Winter Whimsy / Balance of Seven (ePub)

Featuring stories by M. Rose Callahan, Kelly Lynn Colby, Celosia Crane, H. M. Forrest, K.A. Fox, Kimberly Gail, K. N. Gemme, Ynes Malakova, Allorianna Matsourani, Logos Peregrin, and Emily Van Engen. Introduction by Debbie Burns.

"Is it real, brother?"

"Aye, little one. It is very real! It is called winter, and the white stuff that falls is called snow. Come, reach out and touch it."

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If autumn marks the season of change, then the season of speculation begins with winter--a time to dream, a time to wonder. Winter Whimsy is a breathtaking collection of tales from eleven worlds; when the season brings both snow and otherworldly phenomena, eleven curious minds are called to explore the anomalies with wonder and awe.

As the snow quietly blankets the earth, a meteor soars overhead and becomes the buzz of a small town. An ice fairy attack leads to an unexpected and bizarre truth. A nighttime drive down a snow-covered road leads to the discovery of mysterious, orb-like lights. An empathic painter slips further and further into an ethereal state in which her waking life and dreams become blurred.

What does it all mean? What dangers lurk beneath all the whimsy and wonderment?

A free-spirited girl creates a snow angel at dusk, soon learning her actions may have summoned an ancient evil. A peculiar basket arrives at the doorstep of a mountain ogress. A witch-apprentice and her mentor trek deep into a forest rumored to hold a host of disturbed spirits. A young elf takes his frail brother to see his first snowfall despite his father's warnings about the dangers of the land.

An orphan train, a Yuletide blizzard, and phantasmagoria: in this collection of speculative fiction tales, the strange and new abound.