Search Worlds Without End

Farmer Eben Smith is fed up with big government telling him how to run his life and his business. They pay him to bury his crops while folks starve in the streets, and he's not going to take it anymore. He's declaring his independence, loading up his fruits and vegetables, and heading for the city to wheel and deal....

But before he can trade in his turnips, Eben'll have to deal with something bigger--a break in the space/time continuum. He's at The Crossroads, where reality is turned upside-down and inside out. And before it's over, he'll turn his turnips into liquor, and the liquor into guns and gold, as he plunges into strange new worlds... finding ways to wreak havoc in all of them.

Also includes the fantasy adventures, "Borrowed Glory," the haunting story of two immortals who wager on two mortals given a single day of love... a wager that leads to heartbreak and tragedy; and "The Devil's Rescue" based on the legend of The Flying Dutchman, in which the sole survivor of a disaster at sea is "rescued" by the devil himself and finds that fate rests on a roll of the dice.

Contents:

• The Crossroads - (1941) - novelette
• Borrowed Glory - (1941) - short story
• The Devil's Rescue - (1940) - short story

The Crossroads of Time

Anothe instalment of Blake Walker's adventures on alternate Earths. Blake, a 1950s citizen of our own Earth is accidentally caught up in the chase for a telepathic psychopath who is looking for an alternate Earth to rule.

Mankind on the Run

Kil and Ellen Bruner were Class-A citizens, labelled as privileged and stable by the Key that every man, woman and child wore in the well-ordered world created after the Lucky War. Then Ellen vanished, and suddenly all Kil's privilege isn't enough to bring her back to him. The layers of intrigue he is able to unwrap show him only the beginning of a great plot against established society--a plot that somehow involves Ellen.

For the first time he feels doors closing around him, hears the official silence of the World Police, feels the great weight of authority's disapproval, and learns what it means to be a man alone. His desperate search for his wife will cost him everything he thought he believed in as he digs ever deeper into the ugly reality behind the façade of his world's peace and security, and finds himself at last.

Originally appeared in Ace Double D-164 in 1956.

Anothe instalment of Blake Walker's adventures on alternate Earths. Blake, a 1950s citizen of our own Earth is accidentally caught up in the chase for a telepathic psychopath who is looking for an alternate Earth to rule.

World Fantasy and Nebula Award finalist Kate Elliott breaks new ground in a brilliantly original new fantasy set in a unique world of fabled cities, mysterious gods, and terrible dangers. From the first page readers will be swept up in the story of Mai and Captain Anji, as they become unwitting players in a conflict that began many years earlier, and which will shake the foundations of their land.

For hundreds of years the Guardians have ruled the world of the Hundred, but these powerful gods no longer exert their will on the world. Only the reeves, who patrol on enormous eagles, still represent the Guardians' power. And the reeves are losing their authority; for there is a dark shadow across the land that not even the reeves can stop.

A group of fanatics has risen to devour villages, towns, and cities in their drive to annihilate all who oppose them. No one knows who leads them; they seem inhumanly cruel and powerful. Mai and Anji, riding with a company of dedicated warriors and a single reeve who may hold a key to stopping the deadly advance of the devouring horde, must try, or the world will be lost to the carnage. But a young woman sworn to the Goddess may prove more important than them all... if they are not too late.

A haunting tale of people swept up by the chaos of war, this is superlative fantasy adventure, rich in texture, filled with color and excitement, masterfully crafted by a brilliantly gifted storyteller.

The captivating, bestselling Spirit Gate swept readers into the turbulent world of the Hundred, where the peace and order of life under the protection of the immortal Guardians has given way to chaos and violence. In the face of a vast horde of marauders led by a rogue Guardian, the bravery and resourcefulness of a lone eagle-reeve and others who risk their lives for the common good have prevented death and destruction from overwhelming the Hundred.

Now in Shadow Gate, the enthralling sequel, the source of corruption of the Guardians is still a mystery to the mortals who fight to withstand the forces that have turned against them. And when three new Guardians emerge, a struggle begins among the immortals, with nothing less at stake than the future of the land and its gods.

With all the color, excitement, and narrative power that have made Kate Elliott an enormously popular writer, Shadow Gate weaves a powerful spell of action, romance, and magic that will entrance legions of readers.

In Spirit Gate and Shadow Gate, Kate Elliott took readers to the fascinating world of the Hundred, a land teeming with an array of cultures, gods, and conflicts blighted by the shadow of chaos and destruction. Now, with the same intensity and dramatic sweep that has brought this epic to life, Elliott returns to the exquisitely crafted cities and landscapes of the Hundred, in a thunderous conclusion to the saga.

In the darkness of war and destruction, forces gather to reclaim the peace: Those immortal Guardians who still serve justice seek a means to end the devastating reign of one of their own; a hired outlander army struggles to halt the advance of the horde that has despoiled vast lands and slaughtered countless people in its murderous wake, while still guarding against a burgeoning threat from an aggressively expansionist empire; and the eagle reeves who have long been the only law enforcers of the Hundred struggle to reorganize after a devastating massacre has decimated their numbers. But even as these forces give hope to those who would live in peace, a terrible danger looms: a traitor with Imperial ambitions, the most dreaded, least anticipated threat of all...

In the unfolding drama of political upheaval and violent change, nothing is certain, as alliances dissolve and power shifts with the unpredictability of a desert sandstorm. A riotous epic with the vast breadth and excitement only masterful storyteller Kate Elliott can summon, Traitors' Gate will leave her many readers begging for more.

Maggie Graham's life is a mess. First, she loses her job. Then, her bathroom ceiling collapses. Hoping a weekend getaway will restore her spirits, she drives to Vermont and stumbles upon the Crossroads Theatre. Although she has no intention of auditioning, she soon finds herself part of a very odd summer stock company that includes moody and mysterious director Rowan Mackenzie, a man with the uncanny ability to transform a train wreck of a show into something magical. Before the season ends, Maggie is determined to discover the truth about the Crossroads. She never imagines that she'll discover secrets about her past - and Rowan's - that will change their lives forever.

It's not easy losing the love of your life...

But when Maggie Graham freed Rowan Mackenzie from the curse that bound him to this world, she took the first step toward her new life as director of the Crossroads Theatre. As a hectic new season begins, magic takes a back seat to ticket sales as Maggie balances the demands of her interfering board president and a company of actors that includes bewildered amateurs, disdainful professionals, a horde of children, and an arthritic dog. But magic is hard to banish from the old white barn, where memories lurk like ghosts in the shadowy wings and the unexpected is as time-honored a tradition as the curtain call. And when the tangled spells of the past turn Maggie's life upside down, it will take more than magic to ensure the happy-ever-after ending she longs for.

Darkover's position on the galactic arm renders it strategically important, a crossroads in space. It's also a place where cultures meet and clash, where strangers encounter one another, and where lives are forever transformed. Whether the tale features a literal branching of the road, a fateful decision, a twist of fate, or a life-changing realization, the theme of "crossroads" echoes through these pages. Here assumptions are challenged, dangers braved, and hidden truths revealed. Add a touch of Darkover's special romance, a bit of humor here and there, and the result is a thrilling journey, no matter which road you follow.

This volume includes stories by Robin Wayne Bailey, Jane M. H. Bigelow, Evey Brett, Rosemary & India Edghill, Leslie Fish, Rebecca Fox, Gabrielle Harbowy, Shariann Lewitt, Pat MacEwen, Deborah Millitello, Diana L. Paxson, Jenna Rhodes, Robin Rowland & Deborah J. Ross, and Marella Sands.

Rose Knight Linsha Majere, working undercover for the Solamnics' Clandestine Circle, earns a place on the elite bodyguard of Hogan Bight, the mysterous lord governor of Sanction. She quickly learns the governor is not the only one who needs protection in a city threatened by an active volcando about to erupt, a death ship filled with an unknown plague, the ever-watchful Legion Steel, and the subversive Knights of Neraka. But who will protect Linsha from her own heart?

Palanthas, Jewel of Ansalon, City of Seven Circles, heart of the old Solamnic empire. For three thousand years she has shone as a beacon to the world. Even now, ruled by the Knights of Neraka, she glitters in the night.

Yet at the core of the gleaming city lies a dark center: the Thieves' Guild. Though the Dark Knights ruthlessly crushed the guild beneath an iron heel, a stronger, darker guild has arisen. Now it's intent on recovering its lost treasures and power.

And nothing will stand in its way.

The Crossroads Series explores previously undescribed areas of the Dragonlance world.Dragonlance fans eagerly await detailed information on any area of their favorite fantasy world.

The port town of Flotsam has always been left to handle its own problems, neither asking for nor wanting help from the rest of Krynn. That is, until the young mage Ulin Majere and his traveling companion are summoned there to identify a murder victim. They quickly discover there is more to the rough seaport than just one dead body, including cagey thieves, failing magic, the Knights of Neraka, and a very greedy, very deadly red dragon.

The Dragon Isles: abandoned home of the good dragons, land of amazing adventure and legendary treasure. The trouble is, no one knows how to get there.

Now Mikal Vardan and his crew have found the hidden route, but they're not the only ones interested in the isles. A beautiful sea elf scavenger thinks the wealth of a lost civilization might be worth killing for, and a menacing sea dragon is determined to bring a reign of terror to the peaceful archipelago.

The latest title in the world-spanning Crossroads series. Popular Dragonlance author Paul B. Thompson pens the latest novel that explores an area of the setting that has been mentioned but not previously described in detail to listeners.

The peace of a rural village is shattered by the sudden appearance of a band of renegade warriors seeking slaves. The farmers of Nowhere have no hope unless they can raise a company of champions to defend them, but the motley group of saviors who take up their cause - a shipwrecked sailor, a minotaur poet, a kender treasure hunter, a shamed half-ogre, a disgraced foot soldier, and an eccentric sorcerer - seem nearly as dangerous as the slavemasters.

In the tenth book of he Wheel of Time from the New York Times #1 bestselling author Robert Jordan, the world and the characters stand at a crossroads, and the world approaches twilight, when the power of the Shadow grows stronger.

Fleeing from Ebou Dar with the kidnapped Daughter of the Nine Moons, whom he is fated to marry, Mat Cauthon learns that he can neither keep her nor let her go, not in safety for either of them, for both the Shadow and the might of the Seanchan Empire are in deadly pursuit.

Perrin Aybara seeks to free his wife, Faile, a captive of the Shaido, but his only hope may be an alliance with the enemy. Can he remain true to his friend Rand and to himself? For his love of Faile, Perrin is willing to sell his soul.

At Tar Valon, Egwene al'Vere, the young Amyrlin of the rebel Aes Sedai, lays siege to the heart of Aes Sedai power, but she must win quickly, with as little bloodshed as possible, for unless the Aes Sedai are reunited, only the male Asha'man will remain to defend the world against the Dark One, and nothing can hold the Asha'man themselves back from total power except the Aes Sedai and a unified White Tower.

In Andor, Elayne Trakland fights for the Lion Throne that is hers by right, but enemies and Darkfriends surround her, plotting her destruction. If she fails, Andor may fall to the Shadow, and the Dragon Reborn with it.

Rand al'Thor, the Dragon Reborn himself, has cleansed the Dark One's taint from the male half of the True Source, and everything has changed. Yet nothing has, for only men who can channel believe that saidin is clean again, and a man who can channel is still hated and feared-even one prophesied to save the world. Now, Rand must gamble again, with himself at stake, and he cannot be sure which of his allies are really enemies.

At the highest level of a giant forest, thirteen kingdoms fit seamlessly together to form the great city of Canopy. Thirteen goddesses and gods rule this realm and are continuously reincarnated into human bodies. Canopy's position in the sun, however, is not without its dark side. The nation's opulence comes from the labor of slaves, and below its fruitful boughs are two other realms: Understorey and Floor, whose deprived citizens yearn for Canopy's splendor.

Unar, a determined but destitute young woman, escapes her parents' plot to sell her into slavery by being selected to serve in the Garden under the goddess Audblayin, ruler of growth and fertility. As a Gardener, she wishes to become Audblayin's next Bodyguard while also growing sympathetic towards Canopy's slaves.

When Audblayin dies, Unar sees her opportunity for glory--at the risk of descending into the unknown dangers of Understorey to look for a newborn god. In its depths, she discovers new forms of magic, lost family connections, and murmurs of a revolution that could cost Unar her chance... or grant it by destroying the home she loves.

An original short fiction anthology set in Mercedes Lackey's bestselling world of Valdemar-featuring heroic Heralds and their horselike companions-and including an all-new novella by Lackey herself, as well as stories by masters such as Mickey Zucker Reichert, Judith Tarr, Tanya Huff, and others.

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Introduction (Crossroads and Other Tales of Valdemar) - (2005) - essay by Mercedes Lackey
• 3 - Transmutation - (2005) - novella by Larry Dixon
• 62 - The Feast of the Children - (2005) - short story by Nancy Asire
• 79 - Death in Keenspur House - (2005) - short story by Richard Lee Byers
• 98 - Dawn of Sorrows - (2005) - short story by Brenda Cooper
• 116 - Horse of Air - (2005) - short story by Rosemary Edghill
• 133 - A Change of Heart - (2005) - short story by Kate Paulk and Sarah A. Hoyt
• 152 - All the Ages of Man - (2005) - short story by Tanya Huff
• 169 - War Cry - (2005) - short story by Michael Longcor
• 189 - Strength and Honor - (2005) - short story by Ben Ohlander
• 206 - The Blue Coat - (2005) - novelette by Fiona Patton
• 227 - Safe and Sound - (2005) - short story by Stephanie Shaver [as by Stephanie D. Shaver]
• 247 - Song for Two Voices - (2005) - short story by Janni Lee Simner
• 260 - Finding Elvida - (2005) - short story by Mickey Zucker Reichert
• 274 - Darkwall's Lady - (2005) - novelette by Judith Tarr
• 304 - Naught But Duty - (2005) - short story by Michael Z. Williamson
• 323 - Landscape of the Imagination - [Vows and Honor] - (2005) - short story by Mercedes Lackey