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The Well At The World's End: Volume II
William Morris - 1896
The Magic in THE WELL AT THE WORLD'S END is that it is an image of the truth. If to love story is to love excitement, then I ought to be the greatest lover of excitement alive!" - C.S. LewisCover Illustration: Gervasio Gallardo
Poseidonis
Clark Ashton Smith - 1973
- H.P. LovecraftTable of Contents: "The Magic of Atlantis: An Introduction" (Editor)Poseidonis * Editor's Note * "The Muse of Atlantis" (prose poem) * "The Last Incantation" * "The Death of Malygris" * "Tolometh" (poem) * "The Double Shadow" * "A Voyage to Sfanomoë" * "A Vintage from Atlantis" * "Atlantis: a poem" (poem)Lemuria * Editor's Note * In Lemuria (poem) * An Offering to the Moon * The Uncharted Isle * Lemurienne (poem)Ptolemides * Editor's Note * The Epiphany of DeathOther Realms * Editor's Note * In Cocaigne (prose poem) * Symposium of the Gorgon * The Venus of Azombeii * The Isle of Saturn (poem) * The Root of Ampoi * The Invisible City * Amithaine (poem) * The Willow Landscape * The Shadows (prose poem)Cover art by Gervasio Gallardo
Red Moon and Black Mountain
Joy Chant - 1970
Science Fiction, FantasyThree children are drawn into another world where a fierce conflict for power is waging.
Land of Unreason
L. Sprague de Camp - 1942
Unfortunately - or fortunately - Fred Barber, an American diplomat convalescing in Yorkshire, didn't take the obligation with proper seriousness. He swapped the milk for a stiff dose of Scotch. So he had only himself to blame if the fairies got a bit muddled.Barber found himself in an Old English Fairyland. At the Court of King Oberon, to be precise. The natural - or supernatural - laws there were, to say the least of it, distinctly odd. Things kept changing. This made the mssion with which he was entrusted, as the price of his return to the normal world, even harder than he expected. He had to penetrate the Kobold Hills, where it was said that swords were being made, and discover if an ancient enemy had returned. He was given a magic wand - but not told how to use it. Through the fields and forests he went, meeting dryads and sprites, ogres and two-headed eagles, on the way. Danger, seduction and magic lay all around him. And, as the adventure continued, somehow it darkened and became more seriousness. At the end of Fred Barber's quest lay a shattering revelation.Land of Unreason has rightly been called "a masterpiece of adult fantasy." Now published for the first time in Britain, it has been recognised in America as a classic of the genre. Indeed it can hardly be fitted into any ordinary description. The partnership of Fletcher Pratt and L. Sprage de Camp was unique, and this is certainly their finest book - hilarious, lyrical, romantic and (in every sense) wonderful.
Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-Earth
J.R.R. Tolkien - 1980
The tales were collated and edited by JRR Tolkien’s son and literary heir, Christopher Tolkien, who provides a short commentary on each story, helping the reader to fill in the gaps and put each story into the context of the rest of his father’s writings.
Swords and Deviltry
Fritz Leiber - 1970
'The two thieves had themselves been robbed by two youths, who eyed each other suspiciously over the sprawled, senseless bodies. Fafhrd said: 'Our motives for being here seem identical.' 'Surely, they must be!' the Mouser answered curtly, fiercely eyeing his huge, potential foe.Fafhrd glanced down at the belts and money-pouches of the fallen thieves. Then he looked up at the Mouser with an honest, open, ingenuous smile. 'Sixty-sixty?' he suggested. Thus was born the most improbable relationship in the whole history of swords and sorceries.Contains:7 • Induction • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1957) • shortstory by Fritz Leiber11 • The Snow Women • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1970) • novella by Fritz Leiber91 • The Unholy Grail • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1962) • novelette by Fritz Leiber123 • Ill Met in Lankhmar • [Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser] • (1970) • novella by Fritz Leiber
Tailchaser's Song
Tad Williams - 1985
He was deep in a dream of leaping and flying when he felt an unusual tingling in his whiskers. Fritti Tailchaser, hunterchild of the Folk, came suddenly awake and sniffed the air. Ears pricked and whiskers flared straight, he sifted the evening breeze. Nothing unusual. Then what had awakened him? Pondering, he splayed his claws and began a spine-limbering stretch that finally ended at the tip of his reddish tail.”Join Tailchaser on his magical quest to rescue his catfriend Hushpad on a quest that will take him all the way to cat hell and beyond.
In Celebration of Lammas Night
Josepha ShermanNina Kiriki Hoffman - 1996
In Lammas Night a young weaver is persuaded to bide a while in a small village, to make their village spells and keep the Dark at bay. The villagers give her the house of her predecessor. Now a half-seen phantom courts her. He is either her lover for all time--or a wicked spirit's seeming, the aim of which is to entrap her in an unspeakable fate.Contents:Lammas Night by Mercedes LackeyHallowmas Night by Mercedes LackeyHarvest of Souls by Doranna DurginThe Heart of the Grove by Ardath MayharMiranda by Ru EmersonDemonheart by Mark ShepherdSunflower by Jody Lynn NyeSummer Storms by Christie GoldenA Choice of Many by Mark GarlandThe Captive Song by Josepha ShermanMidsummer Folly by Elizabeth WatersThe Mage, The Maiden and The Hag by S.M. Stirling and Jan StirlingThe Road Taken by Laura Anne GilmanA Wanderer of Wizard-kind by Nina Kiriki HoffmanCircle of Ashes by Stephanie D ShaverA Choice of Dawns by Susan SchwartzMiranda's Tale by Jason HendersonLady of the Rock by Diana L PaxsonBefore by Gael Baudino
Secret History
Brandon Sanderson - 2016
As such, it contains HUGE SPOILERS for the books Mistborn (The Final Empire), The Well of Ascension, and The Hero of Ages. It also contains very minor spoilers for the book The Bands of Mourning. Mistborn: Secret History builds upon the characterization, events, and worldbuilding of the original trilogy. Reading it without that background will be a confusing process at best. In short, this isn’t the place to start your journey into Mistborn. (Though if you have read the trilogy—but it has been a while—you should be just fine, so long as you remember the characters and the general plot of the books.) Saying anything more here risks revealing too much. Even knowledge of this story’s existence is, in a way, a spoiler. There’s always another secret.
The Prodigal Mage
Karen Miller - 2009
It has been a time of great change. But not all changes are for the best, and Asher's world is in peril once more. The weather magic that holds Lur safe is failing, and the earth feels broken to those with the power to see. Among Lur's sorcerers, only Asher has the skill to mend the antique weather map that governs the seasons, keeping the land from being crushed by natural forces. Yet, when Asher risks his life to meddle with these dangerous magics, the crisis is merely delayed, not averted. Asher's son Rafel has inherited the father's talents, but has been forbidden to use them. Many died in the last Mage War and these abilities aren't to be loosed lightly into the world. But when Asher's last desperate attempt to repair the damage leaves him on his deathbed, Rafel's powers may not be denied. For his countrymen are facing famine, devastation, and a rift in the very fabric of their land.
Sword of Ice and Other Tales of Valdemar
Mercedes LackeyMark Shepherd - 1997
Home to the Heralds and their mysterious horselike Companions, the magical Tayledras Hawk-people, and of course, the powerful gryphons, Valdemar has garnered a devoted global following. Now these 17 new tales by fantasy's greatest authors are sure to add their own chapter to the history of this enchanting land.This anthology contains:
Introduction
by Mercedes Lackey
Sunlancer
by Philip M. Austin and Mercedes Lackey
The Demon's Den
by Tanya Huff
Ironrose
by Larry Dixon and Mel. White
Babysitter
by Josepha Sherman
The Salamander
by Richard Lee Byers
A Child's Adventures
by Janni Lee Simmer
Blood Ties
by Stephanie D. Shaver
... Another Successful Experiment
by Lawrence Schimel Choice by Michelle West
Song of Valdemar
by Kristin SchwengelThe School Up the Hill by Elisabeth Waters
Chance
by Mark Shepherd
Sword of Ice
by Mercedes Lackey & John Yezeguielian
In the Forest of Sorrows
by John Heifers
Vkandis' Own
by Ben Ohlander
A Herald's Honor
by Mickey Zucker Reichert
A Song For No One's Mourning
by Gary A. Braunbeck
Blue Heart
by Philip M. Austin and Mercedes Lackey
The Ring of Five Dragons
Eric Van Lustbader - 2001
Filled with action, color, and the myriad details of another world, The Pearl is the first great fantasy series of the new millennium, set to rival Robert Jordan, David Eddings, George R. R. Martin, Terry Brooks, and Terry Goodkind in popular appeal.This astonishing first volume opens as the Kundalan people have suffered for a century under the viciously oppressive, technologically-superior V'ornn invaders. In the resulting crisis of faith -- why hasn't their goddess Miina saved them? -- Kundalan religion has fallen under the control of evil forces from within who forbid the teaching of traditional sorcery, pretending to have no magic of their own. The V'ornn's mysterious leaders, the Gyrgon, know better, and search for the lost Ring of Five Dragons, the key to the door of the fabled Kundalan Storehouse, and perhaps to Kundalan sorcery as well.But misused, the Ring is the trigger of seemingly inexorable annihilation for V'ornn and Kundalan alike. Now from among the oppressed must arise the hero of prophecy, the Dar Sala-at, who alone can wield the sorcerous power to save the world.Thus begins a huge epic rooted in the conflict between spiritual and technological cultures. The twisting plot raises difficult and provocative moral questions in the course of a constantly surprising, sometimes shocking, fantastic adventure that will transport fantasy readers to new heights of enthusiasm, and make them ask for more.
Lyra's Oxford
Philip Pullman - 2003
Lyra shelters the daemon from the pursuit of a frenzied pack of birds, and then attempts to help by guiding the daemon to the home of an alchemist living in a part of Oxford known as Jericho. The journey through Oxford reveals more dangers than Lyra had anticipated.
Into the Darkness
Harry Turtledove - 1999
As nation after nation declares war, a chain of treaties are invoked, ultimately bringing almost all the Powers of Derlavai into a war of unprecedented destructiveness.For modern magic is deadlier than in years past. Trained flocks of dragons rain explosive fire down on defenseless cities. Massed infantry race from place to place along a network of ley-lines. Rival powers harness sea leviathans to help sabotage one another's ships. The lights are going out all across Derlavai, and will not come back on in this lifetime.Against this tapestry Harry Turtledove tells the story of an enormous cast of characters: soldiers and generals, washerwomen and scholars, peasants and diplomats. For all the world, highborn and low, is being plunged by world war...into the darkness.