Kate MacLeod

For Murdina Ritchie, acceptance at the Oymyakon Foreign Service Academy means one last chance at her dream of becoming a diplomat for the Union of Free Worlds. For Shackleton Fitz IV, it represents his last chance not to fail out of military service entirely. Strange that fate should throw them together now, among the last group of students admitted after the start of the semester. They had once shared the strongest of friendships. But that all ended a long time ago. But when an insufferable but politically important woman turns up murdered, the two agree to put their differences aside and work together to solve the case. Because the murderer might strike again. But more importantly, solving a murder would just have to impress the dour colonel who clearly thinks neither of them belong at his academy.

Having escaped yet another closing trap, Scout Shannon finds herself on a snowbound mountaintop far from civilization. With assassins eager to kill her, laying low on an alien world is the smartest play. But wherever Scout goes, trouble follows. And a hamlet in the mountains gets far more remote when girl assassins destroy the only means back to civilization. Now Scout and her dogs face a long, cold climb back to the frozen star port city, her only guide, a girl whose sister Scout killed when fighting for her life. Can she get to safety before the girl learns the truth about Scout? And what secrets of her own is this strange girl keeping? "Over Freezing Altitudes" the fifth book in "The Travels of Scout Shannon" series, a young adult science fiction novel for fans of resourceful heroines, survival in extreme environments, girl assassins and loyal dog sidekicks.

Stranded on the far side of the moon with her friends, Scout Shannon waits for rescue from galactic central. Hunted by two sets of enemies, surrounded by an impenetrable barrier maintained by an almost alien class of humans, time runs short. Caught between two factions of a powerful trade dynasty, Scout fights to remain free and to protect her friends. But the people trying to make her their pawn barely seem human to her eyes. Fight them? She can barely understand them. With friends on both sides of the planetary blockade, Scout just needs to find a way to get her friends stuck on the inside to those waiting for them on the outside. But foes also lurk on both sides. And they hide among her friends. How to tell friend from foe? Scout better learn before the enemies close in around her." Against Impassable Barriers" the fourth book in "The Travels of Scout Shannon" series, a young adult science fiction novel for fans of resourceful heroines, political intrigue, and loyal dog sidekicks. Stranded on the far side of the moon with her friends, Scout Shannon waits for rescue from galactic central. Hunted by two sets of enemies, surrounded by an impenetrable barrier maintained by an almost alien class of humans, time runs short. Caught between two factions of a powerful trade dynasty, Scout fights to remain free and to protect her friends. But the people trying to make her their pawn barely seem human to her eyes. Fight them? She can barely understand them. With friends on both sides of the planetary blockade, Scout just needs to find a way to get her friends stuck on the inside to those waiting for them on the outside. But foes also lurk on both sides. And they hide among her friends. How to tell friend from foe? Scout better learn before the enemies close in around her." Against Impassable Barriers" the fourth book in "The Travels of Scout Shannon" series, a young adult science fiction novel for fans of resourceful heroines, political intrigue, and loyal dog sidekicks.

"Tales of Old Gods and New" collects ten stories from fantasy and science fiction writer Kate MacLeod: the high fantasy murder mystery "Impostor Apparition," the western weird tale "Unsafe, Unsound," the pseudo-Egyptian fantasy "Tear of a Sphinx," the early Bronze Age fantasy "Changing Tides," "In the Waste Places," the sequel to "Oil Fire"; the science fiction story "Taren and Keui," tale of two alien beings finding a way out of a zero sum game; the dark fantasy tale "The Story for the Letters," about a little girl and an ancient evil; the science fiction story "AI: Aesir Intelligence," where the sole survivor of a shuttle crash stays alive on a hostile world with the guidance of some unconventional babysitters; the science fiction story "Upon the Lonesome Wild" about a woman meant to be the matriarch of a far reaching clan on a newly discovered world who instead finds herself alone on a dying one; and the science fiction novelette "The Inscrutable Visages of the Sowmyatha" where a young officer finds it easier to communicate with a rocklike alien race than her human teammates.

Kate MacLeod writes both fantasy and science fiction. This book collects her nine previously published short stories as well as two new bonus stories. These tales span from Heian era Japan to the near reaches of space, from alternate world fantasies inspired by Babylon and Mohenjo-Daro to post-apocalyptic air ships that never touch the ground, from light-hearted fare like "Trifle" to the darker "On Desperate Seas," based on the ill-fated John Franklin Expedition. This collection includes: Blood and Ink Oil Fire Gardens of Wind Seagull and Raven Mother River Tale of a Fox Full Circle On Desperate Seas Trifle The Onmyoji's Wife Din Ba Din (This short story appeared on the 2013 Locus Magazine Recommended Reading List, was given an honorable Mention in Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction: Tenth Annual Collection, and was recommended reading in Rich Horton's The Year's Best Science Fiction & Fantasy, 2014 Edition.)

Scout Shannon wants nothing more than to leave her home world and its petty squabbling factions behind. Galactic central with all of its excitement and opportunities awaits her. She makes it as far as her own planet's orbit before the snares of bureaucracy close around her, trapping her on a space station populated by her people's oldest foe. Then her rescuer, her only friend in the galaxy, disappears, abducted by a group of strangers the moment he steps off his ship. Alone in a strange place, surrounded by the old enemies she knows and new enemies just making themselves known, Scout faces a challenge like none before. But with her dogs at her side, Scout stands prepared for anything. "Among Treacherous Stars" the third book in "The Travels of Scout Shannon" series, a young adult science fiction novel for fans of plucky heroines, girl spies conspiring in political intrigues, and loyal dog sidekicks.

After spending the last four days of her life hiding out from a deadly solar particle storm in an underground bunker, trapped with six treacherous women and a trio of girl assassins, Scout Shannon just wants to find the man who conned her mentor and leave her home world for good. Alas, the long-threatened war draws nearer and Scout finds herself caught in the middle, surrounded by rebels and bandits. Worse, she carries a pocketful of dangerous secrets with no one to entrust them to. And the hills keep shaking. Something lurks deep underground. Something massive. Something world-destroying. Scout leaves in three days. If she lives that long. "In Quaking Hills," the sequel to "Under Falling Skies" and the second book in "The Travels of Scout Shannon" series, a young adult science fiction novel for fans of plucky heroines, complicated boys, and loyal dog sidekicks.

Scout Shannon's whole family died the day the Space Farers dropped an asteroid on their domed city. Now she lives alone, out in the wild with only her dogs for company. She prefers it that way. But Scout finds herself at a crossroads. One road leads back to a quiet life snug under the protective dome of a city. The other road leads to a life in the rebellion, a life of adventure and excitement but also danger. Dare she try to find the rebels hiding in the hills? Then a chance encounter with a stranger from the other side of the galaxy threatens to derail what remains of Scout's life. The entire galaxy awaits her, if she survives the next four days." Under Falling Skies," a young adult science fiction novel, set on a remote planet with a distinctly Old West feel. For fans of gunslinging women and young girl assassins. And dogs.