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Fantasy Imprint
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Story marries style. The result is a cornucopia of modern cutting-edge fantasy. The second volume of this extraordinary new annual anthology series of fantastic literature dares to surpass the first, with works that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the manner in which they cross genre boundaries, that aren't afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques, and yet seamlessly blend form with meaningful function. The effervescent offerings found within these pages come from some of today's most distinguished contemporary fantasists and brilliant rising newcomers. Whether it's a touch of literary erudition, playful whimsy, extravagant style, or mind-blowing philosophical speculation and insight, the reader will be led into unfamiliar territory, there to find shock and delight. Presenting Clockwork Phoenix 2.
"Allen finds his groove for this second annual anthology of weird stories, selecting 16 wonderfully evocative, well-written tales... Each story fits neatly alongside the next, and the diversity of topics, perspectives and authors makes this cosmopolitan anthology a winner."
Contributors in this volume include: Claude Lalumiere, Leah Bobet, Marie Brennan, Ian McHugh, Ann Leckie, Mary Robinette Kowal, Saladin Ahmed, Tanith Lee, Joanna Galbraith, Catherynne M. Valente, Forrest Aguirre, Gemma Files and Stephen J. Barringer, Kelly Barnhill, Barbara Krasnoff, and Steve Rasnic Tem
Introduction by Mike Allen
Submission Guidelines
Introduction by Gene Wolfe
You are familiar with the salt of the earth. But did you know there is an even finer, more delicate essence?
Take wisdom and imagination, responsibility and beauty, and mix them together in arcane proportions to form a rich and peculiar brine. The resulting water of life is an emotional muddy liquid, filled with existential sediment swirling in the light of secret reality and reflecting prismatic colors of hope and wonder. If allowed to evaporate—escape, flee, ascend into the ether and join the music of the spheres—what remains is the quintessence; a precious concentrate that is elusive and volatile, neither fully solid nor so illusory as to be devoid of pithy substance. It is the Salt of the Air.
In this debut collection from the critically acclaimed author of Dreams of the Compass Rose and Lords of Rainbow, the nineteen stories are distillations of myth and philosophy, eroticism and ascetic purity. Dipping into an ancient multi-ethnic well, they are the stuff of fantasy—of maidens and deities and senior retirees, of emperors and artists and con artists, of warriors and librarians, of beings without a name and things very fey indeed.... Don't be afraid of ingesting ethereal salt. Open your mind and inhale.
"Cautionary, sensual stories of love, reversal and revenge upend fairy tale conventions in Nazarian's lush collection... Sumptuous detail, twisty plots and surprising endings lift these extravagant tales."
"These are beautiful, haunting confections, reminiscent of Tanith Lee's erotically charged tales... Fine shades of emotion, mythic grandeur, crystalline prose, sharp revisionist intelligence: these are Vera Nazarian's hallmarks..."
Vera Nazarian immigrated to the USA from the former USSR as a kid, sold her first story at the age of 17, and since then has published numerous works in anthologies and magazines, and has seen her fiction translated into eight languages. She made her novelist debut with the critically acclaimed novel Dreams of the Compass Rose, followed by epic fantasy about a world without color, Lords of Rainbow. Her novella The Clock King and the Queen of the Hourglass with an introduction by Charles de Lint made the Locus Recommended Reading List for 2005. This first collection Salt of the Air, with an introduction by Gene Wolfe, contains the 2007 Nebula Award-nominated "The Story of Love." Recent work includes the 2008 Nebula Award-nominated, baroque novella The Duke in His Castle. Ancient myth, moral fables, eclectic philosophy, and her Armenian and Russian ethnic heritage play a strong part in all her work, combining the essences of things and places long gone into a rich evocation of wonder. In addition to being a writer and award-winning artist, she is also the publisher of Norilana Books. Official website: www.veranazarian.com
Cover artwork:
and Other Far Eastern Tales of Whimsy and Malice by Eugie Foster Introduction by Vonda N. McIntyre
Enchantment, peril and romance pervade the shadowy Far East, from the elegant throne room of the emperor's palace to the humble teahouse of a peasant village. In these dozen stories of adventure and magic from the Orient, a maiden encounters an oni demon in the forest, a bride discovers her mother-in-law is a fox woman, a samurai must appease his sister's angry ghost, strange luck is found in a jade locket, and dark and light are two sides of harmony.
A striking debut collection from Eugie Foster.
"Whimsy and malice—yes—also mystery, a very female sensuality, and wit. An elegant and entertaining book."
"The tales are beautifully written, elegant, passionate, funny, and moving. The entire collection is a delightful, magical bridge across cultures. I hope many readers find their way to it."
"Noted short story author Foster offers a dozen enchanting and sometimes chilling tales alive with elegantly sketched characters and sensibilities drawn from Asian folklore . . . Readers who long for a break from European medieval fantasy will be charmed and entertained by Foster's tales."
Eugie Foster calls home a mildly haunted, fey-infested house in metro Atlanta that she shares with her husband, Matthew, and her pet skunk, Hobkin. After receiving her master's degree in Psychology, she retired from academia and became a corporate computer drone. When her company asked her to leave the phantoms and fairies in the South and return to the dead-cold lands of the Midwest, she said "no" and retreated to her library to pen flights of fancy. Eugie's fiction has been translated into Greek, Hungarian, Polish, and French; received the Phobos Award; and been nominated for the British Fantasy, Bram Stoker, and Pushcart awards. Her publication credits number over 100 and include stories in Realms of Fantasy, Interzone, Cricket, Cicada, Fantasy Magazine, Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, Jim Baen's Universe, and anthologies Best New Fantasy (Prime Books), Heroes in Training (DAW Books), Magic in the Mirrorstone (Mirrorstone Books), and Best New Romantic Fantasy 2 (Juno Books). Visit her online at www.EugieFoster.com.
Cover artwork:
Sword And Sorceress XXIII edited by Elisabeth Waters
Women of Power and Enchantment . . . For over two decades, the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, best-selling and beloved author, discovered and nurtured a grand generation of popular and acclaimed writers including Mercedes Lackey (who returns to grace our pages this year), Jennifer Roberson, and a host of others. Authors who have appeared within the pages of Sword and Sorceress represent the full spectrum of some of the brightest talent working today—from C.J. Cherryh, Charles de Lint, and Emma Bull . . . to Deborah J. Ross, Diana L. Paxson, and Laurell K. Hamilton. We are proud to continue the classic and vibrant feminist tradition with this twenty-third volume of new magical adventures edited by Elisabeth Waters, secretary and co-editor to Mrs. Bradley. Here are nineteen original stories of powerful women, swashbuckling and magic, spells and duels, arcane sorcery and heroic sacrifice, written by familiar spell-casters of wonder and bright newcomers who are sure to become favorites. Enter a wondrous universe . . . Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Sword and Sorceress
Introduction by Elisabeth Waters
You hold in your hands a cornucopia of modern cutting-edge fantasy. The first volume of this extraordinary new annual anthology series of fantastic literature explodes on the scene with works that sidestep expectations in beautiful and unsettling ways, that surprise with their settings and startle with the manner in which they cross genre boundaries, that aren't afraid to experiment with storytelling techniques, and yet seamlessly blend form with meaningful function. The delectable offerings found within these pages come from some of today's most distinguished contemporary fantasists and brilliant rising newcomers. Whether it's a touch of literary erudition, playful whimsy, extravagant style, or mind-blowing philosophical speculation and insight, the reader will be led into unfamiliar territory, there to find shock and delight. Introducing Clockwork Phoenix.
"Author and editor Allen (Mythic) has compiled a neatly packaged set of short stories that flow cleverly and seamlessly from one inspiration to another.... Lush descriptions and exotic imagery startle, engross, chill and electrify the reader, and all 19 stories have a strong and delicious taste of weird."
Introduction by Mike Allen
Submission Guidelines
The Duke In His Castle by Nebula Award-nominated author and award-winning artist Vera Nazarian is a dark, lush, erotic fantasy novella in the vein of Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast, with interior illustrations by the author. And now, a 2008 Nebula Award Finalist. Rossian, the young Duke of Violet, wastes away in mad solitude, unable to leave the confines of his decadent castle grounds because of a mysterious invisible barrier...until a strange female intruder arrives at the castle bearing a box of bones.
"Vera Nazarian combines the wry and poignant charm of Hans Christian Andersen with the subversive wallop of Angela Carter in crafting this gem of a fairy tale. No longer merely a promising writer, Nazarian has arrived."
"Vera Nazarian is a writer seemingly so full of story that it just comes bubbling uncontrollably out of her... The Duke in his Castle shows her at the peak of her form in a deceptively simple tale that probes the nature of life and death, of power and succumbing, and ultimately of good and both the evils-active evil and the evil born from apathy."
"Vera Nazarian's superb novella The Duke in His Castle uses the form of a classic fairy tale or fable to explore the psychology of good, evil, ennui, and despair in terms that are anything but black and white.... a sequence of moving, disturbing, sensual dialogs and encounters that change the very concept of power, from the acts of gods or great mages to something more subtle that may lie within human grasp."
"The Duke in His Castle is philosophy couched in a fairy tale couched in a murder mystery tinged with children's games. It's a kaleidoscope of thought and emotion, the howling winds of despair, and the sometimes soft, sometimes fierce flow of life. Not only is it quickly absorbing and a quick read, but it sits up and begs for repeat visits..."
Sword And Sorceress XXII edited by Elisabeth Waters
For over two decades, the late Marion Zimmer Bradley, best-selling and beloved author, discovered and nurtured a grand generation of popular and acclaimed authors including Mercedes Lackey, Jennifer Roberson, and a host of others. Authors who have appeared within the pages of Sword and Sorceress represent the full spectrum of some of the brightest talent working today—from C.J. Cherryh, Charles de Lint, and Emma Bull . . . to Laurell K. Hamilton, Diana L. Paxson, and. Deborah J. Ross. We are proud to continue the classic and vibrant feminist tradition with this new volume, edited by Elisabeth Waters, secretary and co-editor to Mrs. Bradley. Here are sixteen original stories of powerful women, swashbuckling and magic, spells and duels, arcane sorcery and heroic sacrifice, written by familiar spell-weavers of adventure and bright newcomers who are sure to become favorites. Enter a wondrous universe . . . Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress
"From Esther M. Friesner's heartfelt tale of a woman's choice to do right rather than uphold tradition . . . to Sarah Dozier's fiction debut about a unique way to end a war . . . these 16 original stories demonstrate the unending variety of tales featuring women of might and magic . . . this well-balanced anthology edited by the late Marion Zimmer Bradley's longtime associate Waters belongs in most libraries."
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