Dubbed the American Tolkien by Time magazine, #1 New York Times bestselling author George R.R. Martin is a giant in the field of fantasy literature and one of the most exciting storytellers of our time. Now he delivers a rare treat for readers: a compendium of his shorter works, collected into two stunning volumes, that offer fascinating insight into his journey from young writer to award-winning master.
Gathered here in Volume I are the very best of George R.R. Martin's early works, including never-before-published fan pieces, his Hugo, Nebula, and Bram Stoker Award-winning stories plus the original novella The Ice Dragon, from which Martin's New York Times bestselling children's book of the same title originated. A dazzling array that features extensive author commentary, Dreamsongs, Volume I , is the perfect collection for both Martin devotees and a new generation of fans.
Introduction by Gardner Dozois
One: A Four-Color Fanboy (2003)
Only Kids Are Afraid of the Dark (1967)
The Fortress 2003)
And Death His Legacy (2003)
Two: The Filthy Pro (2003)
The Hero (1971)
The Exit to San Breta (1972)
The Second Kind of Loneliness (1972)
With Morning Comes Mistfall (1973)
Three: The Light of Distant Stars (2003)
A Song for Lya (1974) novella
This Tower of Ashes (1976)
And Seven Times Never Kill Man (1975) novelette
The Stone City (1977) novelette
Bitterblooms (1977) novelette
The Way of Cross and Dragon (1979) novelette
Four: The Heirs of Turtle Castle (2003)
The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr (1976)
The Ice Dragon (1980) novelette
In the Lost Lands (1982)
Five: Hybrids and Horrors (2003)
Meathouse Man (1976) novelette
Remembering Melody (1981)
Sandkings (1979) novelette
Nightflyers (1980) novella
The Monkey Treatment (1983) novelette
The Pear-Shaped Man (1987) novelette Views: 1 049
Hundreds of years in the future, after the collapse of the Western world, young Menelaus Illation Montrose grows up in what was once Texas as a gunslinging duelist for hire. But Montrose is also a mathematical genius—and a romantic who dreams of a future in which humanity rises from the ashes to take its place among the stars.
The chance to help usher in that future comes when Montrose is recruited for a manned interstellar mission to investigate an artifact of alien origin. Known as the Monument, the artifact is inscribed with data so complex, only a posthuman mind can decipher it. So Montrose does the unthinkable: he injects himself with a dangerous biochemical drug designed to boost his already formidable intellect to superhuman intelligence. It drives him mad.
Nearly two centuries later, his sanity restored, Montrose is awakened from cryo-suspension with no memory of his posthuman actions, to find Earth transformed in strange and disturbing ways, and learns that the Monument still carries a secret he must decode—one that will define humanity’s true future in the universe. Views: 1 049
Born with a secret power he must hide…
Telryn “Trip” Yert has always been a little odd, with hunches that are too accurate to explain. Magic is feared and forbidden in Iskandia, so he’s struggled his whole life to hide his eccentricities. As a boy, he was forced to watch his mother’s execution. Her crime? Witchcraft.
Understandably, Trip wants nothing to do with the power that lurks within him, always threatening to reveal itself. Instead, he dedicates himself to serving as an officer in the king’s army, to battling pirates and imperial conquerors. He longs to become a soldier as respected and renowned as the legendary General Zirkander.
But his country is in need of more than a soldier.
After disappearing for over a thousand years, dragons have returned to the world. A few of them are willing to be allies to mankind, as they were millennia before, but far more want to destroy or enslave humans and claim the world for themselves.
There are few people left with the power to fight dragons. For reasons he doesn’t understand, Trip may be one of those people. But if he chooses to learn more about his heritage and the power he can wield, he risks losing everyone he loves and everything he longs to be. Views: 1 048
Driven by his sense of "dharma," or honor, young King Tamar sets off on a perilous journey, with a significance greater than he can imagine, during which he meets talking animals, villainous and noble kings, demons, and the love of his life.
Alexander's latest epic adventure is rooted in the mythology of ancient India. A losing game of chance with a mysterious stranger seems like a dream to young King Tamar, but the iron ring on his finger is a very real token that his life may be forfeit. A journey to the stranger's distant kingdom seems his only chance to discover the truth. Many adventures and diversions crop up along the way as Tamar gains some surprising companions, including a brave and beautiful milkmaid, a cowardly eagle, and a wiley monkey king who used to be a man. The author's flexible style moves smoothly from comedy to tragedy and back again; from battle scenes to ridiculous situations, Alexander never loses the thread. Set within the action are small gems of poetry and folktales. The concept of dharma, or proper conduct, and the rigid caste system deeply affect Tamar's actions. Plot, characters, and setting all have their parts to play, but it is the tension set up among the lively characters and the cultural conventions binding them that create the structure of the story and lead inevitably to its conclusion. This wise and witty adventure can be enjoyed on many levels. Views: 1 048
Publication Date: January 3, 2013
Letty Dobesh: thief, junkie, pick-pocket, felon. But now, for the first time in ages, she's also clean and sober, just out of rehab, and on a cross-country trip to reunite with her estranged little boy.
Enter psychotic mercenary Isaiah Brown with a proposal that scratches at her oldest itch, something Letty has dreamed of all her life—the ultimate Vegas score. An ingenious plan to take down a casino that might actually work.
All that's standing between Letty and an inconceivable pile of money is the pick-pocket of a lifetime. One risky, impossible grab. Pull it off, and retire. But mess things up, and Letty Dobesh will lose everything she holds dear, including her life.
NOTE: Grab is approximately 25,000 words or about 140 pages. Views: 1 048
Reborn is the gripping sequel to the apocalyptic thriller Remade, by the best-selling author of the Timeriders series, Alex Scarrow.
Eighteen months have passed since the events of Remade. Leon and Freya have seen no sign of the virus, clinging on to the hope that two hard winters may have just killed it off. When news of a rescue ship arriving off the coast comes in, the pair are on the move once again.
But all is not as safe as it seems. The virus has been busy. It has learned and evolved. And now it is reborn.... Views: 1 047
Complete your Divergent library with the Four stories!
Fans of the Divergent series by #1 New York Times bestselling author Veronica Roth will be captivated by "Four: The Transfer," the first of four stories, each between fifty and seventy-five pages long, set in the world of Divergent and told from Tobias's perspective.
In "The Transfer," readers witness Tobias's aptitude test, Choosing Day, and the moment he is given the infamous nickname "Four." Views: 1 047
Two hundred years of tender love between man and alien, political downfalls, wanton violence of unspeakable order tempered with laughter, family loyalty and hope is the thrilling vehicle by which Ms. Accinni conveys her cautionary tale of the merciless disrespect man gives his planet and the vulnerable creatures entrusted to him.
This charming, yet brutal saga will chill and surprise you as it foretells the selfishly destructive path man has followed since his species evolved. It pulls no punches while allowing Netty and Baby's influence to transcend mortal life as the world dances toward depraved indifference, introducing other characters along the ride that readers will laugh and shed tears with, and learn to despise.
"Baby" introduces Netty, a naive teenage farm girl given in marriage to an older brutal opportunist disguised as a successful citizen during the years of Prohibition in Sussex County, New Jersey. After years of enslavement, Netty flees into the night from her rapist and bootlegger husband, traveling back to the farm worked by her parents, where she rescues an unfamiliar damaged creature she finds in a cave in the woods of her childhood, falling in love with the enigmatic alien she names Baby. Together they find happiness and fulfillment
despite the changes to Netty's body wrought by the proximity of the unusual creature.
Damaged by entry into our atmosphere while pregnant, the confused creature forgets the purpose of his mission, appearing unconcerned with the disappearance of his offspring and savoring the unexpected joy of the love he shares with young Netty.
When a handsome Italian stranger comes into Netty's life, complications ensue as she falls in love while trying to hide the bizarre and wondrous changes to her farm and her body. Netty, Baby and Wil strive to conquer obstacles thrown in their path by life, succeeding wildly until the heart-rending and astonishingly brutal climax to their story.
What lengths will Baby and his offspring go to complete their mission? Will it spell Armageddon for the beleaguered planet with its vulnerable and exploited creatures or will man tip the scales himself, leaving those that love the creatures to salvage the pitiful ruins?
In "Echo", Netty's influence transcends a full century as the United States evolves to a point of politically driven economic collapse. The year is 2033 as a young mother, abused by her shiftless husband, heroically decides to remove her two sickly children, Scotty and Abby, from the mean streets of their government subsidized tenement town of Short Hills, New Jersey to the hills and old farmland of Sussex County. There they unite with a Latino family that adopted Jose, a young boy from Costa Rica, traumatized at the age of seven by the brutal murder of his parents and the kidnapping of his infant sister.
The two families unite to pool finances, creating the love and bonds that will enable them to survive the psychotic attention of Armoni, a soul damaged beyond redemption, discovery of Baby's miraculous offspring, Echo; and their subsequent body changes. Through the efforts of Echo who develops an unexplained passion for the curly haired dog, Barney, they flee the clutches of Armoni after the murder of Armoni's sidekicks by Echo, to Sarasota, Florida, one of the last remaining enclaves of wealth in the U.S.
Scotty learns to utilize Echo as a co-conspirator in his intrigue to thwart the efforts of heinous people that prey on the lives of creatures in their environmentally rich new home, where the insidious miscreant, Armoni, tracks them; bringing brutality and violence to all.Having fallen in love, the young Abby and Jose draw close, only to be separated by the transcendental Netty, who tries to use Abby as a conduit in her plan to rescue as much wildlife as they can before despicable political events bring on the specter of Armageddon... Views: 1 047
Yumiko Moth has discovered her name, but she still not know who, or what, she is. All she knows is that her mother is dead, her master has disowned her, and her beloved has vanished. And she also knows that the Day world is a very dangerous place for a Twilight girl, especially when the dark forces of Night are hunting her.
To discover the truth she seeks, she must infiltrate the enemy's citadel. In New York City, that is The Cobbler's Club, home to the world-famous Peach Cobbler Girls. But how can a girl who stalks the shadows hide herself in the bright lights of the stage? CITY OF CORPSES is the fifth book of MOTH & COBWEB, an astonishing new series about magical worlds of Day, Night, and Twilight by John C. Wright.
John C. Wright is one of the living grandmasters of science fiction and the author of THE GOLDEN AGE, AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND, and IRON CHAMBER OF MEMORY, to name just three of his exceptional books. He has been nominated for both the Nebula and Hugo Awards, and his novel SOMEWHITHER won the 2016 Dragon Award for Best Science Fiction Novel at Dragoncon. Views: 1 047
In 1865 Louisiana, Captain Robert Cooper from the Freedman's Bureau is sent to investigate a rash of strange murders and disappearances. Something is in the woods waiting for night to fall and the truth may be more terrifying than can be imagined.In 1865 Louisiana, Captain Robert Cooper from the Freedman's Bureau is sent to investigate a rash of strange murders and disappearances. His unexpected arrival in Williamstown is met with a mix of anger and suspicion. With gangs of demobilized Confederate soldiers roaming the woods, Cooper is quick to realize that his job may be harder than first expected. Yet, the terror that plagues the farms and plantations around Williamstown cannot be easily explained away. Something is in the woods waiting for night to fall and the truth may be more terrifying than can be imagined. Views: 1 046
From the author of the bestselling and Hugo Award-winning Spin, comes an SF tale that poses searching questions about tourism and colonization
Two events made September 1st a memorable day for Jesse Cullum. First, he lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Second, he saved the life of President Ulysses S. Grant.
It's the near future, and the technology exists to open doorways into the past--but not our past, not exactly. Each "past" is effectively an alternate world, identical to ours but only up to the date on which we access it. And a given "past" can only be reached once. After a passageway is open, it's the only road to that particular past; once closed, it can't be reopened.
A passageway has been opened to a version of late 19th-century Ohio. It's been in operation for most of a decade, but it's no secret, on either side of time. A small city has grown up around it to entertain visitors from our time, and many locals earn a good living catering to them. But like all such operations, it has a shelf life; as the "natives" become more sophisticated, their version of the "past" grows less attractive as a destination.
Jesse Cullum is a native. And he knows the passageway will be closing soon. He's fallen in love with a woman from our time, and he means to follow her back--no matter whose secrets he has to expose in order to do it. Views: 1 045
Liam O'Connor should have died at sea in 1912.
Maddy Carter should have died on a plane in 2010.
Sal Vikram should have died in a fire in 2026.
But all three have been given a second chance - to work for an agency that no one knows exists. Its purpose: to prevent time travel destroying history...
Hunted by cyborg assassins from the future, the TimeRiders must abandon New York and go on the run. They escape to Victorian London and the streets where Jack the Ripper roams. But, before they can establish their new base, they make their most shattering discovery yet - and it will change everything ...
**Book six in the bestselling TimeRiders series by Alex Scarrow. Views: 1 044
The story recounts the life of a stormtrooper and spans about nine years, from 14 to 4 years before the Battle of Yavin. The story's early title, "TK-146275" , was mistakenly used in the Star Wars Insider graphic. Views: 1 044
In the dead of night, Quentin, a young acolyte, is unexpectedly summoned when a mortally wounded knight stumbles into the temple of Ariel. Determined to save the realm of the Dragon King, the dying knight makes a desperate plea for someone to continue his quest. Now Quentin must choose—a life of ease or a dangerous, unknown path. Views: 1 043
