The Imaginary Palace of the Winter King, by Sarah Tolmie

[Strange Horizons]

Not Rated No Speculative Element

(Historical Fiction) In the midst of the Thirty Year’s War, the former King of Bohemia, now an exile in the Dutch Republic, obsesses over a painting of him and his wife in a grand palace. (4,412 words; Time: 14m)

The Dancer on the Stairs, by Sarah Tolmie

Read this issue

(Portal Fantasy) A personel manager is transported to a medieval world as an outcast, but she does have a purpose there, if she can only find it. (13,130 words; Time: 43m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

Reprinted from Two Travelers (Aqueduct Press, 2016), so still Hugo-eligible in 2017.