Search Worlds Without End

This short story originally appeared in Lightspeed, September 2012.

Read the full story for free at Lightspeed.

In recent years, shapeshifting characters in literature, film and television have been on the rise. This has followed the increased use of such characters as metaphors, with novelists and critics identifying specific meanings and topics behind them. This book aims to unravel the shapeshifting trope. Rather than pursue a case-based study, the works are grouped around specific themes--adolescence, gender, sexuality, race, disability, addiction, and spirituality--that are explored through the metaphor of shapeshifting.

Because of the transformative possibilities of this metaphor and its flexibility, the shapeshifter has the potential to change how we see our world. With coverage of iconic fantasy texts and a focus on current works, the book engages with the shapeshifting figure in popular culture from the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

They called it TTT-short for Time Teleportation Technique. Like all really great ideas, it was simple, and easy to operate-too easy, for Chuck Percival, who suddenly found himself drafted into an army dedicated to defending yesterday against today... and captained by strange men from tomorrow!

Chuck found the idea of time travel intriguing, but he was by nature suspicious of people wanting to do him favors-and vice-versa. And time travel turned out to have a couple of nasty side effects that made the price of time jumping almost too high to pay. But like it or not, Chuck found himself in this particular army for the duration--a duration that might last several hundred years! What happened to him shouldn't happen to any devout twentieth century coward... including meeting and falling in love with his own great grandmother!

Every one of us has the beast inside. But for Kyrie Smith, the beast is no metaphor. Since she was 15, when she first shape-shifted into a savage, black panther, Kyrie has questioned her humanity and moved from town to town, searching for a way to feel human again.

Kyrie's lonely life changes forever while waitressing at a cheap diner. Investigating screams from the parking lot, Kyrie stumbles upon a blood-spattered dragon crouching over a mangled human corpse. The dragon changes back into her co-worker, Tom, naked, dazed and unable to remember how he got there.

Thrust into a world of shape-shifting dragons, giant cats and other beasts waging a secret war behind humanity's back, Kyrie may find the answers she seeks - with help from Tom, a mythical object called the Pearl of Heaven, and her own inner beast.

Shape-Shift Into Adventure!

Shapeshifters Kyrie and Tom try to live a normal life in a small Colorado town - normal, that is, considering one of them is secretly a panther and the other a dragon. But now a primeval Shifter feud grows infinitely more deadly, and Kyrie and Tom find themselves warriors in an ancient struggle for Shifter destiny itself!

Quick-witted fantasy doyenne Sarah Hoyt continues the brilliant contemporary fantasy "Shifter" saga begun in Draw One in the Dark.

Sequel to Draw One in the Dark and The Gentleman Takes a Chance - a new entry in Sarah A. Hoyt's celebrated Shifter contemporary fantasy series!

For years, Rafiel Trall, one of Goldport's finest, has been walking the fine line between enforcing human law and protecting the shifters who come his way. A lion shifter himself, he's found this duty onerous. Lately it's been lightened by his friendship with Tom Ormson, a dragon shifter, and Kyrie Smith, a panther shifter. This should make it easier for him to find a solution for the crimes of a feral shifter - but not when an as yet unnamed entity takes out the Great Sky Dragon, the head of all dragon shifters. With his power devolving on Tom Ormson just as Kyrie finds that a mysterious ailment prevents her from shifting, Rafiel must rely only on himself, a seductive dragon girl and an even more seductive and unreliable old shifter to solve the crimes, maintain shifters hidden and keep his best friend in the world from becoming a dragon of unimaginable mass destruction.

I look like an all-American grad student. But I am a werecat, a shape-shifter, and I live in two worlds.

Despite reservations from my family and my Pride, I escaped the pressure to continue my species and carved out a normal life for myself. Until the night a Stray attacked.

I'd been warned about Strays--werecats without a Pride, constantly on the lookout for someone like me: attractive, female and fertile. I fought him off, but then learned two of my fellow tabbies had disappeared.

This brush with danger was all my Pride needed to summon me back... for my own protection. Yeah, right. But I'm no meek kitty. I'll take on whatever--and whoever--I have to in order to find my friends. Watch out, Strays--'cause I got claws, and I'm not afraid to use them...

Rebellious werecat Faythe is shocked when the bodies of murdered men begin turning up in her Pride's territory, especially as the killings can be traced back to her former life as an ordinary college student. But could a message from an old friend provide a chilling clue?

Faythe knows that a past indiscretion may have led to these men's deaths. She also risks exposing her family's supernatural secret. Faced with a terrifying choice, Faythe must decide: pray the tribal council grant her mercy--or risk everything to pursue her own brand of justice.

The werecat council has three cardinal laws--and headstrong Faythe stands accused of breaking two of them: infecting a human with her supernatural skills and killing him to cover her tracks. With the death penalty hanging over her head, Faythe has no escape route left.

That is, until a shapeshifter informs the pride of a rash of rogue strays terrorising his land. Yet this threat is nothing like any they've seen before. Only Faythe has the knowledge to save the pride, but can she prove her worth? Or will the council's verdict condemn them all...?

A battle is coming, and Faythe will not allow the Pride to become prey... Faythe has finally come to accept that she will someday be Alpha of the Pride, and she is hell-bent on changing the sexist Tribal Council from the inside. But first she must ensure that there will still be a Pride left to lead. Her father's role as Alpha is at risk, as is his control over the territory they all love. At the same time, Faythe's exiled boyfriend is under attack from rogues somehow connected to the political schemes of the tribal council. With her world collapsing around her, Faythe must fight to keep her friends and family together, as their enemies conspire against them.

Being the first female werecat enforcer isn't easy. Scars accumulate, but I'm stronger in so many ways.

As for my personal life? It's complicated. Choices worth making always are. Ever since my brother's death and my father's impeachment, it's all I can do to prevent more blood from spilling. Now our Pride is under attack by a flight of vicious thunderbirds. And making peace with our new enemies may be the only way to get the best of our old foe.

With the body count rising and treachery everywhere, my instincts tell me to look before I leap. But sometimes a leap of faith is the only real option?

Power, revenge, and justice--prepare yourself for the final battle! In the final chapter of "The Shifters Series", Faythe and her Pride must fight a tyrannical werecat intent on taking over the territorial council, and the south-central Pride in particular. It's down to Faythe to take on the role of Alpha before she feels completely ready for the job. Forced to rise to the occasion, Faythe must balance experience, advice, and the urge for vengeance. She must also finally choose between Marc and Jace... No decisions will be is easy, and not everyone will survive this epic fight to the death.

National bestselling author Sharon Shinn presents a passionate, heart-wrenching story of secrets and the lengths to which we'll go to protect those we love...

For her entire life, Melanie Landon has hidden the fact that her half sister, Ann, is a shape-shifter, determined to protect her from a world that simply wouldn't understand. When a man shows up asking about Ann--who has been missing for months--Melanie fears the worst, and with good reason. Freelance writer Brody Westerbrook knows about the existence of shape-shifters and intends to include Ann in the book he's writing.

While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger, she knows better than to trust him, and she denies his claim. But when Ann finally reappears, looking thin and sick, Melanie realizes exposure is the least of their worries. Protecting her sister has always been an enormous part of Melanie's life, but as Ann's health rapidly deteriorates, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go...

Nya is an orphan struggling for survival in a city crippled by war. She is also a Taker-with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person into her own body. But unlike her sister, Tali, and the other Takers who become Healers' League apprentices, Nya's skill is flawed: She can't push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store it. All she can do is shift it into another person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden from forces occupying her city. If discovered, she'd be used as a human weapon against her own people.

Rumors of another war make Nya's life harder, forcing her to take desperate risks just to find work and food. She pushes her luck too far and exposes her secret to a pain merchant eager to use her shifting ability for his own sinister purposes. At first Nya refuses, but when Tali and other League Healers mysteriously disappear, she's faced with some difficult choices. As her father used to say, principles are a bargain at any price; but how many will Nya have to sell to get Tali back alive?

Published in the UK as The Pain Merchants.

The first book in the Web Shifter's Library series returns to the adventures of Esen, a shapeshifting alien and member of an ancient yet endangered race, who must navigate the perils of a hostile universe.

Esen's back! And the dear little blob is in trouble, again.

Things began so well. She and her Human friend Paul Ragem are ready to celebrate the first anniversary of their greatest accomplishment, the All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture, by welcoming his family back. He hopes. Having mourned his supposed death years ago, understandably, feelings are bent.

Instead, they've unexpected guests, starting with an old acquaintance. Paul's father has gone missing under dire circumstances.

Before he can convince Esen to help him search, a friend shows up to use the Library. A crisis on Dokeci Na is about to explode into violence. To stop it, Evan Gooseberry needs answers. Unfortunately, the artifact he brought in trade holds its own distracting secret. A touch of very familiar blue. Web-flesh.

The race is on. Paul, to find his father. Esen, to search for a mysterious legacy while helping Evan avert an extinction. What none of them realize is the price of success will be the most terrible choice of all.

Relationships get complicated when you don't know who--or what--you really are. Esen must find a way to rescue a hapless group of chimeras, beings who are a new and unique blend of species she knows, when she can't become one herself. When Evan Gooseberry tries to help, he is shattered to learn he himself isn't entirely Human and begins to suspect his new friend Esen isn't what she seems.

Complicating matters, a mysterious contagion has killed the crew of the ship that brought the chimeras--and Evan--to Botharis. Everyone's been quarantined inside the All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture, including over a hundred disgruntled alien scholars.

The risks climb as Skalet and Lionel continue their quest to solve the disappearance of Paul's mother's ship, the Sidereal Pathfinder, only to find themselves caught in a tangle of loyalties as Skalet is betrayed by her own Kraal affiliates, who infiltrate the Library.

All of which would be quite enough for one Web-being's day, but Paul Ragem hopes to rekindle the romance of his first love. A shame Esen hasn't told him who's hiding in their greenhouse.

The third book in the Web Shifter's Library series returns to the adventures of Esen, a shapeshifting alien who must navigate the perils of a hostile universe.

Here Be Monsters

Something malevolent lurks in deep space, something able to pluck starships from their course and cause their crews to vanish.

It has a purpose: to use those ships to mark an unmistakable boundary. A warning.

It has an interest: Botharis, the planet where Esen and Paul have established the All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture. Home to Veya Ragem, whose ship was the first to trespass.

Esen and Paul will need every resource, every friend and even foes, if they're to discover who--or what is behind this before more are lost. Once they do, Esen plans to use her abilities to comprehend and reason with this new species. What she doesn't know? There truly are monsters. And they wait for you in the dark.

Just ask Evan Gooseberry.

This exclusive e-novella, set shortly after the events in Hidden in Sight, features the first glimpse of the All Species' Library of Linguistics and Culture in the Web Shifters sci-fi series.

The Human Commonwealth has spread into a section of space well and truly claimed by others, a wealth of intelligent species who doubt we've much to offer. The only recourse? Diplomacy! At least that's what Evan Gooseberry, assigned to the Human embassy on Urgia Prime, firmly believes. Enough to fight his own deep terrors and remain where even a walk outside is an exhausting challenge.

But what happens when a species' misunderstood biology is its diplomacy?

The stakes are high; the situation desperate. Doubted by his superiors, Evan stands alone.

Unless he can accept help from the strangest alien of all: Esen-alit-Quar, Esen in a hurry, Es between friends. Having come to Urgia Prime with her friend Paul on their own mission, the remarkable Webshifter is willing to do whatever she can. There's only one problem.

Esen is everything Evan Gooseberry fears.

They are the last survivors of their race, beings who live on and communicate through energy, who are capable of assuming the shape of any other species. When their youngest member is assigned to a world considered safe to explore, she is captured by the natives. To escape, she must violate the most important rule of her kind, and reveal the existence of her species to a fellow prisoner - a human being.

Now her race is in danger of extinction, for even if the human does not betray her, the Enemy who has long searched for her people may finally discover their location...

Changing Vision continues the story of Esen, the last survivor of an alien race with the ability to assume the form of any creature. Now Esen must break her species' rule of non-interference - to keep interspecies tension from escalating into all-out war.

Picco's moon was where it all began for Esen-alit-Quar, Youngest of Ersh's Web. It was here where Ersh, the Oldest, had chosen to make her home; here, too, where Esen received her early training as a shapeshifter and member of the Web.

When Ersh's Web was destroyed, Esen and her human friend paul survived, and together they founded Esen's Web, a group composed initially of the two of them but one which expanded slowly to include a chosen few selected by Paul. For in their universe there were all too many species ready to destroy Esen, should they discover her true nature.

Still, despite the need for concealment, life had been good to Esen and Paul. They now had well-established identities, a thriving business, and numerous friends. It seemed as though they'd finally created a safe haven for themselves. At least until they receved word that someone was mining Picco's Moon, desecrating Ersh's Mountain.

Esen and Paul had no choice. They had to go to Picco's Moon and put a stop to the situation. But before they could even set out, they found themselves under attack on every front. Their carefully built haven gone, and loyal friends suddenly transformed into vengeful enemies, was there anywhere Esen and Paul could run, anyone they could to turn to for help, any way to defeat a foe they couldn't even identify?