A collection of side-splitting science fiction shorts includes tales of paratrooper goblins, space cops and their politically correct alien supervisor, a band of mercenary elves, and a collaboration with Larry Niven.

The Emperor is dead, leaving only a child as successor. Will the leaders of the empire rally behind the heir? If not, interstellar civilization will once again dissolve into civil war and slide into another long night of barbarism. Book 1 of the Crisis of Empire series.

ALIEN MINDS BATTLE 
FOR BYZANTIUM

In northern India the Malwa have created an empire of unexampled evil. Guided or possessed by an intelligence from beyond time, with new weapons, old treachery, and an implacable will to power, the Malwa will sweep over the whole Earth. Only three things stand between the Malwa and their plan of eternal domination: the empire of Rome in the East, Byzantium; a crystal with vision; and a man named Belisarius, the greatest commander Earth has ever know. . . .

Balefires is the long awaited collection of David Drake's weird and fantastic fiction. Before Drake was a best-selling author of military science fiction, he was a prolific writer of horror and fantasy short fiction. Balefires collects some of his earliest professional sales (including his first sale to Arkham House).

In addition Balefires brings together many stories set in the worlds of his fantasy novels (Ranks of Bronze, Lord of the Isles, etc). More than just a collection of stories, Balefires features extensive story notes that chronicles the development of the writing career of one of science fiction's most popular writers, and provides detailed snapshots of the larger-than-life editors, publishers, and writers with whom Drake has worked throughout his career.

David Drake was born on September 24, 1945, in Dubuque, Iowa. In 1967 he graduated from the University of Iowa with a BA in History and Latin. In the same year he was married and entered Duke Law School. Drake was drafted out of law school and served in the army from 1969-1971, spending most of 1970 as an interrogator with the 11th Armored Calvary Regiment, the Blackhorse, in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake returned from Vietnam and finished law school, after which he spent eight years as Assistant Town Attorney of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. In 1980 he resigned and drove a city bus part-time for a year while doing more writing. He's been a full-time freelance writer since 1981.

Drake sold his first story ( a Lovecraftian pastiche which on rereading isn't as bad as he thought it was) to August Derleth in 1966 while still an undergraduate. He continued to sell stories in law school, the army, and while working as an attorney. His first book was published in 1979 and he has had over 60 books published since then.

Two complete novels in one volume—
the beginning of the Belisarius saga.

An Oblique Approach: In northern India the Malwa have created an empire of unexampled evil. Guided or possessed by an intelligence from beyond time, with new weapons, old treachery, and an implacable will to power, the Malwa will sweep over the whole Earth. Only three things stand between the Malwa and their plan of eternal domination: the empire of Rome in the East, Byzantium; a crystal with vision; and a man named Belisarius, the greatest commander Earth has ever known.

In the Heart of Darkness: Having conquered sixth century India, the Malwa Empire is forging the subcontinent's vast population into an invincible weapon of tyranny. Belisarius, the finest general of his age, must save the world. Guided by visions from a future that may never be, he and a band of comrades penetrate the Malwa heartland, seeking the core of the enemy's power. And when Belisarius leads the forces of good, only a fool would side with evil.

Continuing the popular Belisarius saga,
with two full-length novels in one volume.

Destiny's Shield: Evil from beyond time: The Malwa Empire squats like a toad across sixth century India, commanded by ruthless men with depraved appetites. But the thing from the distant future that commands them is far worse. Those who oppose the purulent Hell the Malwa will make of Earth have sent a crystal, Aide, to halt their advance. Aide holds all human knowledge—but cannot act by himself. That requires Count Belisarius, the greatest general fo the age and perhaps of all ages, who must outwit the evil empire—and then, when there is no longer room to maneuver, to meet it sword-edge to sword-edge, lest evil beyond human conception rules the world forever.

Fortune's Stroke: Link, the supercomputer from a future that should not, must not exist has used terror and gunpowder weapons to forge the Malwa Empire on the Indian subcontinent. Aide and Belisarius have led the armies of Byzantium and blunted the first assault of the Malwa hordes. Now he and his allies from all the world face overwhelming numbers in a ring that tightens about them. The armies of Good and Evil gathered on the fertile plains of Mesopotamia will decide the fate of the world—and the fate of all the future.

Next

The Tide of Victory: The creators of the monster called Link once were human, but that was distant ages in their past. Now, from the far future, they have sent their creation back to rule the Malwa Empire, then to conquer and shape the world of the sixth century A.D. into the form that will make their own foul existence possible. Those in the future who never were human have sent their own messenger to the past: Aide, a gleaming jewel who has come to Belisarius, the greatest general of the sixth century and perhaps any century. Between them they have forged an alliance of all the world against the evil fro the far future—and an army that can be the spear through evil's heart.

The Dance of Time: The Malwa and their evil have been driven back to their Indian heartland, but there they coil to strike again. Ruled by a monster from the future that is part computer and part demon, they prepare a fresh attack whose success will leave them rulers of the world—and the monster that guides the Malwa will rule the whole future. Guided by Aide, Belisarius has arrayed the forces of Mankind against the Malwa evil. There is no hope for Mankind if he fails—so he must not fail! The triumphant conclusion of the Belisarius saga. 

About the Authors

Eric Flint is the co-author of three New York Times best sellers in his "Ring of Fire" alternate history series. His first novel for Baen, Mother of Demons, was picked by Science Fiction Chronicle as a best novel of the year. His 1632, which launched the Ring of Fire series, won widespread critical praise, as from Publishers Weekly, which called him "an SF author of particular note, one who can entertain and edify in equal, and major, measure." A longtime labor union activist with a master's degree in history, he currently resides in northwest Indiana with his wife Lucille.

 David Drake is one of the grand masters of military science fiction, known for his best-selling Hammer's Slammers series and many other novels. A Vietnam veteran, he employs his first-hand experience with the military life and combat to give his work the vivid images and feel of battle that have won him a huge readership. He was attending Duke University Law School when he was drafted. Upon his return from the U.S. Army, he completed his law degree at Duke and was for eight years Assistant Town Attorney for Chapel Hill, North Carolina. A full-time writer since 1981, his other books for Baen include the RCN-Leary series, the latest being In the Stormy Red Sky, and the Belisarius series, written in collaboration with Eric Flint, the fourth and fifth novels of which are now combined in this volume.

ALIEN FEROCITY vs ROMAN COURAGE AS THE EMPIRE DIES

Rome, 262 A.D. It has been the capital of the greatest civilization on Earth. Now both city and civilization are dying. Germans flood across the borders from Britain to the Bosporus, leaving a trail of rape, carnage, and ashes. In the cities, mobs riot; in the countryside, cults seek salvation in dark rituals. Imperial unity has shattered into a mosaic of separatists and usurpers, squabbling among themselves as greater enemies gather to swallow them all.

One man stands between humanity and the Long Night, matching savage determination against a hopeless future. He is Aulus Prennius, an Imperial secret agent as tough and ruthless as the age in which he lives. Until now, though, his enemies have all been human...

"David Drake is one of the most gifted users of historical and military raw materials at work today."
— Chicago Sun-Times

THEIR FINEST HOUR,
OR THEIR FINAL DAYS...

The First Empire has entered what may very well be its last crisis: the Emperor is dead by assassination and has left an infant heir. Worse, the imperial mystique is but a fading memory: nobody believes in empire anymore. Indeed nobody believes in much of anything beyond the boundaries of self. There are exceptions, of course, and to those few falls the self-appointed duty of maintaining a military-civil order that is corrupt, despotic—and infinitely preferable to the barbarous chaos that will accompany its fall.

One such is commander Anson Merikur.
This is his story.

ALL HAIL THE CONQUEROR!

With the aid of a sentient battle computer from before the collapse of interstellar civilization, Raj Whitehall has come close to reuniting the entire planet of Bellevue. Because of his victories and because of the way he won them, Raj is loved by the people—and his army would follow him to Hell. Even those closest to him, his band of sworn companions and his wickedly subtle but utterly loyal wife, hold him in awe.

And that's the problem. For though Raj battles only in the name of his emperor and has proven his loyalty again and again, still the half-mad jealousy and fear of Barholm Clerett is about to give Raj no choice but to revolt or face death by torture. Raj Whitehall, Hammer of the Barbarians, Sword of the Spirit of Man, has always been ready to bear any burden, pay any price for final victory.

Now his fate is on him.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

S.M. Stirling instantly became known as a talented new writer of military SF for his highly acclaimed, widely-read "Draka" series, which began with Marching Through Georgia. His collaborative novel with Anne McCaffrey, The City Who Fought, was a national bestseller. In addition to his popular General series, written in collaboration with David Drake, he has also collaborated with Jerry Pournelle on both the best-selling Man-Kzin Wars series and the Falkenberg's Legion series, recently collected in one volume as The Prince. His alternate history series which began with Island in the Sea of Time has also been very popular. He lives with his wife in Santa Fe, NM.

Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and now bestselling author, David Drake tells a military story like no other. His readers recognize that he can take them where no one else can, with gut-wrenching description that puts them face-to-face with the enemy, and in the midst of the action right on the battlefield. He helped create the audience for mercenary military science fiction with his best-selling "Hammer's Slammers" books. Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin. His stint at Duke University Law School was interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake has a wife, a son, and various pets.

THE LONG WAY HOME

Hammer's Slammer Don Slade is coming home to the planet Tethys, to his son and the woman he loves. But the space between is dark and cold. And the stars he must pass shine their light on planets which beckon to the weary traveler, planets which hold hidden dangers.

And if Don Slade should ever reach Tethys ... that is when the real fighting starts.

"-[Drake] has developed a following for his Slammers just short of cult proportions.
-Rave Reviews

the best in military science fiction.

Hope Reborn

by David Drake and S. M. Stirling

March Upcountry

by David Weber and John Ringo

Redliners, Second Edition

by David Drake

Belisarius I: Thunder at Dawn

by David Drake and Eric Flint

Old Nathan

by David Drake

Lord of the Isles

by David Drake

The Spark

by David Drake

Starliner, Second Edition

by David Drake

Slow Train to Arcturus

by Eric Flint and Dave Freer

Night & Demons

by David Drake

Weird World War III

edited by Sean Patrick Hazlett

A NEW NOVEL IN THE NATIONALLY BEST-SELLING RCN MILITARY SF SERIES!  Leary and Mundy are back in another military science fiction adventure as they undertake a mission to a distant but critical star system.

IT'S JUST A REBELLION IN A DISTANT STAR CLUSTER.

Captain Daniel Leary thinks that his marriage will allow him to slip into the quiet role of a naval officer in peacetime. His friend, the spy and cybrarian Adele Mundy, is content to be collating data in her library. But high officials of both superpowers are involved! Those who want Daniel and Adele to become involved in the Tarbell Stars claim that only they can prevent a war between the Republic of Cinnabar and its great rival, the Alliance of Free Stars. The conflict is political, but at the sharp end it means blazing warfare and cold-blooded murder. Daniel and Adele will be at the sharp end.

The odds in ships and guns are badly in the enemy's favor. Daniel, Adele, and the crew of the Princess Cecile will do everything humanly possible, but that may not be enough against an enemy battleship. And even if Daniel and his companions succeed in battle, they can't be sure whether their employers really wanted them to win—or whether they even want them alive. All they can do is to race forward, hoping to come through into DEATH'S BRIGHT DAY.

EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME

The Malwa Empire squats like a toad across 6th century India, commanded by ruthless men with depraved appetites. The thing from the distant future that commands them is far worse.

Those who oppose the purulent Hell the Malwa will make of Earth have sent a crystal, Aide, to halt their advance. Aide holds all human knowledge-but he cannot act by himself.

Count Belisarius, the greatest general of the age and perhaps of all ages, must outwit the evil empire — and then, when there is no longer room to maneuver, to meet it sword-edge to sword-edge, because,

no matter what it costs

"It isn't often you come across a book or series you recommend to everyone. This one is an exception. Buy all the Belisarius books. Read them. No! After all, misery, loves company, and I shouldn't have to be the only one waiting this hard for number four!"
—David Drake

"The battle scenes and strategies are as expert as expected in a book with Drake's name on it. . . "
— Publishers Weekly

Henry Vickers's job is to keep clients safe from the dinosaurs they're hunting. That's the easy part. The hard part is to keep the clients safe from themselves and each other. Men with enough money to go into the past to hunt the largest land animals of all time are powerful and self‑willed. Some make an effort to act like decent human beings, but more are selfish, stupid, sadistic‑‑or all three together. The few women are likely to be worse.

Vickers doesn't expect rich people to understand the dangers of where they are and what they're doing; he doesn't expect them to be competent with the powerful rifles they carry; and he particularly doesn't expect them to be reasonable. He treats his clients' behavior as he does the rain and the baking heat‑‑the cost of having a life he loves and which he couldn't afford in any other way.

But no matter how detached Vickers tries to be, eventually there are moral questions that he can't ignore. And when Henry Vickers starts to behave like a human being instead of a hunting guide, things get really dangerous.

And in a complete change of pace: "Travellers."  An airship is crossing the United States in 1897 in search of the weird and the wonderful. The two teenagers aboard know that the airship's captain is a great scientist and inventor‑‑but they don't know how much more he is also.

All five of David Drake's time travel stories collected for the first time.

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

Lots of Soldiers Work for Civilians They don't Like,
but these Romans had It Worse than Most—
Their Commanders were Blue-Skinned Aliens!

The guilds of star-traveling merchants had strict rules to prevent their technology from falling into the hands of the natives of planets they were exploiting: military operations had to be carried out with weaponry no more complex than swords and bows.

            That was no handicap to merchant princes with a galaxy to scour for military slaves to do their fighting for them. Some came to Earth for soldiers and returned to the stars with the best the planet had to offer. For over two thousands years the aliens thought they'd succeeded brilliantly—but then things changed!

            Set in the universe of Ranks of Bronze, masterful new novellas by:

            David Drake

                        Eric Flint

                                    S. M. Stirling

                                                Mark L Van Name

                                                            and David Weber

explore the bleeding edge between human courage and the science of alien slavemasters. The right man with a sword is just as deadly as a technician with a laser—

            And not all the blood spilled is red!

ABOUT THE CREATOR

Vietnam veteran, former lawyer, former bus driver, and now famous author, David Drake tells a military story like no other. His readers recognize that he can take them where no one else can, with gut-wrenching description that puts them face-to-face with the enemy, and in the midst of the action right on the battlefield. He helped create the audience for mercenary military science fiction with his bestselling "Hammer's Slammers" books. Drake graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Iowa, majoring in history (with honors) and Latin. His stint at Duke University Law School was interrupted for two years by the U.S. Army, where he served as an enlisted interrogator with the 11th Armored Cavalry in Vietnam and Cambodia. Drake has a wife, a son, and various pets. In addition to his celebrated novels of Hammer's Slammers, his works for Baen include With the Lightnings, the prequel to Lt. Leary, Commanding, as well  Starliner, Ranks of Bronze, Redliners, the "General" series (with S.M. Stirling) and the "Belisarius" series (with Eric Flint), the latest of which is Fortune's Stroke, and many more.

EVIL FROM BEYOND TIME 
RULES THE GREATEST 
EMPIRE ON EARTH!

Link, the supercomputer from a future that should not exist, has used terror and gunpowder weapons to forge the Malwa Empire: harnessing the vast manpower of the Indian subcontinent and using the barbarian races of the periphery to bind the whole together. No power on Earth in the 6th century could stand against Link's evil.

Aide, a human soul embodied in a jewel, has come back to halt evil's progress. Aide has no power but that of truth, but truth is the only power that could move the greatest general of the age, Belisarius.

With his sword, his paladins, and his genius, Belisarius has turned the armies of Byzantium into a weapon capable of blunting the first assault of the Malwa hordes. Now, supported by allies from all the world yet free, Belisarius, with his wife and co-commander Antonia, faces overwhelming Malwa numbers in a ring that tightens about them.

There is no room for maneuver and no safety in defeat. The armies of Good and Evil gathered on the fertile plains of Mesopotamia will decide the fate of the world.

And the fate of all the future!

The Drugs of War
by J.R. Dunn Putting the Science in Science Fiction
by Tedd Roberts The Roads to the RCN Series
by David Drake The Menace from Lydia: The Social Spider as Alien Invader
by Robert E. Furey Rediscovering the Solar System
by Les Johnson The Conquest of Planet Baen
by Bob Kruger Indirectly Mistaken Decision Cycles
by Tom Kratman Do Tanks Have a Future?
by J.R. Dunn Getting Guns Right
by Michael Z. Williamson Rediscovering the Universe
by Les Johnson The Neuroscience of Darkships
by Tedd Roberts Stars That Wander, Are You Bright: Are Stars Conscious?
by Dr. Greg Matloff

In February of 2011 we started posting free nonfiction we at Baen thought might be of interest to our readers. The first article was "The Size of it All" by Les Johnson, a Baen author and space scientist. As new nonfiction is made available, it will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of nonfiction for 2015.

As is usual with such copyrighted material from Baen, the contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold. All commercial rights are reserved to Baen Books.

Eleutherios
by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Seven Miles
by T.C. McCarthy To Spec
by Charles E. Gannon Skyspark
by Ryk E. Spoor The Krumhorn and Misericorde
by Dave Freer Pittsburgh Backyard and Garden
by Wen Spencer Haunts of Guilty Minds
by John Lambshead The Lamplighter Legacy
by Patrick O'Sullivan Dog's Body
by Sarah A. Hoyt The Sorcerer of Daigawa
by Jon F. Merz Sweothi City
by Larry Correia Out of True
by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller Mars Farts
by Ben Bova The Virgin of Hertogenbosch
by David Drake Murder on the Hochflieger Ost
by Frank Chadwick

Joy to the world . . . or, joy to the worlds! Let heaven and nature—and also the supernatural—sing. A Cosmic Christmas presents twelve stories of Christmas in very unusual circumstances, ranging from vampires to robots, from the hills of Appalachia to a high orbit space station, all celebrating the holiday in their own, off-beat ways.

New York Times best-selling author Larry Correia sends his popular tough guy detective and magicwielder, Jake Sullivan, on a special case at Christmas time, while visions of tommy guns dance in the heads of the thugs he's up against. Mark L. Van Name's Lobo, an A.I. housed in a pocket battle starship, drops his usual cynical pose to help a troubled family at Christmas time. Nebula Award-winner Catherine Asaro tells of a romantic Yuletide weekend that turns into a mystery in a futuristic high-tech house. New York Times best seller Mercedes Lackey offers a Christmas ghost the likes of which Scrooge never encountered. George O. Smith, a star of the Golden Age of science fiction, is on hand with an episode from his classic Venus Equilateral series, in which a Christmas celebration on a gigantic space station is interrupted by the arrival of a ruthless interplanetary criminal, who didn't drop by to hand out presents. And much more, in a holiday package that any fan of science fiction and fantasy would be delighted to find under their tree, on any planet.

Two novels of elvish lore and modern noir.

Beyond World’s End:
Eric Banyon, elvish knight and bard, moves back to the Big Apple to finish his interrupted education at Juilliard School of Music. Soon Eric discovers that unscrupulous researchers have created a drug to unlock magical powers in humans—and something evil from Underhill plans to use those human powers to dominate World Above. But Eric is one bard who is going to let no such thing happen.

Spirits White as Lightning:
Eric Banyon has more to worry about than passing his courses at Juilliard. The evil elf lord Aerune, whose love was killed by mortal men, is determined to destroy the human race. Eric’s only hope of stopping Aerune is to trap him inside a magical maze—but first he must journey to the heart of Aerune’s realm and trick the elf lord into a deadly chase.

And Less Than Kind HEIR TO A THRONE—OR TO A GRAVE

When it became certain that Edward VI was dying, the duke of Northumberland, who had been ruling England in his name, made a plan that would let him hold onto his power. He dared not let Mary come to the throne because she was fiercely Catholic and he had espoused the Protestant cause. And he did not want Elizabeth to rule because he knew her imperious nature would never defer to him. But there was more than one puppet master at work: The evil elf lord Vidal Dhu had no intention of losing the flood of power the misery of Mary's reign would bring the Dark Court, and intervened so that Mary was proclaimed queen.

Urged by her Chancellor and the Imperial ambassador to order Elizabeth's death, Mary chose a different path to insure that Elizabeth would never reign. Mary decided to marry and bear a child to be the Catholic heir. Vidal Dhu, replete with power from the pain and terror of Mary's burning of heretics, agreed with Mary. Vidal Dhu had very special plans for Mary's child. And since Oberon and Titania had disappeared, there now was no one except the double pair of twins to stand between the mortals of England and the rule of Evil.

Mercedes Lackey is the New York Times best-selling author of the Bardic Voices series and the SERRAted Edge series (both Baen), the Heralds of Valdemar series (DAW), and many more. She was one of the first writers to have an online newsgroup devoted to her writing. Among her popular Baen titles are The Fire Rose, The Lark and the Wren, and The Shadow of the Lion (with Eric Flint and Dave Freer). She lives in Oklahoma.

Roberta Gellis is author of over 25 novels in different fields. Her many awards include: The Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for historical novels from West Coast Review of Books and the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur. From Romantic Times she has received both the Award for Best Novel in the Medieval Period and also the Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy, and the Romance Writers of America have presented her with their Lifetime Achievement Award. Her previous fantasy titles for Baen are Bull God and Thrice Bound.

Praise for Mercedes Lackey:

"She'll keep you up long past your bedtime."— Stephen King

"A writer whose work I've loved all along." — Marion Zimmer Bradley

"[Lackey is] an undoubted mistress of the well-told tale." — Booklist

"Lackey is one of the best storytellers in the field." — Locus

"(Lackey's fantasy] leaves us simultaneously satisfied and longing for more." — Realms of Fantasy

"[Lackey] packs as much action, suspense and twisting of conventions into one novel as many writers invest in whole trilogies." — Amazing Stones

Praise for Roberta Gellis:

"A superb storyteller of extraordinary talent."

— John fakes

"[Roberta Gellis is] a master of the medieval historical."— Publishers Weekly

"One of the romance genre's most formidable talents. . . ."— Romantic Times

"Ms. Gellis has become an extraordinary mythteller." — The Paperback Forum

"Let's hope the world of fantasy can steal Gellis from romance novels more often."

— Science Fiction Chronicle

"Roberta Gellis has already established herself as a great author in the |romantic fantasy genre. . . ."

— Affaire de Coeur

Ultima Thule has been destroyed—but somehow the Thulians mounted an even bigger force to destroy Metis. The Metisians that escaped the carnage and destruction of their secret city now must somehow find somewhere safe to go—without getting snapped up by various world governments. And now the Thulians have changed their tactics to “blitz guerilla warfare,” sending wave after wave of their ships and troops to attack vulnerable targets all over Earth, with no clue for ECHO as to where these things are coming from.

John Murdock and The Seraphym have become a force of nature, but they can’t be everywhere at once, and if they were regarded with suspicion before, now they are regarded by ECHO’s allies with fear as well.

You could say “things can’t get worse.”

You would be wrong.

Red Djinni’s past is about to catch up with him.

So is Victoria Victrix’s.

Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill are the biggest names in the urban fantasy subgenre-where elves, banshees, trolls, and even stranger creatures walk modern city streets, their presence, and even their existence unsuspected by the human inhabitants. Now these two present a volume of all new urban fantasy, with a stellar lineup of the best new fantasy writers, such as Roberta Gellis, Dave Freer and Eric Flint, Diana Paxton, and more-including two new stories and an afterword by Mercedes Lackey herself, as well as a story by Rosemary Edghill. This is an indispensable volume for fans of urban fantasy in general, and the thousands of fans of Mercedes Lackey in particular.

About the Authors

Mercedes Lackey is known for several bestselling fantasy series, including the Heralds of Valdemar and Bardic Voices series, work that ranges from historical fantasy to grittily realistic urban fantasy set in the modern world. In only a decade she has made her mark as one of the brightest stars of fantasy. She lives in Oklahoma where she can be found prying the talons of birds of prey she is attempting to nurse back to health out of her hands.

Rosemary Edghill, after holding the usual array of Weird Writer jobs, including freelance graphic designer and vampire killer, has settled down to a career as a full-time writer, publishing popular urban fantasies as well as novels in genres ranging from romance to mystery. Her latest book for Baen is The Warslayer.

THIS IS YOUR SOUL
ON DRUGS

After the events chronicled in Bedlam's Bard, world-saving bard and magician Eric Banyon moves into his new New York apartment hoping to settle down to the quiet life. No such luck: his building is a safe-house for a group of occultist Guardians protecting the city from supernatural evil. And there's a new evil for them to guard against....

When unethical drug researchers discover that they can induce amazing mental powers using psychotropic drugs, they begin planning to raise a drug-enslaved army of mercenaries and grow very, very rich. But this gets the attention of Aerune mac Audelaine, lord of the dark Unseleighe Sidney, who hopes to use the drugs to break through to the human world and feed on the suffering there. Both plans will bring terror to the world-and both are threatened by the very existence of Eric Banyan.

With his possibly loyal companions-a beautiful elven half-breed and a gargoyleEric heads for a three-way battle of wizardry that will determine Gotham's fate-and his own.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Mercedes Lackey, author of the bestselling Heralds of Valdemar and Bardic Voices series, began life as a child and has been attempting to rectify that error ever since. Named for actress Mercedes McCambridge, she has been trying with no success to get the Benz automobile authorities to recognize the natural link between her name and theirs, and offer her the use of an M100 or some variety of high-end sports car for gratis. This, too, has had a distinct lack of success. Other than writing she can be found at various times prying the talons of the birds of prey she is attempting to nurse back to health out of her hands, endangering her vision by creating various forms of Art Beadwork, and cross-stitching dragons, gryphons, and other semi-mythological fauna. At the moment, her hair is red, her favorite color is green, and she is covered by various members of her flock of pet parrots, cockatoos and macaws, all of which are trying to help her type8shgalal-akejbejks9ife.

Rosemary Edghill, after holding the usual array of Weird Writer Jobs, including freelance graphic designer and vampire killer, settled down to a career as a full-time writer. She has written three books in the Twelve Treasures series, urban fantasies about elves and subways, as well as books in genres ranging from romance to mystery. She has also collaborated with such masters of fantasy as Marion Zimmer Bradley and Andre Norton. Of this collaboration, Mercedes Lackey writes, "I needed a new partner for our Bedlam Bards series ... Rosemary was the only possible writer who was sharp enough!" Her web page can be found at http://www.sff.net/people/eluki

Two Top-Selling Sequels
to Anne McCaffrey's
The Ship Who Sang
in One Volume

Two novels in one large volume, both set in the same universe as The Ship Who Sang: The Ship Who Searched: Tia, a bright and spunky seven-year old contracted an unknown neural disorder which made her lose control of her body. So she became a shell person—controlling a spaceship as if it were her body and searching for the origin of the disease that laid her low, so that no other little girl will ever suffer the fate of The Ship Who Searched. PartnerShip: Nancia is a brand new member of the elite Courier Service of the Central Worlds. She's the "brains" of an advanced interstellar ship. The last thing she needed was a cynical "brawn" partner like Forister. But idealistic Nancia and worldly-wise Forister together just might save the galaxy. Neither of them would be satisfied to go through life in a glorified wheelchair; like Helva, The Ship Who Sang, they decided to strap on a spaceship!

"Quite entertaining . . . captures the spirit of The Ship Who Sang . . . a single, solid plot. . . ." —Locus

"Splendidly paced and filled with lively characters . . . [PartnerShip is] excellent entertainment." —Rave Reviews

"A perfect combination of SF, adventure, and romance, this is sure to please a wide variety of readers." —Kliatt

"[The Ship Who Searched is] superb . . . Lackey and McCaffrey have created a marvelous love story in an exciting science fictional setting and then topped it all off with an ingeniously spiffy resolution." —Rave Reviews

NEW ENTRY IN THE SERRATED EDGE SERIES FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR MERCEDES LACKEY AND CODY MARTIN.

When Staci was first shunted off to the backwater town of Silence, Maine, to live with her alcoholic mother, she thought her life was over. Silence had none of the amenities a typical teen in the twenty-first century considered essential: no cell service and barely any internet connectivity. But Staci soon learned that Silence was more than a town left behind by progress. The first family of Silence, the Blackthorns, liked the town that way. The Blackthorns were dark elves who fed off the misery of the residents of Silence.

But now, all that's changing for the better. With the help of Staci and her friends, the Blackthorns have been all but defeated. Industry is returning to Silence, and Staci's mom is improving with each passing day. There's even a cute new busboy at the diner.

But evil dies hard. And Staci, now a mage-in-training, senses that the Blackthorns have not yet given up the fight. The soul of Silence is on the line, and it is up to Staci and her friends to fight back against the encroaching darkness.

In an alternate 15th century where magic still is part of life, the Holy Roman Empire rules Europe. Constantinople is under siege by the Venetians and their allies.  Hekate, Goddess of Crossroads, presides over the conflict and carnage as alternate visions of civilization collide.  And since Constantinople is the crossroad city of east and west, and it is here that Italian captain Benito Valdosta must deal with the powerful magical manifestation of the Weeping Woman, a disguised Hekate,  in order to save his daughter and to destroy the fleets of the Chernobog assembling in the Black Sea before they can cut into the soft underbelly of Europe.

With land battle, naval action, cunning assassinations, and heartbreak aplenty—not to mention the ongoing conflict between Lord of the Dead Aidonus and Benito for the love of a woman, civilization is at the crossroads and choices must be made that will bring victory and freedom for centuries to come—or a new Dark Age.

Elvish Conspiracies Afoot! Heroine, Arise!

Trouble, trouble, the plots do bubble! King Henry VIII has finally joined his unmerry wives in the afterlife, and the Unseleighe Sidhe, the Dark Elves, are bent on subverting the English throne and bringing back the sorrow, horror and despair of the Middle Ages. After all, that's what made the bad old days so much fun — for them!

Enlightenment's hope A mere fourteen-year-old girl. A bright and adaptable fourteen-year-old to be sure, but still—what chance has such a young thing against the Unseleighe Sidhe's tangled web of treachery and depravity

A pretty good one. You see, the girl's name is Elizabeth, and that fiery red hair is no lie. Whether immortal lord or malicious mortal, young Elizabeth Tudor's enemies cross her at their peril!

Two hugely-popular master storytellers of historical fantasy brew up an elvish conspiracy for the ages in this exciting sequel to This Sceptr'd Isle and Ill Met By Moonlight.

"[Mercedes] Lackey. . . produces elegant, compelling fantasy."
—Publishers Weekly on best-selling High Priestess of Fantasy, Mercedes Lackey.

"[K]nowledgeable readers. . .will enjoy the interplay between elven intervention and historical fact."
—Publishers Weekly on Mercedes Lackey and Roberta Gellis's This Sceptr'd Isle.

New York Times best-selling authors S.M. Stirling, Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Jody Lynn Nye return with four novellas. The cat-like Mrem, our heroes, battle the deep reptilian intelligence of humanoid dinosaurs in a Bronze Age world. After the extinction asteroid does notstrike Earth, the dinosaurs keep evolving–but so do the mammals. We mammals have achieved humanlike shapes, but now it’s cold‑blooded, magic‑using reptiles against the hot‑blooded, hot‑tempered descendants of cats.

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

From New York Times best‑seller and science fiction and fantasy mistress of adventure Mercedes Lackey, Book #4 in the pulse‑pounding SECRET WORLD saga of modern‑day humans with superpowers. The metaheroes deal with the consequences of their superpowers, but the evil Thulian threat lies in wait.

Destroying the Thulian North American Headquarters has not made life easier for ECHO, or the world. The Thulians continue their attacks, first in unpredictable incursions, then with another all‑out assault on ECHO, orchestrated against ECHO headquarters across the world.

Dominic Verdigris has not given up on his effort to obtain The Seraphym for himself, in order to use her to avert his own fate at the hands of the Thulians. Nor have the heroes of ECHO and the CCCP found life anything but harder.

Belladonna's duties have increased a thousand‑fold, and now she has responsibility for the lives of every metahuman in ECHO on her conscience. Obviously using the intelligence gathered from the raid on the North American Thulian base to find the main Headquarters is of paramount importance‑‑but once it is found, can she manage to convince the armies of the world to follow ECHO into an all‑out attack?

Then Red Saviour risks everything on a risky gambit of her own: send her "wolves" of the CCCP to find the Thulian Headquarters, despite the dangers, and despite the consequences of blowing everything on this hazardous gambit that could very well end, not in victory, but with the world in flames.

A massive collection of wonderous science fiction and fantasy stories from New York Times best-selling Mercedes Lackey. Includes Fiddler Fair and Werehunter for the first time in one volume.

Fiddler Fair
Running the gamut from her beloved Bardic fantasies to urban fantasy set in the modern world, from science fiction adventure to chilling horror, this is Mercedes Lackey at her best. Animal rights fanatics try to "liberate" genetically reconstructed dinosaurs. Lawrence of Arabia meets a power beyond human comprehension, and King Arthur is reborn into the present day when he again gains possession of the enchanted sword Excalibur.

Werehunter
A young woman who has been given the power to transform herself into a leopard, but she now finds herself pursued by a hunter who is more than human. Skitty, ship's cat extraordinaire, and telepathic problem-solver, saves the day on a spaceship. Return to the world of the Heralds of Valdemar series, and much more. Plus, Merecedes Lackey's celebrated occult detective Diana Tregarde, attends a gathering of romance writers and encounters a visitor whose passionate desire is for fresh, warm blood.

"She'll keep you up past your bedtime."--Stephen King

"A writer whose work I've loved all along"--Marion Zimmer Bradley

In the late 1930s something fell from the sky and landed in an area of the Atlantic not yet known as the Bermuda Triangle. After that event, part of the world irrevocably changed . . . and the mysteries began.

Something else would change as well—seemingly ordinary men and women on both sides of the Allied/Axis war suddenly began to manifest uncanny powers. Super-powers. The advent of the age of metahumans had begun.

And hidden in the heart of the ocean, the masterminds sat back to watch.

This collection contains stories of that time, as metahumans enter and change the Second World War forever. From the streets of Paris to the beach at Dunkirk, from the Battle of Britain to the Atlantic Deeps, metahumans meet and clash, while all around them rage the battles of ordinary men and women.

These 16 stories are woven in and around the Secret World Chronicles, the five-book mega-series written by Mercedes Lackey, Dennis K. Lee, Cody Martin, Veronica Giguere, and Steve Libby.

A COMMAND PERFORMANCE BY
FANTASY'S GRAND DIVA

Mercedes Lackey has, in a few short years, soared to the peak of the fantasy field, and her thousands of enthusiastic readers clamor for more and more. Now comes a volume demonstrating the wide range of her talent, running the gamut from her beloved Bardic fantasies to urban fantasy set in the modern world; from science fiction adventure to chilling horror. And throughout Fiddler Fair, Lackeys sheer storytelling skill will hold the reader spellbound. Learn what happens when animal rights fanatics try to "liberate" genetically reconstructed dinosaurs. Follow Lawrence of Arabia into the desert to meet a power beyond human comprehension; and be with King Arthur, reborn into the present day, when he again gains possession of the enchanted sword Excalibur. And, in a very weird encounter of the most bizarre kind, learn why an alien from a UFO took an unusual interest in a battered Chevy pickup truck.

Fiddler Fair is a feast for the multitudes of Lackey fans everywhere—and for new readers, a powerful introduction to the most significant new fantasy writer of the decade.

Bouquets from Colleagues and Critics for Mercedes Lackey:

"She'll keep you up long past your bedtime."—Stephen King

A writer whose work I've loved all along."—Marion Zimmer Bradley

. . . with [Lackey], the principal joy is story: she sweeps you along and never lets you go."—Locus

. . . remarkable . . . high-octane adventure and sharp social commentary."—Dragon

"An undoubted mistress of the well-told tale." —Booklist

. . . above all else, Lackey can tell a good story . . . highly, highly recommended . . . ."—Kliatt

A MAGICAL MANIAC IS LOOSE IN ALANDA!

A magical murderer is loose in Alanda. The victims are always women, always lower-class, and the weapon is always a three-sided stiletto, most often found among Church regalia. But the killers are never churchmen, and they always commit suicide immediately after the bloody deed.

Tal Rufen is just a simple constable. But he really cares about his job, and when one of these murder/suicides happens on his beat he becomes obsessed. His superiors don't care—the victims will never be missed, and their murderers are already justly dead. But every instinct Tal Rufen has cries out that he has seen only one small piece of a bigger and much nastier puzzle....

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mercedes Lackey has a degree in biology from Purdue University. Like many writers, she has worked at a variety of jobs including short stints as a waitress, security guard, telephone surveyor and artist's model. A longer period of time was spent as a computer programmer for American Airlines. What she is most known for, however, and what has inspired a national fan club of over one thousand members, are her inventive fantasy novels. She lives outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband and collaborator, artist Larry Dixon, and their ever growing menagerie. Larry and Misty are both members of SOAR (Support Our American Raptors), sponsors of the Sutton Avian Research Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and continue to work rehabilitating birds to live in the wild.

Also in this series:

Bardic Voices: The Lark & the Wren
Bardic Voices: The Robin & the Kestrel
Bardic Voices: The Eagle & the Nightingale
Bardic Choices: A Cast of Corbies
  (with Josepha Sherman)

In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and "Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available, they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of short stories for 2020.

As is usual with such copyrighted material from Baen, the contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold. All commercial rights are reserved to Baen Books.

The Red Sea by Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin
Adrift by Frank Chadwick
The Policeman's Daughter by Wil McCarthy
Peregoy's Wolves by Nancy Kress
Chasing Your Tail by Peter J. Wacks
Bagala Devi Objective by M.T. Reiten
Sacrifices by D.J. Butler
Humanslayer by G. Scott Huggins
The Hero Business by Tim Akers
At the Seams by Jacob Holo
The Red Ship by Marc Miller
Preferred Seating by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

GOD (AND ELFLAND) SAVE THE QUEEN

Peace reigns in Elfland. Incredibly, King Oberon and his exquisite but willful queen, Titania, are at peace with one another. But still the FarSeers of the Selieghe Court are uneasy. They fear trouble is coming to the mortal world of England, which is close to Elfhame Avalon. King Henry VIII is ageing but the futures shown when the FarSeers lift the great crystal lens are unchanged. The rule of the son Great Harry finally succeeded in begetting will bring gray lives and a misery of dull oppression to England. Worse will come if his eldest daughter comes to the throne--a queen warped by fanaticism who might easily summon the Inquisition to rule by torture and fire, burning out heresy ... and every bright aspect of life. The prize at the end of the rainbow is the possibility of a red-haired queen with lion-gold eyes, brilliant with interest and curiosity, welcoming the blossoming of art, music, and literature. But now the last image is flickering, edged in a dark menace.

Years before, Prince Vidal had tried to seize the child Elizabeth and replace her with a simulacrum who would soon die. Vidal had been wounded almost to death in the attempt—-but so also had Denoriel, Elizabeth's principal protector. Denoriel is now healing--but so, unbeknownst to those of the Bright Court, is Vidal. And when Vidal wakes to himself, his determination to hurl England into a new dark age is fiercer than ever, fueled by his fury over his defeat and injury. Also, his Dark Court feeds on human suffering and dark emotions. To ensure his own power, he must at all costs prevent Elizabeth from coming to the throne. To gain this goal, Vidal has set in motion a plan of which Denoriel and his comrades are dangerously unaware. . . .

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Mercedes Lackey is the author of the Bardic Voices series and the SERRAted Edge series (both Baen), the Heralds of Valdemar series (DAW), and many more. Of her writing, Stephen King has stated, "She'll keep you up long past your bedtime," and Locus raved, "Lackey is one of the best storytellers in the field." She has her own fan club with over 1,000 members, and was one of the first writers to have an online newsgroup devoted to her writing. Among her popular Baen titles are The Fire Rose, The Lark and the Wren, and The Shadow of the Lion (with Eric Flint and Dave Freer). She lives in Oklahoma.

Roberta Gellis is author of over 25 novels in different fields. New York Times best-selling author John Jakes has called her "a superb storyteller of extraordinary talent," Publishers Weekly has termed her "a master of the medieval historical," and Romantic Times has praised her as "a master spinner of tales." Her many awards include: The Silver and Gold Medal Porgy for historical novels from West Coast Review of Books and the Golden Certificate and Golden Pen from Affaire de Coeur. From Romantic Times she has received both the Award for Best Novel in the Medieval Period and also the Lifetime Achievement Award for Historical Fantasy. And the Romance Writers of America have presented her with their Lifetime Achievement Award. Her previous fantasy titles for Baen are Bull God and Thrice Bound.

The world had become used to the metahumans-people sometimes perfectly ordinary,but sometimes quite extraordinary in appearance-who mostly worked with their governments as high-powered peace officers, fighting crime, and sometimes fighting rogue metahumans who had become super-criminals. Then that comfortable world ended in just one terrifying day.

Suddenly, all world governments were simultaneously attacked by soldiers in giant mecha robotic suits with the swastika symbol of the Third Reich on their metal arms. If these were Nazis, where had they been hiding since the end of World War II? And where had they gotten armor and weapons far in advance of anything on the planet? Weapons against which even the metahuman heroes seemed to be helpless...

About the Authors

Mercedes Lackey is the New York Times best-selling author of the Bardic Voices series and the SERRAted Edge series (both Baen), the Heralds of Valdemar series (DAW), and many more. She was one of the first writers to have an online newsgroup devoted to her writing. Among her popular Baen titles are The Fire Rose, The Lark and the Wren, and The Shadow of the Lion (with Eric Flint and Dave Freer). She lives in Oklahoma.

Steve Libby was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, a few months before mankind landed on the Moon, and ever since his head has been elsewhere. He has worked as a graphic designer, a teacher of computer graphics, a web designer, and occasionally plays guitar with a seven piece funk band.

Cody Martin is originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, and currently resides in Florida, where he's a self-described anarchist and avid gamer.

Dennis Lee was born in Seoul, Korea and was moved to Canada before the age of two. With a degree from the University of Toronto in pharmacology, he pursues a career in cell biology research when not writing about fantastical people and, of course, making them fight each other.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
—and Quite Deadly . . .

Eric Banyon, better known as Bedlam's Bard, is finally about to graduate from Julliard and enter the Real World and so, with the help of a psychiatrist who specializes in the problems of magicians, he's finally coming to terms with his past. But a spur-of-the-moment trip home to Boston to visit his parents brings him more trouble than even Eric thought possible.

Meanwhile, his Bardic apprentice Hosea has discovered that the young homeless children in New York's shelters have created a bizarre mythology about a demon called Bloody Mary who preys on young children—and somehow Bloody Mary has taken on an independent life and now stalks the streets of the city.

And for some reason, she's after Eric as well. . . .

Praise for the Bedlam's Bard Series:

"[Spirits White as Lightning is] fast, furious, and completely absorbing . . . make no mistake, this is a good series." —Booklist

"Lively and original, rich in clever ideas . . . Lackey is one of the best storytellers in the field, and this is among her best." —Locus

"This is a fast-paced, suspenseful, action-packed page turner." —VOYA

"[Lackey] shows a sure touch with the wonder and adventure that characterize the best fantasy writers." —Romantic Times

Ultima Thule has been destroyed—but somehow the Thulians mounted an even bigger force to destroy Metis. The Metisians that escaped the carnage and destruction of their secret city now must somehow find somewhere safe to go—without getting snapped up by various world governments. And now the Thulians have changed their tactics to “blitz guerilla warfare,” sending wave after wave of their ships and troops to attack vulnerable targets all over Earth, with no clue for ECHO as to where these things are coming from.

John Murdock and The Seraphym have become a force of nature, but they can’t be everywhere at once, and if they were regarded with suspicion before, now they are regarded by ECHO’s allies with fear as well.

You could say “things can’t get worse.”

You would be wrong.

Red Djinni’s past is about to catch up with him.

So is Victoria Victrix’s.

NEW ENTRY IN THE SERRATED EDGE SERIES FROM NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR MERCEDES LACKEY AND CODY MARTIN.

When Staci was first shunted off to the backwater town of Silence, Maine, to live with her alcoholic mother, she thought her life was over. Silence had none of the amenities a typical teen in the twenty-first century considered essential: no cell service and barely any internet connectivity. But Staci soon learned that Silence was more than a town left behind by progress. The first family of Silence, the Blackthorns, liked the town that way. The Blackthorns were dark elves who fed off the misery of the residents of Silence.

But now, all that's changing for the better. With the help of Staci and her friends, the Blackthorns have been all but defeated. Industry is returning to Silence, and Staci's mom is improving with each passing day. There's even a cute new busboy at the diner.

But evil dies hard. And Staci, now a mage-in-training, senses that the Blackthorns have not yet given up the fight. The soul of Silence is on the line, and it is up to Staci and her friends to fight back against the encroaching darkness.

From New York Times best‑seller and science fiction and fantasy mistress of adventure Mercedes Lackey, Book #4 in the pulse‑pounding SECRET WORLD saga of modern‑day humans with superpowers. The metaheroes deal with the consequences of their superpowers, but the evil Thulian threat lies in wait.

Destroying the Thulian North American Headquarters has not made life easier for ECHO, or the world. The Thulians continue their attacks, first in unpredictable incursions, then with another all‑out assault on ECHO, orchestrated against ECHO headquarters across the world.

Dominic Verdigris has not given up on his effort to obtain The Seraphym for himself, in order to use her to avert his own fate at the hands of the Thulians. Nor have the heroes of ECHO and the CCCP found life anything but harder.

Belladonna's duties have increased a thousand‑fold, and now she has responsibility for the lives of every metahuman in ECHO on her conscience. Obviously using the intelligence gathered from the raid on the North American Thulian base to find the main Headquarters is of paramount importance‑‑but once it is found, can she manage to convince the armies of the world to follow ECHO into an all‑out attack?

Then Red Saviour risks everything on a risky gambit of her own: send her "wolves" of the CCCP to find the Thulian Headquarters, despite the dangers, and despite the consequences of blowing everything on this hazardous gambit that could very well end, not in victory, but with the world in flames.

In the late 1930s something fell from the sky and landed in an area of the Atlantic not yet known as the Bermuda Triangle. After that event, part of the world irrevocably changed . . . and the mysteries began.

Something else would change as well—seemingly ordinary men and women on both sides of the Allied/Axis war suddenly began to manifest uncanny powers. Super-powers. The advent of the age of metahumans had begun.

And hidden in the heart of the ocean, the masterminds sat back to watch.

This collection contains stories of that time, as metahumans enter and change the Second World War forever. From the streets of Paris to the beach at Dunkirk, from the Battle of Britain to the Atlantic Deeps, metahumans meet and clash, while all around them rage the battles of ordinary men and women.

These 16 stories are woven in and around the Secret World Chronicles, the five-book mega-series written by Mercedes Lackey, Dennis K. Lee, Cody Martin, Veronica Giguere, and Steve Libby.

In January of 2011 we started posting free short stories we thought might be of interest to Baen readers. The first stories were "Space Hero" by Patrick Lundrigan, the winner of the 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Short Story Contest, and "Tanya, Princess of Elves," by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International and set in that universe. As new stories are made available, they will be posted on the main page, then added to this book (to save the Baen Barflies the trouble of doing it themselves). This is our compilation of short stories for 2020.

As is usual with such copyrighted material from Baen, the contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold. All commercial rights are reserved to Baen Books.

The Red Sea by Mercedes Lackey and Cody Martin
Adrift by Frank Chadwick
The Policeman's Daughter by Wil McCarthy
Peregoy's Wolves by Nancy Kress
Chasing Your Tail by Peter J. Wacks
Bagala Devi Objective by M.T. Reiten
Sacrifices by D.J. Butler
Humanslayer by G. Scott Huggins
The Hero Business by Tim Akers
At the Seams by Jacob Holo
The Red Ship by Marc Miller
Preferred Seating by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller

The world had become used to the metahumans-people sometimes perfectly ordinary,but sometimes quite extraordinary in appearance-who mostly worked with their governments as high-powered peace officers, fighting crime, and sometimes fighting rogue metahumans who had become super-criminals. Then that comfortable world ended in just one terrifying day.

Suddenly, all world governments were simultaneously attacked by soldiers in giant mecha robotic suits with the swastika symbol of the Third Reich on their metal arms. If these were Nazis, where had they been hiding since the end of World War II? And where had they gotten armor and weapons far in advance of anything on the planet? Weapons against which even the metahuman heroes seemed to be helpless...

About the Authors

Mercedes Lackey is the New York Times best-selling author of the Bardic Voices series and the SERRAted Edge series (both Baen), the Heralds of Valdemar series (DAW), and many more. She was one of the first writers to have an online newsgroup devoted to her writing. Among her popular Baen titles are The Fire Rose, The Lark and the Wren, and The Shadow of the Lion (with Eric Flint and Dave Freer). She lives in Oklahoma.

Steve Libby was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, a few months before mankind landed on the Moon, and ever since his head has been elsewhere. He has worked as a graphic designer, a teacher of computer graphics, a web designer, and occasionally plays guitar with a seven piece funk band.

Cody Martin is originally from Scottsdale, Arizona, and currently resides in Florida, where he's a self-described anarchist and avid gamer.

Dennis Lee was born in Seoul, Korea and was moved to Canada before the age of two. With a degree from the University of Toronto in pharmacology, he pursues a career in cell biology research when not writing about fantastical people and, of course, making them fight each other.

It’s go time once again for the meta-heroes including fire-bender John Murdock, hacker-witch Vikki Nagy, healer Belladona Blue, super-quick Mercurye–and most of all for their ghostly ally, Seraphym, the spirit of the world Verdegris knows he must trap and destroy her if he is to take down the metas.

From New York Times best-seller and science fiction and fantasy mistress of adventure Mercedes Lackey together with a team of topnotch collaborators, the third entry in the blockbuster saga of superpowers–and the very human men and women who must learn to wield them.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST‑SELLING AUTHOR. ENTRY #9 IN MERCEDES LACKEY'S CELEBRATED SERRATED EDGE URBAN FANTASY SERIES!

Teenager Staci’s father has just remarried, and now she finds herself being shunted aside by her new stepmother. Shunted all the way to the run-down and dying Maine town of Silence, in fact, and the custody of her alcoholic mother.

It gets worse. Silence seems to be stuck in the proverbial stone age. There’s no cell phone service except at the very top of a bluff outside of town, no internet except dialup, and not one familiar franchise or business. Staci’s mom seems to have gotten even worse since the last time Staci lived with her. The only bright spots in the whole place are a friendly waitress at the diner, and a bookstore where she meets a gaggle of geeks and gamers.

But all is not as it seems in Silence. There are strange things moving beneath the shabby surface, terrible plots in play, and deadly players in the game, and Staci is about to find herself caught up in the middle of it all.

Like A New Star

Clash of the Aliens, Book 4
by M.B. Wood

Disappeared

by Lucienne Diver

ECHO One: Tales from the Secret World Chronicles

by Mercedes Lackey, Cody Martin, Dennis K. Lee, and Veronica Giguere

After an Earth-scarring apocalyptic battle, the meta-humans have turned back a massive invasion of super-science powered Nazi war machines. Now meta-hero organization Echo and sometime Russian ally CCCP must battle back. Task one: to hunt down the secret puppetmasters behind the Nazi robot invasion, the Thule Society. It's "go time" once again for the meta-heroes, including fire-bender John Murdock, hacker-witch Vikki Nagy, healer Belladona Blue, super-quick Mercurye—and most of all for their ghostly ally, Seraphym, the spirit of the world who uses her secret influence to direct the fight against a Thulian-based tyranny of evil and slavery that is fast descending upon the entire universe!

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.

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!

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.