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  Chronicle Worlds:

  Feyland

  WINDRIFT BOOKS

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  CHRONICLE WORLDS: FEYLAND

  No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the proper written permission of the appropriate copyright holder listed below, unless such copying is expressly permitted by federal and international copyright law. Permission must be obtained from the individual copyright owners as identified herein.

  The stories in this book are fiction. Any resemblance to any person, place, or event—whether computer-generated, faery-enchanted, or portal-introduced—is purely coincidental.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

  Chronicle Worlds: Feyland copyright © 2016 Samuel Peralta and Windrift Books.

  “Chronicle Worlds” by Samuel Peralta, copyright © 2016 Samuel Peralta. Used by permission of the author.

  “Entering Feyland” by Anthea Sharp, copyright © 2016 Anthea Sharp. Used by permission of the author.

  “MeadowRue” by Joseph Robert Lewis, copyright © 2016 Joseph Robert Lewis. Used by permission of the author.

  “The Skeptic” by Lindsay Edmunds, copyright © 2016 Lindsay Edmunds. Used by permission of the author.

  “The Sword of Atui” by Eric Kent Edstrom, copyright © 2016 Eric Kent Edstrom. Used by permission of the author.

  “The Huntsman and the Old Fox” by Brigid Collins, copyright © 2016 Brigid Collins. Used by permission of the author.

  “Unicorn Magic” by Roz Marshall, copyright © 2016 Roz Marshall. Used by permission of the author.

  “City of Iron and Light” by Jon Frater, copyright © 2016 Jon Frater. Used by permission of the author.

  “The Gossamer Shard” by David Adams, copyright © 2016 David Adams. Used by permission of the author.

  “The Glitchy Goblin” by K. J. Colt, copyright © 2016 K. J. Colt. Used by permission of the author.

  “On Guard” by Deb Logan, copyright © 2016 Deb Logan. Used by permission of the author.

  “An Artist’s Instinct” by Andrea Luhman, copyright © 2016 Andrea Luhman. Used by permission of the author.

  “Tech Support” by James T. Wood, copyright © 2016 James T. Wood. Used by permission of the author.

  “Brea’s Tale: Passage” by Anthea Sharp, copyright © 2016 Anthea Sharp. Used by permission of the author.

  All other text copyright © 2016 by Samuel Peralta.

  Edited by Ellen Campbell (http://ellencampbell.thirdscribe.com/ellen-campbell-editor/)

  Cover art and design by Adam Hall (www.aroundthepages.com)

  Print formatting by Therin Knite (www.knitedaydesign.com)

  Chronicle Worlds: Feyland is set in the world of Feyland, created by USA Today bestselling author Anthea Sharp. Find out more at https://antheasharp.com/the-feyland-series

  Chronicle Worlds: Feyland is part of The Future Chronicles series produced by Samuel Peralta. Get The Future Chronicles – Special Edition anthology free via www.smarturl.it/free-anthology

  978-1-988268-01-9

  CHRONICLE WORLDS:

  FEYLAND

  STORY SYNOPSES

  MeadowRue (Joseph Robert Lewis)

  After years of servitude in both the Bright and Dark Courts, MeadowRue escaped to the Dusk Vale to live a happy life knitting scarves, brewing tea, and chatting with the river hags. But when a mortal girl stumbles into the Vale, it isn’t long before the deadly Black Knight and the cruel Bright Lance come hunting for her soul, and only MeadowRue can save her.

  The Skeptic (Lindsay Edmunds)

  Sam Sammish is a professional debunker. He earns his living mocking “airy-fairy” ideas, meaning anything he doesn’t believe. When the parents of a teenage girl obsessed with playing Feyland ask him to debunk the game, he readily agrees. But on entering Feyland, he finds a magical world that he cannot control.

  The Sword of Atui (Eric Kent Edstrom)

  A country boy going by the gamer handle “Fasster” codes a highly illegal mod for Feyland. The mod is a sword that will make him invincible in the game. But when a mischievous fairy sends him on a tricky side quest he must test his weapon—and wits—against a foe who cannot be killed.

  The Huntsman and the Old Fox (Brigid Collins)

  Decades ago, Marylan used to play games professionally. Now, her granddaughter’s excited to show off her favorite game, Feyland. But the wonder of full immersion in a virtual faerie world fades under Marylan’s frustration with the unfamiliar mechanics, and one particular faerie starts to feel a little too real, and far too dangerous.

  Unicorn Magic (Roz Marshall)

  Feyland: a new computer game that allows Scottish teenager Corinne MacArthur to escape the sadness that haunts her everyday life after the loss of a loved one. It's a game where legends come to life, the lines between reality and fantasy become blurred, and the impossible becomes—probable?

  City of Iron and Light (Jon Frater)

  A lonely teen finds solace in the game Feyland, where she’d rather spend time gaming than her real life. But she isn’t prepared for the trouble she encounters when she collides with the Dark Queen’s Royal Guard. There’s only one escape open to her…and it’s not back to reality.

  The Gossamer Shard (David Adams)

  They say that every time someone says: “I don’t believe in fairies”, a fairy dies. If only it were that simple. Sometimes when a powerful fey dies, the strength of its desire to live forestalls death. They can break the rules, slipping out of one game and into another entirely…

  The Glitchy Goblin (K. J. Colt)

  Any substance that delights, excites, and satisfies has the power to control, to spur addiction, to enslave. The Realm of Faerie is about to be introduced to such a substance—sweet-tasting, mind-altering, the nectar of the gods. Chocolate.

  On Guard (Deb Logan)

  Wallace, a fierce Norwegian Forest cat, has guarded the boy since he was an infant. Despite advancing age, Wallace isn’t about to shirk his duty now that the boy is old enough to play a dangerous game. Wallace doesn’t understand his boy’s fascination with Feyland, but he knows a threat when he sees one.

  An Artist’s Instinct (Andrea Luhman)

  Agatha keeps failing at life, both her real one and her simulated one. As the daughter of a world-class opera star, she’s humiliated at losing another choir audition. With no date to the winter formal, Agatha can’t even get an in-game invitation to the Master Bard level in Feyland. Her new friends Jane and Zack offer to help, but what they each encounter in Feyland makes Agatha suspect the boundaries between game and reality have changed.

  Tech Support (James T. Wood)

  Ranjeet Nagar of Kochi, India, works in a call center to support his aging parents. When a demon from the game he supports attacks a woman in real life he must risk his job, beg his ex-fiancé for help, and brave the game world to face a very real threat.

  Brea’s Tale: Passage (Anthea Sharp)

  Part human girl, part water creature, Brea Cairgead only wants to find out where she fits in the Realm of Faerie. But when she unwittingly aids two mortal gamers who stumble into the Realm, her future takes a frightening twist. She is given an impossible choice: carry out a dangerous mission, or face t
he eternal fury of the Dark Queen…

  CONTENTS

  Foreword (Samuel Peralta)

  Introduction (Anthea Sharp)

  MeadowRue (Joseph Robert Lewis)

  The Skeptic(Lindsay Edmunds)

  The Sword of Atui (Eric Kent Edstrom)

  The Huntsman and the Old Fox (Brigid Collins)

  Unicorn Magic (Roz Marshall)

  City of Iron and Light (Jon Frater)

  The Gossamer Shard (David Adams)

  The Glitchy Goblin (K. J. Colt)

  On Guard (Deb Logan)

  An Artist’s Instinct (Andrea Luhman)

  Tech Support (James T. Wood)

  Brea’s Tale: Passage (Anthea Sharp)

  A Note to Readers

  Foreword

  Chronicle Worlds

  by Samuel Peralta

  I’ve always been about taking risks, starting with poetry, my first love affair with writing. Although I’d won awards and found online success, when I risked the next step of trying to place my work with a major literary publisher, my magnum opus spent a year languishing on an editor’s desk, only to be rejected.

  I decided to risk it all and start over again, in speculative fiction. The goal was to build on my literary craft, but in a more mainstream genre, a direction suggested by the works of Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro. My first story, “Trauma Room”, was a flash-fiction sample piece, to convince folks who’d never heard of me to take a chance. It worked.

  Three other stories I’d written were quickly placed in three separate science fiction anthologies: “Hereafter” in David Gatewood’s Synchronic, “Liberty: Seeking a Writ of Habeas Corpus for a Non-Human Being” in Hugo award winner John Joseph Adams’s Help Fund My Robot Army, and “Humanity” in The Robot Chronicles, which I organized (just in case my other two stories hadn’t placed) and brought to fruition with David Gatewood.

  Released in turn, all three anthologies marched up the Amazon bestseller charts. In just over two months from the publication of “Hereafter”—which was eventually named a Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy notable short story—I hit the Top 10 Science Fiction Authors on Amazon, peaking at #8.

  When I approached authors and editor with the concept for what would become The Robot Chronicles, I had no inkling of how powerful the idea of a continuing anthology series would become. We followed it up with The Telepath Chronicles, The Alien Chronicles, and then in quick succession A.I., Dragon, Z, and on, and still readers wanted more.

  Two years and fourteen titles later, The Future Chronicles series is now arguably one of the most well-known anthology series born of the digital publishing revolution, yet adhering to the principle that we are, as Gatewood has put it, “a place where a reader can reliably expect quality storytelling from start to finish.”

  Over 150 contributing authors, illustrators, editors, and an expanse of loyal Chronicles readers have powered each Chronicles title to become, by turns, the #1 Anthology title on Amazon, in its speculative fiction genre, whether science fiction, fantasy, or horror.

  I’ve been told that this success and commitment to literary quality has also helped inspire other publishers to take risks with independent anthologies and anthology series—and the results are amazing. We’ve seen the charts rocked by the Beyond the Stars series, the UnCommon Anthologies series, the Mosaics series, the Canyons of the Damned series, Clones: The Anthology, Interspecies, and many more in the works.

  The Future Chronicles itself has taken new risks with its continuing Alt.History line of titles, and the Illustrated Chronicles project. To our amazement here at the Chronicles, despite the risks, readers continue to embrace these new titles.

  And so we come to Chronicle Worlds. In this line of anthologies, authors chart stories not around a single theme—A.I., immortality, doomsday—but set in shared universes, or in already-imagined worlds, exploring the potential of these rich worlds with more characters, more history, more imagined futures.

  Worlds such as these…

  …A universe of far-flung planets and colonial starships with a singular mission, as envisioned in New York Times bestselling author Hugh Howey’s Half Way Home…

  …A steampunk world of aristocrats and artists, scholars and scientists, detectives and criminal masterminds—and a mysterious island floating among the clouds, as imagined in Drifting Isle…

  …A universe of conflict, of alien invasion, and of human resistance in the face of overwhelming odds, as dramatized by USA Today bestselling author Nick Webb’s Legacy Fleet…

  …A universe where humankind, fleeing a dying system, has found a second chance, but in a system already populated by a sentient culture, the worlds of Paradisi…

  …Or a world where an immersive, virtual reality game is the gateway to an all-too-real, fantasy realm, as mapped out in USA Today bestselling author Anthea Sharp’s Feyland.

  It’s my pleasure to introduce you to the Chronicle Worlds series, and this landmark collection, Chronicle Worlds: Feyland. Welcome.

  __________

  Samuel Peralta is a physicist and storyteller. An award-winning author, he is the creator and driving force behind the bestselling speculative fiction anthology series The Future Chronicles.

  www.amazon.com/author/samuelperalta

  Introduction

  Entering Feyland

  by Anthea Sharp

  Who hasn’t dreamed of stepping into a fantastical world and escaping the tedium of everyday life?

  Virtual worlds have always fascinated me – whether it’s opening a book and plunging into the story between the pages, or getting lost wandering around Zork (and later World of Warcraft). I grew up reading a lot, including volumes of old-school fairy tales, and also playing computer games. A few years ago, after playing massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) fairly intensively, and also performing in a Celtic band and singing old ballads, I started to think about the parallels between the new world of gaming and fairy tales of old.

  Gaming

  Faerie

  Lose sense of time

  Time moves strangely

  Filled with enticing worlds

  Famously enchanting otherworld

  Immersive and magical experiences

  Immersive and magical experiences

  Gamers get sucked in and lost in the worlds

  Mortals get sucked in and lost in the Realm

  My mind wouldn’t let go of the similarities. Wouldn’t it be cool to actually go to a magical land via a game? And why not the most magical of all – the Realm of Faerie? Thus the Feyland series was born.

  Portal fantasy has been around for a long time, and the idea of falling into a game isn’t new (Jumanji, Tad Williams’ Otherworld series, and several anime shows, like Sword Art Online, explore this concept) – but in addition to the virtual world, I was struck by the fact that for centuries, right here in the regular world, there is a long tradition of lore and tales about another land that exists beside our own reality.

  Fairyland.

  Glimpsed at the edges of twilight and dawn, the Realm of Faerie has always been a liminal place—there and not there, real and not real. Much like virtual reality and game worlds. I imagined that as gaming developed, it, too, would reach that state of between-ness – and maybe even forge a connection with the ancient world of Faerie, given the right conditions. Who’s to say what might happen when we can step so easily between the borders of one world and into another?

  The Feyland books draw deeply on faerie lore, including the Seelie and Unseelie (Bright and Dark) Courts of the Fae. Many of the story lines in the series are based on ancient ballads and tales: Tamlin, Childe Roland, The White Hart – plus poetry by W.B. Yeats, and a wealth of Celtic music and mysticism.

  In addition to folklore, the books are also influenced by many (perhaps too many) hours playing World of Warcraft in a fabulous guild (shoutout to Fates Legion on Alexstrasza!) and immersing myself in the engrossing virtual worlds of Azeroth and beyond. But imagining that a pl
ayer could really enter a world and subsequently transition into the Realm of Faerie, I knew I had to set my books in a near-distant future where virtual reality gaming was fully immersive. The Feyland series takes place in an indeterminate time ahead of our own, where grav-cars hover over broken pavement, the rich elite have embedded wrist chips, and sim-gaming can transport you to places you’ve never imagined.

  In 2010, when I wrote the first Feyland book, Virtual Reality gaming setups were entering a new era (Oculus Rift’s prototype was invented that year). While we aren’t yet at full sensory immersion, that day is coming ever closer. In the meantime, we have the power of story to plunge into and let our imaginations take us deep into new worlds.

  This collection is a landmark collaboration between one of the finest anthologists in science fiction and fantasy today, Samuel Peralta, and the group of authors who make up The Future Chronicles. When the idea of playing in other authors’ worlds came up, I lightheartedly mentioned that people might want to write in my world of Feyland. I was pleasantly shocked when a bunch of authors took my suggestion and ran with it – and I’m delighted that Feyland is the first Chronicle Worlds to see publication.