Journeys

by Teresa Edgerton (Editor)

SOMETIMES THE JOURNEY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE DESTINATION.

A stone from the starts rips a royal family apart, in a new tale from the banished lands. Weary hero Cam rides to the aid of his dying king, bearing the elixir that may save him. A party of reluctant adventurers pursues a troll across a snowy mountainside – or is it the troll who is hunting them?

Fourteen tales of daring, death, and glory, by fourteen talented writers.

Grab your map, sword, and magical amulet; your journey awaits.

With stories from:

John Gwynne, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Gail Z. Martin, Juliet E McKenna, Julia Knight, Juliana Spink Mills, Jacob Cooper, Samanda R Primeau, Steven Poore, Davis Ashura, Dan Jones, Charlie Pulsipher, Anna Dickinson, and Thaddeus White

Genres: Fantasy, Anthologies

324 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 12, 2017

About the author

I believe I began telling stories as soon as I learned to talk. More than sixty years later I am still inventing them.

On paper, my life looks more glamorous than it was in actual fact (most peoples' lives do). My husband and I met at our local Renaissance Faire. I've made and sold puppets, spent twenty years as a professional fortuneteller, worked in a craft store, and been an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. My hobbies are Halloween and Christmas.

Currently, I am working as an editor for Tickety Boo Press, heading a new imprint Venus Ascending, which will be publishing fantasy and science fiction romance novels. For submission guidelines http://www.ticketyboopress.co.uk/tere...

My own published work includes eleven fantasy novels, written under my own name and my pseudonym, Madeline Howard, as well as short fiction, reviews, interviews, and articles on writing.

I live with my husband, two adult children, a son-in-law, two grandsons, assorted pets, and more books than you might think would fit in the remaining space.

Reviews

[Eon Windrunner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall rating is 3.65 rounded up to 4 ⭐

Nice anthology with some interesting stories. Will not say anything about them as they are very short and easily spoiled. The John Gwynne was my favourite by far, but probably only works if you have read The Faithful & The Fallen series.

Fool's Quest by Juliana Spink Mills - ⭐⭐⭐
Tomas and the Virgin by Anna Dickinson - ⭐⭐⭐½
The Broken City by Davis Ashura - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Warm heart by Dan Jones - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Black Sails by Thaddeus White - ⭐⭐⭐
The Last Mile by Gail Z Martin - ⭐⭐⭐
The Black-Handed Mage by Charlie Pulsipher - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Quests and Answers by Samanda R Primeau - ⭐⭐⭐
The Vanishing by Jacob Cooper - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Sundering by John Gwynne - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Anton · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately i have enjoyed this compilation slightly less than expected. But in fairness, i picked this book up to read John Gwynne's story (it was good but short). I also encountered Dan Jones with his tale of an assassin and loved it. I think it has a botched ending, but it is very well written. I have attempted all other stories but none of them connected with me.

Anyhow, this collection is on Kindle Unlimited - recommend it at least for the stories I've mentioned above. Plus you may discover something else that will resonate with you.

[Dan Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I have a story published in this anthology, entitled "A Warm Heart" so feel free to take this rating with a pinch of salt, but this rating is given to the book based on all the other stories apart from my own - as it's pretty difficult to stay objective about one's own work!

But the other stories are superb: my favourites were Adrian Tchaikovsky's excellent meander through the magical realms of the undead, and John Gwynne's extension of his fantasy world built in his Faithful and Fallen series, and the tale of the Black-Handed Mage, from Charlie Pulsipher, who is such an impressive emerging writer to me.

And that's really the best part of the book; it serves as a platform for so many emerging talents, and it will be interesting to see who steps up and continues their rise.

[Emmanuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some pretty cool tales in this collection and i enjoyed almost all of them but I pretty much read this kindle book just for John Gwynne's short story The Sundering. Gwynne takes us back to the Banished Lands to Drasil as we encounter King Skald, Nemain, his Queen and Balur, pre Malice events.
I cant get enough of Gwynne's writing, in my opinion the guy is a master.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, where to start? I ask myself.

This is a large collection of short stories entitled; Journeys by, John Gwynne. John is the author of The Faithful and the Fallen series featuring, Malice, Ruin, Valour and Wrath, and his short story is connected with the Giants from that series. (Which pleased me since the Giants had some very interesting background missing from the four main books).

Do not be misled, however. John Gwynne is the author of only one of fourteen short stories here, all of which will have appeal to some or all of you. Aside from the obvious talent of Gail Z Martin and Adrian Tchaikovsky, there are plenty of other storytellers here that deserve some credit for their work.

There were at least three authors that were lesser known to me that really stood out;

1 Dan Jones
2 Steven Poore
3 Julianna Spink Mills

I particularly enjoyed their short stories and thought I should single them out. Give this very good collection a read and see if you agree with me. You get to choose from, Juliet E Mckenna, Julia Knight, Jacob Cooper, Samander R Primeau, Davis Ashura, Charlie Pulsipher, Anna Dickinson and Thadeus Wight, plus the six I've already mentioned.

You may find that you like three totally different authors, my taste has been known to be wrong in the past!

[Steven Poore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bias disclosure time: I'm in the ToC of this anthology with the best short story I've written so far (IMHO), but even so it's not the best story in the collection. Go judge for yourselves, as I'm not naming names, but all praise to Nathan Hystad and Teresa Edgerton for curating and editing a must-have volume of epic adventures. :)

[Pers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent and engaging anthology. Of the 14 stories, 1 didn't work for me (I somehow couldn't engage with the protagonist or the setting), and 1 left me bewildered - though I'll freely admit to reading it in bed, half asleep, so I'll try again when I'm more awake.

Two (by Juliet E McKenna and Gail Z Martin) left me politely begging the authors for MORE PLEASE!

I highly recommend this collection.


(Disclaimer: I was given an ARC of this book for review.)

[Chris Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each and every story within this book was wonderful, and each author made me want to read more of their work. Like many book lovers, I have loads of books I still need to read and this has just added a lot more on top of that.

[Andy Angel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buy This Now!

[Major Havoc · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought for the John Gwynne story, The Sundering, which is a short, 14 page prequel adventure about a cataclysmic moment in the history of the Giants of the Banished Lands. The story was well done and fairly action packed for such a short tale.

[Dustman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great stories. I'll be looking for these authors and their books. The Sundering was my favorite.

[Karolina Cebula · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review in progress

[Ken Hubbard · Rating 3 out of 5]

I marked this "did not finish", but not for lack of interest. It's just because it's a short story anthology, and I tend to only read some of them with the intention of coming back later.

My favorite story was the one by Adrian Tchaikovsky, called The World Wound.