"A Better Man" was published in the anthology Blackguards: Tales of Assassins, Mercenaries, and Rogues. About this story, author Paul S. Kemp says, "Egil and Nix feature in my sword and sorcery novels, The Hammer and the Blade, A Discourse in Steel, and A Conversation in Blood. Their stories are pacy, filled with action and wit (I hope). I think of them as a cross of Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, spiced with a bit of Conan and Indiana Jones. I hope you enjoy listening to their stories as much as I do writing them." "A Better Man" takes place after the events of A Discourse in Steel, though it is entirely stand-alone.