Otah, Khai of the Winter City of Machi, has tried for years to prepare his people for a future in which the andat can no longer be safely harnessed. But his warnings have been ignored, and now it's too late. A ruthless, charismatic Galtic general believes he has found a way to strip the andat of their power. If he is wrong, Galt will be destroyed. If he is right, the Khaiem will fall. Only one thing is certain: conflict is inevitable, and Otah and his old friend and enemy the disgraced poet, Maati, must fight a desperate battle to protect their cities from slaughter. These two men, bound together by shadow and betrayal, will bring the world to the edge of a cataclysm unlike anything either side had imagined. For if the cost of war is high, the price of peace may be unimaginable ...

    “The Death of Aiguillon” finds Aliette de Bodard exploring an episode sixty years prior to the start of her latest novel, The House of Shattered Wings, in which the survivors of an ongoing magical conflict in Paris eke out a grim existence, and one woman’s wish for a better life is granted at a terrible price.And in “One Hundred Ablutions,” Jacqueline Carey, author of the much-beloved Kushiel’s Legacy series, tells the tale of Dala—a young woman chosen by her people’s overlords to be an exalted slave among slaves—and of the twining in her life of ritual, rebellion, and redemption.

    Reprint.

    Planeswalker: The war between Urza and Mishra is over. Brooding on the death of his brother at the hands of extraplanar forces, Urza drifts among the planes. But the end of the Brother’s War has transformed him into something greater. Deep within his heart, a spark has been kindled to a flame that cannot be quenched. Urza has become a planeswalker.Time Streams: Urza must enlist the most brilliant minds in the multiverse to defend against the imminent Phyrexian invasion.Bloodlines: Time is short in the race to find the one who will wield the power of the Legacy. Conflict and power struggles abound as a plot to Kill Urza unfolds.

    Inscribed runes spelled out a promise beyond belief. The Key To Paradise. A promise and a quest. Giles Grimsmate, world-wandering survivor of the Trans wars, had won it fairly in a game of chance. The second key - along with a goodly haul of coin - had been stolen from a rich merchant by Keja Tchurak, master thief. And when they set out for the invisible Gates of Paradise, Petia, half-cat, half-woman, tracked them with silent night-skills. Yet to enter Paradise, three keys more were needed: The Flame Key, watched over by a cave-dwelling fire sorceress. The Key of the Skeleton Lord, devil-guarded in a desert place of scorpions and snakes. The Key of Ice and Steel, fast-locked in an underground smithy, protected by a frozen demon-prowled maze. Five keys, scattered throughout a realm of supernatural happenings, strange creatures and otherworldly powers:

    Their only chance of survival is to retrieve a lost artifact, the legendary Solland Runfang.

    From the princess who renounces her royal blood to become a bard able to sing elemental magic, to the twin assassins Bannon and Vree caught up in a magical trap they may not survive, these unforgettable characters make both novels thrilling adventure and the most intriguing kind of fantasy.

    By asking the simple question, What if magic were a finite resource?, Niven brought to life a mesmerizing world of wonder and loss, of hope and despair. The success of his first story collection, The Magic Goes Away, birthed two sequel anthologies, The Magic May Return and More Magic. All three volumes are collected here for the first time, with stories by Niven himself, as well as contributions by such luminaries of fantasy as Roger Zelazny, Fred Saberhagen, Steven Barnes, and Poul Anderson. Featuring a brand-new introduction by Larry Niven, The Magic Goes Away Collection gives readers insight into the breathtaking world of Niven and Jerry Pournelle's The Burning City and Burning Tower and stands on its own as a landmark in fantasy fiction

    Comic-book artist Gil Kane illustrates Richard Wagner's four Ring operas in a graphic style which makes music all its own.