Search Worlds Without End

Hugo and Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, November 1989. The story can also be found in the collection The Inheritance and Other Stories (2011).

Generations ago humanity abandoned Earth. Now they have returned.

Far from home, the Human race tries to atone for killing Terra thousands of years ago. Rescued by the enigmatic Arthroplana in their mysterious Beastships, they have been inserted into the fragile ecologies of the alien twin worlds of Castor and Pollux, where they must make no impact, where every drop of water must be returned. Humanity has adjusted--or tried to.

Despite the constant watch of the Arthroplana and the Human Conservancy, John Gen-93-Beta has agreed to captain the Beastship Evangeline on an unthinkable journey to a dead planet... Earth.

And so begins an engrossing voyage of discovery for five travellers: John, his First Mate Connie, stowaaway Raef, Tug the Arthroplana and the Beastship Evangeline herself. On a planet none quite expected, each learns the power of being human.

A remarkable tale of the fantastic in everyday life from Megan Lindholm, who also writes as Robin Hobb. Now part of the Voyager Classics collection. Evelyn is a solitary child, preferring to wander in the woods in all weathers rather than socialise. Her secret is a fantastic companion: a faun with whom she plays in the woods. Years later Evelyn finds happiness as a wife and mother, but life turns sour when the family move to Tacoma where her husband is asked to fill in at his father's business. Evelyn's husband's wish for them to stay permanently with his family causes a rift between them and then a terrible tragedy makes the situation even more impossible. Miraculously, when she needs a friend, Evelyn's childhood companion reappears in Tacoma. Pan, now an adult satyr and a secret friend to both her and her son, eventually becomes her lover. He leads Evelyn on an odyssey out of her failed marriage to fulfilment in the woods of Alaska.

Nebula Award nominated short stoy. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, May 2001. It can also be found in the Nebula Awards Showcase 2004, edited by Vonda N. McIntyre and the collection The Inheritance and Other Stories (2011).

This story was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2012. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirtieth Annual Collection (2013), edited by Gardner Dozois and Year's Best SF 18 (2013), edited by David G. Hartwell.

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Nebula and Sturgeon Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, January 1989. It was published as a limited edition chapbook by Hypatia Press in 1994. The story can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventh Annual Collection (1990), edited by Gardner Dozois and the collection The Inheritance and Other Stories (2011).

Cigany is the gypsy, stalking the city in a cloud of magic.

Stepovich is the seasoned cop, who keeps finding dead bodies in the gypsy's wake.

The Fair Lady is Queen of the Underworld, drawing them both into her murderous web...until only the gypsy's broken memories stand between Stepovich's beloved city and the Lady's dark designs.

Megan Lindholm (Wizard of the Pigeons) writes tightly constructed SF and fantasy with a distinctly contemporary feel. Robin Hobb (Assassin's Quest) writes sprawling, multi-volume fantasies set in imaginary realms. These two writers, apparently so different, are, of course, the same person, each reflecting an aspect of a single multifaceted imagination.

Inheritance gathers the best of Hobb and Lindholm's shorter fiction into one irreplaceable volume containing ten stories and novellas (seven by Lindholm, three by Hobb), together with a revealing introduction and extensive, highly readable story notes. The Lindholm section leads off with the Hugo and Nebula-nominated novella 'A Touch of Lavender,' a powerful account of love, music, poverty, and addiction set against an extended encounter between human and alien societies. Other memorable entries include 'Cut,' a reflection on the complex consequences of freedom, and the newly published 'Drum Machine,' an equally absorbing meditation on the chaotic nature of the creative impulse. Two of Robin Hobb's contributions revisit the world of her popular Live Traders series. 'Homecoming' enlarges the earlier history of those novels through the journal entries of Lady Carillion Carrock, while 'The Inheritance' concerns a disenfranchised young woman who comes to understand the true nature of her grandmother's legacy. And in 'Cat's Meat,' a long and wonderful story written expressly for this collection, an embattled single mother reclaims her life with the help of a gifted--and utterly ruthless--cat.

Inheritance offers the best of two separate but related fictional worlds. Whatever their differences, the Hobb and Lindholm stories have certain crucial elements in common: their intelligence, their attention to detail, and their instant, almost effortless accessibility. Together, these beautifully crafted tales constitute a unique and important collection that offers both offers both intellectual pleasure and pure narrative excitement on virtually every page.

Table of Contents:

• A Touch of Lavender - (1989) - novella by Megan Lindholm
• Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man - (1989) - novelette by Megan Lindholm
• Cut - (2001) - shortstory by Megan Lindholm
• The Fifth Squashed Cat - (1994) - novelette by Megan Lindholm
• Strays - (1998) - novelette by Megan Lindholm
• Finis - (2011) - shortstory by Megan Lindholm
• Drum Machine - (2011) - shortstory by Megan Lindholm
• Homecoming - (2003) - novella by Robin Hobb
• The Inheritance - (2000) - novelette by Robin Hobb
• Cat's Meat - (2011) - novella by Robin Hobb

Seattle: a place as magical as the Emerald City.

Subtle magic seeps through the cracks in the paving stones of the sprawling metropolis. But only the inhabitants who possess special gifts are open to the city's consciousness; finding portents in the graffiti, reading messages in the rubbish or listening to warnings in the skipping-rope chants of children.

Wizard is bound to Seattle and her magic. His gift is the Knowing – a powerful enchantment allowing him to know the truth of things; to hear the life-stories of ancient mummies locked behind glass cabinets, to receive true fortunes from the carnival machines, to reveal to ordinary people the answers to their troubles and to safeguard the city's equilibrium.

The magic has its price; Wizard must never have more than a dollar in his pocket, must remain celibate, and he must feed and protect the pigeons.

But a threat to Seattle has begun to emerge in the portents. A malevolent force born of Wizard's forgotten past has returned to prey upon his power and taunt him with images of his obscure history; and he is the only wizard in Seattle who can face the evil and save the city, his friends and himself.

A voyage of discovery into the life of a remote aboriginal community in the Siberian Arctic, where the reindeer has been a part of daily life since Palaeolithic times.

The Reindeer People is the first in a series of reissues of Megan Lindholm's (Robin Hobb) classic backlist titles. It is set in the harsh wilderness of a prehistoric North America, and tells the story of a tribe of nomads and hunters as they try to survive, battling against enemy tribes, marauding packs of wolves and the very land itself.

Living on the outskirts of the tribe Tillu was happy spending her time tending her strange, slow dreamy child Kerlew and comunning with the spirits to heal the sick and bring blessing on new births.

However Carp, the Shaman, an ugly wizened old man whose magic smelled foul to Tillu desired both mother and child. Tillu knew Carp's magic would steal her son and her soul. Death waited in the snows of the Tundra, but Tillu knew which she would prefer...

Gritty and realistic, it's reminiscent of Jean Auel's Clan of the Cave Bear but written in the compelling style of the author who produced the bestselling Assassin's Apprentice.

The compelling sequel to The Reindeer People , a saga of magic and triumph in an ancient world.

Kerlew stared at the immense stone that jutted up from the tundra. Power radiated from it like heat from a fire. It attracted the boy and filled him with fear.

And then he was alone.

There was a brush of sound, of dark moving shadows and then the sudden flash of a glistening eye. He pressed his palms back against the stone's rough surface and faced the night creatures that surrounded him.

The magic is strong in Kerlew. Every day it grows, reaching out to the Wolf spirit that will be his guide. But the magic in Kerlew that calls to the beasts and to the spirit world also calls to Carp, the evil old shaman, who follows Kerlew and his mother, Tillu, across the frozen wastes. When he finds them, he will bind them to him, and shape Kerlew's powers for his own uses.

Harpies don't give up of blood debts. Neither do the men who serve them. A life must be given in return.

Devastated by the slaughter of her family and haunted by memories of her own violent revenge, Ki rejects the comfort of her husband's gypsy people and wants only to wander in solitude as an outcast.

Across mountains sheathed with ice, through the treacherous shadow of the impassable Sisters, Ki finds herself running for her life, pursued by frenzied Harpies sworn to vengeance; and by one stubborn, dark-haired man who seems intent on being part of her future.

The Windsingers is Megan's second novel, following Harpy's Flight which introduced her popular gypsy characters, Ki and Vandien.

When Ki first encountered Vandien she very nearly slit his throat. Yet later it was Vandien who suffered a terrible wound to protect her when terror fell from the skies and who gave her a reason to lay to rest the bitter memories of a once idllyic past.

Vandien's unrepentant recklessness led Ki into situations her sensible nature would have avoided. Yet it was Ki who, despite wizard-troubles of her own, risked the wrath of the Windsingers and saved Ki from his treasure hunt in the submerged temple of the storm-sung sea.

And it was Vandien's stubborn daring which allowed him to attempt to reclaim Ki from beyond the Limbreth Gate - in another world entirely!

The Limbreth Gate is book three in The Windsingers series, following Harpy's Flight and The Windsingers, which introduced her popular gypsy characters, Ki and Vandien.

Gypsy traders Ki and Vandien should have realised the money was too good to be true. Three georns and a full orn to be paid on arrival--and all they had to do was transport the cargo to Villena! The cargo, however, turned out to be human; a boy called Goat, and his family seemed just a little bit too anxious to be rid of him.

The arrangement smelled like trouble. And it was; especially when faced with a few other unexpected problems... like a lovesick stowaway, an army of rebels and road bandits and a magical detour with death itself...