The Mercenary . . . The Mote in God's Eye . . . King David's Spaceship . . . it all began with
HIGH JUSTICE
High Justice begins Jerry Pournelle's own Future History, a universe which he shared with Larry Niven in their collaborative novel, The Mote in God's Eye. Here we see, with all the vivid detail for which Pournelle is known, the Fall of the West, and how in its death throes it gave birth to a society that would conquer the stars themselves, as real people battle desperate odds, both for their own survival and for something more—for
INTRODUCING JOHN CHRISTIAN FALKENBERG —THE MERCENARY
Sooner or later, all civilizations age and decline, grow senile and die—either by conquest from without, or from internal rot. The final days of Western Civilization are signaled by the joining of the USA and the USSR into a ruthless and imperial state that spans first the Earth and then the Solar System. But, because it fails to hold the loyalty of its soldiers, it falters at the stars.
As well as carrying the CoDominium Future History into the galactic period, West of Honor introduces Jerry Pournelle's most important and influential character, John Christian Falkenberg.
"A military novel of the future as it ought to be told—by a man who knows not just the military and the future but the great art of storytelling."—Gordon R. Dickson
WHY HAS JOHN CHRISTIAN FALKENBERG THROWN MILLIONS OF PEOPLE ON DOZENS OF PLANETS INTO TURMOIL
Because he's given up the brilliant military career he's known since age fifteen to fight on his own.
Because he's a legend to the Earth-bound, a mastermind to his soldiers, an enigma to the politicians who buy his services.
But mostly because he's John Christian Falkenberg.
"THE MERCENARY is more than a good science-fiction adventure yarn.... It's both refreshing and thought-provoking."—Poul Anderson
"A rousing adventure, yet with something to say about the old-fashioned virtues — courage and honor - in the far future"—Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
"A classic of its kind, and a must for sheer enjoyment" —T. R. Fehrenbach, author of This Kind of War
For a century the Americans and Soviets had maintained an uneasy alliance based on the CoDominium, a world order in which no other power or combination of powers could threaten their mutual hegemony. Thus did the Americans and Russians learn to live at peace with each other.
But nothing lasts forever: the CoDominium's energies are nearly spent, and internal conflicts are ripping it apart. The future belongs to colony worlds like Sparta-if they can survive the death-throes of Earth's civilization.
To do that they will need men who understand the art of war, men like mercenary commander John Christian Falkenberg, and Lysander, Prince of Sparta—the first
Prince of Mercenaries
This is their story, as told by Jerry Pournelle, best-selling author of military science fiction.
Stranger, go and tell the Spartans That we lie here, obedient to their commands.
Since the late 20th century, the Soviet-American CoDominium had kept the peace, both on Earth and among the stars. But now the CoDominium is dying, and its death-throes will be terrible; already the nations arm for their final battle. With Earth doomed, mankind's sole hope for a future worth having rests on a planet called Sparta, a planet where American idealists have raised once more the banner of a liberty that has been forgotten amid the corruptions and tyrannies of Earth.
The Spartans know that they must be strong to survive; that is why they hired John Christian Falkenberg and his Legion to train them. What the Spartans do not know is that Falkenberg's enemies have become their own—that Grand Senator Bronson's techno-ninja will follow the Legion to Sparta, and there wreak a terrible vengeance aimed at ending the Spartan experiment before it has fairly begun . . .
Together the new Royal Spartan Army and its instructors, the 5th Battalion of Falkenberg's Mercenary Legion, have defeated the initial assault of Grand Senator Bronson's terrorist hordes and their techno-ninja allies. But Bronson's hatred of Sparta and the Legion was as strong as ever; thanks to his limitless wealth and high office, the Helots were able to reform, retreat—and fight again.
This time they are doing better.
Besieged within, blockaded by the CoDominium without, Sparta grimly fights to preserve its precious experiment in liberty. But just as it seems that the Spartans and their allies might prevail, Bronson has supplied his minions with a battle plan that will bring something worse than a Helot victory: Codename Endlosung-Final Solution.
THE YEAR IS 3013 THE IMPERIAL NAVY HAS INVADED PRINCE SAMUAL'S WORLD . . .
The superior weaponry of the CoDominium Empire has brought unity to the Samualans — at the cost of their liberty.
Their last bid for freedom is to create a space program. But the knowledge to build a starship is extinct.
Colonel Nathan MacKinnie, leads a daring raid to steal these secrets from the planet of Makassar, where the key to space technology is guarded by Temple priests.
MacKinnie battles across the universe, to wrest away the knowledge left by the first settlers who traversed the void of space from a planet called Old Earth. To live in peace they must fight for ancient secrets. To gain their freedom they must build . . .
"POSSIBLY THE FINEST SCIENCE FICTION NOVEL I HAVE EVER READ." — Robert Heinlein
"AS SCIENCE FICTION, ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT NOVELS EVER PUBLISHED." —San Francisco Chronicle
Writing separately, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are responsible for a number of science fiction classics, such as the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning RINGWORLD, DEBT OF HONOR and THE INTEGRAL TREES.
Together they have written the critically-acclaimed bestsellers INFERNO, FOOTFALL, and THE LEGACY OF HEOROT, among others.
THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE is their acknowledged masterpiece, an epic novel of mankind's first encounter with alien life that transcends the genre.
Eighteen years in the making—here at last is the sequel to one of the most acclaimed science fiction novels of our time, THE MOTE IN GOD'S EYE.
Robert Heinlein called it "possibly the finest science fiction novel I have ever read." The San Francisco Chronicle declared that "as science fiction, The Mole in God's Eye is one of the most important novels ever published." Now Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, award-winning authors of such bestsellers as Footfall and The Legacy of Heorot, return us to the Mote, and to the universe of Kevin Renner and Horace Bury, of Rod Blaine and Sally Fowler.
There, twenty-five years have passed since the second Empire of man quarantined the mysterious aliens known only as Moties within the confines of their own solar system. Humanity's finest minds have spent the past quarter century analyzing and agonizing over the deadly threat posed by the only aliens mankind has ever encountered—a race divided into distinct biological forms, each serving a different function. Master. Mediator. Engineer. Warrior. Each supremely adapted to its task, yet doomed by millions of years of evolution to an inescapable fate. For the Moties must breed—or die.
And the single wall standing between them and the galaxy beyond is beginning to crumble. . . .
Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle are the bestselling authors of The Mote in God's Eye, Footfall, Lucifer's Hammer, Oath of Fealty, and Inferno. Niven, a Hugo and Nebula Award winner, is also the author of the Ringworld series and many other novels. Dr. Pournelle is the Chairman of the Citizen's Advisory Council on National Space Policy and is the author of numerous science fact and fiction works.
