Stand-Alone Books

Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Max Gladstone weaves American myths- the muscle car, the open road, the white-hatted cowboy- into a deeply emotional tale.

When Zelda and her friends first met, in college, they believed they had all the answers. They had figured out a big secret about how the world worked and they thought that meant they could change things. They failed. One of their own fell, to darkness and rot.

Ten years later, they’ve drifted apart, building lives for themselves, families, fortunes. All but Zelda. She’s still wandering the backroads of the nation. She’s still fighting monsters. She knows: the past isn’t over. It’s not even past. The road’s still there. The rot’s still waiting. They can’t hide from it anymore. Because, at long last, their friend is coming home. And hell is coming with her.

Wildly successful entrepreneur Vivian Liao is prone to radical thinking, quick decision-making, and reckless action—until on the eve of her greatest achievement, she disappears, going deep undercover to outrun sinister forces out to steal everything she has built.

In the chilly darkness of a Boston server farm, Viv sets her ultimate plan into motion. A terrifying instant later, Vivian Liao is catapulted through space and time to a far future where she confronts a destiny stranger and more deadly than she could ever imagine.

The end of time is ruled by an ancient, powerful Empress who blesses or blasts entire planets with a single thought. Rebellion is literally impossible to consider—until Vivian Liao arrives. Trapped between the Pride—a ravening horde of sentient machines—and a fanatical sect of warrior monks who call themselves the Mirrorfaith, Viv must rally a strange group of allies to confront the Empress and find a way back to the world and life she left behind.