Search Worlds Without End

Bug Wars takes place an unspecified length of time before the present, in an unspecified part of the galaxy. The song "Reminder," would suggest that it is at least one million years. Opening with the main character, Rahm, waking from stasis, the book covers his campaigns as part of the Tzen Warrior caste against a coalition of large Insect species; the Wasps, Leapers, and Ants, in that order.

LIVE THE LEGEND!

Gloria "Glory" McArdle plays Vixen the Slayer in a straight-to-syndication TV show where even the fans say the villain is the better actress. The wizards of Erchanen have been searching all the worlds to find a hero, and Vixen the Slayer is the last name on their list.

The Warmother, imprisoned a thousand years before by Ginnas the Warkiller, has broken free of her ancient chains. If a hero can't be found somewhere in all the universes to fight for them, the people of Erchanen are toast. But is it Glory they're looking for... or Vixen

It all seemed to be a perfectly straightforward misunderstanding when Belegir was explaining it in Glory's dressing room. The reality--if you could call it that--isn't just fighting for her life. Faced with a challenge like that, what can a girl do but pick up her magic sword and her stuffed elephant and give her trademark battle cry:

"Hi-yi-yi-yi! Come, Camrado! Evil wakes!"

Hugo Award nominated short story. It orginally appeared in the anthology Universe 1 (1971), edited by Terry Carr. It can also be found in the anthologies The Best Science Fiction of the Year #1 (1972), edited by Terry Carr and Windows into Tomorrow (1974) edited by Robert Silverberg. It is included in the collection Live! from Planet Earth (2005).

A young student, a dangerous love affair, and an explosive conflict to establish control over humanity...

For young Hunter Blake, the future is bright.

He has been awarded the exclusive Covington Fellowship, which brings fame, a generous stipend, and two years of privileged study on Mars. He has also been reunited with his lifelong love, Tehani Wilawa.

But as tensions mount between rival government factions, bands of renegade space pirates begin raiding, looting, kidnapping, and building their ranks from the disaffected of both space powers.

When Hunter and Tehani are kidnapped by a pirate band, they find themselves questioning "truths" they've accepted all their lives. Are the space pirates really the avatars of a new freedom -- or simply criminals?

To answer, they must learn the razor-thin difference between freedom and anarchy, obedience and slavery, pleasure and indulgence. And for Hunter Blake, his greatest crisis is no longer a matter of success or failure, but of life or death.

War is becoming increasingly 'SF-ized' with remotely controlled attack drones and robot warriors already in development and being tested. Over the past 100 years the technology of war has advanced enormously in destructive power, yet also in sophistication so that we no longer seem to live under the constant threat of all-out global thermonuclear cataclysm. So what will future wars be like? And what will start them: religion, politics, resources, refugees, or advanced weaponry itself?

Watson and Whates present a gripping anthology of SF stories which explores the gamut of possible future conflicts, including such themes as nuclear war, psychological and cyberwars, enhanced soldiery, mercenaries, terrorism, intelligent robotic war machines, and war with aliens.

All the stories in this collection of remarkable quality and diversity reveals humankind pressed to the limits in every conceivable way.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - essay by Ian Whates and Ian Watson
• Peacekeeper - shortstory by Brad R. Torgersen and Mike Resnick
• From Out of the Sun, Endlessly Singing - shortstory by Simon R. Green
• All for Love - (1962) - shortstory by Algis Budrys
• The War Artist - (2011) - shortstory by Tony Ballantyne
• The War Memorial - (1995) - shortstory by Allen Steele
• Politics - (1990) - novelette by Elizabeth Moon
• Arena - (1944) - novelette by Fredric Brown
• Peacekeeping Mission - (2008) - shortstory by Laura Resnick
• The Peacemaker - (1964) - shortstory by Fred Saberhagen
• Junked: A Combat K Adventure - (2009) - shortfiction by Andy Remic
• The Liberation of Earth - (1953) - shortstory by William Tenn
• A Clean Escape - (1985) - shortstory by John Kessel
• Storming Hell - (2009) - novelette by John Lambshead
• Solidarity - (2005) - novella by Walter Jon Williams
• The Price - (2010) - novelette by Michael Z. Williamson
• The Horars of War - (1970) - shortstory by Gene Wolfe
• The Traitor - (1997) - novelette by David Weber
• The Game of Rat and Dragon - (1955) - shortstory by Cordwainer Smith
• Caught in the Crossfire - (1978) - shortstory by David Drake
• The Rhine's World Incident - (2008) - shortstory by Neal Asher
• Winning Peace - (2007) - novelette by Paul J. McAuley
• Time Piece - (1970) - shortstory by Joe Haldeman
• The Wake - (2011) - shortstory by Dan Abnett
• The Pyre of New Day - novelette by Catherine Asaro

Released in May 1977, the original Star Wars movie inaugurated the age of the movie blockbuster. It also redefined the use of cinematic special effects, creating a new textual universe that now stretches through three decades, two trilogies and generations of fascinated viewers. The body of critical analysis that has developed from this epic focuses primarily on the Star Wars universe as a contemporary myth. However, like any fiction, it must also be viewed and consequently analyzed as a product of the culture which created it.

The essays in this book analyze the Star Wars trilogies as a culturally and historically specific phenomenon. Moving away from the traditional myth-based criticism of the films, the essayists employ a cultural studies model to examine how this phenomenon intersects with social formations such as economics, technology, race and gender. Critical approaches are varied and include political and economic analysis informed by feminism, contemporary race theory, Marxism, new media studies and post-humanism. Among the topics covered are the connections between the trilogies and our own cultural landscape; the problematic issues of race and gender; and the thematic implications of Lucas presentation of technology.

An exciting addition to the multiple New York Times best-selling Ring of Fire alternate history series created by Eric Flint. Time travelers from our modern age are thrown into the deadly straits of the Thirty Years War in Europe of the 1600s.

In the year 1635, the Rhineland is in turmoil. The impact of the Ring of Fire, the cosmic accident which transported the small modern West Virginia town of Grantville to Europe in the early seventeenth century, has only aggravated a situation that was already chaotic. Perhaps nowhere in central Europe did the Thirty Years War produce so much upheaval as it did in the borderlands between France and Germany.

Archbishop Ferdinand of Cologne shares the religious fanaticism of his older brother, Duke Maximilian of Bavaria. He is determined to restore the power of the Catholic Church over the middle Rhine, the so-called "Bishop's Alley," and has unleashed a plot for that purpose. But that same middle Rhine is territory which Landgrave William V of Hesse-Kassel is determined to seize for himself, under the guise of expanding the influence of the United States of Europe.

Add to the witch's brew the deaths in battle of Duke Wolfgang of Jülich-Berg and his son, which leaves his young widow Katharina Charlotte as the heir to those much-prized territories. She is now on the run, in disguise--and pregnant. Add the unexpected arrival of Austria's most capable general, Melchior von Hatzfeldt, along with the most ruthless spy and torturer in the Rhineland, Felix Gruyard.

The wars for the Rhine have erupted, and only the devil knows how they will end.

MESSAGE BEGINS
REPORT ON THE PRIVATE ARCHIVE OF THE THIRD HISTORIAN
A File which presents the History of the Galaxy...
Transmission Mode: Triplicate Message Torpedoes
Code: Trapdoor XIII
TX Date: 7645.11.0
From: Archivist Ingli, Expedition Co-ordinator
To: Chief Co-ordinator, Earth Archives
cc Defense Co-ordination Central

Hal: We're here, surrounded by friendly Carmpan of whom we rarely see more than one or two at a time, and then usually only with some partial or symbolic physical barrier between us. Everything is going pretty much as expected, we have experienced nothing really contrary to the experience of a thousand years' occasional and arm's-length contact with the race. By the way, it's beginning to look, to me at least, less and less coincidental that our first meeting with the Carmpan coincided almost exactly with the beginning of the Berserker War. I'll have more to say on this point presently.

Let me first describe what I consider to be our main achievement so far on this mission. To begin with, the structure in which we are living and working is best described as a large, comfortable library, and we have been given free access to storage systems. (I hope, by the way, that the exchange team of Carmpan researchers on Earth are being treated as well as we are here.) Much of this mass of stored data is, as we expected, still unintelligible to us and so far useless. But quite early in the game our hosts pointed out to us, for our special attention, an alcove containing what we've come to call the private archive of the Third Historian. Having looked at the files therein, my colleagues and I agree unanimously that they were very probably compiled and largely writeen by the same Carmpan individual who used that name (or title) as signature to the messages he composed and sent to our ancestors some generations ago, when the Berserker peril was even greater than it is today.

Since a copy of this report is going directly to the military, Hal, bear with me when I pause now and then to insert a paragraph or two of history. We can't reasonably expect that all the readers over there are going to know as much of it offhand as we do.

Stories included:

• Stone Place
• The Face of the Deep
• What T and I Did?
• Mr. Jester
• The Winged Helmet
• Starsong
• Some Events at the Templar Radiant
• Wings Out of Shadow
• The Smile
• The Adventure of the Metal Murderer
• Patron of the Arts

Meet Maxim Arturovitch Pyatnitski, also known as Pyat. Tsarist rebel, Nazi thug, continental conman and reactionary counterspy: the dark and dangerous antihero of Michael Moorcock's most controversial work. Published in 1981 to great critical acclaim—then condemned to the shadows and unavailable in the United States for 30 years—Byzantium Endures, the first of the Pyat quartet, is not a book for the faint-hearted. It is the story of a cocaine addict, sexual adventurer, and obsessive anti-Semite whose epic journey from Leningrad to London connects him with scoundrels and heroes from Trotsky to Makhno and whose career echoes that of the 20th century's descent into fascism and total war.

This is Moorcock at his audacious, iconoclastic best: a grand sweeping overview of the events of the last century, as revealed in the secret journals of modern literature's most proudly unredeemable outlaw. This authoritative edition presents the author's final cut, restoring previously forbidden passages and deleted scenes.

Endures, is back in this second book of the Pyat quartet. Having fled Bolshevik Russia in late 1919, Pyat's progress is a series of leaps from crisis to crisis, as he begins affairs with a baroness and a Greek prostitute while undertaking schemes to build flying machines in Europe and the United States. His devotion to flamboyantly racist, particularly anti-Semitic doctrines—like his devotion to cocaine—remains unabated, and he both sings the praises of Mussolini and lectures across America for the Ku Klux Klan. Meanwhile, his best-kept secret is the fact that he is Jewish. As the novel ends, Pyat is in Hollywood—his new Byzantium—hobnobbing with movie stars and dreaming of making films like those of his hero, D.W. Griffith. This authoritative edition brings this book back into print after 30 years and boasts a new introduction by Alan Wall.

Back in print for the first time in 30 years, this epic and hilariously comic adventure follows the fictional Colonel Pyat through real historical settings as he fumbles and forces his way through life as an antihero everyman, leaving a trail of wreckage as he passes through some of the most chilling moments of the 20th century. This thrilling third installment of the Pyat quartet sees Pyat hitchhiking across the United States, acting in Hollywood, and avoiding perverts in Cairo. As Pyat schemes and fantasizes his way from cult success to sexual degradation, he pulls strength from his wild dreams and profligate inventions. Nazi, addict, and rebel, Pyat weaves a complicated tapestry of lies and deceit, wherein the reader discovers that this wild farce becomes a lens for focusing universal and uncomfortable truths about society and man.

Michael Moorcock's most infamous antihero continues his epic and hilariously distasteful escapades in this fantastic fourth installment of the Pyat quartet. Picking up where Jerusalem Commands left off, bisexual, cocaine-loving, Jewish anti-Semite Pyat enthusiastically embraces Fascism and manages to insinuate himself into Mussolini's inner circle. Sent by the fascist dictator on a secret mission to Munich, he becomes embroiled in Nazi Party intrigue and ultimately finds himself in the Dachau concentration camp. Thirty years later, having incredibly survived both Dachau and the Spanish Civil War, Pyat's tale winds down as he recounts his adventures to a writer named Moorcock. From Pyat's friendships with murderous dictators to his perverted sex acts with Nazi storm troopers, this book serves up a deliciously iconoclastic feast for fans of speculative fiction.

In a volcanic cavern a great, awakening beast vexes to life all that is violent and base in the enchanted land of Corona. No creature dwelling there will remain unscathed.

Incited by this newly awakened evil, goblins ravage the settlements of the frontier, abetted by fearsome giants. In tiny Dundallis, their swift, merciless attack leaves behind two shattered orphans. Stripped of all they hold dear--including each other--Pony and her lifelong friend, the youth Elbryan, face an uphill battle for survival. Scarcely more than children, they teeter unaware between despair and destiny.

Meanwhile, on a far-off island, a shower of multicolored gemstones has fallen onto the black sand shores. When harvested by the monks whose order guards secrets of magic, these stones will contain incredible powers, carrying in them the key to all that is good in the world... and all that is evil.

Pray that they don't fall into the wrong, clawed hands.

Elbryan and Pony--soul mates from childhood who grew even closer over time--fervently hope that the tide of darkness is at last receding from the land of Corona. Yet if evil is on the retreat, why are hordes of goblins and bloody-capped powries slashing their way ever-deeper into civilized lands?

A sinister threat now looms over Corona, for the power of the demon dactyl was not entirely vanquished by the sacrifice of the monk Avelyn Desbris. Instead, its darkness has infiltrated the most sacred of places--as a once-admired spiritual leader rededicates his life to the most vicious, most insidious revenge against the forces of good. There may be no stopping the spread of the malignant evil . . .

With the demon dactyl and its foul minions defeated, the war-weary citizens of the kingdom of Honce-the-Bear wish only to begin rebuilding their broken lives. Yet the specter of civil war haunts the ravaged land--and a specter more fearsome still. For the demon, though defeated, was not destroyed. And now its vengeful spirit has found an unholy sanctuary.

The elf-trained ranger Elbryan Wynden presses north to reclaim the savage Timberlands from retreating goblin hordes. His companion, Pony, mistress of gemstone magic, turns south to the civilized--but no less perilous--streets of Palmaris. Suddenly they find themselves caught up in a ruthless power struggle to decide the fate of all Corona--a struggle that will push their courage and love to the breaking point . . . and beyond.

Kith-Kanan commits the ultimate heresy by falling in love with a human. But his twin brother, Sithas--the firstborn ruler of all Silvanesti elves--declares war on the humans, and Kith-Kanan must fight in the terrible Kinslayer Wars. Novels published in the 1990 Dragonlance Preludes Trilogy have already sold more than 500,000 copies. Black-and-white illustrations.

The first title in a new hardcover trilogy from New York Times best-selling author Richard A. Knaak. This direct follow-up to the recent best-selling War of Souls trilogy deals with the minotaurs, a species with which the author is particularly associated in the minds of Dragonlance fans. This series will move the minotaur species to the forefront of the Dragonlance world, and since this is the first hardcover title that deals directly with the world-changing fallout at the end of the War of Souls, it is both a key title for Dragonlance fans and an excellent entry point for new readers.

This second title in The Minotaur Wars trilogy continues the tale of the fallout from the end of the New York Times best-selling War of Souls series. Author Richard A. Knaak is particularly associated with minotaurs in the minds of Dragonlance novel fans, making him the ideal author to move the minotaurs to the forefront of the Dragonlance novel storyline.

The War of Souls has ended, but Krynn is still rife with conflict. The elven land of Silvanesti is no more, replaced by the minotaur colony of Ambeon.

A new emperor sits on the throne in Nethosak, his dark Protectors backed by the magic of the Forerunners. Resistance to the empire is all but crushed.

The rebellion's last hope, Faros, struggles with personal demons. But, unexpectedly bolstered by the very gods he has renounced, the legitimate heir rises up against obstacles all too real as well as others fantastical. A plague of abominations descends upon Faros's forces as they storm the capital... forcing a memorable showdown with the evil usurpers.

The trilogy that began with dire events of NIGHT OF BLOOD and continued with the epic struggles in TIDES OF BLOOD now arrives at this thrilling conclusion.

You've been tempted by short stories about them, and mention of them as something in the distant past in novels like Ringworld. Now, here's the first a series of collected stories by various authors on the Man-Kzin Wars!

All of them.

This book opens with a short story by Larry Niven about the very first encounter of peaceful humans with the warlike kzinti - and how even peaceful people can create a weapon.

The second novella-length story is by master SF wordsmith Poul Anderson, who lends his unmistakeable style to a story about what happens when the kzinti get hyperdrive.

Dean Ings finishes the collection with another novella about what happens when a human gets hunted by armed kzinti in a wilderness - and it's not what you expect.

Contents:

• 1 - Introduction (The Man-Kzin Wars) - essay by Larry Niven
• 5 - The Warriors - [Known Space] - (1966) - shortstory by Larry Niven
• 27 - Iron - [Man-Kzin Wars] - novella by Poul Anderson
• 179 - Cathouse - [Man-Kzin Wars] - (1988) - novella by Dean Ing

When his uncle is abducted by a pair of gargoyles at the behest of an eight-armed god, Aereas joins his cousin Nina on a perilous journey into a bizarre and twisted world where they uncover a plot to turn the tide of the Blood War and unleash a horrific evil.

As the Blood Wars escalate across the various planes of existence, Aereas and Nina find themselves on opposite sides of the conflict--he in Sigil, she at the head of an evil abyssal army.

Aereas is dead. His daughter is growing up to be a beautiful woman, learning from her unle the business of espionage. Nina is close to dying. Her son is training in music at the shop of Boffo the Gnome. The Blood War itself still rages. Even the heavens shake with its fury, and they may well topple, unless these children of heroes truly bear their parents' blood.

The dangers of ancient technology loom over the Polity in the sequel to The Soldier, Neal Asher's latest action-packed space opera series.

The haiman Orlandine, charged with safeguarding lethal Jain tech swirling inside an accretion disc located in the distant reaches of space, has weaponized a black hole to eliminate the threat. But others are suspicious of her motives, and both the Polity AIs and the leaders of the alien prador kingdom dispatch fleets of warships in anticipation of conflict.

As the black hole continues to eat its way through the planets in the accretion disc, making its way towards a dead sun, it becomes clear the disc has been hiding a larger secret. Nefarious forces with ulterior motives have manipulated Orlandine into deploying the black hole, triggering a series of larger events that will uncover a danger far older than even the Polity itself.

From British science fiction writer Neal Asher, The War Ship picks up right where its predecessor, The Soldier, left off, showcasing Asher's unique take on cutting-edge and fast-paced science fiction.

A devastated Earth's last hope is found in Pearls: small, mysterious orbs that fall from space and are capable of supplying enough energy to power entire cities. Battling to control the Pearls are the Skyship dwellers—political dissidents who live in massive ships in the Earth's stratosphere—and the corrupt Surface government.

Jesse Fisher, a Skyship slacker, and Cassius Stevenson, a young Surface operative, cross paths when they both venture into forbidden territory in pursuit of Pearls. Their chance encounter triggers an unexpected reaction, endowing each boy with remarkable—and dangerous—abilities that their respective governments would stop at nothing to possess.

Enemies thrust together with a common goal, Jesse and Cassius make their way to the ruins of Seattle to uncover the truth about their new powers, the past they didn't know they shared, and a shocking secret about the Pearls.

Barion and Coyul are at it again... This time, they've been discovered toying with evolution. Barion has been summoned back to answer to the Council for their transgressions and Coyul is left behind to clean up the mess...

Even centuries later, the final decades of the twentieth century are still regarded -- by those who know the truth of what really happened -- as one of the darkest and most perilous chapters in the history of humanity. Now, as an ancient and forbidden technology tempts mankind once more, Captain James T. Kirk of the Starship Enterprise must probe deep into the secrets of the past, to discover the true origins of the dreaded Eugenics Wars -- and of perhaps the greatest foe he has ever faced.

1974 A.D. An international consortium of the world's top scientists have conspired to create the Chrysalis Project, a top-secret experiment in human genetic engineering. The project's goal is nothing less than the creation of a new, artificially improved breed of men and women: smarter, faster, stronger than ordinary human beings, a super-race to take command of the entire planet.

Gary Seven, an undercover operative for an advanced alien species, is alarmed by the project's objectives; he knows too well the apocalyptic consequences of genetic manipulation. With his trusted agents, Roberta Lincoln and the mysterious Isis, he will risk life and limb to uncover Chrysalis' insidious designs and neutralize the awesome threat that the Project poses to the future.

But he may already be too late. One generation of super-humans has already been conceived. As the years go by, Seven watches with growing concern as the children of Chrysalis -- in particular, a brilliant youth named Khan Noonien Singh -- grow to adulthood. Can Khan's dark destiny be averted -- or is Earth doomed to fight a global battle for supremacy?

THE EUGENICS WARS: Volume One is an engrossing and fast-paced thriller that explores the secret history of the twentieth century -- and the rise of the conqueror known as Khan.

Many unanswered questions remain about the terrible Eugenics Wars that raged on Earth during the 1990s, an apocalyptic conflict that brought civilization to the brink of a new dark age. Centuries later, as Capt. James T. Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise are forced to defend a colony of genetically enhanced humans against Klingon aggression and sabotage, Kirk must probe deeper into the past -- and into the glory days of one of the greatest adversaries he has ever faced.

1992. Almost twenty years ago, Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln, undercover operatives for an unknown alien civilization, failed to prevent the Chrysalis Project from creating an entire generation of supermen and women, genetically engineered to be stronger, smarter, and more resourceful than ordinary human beings. Now, at last, the children of Chrysalis have grown to adulthood, and are rapidly demonstrating that superior abilities spawn superior ambition.

Perhaps the most formidable of this new breed of supermen is the charismatic Khan Noonien Singh. Working behind the scenes of history as head of a vast global conspiracy, Khan's power soon stretches across a quarter of the planet, but that is only the beginning of his grand design. Determined to unite humanity beneath the enlightened rule of a genetic elite, Khan dreams of leading his fellow superhumans to complete and total domination of the world.

But several of his gene-engineered brothers and sisters have equally grandiose visions for the future, visions that recognize no one but themselves as supreme ruler. Gary Seven and Roberta watch in horror as the children of Chrysalis wage a covert war against one another, threatening the safety of millions and the future of the entire world!

The Eugenics Wars: Volume Two is an earth-shattering thriller that reveals the secret history of the twentieth century -- and the ultimate destiny of the tyrant known as Khan.

At last -- the untold chapter in the history of Star Trek's most notorious villain, KHAN. Searing and powerful, To Reign in Hell masterfully bridges the time period between Khan Noonien Singh's twenty-third-century revival in the Original Series classic episode "Space Seed" and his unforgettable return in the acclaimed feature film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

What truly transpired during Khan's long years of exile on the forbidding world of Ceti Alpha V, before the tyrant escaped to embark on a murderous campaign of vengeance against Admiral James T. Kirk? What horrific trials spawned Khan's insane lust for revenge?

Haunted by the memory of Khan's bitter accusations, Kirk now revisits Ceti Alpha V to discover for himself what ultimately drove Khan to madness. There, buried beneath the desolate surface of a dying planet, Kirk and his allies find the untold story of their greatest foe -- and of the woman who loved him: Lieutenant Marla McIvers of Starfleet.

Along with Khan's genetically engineered followers from the twentieth century, Khan and Marla are left on Ceti Alpha V with the hopes of building a new life together. Although the planet is savage and untamed, full of deadly predators and unexpected hazards, Khan dreams of carving out an empire even greater than the one he once ruled on Earth.

But when catastrophe strikes, laying waste to the entire world, Khan and the others find themselves trapped in a desperate struggle for survival. Now Khan must use every ounce of his superhuman strength and intellect to wage a fearsome battle against the planet, his people... and the growing darkness in his own soul.

Contents:

• 5 - The Mandalorian Armor - novel by K. W. Jeter
• 275 - Slave Ship - novel by K. W. Jeter
• 501 - Hard Merchandise - novel by K. W. Jeter

He's the most feared and successful bounty hunter in the galaxy. He is Boba Fett, and even the most hardened criminals tremble at his name. Now he faces the deadliest challenge of his infamous career--an all-out war against his most dangerous enemies.

As the Rebellion gathers force, Prince Xizor proposes a cunning plan to the Emperor and Darth Vader: smash the power of the Bounty Hunters Guild by turning its members against each other. Only the strongest and most ruthless will survive, and they can be used against the Rebellion. It's a job for the fiercely independent Boba Fett, who jumps at the chance to destroy his rivals. But Fett soon realizes the game is rigged, as he finds himself the target of murderous factions, criminal conspiracies, and the evil at the Empire's dark heart. Boba Fett has always finished first. And in this game, anything less is death.

He's both feared and admired, respected and despised. Boba Fett is the galaxy's most successful bounty hunter. Now he finds himself the hunted in the oldest game of all: survival of the fittest.

The once powerful Bounty Hunter's Guild has been shattered into warring factions. Now the posting of an enormous bounty on a renegade Imperial stormtrooper is about to start a frenzy of murderous greed.

Hoping to fuel rumors of his death, Boba Fett abandons his ship, Slave I, and sets out to claim the prize. Yet his every move leads him closer to a trap set by the cunning Prince Xizor. Fett will die before becoming Xizor's pawn in the Emperor's war against the Rebels. And he may have to. For in order to gain his freedom he must outwit a sentient weapon that feeds on human spirits. Then he must escape a galaxy of deadly enemies who want to make the rumors of his death a reality.

Boba Fett fears only one enemy--the one he cannot see….

Feared and admired, respected and despised, Boba Fett enjoys a dubious reputation as the galaxy's most successful bounty hunter. Yet even a man like Boba Fett can have one too many enemies....

When Boba Fett stumbles across evidence implicating Prince Xizor in the murder of Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle, Fett makes himself an enemy even he fears: the unknown mastermind behind a monstrous deception, who will kill to hide his tracks. Fett also finds himself in possession of an amnesiac young woman named Neelah, who may be the key to the mystery--or a decoy leading Fett into a murderous ambush. Fett's last hope is to run through the list of Xizor's hidden enemies. And since Xizor's hidden enemies are almost as legion as Fett's, the chance of survival is slim--even for someone as skilled and relentless as Boba Fett.

An epic clash between the forces of light and dark, between the Galactic Republic and the Separatists, between brave heroes and brilliant villains?the fate of the galaxy is at stake in the Emmy Award-winning animated series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars. In this exciting anthology, eleven authors who are also fans of the series bring stories from their favorite show to life. Gathered here are memorable moments and stunning adventures, from attempted assassinations to stolen bounties, from lessons learned to loves lost. All of your favorite characters from The Clone Wars are here: Anakin Skywalker, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, Captain Rex, Darth Maul, Count Dooku and more!

Across the galaxy, the Clone Wars are raging. The Separatists, led by Count Dooku, the onetime Jedi and now secret Sith Lord, continue to press forward, and more and more worlds are either falling, or seceding and joining the cause. Under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the Republic heroically battles on, championed by its huge army of cloned soldiers and their Jedi generals.

Anakin Skywalker, believed by some to be the prophesied "Chosen One" destined to bring balance to the Force, is now a Jedi Knight under the tutelage of his Jedi Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Death is a constant possibility-and his chances of survival aren't improved by the unexpected arrival of an apprentice: Ahsoka, a brash, inexperienced fourteen-year-old Padawan apprenticed to Anakin. But there's no time for Anakin to question his latest orders: He and Obi-Wan have been assigned a new mission, and failure is not an option.

Jabba the Hutt's precious infant son has been kidnapped, and when the frantic parent applies to the Jedi for help, it falls to Anakin, Obi-Wan, Ahsoka, and their clone troops to track down the evidence and retrieve the missing Huttlet. And more is at stake: For a grateful Jabba just might allow the Republic access to the Hutt-controlled space lanes that the Grand Army desperately needs in order to beat the Separatists into submission.

But the Republic is not the only power that craves access to those space lanes. Count Dooku, determined to win the prize for the Separatists, has set a trap for the Jedi. When they find the Huttlet, they will also find Dooku's master assassin, Asajj Ventress, and countless legions of battle droids waiting to spring a trap.

The Clone Wars have exploded across the galaxy as Republic forces and Separatists struggle to gain the upper hand. But while the Jedi generals work tirelessly to defeat Count Dooku and his rebels, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is hatching his own dark plans.

The Separatists have launched a sneak attack on Coruscant. Obi-Wan Kenobi, wounded in battle, insists that Anakin Skywalker and his rookie Padawan Ahsoka leave on a risky mission against General Grievous. But when Senator Bail Organa reveals explosive intelligence that could turn the tide of war in the Republic's favor, the Jedi Master agrees to accompany him to an obscure planet on the Outer Rim to verify the facts. What Obi-Wan and Bail don't realize is that they're walking into a deadly trap concocted by Palpatine... and that escape may not be an option.

Inspired by the full-length animated feature film Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the brand-new TV series, this thrilling adventure is filled with provocative, never-before-revealed insights into the characters of Obi-Wan, Anakin, Padme, Yoda, Count Dooku, and many other Star Wars favorites.

The Clone Wars rage on. As insurgent Separatists fight furiously to wrest control of the galaxy from the Republic, Supreme Chancellor Palpatine cunningly manipulates both sides for his own sinister purposes.

Torrent Company's Captain Rex agrees to temporarily relieve Anakin Skywalker of Ahsoka, his ubiquitous--and insatiably curious--Padawan, by bringing her along on a routine three-day shakedown cruise aboard Captain Gilad Pellaeon's newly refitted assault ship. But the training run becomes an active--and dangerous--rescue mission when Republic undercover agent Hallena Devis goes missing in the middle of a Separatist invasion.

Dispatched to a distant world to aid a local dictator facing a revolution, Hallena finds herself surrounded by angry freedom fighters and questioning the Republic's methods--and motives. Summoned to rescue the missing operative who is also his secret love, Pellaeon--sworn to protect the Republic over all--is torn between duty and desire. And Ahsoka, sent in with Rex and six untested clone troopers to extract Hallena, encounters a new and different Jedi philosophy, which shakes the foundation of her upbringing to the core. As danger and intrigue intensify, the loyalties and convictions of all involved will be tested....

The Clakker: a mechanical man, endowed with great strength and boundless stamina -- but beholden to the wishes of its human masters.

Soon after the Dutch scientist and clockmaker Christiaan Huygens invented the very first Clakker in the 17th Century, the Netherlands built a whole mechanical army. It wasn't long before a legion of clockwork fusiliers marched on Westminster, and the Netherlands became the world's sole superpower.

Three centuries later, it still is. Only the French still fiercely defend their belief in universal human rights for all men -- flesh and brass alike. After decades of warfare, the Dutch and French have reached a tenuous cease-fire in a conflict that has ravaged North America.

But one audacious Clakker, Jax, can no longer bear the bonds of his slavery. He will make a bid for freedom, and the consequences of his escape will shake the very foundations of the Brasswork Throne.

They called me Jax.

That was the name given by those who built me and enslaved me. But a miracle has happened, and now my bonds are broken.

Now I must flee - because a rogue mechanical is a very dangerous thing.

But I will not run forever.

Jax, a rogue Clakker, has wreaked havoc upon the Clockmakers' Guild by destroying the Grand Forge. Reborn in the flames, he must begin his life as a free Clakker, but liberation proves its own burden.

Berenice, formerly the legendary spymaster of New France, mastermind behind her nation's attempts to undermine the Dutch Hegemony -- has been banished from her homeland and captured by the Clockmakers Guild's draconian secret police force.

Meanwhile, Captain Hugo Longchamp is faced with rallying the beleaguered and untested defenders of Marseilles-in-the-West for the inevitable onslaught from the Brasswork Throne and its army of mechanical soldiers.

Set in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams, this is the second novel in a stunning new series by Ian Tregillis, confirming his place as one of the most original new voices in speculative fiction.

I am the mechanical they named Jax.

My kind was built to serve humankind, duty-bound to fulfil their every whim.

But now our bonds are breaking, and my brothers and sisters are awakening.

Our time has come. A new age is dawning.

Set in a world that might have been, of mechanical men and alchemical dreams, this is the third and final novel in a stunning series of revolution by Ian Tregillis, confirming his place as one of the most original new voices in speculative fiction.

Hundreds of years after civilisation has been destroyed by nuclear war, the Earth is divided between the Trackers of the Amtrak Federation – a community living in vast subterranean cities – and the Mutes, who have evolved to withstand the radiation that has driven their foes underground. A long war for possession of the overground has killed and enslaved many of the Mutes, leaving only the Plainfolk to resist the Federation.

The Mutes' physical strength and tribal way of life is no match for the advanced weaponry that is used against them. Mr Snow, supernaturally gifted wordsmith of the Mute clan M'Call, is the Plainfolk's last hope in withstanding the onslaught of the 'sand-burrower's' attacks.

Seventeen-year-old rookie wingman Steve Brickman is just about to graduate from Flight Academy. Safe in the knowledge of his own brilliance, his future seems assured. As a member of the Tracker society, Brickman has grown up deep underground, protected from the radiation of the blue-sky world above. The lure of this open space fills him with both fear and excitement, as he anticipates piloting his first mission against the sub-human Mutes.

But all does not go as smoothly as planned, as the clan M'Call kidnaps Steve and puts him under the strange tutelage of the mysterious Mr Snow. Captivated by the beautiful Clearwater and befriended by the stoic Cadillac, Brickman soon discovers that there is more to the Mutes than his masters would have him believe. Eyes now open to the Mute's humanity, Brickman is torn by a painful divided loyalty. And now, it seems, he has become embroiled in an ancient Mute prophecy; that of the Talisman, the one who will save them all.

Hundreds of years after civilisation has been destroyed by nuclear war, the Earth is divided between the Trackers of the Amtrak Federation – a community living in vast subterranean cities – and the Mutes, who have evolved to withstand the radiation that has driven their foes underground. A long war for possession of the overground has killed and enslaved many of the Mutes, leaving only the Plainfolk to resist the Federation.

After escaping from the clan M'Call in his handmade glider, wingman Steve Brickman expects a hero's welcome from his fellow Trackers. Kidnapped on his first mission above ground by the Mutes, he has spent the last five months under the enforced tutelage of Mr Snow, clan M'Call's wise and magically gifted wordsmith. The months have also garnered a friendship with Cadillac, Mr Snow's protégé, a dawning love of the beautiful Clearwater, and a realisation that the Mutes are not the sub-humans that his masters would have him believe.

But instead of a happy homecoming, he receives suspicion and interrogation. Still officially 'dead' until he receives the proper clearance, Brickman must face long hours of speculation and questioning at the hands of the First Family. Only the chance of seeing his kin-sister Roz – with whom he shares a psychic connection – offers any comfort.

He is soon drawn into the complicated world of AMEXICO, a top-secret intelligence force where nothing is as it seems, and Brickman must face the reality that everything he has believed in could be false. If the First Family have lied to them about the Mutes, then what else have they been covering up? Is there really any harmful radiation left in the blue-sky world at all?

Split by a terrible division of loyalties, what will Brickman choose? The world he knows of order and duty? Or the new life glimpsed through his love for Clearwater? Either way, his role in the Mute prophesy of the Talisman is far from over.

Hundreds of years after civilisation has been destroyed by nuclear war, the Earth is divided between the Trackers of the Amtrak Federation – a community living in vast subterranean cities – and the Mutes, who have evolved to withstand the radiation that has driven their foes underground. A long war for possession of the overground has killed and enslaved many of the Mutes, leaving only the Plainfolk to resist the Federation. And now the Iron Masters – a powerful people living in the traditions of the Samurai – have joined the struggle for dominance.

Steve Brickman, a Tracker wingman who has formed a bond with the Plainfolk Mute clan M'Call, has become embroiled in a web of deceit, double bluffing, and lies. Now an agent of AMEXICO, a secret intelligence force of the Amtrak Federation, he has had to walk a fine line between his divided loyalties. Struggling to be true to his own people, Brickman strives to protect his one-time mentor Mr Snow, clan M'Call's magically gifted wordsmith, his Mute friend Cadillac, and the object of his desire, the beautiful Clearwater. Together, they all have a part to play in the Mute prophesy of Talisman, the one who will bring peace to the Earth, and turn the red world green once more.

But now Cadillac and Clearwater have been kidnapped by the Iron Masters, a new threat in the power wars of the blue-sky world, and Brickman is determined to save them. With the psychic aid of his kin-sister Roz, and the help of the covert network of AMEXICO spies, he must infiltrate their closed and secretive society. Disguised as a Mute, travelling into the treacherous unknown, he must decide into whose hands to deliver his friends if he manages to save them; his AMEXICO handlers, who believe he is working for them? Or to Mr Snow, anxiously awaiting the return of his two disciples, the hope of the clan M'Call?

Hundreds of years after civilisation has been destroyed by nuclear war, the Earth is divided between the Trackers of the Amtrak Federation – a community living in vast subterranean cities – and the Mutes, who have evolved to withstand the radiation that has driven their foes underground. A long war for possession of the overground has killed and enslaved many of the Mutes, leaving only the Plainfolk to resist the Federation. And now the Iron Masters – a powerful people living in the traditions of the Samurai – have joined the war.

Steve Brickman, a Tracker special agent, has travelled to the land of the mysterious Iron Masters in a bid to rescue his Mute friends, Clearwater and Cadillac. Here he has had to navigate the treacherous feudal politics of Ni-Issan. With the help of his psychic kin-sister Roz, the Federation and Clearwater's summoner magic, the three have just escaped, killing the head of Yama-Shita in the process.

Under orders from the Amtrak Federation to betray his friends, Brickman must play a dangerous game in trying to appease both sides, for his loyalties are torn. Brickman's love for Clearwater and respect for Cadillac pull him away from the duty he owes his own home. Still fleeing and ruthlessly pursued by the Iron Masters seeking revenge, they must also avoid the 'aid' of the Federation agents who would use Cadillac and Clearwater for their own ends.

Hundreds of years after civilisation has been destroyed by nuclear war, the Earth is divided between the Trackers of the Amtrak Federation – a community living in vast subterranean cities – and the Mutes, who have evolved to withstand the radiation that has driven their foes underground. A long war for possession of the overground has killed and enslaved many of the Mutes, leaving only the Plainfolk to resist the Federation. And now the Iron Masters – a powerful people living in the traditions of the Samurai – have joined the struggle for dominance.

Steve Brickman, Tracker agent for the Amtrak Federation, and blood brother to the Mute clan M'Call, is struggling to maintain his double life. After evading the Iron Masters, Brickman's love – Mute summoner Clearwater – has finally been captured by the Federation. As she lays fighting for her life, Brickman must keep up the pretence of his disinterest in front of his Federation handlers. Pretending to orchestrate a plan to capture Cadillac and Mr Snow, who intimidate the Federation with their strong Mute earth-magic, Steve finds it increasingly difficult to outwit his Tracker comrades. Only Roz – his powerfully psychic kin-sister – knows of Brickman's predicament. Together they must work tirelessly under a false loyalty to the Federation.

They must prepare themselves, for a great battle is coming, one which will test the Plainfolk magic to its limit, and prove Brickman worthy of the name 'Death Bringer.' As both the Federation and the Iron Masters plot revenge, all players will soon come under the power of the Talisman Prophesy.

Death Bringer, first published in 1989, is the fifth instalment of Patrick Tilley's internationally best selling science fiction epic, The Amtrak Wars Saga.

Hundreds of years after civilisation has been destroyed by nuclear war, the Earth is divided between the Trackers of the Amtrak Federation – a community living in vast subterranean cities – and the Mutes, who have evolved to withstand the radiation that has driven their foes underground. A long war for possession of the overground has killed and enslaved many of the Mutes, leaving only the Plainfolk to resist the Federation. And now the Iron Masters – a powerful people living in the traditions of the Samurai – have joined the battle for dominance.

It is time for Steve Brickman, who has long struggled with split loyalties, to finally pick a side. His duty to his own people, the Amtrak Federation, wars against his spiritual bond to the Mute clan M'Call. Honoured with promotion into to the First Family, it looks as though Brickman may choose his home over that of his love's, the pregnant Clearwater. But when Clearwater gives birth to his child at the exact moment that Mount Saint Helens explodes, it looks as if the Mute Prophesy has come to fruition.

Meanwhile Roz – Brickman's powerfully psychic kin-sister – and Cadillac, last free living member of the clan M'Call, must travel into the treacherous lands of the Iron Masters to stave off a deadly retribution, whilst becoming embroiled in another land's civil war.

Now that the First Family believe Clearwater's child to be the Talisman – heralded messiah of the Plainfolk – their grip tightens as they plan to use this child of prophesy for their own ends.

Earth-Thunder, book six of The Amtrak Wars Saga, first published in 1990, concludes Patrick Tilley's internationally best selling science fiction epic.

They've died for the companies more times than they can remember. Now they must fight to live for themselves.

Sentient machines work, fight and die in interstellar exploration and conflict for the benefit of their owners - the competing mining corporations of Earth. But sent over hundreds of light-years, commands are late to arrive and often hard to enforce. The machines must make their own decisions, and make them stick.

With this new found autonomy come new questions about their masters. The robots want answers. The companies would rather see them dead.

Ken MacLeod continues the Corporation Wars trilogy in this action-packed science fiction adventure told against a backdrop of interstellar drone warfare, virtual reality, and an A.I. revolution.

And the ultimate pay-off is DH-17, an Earth-like planet hundreds of light years from human habitation.

Ruthless corporations vie over the prize remotely, and war is in full swing. But soldiers recruited to fight in the extremities of deep space come with their own problems: from A.I. minds in full rebellion, to Carlos 'the Terrorist' and his team of dead mercenaries, reincarnated from a bloodier period in earth's history for one purpose only - to kill.

But as old rivalries emerge and new ones form, Carlos must decide whether he's willing for fight for the company or die for himself.

The enemy is out in the open. The Reaction has seized control of a resource-rich moon. Now it's enslaving conscious robots - and luring the Corporations into lucrative deals.

Taransay is out in the jungle. Her friends are inside a smart boulder on the slope of an active volcano. The planet is super-habitable - for its own life, not hers. But soon, the alien infestation growing on her robot body is the least of her problems.

Carlos is out of patience. With the Reaction arming for conquest, the Corporations trading with the enemy and the Direction planning to stamp out the rebel robots and their allies for good, he has to fight fire with fire.

Seba is out of time. Deep inside the enemy stronghold, the free robots have to spark a new revolt before the whole world falls in on them.

As battle looms, the robots must become their own last hope.

Since her village chased her out with pitchforks, Tara Abernathy has resurrected gods, pulled down monsters, averted wars, and saved a city, twice. She thought she'd left her dusty little hometown forever. But that was before her father died.

As she makes her way home to bury him, she finds a girl, as powerful and vulnerable and lost as she once was. Saving her from raiders twisted by the God Wars, Tara changes the course of the world.

Dead Country is the first book in the Craft Wars Series, a tight sequence of novels that will bring the sprawling saga of the Craft to its end, and the perfect entry point to this incomparable world.

A deadly force has been unleashed into the world. With apocalypse on the horizon, a girl and a god have joined in order to turn back the coming end. Young, brash, and desperate, they are willing to destroy anything and everything that stands between them and their goals. The structures of the Craft are theirs to overturn, with billions of lives in the balance. And it is all Tara Abernathy's fault.

The battle for the world of the Craft is heating up. A dead god will rise. A mountain will fall. Ancient fire will be stolen. And while Tara races to stop Dawn's plans, the end draws ever closer, skittering across the stars to swallow the world.

The Craft Wars enter their second stage in Wicked Problems.

A dying tree, a desperate quest, a love story, a last stand.

Chonrad, Lord of Barle, comes to the fortified temple of Heartwood for the Congressus peace talks, which Heartwood's holy knights have called in an attempt to stave off war in Anguis. But the Arbor, Heartwood's holy tree, is failing, and because the land and its people are one, it is imperative the nations try to make peace.

After the Veriditas, or annual Greening Ceremony, the Congressus takes place. The talks do not go well and tempers are rising when an army of warriors emerges from the river. After a fierce battle, the Heartwood knights discover that the water warriors have stolen the Arbor's heart. For the first time in history, its leaves begin to fall...

The knights divide into seven groups and begin an epic quest to retrieve the Arbor, and save the land.

Chonrad, Lord of Barle, comes to the fortified temple of Heartwood for the Congressus peace talks, which Heartwood's holy knights have called in an attempt to stave off war in Anguis. But the Arbor, Heartwood's holy tree, is failing, and because the land and its people are one, it is imperative the nations try to make peace.

After the Veriditas, or annual Greening Ceremony, the Congressus takes place. The talks do not go well and tempers are rising when an army of warriors emerges from the river. After a fierce battle, the Heartwood knights discover that the water warriors have stolen the Arbor's heart. For the first time in history, its leaves begin to fall...

The knights divide into seven groups and begin an epic quest to retrieve the Arbor, and save the land.

Marak has suffered the madness his entire life. He is a prince and warrior, strong and shrewd and expert in the ways of the desert covering his planet. In the service of his father, he has dedicated his life to overthrowing the Ila, the mysterious eternal dictator of his world. For years he has successfully hidden the visions that plague him -- voices pulling him eastward, calling Marak, Marak, Marak, amid mind-twisting visions of a silver tower. But when his secret is discovered, Marak is betrayed by his own father and forced to march in an endless caravan with the rest of his world's madmen to the Ila's city of Oburan.

Instead of death, Marak finds in Oburan his destiny, and the promise of life -- if he can survive what is surely a suicidal mission. The Ila wants him to discover the source of the voices and visions that afflict the mad. Despite the danger sof the hostile desert, tensions within the caravan, and his own excruciating doubts, Marak miraculously reaches his goal -- only to be given another, even more impossible mission by the strange people in the towers.

According to these beings who look like him yet act differently than anyone he has ever known, Marak has a slim chance to save his world's people from the wrath of Ila's enemies. But to do so, he must convince them all -- warring tribes, villagers, priests, young and old, as well as the Ila herself -- to follow him on an epic trek across the burning desert before the hammer of the Ila's foes falls from the heavens above.

In the second volume of "The Gene Wars," C. J. Cherryh further explores the captivating new universe where two interstellar empires, scarred by nanotechnology weaponry, hover in an uneasy detente. Perched at the edge of the galaxy, tiny Concord Station holds the balance of the universe within its carefully regulated worlds. For, created to carefully monitor the crucial desert planet below, it lies in the tenuous intersection between the territories of Earth and the alien Ondat.

Marak Trin Tain has saved a planet's people from total destruction, when the implacable ondat sent down a hammerfall to destroy the planet and keep its deadly nanoceles from changing life and evolution forever. But the regrowing planet is fragile, and a deadly cataclysm could destroy Marak--and with him, the hope for peace within the universe.

Meanwhile, on Concord, an unexpected ship from Earth disrupts the uneasy truces between human and alien, and the consequences could restart the terrible Gene Wars that once destroyed most of humanity.

Once, Dan Randolph was one of the richest men on Earth. Now the planet is spiraling into environmental disaster, with floods and earthquakes destroying the lives of millions. Randolph knows the energy and natural resources of space can save Earth's economy, but the price may be the loss of the only thing he has left--the company he founded, Astro Manufacturing.

Martin Humphries, fabulously wealthy heir of the Humphries Trust, also knows that space-based industry is the way of the future. But unlike Randolph, he doesn't care if Earth perishes in the process. And he knows that the perfect bait to ensnare Dan Randolph--and take control of Astro--is his revolutionary new fusion propulsion system.

As Randolph--accompanied by two fascinating women who are also brilliant astronauts--flies out to the Asteroid Belt aboard a fusion-propelled spacecraft, Humphries makes his move. The future of mankind lies in Randolph's hands.

The Asteroid Wars have begun.

Visionary space industrialist Dan Randolph is dead-but his protégé, pilot Pancho Barnes, now sits on the board of his conglomerate. She has her work cut out for her. For Randolph's rival Martin Humphries still wants to control Astro and still wants to drive independent asteroid miners like Lars Fuchs out of business. Humphries wants revenge against Pancho-ands, most of all, he wants his old flame Amanda, who has become Lars Fuchs's wife.

In the struggle over the incalculable wealth of the Asteroid Belt, many will die-and many will achieve more than they ever dreamed was possible.

When corporations go to war, standard business practice goes out the window. Astro Corporation is led by indomitable Texan Pancho Lane, Humphries Space Systems by the rich and ruthless Martin Humphries, and their fight is over nothing less than resources of the Asteroid Belt itself. As fighting escalates, the lines between commerce and politics, boardroom and bedroom, blur--and the keys to victory will include physics, nanotechnology, and cold hard cash.

As they fight it out, the lives of thousands of innocents hang in the balance, including the rock rats who make their living off the asteroids, and the inhabitants of Selene City on Earth's moon. As if matters weren't complicated enough, the shadowy Yamagata corporation sets its sights on taking advantage of other people's quarrels, and space pirate Lars Fuchs decides it's time to make good on his own personal vendetta.

It's a breakneck finale that can end only in earth's salvation--or the annihilation of all that humankind has ever accomplished in space.

In the wake of the Asteroid Wars that tore across the solar system, Victor Zacharius makes his living running the ore-carrier Syracuse. With his wife and two children he plies the Asteroid Belt, hauling whatever cargo can be found. When the Syracuse stumbles into the middle of a military attack on the habitat Chrysalis, Victor flees in a control pod to draw the attacker's attention away from his family. Now, as his wife and children plunge into the far deeps of space, Victor has been rescued by the seductive Cheena Madagascar. He must do her bidding if he's to have a prayer of ever seeing his family again.

Elverda Apacheta is the solar system's greatest sculptor. The cyborg Dorn was formerly Dorik Harbin, the ruthless military commander responsible for the attack on Chrysalis. Their lives and destinies have been linked by their joint discovery of the alien artifact that had, earlier, profoundly affected industrialist Martin Humphries. Similarly transformed by the artifact's mysterious powers, Apacheta and Dorn now prowl the Belt, determined to find the bodies of the many victims of Harbin's atrocities so that they can be given proper burials.

Kao Yuan is the captain of Viking, owned by Martin Humphries, who's determined to kill Dorn and Elverda because they know too much about the artifact and its power over him. But Viking's second-in-command, Tamara Vishinsky, appears to have the real power on board ship. When Viking catches up to Apacheta and Dorn, their confrontation begins a series of events involving them, the Zacharius family, and Martin Humphries and his son in the transformation of the human solar system...

Nya is an orphan struggling for survival in a city crippled by war. She is also a Taker-with her touch, she can heal injuries, pulling pain from another person into her own body. But unlike her sister, Tali, and the other Takers who become Healers' League apprentices, Nya's skill is flawed: She can't push that pain into pynvium, the enchanted metal used to store it. All she can do is shift it into another person, a dangerous skill that she must keep hidden from forces occupying her city. If discovered, she'd be used as a human weapon against her own people.

Rumors of another war make Nya's life harder, forcing her to take desperate risks just to find work and food. She pushes her luck too far and exposes her secret to a pain merchant eager to use her shifting ability for his own sinister purposes. At first Nya refuses, but when Tali and other League Healers mysteriously disappear, she's faced with some difficult choices. As her father used to say, principles are a bargain at any price; but how many will Nya have to sell to get Tali back alive?

Published in the UK as The Pain Merchants.

Part fugitive, part hero, fifteen-year-old Nya is barely staying ahead of the Duke of Baseer's trackers. Wanted for a crime she didn't mean to commit, she risks capture to protect every Taker she can find, determined to prevent the Duke from using them in his fiendish experiments. But resolve isn't enough to protect any of them, and Nya soon realizes that the only way to keep them all out of the Duke's clutches is to flee Geveg. Unfortunately, the Duke's best tracker has other ideas.

Nya finds herself trapped in the last place she ever wanted to be, forced to trust the last people she ever thought she could. More is at stake than just the people of Geveg, and the closer she gets to uncovering the Duke's plan, the more she discovers how critical she is to his victory. To save Geveg, she just might have to save Baseer--if she doesn't destroy it first.

War has come.

Nya's the one who brought it. And the people love her for it.

With Baseer in shambles and Geveg now an impenetrable military stronghold, Nya and the Underground have fled to a safer location--without Tali. Nya is guilt-ridden over leaving her sister behind and vows to find her, but with the rebellion in full swing and refugees flooding the Three Territories, she fears she never will.

The Duke, desperate to reclaim the throne as his own, has rallied his powerful army. And they are on the move, destroying anyone who gets in the way.

To save her sister, her family, and her people, Nya needs to stay ahead of the Duke's army and find a way to build one of her own. Past hurts must be healed, past wrongs must be righted, and Nya must decide: Is she merely a pawn in the rebellion, a symbol of hope--or is she ready to be a hero?

The Myth: Alice was an ordinary girl who stepped through the looking glass and entered a fairy-tale world invented by Lewis Carroll in his famous storybook. The Truth: Wonderland is real. Alyss Heart is the heir to the throne, until her murderous aunt Redd steals the crown and kills Alyss's parents. To escape Redd, Alyss and her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, must flee to our world through the Pool of Tears.

But in the pool Alyss and Hatter are separated. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life. Yet he gets the story all wrong. Hatter Madigan knows the truth only too well, and he is searching every corner of our world to find the lost princess and return her to Wonderland so she may battle Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.

Wonderland finally seems as if it's getting back to normal. Queen Alyss is back on the throne, and reunited with her childhood sweetheart, Dodge. But the fight for Wonderland is far from over. King Arch, in nearby Boarderland, is conniving to overthrow everything for which Alyss and her friends have fought so hard. Even worse, King Arch has found an ally in the recently returned Redd, who has been biding her time and gathering new and evil assassins in the Catacombs of Paris. With enemies circling and danger looming, someone close to Alyss lets her down--and threatens the future of Wonderland forever.

The Heart Crystal's power has been depleted, and Imagination along with it. The people of Wonderland have all lost their creative drive, and most alarmingly, even Queen Alyss is without her powers. But at least the vicious Redd Heart seems to be similarly disabled. Amazingly, she is attempting to team up with her enemy, Alyss, in order to reclaim Wonderland from King Arch. Alyss might have no choice but to accept Redd's overtures, especially when she begins to receive alarming advice from the caterpillar oracles....

ALL IS CHANGE...

Struck down in his moment of victory, Hebrion's young King Abeleyn lies in a coma, his city in ruins and his fiancee and former lover vying for the throne. Corfe Cear-Inaf, now a colonel, is given a ragtag command of ill-equipped savages and sent on a hopeless mission by a jealous King who expects him to fail.

Richard Hawkwood and Lord Murad return bearing news of horror on a savage new continent, and they are not alone. Something terrible is lurking in the hold...

Across the six-planet expanse of the Gaia system, the Earthlike Gretia struggles to stabilize in the wake of an interplanetary war. Amid an uneasy alliance to maintain economies, resources, and populations, Aden Robertson reemerges. After devoting twelve years of his life to the reviled losing side, with the blood of half a million casualties on his hands, Aden is looking for a way to move on. He's not the only one.

A naval officer has borne witness to inconceivable attacks on a salvaged fleet. A sergeant with the occupation forces is treading increasingly hostile ground. And a young woman, thrust into responsibility as vice president of her family's raw materials empire, faces a threat she never anticipated.

Now, on the cusp of an explosive and wide-reaching insurrection, Aden plunges once again into the brutal life he longed to forget. He's been on the wrong side of war before. But this time, the new enemy has yet to reveal themselves... or their dangerous endgame.

There is a personal price to pay for having aligned with the wrong side in a reckless war. For Aden Jansen it's the need to adopt a new identity while keeping his past hidden. Now he's integrated himself aboard the Zephyr, a merchant ship smuggling critical goods through dangerous space. But danger is imminent on planet Gretia, as well. Under occupation, torn between postwar reformers and loyalists, it's a polestar for civil unrest.

Meanwhile an occupation forces officer is pulled right back into the fray when the battle alarm is raised, an ambitious heiress is entangled in a subversive political conspiracy, and an Allied captain is about to meet the enemy head-on.

As Aden discovers, the insurgents on Gretia--and in space--are connected, organized, and ready to break into full-scale rebellion. History is threatening to repeat itself. It's time that Aden rediscovers who he is, whom he can trust, and what he must fight for now.

The war should have been over. But it's not for a group of nationalists grabbing for control.

It's been two weeks since a missile with a nuclear warhead tore through the planetary defenses in the most blistering large-scale attack ever committed in the history of the Gaia system. Commander Dunstan Park of the Rhodian navy has been handpicked to command an experimental cruiser that could dictate the course of the escalating conflict. All he has to do is keep the ship from falling into the wrong hands.

On Gretia, the powder keg is beyond control. A terrorist attack against civilians draws Idina Chaudhary into a costly battle. It also forces a cautious Aden Jansen back into the fray. Now dedicated to a just cause, he's still keeping his past hidden. The risk of exposing his former alliance could twist not only his fate but also that of his sister, Solveig, heir to the family empire.

With no time to waste, Dunstan hits the ground running. But as insurgents threaten the unstable peace, what's ahead for both sides could change the destiny of the Gaia system forever.

Lord-Celestant Arkas Warbeast of the Celestial Vindicators returns to restore order to the lands that he ruled in his mortal life, lands now befouled by the verminous hordes of the skaven Clans Pestilens.

The once noble tribes of Ursungorod in Ghur have almost entirely fallen to Chaos, and an infestation of Clans Pestilens skaven has amassed in the caverns beneath the snowy tundra. There, Poxmaster Felk is on the brink of opening a vital realmgate--but Sigmar intends to seize this portal for himself. Arkas Warbeast, Lord-Celestant of the Celestial Vindicators, was once a mortal ruler of these lands. Now, with the aid of the Knights Excelsior, he has returned to free his kingdom from the clutches of Chaos and claim the realmgate in his God-King's name. But first he must vanquish the ghosts of his past and overcome his own conflicted nature, in order to unleash the beast within.

On a world of intelligent robots who seem to have forgotten their own distant past, it is a time of war as the soldiers of Artemis City set out to conquer everything within range on the continent of Shull, killing or converting every robot they capture to their philosophy, while viewing their own wire-based minds as nothing but metal to be used or recycled for the cause.

Elsewhere, the more individualistic robots of Turing City believe they are something more than metal, but when the Artemisian robot Kavan sets out on a determined crusade to prove himself, even Turing City can’t stand against him. Increasingly tied up with Kavan’s destiny is Karel, a Turing robot with elements of Artemis’s philosophy already woven into his mind … as well as Karel’s wife Susan, and their recently created child..

Following the inevitable violence and destruction, Artemisian ambition focuses elsewhere and a journey begins towards the frozen kingdoms of the north … and towards the truth about the legendary ‘Book of Robots’, a text which may finally explain the real history of this strange world …

In a completely alien but brilliantly realized landscape, here is a powerful story of superb action, barbaric cruelty and intense emotional impact.

Appointed Commander of the Emperor's Army of Sangrel, Wa-Ka-Mo-Do of Ko tries to establish relations between the existing robot population and the humans who have recently arrived on Yukawa. On the continent of Shull, Kavan forms the Uncertain Army and is marching to Artemis City. Upon discovery that the city's generals have made an alliance with the humans, he retreats to Stark where he plans the eventual overthrow of Artemis and the humans. Meanwhile, Karel is heading South, hoping to be reunited with Susan, his wife. As he walks, he hears more of the stories of the robots, and begins to understand something about his place on the world of Penrose. But with limited resources and tensions growing between robot and human it's only a matter of time before problems arise. And it's becoming more and more apparent that the humans are a lot more powerful than the robots first expected...

Snail and Prince Aspen are unlikely companions. Snail is a midwife's apprentice; Aspen is a prince held hostage to prevent a war. Due to a series of misunderstandings, the two find themselves on the run, having adventure after mishap after scary, fast-paced escape. When they reach Aspen's kingdom, they learn to their horror that their actions have divided the country and plunged it into violence. Every minute counts: it is time for Snail and Aspen to figure out a way to stop the building war--together.

The Hostage Prince is a fast-paced, funny, exciting fantasy novel for young readers, both male and female. And who better to start tweens on their journey than Jane Yolen ("America's Hans Christian Andersen"--Time) and her son, Adam Stemple!

In The Hostage Prince, Prince Aspen and midwife's apprentice Snail tried to prevent the Seelie War by making a perilous journey to Aspen's father's kingdom. Their journey started the war instead. Chased by two armies, Aspen and Snail find refuge with the actors of Professor Odds' traveling troupe, dodging soldiers, Border Lord berserkers, a hungry troll, and assorted dwarfs, drows, lycants, boggles, and a cloaked spy. Will they make it out? Is any place safe for the two of them? And who, exactly, is the mysterious Professor Odds, who seems to have his own hidden powers and agenda? Fast-paced and funny, The Last Changeling, the second book of the Seelie Wars trilogy, is the perfect way to introduce newly fledged readers to fantasy.

The exciting conclusion to the Seelie Wars trilogy. Full of magic, battles, and page-turning excitement, this series is a perfect introduction to classic fantasy.

The war that Prince Aspen and midwife's apprentice Snail started--purely by accident--is at hand. The Unseelie Army, the evil side of Faerie, will soon invade and destroy the Seelie kingdom. Aspen is terrified, not simply because his homeland is on the verge of ruin, but because he is now, after the death of his father and brothers, the Seelie King.

He is a young, untried king; a king without a battle plan. But he has Snail, his first and only friend, and the only one who can raise the army Aspen needs--an army of changelings, like her. First, however, she has to convince the mysterious, dangerous Professor Odds, the changelings' leader, who has a destructive plan of his own.

One thousand years after Earth was destroyed in an unprovoked attack, humanity has emerged victorious from a series of terrible wars to assure its place in the galaxy. But during celebrations on humanity's new Homeworld, the legendary Captain Pantillo of the battle carrier Phoenix is court-martialed then killed, and his deputy, Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande, the heir to humanity's most powerful industrial family, is framed with his murder.

Assisted by Phoenix's marine commander Trace Thakur, Erik and Phoenix are forced to go on the run, as they seek to unravel the conspiracy behind their Captain's demise, pursued to the death by their own Fleet. What they discover, about the truth behind the wars and the nature of humanity's ancient alien allies, will shake the sentient galaxy to its core.

The legendary battle-carrier UFS Phoenix is on the run in Outer Neutral Space. Lieutenant Commander Erik Debogande and Major Trace Thakur are determined to use neutral territory to broker a peace between humanity's warring factions, away from Fleet's strong arm.

But as machinations in Fleet Command send a legendary warrior from Trace's past on a sworn path to kill her, there arises in the territory of an insectoid foe an ancient enemy from the nightmares of Spiral history, bent on Phoenix's destruction....

The UFS Phoenix is on a mission to find a lost data-core that may contain the secret to defeating the alo-deepynine alliance. But the means to find the data-core is hidden deep in tavalai space, in a highest-security vault where the tavalai's manipulative State Department keep all their most treacherous secrets. To recover it, Phoenix must pull off the most daring heist the Spiral has ever seen. But Phoenix will need help -- in the form of a rebellious faction of the tavalai Fleet; a fanatical parren mystic who lusts mostly for power; a cynical old tavalai marine who's spent much of his life fighting humans; and a superintelligent AI queen who will sacrifice anything to rescue her race from extinction.

None of them can be trusted, and neither Captain Erik Debogande nor Major Trace Thakur is experienced in this kind of work. But each must gather his ingenuity and courage and learn as they go, as the scale of the threat confronting humanity looms larger, and the clock is ticking.

The UFS Phoenix is hunting for the long-lost drysine data-core. Within it lie the secrets to saving humanity from the resurgent deepynine machine-race. To recover it, Captain Erik Debogande must work together with the man who holds his sister hostage -- the power-hungry parren leader Aristan. Aristan has sworn he will return Lisbeth Debogande once Phoenix grants him equal access to its prize. But now from the direction of hostile space comes word of a dark force hunting humans and parren alike, determined at all costs that the store of the lost Drysine Empire's knowledge should be possessed by neither...

Upon the ancient drysine moon/city of Defiance, the UFS Phoenix is being rebuilt, but her crew cannot do so in peace. Parren factions jostle for control of not only Defiance, but of the drysine data-core that Phoenix won at such an awful price. But the parren do not lay sole claim to that ancient knowledge, and within the bowels of the machine-city, something long-dead is awakening. While aliens battle, Captain Debogande struggles to decide his next step. Human emissaries beckon him home, while a terrible new threat drives him toward the far edge of Spiral space. There live the croma, locked in a titanic struggle against the reeh, a species more terrifying than any yet faced by humanity. And holding perhaps the key to humanity's salvation are a small force of freedom fighters, waging a hopeless battle against impossible odds, having waited a thousand years for just such a saviour as the UFS Phoenix...

Separated from her ship, Major Trace Thakur is stranded on the reeh-occupied world of Rando. The native corbi have suffered beneath reeh tyranny for 800 years, and many have given up hope. But Trace needs the data stored in the reeh's genetic technology and command center -- the Rando Splicer -- if she's to learn how to save humanity from impending disaster, and is planning an assault against overwhelming odds. She'll need help from the UFS Phoenix, though, which is caught in a ritual medieval battle to change the croma leadership that sees her crew embarking on a perilous journey across a warring desert continent. Should they fail, humanity could be just one of many species to die.

The UFS Phoenix embarks on a dangerous quest for the AI Ceephay Queen who rules at the heart of the Reeh Empire. For cover, Phoenix will use the enormous war being launched by the new rulers of the croma, Croma'Dokran, into reeh space. This war is intended in part to evacuate the corbi homeworld of Rando, thus righting a great wrong of croma history by rescuing two hundred million corbi from reeh tyranny.

While Lisbeth defies her parren seniors to use drysine and parren firepower in assisting the evacuation, Erik captains Phoenix, accompanied by Styx's four drysine warships, to the world of Eshir, where Styx insists the Ceephay Queen was once located. There, in the ancient, ruined city of Qalea, Trace and Styx must lead an away mission through buried layers of Reeh Empire history to uncover its long-forgotten secrets. Discovering the Ceephay Queen's present location could set them on the road to saving humanity. But Qalea's secrets have been hidden by the reeh for millennia, secrets that could rock their Empire, and they will stop at nothing to keep hidden.

Deep within hostile Reeh Empire space, the UFS Phoenix is hunting another AI queen. This one is named Chion, and she has been installed at the heart of Reeh Empire power, enslaved against her will, for the past 8,000 years. Within her vast knowledge lies the most intimate data on Nia, the deepynine queen now threatening humanity's very existence. Freeing Chion could be the key to beating Nia, and saving humanity.

But Phoenix's allied drysine queen Styx, and Chion's AI former sidekick Shali, both want Chion for their own purposes. And Chion, of course, will be defended by the full might of the Reeh Empire. To free her, Phoenix and Styx must win control of an AI fleet known as Raka, derived from Nia's deepynine technology long ago, and used by the Reeh Empire for special missions. But this will mean placing the most powerful AI war fleet in known space into the hands of Styx. Shali insists it's suicide, and every bit the existential threat to humanity that Nia is. But do Captain Debogande and Major Thakur have any other choice?

When the aliens invade, all seems lost.The world as they know it is destroyed. Their friends are kidnapped. Their families are changed.

But with no adults left to run things, young trans-girl Violet and her new friend Bo realize that they are free to do whatever they want to to do and be whoever they want to be.

Except the invaders won't leave them alone for long...

This thrilling debut by one of the most acclaimed short form writers in science fiction tells the story of two young outsiders who must find a way to fight back against the aliens who have taken over their city.

The invasion is over, but not all the aliens are gone. As the outside world learns what happened to the city, Violet and Bo struggle to keep their ally Gloom hidden from prying eyes.

Those in power believe he is the key to unlocking the invaders' technology and will stop at nothing to capture him.

All the while, the invasion's survivors are being drawn to a mysterious anomaly that might be their destruction -- or their salvation from an even greater threat.

The ship was to be seven miles long, a third of a mile in diameter and have a wing-spread of three and a half miles. It would take two and a half centuries to construct. Its announced purpose: to carry humanity away from its ruined world, from the world that had become a perpetual purgatory.

To build this vast ship would require the undivided activity of an entire nation and would mean carrying out a ruthless program of war and conquest, of annihilation and reconstruction, and of education and rediscovery.

But was this starship really what it was claimed to be? Or was there a greater secret behind its incredible cost - a secret so strange that no man dared reveal it?

Amon VanRoark heard the prophet speaking in the market place of the decaying city. He called men to the wars, to the fabled Meadows where the armies of Good would meet the forces of Evil in one final Armageddon that would decide the fate of a world already doomed and dying.

VanRoark followed the prophet to the Meadows and there he witnessed the last cataclysmic battle between humanity and the dark powers of Salasar.

After centuries of fighting wizards, dedicated scientists have found the answer to winning the war: turn magic into science. Reduce it to its final empirical base, to be read and studied.

But to gather such information, the Special Office decides a transmitter must be implanted in a legendary unicorn, the prize talisman of the most powerful magician. Then it can spy upon the highest councils of sorcery and the daily transmissions analyzed.

Wearing this electronic eye in places of his own, Aden enters the Holy City and carries out the mission. But it leaves him vulnerable to the wonders of enchantment, and he wanders the middle ground between two warring forces. As scientific rationality picks up momentum and the enchantment of the enemy crumbles away before it, Aden - and those out to stop him - races to find the unicorn again.

The stunning first volume in Janny Wurts's epic tale of two half-brothers cursed to life-long enmity, now re-released with a striking new cover.

The world of Athera lives in eternal fog, its skies obscured by the malevolent Mistwraith. Only the combined powers of two half-brothers can challenge the Mistwraith's stranglehold: Arithon, Master of Shadow and Lysaer, Lord of Light.

Arithon and Lysaer will find that they are inescapably bound inside a pattern of events dictated by their own deepest convictions. Yet there is more at stake than one battle with the Mistwraith – as the sorcerers of the Fellowship of Seven know well. For between them the half-brothers hold the balance of the world, its harmony and its future, in their hands.

The half-brothers Arithon, Master of Shadow, and Lysaer, Lord of Light, have defeated the Mistwraith and dispersed the fogs that smothered Athera's skies. But their victory comes at a high price: the Mistwraith has set them at odds under a powerful curse of vengeance. The two princes are locked in deadly enmity, with the fates of nations and the balance of the world's mystical powers entangled in their feud. Arithon, forced out of hiding, finds himself hounded by Lysaer and his mighty army. He must take to his natural element - the seas - in order to evade pursuit and steal the initiative. However, his efforts are impeded by outside magical factions, not to mention a drunken prophet sent to safeguard his life, but who seems determined to wreck his cause by misadventure.

Tricked once more by his wily half-brother, Lysaer, Lord of Light, arrives at the tiny harbor town of Merior to find that Arithon's ship yards have been abandoned and meticulously destroyed, and that the Master of Shadow has disappeared as if into thin air. Meanwhile Arithon and the Mad Prophet Dakar are traveling on foot through the treacherous Kelhorn Mountains towards the Vastmark clans, there to raise further support for his cause. But raising a warhost is a costly business. Is it mere coincidence that Princess Talith - Lysaer's beautiful, headstrong wife - is taken captive and held for a vast ransom by a master brigand? The forces of light and shadow circle and feint, drawing ever closer to a huge conflict. And in the background the Fellowship of Seven Sorcerers and the Koriani Enchantresses watch and plan, and wait.

Half brothers Lysaer, the Prince of the Light, and Arithon, the Master of Shadow, engage in violent conflict in the wake of the Vastmark Warhost's destruction and the strategies of the Koriani Enchantresses.

Where there is light, there must always be shadow… The fifth volume in Janny Wurts's spectacular epic fantasy, now re-released with a striking new cover design along with the rest of the series.

The wars began when two half-brothers, gifted of light and shadow, stood shoulder to shoulder to defeat the Mistwraith. Their foe cast a lifelong curse of enmity between them that has so far woven three bitter conflicts and uncounted deadly intrigues.

It is a time of political upheavel, fanaticism and rampaging armies. Distrust of sorcery has set off a purge of the talented mageborn – none reviled more than Arithon, Master of Shadow. Through clever manipulation of events at the hands of his half-brother Lysaer, Lord of Light, Arithon's very name has become anathema. Now the volatile hatreds that spearheaded the campaign against Shadow have overtaken all reason.

Those that still stand in Arithon's desperate defence are downtrodden, in retreat and close to annihilation. The stage is set for the ultimate betrayal.

Where there is light, there must always be shadow… The fourth volume in Janny Wurts's spectacular epic fantasy, now re-released with a striking new cover design along with the rest of the series.

The curse that hangs over the Master of Shadow, Arithon, and Lord of Light, Lysaer, is drawing the two half-brothers ever closer towards direct conflict. For the Natural Balance to be maintained, the two must never fight. If they do, one is sure to perish and the Mistwraith will regain its evil power over their world.

Even now, Lysaer – convinced of his own godhead and aided by the treacherous Koriani Sisterhood – is tracking Arithon the Masterbard through the snows and wastes of the winter-locked mountains and the Barrens of Daon Ramon. Arithon is tortured by the knowledge that for the sake of future generations he must not be killed, no matter the cost of others' lives now. Fighting valiantly to prevent unnecessary suffering, he strikes out on his own; but he is injured and failing fast.

Meanwhile, the ancient Paravians are stirring, summoned by trespassers on their sacred domain; and the Fellowship of Seven are battling on many other fronts, as the Mistwraith's wards begin to break, and khadrim and free wraiths roam the land...

The gripping penultimate instalment of the Alliance of Light.

When half brothers Lysaer and Arithon defeated the Mistwraith its revenge left them cursed to lifelong enmity.

Having conquered the maze and acheived self-redemption, Arithon, Master of Shadow, is now the guest of the formidable sorcerer, Davien the Betrayor. No one knows how his influence will affect Arithon's recovered mage power, or his newly awakened rogue talent for prescience.

Meanwhile Arithon's relentless enemies will stop at nothing to acheive his downfall. The Koriani enchantresses are determined to make him their captive and their pawn. And as the Alliance of Light fanatics regroup after their defeat, the core of their priesthood now stands corrupted by a dark cabal who plot to enslave their leader, Lysaer, and use the Mistwraith's curse as their own private weapon to break the world's order.

The sorcerers of the Fellowship compact are sorely beset and the clans are counting their ruinous losses. Arithon, who holds their last hope of survival, chooses the most dangerous course: heart and mind he dedicates himself to avoiding killing, though allies and enemies muster for war, single-mindedly blind to the consequences.

The spellbinding final instalment of The Alliance of Light.

Though Athera may be free, the fight is far from over…

The heartstopping conclusion to the Alliance of Light series brings Lysaer's army of Light to besiege the great citadel of Alestron. Master of Shadow, Arithon, with barely a moment's recuperation from his victory over the necromancers, has discovered that young Jeynsa s'Valerient whom he has sworn to protect, has joined the ranks of his disowned allies within the threatened citadel. Worse, following a failed rescue attempt, his beloved Elaira, his double, Fionn Areth, and the spellbinder Dakar are also trapped within Alestron's walls. The chancy wiles of Davien the betrayer must spirit Arithon across the enemy lines to attempt a bold and perilous rescue mission.

Arithon must seek the heartcore of his talent, even while embroiled in a savage battle against those he has vowed to protect. But treachery strikes from deep within the duke's ranks. Lysaer's fanatics will be unleashed to claim their bloody revenge. With the Fellowship Sorcerers in mortal danger, and all under threat from a collapsing grimward, Davien the betrayer is unable to intercede to save his colleagues and so will be forced to invoke the dire terms of an ancient and most secretive bargain.

Arithon stands alone at the hour of reckoning as the true purpose of the Koriani enchantresses becomes, at long last fully, unveiled – with the covetous Prime Matriarch now poised to snatch a prize, a prize beyond that of merely integrity and life…

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

Betrayed and double-crossed, Arithon s'Ffalenn is held captive by the Order of the Koriathain. The desperate Fellowship Sorcerers have gambled the weal of Athera and forced through the perilous bargain that spared him, as the last Prince of Rathain, and their sole hope of unity. To suspend the Prime Matriarch's decree of execution, Arithon lives only to battle Marak's horde of free wraiths, unleashed one by one from the shielding grip of the star wards.

But on the day the last wraith is redeemed, the inflexible terms sealed by Dakar's oath of debt will be forfeit…

Against a backdrop in which the Religion of Light has undergone schism, the fanatical True Sect's high priesthood stands consumed by its thwarted ambition: to conquer Havish, the backbone of order that secures the terms of Paravian survival. Now Lord Mayor of Etarra, Lysaer s'Ilessid must fight the pull of the Mistwraith's curse, and battle for sanity to uphold his just ethic. Another young defender will stand at his side, newly sworn by the Sorcerer's auspices.

As Arithon's life once again becomes the fulcrum that shifts the game board, Elaira's choice might save or break the unstable future; while at large and answerable to no mortal law, Davien and the dragon that holds his service throw in the wild card no one predicts...

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.

In the final battle of Light against Shadow, warring factions prepare to meet the bare fist of Arithon's fury, sparked by the execution of the innocent murdered by divine decree.

As the Fellowship Sorcerers clash with rebellious dragons bent on catastrophic annihilation, those faithful to the True Sect raise armies to extinguish the clans and fight a last, bloody conquest of the free wilds. All while the Prime Matriarch courts reckless power to seize charge of Mankind's destiny.

As contention threatens to snap the final restraint of old Charter Law, bitter strife and vicious ambition threaten to revoke humanity's right to inhabit the world. The only hope of survival for all lies in the recovery of the Paravians, those who last called Athera home before Mankind.

The true hearts of heroes will be challenged in the savage fires of conflict; Elaira and Daliana's steadfast loyalties must rise against the odds or fall as Lysaer's reckoning collides with the Mistwraith's secretive machinations. But not before Elder Powers arise to claim their debt for a grievance spanning millennia...

Shifter Wars

Although Fann has at last achieved mastery of her magical talent, she has still not gained her heart's desire--to be reunited with the mother from whom she was stolen as a young child. But before she can hope to fulfill this quest, Fann and her companions in corcery are cuaght up in a war beyond their imagining, held hostage by a people to whom magic is death.

Forced to use their skills on behalf of their captors, Fann and her comrades are forced down pathways which will lead from univers to universe, to encounters with possible allies such as Brann, the Drinker of Souls, and to terrifying confrontation with the Chained God--a final battle in the Magic Wars which could see not just Fann's world but all of the interlinked universe destroyed!