Lawrence Watt-Evans

Twenty stories by Hugo-winning author Lawrence Watt-Evans, spanning the cosmos from spaceships to unicorns.

Twenty stories by Hugo-winning author Lawrence Watt-Evans, exploring the infinite possibilities of traveling not just forward or backward in time, but sideways into the multiverse. Includes the award-winning "Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers."

Private investigator Carlisle Hsing had escaped from doomed Nightside City, on the planet Epimetheus, to the neighboring planet Prometheus. She never intended to go back. But then a billionaire by the name of Yoshio Nakada decided she was the only one he could trust to investigate an assassination attempt, and offered her a deal she couldn't refuse -- a deal that took her back to Nightside City.

When colonists settled the mining planet Epimetheus they thought it was tide-locked, perpetually keeping the same face to its sun. They were wrong. The casino resort Nightside City, built as a playground for miners and tourists, is about to see its first sunrise, and in a few years the deadly radiation of its star will render it uninhabitable. So why is someone buying up doomed real estate? Evicted squatters hire down-on-her-luck private eye Carlisle Hsing to tell them what's going one. She intends to find out who is behind it, and why -- if she can do so without getting killed.

Dragons had preyed on humans since time immemorial, and no one had ever found a way to kill them. Now, though, Arlian had learned the secrets the dragons had hidden from humanity for centuries. He knew how the dragons could be destroyed forever, and he intended to see it done. The only catch was that several humans, including Manfort's most powerful men and women, had to die to make it happen. Some of them did not intend to cooperate. Indeed, they preferred to cooperate with the dragons instead, to protect themselves, no matter how many innocents might die as a result. And Arlian would have to defeat this unholy alliance if he ever hoped to end the draconic threat.

Arlian was winning his war against the dragons -- but he was discovering the costs of that victory might be far higher than he had expected, and more than he was willing to pay. Could he find a way to save humanity from both the dragons, and the wild magic the dragons had kept at bay?

In 1884 the "Bone Wars" between rival paleontologists were in full swing, driving fossil hunters to outrageous lengths in pursuit of the latest finds, when reports came out of the Wasatch Mountains in the Utah Territory of the most amazing discovery yet. An adventurer went into the mountains to investigate - and he didn't come back. Fresh from his adventures in the tunnels under Los Angeles, Tom Derringer is hired to find the missing man. With his assistant Betsy Vanderhart he sets out into the wilderness, where he finds more than he bargained for...

Above His Proper Station is the second novel in a fantasy series set in a world of sorcerous aristocrats. Based on the tales of Rafael Sabatini's Scaramouche, by Lawrence Watt-Evans. Anrel Murau, also known as the notorious revolutionary Alvos the Orator, is a wanted man. Returning to the Lume, capital of the Walasian Empire, to hide, Anrel seeks refuge in The Pensioners' Quarter, a poverty-stricken den of thieves, murderers, and con men. Barely scraping out an existence, Anrel never forgets the justice he seeks or the woman he lost. When Anrel's new home is destroyed by the city guards in an unheard of show of deadly force, he has no other choice but to reveal his alter-ego to an old acquaintance, Lord Blackfield, and hope the nobleman's connections with the delegates of the Grand Council can bring the perpetrators to justice. But the persona of Alvos the Orator, hero of the people, has taken on a life of its own and many factions within the Grand Council seek a way to harness his loyal followers' political might for their own ends. Now, Anrel must navigate a spider's web of intrigue if he hopes to at last clear his name and achieve final retribution against his enemies once and for all.

Despite several years of study, Kilisha, an aspiring young apprentice wizard, has much to learn. After gathering ingredients for a lesson, she returns home to find her master, Ithanalin the Wise, transformed into a statue. A tax collector interrupted Ithanalin while working on a spell, a magic mirror tells her, with the result that the wizard's soul has been distributed among the various household objects. "The dish had run away with the spoon" is literally the case here, as all the furnishings have become animated and escaped out the door. In her efforts to track down the runaway objects and restore her petrified master to his former self, a quest that will eventually take her to the Overlord of Ethshar's fortress, Kilisha first tries to involve the Wizards' Guild, but ultimately must rely on the few spells she knows and her master's spell book-as well as her own imagination, initiative and ingenuity.

Lawrence Watt-Evans, author of the acclaimed Legends of Ethshar and Worlds of Shadows novels, invites readers to embark on a rollicking journey in "A Young Man Without Magic." Anrel Murneau is a scholar, a young man with no magical ability, even though he is the son of two powerful sorcerers. Anrel's lack of talent bars him from the ruling classes, but he is content to be a simple clerk. Upon returning to his childhood home after years of study in the capital, Anrel finds his friends and family held under the thumb of the corrupt local lord. When this lord murders Anrel's dear friend, Anrel discovers that even though he's not a sorcerer, he is not without other means to demand justice. If he can survive life on the run. Carrying only his sword, a few coins, and his wit, Anrel must leave behind everything he has ever known, trust himself to unexpected allies, and outmaneuver leagues of enemies who will stop at nothing to keep his dangerous ideas from ever being heard. Magic and intrigue collide in a swashbuckling tale of daring escapes, beautiful witches, and one quiet young man's rise to hero or traitor."

The great wizard Nabal's death offers many opportunities, both for those who knew him and those who did not. For young conmen Ezak and Kel, it means a chance to loot the wizard's estate... if they can win the confidence of Nabal's widow, Dorna. But Dorna has plans of her own. She means to leave the tiny village for a better life in the city. And all of Nabal's wizardly artifacts and talismans will pay for that new life — if she can only get them there intact!

Twelve thousand years in the future, on a planet far, far away, a country boy named Tulzik Ambroz tracks the man who killed his sister Vika, following him across the poisonous crater that is all that remains of the planet's starport, into the great city of Ragbaan. Ragbaan - site of the planet's original settlement, heart of a civilization that has repeatedly risen to astonishing heights of power and technological prowess, only to fall, every time, back into barbarism. How can Tulzik find his quarry in an anarchic city of three million souls, where the technology of the ancients is considered magic? With interior illustrations by Bradley W. Schenck.

The gods had chosen the Domdur to rule the world, and had chosen Malledd to be their champion among the Domdur. They had not asked Malledd whether he wanted the job. Now a wizard has raised an army of the undead to overthrow the Domdur Empire, and the world awaits the divine champion who is to save them -- but will Malledd come? And if he does, can he be the savior the Domdur expect, or has the gods' favor turned elsewhere?