Search Worlds Without End

From the author of Dogland, a dark new vision of the future of gene-splicing and artificial intelligence

Will Shetterly has created a dark and intriguing future for this novel, a world of genetic engineering and cloning where human and animal genes can be melded to create chimeras, more often referred to as critters. These beings are human, for all practical purposes. They think, they feel, they love, and they dream. But they still have some of the qualities of the animals that they are bred from.

Most importantly, they are not granted the rights of humans. They are property. Slavery has been revived in America.

But there is also a movement for Abolition, for the granting of legal rights to chimeras. Zoe Domingo is a jaguar-woman, created to be a sex-slave. Instead, she became the property of an abolitionist, and was freed, though she remained as her former owners companion. But on a trip to Los Angeles, Zoes mentor is murdered under violent and mysterious circumstances, and Zoe is accused of the crime.

This is a collection of thirteen pieces of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by Boskone 31's Guests of Honor, Emma Bull and Will Shetterly. Among the works assembled here are a set of six individually-authored short stories for their own shared world, Liavek, as well as a collaboratively-written novelette set in the Borderlands shared world, three additional works by Emma Bull, and two additional works by Will Shetterly.

The introduction is by Boskone 31 guests Patrick Nielsen Hayden, a professional editor, and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, the author of Making Book. The book also contains brief biographies of Emma Bull and Will Shetterly, including a list of their published work.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (1994) essay by Patrick Nielsen Hayden and Teresa Nielsen Hayden
• Visionary (1994) essay by Emma Bull
• Why I Write Fantasy (1990) essay by Emma Bull
• Captured Moments (1994) short story by Will Shetterly
• The Rending Dark (1984) novelette by Emma Bull
• Bound Things [Liavek] (1985) short story by Will Shetterly
• Badu's Luck [Liavek] (1985) novelette by Emma Bull
• A Happy Birthday [Liavek] (1986) short story by Will Shetterly
• The Well-Made Plan [Liavek] (1986) novelette by Emma Bull
• Six Days Outside the Year [Liavek] (1990) novelette by Will Shetterly
• A Bird That Whistles (1989) short story by Emma Bull
• Time Travel, the Artifact, and a Famous Historical Personage (1993) short story by Will Shetterly
• Danceland Blood [Chronicles of the Borderlands] (1994) novella by Emma Bull and Will Shetterly
• Wonders of the Invisible World (1994) essay by Emma Bull

Rifkin Outcast, hunted by the assassins of Moon Isle, becomes trapped in a ruined castle where a tiny band of witches are besieged by an army that's ten times their size. His choices? Save them, betray them, or die with them.

Lizelle the liar, Merry the priest, Thraas the barbarian, the mysterious Catseye Yellow... bound on a fool's quest to the top of the world to ask the Wisest One the oldest riddle of them all...

Why do cats have no lord?

A harmless enough question, isn't it? So why is someone moving heaven and hell to make sure it will never be asked...?

Kevin Fikkan is a reckless computer game test runner whose history is a series of betrayals. Janny Laias is a game designer determined to create a realistic fantasy world and rule over it as a god. But Janny's world has a treacherous programming bug that can only be solved by running the game without a safety system--through the demon-infested Tangled Lands.

When Ron runs away, he ends up in Bordertown, a grim city that lies between the real world and the world of faerie, a place where elf and human gangs stalk the streets side by side, and where magic works better than technology. If the city doesn't kill him, it just may teach him what it is to be human.

Growing up is hard to do... especially if, like Ron, you've been cursed (blessed?) and changed into a half wolf/half human. But though he may look strange, there is nothing weird about his loyalty to his newfound friends, or in his attempts to stay true to himself in the deadly, shifting world of Bordertown.

The Nix family has arrived.

And Latchahie County will never be the same.

In an effort at improving his family's lot, the Nixes have moved to rural Florida to open Dogland: a combination zoo, restaurant and motel. But it isn't long before Nix and his clan of eccentric supporters run afoul of unsympathetic locals.

The problem? Luke Nix has hired Ethorne Hawkins.

Hawkins is black. And it's 1959.

Christopher Nix is 14 years old, and it's 1969. His life is a turbulent echo of the times as he discovers sex, drugs and rock 'n roll in the heart of Florida. But into this struggle between the young long-haired hippie and the rednecks who'd just as soon kill him comes a strange offer that will completely change his life.

The Nix family is contacted by a mysterious benefactor who wants to send Chris to an exclusive private school, no expense spared. Mr. Jay Dumont claims that Chris's grandfather saved his life during WWI, and though Grandpa Uvdall is dead, the debt remains to be paid. But as Chris will discover, there is a great deal more to it than that. He will have to accept and understand the Powers that have surrounded his family all his life, and learn to use his own magical gifts, if he is to survive Dumont's plan.

As he did with Dogland, Will Shetterly has used a deceptively simple tale to explore some very deep issues. The Gospel of the Knife explores questions of faith and responsibility, and the always complex relationship between man and God and the world.

Contents:

• Liavek (map) - interior artwork by Jack Wickwire
• Badu's Luck - novelette by Emma Bull
• The Green Rabbit from S'Rian - short story by Gene Wolfe
• Ancient Curses - short story by Patricia C. Wrede
• Birth Luck - short story by Nancy Kress
• An Act of Contrition - short story by Steven Brust
• The Inn of the Demon Camel - short story by Jane Yolen
• The Hands of the Artist - short story by Kara Dalkey
• The Green Cat - novelette by Pamela Dean
• A Coincidence of Birth - novelette by Megan Lindholm
• Bound Things - short story by Will Shetterly
• The Fortune Maker - novella by Barry B. Longyear
• Appendix One: A Tourist's Guide to Liavek in the Year 3317 - uncredited essay
• Appendix Two: A Magician's Primer - uncredited essay
• Appendix Three: Liavek: A Creation Myth - uncredited essay

Contents:

• Liavek (map) - (1985) - interior artwork by Jack Wickwire
• A Happy Birthday - short story by Will Shetterly
• Before the Paint is Dry - novelette by Kara Dalkey
• The Rat's Alley Shuffle - short story by Charles de Lint
• Two Houses in Saltigos - novelette by Pamela Dean
• Rikiki and the Wizard - short story by Patricia C. Wrede
• Dry Well - short story by Nathan A. Bucklin
• Dry Well - poem by Alison Bucklin
• Choice of the Black Goddess - novelette by Gene Wolfe
• The Ballad of the Quick Levars - poem by Jane Yolen
• Pot Luck - novelette by Megan Lindholm
• Show of Faith - short story by Gregory Frost
• An Act of Trust - short story by Steven Brust
• Ishu's Gift - short story by Charles R. Saunders
• A Cup of Worrynot Tea - novella by John M. Ford
• The Well-Made Plan - novelette by Emma Bull

Contents:

• Liavek (map) - (1985) - interior artwork by Jack Wickwire
• An Act of Mercy - short story by Megan Lindholm and Steven Brust
• Green Is the Color - novella by John M. Ford
• Paint the Meadows With Delight - novelette by Pamela Dean
• The World in the Rock - story by Kara Dalkey
• Baker's Dozen - novelette by Bradley Denton
• Cenedwine Brocade - short story by Caroline Stevermer
• A Hypothetical Lizard - novelette by Alan Moore
• Training Ground - novelette by Nancy Kress
• City of Luck - poem by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
• Appendix One: A Liavekan Songbook - essay by uncredited
• The Ballad of the Quick Levars (song) - poem by Jane Yolen and Adam Stemple
• Eel Island Shoals - poem by John M. Ford
• Pot-boil Blues - poem by John M. Ford
• A Handbook for the Apprentice Magician - essay by Will Shetterly and Emma Bull

Contents:

• Spells of Binding (Map) - interior artwork by Jack Wickwire
• Riding the Hammer - (1988) - novelette by John M. Ford
• Portrait of Vengeance - (1988) - novelette by Kara Dalkey
• The Skin and Knife Game - (1988) - novelette by Charles de Lint and Lee Barwood
• Strings Attached - novelette by Nathan A. Bucklin
• The Last Part of the Tragical History of Acrilat - novelette by Pamela Dean
• Mad God - novelette by Patricia C. Wrede
• The Tale of the Stuffed Levar - short story by Jane Yolen/li>
• An Act of Love - novella by Steven Brust and Gregory Frost and Megan Lindholm
• Spells of Binding - (1988) - poem by Pamela Dean

Contents:

• Festival Week (maps) - interior artwork by Jack Wickwire
• Consequences - (1988) - novella by Walter Jon Williams
• As Bright as New Coppers - (1990) - novelette by Bradley Denton
• The Grand Festival: Sestina - (1990) - poem by John M. Ford
• Divination Day: Invocation - (1990) - poem by John M. Ford
• A Hot Night at Cheeky's - (1990) - short story by Steven Brust
• Birth Day: Sonnet - (1990) - poem by John M. Ford
• A Prudent Obedience - (1990) - novelette by Kara Dalkey
• Procession Day/Remembrance Night: Processional/Recessional - (1990) - poem by John M. Ford
• A Necessary End - (1990) - novella by Pamela Dean
• Bazaar Day: Ballad - (1990) - poem by John M. Ford
• The True Tale of Count Dashif's Demise - (1990) - short story by Jane Yolen
• Festival Day: Catechism - (1990) - poem by John M. Ford
• Six Days Outside the Year - (1990) - novelette by Will Shetterly
• The Levar's Night Out - (1988) - novelette by Patricia C. Wrede
• Restoration Day: Plainsong - (1990) - poem by John M. Ford