Series
Shanna of Sharteyn
With the advent of Women’s Liberation, suddenly everyone was trying to figure out how to write a female hero. It seemed to me that many of them were unrealistic, so I set out to explore the kinds of challenges, internal and external, that a woman warrior might face.
“The Riddle of Hekaite”, Hecate’s Cauldron , ed. Susan Shwartz, DAW, 1982
This story is set at an earlier period in the same universe as the Shanna stories.
The remaining stories chronicle Shanna’s life from the time she defeats raiders and discovers she is a warrior to her adventures as she journeys to the City of the Emperor to find out what happened to her brother. In the course of her journey she loves men and women, and encounters enemies, allies and gods.
I am working on putting these stories up as ebooks, and making them into a collection that will be available as an ebook and possibly as print-on-demand.
“Sword of Yraine”, Sword and Sorceress, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW 1984
“Shadow Wood”, Sword and Sorceress II, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW , 1985
“Sky Sister”, Moonsinger’s Friends, ed. Susan Shwartz, Bluejay, 1985
“The Dark Mother”, Swords Against Darkness IV, ed. Andrew Offutt, Zebra, 1979 , Barbarians II, ed. Robert Adams, Martin H. Greenberg, Charles G. Waugh, New American Library, l987
“The Servant of Saibel”, Amazing, December, 1984
“The Mist on the Moor”, Sword and Sorceress III, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1986
“Blood Dancer”, Sword and Sorceress IV, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, l987
“The Eye of Toyur”, Sword and Sorceress V, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1988
“Equona’s Mare”, Sword and Sorceress VI, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1990
“The Swordslave”, Sword and Sorceress VII, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1991
“Ytarra’s Mirror”, Sword and Sorceress VIII, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1991
“Stopthrust”, Sword and Sorceress IX, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1992
” Falcon’s Shadow”, Sword and Sorceress X, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW 1993
In the last story, Shanna finds out what happened to her brother. She also learns that he left a child. Maybe one day I’ll write another story arc about how she finds the child and brings him home.
Thieves’ World stories
“The Masterpainter”, Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, Autumn, 1994
How Lalo met and married Gilla. Originally written as a Thieves’ World story for an Origins volume that was never published,. Revised “with the serial numbers chiseled off”.
The remaining stories show how Lalo the Limner develops from a poor artist with a shrewish wife and an alcohol problem into a wizard, first learning how to paint the soul, then how to see his own soul, and finally how to give life to the things he paints. The publisher dropped the series unexpectedly, and for a long time I complained at not being able to complete the story arc, but upon re-reading, I think the last story is about as far as I could go with Lalo anyway.
“The Rhinoceros and the Unicorn”, Shadows of Sanctuary, (TW III) ed. Robert Asprin, Ace Books, 1981
“A Fugitive Art”, Storm Season, (TW IV), ed. Robert Asprin, Ace Books, 1982
“Mirror Image”, Face of Chaos, (TW V), ed. Robert Asprin, Ace Books, 1983
“A Breath of Power”, Wings of Omen, (TW VI), ed. Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey, Ace Books, 1984
“The Color of Magic”, Dead of Winter, (TW VII), ed. Robert Asprin and Lynn Abbey, Ace Books, 1985
“Lady of Fire”, Blood Ties (TW IX), ed. Asprin, Abbey, Ace Books, l986
“The Vision of Lalo”, Uneasy Alliances, TW 11, ed. Asprin, Abbey, Ace Books, 1988
“Quicksilver Dreams”, Stealer’s Sky, TW XII, ed. Asprin, Abbey, Ace Books, 1989
For the briefly revived “Next Generation” Thieves’ World series, I wrote two stories in collaboration with my son, Ian Grey:
“The Prisoner in the Jewel”, Turning Points, edited by Lynn Abbey, Tor 2003
“The Ghost in the Phoenix” (with Ian Grey) Enemies of Fortune, ed. Lynn Abbey, Tor 2004
Elfquest Stories
These stories were written for a series of anthologies about the ten chieftains of the Wolfriders who preceded Cutter. My character was Goodtree.
“The Spirit Quest”, Blood of the Ten Chiefs, ed. Richard & Wendy Pini, Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, Tor Books, 198
“A Very Good Year for Dreamberries”, Wolfsong, (Blood of the Ten Chiefs II), ed. Richard & Wendy Pini, Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, Tor Books, 1988
“Fire Song”, Winds of Change, (Blood of the Ten Chiefs III), ed. Richard & Wendy Pini, Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, Tor Books, l989
“The Changeling”, Blood of the Ten Chiefs IV, ed. Richard & Wendy Pini, Robert Asprin, Lynn Abbey, Tor Books, 1990
“Turnings”, Dark Hours (Blood of the Ten Chiefs V), ed. Richard & Wendy Pini, Tor Books, 1993
“The Father Tree”, Hunters’ Dawn (Blood of the Ten Chiefs VI,) ed. Richard & Wendy Pini, Tor Books, ?
This story was sold, but I never found out if it was actually published.
Darkover Stories:
Three stories set in the generation just after Landfall, showing how some aspects of traditional Darkovan came to be :
“Vai Dom”, The Keeper’s Price, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1980
“Gift of Love”, Sword of Chaos, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1982
“A Different Kind of Victory”, Red Sun of Darkover, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1987
Two stories about life and love in the Mother House at Thendara:
“The Motherquest”, Free Amazons of Darkover, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1985
“A Season of Butterflies”, Renunciates of Darkover, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1991
“The Frontier”, Towers of Darkover,, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW 1993
A Comyn, a Free Amazon, a Cristoforo, and a Keeper share possession of the body of a Terran clerk.
“The Place Between”, Snows of Darkover, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1994
Miscellaneous Science Fiction and Fantasy:
“Message to Myself”, Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, July-August, 1978; ETs and Eclipses, ed. George Scithers, Dale, 1978; 365 Short-Short Science Fiction Stories! ed. Forrest J. Ackerman & Jean Stone, Longmeadow, 1995
My first sale, an SF short short about a man in a female body.
“The Song of N’Sardi-El”, Millenial Women, ed. Virginia Kidd, Delacorte, 1978, Dell, 1979, The Eye of the Heron and Other Stories, Granada, 1979, Sanrio, 1979 (Japan), Vrou 2000, Spectrum Books, 1980 (Holland), Futura, Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, 1982 (Germany)
My second sale, to an anthology edited by my husband’s former agent which was widely translated because it had a story by Ursula LeGuin. In my story, a space faring culture with variable marriage customs meets a race with five sexes. Hey, it was the 70s.
*”Kindred of the Wind”, Greyhaven, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1983
A story about shapeshifters who become eagles, originating in a dream.
“The Phoenix Garden”, Afterwar, ed. Janet Morris, Baen Books, 1985
I finally got to use what I learned writing manuals for fallout shelter managers at Far West Lab in this story about survival in Mendocino after the bomb.
“The Shaper of Butterflies”, Fantasy Book, Fall, 1985
A bumbling old wizard has one great talent.
“An Appropriate Hell”,War in Hell, ed. Janet Morris, Baen Books, 1988
The Protestants and the IRA continue the war between King Connor and Queen Maeve in the Irish sector of Hell.
“Heroes”, Tales of the Witchworld II, ed. Andre Norton, Bluejay, l988, Tor, 1989
In this anthology of stories in honor of Andre Norton I tried to work with all her favorite themes
“The Flower Princess”, Arabesques II, ed. Susan Shwartz, Avon, 1989
Based on “The Love for Three Oranges”
“The Dancer of Chimaera”, MZB’s Fantasy Magazine, Fall, ’90, The Best of Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Fantasy Magazine, ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley, DAW, 1994
Another early SF story that I finally polished up and sold to Marion– about a nightclub dancer who is more than she seems.
“Hekate’s Hounds”, Olympus, ed. Bruce Arthurs & Martin Greenberg, DAW, 1998
The last of the Neo-Platonic philosophers have taken refuge in Carrhae, but the Christians are coming.
“Well Met by Moonlight”, Bedlam’s Edge, ed. Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill, DAW, 2005
A story in Lackey’s “Bedlam” universe. My salute to the Renaissance Pleasure Faire…