Showing results for "M M Kaye" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

Mara never dreamed of escape. Not really. How can a bird caged all her life ever think to fly? When a chance opportunity presents itself for the princess of Dunhill to flee her upcoming marriage and the cruel family that arranged it, she spreads her wings. But fate has other plans. After narrowly surviving an encounter with the fabled Beast of the Blackwood—a dragon that stalks the forest that separates Dunhill from neighboring kingdoms—she finds herself in the unwilling company of Baron Gannon Black. He is mercurial at best, downright rude at worst.

Leaving school can be hard when you have nowhere else to go. Because of this, Star had decided to become a mercenary for hire and have a life of adventure. But when her first mission leaves her without the ability to safely cast magic, she’s suddenly thrust into a journey no amount of schooling could have prepared her for. All she can do is rely on her sword and her new friends. All in the hope of finding a magical familiar who can prevent her from becoming addicted to the magic she spent years mastering. All the while trying to escape the people now hunting her down.

The Corin Valley massacre took everything from Star, and she hoped to never return to that place. Life, it seems, has other ideas. Six months after leaving Farlane, the unlikely alliance with the spellbinder Djihira finds Star in Corinda, Another of the Five Kingdoms. Even if her mere existence there is illegal, she’s determined to help Shade expose a blood mage. There’s just one small wrinkle, in order to get to the capitol, Star must pass through Corin Valley. The place she’s tried so hard to forget.

Human cloning. Technology evolves faster than we do. The law shields us from our worst temptations. But the opportunity is there, dangling just out of reach - perfection and ascension or delusion and destruction. The choice is ours. In this collection of clone-themed stories, 10 of today’s top speculative fiction writers explore our morality and built-in societal restraints and reflect upon our state of grace. Similar is not necessarily the same.