DUST KNIGHTS: A NEW SERIES IN CATHERINE ASARO’S SKOLIAN EMPIRE

A CITY DIVIDED

For centuries The City of Cries—one of the most desired locales in the Skolian Imperialate—has existed by the thinnest of threads. On the dying world of Raylicon, the “haves” live in great luxury in Cries while the “havenots” scrape by, eking out a marginal existence in the notorious Undercity beneath the desert. Major Bhaajan, formerly of the Pharaoh's Army, knows both worlds. Born into the Undercity, she nevertheless has made a name for herself in the Imperialate. And now, she has the chance to help her people.

HOPE FOR RECONCILIATION

For the first time, a member of the Royal class wants to extend an olive branch to the Undercity. Hoping to build bridges, Colonel Lavinda Majda recruits Bhaaj and her Dust Knights to act as guides and bodyguards on a mission of goodwill to those who live below the surface of their parched world.

THE DOWN DEEP

But the problems of the Undercity run deeper than anyone knows. To help find peace, the Dust Knights must reach the most hidden rungs in that mysterious underground world, a place known only as the Down Deep, where the scars from centuries of distrust are greatest. There they will face an unseen enemy that may destroy the lives of everyone they know—and threaten interstellar civilization.

The Icarus Changeling

by Timothy Zahn

Rhymer: Hoode

by Gregory Frost

The Down Deep

by Catherine Asaro

For Love of Magic

by Simon R. Green

The Ross 248 Project

edited by Les Johnson and Ken Roy

The Trouble with Huguenots

by Virginia DeMarce

DUST KNIGHTS: A NEW SERIES IN CATHERINE ASARO’S SKOLIAN EMPIRE

A CITY DIVIDED

For centuries The City of Cries—one of the most desired locales in the Skolian Imperialate—has existed by the thinnest of threads. On the dying world of Raylicon, the “haves” live in great luxury in Cries while the “have-nots” scrape by, eking out a marginal existence in the notorious Undercity beneath the desert. Major Bhaajan, formerly of the Pharaoh's Army, knows both worlds. Born into the Undercity, she nevertheless has made a name for herself in the Imperialate. And now, she has the chance to help her people.

HOPE FOR RECONCILIATION

For the first time, a member of the Royal class wants to extend an olive branch to the Undercity. Hoping to build bridges, Colonel Lavinda Majda recruits Bhaaj and her Dust Knights to act as guides and bodyguards on a mission of goodwill to those who live below the surface of their parched world.

THE DOWN DEEP

But the problems of the Undercity run deeper than anyone knows. To help find peace, the Dust Knights must reach the most hidden rungs in that mysterious underground world, a place known only as the Down Deep, where the scars from centuries of distrust are greatest. There they will face an unseen enemy that may destroy the lives of everyone they know—and threaten interstellar civilization.

For Love of Magic

by Simon R. Green

The Ross 248 Project

edited by Les Johnson and Ken Roy

Black Tide Rising: The Graphic Novel

Volume 1 by John Ringo and Chuck Dixon

Aurora Borealis Bridge

by Jane Lindskold

A New Clan

by David Weber and Jane Lindskold

The Jigsaw Assassin

by Catherine Asaro

Einstein's Bridge

by John Cramer

7 books, $18

The Icarus Plot

by Timothy Zahn

The Jigsaw Assassin

by Catherine Asaro

1812: The Rivers of War

by Eric Flint

The Serpent

by David Drake

The Family Business

by Mike Kupari

To Crush the Moon

by Wil McCarthy

Crescendo of Fire

by Marc Stiegler

Selei City is the capital of the Imerialte and one of the most desired locales in all of the Skolian Empire. But its thin veneer of civilization is cracked when a series of brutal crimes implicates those in political power in a vast conspiracy. Three prominent scientists have lost their lives to a serial killer—and notes at the scenes of the crimes lead to a connection to the Royalist political party.

Major Bhaajan, former military officer turned private detective, is called back to Selei City to solve the crime. Bhaaj and her crew of Undercity Dust Knights plunge into the Byzantine world of Imperial politics—a jigsaw world where none of the pieces seem to fit. As the assassination plot becomes more and more convoluted, Bhaaj is kidnapped, threatened with death, and must fight for her life against the growing number of people threatened by her investigation. Bhaaj has faced all this and more, but now she must deal with something far deadlier—interstellar politics.

Selei City is the capital of the Imerialte and one of the most desired locales in all of the Skolian Empire. But its thin veneer of civilization is cracked when a series of brutal crimes implicates those in political power in a vast conspiracy. Three prominent scientists have lost their lives to a serial killer—and notes at the scenes of the crimes lead to a connection to the Royalist political party.

Major Bhaajan, former military officer turned private detective, is called back to Selei City to solve the crime. Bhaaj and her crew of Undercity Dust Knights plunge into the Byzantine world of Imperial politics—a jigsaw world where none of the pieces seem to fit. As the assassination plot becomes more and more convoluted, Bhaaj is kidnapped, threatened with death, and must fight for her life against the growing number of people threatened by her investigation. Bhaaj has faced all this and more, but now she must deal with something far deadlier—interstellar politics.

1637: The Peacock Throne

by Eric Flint and Griffin Barber

Freehold: Defiance

by Michael Z. Williamson

The Godel Operation

by James L. Cambias

Mamelukes

by Jerry Pournelle
with contributions from David Weber and Phillip Pournelle

Penric's Travels

by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Vanished Seas

by Catherine Asaro

The Malice of Fortune

by Steve White

MAJOR BHAAJAN RETURNS. Book three in the Skolian Empire Major Bhaajan series by Catherine Asaro.

SURVIVE THE CITY OF CRIES

Bhaajan grew up in the Undercity, a community hidden in the ruins buried beneath the glittering City of Cries. Caught between the astonishing beauty and crushing poverty of that life, and caught by wanderlust, she enlisted in the military. Now retired, Major Bhaajan is a private investigator who solves cases for the House of Majda, a powerful royal family centered in Cries. The powerful elite of the City of Cries are disappearing, and only Bhaajan, who grew up in the Undercity, can find them—if she isn’t murdered first.

Noir Fatale

edited by Larry Correia and Kacey Ezell

Battle Luna

by Travis S. Taylor, Timothy Zahn, Michael Z. Williamson, Kacey Ezell, and Josh Hayes

The Vanished Seas

by Catherine Asaro

Terra Nova: The Wars of Liberation

by Tom Kratman

At the End of the World

by Charles E. Gannon

1637: The Polish Maelstrom

by Eric Flint

In the Palace of Shadow and Joy

by D.J. Butler

MAJOR BHAAJAN RETURNS. Book three in the Skolian Empire Major Bhaajan series by Catherine Asaro.

SURVIVE THE CITY OF CRIES

Bhaajan grew up in the Undercity, a community hidden in the ruins buried beneath the glittering City of Cries. Caught between the astonishing beauty and crushing poverty of that life, and caught by wanderlust, she enlisted in the military. Now retired, Major Bhaajan is a private investigator who solves cases for the House of Majda, a powerful royal family centered in Cries. The powerful elite of the City of Cries are disappearing, and only Bhaajan, who grew up in the Undercity, can find them—if she isn’t murdered first.

Down and Out in Purgatory

The Collected Stories of Tim Powers
by Tim Powers

The Storm

by David Drake

Divided Allegiance

by Elizabeth Moon

The Bronze Skies

by Catherine Asaro

Arkad's World

by James L. Cambias

A Call to Vengeance

by David Weber, Timothy Zahn, and Thomas Pope

Crygender

by Thomas T. Thomas

Crimes Against Humanity

by Susan R. Matthews

Major Bhaajan achieved the impossible. Born to the Undercity, the slums below the City of Cries on the planet Raylicon, she broke free from crushing poverty and crime to become a military officer with Imperial Space Command. Now retired from military duty, she walks the mean streets of Undercity as a private investigator. And she is about to embark on her most challenging case yet.

Summoned by no less than the Ruby Pharaoh herself, Major Bhaajan is tasked with finding a killer. But this is no ordinary murderer. The Ruby Pharaoh witnessed a Jagernaut cut down Assembly Councilor Tap Benton—which shouldn’t have been possible. The Jagernauts are the elite of the elite soldiers in the Imperial Space Command. What’s more, the spinal node implanted in all Jagernauts should have prevented the murder. But the Ruby Pharaoh is sure of what she saw, and she has reason to believe that the Jagernaut will kill again.

Now, Major Bhaajan must hunt down a killer before it is too late. To do so, she must return to the one place on Raylicon she knows best: Undercity.

On to the Asteroid

by Travis S. Taylor and Les Johnson

Iron Angels

by Eric Flint and Alistair Kimble

The Bronze Skies

by Catherine Asaro

Forged in Blood

edited by Michael Z. Williamson

Alliance of Equals

by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

The Amber Arrow

by Tony Daniel

Major Bhaajan achieved the impossible. Born to the Undercity, the slums below the City of Cries on the planet Raylicon, she broke free from crushing poverty and crime to become a military officer with Imperial Space Command. Now retired from military duty, she walks the mean streets of Undercity as a private investigator. And she is about to embark on her most challenging case yet.

Summoned by no less than the Ruby Pharaoh herself, Major Bhaajan is tasked with finding a killer. But this is no ordinary murderer. The Ruby Pharaoh witnessed a Jagernaut cut down Assembly Councilor Tap Benton—which shouldn’t have been possible. The Jagernauts are the elite of the elite soldiers in the Imperial Space Command. What’s more, the spinal node implanted in all Jagernauts should have prevented the murder. But the Ruby Pharaoh is sure of what she saw, and she has reason to believe that the Jagernaut will kill again.

Now, Major Bhaajan must hunt down a killer before it is too late. To do so, she must return to the one place on Raylicon she knows best: Undercity.

BOOK ONE IN A BRAND NEW SERIES by Nebula and Hugo Award Winner Catherine Asaro set in the world of her Skolian Empire universe

Major Bhaajan, a former military officer with Imperial Space Command, is now a hard‑bitten P.I. with a load of baggage to deal with, and clients with woes sometimes personal, sometimes galaxy‑shattering, and sometimes both. Bhaajan must sift through the shadows of dark and dangerous Undercity—the enormous capital of a vast star empire—to find answers.

BOOK ONE IN A BRAND NEW SERIES by Nebula and Hugo Award Winner Catherine Asaro set in the world of her Skolian Empire universe

Major Bhaajan, a former military officer with Imperial Space Command, is now a hard‑bitten P.I. with a load of baggage to deal with, and clients with woes sometimes personal, sometimes galaxy‑shattering, and sometimes both. Bhaajan must sift through the shadows of dark and dangerous Undercity—the enormous capital of a vast star empire—to find answers.

Listen to the author discuss the book here on the Baen Free Radio Hour.

Joy to the world . . . or, joy to the worlds! Let heaven and nature—and also the supernatural—sing. A Cosmic Christmas presents twelve stories of Christmas in very unusual circumstances, ranging from vampires to robots, from the hills of Appalachia to a high orbit space station, all celebrating the holiday in their own, off-beat ways.

New York Times best-selling author Larry Correia sends his popular tough guy detective and magicwielder, Jake Sullivan, on a special case at Christmas time, while visions of tommy guns dance in the heads of the thugs he's up against. Mark L. Van Name's Lobo, an A.I. housed in a pocket battle starship, drops his usual cynical pose to help a troubled family at Christmas time. Nebula Award-winner Catherine Asaro tells of a romantic Yuletide weekend that turns into a mystery in a futuristic high-tech house. New York Times best seller Mercedes Lackey offers a Christmas ghost the likes of which Scrooge never encountered. George O. Smith, a star of the Golden Age of science fiction, is on hand with an episode from his classic Venus Equilateral series, in which a Christmas celebration on a gigantic space station is interrupted by the arrival of a ruthless interplanetary criminal, who didn't drop by to hand out presents. And much more, in a holiday package that any fan of science fiction and fantasy would be delighted to find under their tree, on any planet.

Two emperors navigate an uneasy peace, while a powerful trader guild does everything in its power to bring on war. And as if Kelric, the Skolian Imperator, didn't have enough problems, his own brother—who happens to be a rock star of galactic proportions—has a hit song that calls the traders out as the hidebound blueblood jerks they are, and pleads for an end to centuries of war. Kelric and his Eubian Trader Empire counterpart Jabriol attempt finally to meet in a public summit and sign a treaty that will save billions of lives and end the grinding, millennium-long war. But assassins lurk everywhere, and intrigue is afoot as the baroque old order has no intention of giving up its war-bought privilege and power without a fight to the death—and they don't care if they take the rest of galactic civilization down with them.

**Listen to "The song that could destroy the peace for three interstellar empires" here.**
Vocals, Michael Belinkie, Music and lyrics by Catherine Asaro, Arrangement by David Dalrymple, Keyboard by Dalrymple and Asaro, Guitar by Joe Rinaolo, and Drums by Adam Leve

W201110 October 2011 Monthly Baen Bundle

A Beautiful Friendship

by David Weber

Carnelians

by Catherine Asaro

Starman Jones

by Robert A. Heinlein

Cryoburn

by Lois McMaster Bujold

Dead Six

by Larry Correia and Mike Kupari

The Best of the Bolos: Their Finest Hour

by Keith Laumer

MYTH-Interpretations: The Worlds of Robert Asprin

by Robert Asprin