Book excerpt: Swords and Shields. Faith and Magic. Grab your weapons and prepare, for the enemy is on the move. High fantasy and mighty conflicts go hand-in-hand. In great wars, armies rise to fight evil hordes and heroes struggle to push beyond their imperfections to save the day. These stories include more than just epic landscapes and charactersãthey also feature epic battles. Imagine a doctor struggling to identify the spy who has infiltrated his companys ranks and poisoned his colleagues or a boy suspected of murder by a king yet protected by a princess as he helps her father against his own people. Imagine a butcher discovering that hes called to lead an uprising, or a First Born knowing that she must betray her own in order to save humanity. The possibilities are endless, but at the heart they have this in common: soldiers¾ordinary and otherwise_struggling against extraordinary odds to survive the day. They must withstand dark magic, dodge enemy blades, and defy the odds to survive SHATTERED SHIELDS. Contributors: Larry Correia Sarah A. Hoyt Gray Rinehart David Farland Glen Cook Seanan McGuire John Helfers Annie Bellet Joseph Zieja Wendy N. Wagner David Farland Cat Rambo Robin Wayne Bailey Nancy Fulda John R. Fultz Dave Gross James L. Sutter Elizabeth Moon At the publisher's request, this title is sold without DRM (Digital Rights Management). About Shattered Shields: "An inventive and thought-provoking set of tales that capture the bravery and terrors of battle. Carries the banner of military fantasy proudly."--John Marco, author of The Bronze Knight Series About The Raygun Chronicles edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt: "Fans of sf should enjoy this stylistically varied homage to a genre as old as the fiction . . . "--Library Journal About Beyond the Sun edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt: "Beyond the Sun mixes courage, redemption, and stark terror in tales of distant worlds. Buckle in."--Jack McDevitt, author of Firebird