There were no enemy ships on the horizon, so I watched as Pierre swept into Hidden Lodge on Titchen Creek late on a moonless night. His two sled dogs huffed and bunched their shoulders, then dug their back legs in with angry growls, hating the trail, as they crossed that last stubborn rise. The runners of his sled rang over the crusted snow with the sound of a sword being drawn from its scabbard, and the leather harnesses creaked.

-- Author's Comments --

"I have to thank Kevin Anderson for inspiring this story. I had been asked to work as something of an agent a few years ago, bringing projects in for a small publisher in Salt Lake, Gibb-Smith Publishing. Kevin pitched the idea of doing an anthology of short stories based around the idea that in 1895, when the "War of the Worlds" took place, we got the story from only one point of view--that of H.G. Wells. However, many other writers were living at the time in far-flung reaches of the world, and he wondered, what would their takes on the story have been?

"I loved the idea, and immediately knew that I wanted to do Jack London. My father, Jack Wolverton, had been a huge fan of his work and used to read me stories when I was a child. He loved it so much, that he moved to Alaska just before I was born and wanted to relocate our family there. But my mother made him come back to a warmer climate. And as soon as I considered doing a Jack London story in the frozen north--well, I knew what the twist would be.

"Kevin lined up dozens of wonderful writers, and the anthology was tremendously successful. Several authors wrote stories that ended up competing on the awards ballots, including this one."

(David Farland)

-- Credits --

Written by David FarlandPerformed by Rick JelinekArt by Pete NewbauerMusic by James Guymon

Produced by MechMuse Audio Anthology at MechMuse.com

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