Contents of VETTIUS AND HIS FRIENDS

• Introduction: Source Materials
• The False Prophet
• Black Iron
• The Mantichore
• The Shortest Way
• From the Dark Waters
• Nemesis Place
• Dragons' Teeth
• The Barrow Troll
• Killer (with Karl Edward Wagner)
• Ranks of Bronze
• Dreams in Amber
• King Crocodile

I started writing with heroic fantasies either explicitly set during the classical past or closely modeled on that past. Black Iron was the fourth story I sold and the first that I consider to be really publishable.

These aren't necessarily my best stories (though The Barrow Troll comes pretty close), but they're very dear to my heart.

--Dave Drake