Search Worlds Without End

Rose has come a long way. Raised - and often neglected - by a wayward mother in New York City's chaotic bohemia, Rose has finally built the life she's always wanted: a good job at a self-help startup, a clean apartment, an engagement to a stable if self-satisfied tech CEO who shares her faith in human potential, hard work, and the sacrifice of childish dreams.

Rose's sister Cecilia, on the other hand, never grew up. Irresponsible and impetuous, prone to jetting off to a European monastery one month and a falcon rescue the next, Cecilia has spent her life in pursuit of fairy-tale narratives of transcendence and true love - grand ideas Rose knows never work out in the real world. When Cecilia declares she's come home to New York for good, following the ending of a whirlwind marriage, Rose hopes Cecilia might finally be ready to face adulthood: compromises and all.

But then Cecilia gets involved with the Avalon: a cultish-sounding cabaret troupe - one that appears only at night, on a mysterious red boat that travels New York's waterways - and soon vanishes: one of a growing number of suspicious disappearances among the city's lost and loneliest souls. The only way Rose can find Cecilia is by tracking down the Avalon herself.

But as Rose gets closer to solving the mystery of what happened to her sister, the Avalon works its magic on her, too. And the deeper she goes into the Avalon's underworld, she more she begins to question everything she knows about her own life, and whether she's willing to leave the real world behind.

Out of Avalon presents fifteen original stories of magic, adventure, and romance from an era lost to history - yet always remembered by those with imagination...

Table of Contents:

• vii - Introduction (Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths) - essay by Jennifer Roberson
• 1 - The Heart of the Hill - short story by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Diana L. Paxson
• 17 - The Fourth Concealment of the Island of Britain - short story by Katharine Kerr
• 29 - Prince of Exiles - short story by Rosemary Edghill
• 47 - The Secret Leaves - novelette by Tricia Sullivan
• 85 - The Castellan - novelette by Diana Gabaldon and Samuel Watkins
• 111 - Lady of the Lake - novelette by Michelle West
• 139 - The Mooncalfe - novelette by Dave Wolverton
• 165 - Avalonia - short story by Kristen Britain
• 179 - Finding the Grail - novelette by Judith Tarr
• 209 - Me and Galahad - short story by Adrienne Gormley and Mike Resnick
• 219 - A Lesser Working - short story by Jennifer Roberson
• 229 - Grievous Wounds - novelette by Laura Resnick
• 255 - Black Dogs - novelette by Lorelei Shannon
• 277 - Marwysgafn (Deathbed Song) - novella by Eric Van Lustbader
• 333 - The Mouse's Soul - poem by Nina Kiriki Hoffman
• 337 - About the Editor (Out of Avalon: An Anthology of Old Magic and New Myths) - essay by Jennifer Roberson

Retellings of several Arthurian tales.

Table of contents:

• 11 - Introduction: Just Like a Real Person - essay by Diana L. Paxson
• 17 - Foreword (Return to Avalon) - essay by Andre Norton
• 18 - To Light Such a Candle - short story by Rosemary Edghill
• 29 - The Grail of Heart's Desire - novelette by Judith Tarr
• 58 - Lady of Avalon - novelette by Diana L. Paxson
• 80 - With God to Guard Her - short story by Kate Elliott
• 92 - Appreciation (Return to Avalon) - essay by C. J. Cherryh
• 94 - Sing to Me of Love and Shadows - short story by Deborah J. Ross
• 113 - The Wellspring - short story by Katharine Kerr
• 133 - Knives - short story by Dave Smeds
• 152 - A Refuge of Firedrakes - novelette by Susan Shwartz
• 182 - Appreciation - essay by Charles de Lint
• 184 - The Hag - short story by Lawrence Schimel
• 193 - Salve, Regina - short story by Melanie Rawn
• 209 - Trees of Avalon - short story by Elisabeth Waters
• 218 - Sparrow - novelette by Esther M. Friesner
• 251 - The Spell Between Worlds - novelette by Karen Haber
• 275 - The Stone Mother's Curse - novelette by Dave Wolverton
• 303 - Appreciation - essay by Paul Edwin Zimmer
• 305 - Iontioren's Tale - novelette by Paul Edwin Zimmer
• 328 - Winter Tales - novelette by Adrienne Martine-Barnes
• 349 - Dark Lady - short story by Jane Lindskold
• 369 - The Lily Maid of Astolat - novelette by Laura Resnick
• 392 - Appreciation - essay by Jennifer Roberson
• 395 - Guinevere's Truth - short story by Jennifer Roberson

Jeth Seagrave and his crew have made their name stealing metatech: the devices that allow people to travel great distances faster than the speed of light. In a world where the agencies that patrol the outer edges of space are as corrupt as the crime bosses who control them, it's as much of a living as anyone can ask for. For years Jeth's managed to fly under the radar of the government that executed his parents for treason--but when he finds himself in possession of information that both the government and the crime bosses are willing to kill for, he's going to find there's no escaping his past anymore.

Here is the magical legend of King Arthur, vividly retold through the eyes and lives of the women who wielded power from behind the throne. A spellbinding novel, an extraordinary literary achievement, THE MISTS OF AVALON will stay with you for a long time to come....

Jeth Seagrave and his crew are on the run. The ITA, still holding Jeth's mother in a remote research lab, is now intent on acquiring the metatech secrets Jeth's sister Cora carries inside her DNA, and Jeth is desperate to find the resources he needs to rescue his mother and start a new life outside the Confederation. But the ITA is just as desperate, and Jeth soon finds himself pursued by a mysterious figure hell-bent on capturing him and his crew--dead or alive.

With nowhere to run and only one play left, Jeth enters into a bargain with the last person he ever thought he'd see again: Daxton Price, the galaxy's newest and most fearsome crime lord. Dax promises to help Jeth, but his help will only come at a price--a price that could mean sacrificing everything Jeth has fought for until now.

The amazing prequel to Marion Zimmer Bradley's bestselling The Mists of Avalon. Inside the walls of the Forest House, in a remote part of Britain, a secret sect of Druidic priestesses guards the ancient rites of learning, healing, and magic against the onslaught of invading Romans.

The story is told from the time when Gawen, heir to the royal line, secured the sanctity of Avalon and established it as a sacred place, through to Helen, British princess, and finally of Viviane, who herself must face a new invader and a new danger to Avalon.

Helena. Beautiful, young, enigmatic. She's a daughter of the Holy Isle who became a Christian Saint and the heroine of Welsh legend. In 296, the emperor Contantius come to Britian and falls in love with Princess Eilan, known as Helana to the Romans. She is also the daughter of King Coel and the high Priestess of Avalon. Helena see's a chance to marry the bloodlines of ancient royal families, and their myths and traditions. But she has to contend with the politics of Rome, the ill fortunes of war and the irresistable rise of a powerful new religion...

The last instalment in the Epic Avalon series by Marion Zimmer Bradley The Ancestors of Avalon is the story of the priests and priestesses - the ancestors in body and spirit of the characters who reappear in the other Avalon books - who flee the destruction of Atlantis and take refuge in the mist-shrouded isle of Britain. But once landed at Belerion the survivors are torn, do they look north to the midlands and seek to lead the Wessex kings, or do they explore the mystical Tor and reestablish their magical traditions within a spiritual kingdom. It is they who teach the Neolithic inhabitants how to move the mighty stones, and carve the spiral pathway around Glastonbury Tor but can they survive the battle against each other.

Diana L. Paxson expands Marion Zimmer Bradley's beloved and bestselling Avalon series in a dramatic new installment. Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon is the prequel to The Forest House and tells the story of the Roman conquest of Britain and the origin of the Forest House that preceded the return to Avalon.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon follows the journey of Boudica, a Celtic princess, and Lhiannon, a priestess who is Boudica's mentor on the Druid isle. When the Romans conquer Britain, Lhiannon fights them while Boudica is married to a king who has surrendered. Theirs is a great love story, but when he dies, the Romans brutalize her and her daughters. In rage, Boudica raises the British tribes and nearly succeeds in driving the Romans from Britain, claiming a place in history. Lhiannon survives and becomes the guardian of the Druid traditions in the new Roman Britannia as high priestess of the Forest House.

Epic in its sweep and peopled by the remarkable women who have always inhabited Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Ravens of Avalon expands the legendary saga that has enchanted millions of readers over the years and is sure to please Bradley's loyal readership and anyone who loves wonderfully told stories of history, myth, and fantasy.

Marion Zimmer Bradley's legendary saga of Avalon's extraordinary women continues with a tale of fiery visions, a lost king, and a forthcoming destiny.

Epic in its sweep and peopled by the remarkable women who have always inhabited Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword of Avalon expands the legendary saga that has enchanted millions of readers over the years and is sure to please Bradley's loyal readership and anyone who loves wonderfully told stories of history, myth, and fantasy.

A boy raised in secret after traitors kill his parents will return to Avalon - and when he does, he'll be faced with a formidable task: to prove his worth as a son of the kings and priestesses of his land and lead his followers to victory, wielding the newly-forged sword Excalibur.

The Brigadier, mourning the loss of his wife Doris, is called to help find a nuclear weapon that's gone missing over the Wiltshire Downs. The Doctor is on his way there too, to pick up his companion Compassion, after her holiday on Earth. But when the Doctor's TARDIS explodes, he, the Brigadier, Compassion and Fitz are thrown into the other-dimensional world of Avalon. Magic faces down science, dragons duel with jet fighters.

It has been fortold: In the hour of Britain's greatest need, King Arthur will return to rescue his people.

In Portugal, the reprobate King Edward the Ninth has died by his own hand.

In England, a dark scenario conceived by the power-hungry Prime Minister, Thomas Waring, is about to be realized: the total destruction of the British monarchy in the twenty-first century.

And in the Scottish Highlands, a mystical emissary named Mr. Embries--better known as "Merlin"--informs a young captain that he is next in line to occupy the throne. For James Arthur Stuart is not the commoner he has always believed himself to be--he is Arthur, the legendary King of Summer, reborn. But the road to England's salvation is rocky and dangerous, with powerful waiting to ambush: Waring and his ruthless political machine...and the agents of an ancient, far more potent evil. For Arthur is not the only one who has returned from the mists of legend. And Merlin's magic is not the only sorcery that has survived the centuries.

This short story originally appeared in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact, August 1971. It can also be found in the anthologies The 1972 Annual World's Best SF , edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, and Best Science Fiction Stories of the Year (1972), edited by Lester del Rey. It is included in the collections The Earth Book of Stormgate (1978), The Earth Book of Stormgate 3 (1981), and David Falkayn: Star Trader (2009).

Terra + Ythri + Avalon = Universal War!

THE TERRAN EMPIRE: Behemoth, reaching ever further across the star systems, seeking to suck the entire universe into it gigantic maw. In is favor it must be said that the Empire offers peach and prosperity to its subjects.

THE YTHRIAN DOMAIN: Medium-size empire with room to grow... except where its borders meet those of the Terran Empire! Peopled by the Ythri, birdlike beings with a culture and intellect that is easily a match for the Terran way of life.

AVALON: Colony planet of Ythri but inhabited by human and Ythri alike, Avalon is the Domain's secret weapon - or is it? For Avalon has formed a culture all its own, which it will defend against all comers. And Avalon seems quite capable of defying the combined might of two of the most powerful empires in the universe!

Omnibus Collection of Book of Stormgate 1, 2 and 3.

Contents:

• The Earth Book of Stormgate
• Wings of Victory
• The Problem of Pain
• How to Be Ethnic in One Easy Lesson
• Margin of Profit
• Esau
• The Season of Forgiveness

aka The War of the Wingmen and The Man Who Counts. Versions may be slightly different.

Contents:

• A Little Knowledge
• Day of Burning
• Lodestar
• Wingless
• Rescue on Avalon

From Steve McHugh, the bestselling author of The Hellequin Chronicles, comes a new urban fantasy series packed with mystery, action, and, above all, magic.

Layla Cassidy has always wanted a normal life, and the chance to put her father's brutal legacy behind her. And in her final year of university she's finally found it. Or so she thinks.

But when Layla accidentally activates an ancient scroll, she is bestowed with an incredible, inhuman power. She plunges into a dangerous new world, full of mythical creatures and menace--all while a group of fanatics will stop at nothing to turn her abilities to their cause.

To protect those she loves most, Layla must take control of her new powers... before they destroy her. All is not yet lost--there is a light shining, but Layla must survive long enough to see it.

Avalon stands revealed, but the war is far from over. For Layla Cassidy, it has only just begun.

Thrust into a new world full of magic and monsters, Layla has finally come to terms with her supernatural powers--and left her old life behind. But her enemies are relentless.

Sixteen months after her life changed forever, Layla and her team are besieged during a rescue attempt gone awry and must fight their way through to freedom. It turns out that Avalon has only grown since their last encounter, adding fresh villains to its horde. Meanwhile, revelations abound as Layla confronts twists and betrayals in her own life, with each new detail adding to the shadow that looms over her.

As Layla fights against the forces of evil, her powers begin to increase--and she discovers more about the darkness that lies in her past. As this same darkness threatens her future, will she be ready to fight for everything she holds dear?

Seeking vengeance against his usurping brother, Eric, Corwin, the rightful heir to the throne, ventures into the dark world of Shadow in order to gather ammunition, and is distracted by a beautiful and mysterious woman.

The Hounds of Avalon are coming...

These are the twilight days, when eternal winter falls and the gods destroy themselves in civil war; when an invasion force of ghastly power threatens to eradicate all life. Humanity's last chance lies with two friends, as different as night and day, bound together by an awesome destiny. Hunter: a warrior, a rake, an assassin; Hal: a lowly records clerk in a Government office. They must pierce a mystery surrounding the myths of King Arthur to find the dreaming hero who will ride out of the mists of legend to save the world. But time is running out, for when the Hounds of Avalon appear, all hope is lost...

HOUNDS OF AVALON is the latest instalment in Mark Chadbourn's brilliant new sequence: exciting, evocative, terrifying and awe-inspiring.