Epic Magic

On a peace mission, desperately trying to hammer out a settlement that will keep the radicals and reactionaries from starting yet another civil war, Emily is attacked by Marah, a young woman rescued by her enigmatic master and turned into a living weapon to start the chaos. Seeing something of herself in the girl, Emily takes her as an apprentice both to give her a better chance at life and to use her to track down her master, who appears to have plans of his own...

Sam's adventures continue! Join Sam as she explores the Beastlands in a quest to find a way off planet Hallista. Nothing ever comes easy for the enigmatic Arcane Pathfinder, though. Things get complicated quickly when Nara's world quest leads her back to Sam, and they discover the true intentions of the church. Sam and her eclectic group are pushed to their limits when faced with encounters outside their control, like meddling goddesses, a crashed spaceship dungeon, deadly trees, a dungeon break, an attack on an elven mega city, and brutal battles against increasingly powerful foes. But ...

An eighth son of an eighth son is born, a wizard squared, a source of magic. A sourcerer. Unseen University, the Discworld's most magical establishment, has finally got its wish: the emergence of a wizard more powerful than ever before. You'd think they would have been a little more careful what they wished for.... As the sourcerer takes over the University and sets his sights on the rest of the world, only one wizard manages to escape his influence. Unfortunately for everyone, it's Rincewind.

The Planeswalkers have defeated Nicol Bolas and saved the Multiverse - though at grave cost. The living have been left to pick up the pieces and mourn the dead. But one loss is almost too great to bear: Gideon Jura, champion of justice and shield of the Gatewatch, is gone. As his former comrades Jace and Chandra struggle to rebuild from this tragedy, their future, like the future of the Gatewatch, remains uncertain.

Winter has stopped the war—almost—yet men are dying, calling out for the Dragon. But where is he? Rand al’Thor has been proclaimed the Dragon Reborn. Traveling to the great fortress known as the Stone of Tear, he plans to find the sword Callandor, which can only be wielded by the Champion of Light, and discover if he truly is destined to battle The Dark One. Following Rand, Moiraine and their friends battle Darkhounds on the hunt, hoping they reach the Heart of the Stone in time for the next great test awaiting the Dragon Reborn.

In a forest wilderness, a dungeon reappears after surviving a nation ending war. The magical shock has devastated both the dungeon and its occupants, in more ways than one. Doc find himself alone in this new place, surrounded with unknown dangers. Claire, Doc's partner and guide, finds herself at facing the nightmares she wrought using Doc, having freed herself from her mother's control. The pressure mounts on both as the damage is made clear. Even then, the wilderness surrounding them is filled with all manner of danger and traps, everything ruled by the law of the strong.

This is the way the world ends...for the last time. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the Earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her - the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu. When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi - masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making - she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life.

Mokoya and Akeha, the twin children of the Protector, were sold to the Grand Monastery as infants. While Mokoya developed her strange prophetic gift, Akeha was always the one who could see the strings that moved adults to action. While Mokoya received visions of what would be, Akeha realized what could be. What's more, they saw the sickness at the heart of their mother's Protectorate.

Isaac Vainio is a Libriomancer, a member of the secret organization founded five centuries ago by Johannes Gutenberg. Libriomancers are gifted with the ability to magically reach into books and draw forth objects. When Isaac is attacked by vampires that leaked from the pages of books into our world, he barely manages to escape. To his horror he discovers that vampires have been attacking other magic-users as well, and Gutenberg has been kidnapped.

An ordinary Russian guy, Sergei, picks a fight in his neighborhood, defending a little boy. Problem is, the guy he's just defeated vanishes into thin air, leaving Sergei to discover he now possesses the ability to turn time around. On top of that, Sergei can now travel between worlds. He acquires even more mysterious new skills and abilities. And he discovers there're many others just like him in our world. Sergei finds his own place in the secret community of the Seekers - creatures with superpowers.

Teyo Verada wants nothing more than to be a shieldmage, wielding arcane energies to protect his people from his world’s vicious diamondstorms. When he’s buried alive in the aftermath of his first real tempest, the young mage’s life is about to end before it can truly begin - until it doesn’t. In a flash, a power he didn’t know he had whisks him away from his home, to a world of stone, glass, and wonder: Ravnica.

Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes (but is not limited to) lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path. But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.

Even before our heroes discovered a portal to other realms, Jak Freedar wanted to seek out powerful allies to help overthrow the tyrannical wizard rulers of his home world. Instead, he chanced across a dragon egg and is now the surrogate father of a hatchling. Since he found the egg, taking care of the young dragon is his responsibility. Even as King Uthari forces the team to prepare for another mission, Jak must do his best not only to care for the hatchling, but to keep it safe from those who want to use it for their own gain.

Sviska is a man of the shadows, an assassin without any one place to call his own. But in the Far North, he discovers a secret. Magic, long thought lost to the world, is alive. The genocide to destroy every elf, wizard, and sacred being of old is not yet complete. Sviska's masters work the strings of the world and he has been sent for a task he does not even fully understand yet. When at last he feels he has what he has always wanted, darkness falls upon the world.

After stumbling upon a portal.... ... a universe of magic and science exploration becomes possible, and life is never the same again. Bored in science class for the hundredth time, Noah stares out the window until a strange noise catches his attention—one that no one else seems to hear. Following the sound, he sneaks out, only to find a gateway to another dimension right before his eyes... and then it all gets a little crazy... But just when Noah fears he’s destined to be trapped in a parallel universe all alone, he discovers a world brimming with new friends, wondrous discoveries, and ...

When Levy finds himself transported to an unknown place, discoveries of the past will soon shape the future—but it may not be the future that Levy was planning for. As Levy's connection to the system grows stronger, he learns that he has some sway over the limitations holding him and his fellow sorcerers back from their potential. But as Levy goes down this path, he will learn certain things about the Ancient controlling his homeland that will change the course of everyone's life.

Hot on the heels of Gardner Dozois's acclaimed anthology The Book of Swords comes this companion volume devoted to magic. How could it be otherwise? For every Frodo, there is a Gandalf... and a Saruman. For every Dorothy, a Glinda... and a Wicked Witch of the West. What would Harry Potter be without Albus Dumbledore... and Severus Snape? Figures of wisdom and power, possessing arcane, often forbidden knowledge, wizards and sorcerers are shaped - or misshaped - by the potent magic they seek to wield.

FitzChivalry - royal bastard and former king’s assassin - has left his life of intrigue behind. As far as the rest of the world knows, FitzChivalry Farseer is dead and buried. Masquerading as Tom Badgerlock, Fitz is now married to his childhood sweetheart, Molly, and leading the quiet life of a country squire. Though Fitz is haunted by the disappearance of the Fool, who did so much to shape Fitz into the man he has become, such private hurts are put aside in the business of daily life, at least until the appearance of menacing, pale-skinned strangers casts a sinister shadow over Fitz’s past...and his future.

The adventuring industry drives the economy of Arth, a world much like our own but with more magic and fewer vowels. Monsters' hoards are claimed, bought by corporate interests, and sold off to plunder funds long before the Heroes' Guild actually kills the beasts. Of course, that's a terrible arrangement for the Shadowkin; orcs, goblins, kobolds, and their ilk must apply for to become Noncombatant Paper Carriers (or NPCs) to avoid being killed and looted by heroes.