The dark force known as Shadow had been defeated, but its world-spanning web of power had survived. This incredible magical weapon was now held not by a prince or wizard, but by Pellinore Brown, a marketing consultant from Germantown, Maryland. Pel Brown wished no one ill; he merely wanted his family back. But the Galactic Empire that had seen Shadow as a threat saw him as Shadow's heir, a menace to be destroyed as Shadow had been. And when the awesome magical might of Shadow's legacy was turned against the rayguns and spaceships of the Empire, entire planets were caught in the middle. Pel Brown wished no one ill — but hundreds would die to put an end to . . . THE REIGN OF THE BROWN MAGICIAN

If You Can Trust No One — Then Trust a Nobody. A new Carlisle Hsing adventure. Carlisle counted herself lucky to escape Nightside City before dawn came and destroyed everything there. Unfortunately, just by escaping to the planet of Prometheus, she has attracted the attention of a certain business magnate. Someone is trying to kill him — and he needs someone expendable to investigate...

Hours of great reading await, with tales from some of the 20th century's most renowned science fiction authors. Here are 25 great science fiction stories!

Anrel Murau, a simple scholar, is secretly the notorious revolutionary Alvos the Orator--the Empire's most wanted man. On the run and nearly penniless, Anrel finds himself forced to seek refuge in the capital city's Pensioner's Quarter, a den of thieves, murderers, and con men. Barely scraping out an existence on the fringe of respectable society, Anrel never forgets his demands for justice, nor the love of the woman he left behind.The civil unrest that has long been simmering in the Empire is beginning to boil over into violent protests and Anrel's enemy, Lord Allutar, continues to corrupt the Grand Council.But Anrel's alter-ego, Alvos the Orator, has taken on a life of his own and many factions of the Grand Council seek a way to harness his followers' political might for their own ends. Which means they need Anrel to take on a surprising new role and gain access to one of the Empire's greatest secrets to stop the rampant evil.The adventure of Alvos...

Art Dunham had worked in his father's small-town theater all his life, and had never before seen anything like the group that rented it one summer. The Bringers of Wonder, as they called themselves, wanted to put on a single performance of a play called The Return of Magic -- but is it a play, or something more?

The great wizard Nabal's death offers many opportunities, both for those who knew him and those who did not. For young conmen Ezak and Kel, it means a chance to loot the wizard's estate...if they can win the confidence of Nabal's widow, Dorna. But Dorna has plans of her own. She means to leave the tiny village for a better life in the city. And all of Nabal's wizardly artifacts and talismans will pay for that new life—if she can only get them there intact!