This annual tradition from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America collects the best of the year?s stories, as well as essays and commentary on the current state of the genre and predictions of future science fiction and fantasy films, art, and more.
This year?s award-winning authors include Michael Chabon, Karen Joy Fowler, Ted Chiang, and Nancy Kress, plus 2008 Grand Master Michael Moorcock.
“Gritty, steamy and altogether wonderful urban fantasy.”—New York Times Bestselling Author Patricia Briggs
View our feature on Ann Aguirre’s Blue Diablo.
"Right now, I’m a redhead. I’ve been blonde and brunette as the situation requires, though an unscheduled color change usually means relocating in the middle of the night. So far, I’m doing well here. Nobody knows what I’m running from. And I’d like to keep it that way…"
Eighteen months ago, Corine Solomon crossed the border and wound up in Mexico City, fleeing her past, her lover, and her “gift”. Corine, a handler, can touch something and know its history—and sometimes, its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing—and that’s why people never stop trying to find her. People like her ex, Chance…
Chance, whose uncanny luck has led him to her doorstep, needs her help. Someone dear to them both has gone missing in Laredo, Texas, and the only hope of finding her is through Corine’s gift. But their search may prove dangerous as the trail leads them into a strange dark world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies—and black magic…
With their father and brother taken from them, the royal twins Barrick and Briony have done their best to hold the kingdom together, but now Barrick has been captured in a failed war against the immortal Twilight People and Briony has been forced to flee.
Behind the Shadowline, Prince Barrick is lost and spellbound in the land of the fairies, while Princess Briony finds both allies and deadly enemies in unexpected places far from the land of her birth.
During their desperate journeys the twins discover that even a land's rulers may know little of its true history, and that both families and nations can hide dark and terrible secrets.
But even if Barrick and Briony survive learning the astonishing truths at the heart of their own family and of Southmarch itself, they must still find a way to do the impossible: they must reclaim their kingdom and rescue their home and people from a multitude of powerful enemies--from traitors, tyrants, a god-king, and even the angry gods themselves.
Mallory must help her best friend, Eden, find the strength to defy her destiny as a shape-shifter, before Eden gets hurt?or hurts somebody else. And Merry has her own friends to worry about when her visions reveal trouble brewing on the cheerleading squad in the form of Kim Jellico.
Both Mallory and Meredith must join together to rescue their friends before it?s too late.
Drafted into working for the Order of Merciful Aid, mercenary Kate Daniels has more paranormal problems than she knows what to do with these days. And in Atlanta, where magic comes and goes like the tide, that’s saying a lot.
But when Kate's werewolf friend Derek is discovered nearly dead, she must confront her greatest challenge yet. As her investigation leads her to the Midnight Games—an invitation only, no holds barred, ultimate preternatural fighting tournament—she and Curran, the Lord of the Beasts, uncover a dark plot that may forever alter the face of Atlanta's shapeshifting community...
The second installment in Melissa Marr’s #1 New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series brings readers back to the land of faerie and delivers another stunning, high-stakes romance.
Unbeknownst to mortals, a power struggle is unfolding in a world of shadows and danger. After centuries of stability, the balance among the Faery Courts has altered, and Irial, ruler of the Dark Court, is battling to hold his rebellious and newly vulnerable fey together. If he fails, bloodshed and brutality will follow.
Seventeen-year-old Leslie knows nothing of faeries or their intrigues. When she is attracted to an eerily beautiful tattoo of eyes and wings, all she knows is that she has to have it, convinced it is a tangible symbol of changes she desperately craves for her own life.
The tattoo does bring changes—not the kind Leslie has dreamed of, but sinister, compelling changes that are more than symbolic. Those changes will bind Leslie and Irial together, drawing Leslie deeper and deeper into the faery world, unable to resist its allures, and helpless to withstand its perils. . .
Negi Springfield is ten years old . . . and a powerful wizard! This boy wizard is the greatest prodigy ever to graduate from his magic school in England. After graduation, however, Negi’s given an unusual assignment: teach English at an all-girl school in Japan. Now Negi has to find a way to deal with his thirty-one totally gorgeous–and completely overaffectionate–students . . . without using magic! Based on the Negima! anime, this is a fresh take on the beloved Negima! story.
Includes special extras after the story!
When Lucinda Chapdelaine was a small child, her parents left for the royal ball and never returned. Ever since, Lucinda has been stuck in perpetual servitude at her evil aunt's jewelry store. Then, on the very same day, a mysterious visitor and an even more bizarre piece of jewelry both enter the shop, setting in motion a string of twists and turns that will forever alter Lucinda's path.
In this magical story filled with enchanting surprises, Lucinda will dance at the royal ball, fall under the Amaranth Witch's spell, avenge her parents' death, restore justice to a town that does not yet know the corrupt danger around them, and maybe - just maybe - Lucinda might capture the heart of a prince.
Before long, Janna's room is overflowing with clothes and gadgets -- but things aren't quite as simple as they seem. Making wishes comes with its own set of rules, and Janna discovers that "unlimited" has some...well, limits. Genies can't make something out of nothing, so everything that Janna wishes for is taken from somebody else. Oops. And then there's the problem of genie wattage -- there's only so much of it, and Janna is using it up faster than she'd like. What's a greedy girl to do?
With insight, warmth, and a refreshing dose of humor, Kimberly K. Jones puts a new twist on the old adage "Be careful what you wish for."
Then Bailey meets the rest of the Sidhe, an ancient race defined by their power, beauty, and a sinister habit of getting what they want at any cost. Before Bailey knows it, she’s being drawn into an otherworldly web more complicated than anything she weaves as a mortal Fate.
An orphan living in the slums of the capital city, Jewel (known as Jay by her friends) scrapes by however she can. But after she steals money from a recluse named Rath, he seeks her out to reclaim what is his. Discovering her under a bridge and deathly ill, he takes her in and nurses her back to health. But once she has recovered, Jay insists she must repay her debt, and Rath finds that he cannot be rid of her. Driven by visions she can't control, Jay begins to rescue other children and bring them into Rath's home.
As Jay forms the group that will become her den, Rath walks a far more dangerous path. After a long-ago betrayal, Rath is estranged from his family, while his sister is The Terafin, head of House Terafin. Rath makes his living by prowling the ruins of the undercity, finding relics of an earlier age and selling them to the highest bidder. But now the demons that once nearly destroyed the Essalieyan Empire are stirring again, reaching out to strike down any who can give warning against them -- like Rath.
Soon, Rath, who treads the ancient ways hidden beneath the slums of Averalaan, and Jay, who is cursed with the untrained talent of a seer, will find themselves targeted by these deadly beings.