BOOK TWO IN CHARLES E. GANNON’S VORTEX OF WORLDS EPIC FANTASY SERIES
A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing . . . but knowing the full truth might get you killed.
Druadaen, Outrider for the once-mighty Dunarran Consentium, has proven that there are irreconcilable contradictions between magic and physics on Arrdanc, the world of his birth. And what is his reward for this important discovery, made against all odds and at considerable personal risk? Exile—organized and compelled by nervous temple hierarchs.
However, Druadaen remains determined to uncover what several ancient persons and beings have urged him to seek: “the truth of the world”—which might only be gained by traveling beyond it. Indeed, the mysterious Lady of the Mirror speculates that he might find the answers by journeying to the other side of her unusual looking glass: a reflective, ethereal portal that she calls a “shimmer.”
But there’s a catch: because the mysterious portal only allows a single person to pass through, Druadaen must leave his companions behind. Unfortunately, once he has, they discover that the “shimmer” only allows travelers to leave Arrdanc, not return to it. So his friends, led by stalwart swordsman Ahearn, resolve to find another means by which they can retrieve Druadaen—and with him, the truth of the world.
There’s just one small problem with their quest: the closer they come to finding a solution, the more obvious it becomes that various powers on Arrdanc don’t want them to succeed. In fact, they’d rather Druadaen doesn’t return at all.
So much so that they might kill both him and his friends in order to prevent it.
THE EVENTS OF EARTH'S PAST MAY HOLD THE KEY TO EARTH'S SALVATION IN THE FUTURE
Marty Cohen was a gifted linguist and student of ancient military strategy who stepped away from academic Egyptology and opened a woodworking shop. Away from the bitter politics and petty rivalries, he’s happy to take care of his people, play the occasional war game, and try to make a good life.
Then mysterious visions begin to rob him of sleep. Soon after they start, he gets summoned back to Egypt: an off-the-grid dig funded by an eccentric financier has discovered texts that may be the earliest Egypt has produced, and they’ll pay Marty silly amounts of cash just to fly out and take one little look.
Marty turned his back on the academia game, but he’s a small business owner who has to make payroll, and he can’t say no to the money.
But the texts open doors to more visions and to an astonishing journey: his ragtag team of archaeologists finds itself in protohistoric North Africa, a drying land dominated by monsters, where humanity is badly in need of champions.
And behind the war against the monster overlords lies a greater struggle: Marty and his team have been chosen to be champions of all Earth and to run a gauntlet on humanity’s behalf.
What would it really take to make the Six Million Dollar Man? A medical thriller on Earth and in space!
Glenn Armstrong Shepard had his sights set on going to Mars as a flight surgeon, but a training accident on the Moon left him crippled. Now he has a new plan: to be fitted with bionic prosthetics and come back even stronger.
Fate and the Space Force have other plans, and Glenn is grounded. Another doctor—his ex-fiancée—takes his place, and Glenn will have to fight to prove he can be an astronaut once more. . . .
A STUNNING BAEN BOOKS DEBUT. A brilliant Americana flintlock fantasy novel set in a world of Appalachian magic that works.
Sarah Calhoun is the fifteen‑year‑old daughter of the Elector Andrew Calhoun, one of Appalachee’s military heroes and one of the electors who gets to decide who will next ascend as the Emperor of the New World. None of that matters to Sarah. She has a natural talent for hexing and one bad eye, and all she wants is to be left alone—especially by outsiders.
But Sarah’s world gets turned on its head at the Nashville Tobacco Fair when a Yankee wizard‑priest tries to kidnap her. Sarah fights back with the aid of a mysterious monk named Thalanes, who is one of the not‑quite‑human Firstborn, the Moundbuilders of the Ohio. It is Thalanes who reveals to Sarah a secret heritage she never dreamed could be hers.
Now on a desperate quest with Thalanes to claim this heritage, she is hunted by the Emperor’s bodyguard of elite dragoons, as well as by darker things—shapeshifting Mockers and undead Lazars, and behind them a power more sinister still. If Sarah cannot claim her heritage, it may mean the end to her, her family—and to the world where she is just beginning to find her place.
The war between Almacia and the Empire of Kolakolvia is in its hundredth year. Casualties heap even higher on both sides as the conflict leaves no corner of the world untouched.
Illarion Glaskov’s quiet life on the fringes of the empire is thrown into chaos when tragedy strikes his village. When he is conscripted into the Tsarist military, he is sent to serve in The Wall—an elite regiment that pilots suits of armor made from the husks of dead golems.
NEW FANTASY FROM BEST-SELLING AUTHOR JANE LINDSKOLD
Instead of mentors, they got monsters . . .
That’s what Xerak, Vereez, and Grunwold think when three strange creatures shimmer into being within the circle of Hettua Shrine. Their conclusion is reasonable enough. After all, they’ve never seen humans before.
As for Margaret Blake, Peg Gallegos, and Tessa Brown—more usually known as Meg, Peg, and Teg—they’re equally astonished but, oddly enough, better prepared. Age and experience have accustomed them to surprises. A widely varied course of reading material has intellectually prepared them for the idea that other worlds, even worlds where people with traits more commonly ascribed to “animals” may exist.
Then there is the mysterious verse that Teg speaks as they arrive, words that seem to indicate that the Shrine must have been at least partially responding to the request made of it.
Despite doubts on all sides, the three unlikely mentors join forces with the three young “inquisitors” and venture out into the world Peg dubs “Over Where.” First they must find the Library of the Sapphire Wind, destroyed years before.
Will they find answers there, or is this only the first stage in their search?
All of her life, Aelliana Caylon has lived by the rules of her overbearing brother, the head of the Caylon family. Though she is a brilliant mathematician, he has convinced her that she has no worth beyond what value she might have in an arranged marriage.
Then, on a dare, she plays a game of chance—and wins a starship. It is her way to escape her home, her planet, her drab life—if she can qualify as a pilot.
Enter the accomplished Scout and Master Pilot known only as Daav. Aelliana hires him as her instructor. She finds him a gifted teacher. He finds her a quick study.
And they also find an unexpected attraction, one that could have dangerous repercussions for them both . . .
Because of their notable achievements, Rist and Rusk have earned their new “man-names” of Thist and Thusk. They each have earned important positions in the Sisterdom of ShadowFall, but find themselves having to import and train their countrymen to help defend the Princess of ShadowFall against an invasion from the army of a new Mother and her treacherous chief priest. They prevail, but at a cost to themselves and others. Meanwhile, on the Moon, a strange child named Mien falls into a tunnel being melted by the tunneling engineers of Community. Through ancient technology used solely by the Mother of Motherland, Thist accidentally makes contact with Mien, a meeting that affects the battle for ShadowFall’s survival.
From their primitive, mist-bound homeland at the foot of receding glaciers, to warmer and more civilized lands downriver and below, twin diminutive “bird-rider” warriors venture southward, taking with them the seeds of revelation and revolution. On the Moon, human colonies have likewise evolved. Those two worlds after the next Ice Age are very different places from today, but human emotions, personalities, and reactions remain unchanged.
The Thaw Trilogy is a tale of future conflicts—the clash of ancient institutions and ancient technologies on an unfamiliar Earth, and remnant human colonies on Earth’s Moon.
The Thaw Trilogy, incorporates three stories that first appeared in Analog—“Thaw” (July/August 2013), “Flow” (November 2014 - Hugo nominated), and “Fall” (July/August 2016).
Charles E. Gannon 
