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Also Edited by Jonathan Strahan

Best Short Novels

(2004 through 2007)

Fantasy:

The Very Best of 2005

Science Fiction:

The Very Best of 2005

The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year:

Volumes 1 - 6

Eclipse: New Science Fiction and Fantasy (Volumes 1-4)

The Starry Rift:

Tales of New Tomorrows

Life on Mars:

Tales of New Frontiers

Under My Hat:

Tales from the Cauldron

Godlike Machines

Engineering Infinity

Edge of Infinity

Reach for Infinity (Forthcoming)

The New Solaris Book of Fantasy Volume Two (forthcoming)

With Lou Anders

Swords and Dark Magic: The New Sword and Sorcery

With Charles N. Brown

The Locus Awards: Thirty Years of the Best in Fantasy and Science Fiction

With Jeremy G. Byrne

The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 1

The Year’s Best Australian Science Fiction and Fantasy: Volume 2

Eidolon 1

With Jack Dann

Legends of Australian Fantasy

Gardner Dozois

The New Space Opera

The New Space Opera 2

With Terry Dowling

The Jack Vance Treasury

The Jack Vance Reader

Wild Thyme, Green Magic

Hard Luck Diggings: The Early Jack Vance

With Gardner Dozois

The New Space Opera

The New Space Opera 2

With Karen Haber

Science Fiction: Best of 2003

Science Fiction: Best of 2004

Fantasy: Best of 2004

With Marianne S. Jablon

Wings of Fire

Including stories by

SCOTT LYNCH

SALADIN AHMED

TRUDI CANAVAN

KJ PARKER

KATE ELLIOTT

JEFFREY FORD

ROBERT VS REDICK

ELLEN KLAGES

GLEN COOK

ELIZABETH BEAR

ELLEN KUSHNER

YSABEAU S. WILCE

DANIEL ABRAHAM

First published 2013 by Solaris

an imprint of Rebellion Publishing Ltd,

Riverside House, Osney Mead,

Oxford, OX2 0ES, UK

www.solarisbooks.com

ISBN (epub): 978-1-84997-566-7

ISBN (mobi): 978-1-84997-567-4

Cover by Tomasz Jedruszek

The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owners.

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

For Garth Nix and Sean Williams, gentleman fantasists and dear friends, with affection and respect.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Any book, and especially a book like this one, is the product of the inspiration and perspiration of enough people to fill a small village. First and foremost, I would like to thank the brilliant team at Solaris Books – Jonathan Oliver, Ben Smith, and Michael Molcher – for their tireless work on this and my other books, as well as for some fine meals in Toronto last year. Second, I’d like to thank the baker’s dozen of incredibly talented writers – Daniel Abraham, Saladin Ahmed, Elizabeth Bear, Ellen Kushner, Ysabeau S. Wilce, Trudi Canavan, Glen Cook, Jeffrey Ford, K J Parker, Kate Elliott, Scott Lynch, Robert V S Redick, and Ellen Klages – who were a joy to work with and delivered some wonderful stories. I’d also like to thank Tomasz Jedruszek for his very fine cover. I am fortunate to have the great Howard Morhaim as my literary agent and, as always, I’d like to thank him for his work on my behalf. I’d also like to thank Alice Speilburg and Beth Phelan from Team Morhaim, who are wonderful. Finally, a very special thank you to my wife Marianne and my daughters, Jessica and Sophie. Every minute spent working on this book was a minute spent not being with them, and their understanding and support is always an incredible gift.

CONTENTS

Introduction, Jonathan Strahan

The Effigy Engine: A Tale of the Red Hats, Scott Lynch

Amethyst, Shadow, and Light, Saladin Ahmed

Camp Follower, Trudi Canavan

The Dragonslayer of Merebarton, K J Parker

Leaf and Branch and Grass and Vine, Kate Elliott

Spirits of Salt: A Tale of the Coral Heart, Jeffrey Ford

Forever People, Robert V S Redick

Sponda the Suet Girl and the Secret of the French Pearl, Ellen Klages

Shaggy Dog Bridge: A Black Company Story, Glen Cook

The Ghost Makers, Elizabeth Bear

One Last, Great Adventure, Ellen Kushner and Ysabeau S. Wilce

The High King Dreaming, Daniel Abraham

About the Authors

Also From Solaris

INTRODUCTION

FANTASY. FANTASTIKA. CALL it what you will, almost any story can be made to fit within its boundaries and, like many of its finest texts, it’s almost impossible to pin down or to define. As John Clute and John Grant rightly pointed out in their essential The Encylopedia of Fantasy, fantasy is “a most extraordinarily porous term, and has been used to mop up vast deposits of story which this culture or that – and this era or that – deems unrealistic.” Trying to home in on a usable definition, they wrote that:

A fantasy text is a self-coherent narrative. When set in this world, it tells a story which is impossible in the world as we perceive it; when set in an otherworld, that otherworld will be impossible, though stories set there may be possible in its terms.