Fanglith

When a pair of political refugees is stranded on the galaxy's most barbaric planet, their son and daughter must save them—both from their Thought—Police pursuers and the terrible warriors of nth-century Earth. Aided only by their ship's computer and a telepathic wolf, their first task is to rescue their mother from a nunnery.

The planet is primitive and incredibly violent. They don't know the language, customs, or taboos. The Thought Police are hot on their trail. But they are smart and resourceful-and they do have an espwolf with them...

"The author has done his historical homework with unusual thoroughness, painting a vivid picture of the eleventh-century Normans—impossible to scare, hard to kill, and quite ready to match wits with 'demons' from outer space. Highly recommended for adventure-SF collections."—Booklist

Favorite Tales

This is a one-of-a-kind collection of short stories by John Dalmas that he has selected as his personal favorites. All the stories have been previously published in Analog, Fantasy & Science Fiction, Pulphouse, The Saint Magazine, and in several anthologies. For this edition, Dalmas has prefaced each story with amusing tales of how they were conceived and developed, and how they got published, giving insight into how a prolific and respected author of science fiction approaches the job of writing.

SURRENDER WAS NOT AN OPTION

 After centuries of horrible high-tech wars, galactic humanity had at last emerged from The Time of Troubles, firm in the belief that nothing was preferable to war, convinced indeed that to believe otherwise was psychotic. But soon the Commonwealth of Worlds is going to need every "psychotic" it can get its hands on—because trouble is heading straight at them in the form of more than 14,000 warships from somewhere.

Every inhabited planet that armada encounters is wiped clean of human life to make room for alien colonists. Either humans will again learn how to be soldiers, and quickly, or humanity will join the dinosaurs as an interesting extinct species.

"Too many military SF novels ignore the essential unevenness and tragedy of war. . . . John Dalmas knows better. His Soldiers have both courage and heart." —David Brin, Hugo Winner and author of Earth and Startide Rising

 "Slam bang action . . . with a heart and soul. . . ." —William C. Dietz, author of By Force of Arms

MYSTIC EARTH WARRIORS
VS. ALIEN CULTS OF CHAOS

After a global war had crippled Earth's civilization, lizard-like aliens had thought they would have no trouble in moving in and taking over. That was a big mistake—secret galactic agents had been training the mystic warriors of Earth to defend themselves against just such a power grab. The alien sociopaths had expected the low-tech humans to be easy pickings, but instead they found they had stumbled into a buzz saw, and were soon driven off.

Luis Raoul DenUyl had been only a young recruit in the warrior brotherhood, but still played a pivotal role in what some called The Lizard War. Now, years later, he has just completed his training—and not a moment too soon. The Helverti, furry but definitely not cute aliens, were members of a cult that revered chaos and tried to spread it throughout the galaxy. To that end, they plan to plunge the different tribes of humanity into war. It's mystic warriors vs. alien technology— and the Earthlings are not as weak as they appear....

"A polished and inventive writer." —Spider Robinson

"An outstanding science fiction novelist." —Rave Reviews

"... will keep the reader guessing—and turning pages—to the very end." —West Coast Review of Books

Further Background:

On September 1, 1983, a South Korean airliner was shot down by a Soviet fighter plane, killing 269 people. At a point when Earth was already being studied by an advanced space civilization the resulting events gave rise to an alternate time line. Consequences of that singular event captured the attention of the alien's Cultural Oversight Bureau, and also, after a time, of some sociopathic chaos cults. It also gave rise to a Zen-like warrior brotherhood known as the Order of Saint Higuchi.

A HOLY CRUSADE AGAINST
THE WORLDS OF THE REGIMENT!

The White Regiment had driven back the soldiers of the Karghanik Empire, but the Kalif was certain he could succeed in bringing the true faith of the Prophet of Kargh to the Confederation—even if he had to bombard the infidels' planets with nuclear weapons to do it!

His plan began with the construction of a huge invasion fleet of spaceships. But before he could invade other worlds, he would have to thwart a conspiracy in his own ranks that was planning to replace him with a more tractable figurehead . . .

Intrigue and adventure in the universe of The Regiment and The White Regiment!

It's a thousand years after World War III and Earth lies supine beneath the heel of a gang of alien sociopaths (they look like snakes with legs) who like to torture whole populations for sport. The Lizards could not have conquered us in our heyday, but our heyday was long gone when they stumbled upon us; the 16th century level of technology they found here was relatively easy to squelch.

What was not so easy to squelch was the mystic warrior sects that had evolved in the meantime. What should have been a simple mopping up operation to pacify the wilderness becomes—

AFTER THE APOCALYPSE

After Apocalypse it will take centuries for Earth to rebuild a civilization--violent, hard centuries in which only the strong and those they protect will survive. In the bloody world of the neovikings, a powerful telepathic tyrant named Kazi is moving west against Europe with an irresistible army of Orcs at his back. The only hope of peace for the rest of the world is for Nils Jarnhann, the Yngling, to infiltrate Kazi's forces and assassinate him.

But neither Nils nor Kazi are aware that men from a star colony established by Earth centuries ago are about to return from the stars--or whose side they will take in the coming clash. . . .

***

Published previously in parts as The Yngling and Homecoming.

The Private Eye had a Mind of His Own

"An outstanding writer." —C. J. Cherryh

In an alternate time line, a breakthrough in basic physics has catapulted technology centuries ahead in only a few years. Everyday life has become very different, but crime always goes on, and criminals have found new ways to steal and murder and cover their tracks. It hasn't made life any easier for private eye Martti Seppanen, in a Los Angeles that Philip Marlowe would barely recognize.

Murder is still murder, but the weapon may be a bioengineered disease, the murderer may be someone who can control other people mentally, and the victim may be someone whose legal status as a human is in limbo, and whose existence is a government secret. But when Seppanen is on the case, it gets solved, with legwork, with muscle, and often with the help of some unusual friends-one of them much more than a friend-with their own very unusual mental powers.

Praise for John Dalmas:

"Dalmas is a polished and inventive writer." -Spider Robinson

"An outstanding science fiction novelist.." -Rave Reviews

"He creates a variety of believable and interesting characters and involves them in a story that will keep the reader guessing-and turning pages-to the very end." -West Coast Review of Books

DANGEROUS REPTILES

For millennia after the collapse of the great galactic empire in a war that destroyed hundreds of whole planets, the surviving worlds of the Confederation had permitted no new scientific research. The resultant stagnation was considered an acceptable price, since it meant no new weapons of war would be developed, and wars could be confined to disputes between nations on a single planet. But when one of their colony planets was discovered by warships from the Caliphate, another surviving group of planets with technology far superior to anything the Confederation possessed, the Confederation discovered that they had made a fatal mistake. Only the nearly superhuman abilities of the Tyss-trained White Regiment had driven off the attackers. But now the Caliphate is returning in force, with a vast fleet warships, determined to conquer the Confederation.

And there is a third player. Between the regions of the galaxy separating the two forces is a third empire of reptilian beings who were attacked without provocation by an earlier Caliphate incursion—and who make no distinction between one group of humans and another. They are determined to eliminate this dangerous ape species from the galaxy once and for all.

The Caliphate thinks it has the element of complete surprise, as do the lizardlike aliens. But the mystic warriors of Tyss have made mental contact with both fleets, and they have a plan which is the only hope to avert a second galaxy-wide war, a war that could shatter the worlds of all three sides.