title: Chicks and Balances
text: # Chicks and Balances
  
  Chicks and Balances is an anthology of fantasy stories, edited by Esther Friesner and John Helfers, with a cover by Tom Wood. It consists of works featuring female protagonists by (mostly) female authors. It was first published in trade paperback and e-book form by Baen Books in July 2015. It was the sixth of a series of similarly themed anthologies, the first five of which were edited by Friesner alone.
  
  ## Summary
  
  The book collects 22 short stories and novelettes by various fantasy authors, with an introduction and a section of notes about the authors by Friesner.
  
  ## Contents
  
  * "Introduction" (Esther Friesner)
  * "A Chick Off the Old Block" (Jody Lynn Nye)
  * "The Girls from the Hood" (Jim C. Hines)
  * "Smackdown at Walmart" (Elizabeth A. Vaughan)
  * "The Mammyth" (Harry Turtledove)
  * "Give a Girl a Sword" (Kerrie L. Hughes)
  * "Bite Me" (Steven Harper Piziks)
  * "Dark Pixii" (Wen Spencer)
  * "A Warrior Looks at 40" (Julie S. Mandala)
  * "Roll Model" (Esther Friesner)
  * "Second Hand Hero" (Jean Rabe)
  * "Burying Treasure" (Alex Shvartsman)
  * "Calling the Mom Squad" (Sarah A. Hoyt)
  * "Rabid Weasels" (Robin Wayne Bailey)
  * "A Girl's Home Is Her Rent-Controlled Castle" (Laura Resnick)
  * ". . . And Your Enemies Closer" (Lee Martindale)
  * "Knot and the Dragon" (P. C. Hodgell)
  * "The Rules of the Game: A Poker Boy Story" (Dean Wesley Smith)
  * "Beginner's Luck" (Linda L. Donahue)
  * "One Touch of Hippolyta" (Laura Frankos)
  * "Saving Private Slime" (Louisa Swann)
  * "Unearthing the Undying Armor" (Elizabeth Ann Scarborough)
  * "Fashion and the Snarkmeisters" (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)
  * "About the Authors" (Esther Friesner)
  