“He’s dead, Lucuis! Dead! While you were off playing thief, they killed him!” Thief and Shadowmage, Lucius Kane, has found that his influence and power in the underworld of Turnitia has grown. The thieves’ guild is prosperous, and his magical skills have proved a great asset to his peers. His prospects seem boundless, until the Empire of Vos descends upon the City. Soldiers fill the streets and a new cleric has taken command of the souls of Turnitia’s citizens. This strange priest has promised to eradicate the thieves’ guild, as well as outlaw unlicensed magic – and the pagan Shadowmages are at the top of his list. Lucius will come to realise that, once again, a war in the streets of his city must be fought...

Erevis Cale The loyal servant of the Uskevren family, has a terrible secret. Now, when a ruthless evil is unleashed on Selgaunt, the butler's ties to the underworld may have put the Uskevren in jeopardy. Erevist must finally prove his loyalty -- to the city and to the Uskevren. He won't get a second chance.

When her hometown is overtaken by a crime syndicate, the daughter of a disgraced Harper agent fights to free the local merchants from their underground overlords When Alias crosses swords with the underlings of the cunning, heartless lord of Westgate’s criminal guild—known only as the Faceless—he vows to destroy her. Accepting the challenge to rid Westgate of the maleficent Night Masks, Alias gathers old allies and new: the saurial paladin Dragonbait, the halfling Olive Ruskettle, the street performer Jamal, the sage Mintassan, and the charismatic Victor Dhostar, son of Westgate’s governing official. Yet even as Alias thwarts the nefarious efforts of the Night Masks, she becomes ever more entangled in the web woven by The Faceless—a web whose silken threads are spun from intrigue, political machinations, and murder. Masquerades is the tenth book in a series of loosely-connected novels about the Harpers.

Eamonn never wanted to be a thief. So when a risky mission goes awry and he receives the chance of a lifetime, he leaves behind everything, even his newfound family in the Thieves’ Guild, to pursue an apprenticeship as an honest merchant. Traveling the country means he sees and hears everything. Civil unrest, rebellions against the monarchies, and rumors of a usurper bent on uniting the provinces under himself with a mythical form of magic. Few suspect he’s not chasing a dead end, including village girl Leyna, a believer in the magic of ancient histories. Eamonn’s skeptical heart is also swayed once he finds himself the tyrant’s target, unknowingly possessing the key to harness the dangerous power. To protect it, Eamonn’s only choice is to flee. But now that it’s the mission of his former brothers in the Guild to hunt him down, keeping magic out of their hands might be harder than either Leyna or Eamonn thought possible. If they fall, though, their world does too.

The Noble Dead Saga continues... In her quest to find the orb of Spirit, Wynn Hygeorht is torn between two men who hate each other—her vampire protector, Chane Andraso, and the elf Osha, who has feelings for her. Now a strange series of clues leads them to a remote keep built on the dark cliffs of the coast of Witeny—where an old enemy lurks, ready to destroy her. At the same time, dhampir Magiere, Leesil, and Chap continue their desperate search for the orb of Air. Still hunted by a team of assassins, they escape on the first available ship, only to find themselves under the power of a sadistic captain. Yet even if they manage to survive this voyage, what waits for them at the journey’s end is beyond anything they can imagine....

Stop right there! If you like your fantasy filled with fellowships and noble quests, this anthology is not for you. And if you love lengthy tales of politics and power, then it won’t be to your taste either. But if you like a little intimacy with your evil, and your vengeance short and sweet, with perhaps a pinch of silliness in the witchcraft, then these fourteen delicious sweetmeats of sword and sorcery will prove right up your alley. And it will be a dank, twisting, fetid alley, too. In this book you will find no high elves (only low), no politics (unless assassination is involved), and certainly no nobility. Join Lawrence Harding, Howard Andrew Jones, Esther Friesner, Jenna Rhodes, Gini Koch, Violette Malan, Leah Webber, David Farland, R.K. Nickel, Ashley McConnell, D.B. Jackson, James Enge, Jason Palmatier, and Amelia Sirina as they explore the perilous streets and clashing blades found in GUILDS & GLAIVES.