SIGN OF THE BLACK HORSE is a collection of 22 tales, stories from the misty past to the dazzling future. A few of the stories & The Heir of Dun Eistean: Clan wars in the Scottish Highlands tear a young warrior away from his mysterious bride. When at last he returns home, she has disappeared, leaving him with twin children to raise and a mandate to restore the Moireasdan clan to its former greatness. The Water Horse: High in the Tennessee mountain wilderness, Ellie MacRae encounters a kelpiean elvish creature who can change from man to horse and back again. Lynx on a Chain: Two young men backpack into the Big Horn Mountains in search of trout. The pair meet catastrophe attempting to ford a river running high and deep with meltwater rushing down from the peaks. Will they emerge with their lives or perish in the heartless wilderness? Potters Field: Dalia Lindstrom has fallen in love with her ailing mentor and seeks to make his perfect art her own, breaking the promise she has made to the dying man. But theres a high price to pay for betrayal. The Wedding at Tommy Knockers Cavern Tavern: Goblins, trolls, gnomes, knockers, and kobolds coexist with mankind in the most unlikely placesunder the hills of western Wisconsin, for instance. Here a convivial evening in a cavern tavern threatens to morph into a battle for the hand of a lovely goblinuntil a fire-breathing, gem-hoarding dragon enters the fray. Sparrow on Whole Wheat: A lonely old woman with a taste for cheap vodka, Fern faces off with a cat and his owners over a fresh-killed sparrow. Can a pot of homemade chili and the promise of more vodka distract Fern from her mission? Esperanzas Sorrow: A widowed seamstress, grieving the death of her wayward child at the hands of a Chicago gang, stitches a quilt from scraps of her daughters clothes and discovers that a machine can respond to human emotions. The Rolling Crones: Sitting around and knitting just aint their thing, and so a pair of enterprising old brl³#