Aubrey was a student, gifted in the fine art of wizardry. But the more knowledge he acquired, the more he wanted to learn.

So he travelled to a faraway land in search of the greatest master of all, the powerful shape-changer Glyrenden.  From him, Aubrey expected to discover the secret of long-lost spells and the mysteries of arcane magic.

But there was one discovery he never expected, one mystery he risked everything to solve.

Her name was Lilith.

And so it came to pass...

Through science, faith, and force of will, the Harmonics carved out for themselves a society that they conceived of as perfect. Diverse peoples held together by respect for each other and the prospect of swift punishment. Angels to guard the mortals and mystics to guard the forbidden knowledge. Jehovah to watch over them all...

An age of corruption has come over the land, threatening peace and placing the Samarians in grave danger. Their only hope lies in the crowning of a new Archangel. The oracles have chosen Gabriel, and further decreed that he must first wed a mortal, Rachel. It is his destiny and hers. And Gabriel is certain that she will greet the news of her betrothal with enthusiasm, and a devotion to duty equal to his own.

Rachel, however, has other plans...

All is not well in Samaria...

Great storms are sweeping the land, the deserts flood, and the skies rain down death and destruction. As they have always, the people turn to the angels for help. Yet even their splendid voices, raised in supplication, cannot seem to reach the god Jovah...

Then the proud and beautiful Archangel Delilah falls victim to the rage of the wind, as she is torn from the sky, her wing broken. She can no longer soar in the heavens, guiding and guarding those below. She can no longer be first among the angels.

Though Jovah's anger blows all about them, the oracles must still consult him to choose a new Archangel. His choice - Alleluia, a solitary scholar. Her fate, in turn, may well depend on the mortal Caleb, a man who believes only in science - and himself.

And a god will fall...

Legend says the Archangel Alleluia and the mortal Caleb left a record of the truth they discovered about the god Jovah, though no document has ever been found. In time, an underground cult arose, seeking to find again what Alleluia found. But the reigning Archangel called down the wrath of Jovah upon the cult, and hundreds died in a hail of thunderbolts. Yet some still survive...

Among them is the woman Tamar, child of cultists, raised by angels. She believes that the actual disc, the Alleluia Files, exists. She is determined to find it, and free the people from their fear of Jovah, and the rule of angels.

She encounters the angel Jared, who has come to question the wisdom of Bael and his treatment of the cultists. Together, they will journey the length and breadth of Samaria, seeking a truth that will alter the face of Samaria forever...

Sweetly are the secrets told - wrapt in crystal, limned in gold...

On a planet of barren beauty near the edge of the civilized galaxy, two religions are practiced. Both sects worship the same goddess - the Triumphantes in joy and splendor, the Fideles in solemnity and selflessness. As different as day and night, sun and shadow, joy and grief, the two sects are now bound together in death...

A serial killer is stalking the priestesses, killing first a Triumphante, then a Fidele, in turn. Six women are now dead, and the planetary authorities are at a loss. Enter Interfed Agent Cowen Drake. A cunning professional, he must immerse himself in an unfamiliar world of stark spirituality to catch the killer. A world that will trap him between opulence and sacrifice, between duty and desire, and between two extraordinary women - one of whom could become the killer's ultimate victim...

A scientist by nature - he used his rational powers of observation to question the privileges he was born to enjoy - and the people he was raised to despise.

A rebel at heart - she followed her fiercest passions in the struggle to overthrow a legacy of hate - one that had poisoned her family for generations.

On a planet divided -between affluence and poverty, strength and weakness, intellect and feeling, only one thing could bring these two opposites together.

A strictly forbidden desire. For justice. For equality. For each other...

She was a girl...

...with a talent for witchcraft and a taste for adventure. The illegitimate child of a royal lord, she longed for a man who could never be hers. And she lived for her summers at Castle Auburn...

She was a woman...

...who has grown accustomed to standing alone. What she once loved, she has lost. Where she once saw joy, she now sees terrible injustice. And at the castle where she once lived in peace, she now walks in fear for her life...

There is only one Jenna Starborn...

A baby harvested from the gen-tanks on the planet Baldus.

A girl scorned by the family she has ever known.

A woman bold enough to seek her own way, strong enough to stay true to herself, and brave enough to follow her heart - wherever in the universe it might lead her...

Sharon Shinn returns to the planet called Samaria, with a new tale of an earlier time...

Legend has it that the original settlers of Samaria were carried there by the loving hands of the god Jovah. To keep the peace, he created a legion of land-dwelling angels, led by an appointed Archangel. Now, two hundred years later, Jovah's latest appointee is the Archangel Gaaron, whose dependability and allegiance to the people of Samaria make him a wise choice. And for Gaaron's life-mate, his Angelica, Jovah has chosen the woman Susannah, of the nomadic Edori tribe.

With trepidation, Susannah bows to the will of Jovah. For her heart is still with her people and her Edori lover, faithless though he might be.

In the lofty reaches of the Angel Eyrie, an unspoken affection slowly develops between the two. Then word comes to Gaaron of a terrible threat besetting the land - black-clad strangers who call down fire from the sky, leaving death and destruction in their wake.

Now what is in the hearts of the Archangel and Angelica may never be known, as the very future of the planet hangs in the balance...

National bestselling author Sharon Shinn returns once more to the planet of Samaria, where men and angels live under the watchful eye of the god Jovah, in this richly romantic tale, which begins where Archangel left off. In that time, the women who crave the attentions of angels were known as angel-seekers - a term used with awe by some, and scorn by others.

Elizabeth was born to wealth, but circumstances forced her to live as a servant in her cousin's household. Determined to change her life for the better, she makes the journey to Cedar Hills, hoping an angel will take notice of her, and take her as his own.

Rebekah is a daughter of the Jansai tribe, raised to hate the angels - and to marry whichever man her father chooses for her. But in her heart, she longs for a different life. And when she finds an injured angel near her village, she defies her upbringing to care for him.

In time, these two women, whose paths will cross, will both find what they desire, in surprising - and dangerous - ways...

Damiana is Safe-Keeper in the small village of Tambleham. Neighbors and strangers alike come, one by one, in secret, to tell her things they dare not share with anyone else, knowing Damiana will keep them to herself. One late night, a mysterious visitor from the city arrives with an unusual secret for the Safe-Keeper - a newborn baby.

Damiana, who is expecting her own child, agrees to take the foundling. She names him Reed and raises him side-by-side with her daughter, Fiona. As the years pass and the two children grow into teenagers, they must come to terms with who they are - and who they may be...

...four extraordinary and reknowned authors (Claire Delacroix, Lynn Kurland, Patricia McKillip, and Sharon Shinn) come together with stories of epic romance that live through the ages...of the beguiling and transforming power of beauty....of a woman awakening to the magic she possesses...of a world where human women pursue the love of angels...and of a medieval legend who comes thrillingly to life. Four stories to delight and enchant. Four rare talents destined to weave a web of magic that will leave you breathless...

Investigations of a different kind...

Conjured from the minds of today's most innovtive authors, Powers of Detection features a dozen tales of mystery and fantasy, set in worlds where sleuths may wield wands instead of firearms - and criminals may be as inhuman as the crimes they commit.

From a magical boarding school murder to a courtroom where a witch stands trial, from ancient legends of Alaska and Egypt to stories featuring such familiar faces as Sookie Stackhouse and such familiar places as the Nightside, these paranormal procedurals reveal the mysterious behind the mystery...

Includes stories by Donna Andrews, Michael Armstrong, Anne Bishop, Jay Caselberg, Mike Doogan, Laura Anne Gilman, Simon R. Green, Charlaine Harris, Anne Perry, Sharon Shinn, Dana Stabenow, John Straley.

Clouds of unrest are darkening the land of Gillengaria. In the southern region, ill feeling toward magic and those who use it has risen to a dangerous level, though King Baryn has ordered that such men and women are to be tolerated.

Whispers abound that he issued the decree because his new young wife is herself a mystic, who has used her powers to ensnare him. The king knows this - and he knows that he now sits uneasy on the throne. There are those barons of the Twelve Houses, who, out of their own ambition, might well use this growing dissent to overthrow him.

So he dispatches the mystic woman Senneth on a journey to see firsthand how dire the situation might be. Accompanying her are Justin, a young Rider who distrusts the magical arts; Kirra, a healer and shape-changer born of the Twelve Houses; her servant, the lowborn Donnal, also a shape-shifter; and Tayse, the first among the King's Riders. He, too, holds a hard view of mystics in general - and Senneth in particular.

As these unlikely allies venture further into the south, they ecounter a land under the sway of a fanatical cult that would purge Gillengaria of all magic users. They will face daeth - and worse. And the will come to realize that their only hope of survival lies in standing together, mystic and Rider, side by side...

"What would you say if I told you there was a time a Safe-Keeper told a secret, a Truth-Teller told a lie, and a Dream-Maker did everything in her power to make sure a wish went astray? Believe what I tell you, for I am a Truth-Teller, and every word I say is true."

Innkeeper's daughters Adele and Eleda are "mirror twins" - identical twins whose looks are reflections of each other's - and their special talents are like mirrors, too. Adele is a Safe-Keeper, entrusted with hearing and never revealing others' secrets; Eleda is a Truth-Teller, who cannot tell a lie when asked a direct question. The residents of Merendon often turn to the twins - especially their best friend Roelynn Karro, whose strict, wealthy father is determined to marry her off to the prince. When the twins and Roelynn are seventeen, a handsome dancing-master and his apprentice come to stay at the inn, and thus begins a chain of romance, mistaken identity, and some very surprising truths and falsehoods. This sequel to Sharon Shinn's acclaimed The Safe-Keeper's Secret will have readers utterly beguiled.

After joining an unlikely band of soldiers and sorcerers to rescue the regent Romar Brendyn from a cabal of rebellious minor lords, the shiftling Kirra returns to her home of Danalustrous - and learns that her half-sister, Casserah, has been proclaimed heir to the throne.

Though Casserah is obligated to attend a circuit of social events held by the great Houses of Gillengaria, she obstinately refuses to go. So Kirra shape-shifts into her sister's form and makes the rounds for her. In the royal city of Ghosenhall, she unexpectedly joins up with her steadfast compatriots from her previous adventures, and together they embark on a tour of the Twelve Houses, acting as guardians for the enigmatic queen of Gillengaria and her alluring daughter.

The motley group of mystics and warriors faces many danger in their travels. But Kirra places herself willingly in peril when she falls in love with the irresistable - but already married - Lord Romar. Revealing her true identity to him, Kirra begins a tempestuous affair that places them both in mortal danger and leads them both into the stronghold of the devious lords of the Thirteenth House...

...these brilliantly gifted authors come together with four tales of adventure that are as enchanting as they are exciting... A gifted seer receives a vision of a man whom she was not meant to marry, but was meant to love... A man an an elven woman endure both the mundane and the magical in their quest to remain together... A warrior maiden is trapped in a deadly storm with the only man she ever wanted, whose scars she must heal if he is ever to want her... A brave young woman helps her sister save her magically gifted child, only to receive an unexpected gift of her own...

What you hold in your hands is more than a book. It is a gateway between worlds - from deep space to Faerie to just around the corner. Firebirds Rising gathers together sixteen original stories by some of today's finest writers of fantasy and science fiction. Together, they have won virtually every literary prize and made best-seller lists world-wide. These authors have written singular stories that will capture readers and spark their imaginations.

Featured in Firebirds Rising: Francesca Lia Block, Emma Bull, Kara Dalkey, Pamela Dean, Charles De Lint, Carol Emshwiller, Alan Dean Foster, Alison Goodman, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Diane Wynne Jones, Ellen Klages, Tanith Lee, Kelly Link, Patricia A. Mckillip, Tamora Pierce, Sharon Shinn.

The third and final volume in Sharon Shinn's beguiling, romantic trilogy.

Kellen's mother has always insisted that her only child was born male, not female - so Kellen has been raised as a boy. Then she is forced to go to school, where she meets Gryffin, whose mind is as strong as his legs are damaged, and the two become friends and allies. A few years later, the two get jobs working at a nearby inn, the Parmer Arms.

When the kingdomm loses its Dream-Maker - whose mere presenc can make dreams come true - a new Dream-Maker is discovered, and lives throughout the kingdom are changed. Kellen and Gryffin are separated just as their friendship is shading into something more. Will it endure?

In the winter of 2005, after the horrifying natural disaster of the tsunami in Southest Asia, Steven Savile and Alethea Kontis joined forces to raise money to help the distressed survivors and have created Elemental. They solicitd SF and fantasy stories, all new and never published elsewhere, from many of the top writers in the genres today and received immediate responses in the form of the excellent stories collected in this book. Not only have the authors agreed to forgo any payment from the publisher for their contributions to this anthology, but the publisher will also donate all of its profits for this book to the Save the Children Foundation. Elemental has an introduction by Arthur C. Clarke and more than twenty stories by many others. They created in Elemental one of the most important genre anthologies of the year, but more than that: in giving real, tangible value for the purchase price, everyone who sells this book can be proud, and everyone who buys it will be richly rewarded not only by the quality of the stories, but also for supporting the tsunami relief effort.

Stories by Brian Aldiss, Jacqueline Carey, William C. Dietz, David Drake, Lynn Flewelling, Esther M. Friesner, David Gerrold, Joe Haldeman, Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Sherrilyn Kenyon (writing as Kinley Macgregror), Tim Lebbon, Juilet Marillier, Syne Mitchell, Larry Niven, Eric Nylund, Stel Pavlou, Adam Roberts, Sharon Shinn, Michael Marshall Smith, Martha Wells, Sean Williams and Shane Dix, Janny Wurts. Introduction by Arthur C. Clarke.

The King's Rider Justin has been dispatched to the small town of Neft where he can easily watch any suspicious activity at the nearby Lumanen Convent. Under the rule of Coralinda Gisseltess, the convent houses the fanatical Daughters of the Pale Mother, who worship the moon goddess and believe all magic-wielding mystics are evil. Assuming the guise of a stable hand, Justin befriends Ellynor, a young novice from the convent.

Although her order forbids her to associate with men, Ellynor gladly disobeys. Born in the Lirrenlands, Ellynor has always worshipped the Dark Watcher, the goddess of the night. It is the Dark Watcher's blessing that has bestowed Ellynor with the gift of healing and the ability to move through the night unobserved. As love blossoms between Justin and Ellynor, he discovers her magical talents. Fearing that her convent sisters may mark her as a mystic, she swears Justin to secrecy.

In fact, Coralinda is already aware that Ellynor has special power during the dark of the moon, and she manipulates the novice into helping her hunt down and kill mystics. And when Ellynor finds herself unable to escape the convent, it falls to Justin to risk everything - his own secret, the trust of his friends, even his very life - in order to save her...

When seventeen-year-old heiress Averie Winston travels with her guardian to faraway Chiarrin, she looks forward to the reunion with her father, who is a commanding general;seeing her handsome fiancé, Morgan; and exploring the strange new country. What she finds is entirely different from what she expected. Although the Chiarizzi appear to accept the invading army, rebels have already tried to destroy them; Morgan is not the man she thought he was; and she finds herself falling in love with Lieutenant Ket Du'kai, who himself comes from a conquered society. Can the irrepressible Averie remake herself in this new world?

Sharon Shinn's newest romance has an epic sweep, piquant humor, social commentary, and love to spare - just the thing when you want to lose yourself in another world.

The young mystic Cammon, a reader capable of seeing the truth in the hearts of others, has been summoned to the palace to read all of the suitors vying for the hand of Princess Amalie.

Cam soon begins to suspect that Amalie herself is a mystic. Her thoughts are opaque to him, and she has an intuitive control over the fearsome raelynx that is kept caged in the palace. And he also begins to fall in love with her, and she with him - a relationship that is, as they both know, doomed. Amalie is royalty. Cam is most definitely not.

But their personal concerns are swept aside as the long-brewing rebellion against the king comes to fruition. In the fearsome battle that ensues, Cam and his friends are tested in body and spirit, as they bring to bear all their skills, magical and otherwise, in defense of their king and his heir, Princess Amalie - the woman Cammon loves, the woman whose secret he must keep, no matter the cost...

From wizards to weathermen, everyone has always known the powers of the four elements - natural forces that can direct the fates, change destiny, and unite lovers in the most unexpected ways. Now, those magical elements come together in perfect balance in new stories from four charmed authors...

For the Rider Wen, peace in Gillengaria has only brought despair. Plagued by guilt for failing to protect her king, Wen has fled the royal city and given herself the penance of a life of wandering, helping strangers in need, making sure they remain just that: strangers.

Until the day she helps a terrified young woman abducted by an overeager suitor. The girl, she discovers, is the daughter of one of those who rose against the dead king, and is now heir to the great estate known as Fortune. Once she has delivered her safely home, Wen wants nothing to do with the girl or her family.

But fate has other plans... For behind the walls of Fortune, Wen will find her future - and she will finally confront the ghosts of her past.

Unusual Suspects invokes a dozen imaginative tales featuring otherworldly investigators trailing uncanny criminals across fantastical realms governed by the laws of magic.

From video game characters seeking civil rights and a cave dragon loan shark pondering an investment, to Santa Claus vacationing in New Zealand and a murderous enemy seeking revenge on Sam Spade - plus visits to the Nightside and Sookie Stackhouse's hometown - these stories and more will take readers around the world on a magical mystery tour...

Includes stories by Donna Andrews, Michael Armstrong, Mike Doogan, Carole Nelson Douglas, Laura Anne Gilman, Simon R. Green, Charlaine Harris, Laurie R. King, Sharon Shinn, Dana Stabenow, Michael A. Stackpole, and John Straley.

National bestselling author Sharon Shinn's outstanding Twelve Houses novels have fascinated readers and critics alike with their irresistible blend of fantasy, romance, and adventure. Now, in Quatrain, Shinn returns with four original novellas, each set in one of her distinctive worlds...

Flight: To be chosen as the lover of an angel is the highest honor in Samaria, but Salome knows the hidden dangers of such a life. After years spent atoning for her mistakes, an unexpected trip forces Salome to face the love that she betrayed and the life she tried to forget...

Blood: As a gulden man, nothing is more important to Kerk than race and price, expect the prospects of finding his long-lost mother. His search leads him to the Lost City, where his steadfast beliefs are shaken when an eccentric indigo girl becomes the only one he can to turn for help...

Gold: On the eve of war, Crown Princess Zara is sent ot the kingdom of Alora for safekeeping. But the magical realm and its people have their own seductive dangers, and the longer she stays, the more she forgets her home and the love she left behind...

Flame: In the world of the Twelve Houses, to be born a mysti is to receive both a gift and a curse of a solitary existence. Senneth can make fire do her bidding, but when she extinguishes a blaze, she exposes her gift in a small town where her power alone is enough to condemn her...

A gate to a different world - and danger, and romance...

Adopted from China and raised in St. Louis, Daiyu is used to feeling a little out of place, a little restless. But what kind of adventure is there in the Midwest? One day, while she's at a city fair near the Gateway Arch, Daiyu spots a gorgeous black jade ring, and when the elderly vendor tells her that "black jade" translates to "Daiyu," she impulsively buys the rings and wears it as a token of her heritage.

It is much more.

Daiyu walks through the Arch on her way home. She never gets there. Instead, she passes into another world, another version of St. Louis - where almost everyone is Chinese.

Now she has more adventure than she could have ever imagined. Taken to a safe house, she is trained as a spy in order to help topple the existing government. Daiyu spends hours learning refined manners and niceties and flirtations to pass among the elite - and steals moments to be with the handsome Kalen, the only person in this alternate world whom she truly trusts, or truly loves.

There is only one problem. Once her task is done, she must return to her own St. Louis, and leave Kalen behind... forever.

The bonds of love... the bonds of matrimony... the bonds between husband and wife... Some bonds are made to be broken. Here, for the first time ever, are four stories based on the classic idea of the "faerie tale wedding" - except this time, the damsels aren't the ones in distress...

#1 New York Times bestselling author Laurel K. Hamilton spins a story of a princess who decides to take her own destiny in hand and rescue a pampered Prince Charming from an evil sorceress in "Can He Bake a Cherry Pie?"

A selkie on the run from a century-old broken marriage arrangement has finally found true love - only to have the darkness from her past return to threaten both her and her dearly beloved in New York Times bestselling author Yasmine Galenorn's The Shadow of Mist.

New York Times bestselling author Marjorie M. Liu tells the tale of a young princess who escapes betrothal to a warlord by entering a magical forest. But when an evil queen sends her on a quest to The Tangleroot Palace, she faces dangers more perilous than marriage.

When a princess refuses her boring betrothed, the king holds a competition to see who will win his daughter's hand. But in matters of the heart, is a winner truly worthy - or can a loser offer even more in bestselling author Sharon Shinn's The Wrong Bridegroom?

After the death of her father - a former royal advisor who'd fallen out of favor - Zoe Ardelay has little time to grieve before she receives astonishing news: She has been chosen to become the king's fifth wife!

Unable to resist the ambassador sent to fetch her, Zoe accompanies him to the royal city. Once there, she slips away and hides among those who live along the shores of the mighty river. For Zoe is a coru: ruled by the elemental sign of water.

Gradually she discovers that she is, in fact, the coru prime. Which means she must return to the palace, not as an unwilling bride for the king but as a woman with power in her own right.

But the palace abounds with intrigue and deception. As Zoe unlocks more of the mysteries of her blood - and the secrets of the royal family - she must make a decision: How best to use her great power?

They soar through the night, unearthly creatures of legends and lore. Four masters of urban fantasy and paranormal romance explore the rapture of the heavens above and the darkness below...

Nocturne by Sharon Shinn: Accepting a position in a secluded and whispered-about mansion, a woman soon discovers the source of its mystery: the blind, tormented angel who lives there, and whose secrets could now destroy them both.

For fifteen years, Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But despite loving him with all of her heart and soul, Maria knows that Dante can never give everything of himself back - at least not all of the time.

Every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. During these times, he wanders far and wide, leaving Maria alone. He can't choose when he shifts, the transition is often abrupt, and, as he gets older, the time he spends in human form is gradually decreasing. But Matia, who loves him without hesitation, wouldn't trade their unusual relationship for anything.

Maria has kept his secret since the beginning, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occurs in local parks while Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she's been telling about her life have turned into lies she's telling herself...