The greatest gift to us is caring. What would the world be like without someone to care for or to care with? Would love survive if we don't care? From the world of twenty-three science fiction and fantasy authors comes a world that can be funny, heartwarming, strange, or sad. Or not what we expect. Nominated – 2018 (Canadian SF&F) Aurora Award Shortlist (anthology/Best Related Work) 2018 Alberta Book Publishing Award Shortlist (Best Speculative Fiction) Finalist One story selected for Best of British Science Fiction 2017 (ed. by Donna Scott) One story selected for Best Indie Speculative Fiction, Vol. 1 (Bards & Sages Publishing) Five stories on Tangent Online Recommended Reading List 2017 One story nominated – 2018 (Canadian SF&F) Aurora Award Short Fiction Finalist One story – 2018 WSFA Small Press Award Finalist One story nominated – 2018 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic Short Fiction Shortlist Three stories – 2018 Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic Short Fiction Longlist How can a henchman keep up with a mischievous retired supervillain? Can a dog help a hockey player score again? Will an odd couple with a zany sense of adventure and diminished capabilities survive an earthquake? Where does a stray cat go to find love every night? What secret does a pious monk have with a cargo of sleeping human? Will terrorism in space take out a young apprentice and a blind welder? What does an oracle tell a lover about her final days? Can a "heart of gold" prevent a soldier from crossing the enemy line with the governor's children? These, and many more. Featuring Original Stories by Colleen Anderson, Charlotte Ashley, Brenda Cooper, Ian Creasey, A.M. Dellamonica, Bev Geddes, Claire Humphrey, Sandra Kasturi, Tyler Keevil, Juliet Marillier, Matt Moore, Heather Osborne, Nisi Shawl, Alex Shvartsman, Karina Sumner-Smith, Kate Story, Amanda Sun, Hayden Trenholm, James Van Pelt, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Edward Willett, Christie Yant & Caroline M. Yoachim With Introduction by Dominik Parisien Edited by Susan Forest and Lucas K. Law Anthologies in this series (Strangers Among Us, The Sum of Us, Where the Stars Rise) have been recommended by Publishers Weekly, Booklist (American Library Association), Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, School Library Journal, Locus, Foreword Reviews, and Quill & Quire. REVIEWS for THE SUM OF US “A strong collection . . . make it worth reading.” –Publishers Weekly “Definitely consider buying a copy, if not for yourself, then for someone who is serving as a caretaker. At the very least, it should make us all appreciate caretakers for all they do.” –Lightspeed Magazine “Thought provoking page-turners.” –Tangent “These stories take a broad exploration of what care can mean . . .” —Speculating Canada (Derek Newman-Stille)

Fantasy Scroll Magazine is an online, bi-monthly publication featuring science fiction, fantasy, horror, and paranormal short-fiction. The magazine’s mission is to publish high-quality, entertaining, and thought-provoking speculative fiction. With a mixture of short stories, flash fiction, and micro-fiction, Fantasy Scroll Magazine aims to appeal to a wide audience. Issue #11 includes 9 short stories and one graphic story: "Sundark and Winterling" — Suzanne J. Willis "Red Cup" — Paul Magnan "The Water Moon" — Steve Simpson "Battle Lines" — J.W. Alden "Talking with Honored Guests" — Alexander Monteagudo "How I Lost Eleven Stone and Found Love" — Ian Creasey "The Great Excuse" — Jacob Michael King "The Velna Valsis" — Henry Szabranski "Have You Seen Me?" — Josh Vogt "Shamrock - Part 6 - Perseverance" — Josh Brown & Alberto Hernandez Interview with Author Karri Thompson Interview with Author A.L. Davroe Artist Spotlight: Jeremy Vickery Book Review: Tales of My Ancestors (Bruce Edward Golden) Movie Review: Turbo Kid (François Simard, Anouk Whissell) The magazine is open to most sub-genres of science fiction, including hard SF, military, apocalyptic & post-apocalyptic, space opera, time travel, cyberpunk, steampunk, and humorous. Similarly for fantasy, we accept most sub-genres, including alternate world, dark fantasy, heroic, high or epic, historical, medieval, mythic, sword & sorcery, urban fantasy, and humorous. The magazine also publishes horror and paranormal short fiction.

A collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2009 by current and emerging masters of the genre. In “Erosion,” by Ian Creasey, a man tests the limits of his exo-suit prior to leaving a dying Earth. In “As Women Fight,” by Sara Genge, a hunter, in a society of body-switchers, has no time to train for a fight to inhabit his wife’s body. In “A Story, with Beans,” by Steven Gould, the role of religion in a dystopian future plagued with metal-eating bugs is considered. In “Events Preceding the Helvetican Renaissance,” by John Kessel, a monk, in the far future, steals the only copy of a set of plays from a repressive regime and uses this loot to free his people. In “On the Human Plan,” by Jay Lake, a mysterious alien visits a far-future, dying Earth in search of the death of Death. Set in the Jackaroo sequence, “Crimes and Glory,” by Paul McAuley, a detective chases a thief to recover alien technology that both aliens and humanity are desperate to recover. Set in the Lovecraftian “Boojum” universe, “Mongoose” by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear, a vermin hunter and his tentacled assistant come on board a space station to hunt toves and raths. In “Before My Last Breath,” by Robert Reed, a geologist discovers a strange fossil in a coal mine that leads to the discovery of a peculiar graveyard. In the Hugo Award winning novelette “The Island,” by Peter Watts, a woman on a spaceship must decide whether to place a stargate near an alien society that will ultimately destroy it. Finally, “This Peaceable Land; or, The Unbearable Vision of Harriet Beecher Stowe,” by Robert Charles Wilson, is an alternate American Civil War history in which the war was never fought, slavery gradually disappeared, and Uncle Tom’s Cabin was never published.

Desperation is the same in any language. Madness respects no borders. Greed and revenge transcend cultural differences. In this third collection of stories from Plan B Magazine, we find tales from all the corners of the crime world. From Cold War espionage to small town stick-ups, high-powered diplomacy to the opportunism of poverty, these are stories of the darkness of the human heart. And once in a while, how the light of our common humanity can transcend that darkness. Table of Contents: "Sirens" by Gary Cahill "House Cleaning" by Ian Creasey "Murderous Lies" by Peter DiChellis "Doing God's Work" by Wayne Scheer "Um Peixe Grande" by Patti Abbott "Loveable Alan Atcliffe" by S.R. Mastrantone "Slice" by Tom Barlow "How Green Was My Valet" by John H. Dromey "The Least Of These" by BV Lawson "Miscellany" by Eryk Pruitt "Stars & Stripes" by Jed Power "Alten Kameraden" by Ed Ahern "The Farm" by Kevin R. Doyle

Maps of the Edge contains seventeen SF stories, all previously published in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction. In "Erosion" (reprinted in three Year's Best anthologies), a cyborg road-tests his new body before leaving Earth for the stars. "The Golden Record" sees future collectors competing to retrieve 20th century space probes. In "The Hastillan Weed", conservationists battle an alien plant spreading across the English countryside. The remaining stories are: "Reality 2.0", "The Edge of the Map", "This Is How It Feels", "Cut and Pastiche", "Cut Loose the Bonds of Flesh and Bone", "Proper Names", "Crimes, Follies, Misfortunes and Love", "Demonstration Day", "Successful Delegation", "The Adventures of Captain Contempt in Mixed Media Installations", "In Profit and In Loss", "The Scaffold", "Rush Hours", and "The Prize Beyond Gold". The collection concludes with an Afterword discussing the inspirations and background behind all the stories. Total length: 300 pages (94,000 words).

If the end of the world arrived, would you live-tweet the apocalypse? If you were sick of dieting, would you use an alien flesh-eating parasite to lose weight? And if you could grow wings, would you abandon life on the ground and live in the sky? Escape Routes from Earth is a collection of 14 science fiction stories, all previously published in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction. How would you celebrate your 250th wedding anniversary? What souvenirs would you buy on another world? Why would you upload your mind into a computer? And how can an escapologist escape from a black hole?

Science fiction is NOT a safe space!In this companion volume to Hazardous Imaginings: The Mondo Book of Politically Incorrect Science Fiction, fourteen stories by Ian Creasey, Andrew Fox, David Wesley Hill, Liam Hogan, Claude Lalumière, and other writers from around the world push the boundaries of what is considered taboo in science fiction. From a society where telling an insult joke is a capital crime to one where letting your faucet drip may cost you your head, from a utopia where inequality and want have been abolished to a hostile planet whose isolated colonists must deal with the aftermath of a sexual assault among their own, these stories pull no punches.With an introduction by award-winning author Barry N. Malzberg.

Delight in intriguing, thought-provoking conversations about ethics, philosophy, and social issues! After Dinner Conversation is a monthly literary magazine publishing short fiction. Each issue features both established writers and up-and-coming authors who contribute fascinating philosophical insights on controversial topics like marriage equality, assisted suicide, the meaning of death, animal rights and defining your "purpose." It's time to go deep in search of truth! If you love reading imaginative short stories on hot topics that make your brain think deeply but also have you laughing out loud... then this magazine is for you! "After Dinner Conversation" Magazine - January 2024 Echo: An awkward kid grows up to be an awkward adult, and opts for a "personality replacement." Pincushion Pete: The founder and poster boy for brain patches gets one too many. The Dirty Home: A well-meaning lawyer cleans her client's dilapidated trailer to stop CPS. Rental Units: A temporary "rental-a-child" malfunctions, crushing her real mother's heart. Observation 292: Science discovers plants feel pain like humans, and are sentient. Domiciliary: A lifelong alcoholic housewife continues to drink as her husband opens a store downtown. The Angel in The Juniper: Holly meets an angel who tells her to kill her revolutionary professor. After Dinner Conversation believes humanity is improved by ethics and morals grounded in philosophical truth. Philosophical truth is discovered through intentional reflection and respectful debate. In order to facilitate that process, we have created a growing series of short stories across genres, a monthly magazine, and two podcasts. These accessible examples of abstract ethical and philosophical ideas are intended to draw out deeper discussions with friends, family, and students. ★★★ If you enjoy this story, subscribe via our website to "After Dinner Conversation Magazine" and get this, and other, similar ethical and philosophical short stories delivered straight to your inbox every month. (Just search "After Dinner Conversation Magazine")★★★

First Contact - Digital Science Fiction Anthology: Original Imprint - Book 1 (54,569 words; about 192 pages in print), is an anthology of ten original science fiction short stories from professional writers. We are pleased to present in this exciting anthology a rich range of compelling new stories from established authors. In selecting stories for inclusion in this introductory edition we looked not only for exciting or novel content but for genuine literary quality. We know these science fiction tales will not only entertain, but will offer something extra as well: an aesthetic pleasure, a beauty, or a thought-provoking quality that renders them timeless. Ten unique stories by professional science fiction authors. First Contact includes 10 first-time-published science fiction short stories by: - Ian Creasey - How I Lost Eleven Stone and Found Love - Ed Greenwood - Biting a Dead Man's Hand - Ken Liu - The Caretaker - Jennifer R. Povey - Masks - Rob Jacobsen - Hera's Tempest - Edward J. Knight - Roanoke Nevada - Jessi Rita Hoffman - Nectar of the Gods - Kenneth Schneyer - The Tortoise Parliament - David Tallerman - Black Sun - Curtis James McConnell - Pop Quiz