Best Selling Books by Tanith Lee

Jane, a sixteen-year-old of the future, falls in love with Silver, an experimental robot so man-like that its manufacturer must recall it

The progeny of both god and mortal endures ceaseless war in a frozen hell in the second volume of the Lionwolf scrolls Lionwolf awakes on an unfamiliar shore under a cold blue sun, with no memories save the sensation of being in the deadly womb of the sea. Others join him, and they too cannot remember who they are or where they have been. Though Lionwolf can’t remember his name—and, in fact, calls himself Nameless—he feels like he was once a king. The twenty-three men on the shore are his army, and soon they are called to duty. Eyeless blue hounds and snake-haired figures riding eight-legged horses lead the men toward a towering city where a bestial mouth trumpets a horrible battle cry. It is Shabatu, a Place of War. There, Lionwolf sets eyes on the king’s lover, Chillel—the woman who was once Lionwolf’s wife. Are Lionwolf and his men dead? And is Shabatu perhaps their hell?

A recognized master fantasist, Tanith Lee has won multiple awards for her craft, including the British Fantasy Award, the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement in Horror. In the land of Dorthar, the Storm Lord reigns as king. According to law, the Storm Lord’s youngest son will be the rightful heir. His queen, the cunning and ambitious Val Mara, intends her young son, Amrek, to be that heir. But fate has other ideas. When the Storm Lord abducts a Lowlander priestess, conceives a child with her, and then dies in mysterious circumstances, the unborn baby of that union suddenly becomes the heir to a vast kingdom—a situation that Val Mara is eager to rectify. When his mother also dies, the infant, Raldnor, must be taken far from the Storm Lord’s stronghold to escape the queen’s murderous wrath, forsaking all knowledge of his royal heritage. Raldnor grows up among the people of the Plains, but he is set apart from his friends and neighbors by the mystery of his past. Meanwhile, Amrek has taken the throne as his mother intended. If Raldnor is to reclaim his destiny and defeat the usurper who has taken his place, he will have to survive trials of strength, political sabotage, and threats against his life, regaining his birthright as the true Storm Lord of Dorthar.

The ambiance of fin de siecle France imbues these eight gothic tales in the third volume in Lee’s Secret Books of Paradys tetralogy, tracing the tortured lives once led by those buried in the crypts and cemeteries of the mythical (or forgotten) city of Paradys. “The Weasel Bride†? twists a folktale about a man who marries an enchanted weasel and dies of her bite into an account of a young husband who kills his beloved bride on their wedding night and takes her dreadful secret to the gallows. The artist in “The Glass Dagger,†? who normally saves her emotion for her art, is consumed by jealous rage and turns to supernatural revenge when a jaded aristocrat tries an old stratagem to win her love. In “The Moon Is a Mask†? a drudge who creates a world of beauty in her garret room steals to buy a mask that turns her into a vampire owl. The miasma of corruption and death, combined with vivid and at times elegiac writing will engross readers who fancy this dark shade of fantasy writing.

Now for the first time in e-book, a dark fantasy tale from a master of the genre. Kidnapped from her home at a young age, Shaina has been enslaved for most of her life. Now sixteen, she’s been bought and sold, growing wiser and more resilient with each new trial she must endure. Her current enslavers are an older couple living in a small farming village, a quiet place—until the arrival of a magnificent troupe of traveling players, led by the great Kernik, the Clever Showman and Prince of Conjurers. Kernik and his troupe enchant the village with their grand performance, only to disappear under the cover of night. The next morning, everyone has mysteriously forgotten the troupe—except for Shaina. Helplessly smitten with one of the handsome actors, Dasyel, Shaina seeks the help of the witch Barbayat, who offers to teach her how to separate her soul from her body. Shaina’s soul can search for Dasyel while her body remains. But Kernik is no ordinary showman. He’s truly the dark magician Volkhavaar, drawing his powers of illusion from Takerna, the evil god of night and shadows. He plans to subjugate the great city of Arkev, to force its citizens to worship Takerna and strengthen his powers further. And Dasyel is under his control. In order to save Arkev and free Dasyel from Volkhavaar’s thrall, Shaina must fight Volkhavaar’s illlusions with the strength of her soul, defying his tyranny of hatred with the power of her love.

For the first time in e-book, a collection of tales inspired by the mythos and culture of India. Seven stories for seven nights. Tales of ancient nagas, the shapeshifting race of Serpent-People, and of assassins, who bear the names of demons. Tales of majestic tigers, the bond between hunter and hunted, and of warriors, the spirit of the Kashatriya caste. Tales of love and beauty, of transformation and reincarnation—the experiences over lifetimes that shape a soul. In this collection of short stories, Tanith Lee explores the mythos and culture of India, vividly imagining fantasies inspired by Indian folklore and Hindu theology.

For the first time in e-book format, a retelling of Romeo and Juliet from a master of dark fantasy. In the land of Santa Verensa, the great aristocratic Houses thrive on vendetta. Although their feuds are rooted in politics, generations of grievances have made the conflict dangerously petty and bitterly personal—a society where people live and die by the Name they bear. Romulan Montargo, heir to his family, revels in the feud. Meanwhile, Iuletta Chenti, the only child of Chenti Primo, the family’s patriarch, has spent her life sheltered. The Montargos and the Chentis have hated each other for decades, but when Iuletta first sets eyes on Romulan, she knows they are meant to be together. Determined to win his affection, she casts a charm on him to draw him to her, and the two fall in love. But Iuletta is already betrothed to the Belmorio heir, and her temperamental cousin Leopardo hates the Montargos with a murderous passion. If the young lovers are to be together, they must defy their families and defy their fates, reclaiming their chance at a happy ending. Tanith Lee beautifully reimagines Shakespeare’s classic tragedy of star-crossed lovers and bloody revenge with an added fantasy twist.

Rachaela worked in a bookstore, a conventional young woman, living a conventional life. Then they beckoned, using a variety of ruses to lure her to the house by the sea. Now she is a prisoner, part of a family of creatures she cannot escape, lover to a demon who thirsts for her blood.

The enchanting, magical sequel to The Black Unicorn and The Gold Unicorn! After several years traveling, Tanaquil — a sorceress like her mother with the ability to mend — returns home only to discover that her true love has been betrothed to her sister, Empress Lizra. Broken-hearted and jealous of her sister’s happiness, Tanaquil is lured by a red unicorn into a mirror world where she encounters Tanakil, a diabolical version of herself. She discovers also several new powers. Powers she will need to foil Tanakil’s sinister plot of revenge.

World Fantasy Award winner Tanith Lee channels the allusive Esther Garber to tell these dark, erotic tales of lesbian ardor and obsession. The \"fatal women\" found within these pages lead exotic lives and adventures and have grim secrets. From fin de siècle Paris to Egypt of the 1930s and contemporary England, the Garber novellas create feverish dreams of danger, scandal, and sensuality. This new edition includes the novella \"Femme Fatale,\" never before in print, as well as an essay by Mavis Haut, author of The Hidden Library of Tanith Lee, about the eminence of this collection within Lee''s body of work.

Kiss of the Wolf by Susan Krinard Surgeon Dana Saint-Cyr trusted her instincts, even when they urged her toward an irresistible Louisiana man with a wicked reputation. But would she discredit the whispers of his supernatural powers and murderous intent before falling prey to his passion? Shadow Kissing by Tanith Lee Artist Vivien Gray''s new mysterious lover promised soul-stealing ecstasy that haunted her dreams and set her spine tingling. Now their happiness was at stake—from the ominous evil their very love had unleashed. The Devil She Knew by Evelyn Vaughn When Marcy Bridges discovered a portal to hell in her closet, she needed help from the last person she wanted to call—her gorgeous landlord. Could she trust her life—and her heart—to the care of a dark, dangerous stranger?

In \"Companions on the Road,\" a stolen chalice brings misery to those who covet it, and in \"The Winter Players,\" a priestess decides to pursue the thief of the sacred relic of her people.

Drawing on the mythology of the Green Man and the power of nature, Neil Gaiman, Jane Yolen, and others serve up “a tasty treat for fantasy fans” (Booklist). There are some “genuine gems” in this “enticing collection” of fifteen stories and three poems, all featuring “diverse takes on mythical beings associated with the protection of the natural world,” most involving a teen’s coming-of-age. Delia Sherman “takes readers into New York City’s Central Park, where a teenager wins the favor of the park’s Green Queen.” Michael Cadnum offers a “dynamic retelling of the Daphne story.” Charles de Lint presents an “eerie, heartwarming story in which a teenager resists the lure” of the faerie world. Tanith Lee roots her tale in “the myth of Dionysus, a god of the Wild Wood.” Patricia A. McKillip steeps her story in “the legend of Herne, guardian of the forest. Magic realism flavors Katherine Vaz’s haunting story. Gregory Maguire takes on Jack and the Beanstalk, and Emma Bull looks to an unusual Green Man—a Joshua tree in the desert” (Booklist). These enduring works of eco-fantasy by some of the genre’s most popular authors impart “a real sense of how powerful nature can be in its various guises” (School Library Journal). “A treasure trove for teens and teachers exploring themes of ecology and folklore.” —Kirkus Reviews “The stories are well-written and manage to speak to both the intellect and the emotions.” —SF Site

A haunted house and a ghostly woman are the instruments that release an ancient curse upon the forgotten city of Paradys. As a savage, unholy beast prowls the city’s streets, a young student seeks to uncover the secrets that will lead to his salvation. Lee infuses this dark tale, the second volume in the series, with a dreamlike quality that hovers, like the world in The Book of the Damned, on the border of reality.

The Wildside book of Fantasy presents 20 great fantasy tales by modern masters. Included are stories by Tanith Lee, Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, Gene Wolfe, Fritz Leiber, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Robert E. Howard, and many more. A choice selection of tales! THE DEAD MAN, by Gene Wolfe BRIGHT STREETS OF AIR, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman THE DOLPHIN AND THE DEEP, by Thomas Burnett Swann THE SWORDSMEN OF VARNIS, by Clive Jackson THE EMPEROR OF GONDWANALAND, by Paul Di Filippo SPACE-TIME FOR SPRINGERS, by Fritz Leiber RED NAILS, by Robert E. Howard ARMS AND THE WOMAN, by Lawrence Watt-Evans THE BRIDE OF THE MAN-HORSE, by Lord Dunsany THE WOMAN, by Tanith Lee DREAMTIME IN ADJAPHON, by John Gregory Betancourt THE BLACK ABBOT OF PUTHUUM, by Clark Ashton Smith BLACK HAWK OF VALKARTH, by Lin Carter THE DEVIL’S CRYPT, by E. Hoffmann Price VANDIBAR NASHA IN THE COLLEGE OF SHADOWS, by Darrell Schwetizer THE POWER OF PRAYER, by Brian Stableford THE SECRET OF KRALITZ, by Henry Kuttner LIGHT, by Achmed Abdullah THE LOST RACE, by Robert E. Howard RINGARD AND DENDRA, by Brian McNaughton

For the first time in e-book format, a harrowing tale of war and survival from a master of dark fantasy. Aradia is only thirteen when the war begins. The brutal Saz-Kronians have invaded from the North, laying siege to her homeland, and as the war grows ever closer, Aradia’s father and mother are called to Fort Hightower to help defend the City. To keep Aradia safe, they send her to live with her Aunt Elaieva, a cold and distant woman, until the danger has passed. But Hightower falls. Her parents die in the battle. And deeply depressed, her Aunt commits suicide—leaving her home and fortune to Aradia. Unfortunately, inheritance laws mean little in the wake of war. The City has surrendered, and Aradia’s home is taken over by Flag Colonel Keer Gurz, an officer of the occupying Saz-Kronian army, who quickly becomes enamored with her. Yet the war is hardly over. Aradia’s homeland joins into the Charvro Alliance, gaining new allies and resources, and Aradia finds herself swept up in the Kronian retreat. In order to survive, Aradia must learn to play both sides of the war, taking on many different roles and identities, but never forgetting her love for Thenser Zavion, a soldier some name traitor and others liberator. Even as circumstances make her a pawn in greater power games, Aradia is destined to be at the center of the shifting tides—destined to be a heroine of the world.

“An excellent collection” of vampire stories, from authors such as Harlan Ellison, Dan Simmons, Gahan Wilson, Tanith Lee, and Fritz Leiber (Publishers Weekly). Renowned editor Ellen Datlow has gathered seventeen variations on vampirism ranging from classically Gothic to postmodern satire, from horrific to erotic. These stories reflect the evolution of vampire literature from Bram Stoker to Anne Rice and beyond, resulting in a deeper exploration of their inner lives. Expanding the concept of vampirism to include the draining of a person’s will or life force, Datlow’s collection transcends the traditional “black capes and teeth marks on the neck” to reinvent an eternally fascinating subgenre of horror. In Harlan Ellison’s “Try a Dull Knife,” an empath stumbles bleeding into a nightclub, on the run from emotional vampires. A Broadway actress steals the emotions of her fellow performers in “. . . To Feel Another’s Woe” by Chet Williamson. And in “The Sea Was Wet as Wet Could Be,” Gahan Wilson offers his own surreal twist on Lewis Carroll’s “The Walrus and the Carpenter,” as two strangers on a beach lure intoxicated picnickers to a different kind of picnic . . . Blood Is Not Enough includes contributions by Dan Simmons, Gahan Wilson, Garry Kilworth, Harlan Ellison, Scott Baker, Leonid Andreyev, Harvey Jacobs, S. N. Dyer, Edward Bryant, Fritz Leiber, Tanith Lee, Susan Casper, Steve Rasnic Tem, Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann, Chet Williamson, Joe Haldeman, and Pat Cadigan.

Here is the eagerly anticipated follow-up to the award-winning anthology Firebirds! Firebirds Rising takes readers from deep space to Faerie to just around the corner. It is full of magic, humor, adventure, and?best of all?the unexpected. The one thing readers can count on is marvelous writing. Firebirds Rising proves once again that Firebird is a gathering place for writers and readers of speculative fiction from teenage to adult, from the United States to Europe, Asia, and beyond.

Raised in a swamp by a mad witch, poor Louisa grew up with one goal in mind: to marry a wealthy man, then inherit his lands and money by whatever means it takes. And Louisa may well succeed, for she is a stunning beauty with the manners of an angel. At last she sets off to make her fortune . . . and with the help of her vial of undetectable poison, she soon finds her first victim. A dazzlingly dark fantasy, as only Tanith Lee could write it!

I saw her, hanging in the sky like a flake of the moon. A woman, her face masked by a black shireen, her body by a black shift, but her white arms spread, and her white, white, bone-white hair blowing all around her like a flame composed of smoke. Recognition was immediate. It was my mother. I shouted at her. It was crystal clear to me, what he had meant for me, my father, Vazkor, what she had robbed me of. And I drew from my belt my hunting knife and threw it at her heart.

With her talent for mending things, sixteen-year-old Tanaquil reconstructs a unicorn which, brought to life, lures her away from her desert fortress home and her sorceress mother to find a city by the sea and the way to a perfect world.

Now for the first time in e-book, a collection of Tanith Lee’s short stories and novella about the fantastical adventures of Cyrion, a hero larger than life. Roilant needs a hero—fast. He’s trapped, betrothed to his cousin Eliset in an agreement made to help the destitute branches of their family line. But rumor has it that Eliset is a witch, a villainess behind the deaths of many in his family, and if Roilant weds her, he’ll meet the same fate. Roilant didn’t put much stock in the rumors—until, that is, he tried to call off the betrothal. Since then, he’s been plagued by a series of nightmares demanding he return to Eliset’s side by the end of the month. If he goes to her, he’ll surely be murdered for his fortune, but if he stays, he fears his cousin will kill him and his beloved, the woman he loves. Convinced only one man alive can help him, Roilant stumbles into the Honey Garden inn looking for a legend—a man named Cyrion. All anyone seems to have are stories, but everyone’s heard tell of the mighty Cyrion. They say that he looks like an angel, with hair like the sky of earnest sunrise. That he’s an adventurer, a vanquisher of evil and a defender of man. That he’s a fearless swordsman, a master of disguise, and a genius detective. Some say he’s defeated demons and outwitted wizards. That he’s solved impossible mysteries and survived inescapable death. But is he for real? And—more importantly—is he for hire?

Tanaquil, a young mender, and her familiar come face to face with her half-sister, Lizra, who forces Tanaquil to make a perilous choice between siding with Lizra in her quest for conquest or risking her terrible anger.

Now for the first time in e-book, a collection of dark fantasy tales from a master of the genre. The Gorgon, a brilliant shocker that leads off this scintillating collection of Tanith Lee''s tales, was the winner of the World Fantasy Award for best short story of the year in 1983. It is appropriate that it gives its title to these tales ranging from horror and the supernatural to science fiction, from the writer who has been justly termed \"Princess Royal of Heroic Fantasy.\" Here you will find unforgettable encounters of men and beasts--of dragons and unicorns, cats and seals, virgins and vampires. This is truly a feast of treasures for everyone whose taste runs to a gourmet imagination.

Tanaquil has family problems. Her mother is a sorceress and her sister is an empress, engaged to Tanaquil''s own true love. Things get worse when a red unicorn lures her into another world, where she finds a mirror version of herself plotting her sister''s death. Can Tanaquil stop her double from becoming a murderer? Accelerated Reader: Reading Level 4.5, 5 Points.

This award-winning horror anthology is the “yardstick by which future ghost fiction will be measured”—featuring Tanith Lee, Joyce Carol Oates, and others (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Award-winning anthologist Ellen Datlow—praised by William Gibson as “the genre’s sharpest assembler of strange, dark fictions”—is determined to prove that ghost stories still possess the power to chill modern readers to the marrow. So she reached out to a list of varied and talented authors and invited them to scare the heck out of her. The resulting anthology redefines the ghost story, venturing beyond the accustomed tropes and into horror’s true realm: the unknown. The Dark takes a nuanced and disquieting look at the tormented and unquiet dead; the darkness in us, the living; and the sometimes tenuous boundary between the two. Under the covers of The Dark, you will find a gathering of sixteen unique ghost stories, deftly penned by authors versed in the argot of the damned, including Ramsey Campbell, Jeffrey Ford, Glen Hirshberg, Kelly Link, Sharyn McCrumb, Lucius Shepard, and Gahan Wilson. This is the stuff nightmares are made of. Winner of the International Horror Guild Award for Best Anthology of the Year

Now for the first time in e-book, genre master Lee''s postapocalyptic dystopia that follows a young woman after the fall of humanity. The free humans lived underground, secretive, like rats. Above, the world was a fearsome place for them - the open sky a terror, the night so black, and the striding machines from space so laser-flame deadly. Esther dared the open; she saw the sky; she saw the Enemy. And she was taken – captive - to the vast alien empty city. Surrounded by marvels of science not born on earth, Esther did not know what they wanted of her. There was mystery in the city, dread in the heavens, and magic in the handsome alien man who came to her.

Do you believe in ghosts? You will after reading these original short novels from four of today''s best writers of the fantastic. Brian Lumley, a Grand Master of Horror and author of the popular Necroscope series, opens the collection with the tense \"A Place of Waiting.\" The moors of Devon, England, are home to many ghosts, but none as fearsome as the red-eyed specter that refuses to accept his death. His only chance of release, however, comes at a terrible cost. Orson Scott Card puts a new spin on one of literature''s most famous ghosts in \"Hamlet''s Father.\" What if the former King of Denmark was not killed by his treacherous brother for his crown, but by someone entirely unexpected as punishment for the darkest of crimes? Would his troubled son still seek revenge? The patrons of an Edinburgh tavern are introduced to a beverage with an unusual history in \"The Haunted Single Malt\" by Marvin Kaye, a clever and spooky story about ghost stories and the people who love them. Tanith Lee offers \"Strindberg''s Ghost Sonata,\" a chilling tale set in an alternate Russia. When a poor man is rescued from certain death by hospitable strangers, he discovers that he is not a guest in their haunted tenement building--he is a prisoner destined to become a sacrifice. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

In The Book of the Mad, a seductive nightmare unfolds in three parallel versions of the city—Paradis, Paradys and Paradise. Connected by a labyrinth of ice whose dangers are amplified by the will and emotion of its lunatic travelers, these cities provide the stage for a drama of mythical proportions, setting up a darkly dazzling finish to The Secret Books of Paradys.

Four books of dark fantasy and eroticism from “a literary great . . . A series of Gothic, interlinked stories set in an alternate Paris” (The Washington Post). With these four books, together now in one collection, escape to a city known by three names—Paradys, Paradise, and Paradis—where you’ll find many strange stories and novellas exploring gender, identity, sexual transgression, and more . . . The Book of the Damned: A poet discovers a mysterious ring that drags him into a world of vampires. A young woman’s attack sows the seeds for a civilization’s downfall. And a writer receives a cryptic note that leads her to a sinister, ancient force. The Book of the Beast: A young scholar has just moved to Paradys to study at the university, and a beautiful phantom of a young bride begins visiting him, drawing him toward her. Soon, he will be infected with the horrific curse of the Beast . . . The Book of the Dead: Seven stories of enchantment, misfortune, corruption, and death are in the third volume of this fantasy series, including the story of a vengeful orphan tracking down his parents’ killer only to find a treacherous nightmare. The Book of the Mad: A labyrinth of ice connects three nightmarish versions of one city—Paradis, Paradys, and Paradise. In each of them, a story unfolds, breaking taboos, relishing horror, and conjuring the perverse.

Featuring five deliciously romantic stories set in historical and high fantasy worlds, this exclusive eBook set is the perfect gift for any romance reader. Featuring stories by Jo Beverley, Cecelia Holland, Robin Hobb, Jacqueline Carey, and Tanith Lee, this collection of five wonderful romantic stories from five wickedly creative authors includes beautiful maids and clever minstrels, orphans destined for greatness and spies thirsting for revenge, and a pair of lovers who must struggle against the forces of magic and fate. Originally published in the anthology Songs of Love and Death (edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois), these compelling stories are specially packaged in one eBook set at a great price.

Artemesia is the daughter of a pirate queen, and she''s sick of practicing deportment at the Angels Academy for Young Maidens. Escaping from the school, she hunts up her mother''s crew and breezily commands them out to sea in a leaky boat. Unfortunately, Art''s memories of her early life may not be accurate-her seasick crew are actors, and Art''s infamous mother was the darling of the stage in a pirate drama. But fiery, pistol-proof Art soon shapes her men into the cleverest pirate crew afloat. And when they meet the dread ship Enemy and her beautiful, treacherous captain, Goldie Girl, Art is certain that her memories are real. The Seven Seas aren''t large enough for two pirate queens: Art will have the battle of her life to win her mother''s title--and the race for the most fabulous treasure in pirate lore. This gaudy, outrageous tale sparkles with swordplay, skullduggery, and salty language--not to mention over-the-top comedy! \"A refreshing, tongue-in-cheek, tangled tale that will entice readers who crave adventure and fantasy.\"--SLJ

Weird Tales #325 (Fall 2001) features \"From Out of the Crocodile''s Mouth,\" by Darrell Schweitzer; \"The Gravedigger''s Apprentice,\" by Alvin Helms; \"Our Temporary Supervisor,\" by Thomas Ligotti; \"Where All Things Perish,\" by Tanith Lee; \"The Wizard of Ashes and Rain,\" by David Sandner, and more.