From the editor of the award-winning anthology Unfettered comes the newest installment in the science fiction and fantasy series, Unfettered III.Lacking health insurance when he was diagnosed with cancer, Shawn Speakman asked friends in the science fiction and fantasy writing community to donate short stories he could use to counter mounting medical debt. The result was Unfettered, an anthology offering tales from some of the best authors...

Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our May 2021 issue (#176) contains:Original fiction by David D. Levine ("Best-Laid Plans"), Amal Singh ("A Home for Mrs. Biswas"), Bo Balder ("The Force Exerted on the Mass of a Body"), Robert V.S. Redick ("Vanishing Point"), Sameem Siddiqui ("Dancing With Ereshkigal"), Tang Fei ("Spore"), and Kai Hudson ("A Star ...

Kandri Hinjuman was never meant to be a soldier. His brother Mektu was never meant for this world. Rivals since childhood, they are drafted into a horrific war led by a madwoman-Prophet, and survive each day only by hiding their disbelief. Kandri is good at blending in, but Mektu is hopeless: impulsive, erratic—and certain that a demon is stalking him. Is this madness or a second sense? Either way, Kandri knows that Mektu's antics will land them both in early graves.But all bets ar...

The worst of rivals, closest of friends, the two most wanted men in a war-torn world: Kandri and Mektu Hinjuman have cheated death so often it's begun to feel like a way of life. But nothing has prepared them for the danger and enchantment of the Ravenous Lands. This sprawling, lethal desert is the brothers' last hope, for they have killed the favorite son of Her Radiance the Prophet, and her death-priests and magical servants are hunting them.There are dangers even within their ca...

Life can kick us when we are down.In Shawn Speakman’s case, he is fighting back.Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Speakman beat the disease as well as the massive medical debt he amassed from its treatment. He did this by publishing Unfettered, an anthology featuring short stories donated by some of the best science fiction and fantasy writers working today.The fight will not stop there. In an effort to pay forward the ...

Not bound, as a book. Free.Like Unfettered before it, the contributing writers of Unbound were allowed to submit the tales they wished fans of genre to read—without the constraints of a shackling theme.The result is magical. Twenty-three all-original stories are sure to captivate you—some will move you to tears while others will keep you turning the pages long into the night. The power of Unbound lies in its variety of tales and the voices behind them. If you are a fan of d...

What if an innocent boy discovered an ancient book and it possessed dark magic? Would that boy be able to control it? Or would the book subjugate his inherent goodness?And what if that book was UNFETTERED?THE UNLOCKED TOME is a short story—only 2800 words—that features the origin story of Lachlan Wood, a boy from a broken home who will figure prominently in a future Annwn Cycle novel. The short story will open the Signed & Numbered edition of UNFETTERED, an anthology featur...

A magical collection of seventeen original stories by an amazing list of contributors—including a Dune story by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson!Like Unbound and before it, Unbound II boasts a collection of SF&F writers allowed to submit the tales they've been wanting to write for a long time—without the constraints of theme. The result? A new anthology as powerful as the first. The stories gathered here are only bound by how enchanting and ent...

Featuring short stories from Jim Butcher, Seanan McGuire, Kevin J. Anderson, and Rob Thurman, this dark and gritty “must-read anthology for UF fans”(RT Book Reviews) proves that nothing is as simple as black and white, light and dark, good and evil...In #1 New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s Cold Case, Molly Carpenter—Harry Dresden’s apprentice-turned-Winter Lady—must collect a tribute from a remote Fae colony and discovers th...

Upon finishing his debut novel, The Dark Thorn, author Shawn Speakman knew he would return to its world of Annwn. He does that here in The Twilight Dragon & Other Tales of Annwn. Four short stories anchor this collection of magic and darkness, conflict and shadows:Where an ancient dragon seeking a cure for his dying race returns to the Misty Isles of his birth--to devastating result.Where an unfettered knight enters Rome's Vatican t...

City of Wolves is a gaslamp fantasy noir from debut author Willow Palecek.Alexander Drake, Investigator for Hire, doesn't like working for the Nobility, and doesn't prefer to take jobs from strange men who accost him in alleyways. A combination of hired muscle and ready silver have a way of changing a man's mind.A lord has been killed, his body found covered in bite marks. Even worse, the late lord's will is missing, and not everyone wants Drake to f...

It’s frustrating when a gadget stops working. But what if the gadget is working fine, it’s just “temporally” out of order? What would you do if you discovered your cell phone linked you to a different time? Or that your camera took pictures of the past?In this collection, seventeen leading science fiction authors share their take on what happens when gadgets run temporally amok. From past to future, humor to horror, there’s something for everyone.Join Seanan McGuire, Elektr...