Showing results by author "Jim Hines" in All Categories

Once every generation there is a Chosen One, who will stand between humanity and darkness. But why is the Chosen One so often a teenager? Why do only children get swept through portals to save the fantastic world on the other side? Whose idea was it to put the fate of the world in the hands of someone without a fully developed prefrontal cortex? In Never Too Old to Save the World, nineteen authors explore what would happen if the Chosen One were called midlife.

Jig the goblin was the runtiest member of an admittedly puny race. Jig was scrawny, so nearsighted as to be almost blind, and had such a poor self-image that when he chose a god to worship, it was one of the forgotten ones - after all, what other sort of god would have him as worshiper? He also had a cowardly fire-spider for a pet, a creature that was likely to set your hair on fire if it got into a panic. Made to stand tunnel watch by the goblin bullies who'd been assigned the job, it was just Jig's luck to be taken captive by a group of adventurers.

They call him Jig Dragonslayer - and who is he to deny a legend. After all, common sense - something in very short supply among goblins - has a lot to do with Jig's continued existence. Though he's been captured by adventures and dragged unwillingly along on their foolish quest, he's survived both the Necromancer and the Dragon. If people want to insist he's a hero, he isn't going to fight about it. But the trouble with being labeled a hero is that everyone expects you to keep doing heroic things.  

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.

If you think it’s hard being a hobgoblin or a human, try living a goblin’s life for a while. In fact, try imagining what it’s like to be the runtiest goblin in the caves, the lone worshiper of a god who’s been forgotten for a good reason, and the target everyone points to at the first hint of trouble. Try picturing yourself as Jig Dragonslayer, and see how you like it.... 

One night after roller derby practice, 12-year-old Tamora Carter discovers a pair of goblins digging through the dumpster behind the rink. The scruffy pair passed through a magical portal into our world, and they're not alone. Do these creatures know the truth about what happened to Tamora's best friend Andre? She won't rest until she finds out. But there are things far more dangerous than goblins....

When Isaac Vainio helped to reveal magic to the world, he dreamed of a utopian future, a new millennium of magical prosperity. One year later, things aren't going quite as he'd hoped. An organization known as Vanguard, made up of magical creatures and ex-Porters, wants open war with the mundane world. Isaac's own government is incarcerating "potential supernatural enemies" in prisons and internment camps. And Isaac finds himself targeted by all sides.

For 500 years, the Porters have concealed the existence of magic from the world. Now, old enemies have revealed the Porters' secrets, and an even greater threat lurks in the shadows. The would-be queen Meridiana, banished for a thousand years, has returned in the body of a girl named Jeneta Aboderin. She seeks an artifact created by Pope Sylvester II, a bronze prison that would grant her the power to command an army of the dead.

Five hundred years ago, Johannes Gutenberg discovered the art of libriomancy, allowing him to reach into books to create things from their pages. Libriomancer Isaac Vainio is part of Die Zwelf Portenre, better known as the Porters, the organization founded by Gutenberg to protect the world from magical threats. Isaac is called in to investigate the killing of a wendigo, along with Porter psychiatrist Nidhi Shah and their dryad bodyguard and lover, Lena Greenwood. But their plan could unleash a far darker evil....

The Unidentified Funny Objects series delivers an annual dose of funny, zany, and unusual science fiction and fantasy stories. All-new fiction from the genre's top voices!

Einst galt der Goblin Jig in seiner Sippe als Versager. Doch diese Zeiten sind vorbei! Denn Jig hat sich wegen seiner heilenden Kräfte den Respekt der anderen Goblins erworben. Nur eine hasst ihn wie die Pest: die neue Anführerin Kralk, die Jig am liebsten tot sähe. Als eines Tages ein Oger auftaucht und die Goblins um Hilfe bittet, entsendet Kralk den armen Jig auf eine brandgefährliche Mission. Jemand tötet die Oger in ihren Höhlen! Und der schwächliche Jig soll dem Morden ein Ende bereiten.

Jig ist ein Goblin. Ein kleiner, schwächlicher Goblin. Wenn er eines nicht sein will, dann ein Held. Eines Tages jedoch fällt er einigen Abenteurern in die Hände, die in seine Heimat eindringen. Sie verlangen, dass er sie zu einem magischen Artefakt führt. Dumm nur, dass sich das Artefakt in den Tiefen eines höchst gefährlichen Höhlensystems befindet, in den Klauen eines Drachen. Um dieser misslichen Lage zu entfliehen, bleibt dem bibbernden Jig nur eine Wahl: Er muss zum Helden werden... irgendwie...

One night after roller-derby practice, 12-year-old Tamora Carter discovers a pair of goblins digging through the dumpster behind the rink. The scruffy pair passed through a magical portal into our world, and they're not alone. Do these creatures know the truth about what happened to Tamora's best friend, Andre? She won't rest until she finds out. But there are things far more dangerous than goblins....

A vengeful ghost trapped in a goblin's ear...a flaming spider who must help stop a goddess from conquering a science-fiction convention...a goblin nursery worker who finds herself trapped in the middle of a war. This collection features six humorous short stories that explore the fantasy realm from the perspective of the lowest of the low, the unlikeliest of unheroes: the goblins.