Janissaries
Some days it just didn't pay to be a soldier. Captain Rick Galloway and his men had been talked into volunteering for a dangeorus mission‑‑only to be ruthlessly abandoned when faceless CIA higher‑ups pulled the plug on the operation. They were cut off in hostile teritory, with local troops and their Cuban "advisors" rapidly closing in. And then the alien spaceship landed... 

Clan and Crown and Storms of Victory
He didn't want to conquer the world. He had to. Captain Rick Galloway, formerly of the US Army, more recently a mercenary commander, was now Lord Rick on the planet Tran. Rescued by an alien spaceship from certain death when a mercenary assignment went sour, he and his men were dropped on a world distant from Earth, but inhabited by humans transplanted in the past from medieval Europe, from Imperial Rome, and from other now‑vanished nations. 

Now the time of the Demon Star approaches, whose close approach and fierce heat will render much of Tran uninhabitable. To survive this fiery apocalypse, the warring nations of Tran must be united. Lord Rick doesn't want to conquer the world, but the alternative is certain extinction!

Finding himself on the distant world of Tran, which is populated by humans from all Earth times, former mercenary Rick Galloway, now known as Lord Rick, must unite the warring nations of the planet to survive the time of the Demon Star.

Includes: Clan & Crown and Storms of Victory

Liberty is a recurring theme in science fiction. Here's a volume of explorations of this theme, combining landmark stories from science fiction's golden age with new stories by some of today's top writers, including Hugo winner and Grand Master Jack Williamson; Michael Resnick, winner of four Hugos and a Nebula, and author of the international bestseller, Santiago; Michael A. Stackpole, author of eight New York Times best sellers; best-selling novelist Jane Lindskold, New York Times best-selling author James P. Hogan, Robert J. Sawyer, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year; and more. This stellar crew considers how a government-free society could operate, how a low-tech society might throw off the influence of more "advanced" intruders, how the right to own weapons is fundamental to freedom, and much more. In the future, liberty may be even more threatened than in our present-and this volume suggests very unusual ways of defending and advancing it. . . .

About the Authors

Martin Harry Greenberg has edited more than 1,000 anthologies of science fiction, fantasy, mystery, and other genres, and has become renowned for his ingenuity in developing books written around a theme, and his ability to fill them with stories of high quality. Booklist has written, "Greenberg's choices are impeccable," and Library Journal has praised his volumes for "Sheer enjoyability . . . provokes everything from meditation to laughter."

Mark Tier is a former Australian who lives in Hong Kong because "paying taxes is against my religion." He was one of the co-founders of the Australian equivalent of the Libertarian Party. His book Understanding Inflation was a runaway best seller. His second book, How to Get a Second Passport was also an international bestseller. He is the former Hong Kong correspondent for the New York Journal of Commerce. His articles have appeared in Time, Liberty, Reason, and elsewhere.

A volume of visions of future wars, fought with weapons out of nightmare, by today's top writers of military science fiction, as well as some writers who are not usually associated with military SF, such as best-selling writer Gregory Benford, and award-winning author Kristine Katherine Rusch. Also present are Michael Z. Williamson, author of the strong selling novels Freehold and The Weapon, award-winning author of Bolo Strike, William H. Keith, and more. Through the centuries, weapons have changed radically, but the soldier has remained much the same. But in the future, soldiers, too, may undergo radical changes.

As editor Joe Haldeman puts it, "Weapons are an extension of the soldier, and also an extension of the culture or species that produced the soldier. And they are sometimes more dangerous to the soldier than the enemy. . . ."

WHEN IN THE COURSE OF FUTURE EVENTS ...

Liberty is a recurring theme in science fiction. Here's a volume of explorations of this theme, some even arguing that freedom can be best served by doing away with government entirely. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty." And in the future, eternal vigilance against our own government will be even more important than vigilance against hostile outsiders.

A stellar roster of science fiction writers consider how a government-free society could operate, how the Soviet Union might have fallen apart even earlier because of an apparently harmless device, how a low-tech society might throw off the influence of more "advanced" intruders, how the right to own weapons is fundamental to freedom, and much more.

In the future, liberty may be even more threatened than in our present—and this volume suggests very unusual ways of defending it....

"Sheer enjoyability. . . . A fine mix of stories provokes everything from meditation to laughter."
—Library Journal

The Future of Freedom—as
Explored by Top Science Fiction
Writers in a New Volume of All
Original Stories.

As Thomas Jefferson put it, "That government is best which governs least." And, as Will Rogers wryly quipped, "We're lucky we don't get all the government we pay for!" In Visions of Liberty, ten top science fiction writers, several of them Hugo or Nebula award-winners, create ten very different futures in which Government does not exist and explore the possibilities of a truly free society. Among the roster: Hugo winner and Grand Master Jack Williamson; Michael Resnick, winner of four Hugos and a Nebula, and author of the international bestseller, Santiago; Michael A. Stackpole, author of eight New York Times best sellers; best-selling novelist Jane Lindskold, New York Times best-selling author James P. Hogan, Robert J. Sawyer, winner of the Nebula Award for best novel of the year; and more. As threats to liberty arise in our own time, so it will be in the future. In this volume, a stellar cast of SF luminaries consider how the future might be different—and how freedom might truly triumph.

Praise for the science fiction anthologies of Martin Harry Greenberg:

"Greenberg's choices are impeccable." —Booklist

"That rare achievement: a 'theme' anthology that works. . . . Provocative and well-planned." —Kirkus Reviews

"Sheer enjoyability. . . . a fine mix of stories provokes everything from meditation to laughter." —Library Journal

Two Complete Novels and a
Selection of Shorter Masterworks
by a Hugo Award Winning
Master of Science Fiction Adventure.

 Praise for the Science Fiction of Harry Turtledove:

"[In The Great War: Breakthroughs,] Turtledove displays his usual mastery at maintaining suspense across a broad canvas, with characters that fans will be glad to encounter . . . . A complete and skillfully executed tale." —Publishers Weekly

"[Turtledove's The Victorious Opposition is] almost impossible to praise too highly." —Booklist

"Turtledove has proved he can divert his readers to astonishing places. He's developed a cult following over the years . . . I know I'd follow his imagination almost anywhere." —San Jose Mercury News

"The leading author of alternate history." —USA Today

Hugo Award winner Harry Turtledove has garnered high praise for his best-selling alternate history science fiction, and he's equally a master of science fiction adventure, as he proves in this new Baen MegaBook containing two complete novels and a baker's dozen of brilliant shorter works. Earthgrip—Young Jennifer Logan just wanted to teach Middle English, but ended up on an interstellar trading ship headed for the adventure of a lifetime. Noninterference — The Survey Service was supposed to observe alien worlds, without any interference. Then, an expedition broke the rule and an entire planet was at risk! Kaleidoscope —Suppose a vampire was sent to catch Jack the Ripper Suppose all the galaxy has starships, but hasn't developed Earth's military technology and firepower. And much more.

THE NORTH SHALL RISE AGAIN!

When Avram became King of Detina, he declared he intended to liberate the blond serfs from their ties to the land. This noble assertion immediately plunged the kingdom into a civil war that would prove long and bloody, and set brother against brother. The northern provinces, dependent on their serf's labor, seceded, choosing Avram's cousin, Grand Duke Geoffrey, as their king. To save the kingdom, Avram sent armies clad in gray against the slave-holding North, battling Geoffrey's army, arrayed in blue.

Though King Avram held more land and wealth than Geoffrey, Geoffrey's men were better soldiers and the North had better and more powerful wizards. Still, as the war raged on, greater population and superior organization began to tell and the tide turned against the North.

Even so, the war is far from over. The South still faces two formidable leaders: General Bell, whose loss of a leg has only strengthened his resolve, and Ned of the Forest, whose unicorn riders are the most dangerous force on the Northern side. And though the Southern sorcerers have become more adept at war spells, use of sorcery is unpredictable—as the North learned earlier when its forces held an almost impregnable position, but retreated in terror when an overconfident sorcerer's spell went awry.

Though victory seems in sight for the South, its armies must now battle the North on its own ground, ground which will prove treacherous and deadly. . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Harry Turtledove is known for his historical fantasy and alternate history. His novels include The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, Sentry Peak, Marching Through Peachtree, The Guns of the South, and the Great War and World at War series. A Hugo winner and Nebula finalist, he lives in Los Angeles.

LEADERSHIP MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE . . .

... as history demonstrates. But there are other factors at work. Would Sir Francis Drake have as easily put paid to the Spanish Armada if a typhoon hadn't softened up the enemy first What if history were given a twist or two, and great commanders on land and sea had more (or fewer) forces, better (or worse) weather, quicker (or slower) communications, better supplies (or none at all) Just suppose, for example, General Billy Mitchell had not been court-martialed for advocating air power, and happened to be leading training flights of warplanes at Pearl Harbor in December 1941

As it happens, to find out the answer to that question, pick up the first book in the series, Alternate Generals, from Baen. This new volume has even more fascinating speculations in alternate history science fiction, turning history upside down and inside out as leaders who have made their mark on our history make different marks in a very different world.

The possibilities are endless. . . .

Once Again, Great Leaders Make Great History
—but Not History as We Know It. . . .

History shows that leadership is crucial in war, but there are other factors at work. What if history were given a twist or two, and great commanders on land and sea fought their greatest battles under different circumstances

� Suppose General Douglas MacArthur had been captured before he could escape from Manila and became a prisoner of war

� Suppose Joan of Arc had not been burned for heresy and had gone on to lead France to very different victories

� Suppose Genghis Khan had been a convert to Judaism and his horde had fought for a different cause than in our universe

Turtledove and his colleagues turn the past upside down and inside out, and the possibilities are endless. . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hugo-winner, New York Times best-selling author, and historian—Harry Turtledove is equally renowned in science fiction for his rigorously thought-out alternate history novels and in fantasy for his tales of the supernatural placed in historically accurate settings. For Baen, he has written the alternate American Civil War fantasy trilogy comprising Sentry Peak, Marching Through Peachtree, and Advance and Retreat, as well as The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, and the popular "Gerin the Fox" series, Wisdom of the Fox and Tale of the Fox. He has also authored the Ingram bestseller Guns of the South and the genre bestsellers in the "World at War" series for Del Rey.

WAR WORLD VENDETTA

It has been three hundred years since the Sauron remnant fled in secret to Haven. Blasted back into savagery by nuclear weapons, divided among themselves by bitter feuds, the human inhabitants were helpless before the initial onslaught of these gene-designed demons who walked like men and fought like battle computers. To the Saurons, humans were merely two-legged cattle, a source of breeding females and other tribute.

But now a new voice is heard on Haven—a summons that will unite nomad and farmer, Mongol, Russki and Jew. Aisha, sister and daughter of Juchi the Accursed, has raised a banner that will sweep across the steppes like a wind of fire. Soon the tribes will meet before the Sauron Citadel—there to encounter the forces of a mad Cyborg Battlemaster in a final struggle to retake their world. Blood Feuds—and No Mercy.

HOLY WAR

Three hundred years ago the Saurons arrived on Haven and proceeded to destroy every vestige of technology except their own. Since then, the history of Haven has been a horror story.

But now one woman has sparked a rebellion, uniting the many tribes of Haven and joining together old enemies having nothing in common but their mutual hatred of the Sauron overlords. And at the Shangri-La valley this rabble in arms has done the impossible, and destroyed the Sauron force there.

But, an outpost is a very different thing from the final target of Aisha's army: the Sauron Citadel. If, against all odds, the Citadel falls, the humans will take back their world from the Sauron invaders—and three centuries of repressed hate and fury will erupt in Blood Vengeance . . .

THE NEW NOVEL IN THE POPULAR VIDESSOS SERIES

Rhavas was a good, holy, and pious man—and the cousin of the Avtokrator. He would probably have become ecumenical patriarch of the Empire in the capital, Videssos the city . . . if his world had not suddenly and tragically fallen apart when the Empire of Videssos erupted into civil war and the Khamorth barbarians swarmed over the borders.

As the home he loved was brutally sacked, Rhavas had to flee for his life, and then make his way through lands swarming with fierce nomads and with soldiers loyal both to his cousin and to the rebel. He may never see Videssos the city again, let alone preside in its High Temple.

He has always followed Phos, the god of light and goodness, Videssos' god, and despised evil rival Skotos. Those who fall off the Bridge of the Separator during judgment in the afterlife tumble down to Skotos' ice forevermore. But when evil seems to have swallowed the whole world, what is a cleric who reverences logic as well as goodness supposed to believe

It's a harder question than Rhavas wishes it were.

FANTASY ADVENTURE BY A BEST-SELLING AWARD-WINNING MASTER

First entry in a new series with three big all new linked novellas from multiple best-sellers S.M. Stirling, John Ringo & Jody Lynn Nye, and Harry Turtledove! After the extinction asteroid DOESN'T strike Earth, the dinosaurs keep evolving—but so do the mammals. We mammals have achieved human-like shapes, but now it's cold-blooded, magic-using reptiles against the hot-blooded, hot-tempered descendants of cats.

In a heroic, bronze-age world similar to 300, the Mrem Clan of the Claw and its sister warbands are expanding their rough-and-tumble territory, but now they face the Lishkash, masters of a cold-blooded empire of slave armies and magic. It's mammalian courage and adaptation against reptile cunning in a clash of steel and will that will determine which line shall inherit the Earth.

FREE THE BLONDES!

(America's Civil War Turned Upside Down)

A terrible civil war was tearing apart the kingdom of Detina, a land which could no longer be half serf and half free. When the new ruler, King Avram, announced his intent to liberate the blond serfs upon which the northern provinces depended, Detina was torn in two, and the rebellious north took Avram's cousin, Grand Duke Geoffrey, as their king.

Neither side could expect an easy victory. The south was larger and wealthier, but the north had better soldiers and more powerful wizards. Led by officers riding unicorns, supplied by flying carpets, both sides had been clashing for three years when Count Thraxton, a conceited wizardgeneral whose opinions of his spell-casting ability far outstripped the reality, bungled a spell which backfired disastrously against his own side, giving the Unionists a decisive victory.

But the war was far from over: Thraxton the idiot had been relieved of command; which meant that the south faced a far more competent general: Joseph the Gamecock. And Joseph and his troops were determined to hold Peachtree Province against the loyalist troops. They had occupied Rockface Rise, which offered only two narrow places where the Unionists could come at them, and had further fortified it with trenches and catapults. When the southern army attacked, they would face formidable obstacles both natural and manmade, as well as the repeating crossbows of the troops and the deadly sorcerous storm and lightning wielded by the northern wizards.

Still, the very survival of Detina as one united realm was at stake, and King Avram's forces had no choice but to attack, no matter what the odds, no matter how desperate the situation ....

THE STRANGEST CIVIL WAR 
NOVEL YOU EVER READ!

When Avram became King of Detina, he declared he intended to liberate the blond serfs from their ties to the land. The northern provinces, where most of the serfs lived, would not accept his lordship. The hot north was a land of broad estates, whose noble overlords took the serfs' labor and gave back next to nothing. Those provinces left Detina, choosing Avram's cousin, Grand Duke Geoffrey, as their king in his place.

Avram said he had inherited all of the kingdom, not just a part. He refused to let Geoffrey rule the north without a challenge. And the southron provinces, full of merchants and smallholders stood solidly behind him. So he sent armies clad in gray against the north. Geoffrey raised his own army, and arrayed his men in blue made from the indigo much raised on northern estates to distinguish them from the southrons.

Avram held the larger part of the kingdom, and the wealthier part, too. But Geoffrey's men were bolder soldiers. And the north, taken all in all, had better wizards than the southrons did. The war raged for almost three years, until Avram's General named Guildenstern and his great lieutenant, Doubting George, moved against the northern army under Count Thraxton the Braggart and his commander of unicorn-riders, Ned of the Forest, which held the town of Rising Rock, close by Sentry Peak. . . .

TODAY'S TOP WRITERS PAY TRIBUTE TO A MASTER

For seven decades, L. Sprague de Camp was a giant in both science fiction and fantasy, renowned for his fast-moving action-adventure tales filled with genial humorous touches and backed up with a profound knowledge of history and science. He was also renowned for his popular (and meticulously researched) novels of historical fiction, and his authoritative non-fiction books in many fields.

Now, Hugo Award-winner and best-selling author Harry Turtledove has gathered together today's top writers and invited them to write stories in the same humorous adventure vein which de Camp practically invented.

On board are Poul Anderson, Frederik Pohl, David Drake, Judith Tarr, Esther M. Friesner, Lawrence Watt-Evans, S.M. Stirling, Michael F. Flynn, Harry Turtledove himself, and more, including a personal remembrance of de Camp by Robert Silverberg. The result is a volume worthy of the Grand Master himself, and certain to enchant the reader—completely.

The Masters Praise a Fellow Master:

"Consistently humorous . . . he fills his stage with such authentic detail that empathy is built and never broken."
—Robert A. Heinlein

"[De Camp is the epitome of science fiction in all possible ways."
—Isaac Asimov

"He was an extraordinary writer, a pillar of our field . . . de Camp was one of the shapers of modern science fiction . . . [and] a superb storyteller."
—Robert Silverberg

Two Complete Novels in the Popular Videssos Series.

The Stolen Throne
The fragile peace between the Empire of Videssos and the nation of Makuran had shattered. War came, and the King of Makuran lay dead on the field of battle. Worse, a power-mad minister had seized the throne and the rightful heir had disappeared.

Abivard, son of a Makuran lord who also had fallen in the same battle, realized that his only hope of saving his family and his land was to find the missing heir, though that would mean he would be branded traitor and become the target of every armed man who served the usurper—and of his nation's most powerful sorcerers.

Abrivard's only hope lay in the form of a perplexing prophecy of a field, a hill, and a shield shining across the sea. If the prophecy was true, it might lead him to the rightful ruler of Makuran—but first, he would have to survive long enough to solve its riddle.

Hammer and Anvil
The once-mighty Empire of Videssos had a despot on its throne, the pretender Genesios who enjoyed the opulent wealth at his command while barbarian attackers and invading enemies ravaged Videssos' borders. Some wondered if Videssos would even exist before many more years had passed.

None within the empire dared oppose Genesios, but young Maniakes, exiled with his father to a faraway island, raised a military force and set out to liberate his homeland. The forces against him were formidable, he faced Videssos' external foes as well as the legions of the tyrant, and a former friend would prove to be his most dangerous enemy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hugo-winner, New York Times best-selling author, and historian—Harry Turtledove is equally renowned in science fiction for his rigorously thought-out alternate history novels and in fantasy for his tales of the supernatural placed in historically accurate settings. For Baen, he has written the alternate American Civil War fantasy trilogy comprising Sentry Peak, Marching Through Peachtree, and Advance and Retreat, as well as The Case of the Toxic Spell Dump, and the popular "Gerin the Fox" series, Wisdom of the Fox and Tale of the Fox. He has also written the Ingram bestseller Guns of the South and the genre bestsellers in the "Worldwar" series for Del Rey.

Abrivard, marshal of Makuran, has been given an impossible task by his King: destroy the mighty Empire of Videssos. Even as he pondered how to obey, Videssos's legions are on the march, attacking Makuran first. Abrivard finds himself fighting a defensive war, putting his great battle skills to the task of driving the invaders from his home, the land of the Thousand Cities.

But even as he struck back at the invader, he realized that force of arms alone would not carry the day, for Videssos's powerful sorcerers were the stuff of legend, and a strong sword are could not stand against a potent battle spell which could strike the mightiest warrior dead from miles away . . .