You define life or it defines you. In Shawn Speakman's case, it was both. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That's when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills - and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends. Unfettered is the result: An anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.
Twenty-three tales comprise this incredible collection, and as the title suggests, the writers were free to contribute whatever they wished.
Here is the table of contents:
Foreword by Patrick Rothfuss
Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks
How Old Holly Came to Be by Patrick Rothfuss
The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey
Mudboy by Peter V. Brett
The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian
The Coach with Big Teeth by R. A. Salvatore
Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood
Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton
Dogs by Daniel Abraham
The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne
Select Mode by Mark Lawrence
All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth
Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick
Unbowed by Eldon Thompson
In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik
River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson
The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan
The Duel by Lev Grossman
Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks
The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman
With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life's hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right, but it's a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community-proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises. After all, isn't that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?
