What if future criminals played games of skill for their freedom? Would spellcasters dare use magic to skew chance in their favor? What if aliens judged us based on the games we play? Can a dying woman literally cheat Death? Games are about more than winning and losing. They're about risk and reward, strategy and blind fortune, our need to win and our fear of being outplayed. And when magic and science infuse a game, the stakes can be of cosmic importance. Each move could decide life or death. Are you ready to play? In this anthology, seventeen of today's leading fantasy and science fiction authors explore the role games play in worlds both seen and unseen. Join Aliette de Bodard, Jennifer R Povey, Ed Greenwood, Cory Swanson, David Hankins, Cat Rambo, Wulf Moon, Jo Miles, James Alan Gardner, Karen Aria Lin, Mike Rimar, Eric Choi, Tris Lawrence, Mark Silcox, Melissa Yi, Michael Picco, and Sean Williams as they share with us games played for unimaginable stakes. The board is set, the cards are dealt—now it's GAME ON!

Laura led a sheltered, middle class existence. Oh, she knew she was adopted, but what did it matter? A lot when her birth mother is murdered and the killers come after her next... for reasons that are deep in her very blood.

A ship has vanished in the dark, in the very outer reaches of Earth's solar system. Alien invaders sweep through the void, destroying outposts and threatening humanity. The truth is known only to a few: We fired first. We fired on aliens whose very appearance and body language sent all humans into a flying rage. All but a few. Now an autistic savant from Mars and an alien diplomat seek peace...while some on both sides desire only conflict. Suza McRae and Haniyar must bridge the gap between their species, or risk a war that will destroy everything and everyone in its path.

Rome has fallen and the eagles have flown. Left alone with her child when her lover, Arthur, leaves these shores, Persephone finds her world changed when he returns - as war duke and then King of Britain. She has the one thing he needs: His son. But he will not accept her as herself. Thus is born the legend of Percival. Content notes: Female protagonist, religious themes, angst.

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

Dorothy Mayling thought her worst problem was an ongoing family feud - then the Silence came and assaulted her family, the people she was determined to keep safe. Helen Locke fought to hold together a bastion of civilization against the zombie-like Silents and those who would rather be savages alike. And young Becky was a survivor, raised in the aftermath, and only wanting to live her life - when the true horror of the plague was revealed. These three novellas, originally published separately as Mother, Crone, and Maiden are now available in one combined edition.

The verr homeworld is doomed. Humans and tyrar have come together to help the species survive. The tyrar's assistance? A giant colony ship named Refuge, built to tyrar scale, refurbished to verr needs, and containing an AI shipmind, Alvi...a final refuge for the species if all else fails and a way to search for a new home. On Refuge, a young verr named Kaykek has chosen this new life. As the verr seek for a new home and fight those who think it is their fate to die with their world, Alvi learns how to be verr and Kaykek faces a forgotten biological destiny.

Angels or demons? The glen are beautiful, insectoid, and mysterious. When Charles is assigned to be the first human ambassador to their homeworld, he hopes to learn more about this species. What he learns about the Glyn and their origins is far, far more than he expected. But not everyone on Glyn is in favor of human influence. And some are entirely too much so. In a society with very different biology and mores, can Charles and his glen friend Skyt find an answer to the potential destruction of the glen civilization.

In a remote village on the ky'iin homeworld of Kyx, a young woman has committed suicide. Investigator Viyar is assigned to what should be a routine check to make sure it wasn't murder. Ly will discover that there is far more going on. Not everyone on Kyx wants to deal with aliens, and the death is associated with a conspiracy that runs deep...so deep not even all of those involved know its true extent. The delicate treaty that holds interstellar peace is at risk...along with the entire future of Kyx.

New York.The city that never sleeps. When a young woman is found murdered, the detective assigned to the case, Judy Eidelman thinks it's a mugging gone wrong.It isn't.Instead, it's a gateway to another world, where a demonic mercenary, Victor Prince, becomes her unexpected ally. Victor, meanwhile, is struggling with his darkest instincts. To him, New York is a ripe cornfield, with souls ready for the harvesting.Neither he nor his infernal bosses have counted on the stubbornness of a Jewish detective from Brooklyn, nor the love of a man who walks in both this world and the spirit world.But can even love and budding friendship save a being that doesn't want to be saved?