Showing results for "Library" in Science Fiction & Fantasy

A trip to the library prompts one woman to question her fate in this galvanizing short story. For a woman like Hadley, deemed not acceptable to procreate, there’s only one recourse. Unlicensed for motherhood, she can alleviate her grief and frustration at a “baby library,” where a curiously endless supply of infants is available for a two-week loan. But the borrowed life that serves as a temporary balm leads to a journey of self-discovery that will forever change the direction of Hadley’s future.

As the aftermath of the war against Avalon settles and life in the lands of Sparo returns to a semblance of order, the matron of the library, Emily, also known lovingly as the Queen of the Scrolls, decides it is time for her to return home. It was revealed in the war that Emily possessed magic and had come from lands faraway to observe the people of Sparo and document their culture as the First Seeker of her Sect. Her homeland, New Cali, lay far to the south beyond the Fringe and out into the Uninhabitable Lands.