For more than fifteen years Carrie Vaughn has published short fiction across all genres, through time and space, earning praise from critics and readers for twists and turns, shocks and delights, and emotional heart. This collection brings together alien encounters, classic fantasy creatures, strange magic, historical milieus; stories with heart, of people making their ways in the world the best they can, however strange and hostile those worlds might be; rare, hard-to-find stories that haven't been available in years. All this, now brought together in the first widely-available retrospective collection of Vaughn's work, including her Hugo-nominated, WSFA Small Press Award winning story "Amaryllis," about a post-catastrophe future in which a community struggles to live in balance with the environment and each other. "Amaryllis" was also published in Lightspeed Magazine. Contents THE BEST WE CAN STRIFE LINGERS IN MEMORY A HUNTER'S ODE TO HIS BAIT SUN, STONE, SPEAR CROWS SALVAGE DRAW THY BREATH IN PAIN THE GIRL WITH THE PRE-RAPHAELITE HAIR GAME OF CHANCE ROARING TWENTIES A RIDDLE IN NINE SYLLABLES 1977 DANAE AT SEA FOR FEAR OF DRAGONS THE ART OF HOMECOMING ASTROPHILIA BANNERLESS AMARYLLIS