The story has two strong female role models as it's about a sailing ship, the <i>Antigiam</i> whose captain, Jemmapolis Meridan, and master, Sandotter, are both portrayed as competent women in charge of a ship with a male crew. The <i>Antigiam</i> is hired to go on a voyage to determine if dragons exists and to catch one.
While it appeared in a fantasy anthology this story could qualify as science fiction. The premise is that there has been some long forgotten climate change and people live in the mountains surrounded by continuous seas of clouds. They sail ships that are constructed from “floatwood” on the upper surface of the clouds. One thing that's not clear is why people don't descend below the clouds as they are capable of this but don't know much about what lies below. Apparently when a boat sinks people don floatwood life-vests and by whittling off a small part at a time lower their buoyancy until they reach the ground upon which they hike up back to the mountains and above the clouds.
| Date | Publication | Publisher | Type | Page | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 2001 |
|
Oceans of Magic | DAW Books | Anthology | 118 |
| August 2008 |
|
Worlds of Their Own | Paizo Publishing | Anthology | 99 |