New Releases by Patricia A. McKillip

Sorrow and trouble and bitterness will hound you and yours and the children of yours… Some said the dying words of Nial Lynn, murdered by his own son, were a wicked curse. To others, it was a winter’s tale spun by firelight on cold, dark nights. But when Corbet Lynn came to rebuild his family estate, memories of his grandfather’s curse were rekindled by young and old--and rumors filled the heavy air of summer. In the woods that border Lynn Hall, free-spirited Rois Melior roams wild and barefooted. And as autumn gold fades, she is consumed with Corbet Lynn, obsessed with his secret past…

When Ombria’s prince, Royce Greve, breathes his last—in palace rooms high above the city—he leaves his young son and mistress at the mercy of his ancient and powerful great-aunt, Domina Pearl. Meanwhile, in a dreamlike underworld peopled by Ombria’s ghosts, a sorceress weaves her spells and brews her potions, never revealing her real face—or true heart. And somewhere in between, the struggle to rule the whole of Ombria—both its light and shadows—will rest in the hands of those whose fractured lives align like the lost pieces of a magical puzzle….

From the World Fantasy Award-winning author of The Bards of Bone Plain. Something half-woke in him, and he froze on the threshold, seeing misshapen faces billow in the flames. As a child, Rook had been taken in by the bards of Luly, and raised as one of their own. Of his past he knew nothing—except faint memoires of fire and death that he''d do anything to forget. But nightmares, and a new threat to the island that had become his own, would not let him escape the dreadful fate of his true family. Haunted by the music of the bards, he left the only home he knew to wander the land of the power-hungry Basilisk who had destroyed his family. And perhaps, finally, to find a future in the fulfillment of his forgotten destiny...

Face contre terre, le roi de Pelucir gît, démembré. Abandonné aux chiens. Dans le château, la reine expire en mettant au monde son second fils, Talis. Ombres, spectres fumants ! Depuis la catastrophe sanglante, tout n''est que cauchemar dans le petit royaume défait. Les murs calcinés du donjon grouillent de silhouettes meurtrières. Le Champ du Chasseur résonne encore du râle des mourants. Quel homme, quel sortilège hideux, ont déferlé sur la contrée, sur la vie, sur les rêves de ses habitants ? Atrix Wolfe, le mage légendaire, le loup Blanc, disparu depuis vingt ans ? Mage renégat... Impossible ! Et pourtant... La vérité pourrait bien se trouver dans le livre qu''Atrix Wolfe a enfoui à Chaumenard, au cœur du granit. Le mystérieux grimoire que parcourt aujourd''hui le prince Talis, derrière ses grosses lunettes...

Following The Sorceress and the Cygnet, Patricia A. McKillip returns with the sorceress Nyx and her niece Meguet. Together, the duo must face down a pair of mysterious magicals: a mage hell-bent on stealing a hidden treasure, and a firebird who transforms people and objects into precious materials. Each dawn, the firebird transforms into the form of a man, able to disappear into the surrounding town. As they seek out the true identity of the firebird and try to keep the powerful mage from achieving its ultimate prize, Nyx and Meguet set out on an adventure that will take them through various enchanted and alluring realms.

Il n''est jamais très bon, Corleu aux cheveux de lune, de se mêler des histoires de sorcières et de légendes... Et peut-être ne reverras-tu jamais ta tendre Tiel. Tu as franchi la porte interdite, dans la forêt, malgré les avertissements des tiens. Dans la Maison Noire est prisonnier le Roi d''Or. Il fallait l''y laisser, jeune Corleu. Si, en échange de Tiel et de tes compagnons, il exige de toi une terrible quête, tu ne l''as pas volé, avoue-le ! On pensait bien, au village, que tu étais un peu bizarre, avec tes cheveux de vieillard et ta manière de lire dans les étoiles... Tous ces enchantements sont dangereux. Nyx Ro, la magicienne du marais, prétend vouloir t''aider, mais elle se joue sans doute de toi, fragile mortel. Par Ro ! Dans quelle galère t''es-tu embarqué, Corleu ?

From the World Fantasy Award-winning author of The Bards of Bone Plain. The Wayfolk are a dark-haired, wandering people who shun doors and walls. Corleu is Wayfolk, albeit with hair the color of the moon. But when his companions and his own true love become trapped in an unearthly swamp beyond the reach of time, he dares to cross a forbidden and forbidding threshold, to enter a dark house that should not exist, to meet with a tinker who is also a king, and to embark on a quest for the one long-lost treasure that may free his people: the heart of the Cygnet. The Cygnet is a figure of myth and legend, like the Gold King, the Blind Lady, the Dancer, and the Warlock. Once Corleu had thought these beings to live only in the stars and in children''s rhymes. Now he knows that they are as real as himself, and that it is the Cygnet that holds the others at bay. To find the heart, he must walk paths he never imagined: apprentice himself to a beautiful sorceress of uncertain motives, brave the Fire Bear in its lair, catch the Blood Fox by its shadow, and elude a valiant woman warrior whose destiny is strangely linked to his own. More, Corleu must also wrestle with his own conscience. For if he fails in his quest, those he loves are lost forever to timeless limbo. But if he claims the heart, then the Cygnet falls and so do all who live...

Caerles must obtain the legendary Throme, a book of incredibly beautiful songs, in order to win the daughter of the King of Everywhere, and Ryd Yarrow faces a dragon that brings twelve months of winter to the island of Hoarsbreath.

In seeking the answer to the riddle of the three stars on his forehead and the three stars on the enchanted harp and sword, Morgan, Prince of Hed, goes ultimately to the High One, himself.

In the midst of conflict and unrest the Prince of Hed solves the puzzle of his future when he learns to harp the wind, discovers who the shape changers are, and understands his own relationship to Deth, harpist of the wizard Ohm.

When Morgon, Prince of Hed, fails to return from his journey to the High One, his fiancée, accompanied by his sister and a friend, sets out to find him.

In seeking the answer to the riddle of the three stars on his forehead and the three stars on the enchanted harp and sword, Morgan, Prince of Hed, goes ultimately to the High One, himself.

As they work to create a beautiful room for the brother of one of them who had attempted suicide, three friends find their lives deeply affected by their project.