Black Tie and Tails
Wen Spencer

Joshua Tatterskein’s life has been strange. He’s become a werewolf and lives with a three-hundred-year-old vampire named Silas Decker and a ginger kitten called Trouble. Then things get even weirder when he encounters a talking penguin who wants to hire him for a job. Joshua just wants to graduate from his new high school. The school is owned by Boston’s werewolf pack, and while the teachers might not realize the owners are wolves, all the kids with special abilities—the Goths—know. The good news is the Goths are happy to help Joshua, but the bad news is one of them has gone missing.

A Plague of Magic
Marisa Wolf

Magic has been outlawed for centuries but when Cima’s life choices limit her gang’s avenues for making a profit, they’re forced to scavenge in a haunted corner of the city, where they unearth what they believe to be life-changing loot. Then it all comes apart: the hoard they’ve recovered is something more than material treasure, it’s potent magic from before the cataclysm that brought the old world to ruin. Will the plague of magic they’ve unleashed destroy her chosen family, her city, and the world? Or will the recovery of the items fenced by her crew lead Cima to become the guardian of a new age?

Swords & Larceny
edited by
David Afsharirad and Mark Finn

Even the most flawless plans have a way of unraveling. When the stakes are high and the odds are stacked, only the cleverest and most daring will make it out with the prize. Thirteen daring tales of fantasy heists and high-stakes capers—where charm is as sharp as steel, and the score of a lifetime is just one misstep away.

With stories by Christopher Ruocchio, Wen Spencer, A. Lee Martinez, Edward M. Erdelac, Jim Zub, John C. Hocking, James Enge, Tim Akers, Mark Finn, Bill Willingham, Adrian Simmons, Tracy S. Morris, and Stephen Aryan.

The Down Deep
Catherine Asaro

On the dying world of Raylicon, the “haves” live in great luxury in Cries while the “have-nots” scrape by, eking out a marginal existence in the notorious Undercity beneath the desert. Major Bhaajan, formerly of the Pharaoh’s Army, knows both worlds. To help find peace, the Dust Knights must reach the most hidden rungs in that mysterious underground world, a place known only as the Down Deep, where the scars from centuries run deep. There they will face an unseen enemy that may destroy the lives of everyone they know—and threaten interstellar civilization.

Mountain of Fire
Jason Cordova

The students at St. Dominic’s Preparatory School for Girls have had it rough since the H7D3 virus virtually wiped out human civilization. The only thing holding them together is the iron will of the school’s lone surviving nun, Sister Ann. They learn how to survive, but rebuilding isn’t only about surviving—it’s about rising up. To rise, though, the survivors must rely on one another to rebuild. The flames of life will be fanned, and the sparks from every strike of the hammer will provide light in the darkness. But it will not be easy. From atop the mountain of fire, this beacon of hope must spread—or humanity will die quietly in the long, final night.