Sweet Waters tells the tale of a Liaden Survey Scout, stranded on a primitive planet after his ship is forced to crash land. Following his scout training, he makes contact with the natives, and learns to be one of them. But as time stretches on and no one responds to his distress call, Tol Ven yo'Endoth, now called Slade, is forced to go far beyond what is allowed in the regulations. A warrior must be chosen as a husband, or he's cast out into the wilderness. But marriages typically result in children, which while normally seen as positive, takes on a whole new light when they take place on a planet where Liaden physiology can not survive without access to high-technology; something that is rapidly running out.

A Night at the Opera is a tale of revenge, academic warfare, high society snobbery, and magic, set in an England that never existed, and yet is entirely familiar. It's something of a mystery, though that's difficult to do in only fifteen pages. As is traditional, a murder is committed, and while it should be rather obvious to the reader "who done it", the real questions are why, and how. And while you think you have that figured out as well, there are still a couple of twists to make life interesting. You know the answers, and yet you don't.