David Farland

Eliza Gadd crosses the Great Plains by handcart with her Mormon husband on the journey from their native England to a new home in the Rocky Mountains. Baline Mortensen, a nine-year old Dane, is a member of the handcart company as well. Together they suffer unimaginable deprivations. Based on the true story of the Mormon pioneers in the Willie Handcart Company of 1856, who leave for the Rocky Mountains too late in the season and are stranded on the plains in the early onset of the coldest winter in US history.

Illustrators of the future / by Echo Chernik -- Turnabout / by Erik Bundy ; illustrated by Adar Darnov -- A Smokeless and scorching fire / by Erin Cairns ; illustrated by Kyna Tek -- The Howler on the sales floor / by Jonathan Ficke ; illustrated by Sidney Lugo -- The Minarets of An-Zabat / by Jeremy TeGrotenhuis ; illustrated by Brenda Rodriguez -- Suspense / by L. Ron Hubbard -- The Death flyer / by L. Ron Hubbard ; illustrated by Ven Locklear -- Odd and ugly / by Vida Cruz ; illustrated by Reyna Rochin -- Mara's shadow / by Darci Stone ; illustrated by Quintin Gleim -- Theme / by Orson Scott Card -- The Lesson / by Brandon Sanderson ; illustrated by Bea Jackson -- Paying it forward / by Jerry Pournelle -- What lies beneath / by Cole Hehr ; illustrated by Maksym Polishchuk -- The Face in the box / by Janey Bell ; illustrated by Bruce Brenneise -- Flee, my pretty one / by Eneasz Brodski ; illustrated by Alana Fletcher -- Passion and profession / by Ciruelo -- Illusion / by Jody Lynn Nye ; inspired by Ciruelo's Dragon Caller -- A bitter thing / by N.R.M. Roshak ; illustrated by Jazmen Richardson -- Miss Smokey / by Diana Hart ; illustrated by Anthony Moravian -- All light and darkness / by Amy Henrie Gillett ; illustrated by Duncan Halleck -- The year in the contests.

After the events of Sons of the Oak, Fallion and Jaz, the sons of the great Earth King Gaborn, are living as fugitives in their own kingdom, newly invaded and secretly controlled by supernatural being of ultimate evil. The sons are hiding until they can regain their rightful places in the land. Fallion seems destined to heal the world, and feels the supernatural calling to act. When he calls on his powers to do so though, two entire worlds collapse into one, and every living thing on both worlds is transformed into an entirely new beingyet still somehow the same. Evil is certainly still the same, and may have influenced this for a terrible purpose.

The Saga of the Runelords is written in the finest tradition of Tolkien and other works that rise above the fantasy genre to special and individual heights. Now the epic story continues: at the end of Worldbinder, Fallion Orden, son of Gaborn, was imprisoned on a strange and fantastic world that he created by combining two alternate realities. It's a world brimming with dark magic, ruled by a creature of unrelenting evil who is gathering monstrous armies from a dozen planets in a bid to conquer the universe. Only Fallion has the power to mend the worlds, but at the heart of a city that is a vast prison, he lies in shackles. The forces of evil are growing and will soon rage across the heavens. Now, Fallion's allies must risk everything in an attempt to free him from the wyrmling horde.

A world in which people increase their wit, beauty, brawn, stamina, vision, hearing by receiving endowments from others, who are then left witless, ugly, weak, blind, deaf; but well cared for as dedicates. The tale follows the exploits of Prince Gaborn Val Orden of Mystarria, a young Runelord who hopes to win the hand of Princess Iome, heiress to the throne of Sylvarresta, and thereby unite his and her lands. He finds Sylvarresta under attack, however, by the forces of Raj Ahren, whose endowments number in the thousands, making it nearly impossible to kill him. As Gaborn works to save Iome and her father, who have been coerced into giving endowments to Raj Ahren, the young prince faces not only danger, but also his fate to be crowned the new Earth King, with command of the ghosts of his forefathers.