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...
Garth asked an oracle how he could be remembered forever. The answer sent him into a web of treachery, of ancient secrets and forbidden knowledge, and entangled him in matters far beyond his understanding, until he found himself face to face with the...
A sudden ice age has driven Earth's population into the tropics, except for a few die-hards eking out a tenuous existence scavenging the snow-covered ruins of civilization. One such straggler is John Starkman, making his home in the frozen wastes of ...
The Cockeyed Spell The old wizard wasn't exactly happy with Valder, who'd led the enemy to his hut. Now hut and magical supplies were destroyed. But he'd promised the young scout a magic sword to get him safely back to his own lines -and a much en...
On Godsworld, a colony planet governed by Biblical law, the righteous John Mercy-of-Christ swings his sword against heretic tribes, but the holy battle between rival sects is irrevocably altered when machine guns reappear...
"In the tradition of the old ""Ace Doubles"" two-in-one books (flip one over to read the second title) -- here is the fifth Wildside Double: the two-volume ""War Surplus"" series by Lawrence Watt-Evans, ""The Cyborg and the Sorcerers"" and ""The Wiza...
In the service of the immortal Forgotten King, Garth is sent to the city of Dusarra to retrieve what is on the altars of the gods, but he is aware that his mission may signal the beginning of the Age of Destruction...
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...
Stranded for a decade on the planet Dest, Sam Turner, formerly Slant the cyborg and now a practicing wizard, never expected to see another Earth-human again. So when his internal communication circuit suddenly picked up a call from an independent Rec...
The lost colony planet Denner's Wreck was found by a group of immortal, high-tech tourists who decided it would be fun to hang around for a few centuries playing at being gods for the low-tech descendants of the original colonists.One of the Powers, ...
When someone begins buying real estate in the abandoned section of Nightside City on the planet Epimetheus, Carlisle Hsing decides to investigate the possibility of a secret plan to save the doomed city...
Tobas had been lucky to find a wizard to take him on as apprentice. But then the wizard died suddenly and unexpectedly after teaching Tobas only a solitary spell, and the youth was too old to find a new master. How could he earn a living when all the...
Title to Disaster Sterren had been getting by in Ethshar of the Spices until the group of oddly dressed people confronted him. They'd kidnapped him and dragged him here to Semma, smallest of the Small Kingdoms. That didn't seem so bad, at first. T...
When all of Edward J. Smith's neighbors disappear one day, both he and the police are understandably perturbed, but upon their eventual return, Edward notices subtle differences in his neighbors that lead him to believe they have become zombies...
It wa definite -- Dumery had no magical talent at all. He could never fulfill his dream to become a wizard's apprentice. Hurt, angry, and mortally disappointed, he despaired of ever choosing a trade.
But then Dumery spied a so-called great wizard ...
Travelers from Earth's alternate realities take breaks for dinner at Harry's hamburger joint and relate their experiences to Mitsopoulas, a police officer accustomed to hearing about flying whales and feline vacuum cleaners. Original....
Art Dunham had worked in his father's small-town New England theater all his life, and had never before seen anything like the group that rented it one summer. They said they didn't need lights or props or sets or costumes, and they did nothing to ad...
THE YOUNG MUST TRY THEIR WINGS Kelder had always dreamed of a life more exciting than what waited for him on the family farm. So when a fortune-teller predicted a glorious future, that he'd roam free and unfettered and be a champion of the lost an...
Tabaea was an ordinary thief, sneaking and prowling and stealing for a living. Then one night while burgling a house, she witnessed a wizard teaching his apprentice a spell -- the creation of a magic dagger.
Tabaea decided to try the magic for...
The Ancient & Honorable Kingdom of the Hydrangeans is now the latest conquest of the mighty Gorgorian warrior GUDGE. To Gudge's bride, Queen Artemisia of Hydrangea, are born a set of royal triplets. But traditional Gorgorian belief holds tha...
WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE Like most suburbanites, Pel Brown had problems in his basement. But his were somewhat out of the ordinary: a portal from a world of magic had opened, and now barbarian swordsmen were demanding that Pel help them defeat Shadow, ...
A collection of spine-chilling and unexplainable adventures that truly qualify as nightmares includes "There's Nothing Under the Bed," by Bruce Coville, and other tales of terror by Jane Yolen, Mark Garland, Mary Downing Hahn, and Michael Markiewicz....
A handful of ordinary Americans -- housewives, lawyers, interior decorators, and the like -- found themselves caught up in a transdimensional conflict, and transported from their homes to realms where magic worked, to desert planets and rebel worlds,...
Here they come, and they're out for blood. For too long, they say, have hot blooded babes in brass bras and chain-link bikinis been held up to scorn as the embodiment of male fantasy wish-fulfillment and non-functionality. You think their swords won'...
An ultimate scary tale collection for readers with monsters on the brain celebrates the creepy beasties of the forest, swamp, school bus, and vending machines, and highlights creatures that may even turn out to be a best friend. Original....
The dark force known as Shadow had been defeated, but its world-spanning web of power had survived. This incredible magical weapon was now held not by a prince or wizard, but by Pellinore Brown, a marketing consultant from Germantown, Maryland. Pel B...
MARS ATTACKS(c): Cards, comics . . . and now brand-new, all-original novels of unthinkable terror!
MURDER MANSION
The invasion was quick and merciless. Nothing on Earth could counter the superior technology of the interplanetary aggressors. The...
When the baby Malledd is born to an ordinary family in a small country town, the oracles name him the true chosen Champion of the Domdur Empire. Should the Empire find itself at war, Malledd will be the one to lead them to victory, by the gods' decre...
Those Chicks in Chainmail are baaaack -- and They Are Not Amused! A Brief Word from the Characters: We seem to have a Failure to Communicate here. Hey, it's okay with us that Chicks in Chainmail was so popular, and reached #3 on the Locus bestsell...
Arlian had never left his home village on the Smoking Mountain. The stony ground, jagged peaks, and black glass were all he had ever known of life, and he knew deep in his heart that he would prohably never leave. Until the dragon weather came. Incre...
One Man Must Stand Against the Dragon Menace! It all began with Drayon Weather: a wave of incredible heat, oppressive humidity, dark angry clouds...and dragons. Dragons with no remorse, no sympathy, not for humans; dragons who destroyed an entire ...
Lawrence Watt-Evans's tales of the magical land of Ethshar of the Spices had a large and devoted following in the late eighties and early nineties. Now, after nearly ten years, he brings us a new tale of mystery, magic, and madness.Warlockry has been...
Twenty stories by Lawrence Watt-Evans, written with all the wit and imagination that earned the author a Hugo for Best Short Story. Includes a general introduction, plus introductions, written especially for this collection, for each story. Celestial...
Despite several years of study, Kilisha, an aspiring young apprentice wizard, has much to learn. After gathering ingredients for a lesson, she returns home to find her master, Ithanalin the Wise, transformed into a statue. A tax collector interrupted...
After many years of peace in the Lands of Men, there came Dragon Weather: a wave of incredible heat, oppressive humidity, dark angry clouds . . . and dragons. Dragons with no remorse, no sympathy, no use for humans; dragons who destroyed an entire vi...
For seven decades, L. Sprague de Camp was a giant in both science fiction and fantasy, renowned for his fast-moving action-adventure tales with a strong humorous element. Now, Hugo-winner and best-selling author Harry Turtledove has gathered together...
The entire world is kept in a delicate balance under the supervision of the Wizard Lord. It is his duty to govern lightly and protect his domain, but if he strays from the way of the just then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. The Chosen are th...
Every wizard in Ethshar knew that if you needed something special, something difficult to find, that Gresh the Supplier was the man to see. He was expensive, but always delivered. So when the Wizards' Guild finally got fed up with the little green nu...
All of the world is kept in a delicate balance under the supervision of the Wizard Lord. It is his duty to govern lightly and protect his domain...but if he should stray from the way of the just, then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. The Chosen ...
All of the world is kept in a delicate balance under the supervision of the Wizard Lord. It is his duty to govern lightly and protect his domain … but if he should stray from the way of the just then it is up to the Chosen to intercede. The Chosen ...
After growing from humble beginnings as a Sword & Sorcery parody to more than 30 volumes of wit, wisdom, and whimsy, the Discworld series has become a phenomenon unlike any other. Now, in The Turtle Moves!, Lawrence Watt-Evans presents a story-by...
Bredon didn’t mean to interfere with the Powers -- but then they interfered with him! When the beings of myth and legend start fighting among themselves, mere mortals had best beware. Millennia ago, the survivors of a crash settled the planet of De...
Once, not so long ago,a warlock named Vond built an empire in the southern part of the Small Kingdoms. Vond is gone, but his empire survives under the rule of a seven-person Imperial Council and a young regent named Sterren. The Empire of Vond was h...
Lawrence Watt-Evans, author of the acclaimed Legends of Ethshar and Worlds of Shadows novels invites readers to embark on a rollicking journey in a brand-new fantasy series. Anrel Murau is a scholar, a young man with no magical ability even though h...
Anrel Murau, a simple scholar, is secretly the notorious revolutionary Alvos the Orator -- the Empire's most wanted man. On the run and nearly penniless, Anrel finds himself forced to seek refuge in the capital city's Pensioner's Quarter, a den of th...
If You Can Trust No One-Then Trust a Nobody. A new Carlisle Hsing adventure, and a return to Nightside City. Detective Carlisle Hsing counted herself lucky to escape Nightside City before dawn came and destroyed everything there. Unfortunately, just ...
Twelve stories of vampires by award-winning author Lawrence Watt-Evans. This collects all the vampire stories Watt-Evans has written to date, gathering them from a variety of sources into a single volume for the first time....
Set sail on some most improbable seas with Hugo-winner Lawrence Watt-Evans as he explores the universe of stories set in the past -- stories the couldn't possibly have happened, but probably should have. Includes "The Final Folly of Captain Dancy," "...
The two thieves thought they had it made when they found an isolated house full of valuable antiques -- kill the owner, and take what they wanted.It wasn't quite that simple.This short story previously appeared in the anthologies LATE KNOCKING and PR...
On a distant planet in the far future, visitors from Earth try to suppress the local superstitions -- but they may have misjudged the situation. A short story that originally appeared in Amazing Stories....
Twelve stories taken from the pages of the popular science fiction magazine introduce the aliens who meet nightly at a Virginia hamburger joint and aliens live in the Yorkshire moors, keeping local superstitions alive. Reprint....
Gregory Kraft was cursed. At night he could see the ghosts and monsters ordinary people could not, and when he slept, he suffered prophetic dreams.He could see these things -- but he couldn't stop them.Then Greg dreamed of a hungry ghost befriending ...
Arnie Bellingham wasn't looking forward to opening his Christmas presents. They weren't what he wanted; they were what the bully up the street had demanded. But one of them turned out to be something neither boy had asked for....
Jim Tuckerman wanted to see an angel more than anything. The rider he picked up on his way to Washington had some suggestions on where to look...This short story was originally published in the webzine Helix in 2008....
The Calling. Sooner or later, it claimed every powerful warlock . . . a growing magical compulsion to go north to the mysterious land of Aldagmor that nothing could stop. None ever returned. Hanner the Warlock knew his days were numbered. The Callin...
Ethshar? Some readers already recognize the name, but if you aren’t one of them, perhaps a brief explanation is in order. “Ethshar” is the invented world that has been the setting for almost a dozen novels from the pen of Lawrence Watt-Evans. I...
Twelve thousand years in the future, on a planet far, far away, a country boy named Tulzik Ambroz tracks the man who killed his sister Vika, following him across the poisonous crater that is all that remains of the planet's starport, into the great c...
The great wizard Nabal's death offers many opportunities, both for those who knew him and those who did not. For young conmen Ezak and Kel, it means a chance to loot the wizard's estate ... if they can win the confidence of Nabal's wido...
When he was eight years old, Tom Derringer discovered his father's journal and learned that the late Jack Derringer was a professional adventurer. For the next eight years Tom studied and trained to follow in his father's footsteps. Then in 1882, whe...
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 cou...
21 of the most twisted and poisonous short stories by award-winning author Lawrence Watt-Evans -- nineteen reprints and two, "Hazmat" and "Slash," original to this collection.The stories originally appeared in magazines such as Deathrealm and antholo...
A would-be conqueror had accused Tom Derringer of being a part of Gabriel Trask's cabal of spies and assassins.Tom had never heard of Gabriel Trask.The experts of the Pierce Archives knew only that Mr. Trask had some connection with the late Emperor ...
No good deed goes unpunished! When Morvash of the Shadows, a journeyman wizard, discovers some of the statues in his uncle’s house are real people turned to stone, he sets out to do the right thing. But turning them back is a bigger challenge than ...
In 1884 the Bone Wars between rival paleontologists were in full swing, driving fossil hunters to outrageous lengths in pursuit of the latest finds, when reports came out of the Wasatch Mountains in the Utah Territory of the most amazing discovery ye...
Professor Aloysius Vanderhart has been kidnapped, and his daughter has asked young adventurer Tom Derringer to find him and bring him home. Other scientists and adventurers have also gone missing. Who took them, and why? The search for those answers ...
Here are ten tall tales - stories set in times and lands that never were, but should have been. Join Jolly Jack Dancy's crew as they try to figure out what their captain has gotten them into this time. See Thomas Windwagon Smith race a Martian sandsh...
Life can be hard in Ethshar of the Sands, especially when you're an aging diva whose husband has just left you. Never mind that he gave her their house and plenty of money. Never mind that he no longer loves her and never wants to see her again. Or h...