Thomas K. Carpenter is a full-time urban fantasy / magical academy author. His bestselling, multi-series universe, The Hundred Halls, has over 30 books and counting. His books focus on fantastic families, magical academies, and epic adventures. All the books can be found at major retailers and directly from the author at https://thomaskcarpenter.com/. He lives in Buena Vista, Colorado.

Mirror Shards Vol. 2 edited by Thomas K. Carpenter

BEWARE! Between these pages, thirteen tales about augmented reality lie in wait to steal away your senses.

Go on the hunt for poachers in a dangerous mist. Use your powers of reality-shaping to steal eternal life. Create a piece of art that embodies the soul of its muse. Find love in the data-memories of a ghost. Attend to your spiritual mind while your mortal body is in danger. Follow alien ley lines on another planet searching for the truth. Remember, when you step inside these pages, use all your senses, because you never know what lurks beneath...

 

REVIEWS

  • •"The stories in this anthology all have augmented reality (AR) as a common element integral to each story. However, how each author incorporates AR into their story is as varied as the authors themselves. Carpenter has amassed a diverse collection of highly entertaining and thought provoking AR stories. Highly recommended for all sci-fi fans."

    – Reader review

  • •"With Mirror Shards, Carpenter has managed to put together a satisfying collection of science fiction writing that comprises a pleasing range of topics, ideas and literary styles. A professional and interesting anthology, it should be enjoyed by both regular readers of speculative fiction and those who like to dabble from time to time."

    – Reader review
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

From "Ghosts in the Mist" by Annie Bellet

I'd taken the job as a ranger on the planet Varuna because the Interplanetary Exploration Corps gave me no other choice if I wanted to remain employed. They'd dumped me at the station in the Chalice and somehow even with my hot temper and dislike for authority, I'd managed to stay on for half a decade.

Part of it was the Chalice itself. The valley was unique to anything anyone had found anywhere. Surrounded by an almost perfect bowl of craggy mountains, the deep crater had its own ecosystem fueled by the chemical mists that shrouded it. The Mist was produced by the fern trees but a whole world of strange creatures lived within, some, like Gaval's lemurs, were harmless. Others, like the almost mythological ghost lions, were not.

When I close my eyes, I can still see Ajax, the man who saved my life and helped make Ranger Station Northwest a home for me. His grinning face, the laugh lines deep in skin only a shade lighter brown than my own. He'd shown me how to use my Tracker Lenses, how to trust my instincts in the Mist, how to respect it without being too afraid to go into the pearlescent, alien world inside the boundaries of the Chalice.

Ajax had spent nearly fifty years as a ranger guiding scientists and researchers inside the Chalice and keeping poachers out of it. He was the only one I knew who'd seen a ghost lion and lived to talk about it. Not that he talked much. When I'd asked him what it was like, he'd just shaken his head.

"Like flying," he'd murmured with a secretive smile. "Like facing God."

When IPEC had given him notice of mandatory retirement, he refused to leave.

When they insisted, Ajax had walked into the Mist, without tracker lenses, without a filter mask. I'd searched for days, until the new station leader, a hard-ass named Leon, had grounded me pending psychiatric evaluation.

I'd found no trace of Ajax at all.

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