Search Worlds Without End

The fondest wish of Peter Grimm, elderly patriarch of a famous tulip growing family, is that his ward Kate will marry his nephew and primary heir, Fredrick. Though she loves another, she agrees to marry Fredrick. When Grimm dies, Fredrick reveals his true colors, and intends to sell the nursery. Grimm's ghost returns and regrets forcing his will on the others and works to change things.

A young woman raised within the sterile limits of a Biodome longs to be free...taking her chances Outside, a place where the victims of a devastating virus dwell. But even greater dangers await Outside: the warring factions that have turned the once-beautiful mesas into a slaughterground, the Edgewalkers who tread a fine line between sanity and madness, and the astonishing truth about her own destiny, which may trigger the ultimate destruction of both worlds!

Table of Contents:

• 1 - Introduction: Coming Home By the Long Way (Grimmer Than Hell) - essay by David Drake
• 5 - Rescue Mission - [The Fleet]
• 28 - When the Devil Drives - [The Fleet]
• 67 - Team Effort - [The Fleet]
• 95 - The End - [The Fleet]
• 113 - Smash and Grab - [The Fleet]
• 142 - Mission Accomplished - [The Fleet]
• 161 - Facing the Enemy - [Battlestation]
• 185 - Failure Mode - [Battlestation]
• 210 - The Tradesmen
• 226 - Coming up Against It
• 245 - With the Sword He Must Be Slain
• 268 - Nation Without Walls - [Jed Lacey - 1]
• 299 - The Predators - [Jed Lacey - 2]
• 329 - Underground - [Jed Lacey - 3]

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology Eclipse Two: New Science Fiction and Fantasy (2008), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and was reprinted in Clarkesworld Magazine, #82 July 2013. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Sixth Annual Collection (2009), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Year's Best Fantasy 9 (2009), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Kramer. The story is included in the collection Unpossible and Other Stories (2011).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

This noveltte originally appeared on Omni Online, November 1996. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection (1997), edited by Gardner Dozois.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Dreaming Down-Under (1998), edited by Jack Dann and Janeen Webb. It can alos be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixteenth Annual Collection (1999).

Philip Pullman retells the world's best-loved fairy tales on their 200th anniversary!!!

Two centuries ago, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published the first volume of Children's and Household Tales. Now Philip Pullman, one of the most accomplished authors of our time, makes us fall in love all over again with the immortal tales of the Brothers Grimm.

Pullman retells his fifty favorites, from much-loved stories like "Cinderella" and "Rumpelstiltskin," "Rapunzel" and "Hansel and Gretel" to lesser-known treasures like "The Three Snake Leaves," "Godfather Death" and "The Girl with No Hands." At the end of each tale he offers a brief personal commentary, opening a window on the sources of the tales, the various forms they've taken over the centuries and their everlasting appeal.

Suffused with romance and villainy, danger and wit, the Grimms' fairy tales have inspired Pullman's unique creative vision--and his beguiling retellings will draw you back into a world that has long cast a spell on the Western imagination.

Gathers forty-nine folk tales dealing with wishes, enchanted beasts, captive princesses, and lost children.

How would it be if Snow White were the real villain & the wicked queen just a sadly maligned innocent? What if awakening the Sleeping Beauty should be the mistake of a lifetime--of several lifetimes? What if the famous folk tales were retold with an eye to more horrific possibilities? Only Tanith Lee could do justice to it.

In RED AS BLOOD, she displays her soaring imagination at its most fantastically mischievous. Not for nothing was the title story named as a Nebula nominee. Not for nothing was the author of THE BIRTHGRAVE & THE STORM LORD called by New York's Village Voice, "Goddess-Empress of the Hot Read." Here are the world-famous tales of such as the Brothers Grimm as they might have been retold by the Sisters Grimmer! Fairy tales for children? Not on your life!

Table of Contents:

• Paid Piper - (1981) - shortstory
• Red as Blood - (1979) - shortstory
• Thorns - (1972) - shortstory
• When the Clock Strikes - (1980) - shortstory
• The Golden Rope - novelette
• The Princess and Her Future - shortstory
• Wolfland - (1980) - novelette
• Black as Ink - novelette
• Beauty - novelette

Blending fresh new science fiction with a futuristic dash of magic, The Grimm Future is a unique anthology of reimagined Grimm fairy tales from some of today's most exciting authors--along with the original stories that inspired them. The Grimm Future examines our humanity and what that term might come to mean through the eyes of future generations as society advances into an age when technology consumes nearly every aspect of our lives or has ultimately changed life as we know it. How might these timeless stories evolve? Given the relentless onrush of technology, there is even greater need for fairy tales and Grimm magic in our future. Read on!

Table of Contents:

• "Introduction" by Erin Underwood
• "Pair of Ugly Stepsisters, Three of a Kind" by Garth Nix, based upon multiple Grimm fairy tales, including "Little Brother and Little Sister," "Rapunzel," "Little Red-Cap," and "Cinderella"
• "The Iron Man" by Max Gladstone, based upon "Iron John"
• "Zel and Grets" by Maura McHugh, based upon "Hansel & Gretel"
• "For Want of a Nail" by Sandra McDonald & Stephen D. Covey, based upon "The Nail"
• "The Shroud" by Dan Wells, based upon "The Shroud"
• "Long-Term Employment" by Mike Resnick, based upon "Death's Messengers"
• "Swan Dive" by Nancy Holder, based upon "The Six Swans"
• "The White Rat" by Dana Cameron, based upon "The White Snake"
• "Origins" by Carlos Hernandez, based upon "The Star-Talers"
• "Angie Taylor in: Peril Beneath the Earth's Crust" by John Langan, based upon "The Brave Little Tailor"
• "The Three Snake-Leaves" by Jeffrey Ford, based upon "The Three Snake-Leaves"
• "The Madman's Ungrateful Child" by Peadar Ó Guillín, based upon "The Bremen Town-Musicians"
• "Stories of the Trees, Stories of the Birds, Stories of the Bones" by Kat Howard, based upon "The Juniper Tree"
• "Be Still, and Listen" by Seanan McGuire, based upon "Little Briar-Rose"

As a mud-spattered youngster, Tatja quickly realized she was different from the stone-age primitives with whom she grew up. Her insatiable curiosity and thirst for knowledge could not be quenched among them; she had to explore and learn more about the strange world she lived on.

She finds the bastion of all culture, arts, entertainment and history for the entire planet, the seven-hundred-year-old science fiction magazine Fantasie, which is produced entirely aboard a gargantuan floating vessel the size of a small city. But despite the printing presses, sail-powered vessels, and mind-expanding technology, Tatja is still dissatisfied. Rising through the ranks, she finds that the people on the enormous barge are just as unintelligent as the primitives she grew up with. But others have come to the planet who not only challenge her intelligence, but offer her a tantalizing opportunity to uncover answers to mysteries that have long plagued her.

But with opportunity comes risk. And if she acts unwisely, she could bring doom to the only world she knows.

AKA: Tatja Grimm's World

Mythopoeic Scholarship Award Finalist

In Grimm Legacies, esteemed literary scholar Jack Zipes explores the legacy of the Brothers Grimm in Europe and North America, from the nineteenth century to the present. Zipes reveals how the Grimms came to play a pivotal and unusual role in the evolution of Western folklore and in the history of the most significant cultural genre in the world -- the fairy tale.

Folklorists Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm sought to discover and preserve a rich abundance of stories emanating from an oral tradition, and encouraged friends, colleagues, and strangers to gather and share these tales. As a result, hundreds of thousands of wonderful folk and fairy tales poured into books throughout Europe and have kept coming. Zipes looks at the transformation of the Grimms' tales into children's literature, the Americanization of the tales, the "Grimm" aspects of contemporary tales, and the tales' utopian impulses. He shows that the Grimms were not the first scholars to turn their attention to folk tales, but were vital in expanding readership and setting the high standards for folk-tale collecting that continue through the current era. Zipes concludes with a look at contemporary adaptations of the tales and raises questions about authenticity, target audience, and consumerism.

With erudition and verve, Grimm Legacies examines the lasting universal influence of two brothers and their collected tales on today's storytelling world.

The TARDIS arrives on a planet inhabited by a lost human colony that is dangerously close to an energy-emitting white hole. The Doctor and his companions are intent on discovering more about the territory, and find it is no ordinary planet. Various visitors contend for control over what will happen to this exotic shape-shifting world in the universe beyond.

Back in the 19th century a Wesen and a Grimm fight to the death. The Grimm wins, but the Wesen's son escapes and vows revenge. In the present day, Captain Renard sends Nick and Hank to investigate an international crime cartel named Le Touche Givre (The Icy Touch). They discover this deadly gang is run by Wesen, and is involved in various illegal activities, including forced prostitution and drug pushing. As they close in on the gang, Nick begins to realise that their charismatic and dangerous leader is just as intent on tracking him down...

When a pile of bones is discovered in a Portland forest, severed and stripped of flesh, homicide detectives Nick Burkhardt and Hank Griffin quickly rule out an animal attack, but suspect the killer is something other than human. Soon more skeletal remains are unearthed, and tests reveal that the bones were cooked before burial. As the body count increases, Nick, Hank, and reformed Blutbad Monroe must track down a Wesen with a taste for human meat, before the killer can butcher their next meal...

A mysterious creature stalks the streets of Portland, looking for a new identity. With one touch it can dissolve its victim, assuming their appearance, personality, and memories. When homicide detectives Nick Burkhardt and Hank Griffin are called in to investigate a bizarre murder, Nick comes face to face with the changeling, but its powers have an unexpected effect on the Grimm, unleashing a deadly Wesen plague and untold chaos.

Assassination contracts don't make good wedding proposals.

Sharing a beer with Death--one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse--really put a few things into perspective for this foul-mouthed, billionaire wizard. Like finally getting the stones to propose to his girlfriend.

But the Brothers Grimm--legendary supernatural assassins--have escaped their prison, and the number one thing they want after their centuries-long incarceration is Nate Temple's head. With the entire wedding party also on their hit-list and the Temple family fortune in jeopardy, Nate realizes they can't run and they can't hide. So, time to do magic and stuff...

But with every flavor of supernatural thug teaming up to help the Grimms, Nate learns that friends have become enemies and enemies have become friends, and he's forced to cross lines that are better left uncrossed. To use some magic that he really, really shouldn't use.

When magic, claws, and teeth dance to the song of war, the only thing left to learn is who lives and who dies. And if Nate can live with the consequences.

No wonder a guy is terrified to propose...

First, they murdered her parents... Even as the King and Queen lay dying, the armies of the Mel'Nir swarm across the borders. And so Aidris, Princess and heir to the kingdom of Chameln, must flee her land or herself be killed... or worse, made the wedded slave of a barbarian king. Thus begin the adventures of a maiden born to rule who must first learn the arts of survival in a world where every man's hand seems raised against her. Only then can she control the Power that dwells within her and be ready when her people come to claim her as their Queen: ready to rule, ready to fight --- ready to die that her country may live free. For if she cannot or will not save them, then the people of Chameln will be slaves forever.

Reared in secret because of a birth defect, Yorath, prince and heir to the throne of Mel'Nir, only learns of his heritage after many adventures and encounters and then must decide what course his life will follow. Sequel to "A Princess of the Chameln" and second book of the "Rulers of Hylor" trilogy.

Handsome, charming, and vain, Sharn goes to the magical kingdom of Eildon to court a beautiful princess; but nothing goes well, and the lives of his associates, as well as his enemies, are changed forever. Sequel to "Yorath, the Wolf."

Cherry Wilder's The Rulers of Hylor series established a detailed and intricate fantasy world. Katya Riemann completed and polished this last Hylor novel, a tale of warring kingdoms, treacherous advisers and generational conflicts, set in a world of rich physical beauty, vibrant life and a realism leavened with occasional and startling magic.

Gael Maddoc, the child of struggling peasants, leaps at the chance when she is offered training as a kedran, a mounted soldier. She wins glory bringing her charges home safe across a huge desert, seeking aid from the Shee. But the Shee--the dwindling Fair Folk--then recruit her for their own purposes. Her nascent magical talents and her resourcefulness show her to be the Wanderer, a legendary figure for whom they've been waiting.

Elizabeth has a new job at an unusual library--a lending library of objects, not books. In a secret room in the basement lies the Grimm Collection. That's where the librarians lock away powerful items straight out of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales: seven-league boots, a table that produces a feast at the blink of an eye, Snow White's stepmother's sinister mirror that talks in riddles.

When the magical objects start to disappear, Elizabeth embarks on a dangerous quest to catch the thief before she can be accused of the crime--or captured by the thief.

Polly Shulman has created a contemporary fantasy with a fascinating setting and premise, starring an ordinary girl whose after-school job is far from ordinary--and leads to a world of excitement, romance and magical intrigue.

Leo never imagined that time travel might really be possible, or that the objects in H. G. Wells' science fiction novels might actually exist. And when a miniature time machine appears in Leo's bedroom, he has no idea who the tiny, beautiful girl is riding it. But in the few moments before it vanishes, returning to wherever--and whenever--it came from, he recognizes the other tiny rider: himself!

His search for the time machine, the girl, and his fate leads him to the New-York Circulating Material Repository, a magical library that lends out objects instead of books. Hidden away in the Repository basement is the Wells Bequest, a secret collection of powerful objects straight out of classic science fiction novels: robots, rockets, submarines, a shrink ray--and one very famous time machine. And when Leo's adventure of a lifetime suddenly turns deadly, he must attempt a journey to 1895 to warn real-life scientist Nikola Tesla about a dangerous invention. A race for time is on!

In this grand time-travel adventure full of paradoxes and humor, Polly Shulman gives readers a taste of how fascinating science can be, deftly blending classic science fiction elements with the contemporary fantasy world readers fell in love with in The Grimm Legacy.

Once upon a time, a demon who desired earthly domination fathered an army of dark daughters to help him corrupt humanity...

As children, Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea dreamed of a strange otherworld: a nightscape of mists and fog, perpetually falling leaves and hungry ivy, lit by an unwavering moon. Here, in this shadowland of Everwhere, the four girls, half-sisters connected by blood and magic, began to nurture their elemental powers together. But at thirteen, the sisters were ripped from Everwhere and separated. Now, five years later, they search for one another and yearn to rediscover their unique and supernatural strengths. Goldie (earth) manipulates plants and gives life. Liyana (water) controls rivers and rain. Scarlet (fire) has electricity at her fingertips. Bea (air) can fly.

To realize their full potential, the blood sisters must return to the land of their childhood dreams. But Everwhere can only be accessed through certain gates at 3:33 A.M. on the night of a new moon. As Goldie, Liyana, Scarlet, and Bea are beset with the challenges of their earthly lives, they must prepare for a battle that lies ahead. On their eighteenth birthday, they will be subjected to a gladiatorial fight with their father's soldiers. If they survive, they will face their father who will let them live only if they turn dark. Which would be fair, if only the sisters knew what was coming.

So, they have thirty-three days to discover who they truly are and what they can truly do, before they must fight to save themselves and those they love.

After the battle with their demon father ends in a devastating loss, the Grimm sisters are separated. But, now three years later, as their twenty-first birthday approaches, dark fate brings them together once more.

For Goldie, this birthday is overshadowed by sorrow. She cannot forget the outcome of that battle, the devastating tragedy that has wreaked havoc on her already turbulent waking life. While her sisters have thrown themselves into their own endeavors, Goldie has grown distant and inconsolable. Driven by grief, she devises a diabolical plan using a human sacrifice to resurrect what she has lost.

When Liyana unexpectedly discovers what Goldie intends to do, she agrees to help if Goldie will try another way, without sacrificing a life. Returning to Everwhere, they combine their powerful magic to bring back what Goldie has lost. But something goes terribly wrong, and Scarlet is showing signs of being possessed by an evil spirit.

With their lives at stake, the sisters realize they must confront their personal trauma, make amends with the past, and once again prepare for a demonic fight to come.

And on the night of their birthday, battle ensues ... and tragedy strikes once more.

When Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm published their Children's and Household Tales in 1812, followed by a second volume in 1815, they had no idea that such stories as "Rapunzel," "Hansel and Gretel," and "Cinderella" would become some of the most celebrated in the world. Yet few people today are familiar with the majority of tales from the two early volumes, since in the next four decades the Grimms would publish six other editions, each extensively revised in content and style.

From "The Frog King" to "The Golden Key," wondrous worlds unfold--heroes and heroines are rewarded, weaker animals triumph over the strong, and simple bumpkins prove themselves not so simple after all.

An earthman arrives accidentally on a planet where the people are marsupial and changes the lives and fortunes of a family group living there.

With the help of two refugees from a penal colony, three earthmen, separated from a fourth on the planet Torin, elude capture by the Great Elder and gain cooperation for their mission.

Having been absorbed into the traditional life of the Moruia, four Earth people live peacefully on the planet Torin until an unscrupulous diviner tries to seize power.