⬩  ⬩  ⬩

Ellen Kushner’s first novel, Swordspoint, introduced readers to Riverside, home of the city to which she has since returned in The Privilege of the Sword (a Locus Award winner and Nebula nominee), The Fall of the Kings (written with Delia Sherman), a handful of related short stories, and, most recently, the collaborative Riverside prequel Tremontaine for SerialBox.com and Saga Press. The author herself recorded all three novels in audiobook form for Neil Gaiman Presents/Audible.com, winning a 2012 Audie Award for Swordspoint. With Holly Black, she coedited Welcome to Bordertown, a revival of the original urban-fantasy shared-world series created by Terri Windling. A popular performer and public speaker, Ellen Kushner created and hosted the long-running public radio show Sound & Spirit, which Bill Moyers called “the best thing on public radio.” She has taught creative writing at the Clarion and Odyssey workshops, and is an instructor in Hollins University’s Children’s Literature M.F.A. program. She lives in New York City with Delia Sherman and no cats whatsoever, in an apartment full of theater and airplane ticket stubs.

Here she introduces us to a young man newly arrived in Riverside to seek his fortune, one who, like many young men come to the big city before him, finds that he’s got a lot to learn to succeed—and that many of the lessons aren’t pleasant.

⬩  ⬩  ⬩