In these nine stories of determination, seemingly ordinary people find themselves in extraordinary circumstances as they confront their fears and embrace their challenges on a near-future Earth or an alternate history past or even on a far distant alien world.

• A single parent with a Down syndrome daughter considers what his life and career might have been as a parent and a pro football player in some alternate reality.

• A young girl on an isolated Florida island discovers that her quirky grandparents are even stranger than she thought.

• A high school basketball player confronts the ghosts of her past.

• A young woman struggles to make peace with the horrors of her forgotten childhood.

• An elderly woman slides into dementia even as she finds some essential truths that were lost in the hazy mists of her memory.

• A baseball player becomes a spy during an alternate history version of World War II, where he plays a pivotal role in stopping the Nazi war machine.

A powerful and poignant collection of memorable stories from an award-winning storyteller, Rambunctious: Nine Tales of Determination is charming, action-packed, frightening, and thoughtful by turn.

An offer they couldn’t refuse. A deal that would set them up for life.

Lew Armistead Holmes’ life was about to get better . . . much better. Part of the crew of the salvage ship Remnant, she just got a contract to go further into space than she’s ever been before, to retrieve a satellite that is so big it will take two ships to bring it back. The payday is equally large, and her share is big enough to get her off Remnant and away from her peculiar captain and his secrets.

Unfortunately, the captain of the other ship tasked to the job harbors a grudge against Remnant’s commanding officer from the last time the two worked together on a project. Separately, they are each like dynamite—ready to go off at any time. When they’re together, it’s like lighting the fuse.

But the payoff on the unknown satellite is huge, leading both crews to wonder what the satellite holds, and what they aren’t being told about it.

Both crews must work together to bring the satellite back to Earth, but there are plans within plans, and no one is exactly who the others think they are. Who will come back with the satellite at the end of the mission . . . and who won’t come back at all?

A NEW NOVEL IN JOHN RINGO'S BEST-SELLING BLACK TIDE RISING SERIES BY NEBULA- AND DRAGON AWARD–NOMINATED AUTHOR CHARLES E. GANNON

CASTAWAYS IN A ZOMBIE PLAGUE

Six kids ranging from suburban geeks to street-smart pariahs. A British captain who rarely talks and never smiles. All on the 70-foot pilot house ketch Crosscurrent Voyager, bound on a senior summer cruise to adventure and serious fun.

Except most of the kids don’t get along. And they’ll be gone all summer. And none of them have sailed before. And worst of all—because they booked at the last minute—they got the destination nobody else wanted: the frigid and remote South Georgia Islands.

But there’s one other hitch: They’ll never see their families or friends again. Because just days after they leave, a plague starts spreading like wildfire, turning most of its survivors into shrieking, cannibalistic rage-monsters. So with their past dying as fast as the world that shaped it, the kids’ hated destination becomes their one hope for survival.

But it’s an uncertain hope. Not only are other hostile survivors headed there, but South Georgia Island is unable to support permanent habitation. So if the strange crew of the Voyager doesn’t come up with a further plan, they are—in every sense—heading straight toward the end of the world.

NEW FAR-FUTURE PLANETARY ADVENTURE

"BARD DESPERATE FOR APPRENTICE AND ROGUE WITH SIDELINE IN INSURANCE SEEK WORK. PREFERABLY AS GOOD GUYS."

Indrajit Twang is the four hundred twenty-seventh epic poet of his people, the only person alive to carry their entire epic history and mythology in his head. His people are dwindling in number, and if he can’t find a successor in the great city of Kish, their story will disappear with them.

Fix grew up a foundling on the ancient streets of Kish and is making his living as a mercenary. The woman he loves married someone else, and Fix has turned to buying and selling risk on the black market—but is he trying to impress her, or prove something to himself?

Indrajit and Fix have been hired by a powerful risk-merchant to protect the life of opera star Ilsa without Peer for the duration of a risk contract he’s taken on. When an attempt is made on Ilsa’s life, Indrajit and Fix find themselves hunted by multiple mercenary squads and targeted by some of the most powerful men in Kish. Will they be able to save themselves, not to mention protect Ilsa, in the Palace of Shadow and Joy?

Magdeburg, the capital of the newly-formed United States of Europe, has a dark and bloody history. Most of the city and its population were destroyed when the imperialist army ran amok after capturing the city in May of 1631. The ancient Gothic cathedral was one of the few structures that survived more-or-less intact.

Once the Swedish king Gustav Adolf drove out the imperialists and established the USE, Magdeburg began to recover—and then grow at an astonishing rate. New industries inspired by the technology of the time-transplanted Americans of Grantville are turning the city into a boom town, with immigrants from all over central Europe pouring in.

A boom town is full of hope and aspiration—but it’s also a place that generates its own darkness and chaos. The city’s fledgling police force is scrambling to get control over the growing crime and violence. Sometimes it succeeds—but often it doesn’t. And such failures bring down the might of the city’s powerful revolutionary Committees of Correspondence, whose leader Gunther Achterhof can match any criminal’s ruthlessness.

Musicians murdered, new and brutal religious cults arising, bombings and arson, spies and informers and those hunting them—these are only some of the ingredients in the reborn city of light and darkness.

The world is not what it seems. There are vampires, demons, shape changers, mermaids and sirens. The underworld is real and the people of twenty-first century England don’t know a thing about it.

The Commission is tasked with seeing to it that the people of England can continue to enjoy this state of blithe ignorance. Their chief enforcers against demonic wickedness are Major Jameson, formerly of the Guards Regiments, Gaston, a Jamaican who was formerly a sergeant in the Paras—and the vampire Karla, who has been (quite unwillingly) recruited to their service.

They are glad they have Karla, though, however surly she may be. Without her, they would be hard-pressed to handle the other vampires, witches, shapechangers, sirens, wielders of cursed rings—all the monsters that comes their way in the darkness of London nights.

The Hero in Her Hands

Doctor Jennifer Hsui thought she was a good therapist, and tried her best to be a good single mother to her daughter Yukari—something scarier than it had been, before the world had turned out to harbor werewolves, vampires, shadowy dragons . . . and now, just five years before, superheroes and their superhuman adversaries. But all her training and experience hadn't prepared her for the client that literally flew in her window one evening: the first and greatest of the heroes, Legend himself.

Now she finds herself becoming part of a world of people with godlike powers . . . and all too human problems. Legend has made the right choice in coming to her—but even she can't imagine how he will change her life.

And behind and beyond her office and home, something else is rising, something that has broken free of death and turned the power of the afterworld to their own purpose. And in the end, the safety of the world may not rest on the shoulders of Legend, or her own skill, but on the hopes and hearts of two children—one of them her own.

Starling and her grandmother operate a way station in the asteroid belt. For decades, Ganny has had a very successful business, using her way station to sling cargo and passenger ships all over the asteroid belt and to most of the planets as well. But now, technological advance and corporate greed are threatening her livelihood and the continued well-being of her grand-daughter.

What’s an old lady to do?

Digging back into her past, Ganny applies an ancient technique to modern materials. She begins to create a spaceship that will enable her and Starling to survive—and even to prosper. How? By knitting it.

All is going well. But once the corporate interests that were plotting to seize her way station realize what she’s up to, they set out to stop her by any means fair or foul.

Mostly foul. Her crew is suborned, murder attempts are launched, financial plots are set underway.

What’s an old lady to do?

Apply a long lifetime’s sagacity and resourcefulness, that’s what. Guided always by her knowledge that revenge is a dish best served old.

Written by the Hugo and Nebula award winning author of "The Trouble With Tribbles," The War Against the Chtorr series, "The Man Who Folded Himself," and "The Martian Child."

The First American Revolution

It started with a letter. In Nuevo Mexico, the Spanish province farther from the king than any other, Father Philip, the only Jesuit north of the Rio Grande, received word of a new town in Germany full of time travelers. Just one article from the Britannica lights a revolt of the native population. Will it be the first colony to throw out European governance? Would it be the first American Revolution?

It started with Eduardo Bernal, born in Nuevo Mexico, sixteen years old, with a love for the countryside, and his native neighbors. Could he save them from the prejudice of Spanish colonists?

It started with young Teniente de Bances, arriving for the first time to the distant Province of Nuevo Mexico al Dentro. He was nineteen years old, and it had taken him three years to get there. Will one hundred fifty Spanish soldiers hold off attacks from nine thousand natives?

THE FINAL NOVEL BY LEGENDARY AUTHOR JERRY POURNELLE, WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR DAVID WEBER AND AUTHOR'S SON PHILLIP POURNELLE

NO REST FOR THE WEARY

Rick Galloway's still not sure what inspired him to volunteer to fight Cubans in Angola, and he certainly never expected to end his African adventure shanghaied by a flying saucer when his CIA superiors cut him and his men adrift as the Cubans overran their final position.

He didn't expect to end up on the planet Tran, God only knew how many light-years from Earth, raising drugs for an alien cartel under the auspices—more or less—of a galactic civilization administered and run by a slave class of humans for their alien masters, either.

But he did. And since then, he's survived mutinies, civil wars, battles against Byzantine "Romans," medieval knights, and Mongol raiders on a world where catastrophic "climate change" races unchecked through a 600-year cycle. Along the way he's found love, lost it, found it again, and become a great noble . . . all the while knowing his alien "employers" will probably nuke his people back into the Stone Age when they're done.

He's managed his impossible balancing act for 13 years. He's lost people he cared about, been forced to do things he's hated, and tried along the way to make life better for the people trapped on Tran with him, and he's tired. So tired.

But now, everything has changed . . . again. New Starmen have arrived on Tran, with dangerous gifts and star weapons of their own. Everything Rick Galloway thought he knew about his mission on Tran is about to be turned on its head.

And everyone expects him to fix it.

After retiring, C.E. MacLeary expected to spend his days combing through old cases. Instead, he wakes up one morning to find himself in A place called Theory. Once there, he must adapt to the insane, topsy-turvy world that has evolved from Theory’s ability to take anything that exists as a description (a book, a letter, graffiti scrawled on a fence) can be brought to life. Unfortunately for the people who inhabit Theory, having things suddenly pop into existence can be dangerous, if not fatal . . .

So they invented AIda, the Artificial Intelligence Descriptive Algorithm, a computer program tasked with the job of preventing the locals from getting killed by their own creations. But lately people have started disappearing from Theory, and Mac has been brought in to find out why.

Mac navigates through stereophonic trees across rubber sidewalks, and travels to Mythology and through the Gates of Hell. He meets gods, demons, denizens of Hell, blood suckers and lawyers. In a world named Theory, there are no natural limits to what can happen. Just for starters, when Mac meets AIDA, it’s love at first sight.

A Fugitive Against an Empire

Imprisoned as a hostage or a bargaining chip, Sasham Varan must rely on his friends The Eonwyl, Sooovickalassa, and Guvthor Hok Guvthor to find proof of the impossible truth: that Prime Monitor Shagrath is one of the legendary Demons, manipulating the Empire and others to destroy every civilization across the Galaxy. Even if they succeed and Varan gains his freedom and the Zchorada as allies, they will still need to assemble the largest fleet the Galaxy has seen since the days of Atlantaea to face the most powerful force in the Galaxy: the Reborn Empire.

And if they do all of that, still they will have to somehow expose the truth to all the Empire, or everything will still fall. In the end, Varan knows, he, alone, will have to face Shagrath . . . with the fate of tens of thousands of worlds the price of victory or failure!

Jim Burch, former detective and now small town sheriff, seemed to have found the perfect life. That is, until the town war hero disappeared under mysterious circumstances. And soon thereafter four high school kids go missing. As the bodies continue to pile up, Jim is confronted with a choice unlike anything he has ever faced before. He can accept the apparent explanation, that all of these bodies were the result of accidental drowning. Or he can act on the belief of his closest friends: that an ancient and nearly immortal evil has awakened in the waters of Middlewood County; an evil that threatens every living thing in Harper’s Landing and the pastures and forests around it.

Gregori Andreivich Gyazin is a distant relative of the Tsar of all the Russias. He is also the Governor-General of Novaya Rossiya, the Tsar’s huge colony stretching from the wind-swept Aleutian islands to the southern reaches of Alta California. From the colonial capital in Saint Helena, the city by the Golden Gate Bay, he must confront encroachments of the French and British empire in North America. To make things still worse, he also has to deal with the schemes and intrigues of the Tsar’s own agents and spies. With friends like this, who needs enemies?

City By The Bay tells the story of Saint Helena from the time of its founding in 1816 to its eventual fate after the disastrous 1906 earthquake—nearly a century, most of which Prince Gregori witnesses. Robber barons, soldiers of fortune, tale-spinners, prophets and native shamans—people of all kinds pass through Saint Helena or take up residence, winning and losing fortunes in a world where revolutions never took place.

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.

BEST-SELLING AND AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS WRITE FOR A GOOD CAUSE: All-new anthology from top names in science fiction and fantasy. A portion of the sales will fund a scholarship set up in the name of superfan, TVA engineer, and LibertyCon founder Timothy "Uncle Timmy" Bolgeo.

Join David Weber, Larry Correia, David Drake, and twelve other best-selling authors as they pay their respects to some of their devoted fans and to a lost friend. Fifteen stories from the authors' own worlds will showcase some of the names of their greatest fans in original works, written for a charity in honor of Timothy Bolgeo, the founder of LibertyCon.

Contributors:

David Weber
David Drake
David B. Coe
Larry Correia
Sarah A. Hoyt
Timothy Zahn
Mike Massa
Charles E Gannon
Jody Lynn Nye
Bill Fawcett
Chris Kennedy
Kacey Ezell
Les Johnson
John Hartness
Christopher Woods

In 1897, Beverly Haddad is well aware that her sex and race will keep her from investigating the deadly and mysterious lightning strikes that have plagued New York. She seeks help from Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt, and soon the two find themselves hunted by a vast conspiracy known as Gideon’s Trumpet which has access to amazing new scientific devices never before seen. With the help of Mark Twain and others, they launch an attack, aided by Teddy’s new massive lightning gun, which he lovingly calls "BIG STICK.” Full steam ahead!

With Big Stick, Michael Ventrella gives us a wild and thoroughly entertaining steampunk adventure featuring an improbable cast of historical figures, plenty of action, and lots of fun! Highly recommended!” —Jonathan Maberry, New York Times bestselling author of Deep Silence and V-Wars

“Memorable characters, snappy dialogue and plenty of action and adventure. Big Stick has it all. One of the best books I’ve read in a long while!” —Gail Z. Martin, author of Vengeance: A Novel of Darkhurst

“Full of the best kind of steampunk adventure with one of the biggest personalities in American history. A great fun ride!” —Philippa Ballantine, co-author of the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series

“Big Stick doesn’t have everything. It has more than everything! A dynamic PoC secret agent! Teddy Roosevelt! Steampunk inventions! Real dirty politics in a fantastic might-have-been world! Rayguns! Airships! Assassinations! Teddy Roosevelt with a raygun! And a cover by Phil Foglio! What the heck are you doing looking at this stupid blurb? Buy this book and read it!” —Ryk Spoor, author of Grand Central Arena and Princess Holy Aura

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

The only thing keeping Jenny Starchild alive is her interface with the Arachne, an artificial brain that keeps Jenny's organs operating and controls a warship. But the situation also makes her powerful, and she knows what she's going to do with her life. She is going to weave a new star nation out of the materials she has at hand:

A strand of compassion here, a strand of fierce pride there. The love of community of the alien Parthians woven together with human individuality. The computing and reasoning abilities of artificial brains woven together with the genetically engineered Cybrants.

It's going to take all of Jenny's exuberance and all of Arachne's powers, not to mention some luck. But if they can weave this new nation, then billions of people—humans and other sorts of people—will have life, liberty, and a chance to pursue their own happiness in their own way.

On the other hand, if Jenny, Arachne, and her human and Parthian allies fail in the task, they're probably all going to be destroyed—and so might whole star systems.

Caemon, son of Cindras, High Lord of the Alflina, has been studying at a monastery in the nearby kingdom of Luint. He receives an urgent message from his father, calling him home. When he arrives, he finds that a dragon has attacked and destroyed the hold and all of its people have disappeared, including his father and mother.

He searches the hold but finds nothing other than a relic of his father's, which provides Caemon with the Gift of Mal, a form of intuitive magic. He returns to the monastery and consults with the monastery head, Eldest Brother Ifram. The two of them and a few of the monks at the monastery are all that remain of the alflina, an old race who have a history of occasionally producing leaders who wield the Gift of Mal.

Caemon decides that he should go to Luint's king to seek support for his campaign against the dragon. But when he arrives in the capital, he discovers that Baron Hiel has usurped most of Loryn's authority, and Caemon will first have to restore the king’s power before he can hunt the dragon. So now a civil war looks to be in his future as well.