The very best fantasy stories by British and British-based authors. More than twenty stories of the strange and fantastic, written by an exciting blend of established names and newer voices, ranging from traditional sword and sorcery to contemporary fantasy....

It has been five years since the Insects devastated the Fourlands. Reconstruction proceeds under the watchful eyes of the Circle - the fifty immortals who serve the Emperor. Jant, the Emperor\"s winged Messenger, has other concerns....

The endless war for survival against the merciless Insects has reached yet another stalemate for the Circle, the immortals who serve the Emperor of the Fourlands. The building of a massive dam has driven the Insects back, but it\"s only a matter of time before they find another way to advance....

This is Jant Shira\"s life before the drugs took over, as a hunter in the mountains. Awian exiles are building a stronghold in the Darkling mountains, where the Rhydanne hunt. Their clash of interests soon leads to bloodshed and Shira Dellin, a Rhydanne huntress, appeals to the immortal Circle for justice....

A superb work of literary fantasy. In a truly original imagined world of breathtaking, sometimes surreal beauty, fifty utterly alien but disarmingly human immortals lead mankind in a centuries-long war. Jant is the Messenger, one of the Circle, a cadre of fifty immortals who serve the Emperor....