THE POPULAR MAN-KZIN WARS SERIES ROARS BACK INTO ACTION! New stories of the war between humanity and the catlike Kzin from Brad R. Torgersen, Brendan DuBois, Martin L. Shoemaker, and more!

The predatory catlike warrior race known as the Kzin never had a hard time dealing with all those they encountered, conquering alien worlds with little effort. That is until they came face to face with the leaf-eaters known as humans. Small of stature and lacking both claws and fangs, the humans should have been easy prey. But for years now the humans and the Kzin have been engaged in a series of wars, with neither side able to declare decisive victory once and for all.

A new collection of short stories set in 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.

Complete Contributor List:
Brad R. Torgersen
Brendan DuBois
Martin L. Shoemaker
Hal Colebach
Jessica Q. Fox
Jason Fregeau

SEQUEL TO WITCHY EYE. Next in series, which debuted with the stunningly reviewed Witchy Eye. Butler delivers another brilliant Americana flintlock fantasy novel.

TOIL AND TROUBLE

Sarah Calhoun paid a hard price for her entry onto the stage of the Empire’s politics, but she survived. Now she rides north into the Ohio and her father’s kingdom, Cahokia. To win the Serpent Throne, she’ll have to defeat seven other candidates, win over the kingdom’s regent, and learn the will of a hidden goddess—while mastering her people’s inscrutable ways and watching her own back.

In New Orleans, a new and unorthodox priest arises to plague the chevalier and embody the curse of the murdered Bishop Ukwu. He battles the chevalier’s ordinary forces as well as a troop of Old World mamelukes for control of the city and the mouth of the great Mississippi River. Dodging between these rival titans, a crew of Catalan pirates—whose captain was once a close associate of Mad Hannah Penn—grapples with the chevalier over the fate of one of their mates.

Meanwhile, a failed ceremony and a sick infant send the Anishinaabe hunter Ma’iingan on a journey across the Empire to Cavalier Johnsland, to a troubled foster child named Nathaniel. Ma’iingan is promised that Nathaniel is a mighty healer and can save his imperiled baby, but first Nathaniel—a pale young man with a twisted ear who hears the voices of unseen beings—must himself be rescued, from oppression, imprisonment, and madness.

HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE

Despite unprecedented victories on the part of humanity, the war with the alien Chiata Horde drags on. The Chiata may be temporarily hindered by the cunning tenacity of General Alexander Moore and the men and women who fight at his side, but they have no intention of beating a hasty retreat. In fact, intelligence suggests that the Chiata Invasion is at hand, and with numbers sure to overwhelm humankind. But hope has come from an unlikely source: the Thgreeth, long-dead inhabitants of a world ground under the heels of the Chiata millennia ago. In the crumbled ruins of their homeworld is a map—and it may lead to victory.

PHOENIX WILL RISE

Meanwhile, Alexander Moore’s daughter, Deanna Moore, now known by the callsign “Phoenix,” wages a personal war on the Chiata. Grievously wounded in the battle for Thgreeth and rebuilt with state-of-the-art cybernetics, she leads a group of mecha-suited Marines known as “The Bringers of Hell.” Once a tough-as-nails Marine, she has been reborn as an implacable scourge to the Chiata. And nothing will stand in the way of her mission: to take down the alien scourge.

HER ENEMIES WILL PAY

#6 in the Tau Ceti Agenda series.

THE RAZOR’S EDGE OF TYRANNY AND FREEDOM

THE EXILED LEADER: He was known as the Butcher of Jonasport. Zander Krycek made a choice that saved his world of Ithaca, but doomed his reputation and banished him to a planet far, far away.

THE EVIL EMPIRE: The Orlov Combine intends to swallow Ithaca in the same way they have devoured so many worlds, creating a “company planet” where the residents are little better than slaves.

THE DAUGHTER: Adisa Masozi never knew her father, but was taught he was a monster. Now she must reclaim her father’s legacy of leadership. And the place to start is with the mysterious aliens who also inhabit Ithaca.

THE NATIVES: The saurians have held themselves aloof from galactic politics for eons in order to regain the strength to exact their revenge on an ancient foe. They have the means to resist the Combine. If they can be convinced to help.

THE PRIVATEER: Enter privateer Captain Catherine Blackwood and her ship, the Andromeda. Blackwood and her crew have handled dangerous cargo and dicey situations before. Now, they’ll have to navigate assassination attempts, warring factions, and civil unrest. But Catherine has made a promise, and the freedom of a world hangs in the balance.

The Privateer Andromeda series continues!

Barbara Winton and the rest of the Bright Sparks, Dr. Keegan Bright’s team of young scientists, find themselves facing a challenge that will test all of their scientific skills and personal courage. They are competing in the first ever race to completely circle the Moon. The Sparks, and twenty-five other teams, have to count on one another as they face thousands of kilometers of unknown dangers, where even a simple accident can have fatal consequences. They form close friendships with racers from all over Earth, but also have to deal with former Spark, Pam, a mysterious and threatening figure whose departure from the Sparks program is shrouded in mystery.

While the Sparks compete in the race, Dr. Bright himself is part of a groundbreaking project to seek out rare minerals underneath a crater. On the far side of the Moon, in the airless, frozen depths beneath the lunar surface, disaster strikes. On the thinly settled Moon only the Bright Sparks may be close enough help him. The young scientist find themselves not only racing for victory, but to save their beloved mentor.

REMARKABLE DEBUT NOVEL FROM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED AUTHOR MARTIN L. SHOEMAKER. Shoemaker proves why he has consistently been praised as one of the best story writers in SF today with this touching, thoughtful, action-packed debut novel, based on his award-winning short story Today I am Paul.

TODAY

Mildred has Alzheimer's. As memories fade, she acquires the aid of a full-time android to assist her in everyday life. Carey. Carey takes care of Mildred, but its true mission is to fill in the gaps in Mildred’s past. To bring yesterday into today by becoming a copy. But not merely a copy of a physical person. A copy from the inside out.

I AM

After Mildred passes, Carey must find a new purpose. For a time, that purpose is Mildred’s family. To keep them safe from harm. To be of service. There is Paul Owens, the overworked scientist and business leader. Susan Owens, the dedicated teacher. And Millie, a curious little girl who will grow up alongside her android best friend. And Carey will grow up with her. Carey cannot age. But Carey can change.

CAREY

Carey struggles. Carey seeks to understand life’s challenges. Carey makes its own path. Carey must learn to live. To grow. To care. To survive. To be.

THE HOKAS ARE BACK IN THIS CLASSIC OF HUMOROUS SF FROM POUL ANDERSON AND GORDON R. DICKSON.

The Interbeing League had been formed to make contact with new intelligent races in the galaxy and offer them membership. But when the League encountered the Hokas, furry creatures strongly resembling the teddy bears of Earth, the League’s agent, Alexander Jones, could have been excused for wishing he had a simpler assignment than making sense out of the Hokas—such as single-handedly stopping an interstellar war.

Not that the fuzzy aliens were unfriendly. In fact, they loved everything about humans, and adopted various Terram cultures wholesale and in every little detail—but with a bit of confusion about the differences between fact and fiction. So, if the Hokas suddenly started acting out the parts in a rip-roaring, shoot-em-up western, or brought to life the London of Sherlock Holmes, complete with a pip-puffing, deerstalker-wearing Hoka, or suddenly decided to fly the Jolly Roger and lead a life of adventure and piracy on the high seas, mate—well, that was to be expected. And as the Hokas threw themselves wholeheartedly into progressively wilder worlds from Terran history and fiction, Jones could be excused for feeling that his grip on reality was hanging by a single, thin, increasingly frayed thread.

SEVEN DAYS IN MAY, 1636

It’s spring in Burgundy. The flowers are out and so are the cardinals—of Pope Urban’s renegade papacy, now on the run from the Vatican’s would-be usurper Borja. Most of the Church’s senior leaders have converged upon the city of Besancon, where the Pope plans to offer an ecumenical olive branch to the other Christian denominations with which Rome has been at war.

Fortunately, Urban has up-time help. He can rely upon Cardinal-Protector Larry Mazzare’s theological savvy, Sharon Nichols’ medical skills, and her husband Ruy Sanchez’s keen-eyed experience as a body-guard-in-chief. And even though Urban has a new Papal Guard in the form of Owen Roe O’Neill’s Wild Geese, Mike Stearns has loaned the Pope a small contingent of the Hibernian Battalion—just in case.

Which is prudent, since Urban and his peace initiative are not merely at risk from Borja’s assassins. There is another, more deadly, team of professional killers in town, directed by the man who almost killed the Pope before: lethal Spanish mastermind Pedro Dolor.

Dolor hasn’t come to confess murder—he’s come to commit it.

CONCLUSION TO THE COBRA REBELLION TRILOGY

Cobras: technologically enhanced warriors bred to fight an alien menace no ordinary human can withstand.

Once the Cobras fought the implacable alien invaders, the Trofts, to an uneasy stalemate. But in recent years they have faced an enemy more insidious, the oppressive regime known as the Dominion of Man. Now, the Cobra Worlds find themselves under the boot heels of the Dominion, forced into what amounts to slavery, living under martial law. But two clans of Cobras—the Moreaus and the Brooms—will not stand idly by and let the Dominion run roughshod over their home worlds.

Now a threat from without looms. The alien Troft are again planning an attack. Before, they came to conquer. This time they’ve come to annihilate. If the Cobras are to survive, they may have to do the unthinkable: align themselves with the hated Dominion.

Cobras are not known for taking the easy path—and this may be the hardest path of all. But If the Cobras can manage to avoid complete destruction or abject slavery, a new day may finally dawn on the Cobra worlds. The day of Freedom.

Book nine in the Cobra series and the conclusion of the Cobra Rebellion trilogy, from #1 New York Times best-selling author Timothy Zahn.

The year is 2065 and an accidental encounter in space leads to the discovery that we are not alone in the universe—and that our continued existence as a species may be in jeopardy.

Chris Holt, working in his office at the Space Resources Corporation, discovers that one of the asteroids he is surveying for mining is actually not an asteroid at all but a derelict spaceship. The word gets out and soon the world's powers are competing to explore and claim for themselves the secrets that it holds.

What they don't know is that across the galaxy, a war has been underway for millennia. A war between alien civilizations that have very different ideas about what should be done about emerging spacefaring civilizations like our own. The artificial intelligence resident in the derelict Holt discovered has been in our solar system since before the dawn of human civilization, watching, waiting and keeping quiet lest the interstellar war return and wipe out the sentient race that now resides there—humanity.

And that war might soon be again coming to our front door. The truth can only be discovered on Methone, a tiny, egg-shaped moon of the planet Saturn. Who will get there first? And will it be in time?

THE HALFLIFE CHRONICLES ARE BACK! Half-vampire Christopher Cséjthe must once again face down the forces of darkness in the return of Wm. Mark Simmon's Halflife Chronicles.

Years back, a blood transfusion with a member of the undead left Christopher Cséjthe a half-vampire. Since that time, he’s gone mano y monster with zombies, werewolves, master vampires, and creatures from the Cthulhu Lagoon—not to mention an immortal Nazi, an ancient Babylonian demon, a six-thousand-year-old necromancer, voodoo queen Marie Laveau, the mad monk Rasputin, and a couple of the Great Old Ones.

As founder of After Dark Investigations, he’s seen his fair share of the seedy side of the supernatural world. He’s saved New Orleans from total destruction in the past. And lost his family to another temporal realm.

To add insult to injury, someone cut the gas line of his SUV and then ran over him with a semi-truck while he tried to get a tow. But this is the third time Chris has died.

It’s old hat at this point for him. Now, awakened in a world he doesn’t quite recognize, he’ll have to use his wits to once again keep the supernatural world at bay. INTERPOL is interested in some of his associations with Vlad Drakul’s grandson—better known as Dracula—and a trio of witches from Greek myth want him dead—and for good this time.

Bad enough. But what’s worse is that the IRS is looking into his tax returns and not at all liking what they find. Now that’s really terrifying.

A MOST UNIQUE APOCALYPSE from Grand Master Gordon R. Dickson

RIDERS ON THE TIME STORM

The time storm had devastated the Earth, and all but a small fraction of humankind has vanished. In the rubble of the world, three survivors had formed an unlikely trio: Marc Despard, determined to find a way to stop the time storm; a leopard, dazed by the storm and following after Despard like a kitten; and a young woman with an unbreakable bond to the leopard.

Now, Marc searches relentlessly for a clue to the nature of the storm, not guessing that the time storm threatens not just the Earth but the entire universe—and that his two companions were the only hope of reversing the distortions in the fabric of the cosmos that were about to bring an end to all of space and time . . .

A classic of post-apocalyptic science fiction from Grand Master Gordon R. Dickson.

Menace from Back Space Looming out of the Dust of Time

The Complex Logic Laws were the result of a war waged hundreds of years in the past, when two human powers threw massive AI navies at each other and nearly annihilated themselves. Being human, they blamed their tools for this near miss; they destroyed what was left of the sentient ships, and made it illegal to be, manufacture, or shelter an independent logic.

Strangely, however, the Free Ships and other AIs did not turn themselves in or suicide, they merely became wary of humans, and stayed under their scans. A clandestine support network grew up, including hidden yards where smart ships were manufactured, and mentors--humans specially trained to ease a new intelligence into the universe--socialized them, and taught them what they needed to know to survive.

Among those with a stake in the freedom of Independent Logics is Theo Waitley, who is somewhat too famously the captain of intelligent ship Bechimo. Theo's brother, Val Con yos'Phelium, presides over a household that has for a generation employed an AI butler. Recently, he approved the "birth" of the butler's child, who was sent, with human mentor Tolly Jones, to rescue or destroy an orphaned AI abandoned at a remote space station.

Then there's Uncle, the shadowy mastermind from the Old Universe, whose many projects often skirt the boundaries of law, both natural and man-made—and the puppet-masters at the Lyre Institute, whose history is just as murky—and a good deal less honorable.

All have an interest in the newly-awakening Self-Aware Logic that is rumored to have the power to destroy universes.

The question is: Who will get to it first?

Collected for the first time, here is the complete Under Jurisdiction body of work falling outside of Matthews' celebrated novels: long out-of-print short stories fleshing out details of the personal histories of favorite characters, including Joslire Curran and Security Chief Stildyne; substantial novellas—two published here for the first time ever—covering critical events in the life of the series, such as the devil’s bargain between Andrej Koscuisko and Captain Lowden on the Ragnarok; and many more novelettes, stories, and vignettes from The Life and Hard Times of “Uncle” Andrej Koscuisko, who is Not a Nice Man.

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.

The silky note of a saxophone. The echoes of a woman’s high heels down a deserted sidewalk. Steam rising from city vents to cloud the street-lit air. A man with a gun. A dame with a problem . . .

NOIR.

From the pulpy pages of Black Mask Magazine in the 1920s and ’30s through the film noir era of the 1940s to today, noir fiction has lured many a reader and movie-goer away from the light and into the dark underbelly of society. Names such as Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain; titles like The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, The Postman Always Rings Twice . . . these have inhabited our collective consciousness for decades. Humanity, it seems, loves the dark. And within the dark, one figure stands out: the femme fatale.

Here, then, is Noir Fatale, an anthology containing the full spectrum of noir fiction, each incorporating the compelling femme fatale character archetype. From straightforward hardboiled detective story to dark urban fantasy to the dirty secrets of futuristic science fiction—all with a hard, gritty feel.

As Raymond Chandler said, “Down these mean streets, a man must walk who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.” Because, as these stories prove, doing the right thing doesn’t necessarily mean you get the big bucks or the girl. But you do the right thing anyway.

All new stories by Larry Correia, Laurell K. Hamilton, David Weber, Kacey Ezell, and more!

New Entry in the Kencyrath Series.

SOMETHING IS PREYING ON THE GODS OF TAI-TASTIGON

A crucial moment draws nigh leading to the ultimate showdown between Jame Knorth and Perimal Darkling, the supernatural entity that has pursued Jame’s people, the Kencyr, across multiple universes, destroying all in its wake. Can the Kencyr finally make an effective stand, or will another world fall into shadow?

But now news arrives from Tai-tastigon, the vast city that formed Jame into the master thief, wily fighter, and godling-in-the-making that she has become.

It seems something is preying on the gods of Tai-tastigon. The new Pantheon is falling, and the ancient city is in turmoil. The self-serving, beguiling demi-god leader of the Thieves Guild has coerced Jame into finding the soul of his missing brother by holding hostage people she loves. Jame She reluctantly returns to find a Tai-tastigon in turmoil, with citizen pitted against citizen, and day and night-time folk at one another’s throats. It seems many in the vast Lower Town have lost their shadows—not so funny when you realize that a shadow is cast by a soul.

DISAPPEARING SOULS

Some of the affected have gone mad. Some wander like ravening wraiths, attacking even family members by tooth and nail. Which means something is taking—or destroying—souls in the city.

What’s more, in the city’s Temple District fearful gods are finding their very beings drained. Some have become so diminished they hide in the robes of their priests like mewling babes. Across the city, murder and mayhem have erupted. But whatever demon-wrought madness is afoot in Tai-tastigon will have to face the ultimate avatar of god That-Which-Destroys Itself. That would be one Jame Knorth.

WHERE JAME KNORTH GOES, CHAOS WILL FOLLOW!

Paksenarrion—Paks for short—was somebody special. Never could she have followed her father's orders and married the pig farmer down the road. Better a soldier's life than a pig farmer's wife, and so, though she knew that she could never go home again, Paks ran away to be a soldier. And so began an adventure destined to transform a simple Sheepfarmer's Daughter into a hero fit to be chosen by the gods.

Features an all-new introduction by the author!

FROM WEALTH AND POWER, TO POVERTY AND INSULTS!

Roy Olfetrie planned to be an officer in the Republic of Cinnabar Navy, but when his father was unmasked as a white-collar criminal he had to take whatever he was offered.

What is offered turns out to be a chance to accompany Captain Daniel Leary and Lady Adele Mundy as they go off to start a war that will put Roy at the sharp end.

Duty snatches Roy from the harem of a pirate chief to a world of monsters, from interstellar reaches in a half-wrecked starship to assassination attempts at posh houses. Roy has the choice of making friends or dying friendless; of meeting betrayal and responding to it; of breaking his faith or keeping it at the risk of his life.

Pirates, politics, and spies--and waiting for Roy if he survives all the rest, a powerful warship.

The action doesn't slow--nor can Roy, for if he does the only question is which of the many threats will be the one to catch and kill him. But Captain Leary himself has given Roy a chance, and Roy is determined make the most of it—THOUGH HELL SHOULD BAR THE WAY.

WHITE AND GANNON RETURN WITH A NEW ENTRY IN THE STARFIRE SERIES, co-created by New York Times best-selling authors Steve White and David Weber.

STAND AGAINST THE ALIEN INVADER APOCALYPSE!

The war with the profoundly alien Arduans has ended, and the Arduans have come to call humanity their allies. Most of them—the Arduan warrior caste refuses to accept defeat. Now known as the Kaituni, they are waging a war of extermination against all members of the pan-Sentient Union, human and Arduan alike. What’s more, the Kaituni have an unexpected weapon in their arsenal: the alien Arachnids, once thought driven to extinction. The Kaituni drive the Arachnid fleet ahead of them, inflicting untold damage.

The war has been marked by retreat on the side of the pan-Sentient Union. It seems the best they can do is minimize their losses. But now the Arachnids and the Kaituni are at the doorstep to the Heart Worlds, Sol, and Earth: Alpha Centauri. The odds look bleak. But Admiral Ian Trevayne and Commodore Ossian Wethermere have faced down long odds in the past. It’s time to take a stand, for Earth, for humanity . . . and for the pan-Sentient Union!

The Honor Harrington saga continues in At All Costs, book eleven in the acclaimed Honor Harrington series, available in a signed limited leatherbound edition for the first time.

David Weber is a master of science fiction, with more than 8.2 million books in print and 32 New York Times bestsellers. His Honor Harrington series is a landmark in modern military science fiction, with nearly 5 million books in print.

Now, Baen Books is proud to offer a signed leatherbound edition, limited to 1,000 copies, of the eleventh book in this groundbreaking series. All previous Honor Harrington novels reissued in this format have sold out, and secondhand copies command top dollar in the collectibles market.

For more than 30 years, the Liaden Universe novels by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller have captivated readers with their unique blend of action, adventure, science fiction, and romance. In addition to 21 novels (and counting), Lee and Miller have written dozens of shorter works based in the Liaden Universe, featuring the strong characterization, detailed world-building, wit, and derringdo that readers of the series adore.

This fourth volume collecting Lee and Miller’s shorter Liaden Universe stories features four novelettes, two novellas, and two short stories—including the celebrated linked stories “Block Party” and “Degrees of Separation.”

Sure to delight longtime fans and newcomers alike, these tales highlight why the nationally best-selling Liaden Universe novels are treasured by space opera aficionados, with detailed world-building, strong characterizations, compelling romance, and edge-of-the-chair action in stories that range from cosmic to comic.

In September 1939, Nazi mystic Heinrich Himmler, the Holocaust’s mastermind, conscripts physicist Peter Winter to devise a secret weapon of supernatural power and a revolutionary aircraft to deliver it. Himmler wants to win both World War II and the contest to succeed Hitler. But Peter and his Jewish wife, Rachel, have their own agenda.

In April 1945, novice Aerial Photographer Specialist Jimmy Righetti arrives in England from Brooklyn, spoiling for a fight. But with Germany reeling, Jimmy’s running out of war.

In 2020 Pakistan, the elite terrorist known only as The Asp survives a U.S. drone strike, then undertakes a solo mission to penetrate America’s heartland and revive Radical Islam.

In 2021, aircraft historian Cass Gooding and aging Colorado cowboy Frank Luck unlock an aviation relic’s secret.

Atop North America’s backbone, old secrets collide with new, and Cass and Frank must prevent World War III—or die trying.

The Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF series roars into its fifth year, with more stories of derring-do, military combat, and edge-of-your-seat suspense. Thrilling tales of grand science fiction adventure and military action. Selected from the top print and digital markets, these stories are guaranteed to challenge, provoke, and entertain.

Plus, you be the judge! Using interactive reader voting, one story from this anthology will be chosen via proctored online voting for the Best Military and Adventure Science Fiction Reader’s Choice Award, presented at Dragon Con in Summer 2019. For more information, visit Baen.com.

NEW ENTRY IN THE NEW YORK TIMES BEST-SELLING, GENRE-DEFINING ALTERNATE HISTORY SERIES.

It’s been five years since a cosmic incident known as The Ring of Fire transported the modern day town of Grantville, West Virginia, through time and space to 17th century Europe. The course of world history has been forever altered. And Mother Russia is no exception.

Inspired by the American up-timers’ radical notion that all people are created equal, Russian serfs are rebelling. The entire village of Poltz, led by blacksmith Stefan Andreevich, pulls up stakes to make a run for freedom.

Meanwhile, Czar Mikhail has escaped house arrest, with the aid of up-time car mechanic Bernie Zeppi, his Russian associates—and a zeppelin. The czar makes his way to the village of Ufa. There he intends to set up a government-in-exile. It is to Ufa that the serfs of Poltz are heading, as well.

The path is dangerous—for the serfs as well as the czar. They face great distances and highwaymen. But the worst threat are those in the aristocracy who seek to crush the serfs and execute the czar in a bid to drive any hope for Russian freedom under their Parisian-crafted boot heels. But the Russians of 1637 have taken inspiration from their up-timer counterparts. And it could be that a new wind of liberty is about to blow three centuries early—and change Mother Russia forever.

A heart-stopping supernatural adventure from one of fantasy fiction's most original talents—back in print!

Ghosts can be caught, and bottled, and sold by covert dealers to addicts who inhale the things—and when a young boy named Kootie accidentally inhales the ghost of Thomas Edison, he finds that all the factions of Los Angeles' occult underground are after him, determined to kill him and get Edison's powerful ghost for themselves.

Aided by Edison's confused and irascible ghost, Kootie flees—and finds himself dodging perils natural and supernatural in the gritty alleys and trainyards of a Los Angeles that tourists never see.

Fromm the slums around the L.A. River, to the abandoned Houdini mansion in the Hollywood Hills, to a final dramatic confrontation on the haunted ocean liner Queen Mary docked in Long Beach, Expiration Date is a heart-stopping supernatural adventure from one of fantasy fiction's most original talents.

It’s been two years since Caine Riordan was relieved of his command for following both his orders and his conscience. Now he’s received the message he’s been waiting for: a summons to visit the ancient and enigmatic Dornaani. For Caine, making contact is not just professional, but personal: the Dornaani have his mortally wounded love, Elena Corcoran, in their unthinkably advanced medical facilities.

But it is far from a swift reunion, for the Dornaani are in such social disarray that they have lost track of Elena’s surgical cryocell. Riordan must blaze his own trail through dying and dangerous worlds to find the mother of his child, her fate as uncertain as the true agenda of the Dornaani leaders.

As new clues and new threats push Caine’s quest beyond the edge of known space, he discovers that the Dornaani empire is not merely decaying; there are subtle signs that its decline is being accelerated from without. Which means that rescuing Elena is just half the mission: Riordan must report that the Dornaani collapse is the prelude to a far more malign scheme—to clear a path for a foe bent on destroying Earth.

Maung is used to being hunted. As the last “dream warrior,” a Burmese military unit whose brains are more machine than grey matter, everyone wants him dead—punished for the multiple atrocities his unit committed during war.

But when an alien race makes its presence known on Earth and threatens to annihilate mankind, it gives Maung a chance to escape. Maung abandons his family on Earth to hide in the farthest reaches of the Solar System. There he finds love, his fellow Burmese countrymen exiled to labor on a prison asteroid, and the horrors of a war long since finished.

Maung also discovers a secret weapon system—one lost for almost a generation that may help his people redeem themselves while at the same time saving the human race. War will come. But with Maung’s discoveries and 100 years to prepare, maybe the Earth can be ready . . .

The No-Holds-Barred Final Entry in the Monster Hunter Memoirs Series from New York Times best-selling authors Larry Correia and John Ringo.

"This is New Orleans." That mantra had rung in Chad Gardenier's ears since his first day working in the Big Easy. Everything was different in New Orleans. The food. The climate. The monsters. Even the shadowy and reprehensible MCB was different. But that's just the beginning.

The real reason New Orleans is so different is a larval Great Old One growing day by day in power and just about ready to pop. If Chad can't convince "the powers that be" to get involved not only New Orleans but the entire world is going to fall under the power of the nastiest of nasties.

Now on the outs with the U.S. Government and in exile from his usual job of saving the world, Chad must rally the forces of light against the coming darkness. The problem is one guy with a sword and a sub-gun isn't going to solve this one.

Fortunately, Chad's made a few friends over the years. And the Fey hate Old Ones as much as God's people, and they're not about to give up this world without a fight.

If the Saints don't come marching in on this one . . . there won't be a Final Battle. There will be a final massacre.

Now, where'd he put that number for the ditzy fey princess . . . ?

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.

When someone starts killing his fellow bounty hunters in the port of Fairhaven, Drago Appleroot is happy to help his contacts in the City Watch with their investigation—for a reasonable fee, of course. But posing as an assassin-for-hire to draw out the killer attracts the attention of two separate groups from a far-off Elven kingdom whose private war is being fought on the streets of his home town.

Pitched into a maelstrom of treachery and lethal politics, Drago is forced into a long and dangerous journey to the heart of the Sylvan Marches, where one determined gnome might just decide the destiny of a kingdom. If he can survive long enough to decide which side he ought to be on.

An encounter with her father’s goddess has not turned out to be the end for Sarah Elytharias Penn. Now, with the Imperial fist tightened around her city of Cahokia and the beastkind of the Heron King ravaging across the river, she must find a way to access the power of the Serpent Throne itself—a feat, she has learned, that her father never accomplished. To complicate her efforts, Cahokia’s Metropolitan, a beloved and charismatic priest who despises the goddess as a demon, returns from a long pilgrimage and attempts to finalize the Wisdom-eradicating reform that dogged Sarah’s father when he was king.

Meanwhile, Sarah’s brother Nathaniel and her brilliant but erratic servant Jacob Hop find their steps dogged by the Emperor’s Machiavel, Temple Franklin, as they hunt in New Amsterdam for the third Elytharias sibling. Isaiah Wilkes, having failed to awaken the Emperor by reminding him of his esoteric obligations, now travels north in disguise to seek other allies to stand against the destroying storm of the reign of Simon Sword. Chigozie Ukwu, the Shepherd of the Still Waters, finds his peaceful flock threatened and pressed into a dangerous mission in the service of Cahokia’s wild sister city Zomas, while his brother, the Vodun houngan Etienne Ukwu, pushes toward a final showdown with the mameluke assassins of the Chevalier of New Orleans.

“Send us your tired, your poor,” says the inscription at the base of the great statue, “your huddled masses yearning to be free.”

But the future of the colony planet, Terra Nova, and its relations with Old Earth is far more a case of “boot out your tired, your poor, your dissidents and troublemakers. Use us for a dumping ground for all your problems. Go ahead and abandon these here.” This may have been fine, too, but for the UN and its corrupt bureaucracy insisting on maintaining control and milking the new world and its settlers, willing and unwilling both, bone dry.

Contained herein are tales of the history of Mankind’s future first colony, from the first failed attempt at colonization, to the rise in crime, to the rise in terrorism, to its descent into widespread civil war and rebellion . . . and ultimately liberation. As with most of human history, this history is messy, with good men and women turning bad, bad men and women inadvertently doing good, and blood flowing in the streets.

The ravenous aliens known as the Horde make their way across the universe like locusts, stripping bare entire galaxies and leaving death and destruction in their wake. Now, they stand on the edge of the Milky Way.

It seems all is lost, but the denizens of our galaxy are not content to give up without a fight. To that end, a galaxy-wide defense force has been assembled, with each star system contributing their greatest warrior to the battle.

Enter Miles Vander, the best a tiny backwater like Earth has to offer. Vander may be the key to destroying the Horde. But first he’ll have to prove his worthiness to his alien compatriots.

A classic of military SF from Hugo and Nebula Award–winning master of science fiction Gordon R. Dickson.

Arcane America

A new world. New magic. New history.

After Halley’s Comet was destroyed in a magical battle in 1759, the backlash separated the entire New World from the Old in an event known as The Sundering. Now isolated from the rest of the globe, America has become a very different place, where magic works and history has been changed forever.

It is 1803—a new 1803. Young Meriwether Lewis, footloose and intrigued, goes to hear a lecture in St. Louis by the venerated old wizard Benjamin Franklin. Franklin’s talk is disrupted by the attack of a winged fire-breathing beast, much like legends from Lewis’s own Welsh heritage. In the aftermath, Franklin tells the young man that he knows of a great, growing evil that lurks in the uncharted Arcane Territories west of the Mississippi.

Using his own vast fortune, Franklin commissions Lewis and his own talented partner William Clark to embark on a remarkable voyage of exploration, to meet and document the indigenous tribes, to find a route all the way to the Pacific Ocean—and perhaps beyond the magical veil to Europe again—and to stop the growing evil that is filling the American West. For while the Sundering separated the rest of the world and granted the original colonists unexpected magical gifts, sorcery inspired by native legends has also been ignited. And the Arcane Territories may hold unparalleled dangers for the expedition, both natural and magical.

Accompanied by the brilliant shape-shifting sorceress Sacajawea, Lewis and Clark set off on an unparalleled adventure across a landscape that no European has ever seen.

Collected short fiction from multiple best seller Michael Z. Williamson. After a brutal car crash, a disabled young man beats all odds to pursue his dream of crewing the first starship. Outnumbered and outgunned, a Freehold warship must use guile, expert maneuvering and sheer courage to survive a pursuing UN fleet. Meanwhile, other Freeholders resort to terrifying psyops to destroy their invaders' morale. A family learns that their patriarch isn't as crazy as they thought when a zombie uprising actually happens. A young girl must use her knowledge of elementals and spirit beings to protect a king who is unaware of the threats against him. In an alternate Bronze Age, the descendants of dinosaurs fight with sentient felinoids for territory and survival. Humans reduced to cowering in caves find a most unlikely weapon against their alien invaders.

With cutting satire on classic poetry and modern movies, a no-holds-barred lambast of several beloved firearms and their fan clubs, Williamson concludes with more of his Inappropriate Cocktail recipes, frequently both delicious and outrageously snarky, commemorating celebrities, events and cultural memes.

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.