Search Worlds Without End

Liz Williams possesses the mind of a scientist and the soul of a pagan; her words paint the world in eldritch shades, revealing the familiar in subtly altered forms that make us question our own understanding. In 2010, NewCon Press released Liz's last short story collection, the critically acclaimed 'A Glass of Shadow', and we are now proud to release her next, 'The Light Warden', as part of the Imaginings series.

What the critics said of 'A Glass of Shadow':

"Williams' prose is filled with an understated elegance... This is speculative fiction at its finest: challenging, rich, and, like a good red wine, rewardingly complex." - Strange Horizons

"Williams' rich, colourful stories uniquely combine the usually disparate and mutually incompatible genres of science fiction and fantasy: she writes with equal facility about geographically far-flung settings, ages past, and distant futures." - The Guardian

"From the moment you open this collection, you leave the Known behind and enter the brighter, darker, more actual possibility that lies just through that door, over that hill..." - Tanith Lee

"Williams has mastered the art of writing clearly and believably about weird, alien worlds." - The Times

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (The Light Warden) - essay by Kari Sperring
• The Dragon of Direfell Hall - short fiction (variant of The Dragon of Direfell 2009)
• Tiger, Tiger - (2006) - short story
• Spiderhorse - (2008) - short fiction
• Stormbird - short fiction
• Cad Coddeu - (2012) - short fiction
• The Hide - (2007) - short story
• The Light Warden - short fiction
• Milk - (2010) - short fiction
• Seamoth - short fiction
• The Drove - short fiction
• Skinnrig - short fiction
• Lily Juice - short fiction
• Enigma - (2009) - short story
• The Winter King - short fiction
• Isambard's Kingdom - (2009) - short fiction

Sal's life has been thrown into turmoil and he is on the run, from more than one pursuer, it appears. He is accompanied by his new-found friend Shilly and he's not entirely sure where he wants to go-but Shilly is. She wants to find her teacher Lodo's old teacher, the Mage Van Haasteren, which means they must head north to the Interior, where Sal's mother was born.

The journey is over rugged, mountainous country on the Old Line and it's dangerous. The Sky Warden Shom Behenna is after them and they must risk all top reach the Divide and get across to the other side, not even knowing if the Stone Mages will help them.

For fans who have always wanted their Twin Peaks to have some wizards, THE WARDEN is a non-stop action adventure story from author Daniel M. Ford.

There was a plan.

She had the money, the connections, even the brains. It was simple: become one of the only female necromancers, pass as many certifications as she could, get a post near the capital, then... profit. The funny thing about plans is that they are seldom under your control.

Now Aelis, a daughter of a noble house and a trained Magister of the Lyceum, finds herself in the far-removed village of Lone Pine. Mending fences and delivering baby goats, serving people who want nothing to do with her. But, not all is well in Lone Pine, and as the villagers Aelis is reluctantly getting to know start to behave strangely, Aelis begins to suspect that there is far greater need for a warden of her talents than she previously thought.

Old magics are restless, and an insignificant village on the furthest border of the kingdom might hold secrets far beyond what anyone expected. Aelis might be the only person standing between one of the greatest evils ever known and the rest of the free world.

Aelis de Lenti, Lone Pine's newly assigned Warden, is in deep trouble. She has just opened the crypts of Mahlgren, releasing an army of the undead into the unprotected backwoods of Ystain.

To protect her village, she must unearth a source of immense Necromantic power at the heart of Mahlgren. The journey will wind through waves of undead, untamed wilderness, and curses far older than anything Aelis has ever encountered. But as strong as Aelis is, this is one quest she cannot face alone.

Along with the brilliant mercenary she's fallen for, her half-orc friend, and a dwarven merchant, Aelis must race the clock to unravel mysteries, slay dread creatures, and stop what she has set in motion before the flames of a bloody war are re-ignited.

The Wardens Association has been around pretty much forever. Some Wardens control Fire, others control Earth or Water or Wind--and the most powerful can control more than one. Without wardens, Mother Nature would wipe humanity off the face of the earth...

Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now, Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So, she's resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life...

Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful warden known. Unfortunately, he's also on the run from the Council. It seems he's stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn--making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne's chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in--well, a place she may be headed. So, she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him--because there's some bad weather closing in fast...

Accused of murder, Weather Warden Joanne Bladwin was chased across the country - and killed - by a team charged with hunting down rogue Wardens. Five days later, Joanne had a lovely funeral and was posthumously cleared of all charges. Her human life was over, but she had been reborn into Djinnhood. Now, until she masters her enhanced powers, Joanne must avoid being 'claimed' by a human. But when a hazard that only a Djinn could sense infiltrates Earth's atmosphere, Joanne must somehow convince someone to do something about it - or the forecast will be deadly. So who said being all - powerful was going to be easy?

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin has protected the human race from monster storms, been killed, reborn as a Djinn, and then restored to her original form. Now she's throwing the dice to stop an infinitely powerful, deeply disturbed teenager-who is holed up in a Vegas hotel-from bringing on a new ice age.

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin's stormy personal life is taking its toll on her patience-and her powers. But when the truce between the Wardens and the mystical Djinn starts to self-destruct, Joanne finds herself forced to choose between saving her Djinn lover, saving her Warden abilities-and saving humanity.

The genie is out of the bottle. Rogue Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is racing to New York to warn her former colleagues of the impending apocalypse. An ancient agreement between the Djinn and the Wardens has been broken, and the furious Djinn, slaves to the Wardens for millennia, are now free of mortal control. With more than half the Wardens unaccounted for in the wake of the Djinn uprising, Joanne realizes that the natural disasters they've combated for so long were merely symptoms of restless Mother Nature fidgeting in her sleep. Now she's waking up - and she's angry...

After preventing Mother Earth from destroying the planet, Joanne Baldwin lost her memories thanks to Ashan the djinn-and they will remain lost forever unless Joanne can recover her identity-and destroy the demon who is impersonating her, fabulous shoes and all...

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is on vacation when her Djinn lover, David, asks Joanne to marry him. She's thrilled to say yes, even if some others may be less than happy about it.

Unfortunately, Joanne's pre-marital bliss is ended by a devastating earthquake in Florida. And she can't ask David and his kind for assistance. Because the cause of the quake is unlike anything Joanne has ever encountered and a power even the Djinn cannot perceive.

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin and her new husband, the Djinn David, are running from a malevolent hurricane bent on destroying her. Joined by an army of fellow Wardens and Djinn onboard a hijacked luxury liner, Joanne has lured the storm into furious pursuit. But even their combined magic may not be enough to stop it-nor the power-mad ex-Weather Warden controlling it...

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin, her husband, the djinn David, and the Earth herself have been poisoned by a substance that destroys the magic that keeps the world alive. The poison is destabilizing the entire balance of power, bestowing magic upon those who have never had it, and removing it form those who need it. It's just a matter of time before the delicate balance of nature explodes into chaos-and doom.