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.

LARRY NIVEN’S KNOWN SPACE IS AFLAME WITH WAR!

Once upon a time, in the very earliest days of interplanetary exploration, an unarmed human vessel was set upon by a warship from the planet Kzin—home of the fiercest warriors in Known Space. This was a fatal mistake for the Kzinti, of course; they learned the hard way that the reason humanity had decided to study war no more was that humans were so very, very good at it.

And thus began THE MAN-KZIN WARS. Now, several centuries later, the Kzinti are about to get yet another lesson in why it pays to be polite to those hairless monkeys from planet Earth.

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!

Those war-crazed fur-balls from the planet Kzin just won’t give up, even though the canny pseudo-pacifists from Planet Earth cut through the Kzinti like a laser through catmeat (once the humans rediscovered old technologies and old instincts that never quite bred out). The ferocious Kzinti never seemed to be able to come up with a more complicated strategy than “Scream and Leap.”

But after three hard-fought wars, a few of the powerful pussycats have learned from their foes. Now, they are ready, and all that stands between freedom and a feline-filled universe is the human race. Good luck, monkey-boys.

Welcome to the hottest pocket in Larry Niven’s Known Space: the time of the assault on pacifist humanity by berserker felinoids from the planet Kzin. This time humanity’s representatives to the Warrior Race are Donald Kingsbury, Greg Bear, and Steve Stirling. As is traditional in this war for species survival, in all cases “monkey cleverness” (i.e., human cunning) is more than a match for felinoid ferocity. But as is also traditional, victory never comes cheap to those out on the sharp edge of The Man-Kzin Wars.

THOSE KZIN DON'T KNOW WHEN
THEY'RE LICKED
(AND MAYBE THEY AREN'T . . . .)

It was so unfair! Here the Kzin were, warcats supreme, bringing the galaxy piece by piece under feline dominion, carving out satrapies for the home planet like the lords of creation that they were—and then they ran into those pesky humans. Mere apes! Contemptible salad-eaters! Taking pride in sneaking up on a leaf! Obviously fit only to be lunch, not even a speed bump in the Kzinti's imperial career. Hardly worth screaming-and-leaping about.

But when the feline Kzin moved in to take over the monkey-occupied worlds—they got clobbered. The humans, with their underhanded monkey cunning, turned communications equipment and space drives into weapons that cut the dauntless Heroes into ribbons. When the humans gained a faster-than-light drive, it `vas all over but the, uh, howling. The Kzin had lost their first war ever in centuries of conquest.

Still, you can't keep a good warcat down, and the Kzin have by no means given up. New weapons, new strategies, and new leaders—the humans had better keep their powder dry. Once again, it's howling time in Known Space!

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

New York Times bestselling author and multiple award-winner Larry Niven is author of the Hugo and Nebula Award winning Ringworld, a novel recognized as a milestone in modern science fiction. Like Ringworld and its sequels, The Ringworld Engineers and The Ringworld Throne, the Man-Kzin books are part of the Known Space series, possibly the most popular SF series of all time.

Poul Anderson, a seven-time Hugo Award winner, three-time Nebula Award winner, and recipient of the Grand Master Award of the Science Fiction Writers of America for lifetime achievement, has been both popular and prolific for five decades, creating Nicholas van Rijn and Sir Dominic Flandry, two of the most memorable characters in science fiction, and publishing over one hundred books.

Paul Chafe was born in Toronto, Ontario in 1965. Currently he is pursuing graduate studies in Electrical Engineering at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is an infantry officer in the Canadian forces Reserve and has served with four regiments. When he isn't writing he devotes his spare time to flying sailplanes, parachuting, cycling and travel. He has one son, Christian, who is 8.

Hal Colebatch lives in a suburb of Perth, Australia, where he practices law. His recent book, Blair's Britain, was selected by the London Spectator's Taki as a book of the year. In addition to his earlier stories in the ManKzin saga, he has written mainstream fiction, biographies, plays, poetry, and several hundred articles. He has a Ph.D in Political Science, and has been an advisor to two Australian Federal Ministers. He is married and has two stepchildren.

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE

A Kzin's instinctively combative responses make for poor diplomatic relations between species. But now that their "first you scream and then you leap" approach to interstellar relations have led to three straight losses to the hairless hominidae of Sol III, there has begun to arise in Kzinti consciousness the faintest glimmering that there may be a Better Way. And in the resulting calm between wars, humans and Kzin are beginning to collaborate.

Now the Universe really has something to worry about.

It's Howling Time in Known Space again!
 Back to the Frontlines of the
Top Selling Space War in All of
Science Fiction.

The first colonists from Earth named the planet Wunderland. Generations later, the felinoid invaders called Kzin came and turned it into a hell for humans. Touched on in other accounts of the Man-Kzin wars, here for the first time is the decades-long saga of Wunderland: How the Wunderlanders first learned of the Kzin attacks on Earth by slower-than-light communications, barely in time to prepare to fight back. How valiant human defenders turned to guerilla warfare in the Wunderland jungles and caves after the feline warrior race had destroyed or seized the cities. And what happened after the Kzin suffered an ignominous defeat. Many humans wanted revenge and many Kzin still saw humans as just an annoying food source. Was the war really over. . .

"[Larry Niven is ] a writer of supreme talent." —Tom Clancy

"[The Man-Kzin Wars series is] excellent . . . gripping . . . expands well on Larry Niven's universe. . . ."
—Locus

"Well, you know the drill by now. Scream and leap to your nearest bookstore . . . they are going to sell out fast."
—Rave Reviews

"Masterful handling of hard SF embedded within a rich background of character and plot."
—Quantum

The Kzin were the mightiest warriors in the galaxy, which they were wasting no time in conquering, one star system at a time. Then those feline lords of creation ran into those ridiculous weed-eating pacifistic apes who called themselves humans. And the catlike Kzin found they had their collective tail caught in a meat grinder. When the mighty Kzin moved in to take over the monkey-infested worlds, they got clobbered. The humans, with their underhanded monkey cunning, turned communications equipment and space drives into weapons that cut the dauntless Kzin heroes into ribbons. And then those underhanded humans gained a faster-than-light drive, and no amount of screaming and leaping could keep the Kzin from losing their first war in centuries of successful conquest. But you can't keep a good warcat down, and the Kzin have by no means given up. New weapons, new strategies, and new leaders. Here they come again and those monkey-boys from Earth had better watch their backs. Once again, it's howling time in Known Space!

Howl Down the Galaxy!

The plan: wipe out and enslave those weed-eating, monkey-spawn humans and march on toward galactic domination!  Easy, right   Not quite.  Now the smarter Kzin see the writing on the wall and form alliances of convenience with humans.   But the battle rage on!  A strange OLD world seemingly settled by pre-Romans is about to have the honor of Kzin enslavement—unless a human and mercenary-Kzin team can stop it.  A human secret agent with wiped memories must evade a Kzin assassin until he can rediscover his mission and  save himself.  And a Kzin horde is racing toward a huge anti-matter cache in deep space as one reluctant human protector stands against this ultimate threat!

A hard-hitting, spellbinding addition to the 'Man-Kzin Wars' shared universe created by multiple New York Times best-seller, incomparable tale-spinner, and Nebula- and five-time Hugo-Award-winner, Larry Niven!

"[The Man-Kzin Wars series is] excellent . . .gripping . . .and expands well on Larry Niven's universe . . . ."
—Locus

Larry Niven's bestselling Man-Kzin series continues! The kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, had a hard time dealing with their ignominious defeat by the leaf-eating humans. Some secretly hatched schemes for a rematch, others concentrated on gathering power within the kzin hierarchy, and some shamefully cooperated with the contemptible humans, though often for hidden motives. In war and in uneasy peace, kzin and humans continue their adventures with a masterful addition to the Man-Kzin Wars shared universe created by multiple New York Times best seller, incomparable tale-spinner, and Nebula- and five-time Hugo-Award-winner, Larry Niven. Stories by Jane Lindskold, Charles E. Gannon, and more.

Larry Niven’s bestselling Man-Kzin series continues! The kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, had a hard time dealing with their ignominious defeat by the leaf-eating humans. Some secretly hatched schemes for a rematch, others concentrated on gathering power within the kzin hierarchy, and some shamefully cooperated with the contemptible humans, though often for hidden motives. In war and in uneasy peace, kzin and humans continue their adventures with a masterful addition to the Man-Kzin Wars shared universe created by multiple New York Times best-seller, incomparable tale-spinner, and Nebula- and five-time Hugo-Award-winner, Larry Niven.

About the Man-Kzin War Series:
“[The Man-Kzin Wars series is] excellent . . .gripping . . .and expands well on Larry Niven’s universe. . . .” –Locus

About series creator Larry Niven:
“Niven’s masterly use of SF strategies hits every note. . .“–Los Angeles Times

THE POPULAR MAN-KZIN WARS SERIES ROARS BACK INTO ACTION! New stories of the war between humanity and the catlike kzin from Brad R. Torgersen, Brendan DuBois, Martin L. Shoemaker, and more!

The predatory warrior race known as the kzin never had a hard time dealing with all those they encountered, conquering alien worlds with little effort. That is until they came face to face with the leaf-eaters known as humans. Small of stature and lacking both claws and fangs, the humans should have been easy prey. But for years now the humans and the kzin have been engaged in a series of wars, with neither side able to declare decisive victory once and for all.

A new collection of short stories set in the Man-Kzin Wars shared universe created by multiple New York Times best-seller, incomparable tale-spinner, and Nebula- and five-time Hugo-Award-winner, Larry Niven.

Complete Contributor List:
Brad R. Torgersen
Brendan DuBois
Martin L. Shoemaker
Hal Colebach
Jessica Q. Fox
Jason Fregeau

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. . . .

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

The two hundred colonists on board the Geographic have spent a century in cold sleep to arrive here: Avalon, a lush, verdant planet lightyears from Earth. They hope to establish a permanent colony, and Avalon seems the perfect place. And so they set about planting and building.

But their very presence has upset the ecology of Avalon. Soon an implacable predator stalks them, picking them off one by one. In order to defeat this alien enemy, they must reevaluate everything they think they know about Avalon, and uncover the planet's dark secrets.

A special commemoration of this long‑running themed science fiction anthology edited by multiple #1 best seller, Larry Niven. Here is the 25th anniversary edition of the original volume that started it all. Includes an all‑new introduction by Larry Niven for this re‑issue of the first volume in a series that now numbers fourteen volumes and is still going strong.

Larry Niven’s bestselling Man‑Kzin series begins! The kzin, formerly invincible conquerors of all they encountered, had a hard time dealing with their ignominious defeat by the leaf‑eating humans. Some secretly hatched schemes for a rematch, others concentrated on gathering power within the kzin hierarchy, and some shamefully cooperated with the contemptible humans, though often for hidden motives. In war and in uneasy peace, here is the first masterful volume in the Man‑Kzin Wars shared universe anthology created by multiple New York Times best‑seller, incomparable tale‑spinner, and Nebula‑ and five‑time Hugo‑Award‑winner, Larry Niven.

A thrilling stand‑alone novel addition to the long‑running, popular Man‑Kzin Wars series created by New York Times multiple best seller, Larry Niven.

“Ah, the wealth o’ the treasure planet be beyond the dreams of Man or the hopes o’ Kzin!”

On Wunderland, a generation after Liberation, memories of the bloody kzin conquest and Occupation have faded, and men and kzin live largely in peace. But the fabulous treasure of the kzin pirates, hidden on a distant world, remains a magnet for freebooters. Young Peter Cartwright and his kzinrett friend Marthar receive information and map from a most unlikely source and soon themselves fighting the most ruthless pirates in Known Space for an unimaginable prize.

Listen to the authors discuss the book here on the Baen Free Radio Hour.

"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 . . .

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.

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

The two hundred colonists on board the Geographic have spent a century in cold sleep to arrive here: Avalon, a lush, verdant planet lightyears from Earth. They hope to establish a permanent colony, and Avalon seems the perfect place. And so they set about planting and building.

But their very presence has upset the ecology of Avalon. Soon an implacable predator stalks them, picking them off one by one. In order to defeat this alien enemy, they must reevaluate everything they think they know about Avalon, and uncover the planet's dark secrets.