Search Worlds Without End

Budrys's second collection, including:

• Silent Brother - (1956)
• Between the Dark and the Daylight - (1958)
• And Then She Found Him... - (1957)
• The Skirmisher - (1957)
• The Man Who Tasted Ashes - (1959)
• Lower Than Angels - (1956)
• Contact Between Equals - (1958)
• Dream of Victory - (1953)
• The Peasant Girl - (1956)

AKA: The Furious Future

In April 1945, the Allies are charging toward Berlin from the west, the Russians from the east. For Hitler, the situation is hopeless. But at this turning point in history, another war is about to explode.

To win World War II, the Allies dealt with the devil. Joseph Stalin helped FDR, Churchill, and Truman crush Hitler. But what if "Uncle Joe" had given in to his desire to possess Germany and all of Europe? In this stunning novel, Robert Conroy picks up the history of the war just as American troops cross the Elbe into Germany. Then Stalin slams them with the brute force of his enormous Soviet army.

From American soldiers and German civilians trapped in the ruins of Potsdam to U.S. military men fighting behind enemy lines, from a scholarly Russia expert who becomes a secret player in a new war to Stalin's cult of killers in Moscow, this saga captures the human face of international conflict. With the Soviets vastly outnumbering the Americans--but undercut by chronic fuel shortages and mistrust--Eisenhower employs a brilliant strategy of retreat to buy critical time for air superiority. Soon, Truman makes a series of controversial decisions, enlisting German help and planning to devastate the massive Red Army by using America's ultimate and most secret weapon.

As stated in her introduction to Inferno, Ellen Datlow asked her favorite authors for stories that would "provide the reader with a frisson of shock, or a moment of dread so powerful it might cause the reader outright physical discomfort; or a sensation of fear so palpable that the reader feels compelled to turn on the bright lights and play music or seek the company of others to dispel the fear."

Mission accomplished. Datlow has produced a collection filled with some of the most powerful voices in the field: Pat Cadigan, Terry Dowling, Jeffrey Ford, Christopher Fowler, Glen Hirshberg, K. W. Jeter, Joyce Carol Oates, and Lucius Shepard, to name a few. Each author approaches fear in a different way, but all of the stories' characters toil within their own hell. Winner of the Shirley Jackson Award for Best Anthology, Inferno will scare the pants off readers and further secure Ellen Datlow's standing as a preeminent editor of modern horror.

Table of Contents:

• Introduction - (2007) - essay by Ellen Datlow
• Riding Bitch - novelette by K. W. Jeter
• Misadventure - shortstory by Stephen Gallagher
• The Forest - novelette by Laird Barron
• The Monsters of Heaven - shortstory by Nathan Ballingrud
• Inelastic Collisions - shortstory by Elizabeth Bear
• The Uninvited - shortstory by Christopher Fowler
• 13 O'Clock - shortstory by Mike O'Driscoll
• Lives - shortstory by John Grant
• Ghorla - shortstory by Mark Samuels
• Face - shortstory by Joyce Carol Oates
• An Apiary of White Bees - shortstory by Lee Thomas
• The Keeper - shortstory by P. D. Cacek
• Bethany's Wood - novelette by Paul Finch
• The Ease With Which We Freed the Beast - shortstory by Lucius Shepard
• Hushabye - shortstory by Simon Bestwick
• Perhaps the Last - shortstory by Conrad Williams
• Stilled Life - novelette by Pat Cadigan
• The Janus Tree - novelette by Glen Hirshberg
• The Bedroom Light - shortstory by Jeffrey Ford
• The Suits at Auderlene - novelette by Terry Dowling

Cameron, a tall, testy, whisky-drinking, nationalist-minded, Scottish physicist, may not have been an astronomer, but he knew the off things in the sky when he saw them. From an Australian mountaintop where he was advising on the location of a radiotelescope he saw what looked like Mars, in the wrong spot in the sky. But it wasn't Mars at all, it was a supernova... no, not a supernova but a quasar.

Knowing what would happen, Cameron dashed home to Scotland and found himself at a crossroads of his life. In the face of total catastrophe, and of intense heat, darkness and rain, he took over as natural leader with both the north and south of the United Kingdom turning to him for help.

A small group of humans hope to avoid the mistakes that destroyed many other worlds. They are raising the Jasons from barbarism to civilization, on a planet which has much in comman with Uganda from old-Earth, but something goes hideously wrong.

William Masterson must try to find out why Jehanum, a showplace planet with a model government, productive farms, and a thriving tourist industry, has descended into bloody barbarism. One dictator after another rises to power, and the culture of the world is torn to fragments.

The heat is on, and a new threat to humanity has risen...

Nick has his driver's license and he's not afraid to use it. But turning sixteen isn't what he thought it would be. While other boys his age are worried about prom dates and applying for college, Nick is neck deep in enemies out to stop him from living another day. No longer sure if he can trust anyone, his only ally seems to be the one person he's been told will ultimately kill him.

But life spent serving the undead is anything except ordinary. And those out to get him have summoned an ancient force so powerful even the gods fear it. As Nick learns to command and control the elements, the one he must master in order to combat his latest foe is the one most likely to destroy him. As the old proverb goes, fire knows nothing of mercy, and if Nick is to survive this latest round, he will have to sacrifice a part of himself. However, the best sacrifice is seldom the sanest move. Sometimes it's the one that leaves your enemies confused.

And sometimes, you have to trust your enemy to save your friends. But what do you do when that enemy is you?

Inferno (Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy. It is followed by Purgatorio and Paradiso. It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through what is largely the medieval concept of Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil. In the poem, Hell is depicted as nine circles of suffering located within the Earth. Allegorically, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul towards God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.

Note that the exact original date of publication is unknown.

Her title was the Princess Anghara Kaligsdaughter; but now she has forfeited the right to her name and heritage. For she broke the one law that had endured since her people's history began when she breached that ancient tower in a bid to learn to its secret. Now its curse is loosed upon the world, and upon the soul of Anghara Kaligsdaughter.

Anghara is Anghara no longer. Her name is now Indigo, color of mourning - and her home is the wide world, for she has no other. She cannot die, she cannot age, for until she lifts the Tower's curse, she is doomed to immortality. She has one friend, who is not human. And she has one enemy that will dog her footsteps wherever she goes. It is Nemesis, created from the darkest part of her own soul. Wherever her wanderings lead her now, her Nemesis will follow...

After being thrown out the window of his luxury apartment, science fiction writer Allen Carpentier wakes to find himself at the gates of hell. Feeling he's landed in a great opportunity for a book, he attempts to follow Dante's road map. Determined to meet Satan himself, Carpentier treks through the Nine Layers of Hell led by Benito Mussolini, and encounters countless mental and physical tortures. As he struggles to escape, he's taken through new, puzzling, and outlandish versions of sin--recast for the present day.

Allan Carpenter escaped from hell once but remained haunted by what he saw and endured.

He has now returned, on a mission to liberate those souls unfairly tortured and confined.

Partnering with the legendary poet and suicide, Sylvia Plath, Carpenter is a modern-day Christ who intends to harrow hell and free the damned.

But now that he's returned to this Dantesque Inferno, can he ever again leave?

Isaac Asimov's famous Three Laws provide far-future humanity with omni-compliant robots, but ultimately lead to the hell of existence with all challenges removed. Thus Asimov proposed the New Laws to Roger MacBride Allen, laws which endow helping hands, not slaves.

But the upheaval this creates, on planets where humans are split into two antagonistic cultures and the idea of working alongside free-thinking mechanicals produces terrible anxiety, is enormous... On the decaying world of Inferno, the no-law robot Caliban finds himself intermediary in the complex relations between robots and humans. But when a key politician is murdered, fear of Caliban as the robot without guilt or conscience, the one who could start the rebellion to overthrow all humanity escalates - and crisis begins.

Using the mysterious artifacts known as instrumentalities, the Wolverines embarked on a world-hopping mission to liberate fellow orcs, and to take revenge on their old antagonist Jennesta. But it isn't working out too well for the warband. Saddled with novices and a pair of humans of doubtful loyalty, and pursued by a powerful group bent on retrieving the instrumentalities, life is proving far from simple. And destiny has more complications in store. The instrumentalities can no longer be relied upon, and have left the band trapped in a world where enemies mass on every side. While tensions in the band threaten to rip it apart, Thirzarr, mate of Wolverines captain Stryke, has been seized by Jennesta and faces a living death. With the fate of worlds at stake, daunting obstacles, and fresh adversaries blocking their path, the Wolverines are about to be drawn into the greatest battle of their lives.

A critical study of the Life and Works of the Science Fiction author Robert Sheckley.

Now begins the final battle of the Prophets and the Pah-wraiths within the nightmarish realm of nonlinear time -- as the greatest epic adventure in the saga of Deep Space 9 -- reaches its staggering conclusion....

As predicted in ancient Bajoran texts, the Celestial Temple has been restored, ending normal space-time existence for all except Captain Benjamin Sisko and those trapped on the Starship Defiant and the Klingon warship Boreth. But as apocalyptic war rages between the Prophets and the Pah-wraiths, one last chance for survival beckons -- a return to Deep Space 9.

Yet, in the realm of nonlinear time, it appears that there are two possible times at which Sisko and his allies can turn to the station: on the day of the Cardassian Withdrawal, or on the day six years later when DS9 Was destroyed. But which choice will lead to the triumph of the Prophets? And which to eternal victory for the Pah-wraiths? With time literally running out and the fate of the universe in his hands, Sisko now must confront his own personal inferno-in order to change the past and restore the present, he must be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice ... his future....

Set in the aftermath of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, this action-packed prequel to Battlefront II introduces the Empire's elite force: Inferno Squad.

The Rebellion may have heroes like Jyn Erso and Luke Skywalker. But the Empire has Inferno Squad.

After the humiliating theft of the Death Star plans and the destruction of the battle station, the Empire is on the defensive. But not for long. In retaliation, the elite Imperial soldiers of Inferno Squad have been called in for the crucial mission of infiltrating and eliminating the Partisans--the rebel faction once led by notorious Republic freedom fighter Saw Gerrera.

Following the death of their leader, the Partisans have carried on his extremist legacy, determined to thwart the Empire--no matter the cost. Now Inferno Squad must prove its status as the best of the best and take down the Partisans from within. But the growing threat of being discovered in their enemy's midst turns an already dangerous operation into a do-or-die acid test they dare not fail. To protect and preserve the Empire, what lengths will Inferno Squad go to... and how far beyond them?

The galaxy is in turmoil due to spreading and incresingly violent civil war - and the Solo/Walker clan is in shock after the horrifying murder of one of it's most beloved members. Jacen Solo, now a full Sith Lord, has seized control of the Galactic Alliance. Luke Skywalker's judgement is clouded by grief, even as he faces his most momentous decision since becoming Grand Master of the Jedi order: whether to support Jacen's illegitimate government against the forces threatening Coruscant... or to join the Rebel Confederacy and take arms against the Galactic Alliance he helped forge.

After the events of Hellhole Awakening, the people of Hellhole and the shadow-Xayans scramble to rally against the threat from the still-living rogue Xayans. Back on Sonjeera, the Monarchy is in an uproar after their surprising defeat and the breakaway of the Deep Zone planets. The dowager Queen decides to go to Hellhole on a diplomatic mission, hoping to keep her power. But after touring Hellhole, Queen Michella is shaken, and begins to realize that she can never have the old Monarchy back.

Before the Queen can return to Sonjeera, she's captured by the rogue Xayans and learns the reason for their attack: the orthodox Xayans had developed their minds to the point where they could evolve and, in so doing, trigger another Big Bang, wiping out everything.

The rogue Xayans thought they succeeded in stopping the ascension, but the orthodox Xayans on Hellhole are nearly ready. Now, twenty-two huge asteroids from the outer reaches of the solar system are bearing towards Hellhole, summoned by the rogue sect as a last resort. Can all these lives and the planet itself be saved?

Hellhole Inferno is the thrilling conclusion to Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson's Hellhole trilogy.