John Joseph Adams has a new anthology out, Epic: Legends of Fantasy
This week, Wired.com is featureing an exclusive excerpt from the anthology — my short story “Bound Man.”
Here’s a teaser:
Light dappled through the trees in the family courtyard, painting shadows on the paving stones. Li Reiko knelt by her son to look at his scraped knee.
“I just scratched it.” Nawi squirmed under her hands.
Her daughter, Aya, leaned over her shoulder studying the healing. “Maybe Mama will show you her armor after she heals you.”
Nawi stopped wiggling. “Really?”
Reiko shot Aya a warning look, but her little boy’s dark eyes shone with excitement. Reiko smiled. “Really.” What did tradition matter? “Now let me heal your knee.” She laid her hand on the shallow wound.
“Ow.”
“Shush.” Reiko closed her eyes and rose in the dark space behind them.
In her mind’s eye, Reiko took her time with the ritual, knowing it took less time than it appeared. In a heartbeat, green fire flared out to the walls of her mind. She dissolved into it as she focused on healing her son.
You can read ‘Bound Man’ in Full at Wired.com.
Thanks for the excerpt. Time to go back to the bookstore. By the way, regarding contiibutor George RR Martin… Some time ago, I asked my friend Melinda, who works with him, what ‘RR’ stands for and neither she nor others present knew for sure, aside from its not being ‘Ronald Reuel’.
It stands for “Raymond Richard.”
Thanks!
Congrats on being in Wired! That’s wonderful. The comments on the excerpt are kind of hilarious, though. I loved the person who thought your named was ripped off from the novel _Gateway_.
I particularly liked the person who took the time to scroll to the bottom to say “tl;dr” Too long; didn’t read.
Ack, I didn’t realize you were in this, too, Mary. Neat. Must read sooner rather than later…
Loved it! Hope to see more.
Thank you!
Hi, I came across your story on Wired and absolutely loved it! Is there more to come? I really want to see what happens next!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. At some point, I do want to write a novel in this world but that’s probably a couple of years off.