Condition: Acceptable. Please see the images for more details. May show signs of wear such as:
• Shelf wear or scuffing on the cover
• Creases, marks, or tears on pages or dust jacket
• Possible remainder marks or previous owner’s name/notes inside
Cover art: Daniel R. Horne
Blurb: “Here is the perfect companion to your Annual World's Best SF collection - an arresting anthology that gathers together the most mem-orable, magical stories of swordmasters and sorcerers, of ghosts, dragons and other legendary beasts, of demons and vampires, elves and dwarves, and all the enchanting beings of dark and light who inhabit the diverse lands of fantasy.
So heed this call from a wondrous array of shining new talents and such top tale spinners as Tanith Lee, Nancy Kress and Jane Yolen; a call to realms almost beyond imagining..
"The Boy Who Plaited Manes" by Nancy
Springer (a Hugo and Nebula Award nominee) tells of a strange boy who appears in the stable of a petty lord and begins doing wonderful things with the horses' manes and tails. When the lord's young wife hears of the lad's remarkable ability to weave beauty and love into everything he touches, she summons him to do her hair - never anticipating how great his talent really is, nor how it will change her life.
In Judith Tarr's contribution, a "Pièce de Résistance" is the goal of a woefully uneven, politically inspired culinary contest between the Master Cook of the King of Jerusalem and an evil sorcerer posing as a cook. Can the real chef find a recipe that can survive his rival's sabotage - a blast of the blackest magic - and taste good, too?
"The Tale and Its Master" by Michael Rutherford tells of a conceited young apprentice in the Storytellers Guild who must seek out an original tale in order to attain full Guild membership. He succeeds brilliantly, obtaining quite a fascinating yarn from a dying witch, and soon comes to be considered the most renowned Master storyteller in the land. But when fame and fortune cause the youth to forget the original master of his now many-times-told tale, he is doomed to pay a frightful, outrageously sorcerous price.
In Jim Aikin's "A Place to Stay for a Little While," a woman who tends to attract people with unique powers
- a shapechanger, a man who can dematerialize, another who patches the holes in the world - offers her hospitality to a young man with a talent for controlling others.
Unfortunately, he has a problem controlling himself; his ability acts on him like a drug whose effects simply grow stronger and stronger, plunging the peaceful haven into chaos!
These are just some of the provocative visions to be found in this magnificent anthology - inventive stories certain to cast their spell upon every fantasy devotee.“