After thousands of years, Cain awakens to find that the world has gone on without him. In his slumber, humans and people of power have stopped being afraid of, well, anything. Beyond that, they’ve become cruel for cruelty’s sake, fascinated with their ability to spread death through famine, war, and even plagues. In their minds, they have no equal. They’re wrong.

Betrayed and left for dead by a group of slaving nobles, he thought there was nothing left but to bleed out as he counted the number of bricks on the ceiling. But fate had other plans.

The half-orc girl, Mikaia Goretusk, has been torn from her home. Her world. Her family. Her only allies are the holy knight, Arthur Shield, once sworn to kill everyone she has ever cared for, and the witch, Hazel Midd. Arthur struggles with the guilt of being unable to save his god. Hazel seeks desperately for something taken from her. They distrust each other, but both are compelled to protect the young girl.

When the orcs and goblins of Summervale, Virginia, need something done, they call Jack. He's the one who convinces the local PD to ignore any tribal violence. The guy who makes sure the goblins aren't evicted whenever they do something decidedly goblin.

A man. His ex-girlfriend's cat. A sadistic game show unlike anything in the universe: a dungeon crawl where survival depends on killing your prey in the most entertaining way possible. In a flash, every human-erected construction on Earth - from Buckingham Palace to the tiniest of sheds - collapses in a heap, sinking into the ground. The buildings and all the people inside have all been atomized and transformed into the dungeon: an 18-level labyrinth filled with traps, monsters, and loot.

It was a day like any other when suddenly the world changed. The universe reached a threshold humanity didn’t even know existed, and it was time to finally be integrated into the vast multiverse. A place where power is the only thing anyone can truly rely on.

Three lives come together in this truly epic fantasy where magic users go missing, old gods return, and creatures of light ravage the land. A high general with a dark voice in his head that begs to be released. A sheltered young woman addicted to magic. A reckless young man whose life changes after he dies. Together, they will change the world—whether they intend to or not.

Varcade fled to the deserts of Harrah to escape his past as an Educator, a member of an order of zealot warrior-monks that aims to shape the world according to their sacred Teachings by force. Varcade makes his living as a reckless sword-for-hire, caring only about himself, until his self-centered lifestyle is turned on its head when he is contracted to recruit a misfit team of unruly assassins and take out the mighty Bone Lord of Akrab. But the Bone Lord is aware of the plot and sends her band of Dusters to stop them.

I was born a heresy, a girl with a man’s magic in a city divided by gender, with monks facing off against witches. I trained with the monks only under my father’s protection, head of the monastery. Rose to the top, despite everything set against me. Until he died. A suicide, they called it. Yeah, right. They killed him for his heresy. For me. My only hope to survive now is to find his killers before they come for me. To expose their lies as the real blasphemy.

A thousand years ago the Heart of the World was shattered, its fragments scattered across the lands. In the chaos that followed, martial orders arose to gather these shards, for it was found that great powers were granted when these pieces were bonded to the flesh of the chosen. These are the Sharded Few, warriors imbued with the divine energies that once coursed through the Heart, and driven to absorb enough fragments to claim godhood.

The world of Avarin is tearing itself apart. The Domain worships life, its rulers lead eternal lives, and death is a shame that must not be mourned. For the clans to the south, however, death is all that keeps the Earth alive. But old enemies are rising. A madness spreads throughout the Domain, and Lynn, a rogue griffin rider in hiding, might be the only one who knows how to fight it, while Adrian, a Domain prince seeking to bring his dead loved ones to worthiness, leads the Domain armies against the madmen.

Tashué’s faith in the law is beginning to crack. Three years ago, he stood by when the Authority condemned Jason to the brutality of the Rift for non-compliance. When Tashué’s son refused to register as tainted, the laws had to be upheld. He’d never doubted his job as a Regulation Officer before, but three years of watching your son wither away can break down even the strongest convictions. Then a dead girl washed up on the bank of the Brightwash, tattooed and mutilated.

Fifty thousand gun-toting paladins march behind him, all baptized in angel blood, thirsty to burn unbelievers. Only the janissaries can stand against them. Their living legend, Kevah, once beheaded a magus amid a hail of ice daggers. But ever since his wife disappeared, he spends his days in a haze of hashish and poetry. To save the kingdom, Kevah must conquer his grief and become the legend he once was. But Micah writes his own legend in blood, and his righteous conquest will stop at nothing. When the gods choose sides, a legend will be etched upon the stars.

A child’s wish for her father comes true. The end of the world has never been so much fun. Conquering personal demons becomes all too real. It’s not always about winning; sometimes it’s about showing up for the fight. It’s about loving your life’s work, and jobs that make you question everything. In this anthology, 17 authors have woven together brand-new stories that speak to the darkness and despair that life brings while reminding us that good deeds, humor, love, sacrifice, dedication, and following our joy can ignite a light that burns so bright the darkness cannot last.

The first three novels and the prequel novella in the Preternatural Chronicles: I'm Glad You're Dead, Dawn and Quartered, Shadow of a Doubt, and Deliverance.