A thousand years after the apocalyptic Holy Wars banished them from Ananya, the gods have returned—massacring the Empress and the Ananyan royal family, stripping away the magic that sustains Ananya's empire, and leaving it exposed to invading neighbors and vengeful fey.Ketya, neglected daughter of Ananya's most powerful official, wakes in the arms of the dead Empress. Along with her father she is rescued by Sperrin, a famous soldier whose post-traumatic stress disorder was "treated" by removing memories of his wife and daughter—memories which have returned with the destruction of Ananya's magic. Ketya finds herself fleeing into the uncertain safety of the mountains where she and Sperrin hope to regroup with other survivors. Ketya's father holds the answers to what happened and whether Ananya's magic can be restored—but the disaster that happened on his watch has shattered his sanity, leaving his daughter and her rescuer to try and piece things...

A survey of the last 100 years of science fiction, with representative stories and illuminating essays by the top writers, poets, and scholars, from Edgar Rice Burroughs and Samuel Butler to Robert A. Heinlein and and Jack Vance, from E.E. "Doc" Smith and Clifford D. Simak to Ted Chiang and Charles Stross-- and everyone in between. More than one million words of classic fiction and essays!