Kitsune. Werewolves. Crane wives. Selkies. Every culture has stories of such strange creatures—animals turning into humans, humans shapeshifting into animals. Sometimes seductive, sometimes bloodthirsty, but always unpredictable like nature itself, these beings are manifestations of our secret hearts, our desire to belong to both worlds: one tame and civilized, the other unfettered and full of wild impulse.Here are stories that will make you wish you could howl at the moon until your heart bursts with longing or feel yourself shedding your human body as easily as a snake sheds its skin. Be-were the night… it might not kill you, but it will certainly steal you away!

Nous sommes en 1880. La Guerre Civile américaine fait rage depuis plus de deux décennies, poussant les avancées technologiques dans d’étranges et terribles directions. Des dirigeables de combat sillonnent le ciel, et des véhicules blindés rampent dans les tranchées. Les scientifiques de l’armée détournent les lois de la nature et échangent leur âme contre des armes surnaturelles alimentées par le feu, la vapeur et le sang. Bienvenue dans le Siècle Mécanique, un siècle sombre et différent. C’est dans ce monde que vit Briar Wilkes et son fils. Elle est la veuve de l’infâme Dr. Blue, créateur du Boneshaker, la machine qui détruisit Seattle, perçant par-là même une poche de gaz qui transforma les vivants en non-morts. Mais un beau jour, son fils décide de pénétrer dans Seattle dans l’espoir de réécrire l’histoire. Sa quête le conduira dans une ville en ruine grouillant de morts-vivants affamés, de pirates de l’air, de seigneurs criminels et de réfugiés armés jusqu’aux dents. Seule Briar peut le ramener vivant.

Early in the American Civil War, rumors of gold in the Klondike have brought would-be prospectors to North America’s Pacific Northwest. Anxious Russian investors commission American inventor Leviticus Blue to create a machine which can mine through the ice of Russian-owned Alaska. Blue’s “Incredible Bone-Shaking Drill Engine” (or “Boneshaker” for short, named after boneshaker bicycles of the era), instead destroys several blocks of downtown Seattle and releases a subterranean vein of “blight gas” that turns anyone who breathes it into a species of zombie. (Wikipedia)Nominated for Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2010.

Ex-spy ‘Belle Boyd’ is retired – more or less. Retired from spying on the Confederacy anyway. Her short-lived marriage to a Union navy boy cast suspicion on those Southern loyalties, so her mid-forties found her unemployed, widowed and disgraced. Until her life-changing job offer from the staunchly Union Pinkerton Detective Agency.When she’s required to assist Abraham Lincoln himself, she has to put any old loyalties firmly aside – for a man she spied against twenty years ago.Lincoln’s friend Gideon Bardsley, colleague and ex-slave, is targeted for assassination after the young inventor made a breakthrough. Fiddlehead, Bardsley’s calculating engine, has proved an extraordinary threat threatens the civilized world. Meaning now is not the time for conflict.Now Bardsley and Fiddlehead are in great danger as forces conspire to keep this secret, the war moving and the money flowing. With spies from both camps gunning for her, can even the notorious Belle Boyd hold the war-hawks at bay?

Najnowsze odkrycie steampunku. Ponury świat śmiertelnych gazów, tajemniczych maszyn, piratów w zeppelinach i nieustającej plagi zombie.W pierwszych latach wojny secesyjnej pogłoski o złocie ściągnęły hordy przybyszów na północno-zachodnie wybrzeże Pacyfiku. Pragnący stanąć do wyścigu Rosjanie zapłacili wynalazcy Leviticusowi Blue za stworzenie machiny, która byłaby zdolna do eksploatacji złóż pod lodami Alaski. W ten sposób na świat przyszła Prześwietna Machina Wydobywcza doktora Blue, zwana także „Kościotrzepem”.Jednak już podczas pierwszej próby urządzenie to wymknęło się spod kontroli i zniszczyło część Seattle, równocześnie odsłaniając podziemną żyłę śmiercionośnego gazu, który zmieniał każdą żywą istotę w zombie.Minęło szesnaście lat, stanął mur odgradzający zniszczone i toksyczne miasto. Nastoletni syn doktora Blue, Ezekiel, podejmie próbę sekretnej krucjaty w celu odwrócenia biegu historii. Szalona wyprawa zaprowadzi go pod mury otaczające miasto, do dzielnic, w których roi się od żywych trupów, piratów powietrznych, przestępczych kacyków i dobrze uzbrojonych uciekinierów…

If you’re a fan of fiction that is more than just black and white, this latest story collection from #1 New York Times bestselling author George R.R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois is filled with subtle shades of gray. Twenty-one all-original stories, by an all-star list of contributors, will delight and astonish you in equal measure with their cunning twists and dazzling reversals. And George R.R. Martin himself offers a brand-new A Game of Thrones tale chronicling one of the biggest rogues in the entire history of Ice and Fire.Follow along with the likes of Gillian Flynn, Joe Abercrombie, Neil Gaiman, Patrick Rothfuss, Scott Lynch, Cherie Priest, Garth Nix, and Connie Willis, as well as other masters of literary sleight-of-hand, in this rogues gallery of stories that will plunder your heart—and yet leave you all the richer for it.

Two years ago, readers eagerly devoured The Living Dead. Publishers Weekly named it one of the Best Books of the Year, and Barnes Noble.com called it "The best collection of zombie fiction ever." Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams is back for another bite at the apple – the Adam's apple, that is – with 44 more of the best, most chilling, most thrilling zombie stories anywhere, including virtuoso performances by zombie fiction legends Max Brooks (World War Z, The Zombie Survival Guide), Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead), and David Wellington (Monster Island ).From Left 4 Dead to Zombieland to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, ghoulishness has never been more exciting and relevant. Within these pages samurai warriors face off against the legions of hell, necrotic dinosaurs haunt a mysterious lost world, and eerily clever zombies organize their mindless brethren into a terrifying army. You'll even witness nightmare scenarios in which humanity is utterly wiped away beneath a relentless tide of fetid flesh.The Living Dead 2 has more of what zombie fans hunger for – more scares, more action, more… brains. Experience the indispensable series that defines the very best in zombie literature.