Gardner Dozois - The Book of Swords

EDITED BY

Harper Voyager

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by Harper Voyager 2017

Copyright © 2017 by Gardner Dozois

Introduction © 2017 by Gardner Dozois

Individual story copyrights appear here COPYRIGHT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS “The Best Man Wins” by K. J. Parker. Copyright © 2017 by Tom Holt (K. J. Parker). “Her Father’s Sword” by Robin Hobb. Copyright © 2017 by Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm). “The Hidden Girl” by Ken Liu. Copyright © 2017 by Ken Liu. “The Sword of Destiny” by Matthew Hughes. Copyright © 2017 by Matthew Hughes. “ ‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott. Copyright © 2017 by Alis Rasmussen (Kate Elliott). “The Triumph of Virtue” by Walter Jon Williams. Copyright © 2017 by Walter Jon Williams. “The Mocking Tower” by Daniel Abraham. Copyright © 2017 by Daniel Abraham. “Hrunting” by C. J. Cherryh. Copyright © 2017 by C. J. Cherryh. “A Long, Cold Trail” by Garth Nix. Copyright © 2017 by Garth Nix. “When I Was a Highwayman” by Ellen Kushner. Copyright © 2017 by Ellen Kushner. “The Smoke of Gold Is Glory” by Scott Lynch. Copyright © 2017 by Scott Lynch. “The Colgrid Connundrum” by Rich Larson. Copyright © 2017 by Rich Larson. “The King’s Evil” by Elizabeth Bear. Copyright © 2017 by Sarah Wishnevsky (Elizabeth Bear). “Waterfalling” by Lavie Tidhar. Copyright © 2017 by Lavie Tidhar. “The Sword Tyraste” by Cecelia Holland. Copyright © 2017 by Cecelia Holland. “The Sons of the Dragon” by George R.R. Martin. Copyright © 2017 by George R.R. Martin.

Cover design by Mike Topping © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2017

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

The author of each individual story asserts their moral rights, including the right to be identified as the author of their work.

A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

These stories are entirely works of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in them are the work of the authors’ imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

Source ISBN: 9780008274658

Ebook Edition © September 2017 ISBN: 9780008274672

Version: 2017-09-20

“The Best Man Wins” by K. J. Parker. Copyright © 2017 by Tom Holt (K. J. Parker).

“Her Father’s Sword” by Robin Hobb. Copyright © 2017 by Robin Hobb (Megan Lindholm).

“The Hidden Girl” by Ken Liu. Copyright © 2017 by Ken Liu.

“The Sword of Destiny” by Matthew Hughes. Copyright © 2017 by Matthew Hughes.

“ ‘I Am a Handsome Man,’ Said Apollo Crow” by Kate Elliott. Copyright © 2017 by Alis Rasmussen (Kate Elliott).

“The Triumph of Virtue” by Walter Jon Williams. Copyright © 2017 by Walter Jon Williams.

“The Mocking Tower” by Daniel Abraham. Copyright © 2017 by Daniel Abraham.

“Hrunting” by C. J. Cherryh. Copyright © 2017 by C. J. Cherryh.

“A Long, Cold Trail” by Garth Nix. Copyright © 2017 by Garth Nix.

“When I Was a Highwayman” by Ellen Kushner. Copyright © 2017 by Ellen Kushner.

“The Smoke of Gold Is Glory” by Scott Lynch. Copyright © 2017 by Scott Lynch.

“The Colgrid Connundrum” by Rich Larson. Copyright © 2017 by Rich Larson.

“The King’s Evil” by Elizabeth Bear. Copyright © 2017 by Sarah Wishnevsky (Elizabeth Bear).

“Waterfalling” by Lavie Tidhar. Copyright © 2017 by Lavie Tidhar.

“The Sword Tyraste” by Cecelia Holland. Copyright © 2017 by Cecelia Holland.

“The Sons of the Dragon” by George R.R. Martin. Copyright © 2017 by George R.R. Martin.

For George R.R. Martin, Fritz Leiber, Jack Vance,

Robert E. Howard, C. L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, L. Sprague de Camp,

Roger Zelazny, and all the other authors who ever wielded an

imaginary sword, and for Kay McCauley, Anne Groell, and

Sean Swanwick, for helping me bring this to you.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page THE BOOK OF SWORDS EDITED BY

Copyright

Copyright Acknowledgements

Dedication

Introduction by Gardner Dozois

The Best Man Wins

Her Father’s Sword

The Hidden Girl

The Sword of Destiny

“I Am a Handsome Man,” Said Apollo Crow

The Triumph of Virtue

The Mocking Tower

Hrunting

A Long, Cold Trail

When I Was a Highwayman

The Smoke of Gold Is Glory

The Colgrid Conundrum

The King’s Evil

Waterfalling

The Sword Tyraste

The Sons of the Dragon

About the Publisher

One day in 1963, I stopped in a drugstore on the way home from high school (at that point in time, spinner racks full of mass-market paperbacks in drugstores were one of the few places in our town where books were available; there was no actual bookstore), and spotted on the rack an anthology called The Unknown , edited by D. R. Bensen. I picked it up, bought it, and was immediately enthralled by it; it was the first anthology I ever bought, and a purchase that would have a long-term effect on my future career although I didn’t know that at the time. What it was was a collection of stories that Bensen had culled from the legendary (if short-lived) fantasy magazine