''Unfettered'' is a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

anthology edited by

Shawn Speakman Shawn may refer to: *Shawn (given name) *Shawn (surname) See also * Sean * Shaun Shaun is an Anglicized spelling of the Irish name Seán. Alternative spellings include Shawn, Sean, and Shawne. Along with spelling variants Shawn and Shaun, ...

, featuring 23 short stories contributed by various best-selling

authors In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

in the fantasy

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

. The book was released on 21 June 2013 by

Grim Oak Press GRIM (Groupe de recherche et d'improvisation musicales, roughly translated Group of Research and Musical Innovation), was a non-profit organization for improvised and experimental music. The GRIM was based at the Montévidéo, a cultural centre in ...

. The artwork for the book was done by

Todd Lockwood Todd Wills Lockwood (born July 9, 1957) is an American artist specializing in fantasy and science fiction illustration. He is best known for his work on the role-playing game ''Dungeons & Dragons'', and for his covers for the books of R. A. Salv ...

. On 4 May 2015, Speakman announced the release of ''Unfettered II'', with short stories from at least 15 best-selling fantasy and science-fiction authors. The book was published on 21 November 21, 2016, with the proceeds to be used to alleviate the medical debts of other authors and artists. A third volume, ''Unfettered III'', was released on 19 March 2019.

: "Foreword" by

Patrick Rothfuss Patrick James Rothfuss (born June 6, 1973) is an American author. He is best known for his highly acclaimed series '' The Kingkiller Chronicle'', beginning with Rothfuss' debut novel, '' The Name of the Wind'' (2007), which won several awards, ...

: "On Becoming Unfettered" (Introduction) by Shawn Speakman # "

Imaginary Friends Imaginary friends (also known as pretend friends, invisible friends or made-up friends) are a psychological and a social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than physical reality ...

" by

Terry Brooks Terence Dean Brooks (born January 8, 1944) is an American writer of fantasy fiction. He writes mainly high fantasy, epic fantasy, and has also written two film novelizations. He has written 23 New York Times Best Seller List, ''New York Times'' ...

(a precursor to the '' Word & Void'' trilogy) # "How Old Holly Came To Be" by Patrick Rothfuss (a ''

Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...

'' tale) # "River of Souls" by

Robert Jordan James Oliver Rigney Jr. (October 17, 1948 – September 16, 2007), better known by his pen name Robert Jordan," Robert Jordan" was the name of the protagonist in the 1940 Hemingway novel ''For Whom the Bell Tolls'', though this is not how the n ...

and

Brandon Sanderson Brandon Winn Sanderson (born December19, 1975) is an American author of high fantasy, science fiction, and young adult books. He is best known for the Cosmere fictional universe, in which most of his fantasy novels, most notably the '' Mistb ...

(a ''

Wheel of Time The wheel of time or wheel of history (also known as '' Kalachakra'') is a concept found in several religious traditions and philosophies, notably religions of Indian origin such as Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism, which regard time as cyclical ...

'' tale) # "The Old Scale Game" by

Tad Williams Robert Paul "Tad" Williams (born March 13, 1957) is an American fantasy and science fiction writer. He is the author of the multivolume ''Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn'' series, ''Otherland'' series, '' Shadowmarch'' series, and ''The Bobby Dollar'' ...

# "Game of Chance" by

Carrie Vaughn Carrie Vaughn (born January 28, 1973) is an American writer, the author of the urban fantasy '' Kitty Norville'' series. She has published more than 60 short stories in science fiction and fantasy magazines as well as short story anthologies and ...

# "Martyr of the Roses" by

Jacqueline Carey Jacqueline A. Carey (born October 9, 1964)"Jacqueline Carey – Summary Bib ...

(a precursor to the '' Kushiel'' series) # "Dogs" by Daniel Abraham # "Mudboy" by Peter V. Brett (a ''Demon Cycle'' tale) # "The Sound of Broken Absolutes" by Peter Orullian (a ''Vault of Heaven'' tale) # "The Coach With Big Teeth" by R.A. Salvatore # "Keeper of Memory" by Todd Lockwood (a ''Summer Dragon'' tale) # "Heaven in a Wild Flower" by Blake Charlton # "The Chapel Perilous" by

Kevin Hearne Kevin Hearne (born December 9, 1970) is an American-Canadian fantasy novelist originally hailing from Arizona, now residing in Ontario. Hearne is the author of twenty novels published by Del Rey. These include the ''New York Times'' bestsellin ...

(an '' Iron Druid'' tale) # "Select Mode" by Mark Lawrence (a ''Broken Empire'' tale) # "All the Girls Love Michael Stein" by

David Anthony Durham David Anthony Durham (born March 23, 1969) is an American novelist, author of historical fiction and fantasy. Durham's first novel, ''Gabriel's Story'', centered on African American settlers in the American West. ''Walk Through Darkness'' fol ...

# "Strange Rain" by Jennifer Bosworth (a ''Struck epilogue'' tale) # "Nocturne" by

Robert V. S. Redick The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, praise, reno ...

# "Unbowed" by

Eldon Thompson Eldon Thompson (born May 6, 1974) is an American author and screenwriter known for his epic fantasy series ''The Legend of Asahiel'', published by HarperCollins (Eos/HarperVoyager). Early life and education Thompson was born in Dallas, Texas in ...

(a '' Legend of Asahiel'' tale) # "In Favour With Their Stars" by

Naomi Novik Naomi Novik (born 1973) is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the Temeraire (series), ''Temeraire'' series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her The Scholomance Trilogy, ''S ...

(a '' Temeraire'' tale) # "The Jester" by Michael J. Sullivan (a '' Riyria Chronicles'' tale) # "The Duel" by

Lev Grossman Lev Grossman (born June 26, 1969) is an American novelist and journalist who wrote ''The Magicians Trilogy'': '' The Magicians'' (2009), '' The Magician King'' (2011), and '' The Magician's Land'' (2014). He was the book critic and lead technolo ...

(a ''Magicians'' tale) # "Walker and the Shade of Allanon" by Terry Brooks (a ''

Shannara ''Shannara'' is a series of high fantasy novels written by Terry Brooks, beginning with '' The Sword of Shannara'' in 1977 and concluding with ''The Last Druid'' which was released in October 2020; there is also a prequel, '' First King of Sha ...

'' tale) # "The Unfettered Knight" by Shawn Speakman (an ''Annwn Cycle'' tale) # "The Twilight Dragon" by Shawn Speakman (UK edition only)

Background

The book is an effort to alleviate the editor, Shawn Speakman's medical bills. Speakman was diagnosed with

Hodgkin's lymphoma Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the lymph nodes. The condition was named a ...

in 2011 and the resulting

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

left him $200,000 in debt. On the suggestion of ''Shannara'' author Terry Brooks, Speakman reached out to several authors for short stories which are published in the book. The proceeds from the sales of the advanced reading copy of the book would go towards author Dave Wolverton, whose son became

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

tose in a

longboarding Longboarding is a variation of skateboarding typified by the use of longer boards ("decks") with longer wheelbases and softer wheels. While longboards vary widely in shape and size, compared to street skateboards longboards are designed to be mo ...

accident.

Publication history

The book was initially published in five editions by Speakman's own publisher, ''Grim Oak Press''. The hardcover books included an advanced reader edition, a limited leather-bound and slip-cased hardcover edition (signed and numbered), a limited cloth hardcover (signed) edition and a trade hardcover edition. An ebook edition of the book was also released on Kindle, Nook and

Kobo Kobo may refer to: Places * Kobo (woreda), a district in Ethiopia ** Kobo, Ethiopia, a town * Kōbo Dam, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan * Mount Kōbō, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan People * Kobo (name) * Kōbō-Daishi, a posthumous name of Kūka ...

. The book was digitally published in the United Kingdom, Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and other territories by

Orbit Books Orbit Books is an international publisher that specialises in science fiction and fantasy books. It is a division of Lagardère Publishing. History Orbit Books was founded in 1974 as part of the Macdonald Futura publishing company. In 1992, ...

on 20 February 2014. It included an extra tale, ''The Twilight Dragon'', specially written by Shawn Speakman for the UK edition. The rights to the

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

edition were bought by

Audible Audible may refer to: * Audible (service), an online audiobook store * Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks * ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player * Audible finish or ru ...

. A single page excerpt of each story in the book was released on

Tor Tor, TOR or ToR may refer to: Places * Toronto, Canada ** Toronto Raptors * Tor, Pallars, a village in Spain * Tor, former name of Sloviansk, Ukraine, a city * Mount Tor, Tasmania, Australia, an extinct volcano * Tor Bay, Devon, England * Tor ...

's website on 1 July 2013. A five-story sampler of the anthology was also available to those at the 2013

Phoenix Comicon Phoenix Fan Fusion (formerly Phoenix Comicon and Phoenix Comic Fest) is a speculative fiction entertainment and comic book convention held annually in Phoenix, Arizona. It was founded as the Phoenix Cactus Comicon in June 2002, and originally c ...

. Peter Orullian and Primo Pulanco released a

power metal Power metal is a subgenre of heavy metal combining characteristics of traditional heavy metal with speed metal, often within a symphonic context. Generally, power metal is characterized by a faster, lighter, and more uplifting sound, in co ...

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, also named ''Unfettered'', based on the stories in the anthology under the 'Lour Nail'

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

Subsequent volumes

On 4 May 2015, Speakman announced the release of ''Unfettered II'', with short stories from at least 15 best-selling fantasy and science-fiction authors. The book was published on 21 November 2016, with the proceeds to be used to alleviate the medical debts of other authors and artists. A third volume, ''Unfettered III'', was released on 19 March 2019.

References

External links

* {{Portal, Novels 2013 anthologies Fantasy anthologies American anthologies

Contents

Background

Publication history

Subsequent volumes

References

External links