Eleven Mountains of Xiao Xia

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The things you do to save a ghost’s life. It’s hard enough for the peasant BanJie to explain why he scrawled graffiti on a priceless manuscript, or detonated a bomb in a citadel that’s been abandoned for centuries. But how can he tell his lover Jen’s fading spectral remains why he’s posing as the husband of an expectant mother? BanJie must perform eleven strange tasks over wintry mountains to save Jen – and himself. Jen’s father is a heavenly emperor who blames him for her death, and he’ll execute Banjie unless he can find a way to resurrect her. Because of BanJie’s operatic flair, people misconstrue his awkward deeds as genuine heroics, and he clambers to surmount a snowballing reputation. An assassin and a sorcerer hunt him. An immortal beggar obsesses over him, a female soldier adores him – even a wayward European Crusader needs his help. Everyone else merely expects him to walk on water. Can he keep up the charade long enough to save Jen? ELEVEN MOUNTAINS OF XIAO XIA is a historical fantasy with a touch of anachronism, set in twelfth century China, and told with a sidewise nod to the sinuous structure of classic Chinese novels. It is part of a set of books that include ELEVEN ENLIGHTENMENTS OF XIAO XIA and the in-progress ELEVEN RIVERS OF XIAO XIA. David Bartell has sold a number of science fiction and fantasy stories to Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and other markets. He has a story in the Larry Niven series Man-Kzin Wars. A zen story from ELEVEN ENLIGHTENMENTS OF XIAO XIA was published in ABODE OF THE ETERNAL TAO. He has also written for and appeared in television specials and series for the National Geographic Channel and Discovery Channel.