Thirty-one tales from the back-of-the-woods American heartland filled with gentle humor, poignant encounters, funny fantasy, riveting adventures, and loads of sheer fun.
A delightful memoir of the fantasy, science fiction, mystery, western, and young adult writer, Ardath Mayhar, whose seventy books and hundreds of short stories have charmed readers throughout the world.
When their parents are killed, Nick and Nita find themselves destitute. Only an uncle they've never known offers them a refuge on his East Texas farm. The culture shock is intense for Nita, but Nick takes to farming, learning how to plow with a mule, bale hale, milk cows, and tend gardens. "Mayhar's roots in East Texas are never more evident than in this lovely tale of teenagers forced to re-evaluate their lives. Poignant and moving."--Robert Reginald.
As the Civil War lurches to a close, the Lintons of East Texas are waiting anxiously for their menfolk to return. But the stranger Finis Krim is attempting to extort land from the local women by claiming fraudulent commitments from their absent husbands. Krim's agent, Joshua Birdsong, is sent to the Linton home to search for relevant documents to wrest their farm away. Then Fate, in the person of five-year-old Julia, intervenes. "A wonderful story "--Robert Reginald.
Uhtatse becomes the "One Who Smells the Wind" for his Anasazi clan, and sends his mind searching outward for enemy tribes in the Great Plains. When he finally senses peril, he fails to convince his Elders to seek shelter. The attack, when it comes, decimates the Anasazi, forcing them finally to build their cliffside cave dwellings at Mesa Verde. "Ardath Mayhar is superb at creating an alien world from another time and place"--Robert Reginald.
Two-Moons-in-the-Sky, an Iroquoian warrior woman and Dreamer, is transported into the strange world of medieval Britain by a dark sorcerer, Lallius, who lives in a black tower. Lallius wants to enslave his captive, whom he regards as primitive, but little does he realize that Two-Moons has magic of her own! "A highly original fantasy with a strong and capable female protagonist"--Robert Reginald
A plague is devasting mankind. Deep within the Amazon jungle, scientists have altered the genetic makeup of macaque monkeys, making them self-aware and giving them the power of speech. Only by working together can the two races--man and monkey--find some common road to a future earth.
At a time when volcanoes were being born in what is now New Mexico, clans of hunter-gatherers were already living in the Great Plains. Primordial beasts roamed the land: creatures like the giant sloth, the flat-faced bear, the woolly mammoth, and the dire wolf hunted there, often coming into conflict with their two-legged prey. When Do-na-ti reaches adulthood, he slays the badger for his ceremonial cloak. By wedding E-lo-ni, he unites their clans. Together they must face battle with dire wolves, a stampede of mammoths that destroys their lodge, and the birth of a new volcano, fulfilling an old woman's prophecy and Do-na-ti's conviction that his son must become brother to the mountain. "Mayhar has a way of drawing the reader seamlessly into her historical narratives. You can smell the breath of the dire wolf as it closes in for the kill!" -- Robert Reginald
When the Tyrant seizes power in the city of Lirith, capital of Kyrannon, his ambition for conquest and his need for the great horses of Fallowden create a vortex of conflict and powers. Into this the Raithes of Fallowden -- Tisha the Wise and her daughter Cara, Lengalyon the hermit of the heights, and even the infant Ashraf, son of Shanah ni Raithe do Raithe -- are drawn. Five Raithes survive the battle with the Tyrant's troopers. Each flees in a different direction and performs a different vital task. These combine to weave a complex pattern aimed at bringing down the Tyrant and freeing the people of Kyrannon. In the end, even Those Who Wait, the spirits of the Raithes who have died in defending their home, play their part in this intricate web. "Mayhar's first published book shows all the hallmarks of her later work: believable characters, the grand themes of life and death, and the backdrop of a strange new world that actually seems to live and breathe before our eyes. A great read " -- Robert Reginald. Watch for the other books in this series: Lords of the Triple Moons, The Seekers of Shar-Nuhn, and Warlock's Gift.
The hereditary rulers of Sherath have psychic powers that can bring great good or evil to their people. When the Makra Theora murders her father and seizes his throne, her sister, the Makra Choria, raises an army, captures her sibling, and removes the "Gift" from both of them. Then Choria tries to undo the damage that her sister has done to Sherath and the surrounding states--and to fix Theora herself, if that's possible. "A fantasy world of great beauty, beautifully realized by a master writer"--Robert Reginald.