by Ian Whates
“What? So you can eat my skull? No, I’ll fight out here if it’s all the same to you.”
“On your wedding day, you wore… a white shirt, and a black suit. You… joked it was the funeral of your… single lifestyle.”
Narnok blinked. “How could you know that?” he whispered.
“Look what… they did to me, Narnok. Look what that bitch did to me.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry… about… Xander. He destroyed your face. Your eye. Our… friendship.” The beast’s head lowered, the eyes lowered, and its muscles quivered. Then it turned, and limped into the cave; disappeared from sight.
“Who is it?” said Dek, voice low, his tone one of awe.
“It’s Katuna,” said Narnok, slowly. His mind was reeling. Emption swamped him; like nothing he had ever felt.
Dek frowned. “Katuna? Your wife? Your fucking wife?”
“Yes.”
“So – why are you here?”
“I am here to kill her,” said Narnok, and with axe in hand, strode into the cave.
Narnok was gone for an hour. When he emerged, axe blades stained with blood, his face was ashen, like a walking corpse.
Dek ran to him, and grabbed him before he fell to his knees. Then he held Narnok. Held him whilst the big warrior cried.
“She was beautiful,” said Narnok, on the journey down the mountain. “Olive skin. Dark curls. And she loved me, by all the Gods; she loved me.”
“Until she betrayed you.”
“Yes, she betrayed me. But then…” Narnok gave a death’s-head grin. “We all betray each other, don’t we?” He rubbed his beard. Each step was a hallucination. Each weary footfall a disintegrated memory. “She hired Xander; to torture me. To get the money. My wealth, from the king! And she got it all. And through the money she made powerful contacts. And through these contacts, found her way to Zorkai, and Orlana, who was looking for subjects to… well, you know how the Horse Lady created the splice. Dark magick. Evil, Equiem magick.”
“She wanted you. At the end,” said Trista, with understanding.
“Yes. To kill her. But more… she needed to apologise. To seek forgiveness.”
“And you forgave her?”
“I forgave her,” said Narnok.
Snow was tumbling once more as they reached the oval of tall standing stones. Narnok stroked the velvet snout of his mount, so beautiful, so affectionate. He patted her.
“What now?” asked Dek, carefully, his eyes meeting Narnok’s iron gaze. “Should we leave you alone? With your memories?”
Narnok shook his head. And gave a genuine, friendly smile; a smile Dek had not seen alight the big man’s face for… decades.
“Alone?” He laughed. “No. I’d like to get fucking drunk with my friends,” he said.
About the Authors
Edward Cox is the author of novels The Relic Guild and The Cathedral of Known Things (both Gollancz), along with short stories, reviews and poetry that have appeared in various places throughout space and time. Currently living in the Essex countryside with his wife and daughter, Edward frequently has to fight off attacks by giant spiders.
Rowena Cory Daniells is the bestselling fantasy author of King Rolen’s Kin, The Outcast Chronicles and The Price of Fame (paranormal crime). Rowena writes the kind of books that you curl up with on a rainy Saturday afternoon. She has a Masters in Arts Research and was an Associate Lecturer. Rowena has a very patient husband and six not so patient children. She has devoted five years to each of these martial arts: Tae Kwon Do, Aikido and Iaido, the art of the Samurai sword.
Stella Gemmell lives and writes in an old rectory in East Sussex. She has a degree in politics and is a journalist. She was married to David Gemmell and worked with him on his three Troy novels, completing the final book, Troy: Fall of Kings, following his death in 2006. Her first solo novel, The City, was published in 2013.
John Gwynne studied and lectured at Brighton University. He’s been in a rock ’n’ roll band, playing the double bass, travelled the USA and lived in Canada for a time. He is married with four children and lives in Eastbourne, running a small family business rejuvenating vintage furniture. His first novel, Malice, won the David Gemmell Morningstar award for best debut fantasy. His second, Valour, appeared in March 2014.
John Hornor Jacobs is the award-winning author of Southern Gods, This Dark Earth, the young adult Incarcerado series, and The Incorruptibles. Jacobs resides in the American South and spends his free time when not working on his next book thinking about working on his next book.
Mark Lawrence is the author of the Broken Empire trilogy starting with Prince of Thorns. His day job is as a research scientist tackling various issues associated with artificial intelligence. His proudest writing achievement was winning the David Gemmell Legend Award for his third book, Emperor of Thorns.
Lou Morgan is the author of the Blood and Feathers urban fantasy books about warring angels, and Sleepless, a YA horror involving a study aid that is too good to be true. Her short stories have previously appeared in anthologies from Solaris, Jurassic London, Alchemy Press, and PS Publishing, among others.
Anthony Ryan is the New York Times best-selling author of the Raven’s Shadow epic fantasy novels and the Slab City Blues science fiction series. After a long career in the British Civil Service he took up writing full time after the success of his first novel Blood Song, Book One of the Raven’s Shadow trilogy. He has a degree in history, and his interests include art, science and the unending quest for the perfect pint of real ale.
Andy Remic is the author of sixteen novels, the first published by Orbit Books in 2003, with his most recent books, The Iron Wolves and The White Towers, published by Angry Robot Books in 2014, which both feature the protagonists from “Retribution”, his story in this volume. His novels have been translated into six languages. He also owns Anarchy Books and is a budding indie film director. His writing website can be found at www.andyremic.com, his filmmaking at www.anarchyfilms.co.uk. His new novel The Dragon Engine is out in 2015.
Gavin Smith is the John W. Campbell award nominated author of Veteran, War in Heaven, Age of Scorpio, and A Quantum Mythology. He also wrote the Crysis: Escalation short story collection, and co-wrote Elite Dangerous: Wanted, and Empires: the First Battle, with Stephen Deas. Of “Smokestack Lightning”, he says: “I was very keen to try and write something that paid tribute to David Gemmell’s obvious love of westerns, (though strictly speaking it’s a high fantasy southern gothic), and the long-running connection between the western and fantasy genres.”
Gav Thorpe has a long history with the Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 universes, and has written many novels for the same. He is a New York Times best-selling author with the novella The Lion. His epic swords-and-sandals fantasy Empire of the Blood is available from Angry Robot. Gav has worked on numerous tabletop and video games as designer, writer and world creation consultant. He lives near Nottingham with his partner Kez and son Sammy.
Freda Warrington is the author of twenty-one fantasy novels, including the award-winning Elfland, from which this story borrows its mythology. Her alternative history of King Richard III, The Court of The Midnight King has just been reissued on Kindle, Audible, and in paperback. Titan Books are reissuing A Taste of Blood Wine and its sequels – a gothic yet sensual take on vampires, set in the 1920s – including a brand-new novel, The Dark Arts of Blood. More info on Freda’s website: www.fredawarrington.com.
Released November 2015
From NewCon Press
Orcs:
Tales of Maras-Dantia
Stan Nicholls
A brand new collection of novellas, novelettes, and short stories, set in the internationally best–selling realm of the Orcs. Many of the stories are brand new and none have been previously collected.
Cover art by Fangorn.
What the critics have said of previous Orcs titles:
“Subverts traditional fantasy tropes by ce
ntring on the much-maligned orcs. It is quick, fast, dirty, very funny and often surreal.” – The Guardian
“…a wonderful piece of storytelling; fast-paced with plenty of hairpin twists, crammed with loads of juicy battles and properly bad baddies.”– Tom Holt
“Incorporating wall to wall action with undercurrents of dark humour… The heroes are orcs – though you wouldn’t want to meet any of them on a dark night!”– David Gemmell
“The standard of prose is high... and the characterisation, both of individuals and races, is excellent.”– BSFA Vector magazine
“This is high fantasy for readers who like their heroes ugly and their wizards weird.”– Jon Courtenay Grimwood in SFX magazine
“Exciting and highly original.”– Waterstones online
“Weirdly charming, fast-moving and freaky. Remember, buy now or beg for mercy later...”– Tad Williams
Tolkien will never seem the same again…
Stories in honour of
DAVID GEMMELL
Joe Abercrombie
James Barclay
Storm Constantine
Jonathan Green
Tanith Lee
Juliet E McKenna
Anne Nicholls
Stan Nicholls
Gaie Sebold
Jan Siegel
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Sandra Unerman
Ian Whates
Cover art by Dominic Harman
Released in 2013, Legends is an anthology of all original stories written to honour the memory of one of Britain’s greatest fantasy authors. Determined warriors, hideous creatures, wicked sorceries, tricksy villains and cunning lovers abound as fantasy’s finest imaginations do their best… and their worst.
Produced in cooperation with the David Gemmell Awards, every copy sold raises money to support the awards.
Read the origins of James Barclays’ famed Ravens mercenary band, enter Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Realm of the Apt, follow warriors bent on vengeance and others seeking redemption, weep for the fallen, pity the lost, and cheer for the victors. Steel yourself, throw caution to the wind, and dare to enter the realm of Legends.
NEWCON PRESS
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Dark Fantasy and Horror
Winner of the 2010 ‘Best Publisher’ Award
from the European Science Fiction Association.
Anthologies, novels, short story collections, novellas, paperbacks, hardbacks, signed limited editions, ebooks…
To date, NewCon Press has published work by:
Joe Abercrombie, Dan Abnett, Brian Aldiss, Nina Allan, Kelley Armstrong, Sarah Ash, Neal Asher, Stephen Baxter, Tony Ballantyne, James Barclay, Chris Beckett, Lauren Beukes, Chaz Brenchley, Keith Brooke, Eric Brown, Pat Cadigan, Jay Caselberg, Simon Clark, Michael Cobley, Storm Constantine, Paul Cornell, Hal Duncan, Jaine Fenn, Paul di Filippo, Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Green, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Frances Hardinge, M. John Harrison, Dave Hutchinson, Gwyneth Jones, Paul Kane, Leigh Kennedy, Kim Lakin-Smith, David Langford, Tanith Lee, James Lovegrove, Gary McMahon, Ken MacLeod, Ian R. MacLeod, Gail Z. Martin, Juliet E. McKenna, John Meaney, Simon Morden, Anne Nicholls, Stan Nicholls, Philip Palmer, Stephen Palmer, Sarah Pinborough, Gareth L. Powell, Christopher Priest, Andy Remic, Mike Resnick, Robert Reed, Alastair Reynolds, Adam Roberts, Justina Robson, Mark Robson, Gaie Sebold, Sarah Singleton, Martin Sketchley, Kari Sperring, Brian Stapleford, Charles Stross, Tricia Sullivan, E.J. Swift, Steve Rasnic Tem, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lisa Tuttle, Una McCormack, Freda Warrington, Ian Watson, Liz Williams, Neil Williamson, and many, more.
Join our mailing list to get advance notice of new titles, book launches and events, and receive special offers on books.
www.newconpress.co.uk
Immanion Press
Speculative Fiction
The Moonshawl by Storm Constantine
Ysbryd drwg… the bad ghost.Hired by Wyva, the phylarch of the Wyvachi tribe, Ysobi goes to Gwyllion to create a spiritual system based upon local folklore, but he soon discovers some of that folklore is out of bounds, taboo... Secrets lurk in the soil of Gwyllion, and the old house Meadow Mynd, home of the Wyvachi leaders. The house and the land are haunted. The fields are soaked in blood and echo with the cries of those who were slaughtered there, almost a century ago. Old hatreds and a thirst for vengeance have been awoken by the approaching coming of age of Wvya’s son, Myvyen. If the harling is to survive, Ysobi must lay the ghosts to rest and scour the tainted soil of malice. But the ysbryd drwg is strong, built of a century of resentment and evil thoughts. Is it too powerful, even for a scholarly hienama with Ysobi’s experience and skill? ‘The Moonshawl’ is a standalone supernatural story, set in the world of Storm Constantine’s ground-breaking, science fantasy Wraeththu mythos.
ISBN: 978-1-907737-62-6 £11.99, $20.99
Ghosteria 2: The Novel: Zircons May be Mistaken by Tanith Lee
Sometimes when people die, it comes as a great shock. Even to them…
A group of the dead linger here, in the yellow dwelling on the hill – once a castle, then a stately home, now falling into ruin.These ghosts drift and mingle, and brood on their lost lives. Death can be caused by so many things – war, pandemics, ordinary murder – even suicide or accident. Even time. But after death, surely, one could hope for peace? Not any more.For with 2020 the New Apocalypse began. Civilisation crashed, and outside this ancient building things terrible, predatory, mindless and unkillable roam and bellow.
Now all the lights have gone out for good –Where do you turn?
ISBN: 978-1-907737-63-3 £9.99 $18.99
http://www.immanion-press.com
[email protected]
Table of Contents
Legends II An Introduction
Stan Nicholls
The Blessed and the Cursed
Gav Thorpe
Rescue
Mark Lawrence
The Lowest Place
Edward Cox
The Giant’s Lady
Rowena Cory Daniells
An Oath Given
John Gwynne
The Singer
Stella Gemmell
Sandrunners
Anthony Ryan
Smokestack Lightning
Gavin G. Smith
Oak
Lou Morgan
An Owl In Moonlight
Freda Warrington
Heaven Of Animals
John Hornor Jacobs
The Iron Wolves: Retribution
Andy Remic
About the Authors