This rare and sought-after Middle Kingdoms novelette was published for the first time in the Tor Fantasy tribute anthology Moonsinger's Friends: In Honor of André Norton, and has been out of print for twenty-five years. It now appears here in ebook format for the first time. Lior is the Rodmistress of a small north-coast fishing village in Darthen. Her work brings her up against the Sea on a daily basis. But one day a desperate challenge that Lior issues to the Sea itself in the face of a deadly ocean storm produces a change in the relationship that not even a Rodmistress can easily cope with. Soon Lior must choose between the safety and security of the life she's always known and the terrifying power and possibility offered her by what was once just a force of nature, but has now become something much more personal... Reader's advisory: This story contains mature themes and situations.
Author
Diane Duane has been a writer of science fiction, fantasy, TV and film for more than forty years. Besides the 1980's creation of the Young Wizards fantasy series for which she's best known, the "Middle Kingdoms" epic fantasy series, and numerous stand-alone fantasy or science fiction novels, her career has included extensive work in the Star Trek TM universe, and many scripts for live-action and animated TV series on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as work in comics and computer games. She has spent a fair amount of time on the New York Times Bestseller List, and has picked up various awards and award nominations here and there. She lives in County Wicklow, in Ireland, with her husband of more than thirty years, the screenwriter and novelist Peter Morwood. Her favorite color is blue, her favorite food is a weird kind of Swiss scrambled-potato dish called maluns, she was born in a Year of the Dragon, and her sign is "Runway 24 Left, Hold For Clearance." (From her official website)
