Search Worlds Without End

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, May 2012. It can also be found in the anhtology Epic: Legends of Fantasy (2012), edited by John Joseph Adams.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

Melanie Rawn's best-selling debut is a novel of love and war, magic and madness, and deadly dangerous dragons that hold the secret to unimaginable wealth that could prove key to mutual peace-or a bloody tyrant's reign. And among it all, an idealistic young ruler struggles to civilize a culture that understands the strength of the sword-but has yet to discover the true power of knowledge.

As High Prince and Princess, Rohan and Sioned must keep both the peace and the secret of the dragons. But the legacy of their evil predecessor remains-and as their son Pol grows up, the kingdom splits in what may become a bloody battle for the crown.

To make things worse, a long-vanquished foe vows to destroy the Prince. The only hope of defeating their dark sorcery lies in reclaiming the knowledge so carefully concealed in the long-lost Star Scroll.

Andry, the new Sunrunner Lord of Goddess Keep, must master potentially deadly magical knowledge before he can confront the ancietn foe who nearly destroyed the Sunrunners ages ago. But the enemy is mobilizing to strike again, drawing on forbidden lore to play an ever-shifting game of treachery and betrayal.

A generation of peace is about to be shattered as a seemingly unstoppable invasion force lays siege to High Prince Rohan's realm. For Andry, the Sunrunner Lord, the invasion is a fulfilment of his long-ago visions of disaster to come. This is the first book in the "Dragon Star" trilogy.

In the sequel to Stronghold, as Rohan's son and heir, Pol, rallies his forces in a desperate bid to halt the advance of the invaders, ancient rivalries weaken his alliance.

In the final volume of the "Dragon Star" trilogy, Sioned, the mother of High Prince Pol, leads a daring mission into the castle where her daughter-in-law is held captive.

Fleeing persecution to build a free colony on the planet Lenfell, the magic-wielding Mageborns find their new home torn apart by civil war between the Mage Guardians and the Lords of Malerris.

The Mage Guardians have survived the war - barely. Now Mage Captal Cailet and her sister Sarra are struggling to rebuild their society: politically, economically, and magically. Yet though defeated, their ancient enemies, the Malerissi, have not been destroyed, and under the leadership of Cailet's and Sarra's sister Glenin, these masters of a darker magic are once again weaving a web with which to entangle the entire world. And even as Cailet's dreams of a restored Mage Hall become a reality, Glenin prepares to strike at the very heart of both her sisters' power...

Cayden Silversun is part Elven, part Fae, part human Wizard-and all rebel. His aristocratic mother would have him follow his father to the Royal Court, to make a high society living off the scraps of kings. But Cade lives and breathes for the theater, and he's good-very, very good. With his company, he'll enter the highest reaches of society and power, as an honored artist-or die trying. Cade combines the talents of Merlin, Shakespeare, and John Lennon: a wholly charming character in a remarkably original fantasy world created by a mistress of the art.

Theater, magic, art, and politics all blend in Elsewhens, the second installment of the amazing high-fantasy series from the imagination of Melanie Rawn

Touchstone, the magical theater troupe, continues to build audiences. But Cayden is increasingly troubled by his "elsewhens," the uncontrolled moments when he is plunged into visions of the possible futures. He fears that his Fae gift will forever taint his friendships; his friends fear that his increasing distance will destroy him.

But worldly success follows them-an apparent loss in the Trials leads to Touchstone being selected to travel to the Continent with a Royal Embassy to collect Prince Ashgar's new bride. They are the first theater artists to appear outside Albeyn for at least seventy years-for magic is suspect and forbidden elsewhere, and the Kingdom's easy race mixing and magic use horrifies the people they are to travel among.

Melanie Rawn returns to her rich high fantasy world in Thornlost, the sequel to Touchstone and Elsewhens.

Cayden is part Elf, part Fae, part human Wizard--and all rebel. His aristocratic mother would have him follow his father to the Royal Court, to make a high-society living off the scraps of kings. But Cade lives and breathes for the theater, and he's good, very good. He's a tregetour--a wizard who is both playwright and magicwielder. It is Cade's power that creates the magic, but a tregetour is useless without a glisker--an elf who can spin out the magic onto the stage, to enchant the audience. And Cade's glisker, Mieka, is something special too. So is their fettler, Rafe, who controls the magic and keeps them and the audience safe. And their masker, Jeska, who speaks all the lines, is every young girl's dream.

They are reaching for the highest reaches of society and power, but not the way Cade's mother thinks they should. They'll change their world, or die trying.

For nearly two years, Cade has been rejecting his Fae gift, his prescient Elsewhens--simply refusing to see or experience them. But the strain is driving a wedge between him and his theater troupe, Touchstone, and making him erratic on stage and off. It takes his best friend Mieka to bully Cade into accepting the visions again. But when Cade finally looks into the possible futures, he sees a royal castle blowing up, though his vision does not tell him who is responsible. But he knows that if it is in his visions, he can take action to stop it from happening. And when he finally discovers the truth, he takes the knowledge to the only man in the Kingdom who would believe him: his deadly enemy the Archduke.

Melanie Rawn's delightful creation of the world of Albeyn is a place where the magical races have joined with humans in a melting pot of powers, and everyone loves the theater of magic. In Window Wall, her irrepressible cast of characters mature--at least a little. Not that they'll ever settle down.

In this fifth book final volume of the acclaimed series Glass Thorns, Melanie Rawn has created a superb high fantasy series that blends the worlds of magic, theater, art, and politics.

The boys are at the top of their theatrical game. Their only real competition for the hearts and gold of the public are the Shadowshapers. Nevertheless, the past years of financial struggle, since their manager proved to have been embezzling, have taken a toll on the group's creativity.

A shocking event brings all that to an end and brings Touchstone back together to create a play that will rattle the ceilings and shatter all the glass in palaces and theaters alike. An ancient conflict will come to a violent conclusion on stage, and all the gods will be watching.

Dr. Sam Beckett leaps into the body of a man taking part in the recreation of a medieval tournament and discovers that he must face a sinister new foe, another time traveler who is out to destroy the Project and Sam.

There is magic in the big city…literally. New York City has a small, and by preference discrete, population of witches and wizards who live and love and go dancing just like everyone else. Holly McClure is one of them, a successful writer who tries to ignore her heritage, except when the local Magistrate needs her special gift in his coven. Holly is far more interested in Evan Lachlan, the handsome federal marshal who works with her best friend, assistant district attorney Susannah Wingfield.

But trouble is coming to the City in the form of a black coven run by a murderous psychopath, and deputy marshals and ADAs are powerless to deal with that kind of crime. The danger to Holly is extreme, for her special gift is the power of her blood to strengthen and bind any spell, for good or for evil. Holly's passionate love affair will be derailed by those who want to drain her for their own purposes. In the end it will be magic against magic, and Holly McClure will have to risk all for life and love.

Bestseller Melanie Rawn plunges down the back stairs of the old South into a dark world of family secrets and the international flesh trade that lies underneath the surface of small town politics and romance.

Holly McClure and Evan Lachlan have survived the fiery beginning of their romance and left Manhattan for Holly's ancestral home to raise their children. Evan's the county Sheriff; Holly is still a trouble-making Spellbinder trying to manipulate her family as if they were characters in one of her novels.

But something's not right in Pocahontas County. Churches are being burned down in mysterious arsons with a taint of magic on them. Sheriff Lachlan suspects that they have something to do with the new owners of the old Westmoreland plantation, now a very upscale Inn, but even if he could find proof, it's going to be hard to bring a case of Black Magic before a Judge -- even in Pocahontas County, where witchcraft is the family business of all the oldest clans.

The only survivor of royal treachery that eliminates his entire family, Azzad al-Ma'aliq flees to the desert and dedicates himself to vengeance. With the help of the Shagara, a nomadic tribe of powerful magicians, he begins to take his revenge-but at a terrible cost to himself.

Prequel novel to The Golden Key.

In a land where art is prized above all else, the master painters of the Grijalva family stand apart from other artists. Theirs is an art that can alter Reality, a secret Gift passed down for generations and always used for the good of the kingdom. But now the most talented of the Grijalvas has decided to use his power for his own dark intentions--with results more devastating than anyone could imagine.