Lucius Shepard is a grand master of dark fantasy, famed for his baroque yet utterly contemporary visions of existential subversion and hallucinatory collapse. In Dagger Key, his fifth major story collection, Shepard confronts hard-bitten loners and self-deceiving operators with the shadowy emptiness within themselves and the insinuating darkness without, to ends sardonic and terrifying. The stories in this book, including six novellas, are: "Stars Seen Through Stone" - in a small Pennsylvania town, mediocrity suddenly blossoms into genius; but at what terrible cost? "Emerald Street Expansions" - in near-future Seattle, echoes of the life of a medieval French poet hint at either reincarnation or a dire conspiracy. "Limbo" - a retired criminal on the run from the Mafia encounters ghosts, and much worse, on the shores of a haunted lake. "Liar's House" - in the grip of the legendary dragon Griaule, destiny is a treacherous and transformative thing. "Dead Monty" - a small-time New Orleans criminal ventures outside his proper territory, and poker and voudoun conspire to bring him down. "Dinner at Baldassaro's" - a gang of immortals debates the future in an Italian resort, only for events to outrun any of their expectations. "Abimagique" - a glib college loser falls in love with a witch, becoming an involuntary part of a world-saving - or world-destroying - magical ritual. "The Lepidopertrist" - a small boy on a Caribbean island witnesses the creation of preternatural beings by a Yankee wizard... "Dagger Key" - off the coast of Belize, the ghost of a famous pirate seems to control a spiral of murder and intrigue; or is someone else responsible?

In the new millennium, what secrets lay beyond the far reaches of the universe? What mysteries belie the truths we once held to be self evident? The world of science fiction has long been a porthole into the realities of tomorrow, blurring the line between life and art. Now, in The Year's Best Science Fiction Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection the very best SF authors explore ideas of a new world. This venerable collection of short stories brings together award winning authors and masters of the field such as Robert Reed, Ian McDonald, Stephen Baxter, Michael Swanwick, Paolo Bacigalupi, Kage Baker, Walter Jon Williams, Alastair Reynolds, and Charles Stross. And with an extensive recommended reading guide and a summation of the year in science fiction, this annual compilation has become the definitive must read anthology for all science fiction fans and readers interested in breaking into the genre. "This venerable annual’s twenty-fifth edition represents a milestone for editor Dozois. He has kept faith with the series for a quarter-century without ever shortchanging, or even showing any signs of shortchanging, readers on either quality or abundance of selections."--Booklist

Lucius Shepard's short fiction ranges far and wide over the field of SF and fantasy, and is crammed with show-stopper ideas and an intense originality. The Ends of the Earth is a testimonial to a genius of the genre, and a major American writer. Winner of the 1992 World Fantasy Award for Best Collection. Contents: The Ends of the Earth (1989) Delta Sly Honey (1987) Bound for Glory (1989) The Exercise of Faith (1987) Nomans Land (1988) Life of Buddha (1988) Shades (1987) Aymara (1986) A Wooden Tiger (1988) The Black Clay Boy (1987) Fire Zone Emerald (1985) On the Border (1987) The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daughter (1988) Surrender (1989)

Widely regarded as the benchmark anthology for every science fiction fan, The Mammoth Book of Best New SF 21 continues to uphold its standard of excellence with over two dozen stories from the previous year. This year's volume includes many bright young talents of science fiction, as well as a host of established masters. It covers every aspect of the genre - soft, hard, cyberpunk, cyber noir, anthropological, military and adventure. Also included is a thorough summation of the year and a recommended reading list. PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS EDITIONS 'It's not often you get a book that's exactly what it says on the spine like this one is. Big, Crammed with the Best. Exactly so. SFX magazine 'Quantity as well as quality... every piece is a treasure' The Times 'These 30 stories cover a tremendous amount of ground...the stories themselves are the stars.' 4-star rating! SFX Magazine

Lucius Shepard's acclaimed Dragon Griaule stories are presented here for the first time in a single volume. This Fantasy Masterworks edition contains: 'The Man Who Painted the Dragon Griaule' 'The Scalehunter's Beautiful Daughter' 'The Father of Stones' 'Liar's House' 'The Taborin Scale' 'The Skull' This is the definitive tail of the Dragon Griaule: a beast so immense its body forms part of the landscape ...

Lucius Shepard's work ranges across the fields of fantasy, science fiction and magic realism, garnering comparisons with Joseph Conrad, Graham Greene and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Best-known for the story suite The Dragon Griaule - available as a Gollancz Fantasy Masterwork - he has won or been nominated for every major SFF award. This omnibus collects his ARTHUR C. CLARKE AWARD-shortlisted novel GREEN EYES, WORLD FANTASY AWARD-winning collection THE JAGUAR HUNTER and SHIRLEY JACKSON AWARD-winning novella VACANCY.

Nantucket Slayrides contains the two short novels "How the Wind Spoke at Madaket" and "Nomans Land" by Shepard and Robert Frazier's "The Summer People".

The stories gathered here conduct the reader from the wastelands of the near future to the zoned-out bacchanals of Hollywood, from the fevered bordellos of Central America to the hallucinated revels of redneck country, from the broken hears of wandering loners to alluring fantasy realms just beyond the threshold of perception. And when the journey is over, eternal contrasts - of man and woman, bosses and workers, responsibility and escape, conformity and freedom - stand in more powerful definition than ever before...

Dragons: Fearsome fire-breathing foes, scaled adversaries, legendary lizards, ancient hoarders of priceless treasures, serpentine sages with the ages' wisdom, and winged weapons of war... Wings of Fire brings you all these dragons, and more, seen clearly through the eyes of many of today's most popular authors, including Peter Beagle, Holly Black, Orson Scott Card, Charles De Lint, Diana Wynne Jones, Mercedes Lackey, Ursula K Le Guin, Dean R Koontz, George R. R. Martin, Anne McCaffrey, Elizabeth Moon, Garth Nix, and many others.

Fourteen stories - including "Radiant Green Star", winner of the 2001 Locus Award for Best Novella - make up this classic collection. Leading off the book is the Nebula Award-winning title story, in which a poor Honduran hunter is coerced into tracking the forbidden "Black Jaguar of Barrio Carolina." Futuristic war, menacing wind spirits, parallel worlds, a six-thousand-foot dragon: this collection proves that Shepard is neither genre fantasist not strict realist, but one of the most intriguing writers we have today.