WELCOME AGAIN TO THE MANY
WORLDS OF HONOR HARRINGTON
Lady Dame Honor Harrington isn't alone. Her life touches others—and their lives touch hers—directly, or indirectly, whether as a naval officer, steadholder, or duchess.
In this collection, Jane Lindskold gives us the story of a prince on the brink of maturity and an extraordinary young Grayson woman named Judith—a victim of Masadan brutality, who confronts insurmountable odds in a desperate effort to lead her sisters to freedom— or—death among the stars.
Timothy Zahn weighs in with a story of the heavy cruiser HMS Fearless; a brilliant young tactical officer on temporarily detached duty; Solarian con men; secret weapons that aren't quite what they seem to be; naval spies, spooks, and dirty tricks; courage and honor; and a surprising glimpse into one of Admiral Sonja Hemphill's most crucial technological innovations.
John Ringo offers his unique blend of nonstop action and deliciously skewed humor in two offerings. The Peep planet of Prague and its brutally repressive StateSec regime will never be the same again after the unscheduled, unofficial, and thoroughly catastrophic visit by a pair of Manticoran Marines with a most peculiar taste in their holiday destinations. And then there's the question of what an explosively expanding navy does with the personnel who can't quite cut the mustard.
Eric Flint tells us the story of an idealistic young StateSec officer who finds himself in the right place at the right time following the fall of Oscar Saint-Just. Young Victor Cachat could influence the loyalty of an entire sector ... if he's only lucky enough to manage to stay alive long enough to try.
And finally, David Weber gives us the tale of the first Grayson midshipwoman on her "snotty cruise" at a time when internal tensions threaten the entire future of the Manticoran Alliance and people are about to rediscover the Fact that the Peeps are far from the only predators hiding in the stars.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND HOST
David Weber is the brightest star in the new century's science fiction firmament. He 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 more and more books. His novels range from epic fantasy (Oath of Swords, The War God's Own) to breathtaking space opera (Path of the Fury, Empire from the Ashes) to military science Action with in-depth characterization (the celebrated New York Times bestselling Honor Harrington series, War of Honor 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 with his wife Sharon.
For centuries, interstellar prospectors had searched for the fabled Worlds of the Three Kings, the lost El Dorado of the galaxy. But if any found it, they were never heard from again. The mad cyborg Prophet, Ishmael Hand, discovered the mysterious system, with artifacts indicating a superhuman technology, and he had refused to reveal its location before vanishing forever into history.
Two more recent expeditions have found the Three Kings. A starfaring evangelist—Doctor Karl Woodward, preacher and leader of the starship The Mountain—followed a clue and found it, but never returned. Then a spacegoing salvage team followed Woodward's trail, and also vanished.
Now a chance encounter between what's left of the once-mighty human military with an inexplicable alien force has brought an armed expedition to the third planet of the Three Kings, Kaspar. They will join forces with the survivors of the first two expeditions, who have been marooned both by alien powers and by human treachery, as they at last encounter the alien minds behind the mysterious triple planetary system—and they will face a decision that may determine the fate of the entire human race!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jack L. Chalker is one of science fiction's most prolific and popular authors, with a readership numbering in the hundreds of thousands. His bestselling novels and series include The Changewinds, Midnight at the Well of Souls and its sequels, "The Quintara Marathon" trilogy, the "Soul Rider" series, the "Rings of the Master" series, and others. His novels have been translated into many foreign languages and many have been book club selections. He is a familiar figure at SF conventions, often as a guest speaker, frequently as toastmaster. He lives in Maryland with his wife and sons.
The starship crew was stuck on a planet where the well-meaning schemes of ivory tower social engineers had created a nightmare of battling gangs. So they pretended to be the "Royal Legions" from a distant star kingdom in hot pursuit of an unspeakably evil and nearly all-powerful villain who was hiding somewhere on the planet.
Things went even better than they had hoped, and the planet was rapidly becoming civilized . . . and then the real Royal Flagship showed up. They thought they were doomed, but instead the new arrivals (who also weren't quite what they claimed to be) thought the crew had shown just the sort of initiative and ingenuity that the Interstellar Patrol was looking for. So they were inducted into the Patrol.
And that was just the beginning. . . .
Publisher's Note: A short portion of Interstellar Patrol was previously published Strangers in Paradise. This is the first unified publication of t| Interstellar Patrol saga.
"I am delighted that someone is making Christopher Anvil's work available once again. Especially the Interstellar Patrol stories. I've always loved Anvil's . . . peculiar sense of humor."
—David Weber
"[Anvil is] insistently readable!" —The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
A pilot is on an emergency mission to a planet whose colony is doomed if he doesn't get there fast. He has just enough fuel to reach the planet—then he finds that he has a stowaway, a young girl wanting to be with her brother on the colony. If the pilot spaces the girl, the ship will barely make it to the planet. If he does not, the ship will crash and both of them as well as the colony will die. What will he do This story rocked science fiction when it first appeared.
Also in this volume is Godwin's long-unavailable novel The Survivors, which poses another problem in survival: If hostile aliens have marooned you and hundreds of other people on a nearly uninhabitable planet, how do you not only manage to endure, but to get revenge as well
This is a massive volume by a master of science fiction adventure, with added dimensions of speculation and cold, hard realism.
Publisher's Note: The novel The Survivors has been published separately.
"['The Cold Equations'] is one of the most popular and controversial hard sf stories of the last fifty years. ..."
—David G. Hartwell, The Ascent of Wonder
"The touchstone story for hard-core science fiction is Tom Godwin's 'The Cold Equations'."
—James Gunn, The Road to Science Fiction, Vol. Ill
"[Tom Godwin's SF] exhibited a fine clarity of conception, and considerable narrative verve. ..."
—John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction
"The impact [of 'The Cold Equations' on publication] was immediate .... The impact of the story . . . remains the same now as then."
—Harry Harrison and Brian W. Aldiss,The Astounding-Analog Reader
Antor Trellig, head of a ruthless interstellar syndicate, had seized a super-computer with godlike powers, which could make him omnipotent. The Council offered master criminal Mavra Chang any reward if she stopped Trellig—and horrible lingering death if she failed. Given that choice, Chang set out on Trellig's trail, hoping she could turn the mission to her own profit. But neither Trellig nor Chang had taken the Well World into consideration. ...
Built by the Markovians billions of years ago, when the now-vanished godlike race had unlocked all the secrets of space and time, the Well World controlled the very design of the entire cosmos. Trellig and Chang suddenly were drawn across space to the mysterious planet, to awaken in new alien bodies and find themselves in the middle of a battle where strange races fought desperately, with the control of all the Universe as the prize.
Praise 'for a Master Storyteller:
"A powerful storyteller."
—Orson Scott Card, Washington Post Book World
After five years of battling invaders, human civilization prepares a strike to drive the aliens from the Earth. But the Clan-Lord of the Sten has learned from the defeats human have dealt him, and has his own battle plan. When he squares off against Major Michael O'Neal, the only winner will be Satan himself. . . .
Jack L. Chalker 
