Elizabeth Bear's science fiction trilogy (Hammered, Scardown and Worldwired) have received widespread popular acclaim, but it is her short fiction which has really been turning heads. Routinely defying genre boundaries and exhilarating her readers, Elizabeth Bear's short fiction demonstrates why she is one of the most exciting young writers in the genre.

Whether the inspiration is Ragnarok, Stagger Lee, Elizabethan Drama, John Lennon, or matters even further a field, Bear proves to be up to the task of taking recognizable icons and settings, and making them her own. The stories in The Chains We Refuse range from recognizable SF and fantasy, to contemporary-fantastic stories, to forms not quite so easily described. The twenty-two tales in this collection are sure to please.

Contents:
Gone to Flowers
The Company of Four
Ice
High Iron
ee "doc" cummings
The Devil You Don't
Tiger! Tiger!
The Dying of the Light (with amber van dyk)
And the Deep Blue Sea
Schrödinger's Cat Chases the Super String
One-eyed Jack and the Suicide King
Sleeping Dogs Lie
Two Dreams on Trains
Stella Nova
This Tragic Glass
Botticelli
Seven Dragons Mountains
Old Leatherwings
When You Visit the Magoebaskloof Hotel Be Certain Not to Miss the Samango
Monkeys
Follow Me Light
The Chains That You Refuse