In the title novella, "The Courage Consort," the eponymous acappella vocal ensemble is given two weeks in a Belgian chateau to rehearse their latest commission, the monstrously complicated Parfitum Mutante. Clashing artistic temperaments and escalating sexual tensions create as much discordance as the music. In "The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps," a lonely woman joins an archaeological dig at Whitby Abbey and unearths a mystery involving a long-hidden murder, a fragile manuscript in a bottle, and a rather attractive dog called Madrian. "The Fahrenheit Twins" ingeniously transposes Hansel and Gretel to the icy zenith of the world. Tainto'lilith and Marko'cain, identical in all but gender and isolated from the world by their parents' research on polar aborigines, create their own ritual civilization.

Contents:

• The Courage Consort
• The Hundred and Ninety-Nine Steps
• The Fahrenheit Twins