Wilful Impropriety (54 page)

Tupp realized Lind had clenched his hand tight. “Fewer Folk in Wessex?” he asked.

Tupp nodded and smiled. “If you wish, you need only be bothered by one.” Tupp leaned in close. The feel of soft lips overcame the rough stone upon which they sat. The heat of the kiss kept at bay the icy wind.

Lind then whispered in Tupp’s ear, “And how would we live?”

“I promise ‘with great mischief.’”

Steve Berman
’s tale of how the sprite Tupp and the mortal Lind first met appeared in
The Faery Reel
(edited by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling). Steve has sold nearly a hundred articles, essays, and short stories since he began writing at the age of seventeen. He has never swept a chimney, but, like Lind, he does enjoy a good wager. His young-adult novel,
Vintage
, is your typical “boy meets ghost” suburban fantasy, and was a finalist for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy. He lives in New Jersey, the only state in the US with an official devil, with a very demanding feline overlord codenamed Daulton.

Marie Brennan
is the author of the Onyx Court series of London-based historical fantasies:
Midnight Never Come
,
In Ashes Lie
,
A Star Shall Fall
, and
With Fate Conspire
, as well as the doppelgänger duology of
Warrior
and
Witch,
and more than thirty short stories. You can find more information on her website,
www.swantower.com
.

Stephanie Burgis
lives in Wales with her husband, son, and crazy-sweet border collie mix. The first two books in her trilogy of Regency-era fantasy novels are published in the US as
Kat
,
Incorrigible
, and
Renegade Magic
, and in the UK as
A Most Improper Magick
and
A Tangle of Magicks
. You can find out more, and read excerpts from her novels, at her website,
www.stephanieburgis.com
.

Seth Cadin
is from New York and now lives in California. He has one partner, one daughter, and many pet mice. Some of his other short stories can be found in the Prime Books anthology
Bewere the Night
, in volume five of the annual collection from
Three-lobed Burning Eye
magazine, and in the young-adult anthology
Brave New Love: 13 Dystopian Tales of Desire
from Robinson (UK) and Running Press (US).

Karen Healey
is the author of YA urban fantasies
Guardian of the Dead
and
The Shattering
, and the forthcoming YA sci-fi thriller,
When We Wake
. She is the winner of the 2010 Aurealis Award for Best Young Adult Novel, and the Sir Julius Vogel Award for Best New Talent, and a 2011 William C. Morris Award Finalist. She is fond of libraries, but not so keen on dusting. You can find more information in her website,
www.karenhealey.com
.

Leanna Renee Hieber
is an actress, playwright and author of the Strangely Beautiful and Magic Most Foul series of Gothic Victorian fantasy novels.
The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker
hit Barnes & Noble’s bestseller lists, won two 2010 Prism Awards (Best Fantasy Romance, Best First Book), and has been optioned for musical theater adaptation currently in development.
Darker Still: A Novel of Magic Most Foul
hit the Indie Next List as a recommended title by the American Booksellers Association. A member of RWA and SFWA, her short story “Charged” will be featured in
Queen Victoria’s Book of Spells
. A member of performers’ unions AEA, SAG, and AFTRA, she has worked extensively with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, and other regional classical productions. She lives in New York City with her real-life hero and their beloved rescued lab rabbit, working the occasional film or television gig in New York City when not on book deadline. Find her at
www.leannareneehieber.com
or on Twitter, @leannarenee.

M. K. Hobson
’s short fiction has appeared in
Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet
,
Sci Fiction
,
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
, and many other fine publications. Her debut novel,
The Native Star
, was nominated for the 2011 Nebula Award. Readers interested in learning more are invited to visit her website at
www.demimonde.com
.

Mary Robinette Kowal
is the author of the novels
Shades of Milk and Honey
and
Glamour in Glass
. In 2008 she received the Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and in 2011, her short story “For Want of a Nail” won the Hugo Award for Best Short Story. Her work has been nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. Her stories appear in
Asimov’s, Clarkesworld
, and several
Year’s Best
anthologies. She is the Vice-President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Mary, a professional puppeteer, also performs as a voice actor, recording fiction for authors such as Elizabeth Bear, Cory Doctorow, and John Scalzi. She lives in Chicago with her husband Rob and over a dozen manual typewriters. Visit her website at
www.maryrobinettekowal.com
.

Sandra McDonald
is the award-winning author of the collection
Diana Comet and Other Impossible Stories
, a Booklist Editor’s Choice for Young Adults. She also writes adventure novels for gay and straight teens and science-fiction romances for adults. Her short fiction has appeared in more than fifty magazines and anthologies. She currently resides in Florida with a backyard full of wildlife. Visit her at
www.sandramcdonald.com
.

Barbara Roden
was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1963, and is a World Fantasy Award-winning editor and publisher. Her first collection,
Northwest Passages
, was published by Prime Books in October 2009; the title story was nominated for the Stoker, International Horror Guild, and World Fantasy Awards, and the book received a World Fantasy Award nomination for Best Collection. Her short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including
Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror: Nineteenth Annual Collection
,
Horror: Best of the Year 2005
,
The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror 21
, and
The Year’s Best Dark Fantasy and Horror: 2010 Edition
. Her Sherlock Holmes pastiches have appeared in
The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures
,
Gaslight Grimoire
, and
Gaslight Grotesque
. She has written extensively about Victorian detective fiction, most recently for the Barnes & Noble reprints of the complete Sherlock Holmes stories in their Classics imprint (March 2012). “The Colonel’s Daughter” was inspired by the writings of Henry Mayhew, and by the real-life adventures of Beatrice Holme Sumner, whose scandalous behaviour shocked late-Victorian England.

Caroline Stevermer
grew up miles from anywhere on a dairy farm in southeastern Minnesota. She now lives in Minneapolis, but she sojourned on the east coast long enough to graduate from Bryn Mawr College and have a few adventures in New York City. She has written
A College of Magics
and
A Scholar of Magics
, among other novels, and in collaboration with Patricia C. Wrede,
Sorcery and Cecelia
,
The Grand Tour
, and
The Mislaid Magician
. She likes baseball, steamboats, trains, and art museums.

Tiffany Trent
is the author of the YA steampunk
The Unnaturalists
, and the
Hallowmere
series. She has also published in
Corsets & Clockwork
,
Subterranean Magazine
, and
Magic in the Mirrorstone
. She lives in the New River Valley of Virginia where she keeps bees and herds chickens when not writing. You can find more information at her website,
www.tiffanytrent.com
.

Genevieve Valentine
’s YA fiction has appeared in
Clarkesworld
and
Subterranean Magazine
, as well as the anthologies
Teeth
,
Under the Moons of Mars
,
After
, and more. Her first novel,
Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti
, is out now from Prime. She has yet to emerge from the tangle of Victorian etiquette, the scope of which is baffling. Her appetite for bad movies is insatiable, a tragedy she tracks on her blog, genevievevalentine.com.

Ekaterina Sedia
is the editor of several anthologies, including the World Fantasy Award winner
Paper Cities,
as well as
Running with the Pack,
and
Bewere the Night
. Her next anthology is
Bloody Fabulous
. She is also the author of the novels
The Secret History of Moscow
,
The Alchemy of Stone
,
The House of Discarded Dreams
, and
Heart of Iron
. Her short stories have appeared in a number of venues.

Scott Westerfeld
is the author of eighteen novels, thirteen of them for young adults, including the trilogies: Leviathan, Uglies, and Midnighters. Scott was born in Texas, but currently splits his time between New York City and Sydney, Australia.

“At Will” © 2012 by Leanna Renee Hieber. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Unladylike Education of Agatha Tremain” © 2012 by Stephanie Burgis. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Nussbaum’s Golden Fortune” © 2012 by M. K. Hobson. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Colonel’s Daughter” © 2012 by Barbara Roden. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Mercury Retrograde” © 2012 by Mary Robinette Kowal. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“False Colors” © 2012 by Marie Brennan. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Magickal Management” © 2012 by Karen Healey. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Language of Flowers” © 2012 by Caroline Stevermer. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Dancing Master” © 2012 by Genevieve Valentine. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“The Garden of England” © 2012 by Sandra McDonald. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Resurrection” © 2012 by Tiffany Trent. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Outside the Absolute” © 2012 by Seth Cadin. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.

“Steeped in Debt to the Chimney Pots” © 2012 by Steve Berman. First publication, original to this anthology. Printed by permission of the author.