When a routine mapping expedition uncovers what looks like ruins on the planet Theth-129, the crew of the Stardancer is thrilled to have something more exciting to do than catalogue worlds only a terraformer could love. Their trip to the world's surface confirms their wildest hopes: their ruins really were made by natives and abandoned long ago, a find of incredible significance. But there's more to this world than an obelisk, a set of painted caves, and a mysterious shoreline. When the sea claims one of the 'Dancer's senior officers, their investigation reveals that the lost civilization might not be quite so lost after all.Alysha Forrest and the crew of the Stardancer have no idea that their way of life is on trial. But before it's over, they'll be asked to prove themselves, and the fate of an entire world is resting on the outcome....This first full-length novel in the Alysha Forrest series stands on its own, or can be read as part of the series (beginning with...

A PELTEDVERSE NOVELA coming-of-age story in the style of Mercedes Lackey, set in a galaxy full of aliens and adventures....The Eldritch live hundreds of years, which means Sediryl Nuera Galare isn't going to inherit the management of her family's noble house—and all its rich farmland—anytime soon. So when she discovers that her world is only one among many, she doesn't hesitate to kick off the dust of her provincial estate. That it gets her away from her oppressive mother and a smothering society is only a bonus.But wonder isn't the only thing waiting for a young woman trying her wings for the first time. When Sediryl finds love among the aliens, she's faced with a difficult choice between duty and her heart's desire. Girl on Fire introduces Sediryl, the woman who will go on to figure so powerfully in the future of the Peltedverse. But before she was a firebrand, she had to be set on fire....

"..a breathless rush of fantasy and pain and magic."Mannered society meets the realm of epic fantasy in this trilogy of dark sacrifice and redemption. Philosophy, witty conversations, undead armies, sociopathic elves, and vampire genets... there's a taste of everything in Blood Ladders. The box set contains all three novels:An Heir to Thorns and SteelMorgan Locke, university student, has been hiding his debilitating illness with fair enough success when two unlikely emissaries arrive bearing the news that he is prince to a nation of creatures out of folklore. Ridiculous! And yet, if magic exists...could it heal him? The ensuing journey will resurrect the forgotten griefs of history, and before it's over, all the world will be remade by thorns and steel....By Vow and Royal BloodshedRestored to a working body, Morgan Locke has returned to Troth to seek the legendary athenaeum at Vigil in the hopes...

Restored to a working body, Morgan Locke has returned to Troth to seek the legendary athenaeum at Vigil in the hopes it will produce a solution to the enchantment binding the elves. But elves are not the only creatures now stepping out of folklore: the demons are coming, and they bring with them the armies of the dead.If they do not want to see their world consumed, Morgan and his companions will have to find the answers, whether they come from books... or bloodshed. Time is running out....

War is a serious violation of the Alliance's colony charters, so when the Stardancer is sent to investigate rumors of a conflict on the distant colony of Gledig, everyone is hoping to come up empty. They're certainly not expecting to be mired in a web of deceit, treachery, and tragedy involving not just the colony, but pirates and a missing Fleet officer. Not only that, but the situation suggests that Fleet itself might have had a hand in creating the situation that inspired the civil war.But while the conflict might have been decades in the making, time is running out for Gledig, and only Fleet can save the colony from the culmination of the forces working against it now.The fate of a world hangs in the balance. Can the crew of the Stardancer redeem the honor of the Fleet... before it's too late?STARDANCER READING ORDER0. (Prequel) Alysha's Fall1. Second2. Who is Willing3. Sword of the Alliance4. Either Side of the Strand

On the eve of her retirement from the army, Mistress Commander Angharad Godkin finds herself re-activated and directed to replace the governor of the newly conquered territory of Shraeven. With its multitude of diverse societies and religions, the province will not be easy to tame; but Angharad has thirty-four years of experience and is determined to succeed—even with the additional challenge of an ex-lover as her second-in-command. However, what starts out as a seemingly predictable military challenge takes multiple unexpected turns at the hands of Shraeven's rebellious people, their unorthodox beliefs, and their capricious, demanding, and very tangible gods. Angharad quickly finds herself the central piece in a game being fought on too many levels, all of them very foreign to her nature and background. But if she's being forced to play, she's going to play to win; and Shraeven may come to regret having gotten her into the game....

Everybody's got a story... even the bystanders.The staff of the Alliance's foremost restaurant... the forgotten children of the imperial Chatcaavan harem... the story of how an empress hired a D-per, and an entire ship full of Glaseah came to settle on an alien world... here, woven amid the larger stories of the participants in the Chatcaavan war, are the smaller scenes observed by its minor characters, or shifted by its major ones in moments of contemplation. Major Pieces collects 21 stories starting from before the events of Even the Wingless and ending just prior to the first book of the Jubilee Summer duology. Some are as short as a talk with a therapist and his dog over cookies—others are nearly novel-length examinations of important events previously left off-camera, like the wedding of a wingless freak to an Emperor and his consort. All of them were reader-selected, and many, reader-suggested.You've survived the war. Now come back to...

Nearly a year has passed since the conclusion of the Chatcaavan War... which means it's time for Jahir and Sediryl to marry, and Sediryl to kneel for the coronet of the imperial heir! All their allies are gathering to celebrate, from the expected, like the Queen Ransomed and Lisinthir, to mentors and friends from years past. But life doesn't pause for momentous events, no matter how joyous or anticipated. There are issues Jahir and Sediryl have yet to resolve, issues that reflect the greater challenges besetting their world and the Alliance. Before they can join hands for the wedding cloth, they'll have to face at least one of those challenges... and it won't be the first.Healer's Wedding, Book 1 in the Jubilee Summer duology, brings together the characters from Her Instruments, Dreamhealers, and Princes' Game for a capstone season of politics and pleasure. Return to the homeworld of the Eldritch and the company of friends!

When the results of Earth's genetic experiments fled for their makers, they took their own name as they left humanity behind; centuries later, the Pelted have spread into a multi-world alliance of cultures and languages, cribbed from Terra or created whole-cloth. Claws and Starships collects six stories of the Pelted, ranging from the humor of a xenoanthropologist on the wrong side of mythology to more serious works considering the implications of genetic engineering in a far-future classroom seeded with the children of those laboratories. Come stamp your passport and visit the worlds of the Pelted Alliance in all their variety! Includes the novella "A Distant Sun," and the short stories "Rosettes and Ribbons" (Best in Show anthology), "The Elements of Freedom," "Tears" (Pawprints), "Pantheon," and "Butterfly" (Anthrolations magazine).

ONE MOMENT, QUEEN... THE NEXT, OUTCAST Surela Silin Asaniefa was convinced she could rule the Eldritch people better than her enemy, Liolesa Galare, and for ten whole days following her coup, she made the attempt—and failed. Resigned to her death as a traitor, she was given a choice by the Queen's newest protege, Reese Eddings: to be executed, or to accept a commuted sentence and attempt to rebuild her life and make amends for her crimes. To die would have been the act of a dramatic maiden, and as a woman of more sense and years, Surela chooses instead to see what she can make of herself among aliens and mortals. But what begins with cargo runs on an old Terran freighter soon involves pirates and slavers and intergalactic war... and the actions of a traitor might be the salvation of the people she once wronged. An Exile Aboard Ship kicks off the redemption arc of the villainess from the Her Instruments series. Can...

Return to Kherishdar in this second volume of "backstage" interactions between the author and her creations! In the first volume, we got to know the principal characters that made the setting clearer to the audience... this time, we ease deeper into the worldbuilding, covering language and locations, culture and customs, biology, psychology, and history. Further Conversations with the Ai-Naidar gathers the next six years of "meta-conversations" between the author and her aliens as she continues to illuminate the world of Kherishdar. Lavishly illustrated with notes, calligraphy, photographs and drawings, Conversations offers insight into an artistic process, perfect for lovers of the Kherishdar series, and anyone fascinated by the creative brain. Come into the writer's parlor!

Sediryl Galare's first official function as the formally invested heir to the Eldritch Empire is to open the summer court, on Escutcheon and on the world of Chalice. But behind every big event are a myriad of stories—some smaller in scope, and some enormous in implication. Join the Eldritch and their allies in this Fallowtide collection for a glimpse into those everyday stories. Who are the musicians of Ontine? What happened to the nobles of Asaniefa who didn't care to fight the Empress? Will Jeasa and Haladir ever come to an accommodation? And how are the social changes sweeping the world affecting those who wish they hadn't? This reader-commissioned collection includes stories written by the author at reader request. Come home to the Alliance with seven tales of hope, renewal, romance, and change.

Language and locations, culture and customs, biology, psychology, and history... worldbuilding an alien world for a fiction series can be a monumental effort involving notes, maps, drawings, and resources......or you can do it Jaguar-style, and just talk to the people.Conversations with the Ai-Naidar gathers seven years of "meta-conversations" between the author and her aliens as she struggles to understand their culture and language. Interspersed with scribbled notes from the author's original sketchbooks, Conversations offers insight into an artistic process, perfect for lovers of the Kherishdar series, and anyone fascinated by the creative brain.Come into the writer's parlor!