THE WAILING KEEP, by Tim Hanlon, artwork by Miguel Santos Foscari the Gate-Keep swung from the straw pallet in the corner of his room and stood. Naked, he limped to the door and opened it to the tumult around the Merchant Baldovinetti’s compound. Riders crashed through the gates and shouts crested the high walls. Foscari, scratching […]

THE PHYSICIAN’S TALE, by Jonathan Duckworth, artwork by Gary McClusky   ONE   JORGOS Jorgos of Kandreva could barely move his fingers, partly from the unseasonable cold, partly from fear. The tropadoro’s lute was an onerous weight in his trembling arms. The three Blighted looked down on him, pallid faces split with horrid grins, eyes […]

THE SCEPTER OF ARAM NAZHAR, by Dariel R. A. Quiogue, artwork by Simon Walpole There is nothing like a beautiful day at sea to assuage an old man’s misery. I sat on my usual perch at the prow, watching the dolphins gamboling in our bow wave and basking in the welcome heat of the sun, […]

CITY OF DREADFUL LIGHT, by James Enge, artwork by Miguel Santos “I will tell you a secret. There is a wisdom lies beyond the moon, and it is because of this that the stars are glad and admirable.” “That appears to me to be nonsense.” —Cabell, Domnei   Morlock knew a drunk when he saw […]

DISCORDANT FACTIONS, by Howard Andrew Jones (Excerpted from Book 3 of The Chronicles of Hanuvar, Shadow of the Smoking Mountain, coming from Baen October 2024) When their walls were breached at last, the people of Volanus fought block by block, house by house, until most fell with sword in hand. Only a thousand or so […]