The Strange Adventures Of Rangergirl

In this debut novel, acclaimed short-story author Tim Pratt delivers an exciting heroine with a hidden talent—and a secret duty. Witty and suspenseful, here is a contemporary love song to the West that was won and the myths that shape us. . . . As night manager of Santa Cruz’s quirkiest coffeehouse, Marzi McCarty makes a mean espresso, but her first love is making comics. Her claim to fame: The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl, a cowpunk neo-western yarn. Striding through an urban frontier peopled by Marzi’s wild imagination, Rangergirl doles out her own brand of justice. But lately Marzi’s imagination seems to be altering her reality. She’s seeing the world through Rangergirl’s eyes—literally—complete with her deadly nemesis, the Outlaw. It all started when Marzi opened a hidden door in the coffeehouse storage room. There, imprisoned among the supplies, she saw the face of something unknown . . . and dangerous. And she unwittingly became its guard. But some primal darkness must’ve escaped, because Marzi hasn’t been the same since. And neither have her customers, who are acting downright apocalyptic. Now it’s up to Marzi to stop this supervillainous superforce that’s swaggered its way into her world. For Marzi, it’s the showdown of her life. For Rangergirl, it’s just another day. . . .

From automatons to zombies, many elements of fantasy and science fiction have been cross-pollinated with the Western movie genre. In its second edition, this encyclopedia of the Weird Western includes many new entries covering film, television, animation, novels, pulp fiction, short stories, comic books, graphic novels and video and role-playing games. Categories include Weird, Weird Menace, Science Fiction, Space, Steampunk and Romance Westerns.

Here is the latest edition of the world's premier annual showcase of horror and dark fantasy fiction. It features some of the very best short stories and novellas by today's masters of the macabre - including Neil Gaiman, Brian Keene, Elizabeth Massie, Glen Hirshberg, Peter Atkins and Tanith Lee. The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror also features the most comprehensive yearly overview of horror around the world, lists of useful contact addresses and a fascinating necrology. It is the one book that is required reading for every fan of macabre fiction. PRAISE FOR THE SERIES 'Well-crafted celebration of a continuously inventive genre' SFX Magazine 'The must-have annual anthology for horror fans.' Time Out 'An essential volume for horror readers.' Locus 'In an age where genre fiction is often just reheated pastiche, the Best New Horror series continues to break from the herd, consistently raising the bar of quality and ingenuity.' Rue Morgue 'Brilliantly edited and most instructively introduced by legendary anthologist Stephen Jones.' Realms of Fantasy 'One of horror's best.' Publishers Weekly

“Remarkable . . . Scott Lynch’s first novel, The Lies of Locke Lamora, exports the suspense and wit of a cleverly constructed crime caper into an exotic realm of fantasy, and the result is engagingly entertaining.”—The Times (London) An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying. Praise for The Lies of Locke Lamora “Fresh, original, and engrossing . . . gorgeously realized.”—George R. R. Martin “Right now, in the full flush of a second reading, I think The Lies of Locke Lamora is probably in my top ten favorite books ever. Maybe my top five. If you haven’t read it, you should. If you have read it, you should probably read it again.”—Patrick Rothfuss, New York Times bestselling author of The Name of the Wind “A unique fantasy milieu peopled by absorbing, colorful characters . . . Locke’s wit and audacity endear him to victims and bystanders alike.”—The Seattle Times “A true genre bender, at home on almost any kind of fiction shelf . . . Lynch immediately establishes himself as a gifted and fearless storyteller, unafraid of comparisons to Silverberg and Jordan, not to mention David Liss and even Dickens.”—Booklist (starred review) “High-octane fantasy . . . a great swashbuckling yarn of a novel.”—Richard Morgan

No rest for the wicked... or anyone else! Welcome to the world of Marla Mason, part-time goddess of Death and former chief sorcerer of the Felport. It is a a world full of snark, violence, weirdness, bad choices with surprising consequences, friendship, betrayal, villainous living severed heads, magic motorcycles, axes made of fragments of moonlight, monsters from beyond the multiverse, and other delights. Alternating one month in the mortal world and one month in the underworld, while Marla is on Earth, she tries to do good and remember what it means to be mortal-often having to remind her adversaries of their own mortality. In Lady of Misrule, Marla awakens for her month on Earth and finds her allies missing, and an old enemy causing trouble in her home city of Felport. If that wasn't bad enough, a charming gentlemen from beyond the multiverse has decided that murdering gods might make for an amusing pastime. He figures he will start with Marla. Now, with the help of her former apprentice Bradley Bowman, Marla must rescue her friends, crush her enemies, and eliminate the aforementioned existential threat-before her month runs out and she returns to the underworld. Cover art by Lindsey Look

Sometimes you eat the forest... sometimes the forest eats you! And, the forest is always hungry! It's reaching out for Gil, a former office man now gone country on his organic farm, a self-proclaimed fast talker who doesn't speak quite as speedily as he thinks. It's coming for Melissa, who's so burdened with work that she has no time to enjoy the lives they've made for themselves on their farm. More than anything, the forest wants Noah, an adventurous five-year-old with a head full of tales about heroes and distant worlds. And Noah has just stepped inside the dark circle of trees...

Fantasy Scroll Magazine is an online, quarterly 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 #2 includes 14 short stories: "Winter Solstice" — Mike Resnick "Da Capo al Fine" — Patrick Jameson "The Reanimators" — J. Kenneth Sargeant "A Concert of Flowers" — Kate O'Connor "These Are The Things Our Hands Have Made" — Andrew Kozma "A Trade of Tears" — Tony Peak "Four Scenes From Wieczniak’s Whisk-U-Away, And One Not" — Ferrett Steinmetz "The Unworthy" — J.W. Alden "Verdure" — Brandon Barrows "Million Hearts in the Valley of Death" — Savannah Hendricks "The Fine Art of Fortune-Telling" — Michelle Ann King "Marshmallow Walls" — Brittany Foster "Grimm's Home for Geriatrics" — Rebecca A. Demarest "JC the Ski Bum" — Joyce Reynolds-Ward In the non-fiction section, this issue features: -Interview With Award Winning Author Mike Resnick -Interview With Author Tim Pratt -Interview With The Editors of Strange Horizons -Artist Spotlight: Sabbas Apterus -Book Review: Warbreaker (Brandon Sanderson) -Movie Review: Godzilla (2014) (Gareth Edwards) 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.