Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy


J.Y. Yang - 2019
    Ten years later, she’s built herself a new life, but all that is threatened when Mirror Boy returns, warning of danger. A hunter has come for both of them, and unless Lynette can figure out what’s going on, they will both perish.Read JY Yang's Tor.com Original short story, Circus Girl, The Hunter, and Mirror Boy.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Radiant Darkness


Emily Whitman - 2009
    "Hello."It's a deep voice. I can feel it reverberate in my chest and echo all the way down to my toes.I know I should leave, but I don't want to. I want to keep my senses like this forever. I'm all eye, all ear, all skin.Persephone lives in the most gorgeous place in the world. But her mother's a goddess, as overprotective as she is powerful. Paradise has become a trap. Just when Persephone feels there's no chance of escaping the life that's been planned for her, a mysterious stranger arrives. A stranger who promises something more—something dangerous and exciting—something that spurs Persephone to make a daring choice. A choice that could destroy all she's come to love, even the earth itself.In a land where a singing river can make you forget your very name, Persephone is forced to discover who—and what—she really is.

The Time Invariance of Snow


E. Lily Yu - 2019
    A physicist broke it and shards fall through reality and changed everything forever in this sci-fi space opera, The Time Invariance of Snow, a Tor.com Original short story from E. Lily Yu.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Night's Slow Poison


Ann Leckie - 2012
    “Night’s Slow Poison” is from the same setting as Ancillary Justice, and tells a rich, claustrophobic story of a galactic voyage that forces one guardsmen to confront his uneasy family history through the lens of a passenger with his lost lover’s eyes.

The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere


John Chu - 2013
    This makes life difficult for Matt as he maneuvers the marriage question with his lover and how best to "come out" to his traditional Chinese parents.This story is also included in Some of the Best From Tor.com, 2013 Edition: A Tor.Com Original

The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince


Robin Hobb - 2013
    Now the truth behind the story is revealed through the account of Felicity, a low-born companion of the Princess Caution at Buckkeep.With Felicity by her side, Caution grows into a headstrong Queen-in-Waiting. But when Caution gives birth to a bastard son who shares the piebald markings of his father's horse, Felicity is the one who raises him. And as the prince comes to power, political intrigue sparks dangerous whispers about the Wit that will change the kingdom forever...

Helen of Sparta


Amalia Carosella - 2015
    These dreams foretold impending war—a war that only Helen has the power to avert. To do so, she must defy her family and betray her betrothed by fleeing the palace in the dead of night. In need of protection, she finds shelter and comfort in the arms of Theseus, son of Poseidon. With Theseus at her side, she believes she can escape her destiny. But at every turn, new dangers—violence, betrayal, extortion, threat of war—thwart Helen’s plans and bar her path. Still, she refuses to bend to the will of the gods.A new take on an ancient myth, Helen of Sparta is the story of one woman determined to decide her own fate.The sequel to Helen of Sparta will be published by Lake Union Publishing in June 2016.

The Witch Sea


Sarah Diemer - 2012
    Upon the distant shore prowls an ancient sea god kept captive by a generations-old spell, a spell that Meriel alone must protect.Meriel's life has been lonely and unchanging--until the arrival of Nor. Nor's shape is that of a woman, but her heart belongs to the sea. Even though Nor is also held captive by Meriel's spell, she shows kindness to the isolated witch. Nor sparks a passion within Meriel, defying every law that binds them both.This award-winning short story ("The Witch Sea" won first place in the "Kissed by Venus" Fresh Voices short story competition) is a dark fantasy tale of love, loss and the price of freedom.

Wonders of the Invisible World


Patricia A. McKillip - 2012
    There are princesses dancing with dead suitors, a knight in love with an official of exotic lineage, and fortune’s fool stealing into the present instead of the future. In one mesmerizing tale, a time-traveling angel is forbidden to intervene in Cotton Mather’s religious ravings, while another narrative finds a wizard seduced in his youth by the Faerie Queen and returning the treasure that is rightfully hers. Bewitching, bittersweet, and deeply intoxicating, this collection draws elements from the fables of history and re-creates them in startlingly magical ways.

The Empress of Salt and Fortune


Nghi Vo - 2020
    Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She's a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.Librarian Note: Older cover of B07VH6Y4JD.

The Terracotta Bride


Zen Cho - 2011
     In the tenth court of hell, spirits wealthy enough to bribe the bureaucrats of the underworld can avoid both the torments of hell and the irreversible change of reincarnation. It's a comfortable undeath … even for Siew Tsin. She didn't choose to be married to the richest man in hell, but she's reconciled. Until her husband brings home a new bride. Yonghua is an artificial woman crafted from terracotta. What she is may change hell for good. Who she is will transform Siew Tsin. And as they grow closer, the mystery of Yonghua's creation will draw Siew Tsin into a conspiracy where the stakes are eternal life – or a very final death. THE TERRACOTTA BRIDE is an 11,000-word standalone fantasy novelette.

As the Last I May Know


S.L. Huang - 2019
    An alternate history short story looking at decisions and consequences, and what it takes to pull the trigger.Winner of the 2020 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.

The Story of Kao Yu


Peter S. Beagle - 2016
    The story of an ageing judge traveling through rural China and of a criminal he encounters.

The Pauper Prince and the Eucalyptus Jinn


Usman T. Malik - 2015
    Malik is a fantasy novella about a disenchanted young Pakistani professor who grew up and lives in the United States, but is haunted by the magical, mystical tales his grandfather told him of a princess and a Jinn who lived in Lahore when the grandfather was a boy.

The Brides of Rollrock Island


Margo Lanagan - 2009
    Life is hard for the families who must wring a poor living from the stormy seas. But Rollrock is also a place of magic - the scary, salty-real sort of magic that changes lives forever. Down on the windswept beach, where the seals lie in herds, the outcast sea witch Misskaella casts her spells - and brings forth girls from the sea - girls with long, pale limbs and faces of haunting innocence and loveliness - the most enchantingly lovely girls the fishermen of Rollrock have ever seen.But magic always has its price. A fisherman may have and hold a sea bride, and tell himself that he is her master. But from his first look into those wide, questioning, liquid eyes, he will be just as transformed as she is. He will be equally ensnared. And in the end the witch will always have her payment.Margo Lanagan has written an extraordinary tale of desire, despair and transformation. In devastatingly beautiful prose, she reveals unforgettable characters capable of unspeakable cruelty - and deep unspoken love. After reading about the Rollrock fishermen and their sea brides, the world will not seem the same.