Swords and Spaceships for November 24

To celebrate fifteen years at the cutting edge of original short fiction, the podcasters at Escape Pod have put together fifteen stories, including new and exclusive work from Ken Liu, T. Kingfisher, and others.

The Archangels of Death and Disease are gone, but their evil legacy remains in the form of zombie-like creatures called the reborn. It is up to Titus, the Archangel who watches over the continent of Africa, to prevent their shambling spread. His only hope for aide is the Hummingbird, old and powerful and broken, if she will stand by his side to stop the rising tides of death.

Dragons have at last returned to the Hundred Isles, but they bring with them only war and destruction. Shipwife Meas and the crew of the Tide Child discover a derelict ship with a belly filled with dying enslaved people; this horrific find draws them into an even bloodier plot that will test their loyalty–and may well kill them.

The fourteenth anthology that collects short stories set in the universe of the Heralds of Valdemar, this collection includes an all-new story by Mercedes Lackey herself.

Wallace is used to moving around constantly–and he hates it. His dad works for an energy company, but refuses to explain why exactly this means they have to move across country every time his son starts settling into a new school. This time, it’s a sudden move to upstate New York, which has recently suffered an outbreak of strange hysterics–centered on the high school Wallace will attend. The town is more strange than Wallace could have imagined, with trees that talk to people and a student body president who might be falling for Wallace, or might just be sinking into a strange, otherworldly darkness. Wallace needs to find new friends who will listen to him better than his dad–and fight.

Just days after winning James Halliday’s contest, Wade discovers a new technology in the vaults that are newly his–and a new riddle, with a new Easter Egg that will lead to yet another prize. But this time, he’s not just competing against the rest of the OASIS. This time, his most dangerous rival will happily kill millions in pursuit of winning. With his life and the future of humanity at stake, Wade has his work cut out for him.