Search Worlds Without End

For aeons the mages of Arth, a neighbouring universe, have been looting Earth of ideas, innovations and technologies, all the while manipulating events and creating devastating catastrophes for their own edification. Now this brazen piracy is threatening Earth with total extinction. It is up to the Ring, a secret society of witches and warlocks dedicated to the continuance and well-being of mankind, to fight the virtuous, unbendingly traditional stronghold of Arth with an arsenal of psychological sabotage, internal dissension -- and kamikaze sex...

When Jack Vance decided to become a writer, a "million words a year" man as he put it so pragmatically at the time, he also gave fantastic literature one of its most cherished and distinctive voices. Though primarily a novelist throughout his long and distinguished career, this Hugo, Nebula, Edgar and World Fantasy Award-winning Grand Master also produced many short and mid-length works.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction by Terry Dowling and Jonathan Strahan
• Assault on a City
• Rumfuddle
• The Augmented Agent
• Green Magic
• Ullward's Retreat
• Coup de Grace
• Chateau d'If
• The Potters of Firsk
• The World-Thinker
• Seven Exits from Bocz
• Wild Thyme and Violets

Magic has returned to Elda, creating all manner of wonders and terrors. None yet know that the source of this magic is the legendary Rosa Eldi, restored to the world, but not yet restored to herself. Unaware of her true nature, she has married King Ravn Asharson of the North, and now with usurpers and assassins circling she must conceive a child to establish the succession.

In the Southern Empire, the fire of holy war is smouldering and violence is everywhere, fuelled by fundamentalist hatred and bigotry. Caught up in these machinations, peace-loving Saro Vingo is forced to take up arms against the North; and Virelai, apprentice sorcerer, finds himself chained to the murderous plans of his master, Tycho Issian.

Ignoring his king's call to arms, Aran Aranson, chief of the Rockfall clan, is in the grip of a mad obsession borne of a magical map and dreams of sailing the frozen seas to Sanctuary, island of legend, to find a fortune. His daughter, Katla, dreams of sailing with him; but her fate lies elsewhere. All over Elda, forces are aligning themselves for good or for evil. There is magic in the world again, but it is wild and unpredictable, and few will count its touch a blessing.

When the First Gods created all things, they brought forth two lesser gods, Tharn and Balatur, to walk upon the new world. But greed and power twisted their minds and turned their ambition into madness. And so the First Gods condemned them to eternal sleep in order to preserve creation.

Now, the exiled prince Calandryll, the mercenary Bracht, and the warrior woman Katya pursue Rhythamun, a powerful wizard who would wake one of the mad gods and provoke apocalypse. He carries with him the Arcanum, an ancient book of power that--simply by virtue of having been discovered--already stirs the god from his slumber.

But Calandryll and his companions are chased by another vengeful mage, whose dark magics have created Cennaire, an undead murderess, to thwart their efforts. And as they face the perils of civil war, magical assaults, and the ever-present threat of Cennaire's treachery to reach Rhythamun before he wakes the god, they live with the knowledge that the fate of the world rests solely in their hands.

Thirteen-year-old DaIne has always had a knack with animals, but it's not until she's forced to leave home that she realizes it's more than a knack -- it's magic. With this wild magic, not only can Daine speak to animals, but also she can make them obey her. Daine takes a job handling horses for the Queen's Riders, where she meets the master mage Numair and becomes his student.
Under Numair's guidance, Daine explores the scope of her magic. But she begins to sense other beings too: immortals. These bloodthirsty monsters have been imprisoned in the Divine Realms for the past four hundred years, but now someone has broken the barrier. It's up to Daine and her friends to defend their world from an immortal attack.

Daughter of Magic

Return to the universe of the Drinker of Souls trilogy in a magical novel that explores a whole new domain in an enchanted world where rival gods vie for mastery by manipulating both the forces of nature and their own deovted mortal worshipers.

Kidnapped by the mightiest of godesses, yound Fann finds herslef left in the care of guardiand in a city far from her former home, a city which in the not too distant future will become the focal point of a terrifying confrontation between goddess and god. As one fo the chosen of the goddess, Fann herself may be destined to play a key role in the defense of all she holds dear.

But before she can stand against the godesses' enemies, she must first learn to master herself and her unique talents. Yet even as she takes her fitst steps down the pathway to power, others are marshaling the god's followers for a devastating strike at the very heart of the city....

A host of magical creatures ranging from clairvoyants to gods, elemental beings to sorcerers, contend for power in a fabulous land. A young girl seeks her missing mother, unaware of the fact that her quest is just another gambit in a supernatural power game.

In the universe of Wild Magic, magical beings of all descriptions play intricate games of power and wizardry. Here dwells young Faan who, separated from her real family, embarks upon a long and difficult journey to find her true mother--a powerful sorceress who lies bespelled in a magic sleep.

Shifter Wars

Although Fann has at last achieved mastery of her magical talent, she has still not gained her heart's desire--to be reunited with the mother from whom she was stolen as a young child. But before she can hope to fulfill this quest, Fann and her companions in corcery are cuaght up in a war beyond their imagining, held hostage by a people to whom magic is death.

Forced to use their skills on behalf of their captors, Fann and her comrades are forced down pathways which will lead from univers to universe, to encounters with possible allies such as Brann, the Drinker of Souls, and to terrifying confrontation with the Chained God--a final battle in the Magic Wars which could see not just Fann's world but all of the interlinked universe destroyed!