From sorcerous bridges that link worlds to the simple customs of country folk; from your inexplicable natures of twins towards the harmful powers of responsibility and contract. Loaded with perils for both the adventurous and the unsuspecting, magic is definitely ultimately a contradiction: endlessly effective but hardly ever without consequence, and rigidly defined by rules of its making. Award-winning Jonathan Strahan brings together some of the most fascinating and popular writers working in dream today to drill down into that contradiction, and present you with the unusual, the challenging, the numerical, the unstable, the deceptive and most importantly the fearsome world of magic. Includes tales by Garth Nix, K J Parker, Tony Ballantyne, Wayne Bradley, Isobelle Carmody, Frances Hardinge, Nina Kiriki Hoffman, Ellen Klages, Justina Robson, Christopher Rowe, Robert Shearman, Karin Tidbeck, Genevieve Valentine and Kaaron Warren.