Jacob took another drink, straining the sediment out with his teeth. He didn’t turn. A little commotion was nothing new from a whorehouse, and Miss Catherine had plenty of militia boys to handle any rough stuff.

Then came the gunshots.

The first muffled crack whipped Jacob’s head around. By the second, he was out the door.

Jacob Weintraub appears in the short story ‘Guns at the Hellroad’ by James L. Sutter published inThe New Hero: Vol 2.

James L. Sutter is the author of the novel Death’s Heretic, as well more than twenty-five short stories for such publications as Apex Magazine, Black Gate, and the #1 Amazon bestseller Machine of Death. His anthology Before They Were Giants pairs the first published stories of such SF luminaries as Larry Niven, William Gibson, Cory Doctorow, and China Miéville with new interviews and writing advice from the authors themselves. In addition, James has written numerous roleplaying game supplements and is the Fiction Editor for Paizo Publishing, creators of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. For more information, check out jameslsutter.com.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

The bullets stopped. All I heard was the stomping of boots and the low groan of someone who hadn’t managed to get out of the way of all that lead.

“Moira Erdini!” someone said. “Come on out! You are under arrest!”

 I goggled at Moira. “What did you do?” I wasn’t asking about her knife.

“I’m in serious trouble, Max,” she whispered as she turned toward me. “You can’t let them take me.”

I’ve seen Moira face down a vampire. I watched her spit in every one of a hydra’s faces. I’d never seen her so scared.

Max and Moira appear in the short story ‘Friends Like These’ by Matt Forbeck, published in The New Hero: Vol 2.

Matt Forbeck has been a full-time creator of award-winning games and fiction since 1989. He has designed collectible card games, roleplaying games, miniatures games, board games, and toys, and has written novels, short fiction, comic books, motion comics, nonfiction, magazine articles, and computer game scripts and stories for companies including Angry Robot, ArenaNet, Del Rey, Adams Media, Simon & Schuster, Atari, Tor.com, Boom! Studios, Ubisoft, Wizards of the Coast, Games Workshop, WizKids, Mattel, IDW, Image Comics, and Playmates Toys. His latest novels — the critically acclaimed science fiction thriller Amortals and urban fantasy Vegas Knights — are on sale now, and his next one, Carpathia, ships in March. For more about him and his work, visit Forbeck.com.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

Lug dragged his gaze back to the edge of the wood. ‘What— who are you?’

‘A traveller. A friend. I want you to get behind me. Move slowly. Don’t stop looking at it. Then move as I move.’

‘What if it attacks?’

‘Do as I say!’ and Lug did, unable to refuse the command. The speaker was half a foot taller than him, the side and back of his head hidden by the hood of his studded leather cloak. He carried a heavy pack on his back. One hand rested inside the cloak, probably on a weapon. The rest of the details were lost in the twilight.

The Pilgrim Stranger appears in the short story ‘Alms and the Beast’ by James Wallis, published in The New Hero: Vol 2.

James Wallis is a games designer and author with fourteen books under his belt. He’s best known as the founder/director of Hogshead Publishing Ltd, the largest publisher of role-playing games in the UK in the 1990s, but he’s also been a TV presenter, magazine editor and Sunday Times journalist, a university lecturer and an award-winning graphic designer. Previous fiction includes titles for the Black Library, Puffin Books and Virgin Publishing, and his game designs include the storytelling games Once Upon a Time and The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen. These days he runs the games consultancy Spaaace and lives in London with his wife and 1d4-1 children. You can read about James’ New Hero here.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.

“Shut the door, Arthur,” Mrs. Simons told me. I just stared at her like some bumpkin getting his first look at the city. It weren’t what she wore so much as who was going to be wearing her, something I could tell at a glance…it wasn’t the suit she got on, that could be for any one of them, it was the stovepipe hat on the table, and the tinted glasses like the lifeguards wear down at Coney.

“That’s, uh, he, uh,” I stammered…she had warned me if I ever seen her in specs like that to book it away from her, and if the hat was on to book it double-time…bitter as he likely is on her, he’s got even more cause to do me some mischief.

Claire Simons and Arthur ‘Weegee’ Fellig appear in the short story ‘Saturday’s Children’ by Jesse Bullington, published in The New Hero: Vol 2.

Jesse Bullington spent the bulk of his formative years in rural Pennsylvania, the Netherlands, and Tallahassee, Florida. He is the author of the novels The Sad Tale of the Brothers Grossbart and The Enterprise of Death, and his short fiction and articles have appeared in numerous magazines, anthologies, and websites. He currently resides in Colorado, and can be found online at www.jessebullington.com.

All New Hero artwork by Gene Ha.

The Stone Skin Press Kickstarter and more information can be found here.