Proud to announce that "Ten Tales of a Dark Tomorrow" has won three literary awards: Gold Winner for Short Stories in the Foreword Indies Book of the Year Awards Silver for Short Story/Novella in the Readers' Favorite International Book Awards Finalist for Short Stories in the National Indie Excellence Awards Submitted for your approval—Ten Tales of a Dark Tomorrow, a collection of speculative fiction inspired by the original Twilight Zone series. In the spirit of that iconic, timeless show, these mysterious and gripping narratives explore parallel worlds, faraway planets, dystopian societies, and unsettling reality. •A toddler shifts through parallel worlds, changing into different versions of herself. What would a mother do for her daughter? •A chef finds an alternate food source on a remote world. When the new chef arrives, will he be forced to reveal a horrific secret? •A twelve-year-old Earth girl is randomly chosen to rule the galaxy. Why are galactic administrators so desperate to stop her? •Humanity is on trial, annihilation at stake. Can an underdog alien lawyer save us? •Time seems to stand still as a young boy bikes with his troubled friend. Is the friend causing this phenomenon—and what if he doesn’t stop it? Explore space and time—and confront humanity’s deepest fears—with Ten Tales of a Dark Tomorrow.

Ten creepy fantasy short stories that will turn you blood to ice. The hour is getting late. A fire crackles and pops and the group huddles together closer to the fire, basking in the comfort of its warmth and light. The s’mores are a pleasant memory. Somewhere off in the distance an owl hoots. Crickets are chirping and the eerie howl of the coyote punctuates the symphony of night sounds. It is time for spooky stories. You know, the kind of scary stories that will chill your spine and flip your heart up into your mouth. The ten fantasy paranormal short stories in this collection will chill your blood and have you hearing strange sounds in the underbrush. They will have you looking over your shoulder, half expecting to see the supernatural features of Death himself as he reaches for your soul. This dark fantasy short story collection combines Five Tales of the Campfire and Five Tales of the Campfire Volume II

"The short stories explore themes that concern the interior person, the inner being. "A Day Laborer" tells of a liberal intellectual who can identify with exploited laborers because he himself has been exploited; "Change of Light" describes the spiritual peace that comes to a writer as a result of physical blindness; "The Golden Rose" shows through a series of contrasts - good and evil, heaven and earth, light and darkness - that virtue and sacrifice are rewarded; "Queen Margaret" chronicles the misery of failed opera singers who find happiness after leaving the short-lived glory of the theater; "Torso" relates the faithfulness of a servant who is rejected by a young master; "The Burial of the Sardine," with echoes of Francisco de Goya, represents the ephemeral nature of joy as experienced during Shrovetide in a city dominated by the clergy; and "Two Scholars" recounts how envy and vanity affect a personal relationship."--BOOK JACKET.

An unabridged collection of the “best of the best” science fiction stories published in 2012 by current and emerging masters of the genre, edited by Allan Kaster. In “Invisible Men,” by Christopher Barzak, a maid in an inn encounters the Invisible Man who makes her an offer to be more than she is in this quasi-retelling of H.G. Wells’ famous story. In this year’s Nebula Award winner for best novelette, “Close Encounters,” by Andy Duncan, an old man is hounded by reporters about the stories he used to tell of an alien who took him into space and the dog he brought back with him. “Bricks, Sticks, Straw,” by Gwyneth Jones, follows virtual scientists forced to survive within their remotes when a young science team on Earth loses remote contact with their telepresences on Jupiter’s moons. In “Arbeitskraft,” by Nick Mamatas, Friedrich Engels strives to spread class revolution as a labor organizer for factory cyborg matchstick girls. “The Man,” by Paul McAuley, is a Jackaroo tale about a solitary woman, living in a cabin on the planet Yanos, whose life is interrupted by the sudden appearance of a naked man at her door. In “Nahiku West,” by Linda Nagata, set in the author’s Nanotech Succession sequence, officer Zeke Choy investigates an accident involving an illegal enhancement which was used to save a life. “Tyche and the Ants,” by Hannu Rajaniemi, showcases the plight of a young girl hidden on the moon by her parents, along with grags and Brain, as robotic ants have come from the Great Wrong Place to take her away. In “Katabasis,” by Robert Reed, human adventurers on a journey in an inhospitable high-gravity region of the Great Ship must use porters, evolved for massive worlds, to aid them. “The Contrary Gardener,” by Christopher Rowe, tells of the tough decisions a talented gardener in a society which genetically grows some crops for ammunition must come to when she’s recruited for the war effort. Finally, in “Scout,” by Bud Sparhawk, a reconstructed marine is deployed to a planet occupied by the Shardies to reconnoiter by making use of his “turtle” enhancements to avoid detection.

Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature, A Checklist, 1700-1974, Volume one of Two, contains an Author Index, Title Index, Series Index, Awards Index, and the Ace and Belmont Doubles Index.

In this anthology, 20 authors explore the dark and hidden meanings behind some of the most beloved Mother Goose nursery rhymes through short story retellings. The dark twists on classic tales range from exploring whether Jack truly fell or if Jill pushed him instead to why Humpty Dumpty, fragile and alone, sat atop so high of a wall. The authors include Nina Berry, Sarwat Chadda, Leigh Fallon, Gretchen McNeil, and Suzanne Young.