THE BARONESS DREFELIN, by David Pilling: The knight’s name was Brian Fitz-Count, and every step of his horse was taking him farther away from where he wanted to be. Or, to be more precise, the person he wanted to be with. The Queen of England haunted his waking moments and stalked his dreams, so he […]

THE DOME OF FLORENCE, by Richard Marsden: Mahir had to admit to himself The Dome of Florence, even though incomplete, was easily the largest building he had ever encountered. The dome’s arcing columns of slate-gray stone towered over the red-tiled roofs of every building in the city. Even Florence’s impressive walls, designed to fend off […]

LORD OF THE BRASS HOST, by Dariel Quiogue: In the stillness of a moonless night, the final sounds of picks breaking through stone sounded as loud as armies.  Five grave robbers knelt muttering eagerly around the hole they had made through the roof of a buried tomb, shining torches into the yawning vault below.  Glints […]

THE LAST FREE BEAR, by J.S. Bangs: The white bear stalked Tupiak across the ice, just as Tupiak stalked the twisted men. He did not see the bear except once or twice, a long ways off, as an ivory‑colored shape in the snow. The path of the twisted men ran in a straight line to […]

SHATTERING THE SPEAR, by P. Djeli Clark: Msizi clutched the leather straps, holding on for life as the great umkhombe thundered across the plain. Its powerful hooves broke dry and cracked soil, sending up billows of red dust in its wake. Umkhombe were familiar in his homeland, quick to anger and always in a foul […]