Though originally meant as a standalone anthology, the Bardic Tales and Sage Advice collection has evolved into an annual celebration of speculative fiction. The first installment of the series was published in 2004 to spotlight the winners of what would become our annual charity writing competition. Since then, the series has evolved to include the winners of the charity competition, the winners of our annual Readers' Choice awards, and select authors invited to participate. The stories in this year's collection include knights and dragons, lonely zombies, a musician with mystical powers, an overzealous security system, and more. We consider it the perfect sampler of the wonderful emerging talent in the speculative genres. We hope you will agree.