Unfettered: Tales By Masters of Fantasy

You define life or it defines you. In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both. Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story that Shawn could sell to help alleviate those bills - and suggested he ask the same of his other writer friends. Unfettered is the result: An anthology built in order to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.

Twenty-three tales comprise this incredible collection, and as the title suggests, the writers were free to contribute whatever they wished. Here is the table of contents:

Foreword by Patrick Rothfuss

Introduction: On Becoming Unfettered

Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks

How Old Holly Came to Be by Patrick Rothfuss

The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams

Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn

The Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey

Mudboy by Peter V. Brett

The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian

The Coach with Big Teeth by R. A. Salvatore

Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood

Heaven in a Wild Flower by Blake Charlton

Dogs by Daniel Abraham

The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne

Select Mode by Mark Lawrence

All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham

Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth

Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick

Unbowed by Eldon Thompson

In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik

River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson

The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan

The Duel by Lev Grossman

Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks

The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman

With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life’s hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right, but it’s a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community—proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises. After all, isn’t that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?