Kim Antieau’s brilliant short stories have dazzled readers for decades. As bestselling writer Charles de Lint once wrote, Kim’s prose is always “evocative, even in the grittiest of her stories. I believe in her characters so readily that sometimes I expect to run into them at the corner store (and I’m disappointed when I don’t).”

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Now, in a sweeping retrospective collection gathering some of her best and most popular tales, Kim captivates readers with stories of compelling characters haunted by loss and the sometimes horrific, sometimes melancholic feeling of “what if?” What if an ordinary servant woman uses the old ways to attempt the overthrow of a tyrant? What if one person thinks he knows the best life choice for another person and forces that choice on her? What if someone does all the wrong things while trying to do the right thing?

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These stories—haunted by truly remarkable characters—frighten, charm, enchant, and captivate. They prove once again Antieau’s uncanny ability to make us see the world anew, in all its anguish and glory.