All new and original to this volume, the 21 stories in Dangerous Women include work by twelve New York Times bestsellers, and seven stories set in the authors' bestselling continuities-including a new "Outlander" story by Diana Gabaldon, a tale of Harry Dresden's world by Jim Butcher, a story from Lev Grossman set in the world of The Magicians, and a 35,000-word novella by George R. R. Martin about the Dance of the Dragons, the vast civil war that tore Westeros apart nearly two centuries before the events of A Game of Thrones.

Also included are original stories of dangerous women--heroines and villains alike--by Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Lawrence Block, Carrie Vaughn, S. M. Stirling, Sharon Kay Penman, and many others.

Writes Gardner Dozois in his Introduction, "Here you'll find no hapless victims who stand by whimpering in dread while the male hero fights the monster or clashes swords with the villain, and if you want to tie these women to the railroad tracks, you'll find you have a real fight on your hands. Instead, you will find sword-wielding women warriors, intrepid women fighter pilots and far-ranging spacewomen, deadly female serial killers, formidable female superheroes, sly and seductive femmes fatale, female wizards, hard-living Bad Girls, female bandits and rebels, embattled survivors in Post-Apocalyptic futures, female Private Investigators, stern female hanging judges, haughty queens who rule nations and whose jealousies and ambitions send thousands to grisly deaths, daring dragonriders, and many more."

Author of the New York Times-bestselling “Song of Ice and Fire” series that begins with A Game of Thrones, called “the American Tolkien” by Time magazine, GEORGE R. R. MARTIN is one of the leading authors of fantasy today.  GARDNER DOZOIS is an acclaimed science fiction and fantasy editor and novelist who has won fifteen Hugo Awards for his editorial work.

Introduction

Some Desperado by Joe Abercrombie

My Heart is Either Broken by Megan Abbott

Nora’s Song by Cecelia Holland

The Hands That Are Not There by Melinda Snodgrass

Bombshells by Jim Butcher

Raisa Stepanova by Carrie Vaughn

Wrestling Jesus by Joe R. Lansdale

Neighbors by Megan Lindholm

I Know How to Pick ‘Em by Lawrence Block

Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell by Brandon Sanderson

A Queen In Exile by Sharon Kay Penman

The Girl In the Mirror by Lev Grossman

Second Arabesque, Very Slowly by Nancy Kress

City Lazarus by Diana Rowland

Virgins by Diana Gabaldon

Hell Hath No Fury by Sherilynn Kenyon

Pronouncing Doom by S. M. Stirling

Name the Beast by Sam Sykes

Caretakers by Pat Cadigan

Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector

The Princess and the Queen by George R. R. Martin