A short story collection by the award-winning author of The Birthgrave and The Silver Metal Lover, the first installment of a two-volume series.

Volume two of the magical short story collection by Nebula and World Fantasy Award winner Tanith Lee, author of The Silver Metal Lover and The Birthgrave. "Gothic poetess, comic young-adult author, robust adventure-fantasy novelist: Tanith Lee has more writing personas than Sybil. But in her short fiction, all these aspects come gloriously together. Such stories as 'Antonius Bequeathed' or 'The Persecution Machine,' with their death-defying mixture of prose poetry, genre trope reversals and ominous wit, could be written by no one else." - WEIRD TALES magazine Stories include: "The Woman in Scarlet," "One For Sorrow," "Unlocking the Golden Cage," "Antonius Bequeathed," "Doll Skulls," "Queens in Crimson," "Flower Water," "The Persecution Machine," "All the Birds of Hell," "Vermilia."

The mammoth 85th Anniversary Issue of The Unique Magazine features:

FICTION: "Heart of Ice" by Tanith Lee; "Creature" by Ramsey Shehadeh; "The Yellow Dressing Gown" by Sarah Monette; "The Talion Moth" by John Kirk; "Detours on the Way to Nothing" by Rachel Swirsky; "Black Petals" (new Elric novella) by Michael Moorock.

SPECIAL FEATURE: The 85 Weirdest Storytellers of the Past 85 Years.

POETRY: "A Compleynte on the Deth of Sir William Thatcher, Sumtyme Ycleped Ulrich of Lichtenstein" by Geoffrey Chaucer.

NONFICTION: Interview: Jeff VanderMeer chats with weird fantasy novelist China Mieville; Weirdism: Stephen Geigen-Miller on his pulp-fiction heritage; Lost Pages: Ira Marcks presents a snapshot of modern Innsmouth...; Lost in Lovecraft: ...and Kenneth Hite explores why H.P.L.'s characters sought asylum in Arkham; Excerpt: Csilla Csori discusses the science of Dune's gholas and how to raise the dead; The Bazaar: Cherie Priest meets a steampunk Cthulhoid amulet crafter; The Cryptic: Darrell Schweitzer on the enduring power of the Blob; The Library: Book reviews.

Raised in a swamp by a mad witch, poor Louisa grew up with one goal in mind: to marry a wealthy man, then inherit his lands and money by whatever means it takes. And Louisa may well succeed, for she is a stunning beauty with the manners of an angel. At last she sets off to make her fortune . . . and with the help of her vial of undetectable poison, she soon finds her first victim. A dazzlingly dark fantasy, as only Tanith Lee could write it!

Love is made of more than mere flesh and blood....
Tanith Lee is one of the most thought-provoking and imaginative authors of our time. In this unforgettably poignant novel, Lee has created a classic tale--a beautiful, tragic, erotic, and ultimately triumphant love story of the future.
For sixteen-year-old Jane, life is a mystery she despairs of ever mastering. She and her friends are the idle, pampered children of the privileged class, living in luxury on an Earth remade by natural disaster. Until Jane's life is changed forever by a chance encounter with a robot minstrel with auburn hair and silver skin, whose songs ignite in her a desperate and inexplicable passion.
Jane is certain that Silver is more than just a machine built to please. And she will give up everything to prove it. So she escapes into the city's violent, decaying slums to embrace a love bordering on madness. Or is it something more? Has Jane glimpsed in Silver something no one else has dared to see--not even the robot or his creators? A love so perfect it must be destroyed, for no human could ever compete?