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"Gregory Roarke-former bounty hunter, former Trailblazer, current agent for the ultra-secret Icarus Group-has received a new assignment: locate a suspected but as-yet undiscovered teleportation portal on the backwater colony world of Alainn. The rival Patth are also searching for the device, and have considerably more resources at their disposal. Fortunately, Roarke has Selene and her incredibly sensitive Kadolian sense of smell. On paper, it should be a straightforward enough job. But that was before there was a murder in the small town of Bilswift . . . and another one . . . and the discovery that the Patth are already on the scene and have narrowed the search to a heavily forested area in the hills and mountains east of town. Most disturbing of all is the discovery that one of Selene's people, a Kadolian teenaged boy named Tirano, is working at one of Bilswift's fish markets. A boy who may have lost his parents before his proper socialization was completed. A boy who may be connected to both the murders and the Patth. A boy who may be the potentially dangerous wild card that the Kadolians call changelings"--

TALES OF THE UNITED STATES SPACE FORCE: New fiction and nonfiction focusing on the United States Space Force from top authors.It has been six decades since mankind first shook off the yoke of gravity and flew into outer space. After cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first fateful trip into the vastness beyond our atmosphere, the Apollo missions landed twelve men on the moon. Since the building of the International Space Station, humankind established a semi-permanent base in space. But wherever people and their interests go, the military and law must eventually follow. Enter the Space Force! In an increasingly unstable geopolitical environment, the wars of tomorrow may well be fought and won in space. Russia and China have successfully tested anti-satellite missiles. A Russian satellite approached a U.S. government satellite close enough to conduct an attack, forcing evasive maneuvering. Analysts believe the Chinese government has launched a satellite equipped with a robotic arm that could be used to manipulate and disable other satellites. With satellites critical to everything from weather forecasting to disaster response, agriculture to environmental monitoring—pizza delivery tracking to guiding missiles during war—a lot is riding on a safe and secure space program. Here then, stories and essays of the United States Space Force, the first new United States military service since the establishment of the Air Force in 1947. With stories by Arthur C. Clarke, Larry Niven, Harry Turtledove, Brian Trent, Gregory Benford & James Benford, David Brin, Jody Lynn Nye, Martin L. Shoemaker, M.T. Reiten, Avery Parks, C. Stuart Hardwick, Karl K. Gallagher, Gustavo Bondoni, Liam Hogan, Henry Herz, Marie Vibbert, Laura Montgomery, Sylvie Althoff, and Matt Bille. Essays by: “Star Wars” program chief space laser engineer William F. Otto, USAF space office Michael Morton (ret.), and C. Stuart Hardwick.

A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing . . . but knowing the full truth might get you killed. Druadaen, Outrider for the once-mighty Dunarran Consentium, has proven that there are irreconcilable contradictions between magic and physics on Arrdanc, the world of his birth. And what is his reward for this important discovery, made against all odds and at considerable personal risk? Exile--organized and compelled by nervous temple hierarchs. However, Druadaen remains determined to uncover what several ancient persons and beings have urged him to seek: "the truth of the world"--which might only be gained by traveling beyond it. Indeed, the mysterious Lady of the Mirror speculates that he might find the answers by journeying to the other side of her unusual looking glass: a reflective, ethereal portal that she calls a "shimmer." But there's a catch: because the mysterious portal only allows a single person to pass through, Druadaen must leave his companions behind. Unfortunately, once he has, they discover that the "shimmer" only allows travelers to leave Arrdanc, not return to it. So his friends, led by stalwart swordsman Ahearn, resolve to find another means by which they can retrieve Druadaen--and with him, the truth of the world. There's just one small problem with their quest: the closer they come to finding a solution, the more obvious it becomes that various powers on Arrdanc don't want them to succeed. In fact, they'd rather Druadaen doesn't return at all. So much so that they might kill both him and his friends in order to prevent it.

"A Time Storm is Brewing. After an industrial ship carrying advanced self-replicating machines explodes on its way to Mercury, analysis of the wreckage reveals it to be forty years too old. Raibert Kaminski, the Gordian Division's top agent, and his crew on the TransTemporal Vehicle Kleio soon discover the ship was transported to an uncharted universe, one with temporarily accelerated time. Forty years passed for the ship's industrial machines while everyone else experienced only a few short days. Raibert is certain a powerful weapon of some nature has been built out in the unexplored reaches of the multiverse, but where and by whom remains unknown. The search is on, and the Gordian Division musters its fleet of time machines at Providence, a massive transdimensional station under construction. They call upon their allies from the militaristic Admin for aid in their search--but before plans can be formalized, the leader of the Admin's Department of Temporal Investigation is murdered while visiting Providence, and the joint operation is thrown into chaos. Accusations fly and tensions mount between the two organizations. Detectives Isaac Cho and Susan Cantrell--both fast becoming experts in transdimensional crime-are dispatched to Providence. But the clock is ticking for the detectives and Raibert's crew. A vast, powerful conspiracy has shuddered into motion, and the two teams may be all that stand between it and destruction on a universal scale"--

"A Baen Books original"--Title page verso.

"Steampunks have heroes too. Knight Watch stands between the mundane world and the monsters of myth and legend. But there are more than dragons and trolls prowling the shadows of the modern world. Creatures of clockwork and mad science threaten to disrupt the peace. For monsters such as these, a different band of heroes guard the world. The Eccentrics. Led by the eighth incarnation of Nikola Tesla, the Society of Eccentric Geniuses protects the Mundane world from the horrors of the Gestalt, a timeline of the future that never was. Powered by SCIENCE and steam, the Eccentrics travel the world in their airship, righting wrongs and rescuing troubled suitors, mad scientists, and optimistic engineers, often from monsters of their own creation. But now something new threatens the Gestalt, and they need help from John Rast and the heroes of Knight Watch. Will John be able to navigate a world of clockwork and science to save the day? Or will he fall into the clutches of a madman bent on remaking both the Gestalt and the Unreal in his own image?"--

"Jason Graham dies when the world ends. Then he wakes up on a space station on the other side of the galaxy, and the adventure begins. Jason and five hundred million other humans have been resurrected (and rejuvenated to young adulthood) by alien benefactors in orbit around an Earth-like world that is abundant in natural resources and totally untamed. For the newly awakened humans, this is a chance to start society with a clean slate and a bright future. For Jason, who has knocked about aimlessly in several different careers in his Earth life, it's an opportunity to unleash his creativity and ambition and see what he can really do. But who are the alien benefactors that have contrived this second act for some of Earth's denizens? And what do they really want?"--

"Whatever happened to all the old monsters? The vampires, the werewolves, the ghouls... Daniel & Tina Hyde wiped them out, to make the world a safer place. But nature abhors a vacuum, supernature even more... Something's got to fill the gap left by all those monster clans. The question now is, what happened to all the old aliens? The Martians, the Bug-Eyed Monsters, the Reptiloids and the Greys? They're coming out of the shadows with a vengeance, and Daniel and Tina Hyde are about to discover there are much worse things than monsters. Fortunately, Hydes love a good fight. Daniel and Tina are in for the fight of their lives, with the whole world at stake"--

"Adventure! Danger! Revenge! And a mail-order robot gunslinger in a wedding dress? Only in the wildest parts of space could this happen. It's time again to get in your ramshackle rocket ship and journey to the universe's western territories with this follow-up to Gunfight on Europa Station. Meet the employees of a space bordello as they're drawn together to pull a con on a con. Or the crew filming a Western on a colony ship only to fight gravity and each other. Or a soldier on a backwater planet hiding from her past when it-and the military-finally tracks her down. Each voyage invokes the type of Western yarns you've loved before, but with a science fiction upgrade you'll get to enjoy anew. Taking you on this ride is another set of astounding space opera authors such as Walter Jon Williams (Hardwired), Susan R. Matthews (Under Jurisdiction), Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore (Star Trek), Brenda Cooper (Project Earth), Milton Davis (Changa's Safari), John E. Stith (Naught for Hire), and Peter J. Wacks (Caller of Lightning). Ten tales of the West... not as it was, but as it might be!"--

"It has been 15 Terran months since Colonel Roger Murphy and his Lost Soldiers were dropped in the 55 Tauri binary system. Since then, they have forged an uneasy alliance with space-dwelling descendants of the Ktor, liberated the earlier human inhabitants of the planet R'bak, and driven their oppressors from the neighboring system back into a few fortified cities. But there's another pivotal battle looming before them: intercepting the Harvester fleet sent by those same oppressors, the Kulsians. And time is growing short. The two stars are nearing periastron, which the natives of R'Bak call the Searing, due to the approach of the blistering F-class star. That's when the Kulsians cross the 10 AU separating the systems to strip R'Bak of rare biological resources and destroy any powers that might become a challenge to future Harvesters. But Murphy has a plan to break that cycle of interstellar rapine. With the cooperation of both indigenous R'Baku and the mutually suspicious Spindogs and Rockhounds, the Lost Soldiers-now sporting the nickname Murphy's Lawless-have pulled off a delicate scheme to capture an advanced Kulsian corvette. The objective: to improve the cutting-edge warship and use Spindog "autofab" technology to create a flotilla with which to repel the Harvester fleet. But true to the source of the Lawless nickname, Murphy's Law may be their greatest foe. Murphy's worsening multiple sclerosis is becoming impossible to hide, and the corvettes are proving far more difficult to replicate than anything the Spindogs have ever attempted. However, it's the job of training and forging crews from the highly competitive Spindogs and Rock Hounds that is pushing both groups toward mutiny-and possibly murder. The only chance to bring all those forces together? Ex-Navy fighter jock Kevin Bowden-now known as "The Admiral"-who has his work cut out for him. Problem is, both Bowden and Murphy are running out of time. Not only is the Harvester fleet coming earlier than expected, but it's bigger than ever before. Much bigger. And its objective is clear: to reassert complete control over the system and annihilate Murphy's Lawless, their allies, and any who would stand with them"--

"Melanie Mooney thought she was just doing her job when she came upon an unusual accident in the deep woods late one night. Acting alone, what she found was nothing like she'd expected. What followed was even more unexpected. Recruited by emissaries of a galaxy-spanning civilization, Melanie is thrust into a world she thought only existed in supermarket tabloids. As the first human in the Galactic Union Medical Corps, she cares for extraterrestrials in desperate need of a medic who can ignore the fact that they're nothing like any patient she's ever seen, even on their best days. And in emergency medicine, it's a given that every patient is having the worst day of their life. Each run takes her deeper into the galaxy and farther from home, navigating alien cultures that only get weirder with each call. It will take all of Melanie's experience, instinct, and grit to prove herself-and the rest of humanity-to be worthy of the Union. That's a lot to put on a woman who'd just like to end the day with a cheeseburger and a cold beer"--

THIRD EDITION, WITH NEW MATERIAL. COMPTON CROOK AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL. NEBULA AWARD FINALIST. National Bestseller in trade paperback. An agent for a spy organization uncovers an alien alliance in nearby interstellar space—an alliance that will soon involve humanity in politics and war on a galactic scale.2105, September: Intelligence Analyst Caine Riordan uncovers a conspiracy on Earth’s Moon—a history-changing clandestine project—and ends up involuntarily cryocelled for his troubles. Twelve years later, Riordan awakens to a changed world. Humanity has achieved faster-than-light travel and is pioneering nearby star systems. And now, Riordan is compelled to become an inadvertent agent of conspiracy himself. Riordan’s mission: travel to a newly settled world and investigate whether a primitive local species was once sentient—enough so to have built a lost civilization. However, arriving on site in the Delta Pavonis system, Caine discovers that the job he’s been given is anything but secret or safe. With assassins and saboteurs dogging his every step, it's clear that someone doesn't want his mission to succeed. In the end, it takes the broad-based insights of an intelligence analyst and a matching instinct for intrigue to ferret out the truth: that humanity is neither alone in the cosmos nor safe. Earth is revealed to be the lynchpin planet in an impending struggle for interstellar dominance, a struggle into which it is being irresistibly dragged. Discovering new dangers at every turn, Riordan must now convince the powers-that-be that the only way for humanity to survive as a free species is to face the perils directly—and to fight fire with fire. WINNER OF THE COMPTON CROOK AWARD FOR BEST FIRST NOVEL

Talinn Reaze and Bee are part of the United Colonial Force's elite Artificial Intelligence Troops and after years of leading assaults on several fronts they are thrown to a backwater base without cause and they begin to question everything they've ever known.

"Trillionaire Igbal Renz has constructed a starship capable of making the twenty-year journey to Alpha Centauri. So why is he stopping at barely one-tenth that distance, with a cargo of a hundred frozen scientists and diplomats? Rumors abound that Renz Ventures, Inc., has made contact with . . . something. And yet, as deadly stealth ships prowl the space lanes and as the corporate space race threatens to devolve into outright warfare, the Four Horsemen of space industry are discovering firsthand that even in a limitless and lawless frontier, no one can ever be truly self-sufficient"--

"Michael and Melanie Anderle are hauling a tanker full of oil with their Peterbilt eighteen-wheeler when they're struck by a temporal irregularity that sends them, the truck, and their daughter back in time a thousand years. The bubble that transports them also grabs a chemist and her two young children, along with half a convenience store in the middle of the United States. They just want to make a decent life for themselves in this new world of the past, with their Peterbilt and its oil providing a means of transportation, a generator, and shelter. But not all the locals are willing to live and let live, and when the area shamans decide that this community of temporally displaced persons is a threat to their power, the Anderles find out what it's like to take a Peterbilt to war"--

THE EVENTS OF EARTH'S PAST MAY HOLD THE KEY TO EARTH'S FUTURE SALVATIONMarty Cohen was a gifted linguist and student of ancient military strategy who stepped away from academic Egyptology and opened a woodworking shop. Away from the bitter politics and petty rivalries, he’s happy to take care of his people, play the occasional war game, and try to make a good life. Then mysterious visions begin to rob him of sleep. Soon after they start, he gets summoned back to Egypt: an off-the-grid dig funded by an eccentric financier has discovered texts that may be the earliest Egypt has produced, and they’ll pay Marty silly amounts of cash just to fly out and take one little look. Marty turned his back on the academia game, but he’s a small business owner who has to make payroll during a recession, and he can’t say no to the money. But the texts open doors to more visions and to an astonishing journey: the ragtag team of archaeologists finds itself in protohistoric North Africa, a drying land dominated by monsters, where humanity is badly in need of champions. And behind the war against the monster overlords lies a greater struggle: Marty and his team have been chosen to be champions of all Earth and to run a gauntlet on humanity’s behalf. Failure will mean extinction.

"What if the United States went to war with the People's Republic of China? How would these rivals fight for supremacy on land, sea, air, and across the stochastic streams of time? What wonder weapons would be unleashed? What horrors would emerge from the eradiated sludge of the South China Sea? What heroes would rise and forever change the course of history? Tread into the deepest and darkest dimensions of the multiverse, gaze through a kaleidoscope of fractured realities, and bear witness to the disturbing visions of World War III from today's greatest minds in science fiction, fantasy, and horror. Stories by: Larry Correia, Steve Diamond, David Drake, Nick Mamatas, Brian Trent, Martin L. Shoemaker, Blaine L. Pardoe, Kevin Andrew Murphy, Julian Michael Carver, D.J. Butler, David J. West, Sean Patrick Hazlett, Deborah A. Wolf, Stephen Lawson, Erica L. Satifka, Rob McMonigal, Brenda Clough, Kevin Ikenberry, Brad R. Torgersen, T.C. McCarthy, Nadia Bulkin, Freddy Costello, and Michael Z. Williamson"--

"Humans have always been fascinated by darkness. Especially the darkness of a city at night, when the black sky is made ever more inky by the pools of illumination dropped under streetlights. We harken to the sound of streetcars in the distance. We are drawn to the garish flash of club signs and marquees. We love the danger of shadowed alleyways, of wealth and poverty living side by side. We love the city. It's a part of us. Whether the mean streets be in an alternate past charmed with dark magic or the dirty alleyways of futuristic crowded space stations, the city--and its darkened streets--will always fascinate us. Here then, an anthology of all new stories of science fiction and fantasy with a hardboiled noir twist that acknowledge that the city is a living, breathing entity--and it isn't always on our side. Stories by Laurell K. Hamilton, Larry Correia, Kacey Ezell, Mike Massa, Steve Diamond, Robert E. Hampson, Chris Kennedy, Marisa Wolf, Griffin Barber, Robert Buettner, Hinkley Correia, Casey Moores, Patrick M. Tacy, and Dan Willis"--

"An encounter with an old friend becomes tragically fatal, and Indrajit and Fix set out on a high-stakes, high-adrenaline quest across the ancient city of Kish to bring their friend back to life. At each step, the complications and the enemies alike pile up. The mysterious necromancers, the Vin Dalu priests, bind the heroes on an errand that sends them shuttling from one thieves' guild to the next, pitting Indrajit and Fix against the deadly House of Knives and embroiling them in a plot by the giant, wasplike Kattak to take dire revenge on Kish and all its great houses"--

A NEW START—OR AN OLD CALLING? Talia Merritt, a former military sniper once known as Death’s Handmaiden, is a woman haunted by her past. Her cybernetic arm and her phantom—the implant that allows her to control it—serve as a constant reminder of what she’s lost. But Talia is hoping to leave her past and her reputation behind and start anew on the colony world of Goruden, a hardscrabble planet of frontier-minded people seeking a better life. And she’s finally earned enough to start to make that dream come true. In the bucolic town of Tsuri, she interviews for a job as a marksmanship instructor for local bigwig Signore Ferran Contesti. But Contesi is not what he seems. A recent arrival on Goruden, he hopes to mold the colony world in his own image—an image at odds with the unencumbered life free of government and corporate meddling that Talia has come to find. Soon, Talia finds herself thrust into the start of another conflict. Talia desperately wants to stay out of it, but she may not have that luxury. With the fate of a planet and her own peace of mind hanging in the balance, Talia must decide whether or not to once again take up the mantle of Death’s Handmaiden….

A RACE IN AFRICA TO BUILD THE FIRST SPACE ELEVATORNew money, old tribes, and international megacorps race to build the first space elevator. With a little Dabare magic, it just might work! The Sadous, an oil-rich West African family, are handed a plum contract as repayment for a decades-old favor that could tie them into an industry of the future—if the family doesn’t tear itself apart first. Two engineer daughters of the Sadou family, Pascaline and Maurie, upon whom the burden of success rests, have troubles of their own. One wants nothing more than to leave and make her own name as an engineering prodigy, while the other is troubled by fever dreams and snakes. Ethan Schmidt-Li is an ambitious megacorp executive with eyes on a big promotion—only to get more than he bargained for when put in charge of the company’s make-or-break project. Endeley Adamou is the powerful nephew of a Bakweri chieftain walking the fine line between modernization and tribal tradition. These are some of the people that Tchami “Chummy” Fabrice has brought together to an ambitious end: constructing in Africa the world’s first space elevator and ensuring the space industry that it catapults will enrich the continent and all involved. They have the carbon nanofiber, prime land around Kilimanjaro, and a captured rock in orbit for the tether. The hard part will be getting all these different people working together long enough to see it built. Praise for The Dabare Snake Launcher: “Joelle Presby’s novel is a fascinating fictional look behind the scenes of the construction of the world’s first space elevator in a near-future version of Africa that has enough grounded elements to be thoroughly believable . . . The story maintains a keen eye on the largely larger-than-life characters and respect for the business processes, customs, and beliefs of the people on the ground making things happen.” —Wole Talabi, multiple-award finalist author and editor of Africanfuturism: An Anthology “You guys should all be on the lookout for Joelle Presby’s solo Baen novel THE DABARE SNAKE LAUNCHER. It is . . . remarkable. Just truly, truly remarkable.” —David Weber, NYT best-selling author of the Honorverse series “The Dabare Snake Launcher is a very believable depiction of when this species decides to do something amazing: backstabbing, plotting, and inflamed passions galore. Presby has created a future that I could easily imagine reading on the news in a few decades, and the novel is all the better for it.” —Warped Factor “The Dabare Snake Launcher takes you on a journey of possibilities, an Africa foremost in groundbreaking technology and not focused on deprivation and poverty. Joelle’s writing is nuanced . . . There’s family drama . . . romance . . . and laugh-out-loud humour. Writing is vivid and the characters fascinating.” —Hannah Onoguwe, author and poet “Set in Cameroon, where the author lived for many years, and full of lovely detail about the local cultures, clashes between traditional and modern, and differing expectations.” —Jane Lindskold, author of the Star Kingdom series and Over Where series. Praise for Joelle Presby: “Joelle Presby has a knack for engaging characters and plots that skillfully walk the line between science and storytelling.” —Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki, Nebula Award-winning and Hugo Award-nominated author and editor of The Year’s Best African Speculative Fiction “Presby’s prose is efficient and shows intricate knowledge of both engineering and engineering management considerations. This infuses the story with the sensibility of a techno-thriller without the usual breakneck action pace that can sometimes sacrifice character development . . . I am eager to see what Presby writes next.” —Wole Talabi, Locus Award-nominated author and editor of Africanfuturism: An Anthology

"The Atlas Corporation was all set to tear apart the planet Mercury-converting its resources into a swarm of solar-collecting megastructures-when Esteban Velasco, lead Atlas engineer, is found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Detective Isaac Cho and Special Agent Susan Cantrell, both eager to return to active duty despite close calls on their last case, are sent in to assess the situation. Their superiors expect a simple declaration of suicide, but Velasco's death proves anything but typical. The detectives soon find themselves embroiled in a mystery far more complex-and strange-than anyone expected, leading them to a church for Mercury-loving weirdos, a "nudist" colony open to Saturn's unbreathable atmosphere, an exclusive park for hunting dinosaurs, and a ghost town where forgotten machines wage war over condo floorplans. What was meant to be an easy return to duty for the detectives takes a sudden dark turn when ruthless mind-hackers ambush and nearly kill them, making one fact crystal clear: If they don't solve this case soon, it'll be their corpses that turn up next"--

Up-timer Morris Roth and his Grand Army of the Sunrise stand at a crossroads. Military success against the Polish-Lithuanian magnates has all but guaranteed a continued push east into Ruthenian lands. There, Roth hopes to further his Anaconda Project so that tens of thousands of Jews are not slaughtered in what's to become known as the Chmielnicki Pogrom of 1648. An envoy from Transylvania arrives with a promising offer from its prince, who wishes to form an alliance with Bohemia, but the land shrouded in the fog of the Carpathian Mountains--and known only to most up-timers as the playground of Count Dracula--is a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. Such an alliance would surely draw the ire of Sultan Murad IV. The United States of Europe agrees to assist the Bohemian forces and sends in the Silesian Guard under the command of Brigadier Jeff Higgins. They also send in Gretchen Richter to organize and lead the political struggle.

"The fates of universes aren't the only things time travel can impact. Sometimes the effect is a lot more mundane and closer to home. And when that happens, it's up to the cops of Themis Division to make time turn out right. It was supposed to be a routine trip for the members of the Gordian Division, both human and AI: fly out to Saturn, inspect the construction of their latest time machines, then fly back. But when the division's top scientist and chief engineer are killed in the same freak accident, suspicions of foul play run deep. Detective Isaac Cho is sent in to investigate, but he has more on his mind than just a new case. His superiors have saddled him with an exchange officer from the neighboring Admin-Special Agent Susan Cantrell-whose notion of proper "law enforcement" involves blowing up criminals first and skipping questions entirely. Despite his objections, Cho is stuck with an untested partner on a case that increasingly reeks of murder and conspiracy. The unlikely pair must work together to unravel this mystery, and soon they discover their unique combination of skills might just provide the edge they need. But nothing is ever simple where the Gordian Division is involved. Not even time itself"--

"They said ten-year-old street urchin Inga was perfect for their purpose, taken from the squalor of Port City to the asteroid enclave, Hawksgaard, where she underwent the training and augmentation that transformed her. Maturing to full lethality even as war erupts among the Myriad Worlds, Inga is assigned to protect Family scion, Captain Saef Sinclair-Maru as he leads the fight against humanity's merciless enemy. The vessel: IMS Hightower The mission: Rescue a trapped Legion force from the surface of Delta Three. The crisis: Nothing is as it appears. With Marines plummeting into surface combat, an orbital space battle raging, and assassins swarming within Hightower, the stakes could scarcely be greater, but in the midst of this tumult, treacherous revelations continue to unfold. A mysterious enemy emplacement, a vanished civilian population, the inexplicable powers suddenly unleashed: Each new facet of discovery creates a deadly path leading from Delta Three to the heart of the Imperium and the emperor himself. To seize any chance for victory--or even survival--Inga must accept the irrevocable course leading from the remnants of her own humanity to the fullness of the Silent Hand."--

In hardcover for the first time, first entry in the Worlds of Honor anthology series, by three giants of military SF. Honorverse short novels by Weber, David Drake, and S.M. Stirling. The first entry in the Worlds of Honor anthology series, featuring stories set in David Weber's New York TImes best-selling Honorverse. Featuring "A Grand Tour" by master of military SF David Drake; "A Whiff of Grapeshot" by best-selling author S.M. Stirling: and "A Beautiful Friendship" by David Weber, the novella that would later become the first entry in Weber's Star Kingdom series. Also includes Honor Harrington series essay "The Universe of Honor Harrington" by Weber.

"No one is at all sure what a book wraith might be, but whatever it is definitely has the battered tomes in the Library of the Sapphire Wind very worried indeed. Figuring out what a book wraith could be is hardly the least of the challenges that the newly formed House of Rough Diamonds will face as the motley assortment of members-including three women who are literally "out of this world"-attempt to secure ownership of the Library. Enemies old and new, both within and without the contested property, will strain the Rough Diamonds ingenuity and resources, forcing the small group to recruit new and possibly dangerous allies."--