Alternate histories. Alternate realities. It's said that every choice creates multiple timelines, each one exploring what could have happened if a different decision had been made. Most of these alternate histories stem from different outcomes to a pivotal battle, or to an assassination attempt, or to the ending or escalation of a war. All violent, all bloody, all brutal. But what about those choices made during peacetime, when there was no monumental, ongoing conflict? After all, everyone knows how significant the flutter of a butterfly's wings can be, how far-reaching its effects can be felt. In these pages you will find fifteen new branches of history written by some of today's greatest science fiction and fantasy writers, including Elektra Hammond, Dale Cozort, Harry Turtledove, C.W. Briar, Rick Wilber, Juliet E. McKenna, Michael Robertson, Kat Otis, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Brian Hugenbruch, Stephen Leigh, Elizabeth Kite, Ian R. MacLeod, Mike Barretta, and Kari Sperring, all stemming from a peaceful divergence in our past. Join them as they wander down familiar paths...and then swerve down roads not taken.

Welcome to the second year's-worth of stories from the online magazine ZNB Presents published by the small press Zombies Need Brains. In these pages, you will find original science fiction and fantasy stories of awe and wonder, darkness and light, ranging through all of the subgenres, including urban fantasy, alternate history, space opera, future fairy tales, and more. They come from the most talented authors in the field today—new voices as well as trusted and familiar names. Join us as we explore visions of the past, present, and future, as we encounter strange new creatures, both in our own backyard, in the depths of space, and our own imagination. Here you will: —Search for a cryptid in the mean streets of the city that tricks you into walking into its mouth —Scavenge in a world where AI has passed the singularity —Relive the scents of a recently lost world at a near-future carnival —Fleece the rich in a South African suborbirail —Hunt vampires in the crypts beneath the Kremlin with a saint by your side —Bargain with the sentient plants in a precarious alliance on a colonized world —Uncover the alternate assassin of Abraham Lincoln —Concoct potions as an apprentice with just a touch too much flare —Become an AI struggling to complete its mission after crashlanding on an alien world And so much more! Twenty-four stories written by Daniel Roman, Ty Lazar, L.P. Melling, Nathan W. Toronto, Caias Ward, Jonathan Robbins Leon, Marie Vibbert, Rob Cornell, Mike Jack Stoumbos, J.L. George, Brian Hugenbruch, Andrew Gudgel, Alicia Cay, Elektra Hammond, Derrick Boden, Alma Alexander, Melinda Brasher, Louis Evans, Niall Spain, Brian Crenshaw, S.C. Butler, Sam Robb, Liam Hogan, and Christine Lucas, each with its own illustration by artists Kat D'Andrea, Ariel Guzman, or Greg Uchrin. Welcome to the multifaceted worlds of ZNB Presents . Find us on Patreon at: http://www.patreon.com/zombiesneedbrains

It's frustrating when a gadget stops working. But what it the gadget is working fine, it's just "temporally" out of order? What would you do if you discovered your cell phone linked you to a different time? Or that your camera took pictures of the past? In this collection, seventeen leading science fiction authors share their take on what happens when gadgets run temporally amok. From past to future, humor to horror, there's something for everyone.