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The great fire of 1835 burned most of New York City's wooden downtown and, like many others, Archie Prescott thinks he's lost all that's dear to him. His home is a smoldering ruin and his wife is dead--and next to her body is a child's corpse he assumes was his daughter. It seems as though it's the end of everything...

But it is only the beginning. In the midst of ancient magic, murderous conspiracies, and a crafty Mesoamerican demon-god who is plotting the end of humanity, Archie finds himself with the power to save the world—or drown it in sacrificial blood.

This short story originally appeared on Strange Horizons, 1 April 2002. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection (2003), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection Unintended Consequences (2003).

Read the full story for free at Strange Horizons.

In the future United States, our own history has faded into myth and traveling across the country means navigating wastelands and ever-changing landscapes.

The country teems with monsters and artificial intelligences try to unpack their own becoming by recreating myths and legends of their human creators. Prospector Ed, an emergent AI who wants to understand the people who made him, assembles a ragtag team to reach the mythical Monument City.

In a dark future America where consumerism and gun culture are unchecked, a young family teams up to celebrate the first shopping day of the Christmas season in the most patriotic way possible... in Alex Irvine's Tor.com Original short story, Black Friday.

The full story can be read for free at Tor.com.

It's just business as usual at the Bureau of Metahuman, Mutant, and Occult Affairs until an employee for the government agency begins to wonder if work is following her home...

This story was originally published on Tor.com on 27 Sept 2023. Read it for free on Tor.com Tor.com

This novella was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction, March/April 2021.

Read the full story for free at Asimov's.

WFA nominated short story. It originally appeared in the anthology Trampoline (2003), edited by Kelly Link. The story is included in the collection Pictures from an Expedition (2006).

This novelette originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, January-February 2016. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eleven (2017), edited by Jonathan Strahan and The Best Science Fiction of the Year Volume 2 (2017), edited by Neil Clarke.

The story says that one day a Fisher King will rise to heal the land.
In the 1950s, they're still waiting....

At the turn of the twentieth century, a baseball player named George Gibson embarks upon a mystical journey to the Congo. His mission: to shepherd a powerful relic to its home in Abyssinia. But poet--turned--grail seeker Arthur Rimbaud is after what Gibson possesses - as others before him have been for millennia.

A half-century later, after receiving an honorable discharge from the Korean War, twenty-year-old Lance Porter vows to put his civilian life back together - which means heading to commie-infested Berkeley to see his high school sweetheart, Ellie. But after Lance gets cold feet, he encounters instead a drunk, gay poet named Jack Spicer, who spews crazy stories about Lance being the Fisher King.

It appears that the bearing of the grail has been bequeathed to young Lance, much to his shock and disbelief. Can a legacy born in the deserts of Ethiopia truly be reemerging in the bohemian bars of New York City and San Francisco? And is a vet with a lost soul really worthy of its care?

ALEXANDER C. IRVINE has breathed a refreshing burst of air into the Arthurian legend. In One King, One Soldier, ancient characters and Irvine's pitch-perfect historical accuracy merge with a gritty, dark portrait of America in the Cold-war '50s. Here, three stories come brilliantly together in an edgy mix of baseball, imperialism, poetry, and grail mythology.

From Alexander C. Irvine, Locus Award-winning author of A Scattering of Jades, The Narrows, and One King, One Soldier, comes Pictures from an Expedition, an astonishing new collection of thirteen fascinating fantasy and science fiction stories, including the World Fantasy Award-nominated "Gus Dreams of Biting the Mailman" and the all-new tale of identity crisis and uncertainty, "Clownfish."

With tales set in picturesque locales as varied as the New York artist's loft in "The Lorelei," the rural Kentucky caverns and riverbanks in "Green River Chantey," the mystical WWII factory lines in "The Golems of Detroit," the colonized alien worlds in "Volunteers," and the deadly atmosphere of Neptune in "Shepherded by Galatea," Pictures from an Expedition demonstrates Irvine's sublime mastery of evocative detail, and stunning storytelling abilities.

Whether exploring the intersection of suburban terror and fable in "For Now It's Eight O'Clock," the effect of scandal and media obsession on an ill-fated Mars mission in "Pictures from an Expedition," or dark dystopian futures in "The Uterus Garden" and "Peter Skilling," Alexander C. Irvine's crisp, startling, genre-bending prose makes Pictures from an Expedition a captivating, compelling read that, once started, is impossible to put down.

Table of Contents:

• The Lorelei - (2005) - novelette
• Green River Chantey - (2000) - shortstory
• The Fall at Shaghai - (2003) - shortstory
• The Golems of Detroit - (2005) - shortstory
• For Now It's Eight O'Clock - (2004) - shortstory
• Clownfish - (2006) - shortstory
• Gus Dreams of Biting the Mail Man - (2003) - shortstory
• Pictures from an Expedition - (2003) - novella
• Reformation - (2003) - shortstory
• The Uterus Garden - (2003) - novelette
• Volunteers - (2004) - shortstory
• Peter Skilling - (2004) - shortstory
• Shepherded by Galatea - (2003) - novelette

No.3 in the Small Beer Press chapbook series, Rossetti Song, is by up-and-coming writer Alex Irvine. Alex has recently had stories in Scifiction, F&SF, Strange Horizons, Electric Velocipede, LCRW, and many other wonderful places. Rossetti Song contains four stories: two were previously published in F&SF, "The Sea Wind Offers Little Relief" was original to Starlight 3, and "The Sands of Iwo Jima" is new for this collection. Designed by Thom Davidsohn.

Contents:

• Rossetti Song
• The Sands of Iwo Jima
• Akhenaten
• The Sea Wind Offers Little Relief

This novelette originally appeared in Subterranean Online, Summer 2009. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection (2010), edited by Gardner Dozois.

Read the full story for free at Subterranean.

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, August 2018.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

This short story originally appeared in Edison’s Frankenstein (Postscripts #20/21), edited by Nick Gevers and Peter Crowther. It was reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 101, October 2018.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

America heading into the mid-21st century: devastated by rising oceans and natural disasters, fracturing along religious lines, puzzled and resentful of the alien Bettys who have inserted themselves into the government. Gabriel Riley fled his fundamentalist upbringing, entering the military and eventually the guard service protecting a tent city of refugees on the South Lawn of the White House.

When violence explodes in the tent city, Riley finds himself fleeing into the arms of an underground network resisting the Bettys' murky plans--from there into a splinter group that has infiltrated the resistance. His mother always told him he was the Second Coming of Christ, and the Bettys seem to be thinking along the same lines--although for much different reasons. In the end, carried along by events beyond his understanding, Riley embraces the destiny thrust upon him.

Or does he?

Here are the last days of Gabriel Riley, told by the three people (and one Betty) who bore witness.

From award-winning author Alexander C. Irvine comes a compelling, fantastical riff on history and World War II. The Narrows takes place in Detroit, where Henry Ford's factories have been retooled for America's grand war effort. But there are also more clandestine operations under way - including a top-secret effort to produce golems - powerful beings fashioned from the earth - to destroy Nazis. Here lurk strange spies in unlikely places - and a not-so-extraordinary man who is inadvertently poised at the bizarre, urgent center of it all....

Spared fighting in Europe because of a bum hand, Jared wishes he could join the cause, instead of mindlessly sifting clay to be made into golems. But there is something that preys on his dreams: the devilish dwarf known as the Nain Rouge. In his youth, Jared once actually saw the Dwarf - a chilling creature that shows itself to individuals just before their demise. Now the Nain Rouge appears to be coming back for Jared himself.

Many have a profound interest in Jared's childhood run-in with the Dwarf - including a German spy, Jared's hateful foreman at the golem factory, and a shape-shifting Indian shaman. But what could a simple man who earns a meager living possibly have to do with espionage and dark deeds? While Jared toils invisibly in the bowels of Ford's plant, the answer is about to reveal itself in a cataclysm of mythic and sinister proportion

With the publication of A Scattering of Jades, his award-winning debut novel, Alex Irvine established himself as a gifted, potentially important new voice in contemporary fantasy. Now, in his first collection of shorter work, Irvine reinforces his position, offering readers a generous collection of stories that are at once, witty, erudite, wonderfully imagined, and unfailingly entertaining.

Unintended Consequences contains 13 diverse narratives, and is bookended by a remarkable pair of novellas. "Jimmy Guang's House of Gladmech" examines the life of an entrepreneur caught up in a hauntingly familiar, near-future ethnic war from which no one escapes untouched. "A Peaceable Man," an original novella, takes a familiar subject--a heist gone wrong--and enriches it with memorable characters and an unexpected infusion of magic. In between, Irvine presents a gallery of tales ranging from the god-haunted world of ancient Egypt ("Akhenaten") to an entropic colonial outpost in a remote galaxy ("Elegy for a Greenwiper.")

Among the collection's other highlights are "Rossetti Song," a meditation on survival, loss, and the power of the past; "Chichen Itza," in which an ancient Mayan site becomes the focal point of a new chapter in human evolution; "Tato Chip, Tato Chip, Sing Me a Song," a comic reflection on the uses of technology and the ubiquitous appeal of junk food; and the stunning "Agent Provocateur," which uncovers some startling connections between baseball, the processes of history, and Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

Whatever his subject, Irvine remains in complete control of his often astonishing material. Individually, these 13 stories show us our world--and its possible incarnations--from a wholly unique perspective. Together, they comprise one of the most varied, memorable, and necessary collections of fiction published in recent years.

Table of Contents:

• Jimmy Guang's House of Gladmech - (2002) - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• Akhenaten - (2001) - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• The Sands of Iwo Jima - (2002) - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• Intimations of Immortality - (2000) - novelette by Alexander C. Irvine
• Chichen Itza - (2002) - novelette by Alexander C. Irvine
• The Sea Wind Offers Little Relief - (2001) - novelette by Alexander C. Irvine
• Tato Chip, Tato Chip, Sing Me a Song - (2001) - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• Fog-Shrouded City - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• Elegy for a Greenwiper - (2001) - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• Agent Provocateur - (2002) - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• Vandoise and the Bone Monster - (2003) - novelette by Alexander C. Irvine
• Rossetti Song - (2000) - shortstory by Alexander C. Irvine
• A Peaceable Man - novelette by Alexander C. Irvine

One hundred years from now, with Americans hooked into an Internet far more expansive and intrusive than today's, the world has become a seamless market-driven experience. In this culture of capitalism run amok, entrepreneurs and politicians faced with rampant overcrowding in the nation's penal system turn to a controversial new method of cutting costs: life-term buyouts. In theory, buyouts offer convicted murderers the chance to atone for their crimes by voluntarily allowing themselves to be put to death by the state in exchange for a one-time cash payment, shared among their heirs and victims, based on a percentage of what it would have cost taxpayers to house and feed them for the rest of their natural lives. It's a win-win situation.

At least that's what Martin Kindred believes. And Martin is a man who desperately needs something to believe in, especially with his marriage coming apart and the murder of his brother, an L.A. cop brutally gunned down in the line of duty, unsolved.

As the public face of the buyout program, Martin is a lightning rod for verbal and physical abuse–but he embraces every challenge, knowing his motives are pure. But when evidence comes to light that a felon in line for a buyout may have been involved with his brother's death, Martin's professional detachment threatens to turn into a personal vendetta that will jeopardize everything–and everyone–he holds dear. Inspired by today's politics, Buyout is an unforgettable look at an all-too-believable future . . . and one man's struggle to do the right thing.

This novelette originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 2007, and was reprinted in Clarkesworld Magazine, #97 October 2014. It can also be found in the anthology The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Two (2008), edited by Jonathan Strahan.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This novelette originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, December 2009. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Four (2010), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2010, edited by Rich Horton.

The continent of Borea prospers and suffers in harmony with the authority and strength of The Fells, its greatest city. And The Fells rises and falls as the balance of power shifts between the Keep of its king, the Agate Tower of its wizards, and the Jingle of its brokers who grow fat on the trade in magic.

In The Fells live: a soldier violating the tomb of a dead sorcerer-king; a would-be regicide changed into a dog as an act of mercy; a killer of dragons (and children); a lover of a queen and of a peasant; an officer in the guard of the Keep; a traveller to the farthest northern reaches of his land; a survivor, a buyer of magic and seller of his own sword; and an amnesiac murderer whose brother was a blind jester.

A growing nation of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar is threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier. They reach a fragile peace, but it proves short-lived, as both sides are brought to the brink of a war that will determine who will emerge as Earth's dominant species.

Hybrid fighters merging human and alien technology. Massive cannon emplacements on the Moon and Mars. A planetary defense force with the finest military personnel ever trained. For two decades we've known the enemy would return.

The nations of Earth have collaborated on a unified defense program designed to defend the planet. Yet nothing could prepare us for the immensity of their new assault, and only the courage and skill of a few brave men and women can hope to bring our world back from the brink of extinction.

The novelization for the movie.

"I am Ichabod Crane, born in the year 1747. It seems this is the year 2013 Anno Domini, and I have been given new life--how, I know not; why, I know not. I will discern the truth--if, that is, I can keep my head."

In "Sleepy Hollow," a supernatural twist on Washington Irving's classic short story, Ichabod Crane has been pulled two-and-a-half centuries through time to find that he and detective Abbie Mills are humanity's last hope in the war against evil. Passionate, intelligent, and wryly funny, Crane has always used journals to collect thoughts and documents that may prove useful later, and The Secret Journal of Ichabod Crane offers an unprecedented look at the battle also raging inside his fascinating mind.

On the pages within, Crane shares new memories of the American Revolution; more amusing reflections on modern-day phenomena, from the Internet to Election Day; and private thoughts about Abbie, Katrina, and others. He also includes hidden case files; secret Freemason puzzles; selections from George Washington's mysterious Bible; and photos, letters, and drawings he has collected along the way. Filled with detail about past battles and vanquished monsters, as well as clues about those he and Abbie have yet to face, this journal is not just the ultimate repository for fans, but the key to Sleepy Hollow's future--and the world's.

A human has been murdered on Kopernik and the clues point toward a robot as the killer. But how can that be, when robots are programmed to never bring harm to humans? Before long, roboticist Derec Avery is on his way to Kopernik to investigate. Former Auroran ambassador Ariel Burgess, meanwhile, has a mystery of her own to unravel: Citizens of the Nova Levis colony have been disappearing in greater numbers, while the cyborg population has suddenly started growing at a dramatic rate. With the help of old friends - and potentially new enemies - Derec searches for the identity of a killer, unaware that Ariel is walking directly into the centre of the web of intrigue.