“I really don’t know why I’m surprised anymore to find that the quality of every story is so good!” A dozen science fiction writers, including New York Times and USA Today bestselling authors, offer remarkable tales in this third collection of space opera stories presented under the Beyond the Stars banner. These twelve stories showcase strange new worlds, alien life forms, and deep space battles. Come with us to where the legends are born… at galaxy’s edge

Suicide? Murder? Or maybe a political assassination? When Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman was found dead in his Argentina apartment mere hours before his testimony before Congress about linkages between the Argentinean President and the Islamic Republic of Iran, his death was initially ruled a suicide. But as facts emerged in the days after Nisman’s death, the public outcry for justice grew into a roar. Death of a Pawn, a companion short story to the full-length thriller about modern-day nuclear terrorism, Weapons of Mass Deception, takes a fictional look at the real life tragic death of Alberto Nisman and the possible links to Iran and Hezbollah

Nobility. Self-Sacrifice. Unconditional Love. These are the qualities of the heroic animals in this collection. The Walking Dead meets The Incredible Journey in 14 amazing tales by today’s most talented independent authors. Seven stories set in all-new dystopian landscapes. Seven stories set in the bestselling post-apocalyptic worlds of David Adams’s Symphony of War, Michael Bunker’s Pennsylvania, Nick Cole’s Wasteland Saga, Hank Garner’s Weston Files, E.E. Giorgi’s Mayake Chronicles, Deirdre Gould’s After the Cure, and Edward W. Robertson’s Breakers. When the world ends, the humans who survive will learn an old lesson anew—that friendship with animals can make the difference between a lonely death among the debris and a life well lived, with hope for the future

This anthology includes 120 authors—who contributed 230 works totaling approximately 1.1 million words of fiction. These pieces all originally appeared in 2014, 2015, or 2016 from writers who are new professionals to the SFF field, and they represent a breathtaking range of work from the next generation of speculative storytelling. All of these authors are eligible for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer in 2016. We hope you’ll use this anthology as a guide in nominating for that award as well as a way of exploring many vibrant new voices in the genre

In 2003, the world watched as coalition forces toppled Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, then searched — unsuccessfully — for the weapons of mass destruction they were certain existed. None were ever found, but they do exist. On the eve of the invasion, a handful of nuclear weapons was smuggled out of Iraq and hidden in the most unlikely of places — Iran. Now, as the threat of WMDs fades into a late-night punch line, a shadowy Iranian faction waits for the perfect moment to unleash Saddam Hussein’s nuclear legacy on the West. Brendan McHugh, a Navy SEAL, meets a mysterious Iranian diplomat on a raid in Iraq. His former girlfriend and FBI linguist discovers a link to Iran among a group of captured jihadis. And pulling it all together is a CIA analyst who can’t forget about Saddam Hussein’s WMDs — even if it costs him his career. Patriot Games meets The Fourth Protocol in this riveting story of modern-day nuclear terrorism