Michelle Sagara
Seven years ago Kaylin fled the crime-riddled streets of Nightshade, knowing that something was after her. Children were being murdered—and every victim had the same odd markings that had mysteriously appeared on her own skin. . . .
Since then, Kaylin...
When Corporal Kaylin Neya is assigned front desk duty—a task hated by every Hawk—the only thing she can look forward to besides an endless stream of complaints is visits from a dotty old woman. She always brings baked goods along with information passed on by her friends...who happen to be ghosts no one else can see. But then the old woman's invisible friends have news about Severn Handred: his...
Kaylin wasn't sent to the West March to start a war. Her mission to bring back nine Barrani might do just that, though. She traveled with a Dragon, and her presence is perceived as an act of aggression in the extremely hostile world of Barrani-Dragon politics. Internal Barrani politics are no less deadly, and Kaylin has managed—barely—to help the rescued Barrani evade both death and captivity at the...
A Dragon and ten Barrani wouldn't be anyone's ideal roommates if a person wants peace and tranquility at home. The residue of three Draco-Barrani wars can make things pretty awkward—on a good day. Kaylin Neya has run out of good days.
In the upheaval surrounding the Academia, the Tower in the fief of Candallar is now without its lord. The Towers were created to protect...
Private Kaylin Neya thought her home couldn't possibly get more crowded. But when one of her housemates, Annarion, decides to undertake the Barrani Test of Name, his friends refuse to let him face his task alone—and Kaylin's sentient home, Helen, is the only structure capable of shielding the rest of Elantra from the magnitude of their power.
Annarion and Mandoran almost caused...
The fiefs that exist at the heart of the city of Elantra are home to sentient Towers that guard the world against the incursion of Shadow. But between the fiefs exists the gray world of the border zone. In it, geography changes between one passage across a border and the next. The rules of magic are different there—and yet somehow familiar to Kaylin Neya.
When a Shadow escapes, Kaylin must find out...
AT THE EMPEROR'S COMMAND
Multiple races carefully navigate the City of Elantra under the Dragon Emperor's wing. His Imperial Wolves are executioners, the smallest group to serve in the Halls of Law. The populace calls them assassins.
Every wolf candidate must consent to a full examination by the Tha'alani, one of the most feared...
The Academia, once an elite proving ground for the rulers of the world, has been frozen for centuries. Now its strange slumber has ended, and a new Chancellor, an orange-eyed dragon, has reopened its lecture halls and readied its dorms. In order to thrive once more, however, the Academia needs fresh blood—new students with a passion and talent for learning.
...
A Chronicles of Elantra series novella. Previously published in the anthology Harvest Moon.
10) Cast in Peril
So now might be the perfect time to leave Elantra and journey to the West...
11) Cast in Sorrow
The Barrani would be happy to see her die. So Kaylin Neya is a bit surprised by her safe arrival in the West March. Especially when enemies new and old surround her and those she would call friends are equally dangerous...
And then the real trouble starts. Kaylin's assignment is to be a "harmoniste"—one who helps tell the truth behind a Barrani Recitation. But in a land where words...
12) Cast in Ruin
Seven corpses are discovered in the streets of a Dragon's fief. All identical, down to their clothing.
Kaylin Neya is assigned to discover who they were, who killed them—and why. Is the evil lurking at the borders of Elantra preparing to cross over?
At least the investigation delays her meeting with the Dragon Emperor. And as the shadows grow longer over the fiefs, Kaylin must use every skill she's ever learned...
13) Cast in Chaos
Kaylin Neya is a Hawk, part of the elite force tasked with keeping the City of Elantra safe. Her past is dark, her magic uncontrolled and her allies unpredictable. And nothing has prepared her for what is coming, when the charlatans on Elani Street suddenly grow powerful, the Oracles are thrown into an uproar and the skies rain blood....
The powerful of Elantra believe that the mysterious markings on Kaylin's skin hold...
14) Ghostwood
Originally published in Enchanted Forests, ed. Katharine Kerr and Martin H. Greenberg. A short story of 9k words
A young man is visiting his sister at her cottage—in the middle of a bitterly cold winter. Who does that? He doesn't particularly like cottages, he's not fond of nature when it's not contained in planters, and he's not a fan of the cold.
But he's here, in a winter forest, with his sister ... and shambling corpses that
...15) The Hidden Grove
A short story of 5k words, originally published in Witch Fantastic, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg.
A young office worker overlooks a standing grove of weeping willows. There, her co-workers eat lunch in the shade. She's tried this; all she can hear while she's there is the weeping of children she can't see, can't touch, can't reach. No one else can hear them. There's nothing she can do, because there are no children.
But
...16) Gifted
19) Hunger
A short story of 6.5k words, originally published in Alternate Outlaws, edited by Mike Resnick and Martin H. Greenberg.
When the heart of her writing and her work is denigrated, a tired, exhausted writer is drawn into a game that feels like freedom by a man who says civilization is based not on civility, but fear. The fearless can do anything.
Anything at all.