Beautifully written speculative fiction from Metaphorosis magazine. Snow queens and their daughters, invisible giants pining for vanished lovers, transformations, searches, quests, and voyages of all kinds. The best science fiction and fantasy stories from Metaphorosis magazine's second year.

Varon Cambeul has made it to the top: Royal Magician of the Kingdom of Lothia, at the right hand of the king, who is his lover. He has always kept the promise he made to his mother and his apprenticeship master: he has used his magic for good. This promise is tested when the king asks him to make a curse that will be cured by the king so everyone will love him. Helping the king is using his magic for good, right? But is Varon doing this because he has fallen in love with the king? What about those who will suffer from the curse and slowly be transformed into ghosts, people like Theo and Russell in the town where the curse is released? Can Varon undo this great wrong? Can he save Theo and Russell and the others as they turn invisible? How can he love someone who is not doing good?

A heart that's a building, a dog that's a program, a woman who's sinking irretrievably - stories about love, loss, and motion. A collection of speculative stories from author and editor B. Morris Allen. Chambers of the Heart – it's hard, living in someone's heart Building on Sand – how to choose between children Blush – when everyone else wears a mask, what's it like to bare your face? Minstrel Boy Howling at the Moon – magic, music, and ... buffalo? Fetch – she may be a simulation, but out on the edge, she’s one man’s best friend The Humblebract Expedition – even dying children like to play When Dooryards First in the Lilac Bloomed – a doorway to opportunity and change, if only humans can understand it Some Sun and Delilah – a sunny island, an abandoned temple, and thoug Crying in the Salt House – the house is built from tears, or so they say Full of Stars – jar half empty, jar half full Memory and Faded Ink – the aliens are perfectly human ... and just as flawed Fountainhead – arranged meetings never work, especially with different species Adaptations to Coastal Erosion – when your spouse is literally falling away from you Outburst – Earth is dead, except for a few teens on a decaying orbital The Irrigation Ditch – they came to hide, but didn’t realize it was from each other Dragons I Have Slain – take hope where you find it Cover art by Bonnie Leeman

Orson Scott Card's The Last Shadow is the long-awaited conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender's Shadow series, as the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe—the deadly virus they call the descolada, which is incurable and will kill all of humanity if it is allowed to escape from Lusitania. One planet. Three sapient species living peacefully together. And one deadly virus that could wipe out every world in the Starways Congress, killing billions. Is the only answer another great Xenocide? At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

POD 49 Marune: Alastor 933 The Connatic rules the three thousand inhabited planets of the Alastor Cluster from his palace Lusz on the world Numenes. Though his military force can bring considerable might to bear where necessary, the Connatic often wanders among his subjects incognito, intervening to right a wrong, or leaving well enough alone. A young man knows nothing of his origins or his name. He is identified at the Connatic's hospital as a Rhune, one of the ruling class of Marune. On Marune he resumes his identity as Efraim, Kaiark of Scharrode, and must relearn the pomp and protocol of the Rhunes, then determine who was responsible for his amnesia-and the death of his father. The mystery leads to the realm of the inscrutable Fwai-chi. Marune is Book III in the Alastor sequence, and Volume 49 of the Spatterlight Press Signature Series. Released in the centenary of the author's birth, this handsome new collection is based upon the prestigious Vance Integral Edition. Select volumes enjoy up-to-date maps, and many are graced with freshly-written forewords contributed by a distinguished group of authors. Each book bears a facsimile of the author's signature and a previously-unpublished photograph, chosen from family archives for the period the book was written. These unique features will be appreciated by all, from seasoned Vance collector to new reader sampling the spectrum of this author's influential work for the first time. - John Vance II

Metaphors are widely used within marketing literature, yet so far have remained unacknowledged. This book aims to redress that omission. Such widely known topics such as globalization of markets, viral marketing and many others are in fact metaphors; moreover, marketing itself may be a metaphor, underlying many exchanges and relationships.