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.

WELCOME TO THE MANY WORLDS OF BEST-SELLING AUTHOR ERIC FLINT

Known for his New York Times best-selling alternate history novels, Flint is equally a master of shorter forms, and this second large volume gathers more of Flint’s shorter works. Including several stories and a short novel set in Flint’s celebrated Ring of Fire alternate history series. A commemorative novelette set in Poul Anderson’s Operation Chaos universe. A story with Dave Freer, set in his and Flint’s popular Rats, Bats and Vats series. Several humorous short stories addressing Biblical literalism. A long novella in a Martian steampunk setting. And another long novella set in David Weber’s best-selling Honor Harrington universe.

In addition to the fiction, Eric Flint has written an overall introduction, plus an introduction for each story, telling how it came to be written, making this an irresistible book for the many thousands of Eric Flint fans.

A classic of science fiction from SF legend Gordon R. Dickson, winner of three Hugo awards, a Nebula award, and an inductee into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame.

The Earth is overcrowded. Chosen by lottery, people are shunted off to the far-flung planetary colonies. But winning this lottery is no prize, for the colonist are largely ignored by the people of Earth, considered disposable. Left to defend for themselves, the colonist are plagued by low supplies and are forced to eke out a hardscrabble existence. Worse, they face an ever-looming threat from without: the alien Meda V'Dans, who routinely attack without provocation.

Fortunately, the colonists have the Outposters to protect them. One such Outposter is Mark Ten Roos, a young man with a score to settle against the Meda V'Dans . . . and the will to bring a corrupt system to its knees.

A series milestone as we welcome the twentieth amazing entry in the nationally best-selling Liaden Universe® series.

The luck runs rough around Theo Waitley. Not only are people trying to kill her and capture the self-aware intelligent ship Bechimo to whom Theo is bonded, they’re also trying to arrest her crew members, and throw the dignity of an important passenger, the duly-constituted norbear ambassador Hevelin, into question.

No wonder Theo and her crew felt the need of a break, and retired to what Bechimo refers to as "safe space." Unfortunately, safe space may not be so safe, anymore. It seems that things are leaking through from another universe, and another time. In fact, whole spaceships are coming through. One of those ships is a blasted battleship seemingly fleeing a long-lost war. What’s more, its crew may be members of Theo’s ancient ancestral line—her relatives. It’s certain that they are in dire need of help. Theo has a choice to make. It seems that Bechimo’s “safe space” is about to become deadly perilous.

U.S Army Sergeant Randy Knox is sixteen, and already a seasoned veteran. He is an alien killing prodigy who has eradicated more of the invading Creepers than anyone can keep track of. But Randy is also a high school student struggling with geometry. And he is a young man whose heart is being pulled in two directions by two very different girls. One, Abby Monroe, a straightforward warrior. The other, Serena Coulson, dangerous and mysterious.

Randy, with the help of Serena’s strange brother, alien interpreter Buddy Coulson, has convinced a Creeper base to surrender. After a decade of conflict, misery, and the death of millions of humans, it finally seems that the war may come to an end. But then the surrender effort turns into a bloody ambush. More disturbing, Buddy and Serena Coulson arrive, having escaped torture and interrogation at the hands of a C.I.A. operative. It begins to dawn on Randy that, as much as he doesn’t want to believe it, the powers-that-be may not want the war to be over.

Now, as Randy’s hodge-podge military unit makes a desperate stand at a remote outpost, young Sergeant Randy Knox learns just how far he will go to protect those he loves—and what it takes to save humanity from total alien domination.

THE UNION JACK TAKES TO SPACE! All-new alternate history science fiction from New York Times best-selling author Steve White.

In an alternate future where the British empire never crumbled, the space ships of Her Majesty’s Navy work to keep the spaceways safe. Commander Robert Rogers of the Royal Space Navy is a defense intelligence officer known for his unconventional ways. Rogers is American born-and-raised, a loyal citizen of the Viceroyalty of North America. He’s a descendant of the founder of the highly effective, pro-British Rogers’ Rangers during the Colonial unpleasantries of 1776, and he’s inherited his ancestor’s intelligence and drive in spades.

But there are those among the stars who are not so happy being subjects of the British Empire. In the Tau Ceti system, a cauldron of trouble brews as a terrorist faction of the rebellious Sons of Arnold attacks the empire from within, and warships of the theocratic Caliphate enter the system, prepared to do their worst to destroy the hated empire head on. Yet standing against the coming anarchy and tyranny is one intrepid spy prepared to risk all for queen and empire:

COMMANDER ROBERT ROGERS, HER MAJESTY’S AMERICAN

The Deed of Paksennarion - Book I

Paksenarrion—Paks, for short—refuses her father's orders to marry the pig farmer down the road and is off to join the army. And so her adventure begins—the adventure that transforms her into a hero remembered in songs, chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.

For more information on the UK editions of Elizabeth Moon titles, visit
www.orbitbooks.net

Move Over, Buffy! Tinker Not Only Kicks
Supernatural Butt—
She's a Techie Genius, Too!

Inventor, girl genius Tinker lives in a near-future Pittsburgh which now exists mostly in the land of the elves. She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour. Tinker finds herself taking on the Elven court, the NSA, the Elven Interdimensional Agency, technology smugglers and a college-minded Xenobiologist as she tries to stay focused on what's really important – her first date. Armed with an intelligence the size of a planet, steel toed boots, and a junk yard dog attitude, Tinker is ready to kick butt to get her first kiss.

Wen Spencer

"Each and every character is fascinating, extraordinarily well-developed, and gets right under your skin. . . . A terrific, memorable story." —Julie E. Czerneda, author of In the Company of Others

"Spencer takes her readers on a fast-paced journey into disbelief. [Her] timing is impeccable and the denouement stunning." —Romantic Times (four-star review)

"This novel [Alien Taste] is keeper-shelf material." —BookBrowser

"Wonderfully inventive . . . a fun protagonist." —Locus

Twice before, mysterious cosmic catastrophes have sent portions of the Earth across space and back in time—first, with the Grantville Disaster in West Virginia, and then again with a maximum security prison in southern Illinois.

Now, the planet is struck with yet another such cataclysm, whose direct impact falls upon the Queen of the Sea, a cruise ship in the Caribbean. When the convulsions subside, the crew and passengers of the ship discover that they have arrived in a new and frightening world.

They are in the Mediterranean now, not the Caribbean. Still worse, they discover that the disaster has sent them more than two thousand years back in time. Following the advice of an historian among the passengers, Marie Easley, they sail to Egypt—or, at least, where they hope Egypt will be.

Sure enough, Egypt is there—ruled over by Ptolemy, the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty and one of Alexander the Great’s chief generals.

Alexander the Great, it turns out, died just two years ago. The western world has just entered what would become known as the Hellenistic Period of history, during which time Greek civilization would spread around the Mediterranean and beyond. But the first fifty years of the Hellenistic Period was the Age of Diadochi—the Time of the Successors—when Alexander’s empire would collapse into chaos. By the time the Successors finished their strife, every single member of Alexander’s dynasty would be murdered and only three of the generals who began that civil war would still be alive.

That is the new world in which the Queen of the Sea finds itself. Can Marie Easley and Captain Lars Flodden guide the crew and passengers through this cataclysm? Fortunately, they have some help: a young Norwegian ship’s officer who forms an attachment to Alexander’s widow; a French officer who is a champion pistol marksman; a canny Congressman from Utah—and, most of all, many people of the time who are drawn to a vision of the better world of the future.

Come visit the Old West, the land where gang initiations, ride-by shootings and territory disputes got their start. But these tales aren’t the ones your grandpappy spun around a campfire, unless he spoke of soul-sucking ghosts, steam-powered demons and wayward aliens.

Here then are seventeen stories that breathe new life in the Old West. Among them: Larry Correia explores the roots of his best-selling Monster Hunter International series in "Bubba Shackleford’s Professional Monster Killers." Jim Butcher reveals the origin of one of the Dresden Files' most popular characters in "Fistful of Warlock." And Kevin J. Anderson's Dan Shamble, Zombie P.I., finds himself in a showdown in "High Midnight." Plus stories from Alan Dean Foster, Sarah A. Hoyt, Jody Lynn Nye, Michael A. Stackpole, and many more.

This is a new Old West and you’ll be lucky to get outta town alive!

Contributors:
David Boop
Larry Correia
Jody Lynn Nye
Sam Knight
Robert E. Vardeman
Phil Foglio
Nicole Kurtz
Michael A. Stackpole
Bryan Thomas Schmidt & Ken Scholes
Maurice Broaddus
Sarah A. Hoyt
Alan Dean Foster
David Lee Summers
Kevin J. Anderson
Naomi Brett Rourke
Peter J. Wacks
Jim Butcher

Supernatural Adventure from a Master of Modern Fantasy

The magical King of the West has been killed in California, and his assassin is one of the multiple personalities in the head of Janis Cordelia Plumtree—but which one?

One of them is a streetwise pickpocket. Another is dead, and can only speak in quotes from Shakespeare. And another seems to be the unquiet ghost of her father. And there are many others.

Sid Cochran is a one-time winemaker who blames his wife's suicide on the wine-god Dionysus, and believes that Dionysus is now pursuing him.

Cochran and Plumtree escape together from a mental hospital in Los Angeles, and—pursued by ghosts, gangsters, and a crazy psychiatrist—set out for San Francisco and the wine country to try to restore the dead King of the West to life.

But the god Dionysus himself is a player in this perilous game—and not on their side.

The conclusion to Brendan DuBois's Dark Victory alien-invasion trilogy. Best-selling and award-winning author Brendan DuBois proves that even in the most desperate of times, there are still men and women alive who will take up weapons to defend what is theirs.

More than ten years ago, the alien Creepers arrived in Earth’s orbit and started a war that was a slaughter for humanity. Nuclear weapons detonated in the atmosphere destroyed all electronic devices, asteroids dropped into oceans and lakes swamped cities with artificial tsunamis, and the nearly invulnerable Creepers arrived on Earth, going forth from their dome bases to attack civilians and military units at will.

Sixteen-year-old Randy Knox, a newly minted lieutenant in the U.S. Army, has been fighting the Creepers since he was twelve. He has seen friends, family members and fellow soldiers killed by the Creepers, and he is tired of war. At one point, it seemed the war was over when the aliens’ orbital battle station had been destroyed.

But a second Creeper orbital battle station has arrived.

The war no longer seems to be over, and while returning to his home unit, Randy’s convoy is ambushed. Separated from his fellow soldiers and his K-9 companion Thor, Randy faces the ultimate horror of every American serviceman: to become a prisoner of war of the aliens.

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

WARRIORS AND SOLDIERS TIED TOGETHER THROUGHOUT TIME AND SPACE.

From the distant past to the far future, those who carry the sword rack up commendations for bravery. They are men and women who, like the swords they carry, have been forged in blood. These are their stories.

In medieval Japan, a surly ronin is called upon to defend a village against a thieving tax collector who soon finds out it's not wise to anger an old, tired man. In the ugliest fighting in the Pacific Theater, an American sergeant and a Japanese lieutenant must face each other, and themselves. A former US Marine chooses sides with outnumbered Indonesian refugees against an invading army from Java. When her lover is stolen by death, a sergeant fighting on a far-flung world vows vengeance that will become legendary. And, when a planet fragments in violent chaos, seven Freeholders volunteer to help protect another nation's embassy against a horde.

Featuring all-new stories by Michael Z. Williamson, Larry Correia, Tom Kratman, Tony Daniel, Micahel Massa, Peter Grant, John F. Holmes, and many more.

Contributors:
Zachary Hill
Larry Correia
Michael Massa
John F. Holmes
Rob Reed
Dale Flowers
Tom Kratman
Leo Champion
Peter Grant
Christopher L. Smith
Jason Cordova
Tony Daniel
Kacey Ezell
Michael Z. Williamson

Destruction is in Jame Knorth’s nature. Literally. She is the avatar a god known as That-Which-Destroys, the god of chaos and ruin. Yet Jame is also a noblewoman within an ancient race, and the designated heir of her twin brother Torisen Knorth, High Lord of the Kencyrath. Jame’s people are fleeing, world by world, from a terrible enemy that has pursued them through a multitude of universes. Its name is Perimal Darkling.

Obeying instructions from her brother, Jame sets out with a force of Southron warriors to reestablish the long-fallen castle keep of Tagmeth. By Jame’s side is Lyra, a devious Kencyrath noble girl who is determined not to be forced into a marriage with a man she despises. Jame’s old friends Mark and Brier Iron-thorn stand with her, as well: Marc, steward and organizer of Jame’s household and Brier, the only captain under her command wholly sworn to support Jame no matter the cost. Jame finds more allies in the forest surrounding the ancient keep where the wild people of the woodlands, the Merikit, hold court. And Jame’s adopted mother, Gran Cyd, matriarch and queen of the Merikit, may once again provide the voice of calm that Jame requires to survive her own tempestuous nature.

Jame sets about establishing Tagmeth as an outpost against the gathering power of Perimal Darkling. But Tagmeth hides a secret, a gateway to a mystery that may save this world from eternal darkness—or plunge it to destruction and ruin all the sooner. It is up to Jame to find her way through Perimal Darkling’s traps, and to come to terms with the god of pandemonium and destruction within her who grows stronger every day. If she succeeds it may be that Perimal Darkling can finally be defeated after eons of fear and flight. And if she fails, yet another world will fall to darkness forever.

Book #7 in the popular Carrera military science fiction series.

Carrera's held off his enemies coming by sea from the north, in the process dealing the naval and amphibious forces of the Zhong Empire a stinging defeat. The Zhong won't soon forget the blood-stained waters and the heaped up bodies on the shores of Balboa's Isla Real.

Now, though, his adopted country of Balboa is under assault from the east, from the south, from the west, from the air, and from space. The Zhong, smarting from the butchery around the island, have bounced back and forced a lodgment east of the capital. Their lodgment is still a-building but when it is done Carrera can expect several hundred thousand brave and determined Zhong to show up on his barely defended flank.

The Taurans, remembering their military roots, have assaulted Balboa from the south, taking half the area of, and cutting, the Transitway that joins Terra Nova's Mar Furioso and her Shimmering Sea. In the process, they've cut off and besieged the second city of the country, Cristobal, trapping inside the city Carrera's Fourth Corps, and overrunning and capturing a large portion of Carrera's artillery train.

West of Cristobal, the Taurans have created, almost from scratch, a series of small ports and airfields to support their siege.

Inside the town, a sense of desperation is growing among the men and women of the Fourth Corps: Has their leader forgotten about or abandoned them?

Meanwhile another Tauran Expeditionary force secures Balboa's eastern neighbor, Santa Josefina, as a base against them.

In space, the United Earth Peace Fleet, under the Command of High Admiral Marguerite Wallenstein, keeps as low a profile as possible, all the time spying and feeding intelligence to both Zhong and Tauran.

It's beginning to look like the game is up for Balboa and Patricio Carrera.

But Carrera's been planning this war for fifteen years. He certainly hopes his enemies think they're winning.

They're Baaaack!

When a human thinks he's Napoleon Bonaparte, it's time to get out a straitjacket. But when a Hoka thinks he's Napoleon Bonaparte, you'd better believe it! Particularly since there'll be hundreds of other Hokas around who know for a fact that they're the French army, mon amis, even if they're on another planet light years away from Earth, and the forces they're facing aren't the British but very nasty warlike aliens who by all reason should be expected to make mincemeat out of the Hokas.

But when it comes to Hokas, reason does not compute.

These friendly, fuzzy aliens who resemble large teddy bears have a very vivid imagination and have never quite grasped the difference between human fiction and reality, or (in the present case), between past history and the much later and rather different present. Always bet on the Hokas. Even when a young lad and his Hoka tutor find themselves stuck on a planet where they seem to be scheduled to fulfill an ancient (and lethal) prophecy that neither of them had ever heard of until now, Hokas as usual find that reality is merely optional and the good guys—and bears—always win, quicker than you can say

". . . the funniest s-f ever written."
-A Reader's Guide to Science Fiction

"You aren't apt to find a more gleeful book of S-F."
—The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction

"I'll bet you can't read just one."
—Philadelphia Weekly Press

In the time of the Ancients the universe was united—but that was so far in the past that not even memory remains, only the broken artifacts that a few Makers can reshape into their original uses. What survives is shattered into enclaves—some tiny, some ruined, some wild.

Into the gaps between settlements, and onto the Road that connects all human reality and the reality that is not human and may never have been human, have crept monsters. Some creatures are men, twisted into inhuman evil; some of them are alien to Mankind—

And there are things which are hostile to all life, things which will raven and kill until they are stopped.

A Leader has arisen, welding the scattered human settlements together in peace and safety and smashing the enemies of order with an iron fist. In his capital, Dun Add, the Leader provides law and justice. In the universe beyond, his Champions advance—and enforce—the return of civilization.

Pal, a youth from the sticks, has come to Dun Add to become a Champion. Pal is a bit of a Maker, and in his rural home he's been able to think of himself as a warrior because he can wield the weapons of the Ancient civilization.

Pal has no idea of what he's really getting into in Dun Add. On the other hand, the Leader and Dun Add have no real idea of what might be inside this hayseed with high hopes.

THE SPARK: A story of hope and violence and courage. And especially, a story of determination.

A Liaden Universe^® Novel

"LEE AND MILLER STRIKE SPACE OPERA GOLD."
 —Robin Wayne Bailey

Once a brilliant First-in Scout, Val Con yos'Phelium was "recruited" by the mysterious Liaden Department of Interior and brainwashed into an Agent of Change—a ruthless covert operative who kills without remorse.

Fleeing the scene of his latest murderous mission, he finds himself saving the life of ex-mercenary Miri Robertson, a tough Terran on the run from a team of interplanetary assassins. Thrown together by circumstances, Val Con and Miri struggle to elude their enemies and stay alive without slaying each other—or surrendering to the unexpected passion that flares between them.

"I was mesmerized, awed, and totally entertained. I am hooked by the Liaden world. Bravo!"
—Mary Balogh

"Full of action, exotic characters, plenty of plot, and even a touch of romance. OUTSTANDING."
—Booklist

"You may never care about a cast of characters more or await their return with more anticipation."
—SF Site

Well over a millennia in the past, men and women fled Earth. Escaping Armageddon. What they found—lost in some forgotten corner of the Milky Way Galaxy—was the Waywork: an alien superhighway system between a closed sphere of stars. Now, the five Starstates—which rule all that’s left of humanity—are poised on the brink of another terrible war. And three unlikely people—he daring daughter of a royal family, the reluctant son of an interstellar shipping magnate, and a disgraced flag officer seeking redemption—must come together to race against the forces of their greatest foe. Because the Waywork may at last be ready to give up its secrets, and one woman—a merciless autocrat, from the Waywork’s most brutal regime—is determined to ensure that she controls it all. It’s a clash of civilizations, as the future of the human race hangs in the balance!

We are not alone in the galaxy—not by a longshot. And extra-solar civilization has come calling. Now, Tom Parent, his linguist wife Lucy, and their Great Dane Rex must travel the stars as ambassadors of Earth. Their mission: to prove Humanity deserves to be considered equal to the scores of established alien cultures. Earth’s acceptance hinges on building good relationships with these aliens, and the genteel Parents seem the perfect candidates for wooing extra-terrestrials.

Of course, they’ll have to tread carefully among these brave new worlds that have such creatures in them! Soon what starts as a straight-forward goodwill tour is complicated when Lucy is mistaken for a Wilf—a lifeform that manipulates others toward moral behavior—and Tom accidentally joins a galactic council when he sits in the wrong chair. On top of that, their faithful hound Rex starts talking. And maybe it’s best if we don’t mention the singing gelatin-mold-like alien they have to rescue from becoming dessert.

It’s action and adventure for Tom, Lucy, and Rex, and a laugh-riot for the reader in this classic novel from Science Fiction master Gordon R. Dickson!

A bizarre kidnapping case leads FBI Special Agent Jasper Wilde into the mysterious world of a strange religious cult and even stranger criminals. At the scene of the kidnapping itself, a frightening apparition is seen. Then, a hideously-mutilated corpse is found nearby. Something wicked has come to the nornal-seeming Chicago suburbs.

It doesn’t take long before the FBI agents realize that something truly extraordinary is unfolding in northwest Indiana—and that, whatever it is, the area’s huge steel industry is somehow at the center.

Jasper is joined by Supervisory Special Agent Temple Black. Black has recently been put in charge of a new unit, the Scientific Anomalies Group, created to analyze and handle peculiar cases which might be on the periphery of national security.

Another cult is discovered, although this one seems to be opposed to the criminal activities taking place. Further investigation, however, just produces more in the way of mystery. The agents consult with scientists and theologians, but no one has any idea what might be producing the situation.

Until, finally, the cults erupt in open warfare. As the FBI agents race to intervene and finally put a stop to the horrors, they come to understand and accept that something very ancient and very evil has surfaced in the world—or, perhaps, something that is very, very alien.

Final Frontiers: an anthology of stories from classic and contemporary masters that explores the wide-open frontier that may await humanity when we take to the stars.

DON'T YOU KNOW YOUR FUTURE IS IN SPACE?

Since the dawn of time, humankind has felt the urge to explore the four corners of our globe. To push at the boundaries of our world and discover what lies over the horizon. And since the dawn of science fiction, writers have wondered about the next frontier: the one that lies Out There.

Here then, a generous collection of stories that reach out into the unknown void, finding awe, wonder, other minds—even terror. But always going beyond the world we know to explore a universe strange beyond the outermost limits of human imagination. Stories of brave men and women who risk all to explore, colonize, and settle the vast reaches of space.

As e. e. cummings put it, “listen: there’s a hell of a good universe next door; let’s go.” Well said, but there’s a hell of a big, strange universe right here. And it’s waiting for us all!

Great tales of space exploration and pioneering by David Drake, Sarah A. Hoyt, Theodore Sturgeon, Edmond Hamilton, and more.