Lieutenant Sam Bitka, U.S. Naval Reserve, is getting used to civilian life when he is called back to active duty. Tensions between Earth and the alien Varoki are on the rise, and Sam is assiged as tactical officer aboard the deep space destroyer USS Puebla. Dispatched to the distant world of K'tok to protect human colonists, he wants nothing more than to serve out his active duty time and get back to his civilian life.
But when the Varoki launch a crippling surprise attack against the Earth coalition fleet, Sam finds himself suddenly in command of the USS Puebla, a job he is far from certain he can discharge successfully. What’s more, mounting evidence points to a much larger and more sinister alien plan.
Now, Sam must deal with faltering leadership in the human task force and an alien enemy who always seems one step ahead of them. Time for Sam to step up and rise to the challenge of command.
Sergeant Samuel Morgan Campbell had been in plenty of tight spots before, but nothing like this. It had happened in a few terrifying seconds: the starship he and his crew travelled on, the Outward Initiative, shattered to pieces before their eyes and disappeared, leaving them stranded in the endless night of deep space on Lifeboat LS‑88—all systems dead, light‑years from any known colony.
Somehow, Sergeant Campbell and his crew of half‑trained children—ranging from freshly graduated Xander Bird down to eight‑year‑old Francisco—have to repair systems with no tools, navigate with no computers, and—if they could find a planet they could live on—land a shuttle whose controls were more than half‑destroyed.
And if they manage all of that, then the real challenge begins; the only planet in range has secrets that even Sergeant Campbell cannot imagine!
For well over a century, Monster Hunter International has kept the world safe from supernatural threats small and large—and in some cases very, very large. Now, join us as MHI opens their archives for the first time. From experienced Hunters on their toughest cases, to total newbies' initial encounters with the supernatural, The Monster Hunter Files reveals the secret history of the world's most elite monster fighting force.
Discover what happened when Agent Franks took on the Nazis in World War Two. Uncover how the Vatican’s Combat Exorcists deal with Old Ones in Mexico. And find out exactly what takes place in a turf war between trailer park elves and gnomes. From the most powerful of mystical beings to MHI’s humble janitor, see the world of professional monster hunting like never before.
Featuring seventeen all new tales based on Larry Correia’s best-selling series, from New York Times best-selling authors Jim Butcher, John Ringo, Jessica Day George, Jonathan Maberry, Faith Hunter, and many more.
Contributors:
Larry Correia
Jim Butcher
Mike Kupari
Jessica Day George
John C. Wright
Maurice Broaddus
Brad R. Torgersen
Faith Hunter
Jody Lynn Nye
Quincy J. Allen
Alex Shvartsman
Kim May
Steve Diamond
John Ringo
Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Julie C. Frost
Sarah A. Hoyt
Jonathan Maberry
The first of three volumes collecting ALL of the Psychotechnic League future history stories, from multiple Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning author Poul Anderson. After World War III ravages the globe, humanity, led by the Psychotechnic Institute, bands together to create peace on Earth and to spread that peace throughout the solar system and beyond. But soon the cycle of war and destruction begins anew. Includes short stories never before collected in a Psychotechnic League volume.
FROM THE ASHES OF WORLD WAR III
World War III has ravaged the globe. Once great nations have been brought to their knees. Now, a new science offers hope for the future: Psychodynamics, the ability to influence government and popular opinion. Led by the Psychotechnic Institute, humanity denounces its violent ways, once and for all. While peace reigns on Earth, humankind ventures out into the Solar System—and to the stars beyond. But soon the cycle of war and destruction begins anew.
The first of three volumes collecting all of multiple Hugo- and Nebula-Award winning author Poul Anderson's massive future history magnum opus. Includes short stories previously uncollected in a Psychotechnic League volume!
You are Lt. Commander Emerald Sheller: You command the toughest soldiers in space. Now, on a special mission ordered by none other than Hope Hubris, the Space Tyrant, you must outflank the Marianas pirates. From long-range battles in deep space to bloody hand-to-hand combat, your strategies hold the key to victory or defeat.
For Captain Honor Harrington, it's sometimes hard to know who the enemy really is. Despite political foes, professional jealousies, and the scandal which drove her into exile, she's been offered a chance to reclaim her career as an officer of the Royal Manticoran Navy. But there's a catch. She must assume command of a "squadron" of jury-rigged armed merchantmen with crew drawn from the dregs of her service and somehow stop the pirates who have taken advantage of the Havenite War to plunder the Star Kingdom's commerce.
That would be hard enough, but some of the "pirates" aren't exactly what they seem . . . and neither are some of her "friends," For Honor has been carefully chosen for her mission—by two implacable and powerful enemies.
The way they see it, either she stops the raiders or the raiders kill her . . . and either way, they win.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A lifetime military history buff, David Weber has carried his interest in history into his fiction. In the Honor Harrington series (ten volumes published to date), the spirit of both C.S. Forester's Horatio Horn-blower and history's Admiral Nelson are evident. Weber has also written an epic fantasy, Oath of Swords, and four other science fiction adventures: Path of the Fury and the three novels of the "Dahak" series, Mutineers' Moon, The Armageddon Inheritance and Heirs of Empire. Weber has worked as a war game designer, most extensively on the Task Force game Starfire™. With Steve White, he has written two novels set in that universe, Insurrection and Crusade.
Weber lives in Greenville, South Carolina with two dogs, one cat, and his collection of Honor Harrington artwork.
A NEW NOVEL IN THE AWARD WINNING SERIES FROM MULTIPLE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING AUTHOR LOIS MCMASTER BUJOLD! Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan returns to the planet that changed her destiny.
FUTURE TENSE
Three years after her famous husband’s death, Cordelia Vorkosigan, widowed Vicereine of Sergyar, stands ready to spin her life in a new direction. Oliver Jole, Admiral, Sergyar Fleet, finds himself caught up in her web of plans in ways he’d never imagined, bringing him to an unexpected crossroads in his career.
Meanwhile, Miles Vorkosigan, one of Emperor Gregor’s key investigators, this time dispatches himself on a mission of inquiry, into a mystery he never anticipated – his own mother.
Plans, wills, and expectations collide in this sparkling science-fiction social comedy, as the impact of galactic technology on the range of the possible changes all the old rules, and Miles learns that not only is the future not what he expects, neither is the past.
Download the Reader’s Group Discussion Guide here.
Lois McMaster Bujold 
