Search Worlds Without End

Newly revised and expanded by the author, this seminal study of epic fantasy analyzes the genre from its earliest beginnings in Medieval romances on through practitioners like Tolkien up to today's brightest lights.

The MonkeyBrain edition also includes an introduction by China Mieville and Afterword by Jeff VanderMeer.

Before the Glory of Greece, Crete ruled the known world - and kept it enslaved by black magic! The evil of Minos held sway, protected by three unconquerable walls. First is the fleet that they call the wooden wall. Then there is a giant of living brass - he is the second wall. Then there is another barrier about the power of Minos, the Wall of Wizardry. Theseus, the tall Achean, the man they called Captain Firebrand, vowed to scale and destroy all three, and to rid the world of the evil yoke of Crete.

But Minos had other defences besides the walls, and many ways to attack as well...

Pink tutus, magic, sarcasm, amulets and bushfires: this is suburban fantasy in Australia.

Life is never quite what it seems, even without the lost family heritage delivered to Judith and Belinda. Judith wants an ordinary life... mostly. If Belinda weren't Judith's sister, and if it wasn't for bushfires and bigots, Belinda's life would be perfectly ordinary. Judith will tell you so; you don't even have to ask.

Belinda's friend Rhonda has a superpower. Each time she sees the future or reveals deep secrets, seekers for the 'New Nostradamus' come closer to destroying her life. Her hold on normalcy is very fragile; so is her hold on safety.

Judith and Rhonda are haunted, Judith by her past and Rhonda by her gift. Will they ever come into the sunshine and find happiness?

They appeared from nowhere...

...An implacable horde that ravaged the lands of Krantin, slaying and taking their own death wounds in eerie silence.

The outer islands have fallen, and soon the sorcery-driven soldiers will be striking at Krantin's heart.

The only hope for survival lies in an alliance of Royal forces with the fiercely independent desert marauders, the Destre-Y -- and with a perilous linkage of all of Krantin's adepts of magic.

The young Troop-Leader Danaer, Destre-born but sworn to Royal service, is the key to the uneasy partnership of ages-old enemies.

But his love for the enchantress Lira is now imperilling the final confrontation between the malignant enemy sorcerer and the protection of the web of wizardry...

Web of Wizardry is an enthralling fantasy tale combining feuding dynasties and political intrigue with weird and wondrous battles.

Sent by a witch on a foolhardy journey, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser return to the icy reaches of the north in search of dubious treasure. There, they are seduced by the glittering attractions of an ice woman, who brings them with her to her shadowy lair. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser-brothers in arms-are overwhelmed by intimations of power and rise to become the overlords of Quarmall, a dangerous region of lies, magic, and swords.

Table of Contents:

• In the Witch's Tent - (1968)
• Stardock - (1965)
• The Two Best Thieves in Lankhmar - (1968)
• The Lords of Quarmall - (1964) - novella by Fritz Leiber and Harry Fischer

END OF THE QUEST

It had all begun with the theft of the Orb that had so long protected the West from the evil God Torak. Before that, Garion had been a simple farm boy. Afterward, he discovered that his aunt was really the Sorceress Polgara and his grandfather was Belgarath, the Eternal Man. Then, on the long quest to recover the Orb, Garion found to his dismay that he, too, was a sorcerer.

Now, at last, the Orb was regained and the quest was nearing its end. Of course, the questors still had to escape from this crumbling enemy fortress and flee across a desert filled with Murgo soldiers searching for them, while Grolim Hierarchs strove to destroy them with dark magic. Then, somehow, they must manage to be in Riva with the Orb by Erastide. After that, however, Garion was sure that his part in these great events would be finished.

But the Prophecy still held future surprises for Garion--and for the little princess Ce'Nedra.

Sparks fly in this enchanting fantasy novel from the author of Unnatural Magic when a down-and-out fire witch and a young gentlewoman join forces against a deadly conspiracy.

Dellaria Wells, petty con artist, occasional thief, and partly educated fire witch, is behind on her rent in the city of Leiscourt--again. Then she sees the "wanted" sign, seeking Female Persons, of Martial or Magical ability, to guard a Lady of some Importance, prior to the celebration of her Marriage. Delly fast-talks her way into the job and joins a team of highly peculiar women tasked with protecting their wealthy charge from unknown assassins.

Delly quickly sets her sights on one of her companions, the confident and well-bred Winn Cynallum. The job looks like nothing but romance and easy money until things take a deadly (and undead) turn. With the help of a bird-loving necromancer, a shapeshifting schoolgirl, and an ill-tempered reanimated mouse named Buttons, Delly and Winn are determined to get the best of an adversary who wields a twisted magic and has friends in the highest of places.

Q: How does a shanghaied computer geek conquer all the forces of Darkness and win the love of the most beautiful witch in the world?

A: By transforming himself from a demon programmer into a programmer of demons!

It all began when the wizards of the White League were under attack by their opponents of the Black League and one of their most powerful members cast a spell to bring forth a mighty wizard to aid their cause. What the spell delivered was master hacker Walter "Wiz" Zumwalt. The wizard who cast the spell was dead and nobody-- not the elves, not the dwarves, not even the dragons--could figure out what the shanghaied computer nerd was good for.

But spells are a lot like computer programs, and, in spite of the Wiz's unprepossessing appearance, he was going to defeat the all-powerful Black League, win the love of a beautiful red-haired witch, and prove that when it comes to spells and sorcery, nobody but nobody can beat a Silicon Valley computer geek!

What do you get when a computer geek crosses a wizard? Answer: A very angry wizard - and a computer geek in a lot of trouble. Spells are a lot like computer programs: they're both formulas, recipes for getting things done. And they both can be buggy. The spell that called master hacker "Wiz" Zumwalt to the world of the Black League was very buggy. The wizard who called him is dead, Wiz is magically in love with a red-headed witch, who despises him, and no one - not the elves, not the dwarves, not even the dragons - can figure out what this computer wiz is good for. Oh, yes. The entire Black League wants Wiz dead - he might be good for something after all - and they'll stop at nothing to get what they want.

Wiz Zumwalt and his gang of Silicon Valley hackers and otherworld wizards must stop whoever has created the adjoining universe, where magic and technology both work and whose power could destroy their own world.

After rescuing the world from the creatures of darkness and chaos by applying a few computer logistics, Programmer and Systems Analyst Extraordinaire Wiz Zumwalt finds himself in another fix when he is kidnapped by dragons.

Preparing to protect a twenty-foot dragon from the wrath of his own wife, Wiz joins forces with his eccentric companions in an adventure filled with Soviet ex-spies, a band of dwarves, zombie dragon riders, and a fluffy pink mechanical rabbit.

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?

Young wizards Nita and Kit face their most terrifying challenge yet: Nita's little sister, Dairine. Not only is Dairine far too smart for a ten-year-old, she also has recenlty become a wizard, and worse yet, a wizard with almost limitless power. When Dairine's computerized wizard's manual glibly sends her off on her novice adventure--her Ordeal--Kit and Nita end up chasing her across the galaxy, trying to catch up with Dairine before she gets into trouble so deep that not even her brains can resuce her.