David Brin

John Scalzi

Gareth L. Powell

Julie E. Czerneda

David Weber

Seanan McGuire

Joe Haldeman

Christopher Ruocchio

Fonda Lee

Thoraiya Dyer

Tanya Huff

John C. Wright

Derek Künsken

Shelley Adina

D. J. Butler

L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

Dr. Charles E. Gannon

Within these pages lie eighteen stories, from eighteen worlds shaped by some of today’s best writers of science fiction and fantasy, all guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers during its first year. Some are international bestsellers. Among them are winners and nominees for the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Aurora, Sunburst, Aurealis, Ditmar, British Science Fiction Association, and Dragon Awards. Some have been writing for decades, others are at the beginning of their careers. All have honed their craft to razor-sharpness. A teenage girl finds something strange in the middle of the Canadian prairie. An exobiologist tries to liberate a giant alien enslaved on its homeworld by humans. The music of the spheres becomes literal for an Earth ship far from home. A superhero league interviews for new members. Strangers share a drink on a world where giant starships fall. Two boys, one a werewolf, one a mage, get more than they bargained for when they volunteer to fight an evil Empire. A man with amnesia accepts a most unusual offer. A young woman finds unexpected allies as she tries to win a flying-machine race in steampunk London . . . Ranging from boisterous to bleak, from humorous to harrowing, from action-filled to quiet and meditative; taking place in alternate pasts, the present day, the far, far future, and times that never were; set on Earth, in the distant reaches of space, in fantasy worlds, and in metaphysical realms, each of these stories is as unique as its creator. And yet, they all showcase one thing: the irrepressible need of human beings to create, to imagine, to tell stories. To shape worlds.

Science fiction & fantasy by authors featured on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers

Shapers of Worlds

Nathan Shumate

1859; war looms over the United States.Intelligence agents converge on the Kingdom of Deseret in the Rocky Mountains. Sam Clemens, leading the U.S. Army's expedition aboard his amphibious steam-truck the Jim Smiley, has a mission: to ensure that the Kingdom, with its air-ships and rumored phlogiston guns, brain children of the Madman Orson Pratt, enters on the side of the United States and peace. He races against Captain Richard Burton for Her Britannic Majesty Queen Victoria, and Edgar Allan Poe, secret agent of the clandestine southern leadership, who travels in disguise as an exhibitor of Egyptian antiquities.Against them all are arrayed the counterintelligence agents of the Kingdom, Roxie Snow and the Deseret Marshal Orrin Porter Rockwell. But why are Deseret's Danite militiamen hunting Rockwell? And why does the Madman seem to be playing his own game?

City of the Saints

Hellhound on My Trail

Kevin Steverson

Mark Wandrey

Casey Moores

Jon R. Osborne

Terry Mixon

Kacey Ezell

Kevin Ikenberry

Jody Lynn Nye

Jonathan P. Brazee

Jamie Ibson

Marisa Wolf

Joseph Capdepon II

Negotiation

David Farland

Quincy J. Allen

Andrew Dunlop

Don Perrin

Aaron Michael Ritchey

Steve Diamond

Robert Bagnall

Julie Frost

Daniel Hand

Jonathan Ficke

Kristin Janz

R. Jon Rock

Ethan Hedman

John D. Payne

An anthology of stories inspired by Greek & Roman mythology.

Tales of Ruma

Michael R. Collings

Carter Reid

Robert J. Defendi

Science fiction goes occult in SPACE ELDRITCH, a volume of seven original novelettes and novellas of Lovecraftian pulp space opera. Featuring work by Brad R. Torgersen (Hugo/ Nebula/Campbell nominee), Howard Tayler (multiple Hugo nominee), and Michael R. Collings (author of over 100 books), plus a foreword by New York Times bestselling author Larry Correia, SPACE ELDRITCH inhabits the intersection between the eternal adventure of the final frontier and the inhuman darkness between the stars.

Space Eldritch

Randy Lindsay

Dan Wells

Wendy Nikel

Edward Ahern

Gustavo Bondoni

Vonnie Winslow Crist

Emily Martha Sorensen

Liam Hogan

Stephen McQuiggan

J. D. Robinson

Joe Vasicek

Jenean McBrearty

Rachel Lewis

Kelly A. Harmon

Jude Reid

Victoria Lisowski

Bob Rehak

David J. West

Donna J. W. Munro

Michelle Ann King

Steve DuBois

Ralph Benton

Bill Housley

Scott R. Parkin

Kirk Eckstine

Mike Munsil

Jeanna Mason Stay

S. B. Houghton

Nate Givens

Kary English

Twilight Tales

Chris Kennedy

Rob Howell

Larry Correia

Glen Cook

Sarah A. Hoyt

Melissa Olthoff

J. P. Chandler

Benjamin Tyler Smith

Songs of Valor

The band knows him as their tight-lipped lead singer Jim, but Jacob Bar Azazel is Satan's only son, a man with thousands of years of history and a heavy burden of cursed love. Talk about Daddy issues! Now against all the odds and despite facing terrifying foes, the ragged rock and roll band have made it to Hell in time for the opening of the Liminal Year. Can they get through the hordes of Hell to the Council Chamber? Can they keep it together long enough to get what they came for? And what exactly does Jim have up his sleeve?

The Good Son

A STUNNING BAEN BOOKS DEBUT. A brilliant Americana flintlock fantasy novel set in a world of Appalachian magic that works. Sarah Calhoun is the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Elector Andrew Calhoun, one of Appalachee’s military heroes and one of the electors who gets to decide who will next ascend as the Emperor of the New World. None of that matters to Sarah. She has a natural talent for hexing and one bad eye, and all she wants is to be left alone—especially by outsiders. But Sarah’s world gets turned on its head at the Nashville Tobacco Fair when a Yankee wizard-priest tries to kidnap her. Sarah fights back with the aid of a mysterious monk named Thalanes, who is one of the not-quite-human Firstborn, the Moundbuilders of the Ohio. It is Thalanes who reveals to Sarah a secret heritage she never dreamed could be hers. Now on a desperate quest with Thalanes to claim this heritage, she is hunted by the Emperor’s bodyguard of elite dragoons, as well as by darker things—shapeshifting Mockers and undead Lazars, and behind them a power more sinister still. If Sarah cannot claim her heritage, it may mean the end to her, her family—and to the world where she is just beginning to find her place. Praise for Witchy Eye and D.J. Butler: “… you can’t stop yourself from taking another bite…and another…and another….I didn’t want to stop reading…. Kudos!” R.A. Salvatore, New York Times Bestselling Author “ Excellent book. I am impressed by the creativity and the depth of the world building. Dave Butler is a great storyteller.” – Larry Correia “WITCHY EYE is an intricate and imaginative alternate history with a cast of characters and quirky situations that would make a Dickens novel proud.” —Kevin J. Anderson, New York Times bestselling author of *Eternity's Mind* "David's a pro storyteller, and you're in for a great ride."—Larry Dixon "… a fascinating, grittily-flavored world of living legends. Hurry up and write the next one, Dave."—Cat Rambo, author of Beasts of Tabat "This is enchanting! I'd love to see more."—Mercedes Lackey New York Times bestselling author “Goblin Market meets Magical Musketpunk... A great ride that also manages to cover some serious cultural terrain.” —Charles E. Gannon, author of the thrice-Nebula nominated Caine Riordan series "Witchy-Eye is a brilliant blend of historical acumen and imagination, a tour-de-force that is at once full of surprises and ultimately heart-warming. This is your chance to discover one of the finest new stars writing today!"–David Farland, New York Times bestselling author “A gritty, engrossing mash-up of history, fantasy, and magic. Desperate characters careen from plot twist to plot twist until few are left standing.”—Mario Acevedo, author of Rescue From Planet Pleasure. "Captivating characters. Superb world-building. Awesome magic. Butler fuses fantasy and history effortlessly, creating a fascinating new American epic. Not to be missed!"—Christopher Husberg, author of Duskfall **

Witchy Eye

D. J. Butler

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