Search Worlds Without End

An interstellar catastrophe has left humanity scattered on dozens of primitive worlds. Fiona is an emissary to one such world, charged with helping the inhabitants of Echidne rise from barbarism.

But once she's arrived on the planet, she finds herself in the middle of a war... the Brodaini, the world's most ferocious warriors, have risen in revolt against their overlords. The combat threatens to become a war of extermination.

Fiona is a neutral in the war. But Echidne is proving a perilous place for neutrals...

ORPHANS OF DEEP SPACE

They're outlaws now. Created to serve a function grown obsolete, haunted by the holographic ghost of their father, Ubu and Maria have lived their entire lives skating along the edge of extinction. Now they and their ship Runaway are in flight, both from the law and from a predatory clan of competitors.

But what they find in the depths of space isn't wealth, but a secret so startling that Ubu and Maria will need every last reserve of guile, cunning, and intelligence just to survive.

Nebula Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, October-November 1999. There are no other known publications available at this time.

Successful in its efforts to create a glittering interstellar empire, founded on the use of an ultra-advanced computer and bioengineering technology, humankind becomes the prey of its own creation, the Aristoi.

Nebula Award winning and Sturgeon Award nominated short story.

Little Jamie lives with his family in an eerily perfect environment, entertained by characters from literature, sung to sleep at night by the Woman in the Moon. But cracks begin to appear in Jamie's world that reveal rifts within his family, and he begins to see the terrifying reality behind the walls of his life, and to understand that perfection has its price...

The story originally appeared in the anthology Not of Woman Born (1999), edited by Constance Ash. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Seventeenth Annual Collection (2000), edited by Gardner Dozois, Nebula Awards Showcase 2002, edited by Kim Stanley Robinson, Best of the Best: 20 Years of the Year's Best Science Fiction (2005), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Rewired: The Post-Cyberpunk Anthology (2007), edited by James Patrick Kelly and John Kessel. It is included in the collections The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories (2010) and The Best of Walter Jon Williams (2021).

Read the story for free at Clarkesword.

Hugo and Sturgeon Award nominated novelette.

This Hugo Award-nominated story takes place in the distant future, when a highly-evolved humanity finds itself at war with the alien Shars. The product of eight million years of evolution, Ambassador Drill is sent to make peace... but does he retain enough of his humanity to recognize that of his enemies?

The story originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 1987. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifth Annual Collection (1988), edited by Gardner Dozois, The 1988 Annual World's Best SF, edited by Arthur W. Saha and Donald A. Wollheim, Future on Ice (1998) edited Orson Scott Card and The Furthest Horizon: SF Adventures to the Far Future (2000) edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections Facets (1990) and The Best of Walter Jon Williams (2021).

This collection of short stories includes "Surfacing", a tale of the perils and joys of communication between humans and whales, "Video Star" and "Wolf Time", which provide two perspectives on the lives of outlaws struggling to survive and "Dinosuars" a story about the struggle for supremacy.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Roger Zelazny
• Surfacing - (1988) - novella
• Video Star - (1986) - novelette
• No Spot of Ground - (1989) - novella
• Flatline - (1988) - shortstory
• Side Effects - (1985) - novelette
• Witness - (1986) - novelette
• Wolf Time - (1987) - novelette
• The Bob Dylan Solution - (1989) - shortstory
• Dinosaurs - (1987) - novelette

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Gardner Dozois
• Solip: System - (1989) - novelette
• Broadway Johnny - (1995) - novella
• Woundhealer - (1995) - novelette
• The Bad Twin - novelette
• Red Elvis - (1994) - novelette
• Prayers on the Wind - (1991) - novella
• Erogenoscape - (1991) - novelette
• Foreign Devils - (1996) - novelette
• Bag Lady - novelette
• Wall, Stone, Craft - (1993) - novella

From Walter Jon Williams, the celebrated and influential author of Hardwired, Voice of the Whirlwind, and Angel Station comes Implied Spaces, a new novel of post-singularity action, pyrotechnics, and intrigue.

Aristide, a semi-retired computer scientist turned swordsman, a scholar of the implied spaces, seeking meaning amid the accidents of architecture in a universe where reality itself has been sculpted and designed by superhuman machine intelligence. While exploring the pre-technological world Midgarth, one of four dozen pocket universes created within a series of vast, orbital matrioshka computer arrays, Aristide uncovers a fiendish plot threatening to set off a nightmare scenario, perhaps even bringing about the ultimate Existential Crisis: the end of civilization itself!

Traveling the pocket universes with his wormhole-edged sword Tecmessa in hand and talking cat Bitsy, avatar of the planet-sized computer Endora, at his side, Aristide must find a way to save the multiverse from subversion, sabotage, and certain destruction.

This novella originally appeared in the anthology Escape from Earth: New Adventures in Space (2006), edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann. It can also be found in the anthologies Science Fiction: The Best of the Year, 2007 Edition, edited by Rich Horton, The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume One (2007), edited by Jonathan Strahan, and The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fourth Annual Collection (2007), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories (2010).

Earth is a paradise. But not even paradise is perfect.

The Falkner Generator has given mankind the stars. At sub light speeds scattered humanity slowly sinks into decay. The last endless night is falling on the human race. Unless....

Nebula and Sturgeon award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, September 1997. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fifteenth Annual Collection (1998), edited by Gardner Dozois and Nebula Awards Showcase 2000 , Gregory Benford. It is included in the collection The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories (2010).

This short story originally appeared on Infinitematrix.net, August 2002. It can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection (2003), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Beyond Singularity (2005), edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collections The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories (2010) and The Best of Walter Jon Williams (2021).

Read the full story for free at Infinitematrix.net.

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in the anthology When the Music's Over (1991), edited by Lewis Shiner. The story can also be foun in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Ninth Annual Collection (1992), edited by Gardner Dozois, and The Good New Stuff: Adventure SF in the Grand Tradition (1999), also edited by Gardner Dozois . It is included in the collections Frankensteins and Foreign Devils (1998) and The Best of Walter Jon Williams (2021).

This novelette originally appeared in the anthology Alternate Outlaws (1994), edited by Mike Resnick. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twelth Annual Collection (1995), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collection Frankensteins and Foreign Devils (1998).

This novelette originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, June 1985. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Third Annual Collection (1986), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collection Facets (1990).

Nominated for Hugo and Nebula awards, "Surfacing" is the story of Anthony, an emotionally scarred researcher who finds it easier to talk to whales and to aliens than to members of his own species. Until a stranger named Philana enters his life, with a terrifying problem of her own that dares him to break through the surface of his world.

The story originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, April 1988. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixth Annual Collection (1989) and Best of the Best Volume 2: 20 Years of the Year's Best Short Science Fiction Novels, both edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections Facets (1990) and The Best of Walter Jon Williams (2021).

Read the full story for free at Subterranean Press Magazine.

With the publication of his debut novel, The Privateer, in 1981, Walter Jon Williams began one of the most varied and prolific careers in contemporary popular fiction. His work encompasses cyberpunk (Hardwired), military SF (The Dread Empire's Fall series), humor (The Crown Jewels), even disaster fiction (The Rift). But much of Williams's best work takes place in the shorter forms, as this generous volume, filled to overflowing with award-winning and award-nominated stories, clearly proves.

With one exception, The Best of Walter Jon Williams reflects its author's affection for and mastery of the novella form. That exception is "The Millennium Party," a brief, brilliant account of a virtual anniversary celebration unlike any you have ever imagined. Elsewhere in the collection, Williams offers us one brilliantly sustained creation after another. The Nebula Award-winning "Daddy's World" takes us into a young boy's private universe, a world of seeming miracles that conceals a tragic secret. "Dinosaurs" is the far future account of the incredibly destructive relationship between the star-faring human race and the less evolved inhabitants of the planet Shar.

"Diamonds from Tequila" is a lovingly crafted example of SF Noir in which a former child actor attempts a comeback that proves unexpectedly dangerous. "Surfacing" is a tale of alienation featuring a research scientist more at home with the foreign and unfamiliar than with the members of his own species. Finally, the magisterial "Wall, Stone, Craft" offers a brilliantly realized alternate take on a young Mary Godwin, future creator of Frankenstein, and her relationships with the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, culminating in the creation of a monster who would "stalk through the hearts of all the world."

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Daniel Abraham
• Daddy's World - (1999) - novelette
• The Golden Age - (2014) - novelette
• Dinosaurs - (1987) - novelette
• Surfacing - (1988) - novella
• Video Star - (1986) - novelette
• The Millennium Party - (2002) - short story
• The Bad Twin - (1998) - novelette
• The Green Leopard Plague - [College of Mystery] - (2003) - novella
• Diamonds from Tequila - [Dagmar Shaw] - (2014) - novella
• Margaux - [Praxis Universe] - (2003) - novella
• Prayers on the Wind - (1991) - novella
• Wall, Stone, Craft - (1993) - novella
• Story Notes - essay by Walter Jon Williams

From Walter Jon Williams, author of Implied Spaces, Hardwired, and Voice of the Whirlwind, comes The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories, a stunning collection of short fiction including the Nebula Award winning story The Green Leopard Plague, as well as Daddy's World, Lethe, The Last Ride of German Freddie, Millennium Party, The Tang Dynasty, Underwater Pyramid, Incarnation Day, Send Them Flowers, and Pinocchio.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Charles Stross
• Daddy's World - (1999) - novelette
• Lethe - (1997) - novelette
• The Last Ride of German Freddie - (2002) - novella
• Millennium Party - (2002) - shortfiction
• The Green Leopard Plague - (2003) - novella
• The Tang Dynasty Underwater Pyramid - (2004) - novelette
• Incarnation Day - (2006) - novella
• Send Them Flowers - (2007) - novelette
• Pinocchio - (2008) - novella

FRACTURE LINES PERMEATE THE CENTRAL UNITED STATES. Some comprise the New Madrid fault, the most dangerous earthquake zone in the world. Other fracture lines are social -- economic, religious, racial, and ethnic.

What happens when they all crack at once?

Caught in the disaster as cities burn and bridges tumble, young Jason Adams finds himself adrift on the Mississippi with African-American engineer Nick Ruford. A modern-day Huck and Jim, they spin helplessly down the river and into the widening faults in American society, encountering violence and hope, compassion and despair, and the primal wilderness that threatens to engulf not only them, but all they love...

Ric has survived a rival's attempt to poison him, but the hospital AIs pegged him as a suspect character with no job history and a suspicious amount of cash on his person, and they kept the treatments coming until he was broke.

Now he needs a new source of funds, and the hospital which stole his money is chock-full of a new neurohormone that's worth a fortune. All Ric needs is to manipulate a street gang into committing the crime for him, and then he'll betray everyone and live happily ever after.

But maybe he hasn't counted on a new technology aimed at turning him into the star of a very nasty reality show...

This novelette originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, July 1986. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourth Annual Collection (1987). The story is included in the collections Facets (1990) and The Best of Walter Jon Williams (2021).

An alternative-history classic nominated for the Hugo, Nebula, and World Fantasy Awards!

Young Mary Godwin has run away with the married poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, but a chance encounter places them in the path of Lord Byron, the Hero of Waterloo. Byron wants Mary, and is willing to use Mary's young, reckless sister Claire as a pawn in his heartless schemes. Exactly how heartless, and how audacious is only revealed on a storm-tossed lake in Switzerland, a tragic encounter that produces not only an alternate history, but an alternate literary monster, a new Frankenstein for a new world...

Four award-winning authors. Four amazing alternate histories.

In this collection of novellas, four masters of alternate history turn back time, twisting the facts with four excursions into what might have been.

Bestselling author Harry Turtledove imagines a different fate for Socrates (now Sokrates); S. M. Stirling envisions life "in the wilds of a re-barbarized Texas" after asteroids strike the earth in the 19th century; Sidewise winner Mary Gentle contributes a story of love (and pigs) set in the mid-15th century, as European mercenaries prepare to sack a Gothic Carthage; and Nebula nominee Walter Jon Williams pens a tale of Nietzsche intervening in the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Table of Contents:

• The Daimon - novella by Harry Turtledove
• The Real History Behind "The Daimon" - essay by Harry Turtledove
• Shikari in Galveston - novella by S. M. Stirling
• Why Then, There - essay by S. M. Stirling
• The Logistics of Carthage - novella by Mary Gentle
• 1477 and All That - essay by Mary Gentle
• The Last Ride of German Freddie - novella by Walter Jon Williams
• Afterword to "The Last Ride of German Freddie" - essay by Walter Jon Williams

Nebula Award nominated novella in de Wild Cards shared universe. It originally appeared in the anthology Wild Cards I (1988), edited by George R. R. Martin. It can also be found in Nebula Awards 23 (1989), edited by Michael Bishop. It is included in the collection Facets (1990).

Nebula Award winning and Hugo Award nominated novella. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, October-November 2003. It can also be found in the anthologies Best Short Novels: 2004, edited by Jonathan Strahan, The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection (2004), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Nebula Awards Showcase 2006, edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collections The Green Leopard Plague and Other Stories (2006) and The Best of Walter Jon Williams (2021).

Imagine a game with no boundaries - waiting in a parking lot, sitting at your computer, walking down the street. You could be called at any moment - and you'd better be ready.

This is not a game.

This is a novel of greed, betrayal, and social networking.

By day Dagmar Shaw orchestrates vast games with millions of players spanning continents. By night, she tries to forget the sound of a city collapsing in flames around her. She tries to forget the faces of her friends as they died in front of her. She tries to forget the blood on her own hands.

But then an old friend approaches Dagmar with a project. The project he pitches is so insane and so ambitious, she can't possibly say no. But this new venture will lead her from the world of alternate-reality gaming to one even more complex. A world in which the players are soldiers and spies and the name of the game is survival.

Dagmar Shaw got out of the game... and into the movies.Sean is a washed-up child actor reduced to the lowest dregs of reality television to keep himself afloat. His life was a downward spiral of alcoholism, regret, and failure... until he met Dagmar.Except Sean has secrets, dark even for the Hollywood treadmill of abuse, addiction, and rehab. And Dagmar is a cipher. There are dark rumors about her past, the places she's been, the things she was involved in. People tend to die around her and now, she wants Sean for something. A movie, she says, but with her history, who's to say what her real game is?

Nebula Award-winning author Walter Jon Williams returns to the sweeping space opera adventure of his Praxis universe with Impersonations, an exciting new novel featuring the hero of Dread Empire's Fall!

Having offended her superiors by winning a battle without permission, Caroline Sula has been posted to the planet Earth, a dismal backwater where careers go to die. But Sula has always been fascinated by Earth history, and she plans to reward herself with a long, happy vacation amid the ancient monuments of humanity's home world.

Sula may be an Earth history buff, but there are aspects of her own history she doesn't want known. Exposure is threatened when an old acquaintance turns up unexpectedly. Someone seems to be forging evidence that would send her to prison. And all that is before someone tries to kill her.

If she's going to survive, Sula has no choice but to make some history of her own.

Unable to find a meaningful posting due to the hostility of his superiors, Captain Lord Gareth Martinez has accepted a meaningless post as Inspector General of Chee, a newly-settled world. Intending nothing more than a pleasant vacation with his family, he first stumbles across a murderous conspiracy, and then learns he must battle a literal cosmic menace that threatens to wipe out all life on the planet.

This novella originally appeared in the anthology Between Worlds (2004), edited by Robert Silverberg, and was reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine, Issue 101, October 2018. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection (2005), edited by Gardner Dozois.

All will must bend to the perfect truth of The Praxis

For millennia, the Shaa have subjugated the universe, forcing the myriad sentient races to bow to their joyless tyranny. But the Shaa will soon be no more. The dread empire is in its rapidly fading twilight, and with its impending fall comes the promise of a new galactic order . . . and bloody chaos.

A young Terran naval officer marked by his lowly birth, Lt. Gareth Martinez is the first to recognize the insidious plot of the Naxid -- the powerful, warlike insectoid society that was enslaved before all others -- to replace the masters’ despotic rule with their own. Barely escaping a swarming surprise attack, Martinez and Caroline Sula, a pilot whose beautiful face conceals a deadly secret, are now the last hope for freedom for every being who ever languished in Shaa chains -- as the interstellar battle begins against a merciless foe whose only perfect truth is annihilation.

The Dread Empire of the Shaa is no more, following the death of the last oppressor. But freedom remains elusive for the myriad sentient races enslaved for ten centuries, as an even greater terror arises. The Naxids -- a powerful insectoid species themselves subjugated until the recent Shaa demise -- plan to fill the vacuum with their own bloody domination, and have already won a shattering victory with superior force and unimaginable cruelty.

But two heroes survived the carnage at Magaria: Lord Gareth Martinez and the fiery, mysterious gun pilot Lady Caroline Sula, whose courageous exploits are becoming legend in the new history of galactic civil war. Yet their cunning, skill, and bravery may be no match for the overwhelming enemy descending upon the loyalist stronghold of Zanshaa, as the horrific battle looms that will determine the structure of the universe -- and who shall live to inhabit it -- for millennia to come.

The universe has fallen into bloody chaos now that the dread empire of the tyrannical Shaa is no more -- at the mercy of the merciless insectoid Naxid, who now hunger for domination. But the far-flung human descendants of Terra have finally tasted liberty, and their warrior heroes will not submit. Separated by light-years, Lord Gareth Martinez and the mysterious guerrilla fighter Caroline Sula each pursue a different road to victory in tomorrow's ultimate battle -- for the new order will be far more terrible than the old ... unless one last, desperate stratagem can hold a shattered galaxy together.

It's been seven years since the end of the Naxid War. Sidelined for their unorthodox tactics by a rigid, tradition-bound military establishment, Captain Gareth Martinez and Captain the Lady Sula are stewing in exile, frustrated and impatient to exercise the effective and lethal skills they were born to use in fighting the enemy.

Yet after the ramshackle empire left by the Shaa conquerors is shaken by a series of hammer blows that threaten the foundations of the commonwealth, the result is a war that no one planned, no one expected, and no one knows how to end.

Now, Martinez, Sula, and their confederate Nikki Severin must escape the clutches of their enemies, rally the disorganized elements of the fleet, and somehow restore the fragile peace – or face annihilation at the hands of a vastly superior force.

The Praxis, the empire of now extinct Shaa, has again fallen into civil war, with desperate and outnumbered humans battling several alien species for survival. Leading the human forces are star-crossed lovers Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula, who must find a way to overcome their own thorny personal history to defeat the aliens and assure humanity's survival.

But even if the human fleet is victorious, the divisions fracturing the empire may be too wide to repair, as battles between politicians, the military, and fanatics who want to kill every alien threaten to further tear the empire apart. While Martinez and Sula believe they have the talent and tactics to defeat an overwhelming enemy, what will prevent their fellow humans from destroying themselves?

Star-crossed lovers Gareth Martinez and Caroline Sula have decisively beaten the forces of the corrupt Zanshaa government. It seems all there's left to do is to travel to the capital of Zanshaa to reunite the empire under the banner of the Restoration. Before they can sweep up the pieces, though, it's revealed that any advance would spring an enemy trap. To make things worse, their opponents have more resources than Martinez and Sula could have imagined, and a superior force is now aimed at the heart of the Restoration.

But before Martinez and Sula can contend with the gathering enemy forces, a surprising act of violence on Sula's part threatens their relationship--and damages their trust. Hurt and confused, Martinez sends Sula into exile while he tries to recover from his broken heart. Somehow, these two lovers must repair their relationship in order to defeat this new enemy threat... especially when more than love is at stake.

Earth lies prostrate beneath the lash of the Orbital powers, and Earth's Balkanized nations have no choice but to let the Orbitals plunder their remaining wealth. Below the zone of Orbital control, buttonheads, panzerjocks, dirtgirls, and hustlers scramble for their ticket out of the gravity well.

But now, if the criminal underworld and the guerilla underground can join forces, there is a chance to shift the balance of power-- in a war fought on the ground by hardwired commandos, in the air by high-flying deltajocks, and by genius hackers in the neural interface.

Steward is a Beta -- a clone. In his memories, he's an elite commando for an orbital policorp -- but because his Alpha never did a brain-scan update, Steward's memories are fifteen years out of date... and in those fifteen years, everything has changed.

An interstellar war destroyed the company that held his allegiance. His wife has divorced him, along with the second wife that he can't even remember. Most of his comrades died in a useless battle on a world called Sheol, and those who survived are irrevocably scarred. An alien race has arrived and become the center of a complex and deadly intrigue.

And someone has murdered him.

Peleng is a planet ripe for the plucking, and Drake Maijstral is an Allowed Burglar rated in the Top Ten by the Imperial Sporting Commission. But what should be a simple case of breaking-and-plundering turns into an intergalactic crisis when Maijstral steals something so rare, so valuable, so utterly desirable, that everyone wants it -- everyone including well-armed Imperial spies, gun-toting human militias, a homicidal maniac with a very large sword, and a fanatical countess with a really, really nasty croquet habit.

One obsessed cop. Two master thieves. A very small island in space. And The Greatest Treasure in the Empire.

Silverside Station is a small asteroid resort catering to the rich, the famous, and the celebrated -- but is it big enough for both Drake Maijstral (the devious hero of The Crown Jewels) and Geoff Fu George (rated the galaxy's top burglar by the Imperial Sporting Commission), both of whom have set their sights on the Eltdown Shard, a fabulous jewel that captures the light of a dying sun, a jewel that dangles around the comely throat of the Duchess Roberta, a beautiful and dashing heiress who clearly has plans of her own.

Mayhem and hilarity at the only possible result. House of Shards continues the droll adventures of Drake Maijstral -- thief, devout coward, and reluctant hero -- as he schemes his way to the top of the ratings.

After years of struggle, Drake Maijstral has been rated Number One Burglar by the Imperial Sporting Commission. Surely by now he deserves a vacation -- and he fully intends to take one, on Earth. But valuable items keep disappearing, and it's clear that Maijstral, the master thief to end all master thieves, is being preyed upon by another expert burglar. Maijstral would very much like to solve this mystery, but unfortunately people keep challenging him to duels, and he's become enmeshed in conspiracies laid by two very attractive, very dangerous ladies. And to make things worse, the corpse of Maijstral's father has been stolen -- a corpse that is dead, but still senile.

Meting out the energy source known as plasm in a future world, Aiah learns of the substance's powers to heal, kill, and fulfill dreams, and when she locates an unlimited supply, she plans to overthrow her oppressive government.

Aiah worked for the Plasm Authority, metering the shimmering substance that powered the world-city, until she fell in love with Constantine, the rebel Metropolitan fighting a war to overthrow the corrupt dynasty of the Keremaths.

Now the war is over, and Aiah is at the mercy of Constantine, the tyrant she created. As sexually irresistible as ever, the former rebel has a new job for Aiah: track down the outlaw plasm divers of Caraqui and recruit them to help destroy the Silver Hand, a murderous remnant of the old kleptocracy. A reluctant Aiah finds herself working with a horrifying ally -- the "hanged man," Taikoen, a once-human monster that lives in the plasm well, leaving it only to kill. But for Aiah, there can be no turning back. Constantine's war against the Handmen will put Aiah in touch with her lost Barkazil heritage. And it may allow her to get a glimpse of heaven itself, and to discover what waits beyond the Shield.

From New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Walter Jon Williams comes an adventurous epic fantasy about a man who is forced to leave his comfortable life and find his fortune among goddesses, pirates, war, and dragons.

Quillifer is young, serially in love, studying law, and living each day keenly aware that his beloved homeport of Ethlebight risks closure due to silting of the harbor. His concerns for the future become much more immediate when he returns from a summery assignation to find his city attacked by Aekoi pirates, leading to brigands in the streets and his family and friends in chains.

First, he has to survive the night. Then, he has to leave his home behind and venture forth into the wider world of Duisland, where he can find friends and allies to help avenge his losses and restore Ethlebight to glory. His determination will rock kingdoms, shatter the political structure of Duisland, and change the country forever.

Rogue. Joker. Lover. Reluctant solider.

Quillifer is back in court after two years away and finds that the small castle and domain that came with his knighthood require much reformation. To complicate matters further, Quillifer is outed as Princess Floria's lover, and those who once despised him now seek his favor. Of course, Queen Berlauda will attempt to reconquer the country with the power of her husband's armies. At the very least, there will be a long, long war. But Quillifer is prepared to fight.

Rogue. Joker. Lover. Reluctant soldier.

Quillifer is back in court after two years away and finds that the small castle and domain that came with his knighthood require much renovation. To complicate matters further, Quillifer is outs as Princess Flora's lover, and those who once despised him now seek his favor. Of course, Queen Berlauda will attempt to reconquer the country with the power of her husband's armies. At the very least, there will be a long, long war... but Quillifer is ready to fight.

In the war against the ruthless Yuuzhan Vong, the fall of Coruscant leaves the New Republic divided by internal strife, and on the verge of bowing to conquest. But those who steadfastly refuse to consider surrender-Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa Solo, and their children and comrades-in-arms-are determined to seize victory against overwhelming odds. And now, finally, there are signs that the tide may be turning in the New Republic's favor. After capturing crucial Yuuzhan Vong intelligence, Jedi fighter-pilot Jaina Solo prepares to lead a daring surprise strike against an enemy flagship.

Meanwhile, Jaina's brother Jacen-liberated from the hands of the enemy and newly schooled in an even greater mastery of the Force by the Jedi Knight Vergere-is eagerly poised to bring his unique skills to bear against the invaders. And on Mon Calamari, the New Republic's provisional capital, the retired, ailing hero Admiral Ackbar has conceived a major tactical plan that could spell the beginning of a swift end for the Yuuzhan Vong. Yet even as opposing squadrons face off in the depths of space, intrigue runs rampant: in the heated political race for Chief of State... in the shadows where Yuuzhan Vong spies plot assassinations... and in the inscrutable creature Vergere, a Jedi Knight whose allegiance is impossible to predict.

And as Luke Skywalker sets about reestablishing the Jedi Council, the growing faction opposed to the ways of the Force unveil a terrifying weapon designed to annihilate the Yuuzhan Vong species. But in doing so, they may be dooming the New Republic to becoming the very thing it has sworn to fight against-and unleashing the power of the dark side.

Sidewise Award winning novelette. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, January 1996. The story can also be found in the anthologies War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches (1996), edited by Kevin J. Anderson, and The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection (1997), edited by Gardner Dozois. It is included in the collection Frankensteins and Foreign Devils (1998).

Elegy For Angels And Dogs:

A sequal to The Graveyard Heart: Decades later, the Set survives, still powerful, still glittery, still coolly apart from the common man. But history, all but unnoticed by these ageless celebrants, has brought war to the Solar System, along with incredible new scientific developments. Lamoral aspires to seize control of the Set, but how long can any of them afford to ignore the ever-changing future through which they dance?

The Graveyard Heart:

Decadent and aloof, the Part Set are the ultimate "in" crowd, cheating time via cryogenic cold-bunks, waking only for their spectacular entertainments and private scandals. What a way to live! Alvin Moore wants in, partly for the prestige, partly for the love of the beautiful Leota. But even as he schemes to win the approval of the Set, he has no idea of the intrigues, betrayals, and heartbreak that await him. For in a society without time, without want, the pursuit of pleasure can be a deadly business...

As the final battle between the Nats and Bloat rages on Ellis Island, the Turtle throws in the towel, Modular Man switches sides, Reflector faces defeat, and assassins reach Bloat's chamber.

The Wild Cards universe has been thrilling readers for over 25 years. In Walter Jon Williams's "Prompt. Professional. Pop!" shows that to make it in Hollywood, it's not enough to be beautiful and talented, you've also got to take advantage of every opportunity that pops up.

Read the full story for free at Tor.com.