"I want to show you marvels. Dreams, in technicolour, with sharp edges. I want to tell you something of the wonder and excitement of science: of the birth of the universe: of black holes, and cities of the future; of how man and computer may forge between them something greater than both; of worlds transformed, and how man may direct the evolution of stars. I want to show you a world that might be made."

A Step Farther Out is not science fiction—it's fact. Let Jerry Pournelle the finest science fiction writer of our time, take you on a guided tour of the wonders of our age, and of ages to come.

Read about the monstrous black hole that may be slowly devouring our galaxy... the fact and fancy of flying saucers . . . how micro-cybernetic and bio-implants will one day give you a photographic memory and the calculating power of an Einstein...

BOOK TWO IN THE CLASSIC HEOROT SERIES FROM GENRE LEGENDS LARRY NIVEN, JERRY POURNELLE, AND STEVEN BARNES.

Some twenty years have passed since the passengers and crew of the starship Geographic established a colony on the hostile alien world of Avalon. In that time, a new generation has grown up in the peace and serenity of the island paradise of Camelot, ignorant of the Great Grendel Wars fought between their parents and grandparents and the monstrous inhabitants of Avalon.

Now, under the influence of a charismatic leader, a group of young rebels makes for the mainland, intent on establishing their own colony, sure that they can vanquish any foe that should stand in their way.

But they will soon discover that Avalon holds darker secrets still.

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 . . .

IT ALL HAPPENED SO FAST

One minute the two space Hab astronauts were scoop-diving the atmosphere, the next they'd been shot down over the North Dakota Glacier and were the object of a massive manhunt by the United States government.

That government, dedicated to saving the environment from the evils of technology, had been voted into power because everybody knew that the Green House Effect had to be controlled, whatever the cost. But who would have thought that the cost of ending pollution would include not only total government control of day-to-day life, but the onset of a new Ice Age

Stranded in the anti-technological heartland of America, paralyzed by Earth's gravity, the "Angels" had no way back to the Space Habs, the last bastions of high technology and intellectual freedom on or over the Earth. But help was on its way, help from the most unlikely sources ....

Join # 1 national bestsellers Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle and Michael Flynn in a world where civilization is on the ropes, and the environmentalists have created their own worst nightmare: A world of

Men first saw the invader as a series of dots on astronomical plates. It moved in a way that meant it was operating under power, heading from Saturn directly toward Earth. And since no life was possible on Saturn or its moons, the ship had to be a visitor from another star.

The aliens were coming!

Mankind's frantic efforts to signal the invader went unanswered. First contact came when the aliens blasted the Soviet space station and seized the survivors, following that by destroying every dam and major installation on Earth by a rain of asteroids from space. Then the Snouts descended on Kansas, demanding servile sur-render or death for all humans.

Thus begins a war of indescribable violence and incredible destruction, with the outcome in doubt until the final page.

Caught up in the conflict of this magnificently conceived and detailed novel are dozens of truly memorable characters: Harry, who crossed half a ruined continent to save another man's wife; Harpanet, the alien who gave his allegiance to humanity; Jenny, who brought the news of the invader and was caught up in the President's councils; Congressman Wes Dawson, who, captured by aliens, tried to serve both sides; and a host of others—both human and alien.

This is how it could happen— in a novel never to be forgotten!

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 . . .

HIGHER EDUCATION

When a misfired practical joke gets him kicked out of school, Rick Luban thinks he has nowhere to go but down. Instead, he gets a second chance—and a whole new life—when he signs up for a career in asteroid mining. Life in space proves more challenging than Rick expected. Competition is heated between the new recruits of Vanguard Mining, and the harsh realities of space allow absolutely no room for error. On his way to a brighter future, Rick faces ever more demanding tests, as well as the very real dangers of sabotage and murder....

For most of history, most of mankind has either lived under imperial rule or has wanted to; or has been locked in struggle with empire. It is true today. In this, the supposed age of democracy, both China and the Soviet Union have imperial governments. Both are expanding; between them they encompass more than half the populations of the world. Nor are things so stable at home. Many books, written by liberal and conservative alike, note the drift of the United States toward imperial forms. The President of the United States holds, with his red and gold telephones, control of more power than was ever held by any man throughout history.

Blessing or curse, savior or destroyer: the shadow of empire falls across the Earth even in this enlightened age.

Humans must have government. If they do not have it, they will create it. But what kind In Volume I of the Imperial Stars series best-selling author Jerry Pournelle set out to find the answer. His reluctant conclusion: that throughout history, no matter in what form they began, all governments become empires—or are conquered by them. From Babylon, to Persia, to Rome, to the U.S.S.R.: no matter how high the founding ideals, the end is ever tyranny.

Or is there possibly one form of government that can withstand the curse of power and yet be strong enough to try conclusions with imperial legions . . .

Democracies endure until the citizens care more for what the state can give them than for its ability to defend rich and poor alike; until they care more for their privileges than their responsibilities; until they learn they can vote themselves largess from the public treasury and use the state as an instrument for plundering, first, those who have wealth, then those who create it.

The American people seem to be learning that fatal lesson. The last forty years have seen the United States reject the temptations of empire, but nearly succumb to the seductions of democracy. We have reached the abyss, but not yet taken the last step over it. The survival of freedom itself is at stake; and that future is by no means certain.

Empires do not grow old gracefully. As the edifice of ancient government succumbs to entropy, as civil war reigns, and upstart nations encroach upon the elder government's prerogatives and borders, the result is indeed "interesting times," the times of interstellar Huns locked in mortal combat with Imperial storm troopers. The times of

THE CRASH OF EMPIRE

Reluctantly volunteering for a dangerous mission, Captain Rick Galloway and his men are cut off in hostile territory when the CIA pulls out their support, an event that is further complicated when an alien spaceship arrives.

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!

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.

THE HELOT WAR—PART II

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.

For Sale: Secrets.
No offer too small No deal too dirty—
or too dangerous

Just when Paul Crane thought he'd gotten rid of the CIA... they're back.
There are two kinds of outlaws, and Crane is the patriotic kind. If he can help smash a Chinese spy ring by playing traitor, so be it.

The problem is, the CIA neglected to tell the FBI he's just playing. And they're playing for keeps...

DON'T MISS THE AUTHOR'S RED HEROIN

Wanted: Single man. West Coast native. Independent. Intelligent. Must be able to handle boat, car, gun.

A Red Chinese espionage operation is looking for a few good men.

So is the CIA, which must infiltrate and destroy the Reds before they get started.

Enter Paul Crane. Rebellious, but hip enough to know which side he's on.

Paul won't get rich in this job but he sure as hell won't get bored. It's the most dangerous sting of the century and he's the stinger . . .

FIRST IN A TWO NOVEL ESPIONAGE ADVENTURE SERIES

COMING SOON: RED DRAGON

THE LONG-AWAITED CONCLUSION OF THE HEOROT SERIES FROM GENRE LEGENDS LARRY NIVEN, JERRY POURNELLE, AND STEVEN BARNES

Avalon was thriving. The cold sleep colonists from Earth had settled on a verdant, livable world. The fast and cunning predators humans named "grendels" were under control, and the mainland outposts well established. Avalon's new mainland hydroelectric power station was nearly complete, and when on-line would compensate for the nuclear power systems lost in the Grendel Wars. Humans would have power, and with power came the ability to make all the necessities for life. They would survive.

They would not survive as a spacefaring people.

What they were losing faster than they knew was the ability to get to space. But unbeknownst to the planet-bound humans, something was moving out there in the stars, decelerating at a rate impossible for a natural object. And its destination was Avalon. The most probable origin was Earth's Solar System.

This is a novel of first contact—between the human Starborn and the self-named Godsons who followed on, between the first generation of Avalon born humans and their descendants, and between humans and the almost ineffably alien species native to their new world. . . .

Kip has a secret. A young boy who lives with his uncle at Starswarm Station research outpost on planet Paradise, he has heard a voice in his head for as long as he can remember. The voice guides him in all his decisions, helping him through situations with useful information and helpful insight. One day, finally daring to ask the voice some tough questions, Kip discovers that his computer scientist parents implanted an artificial intelligence chip in his skull, which connects with a powerful mainframe computer via satellite. He also learns that his parents died under suspicious circumstances. And that his very existence is a well-kept secret that will soon come to light, putting his own life and the whole of outpost Starswarm in grave danger.

"Page-turning action and suspense, good characterization, and convincing setting."
—The Denver Post on The Legacy of Heorot

"Heart-pounding excitement....A story as relentless as the great white shark of Jaws . . . . A page-turner."
—Locus on The Legacy of Heorot

SHORT STORIES BY A MASTER OF SCIENCE FICTION! Includes over a dozen stories by SF legend Jerry Pournelle, and remembrances by Pournelle collaborators and admirers.

For the better part of five decades, Jerry Pournelle's name has been synonymous with hard-hitting science fiction. His Falkenberg's Legion stories and Janissaries series helped define the military sf genre, as did his work as editor on the There Will Be War series of anthologies. With frequent collaborator Larry Niven, he co-wrote the genre-defining first contact novel The Mote in God's Eye, which was praised by Robert A. Heinlein as "possibly the greatest science fiction novel I have ever read."

Now, for the first time, all of Pournelle's best short work has been collected in a single volume. Herein you will find over a dozen short stories, each with a new introduction by editor and longtime Pournelle assistant John F. Carr, as well as essays and remembrances by Pournelle collaborators and admirers.