Search Worlds Without End

Sam Bitka, a naval reserve officer, is recalled to wartime service and soon earns a reputation for aggressive tactics and insufficient deference to his academy-graduated superiors. His latest run-in with authority earns him a transfer to command of an armed transport, USS Cam Ranh Bay.

When a mysterious alien probe materializes from Jump Space and remotely reprograms The Bay's star drive, Sam and his crew begin an involuntary voyage that takes them three thousand light years out of known space, across the galactic rift to the Sagittarius Spiral Arm, and into the heart of an ancient, previously unknown civilization--the first encountered by Humans and the other five races of the Cottohazz--Stellar Commonwealth--in over a century. The genetically altered immortals known as The Guardians, a race so old they do not remember their own origins, soon turn murderously violent.

Now Sam and his crew must elude capture by the Guardians, find some means of reprograming their own star drive, and then return to the Cottohazz with the news of a powerful new civilization bent on their destruction. But they may also be carrying the secrets of the origin of their own star drive and of the path to immortality.

This is the definitive biography of Robert E. Howard, a giant of the pulp era, who created the archetypal brooding fantasy figure. To the general public, he is virtually unknown, but millions are familiar with the name and exploits of his most famous creation: Conan, the barbarian.

The Curse of the Morrigu

In 279 BC an army of Celts invaded Alexander the Great's Greece and changed the course of history....

From the moment he rode into battle, Bran Mac Morgor was doomed to the fate foretold to him by the Goddess of Death herself. And he bore the scars of the raven's claws to prove it. Exiled from his country, Bran would begin an epic journey in search of the only woman he could ever love. But she was a priestess of Apollo....

From a land lost in the mists of time, in a realm of myth and magic, where legendary heroes fought undying foes in ultimate battles of good and evil, comes the story of a proud and indomitable people and a magnificent nation whose birth was foretold by the darkest visions and the direst prophecies.

It is the story of Conaire Mor, the bastard son of Ireland's highest king and fated to be her greatest leader; Ulster's outcast queen Meave, willful daughter of the mysterious Sidhe; the powerful and spiteful King Conchobar, a man obsessed with his own might; Sentanta, the fearless young warrior of the notorious Red Branch; and the high-druid Calatin, whose twisted magic and dark cunning threatens them all.

Here, woven into a rich magical tapestry is the never-before-told story of ancient Ireland... a spellbinding tale of love and intrique, lust, and murder, rivalry and quest... of a time and a place long ago and far away that lives forever in out deepest fantasies.

This bio-bibliography of the adventure scribe is a collection of memoirs about Talbot Mundy, featuring a memoir by Mundy's widow, a study of his early life by Peter Ellis, appreciations by Fritz Leiber and Darrel Crombie, and an illustrated bibliography of his book and magazine appearances.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction (Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny) - essay by Donald M. Grant
• Autobiography - essay by Talbot Mundy
• Willie -- Rogue and Rebel - essay by Peter Tremayne [as by Peter Berresford Ellis]
• Talbot Mundy - essay by Dawn Mundy Provost
• Ghosts Walk... - essay by Darrel Crombie
• Talbot Mundy in Adventure - essay by Donald M. Grant
• The Glory of Tros - essay by Fritz Leiber
• Books (Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny) - essay by Donald M. Grant
• Magazine Appearances (Talbot Mundy: Messenger of Destiny) - essay by Donald M. Grant
• The Jerusalem News - essay by Donald M. Grant and Peter Tremayne [as by Donald M. Grant and Peter Berresford Ellis]
• The Theosophical Path - essay by Donald M. Grant
• The New York Times - essay by Donald M. Grant

This short story originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October 1983, and was reprinted in Clarkesworld Magazine, #86 November 2013. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: First Annual Collection (1984), edited by Gardner Dozois. The story is included in the collections Dealing in Futures (1985) and The Best of Joe Haldeman (2013).

Read the full story for free at Clarkesworld.

Manifest Destiny-Humankind's early reach for the stars:"The Jaren," five young backland aliens enlist to do war with the humans. "Enemy Mine," (the story that became the motion picture). "Savage Planet," a teacher lifts an entire world, and himself out of the dark. "USE Force," a young man enlists to search for himself and instead finds his destiny.

Table of Contents:

• The Jaren - (1979) - novella
• Enemy Mine - (1979) - novella
• Savage Planet - (1980) - novelette
• USE Force - (1980) - novella

HALDOR LIVES!

Emperor of the Thirteen Worlds for three centuries, Haldor the Magnificent - sometimes called The Immortal - determined to take a bridge - and to give up his immortality. Having brought the beginnings of order to a world gone decadent, it was his his intent to provide for orderly succession to the throne. Civilized traditions would be given time to gain a foothold. But the forces of curruption were not to die without a struggle. And their ruthless willingness to commit unspeakable horrors tears a savage planet to shreds - ravaging the beautiful Annrith, threatening the destruction of all that Haldor had built.

Wide and smooth, the Road was seared into planet Destiny's rocky surface by the fusion drive of the powered landing craft, Cavorite. The Cavorite deserted the original interstellar colonists, stranding them without hope of contacting Earth.

Now, descendants of those pioneers have many questions about the Road, but no settler who has gone down it has ever returned. For Jemmy Bloocher, a young farm boy, the questions burn too hot--and he sets out to uncover the many mysteries of Destiny's Road.

The Planet beckoned them from space--and closed round them like a venus Fly Trap!

Captain Mike Ross finds himself leading an interplanetary expedition to an anonymous planet that welcomes them with a homing beam and then seals shut around them. Their ship is sealed against them and they are hurled into a wholly inhospitable desert.

Assailed by strange perils and even stranger temptations, the little group stumbled towards its destiny--Mike Ross, the pilot, Sara Foster, the big game hunter, blind George Smith, and the odious Friar Tuck. Before them was a legend made flesh, around them were creatures of myth and mystery, close behind them stalked Nemesis. The doll, the little wooden painted doll, was to be their salvation. Or their damnation, for each might choose, and find, his own Nirvana.

In the city of Eldra, people are ruled by ancient prophecies. For centuries, the high council has stayed in power by virtue of the prophecies of the elder seers. After the last infallible prophecy came to pass, growing unrest led to murders and an eventual rebellion that raged for more than a decade. In the present day, Cassa, the orphaned daughter of rebels, is determined to fight back against the high council, which governs Eldra from behind the walls of the citadel.

Her only allies are no-nonsense Alys, easygoing Evander, and perpetually underestimated Newt. Cassa struggles to come to terms with the legacy of rebellion her dead parents have left her, and the fear that she may be inadequate to shoulder the burden. But by the time Cassa and her friends uncover the mystery of the final infallible prophecy, it may be too late to save the city--or themselves.

Dani and Eden Rivera were both born to kill dragons, but the sisters couldn't be more different. For Dani, dragon slaying takes a back seat to living a normal high school life in their Tennessee town, while Eden prioritizes training above everything else. Yet they both agree on one thing: it's kill or be killed where dragons are concerned.

Until Dani comes face-to-face with one and forges a rare and magical bond with him. As she gets to know Nox, she realizes that everything she thought she knew about dragons is wrong. With Dani lost to the dragons, Eden turns to mysterious and alluring sorcerers to help save her sister. Now on opposite sides of the conflict, each sister will do whatever it takes to save the other. But the two are playing with magic that is more dangerous than they know, and there is another, more powerful enemy waiting for them both in the shadows.

It's Boston, 1919, and the Cast Iron club is packed. On stage, hemopaths--whose "afflicted" blood gives them the ability to create illusions through art--Corinne and Ada have been best friends ever since infamous gangster Johnny Dervish recruited them into his circle. By night they perform for Johnny's crowds, and by day they con Boston's elite. When a job goes wrong and Ada is imprisoned, she realizes how precarious their position is. After she escapes, two of the Cast Iron's hires are shot, and Johnny disappears. With the law closing in, Corinne and Ada are forced to hunt for answers, even as betrayal faces them at every turn.

I'm not who you think I am.

My transformation from a poor, orphaned scullery maid into the enchantingly mysterious lady who snagged the heart of the prince did not happen--as the rumors insisted--in a magical metamorphosis of pumpkins and glass slippers. On the first evening of the ball, I didn't meekly help my "evil" stepmother and stepsisters primp and preen or watch forlornly out the window as their carriage rolled off toward the palace. I had other preparations to make.

My stepsisters and I had been trained for this--to be the cleverest in the room, to be quick with our hands and quicker with our lies. We were taught how to get everything we wanted in this world, everything men always kept for themselves: power, wealth, and prestige. And with a touchingly tragic past and the help of some highly illegal spells, I would become a princess, secure our fortunes, and we would all live happily ever after.

But there's always more to the story. With my magic running out, war looming, and a handsome hostage prince--the wrong prince--distracting me from my true purpose with his magnetic charm and forbidden flirtations, I'm in danger of losing control of the delicate balance I've created... and that could prove fatal.

There's so much more riding on this than a crown.

Though he never knew why, Deles had spent most of his life in exile on the distant world of Sripha. Now, on a mission to deepest space, he is determined to search for the truth about his past. But Deles is unaware that a vast and urgent force is leading him to a destiny greather than any he dared image: the prophecy of a dying universe come true. Soon, he will journey beyond time to face the harrowing secret of human fate--and to battle for the survival of mankind in the last, valiant attempt to transcend infinity!

In the era of "the big squeeze" - when an environmentally ravaged Earth groans beneath the weight of twelve billion people - two men control the destiny of humankind. One was recently senile... the other is going insane.

In the year 2069, with the Earth's population dangerously out of control, procreation and the medical treatment of terminal illness are the two most heinous crimes against society. But behind the doors of the top secret Biophysical Institute, an old man has been illegally cured of the ravages of Alzheimer's disease and made artificially younger - to serve the unspecified purposes of Premier Jeremy Beltane, one of the world's most powerful leaders.

A member of the underprivileged "Wardie" class, Detective Sergeant Harry Ostrov has been assigned to serve as a guardian to the mysteriously rejuvenated nonagenarian - and entrusted with a devastating secret that could topple the unstable "Minder" government. But once within the confines of the Beltane family enclave, the dedicated police officer is dragged deeper and deeper into a lethal mire of scandal, corruption, political outrage, and moral dilemma - sworn to silence even as he observes his nation's ruler, a man ultimately responsible for the future of civilization, descend steadily into depression, uncertainty... and madness.

Though Ajax Calkins was wealthy enough to buy anything on earth his heart desired, the one thing he wanted most was strictly forbidden. That was a world of his own - a planet, however small, which would be his private kingdom in the sky. The Earth-Mars Space Administration stood in his path. They would tolerate no such 18th Century derring-do in the commercial and workaday planetary channels of the 21st Century. Empire-building was out.

But when an offer from a bearded stranger opened the way to just such an adventure, Ajax leapt at the chance. In his luxury spacecraft Destiny he shot out through the inner planets to the tiny world that waited a king - and, unwittingly to a monster outer-planet empire that waited a detonator for cosmic war.

Destiny's Orbit

Though Ajax Calkins was wealthy enough to buy anything on earth his heart desired, the one thing he wanted most was strictly forbidden. That was a world of his own - a planet, however small, which would be his private kingdom in the sky. The Earth-Mars Space Administration stood in his path. They would tolerate no such 18th Century derring-do in the commercial and workaday planetary channels of the 21st Century. Empire-building was out.

But when an offer from a bearded stranger opened the way to just such an adventure, Ajax leapt at the chance. In his luxury spacecraft Destiny he shot out through the inner planets to the tiny world that waited a king - and, unwittingly to a monster outer-planet empire that waited a detonator for cosmic war.

Times Without Number

Traveling backwards in time, Don Miguel had to undo the errors and interruptions o f other time-interlopers; he had to preserve the present. Even the most insignificant nudging of the past could entirely alter his world! And he suspected that this had already happened: that a maniacal genius crazed with a desire for nationalist vindication had plotted to alter the victorious outcome of the Spanish Armada of 1588 - thus changing recorded history and perhaps even imperiling the mighty Spanish Empire of 1988!

If Don Miguel did not successfully intercede, when he came back to the present he might find a different world... a different time... a time in which he probably didn't even exist!

Stepsons of Terra

What do you do when your planet is under threat from aliens, you have travelled light years to make contact with Earth (after 500 years of silence) and you then find no-one cares? A classic novel by the Hugo and Nebula award winner.

A Man Called Destiny

Suddenly he became the most valuable human in space.

Haruyuki's desperate battle with his friend Takumu has taken him to the brink, and he finally activates the Destiny, a purified version of the notorious Armor of Catastrophe. It's light versus dark as their fierce fight continues, and the stakes couldn't be higher. If Haruyuki can't rid his friend of the sinister ISS kit that's infected him, Takumu could be lost to the darkness forever. And he just might take Haruyuki with him...

When the dying sun of Paradis dramatically begins its contraction phase, a two year stay by the Galacticans and the colonials on what appears to be the perfect planet for rebuilding their civilization comes to an abrupt end-the planet's inhabitants are forced to make a hurried exit back into space. Discovering that several of their refurbished ships are incapable of deep-space travel, the fleet returns to Paradis for repairs-just in time for the sudden catastophic destruction of the entire planet by the Cylons. Apollo, Tigh, and Athena make the painful decision to leave one-third of the fleet behind in order to save the rest.

In a time of war, oppression, and rebellion, Alex Carlyle, Davis McCall, and the Gray Death Legion become pawns of the manipulation and betrayal in a revolt against the cruel Davion-supported governor.

The author of "Mother of Demons" offers a tale of the cruel, depraved Malwa Empire, which dominates 6th century India, and the thing from the distant future that commands it!.

In Clockwork Angels and Clockwork Lives, readers met the optimistic young hero Owen Hardy, as well as the more reluctant adventurer Marinda Peake, in an amazing world of airships and alchemy, fantastic carnivals and lost cities. Now Owen Hardy, retired and content in his quiet, perfect life with the beautiful Francesca, is pulled into one last adventure with his eager grandson Alain. This final mission for the Watchmaker will take them up to the frozen lands of Ultima Thule and the ends of the Earth. Marinda Peake must undertake a mission of her own, not only to compile the true life story of the mysterious Watchmaker, but also to stop a deadly new group of anarchists.

The Clockwork trilogy is based on the story and lyrics from the last album of musical titans Rush, with Anderson and Peart expanding the world, stories, and characters. The two developed the final novel in the trilogy in the last years of Peart's life, and more than a year after his passing, Anderson returned to that unfinished project, with the full support of Peart's wife, bringing Owen and Marinda's stories to a satisfying and stirring conclusion.

"The best space colonization saga to come along in decades" (Rocky Mountain News) continues.

The unexpected arrival of a ship from Earth after their long isolation from their home world leaves the inhabitants of Coyote both hopeful and wary. The lone passenger brings news-both good and bad.

The good news is that there was a survivor of the long-ago explosion of the Robert E. Lee and he is living still on Earth, in the ruined city called Boston. The bad news is that the person responsible for that act of terrorism is also still alive-and somewhere on Coyote...

The Destiny of Kings

For three centuries the Rhomandi family has ruled in Rhomatum, the city whose magical leythium node is the richest in the world, more powerful than even that of rival city Mauritum. And with the passing years Rhomatum has become the most influential of all the Ring cities.

But ancient hatreds have finally led to war, overturning the delicate balance of power, devastating the leythium-controlling Ring Towers of many city-states, fragmenting Rings, leaving satellite cities in darkness, and breaking down the very basis of civilization. And now, three telepathically linked brothers, the heirs to the Rhomandi dynasty, must desperately strive to regain stability and supremacy for their city.

Deymorin--Eldest brother, Princeps of Rhomatum, he has always rejected his natural Talent. With his world in shambles, will he have the courage to awaken his magical Gift and accept his destiny to become the greatest Ringmaster in history?

Mikhyel--called "the Barrister," his world is the dark underworld of political machination. A cutthroat negotiator and skilled statesman, he has nevertheless been hiding form his true destiny: as that rarest of magicians--one who can handle the deadly leythium itself and speak directly with the strange beings who dwell within it.

Nikaenor--as the youngest brother, he is beloved by all but has never been taken seriously. Now, at eighteen, he is about to become a father--to a son who has been prophesied to become a Ringmaster of legendary power. Can he somehow unite his family and, with the birth of his son, finally accept his own responsibilities?

Book #2 of the Illuminated Ones duology of Deathlands

Allied with a tribe of women warriors, Ryan Cawdor and his band of survivalists continue their quest to locate the Illuminated Ones, a pre-dark sect who may possess secret knowledge of Deathlands. But their dangerous pursuit becomes even more treacherous when their quarry unleashes a deadly plague in a twisted plot to cleanse the earth.Destiny's Truth is the second episode in The Illuminated Ones, a two-book story arc in which the warrior survivalists battle the remnants of the pre-dark U.S. government -- otherwise known as the Illuminated Ones.

Ancient weapons of mass destruction lie hidden under the city of Pacta Servanda. Remnants of the Great Guilds and rebellious factions of the Empire want to seize those weapons to allow them to regain control of the world of Dematr. Only Jason, brought by the first ship from Earth since the colony failed, might be able to disarm the threat. But he also might know how to employ those weapons, making him a danger for all sides.

Standing between those threats is Kira of Dematr. But Kira, who inexplicably has been able to manifest Mage powers as well as technical skills, finds herself being consumed by the mental conflicts between those powers and skills. As rogue Mechanics, Mages, and mercenaries attack with every weapon at their disposal, Kira suffers more blackouts and begins to lose her mind. The fate of her world rests on whether she can stay alive and find answers in time to problems that no one else has ever confronted.

A thief of valuable blooms, Layela's dream is finally coming true with the opening of her flower shop on the small remote planet of Collar. But the disappearance of her twin sister leaves her with a difficult choice: to continue tending to her blooms and promising future, or to blend in once again with the shadows to find her sister.

She soon becomes the prey of two powerful assassins, of a colonel bent on revenge and of a mysterious sword-wielding stranger. Her only allies are Josmere -- a feisty ether creature with the power to unlock the visions that assault Layela's mind, or to keep them from her -- and a smuggling rogue, Ardin, hired to protect Layela at whatever the cost, even if that cost is her freedom.

Their journey takes them across several worlds as Layela discovers who she and her sister truly are. And before them awaits the mythical First Star, on a path to self-destruction and the annihilation of all life.

Unless Layela finds a way to stop it. But to stop it would mean sacrificing her sister.

Or herself.

A broken tradition.

A hunted child.

A rebellion that threatens to topple the very fabric of the universe.

When Layela Delamores gives birth to her first child, the ether immediately rejects what should be its only heir. A wave of destruction sweeps the ether races, and sparks Solaria's ire and rebellion on Mirial. A new heir rises to take the throne of Mirial, one who wields tainted ether.

Unable to access the flow of ether, Layela is left with little choice but to flee Mirial, seeking answers that may no longer exist, prepared to sacrifice everything to free herself and her daughter from the clutches of the First Star.

She had given her up.

To save her daughter from a life of servitude to a silent First Star, Layela Delamores sent her only child away. Willing to miss the first decade of her daughter's life, for a chance to reunite as a free family.

Ten years.

Now, a new First Star is ready to take over from the dying star Mirial, freeing Layela and her family from the clutches of duty and obligation.

But the star was silent.

When the new First Star fails to ignite, the failing Mirial is the only lifeline to the countless ether races across the galaxy. But not everyone wants to save Mirial, including Layela's own daughter. Trapped between obligations and hopes, Layela must find a way to save as many people as she can, or learn to live in the dead world she helped to create.

Join the Doctor and Martha on their travels through time and space and influence the story with your decisions. Choose a direction and let the adventures begin... "Spaceship Graveyard", one of four exciting new "Decide Your Destiny Doctor Who" books. When the Tardis engines fail, you find yourselves on a planet littered with abandoned spaceships. But where are the crews? And why has the Tardis crashed there, too? Explore the spaceship graveyard to find out...

Join the Doctor on his travels and influence his adventures with your decisions. Will you explore the alien planet or get back in the TARDIS and travel to somewhere new? Choose a direction and let the adventure begin... "Arena" is one of four exciting new "Decide Your Destiny Doctor Who" books. Each page has two options for the reader to decide what happens next and each novel has several possible endings.

Join the Doctor on his travels and influence his adventures with your decisions. Will you explore the alien planet or get back in the TARDIS and travel to somewhere new? You can choose a direction and let the adventure begin... "The Time Crocodile" is one of the four exciting new "Decide Your Destiny Doctor Who" books. Each page has two options for the reader to decide what happens next and each novel has several possible endings.

Join the Doctor on his travels and influence his adventures with your decisions. Will you explore the alien planet or get back in the T.A.R.D.I.S and travel to somewhere new? You can choose a direction and let the adventure begin... "The Corinthian Project", is one of the four exciting new "Decide Your Destiny Doctor Who" books. Each page has two options for the reader to decide what happens next and each novel has several possible endings.

Become the Doctor's companion and join him on his adventures through time and space. At the end of each page, you are faced with a choice as to which route the story will take. Make your own path through the story to one of the several different endings.

Become the Doctor's companion and join him on his adventures through time and space. At the end of each page, you are faced with a choice as to which route the story will take. Make your own path through the story to one of the several different endings.

This book lets you become the Doctor's companion and join him on his adventures through time and space. It aims to ensure that at the end of each page, you are faced with a choice as to which route the story will take. It allows you to make your own path through the story to one of the several different endings.

A BBC Books adventure book based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor and Martha.

A BBC Books adventure book based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor.

A BBC Books adventure book based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor.

A BBC Books adventure book based on the long-running British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It features the Tenth Doctor.

Join the Doctor on his travels and influence his adventures with your decisions. Will you explore the alien planet or get back in the T.A.R.D.I.S and travel to somewhere new? Choose a direction and let the adventure begin... Each page has two options for the reader to decide what happens next and each novel has several possible endings.

Danger and adventure await you on a school trip to a gas refinery infested by giant crustaceans! Only you can help the Doctor and Amy put a stop to the Macra's plans and save Earth! Join the Eleventh Doctor and Amy on their travels through time and space in the TARDIS and influence the story with your decisions. Choose a direction and let the adventures begin! This new series contains interactive stories that continue online. With links to exclusive animated scenes and an exciting online game, there's a new adventure with every read!

You're in the TARDIS when it loses power and crash-lands in a deserted, snowy landscape. Something is sucking the energy from everything that passes! Is it the Sycorax? Or something else entirely? Help the Doctor and Amy unravel the mystery, before it's too late! Join the Eleventh Doctor and Amy on their travels through time and space in the TARDIS and influence the story with your decisions. Choose a direction and let the adventures begin! This new series contains interactive stories that continue online. With links to exclusive animated scenes and an exciting online game, there's a new adventure with every read!

Join the 11th Doctor and Amy on their travels through time and space in the TARDIS and influence the story with your decisions. Choose a direction and let the adventures begin.

Join the 11th Doctor and Amy on their travels through time and space in the TARDIS and influence the story with your decisions. Choose a direction and let the adventures begin.

SIR JOHN AVERILL, sometimes known as Triton, was a unique creature. At leas until a scientific accident produced tow females who. like himself, were able to live in the upperair but whose natural habitat was under water.

All three, Triton, Vinca and Syn, spent their childhood years being raised by dolphins. This was a fierce and onforgiving training but it was easier than was was to follow.

For although Triton did his best to protect his two youung wards, the world of the upperair held dangers and threats he might forsee but could not avoid.

The Elven Exiles trilogy ends with a monumental struggle for control of the last refuge of the elven race.

The remaining free elves of Ansalon have come together at last in the shunned valley of Inath-Wakenti. While the disfigured genius Porthios wants to lead a crusade to free the elves' ancestral homelands, the rightful ruler of the elven nation, Gilthas, dreams of establishing a new homeland in the haunted valley. To do that he will have to solve the riddle of the ancient ruins dotting the landscape, the curse that prevents animals from living in the valley, and deal with swarms of ghosts lurking behind every tree and stone. But the greatest threat of all may come from a single outcast sorcerer who seeks to turn the cursed land's power to his own ends.

The 160-million-year-old, world-sized starship with its crew of sentient dinosaurs mystified humankind when it entered our solar system. Careers and even governments rose and fell in the fight to board it, explore it, and understand its origin and purpose.

Then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone. Only this time there were humans aboard--men and women lost in hyperspace, allying with the dinosaurs in their mutual fight for survival, trapped between the savage jungle within the ship... and the unknown horror without.

When the ship dropped into "real" space, they were far beyond the edge of the Universe, orbiting a planet that was old when Earth was young, in the eerie light of a star that was due to go nova at any moment.

And someone--something--waited outside the ship, wanting to get in!

Don't miss the first and second books in this series: Day of the Dragonstar and Night of the Dragonstar!

BIRTH... AND DEATH!

Balanced expertly on their back legs, the hatchlings eyed their audience eagerly. Their heads were almost half their body mass, and their jaws were already filled with rows of sharp teeth. With round, flat eyes glaring, they stood in the leathery wreckage of their eggs, they were already as tall as five-year-old humans.

"My God, Phineas, what are they?" Kate said.

"I don't know," Phineas said, "but I think they're littleT-Rexes..."

The Saurian warriors weren't waiting to find out. Shrieking and hissing with joy, they unleashed a hail of arrows, and the warm nest became a slaughter pit.

Even as the mother arrived...

A dedicated priestess of Boq'urak, Thia has spent the whole of her young life in devout worship -- until she inadvertently discovers the unholy truth about the deity she serves. Cruelly thrust back into a world she does not know, she has become an exile in a land torn asunder by terror and conflict. But Thia will not be making her journey alone. An outcast warrior priest, a mysterious healer, an enslaved prince, and an embittered spy must join with her to save a realm ravaged by invasion -- and rescue the future from the terrible wrath of a demon god.

The king's lottery has determined that Twilla, a young orphaned apprentice of a renowned wise woman, must marry--for only the wedded can survive the terrible fate awaiting those who penetrate the primeval forest. Altered by a talisman of great power, she escapes her unwanted lot and joins a commander's tragically blinded son on a remarkable journey from peril to peril. For they are the chosen who must rescue the vanquished of an ancient war of magic's... and shape the destiny of a bloody, disputed land.

How can Thorn fight a dream foe -- risking life and sanity, that is exactly what he sets out to do . . . and his shrewd tactics and reckless daring create a pulse-hammering story against an all to real opponent!

THE RELUCTANT HERO...

Ian Farthing, apprentice cobbler, was the town fool, hardly the stuff of which heroes are made. But Ian, it seemed, had a destiny to fulfill. And Destiny--or was it just a roll of the sorcerer's dice in the multiverse Doom Games?--wanted Ian to enter the Dark Circle, where Dark Lords fought Bright, and demons, dragons, talking cats, and magic where the least of the perils a hero must brave on a misguided quest to save a beautiful runaway princess...

At twenty-five, General Jason Wander has fought and won man's only alien conflict. Now, after long years in space, he's coming home... but to what? Earth's desperate nations, impoverished by war damage and military spending, are slashing defense budgets. There's just one problem with this new worldwide policy-the first alien invasion was merely Plan A. Suddenly, the real assault begins: Earth is attacked by a vast armada of city-sized warships. To block their invasion, mankind has only one surviving craft and a single guerrilla strike force... a suicide squad led by Jason Wander.

Pride, Prejudice - and Vengeance!

Weed-eaters. Monkey-spawn. Honorless herbivores. Individually weak, humans have proved most difficult to conquer and enslave. Now the young heir to the Kzinti patriarchy is forced into a desperate wilderness exile as his empire cracks and the contentious Great Prides attempt to rip one another apart while facing total war with humanity. Annihilation looms unless the young patriarch can ally with two human warriors to battle his way back to his rightful place as Leader of the Prides, keeper of pride strahk, and upholder of sacred Kzinti honor.

A masterful addition from popular contributor Paul Chafe to the "Man-Kzin Wars" shared universe created by multiple New York Times best-seller, incomparable tale-spinner, and Nebula- and five-time Hugo-Award-winner, Larry Niven!

WHY WHISTLE IN THE DARK...
There are very few days off when you're on an epic quest. Believe me, I know. I'm Hedi Peacock-one half Fae, the other were-and if being a half-breed with one foot in each world isn't tough enough to manage, there are the four chambers of my heart to consider. The one who holds the strings? Robson Trowbridge, the Alpha of Creemore. If I had my way, he and I would be locked in a bedroom, for eternity, but a pressing family matter needs my attention. It's true what they say: A woman's work is never done.

WHEN YOU CAN HOWL AT THE MOON?
My twin brother is being held captive by the Old Mage in another realm. Lo and behold, as soon as Trowbridge and I arrive in Merenwyn, we're separated in spectacular, dramatic fashion-and I'm left to figure out how to maintain the fragile balance between my Fae magic and my wolf's blood in a realm that cries to both. Not easy, particularly when I'm keeping an iron-grip on my temper so as not to dispatch with extreme prejudice the odd wizard or smart-mouthed mutt servant who crosses my path. My mama never told me there'd be days like these, but I'm not going down without a fight... or my mate.

A delicate alliance between human and orc has been achieved. Now Queen of the Orcs, Dar works toward making that peace last. Her position has helped her to finally feel part of a community, to find a life to call her own.

But sudden, strange outbreaks of unrest and ominous signs throw both realms into turmoil. Dar must draw on her knowledge and skills to confront a merciless long-time enemy--and an evil she once only barely survived. To keep human and orc from destroying one another, Dar risks everything on a desperate gamble--and her own future on a heartbreaking sacrifice.

In the kingdom of Linevan, it was prophesized that the king and queen would bear twins-one male and one female-and that the female child, on her 16th birthday, would cause the world to end and therefore must be immediately executed. The queen, who could not bear to murder her daughter, sent her to live with a family friend and his two children outside of town. This Scrapped Princess, now named Pacifica, grows up with two siblings: a powerful sorcerer named Raquel and a robust warrior named Shannon. She knows nothing about her past, other than that she was adopted and that someone has killed their father. When the truth of her heritage is revealed, she, Shannon, and Raquel set out to avenge their father's murder and see if the ominous prophecy is true.

Wally Smith, having died on Earth, finds himself reincarnated as a swordsman in another world and entrusted by the presiding goddess with a mission that has no appeal for him at all. Can he bring together all the swordsmen to finally defeat the sorcerors and their terrible technology? Wally is not quite convinced he should, but goddesses can be very persuasive...

Ennae is a parallel world joined to our own world by the Sacred Pool, a portal that can only be opened by one with the Guardian blood running through their veins. It is through this watery gateway that Khatrene leaves her modern-day life behind forever, drawn into a quest that will take her into the depths of the unknown.

Khatrene must fulfil her destiny as The Light, the woman whose child will unite the four elemental worlds. At each turn are real and imagined enemies who will do everything in their power to prevent her from fulfilling the prophecy, including the ethereal and erotic shadow woman, the enigmatic tattooed man, even her beloved brother Mihale.

Talis, her appointed Guardian, must help her through the dangerous terrain of Ennae, sacrificing everything to ensure her safety in a land where magic prevails and nothing is as it seems.

From an exciting new voice in Australian fantasy fiction comes the first book in the Shadow Through Time trilogy. Beautifully crafted and written, Destiny of the Light combines intrigue, magic and horror to create a reality that is out of this world.

The world of the Simes and Gens is teetering on the brink. Zeth Farris reaches adulthood just when things start to fall apart. When he finally understands the audacity of the social engineering experiment that his parents have set in motion, Zeth must build bridges with potential allies to hold the center together. But war comes anyway, and Zeth and his alliance must prevail. The price of failure--the destruction of his family, his culture, even his world!

"The Klingon Empire is dying...and I think it deserves to die."

With those words, Lieutenant Ezri Dax propelled Lieutenant Commander Worf to the most fateful decision of his life -- to vanquish Klingon leader Gowron in honorable combat and install in his place a low-born, one-eyed soldier of the empire who might lead their people back to the path of honor.

Under the weighty mantle of chancellor, General Martok led the forces of the empire to victory in the final Allied assault against the Dominion. Now, with Worf at his side as the newly appointed Federation ambassador to Qo'noS, Martok at last is coming home, bringing with him the hope of a bright new future for his people.

But the new chancellor's triumphant return to the Klingon homeworld is met by treachery and upheaval. As the demons of the general's past rise up, so too does a usurper to the Imperial Throne, one who knows exactly how to crush Martok and all who stand with him -- and who won't be satisfied until they are ashes under the foundation of a new Klingon Empire.

"The true test of a warrior is not without...it is within."

Sins of the past collide with hopes for the future as Martok fights for the right to lead the Klingon Empire. With the secret of his usurper exposed, the ousted chancellor and his ragtag band of followers embark on a desperate plan to retake the empire.

But while Worf, Ezri Dax, and the crew of the IKS Rotarran go in search of the Klingons' most revered icon of power, Martok is dealt the most crushing blow of all -- driving him to make his final stand on the ice-strewn cliffs of sacred Boreth. As that frozen world reverberates with the song of armies and bat'leths clashing, the mystery of Martok's past, and the future of the Klingon Empire, is revealed.

Contents:

• 1 - Gods of Night - [Star Trek: Destiny - 1] - (2008) - novel by David Mack
• 271 - Mere Mortals - [Star Trek: Destiny - 2] - (2008) - novel by David Mack
• 545 - Lost Souls - [Star Trek: Destiny - 3] - (2008) - novel by David Mack

Half a decade after the Dominion War and more than a year after the rise and fall of Praetor Shinzon, the galaxy's greatest scourge returns to wreak havoc upon the Federation -- and this time its goal is nothing less than total annihilation.

Elsewhere, deep in the Gamma Quadrant, an ancient mystery is solved. One of Earth's first generation of starships, lost for centuries, has been found dead and empty on a desolate planet. But its discovery so far from home has raised disturbing questions, and the answers harken back to a struggle for survival that once tested a captain and her crew to the limits of their humanity.

From that terrifying flashpoint begins an apocalyptic odyssey that will reach across time and space to reveal the past, define the future, and show three captains -- Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise, William Riker of the U.S.S. Titan, and Ezri Dax of the U.S.S Aventine -- that some destinies are inescapable.

On Earth, Federation President Nanietta Bacco gathers allies and adversaries to form a desperate last line of defense against an impending Borg invasion. In deep space, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Captain Ezri Dax join together to cut off the Collective's route to the Alpha Quadrant.

Half a galaxy away, Captain William Riker and the crew of the Starship Titan have made contact with the reclusive Caeliar -- survivors of a stellar cataclysm that, two hundred years ago, drove fissures through the structure of space and time, creating a loop of inevitability and consigning another captain and crew to a purgatory from which they could never escape.

Now the supremely advanced Caeliar will brook no further intrusion upon their isolation, or against the sanctity of their Great Work.... For the small, finite lives of mere mortals carry little weight in the calculations of gods.

The soldiers of Armageddon are on the march, laying waste to worlds in their passage. An audacious plan could stop them forever, but it carries risks that one starship captain is unwilling to take. For Captain Jean-Luc Picard, defending the future has never been so important, or so personal -- and the wrong choice will cost him everything for which he has struggled and suffered.

For Captain William Riker, that choice has already been made. Haunted by the memories of those he was forced to leave behind, he must jeopardize all that he has left in a desperate bid to save the Federation.

For Captain Ezri Dax, whose impetuous youth is balanced by the wisdom of many lifetimes, the choice is a simple one: there is no going back -- only forward to whatever future awaits them.

But for those who, millennia ago, had no choice... this is the hour of their final, inescapable destiny.

The Shape of Things to Come

The cataclysmic events of Star Trek: Destiny have devastated known space. Worlds have fallen. Lives have been destroyed. And in the uneasy weeks that follow, the survivors of the holocaust continue to be tested to the limits of their endurance.

But strange and mysterious occurrences are destabilizing the galaxy's battle-weary Allies even further. In the Federation, efforts to replenish diminished resources and give succor to millions of evacuees are thwarted at every turn. On the borders of the battered Klingon Empire, the devious Kinshaya sense weakness -- and opportunity. In Romulan space, the already-fractured empire is dangerously close to civil war.

As events undermining the quadrant's attempts to heal itself become increasingly widespread, one man begins to understand what is truly unfolding. Sonek Pran -- teacher, diplomat, and sometime adviser to the Federation President -- perceives a pattern in the seeming randomness. And as each new piece of evidence falls into place, a disturbing picture encompassing half the galaxy begins to take shape... revealing a challenge to the Federation and its allies utterly unlike anything they have faced before.

THE MACHINE AGE

After the apparent death of James T. Kirk on the U.S.S. Enterpris NCC-1701-B, Montgomery Scott decides to leave Starfleet. A chance encounter with a mysterious woman named Guinan leads him to hitch a ride on the U.S.S. Jenolen -- which crashes into a Dyson Sphere, leaving only Scotty to survive suspended as a transporter pattern....

Seventy-five years later, he is revived aboard the Enterprise-D -- on which Guinan serves as bartender. But fate has not finished with either Scotty or Guinan. The engineer hatches an audacious plan to travel back in time and rescue Jim Kirk the moment before he would vanish into the nexus and bring him back to the twenty-fourth century without damaging the timeline.

Scotty's plan, however, does not go as expected. Though Kirk is rescued, the famed captain and the engineer, as well as Captain Picard, Guinan, and the crew of the Enterprise-D, are trapped in an altered past where there is no Federation, and no human race. Sarek of Vulcan leads a ragtag collection of species fighting a losing battle against the Borg, who have swarmed into the Alpha Quadrant and assimilated Earth.

Starfleet's finest miracle worker must find a way to restore the timeline before the galaxy is overrun....

As James T. Kirk prepares to retire from a long and illustrious Starfleet career, events in a distant part of the Federation draw him back to a part of the galaxy he had last visited as a young man, a mysterious world called Faramond whose name takes Kirk on a journey back to his youth. At sixteen, Kirk is troubled, estranged from his father, and has a bleak future. However, a trip into space with Kirk's father George and Starfleet legend Captain Robert April changes James Kirk's life forever, when a simple voyage becomes a deadly trap. Soon Kirk and his father find themselves fighting for their lives against a vicious and powerful enemy. Before the voyage ends, father and son will face life and death together, and James T. Kirk will get a glimpse of the future and his own best destiny.

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.

Twin sons Michael and Cascari have grown up on separate worlds, ignorant of their relationship and each believing that he is the rightful heir to the Seriatt's royal household. The stakes are heightened when the Seriatts develop time-travel capacity by means of the Destiny Mask - the artefact their oracles use to predict the future.

In this, the third tale of the Nedao people, Nisana the AEldra of the cat-kind narrates her experience among the beleaguered humans. She wishes that there were others left to speak of such a story, yet she is the only witness able to tell of it. Sharing both the agonies and the victories of her companion, the warrior queen Ylia, Nisana is determined to see things through to their conclusion. As Ylia faces insurmountable odds while trying to survive, it is up to Nisana to nurture the magical powers within the young queen and teach her how to lead her people. Nisana the AEldra does not leave her side, even when the terrifying army of seemings marches on her people, even when the very air hangs heavy with the blood of the Nedao.

A former stage hypnotist, the Amazing Conroy really just wants to have a good meal. He's now the wealthy CEO of a company that leases buffalo dogs, alien creatures capable of biting into and devouring nearly anything. When he attempts to implement a solution for cleaning up massive industrial waste sites, Conroy becomes targeted by ecological terrorists who resent the use of alien technology (living or otherwise) to heal the Earth.

But kidnapping and the destruction of his corporate headquarters are the least of Conroy's problems. An unknown, telepathic intelligence has begun invading his dreams, warning of geological disasters that hinge on what Conroy does next. Further complicating his life are several groups of aliens, each believing that he has a special destiny to fulfill, though they don't necessarily agree what it is.

Accompanied by his pet buffalito, Reggie, Conroy must elude terrorists, confound alien zealots, withstand temporal distortions throughout the former state of Texas, and explore ancient Mayan ruins. His adventures will result in his reunion with a long dead relative, a chance to experience the world's greatest sandwiches, exposure to alien bliss, a battle with a megalomaniac on the slope of an active volcano, and a trip to the asteroid belt for a final face-to-face confrontation with the creature that had been invading his dreams. Somewhere in the midst of it all, he has to find his true destiny.

Vietnam veteran and MIT student Tim Harper uses his new invention, a time machine, to travel ninety thousand years into the future, where he is captured by Alghera clansmen who seek to use his discovery to change the course of history.

Tim Harper, a member of the Algheran Project, is assigned to train Kylene, a telepath, for a secret mission to change an important event in the past.

Tim Harper, an agent for the Algheran Time-Travel Project, travels back in time to correct a previous agent's error, only to face Kalm, a telepathic traitor who hunts down Algheran agents.

Tim Harper is in exile in Alghrea 90,000 years from his own time - unless he can change the fate of history and win a war already lost, Alghera is doomed to destruction. Harper has died and lost the war once , and though time-travel allows him another attempt, there are agents within the project who plan to subvert any manipulation of the past.

Timothy Harper, late of twentieth century Boston, was an Agent of the Algheran Time-Travel Project, attempting to save the planet from nuclear holocaust by altering the outcome of a pivotal battle 90,000 years in the future.

But changing the course of a war was not so simple. Harper's army was not prepared to win, and besieged in the pastoral hamlet of Midpassage, he was alone in his quest, deserted by his fellow agent, the telepath Kylene--who had stolen his time machine for a private mission of revenge.

Both Harper and Kylene had some lessons to learn about the perils and paradoxes of time tavel. And as Harper struggled to win a war he shouldn't have been fighting, and Kylene confronted the true meaning of love and loyalty, they could only hopw that death was not the final barrier it seemed...

The dragon, Tintaglia, has been released from her wizardwood coffin, only to find that the glories of her kingdom have passed into ancient memory.

Meanwhile, Malta Vestrit navigates the acid flow of the Rain Wild River in a decomposing boat, accompanied by the Satrap Cosgo and his Companion Kekki. Against hope, a ship appears in the alien waters, but does it mean rescue, or a further nightmare, for Malta?

In ruined Bingtown, the citizens are at war, If the city is to survive, Ronica Vestrit must unite all its peoples--both Trader and Tattooed--and liberate the city once and for all.

Althea and Brashen are finally at sea together, sailing the liveship Paragon into pirate waters in a last-ditch effort to rescue the Vestrit family liveship, Vivacia, stolen by the Pirate king, Kennit; but there is mutiny brewing in their rag-tag crew; and in the mind of the mad ship itself...

Majestic and sweeping, Ship of Destiny concludes the tale of the Vestrit family and their part in the history of The Liveship Traders with a soaring and unforgettable finale to this unique series of epic fantasy.

To stand against the F'dor--an ancient, vile being intent on destroying the world--a fellowship has been forged: Rhapsody, a Singer of great talent and beauty; Achmed, an assassin with unearthly talents; and Grunthor, a giant of jolly disposition and lethal skill with weapons.

Driven by prophetic visions, the three know that time is running short, know that they must find their elusive enemy before his darkness consumes them all. But after their final, brutal confrontation with the F'dor, their world crosses the threshold of disaster and faces utter oblivion. The action reaches a fevered pitch, achieving a crescendo of tragedy, love, and triumph of human spirit over world-shattering cataclysm.

With death at hand and the world crumbling at their feet, these three will finally discover their true Destiny.

Once there was a prophecy that a chosen one would rise to defeat the Eternal Khan, an immortal god-king.

But the prophecy was wrong.

Now Jian, the former chosen hero, is just an ordinary young man trying to find his own way. But he may yet have an extraordinary destiny, because he joins forces with Taishi, his grumpy grandmaster, who instructs him in the ways of her family's powerful war art. Jian still has a long way to go before he can become her heir, so she recruits a band of elderly grandmasters who come out of retirement to whip him into shape and help with this one last job.

And there are others who are also seeking their own destiny, like Qisami, an assassin on a secret mission to protect a powerful noblewoman from her enemies. But as Qisami goes undercover to complete her mission, she takes on a new identity that gives her something she never had before: friendship, found family, and new purpose.

Sali also thought her fate was laid before her. She was supposed to be looking for the next Eternal Khan and now finds her clan exiled from everything she's ever known. As she leads the survivors in search of a new home, Sali discovers that she's something she never thought she could be: a leader and a revolutionary.

Because sometimes destiny is grander than any prophecy can foresee. And the greatest destiny of all is the one you choose for yourself.

The long-awaited second book of the fourth story arc - Sword of the Canon - in the epic fantasy series, the Wars of Light and Shadow.

Lysaer's unstable integrity lies under threat of total downfall, and as his determined protector, Daliana will face the most frightening decision of her young life. Arithon, Master of Shadow, is marked for death and still hunted, when his critical quest to recover his obscured past entangles him in a web of deep intrigue and ancient perils beyond his imagining. Elaira's urgent pursuit of the Biedar Tribes' secret embroils her in the terrible directive of the Fellowship Sorcerers, while Dakar - the Mad Prophet - confronts the hard reckoning for the colossal mistake of his misspent past, and Tarens is steered by a destiny far from his crofter's origins.

The penultimate volume of The Wars of Light and Shadow will touch the grand depths of Athera's endowment, and deliver the thrilling finale of arc IV, the Sword of the Canon. War, blood, magic, mystery - and the most hidden powers of all - will stand or fall on their hour of unveiling.

Geralt is a witcher, a man whose magic powers, enhanced by long training and a mysterious elixir, have made him a brilliant fighter and a merciless assassin. Yet he is no ordinary murderer: his targets are the multifarious monsters and vile fiends that ravage the land and attack the innocent.

This is a collection of short stories, following the adventures of the hit collection THE LAST WISH. Join Geralt as he battles monsters, demons and prejudices alike...

With three of the goddess Durga's quests behind them, only one prophecy now stands in the way of Kelsey, Ren, and Kishan breaking the tiger's curse. But the trio's greatest challenge awaits them: A life-endangering pursuit in search of Durga's final gift, the Rope of Fire, on the Adaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal.

It's a race against time--and the evil sorcerer Lokesh--in this eagerly anticipated fourth volume of the bestselling Tiger's Curse series, which pits good against evil, tests the bonds of love and loyalty, and finally reveals the tiger's' true destiny once and for all.

Can a lecherous genie find happiness with his demure female counter part? Can Fodt Longstrider find love with the woman who caused his death? Not with the objects of their affections in another part of the realm, raising a mighty army for a terrible war.

Princess Moriana wants to reclaim her birthright and free the land from her sister's harsh oppression. In her single-minded goal, she has killed the only man she ever loved and unwittingly stolen a very dangerous magic talisman. Unless Fost can reach her in time, Moriana will plunge the realm into total war. And if the raging battle disturbs the fearsom entity sleeping below, the war will become a holocaust.

This short story originally appeared in the anthology Constellations: The Best of New British SF, edited by Peter Crowther. It can also be found in the anthology Year's Best SF 11 (2005), edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Resplendent (2006).

The sixth millennium: An alien occupation of Earth has been thrown off. Now a ferocious new government called the Coalition is sweeping through the solar system, seeking out those who collaborated with the hated enemy. A handful of immortals, once collaborators, live on an ice moon called Port Sol, far from the sun. They govern a community of thousands of short-lived adherents. The Coalition's grasp will soon reach this remote place. The immortals must flee the solar system on vast starships - but they can take with them only a few of their followers.

A young man called Rusel must choose between his lover, and his life; he chooses to flee. But Rusel faces a long journey, a journey that will last tens of millennia before the great ships reach their destination. Generations will live out their lives knowing nothing but the journey. Rusel agrees to accept an immortality of his own, to guide the ship and its evanescent crew across this desert of time. But as the years stretch to centuries and to millennia, the origins of the journey are lost in legend - and then the cruel scalpel of evolution begins to work on the crew. And Rusel lies on and on.

This novella can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Second Annual Collection (2005), edited by Gardner Dozois, and Best Short Novels: 2005, edited by Jonathan Strahan. It is included in the collection Resplendent (2006).

Hugo Award nominated short story. It originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, July 2001. The story is included in the collection Resplendent (2006).

This short story originally appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction, March 2003. It can also be found in het Year's Best SF 9 (2004) and The Space Opera Renaissance (2006), both edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer. The story is included in the collection Resplendent (2006).

George Poole isn't sure whether his life has reached a turning point or a dead end. At forty-five, he is divorced and childless, with a career that is going nowhere fast. Then, when his father dies suddenly, George stumbles onto a family secret: a sister he never knew existed. A twin named Rosa, raised in Rome by an enigmatic cult. Hoping to find the answers to the missing pieces of his life, George sets out for the ancient city.

Once in Rome, he learns from Rosa the enthralling story of their distant ancestor, Regina, an iron-willed genius determined to preserve her family as the empire disintegrates around her. It was Regina who founded the cult, which has mysteriously survived and prospered below the streets of Rome for almost two millennia. The Order, says Rosa, is her real family and, even if he doesn't realize it yet, it is George's family, too. When she takes him into the vast underground city that is the Order's secret home, he feels a strong sense of belonging, yet there is something oddly disturbing about the women he meets. They are all so young and so very much alike.

Stephen Baxter possesses one of the most brilliant minds in modern science fiction. His vivid storytelling skills have earned him comparison to the giants of the past: Clarke, Asimov, Stapledon. Like his great predecessors, Baxter thinks on a cosmic scale, spinning cutting-edge scientific speculation into pure, page-turning gold. Now Baxter is back with a breathtaking adventure that begins during the catastrophic collapse of Roman Britain and stretches forward into an unimaginably distant, war-torn future, where the fate of humanity lies waiting at the center of the galaxy....

For more than twenty thousand years, humans have been at war with the alien race of Xeelee. It is a war fought with armaments so advanced as to be godlike, a war in which time itself has become an ever-shifting battleground. At the cost of billions of lives, and with ruthless and relentless efficiency, the ruling Coalition has pushed the Xeelee back to the galactic core, where the supermassive black hole known as Chandra serves the Xeelee as both fortress and power source.

There, along a front millions of light-years long, a grisly stalemate reigns, until a young pilot, Pirius, faced with certain death, disobeys orders and employs an innovative time-travel maneuver that, for the first time in the history of the war, results in the capture of a Xeelee fighter. But far from being hailed as a hero when he returns to base with his prize, Pirius is court-martialed, disgraced, and sentenced to penal servitude on a bleak asteroid.

It is not only Pirius who pays the price. In flying into the future and back again, Pirius returned to a time before he’d left, a time inhabited by his younger self. And that younger self, by the pitiless logic of Coalition justice, shares the older Pirius guilt and must be punished. Not everyone in the Coalition agrees. Commissary Nilis believes that the elder Pirius, whom he dubs Pirius Blue, may have found a way to defeat the Xeelee. But Nilis can do nothing for Pirius Blue. Instead, he takes charge of the younger Pirius (Pirius Red), and brings him back to Earth, the capital of a vast empire seething with intrigue.

There Pirius Red will discover truths that will shatter his preconceived notions of all that he is fighting for, even of what it means to be human. Pirius Blue, meanwhile, will learn truths harsher and more discomfiting still. Yet the most shocking revelation of all is still to come, waiting for them at a place called Chandra....

It is the year 2047, and nuclear engineer Michael Poole is still in the throes of grief. His beloved wife, Morag, died seventeen years ago, along with their second child. Yet Michael is haunted by more than just the memory of Morag. On a beach in Miami, he sees his dead wife. But she vanishes as suddenly as she appears, leaving no clue as to her mysterious purpose.

Alia was born on a starship, fifteen thousand light years from Earth, five hundred thousand years after the death of Michael Poole. Yet she knows him intimately. In this distant future, when humanity has diversified as a species and spread across the galaxy, every person is entrusted with the duty of Witnessing the life of one man, woman, or child from the past, recovered by means of a technology able to traverse time itself. Alia's subject is Michael Poole.

When his surviving, estranged son is injured, Michael tries to reconnect with him–and to stave off a looming catastrophe. Vast reservoirs of toxic gases lie buried beneath the poles, trapped in crystals of ice. Now that ice is melting. Once it goes, the poisons released will threaten all life on Earth. A bold solution is within reach, if only Michael can convince a doubting world. Yet as Morag's ghostly visitations continue, Michael begins to doubt his own sanity.

In the future, Alia is chosen to become a Transcendent, an undying member of the group mind that is shepherding humanity toward an evolutionary apotheosis. The Witnessings are an integral part of their design, for only by redeeming the pain of every human who has lived and died can true Transcendence be achieved. Yet Alia discovers a dark side to the Transcendents' plans, a vein of madness that may lead to an unthinkable renunciation.

Somehow, Michael Poole holds the fate of the future in his hands. Now, to save that future, Alia must undertake a desperate journey into the past....

Resplendent is a collection of stories that encompasses mankind's epic fight for survival against the Xeelee, a narrative of how man will change and evolve over our epic journey out into the universe. These tales will encompass the rise of sub-molecular empires in the first nanoseconds after the Big Bang to mankind's final transformation. Full of cutting-edge science, descriptions of time and space on a mind-boggling scale and memorable, all-too-human characters. It is both the capstone to one of the most significant series in the history of SF and a remarkable achievement in its own right. This is a mature and uniquely talented writer at the height of his powers.

Table of Contents:

• Cadre Siblings - (2000)
• Conurbation 2473 - (2003)
• Reality Dust - (2000)
• All in a Blaze - (2003)
• Silver Ghost - (2000)
• The Cold Sink - (2001)
• On the Orion Line - (2000)
• Ghost Wars - (2006)
• The Ghost Pit - (2001)
• Lakes of Light - (2005)
• Breeding Ground - (2003)
• The Dreaming Mould - (2002)
• The Great Game - (2003)
• The Chop Line - (2003)
• In the Un-Black - (2001)
• Riding the Rock - (2002)
• Mayflower II - (2004)
• Between Worlds - (2004)
• The Siege of Earth - (2006)