DEFEAT WAS NOT AN OPTION

The war wasn't going well.

The mind-numbingly alien Arachnids were an enemy whose like no civilized race had ever confronted. Like some carnivorous cancer, the "Bugs" had overrun planet after planet . . . and they regarded any competing sentient species as only one more protein source. They couldn't be reasoned with, or even talked to, because no one had the least idea of how to communicate with a telepathic species with no recognizable language . . . and whose response to any communication attempt was a missile salvo. No one knew how large their civilization—if it could be called a "civilization"—actually was, or how it was organized, but the huge fleets they threw against their opponents suggested that it was enormous.

The Grand Alliance of Humans, Orions, Ophiuchi, and Gorm, united in desperate self-defense, have been driven to the wall. Billions of their civilians have been slaughtered. Their most powerful offensive operation has ended in shattering defeat and the deaths of their most experienced and revered military commanders. The edge in technology with which they began the war is eroding out from under them and whatever they do, the Bugs just keep coming.

But the warriors of the Grand Alliance know what stands behind them and they will surrender no more civilians to the oncoming juggernaut. They will die first . . . and they will also reactivate General Directive 18, however horrible it may be. Because when the only possible outcomes are victory or racial extermination, only one option is acceptable.

The Shiva Option

Witches Rule on Warlock!

Andre Norton called by Time the "Grande Dame of science fiction," has created one of the most memorable worlds in SF in the planet humans call Warlock, secretly ruled by the matriarchal Wyverns, an alien race of witches who are masters of mental illusions and dreams. In a sweeping generational saga, the story of Warlock is told by three humans:

• Shann Lontee was the lowest-ranking member of an exploration team sent to the newly discovered planet Warlock. When the insectile Throgs attacked the base, only he and two trained wolverines escaped. Hunted by the Throgs, he and the wolverines had to survive without technology on an alien world. Then he discovered the Wyvern, who were his only hope-if they weren't an even more deadly menace than the Throgs . . .
• Charis Nordholm was sold into slavery by the outlaw colony on the planet Demeter. The trader, Jogon, who holds her contract, was on his way to Warlock to trade with the Wyvern. But the alien witches had ominous plans of their own, and both Charis and Shann Lantee found themselves fighting for their lives . . .
• Ziantho's mental powers had made her a valuable asset to the interstellar criminals she worked for. Then she encountered a gem of ancient power, an artifact made by the vanished prehistoric race known as the Forerunners, and stole it. Pursued both by the stone's owners and the agents of the Patrol, she fled across the galaxy and encountered Ris Lantee, o man from the planet Warlock, who alone could solve the powerful gem's mystery ....

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Called "a superb talent" by The New York Times, Andre Norton is a living legend in science fiction, and one of our greatest storytellers. She has been writing science fiction novels for nearly five decades, beginning with the now-classic novel Star Mon's Son in 1952. Many of today's top writers, including C.J. Cherryh and Joan D. Vinge, have cited her as a primary influence on their own work. She was Guest of Honor at the 1989 World Science Fiction Convention, and has received the Grand Master award from the Science Fiction Writers of America and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Fantasy Convention. She has been astoundingly prolific, with over thirty books in her celebrated and currently very popular Witch World series alone. She has introduced three generations of SF readers to SF and fantasy, both through her critically acclaimed young adult novels and her adult works, and stands today as one of the most popular authors in both fields.

IS IT TOO LATE TO NEGOTIATE 
A SURRENDER

The Centran Empire was both benevolent and complacent. Benevolent, even as it overwhelmed every new inhabited planet it encountered with its military might—but once the planet was pacified, its inhabitants were uplifted to Centran standards of living and the benefits of membership in the Empire. Complacent, because the Empire had long been expanding without encountering more than minor obstacles. And then they came across Pandora's Planet, that is, Earth....

In spite of the Centran superiority in technology, the conquest of Earth took over three months, when the invaders were used to wrapping things up in less than two weeks. But "conquest" might be too optimistic a term to use, since the locals were still waging guerrilla warfare and sabotage, and the Centrans were hanging on by their equivalent of fingernails. And then the Centran scientists tested a group of humans and found that the humans were more intelligent than the Centrans.

One Centran leader had an idea that might save the Centrans from being ignominiously kicked off the planet again.  Since the humans were good at war, why not put together teams of humans to go out to the fringes of Centran space and handle planets that were proving difficult The teams performed magnificently—but back in the heart of the Empire, humans and their weird new ideas were spreading like wildfire, and if something weren't done soon, the humans would end up running the former Centran Empire....

PERFECTION IS A DANGEROUS ILLUSION

Where does your mind go when you fall asleep.

To the Dreamland, where seven Sleepers dream the ever-changing landscape drawn by trillions of sleeping minds from the Waking World. Where form follows function, so a hovel today may be a castle or a cave tomorrow. Where the people battle nightmares with only the strength of their will and sanity.

Juele is the youngest and most promising new student to enter the strange new world of the School of Light. At this legendary institution, she will learn how to master illusion, the highest form of art in the Dreamland. Her talent has excited the interest of many of the senior students, the professors, but most important of all, the Idealists. They are the elite of the Illusionists, a tightly knit group of talents who admit Juele to their mysterious circle in the Ivory Tower.

Her mentor, an Idealist named Rutaro, has embarked upon a project to surround the Castle of Dreams with an image of perfection, in which Juele will play a key role. But other students who are jealous of Juele's good fortune set out to pervert Rutaro's design. What they have in mind bears no resemblance to reality. The worst part is that no one, not Rutaro, nor the King, the ministers, or even Roan, the King's Investigator, seems to notice that the government of the Dreamland is plunging into deadly chaos. Juele is faced with having to find the reality within the fantasy with the only skill she has at hand: illusion.

WELCOME AGAIN TO THE 
MANY WORLDS OF HONOR

Lady Dame Honor Harrington—starship captain, admiral, Steadholder, and Duchess—has spent decades defending the Star Kingdom of Manticore against all comers. Along the way, she has become the legend known as "the Salamander" from her habit of always being where the fire is hottest . . . and also a national bestseller (Ashes of Victory: #7, The Wall Street Journal).

But it's a big universe, and Honor's actions affect a lot of lives, not all of them human. And their actions affect her—a lesson "Ms. Midshipwoman Harrington" learns years before rising to command rank when a desperate battle against "pirates" who aren't quite what they seem begins her brilliant career.

Closer to home, in "Changer of Worlds," a secret that the alien treecats have kept from their human friends for hundreds of years is about to come out . . . and completely change the relationship between the two species forever.

Meanwhile, Eric Flint weighs in with "From the Highlands." Honor can't be everywhere, so when the People's Republic of Haven tries to stage a political assassination on Earth, Anton Zilwicki—husband of one of the Star Kingdom's most revered military martyrs, and father of a young woman who is clearly a chip off the old block—steps into the breach . . . and takes the opportunity to settle some old scores along the way.

And finally, Esther McQueen and Oscar Saint-Just square off for their final confrontation in Noveau Paris in "Nightfall."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HOST

Granted, the decade has just begun, but David Weber shows all signs of being the science fiction phenomenon of the decade. Weber is often compared to C.S. Forester (the celebrated creator of Captain Horatio Hornblower), is the recipient of critical praise worthy of Heinlein or Asimov, and has hordes of voracious fans clamoring for more and more Weber. Fortunately for them, Weber keeps steadily producing book after book with first printings that sell out almost immediately, then go back into printing after printing after printing. His novels range from epic fantasy (Oath of Swords, The War God's Own) to breathtaking space opera (Path of the Fury, The Armageddon Inheritance) to military science fiction with in-depth characterization (the celebrated and awesomely popular Honor Harrington novels, the New York Times bestselling Ashes of Victory being the latest). Reviewers call Weber "irresistible .  . masterful" (Publishers Weekly), "highly entertaining" (Booklist), "outstanding . . . superb . . . excellent" (Wilson Library Bulletin), "remarkable" (Kliatt), "the best" (Dragon), "worth shouting about" (Philadelphia Weekly Press), "great" (Locus), and "the best writer around today" (FosFax). Readers call Weber similar things, but mostly they call the Baen offices several times a week demanding more from their main man. Weber lives in South Carolina and, in spite of having gotten married a year ago, shows no sign of slowing down. . . .

LOST IN TIME

Exploring space and time is a dangerous business, and no one knows this better than Time Agents Travis Fox and Ross Murdock. So when both men are stranded on far-off planets with no hope of rescue from Earth, they must rely on their wits and their training to survive.

But survival is only the beginning. To better handle the rigors of the alien world of Topaz, Fox and his crewmates have been implanted with the memories of their Apache ancestors—but the Opposition has sent its own team with the reawakened memories of their Mongol ancestors!

Meanwhile, Murdock is trapped in the ancient past of the water world of Hawaika, facing terrifying wizards in a kingdom he knows will soon be utterly annihilated by an alien empire that is bent on the conquest of the entire galaxy.

 The fates of two worlds, and possibly the galaxy itself,  will be determined by the actions of these castaways in time—and whatever happens, the lives of Time Agents everywhere will be changed forever. . . .

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 Called "a superb talent" by The New York Times, Andre Norton is a living legend in science fiction, and one of our greatest storytellers. She has been writing science fiction novels for nearly five decades, beginning with the now-classic Star Man's Son in 1952. Many of today's top writers, including C.J. Cherryh and Joan D. Vinge, have cited her as a primary influence on their own work. She was Guest of Honor at the 1989 World Science Fiction Convention, is a Grand Master of the Science Fiction Writers of America and a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award of the World Fantasy Convention. Though unpublished recently, she has been astoundingly prolific, with over thirty books in her celebrated "Witch World" series alone. She has introduced three generations of SF readers to SF and fantasy, both through her critically acclaimed YA novels and her adult works, and stands today as one of the most popular authors in both fields.