Hunters' Haunt

During a storm, the master storyteller Omar is trapped in the Hunters' Haunt mountain inn. He must tell tales to save his life from a grudging innkeeper by outdoing the tall tales of fellow guests, weaving their stories into a unified adventure.

An interesting series of stories told by a variety of apparently disconnected people, 10 of them to be exact, echoing such classics as the Decameron and the Cantebury Tales.
Omar or Homer is literally trying to save his life by telling tales of the past. The others with him want his blood for various reasons, the trick is that he tells a story for every story told by one of the other people there, these stories are all interwoven and there's an implication that Omar is very long-lived and has seen many of these situations.
Enjoyable but not spectacular.

Sequel to The Reaver Road, but in a completely different setting - a snowbound inn in what seems to be the medieval Alps. Omar is in a storytelling contest with his life as the main stake. Other motives emerge as the stories are told. Great stories, great read.

ha! Canterbury Tales done up as a competently-written throwaway fantasy book. and that's how come Dave Duncan is always worth reading, even though his books never go for anything ambitious, or stick in the memory after. perfect summer reading.