IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE JUST
A ROLE-PLAYING GAME . . .

Professor Deighton smiled from around the stem of his pipe. "You have a vague, unexplainable feeling that what you are looking for is something called the Gate Between Worlds."

"... although we all share a vague suspicion that we're looking for the Gate Between Worlds, whatever that is. Would you care to join us "

"Sure. Un—what are you going to do about those boxes on the hillside "

Doria's voice was almost a whine. "Open them, silly."

"Okay, fine, I'll open them."

"No, don't—". He gripped the rims of his wheelchair.

"As the first box is opened," Deighton said, "You are overwhelmed by a rush of—"

James Michael couldn't hear the rest; a rush of sound like that of an impossibly loud, impossibly near jet buffeted his ears, acrid smoke clawing at his eyes and nostrils until he found himself tumbling out of his wheelchair and falling to his knees in a coughing spasm, his tearing eyes clenched shut.

He bounced to his feet on the damp grass, reflexively reaching for the axe strapped to his chest, loosening the straps with two quick jerks and taking the axe in his gnarled, well-muscled hands.

Well-muscled hands

He opened his eyes.

He was a dwarf standing on the side of a grassy hill, with an axe in his hands.

AND THAT WAS ONLY 7 THE BEGINNING . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joel Rosenberg was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and raised in North Dakota and Connecticut. His occupations have included driving a truck, caring for the institutionalized retarded, bookkeeping, gambling, motel desk-clerking, and passing himself off as a head chef.

His first sale was an op-ed piece favoring nuclear power, appearing in The New York Times. His Guardians of the Flame novels have been bestsellers, and given him a huge readership in fantasy. His science fiction novels, including Ties of Blood, Emile and the Dutchman, Not for Glory, and Hero have been equally popular and received critical acclaim.

He lives in Minneapolis with his wife and daughters.