Showing results for "Daniel Cooper" in Fantasy

Randy Lionheart used to be your typical down-on-his-luck fantasy writer--sure of himself but secretly insecure, penniless, prone to rants, and with more ideas than he has good sense. All of this changes once he is mysteriously portaled to the fantasy world of Genera, where he accidently becomes a barbarian. Yes, accidently. It's complicated. After joining forces with a magical yet neurodivergent spellbook named Clovis, Randy finds his stride battling monsters, facing insane challenges, and solving tricky puzzles in an effort to reach the top of a tower.

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. This third volume of the series brings together 21 of his fantasy stories.

The Last Hieroglyph is the fifth of the five-volume Collected Fantasies series. Editors Scott Connors and Ron Hilger have compared original manuscripts, various typescripts, published editions, and Smith's notes and letters, in order to prepare a definitive set of texts. The Last Hieroglyph includes, in chronological order, all of Clark Ashton Smith's stories from "The Dark Age" to "The Dart of Rasasfa".

An untested group of Shield-Brethren initiates stand before the sprawling Mongol army in a bloody circus of sadistic violence, while a hardened company of their finest roam the desolate wasteland of the Mongol empire, wrapping their dead in blood-soaked soil and struggling to find the strength to fight even as they mourn. The warrior-monks, both in the East and the West, sharpen their swords for a final battle. The Khan of Khans must be slain if Christendom is to survive.

My name is Randy—the noun, not the adjective. As a professional writer and accidental barbarian, I should be a prime candidate to be portaled to a LitRPG fantasy world known as Genera. It should be a no-brainer for me to grab the nearest weapon and start slaying bloodthirsty goblins, gaining levels, solving puzzles, and fighting my way to the top of a mysterious tower with seven distinct floors. Technically, I was born for this. Or so I thought. Unlike actual video games, if someone dies here in Genera, they die here for good. And I don't want to die.

Thirteenth-century Europe has been saved from annihilation at the hands of the Mongols, to be sure, but new and terrible threats are at hand: political and religious turmoil threaten to turn the warriors' world upside down once more. Painted against a rich backdrop of medieval mysticism and Russian folklore, Katabasis weaves together the tales of victor and victim alike in a fearless exploration of what it means not just to survive, but to truly live again.

Whether they are undeniably heroes and heroines or bloodthirsty monsters (or something in between), the undead are a lively lot. This anthology offers some of the best short fiction ever written by the "blood sisters" who know them best: stories you can really sink your teeth into.

Randy and Clovis press onward, leveling up, forging rivalries, deciphering the tower's secrets, and plunging headfirst into exhilarating escapades at every turn. The third realm, however, poses an unprecedented challenge—a fantastical reimagining of Paris, teeming with formidable bears.