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A surprising and exciting new collection of speculative and
experimental stories that explore animal intelligences, gender, and
the nature of stories. The Privilege of the Happy Ending collects
award-winning writer Kij Johnson’s speculative fiction from the
last decade. The stories explore gender, animals, and the nature of
stories, and range in form from classically told tales to deeply
experimental works. The collection includes the World Fantasy
Award-winning “The Privilege of the Happy Ending” and “The
Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe,” as well as two never-before
published works.
Kij Johnson has created an achingly beautiful love story, a fable wrapped in smoke and magic set against the fabric of ancient Japan. Johnson brings the setting lovingly to life, describing a world of formalities and customs, where the exchange of poetry is a form of conversation and everything has meaning, from the color of the silks on wears to how one may address others.
Yoshifuji is a man fascinated by foxes, a man discontented and troubled by the meaning of life. A misstep at court forces him to retire to his long-deserted country estate, to rethink his plans and contemplate the next move that might return him to favor and guarantee his family's prosperity.
Kitsune is a young fox who is fascinated by the large creatures that have suddenly invaded her world. She is drawn to them and to Yoshifuji. She comes to love him and will do anything to become a human woman to be with him.
Shikujo is Yoshifuji's wife, ashamed of her husband, yet in love with him and uncertain of her role in his world. She is confused by his fascination with the creatures of the wood, and especially the foxes that she knows in her heart are harbingers of danger. She sees him slipping away and is determined to win him back from the wild...for all that she has her own fox-related secret.
Magic binds them all. And in the making (and breaking) of oaths and honors, the patterns of their lives will be changed forever.
The Fox Woman is a powerful first novel, singing with lyrical prose and touching the deepest emotions. A historically accurate fantasy, it gives us a glimpse into, and an understanding of, the history that shaped the people of one of our world's greatest nations. But it is also a story about people trying to understand each other and the times they live in, people trying to see through illusions to confront the truth of who they are.
This annual tradition from the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers
of America collects the best of the year's stories, as well as
essays and commentary on the state of the genre and predictions for
future science fiction and fantasy films, art and more.
The river of Mist, an almost living organism, divides the Empire in
two. A few Ferries make dangerous and treacherous journeys across
the Mist when they can, trusting in good fortune and the uncanny
skills of those plying the trade. *** A bridge across the Mist will
greatly ease the suffering of those who risk crossing the river.
The last bridge builder sent by the Empire died while building it.
*** Kit now comes to the town of Nearside to complete the task left
unfinished by the dead bridge builder. Will he be the man who will
finally bridge the Mist?
Enter the world of Kagaya-hime, a sometime woman warrior,
occasional philosopher, and reluctant confidante to noblemen--who
may or may not be a figment of the imagination of an aging empress
who is embarking on the last journey of her life, setting aside the
trappings of court life and reminiscing on the paths that lead her
to death.
For she is a being who started her journey on the kami, the spirit
road, as a humble tortoiseshell feline. Her family was destroyed by
a fire that decimated most of the Imperial city, and this loss
renders her taleless, the only one left alive to pass on such
stories as The Cat Born the Year the Star Fell, The Cat with a
Litter of Ten, and The Fire-Tailed Cat. Without her fudoki--self
and soul and home and shrine--she alone cannot keep the power of
her clan together. And she cannot join another fudoki, because
although she might be able to win a place within another clan, to
do so would mean that she would cease to be herself.
So a small cat begins an extraordinary journey. Along the way she
will attract the attention of old and ancient powers. Gods who are
curious about this creature newly come to Japan's shores, and who
choose to give the tortoiseshell a human shape.
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