Glimpses

A collection of Nightrunner tales

By Lynn Flewelling

Publisher: Three Crow Press

Editor and Owner: Reece Notley

www.threecrowpress.com

Cover art by Anne Cain © 2010

First Published September 2010

The Collection: Glimpses contains the
following:

Misfit © Lynn Flewelling

The Wild © Lynn Flewelling

By The River © Lynn Flewelling (previously
published)

The Bond © Lynn Flewelling

Summer Players [Excerpt] © Lynn
Flewelling

All illustrations included in this collection
were donated for use by the original artist who retains copyright.
Any duplications or reproductions are expressively forbidden
without prior consent of the artist.

The moral rights of the author and artists
have been asserted.

All those characters in this publication,
other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and
any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced
or transmitted in any forms by any means, electronic or mechanical
including photocopying, recoding or any information retrieval
system, without prior permission, in writing, from the author or
contributing artist.

The book is sold subject to the condition
that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold,
hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior
consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it
is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal
enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to
other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If
you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not
purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com
and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work
of this author.

Acknowledgements

Thanks first to Madame Editor, Reece Notley
of Three Crow Press. Without her enthusiasm and expertise, this
little book would not exist. Thanks also to my son Tim, for his
editorial help, and to author Betty Blue for her advice on the
naughty bits.

Foreword by Laura Anne Gilman

A Few Words by Lynn Flewelling

Misfit

The Wild

By The River

The Bond

The Summer Players (working title)

Image Gallery

Contributing Artists

MBP: Front Piece

Glynnis Koike: Acknowledgements

Kristen Evans: Table of Contents

Laurel Graham: Foreword

Ovsanna: Front Piece

Casey Beck: Front Piece

Misfit

Anna Sommerer

Ovsanna

Rabby

Bettina Körner

Kristin McKenna

Rabby

Linda Stelinski

Tove Brandberg

Stela Topolcic

The Wild

Melissa Pritchard

Anna Davidson

Ovsanna

Karl Engracia

Adriane Zonker

Stela Topolcic

Bernadette Joseco

By The River

Olivia Faliph

Angela Sopo

Lindsay Mathers

DragonLadyC

Ovsanna

Tata

The Bond

Linnea Jefferson

Franzsika Riedel

Ovsanna

Capucine

Ovsanna

Sarah Borchart

Tata

The Summer Players

Tata

Image Gallery

Karena Kliefoth: Editor's Note

Anna Sommerer: Artists' Page

Anna Davidson: Gallery

Kracken: Gallery

Capucine: Gallery

Anna Sommerer: Gallery

Kimberly White: Gallery

Sara Lilja: Gallery

Linda Stelinski: Gallery

Karl Engracia: Gallery

Doug Flewelling: Author Photo

“Glimpses is full of treasures like Lynn
Flewelling’s deceptively easy and addictive storytelling, her vivid
and engaging characters, and the amazing and heartfelt
illustrations. I found it fascinating to see a younger, less
outwardly confident Seregil in both ‘Misfit’ and ‘By the River’,
and then to meet him in his much more worldly persona in the
snippet of ‘The Summer Players’, the next Nightrunner novel. ‘The
Wild’ is a poignant, brutal and uplifting tale of Alec’s parents
and his early childhood. While the deepening of Seregil and Alec’s
relationship in ‘The Bond’ is beautifully handled and is as
emotionally satisfying for the reader as it is for the two friends
and lovers. This book is a must have for fans of Lynn’s Nightrunner
books, and if you haven’t started the series yet, then Glimpses
will leave you eager to discover more about Seregil and Alec, their
adventures and the unique and fantastical world that the pair
inhabit.”

—Suzanne McLeod, author of the
Spellcrackers.com urban fantasy series

“It's hard to imagine a lovelier gift to fans
than this exquisite collection of gorgeously illustrated short
stories. Flewelling indulges her loyal readers with these graceful
glimpses ‘between the lines’ of the long-running and immensely
popular Nightrunner series.”

—Josh Lanyon, author of the Adrien English
Mysteries and the Holmes & Moriarity Mysteries

“An unmissable short story collection from
Flewelling. Set in the Nightrunner universe Glimpses captures
Flewelling’s characters at formative moments in their various
timelines. Some of the stories fill in details that I've been
waiting on for years, others tell stories that I didn't know I
wanted to know until I read them. And who can resist the story of
how Seregil first met Micum Cavish, beloved if never a lover, or a
glimpse at the young Phoria - before she turned so bitter.
Illustrated by fans of the series it is fun to see how other
readers envisage the characters.”

—T.A. Moore, award-winning author of the Even
Series

“Glimpses is a terrific collection, lovingly
illustrated, a gift to all of us who love the Nightrunners. This
rocks.”

—Patricia Briggs, New York Times Best-selling
Author of the Mercy Thompson Series

“Magnificent, impressive … capture[s] some of
the same flavor found in T. H. White’s classic, The Once and Future
King, as well as in Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea books. Factor in some
essence of Mervyn Peake, and you have a winning combination.”

—Realms of Fantasy

“Flewelling’s Nightrunner books are popular
among fantasy fans for a very simple reason—they’re good.”

—Monroe (LA) News-Star

“An intensely poignant tale that asks the
question—how far should one go to change destiny? Lynn Flewelling
delivers a tightly crafted narrative with vivid characters and a
detailed background that quickly pulls the reader into her
world.”

—Romantic Times

“Memorable characters, an enthralling plot,
and truly daunting evil.... The characters spring forth from the
page not as well-crafted creations but as people.... The magic is
refreshingly difficult, mysterious, and unpredictable. Lynn
Flewelling has eschewed the easy shortcuts of clichéd minor
characters and cookie-cutter backdrops to present a unique
world.... I commend this one to your attention.”

—Robin Hobb, award-winning author of the The
Realm

of the Elderlings series and the Soldier Son
Trilogy

“A splendid read, filled with magic, mystery,
adventure, and taut suspense. Lynn Flewelling, bravo! Nicely
done.”

—Dennis L. McKiernan

Many years ago, when I was still editing the
Roc SF imprint, I cornered an agent friend of mine, waving a book
in her face. “Why didn’t you send me this author, when you were
submitting it?”

She blanched a little. “Oh, but you already
had [author redacted] on your list, so I thought it would be too
similar.”

“Argh,” I growled. “I would have made
room!”

So I lost out on my chance to be Lynn
Flewelling’s editor. But instead, I got to be her fan.

And that’s a word I don’t use easily: I’ve
worked with many writers over the years, and I enjoy their work, I
often love their work, but I don’t often consider myself a fan So
why Lynn Flewelling? Because when I start one of her stories, I
know that I’ll lose the rest of the day to anything else. Period.
She writes of people I care about, adventures that I can lose
myself in, and, underneath it all she writes about things that
matter. About love and friendship. Loyalty and fear. The many
layers of faith, and the equal layers of betrayal. And she does it
without losing sight of the most important,
cannot-be-underestimated elements of writing: Make It Fun. Even if
you’re tearing your readers’ hearts out, make them enjoy it.

Lynn is heterosexual. In case anyone was
wondering. So the fact that her main characters in the Nightrunner
series are gay could have backfired, could have been seen as a ploy
to ride a particular subgenre bandwagon, except for the fact that
Seregil and Alec are characters formed by their experiences, rather
than formed to BE their experiences. When Lynn writes about gender
issues, ostracism and the difficulties of knowing and accepting not
only who you are, but who you love, readers—no matter what their
self-identifications, can find their own emotions and personal
conflicts there.