I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories, and was pleased to recognize characters in some of them that I have met before! The young princess Helen in Esther Friesner's contribution is later fleshed out in her excellent "Nobody's Princess" and "Nobody's Prize". Reading Tamora Pierce's story, I kept waiting for someone I recognized - and I was not disappointed! In fact, I enjoyed re-reading all of these stories a couple of weeks later. I highly recommend this book!