Fiction Swords

Published in chronological order, with extensive story and bibliographic notes, this series not only provides access to stories that have been out of print for years, but gives them a historical and social context. Series editors Scott Conners and Ronald S. Hilger excavated the still-existing manuscripts, letters and various published versions of the stories, creating a definitive "preferred text" for Smith's entire body of work.

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher's forest sanctuary seeking help...and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In a dark age it takes courage to live, and more than mere courage to challenge those who hold dominion, Richard and Kahlan must take up that challenge or become the next victims.

In a world where magic has disappeared, rival nations vie for power in a continent devastated by war. So when a young farm girl named Livia demonstrates magical powers for the first time in a century, there are many across the land that will kill to obtain her power. Duke Gothelm's tallymen, the blood-soaked Qeltine Brotherhood, and cynical mercenary Josten Cade: All are searching for Livia and the power she wields. But Livia finds that guardians can come from the most unlikely places and that the old gods are returning to a world they abandoned.

Soldier and adventurer John Carter tells the story of how he returns to the planet Mars to be reunited with his love, the Martian princess Dejah Thoris. With his great friend Tars Tarkas, mighty Jeddak of Thark, Carter sets out in search of his princess. But Dejah Thoris has vanished. And Carter becomes trapped in the legendary Eden of Mars, from which none has ever escaped alive.

Kirito plunges into a suspicious new VRMMORPG called ALfheim Online to rescue Asuna, who never returned from Sword Art Online. ALO offers many features to entertain players in the wake of SAO: ultra-high-end graphics, action-heavy gameplay, a choice of fairy races, and a next-generation flight engine. Playing as a spriggan, Kirito heads for the location of Asuna's prison—the top of the World Tree, the final destination of every player in the game! Along the way, Kirito nearly falls to a plot hatched by the enemy salamanders.

Coming to the aid of a wounded whale, Kit and Nita are plunged into deep wizardry. The whale is a wizard, and she enlists Kit and Nita in battle against the sinister Lone Power. Becoming whales themselves, Nita and Kit join in an ancient ritual performed by whales, dolphins, and a single fearsome shark. But which poses more of a danger: the Lone Power, or ed'Rashtekaresket, the enormous shark as old as the sea?

Whistling Tor is a place of secrets: a mysterious, wooded hill housing the crumbling fortress belonging to Anluan - a chieftain whose name is spoken throughout the region in tones of revulsion and bitterness. A curse lies over Anluan's family and his people, and the woods themselves hold a perilous force whose every whisper threatens doom. Then the young scribe Caitrin appears in Anluan's garden, admiring the rare plant known as heart's blood. Retained to sort through entangled family documents, Caitrin brings about unexpected changes.

In this third book of The Prince Warriors trilogy, the Prince Warriors finally receive their last piece of armor - the swords they were promised when they began their adventure in the unseen realm of Ahoratos. And none too soon, for they must face the ultimate enemy, one who is gathering his Forgers and creating unthinkable new evil to stop the Prince Warriors from winning any battle ever again.

Linked up and logged into the deadly VMMORPG Sword Art Online in both the real and virtual worlds, Kirito is stuck in a hell of one man's making and, like everyone else, unable to escape until the game is beaten. But while some players are crippled by fear and others throw themselves into completing the game, still others relax into everyday life in the face of their cruel predicament and live to the best of their ability...laughing, crying, but always enjoying the game.

Sam has been deemed a dark lord by the Game Masters, and now everyone in Rebirth Online is gunning for him. To make matters worse, an overzealous NPC paladin has been resurrected to destroy Sam and his demon sons.

The dangerous, fanatical Imperial Order, under the leadership of the power-mad Emperor Jagang and his multitude of demonic underlings, unleashes a deadly plague. To find a cure, Richard Cypher and his beloved Kahlan Amnell must seek out the legendary Temple of the Winds, a fortress of evil sealed away for three thousand years. But the path of the Seeker of Truth is never an easy one - even if he can reach the Temple at all, there is no guarantee he'll ever return.

Surviving in a tough situation is not always the best option; sometimes dying is much better than staying alive. The Academy showed Paladin Yaropolk what makes the world go round: pragmatism and personal gain. Restart was set in motion, but it only makes players more frantic. Now everyone plays only for themselves. Yaropolk faces the same dilemma: be like all of them, or keep his humanity and be known as an odd duck. Because there is only one rule in this world: kill or be killed....

He was a champion of sword magic sworn to track the hounds of hoolies. Yet before Tiger waited perils far deadlier than any hounds - the Dragon's Lair. A magical novel of sword and spell from the author of Sword-Dancer and Sword-Singer.

It is the late summer of 1814, and Hannah Bonner and her half brother Luke have spent more than a year searching the islands of the Caribbean for Luke's wife and the man who abducted her. But Jennet's rescue, so long in coming, is not the resolution they'd hoped for. In the spring she had given birth to Luke's son, and in the summer Jennet had found herself compelled to surrender the infant to a stranger in the hope of keeping him safe.

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.

Centaine de Thiry Courtney has not only survived but thrived. A successful woman with two sons of her own: Shasa Courtney, the Courtney heir, and Manfred de la Rey, Shasa's half brother, her secret child raised solely by his father. At the time of the Great Depression, Centaine must make difficult decisions to ensure the security of her family - decisions that will affect Manfred and his father, Lothar de la Rey, a man Centaine once loved. But the world is changing, and conflicts greater than any the world has seen before are looming.

Mercia, 878. Witch-warrior Niamh discovers a new order called the Hidden Ones is seeking to establish a foothold in Lunden. Her land is already scarred by Viking raiders, bloody wars, and clashing cultures. Determined to protect what remains of her homeland, she infiltrates this new group to discover whether they stand with her...or against her. Yet when Niamh learns the Hidden Ones have stolen an artifact sacred to her people, her own loyalties are challenged.

After being saved from his own execution by a deal-making daemon, Keaton's tasked with killing a dungeon lord. A straightforward task for a former assassin, but the moment Keaton's dagger plunges into the dungeon core crystal, he becomes the newest lord of The Labyrinth. What starts as a maze of useless caverns quickly turns into something respectable as Keaton uses his powers to craft defenses and facilities. But to truly grow his dungeon, he needs minions. And to control those minions, he needs lieutenants: Beautiful, monstrous women with strength and powers beyond his understanding.

Breq - the soldier who used to be a spaceship - is serving the emperor she swore to destroy. She's been given her own warship, her own crew, and ordered to the only place in the galaxy she would have agreed to go: to Athoek Station, to protect the family of the lieutenant she murdered in cold blood. Athoek was annexed by the Empire some 600 years ago, and by now everyone is fully 'civilised'. Or should be - but everything is not as tranquil as it appears.

Liam was waiting for his father to come home from work when the house shook, and two moons appeared overhead. Stranded within a land where he doesn't speak the language and people are set on attacking him, he must survive in this new land where nothing makes sense. A gorgeous princess holds the key to him learning about this new world he has found himself in, and little of it is good news. First up, learning why people keep attacking his house.