Sharon Lee's science fiction and fantasy career began in 1980 and since her first professional sale she's entertained thousands with her carefully crafted fiction. Perhaps best known for the Liaden Universe® stories and novels co-written with Steve Miller, Lee's solo short fiction is also a treat.
Endeavors of Will features eight early short stories—including Balrog Award nominee "A Matter of Ceremony" from Amazing Stories—as well as one of her rare poems.
The stories here range from out-and-out adventure to subtle mood pieces. They first appeared in such varied magazines as Star Triad, Amazing Stories, Charles de Lint's Dragonfields, and Owlflight, as well as Fantasy Book, the SPWAO Showcase, and Times Lost, Worlds Forgotten.
If you're in the market for a highly readable and somewhat unpredictable collection of fantasy and science fiction, with subtle humor, irony, and good story sense, Endeavors of Will by Sharon Lee may well be what you're looking for!
Included in this collection are: Stolen Laughter, The Winter Consort, The Pretender, The Silver Pathway, Stormshelter, The Girl, The Cat and Deviant, A Matter of Ceremony, The Handsome Prince, and the poem Cards.
Some say a cat's job is to be decorative. Some say it is to slay vermin. Some say a cat ought to earn his or her keep, and some think cats are mere pets. Some folks are dog people, but we don't need to talk too much about them here.
In this chapbook we look at a cat mayor at work, talk about cats as people, and share several fictional pieces dealing with the place of cats and their people in the universe at large.
The Cat's Job was one of SRM Publisher's most popular titles since 2002; in 2010 Sharon Lee and Steve Miller added a rarely seen 1979 collaborative effort as well as a timeline of the household they call The Cat Farm and Confusion Factory, with special reference to Blueblaze Sphinxian Hexapuma, the cover cat. This Pinbeam Book edition contains the complete 2010 text. Enjoy!
Ask Jen Pierce, late of Baltimore, and now the proud owner of an old farmhouse in the country, a cat named Jasper, and an at-risk job at the local newspaper. Not long ago, she survived a run-in with a murderer from away. Now there are several new deaths in town, and she's the reporter on the spot.
Kinzel the Foolish: Meet Kinzel, 'prentice to Mad Siljan the herb lady. Not quite the village fool. Not quite. And does it take a fool, or a wise child, to bargain with a unicorn?
Kinzel the Innocent: Against his master's—and his own!—expectation, Kinzel has won a wizard's staff, and, having done so, he can no longer stay in his master's house. So, he sets to see the world, finding it as wondrous as the world seems to find him. It's a good life, but it may be a short one, for Kinzel has made powerful enemies.
Kinzel the Arbiter: Two wealthy townsmen vie for the affections—and the gifts—of the grey crow. But to whom does the crow belong? That is the question the traveling wise man Kinzel is called upon to decide.
Kinzel a triple decker delight
Like other great 20th-century fantasies it is rooted in concepts and powers that are older than conscious memory…Lee and Miller have included int he pages of The Naming of Kinzel most elements of classic fantasy"—Morning Sentinel
