This thrilling anthology features high fantasy, contemporary and urban fantasy, and fantasy action and adventure all set in a military vein by top authors in the genre, including Jonathan Maberry, Tobias Buckell, Elizabeth Moon, Tanya Huff, Glen Cook, Simon R. Green, Seanan McGuire, and Linda Nagata.
In the realms of fantasy, the battlefield is where heroism comes alive, magic is unleashed, and legends are made and unmade. From the War of the Ring, Tolkien’s epic battle of good versus evil, to the Battle of the Blackwater, George R. R. Martin’s grim portrait of the horror and futility of war, these fantastical conflicts reflect our highest hopes and darkest fears, bringing us mesmerizing visions of silver spears shining in the sun and vast hordes of savage beasts who threaten to destroy all that we hold dear. Now acclaimed editor John Joseph Adams is sounding the battle cry and sixteen of today’s top authors are reporting for duty, spinning never-before-published, spellbinding tales of military fantasy, including a Black Company story from Glen Cook, a Paksenarrion story from Elizabeth Moon, and a Shadow Ops story by Myke Cole. Within these pages you’ll also find World War I trenches cloaked in poison gas and sorcery, modern-day elite special forces battling hosts of the damned, and steampunk soldiers fighting for their lives in a world torn apart by powers that defy imagination. Featuring both grizzled veterans and fresh young recruits alike—including Tanya Huff, Simon R. Green, Carrie Vaughn, Jonathan Maberry, and Seanan McGuire—Operation Arcana is a must for any military buff or fantasy fan. You’ll never look at war the same way again.
List of all contributors:
Elizabeth Moon Tobias Buckell & David Klecha Myke Cole Jonathan Maberry Genevieve Valentine Django Wexler Yoon Ha Lee Weston OchseAri Marmell Tanya Huff Carrie Vaughn T. C. McCarthy Glen Cook Simon R. Green Seanan McGuireLinda Nagata
John Joseph Adams is the bestselling editor of many anthologies, including Wastelands, The Living Dead, and The Way of the Wizard. A six-time Hugo finalist and five-time World Fantasy Award nominee, he is also the editor and publisher of the magazines Lightspeed and Nightmare as well as the cohost of the Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy podcast.
Jonathan Maberry is a New York Times bestselling author, five-time Bram Stoker Award winner, four-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, and comic book writer. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-Wars, became a Netflix original series. He writes horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, thrillers, and more. He is the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers and the editor of Weird Tales magazine.
Elizabeth Moon, a former marine, is the author of many novels, including the Vatta’s War and Vatta’s Peace series and the Deed of Paksenarrion, as well as the Nebula Award winner The Speed of Dark and Remnant Population, a Hugo Award finalist. After earning a degree in history from Rice University, she went on to obtain a degree in biology from the University of Texas, Austin.
Myke Cole is a security contractor, government civilian, and military officer. In addition to writing military sci-fi novels, his career has run the gamut from counterterrorism to cyberwarfare to federal law enforcement. He’s done three tours in Iraq and was recalled to serve during the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Tanya Huff spent three years in the Canadian Naval Reserve then earned a degree in radio and television arts from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute. She is the author of numerous short stories and more than twenty novels, including the bestselling Blood books, the Smoke series, and the Keeper’s Chronicles. She has been the guest of honor at numerous American and Canadian conventions, and her work has been nominated for several awards, including winning the Aurora Award for Best Novel. She lives in Ontario, Canada.
Tobias Buckell is the New York Times bestselling author of The Tangled Lands, Crystal Rain, and Halo: The Cole Protocol. His other novels and more than fifty short stories have been translated into seventeen languages. Bucknell has been nominated for the Hugo, the Nebula, the Prometheus, and the Campbell Award for Best New Author. He lives with his family in Ohio.
Genevieve Valentine ’s first novel, Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti, won the 2012 Crawford Award and was nominated for the Nebula. Her short fiction has appeared in Clarkesworld, Strange Horizons, Journal of Mythic Arts, Lightspeed, and elsewhere; and have been nominated for the World Fantasy Award and the Shirley Jackson Award. Her appetite for bad movies is insatiable, a tragedy she tracks on her blog.
Django Wexler graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh with degrees in creative writing and computer science and worked for the university in artificial intelligence research. He is a self-proclaimed computer/fantasy/sci-fi geek and full-time fantasy writer. He is the author of the Shadow Campaign series and The Forbidden Library is his first novel for children.
Yoon Ha Lee is a Korean American who was born in Texas, went to high school in South Korea, and received a BA degree in mathematics from Cornell University in New York state. Among his books are Ninefox Gambit, which won the Locus Award, and Dragon Pearl, a New York Times bestseller, which won the Locus Award and the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award.
Weston Ochse (1965–2023) won the Bram Stoker Award for First Novel with Scarecrow Gods and was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for Appalachian Galapagos. He is a retired Army intelligence officer and works for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Ari Marmell is the author of the Mick Oberon urban fantasy series, the Widdershins YA fantasy series, and many others, alongside novels in Magic: the Gathering and the video game Darksiders, as well as writing for several roleplaying games.
Carrie Vaughn is the author of many novels of science fiction and fantasy, including the Kitty Norville urban werewolf series and five others series. Bannerless won the Philip K. Dick Award.
T. C. McCarthy earned a PhD from the University of Georgia before embarking on a career that gave him a unique perspective as a science fiction author. From his time as a patent examiner in complex biotechnology to his tenure with the CIA, he has studied and analyzed foreign militaries and weapons systems. He was at the CIA on September 11 and was still there when US forces invaded Afghanistan and Iraq.
Glen Cook is the author of dozens of novels of fantasy and science fiction, including The Black Company series, The Garrett Files, and The Tyranny of the Night. Cook was born in 1944 in New York City. He attended the Clarion Writers Workshop in 1970, where he met his wife, Carol. He lives in St. Louis, Missouri.
Simon Green is a British author of more than seventy novels in twelve series of science fiction, fantasy, mystery and horror, which have made the New York Times bestsellers list and have sold more than four million copies worldwide. He holds a degree in modern English and American literature from the University of Leicester.
Seanan McGuire is a Hugo, Nebula, and Locus award-winning author. The October Daye novels are her first urban fantasy series, and the InCryptid novels are her second series, both of which have put her on the New York Times bestseller list and the Hugo ballot. She is the first person to be nominated for five Hugo Awards in a single year.
Linda Nagata's work has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, John W. Campbell Memorial, and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial awards. She has won the Nebula and is a two-time winner of the Locus award. She's best known for her high-tech science fiction, including the near-future thriller, The Last Good Man, and the far-future adventure series, Inverted Frontier.
J. Paul Boehmer is an American actor best known for his numerous appearances in the Star Trek universe. Hkis audiobook narrations have garnered nine AudioFile Earphones Awards and two prestigious Audie Awards for Best Narration, besides being a finalist for the Audie Award in 2012 and 2015. Between narrations, he is active in regional theaters across the country. His television appearances include guest spots on Nip/Tuck and Numb3rs.
Gabrielle de Cuir, award-winning narrator, has narrated over three hundred titles and specializes in fantasy, humor, and titles requiring extensive foreign language and accent skills. She was a cowinner of the Audie Award for best narration in 2011 and a three-time finalist for the Audie and has garnered six AudioFile Earphones Awards. Her “velvet touch” as an actor’s director has earned her a special place in the audiobook world as the foremost producer for bestselling authors and celebrities.
Richard Gilliland is a veteran television and film actor.
Sunil Malhotra is an actor and voice artist. His film credits include Dude, Where’s the Party?, Call Center, 24, ER, Cold Case, and The West Wing. On stage, he has performed on Broadway and at East West Players. He has also worked as a writer, producer, and director, and his audiobook narrations have won three AudioFile Earphones Awards.
Arthur Morey has won three AudioFile Magazine “Best Of” Awards, and his work has garnered numerous AudioFile Earphones Awards and placed him as a finalist for two Audie Awards. He has acted in a number of productions, both off Broadway in New York and off Loop in Chicago. He graduated from Harvard and did graduate work at the University of Chicago. He has won awards for his fiction and drama, worked as an editor with several book publishers, and taught literature and writing at Northwestern University. His plays and songs have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Milan, where he has also performed.
Stefan Rudnicki first became involved with audiobooks in 1994. Now a Grammy-winning audiobook producer, he has worked on more than five thousand audiobooks as a narrator, writer, producer, or director. He has narrated more than nine hundred audiobooks. A recipient of multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards, he was presented the coveted Audie Award for solo narration in 2005, 2007, and 2014, and was named one of AudioFile’s Golden Voices in 2012.