Showing results by publisher "Skyboat Media" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

In the heart of the authoritarian country of Wivvol, astronaut Xto Djbbit is about to embark on his first mission off-planet when the exiled High Hat of Chnta comes to him with an unusual request: Help smuggle a Septal artifact out of Wivvol. It’s an impossible favor to ask of Xto, but it’s also impossible to refuse; the High Hat of Chnta is also his uncle. Meanwhile, waiting for Xto in space? His estranged father - who has his own impossible favors - and a mysterious anomaly whose secrets Xto is uniquely positioned to unlock.

From Nebula Award winner Gregory Benford comes this ambitious hard SF anthology that collects five original novellas. Each one takes the very long view - all are set at least ten thousand years in the future. The authors take a rigorously scientific view of such grand panoramas, confronting the largest issues of cosmology, astronomy, evolution, and biology.

Avram Davidson was one of the great original American writers of this century. He was erudite, cranky, Jewish, wildly creative, and sold most of his wonderful stories to pulp magazines. Now, his estate and his friends have brought together a definitive collection of his finest work, each story introduced by an SF luminary: writers like Ursula K. Le Guin, William Gibson, Poul Anderson, Gene Wolfe, Guy Davenport, Peter S. Beagle, Gregory Benford, Thomas M. Disch, and dozens of others. This is a volume every lover of fantasy will need to own.

Sixteen-year-old Claire wants her father back. His death left her only memories and an empty locket. After six difficult years in foster care, her vocabulary no longer includes "hope" and "trust". But everything changes dramatically when she encounters Justin, a Spirit Knight restlessly hunting dangerous ghosts that devour the living, who rides into her path on his magical horse and takes her under his wing. When an evil spirit threatens Claire's life, she'll need Justin's help to survive.

Ray Shackleford is trying to deal with the death of his father and the collapse of his marriage when the impossible happens: Music that no one has ever heard before begins to play from his stereo speakers. It is only the first step on a journey that will take him to Los Angeles, London, Cozumel, and points far beyond, and that will bring him face to face with Jim Morrison, Brian Wilson, Jimi Hendrix—and his own mortality.

Into the darkness within; or else the light.... When Margaret Atwood wrote these words, she left open the possibility that even our darkest tales may harbor a glimmer of hope. In Or Else the Light, the third and final entry in the Dystopia Triptych, more than a dozen of the best minds in science fiction conclude their stories with a descent into darkness, or perhaps a ray of light.

Ray Bradbury warned of a world where our literary history is taken from us. In Burn the Ashes, some of the best science-fiction authors working today continue to explore the dystopic worlds they introduced in Ignorance Is Strength.

Goon Squad, Volume 2: Without Sin is composed of "A Star in Strange Ways", "Holy Fool", "Dead Man Tells Tale", "A Brief History of the Goon Squad", "Tale of Terror", and "Pomona Island", as well as an introduction read by the author.

Silvariah and Walter’s little girl is in danger, and facing the tyrant, Penn, is the only recourse left. In a brazen act of desperation, they travel to the Moon, convinced it holds the secret to his nefarious empire. They know Penn is baiting them. They go anyway. When Scarlet disappears, they face off against their enemy with all their wits and strength, hoping it will be enough. Penn is confident he can’t lose - but there are factors no one could have anticipated.

Goon Squad is set in a version of modern-day Manchester. Its biggest divergence from the real city is that it - along with most other large urban centers - has a team of superheroes to protect it against unusual threats with which the conventional forces of law and order would have problems.

Gorlen and Plenth, the wandering bards in question, have quit a life of rambling to raise their daughter, Aiku, in peace at the edge of a curious sea. Aiku's other father is the gargoyle Spar, who is also husband to a songwood tree and father to a young grove. It's no more unusual than most families, and their life no less ordinary…until one extraordinary day, when the messenger birds Aiku loves begin to deliver ominous notes and soon flap away in a frenzy, like a storm fleeing before an even greater storm.

Twenty years ago, five master criminals known as the Demon Princes raided Mount Pleasant to enslave thousands of inhabitants in the lawless Beyond. Now Morwen Sabine, a daughter of captives, has escaped her cruel master and returns to Mount Pleasant to recover the hidden treasure she hopes will buy her parents’ freedom.

On Macy’s list of things to do, taking on a new crime syndicate wasn’t at the top. Patrolling the city as Stellar, balancing crime-fighting with romance as she fans a budding relationship, and finding Luminesa, her elusive co-superhero, are her priorities. But when she stumbles upon a new enemy and the Alderwoman’s plans to retake the city, she must become more than just the muscle and venture into a world beneath Port Saint Dominic. With the help of old friends and some peculiar new ones, she sets out to unravel the mysteries of the city’s hidden past.

As he attempts to rebuild his life in rural Oregon after a tragic accident, Malcolm Mays finds himself corresponding with Dusha Chuchonnyhoof, a mysterious entity who claims to be the owner of Malcolm's house, jailed unjustly for 117 years. The prisoner demands that Malcolm perform a gory, bewildering task for him. As the clock ticks toward Dusha's release, Malcolm must attempt to find out whether he's assisting a murderer or an innocent.

How will the world end? With aliens or angels? Or a groundhog? Bleak despair? Martial fervor? Or a belly laugh? Whatever the apocalypse, it will be borne by people and their families and their dogs and most of all, it will challenge their notions of themselves. This anthology includes international award-winning writers, poets, and thinkers that give you their version of the apocalypse.

Cyclonic hordes of insects, a telepathic despot, body-swapping sex - just a few of the surprises Salvador Samuels encounters when he’s swept back to precolonial times, walking in the moccasins of a blind Indian - who, in turn, has been transported into Salvador’s body in present-day America. Four hundred years apart, they’re bound by a mission to rescue our world, aided by the mysterious presence of the mounds. Thousands of these ancient earthworks once dotted the landscape of North America.

Sixteen-year-old Delaney Archer always waits until the last moment to do everything. Nevertheless, she is the top student in her class. She's even about to graduate as valedictorian - until one morning when she wakes up in a strange place. Suddenly, she finds herself in graduate school. Seven years of her life have disappeared without a trace since she went to bed last night, but how? But it's not all bad, right? After all, she can drink alcohol now, and she has almost finished school. Then she wakes up the next day and another seven years have passed.

Now genuinely a Spirit Knight, 16-year-old Claire wants to know everything about the job. Fate dumps a dragon on her, and she only has more questions. She knows how much she needs training and wishes she could snap her fingers to learn everything at once. Justin can answer Claire's questions, but between his demanding young daughters, his sarcastic horse, and the recent loss of his own mentor, he'd rather just be a Knight.

In the near future, Britain has given up its constitutional monarchy to become a republic. But though the crown is a museum piece and the family no longer bears its ancient titles, Stephen Windsor feels the stirrings of the lives of ancient sacred kings in his bones, which is not surprising, as at key points in Britain's history, he has been reincarnated to perform the supreme kingly act. And though the throne is empty and forgotten, the land remembers and calls once more for a crown upon a royal head - and royal blood upon the ground.

Everyone got comfortable. It was understandable, really: soft beds, good food, contentment. Not for Bobby; together with Stephen, he's shaking off the torpor and getting into bed with Privek - nothing is out of the question to find the lost 11. Will the Vampire-Dragon Inquisition turn out to be something no one expected? Is the mysterious agent still 15 steps ahead of them all? A warlord, a cruise ship, a splashdown - oh my!