Award-winning author Ron Collins brings you a collection of sorcery and wonder that explores the human side of magic. Inside its pages, you'll find:

A young sorcerer takes his father's place on a quest to help his king. What secrets will he find? Is blood thicker than water? Find out in "A Gathering of Bones," which was provided a mention in Ellen Datlow and Terry Windling's Year's Best Fantasy & Horror.

Chains or not, a gladiator can live a fine enough life until it's no longer fashionable that he win. "Ties That Bind" pits today's champion against the next of the chosen.

A centuries-old curse threatens a family, and the entire race of dryads, in "The Family Tree," recognized with a Cauldron award by readers of Marion Zimmer Bradley's FANTASY Magazine.

"True Power" is attainable for one willing to risk everything. But is it worth the price?

"The Time of Leaving" finds an apprentice given an unexpected test. Will he pass? And, perhaps more important, what is the question?