Search Worlds Without End

Fantasy, whether classic or contemporary, has always been based on the conflict between the forces of Light and Darkness. Now some of the genre's most inventive authors bring readers into the Seelie Court, where all serve the Queen of Air and Light, and the Unseelie Court, where the forces of Darkness hold sway.

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Introduction (Courts of the Fey) - essay by Russell Davis
• 5 - Gallow's Rescue - short fiction by Lilith Saintcrow
• 31 - An Answer from the North - short fiction by Sarah A. Hoyt
• 53 - Goodhouse Keeping - short fiction by Mary Robinette Kowal
• 81 - The Song of the Wind - short fiction by Paul Crilley
• 92 - First Ball ... Last Call - short fiction by Rob Thurman
• 116 - Beauty - short fiction by Jenifer Ruth
• 131 - Pennyroyal - short fiction by Kerrie Hughes
• 147 - Unlocked Gate - short fiction by Dean Wesley Smith
• 174 - Mushroom Clouds and Fairy Wings - short fiction by John A. Pitts
• 196 - Hunting the Unicorn - short fiction by Jane Lindskold
• 225 - The Green Man - short fiction by Amber Benson
• 245 - Anne - novella by Michelle West

Maddy, a young woman who runs sheep on her family farm, develops an unusual relationship with an elusive mountain creature called a fey.

There is a secret war raging beneath the streets of London. A dark magic will be unleashed by the Untainted... Unless a new hero can be found.

Neverwhere's faster, smarter brother has arrived. The immense SIXTY-ONE NAILS follows Niall Petersen, from a suspected heart attack on the London Underground, into the hidden world of the Feyre, an uncanny place of legend that lurks just beyond the surface of everyday life.

The Untainted, the darkest of the Seven Courts, have made their play for power, and unless Niall can recreate the ritual of the Sixty-One Nails, their dark dominion will enslave all of the Feyre, and all of humankind too.

"THERE'S BEEN AN ACCIDENT. IT'S YOUR DAUGHTER."

But Alex isn't dead. She's been snatched because she came into her magical power early. Her father, Niall Petersen, must use his own wayward magic to track her down and save her from the madness of Bedlam.

The third volume of the Courts of the Feyre urban fantasy saga that began with Sixty-One Nails and The Road to Bedlam.

Alex has been saved from the fate that awaited her in Bedlam, but in freeing her, Niall has released others of their kind into the population. Now, as Warder, he must find them and persuade them to swap their new-found liberty for security in the courts - but is the price of sanctuary to swap one cage for another?

The Eighth Court has been established, but petty rivalries and old disputes threaten its stability. The mongrels that make up the court are not helping, and Blackbird enlists the help of the warders to keep the peace.

Has Blackbird bitten off more than she can chew, and can the uneasy peace between the courts continue under such tension and rivalry?

THEIR ARMIES HAVE CONQUERED HALF OF THE WORLD. NOW THEY WANT THE REST.

The Fey, known for their beauty and their warrior magic, have set their sights on Blue Isle. They should conquer the Isle quickly; its people, simple and religious, have never known war. On the eve of the invasion, Jewel, the granddaughter of the Fey's all-powerful Black King, has a frightening vision, one that ties her fate to the Isle forever. Still, she helps her father Rugar head the invasion force.

The force meets a surprising resistance. Nicholas, heir to Blue Isle's throne, has always dreamed of battle. Normally, he would be no match for the powerful Fey. But Blue Isle has a secret weapon--a weapon no one understands, a weapon that could stop the Fey in their tracks. Nicholas must find a way to harness this amazing power. Jewel must find a way to thwart him. To survive, one of them must make the ultimate sacrifice.

BETRAYAL. ASSASSINATION. KIDNAPPING. AND THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING... For years, an uneasy truce has settled over Blue Isle. But in a series of betrayals, that truce gets shattered. First with an assassination. And then with the destruction of all hope that the warrior Fey and the people of Blue Isle will ever experience peace. Human, half-human, Fey, it becomes impossible to tell hero from villain, impossible to figure out who wants to heal Blue Isle--and who wants to destroy it. The most surprising book of The Fey saga, with a twist so powerful the rest of the series hinges on that one moment, The Changeling alters everything from the balance of power to the very nature of power itself.

The Fey have conquered half the world with their great skills--not just at combat and with powerful magicks. The Fey have another weapon, a greater weapon: Patience. Twenty years after their first invasion, the Fey try again to conquer Blue Isle. This time, the greatest tactician the Fey have ever known, the Black King Rugad, leads the fighting force. He's after not only the strategic island, but he's also after his own great-grandchildren. The oldest of those children has just come of age. He's first in line to inherit Blue Isle's throne. But as Rugad appears on Blue Isle, that Isle's King Nicholas must move beyond guerrilla war to an out-and-out fight for dominance, using a magic created in the union of Fey and Islander, a magic that no one from Rugad to Nicholas himself could ever have expected.

A RUTHLESS WARRIOR. A BRILLIANT TACTICIAN. ONE FAMILY. OPPOSITE SIDES.

The Black King of the Fey, Rugad, has conquered Blue Isle's capitol city. He thinks he's conquered the Isle itself, even though he can't find its royal family. That family has retreated to the mountains. Exhausted but undefeated, they will regroup and attack again, this time with a new weapon, one that can change everything. As both sides gear up for a second round of terrible warfare, the Shaman has a Vision filled with death, destruction--and the source of Fey might: The Place of Power.

AN ANCIENT WEAPON. A NEW SOURCE OF POWER. ONE SPLINTERED FAMILY. WILL IT DESTROY THE WORLD? OR SAVE IT?

In the Cliffs of Blood, Blue Isle's royal family has discovered a secret so powerful that it might destroy the Black King of the Fey. But the Black King's power comes from the same source as the powers of his great-grandchildren. And they're trying to defeat him. If they use this ancient weapon, will they destroy themselves? Must they in order to save Blue Isle? Will using the weapon vanquish the Fey? Or give the Fey the ultimate power? A saga of magic, strange alliances, hope, and fear, filled with disaster, triumph, brutality, and enchantment.

FIFTEEN YEARS OF PEACE--SHATTERED BY A SMALL VOICE. Peace marks Queen Arianna's rule of the Fey Empire. Until a war begins inside her. A mysterious presence tries to take over her mind--one of the most magical and powerful brains in all of Blue Isle. The only person who can help her? Her brother Gift, the legitimate heir to the Fey Empire. He doesn't know enough magic to save her, but he will find someone who can. But the Black Throne itself has other ideas. It wants Gift to rule the Fey. To do so, he must betray his family, betray his heritage, betray everything he believes in. If his sister loses control of the Fey, then the entire world will plunge into war. Will Gift allow that? Or will he step into his position as the rightful ruler of the Fey? Will he destroy the world or destroy his family? Will he let the Black Throne win?

FAMILY. KINGDOM. SELF. THE FATE OF THE WORLD HINGES ON MAKING THE RIGHT CHOICE. Blood Against Blood: The name of the ancient curse that protects members of the Black Family from murdering each other. But what if circumstances justify the death? What if a family member needs to die? Gift faces this dilemma. A powerful presence has taken over his sister Arianna's mind, and Arianna rules the Fey. If that presence takes over the Empire, the world will end. But something awful will happen if Gift harms his sister. The Black Throne itself complicates everything. Because the Throne, a living entity in its own right, wants Gift to rule, not Arianna. Does Gift do what's best for his family? For the Fey Empire? Or for himself? And how can he know what's best? The magic confuses, the Throne tempts, and his sister's mind seems gone. Gift must make the right choice or doom everyone--and everything.

Liam never knew who his father was. The town of Derry had always assumed that he was the bastard of a protestant - his mother never spoke of him, and Liam assumed he was dead. But when the war between the fallen and the fey began to heat up, Liam and his family are pulled into a conflict that they didn't know existed. A centuries old conflict between supernatural forces seems to mirror the political divisions in 1970's era Ireland, and Liam is thrown headlong into both conflicts! Only the direct intervention of Liam's real father, and a secret catholic order dedicated to fighting "The Fallen" can save Liam... from the mundane and supernatural forces around him, and from the darkness that lurks within him.

Northern Ireland, 1977. Liam Kelly is many things: a former wheelman for the IRA, a one-time political prisoner, the half-breed son of a mystic Fey warrior and a mortal woman, and a troubled young man literally haunted by the ghosts of his past. Liam has turned his back on his land’s bloody sectarian Troubles, but the war isn’t done with him yet, and neither is an older, more mythic battle–between the Church and its demonic enemies, the Fallen.

After centuries of misunderstanding and conflict, the Church is on the verge of accepting that the Fey and the Fallen are not the same. But to achieve this historic truce, Liam must prove to the Church’s Inquisitors that he is not a demon, even as he wrestles with his own guilt and confusion, while being hunted by enemies both earthly and unworldly.

A shape-shifter by nature, Liam has a foot in two worlds–and it’s driving him mad.