The Sword of Knowledge, Book 3

THE FALL ACCORDING TO C.J. CHERRYH

The Roman Empire. Imagine its fall. Now imagine that warring time with cannon—and a working system of magic. C.J. Cherryh did. In The Sword of Knowledge, Cherryh has explored the fall of empires and the impact of technological knowledge while replacing the repressed religion of the Christians with a Church of Knowledge.

In A Dirge for Sabis we saw the Sabirn Empire fall to barbarians because the rulers were too inflexible to make use of the technology available to them.

Wizard Spawn opens centuries later, with the Sabirn empire a blighted memory and the barbarians established as the new and oppressive rulers.

Now another half millennium has passed, and new barbarians are on the rise. It will be a battle of barbarian vigor vs. The Sword of Knowledge in Reap the Whirlwind!

The Sword of Knowledge, Book 2

THE BRUTAL FORCE OF OPPRESSION VERSUS THE SWORD OF KNOWLEDGE

It is 500 years since the fall of the Sabirn Empire, an empire whose rulers sealed their fate by refusing to countenance the development of weapons that could have saved them from the barbarians. Now the Sabirn have fallen on hard times indeed, and lie supine beneath the boot of the Ancar, laboring in mines and fields and streets at work no member of a ”higher” race would touch.

But rumors abound that among the Sabirn are some who retain occult knowledge and use it in secret rites aimed at the overthrow of the new master race. The Ancar say this is justification for genocide. The Sabirn say genocide is justification for anything; The Sword of Knowledge cuts both ways.

Jekyll & Hyde Inc.

by Simon R. Green

1637: Dr. Gribbleflotz and the Soul of Stoner

by Kerryn Offord and Rick Boatright

Going Interstellar

by Les Johnson and Jack McDevitt

The Valkyrie Protocol

by David Weber and Jacob Holo

Knight Watch

by Tim Akers

A Dirge for Sabis

The Sword of Knowledge, Book 1
by C.J. Cherryh and Leslie Fish

Robots

edited by Gardner Dozois and Jack Dann

The Sword of Knowledge, Book 1

CAN SABIS BE SAVED?

Ancaran hordes swarm her Northern borders . . . Her armies are flung back broken upon her walls . . . Those with the wealth to do so flee daily to the lands beyond the Sea . . .

Born of brute force, the Sabirn Empire falls now to an even greater force, a force that only a weapon born half a millennium before its time could withstand. The Sabirn have such a super-weapon—but what if the rulers are too short-sighted to recognize it, or too tight-fisted to pay the price? Then truly it will be time for A Dirge for Sabis!

W200507 July 2005 Monthly Baen Bundle

The Stars at War II

by David Weber and Steve White

A Mankind Witch

by Dave Freer

Night of Power

by Spider Robinson

Expanded Universe

by Robert A. Heinlein

The Road to Damascus

by John Ringo and
Linda Evans
created by Keith Laumer

The Paladin

by C. J. Cherryh

WE DIDN'T KNOW—WE ONLY BELIEVED—NOW YOU'VE COME BACK

"Does it seem reasonable to you that a Regency continues—into an Emperor's thirtieth year "

"No, m'lord," Shoka said.

"Not to us, either. Not to many of us. We were ready to make that objection—when lord Gitu overran Yijang and Hua.... Assassinations, elsewhere. Hired killers. Bands of mercenaries traveling under imperial orders. The Emperor's seal, and the Regent's orders. How do we stop such a thing How do we prevent it—when every lord able to lead is apprehended, assassinated, when they strip us of men, even boys out of the fields—go to Saukendar, some said. Go to Saukendar. They urged me to send to you. This time he has to listen, they said. But if I had sent—and Ghita had known—you understand—" Reidi gave an uncomfortable twitch of the shoulders. His horse shifted again. "I had no true hope that you'd come. You'd indicated to the villagers—that you had no wish to hear from anyone. That you would refuse any such petitions—"

"You were watching me."

"It's my village, m'lord—as the Regent pointed out to me again and again, and threatened my life should you leave that mountain. Of course the word came to me. I tried to get a messenger down the road to you when I knew you'd left Mon.... We believed you'd come back to deal with Ghita and his partisans."

Shoka felt cold, cold all the way to the bones.

"There are men ready to follow you, lord Saukendar. There are men who've committed their lives to this— We didn't know the hour. We only believed. Now you've come back ..."

"It's gripping drama, tightly focussed and inexorable as Taizu herself. Read The Paladin and you'll never settle for another ordinary sword-wielding female."
—Faren Miller LOCUS

Barbarian Hordes vs. Sheer, Cold Reason
Technology vs. Sorcery

The Empire of Sabis is falling, besieged and overwhelmed by the army and hostile wizards of a more powerful empire. Still, it is not too late for a small group of philosopher-scientists to reverse the tide if they can convince the rulers of Sabis to build the deadly new weapon that they have invented: the cannon. But when the rulers prove too short-sighted and Sabis falls, the scientists flee, disguising their knowledge under the cover of a religion and its arcane rituals.

Though centuries will pass and the Sabirn race will be oppressed and persecuted, the powerful knowledge will be passed on and preserved by the Secret Order. And the time will come when only one thing stands against destruction by a ruthless and invincible barbarian horde:

A Sweeping Fantasy Epic
Complete in One Hardcover
Volume for the First Time

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

C. J. Cherryh is a four-time Hugo Award-winner, and is author of many best-selling science fiction and fantasy series. Among the latest of her more than fifty novels are Hammerfall, Forge of Heaven (both from Eos) and Destroyer (DAW). She makes her home in Spokane, WA. Visit www.cherryh.com.

Mercedes Lackey, author of the bestselling Heralds of Valdemar and Bardic Voices series, began life as a child and has been attempting to rectify that error ever since. Other than writing she can be found at various times prying the talons of the birds of prey she is attempting to nurse back to health out of her hands, endangering her vision by creating various forms of Art Beadwork, and cross-stitching dragons, gryphons, and other semi-mythological fauna. She lives in Oklahoma. Visit www.mercedeslackey.com.

Nancy Asire has written several fantasy novels, including Twilight's Kingdoms, Tears of Time and To Fall Like Stars for Baen, and many short stories.

Leslie Fish has published many short stories, and also has written and recorded many fantasy and science fiction songs. The volume Carmen Miranda's Ghost is Haunting Space Station Three (Baen) is an anthology of stories based on one of her most popular songs.

W200501 January 2005 Monthly Baen Bundle

Bolo!

by David Weber
created by Keith Laumer

Rogue Berserker

by Fred Saberhagen

The World Turned Upside Down

by David Drake, Jim Baen and Eric Flint

The Sword of Knowledge

by C. J. Cherryh, Mercedes Lackey, Nancy Asire and Leslie Fish

The Anguished Dawn

by James P. Hogan

The War With Earth

by Leo Frankowski and Dave Grossman