Showing results by author "Laura Anne Gilman" in All Categories

Once, all power in the Vin Lands was held by the prince-mages, who alone could craft spellwines and who selfishly used them to increase their own wealth and influence. But their abuse of power caused a demigod to break the Vine, shattering the power of the mages. Now, fourteen centuries later, it is the humble Vinearts who hold the secret of crafting spells from wines, the source of magic, and they are prohibited from holding power.

Wren Valere's job is driving her crazy. She's still Manhattan's most sought-after Retriever, but after last year's deadly confrontation with the Silence, all this magic-user wants is a break. With her apartment going co-op and her relationship with the demon P.B. putting stress on her romance with partner Sergei, is Wren finally ready to settle down to a more stable existence? Not likely....

It began soon after the Millennium. Reports of newborns with strange malformations, too weak to live…caused by a single genetic mutation. Or, as the press quickly dubbed it, the Dragon Virus. Scientists predicted that it was an evolutionary dead end; that the mutation would burn itself out quickly; that it was nothing to be worried about. They were wrong. Every racial type. Almost every continent. No known cause. Human-created, maybe. Or just God, throwing the dice. Infecting us, warping us. Tied into our genetic code, from here on in. No known treatment. No idea where even to begin. Everything was about to change.

Miles to Go and Promises to Keep introduce Danny Hendrickson: human mother, faun father, 100% attitude. For the most part, he's made his own way, first as a member of the NYPD and then - when they started looking too closely at non-humans in the force - as a private investigator, straddling the line between human and fatae (supernatural) in his job the way he does in his life. He has a good life, he has good friends, he makes a difference…But he also has a dangerous life.

Vineart Bradhai wanted only to tend his vines, craft his magic, and be left alone. Instead, the need of desperate sailors faced with unstoppable monsters took him from his vineyards, onto the wild seas... and into history. A novella set in the world of The Vineart War trilogy.

"My name's Bonnie Torres. Recent college grad, magic user, and severely unemployed. Until I got a call out of nowhere to interview for a job I hadn't applied for. It smelled fishy, but the brutal truth was I needed the work - so off I went. Two days later I'm a PUPI (Private, Unaffiliated, Paranormal Investigator) - me and Nick, Sharon, Nifty, and Pietr. Five 20-somethings, thrown into an entirely new career in forensic magic. The first job we get is a doozy. Worse, there are high-profile people who want us to close up shop and go away."

As a Retriever, Wren Valere specializes in finding things gone missing - and then bringing them back, no questions asked. Normally her job is stimulating, challenging and only a little bit dangerous. But every once in a while....

The best Retrievers go unnoticed: sliding into shadows, gliding through crowds without entanglement. Wren Valere used to be almost invisible. But now she's not only being seen, she's getting involved. Recent attacks against nonhuman Fatae have escalated into hate crimes against magic users in general - humans included. With the Mage Council distracted by internal power struggles, Wren is guilted into stepping up as spokesperson for the fragilely united Fatae and lonejack communities....

Once more Wren Valere's game plan has taken an unexpected direction. She'd agreed to a bargain with one supersecret magic-watching outfit to protect her and her partner on their last job. But now the Silence is trying to wedge them apart. On the one hand, ever since she and Sergei began to talk about their "relationship," things have been tricky. On the other, though... Well, no one better try to stand between Wren and Sergei when danger is near!

"My name is Bonita Torres, and eight months ago I was an unemployed college graduate without a plan. Now I'm an investigator with the Private Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigations team of New York. Pretty awesome, right? The Cosa Nostradamus, the magical community, isn't quick to give up its secrets, though. So we've been busting our tails, perfecting our forensic skills, working to gain acceptance. We're needed, especially when a case comes along that threatens to pit human against fatae. But one wrong move could cost us everything we've worked for...."

Vineart student Jerzy and his new companions Ao and Mahault take to the sea, to gain time in which to figure out what to do after the disastrous events they left behind in the city-state of Aleppan. While at sea, a storm drives their ship to falter - only to be rescued by a surprising ally. Called home and under close watch by the sternly pious Washers, Jerzy tries to let go of what he has learned and return to his formerly satisfying life. But the shadows on the Lands Vin continue to darken....

In the Year Without a Summer, a group of mad geniuses descended on Geneva. In an attempt to save the body and mind of George Byron, they performed a dreadful and forbidden experiment that forever changed history - and tore their own lives apart.Years later, Byron’s daughter Ada has inherited her father’s genius.

Wren Valere used to have a simple life. Her partner Sergei would negotiate the terms of the Retrieval--all right, the theft--and she would use her magical Talent to carry it out. Paycheck deposited, on to the next job. Now? Her relationship with Sergei is even more complicated (sex will do that). Her fellow lonejacks are trying to organize against the Mage's Council. The nonhuman population of Manhattan is getting fed up with being ignored and abused. And the Council? Well, they have an agenda of their own.

In my time with PUPI, formally known as Private, Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigations, I've seen a lot. Learned a lot. And not all of it's been good. But what we do - make people accountable for crimes committed with magic - is important work. Still. Even I need to take a break every now and again. Or so I've just been told (ordered). So hey, vacation. Maybe I'll finally figure out what's going on with the "special bond" between me and the boss man, Benjamin Venec. Venec seems to like that idea - he's invited me down to join him on a jaunt to Philly. But no sooner do I arrive in the City of Brotherly Love than we're called in to look at a dead body.

The Cosa Nostradamus is in disarray; the Truce holding violence in check has been broken. Magical Manhattan is at war, and Wren Valere is left without her partner/lover Sergei, whose past loyalties keep him from her side just when she needs him the most. Hoping to keep herself occupied, Wren takes a job - but what should have been an ordinary Retrieval instead forces her to realize that it is time to do more. It is time for the Cosa to take the battle to the enemy.

The name's Torres, Bonnie Torres, and I'm a paranormal scene investigator - rooting out the truth about crimes of magic. It's dangerous and boring and scary and fascinating. Though not everyone in the Cosa Nostradamus is happy we're around, which can make things…tricky. Working two cases - looking into a murder for the NYPD, and a rich man's break-in - should be well within our abilities. But when things start getting weird in the Electric Apple, Private Unaffiliated Paranormal Investigations is stretched to the limits, trying to keep one step ahead and out of trouble.

Miles to Go and Promises to Keep introduce Danny Hendrickson: Human mother, faun father, 100% Attitude. For the most part, he's made his own way, first as a member of the NYPD and then - when they started looking too closely at non-humans in the force - as a private investigator, straddling the line between human and fatae (supernatural) in his job the way he does in his life.

Following the events of the high-stakes and propulsive Uncanny Times, Rosemary and Aaron Harker, along with their supernatural hound Botherton, have been given a new assignment to investigate…but the Harkers believe it’s a set-up, and there’s something far more ancient and deadly instead.

Huntsmen, according to the Church, were damned, their blood unclean, unholy. Yet for Rosemary and Aaron Harker the Church was less important than being ready to stand against the Uncanny as not being prepared could lead to being dead. The year is 1913. America—and the world—trembles on the edge of a modern age. Political and social unrest shift the foundations; technology is beginning to make its mark. But in the shadows, things from the past still move. Things inhuman, uncanny. And the Uncanny are no friend to humanity.