Each time Ermenwyr turns up, he brings new trouble with him. In Salesh, Smith becomes an innkeeper, but on the journey he befriended the young Lord Ermenwyr, a decadent demonic half-breed. The caravan is dogged by murder, magic, and the brooding image of the Master of the Mountain, a powerful demon, looking down from his mountain kingdom upon the greenlands and the travelers passing below. His problems begin when he agrees to be the master of a caravan from the inland city of Troon to the seaside city of Salesh. Now he has wearied of his work and is trying to retire in another country, to live an honest life in obscurity in spite of all those who have sworn to kill him. They are a race given to blood feuds, and Smith was formerly an extremely successful assassin. It is the tale of Smith, of the large extended family of Smiths, of the Children of the Sun. The Anvil of the World is her first fantasy novel, a journey across a landscape filled with bizarre creatures, human and otherwise. She mixes adventure, history and societal concerns in just the right amount, creating an action-packed but thoughtful read,” says The Dallas Morning News. Baker is the best thing to happen to modern science fiction since Connie Willis or Dan Simmons. So has her talent for clever dialogue and pointed social commentary with a light touch.

Kage Baker's stories and novels of the mysterious organization that controls time travel, The Company, have made her famous in SF.

The Anvil of the World by Kage Baker