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If the Marx Brothers had been literary fantasists, they would have been Robert Sheckley. Harlan Ellison   In The Robot Who Looked Like Me, a busy man and a busy woman find a way to carve out time to romance each otherby having look-alike robots made to do the jobwho then run away together. The twelve other stories in this collection are Slaves of Time, Voices, A Supplicant in Space, Sneak Previews, Zirn Left Unguarded, the Jenghik Palace in Flames, John Westerly Dead, Welcome to the Standard Nightmare, The Never-Ending Western Movie, What Is Life?, I See a Man Sitting on a Chair, and the Chair Is Biting His Leg, Is That What People Do?, Silversmith Wishes, and End City. From the very beginning of his career, Robert Sheckley was recognized by fans, reviewers, and fellow authors as a master storyteller and the wittiest satirist working in the science fiction field. Open Road is proud to republish his acclaimed body of work, with nearly thirty volumes of full-length fiction and short story collections. Rediscover, or discover for the first time, a master of science fiction who, according to the New York Times, was a precursor to Douglas Adams.

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A barbarian warrior faces the forces of the Fire God in this thrilling adventure from the acclaimed author of Children of Chaos.  Wallie Smith is staring death in the face; only a miracle can save him. And then one does! The Goddess appears to preserve his soul, but she does much more than that. She promises to bestow upon him a new and powerful body, and, more important, to endow him with the fabled Sapphire Sword of Chioxin. But nothing in this world or any other comes without a price. The Goddess demands that, for her services, Wallie become her champion. It will be an honor to serve such a presence, to have the chance to be victorious over all challengers. But Wallie and his sword quickly find themselves outmatched in a world of highstakes magic. Even the Goddesss priests cannot offer any resistance to the invading sorcerers and their quest to conquer souls for the Fire God. Wallie will need to find in himself and in the world the powers that will save all mortals. He will need to find the Coming of Wisdom. 

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One journey. Six stories. Mind-blowing fantasy from the Hugo Award winner, one of the most important science fiction authors (SF Site).  In The Compleat Traveller in Black, six linked tales, comprising one of Brunners rare ventures into fantasy, relate the legend of a man with many names, who travels the world with a staff made of light and performs his eternal duty by bringing order to a world filled with chaos. What he dispenses is always asked for but not always welcomed by the recipients. And the world becomes, step by slow step, a better place for those who remain.  For each generation, there is a writer meant to bend the rules of what we know. Hugo Award winner (Best Novel, Stand on Zanzibar) and British science fiction master John Brunner remains one of the most influential and respected authors of all time, and now many of his classic works are being reintroduced. For readers familiar with his vision, this is a chance to reexamine his thoughtful worlds and words, while for new readers, Brunners work proves itself the very definition of timeless.

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Three unsuspecting visitors arrive in a world of magical adventure, only to discover an ancient Thread-wielder has summoned them. For this sorceress, shapeshifter, and soldier, each is destined to play a vital role in restoring peace to the throne of the duke, Aletto, the rightful heir of Zelharri. But secret powers are at work, and for Lialla, the outcast duchess, intrigue and peril finds her at every turn. And while her powers are fierce and fearsome, the magic known as Hell-Light has an uncanny way of determining your fate. What had seemed a time of peace has suddenly erupted into something far more dangerous than any could have foresaw. Don't miss the entire "Night-Threads" Series: The Calling of the Three, The Two in Hiding, One Land One Duke, The Craft of Light, The Art of the Sword, and The Science of Power

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The Shanji Trilogy, which began with Shanji and Empress of Light, comes to its stunning conclusion with this tale of three generations of Creators. Kati, the light-wielding genetic changeling who saved her planet and became its empress, is now threatened with assassination. Yesui, Katis daughter who came to control mass as well as light, faces revolution and learns the uses of diplomacy. And Bao and Shaan, Yesuis twin daughters, take the lineage to its limit. Leaving their universe behind, they spin forth a radiant new creation.

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The Aurora Awardwinning author of the Man of His Word novels returns to the magical realm of Pandemia with the first in his Handful of Men series.   For fifteen years, Queen Inos and King Rapthe former stable boy and secret sorcererhave ruled Krasnegar wisely and happily, raising a family and prospering in their remote little kingdom.   But a darkness is encroaching, foreshadowed by prophecies of unimagined cataclysms across Pandemia. Prince Emshandar, better known as Shandie to Krasnegars royal family, is engaged in several conflicts along the Impires borderlands, as armies of djinns, gnomes, and other races declare and wage war. His grandfather, the aged imperor himself, continues to behave more erratically and tyrannically with each passing hour.   Rap dismisses the warnings as superstitious nonsense and the borderland battles as far from home and none of his kingdoms affair. But on the night of the birth of his fourth child, Rap is visited by a god who regales him with a cryptic tale of Pandemias impending doom. Once upon a time, a young sorcerer made an error, an error that now threatens to nullify the Protocol, the treaty that has controlled the use of magic for a millennium. Without the Protocol, the realm will fall into chaos and certain destructionunless Rap embarks on a dangerous quest to right his long ago wrong . . .   The beginning of a new series by the author of the Seventh Sword novels and many other acclaimed works of fantasy, The Cutting Edge is deftly woven and set forth with a refreshingly unpretentious clarity and directness: imagine David Eddings rewritten by Kate Wilhelm. Grab this one (Kirkus Reviews).  

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An alien race struggles to survive on an uninhabitable planet in this impeccably detailed and beautifully thought out novel from a Hugo Award winner (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).   On a planet besieged with cosmic dust, where meteors of all sizes frequently hit, wiping out entire civilizations, a strange alien species struggles against extinction over the course of millennia. As their star grows hotter, melting ice caps and causing more earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, higher levels of radiation lead to higher rates of mutation. Plants that had been edible become poisonous or die off altogether. Watching their dire situation only get worse, the planets scientists finally acknowledge that to survive long-term, the inhabitants will have to abandon their fraught home world and become a space-faring species.   In a story that spans millennia, Hugo Awardwinning author and British science fiction master John Brunner introduces us to an alien race that takes control of their own evolution and builds the technological society that will be their way into space.   One of the most important science fiction authors. Brunner held a mirror up to reflect our foibles because he wanted to save us from ourselves. SF Site  

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Is there something sinister about Madame Leonas dance troupe?When Melanie Clarks best friend, Pauline, dies in a car crash, the police write it off as an accident, but Melanie isnt so sure. Pauline was acting strange in the weeks before she died, and Melanie believes Paulines dance teacher, Madame Leona, may have had something to do with that. In order to learn more about the mysterious hold Madame Leona has on her students, Melanie joins the teachers prestigious dance group. Shes determined to find out the truth behind Paulines deathno matter what it takes. But as she becomes more involved, Melanie starts to forget why she joined in the first place, falling deeper and deeper under Madame Leonas spell. Can Melanie escape the womans magnetic grip, or has she lost herself forever?

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As the scholar and scribe of Tornor, Kerris has been in training for the past seventeen years. But its not until his brother Kel of the Cheari culture teaches him the psychic art of patterning that the city of Elath comes under attack and Kerris must draw on these new talents to fight the dangers of psychic warfare. It is in these battles that he learns what a warriors life is like and discovers what wasnt taught to him in his studies, perhaps the most important element of all: love.

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Berlin, 1961: In this exciting political thriller, factual events are interwoven in an exciting fictional plot. While the construction of the Berlin Wall challenges JFK with the first major crisis of his presidency, young CIA agent Philip Marsden is sent into East Berlin on his first mission. While the tanks face off at Checkpoint Charlie, he uncovers the difficult truth about his Russian-born mother.

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A complex and gripping story of plague, prophecy, and a womans quest for freedom from the author of Portal of a Thousand Worlds (Booklist). The world was desperate. Since the empire had fallen a hundred years ago, Gwin and her people had nearly given up hope that the Renewer would come. Gwin had lost everything. Her husband was killed in one of the wars. Her children died of Star Sickness. Even her work at the hostel was in jeopardy because the politicians had it out for her. The cursed Gwin, therefore, had nothing to lose. When she took in the girl, a survivor of the Star Sickness, it was a dreadful crime. Gwin was at the end of her rope, and possibly the end of her life if she was found out. But the Sickness had left the girl with certain magic, certain powers, which could prove very useful to them both. Was it possible that this young survivor could save their lives and the empire? Was a new life for Gwin and her world finally at hand?

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The ruins of Sol System have been empty for thousands of years. A place of death and mystery, it is shunned by all--until now. DEADLINE TO DESTRUCTION: Renegade intelligence agent Morgan Roche arrives hot on the heels of the clone warriors--enemies she has been charged by the High Humans to stop before they destroy everything. What she finds--the largest fleet assembled in half a million years, with no central authority, no-one in charge--threatens to stretch her resources beyond their limit. There, under the light of the star called Sol, Morgan Roche will uncover the final truth about the AI called The Box, about the man called Adoni Cane, and about the High Human called the Crescend. That truth will cost her dearly... Space opera of the ambitious, galaxy-spanning sort --New York Review of SF Space opera, like its grand musical cousin, couldn't exist without duplicity, ambition, lust, stupidity, and greed, and by the time the fat lady sings, whole worlds can be laid waste - and, oddly enough, it's this recognition of pain and evil as the generating forces of adventure that make A Dark Imbalance so satisfying. --Locus A story that twists and turns back on itself and keeps the reader always off-balance. There is danger, adventure and a labyrinth of loyalties. Excellent. --SF Site Winner of the Aurealis Award. (Formerly published as A DARK IMBALANCE)

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Gideon Oliver earns his moniker The Skeleton Detective in this riveting entry to the Edgar Awardwinning mystery series that never disappoints (The Philadelphia Inquirer)   Deep in the primeval rainforest of Washington States Olympic Peninsula, the skeletal remains of a murdered man are discovered. And a strange, unsettling tale begins to unfold, for forensic anthropologist Gideon Oliver determines that the murder weapon was a primitive bone spear of a type not seen for the last ten thousand years. And whoeveror whateverhurled it did so with seemingly superhuman force. Bigfoot sightings immediately crop up, but Gideon is not buying them. But something is continuing to kill people, and Gideon, helped by forest ranger Julie Tendler and FBI special agent John Lau, plunges into the dark heart of an unexplored wilderness to uncover the bizarre, astonishing explanation.   Fans of authors Kathy Reichs and Tess Gerritsen and television shows like Bones will be fascinated by Aaron Elkinss award-winning landmark forensic detective series. The Dark Place is the 2nd book in the Gideon Oliver Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.   

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A strange alien species forces us to question our definition of civilization in this biting satire from the Grand Master of Science Fiction. What would intelligent lifeforms on another planet look like? Would they walk upright? Would they wear clothes? Or would they be hulking creatures on six legs that wallow in their own excrement? Upon first contact with the Utod intelligent, pacifist beings who feel no painmankind instantly views these aliens as animals because of their unhygienic customs. This leads to the slaughter, capture, and dissection of the Utod. But when one explorer recognizes the intelligence behind their habits, he must reevaluate what it actually means to be intelligent.

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When a high schooler gets a job in the art department of a nearby university, she begins to suspect that the campus is haunted by a ghostand maybe even a serial killerLaDonna Martindale hopes that her new job at the local college will help to inspire her own painting. But every night, in the art school basement, she sorts canvases for the upcoming gallery showing. And every night, she feels the same strange, comforting presence of someone in the basement with hereven if she cant see him. When LaDonna suddenly discovers a beautiful painting on the basement wall that wasnt there before, she realizes that her ghost is an incredible artist. Maybe, just maybe, he can be the muse shes been lacking. But when a string of murders on campus turns her small town upside down, LaDonna isnt sure whom to trusther best friend, Johnny; the art school director; or even her ghost. LaDonna can sense someone stalking her whenever shes on campus, and she starts to wonder if she might be the serial killers next victim. 

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In The Death of Attila, the great Hun leader dominates the late Roman world; in his shadow, a Hun warrior and a German princeling form a fragile comradeship. When Attila dies, the world around them crumbles, and the two men face terrible choices.

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In this masterful sword-and-sorcery epic, Duncan has created strong and moving characters . . . and a world as rich and layered as our own (Iceberg Ink).   For fifteen years, the truce has held. Swordsmen of the Tryst of Casr have kept the peace and extended the rule of law over half the world, but now sorcerers have started killing swordsmen again, and swordsmen traitors are aiding them. Shonsuwho was Wallie Smith before he became a swordsman of the seventh rank and liege lord of the Trystmust once more gird on the seventh sword of Chioxin, and this time he rides out to fight the war that he hoped would never come. As he leads his army forth, its two most junior members are Vixini, son of Shonsu, and Addis, son of Nnanji, who has an oath of vengeance to fulfill. Their failure or success will determine the fate of the world for the next thousand years.

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Tom Brothers, widower, owns a hardscrabble cattle ranch in the foothills of Wyoming. The land controls Toms life, taking all he can give, offering little in return. THE DEER MOUSE follows him for ten culled days through the seasons of the year, as he and his son, TJ, struggle to make ends meet. Old Tom, sulky and brooding, and TJ, insecure, are constantly at each other in a sullen, running battle, neither one conscious of how their lives unfold in remarkably parallel ways, nor able to bring themselves to trust one another. Both want desperately to know that what they have given, and what theyve lost, is worth something in the end. Their ruptured relationship profoundly affects the rest of the extended family in this rural isolation, and these wounds are further aggravated by the intrusion of Frank, a recently-hired man, who comes between TJ and his wife, Karen.

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A late-night joyride takes a sharp turn into nightmare territory when a group of college students tries to cover up a crime of carelessnessA moment of inattention on a winding roadway in the Smoky Mountains leaves a stranger dead and his accidental killers at the mercy of a possible witness. Finney Durant, Nick Laymon, and Reed Tucker are desperate not to be linked to the crime. Finney and Tucker insist on hiding the corpse, and Nick, hard up for money, takes the mans cash. But the hit-and-run is just the beginning of their problems once they use a key found in the victims pocket to open a bus lockerand find a videotape that opens an ever-widening doorway into horror.

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Let me make clear from the outset, I detest adventure. Its tasteless, showy, vulgar, and uncalled for.  So begins this delicious thriller about a gay interior decorator who joins his super-wealthy clients for a Caribbean cruise, only to find himself shanghaied by pirates. Bound hand and foot and tossed unceremoniously into a quaint, Paul Gauguin sort of hut picturesquely thatched with banana leaves, Gregory fears he will be boiled a la langouste and served without so much as a creative sauce. But one night, as he lies in the dark with his face in the dirt, he hears a digging, snooting sound coming from the ground outside . . . Enter the most endearing sidekick in fiction, the brave pig Savarin. High adventure is turned on its head in this affectionate satire of yuppie values. It is as if Oscar Wilde had been parachuted into the jungle, says the New York Times. You will find yourself picking out and stowing away your favorite lines. There are enough twists in the story to make a yogi sore. Under the spell of Gundys droll and accomplished prose you will end up smiling through the whole thing.