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Follow the map to another world . . .Two cities joined by their reflections. A realm of feathered serpents and jaguar-men. A desert where a former goddess seeks the ultimate truth. In this collection, award-winning author Marie Brennan takes you to ten different fantastical lands, including the world of her famed scholar-heroine Lady Trent. Journey with her to places rich and strange: here there be more than just dragons.

The boundless complexity of worldbuilding can create a daunting challenge for writers of science fiction and fantasy. In the third volume of the NEW WORLDS series, award-winning fantasy author and former anthropologist Marie Brennan provides not only the building blocks for creating a setting, but advice on exposition and other aspects of craft. Whether you need guidance on security or sanitation, demographics or demons or drugs, you're sure to find inspiration here.This volume collects essays from the third year of the New Worlds Patreon.

12-year-old aristo Lilah asks, Why are the kingdom's magic spells are fading? But her uncle the king only wants a stronger army. Why are the kids outside the palace gates ragged and hungry? But the king keeps raising taxes. Her older brother Peitar, the king's heir, spends more time writing mysterious letters than talking to her. And her father just wants her to learn court manners.Since everyone is ignoring her, Lilah disguises herself and slips over the walls to befriend those ragged kids. She learns that revolution is fermenting, led by the charismatic young commoner Derek. And Lilah is shocked to learn that her scholarly brother is allied with Derek.The revolution ignites into chaos and violence. Lilah and her friends are determined to help however they can. But what can four kids do? Become spies, of course! Chases and disguises, captures and trials lead to a wild climax, with Lilah right in the middle.First published by Viking, and a finalist for the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, this novel has been completely revised for the Book View Cafe edition.

THE DRAMATIC CONCLUSION TO THE LHIND YOUNG ADULT FANTASY SERIES! When Lhind's beloved Hlanan is taken by Shinjan slavers, she leaves her self-imposed exile to rush to the rescue. But first she must face a dragon, and learn world-changing truths about herself.Meanwhile, halfway across the world, imprisoned Hlanan labors to liberate fellow slaves of the evil Shinjan empire.Before they meet again, both must explore the difficult dimensions of honor, trust, and love.Failure means death. Success, bringing down two murderous tyrants-and forever changing the world.

In this sequel to Lhind the Thief, Lhind has gone from castoffs to silks, back alleys to palace halls--and is not having an easy time of it. That's before she's snatched by an angry prince she'd robbed twice, who is determined to turn her over to the enemy who frightens her most, the sinister Emperor Jardis Dhes-Andis.When her own dear Hlanan comes to rescue her, it's Lhind who has to do the rescuing, setting off a wild chase to fend off mercenaries and then to confront an entire army intent on invasion.Lhind and Hlanan try to negotiate the perilous waters of a relationship while on the run--straight into a trap.Just when Lhind is beginning to figure out where she might fit into the world, she finds herself alone again, surrounded by enemies, in one of the most dangerous courts in the world. And she begins to find out who she really is.

Lhind has been on the run all her life. Stealing what she needs, using magic for disguise, she never stays anywhere long. Lhind even has secrets from herself, for she has few memories, and those are troubling. But life is good until she gets caught by Rajanas the warrior-prince, Thianra the bard, and Hlanan the scribe. And that's when adventure begins, because someone very powerful wants them all dead. As they evade pursuit and work to uncover their enemies, Lhind struggles with the invisible bonds of friendship and trust, while Hlanan begins uncovering her secrets one by one. Then she finds that he has secrets, too. This fantasy with a dash of romance takes place in the same world as A Posse of Princesses and the Wren series.

Sherwood Smith's most popular young adult fantasy begins with Meliara and her brother vowing to free Remalna from an evil king. War is tougher than it seemed. When Meliara is caught by the enemy commander, the elegant Marquis of Shevraeth, it's escape or die. Afterward, Meliara faces a tougher challenge: the battlefield is no longer mud and steel, but palaces, the weapons manners and fans. Toughest of all is courtship, when the one who catches her heart is an enemy. Nominated for ALA/YASLA Best Books for Young Adults, on the ALA/YASLA Quick Pick List for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, and named one of NY Public Library Best Books for Teens, 1998 list. Finalist, Soaring Eagle Award (Kids 12-18 voting, Wyoming Library System) in its 16th printing.

It's 1901-a brave new century-and seventeen-year-old Grace Boisvert thinks it's high time to forget that she's a dryad; being able to talk to trees just doesn't seem very useful in the automobile age. A little hair dye to touch up her green roots, and she's off to join her best friend Alice Roosevelt for a visit to glamorous Newport, RI, with her family's warnings not to fall for any human boys ringing in her ears.As it happens, the only interesting boy in Newport, Kit Rookwood, clearly prefers Alice to her. But that changes when he and his family unexpectedly follow them to a secluded Adirondack camp to join Alice's family. Grace finds herself falling in love-and not just with the breathtaking forests.She soon has other worries besides Alice's growing jealousy. The trees whisper to her of dark, angry shadows emerging from their usual haunts high in the mountains because someone is calling them forth--but who, and why? Grace will need all of her dryad powers to avert a disaster for her friends once she finds out...but the danger for her is just beginning.

Senrid is a story of swashbuckling boys and girls, royal stakes, mysterious villains, high adventure and strange magic, in the tradition of Lloyd Alexander's Westmarkand Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief. In the novel, teen-aged king Leander Tlennen-Hess has barely ruled Vasande Leror a year when he and his step-sister Kitty (or Princess Kyale, as she wishes to be known) are surprised by two visitors. The first is an adventure-loving girl, Faline, who helps Leander defend his tiny kingdom from invasion by the menacing warrior kingdom Marloven Hess, using only imagination and a bit of magic. The second visitor is a nice, friendly boy... who asks too many questions about the recent defeat of those evil Marlovens. The nice, friendly visitor turns out to be Senrid, king of Marloven Hess. But Senrid is king in name only. His Uncle Tdanerend, the regent, holds power and Senrid must prove himself to be sufficiently strong by abducting for execution the two kids who thwarted the invasion. The only way to save them is to enter the stronghold of the enemy, in flimsy disguise...

Science fiction and fantasy are renowned for immersing their readers in rich, inventive settings. In this follow-up to the collection NEW WORLDS, YEAR ONE, award-winning fantasy author Marie Brennan guides you through new aspects of worldbuilding and how they can generate stories. From beauty to books, from tattoos to taboos, these essays delve into the complexity of different cultures, both real and imaginary, and provide invaluable advice on crafting a world of your very own.This volume collects essays from the second year of the New Worlds Patreon.

Worldbuilding is one of the great pleasures of writing science fiction and fantasy -- and also one of its greatest challenges. Award-winning fantasy author Marie Brennan draws on her academic training in anthropology to peel back the layers of a setting, going past the surface details to explore questions many authors never think to answer. She invites you to consider the endless variety of real-world cultures -- from climate to counterfeiting, from sumptuary laws to slang --and the equally endless possibilities speculative fiction has to offer.This volume collects essays from the first year of the New Worlds Patreon.

A light-hearted Regency folly, starring Miss Clarissa Harlowe who wants a quiet life-but falls in love with a smuggler, the marquess of St. Tarval. Tarval's sister, Lady Kitty, is determined to write a dramatic Gothic to save her brother's mortgaged estate-if she can reach London. Clarissa's much-pursued cousin, Mr. Philip Devereaux, is inexplicably intrigued by Lady Kitty, who is doing her best to encourage the match between him and Clarissa, except that Clarissa is now betrothed to . . . Lord Wilburfolde.And so the madness of changing partners begins in the dance of love.

Siamis said, "e;Your young friend Liere is not going to enjoy the trap she's walking into, I fear. But you figured that out, did you not? Why didn't she listen to you?"e; "e;To snap her fingers under your nose,"e; Senrid retorted. "e;Irresistible."e; Siamis smiled gently. "e;But it's going to cost."e; Fifteen-year-old Senrid is newly king of the difficult warrior kingdom Marloven Hess . . . just in time to lose it, and find himself running for his life with two kids who once were his enemies. When Senrid is captured he overhears a secret - one he can use against the enemy, if he can get to the right place at the right time. Now the enemy is from Norsunder, in the form of a charismatic, handsome man named Siamis who can read minds, and who enchants people just by talking to them. Liere has always known she was special, which just increased her loneliness and sense of isolation. She can hear others' thoughts, and she senses the real emotions below the facade. When a golden-haired man named Siamis comes to her village and enchants the entire town around her, she finds herself on the run. Liere and Senrid couldn't be more different, but their goal is the same, to locate the powerful magic that will unravel Siamis's world enchantment. Chased by powerful enemies, Liere and Senrid are tested to the max as they form an alliance of kids to aid them, and gain magical support from surprising sources. Neither ever expected to discover something even more powerful than magic: friendship. First written when Sherwood Smith was fifteen, this is the story of how Senrid and Liere first met.

Welcome back to Las Anclas, a frontier town in the post-apocalyptic Wild West. In this perilous landscape, a schoolboy can create earthquakes, poisonous cloud vipers flock in the desert skies, and the beaches are stalked by giant mind-controlling lobsters.The tyrant king Voske has been defeated, but all is not peaceful in Las Anclas. Ross's past comes back to haunt him, Jennie struggles with her new career, Mia faces her fears, Felicite resorts to desperate measures to keep her secrets, Kerry wonders if Las Anclas has really seen the last of her father, and shy Becky Callahan may hold the key to a dangerous mystery.In Rebel, long-held secrets of past and present are revealed, family ties can strangle as well as sustain, and the greatest peril threatening Las Anclas comes from inside its walls.

In March 1305, a group of Australians and Americans arrive in medieval France. To be precise, they arrive in the Languedoc, near a village called Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert.The scientists want to save the world. Dr Artemisia Wormwood wants to save her sister. If she joins the time-travellers as their historian, her pay would cover treatment that might give her sister life.Saint-Guilhem-le-Desert is a desert of souls. Village, monastery, pilgrimage path, and legend; that's all there is. Perfect for scientists who have promised their work will not interfere with history. Those scientists have nine months and a dedication that defies reason. They won't tell Artemisia about their research. They don't want to hear her explanations about the world around them and about its people. Some of the scientists don't even want her there. Who needs an historian when the village looks like a gamer's dream? The villagers are disturbed by the strangers. Most of the strangers don't really care.Prepare for a bumpy ride with bad coffee.

First published as two books--Once a Princess, and Twice a Prince--this romantic fantasy has been revised and published as one book. It is set in the same world as Crown Duel, to which Sasha's mother, Sun, was once swept away by a real prince.But not to happily ever after. Her prince vanished, and a wicked king took the throne. Since then, Sasha and Sun have been hiding on Earth, both training in martial arts until Sasha is tricked into going back to Khanerenth. She's more than ready to kick some bad-guy butt, but is the stylish pirate Zathdar the bad guy? Or artistic, dreamy Prince Jehan, son of the wicked king? Meanwhile Sun is determined to cross worlds to save her daughter. She might not have been a very good princess, but nobody messes with Mom!

The best-laid plans, even of princesses, can go awry...very, very awry.Seventeen-year-old Saraid of Thekla is on her way to marry the ruler of far-off Mauburni. But she's not sobbing into her silk-curtained litter at the thought of leaving home, because she has plans-and The Book. She's studied this ancient treatise on the art of kingship for months to make herself the ideal queen for her adopted country. Once her new husband sees that, he'll fall madly in love with her. It will all be perfect. She knows it.But The Book is silent on what to do when one's journey across a cursed desert wasteland is halted by a mysterious young warlord. Cadel has plans of his own-plans that don't include her going to Mauburni. As she begins to unravel his secrets, Saraid will have to lay aside The Book and trust her own wisdom-and her heart-to navigate the treacherous shoals of politics and power and become the queen she yearns to be.

An escaped cannibal, a family curse ... and Reginald Worcester turning up on the doorstep. Could things get any worse for the Baskerville-Smythe family?As the bodies pile up, only a detective with a rare brain - and Reggie's is so rare it's positively endangered - can even hope to solve the case. But... there is the small matter that most of the guests aren't who they say they are, the main suspect has cloven feet, and a strange mist hangs over great Grimdark Mire. Luckily the young master has Reeves, his automaton valet, and Emmeline, his suffragette fiancee, on hand to assist.REVIEWS:"e;Jeeves and Wooster meet (or run face-first into) Holmes and Watson with a touch of steampunk in the hilarious first full-length Reeves and Worcester tale ... This laugh-out-loud parody works on several levels ... With razor-sharp wit and fast pacing that plays fair with the reader, this is an excellent genre mash-up that fires on all cylinders."e; - Publishers Weekly

"A fun blend of P.G. Wodehouse, steampunk and a touch of Sherlock Holmes. Dolley is a master at capturing and blending all these elements. More than fascinating, this work is also rip-roaring fun!" - SF RevuIt's 1903. An augmented Queen Victoria sits on the throne. Automata are a common sight below stairs. And all that stands between the Empire and a touch of unpleasantness is Reginald Worcester, gentleman's consulting detective, and his automaton valet Reeves.The book contains four adventures - a short novel, two novellas and the novelette that started it all - the WSFA Award finalist, What Ho, Automaton!What Ho, Automaton!Something Rummy This way ComesReggiecideThe Aunt ParadoxImmerse yourself in mysteries that only a detective with a rare brain - and Reggie's is amongst the rarest - could possibly solve. Missing debs, stolen time machines, re-animated regicides, and Promethean pigs. But can Reggie save the day and remain single? And can the giant steam-powered brain of Reeves, his valet, continue to curb the young master's excessive flights of fancy? "Dolley got me to laugh out loud near the end. Which, frankly, is VERY hard to do. Dolley's tone is spot on Wodehouse and the steampunk elements tie into both plot and silliness admirably." - Gail Carriger, author of Soulless

New York Times bestsellerAnimals behaving badly, other people's misfortunes and the most bizarre true crime story ever. International bestseller, French Fried, is the unfortunately true account of Chris Dolley's first eight months in France and has been described as 'A Year in Provence with Miss Marple and Gerald Durrell.Just when Chris and Shelagh think nothing more could possibly go wrong, they discover that Chris's identity has been stolen and their life savings - all the money from their house sale in England that was going to finance their new life in France - had disappeared. A bank account had been opened in Chris's name in Spain to take the proceeds. Then they're abandoned by the police forces of four countries who all insist the crime belongs in someone else's jurisdiction. The French say it's an Irish crime as that's where the money was held. The Irish say it's French as that's where all the correspondence came from. The British say it's nothing to do with them even though forged British passports were used to open the bank account in Spain. And the Spanish are on holiday - and can't even think about investigating any bank account for at least four weeks. So Chris has to solve the crime himself. But unlike fictional detectives he has an 80 year-old mother-in-law and an excitable puppy who insist they come along if he's going anywhere interesting - like a stakeout.