S.C. BUTLER is a writer living in New Hampshire with his wife and son. He is the author of the Stoneways trilogy: Reiffen's Choice, Queen Ferris, and The Magicians' Daughter, published by Tor Books; and a contributor of short stories to several anthologies and magazines. He made his editorial debut with the anthology Submerged.

JOSHUA PALMATIER is a fantasy author with a PhD in mathematics. He currently teaches at SUNY Oneonta in upstate New York, while writing in his "spare" time, editing anthologies, and running the anthology-producing small press Zombies Need Brains LLC. His most recent fantasy novel, Reaping the Aurora, concludes the fantasy series begun in Shattering the Ley and Threading the Needle, although you can also find his "Throne of Amenkor" series and the "Well of Sorrows" series still on the shelves. He is currently hard at work writing his next novel and designing the kickstarter for the next Zombies Need Brains anthology project. You can find out more at www.joshuapalmatier.com or at the small press' site www.zombiesneedbrains.com. Or follow him on Twitter as @bentateauthor or @ZNBLLC.

Guilds & Glaives by S.C. Butler and Joshua Palmatier

Stop right there!If you like your fantasy filled with fellowships and noble quests, this anthology is not for you. And if you love lengthy tales of politics and power, then it won't be to your taste either. But if you like a little intimacy with your evil, and your vengeance short and sweet, with perhaps a pinch of silliness in the witchcraft, then these fourteen delicious sweetmeats of sword and sorcery will prove right up your alley. And it will be a dank, twisting, fetid alley, too.

 
 

BOOK PREVIEW

Excerpt

Introduction:

Stop right there! If you like your fantasy filled with wizards, elves, and noble quests, this anthology isn't for you. And if you love lengthy tales of politics and power, murder and magic, then it won't be to your taste either. But if you like a little intimacy with your evil, and your vengeance short and sweet, with perhaps a pinch of silliness in the witchcraft, then these fourteen delicious sweetmeats of sword and sorcery will prove right up your alley. And it will be a dank, twisting, fetid alley too.

Jump from body to body with a soul runner, hungry for true freedom. Swap masks with a maskmaker as he desperately tries to hide from his fate. Laugh with an unmage while she unsuccessfully tries to persuade first her Inquisitor—and then her Insurance Adjustor—that she isn't what they think she is at all. Duel with the Gray Maid, creep out with the Tirribin and the Belvora, dive headfirst into the Asp's Nest, even pull King Finehair's immaculate man-mane. In this book you will find no elves, no politics (unless assassination is involved), and certainly no nobility. What you will discover will be all the finest points of … GUILDS AND GLAIVES.