recherche le conduit auprès de son père - un homme taiseux qui s'est réfugié dans un Ehpad à la mort de sa femme - et à la médiathèque de sa ville, où il rencontre une singulière petite bande : Lina, Mansour, Francky et Françoise. Autant de femmes et d'hommes dont les fragilités et les solitudes imposées par la précarité contemporaine vont se répondre.Une quête de sens, un récit de filiation et d'amitié d'une grande délicatesse, à la fois décalé et poétique. Jean-Claude Lalumière a publié au Dilettante Le Front russe (prix Jeune mousquetaire du premier roman) et La Campagne de France. Aux éditions Arthaud, Ce Mexicain qui venait du Japon et me parlait de l'Auvergne et aux éditions du Rocher Reprise des activités de plein air.