Tales from the Territory

Tales from the Territory (2026) Travis Baldree (Legends & Lattes)

Goblins & Greatcoats

There has been a terrible murder. Is the goblin going to be able to solve the case?

Is that the Gatewarden? A goblin?” stage-whispered the young warden.

Zyll’s long, pointed ears caught the murmuration of uncomfortable shrugs that followed. She didn’t bother turning around.

This is my favorite story in the book.

Characters: Zyll, Ivorine, Xanthus, Cerise, Bartholomew, Azula, Magentum, Olivus, Bradlee, Cuthbert

Just a Thimbleful

How Thimble came to work at Legends & Lattes.

Every imagined future flavor was one he could taste in his mind, without doubt, the only possible ending of a journey from humble beginnings to golden flake.

This was my second favorite story–I really liked seeing things from Thimble’s PoV.

Characters: Thimble, Maddie, Penton, Viv

Pages to Fill

This I’d read before as it’s a bonus in one of the books.

You check the books for what somebody used to know. You check with the Scholar for what somebody knows now.

Characters: Roon, Viv, Fennus, Gallina, Taivus, Bodkin, Leyton, Valeya

Mirograph

This story was supposed to be a glimpse at Tandri’s past, but instead of telling us anything much about Tandri, it’s really a rant about AI.

Characters: Prof. Almeda Dupesne, Tandri, Gadsby

Cavaliers & Coffees

This is an epilogue of sorts to Legends & Lattes but coming after Mirograph‘s heavy-handed moral about AI, this read as a complaint about IP theft rather than adding much to the characters or the world.

Characters: Thimble, Viv, Cal, Delma, Ludo, Rufeus Redfell, Arden, Pendry, Laney, Madrigal

As much as I liked the first two stories, closing on two stories I didn’t like left me with a somewhat negative impression of the anthology.

Cover and interior illustrations by Leesha Hannigan

Publisher: Subterranean Press

Rating: 7.5/10

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