Seventeen-year-old Chiara Dragoni is a master glassmaker of Venice, a position that is both a privilege - and a trap. For the glassmakers of Murano are forbidden to ever leave the islands of the Venetian lagoon. When Chiara's uncle is caught on the mainland and thrown into the dungeon of the Doge's Palace, she must use all her talents, including magic, to help free him. But the gift she creates for the ruling prince of Venice has unintended consequences, and now Chiara must decide whether to give up everything - and everyone - she knows and loves to save her dream. Set in an alternate...

Oregon is a strange an wonderful place. These short stories explore that strangeness through the genres of fantasy and science fiction. Here a sampling: "The Old Man and the Sneakers" It began the summer the Nikes washed up on the beach by the dozen - but never by the pair. The old man knew it was a sign ... "The Sea Gives, the Sea Takes Away" After a painful divorce, Elisabeth returns to her home on Skagit Bay to heal -- with the help of a little magic. "Sailing to Utopia" Ecotopia is perfect -- except when you refuse to be laid back about everything. Fed up, Picara decides to go on a tour...

Near future dystopia, colonies in space, galactic empires: this collection has it all "Almost All the Way Home From the Stars" is a collection of seven science fiction short stories by award winning writers Jay Lake and Ruth Nestvold. The settings range from galactic empires on distant worlds, to a dystopia in the near future warped by fundamentalism, to an alternate US where slavery was never abolished. Here a sampling: "Rivers of Eden" In a world transformed by a virus affecting faith, one lone scientist wants to set loose a cure for fanaticism. "The Big Ice" On Hutchinson's World, Vega...

Im Danemark des 9. Jahrhunderts ist das Kind einer Sklavin auch ein Sklave und damit Eigentum ihres Herrn. Als Sohn einer irischen Adligen und des danischen Stammesfursten, der sie geraubt und versklavt hat, wachst Halfdan als Sklave im Haushalt seines Vaters auf. Aber die Nornen, die das Schicksal aller Menschen weben, haben andere Plane fur ihn - obwohl sie nur selten Geschenke verteilen, ohne einen Preis dafur zu verlangen. Die Starkbogen-Saga ist eine epische Erzahlung von der beharrlichen Suche eines Mannes nach Gerechtigkeit und Vergeltung, die ihn durch die Welt der Wikinger im 9....

The Allied Interstellar Community first contact team on the planet Kailazh is faced with even more challenges than most. But dealing with an alien culture is not only difficult for those who arrive on a foreign world. What of the inhabitants of the planet, who now have to deal with realities so strange to their way of thinking, it will have an impact on everything they believe? Kislan is a factor in his family's shipping company, a man who has seen many ships arrive at the docks of Edaru from many different cities, who deals with foreign goods from all over the known world. But the ship that...

"Science fiction at its best " "Compelling and thought provoking " - Reader reviews

Looking Through Lace

As the only woman on the first contact team, xenolinguist Toni Donato expected her assignment on Christmas / Kailazh would be to analyze the secret women's language -- but then the chief linguist begins to sabotage her work. What is behind it? Why do the men and women have separate languages in the first place? What Toni learns turns everything she thought they knew on its head.

Beyond the Waters of the World

Kislan is a factor in his family's shipping company, a man who...

Die Starkbogen-Saga ist eine epische Erzahlung von der beharrlichen Suche eines Mannes nach Gerechtigkeit und Vergeltung, die ihn durch die Welt der Wikinger im 9. Jahrhundert fuhrt. Im zweiten Buch der Saga, Drachen aus dem Meer, ist Halfdan Hroriksson seinen Feinden vorerst entkommen - -den Mannern, die seinen Bruder umgebracht haben und ihn auch toten wollen. Um den Tod seines Bruders rachen zu konnen, muss Halfdan zunachst Erfahrungen als Krieger sammeln. Er schliesst sich der danischen Armee unter dem legendaren Kriegskonig der Wikinger Ragnar Logbrod an, die sich...