THE HAND OF AFAZ, by Euan Harvey Farid found the murderer huddled close to a small fire at the base of a scrawny tree. Firelight winked through the reeds, and Farid poled his raft in slowly, silent as a gar gliding through the water below. Drawing close, he slipped off his robe and slid naked […]

MONSTER IN THE MOUNTAINS, by William Gerke Head bowed, back bent, advancing step by laborious step, Gowther trudged onward even though he was nearly buried alive by snow. Makeshift snowshoes kept him from sinking completely, but it piled atop his shoulders and outstretched arms and clung to his wool cap, leather hood, and heavy scarf. […]

THE WAKING OF ANGANTYR, by Marie Brennan Hervor splashed through the cold surf onto the rocks of the beach, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder.  By now the ship would be underway again, putting out to sea as fast as it could.  How she would get off the island was a problem for […]

The Knight moved relentlessly toward the King. His Majesty was alone.  His castles gone, his rank-and-file decimated — even his Queen had been taken from him. The end was in sight. A moment’s hesitation and then . . . shah mat! The game was over. “Your mother was a jackal, Tulun,” Abbas Bedvian said. He […]

Golorus von Zekwit, last surviving member of the Most Catholic Order of the Claws and probably the last dragon slayer in existence, stared at the crude map, glancing up with a furrow of a white brow to take in the sight of the town. The term ‘town’ was, in his opinion, abundantly generous. A handful […]