Here are nine tales of Henghis Hapthorn, foremost freelance discriminator of Old Earth in the planet's penultimate age. Included are the six stories that ran in The Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction (and were previously collected in The Gist Hunter and Other Stories), leading up to the events that began the first Hapthorn novel, Majestrum, plus three more.

9 Tales of Henghis Hapthorn

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Hughes, Matthew

Fantasy

Matthew Hughes

In Old Earth’s penultimate age, the corpulent master criminal Luff Imbry moves through the halfworld like a full-fleshed shark. Thief, forger, confidence man, and sometimes go-between, he maps out his illicit operations with exquisite care then carries them out with courage and panache. But, often, things don’t go as Luff planned, and he must call upon a talent for improvisation and a ruthless will to survive. This collection brings together seven short stories and novelettes previously published in Postscripts, The Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction, and the anthology Forbidden Planets, plus two novellas formerly only available in limited editions. It offers Luff Imbry in all his moods and guises. The Meaning of Luff and Other Stories has been shortlisted for the Endeavour Award. "Hughes has made a name for himself as heir apparent to Jack Vance" Booklist "A tremendous amount of fun." George R. R. Martin "Hughes has been the best-kept secret in science fiction for too long: he's a towering talent" Robert J. Sawyer "Superlative. A droll narrative voice, dry humor, and an alternative universe that's accessible without excessive exposition" Publishers Weekly “Matthew Hughes is one of those writers whose witty, wry writing style is as enjoyable as the story he's writing about. His Archonate universe is a wonderfully compelling far future that mixes fantasy and science fiction.” Kirkus Reviews

The Meaning of Luff and Other Stories

Science Fiction

When professional duelist Conn Labro escapes indentured servitude as the star player of Horder's Emporium, he abandons the gaming world of Thrais and sets out on an interstellar journey filled with murder, deceit, and self-discovery. His only friend on Thrais, discovered dead and tortured, left him enough money to buy himself out of his contract and a curious encrypted "bearer deed" to a mysterious property on the distant edge of the galactic Spray. With the seductive, secretive showgirl Jenore Mordene at his side and a villainous pleasure cult dogging his every move, Labro sets out to learn the truth behind his bearer deed and more about his own past than he had ever dared bargain for.

Template: A Novel of the Archonate

THE TALES OF HENGHIS HAPTHORN Henghis Hapthorn is the foremost penetrator of mysteries and uncoverer of secrets in a decadent, far-future Old Earth, one age before Jack Vance's Dying Earth. A superb rationalist, he has long disdained the notion that the universe has an alternative organizing principle: magic. But now a new age is dawning, overturning the very foundations of Hapthorn's existence, and he must struggle to survive in a world where all the rules are changing. HESPIRA Hapthorn decides to leave Old Earth, seeking to solve the mystery of Hespira, an ungainly off-world woman who has lost her memory. The investigation takes him down The Spray to the rank-obsessed world of Ikkibal and the rustic Shannery, where he unravels Hespira's role in a deadly feud between aristocrats. But behind the scenes an unseen antagonist is plotting the discriminator's destruction.

Hespira: A Tale of Henghis Hapthorn (Tales of Henghis Hapthorn)

From the award-winning author of Majestrum, Template, and The Other, this collection of short stories ranges from the thoughtful to the whimsical. Most of them appeared first in The Magazine of Fantasy &amp; Science Fiction and Asimov’s. Others were written for bespoke anthologies, including Songs of the Dying Earth, Old Mars, and Welcome to the Greenhouse; one is published here for the first time.

Devil or Angel and Other Stories

Literature & Fiction

Short Stories & Anthologies

Wise, witty and just a little weird, FOOLS ERRANT wryly strolls the satirical path laid down by Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett and Jack Vance, heralding the brilliant debut of a gifted new voice. Foppish young Filidor Vesh wants only to dally among his shallow pastimes. But a simple errand for his uncle, the vaguely all-powerful Archon of those parts of Old Earth still populated by human beings, becomes a frenetic odyssey across a planet speckled with eccentric nations pursuing odd aims with intense determination. Harried at every step by the irascible dwarf, Gaskarth, and frequently at the peril of wild beasts, enraged mobs and a particularly nasty thaumaturge, Filidor makes a relucant progress toward a final encounter with an ancient and possibly world-ending evil.

Fools Errant: A Novel of the Archonate (Filidor Vesh)

Hughes, Mr Matthew

In another sparkling and slightly askew adventure in the mode of Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams and Jack Vance, Fools Errant's Filidor Vesh sashays once more through the penultimate age, finding that... LOVE IS A MANY SPLINTERED THING The dandified Archon's apprentice is literally bowled over by beautiful Emmlyn Podarke -- she knocks him flat and steals his credentials, daring him to pursue her to a remote and mostly forgotten corner of Old Earth. Now Filidor must cope with philosophical pirates, prophet-seeking aliens, light-fingered mummers, and a tiny, bothersome voice in his left ear. Meanwhile, the Archon may or may not have been kidnaped, and somebody's digging up a mysterious ancient artifact buried on the Podarke family farm.

Fool Me Twice: A Novel of the Archonate (Filidor Vesh)

Downshift: A Sid Rafferty Mystery (Sid Rafferty Mysteries)

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Hughes, Matt

Mystery

In a Dying Earth of wizards and walled cities, a boy climbs out of poverty when he becomes an assistant to a moneylender’s debt collector, then enters a career as henchman to a young, ambitious thaumaturge. But Baldemar’s career as a wizard’s minion goes sideways after a powerful entity left over from the creation of the cosmos find him useful for its own ends.\nNow he must tread a perilous path peopled by dukes and demons, spellslingers and secret agents, assassins and academics, plus a pair of vengeful wizards who want their stolen treasures returned.\nHis course will lead him through the Underworld and Overworld, and along shadowy paths in the tenebrous realm known as the Glooms, to a final confrontation that will test Baldemar’s hard-won knowledge to the utmost.

Baldemar

Genre Fiction

PASSENGERS AND PERILS continues the story of the two central characters from my Jack Vance-influenced 2008 novel, TEMPLATE (PS Publishing and Paizo).\n(SPOILERS if you haven't read TEMPLATE)\nConn Labro is a manufactured human, created as the template for a legion of vat-grown super soldiers, but raised to be a professional duelist in a gaming house on one of the planets of the Ten Thousand Worlds. Jenore Mordene is a former showgirl who helps him navigate the strange ways of “normal” people. After surviving many perils in TEMPLATE, the couple acquired a space yacht and are now hiring out for charters and small cargoes. This brings them into contact (and conflict) with cultists, thieves, organized criminals, various constabularies, and the deeply inbred aristocrats of Old Earth.\nThey'll also meet up with a confidential operative from the world Novo Bantry as well as the foremost freelance discriminator of Old Earth and a corpulent master criminal.

Passengers & Perils: A Novel of the Archonate

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Books by Matthew Hughes