Dangerous Women

by George R. R. Martin (Editor), Gardner Dozois (Editor)

Overview

The World Fantasy Award-winning collection of stories featuring the best and the bravest females across genre fiction.

All new and original to this volume, the 21 stories in Dangerous Women include work by twelve New York Times bestsellers, and seven stories set in the authors' bestselling continuities-including a new Outlander story by Diana Gabaldon, a tale of Harry Dresden's world by Jim Butcher, a story from Lev Grossman set in the world of The Magicians, and a 35,000-word novella by George R. R. Martin about the Dance of the Dragons, the vast civil war that tore Westeros apart nearly two centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones.

Also included are original stories of dangerous women—heroines and villains alike—by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Lawrence Block, Carrie Vaughn, S. M. Stirling, Sharon Kay Penman, and many others.

Writes Gardner Dozois in his Introduction, "Here you'll find no hapless victims who stand by whimpering in dread while the male hero fights the monster or clashes swords with the villain, and if you want to tie these women to the railroad tracks, you'll find you have a real fight on your hands. Instead, you will find sword-wielding women warriors, intrepid women fighter pilots and far-ranging spacewomen, deadly female serial killers, formidable female superheroes, sly and seductive femmes fatale, female wizards, hard-living Bad Girls, female bandits and rebels, embattled survivors in Post-Apocalyptic futures, female Private Investigators, stern female hanging judges, haughty queens who rule nations and whose jealousies and ambitions send thousands to grisly deaths, daring dragonriders, and many more."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765332073
Publisher:	Tor Publishing Group
Publication date:	09/15/2015
Pages:	784
Sales rank:	469,750
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.50(d)

About the Author

George R. R. Martin has been a full-time writer for over 25 years. He is the author of the acclaimed, internationally bestselling fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which is the basis of HBO's popular Game of Thrones television series. Martin has won multiple science fiction awards, including 4 Hugos, 2 Nebulas, the Bram Stoker, the Locus Award, the World Fantasy Award, the Daedelus, the Balrog, and the Daikon (Japanese Hugo).

Gardner Dozois (1947-2018), one of the most acclaimed editors in science-fiction, won the Hugo Award for Best Editor 15 times. He was the editor of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine for 20 years. He also served as the editor of The Year’s Best Science Fiction anthologies and co-editor of the Warrior anthologies, Songs of the Dying Earth, and many others. As a writer, Dozois twice won the Nebula Award for best short story. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2011 and received the Skylark Award for Lifetime Achievement. He lived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Hometown:

Santa Fe, NM

Date of Birth:

September 20, 1948

Place of Birth:

Bayonne, NJ

Education:

B.S., Northwestern University, 1970; M.S., Northwestern University, 1971

Website:

http://www.georgerrmartin.com

Table of Contents

Introduction

Some Desperado by Joe Abercrombie

My Heart is Either Broken by Megan Abbott

Nora's Song by Cecelia Holland

The Hands That Are Not There by Melinda Snodgrass

Bombshells by Jim Butcher

Raisa Stepanova by Carrie Vaughn

Wrestling Jesus by Joe R. Lansdale

Neighbors by Megan Lindholm

I Know How to Pick ‘Em by Lawrence Block

Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson

A Queen In Exile by Sharon Kay Penman

The Girl In the Mirror by Lev Grossman

Second Arabesque, Very Slowly by Nancy Kress

City Lazarus by Diana Rowland

Virgins by Diana Gabaldon

Hell Hath No Fury by Sherilynn Kenyon

Pronouncing Doom by S. M. Stirling

Name the Beast by Sam Sykes

Caretakers by Pat Cadigan

Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector

The Princess and the Queen by George R. R. Martin

Editorial Reviews

★ 10/07/2013
Venerable editors Martin and Dozois (Warriors) have invited writers from many different genres of fiction to showcase the supposedly weaker sex’s capacity for magic, violence, and mayhem. These 22 brand-new short stories prove that women are men’s equals—at least—in lethal potential. Lawrence Block’s contemporary crime shocker “I Know How to Pick ’Em” includes a visceral closing wallop. Sharon Kay Penman’s “A Queen in Exile” brings a little-known episode of late 12th-century Sicilian history to poignant life. Diana Gabaldon’s “Virgins” introduces an attractive young kilted hero in a wry 18th-century Scots mercenary adventure. Sherilynn Kenyon’s shuddery present-day Native American ghost tale “Hell Hath No Fury” raises plenty of goose bumps. S.M. Stirling sets his stern hanging-judge tale “Pronouncing Doom” in a postapocalyptic America devastated by plague and machine failure. Martin’s own “The Princess and the Queen” recounts a deadly episode that took place some years before the events of A Game of Thrones. This meaty collection delivers something for nearly every reader’s taste as it explores the heights that brave women can reach and the depths that depraved ones can plumb. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

"This meaty collection delivers something for nearly every reader’s taste as it explores the heights that brave women can reach and the depths that depraved ones can plumb."—Publishers Weekly

"Everyone will find something to like here." —Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

★ 10/15/2013
From Jim Butcher's tale featuring Molly, protégée of Chicago mage Harry Dresden ("Bombshells"), to a side story by Diana Gabaldon set in the world of her Outlander series ("Virgins"), the 21 tales in this supersized themed anthology present a varied array of female heroines and villainesses. Other contributors include Nancy Kress, Melinda Snodgrass, and S.M. Stirling, and their stories run the gamut from fantasy and sf to horror, mystery, and suspense. Fans of Martin's Game of Thrones (both the novels and the HBO series) will enjoy his "The Princess and the Queen," a novella that forms a prequel to the novels. VERDICT The wide selection of authors guarantees something to please almost every reader's tastes.

Library Journal

★ 2013-10-21
Bold and deadly female characters of many genres stride through the pages of this massive anthology. When genre collections include this many big-name authors, they're typically a grouping of series outtakes and Easter eggs. Readers who want to know how Molly got that cool apartment in Jim Butcher's Cold Days; meet Shy South as a young fugitive before the open of Joe Abercrombie's Red Country; get a glimpse of Quentin Coldwater after the events of Lev Grossman's projected Magicians trilogy; or encounter Jamie Fraser as an inexperienced (in several senses) but still clever mercenary soldier prior to meeting Claire in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander will surely be satisfied by these and other entries (which of course include a bloody slice of history from Martin's own blockbuster A Song of Ice and Fire universe). But the stand-alones in this smorgasbord of fantasy, science fiction, noir, historical fiction and paranormal romance are also worthy of notice, particularly Megan Abbott's chilling "My Heart is Either Broken," concerning a young mother's socially inappropriate response to her daughter's kidnapping; Megan Lindholm's sadly believable "Neighbors," in which a lonely widow becomes ever more alienated from her daily routine, her family and her neighborhood; and Brandon Sanderson's gripping "Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell," about an innkeeper/bounty hunter who must defeat rapacious ghosts, brutal outlaws and greedy bureaucrats to keep herself and her daughter safe and free. Everyone will find something to like here.

Kirkus Reviews