Philadelphia, some time in the 21st century--Casper Beech is a corporate drone, a man beaten down by debt, a wage-slave to the Consortium that dominates the American economy. One day his boss sends him in for neural imprinting -- to have new job skil...
Young Ishta found it in the forest, buried beneath dead leaves: a rounded, flattened stone as black as onyx. One side held a golden oval that glowed with a unnatural light. Of course, it had to be magic. But what did farmers know of magic? It could ...
Garth of Ordunin had been set a new task by the Forgotten King: Bring back to Skelleth whatever he found upon the altars of the seven temples of Dusarra. As he went about his blasphemous errand he learned more about the Dark Gods -- and more about hi...
Dumery of Shiphaven was a lad with a love of wizardry--and no magic at all. He dreamed of apprenticing himself to a great wizard, but because he had not even a touch of the talent, it was a dream he could never fulfill. He would never apprentice hims...
Garth had given the mighty Sword of Bheleu into the Forgotten King's keeping. Now he needed it back, and the King demanded that Garth bring him the Book of Silence in exchange -- but Garth feared that the King would use the Book to bring about an Age...
The overman named Garth sought immortal fame. The oracle told him to serve the Forgotten King to get that fame. But this King sent Garth after a basilisk whose gaze could turn men to stone. What sane use could anyone have for a monster like that?! Vo...
Tabaea the Thief thought she had learned how to make an important wizard's tool, an enchanted dagger called an athame. She made a slight mistake in performing the spell, however, and the resulting black dagger was something else entirely -- something...
The sword that Garth had stolen from Dusarra marked him as the chosen of Bheleu, god of destruction, and gave him immense power. This power could only be used to destroy, and Garth wanted to build. He chose to refuse the god's gift. Bheleu did not in...
She was everything he wanted, and everything he had been promised. A fortune-teller's prophecy had sent Kelder of Shulara to seek adventure along the Great Highway. He had been ready to give it up, and dismiss the seer as a fraud, when he met Irith. ...
One night Ed Smith thought he was having a waking nightmare when he saw a monstrous face at his window, but in the morning his neighbors were missing. The people who later turned up were not quite right, and gradually Smith realized they not only wer...