Paizo Publishing is putting out Worlds of Their Own, a short story anthology of creator-owned shared-world fiction edited by James Lowder this August. “Shared-world authors sometimes live in a sort of literary ghetto in the minds of critics and their fellow authors,” said Paizo’s Publisher, Erik Mona. “This collection presents creator-owned stories by some of the best of today’s shared-world authors, freeing their creativity from the shackles of corporate dictates and elaborate multi-author continuities. It’s exciting to see what these authors do when they’re playing with home field advantage.”
The authors in this volume got their starts writing shared-world fiction supporting roleplaying games. This book “collects more than a dozen thrilling tales, providing an exciting overview of the original worlds and characters of authors who achieved their greatest fame writing stories they do not own. Worlds of Their Own presents an unprecedented sampler of fantasy and science-fiction adventure tales from some of the best-loved and best-known authors in the genre.”
Contents include:
Introduction: “The Last Word Matters” by James Lowder
“Mather’s Blood” by R.A. Salvatore
“Keeping Score” by Michael A. Stackpole
“The Oaths of Gods” by Nancy Virginia Varian
“The Doom of Swords” by Greg Stolze
“Catch of the Day” by Jeff Grubb
“Ghosts of Love” by Steven Savile
“The Wisdom of Nightingales” by Richard E. Dansky
“The Guardian of the Dawn” by William King
“How Fear Came to Ornath” by Ed Greenwood
“The Admiral’s Reckoning” by J. Robert King
“Memories and Ghosts” by Monte Cook
“Three Impossible Things” by Lisa Smedman
“Near the End of the World” by Greg Stafford
“Confession” by Paul S. Kemp
“Lorelei” by Elaine Cunningham
“The Unquiet Dreams of Cingris the Stout” by James Lowder
“On the Off-Ramp of the Intergalactic Superhighway” by Will McDermott
“Twistbuck’s Game” by Gary Gygax
Paizo will host a group sigining of the book at their booth at Gen Con (in Indianapolis, Indiana) on Saturday 16 August at 2:30PM. Authors scheduled to attend include Greenwood, Kemp, Stackpole, Stolze, and Editor Lowder.