Pulp Literature, April 2020) Raffalon The character of Raffalon, a skilled but seldom lucky thief in the Dying Earth, was created when George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois invited Hughes to submit a story to their anthology Rogues. After writing the first Raffalon story, "The Inn of the Seven Blessings", Hughes realised the potential of the character and went on to write eight more stories about Raffalon's earlier adventures, which he collected in 2017. 9 Tales of Raffalon (2017) "Wearaway and Flambeau" (First published in F&SF, July–August 2012) "Stones and Glass" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2013) "The Inn of the Seven Blessings" (First published in Rogues, June 2014) "Avianca's Bezel" (First published in F&SF, September–October 2014) "Prisoner of Pandarius" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2015) "The Curse of the Myrmelon" (First published in F&SF, July–August 2015) "Telltale" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2016) "The Vindicator" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2016) "Sternutative Sortilage" (Original to this collection, reprinted in F&SF, May–June 2019) Baldemar The creation and subsequent development of the Baldemar series is comparable to that of the earlier Raffalon stories. Hughes was invited by Gardner Dozois to submit a story to The Book of Swords: the resulting story, "The Sword of Destiny" introduces Baldemar at the end of his career serving the ambitious but incompetent thaumaturge Thelerion. Subsequent stories have followed Baldemar's life from his streetwise beginnings through the rest of his time as a wizard's henchman. Baldemar (2022) "Ten Half-Pennies" (First published in F&SF, March–April 2017) "The Prognosticant" (First published in F&SF, May–June 2017) "The Sword of Destiny" (First published in The Book of Swords, October 2017) "Jewel of the Heart" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2018) "Argent and Sable" (First published in F&SF, May–June 2018) "The Plot Against Fantucco’s Armor" (First published in F&SF, March–April 2019) "A Geas of the Purple School" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2019) "Air of the Overworld" (First published in F&SF, January–February 2020) "The Glooms" (First published in F&SF, November–December 2020) "The Cat and the Merrythought" (First published in Shapers of Worlds, Volume II, October 2021) Cascor "The Forlorn" (First published in F&SF, September–October 2021) "The Mule" (First published in F&SF, March-April 2022) "The Dire Delusion" (To be published in F&SF, May-June 2023) Standalone Dying Earth stories Hughes has to date written three standalone short stories and a novel in the same Dying Earth setting as the Raffalon and Baldemar