Epic Sword Sorcery

He was Tiger, born of the desert winds, raised as a slave and winning his freedom by weaving a special kind of magic with a warrior's skill. Now he was an almost legendary sword-dancer, ready to take on any challenge - if the price was right…or if the woman pretty enough. She was Del, born of ice and storm, trained by the greatest of Northern sword masters. Now, her ritual training completed and steeped in the special magic of her own rune sword, she had come South in search of the young brother stolen five years before.

Dragons once soared in the skies, but that was before the Transformation, before they took human form. Now, demonic forces stand to obliterate them. When left mortally wounded, Darnuir, the Prince of Dragons, can only be saved through a dangerous rebirthing spell. He is left as a babe in human hands. Twenty years later, Darnuir is of age to wield the Dragon's Blade. As the last member of his bloodline, he is the only one who can. He is plunged into a role he is not prepared for, to lead a people he does not know.

The Wizard's Council of Tarador was supposed to tell young Koren Bladewell that he is a wizard. They were supposed to tell everyone that he is not a jinx, that all the bad things that happen around him are because he can't control the power inside him, power he doesn't know about. The people of his village, even his parents, are afraid of him, afraid he is cursed. That he is a dangerous, evil jinx.

Kyrus had lived a quiet life as a scribe until his dreams begin seeping into his waking life. Fanciful tales of magic and battle turn out to be real. In his sleep, he witnesses the adventures of his twin. Kyrus is swept up in the intrigues of those who already know of this connection between worlds. As his knowledge of the two worlds grows, so does his entanglement in the intrigues between them. Kyrus discovers friends, lovers, and adversaries among the twinborn. His knowledge of magic grows until he becomes a valuable pawn for masterminds of plots that threaten empires.

In The Book of Swords, acclaimed editor and best-selling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters - many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do.

Contains The Expansion (book one) and The Upheaval (book two) of the Legend of the Arch Magus series. An Arch Magus dies, only to find himself in the body of a young man in a medieval kingdom. He finds out that he is the second son of a Duke, exiled to a desolated town by his own family. Shackled by the notorious reputation of his new shell, he tries his best to develop his domain, implementing new policies and innovations, leading his subjects to prosperity. In this world where magic is undeveloped, he shall once again pave a new path.

Corin Cadence finally has a firm reason to believe his brother, Tristan, is still alive. Unfortunately, finding more information isn’t going to be easy. Tristan appears to be entangled with a clandestine organization that calls themselves Whispers. And Corin’s last brush with the Whispers didn’t exactly end well. As much as he wants to follow that lead, Corin has more pressing problems to deal with.

Six years have passed since Hualiama and Grandion defied the Island-World's most sacred law. They burned the heavens together as rider and dragon. For his crime, Grandion the Tourmaline dragon suffered exile and imprisonment. The dragons forced Hualiama to forget her past. Now the suns must set upon the age of the ancient dragons. Amaryllion Fireborn, last of his kind, bequeaths Hualiama an astonishing legacy.

Holt Cook was never meant to be a dragon rider. He has always served the Order Hall of the Crag dutifully, keeping their kitchen pots clean. Until he discovers a dark secret: dragons do not tolerate weakness among their kin, killing the young they deem flawed. Moved by pity, Holt defies the Order, rescues a doomed egg and vows to protect the blind dragon within.

Mankind has lorded over the land of Illian for a thousand years, building on the ruins left by the elves, as if it were their birthright. A thousand years is a long time for an immortal race to see the truth of things, a truth that has remained unsaid for a millennium - elves are superior. They are faster, stronger, and connected to the magical realm in a way that man could never grasp. Illian should belong to them.

They burned her home. They stole her brother and sister. But vengeance is following. Shy South hoped to bury her bloody past and ride away smiling, but she'll have to sharpen up some bad old ways to get her family back, and she's not a woman to flinch from what needs doing. She sets off in pursuit with only a pair of oxen and her cowardly old step father Lamb for company. But it turns out Lamb's buried a bloody past of his own. And out in the lawless Far Country the past never stays buried.

This collection contains all of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Cimmerian stories published during his lifetime, contextualized with biographical details of their author.

Koren Bladewell now knows he is a wizard, but he is lost in the wilderness, cut off from help, and unable to use his powers. The enemy is poised at the border with an overwhelming invasion force, and it will take wizards, soldiers and a young, untested princess to hold off defeat long enough for Koren to be trained and grow into his power. But he might not wish to help those who deceived him and destroyed his life.

In the ancient city of Lankhmar, two men forge a friendship in battle. The red-haired barbarian Fafhrd left the snowy reaches of Nehwon looking for a new life, while the Gray Mouser, apprentice magician, fled after finding his master dead. These bawdy brothers-in-arms cement a friendship that leads them through the wilds of Nehwon facing thieves, wizards, princesses, and the depths of their desires and fears.

When left for dead, a relentless warrior named Venir rises again to roam the Outlands, protecting helpless denizens from a bloodthirsty magic-wielding subterranean race set on world domination. Led by two omnipotent wizards, the insidious underlings gather an invincible army of slayers called the Badoon to destroy the scourge Venir has become. Seeking refuge in the City of Bone from a battle torn campaign, Venir's visit is short lived after he crosses the diabolical ruling class of Royals who put a price on his head.

Rezkin is an elite warrior who aims to restore order in Ashai after Caydean's attack on the King's Tournament transformed former allies and trading partners into enemies. With no army and only a ragtag group of refugees, Rezkin must wrest control of the kingdom from the mad and powerful usurper, who seems bent on destruction, and this may not be the biggest challenge. If he fails, the kingdom will be ripped apart, and Rezkin will have violated Rule 1 - to protect and honor his friends.

After uniting the bandit clans, the Iron Tusk has swept into Shengen and taken control of the empire. With an army behind him, he marches along the Skull Road, ready to lay waste to the lands in the west. The rag-tag defenders of Dunrun are all that stand in his way. With their country besieged on all sides, troubling rumors of a priestess amassing power in the North, and unnatural alliances to the south, no help is coming. Alone, they must hold back the god-like powers of the Iron Tusk, or see life as they know it come to an end.

The traitor Ra'aba tried to silence Hualiama forever, but he reckoned without the strength of a dragonet's paw and the courage of a girl who refused to die. Only an extraordinary friendship will save Hualiama's beloved kingdom of Fra'anior and restore the king to the Onyx Throne. Flicker, the valiant dragonet. Hualiama, a foundling, adopted into the royal family. The power of a friendship which paid the ultimate price.

Arthur lives with his father, a fallen but proud former noble, in Border Village #49, along with the other good folks condemned to toil in service to the Baron. But Arthur has an edge: a stolen heart card that secretly fell into his possession, thanks to a dragon. It’s a priceless source of power for the Baron and the tyrant will kill to get it back. Invaluable, too, to a young man of spellcasting ambitions.

While Annise Gäric and her forces march on Castle Hill to retake the northern throne, her cousin, Rhea Loren, wages a naval war against Blackstone. Meanwhile, Roan Loren and Gwendolyn Storm struggle to breach the gnarled, vine-choked undergrowth of the Tangle in their quest to reach Knight's End and learn more of the true purpose of the fatemarked. In the south, a Calypsian empress is murdered, and her daughters fight to claim the empire and wage a civil war against their estranged father's armies. In Phanes, slavery runs rampant while a rebel group fights to free the oppressed people.