In Vienna in 1911 Gustav Klimt finds a woman's body in the Danube canal and, while sketching her, she coughs and proves alive. Back at his studio Klimt and his model Wally tend the nearly feral woman who cannot remember who she is, and he names her Judith. She recalls being stranded in the Arctic a century earlier, locked in a crate by Victor Frankenstein and visiting the Underworld. Many people pursue her, including Geoff, a giant croissant eating devil dog of the North.

This collection of stories is set in the same universe as The Innkeeper's Song. It includes a fish who helps a maiden escape from an arranged marriage to the king, a boy with unusually tall family members, and a magician who must teach a wicked queen all he knows. The tales range from adventurous to introspective and from humorous to suspenseful.

Murderbot volunteered to run a rescue mission and realizes it will have to spend significant time with a bunch of humans it does not know. That includes human children, which it finds unpleasant. It braces for awkward eye contact and runs an emotion check, reacting with frustration as it faces unwanted social interaction while trying to complete the mission.

A richly detailed cultural and historical portrait of an ancient, vanished civilization, tracing its origins, language, arts, philosophy, and the development of a unique technology that links worlds; the narrative covers the society’s literary and engineering achievements, the internal conflicts and moral choices that led to its decline and catastrophic fall, and the attempts by later explorers and survivors to understand, preserve, and reckon with the legacy left behind.

At eight, Alfie discovers he can undo any moment and live it again, but he must accept the consequences of his second attempt. He uses the gift to erase embarrassments, test risky near-death experiences, and shape his love life until he falls for Gianna, but he learns one caveat: once he undoes a love, that person can never love him again. Years later, an ailing Alfie is arrested after allegedly cheating at roulette, and a detective's interrogation gradually reveals his life and its outcome.

Norsemen sail across the Channel into the realm of the great Frankish emperor and confront a massive Crusader force. Aboard a dragon ship an English monk guards a book wrapped in cloth whose true worth is known only to him. At their leader's side is Raven, with a blood spot in his eye and magic in his soul, and he and Cynethryth, the runaway daughter of an English king, plunge into an epic clash of men and faiths.