The Very Best of Kate Elliott (51 page)
Read The Very Best of Kate Elliott Online
Authors: Kate Elliott
Tags: #Fantasy, #Fiction, #Collections & Anthologies
Thanks to Daniel José Older, Liz Bourke, Rochita Loenen-Ruiz, and Joyce Chng for reading and commenting on early and late versions of this post. Special shout-out to this recent
Strange Horizons
roundtable arranged by Daniel José Older: Set Truth on Stun: Reimagining an Anti-Oppressive SF/F
9
. And a final link to N. K. Jemisin’s excellent and important Guest of Honor speech at Continuum earlier this year: “SFF has always been the literature of the human imagination, not just the imagination of a single demographic.”
10
1
. https://storify.com/jennygadget/some-thought-by-kate-elliott-onworldbuilding
2
. Ibid.
3
. http://aliettedebodard.com/bibliography/novels/on-a-red-station-drifting/
4
. http://aliettedebodard.com/2013/04/08/on-political-and-valueneutral/
5
. http://strangehorizons.com/2013/20130114/loenen-ruiz-c.shtml
6
. http://crossedgenres.com/archives/018-2/growing-up-by-joyce-chng/
7
. http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/dont-let-the-future-be-written-foryou-sabrina-vourvouliass-ink/
8
. http://bookviewcafe.com/bookstore/bvc-author/judith-tarr/
9
. http://www.strangehorizons.com/2013/20130923/1older-a.shtml
10
. http://nkjemisin.com/2013/06/continuum-goh-speech/
KATE ELLIOTT has been writing stories since she was nine years old, which has led her to believe that writing, like breathing, keeps her alive. Forthcoming novels are her debut YA fantasy,
Mask
, described as “Little Women meets the Count of Monte Cristo in a fantasy setting inspired by Greco-Roman Egypt,” and the first volume of a new epic fantasy sequence, Black Wolves. Her most recent completed series is the Spiritwalker Trilogy (
Cold Magic
,
Cold Fire
,
Cold Steel
), an Afro-Celtic post-Roman alternate-nineteenth-century Regency icepunk mashup with airships, Phoenician spies, revolution, and lawyer dinosaurs. Her previous series include the Crossroads Trilogy (starting with
Spirit Gate
), The Crown of Stars septology (starting with
King’s Dragon
), and the science fiction Novels of the Jaran and the Highroad Trilogy.
Elliott likes to play sports more than she likes to watch them; right now, her sport of choice is outrigger canoe paddling. Her archaeologist spouse has a much more interesting job than she does, with the added benefit that they had to move to Hawaii for his work. Thus, the outrigger canoes. They also have a schnauzer.
The stunning cover painting by Julie Dillon illustrates a passage from
Cold Steel
(Spiritwalker 3):
[A]
sweep of color washed through the smoky sea . . . Lights like fireflies twinkled against a black sky. The sea surged, lifting like cloth raised from beneath by a hand. A bright shape emerged, smoke spilling off it in currents.
The dragon loomed over us. Its head was crested as with a filigree that reminded me of a troll’s crest, if a troll’s crest spanned half the sky. Silver eyes spun like wheels. It was not bird or lizard, nor was it a fish. Most of its body remained beneath the smoke. Ripples revealed a dreadful expanse of wings as wide as fields, shimmering pale gold like ripe wheat under a harsh sun. When its mouth gaped, I knew it could swallow us in one gulp.
We had come to a place we ought not to be.
Table of Contents
Introduction: The Landscapes that surround us
Riding the Shore of the River of Death
Leaf and Branch and Grass and Vine
On the Dying Winds of the Old Year and the Birthing Winds of the New
The Omniscient Breasts: The Male Gaze through Female Eyes
The Narrative of Women in Fear and Pain