Wherever darkness encroaches, unexpected heroes rise to meet the danger. The valor of the Steelhearts reverberates across far-flung lands to become enshrined in legend. But at what cost? The lords of humanity's last refuge plunge into desperate battle against an infinite horde of ravenous orcs. Primitive brothers hunt winged fiends through the jungle and confront terror in its hellish lair. Love, peril, and prophecy threaten a young woman's life of seclusion, testing her loyalties and virtue as never before. A young man braves grief, subterranean horrors, and ancient evils to try to rescue the last of his kin from a terrible foe. The fate of a treachery-ridden kingdom falls on a noble country knight and a mysterious old wizard. These and the other gripping tales found in this anthology are as varied as their international cast of up-and-coming fantasy authors.

Yet every page of Steelhearts will stir the blood in your veins-and may inspire you, too, to take up the swords of courage and truth in the face of evil. This collection was curated and co-edited by D. L. and J. C. Chaput, authors of Crown of Blood and other mythic fantasy. The stories were edited by M. B.

Heywood, creator of the Vaporous Realms story-world.