Search Worlds Without End

In these seven contemporary fantasies from Tanya Huff, we see a dog's eye view of loyalty and a cat's eye view of sea serpents. We learn that some Brownies could use a shave -- although cookies will still be sold -- and that there are at least two sides to every relationship, no matter how accidental and/or mythical that relationship is. We're also reminded that however worthwhile it may be to die with purpose, it's better to live well.

Huff's ability to leaven heartache with humour -- and vise versa -- gives this collection of previously published stories an unexpected emotional variety.

Table of Contents:

• I'll Be Home for Christmas - (1992) - novelette
• He Said, Sidhe Said - (2004) - short story
• Finding Marcus - (2004) - short story
• Tuesday Evenings, Six Thirty to Seven - (2006) - short story
• Under Summons - [Keeper Chronicles] - (2006) - novelette
• A Choice of Endings - [Tanya Huff's Quatro Goddess] - short fiction (variant of Choice of Ending 2005)
• Word of Honour - short fiction (variant of Word of Honor 1995)

Shattered by mage wars, the Broken Lands will test the bonds of family and friendship, strength and sanity.

To save their people, the Heirs of Marsan have no choice but to enter, trusting their lives and the lives of everyone they Protect, to someone who shouldn't exist, who can't be controlled, and who will challenge everything they believe about themselves.

Table of Contents:

• 9 - Burning Bright - [The Nine Wizards]
• 29 - When the Student Is Ready - [The Nine Wizards]
• 53 - Nanite, Star Bright
• 71 - All Things Being Relative
• 87 - Now Entering the Ring
• 99 - Death Rites - [Quarters]
• 117 - Someone to Share the Night - [Henry Fitzroy]
• 133 - Oh, Glorious Sight
• 151 - Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice
• 165 - Another Fine Nest - [Victory Nelson, Investigator]
• 185 - To Each His Own Kind
• 197 - Nights of the Round Table
• 209 - Succession
• 229 - Swan's Braid - [Terizan]
• 253 - In Mysterious Ways - [Terizan]
• 273 - The Lions of al'Kalamir - [Terizan]
• 295 - Sometimes, Just Because - [Terizan]

Tanya Huff delivers seven fantastical tales featuring the young Herald Jors, set in Mercedes Lackey's legendary realm of Valdemar.

In Valdemar, only the true of heart are Chosen to wear the Whites and become Heralds--guardians who journey throughout the nation upholding justice, making judgments, and combating evil in its many forms.

This collection of stories follows the adventures of Herald Jors: a young man just a few years out of his Greys and already making his mark, all while learning the complexities of the honored role bestowed upon him.

From confronting bandits in the far borderlands to experiencing magical love and heartbreaking loss, Jors must find the balance between the law and that which is truly good and right.

For the first time, Tanya Huff's seven stories set in the world created by Mercedes Lackey are gathered together in a single volume. These short works are sure to enchant anyone who wishes to experience the land of Valdemar through the eyes, mind and heart of one of its bravest heroes.

Table of Contents:

• The Demon's Den - (1997) - novelette
• Brock - (2003) - novelette
• All the Ages of Man - (2005) - short story
• Live On - (2008) - novelette
• Nothing Better to Do - (2009) - short story
• The Time We Have - (2010) - short story
• Family Matters - (2011) - novelette

THIEF, SWORDSMAN, AND WIZARDESS

AARON. Clan Heir, he has fled his people when his beloved was slain by his own father's command, abandoning his training, duty and beliefs to become a thief. A master of his trade, he now dared the odds in Ischia, city of the volcano, where the price of being caught was death.

DARVISH. Prince of Ischia, third son of a king who had no intention of giving up his throne. The prince was a drunkard, a lover, and a wastrel, yet was gifted with sword skills and with the ability to charm all around him. But not even his charm could free him from the political marriage now being planned.

CHANDRA. Born a princess, she had chosen to become a Wizard of the Nine, that rarest of beings, able to master all the forms that sorcery could take. Now, promised as Darvish's bride, she undertook a desperate journey to Ischia to convince him they must not wed.

Aaron, Darvish, Chandra--three strangers whose fates were about to become interwined. For someone had stolen The Stone, the magical talisman which stood between Ischia and the volcano's wrath. And unless the three could learn to work together on a quest to find the Stone, Ischia would drown in a sea of lava.

The Empire has declared war on the small, were-ruled kingdom of Aydori, capturing five women of the Mage-Pack, including the wife of the were Pack-leader. With the Pack off defending the border, it falls to Mirian Maylin and Tomas Hagen--she a low-level mage, he younger brother to the Pack-leader--to save them. Together the two set out on the kidnappers' trail, racing into the heart of enemy territory. With every step the odds against them surviving and succeeding soar...

Table of Contents:

• Introduction: Tanya Huff is... - (1999) - essay by Michelle Sagara
• The Chase Is On - (1989) - novelette
• Underground - (1992) - short story
• I'll Be Home for Christmas - (1992) - novelette
• Shing Li-ung - (1992) - novelette
• First Love, Last Love - (1993) - short story
• Word of Honor - (1995) - novelette
• The Harder They Fall - (1995) - short story
• A Debt Unpaid - (1995) - short story
• February Thaw - (1998) - short story
• Symbols Are a Percussion Instrument - (1997) - novelette
• A Midsummer Night's Dream Team - (1997) - short story
• This Town Ain't Big Enough - (1995) - novelette
• What Manner of Man - (1996) - novelette
• The Cards Also Say - (1997) - novelette
• The Vengeful Spirit of Lake Nepeakea - (1999) - novelette

Alysha Gale belongs to a specially "charm"-full family. The men grow horns, and obey females until they "choose". She inherits her gran's Calgary junk shop with fey mailboxes and the Monkey's Paw. Leprechaun Joe can help sell yoyos. Tabloid reporter Graham bats very blue eyes and beds her. But when dragons fly overhead can even the Aunties save the day?

Charlie Gale heads east to join a Celtic band on the summer circuit, but faces Aunt Catherine instead. An offshore oil-drilling company hired Catherine to steal Selkies' sealskins. Charlie must teach being Wild to Jack - a Dragon Prince trying to be a real boy - and commit corporate espionage with a sobbing seal-wife and every fiddle player in Nova Scotia.

When Auntie Catherine warns the family of an approaching asteroid, the Gales scramble to keep humans from going the way of the dinosaurs. Fortunately for the world, they're wielding a guitar and a dragon.

The Gale family can change the world with the charms they cast, which has caused some supernaturally complicated family shenanigans in the past. So when NASA and Doomsday Dan confirm Auntie Catherine's dire prediction, Charlotte "Charlie" Gale turns to the family for help.

But Allie is unavailable because the universe seems determined to have her produce the seventh son of a seventh son of a seventh son of a Gale. And the Aunties can't help because they're tied to the earth - although they are happy to provide their delicious, trademark pies. And in the end, all Charlie has is a guitar...

...and Jack. The Dragon Prince, and a Sorcerer.

But Charlie might like Jack just a little too much, and Jack might like Charlie a little too much in return. Actually, between Allie's hormones, the Aunties trying to force her and Jack into ritual, the Courts having way too much fun at the end of days, and Jack's sudden desire to sacrifice himself for the good of the many, Charlie's fairly certain that the asteroid is the least of her problems.

The Gales are going to need more than pie to save the world from an incoming asteroid. But together there isn't anything they can't deal with - except possibly each other.

Being one of the Earth's protectors is never easy, but when Claire the Keeper and Austin the cat find themselves in charge of the Elysian Fields Guesthouse Bed and Breakfast, all Hell breaks loose in the form of a gateway residing in the basement!

Claire Hansen was a keeper...

gifted—or cursed—with the job of being one of Earth's Guardians, "Summoned" to areas where anomalies existed, where rifts had opened—or had been opened. Such places were the world's danger spots where, if they weren't sealed in time, all the minions of Hell might break through.

After she'd closed the portal into Hell at the Elysian Fields Guest House, Claire and her talking cat, Austin, found they'd acquired a new companion—Dean. Though Dean was a Bystander and shouldn't have been allowed to even remember Keepers existed, somehow in the course of their mutual ordeal at the Elysian Fields, he'd become an indispensable part of Claire's life. She knew she should change his memories and force him to leave her. Any other course was bound to lead to disaster. But as it turned out, it was already too late, for without Dean around Claire could easily become a danger to herself and the very fabric of space and time.

Yet with Dean around—and a little of her sister Diana's meddling thrown in—the world was headed straight for Chaos.

And Claire was about to face a challenge beyond her wildest imagining—a catastrophe created by the power of love—when an angel and a devil each manifested in the mortal world as fully endowed teenagers, who didn't have a clue how to handle their all-too-human bodies, raging hormones, and opposing needs to do good and evil....

In Tanya Huff's delightful new follow-up to her acclaimed bestsellers, Summon the Keeper The Second Summoning a force from the Otherside threatens to break through to our world and destroy the balance between Light and Darkness. Unless, of course, the Keepers Claire and Diana-two sisters who are able to reweave the possibilities of time and space-can prevent a permanent rift between worlds...at the local shopping mall.

The first in a thrilling new Science Fiction spin-off of Tanya Huff's Confederation series.

Someone is searching for the lost weapons of the H'san: powerful tools capable of destroying entire planets. Though the H'san, like the other Elder Races, gave up war long ago, with the formation of the Confederation and the truce with the Younger races, the reappearance of their lost weapons would no doubt lead to a devastating war. It's up to Torin Kerr and her team to fix this problem before it explodes. But the more Torin learns about the relationship between the Elder and Younger races, the more she fears war might be unavoidable...

The second book in the action-packed Peacekeeper series, a continuation of Tanya Huff's military sci-fi Confederation series following Torin Kerr

Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr had been the very model of a Confederation Marine. No one who'd ever served with her could imagine any circumstance that would see her walking away from the Corps.

But that was before Torin learned the truth about the war the Confederation was fighting...before she'd been declared dead and had spent time in a prison that shouldn't exist...before she'd learned about the "plastic" beings who were really behind the war between the Confederation and the Others. That was when Torin left the military for good.

Yet she couldn't walk away from preserving and protecting everything the Confederation represented. Instead, ex-Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr drew together an elite corps of friends and allies--some ex-Marines, some civilians with unique skills--and together they prepared to take on covert missions that the Justice Department and the Corps could not--or would not--officially touch. But after their first major mission, it became obvious that covert operations were not going to be enough.

Although the war is over, the fight goes on and the Justice Department finds its regular Wardens unable to deal with violence and the people trained to use it. Ex-Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr has a solution: Strike Teams made up of ex-military personnel, small enough to maneuver quickly, able to work together if necessary. Justice has no choice but to implement her idea and Torin puts her team of independent contractors back into uniform. It isn't war, it is policing, but it often looks much the same.

When the scientists doing a preliminary archaeological dig on a Class Two planet are taken hostage, Torin's team is sent to free them. The problem of innocents in the line of fire is further complicated by the fact that the mercenaries holding them are a mix of Confederation and Primacy forces, and are looking for a weapon able to destroy the plastic aliens who'd started and maintained the war.

If Torin weren't already torn by wanting that weapon in play, she also has to contend with the politics of peace that have added members of the Primacy--former enemies--to her team. Before they confront the mercenaries, Torin will have to sift through shifting loyalties as she discovers that the line between"us" and "them" is anything but straight.

Former space marine Torin Kerr returns for one final adventure to save the Confederation in the last book in the military science fiction Peacekeeper trilogy.

Warden Torin Kerr has put her past behind her and built a life away from the war and everything that meant. From the good, from the bad. From the heroics, from the betrayal. She's created a place and purpose for others like her, a way to use their training for the good of the Confederation. She has friends, family, purpose.

Unfortunately, her past refuses to grant her the same absolution. Big Yellow, the ship form of the plastic aliens responsible for the war, returns. The Silsviss test the strength of the Confederation. Torin has to be Gunnery Sergeant Kerr once again and find a way to keep the peace.

Only those born with the Bard's gift could learn to call the kigh--the spirits of earth, air, fire, and water--to do their bidding. For Princess Annice, who could sing the elemental spirits from each of the four quarters, the lure of that magic was too strong to be denied, even if it meant renouncing her royal privileges.

Bannon and Vree, brother and sister, they are assassins of the highest caliber who have long plied their trade for the Havalkeen army. But all their skill and experience cannot save them from a magic-sprung trap that will see the two forced to share one body when the very man they've been sent to assassinate steals Bannon's body for himself. How long brother and sister can coexist in one body neither can guess. And so they set out to catch and defeat this foe who has already bested them once.

But when Bannon and Vree confront this master of a magic beyond their comprehension, he offers them a terrible choice - to continue their new dual existence forever, or to betray the Empire they have served all their lives. For it is not control of Bannon's body which is Gyhard's true goal but rather the body - and with it the identity and power - of the Imperial Prince.

Gyhard and Vree have abandoned the Empire for the kingdom of Shkoder, hoping to enlist the bards' aid in finding Gyhard a body of his own. But there are those who have more insidious plans for them--those who will stop at nothing to exact revenge upon Gyhard no matter whose body he's in.

Queen Jelena of Shkoder has decided to start her reign by commissioning a ship to undertake the exploration of uncharted waters in search of the homeland of the legendary Dark Sailor. When disaster strikes, the bard Benedikt -- who Sings only One Quarter, that of Water -- is hopelessly stranded with no way to get word back to the queen. Washed up on the shores of a distant land, Benedikt is claimed by his rescuers as a pawn in their intricate and perilous game of politics and religion. Can this One Quarter bard find a Song that will let him survive without disturbing the precarious power balance of a civilization he barely understands?

The wild magic was loose in Toronto, for an Adept of Darkness had broken through the barrier into the everyday mortal world. And in this age when only fools and innocents still believed in magic, who was there to fight against the invasion by evil?

Luckily - or perhaps by more than luck - Toronto did have some unexpected champions of the Light: Rebecca, who some called simple yet who was gifted with the Sight; Roland, a street musician who might one day be a Bard; Mrs. Ruth, a bag lady with some unexpected tricks in her bags; Daru, an overworked social worker with a case load that mushroomed as rapidly as the power of the Dark; Tom, a cat of rare vision and courage; and Evan, Adept of the Light, summoned to stand with these mortals in the desperate battle to keep the Earth from falling into final, total Darkness.

Tony, rescued from Toronto streets by vampire Henry Fitzroy, works on Vancouver TV detective show where shadows do not behave like shadows. Arra, special effects wizard, is a real wizard from another world destroyed by the Shadowlord, whose minions followed her here. When hetero star Lee is possessed by a minion, homosexual Tony gets lover Henry to press Arra for help.

When Tony and his TV crew find themselves shooting in an actual haunted house, all hell threatens to break loose. Locked into the house overnight, can Tony keep the diabolical controling spirit from turning the crew against one another in an orgy of blood?

Fledgling wizard Tony is now an assistant director on "Darkest Night," the syndicated TV series about a vampire detective. But it's hard to concentrate on the latest episode when a Demonic Convergence is allowing lesser demons entry to our world, and the sexy stuntwoman, Leah, is also an immortal Demongate whose death would open the way to unimaginable peril. Can Tony halt the Convergence, keep Leah alive, and still have a career? Or will his artistic ambitions-not to mention the rest of the world-go up in smoke?

In the distant future, humans and several other races have been granted membership in the Confederation--at a price. They must act as soldier/protectors of the far more civilized races who have long since turned away from war....

In the sequel to Valor's Choice, Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr is separated from her platoon and sent off on a perilous mission to protect a scientific expedition to a recently discovered, seemingly derelict spaceship.

Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr jumps at the chance to go to Crucible, the Marine Corps training planet. It is supposed to be an easy assignment—after all, Crucible was set up to simulate battle situations so recruits could be trained safely. But Torin’s barely on-planet when someone starts blasting the training scenarios to smithereens…

Unexpectedly pulled from battle, Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr of the Confederation Marines finds herself in an underground POW camp that shouldn't exist, where her fellow marine prisoners have lost all will to escape. Now, Torin must fight her way not only out of the prison, but also past the growing compulsion to lie down and give up-not realizing that her escape could alter the entire course of the war.

Having left the Marine Corps, former Gunnery Sergeant Torin Kerr is attempting to build a new life with salvage operator Craig Ryder. Turns out, civilian life is a lot rougher than she'd imagined. Torin is left for dead when pirates attack their spaceship and take Craig prisoner. But "left for dead" has never stopped Torin. Determined to rescue Craig, she calls in her Marines. And that's when her mission expands to stopping the pirates from changing the balance of power in known space.

Victory Nelson Private Investigator: Otherworldly Crimes a Specialty

Vicki Nelson, formerly of Toronto's homicide unit and now a private detective, witnesses the first of many vicious attacks that are now plaguing the city of Toronto. As death follows unspeakable death, Vicki is forced to renew her tempestuous relationship with her former partner, Mike Celluci, to stop these forces of dark magic--along with another, unexpected ally...

Henry Fitzroy, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII, has learned over the course of his long life how to blend with humans, how to deny the call for blood in his veins. Without him, Vicki and Mike would not survive the ancient force of chaos that has been unleashed upon the world--but in doing so, his identity may be exposed, and his life forfeit.

For centuries, the werewolves of Toronto have managed to live in peace and tranquility, hidden quietly away on their London, Ontario farm. But now, someone has learned their secret--and is systematically massacring this ancient race.

The only one they can turn to is Henry Fitzroy, Toronto-based vampire and writer of bodice rippers. Forced to hide from the light of day, Henry can't hunt the killer alone, so he turns to Vicki Nelson for help. As they race against time to stop the murderer, they begin to fear that their combined talents may not be enough to prevent him from completing his deadly plan.

An evil being has been sealed away for centuries in a sarcophagus never meant to be opened, waiting patiently for his chance to rise again. Now, brought to the Egyptology Department of Toronto's Royal Ontario Museum, the seals and spells that imprisoned him chipped away from his discoverers, he has reached forth to claim the minds and souls of Toronto's unsuspecting citizens. And only three people had any sense that something was wrong....

For Henry Fitzroy, it began with terrifying images of the sun, a marker of death for a vampire. Fearing for his sanity, he turns to his sometimes-lover, private investigator Vicki Taylor, for help. As the two struggle to cope with Henry's obsession, Vicki's closest friend and former partner Mike Celluci, is following up on two mysterious deaths at the museum, certain that a force from beyond the grave is responsible for everything.

Vicki Nelson has received the call that no daughter ever wants to receive--that her mother has died. Marjory Nelson's coworkers at the Queen's University Life Science Department told her that she suffered a heart attack, and that they'd be waiting for Vicki to arrive in Kingston to make the funeral arrangements. But what begins as a personal tragedy turns into the most terrifying case of Vicki's career, when her mother's body disappears mysteriously from the funeral home. Someone at the University is determined to learn the secret of life after death... and they've decided to make Vicki's mother part of their horrifying experiments.

It began with a ghost in his bedroom. A tormented soul hungry for vengeance. The sort of nocturnal visitation that even a five-hundred-year-old vampire like Henry Fitzroy found tiresome. It would lead Vicki Nelson, PI into her most deadly investigation yet. The wraith is determined that Henry and Vicki track down its killer - and is prepared to use a little persuasion by way of the innocent inhabitants of Toronto to ensure their support. Forced to investigate, Vicki discovers a host of souls in desperate torment and evidence to suggest that trailing the killer will only lead to further deaths - starting with her own.

The Blood books center around three main characters: Vicki Nelson, a homicide cop turned private detective, her former partner Mike Celluci, who is still on the force, and vampire Henry Fitzroy, who is the illegitimate son of Henry VIII and makes his living as a writer of bodice rippers. Not only are the three of them caught in a love triangle, but they are, time and again, involved in mysteries with a supernatural slant--from demons, to werewolves, to mummies--and inevitably must join forces to solve crimes and defeat supernatural enemies.

Now all of Tanya Huff's short stories about Henry, Vicki, and Mike are being released in this collection entitled Blood Bank. As an added bonus for fans of the TV series, Blood Bank includes the actual screenplay for "Stone Cold," the episode Tanya herself wrote for the Blood Ties series along with a special introduction by Tanya, detailing her own experiences with the show.

Contains the novels The Child of the Grove and The Last Wizard.

In the Age of Mortals - the Elder Races have withdrawn almost completely from the world of humans and gone, too, are the dreaded wizards.Or so the people of the Ardhan believe, for, unbeknownst to them, there is one wizard who still survives, a master of evil bent upon claiming lordship over the entire world.

No mere mortal can hope to stand against his diabolical sorcery, and so the Elders have chosen to intervene one final time. Their gift to Ardhan is Crystal, the Child of the Grove, daughter of the Power and the last-born wizard who will ever walk the world. And thus the battle lines are drawn, and the final war - between both mortal armies and immortal wizards - is about to begin!

BY POWERS CURSED - She was Crystal, the one true child of the seven goddesses, created by them and raised to become the nemesis of Kraydak, who for countless centuries tormented the world with his evil sorcery. Now Kraydak was dead, and Crystal's purpose for existing was gone. And in a world terrified of wizards, a land where only Lord Death was here friend, what future was there for Crystal, the last wizard to ever walk the world. Then she used her power to save a mortal's life and forged one final fragile bond with the humans of her world, a bond which would take Crystal on a quest to destroy - or be destroyed by - a long-vanished wizard's stronghold of magic, which had lured many before her to their doom!