Orkise is loose. The snake-god of plague has been awakened by Lucia del Maino. With the venomous magic of Orkise at her command, Lucia plots to marry and then murder the usurper who now rules Milan, the condottiere Carlo Sforza—known to friend and foe alike as the Wolf the North. On his side, Sforza has only the skill and cunning of his physician, Francisco Turner. But will that be enough to save the Wolf of the North? For out there in the countryside of northern Italy, Orkise is uncoiling all the plagues of hell.

Well over a millennia in the past, men and women fled Earth. Escaping Armageddon. What they found—lost in some forgotten corner of the Milky Way Galaxy—was the Waywork: an alien superhighway system between a closed sphere of stars. Now, the five Starstates—which rule all that’s left of humanity—are poised on the brink of another terrible war. It’s a clash of civilizations, as the future of the human race hangs in the balance!

Since the dawn of time, humankind has felt the urge to push at the boundaries of our world and discover what lies over the horizon. And since the dawn of science fiction, writers have wondered about the next frontier: the one that lies Out There. Here then, a generous collection of stories that reach out into the unknown void, finding awe, wonder, other minds—even terror—but always going beyond the world we know to explore a universe strange beyond the outermost limits of human imagination. Stories of brave men and women who risk all to explore, colonize, and settle the vast reaches of space. Stories by David Drake, Sarah A. Hoyt & Jeff Greason, Poul Anderson, Christopher Ruocchio, and more.

It's the holiday season, and while it's the most wonderful time of year—as the song tells us—it can also be the most stressful. So what better way to lighten the mood than a good joke? Send us your original holiday-themed joke with a science fiction or fantasy twist for a chance to win a copy of All the Plagues of Hell and Space Pioneers, signed by the authors and editors!

Last month, we asked you what three items would you include in your zombie preparedness kit and why. Congrats to Jennifer Parr. She wins a copy of The Valley of Shadows, signed by John Ringo and Mike Massa!

Jennifer skimped on the why but we thought her choices were self-explanatory enough. See for yourself by reading her winning entry here.

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