Victoria Goddard

Thrice-cursed bard and warrior-elf Tamsin wakes up in Elfland after what might or might not have been his death, healed and hale for the first time in millennia. Somewhat confused but not entirely unhappy with this turn of events, he sets off in the hopes of finding a way home ...

Thrice-cursed bard and warrior-elf Tamsin wakes up in Elfland after what might or might not have been his death, healed and hale for the first time in millennia. Somewhat confused but not entirely unhappy with this turn of events, he sets off in the hopes of finding a way home ...

One death, two victims – one seen, one hidden A thrilling rollercoaster, combining a multi-layered crime drama with an emotionally charged family saga, Still Small Voice looks at a fractured marriage and the fatal consequences of love, lust, and obsession. It’s a sweltering August day in 1998, and the body of a missing woman, best-selling author Nicky Butler, is discovered in an empty house in South West London. DI John Burroughs and his tenacious partner, DS Lucy Burton, are assigned to the case and it is immediately clear that all is not what it seems. Do they suspect Nicky’s controlling husband, James Scott, a hundred miles away in a dreary hotel room, contemplating a grim future, or the mysterious man seen entering the house the previous evening? As the detectives delve deeper into the investigation without a clear suspect, nothing seems to add up and there is a strong chance they will convict the wrong man. Why was Nicky at her brother-in-law’s house on the night of the murder while he was out of the country? And who is the shadowy figure hovering on the edge of the action, watching and waiting. The heart-stopping final twist will leave you gasping.

Northwest Oriole is a land of small countries and many universities, where scholarship is greatly regarded. Choosing a school is thus a matter of great weight, no matter your rank or wealth. Hal has always known where he's going, because he is the Imperial Duke of Fillering Pool, and the dukes have always gone to either Zabour or Tara. Since Zabour fell into the sea, it'll have to be Tara. Theoretically. At some point he'll have to write them. Clary Sage is a novella loosely connected to the Grenwing & Dart series, taking place before those books commence.

Friends by chance--or is it fate?Damian Raske and Jullanar Thistlethwaite are about as different as can be. Damian is a young swordsman, dreaming of being the best in the world, hardly aware of what lies beyond the outskirts of his city, let alone that there is a great empire on the other side of the horizon. Jullanar is a gently-raised young woman from deep inside the Empire of Astandalas, aware that there are worlds beyond its sway but hardly daring to dream she'd ever see outside of her own country, let alone beyond the empire's borders. And yet they both dream of friendship, of adventure, of what else there might be. And it's Jullanar whose exam results turn out to matter in a way no one could expect.The first book of The Red Company, because even the greatest of folk heroes have to start somewhere.

Cliopher Mdang has been appointed Viceroy of Zunidh by his beloved Radiancy, the Last Emperor, who has now left him behind in the Palace to safeguard the world during his absence on a quest to find an appropriately magical heir. When he returns, he will abdicate, and Cliopher will at last retire, satisfied with having achieved most of his life's political goals--even if his long-suppressed personal dreams are starting to bubble up.(Surely he used to have hobbies besides running the government?)All he has to do is wait patiently for his lord's return... until adventure quite literally hits him from behind, and what was once safely hypothetical becomes intensely real.Cliopher has always followed the stars of his chosen course: the epic oral histories of his people, the poetry of the rebel poet Fitzroy Angursell, decades of devotion and service to his Radiancy... They were enough to change the world. But are they enough to guide Cliopher home?The sequel to The Hands of the Emperor.

An impulsive word can start a war.A timely word can stop one.A simple act of friendship can change the course of history.Cliopher Mdang is the personal secretary of the Last Emperor of Astandalas, the Lord of Rising Stars, the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, the god.He has spent more time with the Emperor of Astandalas than any other person.He has never once touched his lord.He has never called him by name.He has never initiated a conversation.One day Cliopher invites the Sun-on-Earth home to the proverbially remote Vangavaye-ve for a holiday. The mere invitation could have seen Cliopher executed for blasphemy.The acceptance upends the world.Lays of the Hearth-Fire #1.

"Someone always leaves." That's what Tovo has been saying to anyone who asks him why his great-nephew Kip Mdang isn't at his side, isn't fulfilling the tasks and obligations of the tan , isn't there to tend the fire, isn't home. "Someone always leaves," Tovo reminds them. "Kip will return when it's time." He wonders, though. He wonders if his errant grand-nephew was really as bright and as promising as they all thought he was. He wonders if Kip has forgotten the Lays, forgotten what it means to be an Islander, forgotten everything that Tovo taught him. Of course, the simplest solution to Tovo's doubts is to go and see for himself. Someone always leaves, after all. Even to the other side of the world.

Magic is out of fashion.Except, obviously, at Winterturn.Winterturn in Ragnor Bella is a holiday for family, feasting, and a few religious festivities.Jemis Greenwing and Mr. Dart are both quite ready for a quiet week or two after their adventures going to and coming home from Orio City. Jemis in particular is looking forward to the first Winterturn spent with his father since he was a child.Then the fairy fox shows up. Wild magic. Family secrets. Gifts from unknown admirers. Sainthood. And that's before the pageant.Book Six of Greenwing & Dart, fantasies of manners-and mischief.

Artorin Damara, last Emperor of Astandalas, is in need of a new secretary.It has been three years since he woke from a magical coma caused by the collapse of his empire, and he can barely acknowledge his own existence, let alone articulate what he needs from someone else.Enter Cliopher sayo Mdang, Fifth Degree Secretary of the Imperial Bureaucratic Service, and to everyone's surprise the apocalypse ... ends.This novella is set on Zunidh in the universe of the Nine Worlds. It is best read after The Hands of the Emperor.

Artorin Damara is the Last Emperor of Astandalas and present Lord Magus of Zunidh. He is respected as a great mage, revered as a living god, regarded as the embodiment of power and wealth and majesty. Few have seen him in anything but the most resplendent garments; fewer still have ever looked him in the eyes.He is possibly the last person you would expect to find breaking into the tomb of the first Emperor of Astandalas. He could, after all, have entered it legitimately.But Artorin Damara has a great secret, which he has kept hidden since before he ascended to the throne, and part of it is that he knows perfectly well how to set about on an adventure. Another part of it is that his true name is not actually the one that everyone knows him by ...

Magic is out of fashion.Murder, like romance, is always a possibility.The journey home from Orio City was supposed to be straightforward. Avoid being captured by brigands or agents of the criminal gangs; try not to cause any further spiritual or magical shocks; and make it over the mountains before winter closes in.A sudden blizzard drives Jemis and his friends to seek refuge in an eccentric country gentleman's even more eccentric house. They only want to stay out the storm without revealing all their secrets: but the other guests have secrets of their own, and Mr. Dart's ability to hear the inanimate has some unforeseeable consequences ...Blizzards. Unicorns. Ciphers. Noblesse oblige. A budding romance. And that's before the murder. At least this time Jemis has an alibi. Too bad no one else does.Book Five of Greenwing & Dart, fantasies of manners--and mischief.

What the gods desire, they take.When the gods take a person, there is not much one can do about it, even if there seems something strange and terrible about the god. Through the gates of the eastern mountains pass only the gods, the dead, and the heroes of legend. Mere mortals do not go farther than the tombs lining the roads of the Middle Desert.Except for the daughters of the Bandit Queen of the Oclaresh, that is. The lord of the Blue Wind took their youngest sister. When Pali and Arzu discover that there is something gravely wrong, they decide that the gods work through the hands of men, that justice binds everyone-god, man, djinn, or demon-and that they are not afraid of the road east.The first book of The Sisters Avramapul.

Magic is out of fashion. Orio City is where that's decided.When his best friend Mr. Dart unexpectedly needs to make an urgent trip to Orio City, Jemis Greenwing's immediate response to ask when. He's willing to make up to his grandmother so she will lend them her falarode, he's willing to offer to run the errands of half the barony, and he's certainly willing to spend a week or so away from the gossips of Ragnor Bella.It's such a pity that Jemis and Mr. Dart are more than halfway to Orio City before Jemis remembers that his vindictive ex-lover Lark is a rising star in the criminal courts of Orio City. It's an even greater pity when they realize just what her new position is in the legally instituted court there.What with the dragon Jemis slayed a month ago, his consequent ascension to the position of Viscount St-Noire, and his father's very recent second return from the dead, to say nothing of that still-famous play from the summer, Three Years Gone: the Tragicomedy of the Traitor of Loe, it's really too much to hope for that Jemis will be able to spend even three days in the old capital incognito.University students. Bear baiting. Unexpected relations. Wild magic. Literary criticism. Kittens. And always that whisper from the highwaymen of the Arguty Forest that someone's death is on the line ...Book Four of Greenwing & Dart, fantasies of manners--and mischief.

Magic is out of fashion. Outlaws make their own.Jemis Greenwing has slain a dragon, been acknowledged as the Viscount St-Noire, and not incidentally also been given a raise. After a chaotic first month back in Ragnor Bella, he's finally feeling confident that he can make it to the Winterturn Assizes and the reading of his stepfather's will without falling headlong into any more disaster.Then he's arrested on suspicion of murder.By magic.Of one of the greatest folk heroes of legend.Trained to be a politically radical gentleman-of-leisure, Jemis thought he was doing fairly well as a bookstore clerk. That, of course, is before he ends up on the run in the Arguty Forest confronting highwaymen, illegal distillers, the odd relation, and the Wild Saint--not to mention the secrets a town truly committed to being infamously dull can hold. Book Three of Greenwing & Dart, fantasies of manners--and mischief.

A retelling of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice set in a mostly-real modern London ...Behind the corners of our world, there is magic.As the Lord of Ysthar, Raphael Amian is responsible for it. An honest man, his lies are legion. An infamous recluse, his social circle includes Scheherezade, Shakespeare, and the Crown Prince of Fairyland. He is a great mage to his enemies, a movie star to strangers, and a hundred pseudonymous half-lives to history. He is dutifully trying to prevent the end of the world when his long-lost twin brother Kasian gate-crashes his life.Raphael is prepared to sacrifice his soul, his reputation, and his crown to save his beloved Ysthar. Saving himself is another matter entirely.There is magic. It's not enough.