New epic fantasy in the grand tradition - including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin!
Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock’s Elric of Melniboné, Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction - and an inspiration for a new generation of writers, spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure.
Now, in TheBook of Swords, acclaimed editor and bestselling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters - many of them set in their authors’ best-loved worlds. Join today’s finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel.
FEATURING SIXTEEN ALL-NEW STORIES:
The Best Man Wins
by K. J. Parker
Her Father’s Sword
by Robin Hobb
The Hidden Girl
by Ken Liu
The Sword of Destiny
by Matthew Hughes
‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow
by Kate Elliott
The Triumph of Virtue
by Walter Jon Williams
The Mocking Tower
by Daniel Abraham
Hrunting
by C. J. Cherryh
A Long, Cold Trail
by Garth Nix
When I Was a Highwayman
by Ellen Kushner
The Smoke of Gold Is Glory
by Scott Lynch
The Colgrid Conundrum
by Rich Larson
The King’s Evil
by Elizabeth Bear
Waterfalling
by Lavie Tidhar
The Sword Tyraste
by Cecelia Holland
The Sons of the Dragon
by George R. R. Martin
And an introduction by Gardner Dozois
When fine writer and expert editor [Gardner] Dozois beckons, authors deliver - and this surely will be one of the year’s essential anthologies.
- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)