By Demons Possessed

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Other books in the Chronicles of the Kencyrath by P. C. Hodgell (12)

Blood and Ivory: A Tapestry

Blood and Ivory: A Tapestry

Who was Kindrie's father What triggered the massacre of the Knorth women What happened the night Jame got driven out by Ganth Jamethiel Priest's-Bane first entered our lives when she walked out of the Haunted Lands on the opening page of God Stalk in 1982 with the haunts on her trail, searching for her ten-year older twin brother Tori to give him their father's sword and ring. But what was she doing in the Haunted Lands in the first place What happened that caused her to leave her home For the past 20 years, this has been one of the biggest mysteries of Jame's background. The answers to those questions—and others—are found in the pages of this collection. Blood & Ivory: A Tapestry presents eight original stories by P. C. Hodgell, three of them written especially for this collection. These stories explore different facets of Jame's life and background and weave a lush and complex picture of this enigmatic figure. Also included are new introductions to the stories, as well as maps and drawings by P. C. Hodgell.

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Bound in Blood

Bound in Blood

When Jame returned to Knorth hall to help her brother Torisen name all the fallen fighters' death banners stored there, she made the disturbing discovery that those banners splattered with their owners' blood also have trapped their owners' souls. She also found a contract proving her cousin Kindrie to be legitimate, proving that there are three full-blooded Knorth. Three full-blooded Knorth means that the Three-Faced God can be manifested—something that none of the three are likely to want to do, if they have any choice in the matter. Returning with this unwelcome knowledge to school at Tentir, Jame continued to dodge the attentions of an unwanted admirer, strengthen her link to her feline hunting ounce, work with the rathorn colt Death's-head to insure that it doesn't resume its attempts to kill her, and, of course, kept causing plenty of unintended havoc. She also had to help fight off attacks from hillmen, repel a stampede of yarkcarn (think warthogs the size of mammoths), fight in the Winter War (a mock conflict—or, at least, that's how it was supposed to be), and solve the mystery behind the death of her evil uncle, who somehow is still spectrally manifesting himself in nasty ways. No doubt about it—Jame is back, and with a vengeance, as the popular and critically-praised fantasy adventure series continues. "Hodgell has crafted an excellent and intricate fantasy with humor and tragedy, and a capable and charming female hero. Highly recommended." —Library Journal

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Dark of the Moon

Dark of the Moon

Tai-tastigon is burning. The whole city is in an uproar. And the cause, Jame, and her friend Marc have fled. They are making their way through mountain passes, far too late in the season, hoping to find Jame's brother Tori somewhere on the other side. Nothing ever goes easily for Jame, least of all this journey. As hints of the past she has forgotten—of dark and horrid years in the house of Gerridon, betrayer of her people, the Kencyrath, and her god—come to the surface, she encounters changers from the house of Gerridon, wanting to bring her back into that dark place. Arrin-ken, catlike creatures who are nevertheless a part of her own people, find and judge her. Bandits, brigands and strange remnants from the past of her people—which suggest a dim future for them, their god and their hope of defeating the great enemy, Perimal Darkling—arise to haunt her. But her determination to find her brother and to avoid falling into eternal darkness only grows stronger. Meanwhile Tori, who is Highlord of the Kencyrath, leads the wayward lords of the Kencyrath with uneasy grace. He is a compromise for them, a way of avoiding endless battle between them. But he can bind them together only so long as he can tread a narrow way between their varied needs and desires. When a vast and unexpected danger threatens, he must call up the host—the troops that each lord must muster—but in so doing he threatens his own position and his sanity, for he cannot avoid the attention this calls to him, attention that seems to bring changers who want to kill him, and odd nightmares that seem to suggest a future he does not want and the reappearance of a sister he both loves and fears. Jame and Marc appeared first in God Stalk, where Jame discovered that she had odd powers and that she did not need a past to change forever the future of those around her. In this second book, she is just as hard on her friends, and her enemies, as she was in the first. But knowing her past, knowing how near she is always to the brink of a personal disaster she cannot accept, she must now consider each step she takes more carefully. This does not mean that either she, or for that matter, Tori, will ever be less than wild and unexpected. It only means that both must count and accept the cost of their actions. It is a way of living neither is prepared for. P. C. Hodgell writes: It's been nearly four years now since I finished God Stalk. For Jame, my heroine, only three days have passed. In the interim, however, I've written stories set five or six years in her future, notably "Stranger Blood," which will be in Robin McKinley's Imaginary Lands anthology later this year. In other words, life and fantasy are as confused as ever. For my part, I'm preparing to make one last stab at my doctoral dissertation, although I'd rather be starting the third novel. Well, there will be time for that too. Jame certainly hasn't run out of adventures, and I look forward to chronicling them. Her life goes on, much faster and more furiously than mine. I'm reminded of the Stephen Leacock hero who jumped on his horse and galloped madly off in all directions—except that Jame and I are both going somewhere, or at least I sincerely hope so. At any rate, the

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God Stalk

God Stalk

GOD STALKER Jame is a Kencyr. Kencyrs are not native to the planet where they now live. For thirty centuries they have been the weapon that their Three-Faced God has used against the power of the Perimal Darkling. And though they have fought well, the Darkling has come to planet after planet, and the Kencyrs have moved on. Jame knows this as she stumbles out of the hilly, barren Haunted Lands into the city of Tai-tastigon. But she knows little else. She does not remember where she has been or what she has done for the last ten years of her life. Her memory goes back only a week or two—to finding her home destroyed and all her family dead. In Tai-tastigon Jame begins a new life that seems to be at odds with all that the Kencyrs stand for. Kencyrs are honest and just, but Jame becomes an apprentice to the most renowned thief in the powerful Thieves' Guild. Kencyrs are confirmed monotheists, yet Jame explores the rituals and activities of the thousands of gods, templed and untempled, in this religious center; she even kills a god and then resurrects him. And at the inn, the Res aB'tyrr, where she lives, she finds herself using the most sacred dances of her people, dances she does not even remember learning, for the entertainment and sometimes the destruction of the inn's patrons. Within herself Jame finds power she does not want and doubts she defies her heredity to harbor. She moves through the rich and bloody stew of Tai-tastigon like a hot spice. Her probings, to find herself and to discover what her powers mean to her and her people, combined with influences already at work, very nearly destroy the city. And yet, they bring her face to face with a destiny she must accept. This is the first of several books.

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God Stalker Chronicles

God Stalker Chronicles

Richly-alluring High Fantasy from a Master Fantasist Ripe for Rediscovery! Have you been looking for a fantasy world-builder on the level of Patricia McKillip, Guy Gavriel Kay, Fritz Leiber or—dare we say it Yes, we dare!—J.R.R.Tolkien himself P.C. Hodgell is nigh. Welcome to the world of the Kencyrath, where ivory-armored, carnivorous horses travel in herds called "rages," pretty butterflies might very well suck your life's blood, and tree leaves migrate south for the winter. It's a dangerous and beautiful place where it's easy to get yourself killed. And resurrected. And possibly become bound to somebody else's soul in the process. Not your ordinary high fantasy landscape. And Jamethiel Priest's-bane is far from your average high fantasy heroine. This is one fantasy character who never does the expected. First of all, Jame's youth was spent in a desert wasteland in the shadow of Perimal Darkling, infested with haunts, where life and death, animate and inanimate, often overlapped. As for food, think in terms of screaming carrots and reproachful potato eyes following you around the kitchen. As for the cabbage heads and what was in them, we won't even discuss that. She hates the Highborn, whom she sees as manipulative and power-mad. She'd rather be a thief (albeit a curiously honorable one), and she'd much rather spend time with her soul-bound snow leopard than in the Kencyrath Ladies House. Unfortunately, Jame discovers that not only is she one of the despised Highborn, she happens to be the long lost daughter of the mad Highlord Ganth and the well-nigh mythic Jamethiel Dream-weaver. As such, she possesses the power to call souls out of their bodies and slay the occasional god or two (as well as resurrect them!). To say the least, Jame leads a complicated life, not helped by the current Highlord, Torisen, her twin brother who fears her darkling blood and is (somehow) ten years her senior. But one thing is for certain: even though destruction often follows in Jame's wake, she is never, ever passive. This is one heroine whose curiosity and competence (she survived two years in the world of the darkling damned, after all) are always at the forefront. She has two mottos: "Some things need to be broken," and "If I knew what I was doing, I probably wouldn't be doing it." Sometimes cities fall as a result (ask the inhabitants of Tai-tastigon). But, more often than not, Jame finds a way to move one step closer to her ultimate destiny: a confrontation with the unthinkably alien being called Perimal Darkling that threatens existence itself. Darkly droll, as intricate as many a Medieval tapestry, the Kencyr books are a controlled explosion of carefully-crafted creativity—which is exactly what one would expect from an author who is a) a master stain-glass artist and art knitter; b) an experienced horsewoman (who, nonetheless, holds the stable's record for falling off); and, last but not least, c) an accomplished scholar specializing in the 19th century novel, notably those of Dickens and Sir Walter Scott. So here they are. The God Stalker Chronicles. Every Kencyrath book and short story ever published, collected in one e-volume and available from Baen Books' WebScriptions (www.webscriptions.net). This volume contains: God Stalk, Dark of the Moon, Seeker's Mask, Blood and Ivory (the highly-sought-after "Jamethiel" short story collection), and To Ride the Rathorn. The megavolume will be released April 15, 2007, and will be available in the reader-friendly, unencrypted formats WebScriptions is known for. No need to track each volume down on a dead tree (and, in the Kencyr universe, the smarter trees run away from would-be harvesters, anyway!) For the next three months, the complete works will go for $20. As always, we'll let the math do the selling on this one. Try not to faint when you factor in the shipping costs. AFTER the three months is up, this special collection will no longer be available for sale at this price and we'll offer each individual God Stalker Chronicles ebook title for $5 each. (Still a great deal, of course!)

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Honor's Paradox

Honor's Paradox

Jame is one of the last of the Kencyrath line, born to battle a world-destroying Lord of Darkness and resuscitate her ancestral heritage. Jame's youth was spent hard and low in a desert wasteland. Now she has discovered her past and her heritage as Highborn—and, with it, the power to call souls out of their bodies and slay the occasional god or two (as well as to resurrect them). First, though, Jame must survive the politics and dangers of haunted Tentir College, a school for warriors where she's a student. At Tentir, Jame saves a young protégé from possession by a powerful, evil soul in search of a body, while combating jealous students who see her as a danger to their ambition for power and want her expelled—and blinded and dead, in the bargain! To make matters worse, she's challenged to a mounted combat duel to decide who is Tentir "top gun"—a competition she must win to graduate. It's trial by fire, as Jame moves closer to a magnificent destiny she both fears—and knows she must face.

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Seeker's Bane

Seeker's Bane

Two epic novels of fantasy adventure in one volume: Seeker's Mask: After an epic adventure that will become the stuff of legend, Jame has been reunited with her older brother Torisen and with her people, the Kencyrath. But when she is placed in the Women's Halls and expected to become a normal, quiet Kencyr lady, normal and quiet are not what the Women's Halls are going to get. Shadow Guild Assassins, ghosts, and other strange beings are soon after her, sprung not only from her own adventurous past but from the tragic, mysterious events that nearly annihilated her family in her father's time. To Ride a Rathorn: Jame's adventures continue as she arrives at the randon military college Tentir to face cut-throat competition and find even more buried, poisonous family secrets. The Kencyr have a phrase, "to ride a rathorn," referring to a task too dangerous either to accomplish or to give up. This is true for Jame both figuratively, given her military career in a college which no Highborn girl has ever attended before, and literally, in that she is being stalked by one of these murderous, ivory-clad creatures whose mother she killed and who is now after her blood.     All in all, Jame's school days are shaping up to be anything but golden.  "Hodgell has crafted an excellent and intricate fantasy with humor and tragedy, and a capable and charming female hero. Highly recommended." —    Publisher's Note: Seeker's Bane has been previously published as two separate novels, Seeker's Mask and its sequel To Ride a Rathorn. About the Author:Pat Hodgell can't remember a time when she wasn't passionately interested in science fiction and fantasy. She's sold stories to such anthologies as Berkley Showcase, Elsewhere III, and Imaginary Lands and has also published four novels. God Stalk and Dark of the Moon, the novels included in The God Stalker Chronicles, begin her critically praised fantasy saga which is concerned not! only with high adventure, but also with questions of personal identity, religion, politics, honor, and arboreal drift. She earned her doctorate at the University of Minnesota with a dissertation on Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe, and is a graduate of both the Clarion and the Milford Writers Workshops. Recently retired, she was a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh in modern British literature and composition, and teaches an distant training course on science fiction and fantasy for the University of Minnesota. Pat lives in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in a nineteenth-century wood-framed house, which has been in her family for generations. In addition to writing and teaching, she attends science fiction conventions, collects yarn, knits, embroiders, raises cats, and makes her own Christmas cards.

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Seeker's Mask

Seeker's Mask

Obedience. Self-restraint Endurance. Silence. . . These are the duties of a Highborn lady, and like the veils, masks and tight-fitting underskirts female Kencyr students are obliged to wear, Jame finds them damnably constricting. Sent here by her brother Torisen, Highlord of the Kencyrath, she has tried valiantly to fit in, but the unruly girl can't help throwing the quiet Women's Halls into an uproar. It's not entirely Jame's fault, though. While Tori's vain and vicious consort treats her like an underling, the Kencyr Matriarchs, determined to winnow out her secrets, scheme to use her to their own advantage. And her own brother wants nothing to do with her. On top of this, Shadow Guild assassins have come hunting her, eager to fulfill a long-held contract to dispose of the last of the powerful Knorth clan. It's no wonder that Jame decamps. In the company of her telepathic hunting cat, Jorin, a runaway priestling named Kindrie, and a chance-met squad of cadets, she sets out to rescue a friend from a cruel and ambitious Kencyr lord who seeks the deadly Book Bound in Pale Leather. Dodging ghostwalkers and shadow assassins, riding weirdingstorms and peripatetic trees, Jame discovers that her life is tangled up in a much larger purpose. For the war against Perimal Darkling cannot resume until three terrible objects of power, and the avatars who will wield them, appear. And she just might be one of them. . . . The long-sought third book in P.C. Hodgell's intricate and engaging fantasy series follows the warrior-magician Jame as she battles enemies both in and out of the Women's Halls at Gothregor. "One of the very few true and original voices to write in the field of fantasy."—Charles de Lint, from the introduction

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The Gates of Tagmeth

The Gates of Tagmeth

Destruction is in Jame Knorth’s nature. Literally. She is the avatar a god known as That-Which-Destroys, the god of chaos and ruin. Yet Jame is also a noblewoman within an ancient race, and the designated heir of her twin brother Torisen Knorth, High Lord of the Kencyrath. Jame’s people are fleeing, world by world, from a terrible enemy that has pursued them through a multitude of universes. Its name is Perimal Darkling. Obeying instructions from her brother, Jame sets out with a force of Southron warriors to reestablish the long-fallen castle keep of Tagmeth. By Jame’s side is Lyra, a devious Kencyrath noble girl who is determined not to be forced into a marriage with a man she despises. Jame’s old friends Mark and Brier Iron-thorn stand with her, as well: Marc, steward and organizer of Jame’s household and Brier, the only captain under her command wholly sworn to support Jame no matter the cost. Jame finds more allies in the forest surrounding the ancient keep where the wild people of the woodlands, the Merikit, hold court. And Jame’s adopted mother, Gran Cyd, matriarch and queen of the Merikit, may once again provide the voice of calm that Jame requires to survive her own tempestuous nature. Jame sets about establishing Tagmeth as an outpost against the gathering power of Perimal Darkling. But Tagmeth hides a secret, a gateway to a mystery that may save this world from eternal darkness—or plunge it to destruction and ruin all the sooner. It is up to Jame to find her way through Perimal Darkling’s traps, and to come to terms with the god of pandemonium and destruction within her who grows stronger every day. If she succeeds it may be that Perimal Darkling can finally be defeated after eons of fear and flight. And if she fails, yet another world will fall to darkness forever.

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The God Stalker Chronicles

The God Stalker Chronicles

Jame is a Kencyr. Kencyrs are not native to the planet where they now live. For thirty centuries they have been the weapon that their Three-Faced God has used against the power of the Perimal Darkling. And though they have fought well, the Darkling has come to planet after planet, and the Kencyrs have moved on. Jame knows this as she stumbles out of the hilly, barren Haunted Lands into the city of Tai-tastigon. But she knows little else. She does not remember where she has been or what she has done for the last ten years of her life. Her memory goes back only a week or two—to finding her home destroyed and all her family dead. In Tai-tastigon Jame begins a new life that seems to be at odds with all that the Kencyrs stand for. Kencyrs are honest and just, but Jame becomes an apprentice to the most renowned thief in the powerful Thieves' Guild. Kencyrs are confirmed monotheists, yet Jame explores the rituals and activities of the thousands of gods, templed and untempled, in this religious center; she even kills a god and then resurrects him. And at the inn, the Res aB'tyrr, where she lives, she finds herself using the most sacred dances of her people, dances she does not even remember learning, for the entertainment and sometimes the destruction of the inn's patrons. Within herself Jame finds power she does not want and doubts she defies her heredity to harbor. She moves through the rich and bloody stew of Tai-tastigon like a hot spice. Her probings, to find herself and to discover what her powers mean to her and her people, combined with influences already at work, very nearly destroy the city. And yet, they bring her face to face with a destiny she must accept.

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The Sea of Time

The Sea of Time

Kothifir the Great, ruled by an obscenely obese god‑king, peopled with colorful, dueling guilds, guarded by the Southern Host of the Kencyrath. Here Jame arrives, only to find that the turbulent city claims more of her attention as the Talisman than the Host’s training fields do as a second year randon cadet. Mysteries abound: Caravans plunge deep into the hostile Southern Wastes and return laden with fabulous riches ‑‑ from what source, and why do they crumble to dust if not claimed by the god‑king’s touch? Karnids from Urakarn prowl the shadows, preaching the return of their mysterious prophet. An unstable Kencyr temple rumbles in the outer, decayed rings of the city. Then too, someone in the Host’s camp is trying to get Jame killed. In order to save the present, Jame must search the past, be it fifteen years ago when as a boy her brother Torisen arrived here, unknown and unwanted, or three thousand years ago when the Wastes were a great sea ringed with rich civilizations. Somehow, Tori survived. Somehow, the cities of the plain were destroyed in one catastrophic night. Now Kothifir's gods have lost their power and its proud towers are falling. What curse out of the past has struck it? Jame, a potential Nemesis, must try to stop the destruction‑‑without undoing time itself. Listen to the author discuss the book here on the Baen Free Radio Hour.

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To Ride a Rathorn

To Ride a Rathorn

To Ride a Rathorn P. C. Hodgell,'s latest high fantasy novel, is the sequel Seeker's Mask, which in turn follows "God Stalk and Dark of the Moon (collected in the Meisha Merlin omnibus, Dark of the Gods). These are the chronicles of Jamethiel Priest's-bane, otherwise known as Jame, as she struggles to find a place in a universe full of danger, intrigue, and more than a bit of downright lunacy. The current novel's title To Ride a Rathron, comes from the Kencyr phrase that refers to someone attempting something insane, but it is too dangerous for them to stop. The reference is also to a certain young rathorn (think of an armor-plated, carnivorous unicorn with a nasty temper) who is after Jame for killing his mother and about to catch up with her. At Tentir, Jame faces cut-throat competition and finds even more buried, poisonous family secrets. Not only is the Caineron heir sent to humiliate her, but a charming Ardeth Highborn arrives hell-bent on seducing her. Then too, what is she to make of the mysterious White Lady who haunts her dreams, or of the growling monster that prowls Tentir's hallways and is said to eat young cadets for breakfast For she is learning Tentir has secrets of its own, and it is fighting for its soul. Under political pressure that threatens to compromise its independence, it looks to its Commandant, an honorable man; but also a Caineron. As the college tests Jame, so she tests it. "Some things need to be broken."

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More books by P.C. Hodgell not in this series (4)

Deathless Gods

Deathless Gods

A NEW KENCYRATH NOVEL! Jamethiel Knorth, Priest’s Bane and Dream-Weaver, has returned victorious from Tai-tastigon, but trouble dogs the Kencyrath. There is intrigue among the Highborn. The Randir and his allies want the larger houses to decide for all nine, which would strip the Highlordship from the Knorth. At Omiroth, a senile king struggles against his venal son-in-law—but if neither of these can rule, the next in line is a mother-dominated child. Kindrie Soul-Walker is captured and thrown in a secret dungeon, a political prisoner. And a Kendar administrator, dissatisfied with the use that Jame is making of the gates, schemes against her, and then against her house and her brother, Torisen Black Lord, Highlord of the Kencyrath.

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Free Short Stories 2011

FREE

Free Short Stories 2011

In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and "Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available, they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). As is usual with such copyrighted material from Baen, the contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold. All commercial rights are reserved to Baen Books. Space Hero by Patrick Lundrigan Tanya: Princess of the Elves by Larry Correia The Grimnoir Chronicles: Detroit Christmas by Larry Correia Kings by Travis S. Taylor Mole Hunt by Robert Buettner Intelligent Design by Sharon Lee & Steve Miller The Brute Force Approach by Michael Z. Williamson Honorverse Tech Bu9 by David Weber and Ken Burnside The Talisman's Trinket by P. C. Hodgell Murder at Ford’s Theater by Bob Conroy Pawn to King Four by Timothy Zahn

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FREE

Free Short Stories 2014

FREE

Free Short Stories 2014

The Gift of Music by Sharon Lee The Aristocrat and the Free Man by Robert Conroy Stealing Arturo by William Ledbetter Magic and Other Honest Lies by Robert Buettner Soft Casualty by Michael Z. Williamson Songs of Waste and Wood by P.C. Hodgell The Last Secret of Mary Bowser by Steve White Low Arc by Sean Monaghan Balance by Marina J. Lostetter A Thing of Beauty by Charles E. Gannon An Imperium Pursuitby Jody Lynn Nye Picket Shipby Brad R. Torgersen The Golden Knightby K. D. Julicher Bare Snow Falling on Fairywoodby Wen Spencer Bait and Switchby Ryk E. Spoor The night don't seem so lonelyby Sharon Lee Long Nights Moonby David B. Coe

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FREE

Free Stories 2019

FREE

Free Stories 2019

In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and "Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available, they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of short stories for 2019. As is usual with such copyrighted material from Baen, the contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold. All commercial rights are reserved to Baen Books. The Testimony of the Traitor Ratul by Larry Correia Today I Remember by Martin L. Shoemaker Extracurricular by Wm. Mark Simmons Waiting for the Talisman by P.C. Hodgell Voodoo Magic by Robert Buettner Burners by Matt McHugh Treason Properly by J.J. Cragun Talk Girl by Wil McCarthy Weeping Willikers by Aaron Michael Ritchey A Visit to the Galaxy Ballroom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Next Giant Leap by Patrick Chiles

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FREE

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